Catch-up

It's been a while since I updated...

How many blogs open with that sentence I wonder?

M&M Day has come and gone and I think it's catching on. By now when I say "M&M day" my students, family, and friends all know what I'm talking about. I'll go to explain and get interrupted with "oh yeah M&M day". Megan and I went to Sauce which was, as Ara would say "nummy" and yet another thing I can miss on my low carb lifestyle. Megan is the only person I still have in my life from high school career, both here and in California. Well, besides my cousin who I never see. We talked about relationships, family, jobs... pretty much everything. It was nice to sit outside at a restaurant and have adult conversation. Actually I don't care that it was adult as long as it was conversation!

I took Ara to a pumpkin patch where we actually rode a carriage pulled by horses into a field and picked our own misshapen pumpkins! We also did a corn field maze and ate cold hot dogs that cost too much. It was really nice and I hope to make it a tradition every October.

Halloween was last night and it was a wonderful night. I made Ara's costume (Minnie Mouse) by ironing on circles cut from a tee-shirt onto a little pink skirt. It was cute but she didn't look all that mousie lol. We stopped off at my Dad's to take pictures and then we went to a children's museum. I saw their event advertised as a non-scary Halloween event for preschoolers. Ara has been declaring a lot of things "scary" and I didn't want to take her to a place where there were crowds dressed in scary costumes. The museum was actually really fun. There was an interactive jungle room that had things to climb and build, a room for crafts (ara painted a pumpkin that was a challenge to carry the rest of the night), a plastic food grocery store, a train room (!), shadow room, music room, puppet room.... the list goes on and on. We had a lovely time and I felt so good about taking her there instead of trick or treating.

As as side note, I misspelled every single instance of pumpkin on this page (thank you spell check).

I want to get out my Christmas decorations today... I asked Ara and she seemed to imply that she was pro-anything that makes Mommy smile lol!

One last thing, I've been trying to remember to write this down because I thought it was so cute;

We went out to eat and Ara leaned back in her high chair as this girl was walking by and said, "Hi, sweetie!". I think she is under the impression that is what you say to girls since everyone says it to her!

Oh and every time A and I touch each other, like when I touch his hair in the car or we hug, Ara gets so mad. Yesterday she yelled, "no! bubies!" (which is what her daddy calls her). Is she afraid if we love each other that we don't love her or maybe just that we should be giving her our attention? Or maybe her Daddy is only allowed to love one girl? Not a serious issue, but perplexing all the same.

Bed, Optional

Ara discovered yesterday at nap time that she doesn't have to stay in bed once I put her down. The second I walk out of the room and close the door I can hear her get out of bed. Yesterday she was crying and I went in there a few times. It was more of a tired grumpy cry so I wasn't concerned she was hurt I just didn't think she would sleep if I didn't go back in and put her back in bed. She would look at me through sleepy puffy eyes and say, "no sleep". But then we would hug and I would put her back in bed, gently tuck her in, and walk out of the room hoping she wasn't going to spring right up. After the third of fourth round of this I began to rethink my strategy. Maybe I was giving her the impression that if she got out of bed she would be rewarded with attention and the postponing of the nap time! So I sat listening to her get out of bed and come to the door (which was closed). She complained and called for me. I stayed silent. Eventually I heard the unmistakable sounds of her laying down against the door. The silence after that told me that Ara had decided to take her nap on the floor in front of her door. Interesting. When she woke up I lightly tapped on the door and opened it a crack. She poked her hand through with one of her special blankets (there are 3 now). She proceeded to hand me the blankets, her birdy, and her blanky before she would come out.

Today when I put her down for nap time she got right out of bed again after I left. This time, though she didn't cry or call for me. Seconds later I heard her settling down for her nap on the floor by the door. I guess this is what we are doing now? Hmm. I consulted my books, nothing about your kid sleeping on the floor. For the time being I've decided I will accept the compromise. She isn't in danger of hurting herself and she is sleeping (although the naps are much shorter). My only concern is that it is hard to open the door if I needed to because of her blankets, stuffed animals, and well her. It's actually kind of adorable. She makes a little bed for herself and settles down. A thinks she wants to be able to hear me in case I do something fun while she is sleeping lol.

I've started doing a color, letter and shape of the week so we can focus on familiarity. She is counting up to 10 now, although she leaves out 5 a lot. She can name every animal at the zoo and associate a sound, well for the animals who make good sounds. What sound does a giraffe make anyway? She is adding so many words daily to her vocabulary it is astounding. Today she had gas which she thinks is hilarious so we worked on, "excuse me". "thooos me". We have been doing a lot of art with painting and markers. She is so cute she will ask me to watch her draw an "A" and then draw a perfect little circle. She feels a sense of pride in her art and is always excited to show her Daddy when he gets home from work. She points to it and says, "pretty". Markers suck though. Washable my ass. They wash right out of clothes but the marks on the skin look like serious injuries and stick around for a few baths. I actually banned markers for a long time because of this. I gave them another shot yesterday and I think they are banned again. Finger paint and water colors come out so they are my friends. Ok I'm tired and it's late. I shall stop writing now!

Mommy Chronicles

I went to a blog written by a mom we knew from our childbirth class. I read it from time to time and we tend to run into her and her son fairly often. Well... she is super Mom. I read her blog and I feel small. When it comes to Mom skills I try to keep up to date on my reading materials but really who are the "experts" to tell me how to raise my kid? I get a parent magazine, I download parenting podcasts, I read what to expect, fathering a toddler (it's a good book), and other assorted parenting books. My problem is that I never find the answers to the questions I have, the really stupid no-brainer questions that apparently only I wonder about. After reading the mommy blog I began to wonder if I should be taking to Ara to classes everyday. She takes her son to gymboree, art classes, story time, they walk, they jog, and they play with "friends". Ara and I are just a 2 person team. I am COMPLETELY shy around other mothers at parks, playgroups, and libraries. I don't know why exactly but I have it in my head that they are all more organized, experienced, and all around more "together" than me. An inferiority complex I guess. I brought up the subject of more play dates to A yesterday and he seemed to think that more "kid time" might be good for Ara. So next week I am going to make an effort to go to bed on time, make lunches the night before, and keep up on the laundry (yikes) so that I can take Ara to an activity everyday. At the very least a walk to our local park and hopefully a couple visits to play group, library, and maybe the zoo if we buy a pass.

I'm not sure this entry was entirely cohesive because I wrote it in bits while doing things in between.

~Cheers

Queen for a day!

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like everything is going your way?

As Ara and I walked up to the booth to pay for our zoo tickets today the lady says, "we had a water pipe break so admission is free, you just can't use the water fountains or bathrooms". Ok, no problem we brought water and Ara has a diaper on!

The zoo was fun and the weather was really mild until we got to the back where the polar bears are, ironically I guess. Thats the point where you curve back around and head towards the entrance again. We were feeling hot, our water was almost gone. Then as we are passing the kid area again the water miraculously comes on! Water pipe is fixed! Ara got soaking wet and mostly watched the bigger kids play but she had a great time. When it was time I loaded her back into the stroller "her car" and striped her clothes and shoes off since they were dripping wet. I entered the gift shop with the idea of buying her a book of zoo memories that would also serve as a distraction for her doctor visit scheduled later that day. I spend $30 on a tiger toy, a zoo shirt (to cover Ara), and a cute book.

Later that day we arrive at the doctor office and the receptionist says that they called me way back in August to reschedule and that Ara can't see the doctor today. I am annoyed, I insist that I never received a call and that this appointment was important so if I had I most certainly would have rescheduled. The lady I'm talking to reminds me of a brick wall for all her compassion for my situation, but the lady that is next to her says she will go talk to someone. I wait, without holding much hope. A is annoyed because he got off work early to come to this appointment and we know it will be at least a month if we have to reschedule. I continue to stand in front of receptionist lady who continues to ignore my existence. Finally, other lady returns and she has good news! We can have a seat the doctor will see us! First time EVER that I have had one of these situations go my way with the medical profession!

The doctor we get is actually the one I have the most confidence in (this practice has several pediatricians). She confirms that Ara is healthy and wonderful and brilliant. She has the blood results and they are normal. She confirms what we have been suspecting that the hair loss looks like a behavior rather than a medical issue. She assures us that the referral for the dermatologist will become a reality in the near future. Then.... she suggests that cutting Ara's hair very short might stop her from pulling at night. I will have a hard time cutting her sweet little ringlets but hey, I will take this problem over a tumor any day.

So there it is.. this was like my day!

Frusterated

The wheels of the health industry turn so freaking SLOWLY! I called Ara's doctor's office this morning, a full week after her visit to find out why they haven't called to tell me the insurance had approved a specialist. They say they haven't heard from the insurance. How long does it take to call the insurance and get a yes or no? They also have no idea where the results from the blood work stands. It's only been a week, only 6 work days since we took her. Is it me or is this infuriating? I feel like there has got to be a faster way to get this done. In the mean time Ara is waking up everyday with more hair on her pajamas and I can't sleep at all. I'm going to call again in an hour. If being a nice Mommy doesn't get it done we will try annoying-calls-every-hour Mommy. Oh yes, I can be that lady. I think I will call the insurance directly as well and maybe I will find my own damn specialist and make her an appointment. My kid deserves better than this.

Edit: I posted this and then got back on the phone. I called the insurance directly and it turns out the specialist was approved on the 20th, 4 days ago? Punks.

"It's k"

We took Ara to the doctor today for her hair loss. I've been noticing hair in her crib and on her pajamas for a while now and it was sort of in my head that it might be too much hair. It wasn't until 3 days ago I noticed she has an almost bald spot on her head. It's not quite bald but the hair is much much thinner there and a it's a pretty big section, the doctor said about 3 inches. On a small head that seems like a lot. On some level I think I tried to ignore my instinct about the hair because I was afraid it might be something. If that is true, what kind of mother am I? We saw Dr. Dan, the doctor we usually see for well-baby visits and he said it could be such a variety of things that we needed to see a specialist. So after the insurance clears it, we will go see a dermatologist. We also have to go have her blood drawn to test for thyroid gland problems. He mentioned the thyroid problem specifically and said that sometimes a tumor on that gland can cause it to produce lower levels of the hormone. As he was examining Ara's head I was holding her to comfort her. Ara looked up into my face, stroked me softly and said, "it's k". Here I was trying to be strong and clear-headed, trying to stay focused and to ask the right questions and she sees right through me.

She sees that her Mommy is scared.

I didn't realize how scared until this moment. After all she has been through at the hands of doctors... it hasn't even been a year since we stopped battling the un-diagnosable, the biased-blind-arrogant-unstoppable...

I can't go on. I feel scared and helpless and I feel mad.


I want to make sure I talk about Ara's positive moments today. The topic I thought I was going to blog about. Ara is sleeping tonight in a big girl bed. We converted her crib at nap time but she only slept an hour and then I think she fell out (we have couch cushions all around her bed). The crib we bought was supposed to transform into a transition bed with safety rails to help her stay in. The rails looked great in the pictures but actually don't come more than a few inches above the mattress. Not exactly sufficient for our squirmy sleeper. We went to Baby's R Us after the doctor and got another bed rail. After A installed it I stood back and felt like all we did was make it a less safe crib instead of a bed with guide rails. Her feelings seemed mixed. She isn't sure she likes it but all day she couldn't stay away from it. We had to close the door to her room to stop her from jumping on her bed.

Anniversary

A and I have been together 12 years now. I remember the first time we talked; I sat down next to him and interrupted his reading. He looked intimidating to me because he wore glasses and had this "smart-guy" look to him. I only knew him as that really good trumpet player from my youth orchestra. He made me feel special. The way he looked at me when I talked. The details he remembered about me. My face used to hurt from smiling all the time. We spent our first year together spending every moment we could together. From morning to 11 pm at night (after rehearsal) and then we would go home and talk on the phone all night.

We celebrated on Sunday, my Sister watched Ara for the afternoon and we went to a restaurant and tried not to talk only about Ara! Then instead of seeing a movie liked we had planned we just went home. Finally non-Ara conversations flowed and we lay in each others arms talking, laughing, remembering, planning.

We squished them at the park!

Ara and I just got back from Triangle Park. The weather has cooled off a lot and it was overcast today. She has been grumpy in the mornings after we drop off A and I just can't seem to do anything right. She wants me to pay attention and to play but then she gets mad and throws a fit. She insists I wear her Nemo's Daddy Puppet on my hand no matter what I am doing. She even follows me into the bathroom with it (thanks Megan!) So my theory was that she needed to see some sunshine and get a little dirty. We tend to do "inside" activities when it is so hot outside but I think kids do need that outside time no matter how hot. The only problem is that I am a big baby when it comes to heat! She enjoyed the park but she had a few tiny tantrums there too. The first problem was 'English lady with the dogs she thinks don't need leashes'. If you get too near to this lady she will talk your ear off about her dogs. She has 2 of them; nice little friendly dog (Lucky) and mean 'ol scaredy-pants dog. Lucky was cute and friendly but of course Ara only wanted to pet the growling scared dog. People like this bug me. Put your dogs on leashes, especially if they cannot be trusted around children. A park is a place where parents should be able to bring their kids and relax. Instead I see the park as a series of danger obstacles. (As a side note this ladies dogs got into a fight with another man's dog who was on a leash) Well, anyway I had to constantly steer Ara away from the mean dog. I finally got her to go 'near' the playground when she spotted a bird across the street. So then I made her cry by telling her that she couldn't go into the street to chase birds. I finally got her to the playground where she discovered the joys of throwing sand. Once again.. mean old Mom had to say 'no'. I was getting a tiny but frustrated. I couldn't understand. Why can't she have fun like the other kids? Why does she always have to do the things I have to tell her she can't do? Then I thought, she is a toddler this is her job! This is a Mom test! I changed my attitude. I hitched a smile on my face and suggested we pretend we were trains and run to the other end of the park while making choo choo noises. It worked! We stopped at the swings where Ara 'flew' like a bird. Then we went over to a sandy area and she played there while I got to sit down and relax a little! Victory! I am full of WIN!

Ah the little successess of Motherhood that mean so much.

In honor of the occasion I made up a rap song that went:

We squished Ara's grumpies.
We squished them at the park!
The grumpies cannot get us..
they are squished at the park!

I think that's how it went anyway.

It's late and I'm telling random stories.

2 am and I'm still awake, but doing nothing. This reminds me of my old insomnia days, except now I have to be awake at 8 am (O.o). No sleeping in for me... oh how I miss the idea of sleeping in. Sleeping until you are done sleeping, what a fabulous concept. I might have to drink caffeine tomorrow so that Ara doesn't pwn me. Who am I kidding? She will pwn me no matter what I drink. A's Mom came over tonight and Ara showed her the new tap shoes. She did a fiery little routine on the tile by the front door while the three adults held their hands out in an effort to prevent any crashes. She enjoys spinning until walls bump into her. Reminds me so much of me! I also used to spend hours doing head stands in the hallway, I wonder if she will do that too. When my parents would make me mad I would turn away and stick my tongue out, imagining that it would bounce off the walls and somehow point at them.

I was thinking the other day about one of my old roomates, let's call her Kookoo. Kookoo and I shared a room in a 3 bedroom house. We usually had 5-6 girls living in the 3 bedroom house. I was in the habit of staying at A's house until very late and then tiptoeing into the house and into bed as quietly as I could so as not to wake Kookoo. On one such occasion I quietly closed the door and walked stealthily to my bed in the darkness. I reached out to pull my comforter down and realized someone had made my bed (lets face it I knew it wasn't me). Then I realized my comforter wouldn't come easily. It had been stitched to the sheets. Score one for Kookoo. I don't remember retaliating, Kookoo and I had a good laugh over the prank the next day. Then one night not long after I had come in late again and was preparing to brush my teeth. I squeezed my toothpaste and something black and squishy appeared. I squeezed it out and examined it in disgust. It was wrinkly and at first I thought it was a juicy dead bug marinated in toothpaste. Then, through years of prank training from my Mom I realized it was the classic raisin in the the tube gag. Immediately I began to form a plan. I had to prank back and it had to be good.

The next day I got home from school before Kookoo got off of work. I gathered my supplies, humming happily as I went into my room. I used sewing thread and scissors (borrowed from another house mate), thumb tacks, black construction paper, twist ties, paper clips, tape, and a black sharpie. I colored the twist ties black with the marker and then taped them to the black paper which I had crumpled into a ball, making a crude spider. Then I attached my spider to the thread. The thread I strung around the top of the room, running from just over Kookoo's bed to the door (thumb tacking the paper clips and running the string through the clips). I tied one end to the door knob, the other end had the spider. Kookoo came home and I was giddy with anticipation. She came into the room, grabbed something and left, all the while carrying on a conversation with one of our house mates in the kitchen. She hadn't even noticed. All was not lost though and I resorted to my sophisticated plan B. I called to her to come in the room! She swung the door open, the spider was pulled up the wall.. and she almost had a heart attack. We both struggled to breath. Her because she had been shocked and mortified. Me because I was so amused at my prank. She did eventually find it funny, but we called a truce on pranks after that.

Potty Time!

Ara sat on her potty today! She has had that potty chair for probably a year and up until now she mostly used it as toy storage. We had just come inside from doing yard work, well I was doing yard work she was jumping in puddles. She was wet so I stripped her down to her diaper and she turns to me.. points to her diaper and says, "off". I hesitated. Then I helped her take off her diaper. She held out her arm to take my hand and walked me to the potty! She sat her cute little butt right down on the potty chair, kinda sideways but ON THE POTTY!

This post brings me to this thought.

Someday Ara may read what I blogged about during her childhood.

She will read that I declared to the world that she sat naked on a toilet. Can you imagine reading YOUR Mother's blog, or diary, you know blog hard copy. I would be interested in something like that. To really know your parents when they were younger and to see how your accomplishments and milestones meant so much to them. I never really thought about how long my blog would live. I think I would feel sad if one day I didn't have the archives. I should print them and put them in Ara's memory box. I may not always be here and I would like to leave her a piece of me.

Super Serious Tortilla Association!

Tortilla Industry Association

Yup, there really is a tortilla industry association. Maybe that doesn't surprise you but it did me! I was googling tortilla recipes because I thought I might try to make some and I found it. It even has a missions statement!

To assist member
companies, and the industry as a whole, in efficient growth and
development, and
to promote the
consumption of
tortillas and related food products.

We need an association to encourage the consumption of tortillas?
What's next?
Where can i sign up for the association that promotes the consumption of Atomic Fireballs.. or ice cream!

Longest Day (before noon) Ever

So this morning we woke up late and my stomach was feeling queasy. We got A to work a half hour late and as he was getting out of the car I said, "I think the car needs gas, it's making that wierd grindy sound"...

You see we have an American made car (Dodge) and the electrical has been faulty ever since my Sister first owned it. Well now it's our car and sometimes the headlights and dashboard get temperamental and go out. You have to sort of jiggle and tap the switch to get them just right. The brakes squeek. A few weeks ago we had to get a new radiator. Every time you turn right there is a squeal sound. And it seems like it either drips or burns oil because we have to add a quart to it about twice a month. Oh and did I mention the speedometer, gas, and temperature meters usually don't work? That is the particular issue that caused my day to be so long ( I can never see how much gas there is).

...Just as we pulled out of A's work parking lot the car lost power. Why? Well "apparently" it needs gas to have power. I coasted through the intersection and barley made it into a bank parking lot. I parked all crooked because the steering wheel locked up when the car finally died for good. I called my aunt who lives about 15 minutes away. She came but had no gas can so she called my Sister. Until the calvary arrived Ara and I walked around. The part of town we were in is to swanky to be any fun. The closest shops were Pottery Barn, Giorgio Armani, the Apple Store, Starbucks, and a CVC pharmacy. All great to take a hungry toddler to at 9:30 am (insert sarcasm). We explored the exciting world of desert foliage growing on the side of the road until I started to freak out that there might be snakes. Then we just walked up and down the road, I didn't want to leave the car too far behind for when my Aunt got there. After she arrived we terrorized CVC pharmacy for another 30 minutes until my Sister got there. Emily came with gas and a smile that really helped cheer up my grumpy impatient Araness. Makes me feel bad for all those times I dressed Emily up like a doll and made her sit still. Or the time I thought it would be fun if I wrapped her up in a sheet and dragged her around the house. Or the "I'm going to tie you up to see if you can escape" game I made up. Well you get the picture. Anyway about an hour and a half later we were out of the 95 degree heat but starving and sweaty. We went straight to a gas station and filled up and then Ara got a Happy Meal with juice and fries! I always get her apples and milk so she was content with her bribe/reward. Then we finally were able to run all the boring errands I had planned; bank, grocery store, pay bills. I skipped the music store, I need to buy a bunch of books for my students but a store full of "no" didn't seem like a good idea. At the grocery store I entertained Ara with some plastic $1 cups that she could stack. She liked to stack them, count them, arrange them by color, and pretend there was something in there that she could feed to me. When we got to the register I bought them even though we don't need cups. The sight of home was a wonderful thing. I want one of those hybrid cars.. or even better a car that can run on hot air... or dirt... or dead grass.

Joey in the Mud!

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

Joey wore this expression the whole day. You would think a Kinder gardener would relish the chance to be as muddy as he wanted without anyone stopping him. Personally I think kids actually enjoy getting dirty because they are not supposed to! This is proof. Ha! I have cracked the kid code! When my parents took me I remember being thrilled. I also remembered the mud pit being a bit more watery and less like brown cement.

(more mud monster below)

Mud Monster Pic

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

I finally got one of those little zippy key USB things. I always call it the wrong thing.. I want to say key drive but it's really something else. Not a zip drive.. those were the old school floppy looking things. Oh oh a flash drive! Ok long meandering intro on the mud photo, sorry about that. Since I got my new Flash thing I was able to bring all of the pictures from my sister's computer home.

This is Ara in the main mud pit. She was really reluctant to touch or sit in the mud. I thought maybe it was because I seemed scared of it so I sat right down in it hoping to make her feel more comfortable. Turns out Ara wasn't taking her cue from me so I had mud covering the entire lower half of me for no reason. I'm talking serious mud too, heavy, thick, hard to wash off mud. My shoes are still sitting out by our back door. I'm thinking throwing them away will be far less effort than cleaning them!

Ara in room

Ara's new room
Originally uploaded by fluteloop

We went and got Ara the table and chairs we have been wanting for her room. Now she has a chair that is just her size. With all of the new toys she got I can barley coax her out of her room. You can't see it in the picture but there is a giant tee-pee in the middle of the room and a train track set up next to it. Just walking through is hazardous!

Ara and Grandpa

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

Cousins

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

Birthday girl

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

It's Her Party!

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Originally uploaded by fluteloop

We celebrated Ara's Birthday today with family and friends. It was a wonderful day. Ara had a huge smile on her face the whole time and she ran around Peter Piper like she owned the place. With her family all around her she felt at ease and ready to explore. It is overwhelming to me to see how much happiness there is in watching your daughter grow. And in seeing how loved she is by her family. On this day in this hour it seems the world is a beautiful place and I am happy to be able to share her joy.

She is growing up!

Food stuff

Since I've been going low-carb healthy I have been trying some new recipes. I started with recipes from an Atkins cook book but then I started looking in a Mayo Clinic book we had and then.. I started watching the food network. I tried stuffed zucchini, low-carb lasagna, and a few other small meals. On the whole I have been pleasantly surprised with how non-horrible they were and Ara even seemed to like it. Feeling encouraged I have decided to try some of the dishes I have seen on this Italian lady's show on TV. Everything she makes sounds so delicious and I think I can alter most of the recipes' to be low-carb compliant. Anyway, it seems I CAN cook at a fairly competent level when I stay in the kitchen. I have been notorious in the past for ruining pans because I forgot I was boiling water. Yes, I have burned water haha. I have boiled spaghetti so mushy that it went through the holes in the strainer. So you can see that branching out beyond my Foreman Grill is a big deal! Yay me.

•••••

Recipes I want to try:

Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

2 boneless chicken breasts
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach leaves (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Lightly oil the grill pan. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a processor. Lightly pulse. With the machine running, gradually add 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy. Add salt and pulse. Put half of the pesto into ice cube trays and store in the freezer for future use.

Transfer the rest of the spinach mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Season the pesto with salt and pepper, to taste.

Spread the pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.

•••••

Crunchy Parmesan Chicken Tenders Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis Show: Everyday Italian Episode: Good Things Come in Small Packages

4 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup buttermilk 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders (about 18) 3 large garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Freshly ground black pepper 1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan 3/4 cup Italian-style seasoned bread crumbsPreheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Brush 1 tablespoon of oil over each of 2 heavy large lined baking sheets. Place the buttermilk in a large bowl. Add the chicken tenders and stir to coat. Let stand at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mash the garlic with the salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the vinegar and then the remaining 1/2 cup of oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with pepper. Transfer the vinaigrette to a small serving bowl. Stir the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a pie dish. Remove the chicken tenders from the buttermilk and dredge them in the bread crumb mixture to coat completely, pressing to adhere. Arrange the coated chicken tenders on the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over the chicken tenders and bake until they are cooked through and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken tenders to a platter and serve the vinaigrette alongside for dipping. ••••• Ara and I went to a craft store today. I love craft stores. There is something about craft stores and hardware stores that fascinate me. I bought beads and Ara and we made ourselves some jewelry, she is so cute when she wears it. She says it is, "pitty". We also got the last few goodies for our party bags. Another $100 trip to Target and I think we are done spoiling her for her birthday... Tomorrow yay.