All Things Supercinski

This is Josiah’s way of asking to watch Baby Signing Time (see previous post). We didn’t get a please that time, but he still got to watch a song before our morning walk. You might need to turn the volume up at the beginning.

When Josiah had his stomach bug two weeks ago, I was desperate for ways to entertain him since it was really cold and rainy outside also. I called up my sweet friend and asked to borrow her Baby Signing Time dvds. Josiah hasn’t watched any TV or movies besides when we are visiting people who own them, so we didn’t know what he’d do, I just knew I was desperate. Well, he loves them, and we find our boy crawling into the office saying “baaay beee, baaay beee” wanting to watch them all of the time. So far, it’s paid off–in ten days, he has learned five new signs and does most of them consistently.

He started signing “dog” to accompany his barking noise he makes when dogs are barking. Dog is signed by patting your thigh, and if his thigh is inaccessible due to being in a high chair, he pats your leg if it is close. He quickly added “hat” to his repertoire (signed by patting your head) and he says “haaa” along with it. He also started signing “please” (rubbing your chest with a flat palm) when he wants something. We have to prompt him to sign it, but he does! And yesterday he started signing “sleep” when it’s naptime. You are supposed to sign it by bringing your flat palm down over your face, but as I carry him to his room saying it is naptime, he rubs his hand on my face. Close enough for me! Oh yeah, he also started signing “bus” off and on. We see a lot of school buses when we are at the park, so I guess he picked it up fast. We are so impressed with his signing skills, and it is so funny to get a glimpse into what his little mind is thinking.

Thanks again Megan for loaning us the dvds!

I pulled out the camera tonight to take pictures of Josiah’s hair, matted with bananas. “Smile, Josiah,” I said, and this is what I got.

Thinking it was a fluke, I tried again. Silly boy!

Josiah started saying “uh oh” the way that it sounds, instead of his own version. It’s so cute! He practices saying it in the car, says it after something drops, after he throws something off his high chair tray or out of the tub. Enjoy.

(I had to throw a toy on the ground to get him to say it for the camera.)

Thanks Matt!
Clarence Carter - Patches

Our winter garden turned into a large batch of carrots as everything else didn’t make it through the fall. I had forgotten about them, continuing to purchase carrots from the store. As I was preparing dinner today (chicken noodle soup), I remembered the carrots and decided to pull some. Check out the bounty! They are so fat–the water bottle is to illustrate that point.

My sweet husband surprised me with it recently after I salivated over the copy we gave my sister-in-law for Christmas. The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Revised Edition is so much more than I had thought it would be! It has over 1,200 tested recipes and more photographs of techniques and completed recipes. The cookbook is full of helpful suggestions such as useful products, the best brands of different prepared foods, substitutions, and did I mention the wonderful techniques with pictures? Another characteristic of this cookbook that I admire is that everything is from scratch. You won’t find soups listed in the ingredients or anything prepackaged without them including a recipe for it also. They even include recipes for their best tested enchilada sauce, pesto, chicken broth, breadcrumbs, and more.

This cookbook has been so much fun for me, and I know Thomas appreciates all the yummy new recipes we’ve been trying. I find myself gravitating to it anytime I am in the kitchen and it is lying open. I can’t help thumbing through it and noting recipes to try. Seriously, every recipe I’ve made the past two weeks has been a keeper. So I’m giving it two enthusiastic thumbs up! The only problem is that it is so big–we’ve finally made some room for it on the counter.