highlights of a week full of deep breaths.

life has been busy, as usual. thrown in like a giant wrench has been some outrageous behavior from bee. she has been having these daily tantrums that are like nothing we have ever seen. there is screaming and crying, there is sometimes scratching and pinching and there is endless bargaining that can almost not be deciphered through all the screaming. i guess this is what a four year old tantrum looks like. it's not pretty.

i am pretty much at my wits end. monday's public tantrum in a parking lot pretty much pushed me over the edge. this new behavior has had me on eggshells and colored my world in a very ugly way for a few weeks now.

that said, today was better. there was only one almost-tantrum. she managed to calm down and "use words" and it really felt like a gift. i'm hoping that we are on the other side of this.

but it's not all bad. there has been much joy.

for starters, i made bee a winter hat:

it's a simple knit hat with a 1" ribbed band on the bottom. i knit the flower to fancy it up. the flower turned out big because of the needles or yarn or whatever, but i love it. bee is like carrie bradshaw when she walks into preschool!

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in the "cute baby department" we have henny, painted up by bee:
she discovered her love for painting henny on halloween and he loves being the canvas. he just sits there, so still, as she paints away.

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my latest cooking triumph was vegetarian golumpki. i can't even deal with writing out the recipe, but here's the basics... i followed the usual recipe but filled them with TVP (brought back with vegetable broth), smashed veggie meatballs and brown rice. they were the bomb.

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finally is a picture that i uploaded and just can't believe. i just can't believe that this is my baby. the baby who i didn't put in pink until she was probably 2, who i tried so hard to help maintain her gender neutrality and just enjoy everything as a child, not necessarily a girl child. there she is, with the gown, crown, necklace and wrist tutu, just sipping her tea.