Friday, March 16, 2012

Morning Sunshine

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Two and a half is in full swing in our household, leaving me feeling silly about this post where I went on about how wonderful the two's were.  It's good that I was so positive.  But now, "things" have gotten more complicated.  Instead of waking up joyful and ready to play, lately my sunny boy has been cranky and irritated.

All week long the first hour of our day has included yelling (him, not me), demanding one thing after the next in rapid succession and threats of the dreaded "time out."  He says "no" to everything, even to things he actually wants!

Thank goodness for waffles and distraction tactics.  He really likes to watch the red button on the waffle machine and tell me when it turns green.  It seems to hold the same excitement as waiting for the train.  He likes that waffles are versatile and he gets to choose between plain, spread with sun butter, jam or drizzled with syrup.

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photo taken during happy moment 
It's hard to describe the semi-insanity of parenting a toddler full-time.  I've had some pretty tough days where I catch myself staring in the mirror wondering if I'm qualified for this job.  Roman bounces back quickly, but I'm the one who can't quite shake the after effects of one of his full blown temper tantrums in the streets of NYC.  It's quite clear that Roman is not about to put out a classified ad for a new mom, and maybe it's my cooking skills that save me.

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These waffles have a combination of white and wheat flours, coarse bran, hazelnut flour, pear- all of the things I tend to put in most muffins or pancakes that we eat around here.  Perhaps because Roman has never had conventional white flour waffles, he doesn't know the difference and he loves these.  Or maybe it's just that they're that much more delicious.  Whatever it is, it's nice to have one thing I can count on in the morning to spread a little sunshine.  I know, I know, 3 is going to be even harder. 

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Hazelnut Pear Wholegrain Waffles
Based on this recipe on Allrecipes.com
Makes about 4 large, depending on the size of your waffle maker

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup wholewheat flour
1/4 cup wheatgerm or coarse bran
1/4 cup ground hazelnut or almond flour
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
one pear, peeled and grated

In a small bowl combine the first four wet ingredients.  In a larger bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Combine the wet and the dry, fold in the grated pear and make the waffles according to your machine's instructions.

19 comments:

  1. My boy is 3 and I feel your pain, Nicole! Mine is the same and wants to do EVERYTHING himself, even the stuff he just shouldn't. And the moods!!! Oh my! It's hard....

    These waffles are beautiful, thank God for food (...and little boys ;)

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    1. I know these are the toughest (and cutest) years.

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  2. I love this! I need to get out my waffle iron. Re toddlers, we definitely are living with the "reflexive no" as we call it. Hopefully the crankiness is adjusting to daylight savings? (One can hope anyway).

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    1. I really should be mixing the dry ingredients at night to make things smoother in the morning, but by 8 pm I'm all out of steam!

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  3. Roman looks like a boy now! you must be so proud (when you are not mad)! And the waffles look great!

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  4. As bad as it is to say, it's a relief to hear that I am not the only one finding parenting a little harder than I anticipated. I used to be quite naive thinking that as long as I was always happy and spoke lovingly to my child and played with them that there wouldn't be tantrums, but now I have come to realise that it's not something you can control, all you can do is try to shorten their length and at the same time, stay sane.

    Whilst my little one is still solely on breastmilk, food is something I hope will allow us to connect and enjoy the moment and maybe stall a few tantrums :)

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    1. Parenting is such an interesting road, with many moments of awakening (literally and figuratively) -- a lot of Roman's angst these days is due to the fact that I'm weaning him from the breast. I understand he's upset, but it feels like the time has come.

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  5. my early parenting years are long behind me, but my daughter, (all grown and married) to this day loves loves loves my waffles--iconic not just for their yummy taste, but for all the love and happy memories associated with a waffle breakfast. your creating happiness (and a little sanity!) now, wonderful memories for later.

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    1. That's lovely that she has those cozy food memories- for me, it's impossible to separate that from the word "family"

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  6. "This,too, shall pass," as they say. Each age comes with its own joys and struggles far into the teenage years. My baby boy turned 29 yesterday--hang in there, Nicole. It's all worth it. Something about a plop of wet batter turning into an edible delight right before your eyes is mesmerizing!

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    1. Happy Birthday to your son! I know it's all worth it. I realize I may have sounded negative in this post. But I think that's ok, because real life is not all roses all the time!

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  7. Sigh. I remember when my baby sister went through the "no" phase. It makes no sense! but I think they just like being ABLE to say no and being in some kind of control.

    Thank god for waffles and delicious breakfasts like this!

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  8. I was going to say what Michele said. You are bringing back memories of my little half-sis. I believe it was about 2 or 3 years old that she used to move between screaming at the top of her lungs, asking me what I was doing over and over and over and over, and being very sweet and cute. I also recall a great evening of babysitting where I lost track of her for maybe 2 minutes and quick as lightening she got into a kitchen cabinet and found a box of croutons (yes, I used to buy those...) and a colander and decided to have a little party and scatter the entire floor with croutons and crumbs. And one of my little brothers...he was about the same age the afternoon he somehow opened a pen and made a huge ink circle in the center of my new down comforter. My dad still loves to laugh about that one. Now it all makes me chuckle, it didn't at the time...

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  9. I almost wrote "this too shall pass" in my post, because I think of it a lot. As hard as it seems sometimes, this is just a fickle stage and no one stays like this forever! At least no one I know! It's strange- if we didn't know this was "normal child behavior" we wouldn't know what to think!

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  10. Nicole: just two more years and then there will be a few years of bliss. I am loving the elementary school years as I have little people to have conversations with. One tip: when my kids were Roman's age I would take them often to field trips in the woods and country side and that seemed to calm them down.

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    1. Thanks, Amelia! We are going to my family's in the country for Easter. That will be a nice break from the city!

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  11. What a wonderful recipe for waffles! Hang in there!

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  12. My most difficult times with my daughter were between 3 and 4, coinciding with the birth of my son. That period would have been difficult anyway, I am sure (I saw the signs before then), but it was a full on nightmare. I spent many an evening in tears, wondering where I went wrong and how to solve the problem. And then, just like it hit, it passed. They are phases, they come and go, some children get them worse or later. It is a part of growing up I guess. I never feel smug around other moms anymore, because sooner or later your perfect kid will act out. Thank goodness, might I add. It is these little struggles for indipendence that add depth, character and complexity to a child. I think it is a little like white flour waffles as opposed to your lovely ones. So many more layers in flavor

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