BigSeefut

This coming weekend will be the first time both Pish and I will be away from Katie for a whole weekend.  We are headed to Boston for a wedding and the grandparents will be babysitting at our house.  Here are the details we emailed to them as babysitting tips.

Katie details:
-  She usually wakes up by 5:30 to 6am.
-  Breakfast – bread, fruit, milk
-  10am – snack (example:  fruit or goldfish crackers, cheese)
-  11:30am – lunch (whatever you guys eat)
-  Nap right after lunch (only one nap per day)
-  2pm - snack
-  6pm – Dinner (drink milk at this time – 8 ozs, we changed to give her milk now instead of right before bedtime so that she doesn’t need to pee in the middle of the night)
-  7:30 – Bath and then brush and floss teeth.  She has her own electric toothbrush and kid’s toothpaste.
-  8-8:30pm – Bedtime (Ask Katie if she needs to pee before she goes to sleep.  She likes to read a book before bedtime.  Please put the gate on her bedroom door.  She usually wears a long sleeve both top and bottom jammers and the green panda fleece jammers as the second layer.  If in the middle of the night, she wakes up and cries, you just need to tell her to go back to sleep.  If that doesn’t work, then tell her to go back to sleep and sit in the hallway with your back towards her.  We usually leave her door open.  The monitor is plugged in our master bedroom.)

Throughout the day, ask if she needs to pee pee.  She still wears a diaper but can pee or poop in the potty once in a while.  There is a potty in the downstairs and upstairs bathroom.

Things to do:  read books (have Katie read some of her favorite ones to you), play puzzles, take walks, go to the park, play with her toys.

You will have the car if you need to go anywhere.

There are diapers downstairs (in the office) and upstairs (in her room and master’s bathroom).

Harvard (the goldfish) details:
-  Usually wakes up by 6am
-  Lunch – a pinch of fish food (he eats only once a day) 
-  Naps after lunch

Emergency
Dr. Tang
(949) 858-1100
After hours and weekends:  Kid’s Doc Phone Triage and Care from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm.  Call (949) 682-4752. After 9:00 pm call our Exchange at (949) 707-3331

Her medicine (children ibuprofen, children Tylenol, etc…) is the cabinet in the kitchen.

Additional Sleep details:
So it used to be really easy to put Katie to bed.  All you had to do was put her in bed, say goodnight, and leave.  She would then fall asleep herself.  That is no longer the case. 

Katie now found out that she can get out of bed.  She’ll cry and whine if she doesn’t feel like sleeping yet.  Here is what we’ve been doing to try to get her back on a more independent sleep regimen.  (Below is Pish’s new night time routine)

1. She used to go to sleep at 7:15 – 7:30pm.  Now we give her a bath at 7:30-7:40 and she’ll go to bed after 8:15pm, sometimes 8:30pm.  I find that she’ll do better when she sees darkness outside.  It could be that if she sees light, she knows that she can milk a few more minutes of staying awake.
2. I tell her that I’ll read to her a book and then afterwards, she’ll need to go to sleep. 
3. I read to her in a semi-dark room.  If the lights are on, it’s harder for her to wind down.
4. There is a LCD clock in her room.  I have covered the last 2 digits so she only sees the first digit.  She knows that if she wakes up in the middle of the night and it doesn’t say “6” then she should go back to sleep.  If she does wake up, she looks at the clock and thinks for a bit.  Sometimes she’ll go back to sleep, sometimes she won’t.  If she doesn’t I tell her to go back to sleep and sometimes, she will.  In the morning, she’ll tell me that it is 6 and time to wake up.
5. I keep her door fully open now.  That way she can see outside from her bed so she doesn’t need to come down from her bed to look what is outside.
6. The best way to handle her whining or crying is to tell her to go back to bed and lay down.  Then sit in the hallway, not right in front of the door, but right outside of her sight.  And sit with your back towards her.  If you sit facing her, she’ll talk to you.  Once she sees that you’re there and you’re not having a conversation with her, then she’ll go back to bed.
7. If she is cranky in the morning, just read a book.  She loves reading.

These are just some tips.  You don’t have to use them.  Just do what’s easiest for you.

Sorry you’ll be getting her in this transition period.

We will be have our cell phones so please call us if you have any questions.

Thanks! You guys are the best!

There a few restaurants where I LOVE their rice.   I like to call it “Special Rice”.    Listed in no particular order, the restaurants are Versailles, Wahoos and Chipotle.  I’ve asked the Versailles waiters if they add anything to the rice but their answer is always “No”.  They said they just cook normal rice.  Well, I had Chipotle for lunch today and I decided to google “Chipotle Rice Recipe” and I found this!!  Woo hoo!  Looks so easy and tastes so good.  I can’t wait to try to make it myself.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

[bahs-MAH-tee]
Basmati is a long-grained rice, with a fine texture. It can be found in Middle Eastern and India markets, as well as some supermarkets.

The source of this recipe is attributed to Chipolte’s Executive Chef (and CEO), Steve Ellis.