The delights of the season

We have taken full advantage of our twice-weekly farmers' market, much to our perpetual pleasure. The selection is only getting better as the season progresses, and when the market doesn't have something we want we head to a nearby farm stand or to the grocery store for local peaches and apricots. This has been the summer of fruit, and it's not unusual for Clara to wake up in the morning and ask to go to the market.

Clara loves "peachies," "neck-eens" (nectarines), and "cot-cots" (apricots) most, though she would also eat her weight in fresh blueberries and blackberries--and even huckleberries if we could afford them (40 dollars a gallon!). She was really disappointed in the picture of her eating a blackberry, though, since her face was so messy. She kept pointing and saying, "Care-la. Face. Messy. Wash it."


Another bonus we've enjoyed from the farmers' market has been fresh rhubarb, which we've used to make a little treat called red mush--a dish my family (on my mom's side) will no doubt know and love. I hadn't seen rhubarb for several weeks, but when we were there on Saturday a Chinese couple was advertising "rubber" on sale for a dollar a bundle. I figured something was probably lost in translation and worked my way over to buy the best rhubarb I've seen all year. We have thoroughly enjoyed working our way through what is probably our last batch of red mush for the year.

If I were going to peg a disappointment with the farmers' market, it would be that a few weeks ago we decided to splurge on a $3 breakfast burrito from a vendor called "The Taco Chic." Nothing on the sign indicated that they used any special ingredients, so we assumed (as I'm sure most people would) that the breakfast burrito would be made of eggs. Not so, friends. I took my first bite, then looked at Jeremy and said, "Uh, Jer, I think this is tofu." He took a few bites and was so crushed with disappointment that he couldn't continue and has scarcely spoken of it since. We do not so much love the tofu. But don't worry: since I am eight months pregnant and cannot bear to lose three dollars, I finished the whole thing. The salsa was fantastic.

Fire Shuck!

Clara is developing a few pint-size passions as she nears the end of her second year of life. One of these passions is animals. Another is the color blue (everything is the color blue). But one of the most meaningful to her is her enjoyment and admiration of fire trucks, or "shucks," a type of vehicle that also often includes garbage shucks, recycling shucks, moving shucks, cement shucks--basically all big shucks.


But fire shucks are by far her favorite. Every time we get in the car (really--every time) she begins her special mantra of "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Fire shuck? Fire shuck? Fire shuck?" She is especially thrilled if we're headed towards downtown, where we pass a fire station where the trucks are typically on display.


Given this background, you might imagine her elation at being able to go to a very special carnival at the public library today with Jeremy (I was at my OB's for most of it, unfortunately), where real-life firefighters were grilling hot dogs, accompanied by a real-life fire truck. The carnival was a celebration of the summer reading program, which we have attended faithfully, and which is now over until September (sad!). Many games and activities greeted carnival participants, but Clara had eyes only for the firefighters, their truck, and the playground. You'll note in this first video a bit of ambivalence about getting too close to the fire truck, but trust us: she was thrilled to see such a fine speciman.



After I joined up with Jeremy and Clara and we'd eaten and roamed a bit, we went into the library to get a few new books, including several about transportation and fire trucks. In the garage when we got home, Clara told Jeremy she wanted a kiss, after which she proceeded to kiss the picture of the firefighter on one of her books. And hopefully that will explain this last video. Like I said, she's a woman of passion.

Summer Cinema

In Coeur d'Alene, one of the local theaters has a free "family movie festival" every week during the summer, where they screen G and PG rated kids movies Tuesday through Thursday mornings (Syracuse did this too, so I think it's probably pretty common). I've never taken Clara, but this week they're showing "Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit," and since Clara loves Wallace and Gromit (at least the three original shorts) I thought we'd try it.

As it turns out, Clara is still very sensitive to overstimulation (residual impact of being a preemie, perhaps--not uncommon), and we only lasted for about 20 minutes before she decided she wanted to go home and watch the "dog show" in the comfort of our living room, so that's exactly what we did. On the ride home she did spend a lot of time talking about the "rabbit moo-bee," so maybe one day she'll be ready to see something on the big screen.

Camper Clara

Jeremy and I wanted to have one last hurrah before welcoming baby boy, so in an effort to relax and put our feet up, we decided to go camping with an energetic 20-month-old. All right, we didn't really have any grand delusions that the trip would be relaxing, but it was fun--and certainly memorable. I'll admit that we were somewhat surprised at how much effort it took to keep Clara happy and safe in the wilderness, and we didn't even bother trying to keep her clean (obviously). But she seemed to really enjoy camping, so all of the effort (and two days of increased heart palpitations for poor pregnant Momma) was totally worth it.


Since the threat of preterm delivery is always looming over us, we didn't venture too far from home. But since we more or less live in the mountains, we had lots of options. We ended up at Heyburn State Park, which is essentially on the opposite side of Lake Coeur d'Alene from where we live. The campsite was great, and we had the good fortune of not having anyone camp next to us the whole time we were there! We think babies make strong camp neighbor-repellants, so I think we may always travel with booster seats and small articles of clothing, even when we don't have any babies left.


Jeremy spent most of his time entertaining Clara and taking her to the playground and on walks while I tended the base camp and tried to keep my palpitations at bay. We also took full advantage of our camp stove, and we even hauled charcoal and our Dutch oven along before we realized we forgot to bring tongs to move the coals around. (We also forgot Jeremy's tennis shoes, a hammer, and our pillows, all of which I have since added to my comprehensive camping master list.) But we couldn't have been more pleased with the beautiful weather and the pleasure of sleeping with a breathtaking view of tall white pines and a full moon. I'm already looking forward to next summer's outings!


And now, without further ado, please enjoy this video that illustrates how much Clara likes being in a tent. (A word on our gigantic tent: I bought it, much to Jeremy's skepticism, right after we got married, so for six-plus years he's had to camp with just me in a 10x14 tent. But I had an eye on the future! Who's skeptical now?)



On one final note: I am a huge admirer of beautifully photographed food blogs, so I thought I'd try my hand here. These are the "smores" we made with roasted marshmallows and Albertson's unbelievably soft and delicious new brownie cookies. You know you want one. And then, if you're like me, you'll want to detox for three days to come down from the sugary deliciousness of it all.

Allergy Update

I don't think I mentioned that we recently took Clara for an eventful trip to see her new allergist, where we came armed with a half-gallon of whole milk and pushed for an immediate "oral challenge," since her recent allergy test results came back close to negative on the milk front. The doctor consented to the oral challenge, and we spent the next three hours trying to coax ever-increasing amounts of moo juice into Clara's stubborn gullet. We even had a bottle of chocolate syrup with us, which helped a bit, but she did not want to drink the milk, thank you very much, and by the time we were done she had more chocolate milk on her (now ruined) shirt than she probably had in her tummy.

The allergist decided that she'd ingested enough to feel confident that she has indeed "outgrown" her milk allergy, so we have been reveling in the freedom to cook with and snack on dairy products. She will now drink milk if she's in the right mood, but mostly we've been "milking down" her soy milk to help her get used to the new flavor. Yay, milk! I can't see us totally giving up soy milk anytime in the near future (even Jeremy and I quite like it), but it's nice to have options.

Next summer we'll retest for eggs and peanuts. You never can tell...

Making "Bownies" (rhymes with "cownies")

My sister Naomi sent Clara a mix for peanut/egg/dairy-free brownies, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and let Clara help me make them. She actually did not like the brownies (not much of a cake girl, I guess) but loved all the stirring and licking of the spoons (safe and fun to do when there are no eggs in the picture).

And for anyone who may be concerned about the fate of a pan of brownies more or less rejected on textural grounds by the girl for whom they were intended, please have no fear: Jeremy and I managed to polish off the lot.

Fun Aunt Megan

I decided to poach this post from my sister's blog because I love the pictures she took of my sweet baby, and I also cannot believe how much fun she packed into just two hours with Clara. What a great birthday gift. Thanks, Megan!

And now, in Megan's own words:

So for my sister's birthday, I volunteered to watch the Lovely Clara while my mom and Rachel went to Sundance for lunch. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous that Clara would not be convinced that Aunt Megan is tons of fun and would take good care of her. As it was, there were only a few anxious utterances of "Momma!" and a whole lot of fun to be had.

First we took a walk around campus, since Clara loves her stroller, and she was particularly pleased with the fountain in the courtyard of the JFSB. When she got tired of that, we went to the Bean Life Science Museum. She loved the animals: she meowed at the cats (cougars, leopards, etc.) cawed at the birds, and quacked at the ducks. I think she thought something was odd about all these animals, since they all stayed perfectly still. She got over it though when she saw the lions. She spent the rest of the time jumping with the pouncing lion and waving and laughing. Uncle Chris even rode his bike from work to his lunch break to take part in the fun.

Our last stop on the Trip O' Fun was to the Academy Library where she kept busy running around and climbing on the Clara-sized chairs. She did condescend to pose for my camera, for which I'm grateful.

Good times, friends. Good times.

I like it when we eat new things

Nothing says "Welcome, summer" like a girl's first-ever popsicle. She surely enjoyed the treat, and when the last bit fell off the stick she spent several minutes working to put the stick back through the popsicle. I will admit that the whole event turned into quite a sticky situation, but her glee was worth the mess.

The Last Straw

One of Jeremy's pet peeves is Clara's love of playing with the stuff in our kitchen cupboards (which typically involves emptying the cupboards as quickly as she possibly can). He's tolerated my permissive attitude in this area, but Clara's recent habit of playing in the cupboards was just too much for him. We now have cabinet locks on all of our cupboard doors.

Noodler

Let the official countdown begin! In less than one week, Clara will return to the allergist for her wheat "oral challenge," which is when she will eat Cream of Wheat at the allergist's and people will watch her to see what happens (I'm bringing popcorn for the show). The hope, of course, is that nothing will happen and that we can cross wheat off of our foods-to-avoid list.

We are feeling quite confident that the oral challenge will go well, since before her initial allergy testing she ate wheat with abandon and seemed to suffer no ill effects. But for the past three months, Clara has not had any bread, crackers, or any of the millions of other food products that contain any wheat. She does enjoy her daily wheat-egg-milk-free waffle, which I buy at great cost and great convenience from the special-diet-friendly Wegman's. But I am truly excited to be able to make her a great number of wheat-a-licious delights, even if I still have to avoid eggs and milk (and peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and fish, which are her "just-in-case" no-nos).

So wish us luck! And don't feel to bad for Clara: as you can see from the picture, she manages to eat quite well on her special diet. Here she is eating some (actually quite delicious) brown rice pasta with a tasty red sauce mixed with smooth Tofutti cream cheese. Good times.

Irresponsible Mothering Is an Art

The other morning I was blow drying my hair, and Clara was playing quietly around the corner. The quiet should have, perhaps, been my clue that she was up to no good, because pretty soon she came around the corner wielding a crochet hook in each hand, which she had somehow gotten out of a closed box (her resourcefulness is terrifying). Clearly, the fact that Clara had some uninterrupted playtime with two eye gougers is a mark of irresponsible mothering, but really it wouldn't seem nearly as bad had I not found her chewing on a dirty diaper two minutes before this picture was taken, or if I had not found her trying to lift the toilet lid two minutes after. The moral of the story: I should not dry my hair.

Dish Duty

I like to believe that one of the reasons my home is not as clean and tidy as it should be is because I have a 21 pound tornado living with me who likes to follow me around creating havoc. Here is evidence of said havoc (a wide-angle shot would've shown even more havoc). We can no longer do the dishes together.

The View from Vermont

Jeremy took Clara and me on a suprise trip to Vermont last weekend--just for fun! (I guess part of the fun was preserving our sanity and whatnot, since these last few months have kicked us until we were down and then kicked us some more.) We left on Thursday when I finished teaching and came back Saturday afternoon. As far as a leaf-peeping trip to Vermont goes, it was ideal. We stayed outside of Middlebury at a small bed and breakfast run by a charming, if eccentric, older couple. The woman, who I believe is originally from Vietnam, was really concerned about running out of copies of the breakfast order form, so she just erased the marks of whoever had it last and gave it to us, then the next day she erased the marks again so we could fill out a "clean" sheet. Her husband seemed extremely old--almost to the point of inducing us to feel extremely guilty that we were staying at their house and making them do work for us! (I got over the guilt by reminding myself how much we were paying them.) We enjoyed our stay, though, even with the "ladybug situation" (aka ladybug infestation). I guess if a person is going to have to deal with insects, the insects might as well be ladybugs.

One of the best moments of the trip was our spur-of-the-moment decision to drive to New Hampshire on Friday. Years ago Jeremy and I set a goal to visit 30 states together by the time he turned 30, and New Hampshire was our thirtieth state--with just under two years to spare! Jeremy is still much more traveled than I. He's been to 49 states (pesky Alaska) and I have now been to 31. But I like seeing them all with him. An interesting sidenote: New Hampshire was Clara's fifteenth state, which is pretty impressive for a not-quite one-year-old, and is perhaps especially impressive given that she spent the first five months of her life in our apartment. Say what you want about us: we really enjoy a good road trip! Our next goal is to hit 40 states by the time we turn 40.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a few photographs:

Clara eating her breakfast in our proprietor's 80-year-old high chair. Lead paint, anyone? (Yes, Mom, only I would worry about something like that.)


Another highlight of the trip was an unintentional stop at the Joseph Smith birthplace visitor's center in Sharon, Vermont. We are really not very good religious pilgrims, and it hadn't even occured to us to stop here. But then there we were, right at the turn off on our way to New Hampshire. I actually think it might be our favorite Church history site. Very peaceful, quiet, and beatuiful.


Jeremy loves this picture. I'm not sure I see what he sees...



Clara took this picture of us at Dartmouth. If we're counting milestones that don't mean anything, this is the fourth Ivy League campus we've visited. (We may not be good religious pilgrims, but we are certainly shameless university tourists!)


Back in New York, we stopped to stretch our legs at a little apple farm, and we bought Clara her first pumpkin! She loved it; she ate the whole stem! (Seriously, doesn't she look thrilled?)



On an interesting final note, Jeremy recently reviewed the book The View from Vermont for the Journal of Cultural Geography. Be sure to pick up your copy when it hits newsstands across America!

Clara's Truck

Our friend Julia let Clara borrow this awesome push toy. Although she still struggles with walking, Clara loves to push it on her knees and is always pleased when Daddy gives her a ride on her "truck."

Grammy's Baked Beans

Clara just loved her lunch today: a nice tray full of baked beans. I'm just glad this happened during daddy-daughter time! Believe it or not, when I came home from teaching my class the only tell-tale sign was the bit of dried bean residue tucked into the crease of her neck. (Bonus in the first picture: you can see all three of her teeth!)

Vegan-Plus?

I'm trying to figure out what to call my new diet, which has been drastically altered following the news that Clara has mild-to-moderate allergies of dairy, eggs, and wheat. Typically, those have been my three primary food groups, but since I'm still nursing her I am having to embrace the new. We were pretty sure she had a dairy allergy, but the wheat and eggs were a bit of a surprise. I was ready to be Vegan-Plus (my phrase for a dairy-free diet that is heavy on veg, grains, fruit, and beans but which also includes meat). Now that we have to cut out wheat for a time, I'm kind of at a loss for a clever moniker.

We have an appointment with an allergist in a few weeks, but in the meantime Clara's pediatrician counseled me to err on the side of caution by eliminating the offending foods from my diet as well. Right now I'm in "survival mode," which means that I am eating a lot of cold cereal and soy milk. Clara and I did venture out to Wegmans (if I could leave Jeremy and marry a grocery store, I would marry Wegmans) and purchased some wheat-dairy-egg free delights, so I'm sure my new culinary repertoire will just continue to expand. The good news in all of this is that she'll probably outgrow these allergies within the next few years. In the meantime, we'll be grateful that she's over the moon for oatmeal, barley, veggies, and fruit. Now we'll work on getting her to like meat and soy...

Really, though, as you can see from the following photo, she doesn't much care what she eats:

Ithaca

We heeded the call of our inner rovers to get out of Syracuse and spent a fun day in Ithaca, land of the burned-out hippies. It was a great trip (if you know what I mean). This was actually our first day trip in quite a while, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was ideal with temperatures in the high 60s (yes--in August!). Clara was quite taken with everything she saw, and the change of scenery and crowds of new faces ensured that she was pleasant and lovely the whole time we were gone.

Here are Clara and Jeremy in our attempt for a cute father-daughter portrait near the Ithaca Commons. Clara did not want to look at the camera!














Snacktime is always an adventure with CB. Here she is at Cornell University digging for Oaties, as we call them.



Clara and Jeremy in front of the Cornell bell tower.


On the bridge over one of Ithaca's famed gorges ("Ithaca is gorges," after all).



Climbing back up to the road with Daddy. Clara is so excited, as you can tell by the blurry smudges that are her rapidly moving hands.


The fam.


Overlooking an offshoot of Cayuga Lake. A perfect end to an ideal day.

Bedtime

Getting ready for bed is such a good time if you're Clara (even if you have to wear your blue-girl pajamas). You get to eat your own feet and feel the bouncy tremors of the "shaky baby" game. What a life.