Work has slowed to a crawl this week so I took the opportunity to do some extra cleaning and organizing around the house. Like many people, I'm a little ambivalent about slow times because slow work = more free time but it also equals not getting paid. So to maximize the time and take my mind off the money I wasn't making I organized the Boy Wonder's art drawer. Plus, I figure it's a good thing to enjoy the summer doldrums rather than rail against them.


The art drawer in located in the kitchen and is low enough that he can get in and out of it on his own. There's crayons and paper, of course, but also stencils, stickers, (cleaned) foam meat trays, glue sticks, colored pencils, play dough and lots of other good stuff. This week I decided that he's old enough to have a pair of blunt-edged school scissors, so they're in there, too. I love that he feels free to claim this space as his own but I love it even more now that it's clean and tidy and that the drawer can fully close once again.


I also spent part of this morning making and freezing some baby food for the Little Diva. She's been getting rice, oatmeal and mixed cereals for a couple weeks now and it's time to start in with veggies and fruits. Making these colorful purees is one of my favorite parts of being an infant's mom. Feeding a baby is a form of communication and making my baby's first foods let's her know that I value that which is fresh and simply prepared. The freezer is now home to little cubes (I use an ice cube tray to freeze in perfect serving sizes) of sweet potato, butternut squash, carrot, acorn squash, summer squash, chick pea, zucchini, pea and green bean purees. Since Alisha's peaches arrived today I'll do some of those, although we probably won't get into fruits until next month, and I can't wait to do apricots and plums. The Boy Wonder adored avocado and mango and I have some wonderful memories of introducing him to new things. How exciting it is to be traveling this road again and discovering anew how wonderful food can be when it's unadorned and eaten with a sense of wonder.


Time has been officially set aside this weekend to make the oft-promised butterscotch sauce. I'm nervous as I always am when trying a new recipe but I'm also terrifically excited about how great I think it'll be. I can practically taste the butterscotch now...