Quality Time

With Elle becoming mobile, we had noticed some jealousy and neediness with Ali. So I spent some time figuring out what I was doing when I wasn't playing with her.

Feeding/Caring for Elle
Cooking
Cleaning

That's about it. That's pretty much all I do.

So, for the last two weekends I made it a point to incorporate Ali into everything I did.

During the first Saturday morning, Ali, Elle and I went for a walk before the day got hot. Then we had to head home for Elle's morning nap around 9:30. After Elle was asleep, Alice helped me clean the bathrooms. I say 'helped' but really she cleaned them. I just supervised. I handled the soaps and cleaners, but all I did was spray/squirt for her and the step back. She washed, scrubbed, cleaned, swept and dusted all three bathrooms. And then wanted to start again.

Quality time together and a chore checked off the weekend list.

After that I took this month's Real Simple Magazine (which, sadly, I hadn't actually had a chance to read yet) and cut out a bunch of pictures for her to spend the afternoon happily gluing.

Since then I have been religiously cutting up every magazine, ad and catalog that enters the house before it gets tossed. I thought I was going to have a massive pile of cuttings to use for a while but have realized that Sports Illustrated does not offer the same picture gluing opportunities that Real Simple or Elle Decor does.

During the this past Saturday morning, we went to the neighborhood swings.

And then during Elle's morning nap time, Ali and I cooked a few appetizer dishes that I had been wanting to try and I decided our first Saturday afternoon football viewing at home warranted trying out a few things.

So Alice got her 'cooking' chair and her new apron that Aunt Amy got her for her birthday and she cooked with me.

We made crab and mushroom puffs, which didn't stay closed, but the second batch came out better.

We chopped veggies for hummus dipping and then Ali washed the dishes, for about 30 minutes.

Sunday evening she helped me with dinner again, which wasn't as exciting because it was a 'toss it together' casserole, but she did fry the beef and then stir everything together before we poured in the casserole dish together.

She wanted to do more, so I pulled out the cookbook and found a recipe that I had most of the ingredients for and she went to work. I handed her the ingredient and the right measure spoon and she did it all. She measured, poured, stirred, and then spooned the batter into muffin tins. All I did was put the tin in the oven. I didn't get a picture but they came out fairly good! I'm pretty sure more of the batter was smeared across the top of the tin rather than in the cups but that's a level of dexterity we haven't reached yet.

And let's just throw in a photo of Elle and Big M for good measure.