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Yesterday one of the two teachers at Henry's school had to stay home with her sick kid, so in an effort to keep things running smoothly she called me yesterday morning to ask if I'd be willing to be an extra set of hands and eyes. I agreed, then went cold with fear because: kids! Gah! Dave hadn't yet left for work so when I told him the news he was all "OMG!", a sure sign he's spending way too much time on Facebook and not enough time wearing his Strawberry Tart costume. So yesterday I spent four and a half hours hanging out at Henry's preschool.

I'm pretty sure fate was somehow involved in clearing a path that resulted in my having to be there because yesterday was apple-picking day. We all walked down to the orchard and picked apples which we later cut up and used to make applesauce. The kids were over the moon about picking apples and quickly filled two large crates. All of this reminded me of something that happened last Fall, and although I feel like I've already written about this, I can't find the post so I'll risk repeating myself:

Last year I overheard a conversation between three teenaged girls who happened to walk by our house in the midst of apple season, which meant our sidewalk was littered with fallen apples. All three of them stopped and stared at the ground. Then they freaked out, shrieking "EEEWWWWW!" and "What are those?!?" They noticed me sweeping our front stoop so they asked me what they were and after shaking off my complete and utter speechlessness, I said "Apples." Then they noticed the apple tree and got all excited. Talk about having a complete disconnect over where the food you eat comes from.

I'm pleased to say that not one of the kids at Henry's preschool will ever be stunned by the sight of a tree with actual bona fide apples growing on it. They might, however, become overwhelmed with the desire to make applesauce.

Posted by Jenn at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The nice thing about having a cold is it's a nice reprieve from the raging allergy symptoms I'd been experiencing.

My friend Mel is making all sorts of pear preserves that are making me hungry. Meanwhile, I just had Spaghettio's for lunch. I'd rather be making my way to the bottom of a jar of homemade preserves than scraping the bottom of a tin can. Alas.

We went to Target yesterday to kill some time before Henry's bedtime. They were in full Halloween swing, with only a little bit of Christmas encroaching on the spookiness. They have a line this season that features a skull and crossbone motif. It took all of my willpower not to buy one (or two) (or six) of everything. Actually, it took a little willpower and Dave standing behind me, glaring, and say "No. No. No. No. NO!" He can be terrifying when he starts working his eyebrows. Meanwhile, Henry left the store with a big plush pumpkin, pumpkin and Frankenstein bath mitts, and Halloween gel window clings. Because if I can't have fun Halloween stuff, my kid sure can.

Posted by Jenn at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I have a cold and I didn't get much sleep last night, therefore I'm crabby and irritable and apparently redundant. I'm experiencing a deep-seated need for comfort food in the form of Spaghettios, but that requires me to corral the kid into the car, chaperone him through a grocery store, then somehow make it back alive, all the while juggling a bad attitude and the ever-present box of Kleenex. It's not looking good.

Meanwhile, because all I want to do is sit, I've decided to sit myself over some long overdue thank you cards that have needed to be written (Do all of those tenses add up to correct?) since Henry's birthday last month. I've been experiencing major guilt over not having had a chance to get them done, so the sight of a neat little pile of stuffed envelopes that are ready to be distributed will make me feel a lot better.

Posted by Jenn at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry is very big into whales right now. I'm not sure what triggered the obsession, probably something he noticed during the 1 millionth viewing of "Finding Nemo". Since talk of Halloween generally kicks off in our household sometime in mid-August, which is when all of this talk of cetaceous creatures hit a fevered pitch, Henry was very emphatic about wanting to go as a whale. Then, approximately three seconds after I hit the "Place order" button on the Costume Express website, Henry informed me that he wanted to be a kettle drum. Naturally. About a week later the costume arrived on our doorstep and became Henry's best friend, thus proving my point that Henry is big into whales right now, which meant that when I came across fabric at JoAnn Fabrics that had blue and green whales swimming all over it, I had to buy some. Today I made him some pants with it. You could feel the excitement in the air. Henry watched the entire process with fascination.

Okay. Here's the thing. This entry is getting really long and I'm waxing verbose and at this rate it'll be twenty years before I get to the point so I'm just going to say it and get it over with. My mom and I started a pirate duck bathrobe for Henry when my parents were here visiting in August. I finished it about two weeks ago. Henry refused to wear it. Ever. Then, for whatever reason, while I was making the whale pants, Henry was suddenly very interested in the bathrobe too. He wanted to wear both of them together. So he did. And I took pictures. Here they are:

He refused to take off the robe so all you get is a little glimpse of the whale pants sticking out from underneath the bathrobe. This is the outfit he wore this evening to walk the dog. In public. I really, *really* wish that I'd brought the camera along for that expedition.

Posted by Jenn at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

While driving home this morning after dropping Henry off at preschool, I turned on the radio and there was a guy reading almost verbatim the article that Mel linked to in her comment on yesterdays post about how to get kids to eat a more varied diet. Now I'm trying to figure out if the universe is trying to tell me something. Ironically, before I even saw the article, I had Henry help me make the stew we had for dinner last night. He cleaned carrots, picked out potatoes, and poured barley. Then, approximately one hour later, he vehemently spurned it all. To be perfectly honest though, after it was all finished and sitting in a bowl on my placemat at the dinner table, for whatever reason I looked at it and didn't really want it anymore either. I ate it all though, because I'm a good little girl.

It was tough getting out of bed this morning. The air is pretty crisp now when we get up, and the fact that it was foggy and gray made me feel foggy and gray. The thing to do on a day like this is to crank up the old oven and make some granola. My friend Kim clued me in to this recipe for cranberry/almond granola on epicurious. I haven't ever tried to make it, but I was at her house when she made it and the whole place smelled heavenly. So not only will it smell amazing around here for a while, but there's going to be some major snacking going on very soon.

Posted by Jenn at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yes, I'm still going a little bento crazy over here, hence more photos of boring food stored in cute containers. These would probably be a lot more interesting if my kid was a slightly less picky eater, but they'll only get better as he gets older and his tastes expand. I'm sounding pretty optimistic, aren't I? I can't lay into him too much about it though because eating an apple with the skin on it still gives me the heebie-jeebies, not to mention the fact that I can't even look at a green bean without feeling woozy.

Anyway, here's a shot of what Henry brought to school for lunch yesterday:

That would be tofu with a little soy sauce on it, cut up grapes, butterfly shaped crackers, and cheese that I cut with a little gingerbread man cookie cutter I dug up from the deep dark depths of one of our kitchen cabinets. Henry ate all the tofu, left behind one cracker and one piece of cheese, and spurned most of the grapes, although I do think he ate a few of them, unless he traded them for something better, which I doubt, because "trading" comes a little too close to "sharing".

Time went screaming by yesterday morning, despite my attempts at time management, and I found myself running so late I didn't have a chance to eat my breakfast. Since I was heading over to a friend's house after dropping Henry off at school, I tossed some food into a Hello Kitty bento my parents bought for me in Allston. Mine consisted of scrambled egg, grapes, and the cheese bits that were leftover from cutting out the gingerbread men for Henry's lunch.

One quick side note about scrambled eggs: when I make them, I sprinkle a healthy amount of Penzey's Garden Salad seasoning after pouring the eggs in the pan to cook. It's a mix of chive, cheese, and poppy seeds, and it makes for killer scrambled eggs. Even Henry likes them. Most of the time.

Posted by Jenn at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

me: Henry, are you a boy or a girl?
Henry: Uhhhhh...nope, I'm Henry!

That answers that. It's been a busy, preschool-centric week here. When I haven't been driving Henry to and from school, I've been spending a lot of time on flickr looking at other people's bento boxes. There are some amazing ones out there. The school Henry's attending has a trash-free lunch policy, which fits in nicely with my apparently strong (and previously latent) desire to accessorize food.

Henry's very much enjoying preschool so much so that he doesn't seem particularly thrilled to see me when I arrive at the end of the day to pick him up. On Wednesday morning he did do me the favor of telling me he didn't want me to go back to the car, and he even gave me a hug when I said good-bye, which is something I normally have to bribe him for, so that was a nice change of pace. He loves the teachers, and loves the activities, so I'm happy that all in all it's been a rousing success for him. Wait until it snows and they take him sledding. He won't ever want to come home.

Posted by Jenn at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I got back home from dropping Henry off at his first full day of pre-school. When I left he was sitting outside with one of the teachers and a few other kids pulling sunflower seeds out of sunflowers. He was very pleased with the activity and once in a while he would turn around with a seed he had just worked loose, holding it up for me to admire. While he was engrossed with that activity, I snuck over, told him to have fun at school, patted his head, and walked away. It was a little more difficult to leave than I thought it would be, but of the two of us, I'm glad I'm the one whose heart was breaking just a little bit.

Before we left the house this morning I asked Henry if I could take a picture of him to commemorate the occasion. He said "NO!" and ran into the living room. After a little cajoling I convinced him that I would not be taking any pictures of him, after which, of course, I managed to sneak one in as he came back into the kitchen to go to the car. He wasn't pleased with me after that, but it was totally worth it. He doesn't exactly look nervous about going to school, does he?

Now I get to figure out what to do with the next two and a half hours. I'm thinking maybe I should take up smoking again to help calm the nerves, what do you all think?

Posted by Jenn at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It took me eight hours to finally decide that maybe I should change out of my pajamas.

It took me eight and a half to get around to brushing my teeth.

It's been a really good day.

Posted by Jenn at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today Henry had his pre-school orientation. He wasn't thrilled after I got him strapped in the car and told him where we were going, but then on the drive he said that school is where all the numbers and letters are and he seemed to be vaguely interested in at least checking it out after that. It's a nature-oriented school so he spent most of his time outside, filling up a sandbox one bucket at a time, helping to clean carrots and apples that eventually got cut up for snacks. He also got to sand and oil wooden blocks that will be used inside the classroom. Basically everything he did was the coolest thing ever. One of the teachers took us inside with another little girl about Henry's age so he could get used to the classroom. He was very interested in two tasks. One of them was using little tongs to pick up little balls which he then placed in little holes. Doesn't sound like much, but he was seriously into it. The other was putting sesame seeds into a little pitcher and then pouring them into another little pitcher, and back and forth, etc, etc, a task he did just long enough for him to never want to stop doing it ever.

After orientation was over I told him I was taking him out to lunch to his favorite restaurant and he said "Okay, go have lunch, then go back to school!" His first day is Monday. Hopefully he'll remember the warm gooey feeling he had about it when he left today.

Posted by Jenn at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)