Hot Brown

from Spoon Fork Bacon

In the spirit of Thanksgiving...here's a recipe I pinned earlier in the month in anticipation for all that leftover turkey goodness;)  

LJ and Nate's grandparents, Nanny and Babu are coming for the holiday.  (other grandparents, Didi and Bop are also coming:)   We're all very excited.  Feeling grateful for having these special moments with my family.  Feeling thankful for all the hours my mom stood in the kitchen lovingly preparing our family's favorite dishes and holiday traditions.  Wish I could go back and hug my mom's younger self now that I have my own wee ones.  And since it's Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for all of you friends who have showered us with support over the years.  Who have sent encouraging words or ideas for new therapies or procedures or that just-right pick me up when I needed it.  Those of you who have followed the blog so that my stories can be shared. I'm thankful that all we're dealing with, health-wise this holiday, is Lew's ear infection (ear tubes fell out. boo!) and a potential urological procedure. I'm also thankful for not having to cook dinner tonight;) We're meeting friends and their family at a local Chinese restaurant for a traditional non-Thanksgiving pre-feast celebration:)

So far, I've made the mashed sweet potatoes using the last from our CSA farm share, a Butternut Squash Cheddar Bread Pudding (also the last from the farm share), a Pear Pie, and lastly a Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Cheesecake ala Marcel Desaulniers for our Thanksgiving day feast. Seriously, the latter might change your life.  Josh has made the cornbread-sausage stuffing and is on deck for roasting the turkey and making the gravy.  Oh, and Herb and Cheese Popovers.  We're enjoying cooking.  And thinking about cooking.  Come on over those of you who need a place to celebrate!

Flaky-Pear-Pie Recipe from Food and Wine

Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Planning a post-holiday walk-off with my cousins' Nazlee and James, their kiddos, and my Aunt J and Uncle H!  We're having lots of family togetherness over here.  Lots of good food.  Lots of good times. Lots of good conversations.

Thankful for so much this year.  Lots of little things that add up to a big difference.  Just last weekend, LJ's new gait trainer arrived and he spent two hours walking in it. He slept well that night;)  One of the other things I am so happy about is Lewis' increased communication.  Just this week he has started a new gesture/adapted sign. "I don't know".  Ask him if he knows what's for dinner tonight, and he'll sign I don't know.  The sign for "know" touches the side of his forehead with the tips of his fingers and shakes out the flat hand and away from his face and then palms face up toward the sky.  I don't know. Ask him what's for dinner tomorrow and he'll sign "turkey", the letter "g" sign touches underneath his neck for gobble, gobble, you-know-what.

This day, Thanksgiving, brings up so much for me. Especially my fears for LJ's well-being...that he not suffer, that he not face too many challenges, that he be accepted, that he not be alone.  Wishing that I had some control over the road that lay ahead.  And also, having spent so much time in hospitals and doctors' offices, knowing that there are so many kids that have to overcome so much adversity.  Give your loved ones a tight, tight hug.  Be thankful for their health.  For now, I am just trying my own advice to just breathe deeply.  Just stay in this moment right now.

May you all have a wonderful holiday.  May you savor more everyday moments.  May you all find, peace, happiness and acceptance.  May you dance like no one is watching! (Had to throw that last one in there, honoring my little Nate!  He's been coming up with some fabulous dance routines...one of which was only just recently discovered...recorded... on LJ's iPad...the new iPad...the one with a built-in camera...that Nate figured out how to take videos of himself with his song of choice playing on the older, work iPad in the background.  HILARIOUS. )

Hot Brown Sandwich
Makes 4

Ingredients:
mornay sauce:
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup medium cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup fontina cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

4 slices sourdough bread, lightly toasted
1 lb roasted turkey breast, thinly sliced
6 rashers bacon, cooked and crumbled
black pepper to taste

1. Preheat broiler on high.
2. For mornay sauce: Place butter into a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Sprinkle flour over butter and whisk together. Continue to whisk for 2 to 3 minutes, to cook out the raw flour taste. While whisking add the milk until fully incorporated, ensuring no lumps have formed. Using a wooden spoon stir in the cheese until well blended followed be the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.
3. Place sourdough slices onto a baking sheet and top each with 4 ounces of turkey.
4. Top each sandwich with a generous ladle of mornay sauce and top with a sprinkle of bacon (you can serve now if you wish). Place the baking sheet in the oven and broil each sandwich for 1-2 minutes. Top with freshly cracked black pepper and serve.

Potty Fairies Don't Exist

At least this time around.  Apologies in advance.  Feel free to skip this post if potty talk doesn't interest you.  When Nate was potty training, we tried to play a game, "aim for the Cheerio". (Yes, we were silly enough to have floating cheerios in our toilet bowl). Then we tried the M&M thing. A candy bribe for each time there was a success.  Neither game must have been enough incentive though.  One M&M for each time he produced? He was over it.  But then the Potty Fairy showed up on the scene. At almost 4.5 years old, he was fully potty trained.  The Potty Fairy was similar to a Tooth Fairy.  Instead of money Nate got a small prize, like a match box car or a board book.  Mostly whatever I could find from the dollar store since it was such a long process;)

Fun letter to Nate from one of the Potty Fairies....

We weren't sure whether LJ would have either the strength to hold himself up long enough or the muscle awareness/control to work on potty training.  (Let alone whether we needed to enlist the Potty Fairy).  Bring it on cerebral palsy!  I have it on good word the Potty Fairy would have gladly delivered treats as success demanded.  However, he did it!!  He is using a plain, regular ole potty seat with handles on it.  When he feels he needs to be taken, he uses his left hand to sign potty.  The sign is the letter "p" shaken from side to side.  We help him get on and off the seat and he waves us out of the bathroom to take care of business.  And the thing that gave him enough desire to use the potty?  This beautifully crafted stamp chart.  1 for Pee.  2 for Poo. (Thank you Anna!)  No glitter glue, no candy, no bells, no whistles.  Just the desire to be like his peers at school and his big brother.

LJ is potty trained for the most part!  We've had a few accidents here and there, but its usually if we haven't planned our outings well enough.  He still wears a pull-up at night, but I am just so proud of him.  He's been coming home dry from school for the past month now.  His teacher and Bop are now working together to engineer something for the bathroom at school to prop him up while at the same time using his only functional hand to pull up his pants independently.  There's a grab bar already, but the problem is LJ only can use one hand.  No small task when his tone frequently causes him to lose his balance and he can't stand on his own.  If anyone knows of something like this that already exists, it would be great to not have to re-invent the wheel.

I'm so ecstatic not to be lugging a million pull-ups along with me every time we go out.  Potty fairies, potty charts, and big-boy pants....we are now a diaper-free household.