Licking the bowl

Dietrich started preschool this week. More on that later, when a whole week is under our belts. But, in the meantime, I've tried to make sure that some special treat awaits him every day when he comes home. Yesterday, he got to lick the white chocolate frosting bowl.


Taking his job very seriously.



Sometimes a finger just isn't enough.


Bowl head.

Happy Valentine's Day

Rather than getting cards for each other this year, we made a Valentine's tree. (Perhaps you'll recognize these sticks.)

Early in the week, a week in which we were insanity-inducingly homebound due to heavy snow, Dietrich did some water coloring. I cut out hearts, and whenever we had a spare moment, we wrote down things that Dietrich loves about Daddy. Daddy did the same when I wasn't around, and Eric and I both wrote some mushy notes to each other. (My favorite from Eric, "I love Josie because she makes a mean pizza." Dietrich was very confused by that use of "mean," as it generally applies to monsters.)

After a mean pizza lunch on Valentine's Day, Dietrich "picked" the hearts off the tree and we read all the notes aloud.

It's so unlike me to create a tradition; I generally just steal my mom's. But I like this one. I think it might stick.

From the freezer

Last week, I accidentally paid $2.18 for a zucchini. I say "accidentally," because if I had noticed the price, I would have made a more-frugal vegetable choice. But, while in past years I would have felt very cranky about paying so much for not-great-quality, chemical-laden vegetables, this year I just added it to the list. The summertime freezing list.

You see, for my birthday last year, my parents got me a freezer. It resides on our balcony, where I'm pretty sure it's actually keeping the food warmer this winter than it would be if I just threw it all in a big heap on the balcony floor. We've had a very cold winter.



But, obviously, when I froze the freezer's contents, it wasn't cold. It was August and September. The markets were full of lush end-of-summer produce. A time or two each week, while Dietrich was with his nanya, I took the empty stroller to the full market and bought kilos and kilos of vegetables. Every naptime (Dietrich's), I washed and chopped and cooked down.




So this winter, we've enjoyed a steady diet of sliced sweet tomatoes, basil puree, spaghetti sauce, bell peppers and raspberry puree.



As we've eaten through our stash, I've learned that I significantly underfroze. Twice as much would have been about right. Also, we arrived back from Home Service too late in the season to freeze much fruit, but this summer, I'll add strawberries and peaches to the stash. And last year, I opted not to freeze anything that required blanching, but this year, I'll try green beans, broccoli and, of course, zucchini.