not from instagram, but from my phone:
we went to deep creek for a week, you loved it.
you love to wear my shoes…
and daddy’s shoes.
i can’t get enough of your early morning snuggles.
you seem to be pondering deep things here, but i think you were really watching the men play soccer.
sleepy little man on the way to the fresh beat concert.
go ravens!
more soon…like recipes and actual words. stay tuned!
things have been…busy lately. though the days are actually longer in the summer, they seem to pass more quickly. fritz is growing in leaps and bounds (physically as well as developmentally) and it’s hard to keep up. here’s what we’ve been up to:
someone is very interested in the potty right now…
though it’s usually quickly abandoned.
i have no words for this one…it’s just…well, you can see.
in a major apple phase these days.
this is my view of him when we play on the couch. he likes to grab my hair and rub his face with it…
playing sippy cup roulette with his friend logan.
he made a match!
…has been hard. papa fritz is in finland negotiating a contract, and i’m at home with captain chaos and his sidekick all week. they get into tons of trouble and are always underfoot. the cat does nothing to help, she’s useless, but cute. i have no time for words, but here are some photos of how we’ve spent our time…
he likes to eat the tops of his yogurts…this is my current favorite face, by the way.
pre-walk, in his jaunty hat with an apple to snack on. delicious.
mommy’s very snugly boy.
we say “hugs for tucker” and this is what he does. heart. melting.
someone was very proud of the harry potter-esque wound on his forehead.
nana gave him gushers “fruit” snacks. uh hunh, fruit, right.
kisses for nana.
kisses for tucker (we are very into kissing right now).
devilish grin.
the east coast has been experiencing some beautiful weather for the last several months. for some reason, we’ve been missed by every major system that has hit every other part of the country. i’m thrilled. today, for instance, it is almost 90 degrees. in april. fritz went to the doctor this morning in shorts and a tee shirt. i (stubbornly) packed a jacket for him because i refused to believe he wouldn’t “catch a chill” in april. needless to say he was all gross and sweaty in the car seat by the time we completed the 25 minute drive.
his 18 month checkup went great, he is 34″ tall (!?) and 27 pounds, 8 ounces. he’s 75th percentile across the board. he had his shots and had all his bits checked, and we are now clear until the two year mark. yay!
this salad is perfect for a spring day. it’s light and fresh and i served it alongside some shrimp i’d quickly sauteed in padma lakshmi’s delicious chili honey butter (mix cayenne, honey, and butter. proceed to schmear on everything). my salad used some leftover roasted potatoes (i’ll tell ya how) but you could sub with steamed or boiled if you’d prefer something easier.
simple spring salad
to make the dressing add the mustard, garlic, lemon juice, and some salt and pepper to taste to a bowl and whisk together. slowly add the olive oil while whisking, to incorporate and emulsify. once it’s fully blended, set it aside. you can compulsively stir it while you do everything else (like i do) or just leave it be.
i’m sure you sensed a theme in the ingredient list and that is simplicity. i used bagged butter lettuce (cause i’m lazy) and frozen green beans (also, pure laziness). you could certainly buy a head of lettuce and fresh beans and lovingly rinse, dry, chop, steam them…but i’m not gonna. and you can’t make me.
for the potatoes i used some that i had leftover from a dinner earlier in the week. for those i just quartered them and then tossed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and thinly sliced garlic then popped them onto a baking sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. easy peasy. when i used them for the salad they were cold, but warm would be ok too.
toss the lettuce, potatoes, and green beans into a bowl. drizzle on the dressing and toss well (don’t use all the dressing at first, you may not even need it all and it will keep in the fridge for a few days). once it’s all combined shave on some romano cheese and then serve. mine was a side dish, but this could be a main dish if you put some sliced chicken (or fish or tofu) on top. enjoy!
also, here is what we’ve been up to lately (according to instagram):
until next time…
obviously this isn’t the first easter that fritz has celebrated, but he was so young for his first (he couldn’t even sit up and we had to prop him to take photos…it was pretty cute actually) that it may as well be.
the lucky little boy ended up with four baskets: one from us, one from nana fritz, one from mom mom fritz, and one from his cousin stella. in all of those baskets he only ended up with one rice krispies egg, one chocolate bunny, and fruit snacks. so, that was a success! i put pretzels into his eggs because he loves them so much. with the exception of the fruit snacks and a few bites of carrot cake, he actually didn’t have any sweets at all on easter day. yay us!
here are some photos of the day…
easter was very happy this year. we got the chance to spend a lot of time with family and fritz enjoyed every moment of it. at just shy of 18 months he’s growing by leaps and bounds right now…
i hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday!
…via instagram.
clearly not impressed with whatever was on tv.
concentrating (on pooping).
someone found my jewelry box.
first skinned knee! (buzz lightyear bandage to the rescue!)
hugs for tucker.
diner breakfast for daddy’s birthday!
playing peek-a-boo.
a rare pause during bath time.
wow, i’ve been absent for a while! i have a new deadline at work and have been putting in some extra time. then if you add in the babe and p90x, my days have been full to the brim!
i have some awesome recipes planned for you, but first, i’d like to do an instagram roundup…
1. saturday morning still life with bulldog and baby leg:
2. a little light reading
3. daddy’s head is delicious
4. playing the harmonica
5. dinnertime chuckles
6. little man fell asleep while playing
7. ready for his close up!
8. he takes the toys out and then climbs in…
9. very seriously watching ‘the fresh beat band’
10. gnawing on tupperware while mama cooks dinner
stay tuned for some delicious recipes coming your way!
technically, this is the second christmas for our dear fritz, but as he was only two months old the first time around, this is the first one that really counts. christmas is always a busy time of year for us, since we have a lot of family that we try to see and nana fritz’s birthday falls two days before the holiday.
in addition to the visual retrospective below, here are some highlights for fritz: he tasted lamb chops, lobster bisque, meatballs, italian calamari, and banana bread for the first time. he loved all of them. he got lots of new toys (drums, a harmonica, bath toys, a “laptop”, little people, etc.) and books, but it was the cat and dog toy that really stole the show for him. for the first time he actually opened some of his gifts, though he (predictably) lost interest in it pretty quickly.
here are some photos:
with nana fritz on her birthday
"helping" to decorate the tree
checking out his first "laptop"
a boy and his dog
all dressed up for christmas
christmas morning
we hope your christmas (or hanukkah, or winter break) was special. how did you celebrate?
men are different than women, which is perhaps the most obvious statement of all time. they are direct, practical, thinkers. this isn’t to say that women aren’t those things as well, but we tend to be more emotional, more passionate. we attach importance to objects, songs, smells, and moments in time. we are romantic. i’ve always found it frustrating that men are more ‘closed’ than women. sure, they feel things. but they process those feeling quickly and then move on. they don’t linger and analyze like we do.
so when i found out i was having a little boy i was slightly concerned. i worried that he would be born with the emotional availability of a full grown man. that he would feel joy or fear or frustration and i wouldn’t even know. that i wouldn’t be able to tell when he was excited or scared. that i wouldn’t be able to connect with this tiny man on a pure emotional level.
imagine my surprise and elation at discovering just how open he is. he feels everything so fiercely, and is led by these emotions. each feeling amplified. the cat walking into the room is the happiest moment in his day, until some other trivial occurrence unseats and replaces it. not being allowed to chew on the diaper rash cream is the most frustrating thing he can imagine, until he can’t… quite… reach… his favorite toy. every feeling is a live wire. a raw nerve. the thrill of discovery, the frightened whimper when i move out of his line of sight, the angry shakes of his chubby fists when he is told ‘no’.
i know that as he matures the wide grins and fat tear drops will be replaced with the eye rolls and sullen glances of a teenager. i know that in turn they will give way to the warm hugs and smiles of an adult. but i also know that i am forever grateful for what i have right now, a view of his precious heart before the walls go up.
fritz is really talking up a storm these days, and this new found form of communication is incredibly helpful. he still does a lot of pointing and some grunting, but he’s started to use words to get what he wants…and i love it!
here is a little list of the words he’s saying right now:
not bad for 13 months! i’ll update the list as he adds more words.
the other day i swear he said both “no” and “more”, but he’s only said each one once, so i’m not including them here.
shnicklefritz on the rocks 