The Proof is On The Counter...

When my countertop looks like this, it can only mean one thing... the in-laws are here!

A Belated Congratulations...

My sister "erin e" (also known as the beloved Auntie Erin) graduated this past December from Washington University with a Masters in Human Resources Management, and she chose to walk in May at the main commencement exercises.

We flew out for the events (Casey's third and fourth flights in her young life), and it was absolutely WONDERFUL to not only celebrate her Auntie Erin's accomplishment, but also to introduce Casey to the many aunts, uncles, and cousins who live here in St. Louis. Best of all, Casey met (and really warmed right up to) her Great-Grandpa Ruegg.

It was just a glorious long weekend of love, family, and fun!

(click on photos to enlarge them)

A Few Changes and A Lot of Growth...

Over the past few months, many changes have been taking place in Casey's schooling. Not earth-shattering ones, mind you - I mean, we're still at Chesterbrook (and paying a boat load! smile). But shortly after her first birthday, Casey transitioned from the Infant to the Toddler-A room.

The transition was deliberately lengthy. First, we started by giving Casey my pumped milk in a sippy cup, then pouring the leftovers into a bottle. She did well and drank exclusively from a cup during school hours not long thereafter. Then we began introducing cow's milk into the cup, and pretty quickly, though she noticed a difference, she didn't seem to mind the change in flavor (or temperature, as the milk isn't heated like her bottles had been).

Next, Casey began visiting the Toddler-A room for short periods during the day; an hour here, a couple of hours there. When she was finally in the "grown up" area at pickup time, I noticed a marked change in Casey. She was still excited to see me and dropped everything to crawl, walk, or climb straight to Mama. But when she arrived in my arms, she loosened her grip, would point to things or friends in the room, and pronounce "Dahhhh!" (her word for most things at that stage). It was as if she were showing off this new, fun environment.

Her end-of-the-day greetings then transitioned to wanting a hug, but immediately pulling away to go back over to her friends or whatever activity she'd been involved in before I opened the classroom door.

Nowadays, she'll often run over and say "Hi" to me, but she's not quite ready to leave Chesterbrook as soon as I arrive there.

This isn't upsetting to me in any way. There are brighter colors, more toys, and lots of noise in the Toddler room, and it's quite obviously geared towards her maturation. I love seeing her so happy with friends and teachers (oh, the kisses she gives and gets!), and each day is a testament to the growth she's experiencing in the day care setting.

Of course, nothing in this life is perfect...

A minor complaint (if I could even call it a complaint) is that Casey comes home MESSY! Big t-shirts are worn at lunch (instead of bibs), but when the air was still cold enough for long sleeves, the ends of them were usually covered in spaghetti sauce or some other delicacy. Playing outside, interacting with other kids, working on real projects (versus the cute, barely touched "art" from the Infant room), etc. all lead up to less-than-pristine shirts and pants at the end of the day. It may mean more OxiClean for us, but it's also a nice indication that our daughter is having fun, fun, fun!

And - here it comes - our little doll has been BIT (bitten?). It's happened three times over several months (twice within a week of one another by the same child), but not at all for awhile. We've been reassured that this is somewhat normal for her age-group, and though seeing the first-time mark on Casey's arm was disconcerting to us, one of our major concerns was that she'd learn how to bite back! (We so don't want to be the parents getting the report that our daughter hurt someone else.) Thankfully, we haven't received such word yet. We've been told that Casey occasionally participates in the bad behaviors known by her age group (hitting, eye-poking, etc.) but that she is a real sweetie and not at all a repeat offender.

She is learning so much at Chesterbrook that we can barely keep up with what she now knows. She has MANY words:

Mama, Daddy, hi, buh-bye, kitty, dog, woof (usually followed by puppy-like panting), moo (responded when asked, "Casey, what does a cow say?"), more-more (always said twice in a row along with the sign language for "more"), diaper, row-row-row (almost exclusively stated in threes, as in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"), yeah, and baba (for "baby").

Until recently, she loved pointing to her nose, and we were so excited that she finally knew a body part. Now, however, she will NEVER touch her own schnoz, but loves to rest her finger upon ours. She was looking through a book a few weeks back and saw a picture of a baby's ear. She showed me the picture and then grabbed her own ear, and I exclaimed, "Good girl - EAR! Great!"

Well, it's always nice to get attention, so Casey then showed us, upon our asking, her arms (waving them up in the air), hands (think "spirit fingers"), legs and feet (patting them with her hands), head and hair (a little too much pulling on it for her own good), mouth (she drums it with her fist while saying "ahhhhhh" - much like we non-politically-correct folks did to imitate Native American Indians when we were kids), and a new favorite: her BELLY! Warm weather has ushered out the use of onesies, so Casey's stomach is always accessible for a peek or poke! We had no idea that she already knew all of these body parts.

She can walk up and down the stairs while holding onto railings or our hands (but also likes to crawl and use knees), empties the dishwasher with Daddy (a favorite pasttime), and is getting quite skilled at making real music come from the many flutes and pipes we have lying around the house. She is also becoming very interested in (and good at) simple puzzles.

Casey has a new obsession with dogs - she loves hearing, seeing, and pointing at them. They're totally the "it" thing right now for her, made complete by a new dalmatian stuffed animal (named Doggy) from my cousin Matt.

At her doctor's visit last week, Casey measured 33 inches tall and weighed 22 pounds, 3 ounces. Her hair is getting longer (and in her eyes!), but she refuses to leave ponytails or barrettes in it (and Mommy refuses the first hair cut just yet). She has 10 teeth (8 in the front and her 2 top molars), and her doctor could feel the bottom molars just under the surface of her gums.

She seems, in most ways, more like a "kid" now than a baby. We are helplessly in love and constantly shocked by how fast this is all going!

She's Gone and Done It...

So, Casey decided to forgo her nap today (normally from about noon-2:00PM), and we kept waiting (and watching and trying for) a sleepy moment to arrive, assuming we could help her sneak in a few winks in the late afternoon before dinner.

But no nap came for this obstinate child, so she went and did what I've heard so many other parents describe...

Casey fell asleep right at the dinner table:

Warm Weather, Here We Come!...

Seeing this kid wear little shorts is absolutely the highlight of my day...

My Crunchy Kind of Girl...

Happy belated Earth Day, y'all.

We've been amiss from our blog (as usual), and wanted to post you an adorable photo of Casey on Earth Day, dressed as quite the hippy that she is (she wore tye-dye that day)...

...but our camera decided to give out on us once and for all (which is why you're seeing a picture from Longwood Gardens instead.)

Granted, our camera was many, many years old. It was bound to happen at some point. It's always nice to upgrade. Yadi yadi yada. But none of those statements make it very easy to swallow the idea that we'll now have to spend some mucho bucks on electronics today (when we didn't budget for such an expense).

Life goes on, though, and cameras are necessities (as far as I'm concerned!), so let's hope for even clearer, nicer pics in the future.

The one shot I was able to take this past Thursday before the camera went kaputz was this:



Granola Bars

2 cups oats
1 cup nut(s) of choice (crushed, chopped, halved or whole)
3/4 cup wheat germ (I substituted crushed Wheat Chex here)
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup dried fruit (Craisins, raisins, etc.)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter (half a stick)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together oats, nuts, wheat germ and sunflower seeds in a baking dish. Toast these dry ingredients in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring once. Pour them into a large bowl and add the dried fruit to the mix.

Meanwhile, line a jelly roll or lasagna pan with wax paper, and lightly spray it with non-stick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, mix brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla and salt together - set the stovetop temperature to low-medium, and bring your liquid ingredients to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for about 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Pour liquid ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients, and mix quickly. Spread and flatten your granola mixture into the prepared pan, adding another sheet of wax paper on top to help press down your bars. Allow to harden for at least 1-2 hours, cut into squares, and ENJOY!

The real keys to this recipe, in my estimation, are the oats and the liquid ingredients. If you use at least 1-1/2 cups oats along with 4 cups of other dry ingredients (to have 5-1/2 cups total) -and combine that with the liquid measurements- you're going to end up with a delicious snack in your household.

Just think of the possibilities.... Breakfast Bars with Cheerios, yogurt bites, dried apples... Salty Sweet Bars with pretzels, caramel chips, peanuts... and so on.

OBX

We will be back soon... we are busy vacationing in the Outer Banks! In the meantime, we wanted to leave you with a little taste of the fun we are having down here - Casey enjoying the sites...