Time is flying

Time has started moving really quickly around here!   We've been enjoying some beautiful spring weather.  Ramy embarked on a bit of a landscaping project, and our flowers are blooming and the hummingbirds are enjoying their new feeders.  Unfortunately, Sydney has yet to be convinced that her assistance in digging holes for plants is not needed and she looks up at us defiantly, with her nose covered in dirt, when we scold her. 

Rebecca sustained her first athletic injury on Monday night.  At dance class, she slipped and fell while practing a plié.  I had looked down at my Blackberry and didn't see exactly how it happened.  It seems that she fell and hit her mouth and her top tooth cut into her bottom lip.  She was so startled that I actually thought she might be in shock, because she couldn't even cry for a few minutes, even though she was bleeding.  Initially, we were concerned she might have cracked or damaged the tooth, as she was complaining about it hurting.  However, it was never loose, no cracks are visible, and it isn't hurting her now.  Poor baby!  She said it hurt too much to eat dinner, so I suggested that she just eat something soft.  Always one to look for advantages in such situations, Rebecca used her injury to ask to eat yogurt for dinner.  I even went to the grocery store to get the squeezable tubes of yogurt that she loves and gets at Panera Bread.  Since that worked, she then suggested that she could eat polvoron for dinner as well.  She said, "I can eat polvoron.  It's soft...and it's good!"  What a little stinker!

She is looking forward to her dance recital coming up on June 19!

The world as Rebecca sees it

Tonight, as our dog Sydney was making a break to rub her rear on the stairway carpet, Rebecca chased Sydney down the stairs (I need a whole post to explain the oddities that are our pets) and yelled, "Sydney is up the stairs. HE's being BAD!"
Always ready for a teachable moment, I corrected, "SHE came up the stairs." 
Rebecca said, "No, HE came up the stairs." 
Patiently, I explained, "No, SHE came up the stairs.  Sydney is a girl, and SHE goes with girls."
Exasperated, Rebecca sighed, "No he isn't!  Sydney is a boy and Hadee [Paddy = Paddington] is a girl."
"No," I said, "Paddington is a boy and Sydney is a girl."
Stymied by my stupidity, Rebecca said, "No they not!  Sydney is black so HE'S a BOY. Hadee is brown so SHE'S a GIRL."

Strawberry Shortcake

One of our favorite desserts this spring has been strawberry shortcake.  I'm quite fond of this recipe.


Strawberry Sauce:
2 pints fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
Juice of one lemon

In a medium-sized bowl, combine ingredients.  Using a whisk, pastry blender, potato masher, or other such device, mash the strawberries to desired consistency.  Stir and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Scones:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. cold butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp. vanilla extract)
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half

Glaze:

1 egg
2 Tbsp. cream
Sugar


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease a scone pan or place baking stone in oven to preheat.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir to blend.  Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 egg with vanilla and cream or half-and-half.  Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean and add to liquid mixture.  Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture just until combined.

On a floured surface, knead the dough a few times.  Pat into the scone pan or pat into a circle and cut into biscuits or triangles.  Place dough in the scone pan or place cutouts on a cookie sheet or baking stone. 

Whisk together the egg and cream for glaze and brush.  Sprinkle with granulated sugar (sanding sugar looks pretty).  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.  A toothpick inserted into the center of a scone should come out clean.  Cool on racks.

Split scones and spoon strawberry mixture over the bottom.  Put the top of the scone on top of strawberries and top with whipping cream.  Garnish with additional strawberry slices or mint sprigs.

Forgot to mention...

...that I have a date for my dissertation defense!

Monday, May 3 is the auspicious date.  I'd hoped for it to be sooner, but because of a new department policy (which no one else seems to be adhering to, but I decided not to rock the boat), I had to allow for a few weeks between giving the dissertation to my committee and my defense.  Hopefully, this will work in my favor, as the policy is also that committee members are to provide feedback about the draft to me at least a week before the defense so that I have time to address them beforehand.  This should make for a surprise-free defense.

May 3 is my dad's birthday.  I think he would like the culmination of my academic career to be on his birthday. 

A song for Grammy

While I was making dinner Sunday night, Rebecca grabbed her songbook and started singing a song.  It went on for several verses!  Of course, I had to ask her to hold it so that I could capture it and send it to Grammy. 

It's like deja vu....but better!

On Friday, I was able to leave work early to meet up with Nanny Rebecca who brought Little Rebecca to me.  Rebecca and I then met Julie, Addie, and "Addie's bro-der Nu-cas" for lunch and some shopping.  It was like old times...except with a special addition!  Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed having Addie to play with and insisted on holding her hand. Unfortunately, Addie wasn't in the mood for tandem strolling, so Rebecca resorted to dragging her around.  Nonetheless, I think both girls had fun, despite the lack of napping that had occurred.  I don't think I had mentioned that we'd had the opportunity for a similar afternoon the week before, before Rebecca and I went to pick up my mom from the airport.   We had bought the girls the same dresses at Gap on that occasion and took the opportunity on Friday to have them match.  Are we ridiculous, or what?

The Woltils are in town to introduce the West Coast to Mr. Lucas Daniel Woltil, who is every bit as wonderful (and large!) a baby as his big sister was.  Ever the multitasker, Julie is also using her maternity leave to finish and defend her dissertation this week.  Good luck, Julie! 

Precious baby Lucas....

Some Rebecca-isms

Rebecca has learned what her parents careers are.   Any time she hears the word "lawyer," in any context whatsoever, she turns to Ramy and exclaims, "You're a nawyer!"  When asked what mommy is, she will say, "she's a sigh-caw-jist."  In the evening, she asks me, "Did you see your ki-ents today?  Did you help them get better?"

Rebecca is quite intent on being independent.  She is quite proud of the fact that she can do many things by herself and will struggle to do them even when she isn't really able to do it.  She was attempting to take many little pets and friends downstairs and couldn't keep them all in her hands.  I offered to help, and she said, "No, I can DO IT!"  I said, "Okay, well, if you need help, just ask."  No sooner had I said the words, she said with an utterly exasperated voice, "Mama, can you HELP ME, puh-leeze.  I can't carry all of these by myself!"  She gave me a look like I had forced her to carry an ox across the desert on her back.

Our daughter remains the queen of negotiations.  When Grammy is here, she is always asking how many days she will stay and is always arguing for her to stay "five."  When there are 12 days left of Grammy's visit, Rebecca tries to negotiate to five.  When there are two days of Grammy's visit left, she asks for five.   Just before dinner, Rebecca asked me for some marshmallows.  I told her no and that we were going to be having dinner in a few minutes.  She said, "But can I have marshmallows PLEASE?"  I informed that marshmallows aren't a dinner.  She said, "Well, how 'bout for a snack now?"  When deciding where to eat lunch out one day, Rebecca clearly wanted Johnny Rockets.  We said we could eat at Bravo Burger.  She said, "How 'bout Johnny Rockets?"  She said, "Or we could eat at Johnny Rockets!"  We suggested some other place.  "Well, maybe Johnny Rockets!"  Each time, she suggested it as though it had just occurred to her.

Rebecca has a thing about repeating herself.  She won't do it.  If she says something and is asked to repeat herself, she'll usually say "Never mind."  When pressed about it, she will say, "I changed my mind!"  No amount of cajoling will convince her to repeat herself.  Tonight, she was looking at a card that had all the Disney Princesses on it, and she was naming all of them.  I thought she said something funny about one of them, so I said, "What did you say?" 
"Never mind," was her reply. 
Me: Can you repeat it?  I didn't hear you. 
Rebecca:  I changed my mind! 
Me:  Why won't you say it again?  Are you embarassed?
Rebecca: Yeah....

Fast forward to us being at home and telling Rebecca to put her shoes away in her room.  She didn't want to do so, because she didn't want to go in her room, as it was dark (never mind that she can turn on the light herself).  She said, "I don't want to!  I'm embarassed!  Mama, you embarass me, all the time!"

Logic

Do you know of anyone who would go to the lengths of outright bribery to assure good pictures for a photo shoot?  Yes, you do.  Me.  I had promised Rebecca ice cream and a special surprise if she smiled nicely and was very good and cooperative for the picture session on Saturday (fortunately, the other two were teenagers and I didn't think I'd need that much coercion for them).  She promised she would, and she kept her promise, so I kept mine.  One of her most cherished Christmas gifts was a Zhu Zhu pet -  something that I bought totally without knowing what it was but just knowing that it was the hard-to-find toy of the season.  When I saw it pop up on a website I was shopping in the middle of the night, I ordered it on a whim.  She loved that crazy thing.  They had come out with new ones, including some "girl" hamsters, so that was Rebecca's pay-off reward for the good pictures.  Thus, "Jilly", a pink Zhu-Zhu pet with a tiara and tutu came to live with us.

Because the Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house on Easter Sunday until he knows we've gone to Mass, we had a little extra time on Easter morning to contemplate what the Easter Bunny might have brought Rebecca while we were driving home from breakfast after church.  As we drove, she pondered whether the Easter Bunny might have brought her another camera, like the one she got for Christmas. I told her that she already had one camera, so she didn't need another one just like it.  She said, "Well, I already have one hamster too but now I got two of 'em. Maybe I can have two cameras too."

Easter 2010

Not much better

Well, I thought I was going to do better, but not quite, apparently! 

No word on my dissertation, other than that my chair gave it a once-over and thought the first read was good...but he's going to give it more attention in "the next few days."  That was Tuesday, so I'd like those next few days to have already happened!  I'm anxious to get a date!

More drama at CONREP.  They found the guy who was the murder suspect...dead in the getaway vehicle, of an apparent and gruesome suicide.  It has really rocked our clients a lot more, and on top of that, there's been some other big drama with respect to the staff who left.  So just more general craziness there, and it doesn't take much to rock our clients' worlds. 

But three months from yesterday, I'm officially unemployed!  Hopefully by then I'll know something more specific about my hopeful job at FAHC!

Tomorrow we have a busy day.  We're getting pictures of Rebecca and her first cousins taken in Orange County.  They'll be a gift to Ramy's mother for Mother's DAy.  I'm really excited about it and hope she loves it.  There are actually no pics of all three of them together, so I think she will think it is special.  Then we have a birthday party for my friend Raquel's daughter Eliana Grace, who will be a year old.  

My friend Julie had her baby boy!  His name is Lucas Daniel, and he was a great big handsome boy.  I can't wait to see them next week!  Rebecca watched some video of Addie and her new baby brother and was thoroughly confused.  Although she told us she wanted "a bra-der AND a sister," she had apparently never realized that brothers and sisters come as babies.  Luckily, she doesn't have any brother or sister coming any time soon, so we don't have to worry too much about correcting that thought at this point!