the benefits of breastfeeding my potty-trainer

22 months and still nursing happily- Isaiah and I are both happy with keeping this relationship going. I had never considered before today the benefits of nursing during potty training! Yesterday we got home from seeing the Tigers and we were all tired out from a long, fun day outside. I wanted to just crash on the couch but Isaiah declared he had to poop. He'd only been on the potty once before just as a joke more than anything, but I believed him and put him on there- and he DID IT! Pee and poop. And he seemed to understand how to make it all work on demand! Yes!! I love child-directed parenting. He was ready, so he asked to do it!

Today, so far, he's been dry all day and has asked to go when needed. The benefits of breastfeeding have been that I don't have to reward him with junky candy or wasteful stickers- he just has a little milk when he's done. He feels happy, supported and very big!

thoughts on nursing a toddler

I've never made it this far into the breastfeeding relationship. Solstice was only just over a year and Aiden was about 18 months when they weaned. Isaiah is 20 months now and this is a whole new thing.
1. I've never nursed a talking child before. It adds a whole new dimention to "don't talk with your mouth full".
2. When the first breast is out of fast flowing milk, Isaiah will sign "all done" and then quickly sign "milk" meaning he wants to easier milk that would come from switching sides.
3. Often I am awaken as night to Isaiah climbing over me to get to the breast with more milk. He just helps himself (which is good) but he finds it easier to go over me than around.

tick tock

Isaiah is still breastfeeding on demand. He doesn't ask as often throughout the day, but he really hasn't slowed down yet.



But I know the time is coming. Aiden and Solstice were both weaned at this age. I've been hoping all along to make it to his second birthday and I have no reason to think we won't.



But everyday that goes by and gets us closer to his birthday makes me a little sad. I really hate the idea of giving up this part of our relationship. I know new and exciting things will happen in his second year but there is something so magical about right now.



I love that he can ask for milk and tell me when he's all done. I love how we communicate when he's busy nursing. I love how he fits perfectly on my lap.



Why do they have to grow up?

Acorn Pancakes

The kids and I are on a great adventure this year- we are having a go at homeschooling. So far, it's been a lot of work! but very fun and a great challenge. We are currently studying life in Colonial America. They have never learned much of basic American history so I thought it would be a great place to start. We are also doing a basic study in plants (classification, identification). So, we those topics in mind, I thought it might be fun to go out in the woods and harvest acorns to make into colonial-style pancakes. My main objectives were to get them to be able to identify the kind of acorns we wanted and then to get a good understanding of how hard people used to have to work to get their food.
I think I we managed the last objective.
Here is the process for eating acorns- it took all evening yesterday to prepare them, the roasted over night and then we made the pancakes this morning for breakfast.
We gathered about half of a plastic grocery sack full. I didn't want to empty out the park but I wanted to make sure we had enough. It ended up making just a cup of acorn meal. About 1/3 of the acorns were bad- full of worms or rotten.









It works best to boil them in the shell for a few minutes so the knife can go in easier.

I have a great knife for this task- the end broke off so there is a blunt end that I used to dig into the shell. This took a long time but was the kind of repetative kitchen task that soothes me.
So then you have a pot of acorn meat. This needs to be boiled to remove the tannins. It smells SO good while you are doing this! Kind of like carmel and wine and brown sugar. Yum.






So I let it boil for 10 minutes and then I strained it out through a cloth in a strainer. Then you have to repeat this process over and over until the water starts to run clearer. I tasted it after a few times and it was still pretty bitter (like crazy strong walnuts) so I kept going. I'm not sure how many times I did this, maybe 10.
Then I ran the acorn meat through the food processer to make it more like a meal. If I were going to do this ever again, I would get some kind of flour mill. The food processer just didn't really work for this task.
Then the roasting. I spread it thin on cookie sheets and put it in the oven set on a real low temp (260). I roasted it like this for about 2 hours before bed (stirring ever once in awhile). Then at bed time I turned off the oven but the pilot light kept it hot enough to continue roasting over night.




In the morning, it was much darker and the taste was real mellow. I ran it through the food processer again to try and get it more like a meal, but like I said, it just isn't meant for that. So it was the best it was going to get.



This is the recipe I used:
1 cup flour
1 cup acorn meal
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
3 Tbs vegetable oil

We ate them with raspberry syrup we made this summer after we picked raspberries on Solstice's b-day. We also boiled up the apples we found in the woods yesterday. Yumm.

So, what did the kids think?
The pictures speak loud and clear:



Was it worth the effort? Yes.
Will we do it again anytime soon? No.

weight loss

One of my New Years resolutions was to eat better and hopefully lose some weight. I refuse to diet ever again. Life is too short to not eat chocolate. I've been trying to eat as Vegan as possible. And I've been doing pretty well with that. I'm certainly not 100%.
For breakfast I've been eating oatmeal everyday. I make it on the stove with just some salt. Sometimes I put raisins or apples in it. I mix it with some soymilk after its cooked. I'm really loving it. And it keeps me feeling full for hours and hours.

For lunch lately I've been eating hommus with crackers. The crackers are extra high fiber crackers. I don't have any info to back this up, but my theory is that lots of fiber has to be good for a diet and must balance the higher carb rate. I don't eat a lot because I'm usually still pretty full from the oatmeal.
I eat whatever everyone else is having for dinner. This is where I have a harder time staying vegan. I use a lot of milk in baking and in the winter soups I make. But whenever I can leave out the cheese for my own dinner I do. And I've tried to make sure that half of my dinner is made of vegetables. If I want more I make myself have more vegetables too. It seems to fill me up just as well and gets me to eat more raw vegetables (which I love but have a harder time eating in the winter).
And then the biggest change for me is NO snacking after dinner. I'm a huge snacker. I love popcorn or ice cream in the evening. But no more. Lately Andre and I have been making a pot of tea in the evening and I just sip on that. Its been a good routine.
I've not been strict and there are cookies and bites of chocolate mixed in there for balance. Like I said, I don't want to feel like I'm dieting.
And its working. Since december I've lost over 20 pounds. I don't weigh myself often. I think it's just evil to have those numbers in my head all the time. But I weighed myself at my sisters this week and was so surprised by what I saw! I knew I was doing good because my clothes fit so different but still I was shocked!
Guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.
And of course, I'll keep my biggest diet tip- Breastfeeding burns about 500 calories a day!

i want

*a spurtle

*a woven basket to carry to the farmers market this summer

*this book about knitting socks

*a SIGG