Saturday, September 8, 2007

The perks of parenthood, and very cool (and potentially very fattening) news

There are definitely perks to parenthood, especially as children start to get a bit older. Maya helps herself to her snack, carefully taking out two peach yogurts and a spoon and then sitting nicely in a chair to eat them, Itai made pancakes this morning (with some help from dad) , lots of fun things. This morning takes the cake though.

After years of participation in various after school activities ranging from rollerblading to yoga (that was a short one - once he realized he was the only boy he lost interest), Itai decided this morning that he wanted to conduct his own class, and of all things my sports-obsessed boy chose "relaxation". He had me lie down on his bed and spent 15 minutes gently rubbing the tunnel piece (or rather one half of it) from his old Thomas the Tank Engine set over my back and legs in a strangely relaxing form of massage. It would have been practically blissful had the entire 15 minutes not been accompanied by a running dialogue: Mom, you have 8 minutes left. Do you like this? Mom, you have 8 minutes left. Do you like this? Mom, you have 8 minutes left. Do you like this? Mom, you have 7 minutes left. Do you like this? Mom, you have 7 minutes left. Do you like this? and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

He then went on to do the same thing for his father, and announced that there would now be weekly sessions. Next week's session will involve the flat side of a pen, and the following week a tennis ball (my suggestion that one, as a veteran of back labor).

Of course, my wonderful relaxed mood has been slightly marred by the manic beach ball soccer game that is currently underway in my living room...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a completely unrelated note, I recieved an e-mail at 4am last night (this morning?), and no, please don't ask why on earth I was checking my e-mail at 4am, that my name was drawn in a contest held by A Year In Bread and I've won (or more correctly my bakesallourbreadhimself husband has won) a signed copy of Daniel Leader's new book Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers! Considering that when they told me I'd won there was a bag full of olive rolls sitting on my counter that Jay baked last night using a recipe they'd posted from this very book I suspect it will get a LOT of use around here. Hi to everyone popping over from A Year in Bread by the way. Kick off your shoes, help yourself to a roll and a freshly made iced coffee (my contribution to this morning's brunch) and stay for a while.

12 comments:

Mel said...

What a lovely way to spend 15mins (I think LOL) Next time could you suggest some music to zone out the commentary!

Congrats on the book - look forward to hearing what Jay decides to make from it!

Anonymous said...

How much does Itai charge for his services??

Looking forward to the tasty results of those recipes :-)

LaLa said...

Love his new endeavor....send him my way : ) Wish hubby's bread would ship too....

Jo said...

A massage, very cool. You should encourage this. We mummies deserve a little payback LOL. As for the bread, sounds divine. I love sourdough.

Anonymous said...

What a sweet idea. I agree...I suggest some music for the next time.

And congrats on the win. I love my bread and I look forward to hearing about some of the things you guys try out!!

deedee said...

I have one good, young, talkative massager, too!

Lilight said...

I was cracking-up at the train massage story!

Congrats on winning the bread contest. That's amazing and must be yummy!!!

Fairly Odd Mother said...

I love the countdown---you have 8 minutes left! Cracks me up!

And, oh bread! Does your husband use a bread machine? I've debated whether or not I need one b/c I really, really want to make bread this winter.

Anonymous said...

My daughter's idea of back massage is her stepping into my back! She's just three so I can tolerate and it feels good! But I don't want her to do the same massage style when she's 10!

Robin said...

We had a breadmaker for a while FOM, several in fact (they tend not to last all that long), but my husband is one of those "why make it simple when you can make it complicated" types. He didn't like that he was just dumping in the ingredients and then had no control. For the past several years he's gone back to doing it the (semi-) old fashioned way. He uses the Kitchen Aid to make the dough and start the kneading, then finishes it off by hand.

It is better than the bread machine bread was, no question, but if all you want is bread, not craft, I think a machine would certainly be a reasonable way of doing that.

Jo said...

We have a machine and I pretty much only use it to make my own pizza dough (which is delicious). I've made bread a couple of times but wasn't wowed (though that could be the workman not the tool LOL).

Anonymous said...

Congrats on winning the bread contest.

A massage would really feel good right now.

Thank you,Roin for the ice coffee and roll.