teahouseblossom: What a beautiful tribute! Hope you guys had a happy Father's Day... [go]

RM: It does sound like you've got a good one there in freezem. And t... [go]

Mom On The Run: I'm going to ask my mom to read your letter to me tomorrow becaus... [go]

debbie: Couldn't read a word but the photo is adorable!... [go]

Saskia: Leuk een berichtje in het Nederlands! Je mag terecht trots zijn o... [go]

Rocking this daddy thing
Letters for Roo (17 months)
I promise these guys didn't pay me to write about their nuts PLUS the hottest little black dress ever. Who says titles have to be short anyway.
When city people visit farms
How to entertain and embarrass a friend from abroad
When 17 year olds discuss your (non existent) belly flab
Good enough mom
Love and marriage
There's a first time for everything
Little lady, you're choosing the easy way out aren't you!

101 in 1001 days
Bits & bytes
Blogtistics
Books
Dear diary weblog
Dot dot dot
Down memory lane
Funny
Have you heard THAT??
Hmmmm
Holiday
House
Learning
Linky love
Me
Meme
Misc
Miss Media
Monday daddy day
Monday's Caption Time!
Monkey
Movies
Music maestro please
My favorite photos
note to self
Parenting
Party!
Photo Q&A
Pictures
Recipes
Roo
School
Theme Thursday
Thinking out loud
Tourists in our own county: exploring The Netherlands with two small children
UnDutchable
Weekend
When kids start to talk
Woo hoo!
Work
Your tour guide!
Zoo

June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003

Design by: me

Syndicate this site!

Powered by Movable Type 4.0-beta6-20070710


This blog is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.




main page
e-mail me
follow me on Twitter
 subscribe in a reader

I'm Nadine. Mother to Monkey (3) and his sister Roo (1). Married to my wonderful FreezeM. I am forever 29, don't let my birthdate fool you. I work a part time PR job. Love being at home with my children, I am very liberal, love to read, cook and write. I'm critical and don't shy away from the unbeaten path.




Like my ramblings?

Stumble It!

Add to Technorati Favorites



Bloggers I met







April 1, 2008

The noice that brings silence at cooking time

What doesn't belong in this photo?

23 hours of the 24 hours of my mother of two - days I can handle pretty good (if I do say so myself, I am so modest). But that one hour, say, between 5 PM and 6 PM? I get a little stressed. Because in that one hour I have two problems and one big challenge: to magically turn ingredients into a healthy dinner on the table.

I present problems A and B:

Problem A: a 2-year old toddler who has been experiencing with skipping naps and between 5 and 6 goes nuts from from lack of energy "Let's see what mommy does when I stick a cucumber in the cats ear" and "Let's see what mommy does when I play soccer with a tomato" and "Let's see what mommy does when I try to feed my baby sister potatoes"

Problem B: a two month old baby, who's favorite time to cry is between 5 PM and 6 PM.

See how cooking a meal can be challenging?

In general I fix "problem A", by letting Monkey help me. He's got his own apron and oven gloves and I let him snack of the vegetables. If I ignore the occasional flying pieces of carrot and unions, this works pretty well.

I've tried the apron on "Problem B". But the blue apron doesn't go well with her pink clothes she's not really into that yet. A few days ago, the clock turned to cooking time and little miss Roo started to cry. The loudness of that crying (you won't believe the volume that comes out of this little pink thing) caused a brain fart which made me remember an article about white noise and colic babies.

And voila: a hair blower in the kitchen.

Laugh all you want (I bet our gas & electricity company does) But it WORKED! The baby was happily asleep. And when the baby is happy, mommy is happy and when mommy is happy EVERYBODY is happy (and feed)


I said HAPPY... SMILE.

What's that? SMIIIIIIIIIIIIILE to the internet people.

Good kid. Now take that zucchini out of that cat's ass and give it back to mommy. I need it for the salad I'll have to throw it away now.

Posted at 11:29 AM


Comments

hahaha... now I know where that 'special flavor' comes from.

Posted by: Freezem at April 1, 2008 12:53 PM

LOL!! I have soooo been there.

Posted by: Arkie Mama at April 1, 2008 3:26 PM

Lol. This was hilarious. :)

Posted by: M@ at April 1, 2008 4:30 PM

What a great idea? The exhaust fan in the bathroom or the vacuum cleaner used to soothe my boys :-)

Posted by: Alissa at April 1, 2008 6:31 PM

I wonder if running the hair dryer would keep the cat out of my kitchen. Or maybe you could just send Monkey and a zucchini over to 'distract' Max while I made dinner. Very funny post.

Drop by my blog, I have a present for you!

Posted by: alison at April 1, 2008 6:31 PM

Good job, clever Mommy! And you know you have the CUTEST kids, right?

Heidi

Posted by: Heidi at April 1, 2008 8:11 PM

Oh my God I burst out laughing with that last line!!!

I remember those awful days, though, of going through the 5 p.m./dinner/not napped time... And then the baby was always hungry just when the meal was ready... ARGH!

Posted by: madmad at April 1, 2008 8:25 PM

LOL! Sounds like the dinner ritual around here :)

Posted by: Mom On The Run at April 1, 2008 8:49 PM

Monkey is ADORABLE!!! And you're just hilarious!

Posted by: Chantelle at April 2, 2008 12:16 AM

Hey, whatever it takes, right?

Posted by: lilypotter at April 2, 2008 2:21 AM

What a brilliant idea!!!

Just don't accidentally drop the hair dryer into the sink!

Posted by: teahouseblossom at April 2, 2008 2:52 PM

I love your blog!! Such a cool layout!!

I'm with ya on the 5pm-6pm witching hour thing.....my children don't know a lick about telling time....but sometimes they make me wonder!!! Because it's always the same time everyday. Of course, it's also my hour to begin my "PleaseMcDaddyGetHomeSoonOrElseI'mGoingToScream" prayer.

Posted by: McMommy at April 2, 2008 7:31 PM

Good idea with the hair dryer! A small fan might work also. If you really want to get serious, check out:
http://www.marpac.com/sound_cond.asp
We used a home-grown version of something similar to get our youngest to sleep, many many years ago.

Posted by: Karl at April 2, 2008 7:38 PM

The hair dryer is such a great idea. Way to be creative! I'm impressed.

Posted by: Nicole at April 3, 2008 2:31 AM

What we mothers do to keep out kids calm. Seriously! I know my sister use to keep the washer running with her kids in a car seat on top. That is what worked for her :)

Posted by: Motherhood For Dummies at April 3, 2008 7:03 PM

A hairdryer going in the kitchen made the baby fall asleep? Brilliant! I'll have to remember that one day far, far (far-far-far) in the future. :)

Posted by: Zandria at April 5, 2008 4:07 AM












Nadine recommends

Did you know your baby or young toddler can "speak" to you even when (s)he hasn't learned the ability to speak yet? I found out through the blog of Chris that sign language is a GREAT way to enable your young child to communicate with you.

Our 12 month old little Roo knows a few signs already "done" (with eating), "more" (food or drink) and "book/ reading". It was a great succes with our toddler Monkey (now 3, doesn't stop talking but stopped using signs) and we already have so much fun with Roo.

We used this book:

But there are more tools that help you

Read more on the subject; here.