Last weekend we rearranged Alex's room. Mainly so that he could learn to make his bed. I decided with six weeks left to kindergarten, we needed to get this habit in place. The bed had been against the wall so no one could make it easily. In the midst of the furniture moving, washing of linens, etc., I removed all eleventy-fifty stuffed animals from the bed and put them in the spare room. (Several bins went in there and have remained thus far.) I figured Alex would ask for them at bedtime but the novelty of the new arrangement (or the fabulous feng shui!) kept him quiet. As long as he had his blanket and his main bear, Bearie, all was well. Until a week and a day later.
Monday morning I heard Alex go down the hall to the living room. I followed a few minutes later, thinking he would be watching his cartoons. Instead the TV was off, and he was huddled on the couch, eyes red and he was very, very upset. My first thought was some sort of cartoon problem.
Me: "What's wrong?"
Alex: "WHERE are all my stuffed-up animals?"
Me: "What?" (It was early.)
Alex: "Where did you put all my stuffed-up animals?"
Me: "They're in the middle room with the rest of your stuff."
Alex: "No, they're not, I didn't see them!"
Me: "Yes, they are, I wrapped them with a blanket when I moved them and put them on the spare room bed. Come on, I'll show you."
Stuffed-up animals were rescued and returned to their rightful place.
Alex: "I thought you threw them away."
I explained that things in this house are rarely thrown away, pointing out Art's and my teddy bears from when we were young, and my grandmother's doll from when she was a girl. I told him that I would always ask first before giving away a stuffed-up animal. Makes me feel a little guilty for all the toys I threw in the donation box when I was moving things! On second thought, no, not so much. I guess it has to have a name to make me feel guilty.
Big development at school yesterday: Alex went on the big monkey bars. The rule at preschool is you have to be able to get on the monkey bars on your own with no help. (This keeps the little ones from being "helped" up and treed.) It's taken him two and a half years of work but he finally made it on the big set. They're about five feet off the ground. There was a slight problem. On his dismount his t-shirt got hung and stretched and the other kids laughed. What did Alex do? He yelled, "HEY! My grandma gave me this shirt!" Not sure what the kids thought about that, but the shirt really isn't much the worse for wear. It was his lime green Saline Watermelon Festival t-shirt that Mrs. Joan sent through Mimi last summer. It is the only one I've seen in South Carolina but I think a spin through the washer and dryer will straighten it up.
As a celebration of his monkey bar achievement, zero time-outs and oh, yeah, Art was at a meeting, we went to Waffle House. Alex had more of an audience than usual and took full advantage of it. When the cook brought him his chocolate chip waffle Alex threw his hands up in the air and proclaimed, "I'm the king of all chocolate!" Luckily they are used to him there. That and the waitress and the cab driver further down the counter were busy discussing exactly how ankle monitor bracelets worked. (Apparently knowledge gained through direct family experience.)
Tonight we tried a new recipe for supper and it went over very well. It came from Parents magazine, and Alex went back for more after he'd cleaned his plate and had dessert. More fish sticks, that's how much he liked them.
Crunchy Fish Sticks
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. dry mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 lb. tilapia or halibut, cut into 24 strips
3 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup canola oil, divided
In a large bowl, mix flour, mustard, salt and pepper; add buttermilk and eggs. Coat fish with the egg mixture, then bread crumbs. In a pan, heat some oil on medium high. Saute fish in batches with more oil until done, about 5 minutes, turning occasionally. Makes 24.
Notes: this was WAY too much for us. I cut down on it some but next time I'll definitely halve it. Also, the recipe was meant to be really mild to get kids to eat but we'll add more salt and maybe some Tony's to it next time. We all liked it, so it's a keeper.
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