Marlowe

Speaking of Marlowe and ornaments. He has to say "hi" to all his friends in the ornament aisle of Target every time we go there.

I intended to give this hat and almost finished matching mittens for Christmas, but it's so cold, and he needs one now. I'm very proud of the first hat I knit!

After my friend MK raved about apple pandowdy, I saw it again in Everyday Food (I think). Guess it's the coolest newest retro dessert.

So we sort of made our own version, which actually was more just apple pie just baked with a top crust.

This is a very toddler-friendly way to make apple pie, and as we all know, "Marlowe make apple pie!!"

This is a toddler dessert from start to finish, because I don't know about you, but despite my efforts, I'm always picking up half-finished apples or apples with just one bite out of them. It's so frustrating.That Marlowe is a pro at sneaking apples. So when I find one of these renegade apples, I toss it in the fridge. When it came time for dessert, I chopped off bits that were bit off of, peeled it and tossed it in the pan. (yea, so maybe not a company dessert, I really did chop off all bit parts, though)

Then Marlowe helps shake some cinnamon, we drizzled maple syrup over the apples, and he stirred it all up. I whipped up a little pastry in the food processor, and since we weren't being too picky about it, he could help roll it out and then pull bits off to top the apples. Then we sprinkled with a little cinnamon and sugar and let it bake while we ate our dinner.

So, as you can see, it's not a very tidy apple pie, and I didn't have to freak out that he was going to mess up my perfect crust. Yet we still got to enjoy APple-pie (as he inflects it).

Three things making me happy today:

1. Or rather making Marlowe happy. "Marlowe make apple pie!"

Thanks, Melissa and Doug.

2. Making GRE study happier. Khan Academy. I heard about it on NPR. Little YouTube videos on so many topics. Just breaking it down. Keeping it simple. It is fantastic! After this horrible GRE debacle is over, I may work through the Finance course, since my basic understanding of Finance is pay the bills and keep the number at the bottom positive. Ha!

3. Baby giraffes.

Did not have my head on straight today. But the day got progressively better. I consider it to be a win if I'm having a crummy day but don't yell at the kids.

And I had a nice walk this afternoon with M.

I managed to get dinner in the crockpot early. It was potentially a good idea, but kind of didn't work out. I needed to use up a lot of random veggie bits, so chopped them up and threw them in the crockpot with some curry. Well, really too much curry. Yes, there can be too much curry. That was the problem.

Marlowe's kitchen interest just really amuses me sometimes. He wanted to hold the whisk while we went on our walk. Sometimes he holds a lion or a hippo, but today it was the whisk. He then cried, "where my spatula!?" which he says "ba-la-la".

I'm trying to kick it into high gear with some GRE study. Less than 2 weeks. Went out to study. I think they're going to hold me back in community college once they see my scores. Can I be such an idiot in math!?

And hooray for the Chilean miners rescue!

Couldn't help posting a few more pics:

Just a day or so old.

Less than a week old.

Three months old.

One year old.

Almost two years old.

Two years old.

Today my little Marlowe-y turns two.

We had a little party with a couple of his toddler friends this afternoon. I got Elmo plates and napkins...and juice (thanks, Earth's Best--also thanks for those Cookie Monster waffles for breakfast). It was very low-key. We ate lunch, played in the sandbox, and ate cupcakes. And then naps were needed and goodbyes said. I just wanted to do a little something for Marlowe.

Last night we gave him his presents. I can't believe I bought this. I NEVER, ever, ever, ever allow toys that make noise. I hate them. We have maybe two toys that make noise, and one of them is a car. I also really don't like plastic toys. But I got one of those fridge phonics things. Marlowe adores it. Groan. Sigh. His cute little dance to the music won out over my reason. And it's educational. I also got him bathtime ABC's, the kind that stick to the bath when wet. But don't go thinking I've lost my standards. No more toys that make noise!

Marlowe totally got that it was his birthday. He went around singing "happy 'daaaay!" When we came out with candles and cake singing, he just laughed with joy, in all his twinkly cuteness.

Marlowe is my big boy who is still a baby. He can do so much. He can almost put on his shoes by himself. He gets what's going on around him. He adores cooking with an infatuation that is almost scary. I think if I handed him an egg, he could totally scramble it by himself. (Kidding...sort of) He really likes to mix and pour. Sure, all two-year-olds do, but Marlowe reeeeally does.

He's still nursing quite happily. A few weeks ago I thought I couldn't take it any longer. Then my mom took him for a couple of nights, which may sound a little cruel to a little guy who wakes up in the night looking for milkies. But my mental health was at stake, and I ain't kidding. He did great for her, so when I picked him up on Saturday, I decided to just nightwean him. I haven't had the guts to do it, because I don't have daddy's night time help. But tonight is Night 4, and it's going okay. It's just more exhausting than just rolling over and letting him nurse. I think if I can nightwean him, I'll be happy going longer. He only nurses a couple of times during the day anyway. He's so busy and active, I think it helps ground him.

Marlowe has the funniest sense of humor. He loves to play little games and tricks. One of the first ones was putting a random object on his head and saying "hat? noooo." Sometimes he'll do something tricky to something of Ellis's and then take off running before Ellis finds out. How'd he learn to do that? He loves tickle games. Somtimes he'll grab at my shirt like he wants to nurse and I'll say "no" (we have set times), and he goes "tickle!" Like Psych!! You thought I was goign to nurse but I was really going to tickle! Cracks me up.

He's talking quite a bit, though all his girlfriends are ahead of him there. ha! And he's signing quite a bit, too. He's recently started using his name sign to refer to himself.

Is it bad that I'm a little scared of Marlowe? ha! He's got a lot of strength and passion and twinkle. It'll be interesting to see how he grows.

(thanks to my friend, Jenn, who took the pics. can we say I need a better camera!?)

Or, Sometime You Don't Get What You Want.

Act 1
Scene: getting ready for school.

Mom: Ellis, go upstairs and brush your teeth.
Ellis: yells NOOO!
Mom: Ellis, remember what Daddy said about yelling. That is not nice talking.
E: oh. I'm sorry, Mommy. hugs
Mom: Now go upstairs and brush your teeth.
E: No, thank you, mommy.

Act 2
Scene: Marlowe has discovered the container of cookies in a bag of stuff Grammy sent over. M would help himself but can't get the lid off.

Marlowe: PLEASE!!!!!!!
Mom: No, Marlowe, those are for when it's light out. You can have one tomorrow.
Marlowe finds Ellis and hands him the container PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully, Ellis was more than happy to play the role of boss: No, Marlowe.

I got a little help from my mom today and holed up to work on Handmade Holidays. So lots of creating in my neck of the woods, but nothing I can share yet. I'm sharing Marlowe's creativity from yesterday. I had Ellis and Paints and Handmade Holiday action going yesterday, so I put a couple of drops of liquid watercolor into a bowl of water for M, and he had so much mixing and pouring, basically his two favorite activities.

This was going to be my December Photo Project picture of the day. All nice and serene, eh? It doesn't happen much or for very long. When it does happen, it's a result of great effort upon my part, for the duration.

It's so cute, I just had to share.

Later in the day, though, this preempeted all warm fuzzies.

I didn't hear a crash, just Ellis ran to the kitchen and signed to me TREE FALL DOWN. And I was like, "huh?" (He said it so matter-of-factly, that I couldn't figure which tree he had been talking about.) And Chris looked over and said, "marlowe." That's all one really needs to say. Marlowe was intently playing with the ornaments. He had just pulled the little Starbucks ornament off and was saying, "hot, hot, hot..." Yes, Marlowe, coffee is hot. It would be Marlowe that would pull a Christmas tree down, one that was already zip tied into the stand and duct taped to the table. And it would be Ellis that was immensely concerned that I did not rush to the immediate intervention of Marlowe as I paused to snap this picture.