Meet Monkey

Ohmigoodness! Who would have thought that spinning in circles could be so entertaining? I've just taught Adrien to play Ring Around the Rosie. And although he doesn't quite grasp the concept of "we all fall down," He's got the ringing down perfectly. Besides, after he plays for long enough he falls down anyway. I taught him to play it with Monkey.

Have I not introduced Monkey yet? Well, how rude of me. Monkey is a stuffed animal (Ty) with silky soft fur. A friend of mine gave it to me in high school. I have no use for it, and subsequently found it stashed away in a close a few weeks ago. I thought Adrien would get more use out of it than me. Monkey was lying on the floor in Adrien's play room (with every other toy he owns). About a week ago, Adrien stumbled off into his play room alone...only to return about 10 minutes later clutching Monkey. He must have carried Monkey around for about 30 minutes or so, all the while stroking his head. He hasn't let go for long since. Adrien tries to feed Monkey and becomes quite upset when he pushes the Cheerio into Monkey's mouth only to have it fall to the ground. Many a night have been spent trying to get Adrien to calm down after he gets frustrated that Monkey cannot take (or hold) his binky.

So today, it was only fitting that after I'd tired from spinning round and round I wanted to include Monkey in the fun. I did it once to show Adrien, and from there on, Adrien went to spinning round and round, Monkey's two little paws in Adrien's. He just giggles up a storm...shrieking with delight.

I hope Monkey doesn't get motion sickness.

Hmmm, anyhow -- after Adrien and I went for a stroll through the neighborhood this morning (with Monkey, of course) we came in and I made pinto and cheese quesadillas from some of the leftover beans. They were so good! Adrien really enjoyed the little bowl of sour cream I gave him to dip the quesadillas in...in fact, I'm betting that it was his favorite part. He's one of those "dip and suck" kids. He uses the food as a mere vessel for whatever condiment I've got in front of him. Oddly enough, I think his favorite vessel/condiment pair up is green beans and ketchup. Ugh. Only a kid, I know.

Speaking of beans, dinner turned out great. I wish I could have made the beans a bit more spicy, but I always make things more bland nowadays because I don't want to burn Adrien's little palette. He really loves spicy food though -- I should be more adventurous with him. But [lack of] spiciness aside, dinner was awesome! I made some fry bread and some corn bread. I realized just after I'd plopped the batter into the muffin pan, that I'd forgotten to mix any sugar in to the corn bread batter. It was still good, although not quite as sweet as usual. The fry bread was decent, but it was different than my Mom's. Due to time constraints and lack of ingredients (according the Navajo recipe, you need powdered milk?) I made the Chickasaw version. It was tasty, but the texture was a bit off of what I'm used to. Want some quick fry bread? Most times my Mom buys frozen yeast rolls, thaws them and let's them rest before shaping and frying. I topped my bowl of beans off with some Woody's Smokehouse Five Amigos Fire Roasted Pepper Salsa. So good. My camera batteries need charging and I can't find the charger, so as soon as I do, I'll try to set up a picture [Which you can see I've taken care of].


Speaking of food, I had an idea for a blog...yes another. Since I'm food-obsessed, and really into the obscure histories of various artifacts, I was thinking earlier about a blog dedicated to showcasing different types of foods and its respective origin and history. For instance, I would showcase Southwestern and Native American foods for a few weeks. I would (to the joy of my husband, I'm sure) cook those respective foods and endeavor into new culinary territory, all the while blogging my way through it. Each dish would have some back ground info and of course, a great recipe -- with my own personal touch, of course. It would also be great to have some fellow contributors, so if you're interested, please let me know.

So I guess I'm off to make some coffee. I really do need to clean the kitchen -- yet again -- but I don't feel like it. I hope the next two and half hours fly by -- then Andi can get off work and come home.

Tah!