Sasha had her 2 1/2 year exam today. She was quite prepared for it. Months of playing with her doctor set, pretending that she was a doctor helped. I also let her know the day before in advance that "Tomorrow, you will go see the doctor!". She seemed to understand. We also let her know when she woke up in the morning, and when we were on the way. "First, we are going to McDonalds, then we will go see the doctor!".
So yeah, she was very ready.
She loves to play in the waiting area so she had a little fun with that. When we were escorted to the exam room, the nurse wanted her to take off her clothes and step on the scale in just her underwear and t-shirt. Sasha loves stepping on the scale at home too, so she was a pro at the scale. She did not, however, like it at all when the nurse tried to get her height. After a few protests, the nurse had to take her height the old fashioned way, by laying Sasha down on the exam table, drawing pencil marks at the top of Sasha's head and feet on the paper, and measuring the marks.
Sasha weighed 27lbs and was 37 inches tall. Yay. For a child who once had low weight issues, she's back on track. Her growth chart looked like a big "S", but we're back on the upswing and all caught up. She's even ahead on height, so maybe this girl got lucky and got her height from her tall daddy instead of her short mommy.
The doctor examined Sasha and all is well. Nothing new with the umbilical hernia. The plan is still to hope it closes on it's own by age 4-5, otherwise surgery will be required.
The pediatrician was concerned that Sasha drinks too much milk and doesn't eat enough iron-rich foods, so we had another blood iron test. Sasha's blood iron was fine, fortunately. No anemia. Not sure how she isn't anemic but I suppose it might be the Flintstone's vitamins helping :)
Sasha had a hepatitis vaccination and didn't cry one bit! I am amazed. She was just fine with the shot, and was happy to have a band-aid.
A few hours after the vaccine, Sasha got very crabby. She never naps anymore but we finally had to put her down for a nap.
30 March 2009
28 March 2009
No, I'm Sasha!
We were eating out at Applebee's for lunch together as a family the other day. There was a woman in a nearby table, and she was eating alone. I think she stepped away from her table to use the restroom. As she returned back to her table, she passed by our table. Sasha had already decided she was done eating and was singing and playing to entertain herself and everybody else, and was generally being cute.
As the woman passed by her table, she addressed Sasha:
"Oh, you are a cute little munchkin aren't you?", she said.
"No! I'm Sasha!", Sasha quickly corrected her.
She's been doing that lately with a lot of things we say.
"Sasha, are you running around naked again?", I asked today.
"No Mom, I'm Sasha!" she replied defensively.
As the woman passed by her table, she addressed Sasha:
"Oh, you are a cute little munchkin aren't you?", she said.
"No! I'm Sasha!", Sasha quickly corrected her.
She's been doing that lately with a lot of things we say.
"Sasha, are you running around naked again?", I asked today.
"No Mom, I'm Sasha!" she replied defensively.
26 March 2009
Things I've learned
My older daughter, Cassie, is 14 years old. It was quite a long time ago that she was Sasha's age. I was a young mother, made some good decisions and bad. And I learned.
One of the things I did with Cassie that went well was something that I learned from a book. I think it was called, "How to speak so your kids will listen". It was popular when Cassie was still a toddler.
Anyways, what I did with Cassie was that when she was dealing with feelings of any kind, I would vocalize to her what I thought she was feeling. If she was happy, I'd say something like, "Oh you seem so happy! Are you happy?". If she was throwing a tantrum because she wanted something she couldn't have, I would repeat like a broken record: "Oh you are really upset because you want my soda. You really really want my soda but you're mad that you can't have it. Is that right?". The concept was to teach children HOW to vocalize their feelings. And while it didn't mean that I was going to cave in and give her the contraband soda, she knew that I understood what she wanted and how she felt. And she could learn to label a feeling with a word.
I do think it helped. Cassie was a wise old soul even in her baby and toddler years. She was a precocious early talker with a huge vocabulary. She would say things to me like, "Mom, I'm very upset with you right now", instead of just throwing herself to the ground and screaming. Sure she still threw herself down to the ground sometimes, but I really do feel it helped a lot! And as a teen today, she is very eloquent with words and feelings.
This is definitely something that I continue to do with Sasha. It worked very well with Cassie, and it seems to be doing well for Sasha as well. Sasha is very curious about feelings lately. She tells us when she is happy, sad, mad. She clearly tells us what she wants. She often asks us how we are feeling! Random strangers in the elevator get the grand inquisition into how they are feeling too! Hah she's like a two year old shrink.
There are plenty of other lessons I learned from my first child too. I taught Cassie how to read when she was four years old using the book, "Why Johnny Can't Read", an awesome book that uses phonics. I could hand her a newspaper and have her read any random article out loud, regardless of what it was about. Sure she didn't understand economics, but do any of us really? :P Anyways, I will definitely definitely teach reading again with Sasha.
Also, time really went by so quickly with Cassie. It really does feel like I was just sending her off to kindergarten the other day, and now she's in high school. It's crazy how fast it all goes, so enjoy every second! Take tons of pictures. Write all those stories down. The memories fade with time. It's hard for me to remember all those funny cute little things Cassie did when she was a kid, which is why I over-compensate and over-document this time with Sasha. Another lesson learned.
One of the things I did with Cassie that went well was something that I learned from a book. I think it was called, "How to speak so your kids will listen". It was popular when Cassie was still a toddler.
Anyways, what I did with Cassie was that when she was dealing with feelings of any kind, I would vocalize to her what I thought she was feeling. If she was happy, I'd say something like, "Oh you seem so happy! Are you happy?". If she was throwing a tantrum because she wanted something she couldn't have, I would repeat like a broken record: "Oh you are really upset because you want my soda. You really really want my soda but you're mad that you can't have it. Is that right?". The concept was to teach children HOW to vocalize their feelings. And while it didn't mean that I was going to cave in and give her the contraband soda, she knew that I understood what she wanted and how she felt. And she could learn to label a feeling with a word.
I do think it helped. Cassie was a wise old soul even in her baby and toddler years. She was a precocious early talker with a huge vocabulary. She would say things to me like, "Mom, I'm very upset with you right now", instead of just throwing herself to the ground and screaming. Sure she still threw herself down to the ground sometimes, but I really do feel it helped a lot! And as a teen today, she is very eloquent with words and feelings.
This is definitely something that I continue to do with Sasha. It worked very well with Cassie, and it seems to be doing well for Sasha as well. Sasha is very curious about feelings lately. She tells us when she is happy, sad, mad. She clearly tells us what she wants. She often asks us how we are feeling! Random strangers in the elevator get the grand inquisition into how they are feeling too! Hah she's like a two year old shrink.
There are plenty of other lessons I learned from my first child too. I taught Cassie how to read when she was four years old using the book, "Why Johnny Can't Read", an awesome book that uses phonics. I could hand her a newspaper and have her read any random article out loud, regardless of what it was about. Sure she didn't understand economics, but do any of us really? :P Anyways, I will definitely definitely teach reading again with Sasha.
Also, time really went by so quickly with Cassie. It really does feel like I was just sending her off to kindergarten the other day, and now she's in high school. It's crazy how fast it all goes, so enjoy every second! Take tons of pictures. Write all those stories down. The memories fade with time. It's hard for me to remember all those funny cute little things Cassie did when she was a kid, which is why I over-compensate and over-document this time with Sasha. Another lesson learned.
Swimming
As I previously posted, Sasha has been a serious water-bug lately. Two mornings ago, Sasha was watching a little tv and saw some puppet penguins swimming on Sesame Street. She started yelling, "Swimming! Swimming!" and danced around the living room like she was swimming. I asked her if she wanted to go swimming, and she said, "Yes please. I want swimming".
It reminded me that our park district has a really cool indoor water park, so we decided to take Sasha and the family swimming. As much as she's enjoyed water lately, we knew it would be a HUGE hit with her.
Sure enough, she had a blast! The water park was very crowded because the school kids are out for spring break. But despite the full crowd, it was fun.
Her dad took her down the water slides a few times, which she loved. She is a natural at floating on her back. In deeper water, she would naturally flip to her back and float. It cracked me up when she was floating on her back and flapping her arms like a birdy while chanting, "I'm FLYING! I'm FLYING!". Several times, she tried to get herself out of our arms because she was fully convinced she could swim by herself.
And she thought it was hilarious when her dad would submerge himself underwater and wave at her.
Sasha gets cold fast when she goes swimming, so I knew we probably wouldn't be there long. Last time we took her swimming, she got herself very very cold, uncomfortably so and shivered for such a long time that we worried. We were more prepared with extra towels to warm her up quicker this time. I was ready to leave at the first sign of any shivering. Once she shivered the tiniest bit, we teamed up to get her straight into some towels, warmed her up, dressed her in dry clothes, and left.
It reminded me that our park district has a really cool indoor water park, so we decided to take Sasha and the family swimming. As much as she's enjoyed water lately, we knew it would be a HUGE hit with her.
Sure enough, she had a blast! The water park was very crowded because the school kids are out for spring break. But despite the full crowd, it was fun.
Her dad took her down the water slides a few times, which she loved. She is a natural at floating on her back. In deeper water, she would naturally flip to her back and float. It cracked me up when she was floating on her back and flapping her arms like a birdy while chanting, "I'm FLYING! I'm FLYING!". Several times, she tried to get herself out of our arms because she was fully convinced she could swim by herself.
And she thought it was hilarious when her dad would submerge himself underwater and wave at her.
Sasha gets cold fast when she goes swimming, so I knew we probably wouldn't be there long. Last time we took her swimming, she got herself very very cold, uncomfortably so and shivered for such a long time that we worried. We were more prepared with extra towels to warm her up quicker this time. I was ready to leave at the first sign of any shivering. Once she shivered the tiniest bit, we teamed up to get her straight into some towels, warmed her up, dressed her in dry clothes, and left.
Fish in the tub
Slowly over time, Sasha became a water lover. Her baths were usually all about business. Wash up, play with a few toys, and she was done. She didn't like to get her face wet, nor her hair. Shampooing usually had to be done quick, and she usually threw a tantrum. Baths were tolerable, but a shower was completely unacceptable. She had a set of stackable cups, and usually played with those for a while, and maybe splashed a bit. If she splashed water in her face, she became upset and yelled for a washcloth.
But slowly the past few months, she's acclimated herself to water. I can't recall whether it was the shower first that she took to, or if it was laying down in the bath water. At first she'd timidly put her arms and legs in the shower stream (I use a removeable shower head so I can wash her hair and the tub easier). Every day, she got a little braver until one day she was able to stand herself completely under the stream of water, face and all.
She also started to lay herself down in the bath water, which was a complete no-no a few months ago. But she did it by herself, again slowly and a little more each day. Now she lays herself down in the water so that her ears are completely underwater. Then she enjoys the way the water makes everything sound funny. Every noise she hears underwater, she shouts at me, "WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?". Usually it's just dripping water, but sometimes I knock on the side of the tub to make a noise for her.
Now she is like a fish! She lays on her tummy and launches herself across the tub, chanting "I'm SWIMMING! I'm SWIMMING!". She can lay on her back with barely her nose and eyes sticking out of the water forever. She gets out of the tub when the water is cold.
I recently added some new fun to bathtime: bubble bath. Oh man, she loves those bubbles. She plays with bubbles with such glee, chanting "Oh I LOVE bubbles! I LOVE them so much! I'm so HAPPY!". She really says that and it cracks me up how she expresses herself.
I'm a bit torn on the bubbles. They make her so happy. But I get nervous about the chemicals in them. But that's for another post someday, as I've been working on avoiding some of the nasty chemicals in soaps and shampoos lately.
Anyways, that's my little fish!
But slowly the past few months, she's acclimated herself to water. I can't recall whether it was the shower first that she took to, or if it was laying down in the bath water. At first she'd timidly put her arms and legs in the shower stream (I use a removeable shower head so I can wash her hair and the tub easier). Every day, she got a little braver until one day she was able to stand herself completely under the stream of water, face and all.
She also started to lay herself down in the bath water, which was a complete no-no a few months ago. But she did it by herself, again slowly and a little more each day. Now she lays herself down in the water so that her ears are completely underwater. Then she enjoys the way the water makes everything sound funny. Every noise she hears underwater, she shouts at me, "WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?". Usually it's just dripping water, but sometimes I knock on the side of the tub to make a noise for her.
Now she is like a fish! She lays on her tummy and launches herself across the tub, chanting "I'm SWIMMING! I'm SWIMMING!". She can lay on her back with barely her nose and eyes sticking out of the water forever. She gets out of the tub when the water is cold.
I recently added some new fun to bathtime: bubble bath. Oh man, she loves those bubbles. She plays with bubbles with such glee, chanting "Oh I LOVE bubbles! I LOVE them so much! I'm so HAPPY!". She really says that and it cracks me up how she expresses herself.
I'm a bit torn on the bubbles. They make her so happy. But I get nervous about the chemicals in them. But that's for another post someday, as I've been working on avoiding some of the nasty chemicals in soaps and shampoos lately.
Anyways, that's my little fish!
25 March 2009
Happy
Sasha is happy. She often tells us so.
Happy is a common word in her vocabulary lately!
For example, this morning, I tried to wake her up but she was just too sleepy. I picked her up and put her on the living room couch. I turned on her favorite show on tv. I made her favorite chocolate milk and offered it to her, and she sleepily accepted. She laid there, sipping her beloved chocolate milk through a straw, hugging the cup. And without opening her eyes, she murmured quietly, "I'm so happy".
I had to work tonight, so I took a nap before I had to leave. When Sasha's bedtime rolled around, my husband brought her to me so I could put her to sleep. He told me about the cute new thing she was doing tonight. She would sit down in front of my husband, face to face, and say, "soooooo...... Are you happy?". And since she's a toddler, she did this about a gazillion times but we laughed each time. She looked like a little psychologist, and the way she said "soooooo....." was amusing.
At random times throughout the day, she'll hug us and loudly exclaim, "I'm happy mama", or ask us, "are you happy?". And when she is with me, I always am :)
Happy is a common word in her vocabulary lately!
For example, this morning, I tried to wake her up but she was just too sleepy. I picked her up and put her on the living room couch. I turned on her favorite show on tv. I made her favorite chocolate milk and offered it to her, and she sleepily accepted. She laid there, sipping her beloved chocolate milk through a straw, hugging the cup. And without opening her eyes, she murmured quietly, "I'm so happy".
I had to work tonight, so I took a nap before I had to leave. When Sasha's bedtime rolled around, my husband brought her to me so I could put her to sleep. He told me about the cute new thing she was doing tonight. She would sit down in front of my husband, face to face, and say, "soooooo...... Are you happy?". And since she's a toddler, she did this about a gazillion times but we laughed each time. She looked like a little psychologist, and the way she said "soooooo....." was amusing.
At random times throughout the day, she'll hug us and loudly exclaim, "I'm happy mama", or ask us, "are you happy?". And when she is with me, I always am :)
18 March 2009
Zoo
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
We had an annual membership to the local zoo, which is about to expire. It's been a while since we took Sasha, so we figured we'd better get out there. We've definitely got our money's worth out of the membership, but we had not been to the zoo since last summer. I don't think Sasha can remember back that far so it was all new to her again.
We had fun with the carousels, the children's zoo, the petting zoo, but the highlight of the trip was definitely the polar bears. They were really active! There was a male and female adult that were put together for some possible mating. For the most part, it looked like the male was chasing the female around, and the female was very evasive. In another polar bear enclosure, a young bear, the age of perhaps the equivalent of a teenager, was very playful. The zoo keeper was hosing the area down to get rid of the poop, debris, and stuff. The young bear was chasing the stream of water from the hose around. It leaped in the pool and was going nuts chasing that water around. It was so fun to watch!
The other cool exhibit that we enjoyed was at the Children's zoo. There was a greenhouse, and a bunch of spray bottles full of water. The kids could grab the spray bottles and run around and squirt the plants to water them. This exhibit might have just said "SASHA" on it, because that is so up her alley. We have a water sprayer in our house, and she loves that thing. So running around and squirting plants, she could have done for hours. Good fun.
14 March 2009
Two-and-a-half
Happy half-birthday Sasha! Today, she is two-and-a-half :)
The weather should be nice this weekend, so I think we'll go to the zoo soon!
The weather should be nice this weekend, so I think we'll go to the zoo soon!
11 March 2009
More Children's Museum
We had such a fun time at the Children's museum last weekend that we tried it again yesterday. I never did get the pictures uploaded from last time, so we get all the pictures this time. Well, not all of them. Just a few. I got so many great pictures that it was hard to choose just a few of them to put up here.
04 March 2009
Miss you
Sasha has this cute little phrase she uses a lot lately. If I'm playing with Sasha and her dad isn't around, she'll suddenly stop what she's doing, and in a sad little forlorn voice, she says "Miss Dad!". (Not "I miss Dad". She rarely says I when referring to herself. She either omits it or says "Sasha", referring to herself in 3rd person.)
She does the same if she's with her dad and I'm not around. "Miss Mom!". Sometimes big sister Cassie is missed too.
But then, when the person she is missing returns to her, she runs up to them, gives them a huge hug around their knees, shouts 'FOUND YOU!", and then after the reunited hugs are done, she'll tell them, "I missed you!", repeatedly.
It's very endearing. She truly means it too. She really does miss us when we're not with her and she gets a little sad. Sometimes if she really really misses us, she cries too.
She does the same if she's with her dad and I'm not around. "Miss Mom!". Sometimes big sister Cassie is missed too.
But then, when the person she is missing returns to her, she runs up to them, gives them a huge hug around their knees, shouts 'FOUND YOU!", and then after the reunited hugs are done, she'll tell them, "I missed you!", repeatedly.
It's very endearing. She truly means it too. She really does miss us when we're not with her and she gets a little sad. Sometimes if she really really misses us, she cries too.
Children's Museum
This weekend, I took Sasha to the local Children's Museum. I took a ton of pictures and we had a lot of fun. It was nice to get her out of the house, as it's been a long winter and we've been cooped up indoors.
I don't have the pictures available right now, and the pictures really do tell the tale better than I can, so I'll come back to this post in a day or two with more info.
The Children's museum that we went to was nice. Sasha really enjoyed the water play and the bubbles sections the best, and she also loved the drum room, and the shadow room where she danced with her shadow. The Children's museum in Indianapolis was far better than the one in Naperville, but it was still nice and better than sitting around in our house.
I had a lot of fun taking her. I love spending time with Sasha. She is my little buddy and I love to see her happy.
I don't have the pictures available right now, and the pictures really do tell the tale better than I can, so I'll come back to this post in a day or two with more info.
The Children's museum that we went to was nice. Sasha really enjoyed the water play and the bubbles sections the best, and she also loved the drum room, and the shadow room where she danced with her shadow. The Children's museum in Indianapolis was far better than the one in Naperville, but it was still nice and better than sitting around in our house.
I had a lot of fun taking her. I love spending time with Sasha. She is my little buddy and I love to see her happy.
22 February 2009
ABC
This post is belated, but I wanted to say that Sasha can finally sing her ABC's from beginning to end with no errors as of about a week ago.
The problem with the ABC song is that it is sung to the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, so for the longest time her attempts at singing the ABC song went like this: "ABCDEFG, How I wonder what you are". Lately I've made a more conscious effort to never sing the two songs close together to avoid confusion.
As a ni-nite routine at 10pm, Sasha climbs into bed and has a cup of chocolate milk. She hugs me and her dad and usually protests going to sleep. Finally my husband turns off the light and I lay down with her. She cries in protest a little and I comfort her. I ask her what song she would like me to sing and I give her a few choices. The usual selection is among the following: 5 Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Rain Rain Go Away, ABC's, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She calms down and tells me what song she wants and I sing it to her. I sing her a few of her choices and then it is quiet time. I stay very quiet and still, and she tries a few times to get my attention. I fake a few yawns (they're contagious you know) and she yawns back. She wiggles around for about 2-3 minutes, trying to find a comfortable position. Next thing I know in a matter of seconds, she is zonked out cold and I can get ready for work.
We've been having fun working with her letters and today she is able to identify a few of her favorite letters on a computer keyboard. Her favorite letters today were P, W, and M. So if I ask her to press P, she'll hunt and search the keyboard until she finds it and presses it. I can actually see her scanning the letters searching for the requested letter and that makes me really happy!
I had Sasha sitting on my lap and we pulled up a fun website that helps with teaching letters. http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp and it either displays the letters to the tune of the abc song, or you can press a letter and it'll display that letter. Between the game, and mommy & daddy playing with her, she's doing well.
I know I probably shouldn't, but sometimes I catch myself comparing Sasha to my older daughter Cassie. They're very very different personalities, but by this age, Cassie was already able to identify every letter of the alphabet, and right before Cassie turned three I had her starting to actually write letters and her name (I have it on video somewhere, she wasn't even 3 yet and she was writing her name correctly). I was a young mother. I didn't know what stuff to teach toddlers so I just taught Cassie everything, and she soaked it up like a sponge. I worked much more with Cassie on teaching stuff than I do with Sasha, and I play more with Sasha than I did with Cassie. So I guess I'm trying to catch up on teaching Sasha some stuff. I probably won't drill Sasha as hard as I did with Cassie (I was downright drill-sergeant like at times with Cassie), but I should probably do a little better with teaching Sasha stuff.
The problem with the ABC song is that it is sung to the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, so for the longest time her attempts at singing the ABC song went like this: "ABCDEFG, How I wonder what you are". Lately I've made a more conscious effort to never sing the two songs close together to avoid confusion.
As a ni-nite routine at 10pm, Sasha climbs into bed and has a cup of chocolate milk. She hugs me and her dad and usually protests going to sleep. Finally my husband turns off the light and I lay down with her. She cries in protest a little and I comfort her. I ask her what song she would like me to sing and I give her a few choices. The usual selection is among the following: 5 Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Rain Rain Go Away, ABC's, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She calms down and tells me what song she wants and I sing it to her. I sing her a few of her choices and then it is quiet time. I stay very quiet and still, and she tries a few times to get my attention. I fake a few yawns (they're contagious you know) and she yawns back. She wiggles around for about 2-3 minutes, trying to find a comfortable position. Next thing I know in a matter of seconds, she is zonked out cold and I can get ready for work.
We've been having fun working with her letters and today she is able to identify a few of her favorite letters on a computer keyboard. Her favorite letters today were P, W, and M. So if I ask her to press P, she'll hunt and search the keyboard until she finds it and presses it. I can actually see her scanning the letters searching for the requested letter and that makes me really happy!
I had Sasha sitting on my lap and we pulled up a fun website that helps with teaching letters. http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp and it either displays the letters to the tune of the abc song, or you can press a letter and it'll display that letter. Between the game, and mommy & daddy playing with her, she's doing well.
I know I probably shouldn't, but sometimes I catch myself comparing Sasha to my older daughter Cassie. They're very very different personalities, but by this age, Cassie was already able to identify every letter of the alphabet, and right before Cassie turned three I had her starting to actually write letters and her name (I have it on video somewhere, she wasn't even 3 yet and she was writing her name correctly). I was a young mother. I didn't know what stuff to teach toddlers so I just taught Cassie everything, and she soaked it up like a sponge. I worked much more with Cassie on teaching stuff than I do with Sasha, and I play more with Sasha than I did with Cassie. So I guess I'm trying to catch up on teaching Sasha some stuff. I probably won't drill Sasha as hard as I did with Cassie (I was downright drill-sergeant like at times with Cassie), but I should probably do a little better with teaching Sasha stuff.
19 February 2009
RANT: Fake food
My daughter Sasha is a chocolate milk addict. Forget trying to put her to bed without her nightly chocolate milk fix. Usually we buy a gallon of whole milk and put some chocolate syrup in it. But when we ran out the other day, we ran to the grocery and grabbed a whole gallon of chocolate milk.
Then the last three nights, Sasha has been night waking WAY more than usual. My poor husband has been very sleep deprived. She's been crabby and on average waking up hourly so that's what? 8-10 times a night? She usually does wake up during the night but not that much.
Then as I was getting her bedtime cup of chocolate milk last night, I caught a glimpse of something that bothered me. The gallon of chocolate milk said "chocolate drink" on it. Warning bells went off. "Drink" is the secret codeword that they put on fake stuff, aka Orange Drink instead of Orange juice. I didn't have time to grab the container and read as Sasha was screaming for me but I meant to look it up later.
So check this out. The stuff was Dean's Choco-riffic. It was placed in the dairy section right there with all the other gallons of milk. It even said "Homogenized, Pasteurized" on it like a gallon of milk does. But where is the milk in this ingredients list?
Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Whey, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup, Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Corn Starch, Salt, Sodium Caseinate (a Milk Derivative), Carrageenan, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sugar, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Artificial Color.
So let me get this straight, instead of giving my daughter her nightly sleep-inducing glass of milk, for the past three nights I've been jacking her up on thickened, chocolate flavored high fructose corn syrup and water? I see partially hydrogenated soybean oil in there, along with some emulsifiers to make the oils play nice with the water (Lecithin). Thickeners to make the texture feel like milk: corn starch, carrageenan. Some artifical flavors and colors. Some preservatives. Oh and some mysterious stuff called Sodium Caseinate and whey powder. Is that supposed to be milk? Because last time I saw whey powder, I didn't think "OH MILK!".
It's not milk. When I buy chocolate milk, I expect it to contain the same milk as in the other gallons of milk, except with some chocolate flavoring. Sure some sugar can be added. But I didn't consider the milk part optional.
I feel really ripped off and cheated by this. Buyer beware. I am personally never buying Dean's products ever again.
And on the "fake food" front, I never fell for this one but it cracks me up in a sad way. They have these bottles of soy sauce all over the place at work. Ingredients: water, salt, carmel color, sugar, sodium benzoate (preservative), Monosodium Glutamate.. What the heck? It's colored salt water with msg and preservatives in it! Where's the soy sauce? Where are the fermented soybeans?
I get so tired of getting ripped off by fake foods. I feel really defensive because they're everywhere and it gets so hard to feed my family a legitimate meal.
Then the last three nights, Sasha has been night waking WAY more than usual. My poor husband has been very sleep deprived. She's been crabby and on average waking up hourly so that's what? 8-10 times a night? She usually does wake up during the night but not that much.
Then as I was getting her bedtime cup of chocolate milk last night, I caught a glimpse of something that bothered me. The gallon of chocolate milk said "chocolate drink" on it. Warning bells went off. "Drink" is the secret codeword that they put on fake stuff, aka Orange Drink instead of Orange juice. I didn't have time to grab the container and read as Sasha was screaming for me but I meant to look it up later.
So check this out. The stuff was Dean's Choco-riffic. It was placed in the dairy section right there with all the other gallons of milk. It even said "Homogenized, Pasteurized" on it like a gallon of milk does. But where is the milk in this ingredients list?Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Whey, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup, Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Corn Starch, Salt, Sodium Caseinate (a Milk Derivative), Carrageenan, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sugar, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Artificial Color.
So let me get this straight, instead of giving my daughter her nightly sleep-inducing glass of milk, for the past three nights I've been jacking her up on thickened, chocolate flavored high fructose corn syrup and water? I see partially hydrogenated soybean oil in there, along with some emulsifiers to make the oils play nice with the water (Lecithin). Thickeners to make the texture feel like milk: corn starch, carrageenan. Some artifical flavors and colors. Some preservatives. Oh and some mysterious stuff called Sodium Caseinate and whey powder. Is that supposed to be milk? Because last time I saw whey powder, I didn't think "OH MILK!".
It's not milk. When I buy chocolate milk, I expect it to contain the same milk as in the other gallons of milk, except with some chocolate flavoring. Sure some sugar can be added. But I didn't consider the milk part optional.
I feel really ripped off and cheated by this. Buyer beware. I am personally never buying Dean's products ever again.
And on the "fake food" front, I never fell for this one but it cracks me up in a sad way. They have these bottles of soy sauce all over the place at work. Ingredients: water, salt, carmel color, sugar, sodium benzoate (preservative), Monosodium Glutamate.. What the heck? It's colored salt water with msg and preservatives in it! Where's the soy sauce? Where are the fermented soybeans?
I get so tired of getting ripped off by fake foods. I feel really defensive because they're everywhere and it gets so hard to feed my family a legitimate meal.
15 February 2009
Family Art
1. Little artist, 2. Colors, 3. Splash, 4. Water.
Photo mosaic created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Today we played with some water, some food coloring, some cloth, some lighting and made a little photographic art. It was fun and everyone got involved.
Cassie and I did most of it. We set it up and bounced our ideas back and forth. She chose the food coloring colors and made tons of suggestions. She held the lights and positioned things around. Then when we wanted to try to take pictures of drops of water hitting the surface of the colored water, it was Cassie who used the dropper to drop the water for me. We had to synchronize ourselves together to try to catch the shot.
Sasha, well she just liked playing with the colored waters and the water dropper. I had my husband hold a reflector light for me, which blocked the bad reflections from the sunlight coming in from outside, and gave me some better lighting to work with.
14 February 2009
Playful Morning
1. Thinky face, 2. It's broken?!, 3. All better, 4. How does this work?Trying to learn manual focusing on an energetic toddler.
I really like some of these. The bottom right one where she's trying to figure out my tripod is my favorite.
These were taken right after Sasha woke up. She is a happy little ball of energy immediately after waking up in the morning. I'm learning a little about how to actually take her picture when she's bouncing around all over the place.
When she first woke up, she was watching tv and dazed out a little. That deep thinky face made me want to get out my camera, since she was sitting still. But once the camera came out, she livened up because she wanted to play with the camera herself. I found the tripod too cumbersome so I took the camera off it, and that shocked her. She thought my camera was broken and tried to fix it. (2nd pic she's saying "IT'S BROKEN!" and the 3rd, she says "ALL BETTER" as if she fixed it.) Eventually she pretended that the tripod was the camera and took pretend pictures with it.
Oh yeah, and she's wearing her Clifford the dog backpack. Somehow during the middle of the night she woke up and requested to wear it, then went back to sleep wearing it. I came home from work and found her asleep with it on, and she didn't let me take it off her for a while.
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