Instant vs. cook and serve

Yes, I am talking about pudding. Only because I recently got a box of cook and serve by accident when I needed instant. So, I thought I would make it one night for the kids to eat. First of all, who wouldn't want pudding in an instant. You can't beat instant anything. Pudding is not that great of a treat that I should have to stand over a hot stove for it. So there I am reading the directions and it says to pour mix into 2 cups milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Serve warm or cold. Sounds easy enough right? How about the fact that they don't tell you how long to boil or stir. It does not have that bit of information, I know, because I dug the box out of the garbage wondering if I missed it. So, I used my best judgement. When boiling bubbles of hot, molten, magma pudding started shooting out of the pan, I figured it was good. I didn't want another strawberry jam situation. How is cook and serve still on the shelves? Hey, cook and serve, welcome to 2010, everything is instant.

What's all the stink about?

So a few days ago I went into Jerry's room to wake him to go pick Gia up from school. I walked in his room and instantly had the smell hit me. "Eww, Jerry did you go poop?" I look over there and he is leaning against his bed, he obviously did not take a nap. As I walk across his room to go get a diaper to change him, he says "It's under there." Excuse me, what's under there? "Poop...is under there." I glance quickly at his spongebob rug and see an obvious bump in in it. "Jerry, no you didn't!" I pulled back the rug and lo and behold there it was, his dingle berries, placed under his rug. I asked him, "Jerry, why did you put your poop under your rug?" His response, and one hard to argue with, "Because it was in my butt." The thing that got me is that his poop wasn't just tossed under there to get rid of it, it looked as though it was intricately placed under his rug. It looked like Stonehenge was constructed under there. The only difference is I can precisely date this architectural structure back to the time and place as well as the person responsible. Moral of the story: You can't sweep your problems under the rug.

I'm afraid it's true

People are afraid of a lot of weird stuff out there. Aerophobia is the fear of swallowing air. Epistemophobia is the fear of knowledge (this must be a growing epidemic). Anthrophobia is the fear of flowers. Whatever the fear is there is some weird word that ends with phobia to back it up and tell you its okay, it has a medical name. But there is one that has entered our home. Paedophobia...the fear of babies. I am not doctor by any means but since the word phobia is linked to anything imaginable, I will go ahead and diagnose Jerry with paedophobia. Now, when Sophia was immobile he was fine. So, maybe I am diagnosing it wrong. He is afraid of a mobile baby. Might have to check the books (aka: google) on that one. Ever since she started crawling he has been a nervous wreck. He thinks she's after his toys and inevitably him. So, when that 15 pounds of pure fury started crawling towards him he would make a strange noise, somewhat like this, "Uh, uh, uh, uh" and scramble to get away from her. He'd gather up all his toys and move to the couch or ottoman where he was out of reach, where he was safe. Or so he thought. Little did he know that within months of crawling, she would start pulling up on stuff such as the couch and ottoman. So now when she is crawling over to him, he grabs his toys and jumps up on the couch. As she crawls over to the couch where he is sitting looking down at her, he thinks all is okay. He has reached a safe haven. She reaches the couch, lifts he hands up and grips the material. He never imagined it would come to this. She pulls with all her might. Jerry pushes himself back against the couch as far as he can go watching in disbelief. She straightens her legs, she is up, looking him in the eyes, as if to say, Go ahead, make your move. Jerry searches the room for me while making the sound, Uh, uh, uh, uh. He grabs his toys, jumps off the couch, runs to his room and shuts the door. Little does he know in less than a year she'll be opening that very door. I do not know why he gets so nervous around her. I was helping Gia get ready for school yesterday when I heard Jerry calling "Mommy, help me, come here mommy, mommy, mommy" I go out there and he is up on a kitchen chair, with one shoe off, holding it up in the air. And Sophia standing up by the chair just looking up at him. I was like Jerry what are you going to do with that shoe, she's a baby not a mouse. I guess she is kind of intimidating. :-)