J's class studied the solar system recently so our last trip to the library found him loading up on books about Saturn and the other planets. He's quick to inform us that Pluto is a dwarf planet and I showed him how to check copyright dates to know how current a space book is.

D is all about Bob the Builder and Dragon Tales right now. He read the stories first and then got to see the cartoons. He's also loving a big book of BLUE'S CLUES stories that was given to J years ago. After our trips to the doctor this week (both boys came down with strep), D was especially interested in the story about Blue's visit to the doctor.

Me - I read A LANTERN IN HER HAND by Bess Streeter Aldrich and was sorry to see it end. It followed a young family who headed west from Iowa to Nebraska to farm in the 1860s and ended with her death in the 1920s. Am now reading SUMMER AT TIFFANY by Marjorie Hart. Memoir of two young women from Iowa (hmmm, a theme here?) who head to New York City in 1945 to see summer jobs and end up working at Tiffany.

In January, I pulled together a list of dairy-free tips to help D's teachers. They were super when it came to Valentine's Day -- no chocolate in the card exchange and D was able to enjoy all of the goodies brought to the party. The mom who baked sugar cookies was sweet enough to consult me before making them so they were truly dairy-free and tasty, too. I was glad to have a new D-friendly recipe.

Anyway, I'll list some of those classroom tips just for reference. Very handy for candy times like Valentine's Day or Easter.

CANDY
YES to SweetTarts, Nerds, Smarties, lollipops (but not Tootsie Pops), gum and such
NO to chocolate, caramel and Tootsie rolls.
YES to gummy bears/worms, fruit roll-ups and fruit chewy snacks

SNACKS AND DESSERTS
YES to popsicles and snowcones (but NO to creamsicles)
NO to ice cream or sherbet but YES to sorbet, soy/rice milk ice cream and Tofutti Cutie sandwich bars
YES to homemade cakes/cupcakes using Duncan Hines mixes and Pillsbury frostings (double check ingredients – white mixes often do have dairy)
YES to brownies made with all of the Duncan Hines mixes
NO to most bakery-made cakes or cookies
YES to pretzels (except Snyders of Hanover), graham crackers and Fritos.
YES to Thousand Island or Italian dressing as a dip but NO to Ranch or Bleu Cheese
Sadly, NO to Goldfish because all varieties include nonfat milk

HAPPY MEALS
If you choose to get Happy Meals at the end-of-the-year party, the hamburger is safe but not chicken nuggets. Get the apple dippers instead of the fries though — McDonald’s French fries do have some dairy (lactic acid). Tyson brand chicken nuggets are safe as are fries from Burger King and Chick-Fil-A.

BUTTER
Fleischman’s unsalted margarine is completely dairy-free. That can be found locally at Market Street or Kroger. You can also use Earth Balance (found at Sprouts and Kroger) but NOT Smart Balance because that has whey.

WHEN IN DOUBT
Look for whey, casein, lactic acid starter culture or lactose as clues for milk ingredients. Anything with the Kosher designation of Pareve is also dairy-free.

Hope you had a good Valentine's Day! The boys woke up to find candy, Valentine-y stuffed animals (an elephant with red hearts and Clifford) and Valentine books.

J: He received THE STORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY by Clyde Bulla. He's also working on Magic Tree House Research Guides for ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII and SEA MONSTERS.

D received CAILLOU'S VALENTINE'S DAY, CLIFFORD'S VALENTINE and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, BOB THE BUILDER. He's also working on several Little Critter books and two that we checked out from the library recently -- PIGEON LIKES THINGS THAT GO by Mo Willems and WHAT DO TRUCKS DO? He surprised me the other day by reciting almost verbatim the text from the last book.

J's teacher recently sent home a mid-year reading assessment that is required by state law. He aced each section - yeah!

Me - I'm plowing through back issues of GUIDEPOSTS magazine and just started THE JOYS OF LOVE, Madeleine L'Engle's posthumously published story of young love and summer stock theatre in the 1940s.

J lost two teeth! He came out of school three weeks ago all excited because he'd lost an eye tooth and we had to march back inside so he could show the school nurse. :) As were pulling into the garage at home, out came the top right tooth - whee! That meant the Tooth Fairy left four quarters that night.

He also has a new wall calendar -- I call it the Microbe of the Month calendar. We had fun finding photos of various microbes to upload to a website so we could create a calendar for him. Most people use family pictures or maybe cute pet shots...J prefer parameciums and amoebas. :) He even signed-off on some of his Valentines with a picture of a paramecium.

For J -- DINOSAUR DETECTIVES (a Magic School Bus chapter book), several I SPY books.

For D -- a Bob the Builder LET'S FIND OPPOSITES board book and several Little Critter books including JUST ME IN THE TUB, JUST A DUMP TRUCK, JUST A TUGBOAT and JUST GO TO BED.

As for me, I just finished TOUJOURS PROVENCE by Peter Mayle and am now working my way through a stack of Guideposts magazines.

Forget being in Washington, D.C. -- I think I had the best seat around for watching the inauguration. D and I were camped out on the couch. He got bored and wandered back to the kitchen where he discovered a box of Captain Crunch. Oh! Cinnamon Cereals, he said. (He probably thought it was Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)

So, we snuggled up, opened the box and munched away as the proceedings began. Sure, I listed to the ceremony, but sweeter still was hearing umpteen times, "Have some cereals?" I'd answer, "Yes, please," and D would hand me one itty bitty Captain Crunch. Repeat over and over...

It's almost time to register for next year at the preschool, so I met with D's teachers last week. They were ready to recommend that he stay in a 2s class and just go more frequently because the little rug rat Does Not Talk. All he wants to do is play. (No big surprise there!) I grinned and called D over to put him through his paces.

They about fell out of their chairs to hear him name Clifford and friends, count to 10, identify colors and shapes, identify other children in the class from a picture, talk about the weather and even tell his right from his left. They kept asking questions so they could hear his voice because he just doesn't talk in class. Little stinker!

After that, he was definitely cleared to continue in a threes class next year and they're plotting ways to make him speak up in class. Meanwhile at home, we're hearing complete sentences now and yesterday he began to ask "Why?"

The teachers also asked me to send a list of foods that are safe for him to eat when others bring food to share in class. So, I had fun jotting down a list of things he can have. I'll post it here after I get it typed up for them; it's in my atrocious scrawl right now. We try to offer many dairy-free choices for D and I ask J to not show off with his foods that do contain dairy because that just isn't nice.

D is old enough now that he gets upset when he can't have what others are enjoying. He's starting to ask, "Does it have dairy in it?" (He runs that last three words together.) I answer him and if it has No Dairy I tell him that it is Good for D. At snack time lately, we've had yogurt (soy/dairy-free for D and Yoplait for me and J) and granola bars (Cascadian Farms has several dairy-free varieties and J and I have had the dairy version made by Quaker.)

J continues with his protozoa fascination. At Christmas dinner with the grandparents, J had a great time quizzing Grandma about parameciums, hydras and amoebas. She teaches biology so she is an excellent resource for him.

We also discovered the Microbe World website -- fun info and a link to a website that sells giant stuffed animal versions of germs. Imagine having a stuffed bacteriophage virus around the house. Hmmm.

We went to the library a few days ago and now he's busy with with a stack of books including CELLS, GENES AND CHROMOSOMES; ROCKS & MINERALS; THE LIFE OF A CELL; and HIDDEN LIFE: WHAT'S IN YOUR KITCHEN. He's read us the page on food poisioning from the last one several times. :)

D checked out SHEEP IN A JEEP, MY TRUCK IS STUCK and THE LITTLE TRAIN. Guess which one he likes best? The middle one -- he still recalls Daddy getting the Gator stuck in the mud at Thanksgiving.

I'm working my way through A YEAR IN PROVENCE by Peter Mayle. I'm enjoying it but don't have much free time lately...

It's always fun to have little ones around at Christmas. The joy on their faces as they see new things...the whirring of their little brains as they try to comprehend this altered reality around the house.

We started a few days before Thanksgiving by pruning the rose bushes, sweeping the doorstep and then setting out the snowman door mat, the winter wreath and some of the lights on netting across the bushes. D went wild with the lights. Little did he know that we were just beginning...

On Friday, we hung Christmas stockings. From stocking hangers made to look like a train. D was fascinated.

During D's nap on Saturday, J and I assembled the tree. We surprised D with the lights on the tree when he woke up -- how incredible to see amazement dawn across his face. And then I taught him to say, "Mama, lights please" when he wanted me to turn the lights on for him. I hear that often these days. :)

While D napped on Sunday, J and I decorated the tree. D was quite taken with it all and has only smooshed two ornaments so far. *sigh* One that J repaired with tape and the other was snapped back together. If you see pictures, note that the glass balls are on the top third only.

Twice before bedtime, D insisted on giving the tree lights "a hug and kiss" and he sure did. He leaned in carefully to kiss a light bulb and then gently patted some of the branches and ornaments.

On the first Sunday in Advent, we lit one candle and J read a brief devotion. D's eyes danced as he watched the candle and murmured, "Happy Bir'day to YOU!" He's right; just a little early.

Today one of our town's firetrucks came down the street with a firefighter dressed as Santa and throwing candy to everyone who rushed outside to see them. D was overwhelmed. "Ambulance!" he told me. "And wee oooh weee ooooh and Santa. Candy. Truck. Lollipop."

After reading to D before naptime, we always sing songs. Today, I was holding him and attempting to sing Brahm's Lullaby but it was tricky because he kept blowing raspberries on my neck. You can imagine: Lullaby and goodnight...thhhhpt! Go to sleep thhhhpt! my darling... Und so weiter. I gave in and laughed even though I was trying to settle him down for nap. That was just priceless.