Look at me! I can walk! Hooray for laundry baskets!
02 Feb · Fri 2007
Notes from the Field
New pics added, starting here...
- It had been days since Emma bonked her head falling - she is getting really steady on her feet!
- But then yesterday she did it twice, though it was on Lonnie's watch not mine. Heh.
- She has mastered getting down from a standing position. It takes a few tries, but she makes it most of the time without any help at all.
- She is becoming a ham for the camera; no fake smiles yet, though, just 2-toothed grins.
- Oh yeah, she now has two teeth! They didn't seem to cause too much pain...
- Favorite toys right now: the humidifier box, her high chair (from the floor, not sitting in it), my small pocket measuring tape, and plastic food containers (thanks to Mona for that brilliant idea!).
- She is also becoming a little drummer - she likes to pound on anything solid (that includes me, it seems)
- Now that she's more mobile, she will sometimes play by herself for up to 20 min at a time! She will circle around the room, pulling up here, crawling here, playing with this and that. It's fun, and nice to be able to do something myself.
- I forget if I've posted about this already, but Lonnie has started being able to reliably get her asleep in the crib at night, whahoo! Our bedtime routine has now become dinner, bath (and nursing), jammies, and stories and/or bottle with Daddy. Its working really well. She wakes somewhere between 1-4 hours later, at which point I nurse her back down quickly in the bed.
- Naps? Eh, still all over the place, some in the car, some in a carrier on me, some (like right now!) in the bed. Rarely in the crib, at least without a fight, since she doesn't sleep soundly enough for the transfer.
New pics added, starting here...
Crock Pot Lamb Stew
I made lamb stew yesterday and it was great! And lots of leftovers! I kind of combined a couple recipes I had found online. It was just right for my whimpish tongue (about 2 star, if we were talking Thai), so add more if you like it spicier, less (of the turmeric & red pepper flakes) if you want it less so. Here it is, roughly:
Crock Pot Lamb Stew
1 1/2 lbs lamb stew meat 2 large sweet potato/yams 1-2 onions, sliced 4 cloves garlic 1 t cinnamon 2 t turmeric 2 t ginger 1 t crushed red pepper flakes 14 oz (or so) beef broth Optional: dash of orange juice (or orange zest) 1 cup dried apricots, cut roughly 1 cup peas Optional: 1 T cornstarch, whisked into some hot water salt/pepper to taste
1. Lightly salt & pepper the meat and brown in a pan. Transfer to crock pot. 2. Saute onions & garlic for 2 min, then add spices and cook for another few min or so. Add dash of broth & scrape pan, add all to crock pot. 3. Peel and roughly cut sweet potatoes into large chunks (2" or so?), add to crock pot ** 4. Pour in rest of broth and OJ/zest (if using). 5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (I noticed the meat was much more tender after 9 or so than just a few hours earlier) 6. 1-2 hours before serving, add apricots, peas, and cornstarch (if using)
Note: The sweet potatoes were really soft and starting to break down after cooking for so long. We liked it, but if you prefer more solid potatoes, you could add them halfway through. I ended up not adding the cornstarch because the sweet potatoes had thickened the broth enough as it was.
I made lamb stew yesterday and it was great! And lots of leftovers! I kind of combined a couple recipes I had found online. It was just right for my whimpish tongue (about 2 star, if we were talking Thai), so add more if you like it spicier, less (of the turmeric & red pepper flakes) if you want it less so. Here it is, roughly:
Crock Pot Lamb Stew
1 1/2 lbs lamb stew meat 2 large sweet potato/yams 1-2 onions, sliced 4 cloves garlic 1 t cinnamon 2 t turmeric 2 t ginger 1 t crushed red pepper flakes 14 oz (or so) beef broth Optional: dash of orange juice (or orange zest) 1 cup dried apricots, cut roughly 1 cup peas Optional: 1 T cornstarch, whisked into some hot water salt/pepper to taste
1. Lightly salt & pepper the meat and brown in a pan. Transfer to crock pot. 2. Saute onions & garlic for 2 min, then add spices and cook for another few min or so. Add dash of broth & scrape pan, add all to crock pot. 3. Peel and roughly cut sweet potatoes into large chunks (2" or so?), add to crock pot ** 4. Pour in rest of broth and OJ/zest (if using). 5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (I noticed the meat was much more tender after 9 or so than just a few hours earlier) 6. 1-2 hours before serving, add apricots, peas, and cornstarch (if using)
Note: The sweet potatoes were really soft and starting to break down after cooking for so long. We liked it, but if you prefer more solid potatoes, you could add them halfway through. I ended up not adding the cornstarch because the sweet potatoes had thickened the broth enough as it was.
