The Internet

First, I have to say that the boys are not using the internet in the picture above. They are watching a video while waiting for our flight home. Which was a really convenient way to keep them contained. But, like many people I have kind of a love-hate relationship with the internet. There is just so much information out there and you are pretty much guaranteed to find someone to back you up in any argument or prove that there are other people worse than you are. However, sometimes it's too much information and you are at least as likely to find someone who thinks it's child abuse to, say, feed your children goldfish crackers. Now I don't imagine I'll ever be convinced that goldfish crackers are evil but I have enjoyed trying the recipes for the homemade version. I have recently been experimenting with a lot of different recipes for things we usually buy. Among my experiments: granola bars, pancake mix, chocolate syrup, mayonnaise, chicken nuggets, and ranch dip. Most of these experiments have been very successful and will be repeated. Some are going to take a little more work or just aren't worth it. I keep trying for a number of reasons. First, I enjoy it and I really need a hobby. I'm finding that my hobbies tend to be more "girly" now that I have a lot of males in the house. A lot of it is just to see if I can do these things. And there is no doubt that a lot of the recipes are cheaper. It's nice to be able to make 30 granola bars for less than the cost of a box of twelve. Particularly since the boys already eat SO much. (Seriously, both of them are well known in daycare for eating other kids' food if they are denied more servings. They usual won't give more than thirds and sometimes that's just not enough.)

Some, like the ranch dip, are inspired by the fact that Alex appears to have some food sensitivities. We still haven't figured it out for sure. I don't know what it is about creamy salad dressings and dips but wherever it touches his skin turns bright red and puffy. This has only recently become an issue since we only recently started giving him dips. Frankly, it makes a huge mess and he hasn't needed the encouragement to eat. Like all toddlers, however, he REALLY enjoys dipping his food into sauces. Alex is destined to be our mystery I think. We recently travelled to Atlanta (more on that in another post) and used a different brand of diaper. A week later, you can still see remains of the reaction he had. Earlier this week he also had a rash all over his body, but it appears to have just been a virus and not something he reacted to. So we'll see. Again, it is nice to have the internet because we can email his doctor and sometimes avoid having to go into the doctors office. But I would NEVER recommend just putting a symptom into Google.

One more benefit of the internet is that I can finally post the video of Alex singing Old McDonald...sort of. Enjoy!