So I'm taking this Love & Logic Parenting class, and trying to become a better mom.
My 6-y-o darling Mozelle gave me lots of practice today. The kids had a school holiday, and so I got to cook a whole lot more than usual. While I was in the kitchen cooking some vegetables, Mozy got out of control, so I took her to her bedroom for a little time out. She kept coming out of her room, and I kept trying to reassure her that she could come out after cooling down and getting back to her sweet self.
She even had lots of choices, like whether the light was on, and whether the door was open or closed. I kept taking her back up those stairs and depositing her in her room. She threw a fan and a bookcase, but I kept my cool. Her 15-y-o brother Bob cheered her up while I was sitting in her room with her, just trying to keep her from banging her head on the wall.
So 2-y-o darling Louella suddenly appeared in the room, with one red hand. I asked her what made her hand red, and what she had been playing with. She was very quiet, and very determined not to let me touch her hand. We went downstairs and found the culprit. My cutting board cupboard door was open, and the stupidest invention known to man was lying on the floor: a tiny plastic cutting board with a two-edged blade attached. There's a cover for the cutting blade, but it only covers one edge. Eventually Louella let me put bandaids on her finger, but that was all she let anyone do. Her favorite activity, washing hands, was absolutely off limits.
I asked Bob to throw away that stupid thing that I never should have kept in the easily-accessed cutting board cupboard. He removed the blade first. I asked him later to be sure and throw it away. He was bummed, but he did wrap it up and throw it away.
Noelle (big sis, age 8.5) got nauseated at the sight of Louella's blood, so I brewed some peppermint tea at her request.
Now I'd been a terrible no good very bad mom, and let the girls all have chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for breakfast, so I was determined to make them some good hot lunch. I got some added incentive when Bob came into the kitchen complaining of dizziness, and with a gauze-and-duct-tape-bandaged thumb. Seems he'd been trying to reshape an old blade from his Swiss Army knife . . . and who does he ask to help him stop the bleeding, but poor lil' queasy Noelle! Bob was having visual difficulties, probably due to his recent migraine.
So I cooked our family favorites, Dutch Baby and Breakfast Pudding (a double batch). Everyone got a piece of Dutch Baby, a bowl of the pudding, and even a glass of orange punch if they wanted it. I refereed the squabbles over the last piece of Dutch Baby, and made sure people did their own dishes, and finally ate some food myself. Man, it was good to sit down and eat!
Then the girls and I went for a walk, but not until after Mozelle had scraped her arm open on a neighbor's climbing tree. Louella and Mozelle and I had a glorious walk in the windy sun, and we ended up at the park. We had it all to ourselves. I lay my old bones down on the park bench and watched the girls dare gravity to slow them down. Mozelle helped Louella climb up the twisty slide, and even taught her to swing from the bar above the highest slide before pushing her down it. They were a delight to listen to and to watch, except when they scared me to death (Mozelle once pushed Louella while she was still swinging on that bar above the highest slide).
Another walk and a nursing and a nap later, I was cooking again. We get groceries tomorrow, so today is creative cooking 101. I made a casserole which included lasagna noodles, some ground beef and sausage, and a whole lot of other stuff you'd never guess, even if you ate it yourself. It seemed good enough while I was assembling the mess, alongside another pan of vegetarian lasagna for my 17-y-o Jack. But when I took it out of the oven, all I could think was, "What have I done?"
Well, all I could do was to have a sense of humor, especially while being repeatedly interrogated by my brood. What IS this? You LIED! Why are these noodles PINK?
We ate, we laughed, we ate some more. Bob dubbed it "Heart in a Blender". (You've heard that song, right? "Wanna put my tender heart in a blender/Watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion . . . ") Everybody ate it, even though Bob made several gross remarks . . . at one point, Noelle put her fork down and excused herself for a while.
When she asked for a cookie, I asked her to finish her lasagna, and she did.
With an introduction like that, I'm sure you're dying for the recipe.
1 box lasagna noodles
1 acorn squash cooked with garlic and onion
1/4 c leftover spaghetti sauce
about a pound of mixed ground beef and sausage
2 or 3 T sour cream
3 cans tomato soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
lots of cooked barley, millet, and wheat
less than 1/2 of a fresh cooked beet
Cook noodles . . . lay some in each of 2 pans (smaller one for the vegetarian).
Mix in blender the tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, acorn squash, and beet.
In one pan, top the noodles with meats. In the other, add 3-grain mixture.
Now pour blood-red sauce over both.
Add more noodles.
In vegetarian dish, add sour cream. In meaty dish, spread cream of chicken soup (undiluted).
Add grains to both pans.
Add more noodles.
I forget how long this went on . . . but I would strongly advise you to mix the grains up into the cream of chicken soup if you do get crazy daring some time . . .
the top layer of the vegetarian dish is blood-red-saucy grains, but the top layer of the meaty dish is cream of chicken soup.
Pretty good and hearty fare, especially when you're out of mozarella and eggs and ricotta!
I cooked both of them at 350 for half an hour, which is just enough time to get your skirt caught in the wheel of a tricycle while teaching a 2-y-o to ride, after rescuing a 6-year-old from suicide triking in the street.
Our family home evening started off with my bragging to my dh Sonny at the dinner table about all the great things I had seen and heard the kids do to help each other all day. Then we played games, everything from computer games to chess to a tickle fight on Mom and Dad's bed. We were having lots of fun, but I got my head crawled on, so I got off the bed just in time to avoid an injury that Noelle unfortunately got instead--Mozy's foot met with Nolle's nose, and you guessed it--we had a full-blown nosebleed!
So at least half of us bled today--Louella, Mozelle, Noelle and Bob. Seems it's dangerous to let the kids have a day off from school . . .
