Seven Quick Takes

I

Quote of the week, from when Little Bear (2.5) and I were grocery shopping and took a shortcut through the refrigerated sodas aisle:

Little Bear (looks around with a delighted gasp): "Mama, look at all the wine! Wine for Mama?"

...at "you can hear him two aisles over" volume, of course!

II

Baby notes: Kit has been dancing a lot these days—she's just big enough now that sometimes it keeps me awake at night, but it's nice to be feeling movement. The placenta is anterior this time, so it took longer to feel any movement with Kit than it did with Little Bear. I'm feeling a little discouraged by the thought that "if I'm this big at 22 weeks, I'm going to be huge by the end." Not that I've gained a lot, at all; I just look the same as I did at seven-ish months pregnant with Little Bear, and am grumpy that my maternity clothes aren't fitting the way I want them to. I know, such an insignificant thing to be unhappy about...

III

It definitely wouldn't be accurate to say that we're already "doing school" with Little Bear, but he's sure been having fun recently with letters and numbers. The other day he brought a number book that we'd just been using for coloring in up to the table, and asked Matt to help him trace the numbers. Ever since, he's been excitedly writing 1s on every picture he colors.

IV

Plans for Valentines Day, anyone? Matt will be out caribou hunting all day, and potentially meeting coworkers at a local taproom in the evening, so we really aren't doing anything. I joked last night that a dead animal to cut up was exactly what I wanted for Valentines, but really, I'd be so happy to have meat in the freezer, and it would be so great for Matt to get his first big game animal. When they go hunting, I'm always conflicted on how to pray for them; the prayer usually winds up being a convoluted mess along the lines of "Lord, please bless them with a safe and successful hunt, but more importantly safe than successful, but it would really really help if they brought home meat, but Your will be done, but please bring him home safely..."

V

Since doing anything tomorrow is out, and the supper I made this afternoon turned out to be... edible... but not at all satisfying, we decided at the last minute to celebrate St Valentine's Vigil tonight: I quickly made waffles with strawberries and homemade whipped cream ("whippin' cream," according to Little Bear) while Matt scrambled some eggs with cheddar and onions, and we talked a little about St Valentine while we ate. Neither of us feels at all strongly about making Valentines Day romantic, but it's kind of fun to have an excuse/reminder to do something special. And it's a saint's day, and everyone knows I like celebrating saints' days! Little Bear and I will probably find some coloring pages online tomorrow while Matt is out. I don't think I have the energy for anything more complicated than that, but he's a little boy; he's not even going to realize there's such things as doilies and glitter that he's missing out on when it comes to Valentines Day crafts.

VI

If you, too, put off actually finding anything Valentines-y for your family but are now feeling like maybe you ought to come up with something, even if only to keep the kids still and quiet while they cut out or decorate them on a snowy February weekend, check out the assortment of free printable Catholic Valentines that Kendra has up at Catholic All Year! 

If I have ink in the printer (always an uncertainty), I want to put this one quoting St Augustine up on the wall tomorrow!

VII

I realized this morning that I still hadn't attempted any of those sandwich bread recipes I was talking about last week... I pulled up the most promising-sounding of them, realized that it was going to take longer than I had before leaving for noon Mass, and put the project off again. Tomorrow I should be home aaaaaall day long with a very energetic child who fortunately likes to help in the kitchen, so hopefully I'll manage to finally give it a try. If it turns out well, I'll be sure to share the recipe. (If it fails spectacularly, you'll probably hear about it as well.)

Have a good weekend! For more quick takes, visit our hostess Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum.