catbird.org

All kids make up their own fun games to play. I know my kids have invented some really fabulous ones. Maybe your kids have played them, too.

Lock the Door
Use the key to lock and unlock the door repetitively. Stand on a chair if you can’t reach. Advanced version: wait until Mommy goes outside to lock the door.

Goldfish Crush
Smash goldfish into tiny crumbs then swipe them onto the floor. See how long it takes for Mommy to notice. Also works with pretzels, graham crackers, saltines, or even Playdough.

Phone Tag
As soon as you hear Mommy on the phone, run around like a maniac yelling at the top of your voice.

Water Splash
This is a competitive game. See who can splash the most water out of the bath tub. Game ends when water drips into kitchen. Bonus points for soaking Mommy.

Water Splatter
Pour water (or any other handy liquid — milk, juice, paint) onto the table and pat enthusiastically with your hands until you and the walls are well splattered. Bonus points for using a smelly, sticky, or permanent liquid. Fun to play with Goldfish Crush.

Collapse
Lure a sibling into the pillow fort while you are outside then collapse it. Advanced level: lay on top of pillows covering sibling until crying starts. Bonus points for making Mommy come running.

catbird :: Jun.12.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

1. “Nate, stop licking your brother.”
2. “Only one serving of chocolate chips at breakfast.”
3. “Stop blowing bubbles with your mucus.”
4. “Nate, stop licking the train seat.”
5. “Take the magic marker out of your ear.”
6. “Van, get your mouth off the guinea pig cage.”
7. “No spitting on the furniture.”
8. “Nate, stop licking the dog.”
9. “Please don’t drink the water from the mud puddle.”
and
10. “Really Van, you want the kale, potato, and chorizo soup?”

catbird :: May.24.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

When Nate gets to pick dinner, he almost always picks mac and cheese. But ,since the kids rarely eat a whole box and they won’t eat it reheated (Why? Who knows. It’s just one of those parenting mysteries.), I’m stuck with leftovers.

I don’t love mac and cheese, but I dislike wasting food even more so I concocted this meal out of the leftovers. I cook spinach, broccoli, or peas in a pan with a little olive oil and garlic. Then toss in the leftover mac and cheese. Today I had some turkey to toss in, too. Except for the fact that the mac and cheese is in the shape of little bunnies, it’s just like a grown up meal. If you don’t feel like going to all that trouble, just throw the leftover pasta in with regular pasta and red sauce. The cheese adds some nice flavor to a basic tomato sauce.

catbird :: May.16.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

My new go-to cookie recipe is this banana cookie one that Steve sent to me. What an easy and super delicious way to use up our ripe bananas!

catbird :: Mar.21.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

I’ve added a new twist to my pancake repertoire. Instead of just adding finely shredded zucchini, I’ve been mixing it up with carrots and pumpkin pie spice. I shred carrots and zucchini (or sometimes apple) into vanilla yogurt and blend (using my hand blender). Then I add it to the dry ingredients along with one egg. In addition to the cinnamon in the dry ingredients, I add a bit of pumpkin pie spice. Not too much, maybe half a teaspoon. The pancakes come out a nice orangey color and taste very similar to pumpkin pancakes.

Nate and Van think they are yummy.

catbird :: Mar.14.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Art class last week was Diego Rivera and murals. Nate, Van, and Nate’s friend Delia painted a three part mural on our walls. Well, on paper on the walls (I’m not completely crazy, yet.)

There are three rules to mural painting in our house:
1. Share the paints
2. Only paint on the paper
3. Have fun
Van forgot rule #2 and painted a whole fourth segment on the wall. Later, he also painted himself.

What a great collaborative painting! Plus it covers the plaster patching that we haven’t painted yet from where Nate’s head cracked the wall.

catbird :: Feb.05.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Everyone in the house loves pancakes. Really, who doesn’t? I like to make them as nutritious as possible so I can serve them for dinner. Here’s my current favorite recipe. I don’t measure spices, though. Which makes life pretty exciting around the Hatch household at meal time.

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
salt (not too much)
cinnamon (enough to make the dry ingredients a nice cinnamon-y color)
bran (optional)
zucchini or yellow squash shredded really fine (how much, you ask? ha ha ha.)
2 eggs (or two egg-sized globs of vanilla yogurt)
2 cups milk

Stir up the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients. Stir until just blended then let sit for a few minutes. The kids like syrup, but I prefer yummy homemade pear sauce. Super easy, too. Before starting the pancakes, just peel and chop some pears, toss them in a pot with some water and cinnamon, and simmer until the pancakes are all cooked. As Nate would say, delish.

This recipe is both sneaky and deceptively delicious. No one sue me.

catbird :: Jan.11.2008 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

1. Cookie negotiations start at dawn.

2. Could Van’s bout of insomnia have been anything else but sugar o.d.?

3. Two words: cookie smugglers.

4. Nate thinks if the cookie has raisins, it’s growing food.

5. Van learned how to climb up on the dining room chairs. His motivation: the cookie tray.

6. Part of every day is spent spinning in circles.

7. Van had green sugar hands for an entire day.

8. I thought it was separation anxiety, but it turned out Van just wanted another cookie.

9. My sofa is smeared with chocolate.

10. “Mommy, that gingerbread man is asking me to eat him.”

catbird :: Dec.21.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Last weekend, Nate wrapped gifts for his friends. With kids, I don’t believe there is such a thing as waste when it comes to art supplies, which is why I don’t even flinch when Nate uses gobs of glue and two foot pieces of tape. We’re always rewarded with fabulous and creative creations. This project was no exception. I don’t believe anyone has ever received such uniquely wrapped gifts:

catbird :: Dec.19.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Your “It’s like preschool on TV” tagline is ridiculous. Passive TV watching, even with “educational” segments, is nothing like preschool. At preschool, kids run around, play, imagine, interact, and learn by doing, not stare at a screen that tells them what a hexagon is. Just because you say it, doesn’t make it true.

catbird :: Dec.08.2007 :: cat rants, mommyhood :: Comments Off

At Thanksgiving, Moose A. Moose showed us the Turkey factory farm, then yesterday, he introduced a segment about a chicken farm with a barn the size of two football fields and and farmer happily shoveling sawdust for the “special delivery” of thousands of chicks. I turned off each segment before they could describe the “happy” life these birds will have, living inside, over crowded and never seeing sun or feeling grass under their feet for the few weeks they have to live.

Hey Noggin, what’s up with that?

catbird :: Dec.08.2007 :: cat rants, mommyhood :: Comments Off

When I was little, Mom always let me lick the beaters and taste the cookie dough. (Not to mention all the raw pasta dough I ate.) Yum! When I make cookies with my kids, they never get a taste of anything with raw eggs in it. Oh the delights they are missing out on! The sugar cookie dough that tastes like solid, crunchy vanilla ice cream; the chocolaty brownie batter; the sweet chocolate chip cookie dough the, well, doughy pasta dough…. In this case, ignorance (of salmonella) really would be bliss.

catbird :: Nov.26.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

While our house isn’t super old, our plumbing certainly isn’t new. When flushing gDiapers, we noticed that the recommended “swish once” method left our poor toilet struggling, leading to frequent multiple flushes.

One day, just by accident, I realized that if I keep swishing in the opposite direction of the water flow for most of the flush, everything goes down without a problem. Now I do that every time and multiple flushes have become a rarity. (As an added bonus for our poor old plumbing, now that we have a composter, we can compost the pee diapers when they start to pile up.)

catbird :: Nov.13.2007 :: going green, mommyhood :: Comments Off

I was super disappointed when the hub caps kept falling off our Radio Flyer Pathfinder wagon, mostly because when the hubcap falls off, the wheel falls off, which makes it a bit hard to pull two kids. I went to the Radio Flyer web site and completed the “request parts” form. Although I didn’t get a confirmation and had to call to follow up after a week, I was totally impressed and happy to hear that four new hub caps had already been shipped out to us, no questions asked.

I love good customer service.

catbird :: Nov.13.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Although I don’t have a really hard time getting the boys to eat chicken (of the non-nugget or finger kind), I’ve never seen them gobble it up so fast as when I made up this recipe. They even asked for second helpings.

1. Put Goldfish in a large Ziploc bag.
2. Give bag to small child to smash Goldfish into tiny pieces.
3. Dip strips of boneless chicken breast into slightly beaten egg then add to Goldfish bag.
4. Make sure chicken is coated in Goldfish crumbs.
5. Cook and eat.

We used those rainbow Goldfish which made for some very colorful chicken.

catbird :: Aug.22.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Kudos to RC2 for the handling of the Thomas trains recall. While I was surprised and dismayed by this recall, and a bit put out to fill out the form and mail our James back, I am impressed with the way the company is handling everything. I received a very professional and courteous email confirming receipt of the train, then, a week later, we received a “free gift” (Diesel — one we didn’t have yet) with a letter assuring us that our replacement James is on its way. Thank you RC2 for taking responsibility for the mistake and for taking care of your customers.

On the other hand, Mattel is bungling things, in my opinion. Our Sarge (from the Cars movie) is recalled and instead of replacing it, Mattel is sending us a $7 voucher for a new one. What?! We looked long and hard for our Sarge and it wasn’t easy to find. The way the Cars are distributed is in boxes with all different characters. The store doesn’t know what characters are in the box or when they might be getting a certain character. So now Mattel wants me to send back our Sarge and start trolling Target for a new one? Why not just send it to me? It seems to me that Mattel should WANT people to return the lead infested toys so that they are out of circulation and can be disposed of safely. By offering vouchers, the company is just encouraging people to hold on to the Sarge they have rather than having to go out and hunt for a new one. Talk about not respecting customer’s time! Mattel is responsible for the lead in the toy and yet not only do I have to take time to send ours back, but I have to go out and find a new one? Come on Mattel, own up to your mistake and make good with your customers. Boo, hiss, Mattel.

What’s up with all the lead anyway? I was just waiting for the Cars to have a recall. I wonder if Matchbox or Hotwheels will be next? I’m tempted to take all the toys stamped “China” away until Van stops putting things in his mouth. But that would only leave about five toys.

UPDATE: Yesterday I received the emailed prepaid postage label from Mattel. The email was strange, clearly modified from one that had nothing to do with the recall (it included the phrase “Please be assured that we have forwarded your comments to the appropriate individuals.” when there was no place for me to include comments — believe me, if there was, I would have given them an earful.) On top of the poorly written email, it included the following instructions:

“The maximum size of the package must be less than 108 inches total. The total is calculated by doubling the package height, plus double the package width plus the length. The length is the longest side of the package.”

To which I say back to Mattel “Huh?” Could they make this any more complicated.

MEANWHILE…. RC2 continues to wow me with their very responsible and conscientious handling of the recall. Today I received a check for $1.81 to cover the cost of postage to send our train back. The check probably cost more for them to process than the postage amount. Unexpected and appreciated, RC2.

catbird :: Aug.14.2007 :: cat rants, mommyhood :: Comments Off

When Van was born he was very tongue-tied. That is, his frenulum, that little piece of stuff that connects your tongue to your mouth, was super short. His tongue was heart-shaped at the tip and the frenulum connected just behind his bottom gums. Even our pediatrician called his tongue-tied-ness “extraordinary”. When Van was four months old, we were sufficiently worried about his nursing to visit a surgeon. He was slipping off and seemed very frustrated whenever he was eating, even though he was gaining weight. The surgeon said that at four months, the procedure would require general anesthesia. Everyone we talked to that had their child’s tongue “snipped” felt 100% that it was the right thing to do and that it made a huge difference. We, however, decided to wait and see what happened. Soon after the surgeon visit, Van had a growth spurt that resulted in the connection of his tongue to his mouth to move further away from his gums. And today, at nine months, Van is sticking his tongue out, well over his bottom lip, all day long. He thinks it a riot. Frankly, so do I.

catbird :: Jun.05.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

Why not put playpump style equipment in the playground and have spinning, running, climbing children generate some electricity for us. Hmmm… child labor or wisely utilizing our natural resources.

catbird :: May.31.2007 :: going green, mommyhood :: Comments Off

No more bisquick.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/Pancakes.html

Sugar and butter optional.

catbird :: Mar.25.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off

We stumbled upon this magic Counting Crows song when Nate was a baby. One day, frustrated by the screaming baby in my back seat, I turned up my Hard Candy CD just as Holiday in Spain started. Nate stopped crying. It was no coincidence. This song always put Nate to sleep in the car. Now, it works the same magic on Van. When other people ride in the car they can’t believe it. From the first rhythmic notes, Van, like Nate, quiets down. Crying baby? No problem. Even Nate knows — “put on Holiday on Spain, Mommy.” Thank you, Adam Duritz, for writing the most effective, powerful, and beautiful accidental lullaby we know.

catbird :: Mar.07.2007 :: mommyhood :: Comments Off