Days 1 Through 3 (Again!) + Frozen Chocolate Cookie Bites
Wednesday
Wednesday marked the first day of Miklós’s second trip of the year. Luckily, Arthur wasn’t aware of that when he went to bed, and that might be part of the reason he slept in until nearly 7:30! Tomorrow might not be so nice. Still, he was certainly aware of his father's absence; every time we passed Miklós’s office, he said “Papa.”
Arthur was surprisingly cheerful and chill throughout the morning, and didn’t have a problem when I left his room to do laundry. He also tried a new food at second breakfast: edamame, which he actually seemed to like quite a bit! I wasn’t expecting that, but I also wasn’t going to complain about it: it’s a veggie, protein, source of iron, and allergen all rolled into one, so I’ll keep offering it to him.
I was pretty sure Arthur wasn’t going to nap when I nursed him at 11. Not only was Miklós gone, but he hadn’t exactly gotten up early. The little guy shocked me though, and crashed pretty quickly on the boob. It wasn’t a long nap - maybe 40 minutes - but it was still a contact nap while Papa was away; he’s full of surprises today! I remember the first day of Miklós’s last trip being significantly more chill than the subsequent ones, so I wonder if after a night without his pops, Arthur will be a bit more high-strung. We’ll see.
I have to say, though, Arthur was remarkably relaxed and good-natured for the early afternoon, content to play on his own in his room while I read on the bed for a while. We then added on to the monster game, by my holding him upside down after catching him. And boy, did he love that! He kept bending his head backwards, mimicking my “wheee!” in attempts to persuade me to do it over and over again.
Arthur’s good mood began to fade a little after 3; he was definitely starting to get tired. Having had only about 40 minutes of sleep over the course of the day, I figured an afternoon nap would do him good, and might actually be a possibility, so we headed out in the stroller around 4. And, though Arthur was rubbing his eyes like crazy, he didn’t seem to be going down. Maybe if I had kept walking with him, he would’ve, but I wasn’t sure, and after a good 20 minutes or so, we headed home.
After the walk, Arthur was a bit calmer, so I decided to forgive him for only taking the single nap. He really wanted to practice reading this one book with me that involves him having to point to pictures of specific animals. He struggles with knowing what to point to, but looks at the book with deeply furrowed brows, wanting to understand it. His other favorite book to study is one called Dressing with pictures of different clothing items. Again, he treats it like a textbook - it’s pretty funny.
Arthur was pretty well-behaved at dinner, too - his new way of indicating he wants more is to hold his empty spoon out to me while saying "yeah, yeah, yeah". And it works pretty well! Bedtime, too, was simple and smooth, so honestly, this second trip of Papa’s was off to a very reasonable start!
Thursday
Arthur slept in until after 7:30 on Thursday! Lovely lovely lovely. He didn't even wake up when I tiptoed down the stairs. I wonder if he was just especially beat after yesterday, or whether the shorter days and darker mornings are helping him sleep in a bit. Whatever the reason, I was a happy camper!
The little dude was in an excellent mood for the first half of the morning, right up until we got home from the grocery store at around 10. Maybe it was my fault for trying to feed him pasta; for some reason he still really doesn't seem to like the stuff. What kind of a toddler is he?? Still, he did get to try out a new sippy cup with no handles, and, though it was a bit more challenging for him to drink out of, did a great job with it!
No late morning contact napping today, despite my nursing him right after a bath. Maybe the late wakeup had something to do with it. So we were back to our usual midday nap-inducing walks. This time, it took him nearly 20 minutes to fall asleep, but eventually he did cave, which was a relief. Once again, it was only a 40 minute nap, and Arthur was rather out of sorts when he awoke, but a bit of susu helped settle him down.
The afternoon passed fairly normally, with Arthur going through fussier and calmer periods. We ran some errands in the late afternoon, and I was kind of hoping he'd take another nap; he had been yawning and rubbing his eyes for quite a while after his first. No luck with that, but at least he was fairly easygoing for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The little fellow loves praise (I remember one book describing small children as "aching to please," and it rings true) and I was able to get him to take a couple of steps while holding onto his walker. He was so proud of himself!
He also discovered a new favorite way of feeding himself. It involves me putting some food into a little plastic tupperware container and giving the container to him. He then holds it up to his mouth like a cup and "drinks" the food out of it. I was even able to get him to eat pasta that way! Hey, whatever works.
And our second Mama-Arthur bedtime of this trip? More smooth sailing, though this time I had to rock him for a whopping four minutes. Still, if three extra minutes of lullaby is the price I pay for a 7:30 morning, I will pay it with pleasure.
Friday
Well, Friday was more of a 7:00 wakeup than a 7:30 one, but at least I had gotten up 40 minutes beforehand - having some time before Arthur is glued to me for the rest of the day is really nice, I have to say.
The little guy was a bit fussy early on in the morning, but cheered up after a few hours. I even managed to get some pasta into his system! It probably helped that he was hungry; in fact, while I was holding him, he started trying to clas through my shirt to get at my boob. Recently, he's begun sometimes reaching down under my shirt to grab my nipple while I'm holding him. I think we'll need to work on his territorialness.
No nap when I nursed him at 11. But during our midday walk, it took him just under 10 minutes to fall asleep. Again, he slept for 40 minutes - he's somewhat predictable. We had a fairly reasonable afternoon, with him alternating between being content on his own and being extra needy. One of the occupations of the afternoon was attempting to put the lid on and off of the tennis ball container. He really got the idea, and was nearly able to put it on himself!
I also bought him a wooden top at HEMA yesterday as an "I'm sorry your father has abandoned you again" gift. So we spent some time playing with that today as well. He isn't able to spin it himself, but he enjoys holding it and watching me spin it! He also enjoys sucking on it like a pacifier. In fact, he prefers it to regular pacifiers. Ok, dude. At another point, he was really asking about "Papa," pointing to Miklós's office and saying "dat? dat?" and "Papa," in turns.
As the evening wore on, Arthur grew more and more exhausted, which manifested itself alternatingly in fussiness and drunken giddiness. Thumping on my chest and eliciting noises and a returning chest thump from me led to wild squeals from him; he was at the point where nearly anything would send him off, and he was getting so worked up and giggly that he was veering on hysteria. I still had to spend a full 3 minutes rocking him to bed, though!
Ok, so I haven't been cooking any fancy new dinner recipes for only two people. But I did make a batch of these freezer bites that I've been munching on! I kind of combined a bunch of ideas I've seen floating around on the web to make these, and they turned out pretty dang good! They're a lovely little snack, and I'll probably whip up another batch at some point after we move. Here's how I made them:
Frozen Chocolate Cookie Bites (makes 8)
Ingredients
Chocolate Base:
¼ cup coconut oil
⅓ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup syrup/honey/5 squirts liquid sucralose
sprinkle salt (optional - I love my sweets slightly salty and have low blood pressure, so I added it)
Filling:
½ cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup coconut flour
2 tbsp whey protein (mine was vanilla)
sprinkle salt
pinch baking soda
3 squirts sucralose/other sweetener to taste
splash vanilla extract
splash of any other extract of choice (optional, I used a cookie dough flavoring)
Instructions
If your coconut oil is hard, melt it by microwaving it in a small bowl in 30 second intervals until liquid.
Add the remaining chocolate ingredients to the bowl and mix well.
Divide the mixture among 8 silicon cupcake liners.
Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl until combined.
Divide the filling into the cupcake liners, on top of the chocolate.
Freeze overnight.
Enjoy straight from the freezer, or let thaw for 10 minutes, depending on desired consistency!
Comments