It wouldn’t have been a nice and easy weekend if my Mother-In-Law (MIL) hadn’t offered to come and visit us for 22 hours. Yes, I counted and I was savoring every one of those and wished there were more. This would have been the first weekend we were left to our own devices with two children or 2×2 as I like to call it. The 2×2 situation is no joke—it is infinitely more difficult than having just one child.
The key to surviving and even enjoying the chaos is keeping your older child occupied with new and fun activities. My MIL is great at that and here is Sophia enjoying some painting. I try to pay attention at how she organizes Sophia’s activities and learn so that I can hopefully reproduce. I am sure valiant attempts lack the finesse with which Evan’s mom manages her time with a toddler.
Anticipating a 2×2 weekend, I’d designed an easy menu consisting of a new chicken wing recipe paired with boiled potatoes dressed with dill, sour cream and garlic.
The potato recipe is a Russian oldie but goodie. We continued our chicken themed cooking with Green Goddess Chicken served with basmati rice and a side of Dandelion greens Evan picked up at the grocery story. I am sure going to stop writing “something green for a vegetable” in his shopping list because he can get quite creative with his choices. I was hoping he’d get peas or broccoli and he comes home with Dandelion greens. I am not sure I’ve ever had them before and we’ve certainly never cooked them until Saturday. Since he chose these weeds, he got the privilege of cooking them and I wasn’t disappointed with the results.
You can pretty much bet that anything will taste great when cooked with soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Perhaps I’ll throw down a cooking challenge Evan’s way to acquire a stinging nettle next time and make a traditional Ukrainian borscht with it?!
All cooking aside, we were able to enjoy being out of the house. Eliza is just three weeks old and my cabin fever is at an all-time high. Shortly after my MIL headed home (sigh), we headed out to our first post-Eliza soiree—a birthday party for our friends’ little girl. We really had a great time having visited with our friends and Sophia enjoyed playing with other kids. For her, visiting with so many little kids is quite a luxury since she doesn’t attend nursery school yet. We came home yesterday with a cranky Eliza and a tired but thrilled Sophia. As for ourselves, the company of other adults can do wonders for one’s cabin fever and spirits. Seeing all those reasonably relaxed parents with two or more children running around gave me great hope that I too one day shall manage as well as they have learned to.
[…] by our families this summer. We can’t thank them enough for their visits, and visits, and visits, and visits. That being sad, I always feel a little sad on Sunday mornings knowing that they are […]