The way this week has been going, I think we can all agree on one issue: Moar sweet, delicious COOKIES!
Bad Horse’s Filly writes:
Since we will have no Thursday Night Menu next week, this week I’m going to give you my traditional Christmas morning breakfast. These are simple to make and taste so good. And of course I’ve included a recipe for Santa’s cookies, ‘cause you know the better the cookies, the better the presents he leaves you, so you don’t want to be leaving any store-bought cookies. On the board tonight:
1) German Pancakes
2) Walnut Syrup
3) Sliced Peaches
4) Santa Cookies
Click here or on the link above for recipes and shopping list.
jeffreyw
mmm…cookies
New Yorker
OK, there was waaay too much negativity here today, so how about some positivity?
I mentioned my experience on Mt. Craig in the “climbers die on Mt. Hood” thread. Really, all of western North Carolina is magical. The Black Mountains, the Great Balsam Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains (of course, just don’t go in the summer if you don’t like crowds). The little towns are great.
Plus, Asheville is a delightful place. I tend to share Eric Cartman’s view of hippies, but I found myself dancing at the Friday night drum circle with a “what the hell?” attitude while I was there.
Obama’s margin of victory in Buncombe County (Asheville) was greater than for North Carolina as a whole. In a sense, we have Asheville to thank for flipping NC blue.
Violet
I have to make six different kinds of cookies for Christmas. It’s required.
J. Michael Neal
The Red Wings are now skating a second line of Justin Abdelkader centering Ville Leino and and Patrick Eaves. If you’ve never heard of them, don’t worry. There are probably some people who follow the NHL who haven’t, either. Henrik Zetterberg left with an upper body injury in the first, joining Valtteri Filpulla, Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen, Jason Williams, Darren Helm, Niklas Kronwall, and Jonathan Ericsson on the wounded list.
If this team makes the playoffs, I’ll be amazed.
Elisabeth
I just wanted to say thanks for the generally non-hyperbolic atmosphere here. I’m on a self-imposed exile from GOS and gone from lurker to dippin’ the toe in the commenting pool here.
All I’m really looking for is constructive, reasoned debate.
So, thanks!
BTW, why bake cookies when the grocery store does it for you?
MikeJ
Because home baked stink up the house real nice like.
jibeaux
Erm. Well. You never know when it could be your lucky day!
Darkrose
I love Al Franken a little more each day.
As far as food, my thought for the day is that the trick to chocolate chip cookies is the quality of the chips. Also, although I’m all about the animal products, these vegan chocolate chocolate chip cookies someone brought in for the cookie exchange today were surprisingly tasty.
Punchy
Milkshake:
Bananas, kiwi, yougurt, strawberries, touch of honey.
Elisabeth
@MikeJ:
And heats it up, too, actually.
asiangrrlMN
@Darkrose: I fucking love my junior senator. I posted the local story about this in a thread below. I think I have a massive political crush developing.
Anne Laurie, thank you very much for this thread. Cookies certainly soothe the beast inside. And if SOME PEOPLE (cough, jeffreyw) would post pics of the cookies they make, I would be very happy.
And, Cole, TUNCH!
freelancer
@Elisabeth:
Welcome. We try to be reasonable here, but we can also bring the silly.
Feel free to throw in.
Midnight Marauder
SANCTUARY!
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN: As you wish.
Darryl
Thursday night menu:
1 6-pack Full Sail Amber
1 rotisserie chicken fresh out the oven from Win Dixie
1 pint bottle of cheap vodka
1 container of mango juice, to mix with aforementioned vodka
Keith G
@Elisabeth: Hi, Elisabeth!! There are some easy cookie recipes. Then there are always Toll House. I bake ’em with a finely ground Jamaican seasoning – 1/4 tsp per cookie for a very mellow holiday.
jeffreyw
@Darryl: Thursday night menu
DougJ
I just wanted to say thanks for the generally non-hyperbolic atmosphere here. I’m on a self-imposed exile from GOS and gone from lurker to dippin’ the toe in the commenting pool here.
This week is the most hyperbolic I’ve ever seen things here. If this seems sane, I hate to think what’s going on GOS.
asiangrrlMN
@Elisabeth: Yeah, don’t read the healthcare threads. Guaranteed to get the blood pressure up.
@jeffreyw: Yes, but those are OLD pics. I want NEW pics of SEASON cookies!
Edit: That’s what I’m talking about! New pics. Yum. Yes, I know they are not cookies.
And, TUNCH!
Brick Oven Bill
We cannot agree on cookies.
Many people don’t like to eat cookies, as cookies are full of empty calories and make you feel groggy. All people like to eat excellent pizza however.
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN: I got what I got, sorry. Gonna be making some fruit cake tomorrow, all the dried fruit is soakin in rum right now.
Keith G
@Elisabeth: Oh btw, Elisabeth, have you met BOB?
jeffreyw
Did someone say Pizza?
asiangrrlMN
@jeffreyw: Yes. That is true. You have to post pics of the cookies you have, not the ones you wished you had.
freelancer
@DougJ:
Something less rational than this.
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: I see what you did there.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Damn. I thought I was being so sneaky.
@freelancer: Your link, it frightened me. I had to stop it after two seconds.
freelancer
@Keith G:
BOB is an acronym, if you’re doing introductions. Just sayin’.
Comrade Mary
Tunch cookies will cheer you right up.
(I really didn’t expect the Google search to find anything, but hot damn, it did.)
Keith G
@freelancer: More like a polite heads up.
Brick Oven Bill
Your pizza looks better than Ahab T Ruler’s pizza jefferyw, but, as in every endeavor of man, a little knowledge can be dangerous.
Ready are you? What know jefferyw of ready? For four years have I trained pizza-makers. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained! A pizza-maker must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.
asiangrrlMN
@Comrade Mary: That skeered me, too. I dunno why. I like Cole’s Tunch much better, and those cookies….Shudder.
Elisabeth
@Keith G:
LOL. Yeah. But BOB on his worst day isn’t as bad as some of the “good guys” elsewhere.
Comrade Mary
@asiangrrlMN: OK, just think of them as acid house cookies.
(Bad Horse’s Filly, I thought I could resist the Santa Cookies, and I did, but then I saw your Citrus Drop Cookies. Gahh! WANT! And I have all the ingredients on hand, too …)
freelancer
@Brick Oven Bill:
OH Christ. BOB’s joined the staff of the NRO….’s preferred cafeteria stop.
Elisabeth
@DougJ:
There might have been some good stuff between the “who should primary Obama” diaries or the “White House hates Dr. Dean” but it wasn’t worth the effort to find it. Today, it’s not quite so bad but I’m still waiting for the tagline about electing more and better Democrats to be changed to “trying to elect anyone to the left of Democrats whether they can win or not.”
asiangrrlMN
@Comrade Mary: Or I can just think of them with a bullet wound to the temple, a la Watchmen. That makes me feel better.
freelancer
@Elisabeth:
I’m guessing Jello Biafra was a favorite?
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: You can’t go to the balloon juice with the Rumsfeld you want, you can only go…
Wait, what?
Betsy
Oooh oooh! This seems like the appropriate thread in which to mention the one GOOD thing that happened to me this week. I brought my advisor my homemade browned butter chocolate chip cookies, in lieu of any progress on the dissertation. She emailed me later to say they were “scrumptious” and the best she’d ever had.
This may not seem like a big deal, but if you’d ever experienced the way she hoards praise like canned goods and ammo after the apocalypse, you would understand my excitement.
Elisabeth
@freelancer:
Now that I’m back from wiki, first let me ask: isn’t being an anarchist a bit unusual for a presidential candidate?
The candidates of choice were, of course, Dr. Dean followed in no particular order by Feingold, Grayson, Sanders, etc. I love by own senator, Sanders, but I don’t think the country is quite ready for a real Socialist. I also doubt anyone knows Rep. Grayson’s positions on anything but healthcare reform. I’m interested to hear the outrage when he does have an unpopular stance. I also think he’s better where he is; he’s a bit of a loose cannon for a head of state for my taste. And, Dr. Dean really isn’t that progressive according to folks who have lived in Vermont longer than I.
Darryl
“@Elisabeth: Hi, Elisabeth!! There are some easy cookie recipes. Then there are always Toll House. I bake ‘em with a finely ground Jamaican seasoning – 1/4 tsp per cookie for a very mellow holiday.”
Jerk Cookies? Gross.
Elisabeth
@Keith G:
It’s actually not the baking part I don’t like; it’s the doing the dishes part. I don’t think the cats licking them clean will cut it with friends and family.
gwangung
Coooooooookiiieeeeee!!!!
Tx Expat
Yumm, cookies. I have to say that I haven’t been into cooking for a great long while but after watching Julie and Julia the other night I have been pining to get out the ole Kitchen-Aid mixer and whipping up something out of the Way to Cook. Julia Child has some amazing holiday recipes.
Maybe when I’m done writing this paper I’ve been working on since August. Sigh…
Betsy
@Elisabeth:
Oh, I’m totally with you there. Baking = delightful, soothing, happy. Cleaning = not so much.
Kryptik
I just want to say one thing.
For all the strumunddrang the last few days over the health care debate, and arguments over what’s good policy and bad policy….we can all take comfort in one thing:
Nothing that’ll come out of this on the Dem side at least will ever be quite as dumb as Moon Landing Conspiracies.
Mike in NC
@New Yorker:
That’s cool. We were in Asheville a few weeks ago and enjoyed the trip (close to 6 hours away). Really seemed like a nice place to live. Did the trolley tour and went to the Biltmore, etc. etc. Hated on principle to give money to the Vanderbilt family but what the heck, do it once and you never have to go back.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Heh heh.
@Betsy: YAY! PICTURES! I wanna see cookies.
And, TUNCH!
Elisabeth
@freelancer:
My original reply to you is awaiting moderation. Is that like waiting outside the principal’s office? I didn’t even curse in my reply.
baldheadeddork
Watching the Colts and Jags on NFL Network. Neither team brought their defense, but the big thing is how much I’m enjoying the way NFL Network presents the games. Really surprised at how good Bob Papa and Matt Millen are.
asiangrrlMN
@Elisabeth: Did you say s o c i al is m? Or s ho e s? I know one of them was fixed, but not the other.
Leo
The pie filter is particularly delightful when the rest of the thread is already about holiday desserts. BoB’s pie-related comments fit right in!
ilsita
I am making french toast bread pudding with bacon in it for Christmas breakie.
Also, I just opened a box of xmas cookies from my sister: all kindsa little nutty, jammy, powdered sugary stuff with red-hots and silver balls…
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
None this time, but next time I make them (probably for bringing to the Christmas dinner that my Jewish mother is hosting – don’t ask), I will take pictures.
RedKitten
I’m going to be starting my cookies tomorrow night. I’m not going too nutso with the baking this year, as we have the excellent excuse of having a newborn in the house. So I’m just making a metric shitload of sugar cookie dough, and will do various types of cookies with it. I also made some spiced nuts. The husband’s making date squares, bits ‘n’ bites (or nuts ‘n’ bolts, as some call it), and my late grandfather’s peanut butter fudge.
I really, really hope I get the Wii Fit I asked for this Christmas, because it’s so cold and nasty out that I can’t get outside to walk. Combine that with all of the Christmas goodies lying around, and well…it ain’t pretty.
Max
My first christmas as a diagnosed diabetic and I can assure all you cookie monsters that the holidays without sugar is ungodly.
I haz sad.
Tx Expat
@RedKitten:
I absolutely love peanut butter fudge (well anything peanut butter actually), but that particular candy is one of my favorites.
I wonder if your grandfather’s recipe is similar to my mother’s, which she got from her mother?
madmommy
@RedKitten:
The Wii Fit is very nice. Just remember, nine months on, at least nine months to take the weight off. Nursing helps, but only up to a point. Unless, of course, you’re some Hollywood starlet, in which case you drop every ounce of baby weight at delivery and are walking the catwalk in a bikini two weeks after delivery!
Joel
@Elisabeth: Grocery store cookies are fairly vile, by and large.
Betsy
@Joel:
V. true. I recently discovered Trader Joe’s Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe’s, though, and it was difficult to refrain from eating the entire box in one sitting.
baldheadeddork
John – How hard do you think the ’72 Dolphins are sweating right about now?
ilsita
@Betsy: Oh I have a box of peppermint jo-jos… I have to eat them in tiny little nibbles so I don’t eat the whole box. So good!
Yutsano
Okay still at work but gotta make a quick couple of comments.
@asiangrrlMN: You just wanna see cookies? You know you got some coming! In fact I might get really experimental and do some traditional Jewish cookies and send you those too which leads me to…
@Betsy: Ina Garten has an absolutely charming (and amazingly easy!) recipe for rugelach that I am bound and determined to make tomorrow or Saturday (whenever I have the wherewithal after I get everything else done), in fact I’ll even link it here and hopefully you can impress your Mom!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rugelach-recipe2/index.html
Morgan
I just got done reading the comments on the “Something to Think About” thread and am now thoroughly depressed by the amount of craziness going around.
Since my little cat seemed to be pretty popular yesterday, since I really kind of enjoy showing off my cats, and since this place is in serious need of cheering up, I’d like to offer more of Leon and Scamp. Some of these qualify for View From Your Couch, but John’s already posted the one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morganbird/sets/72157623022377692/
I was going to post a bunch of links, but I realized that it might be a little annoying to have 24 links in one post, so I uploaded them to flickr instead. Anyway, lots more zipped-in-hoodie action, among other things.
Joel
@baldheadeddork: At least we don’t have to see them every week like we did in 2007. Or at least I dont, since I stopped watching ESPN and the like.
Elisabeth
@asiangrrlMN:
Ah, yes. The first one. Thanks for the heads-up.
asiangrrlMN
@Max: There are some cookies without sugar, but I cannot attest to their goodness. I am going wheat-free/dairy-free again (for digestive reasons), but it may have to wait until after the hollys are over.
@baldheadeddork: REALLY FUCKING HARD, I hope. Bwahahahahahaha!
@Yutsano: Ooooh, I would love to try traditional Jewish cookies. I’m alllll about trying new things.
asiangrrlMN
@Morgan: KITTEHS! They are teh cute! And, I commented on your Flickr site under deliquescentdreams. I am notorious for that.
@Elisabeth: That’s why you’ll see it spelled sockulism and other such amusing ways so as to not anger the moderation gods.
And, TUNCHIE!
General Winfield Stuck
Charlie says you liberals chill out and quit pissin’ in each other Latte.
wmsheppa
In 15 minutes, I am leaving my house with my cat for a 7-8 hour plane ride (including transit time on both ends, thank God). Wish me luck.
General Winfield Stuck
@wmsheppa:
done
Elie
Grandma Emma’s South Carolina down-home egg nog:
1 dozen egg yolks ( I advise organic, brown no antibiotics or hormone, free range chicken eggs)
1 quart whole milk ( I use low fat or lactose free whole for easy digestion)
1-2 tsps vanilla – best quality
6 half pint or 3 pints of whipping cream
1 cup of Jim Beam, Rebel Yell or white rum (depending on your desire)
Nutmeg to taste
First, chill the punch bowl in the fridge for an hour before.
Whip whipping cream just short of peaking. Pour milk into punchbowl after chilling. Add whipped egg yolks and fold in whipped cream. Add vanilla and your choice of booze.
Granma used to leave a bottle of whatever by the punchbowl for individual tastes. People were much more “liberal” about this way back in the 30’s and 40’s. Also good without booze but add more vanilla
This is wonderful to taste — creamy and light – despite the egg yolks and cream. The little buzz is light and friendly. Perfect for parties during the holidays but great with just a few friends by the fire too.
Enjoy!
asiangrrlMN
@wmsheppa: Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
@General Winfield Stuck: Aw, he looks ridiculously cute and happy. Congrats again to both of you.
@Elie: Yum! That sounds absolutely delicious.
General Winfield Stuck
@asiangrrlMN:
Thanks. He is a big time sweetheart.
Elie
@General Winfield Stuck:
Ahhhh what a doll baby!!!
I read before that he has good manners when sleeping with you…that is not a minor thing and all to the good.
(My kitties can be something of a load on my feet at night — I love them but end up sleeping slightly sideways with my legs over on my husband’s side)
wmsheppa
Thanks all, and will let you know how she is when we land tomorrow morning…
Elie
@Elie:
Forgot:
the bottle by the punchbowl was for individual cups, not to pour into the big bowl!
gwangung
@asiangrrlMN: Dear, they’re starting to plan the 2011 Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival. Better get that script or performance piece on its feel and going…
arguingwithsignposts
Did I mention that there’s a new kitteh in town? She’s coming home Saturday. :)
I’m leaning toward “Smudge,” which seems to be the consensus. But the window is still open.
asiangrrlMN
@Elie: Oh, just dump it in the bowl! Spread the good cheer!
@gwangung: WHERE? Do you have a link?
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Still freaking cute. How about Onomatopoeia? Or, Dolly ‘coz she’s such a doll baby? Or, you could just stick with Smudge (I suck with names).
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: I know it’s cheesy, but since you said “nym my kitteh” how’s about Nym? Short, to the point, easy to say, and it kinda fell into your lap.
baldheadeddork
@Joel: If the Colts and Saints keep rolling like this, I’m going to want CBS to green light Big Brother: The ’72 Dolphins. Next to the Lieberman, Nelson, Lincoln and Reid being caught in bed with a dead girl or live boy, nothing could give me more pleasure than the Colts or Saints breaking the D-bags lock on a perfect season. Jamming Bill Belicheck and the Patriots is the cherry on top.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Kiss, kiss, FH#2. You still at work?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Home and it’s my Friday Allah be praised! Now I might just front-load my weekend so I can get some crap out of the way and do nothing but cookie bake on Saturday. The rugelach aren’t time consuming (believe it or not the chocolate chip ones are harder) so it’s just a matter of getting it done. Or getting Mom to do some baking with me.
gwangung
@asiangrrlMN: The conference will be in Los Angeles (and probably around the East West Players; there’s a number of handy performance spaces there). When? I dunno (except it’s in 2011); probably part of the planning process. I’d have to check my website to get the dates of the last conferences and festivals (Well, I know 2009 Festival, NY, October, 2008 Conference, Minneapolis, June, 2007 Festival NY, May…).
Planning session is in LA this Monday (which lets me out); they’re inviting people to go drink with them that evening…
arguingwithsignposts
The downside to getting the kitteh, btw, is that I’ve fallen out with the gf, which means I’ll be spending the holidays alone (with the kitteh) for the first time in a long time.
rough year. :(
Anne Laurie
@General Winfield Stuck:
Charlie is smart as well as adorable.
@arguingwithsignposts:
Smudge is pretty good — lots of room for creative adaptation as needed. Breeders sometimes refer to a headspot like your new kitteh’s as an ‘angel kiss’ or ‘buddah kiss’; Smudge’s (like Tunch’s) is set far enough back to suggest that the angel had to sneak up on her from behind…
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Hellloooo, MIL! Mmm, cookies….
@gwangung: Cool. Give me the deets when you get them.
@arguingwithsignposts: Aw, I’m sorry to hear that. Little kitteh will DEFINITELY help with a hurting heart.
arguingwithsignposts
To add to the description of the kitteh (because that’s all that’s keeping me up today), she was very friendly when I went in to look at the various kittehs in the room, climbing on my shoulders and rubbing against my neck. She literally climbed up the screen door when I came back a few moments later and meowed at me several times.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Definitely your kitty. She chose you. It wouldn’t be a bad thing for you to have her for a bit before naming her. That way, she kinda tells you her name, too.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I really really am kinda tired. That vacation I’m taking in April really can’t come soon enough. But the bright side is I’m slowly building up the time bank so I can go couch surfing Down Under. :)
Cookies, however, are a labor of love. I’m looking forward to getting shit done tomorrow just so I can devote my time to baking and nothing else.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Are you seriously considering meeting up with FH#1? If so, I DEMAND pics. And cookies. Cookies are good.
freelancer (itouch)
@arguingwithsignposts:
Awww. You’re a lucky submissive! Your new master’s a softie for ya. FSM bless you.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I have a friend who sold a house in California before the bottom fell out. I have him possibly sold on the idea of going down there with me. I have the money so that’s not the problem. The only possible major hiccup is that a job opportunity just kinda fell into my lap. I was looking for a co-worker (who’s also a friend) and stumbled across a really good position I’m qualified for almost by accident. I was really looking for him but found myself eyeing the opportunity. So now I’m a bit torn over what I want to do right now.
Sly
In a recent comment I gave some (admittedly) grudging praise to Bernanke. I now take it all back.
Expert on the Great Depression. My ass.
Steeplejack
@jibeaux:
LOL. Win.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: New job! Australia will always be there (hopefully). My 1 cent worth.
Steeplejack
@Darryl:
I don’t think “finely ground Jamaican seasoning” means what you think it means.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I don’t believe in accidents, so I don’t think me stumbling across this job listing was a mere coincidence. I’m still doing my investigating before I decide to take the final plunge. I dunno I’ll figure it out. And you’re right, even if we blow ourselves all to Hades Australia will continue on somehow.
Darkrose
@wmsheppa:
Good luck!
Yutsano
@wmsheppa: You’re worried about HER? I’d be more worried about your own neck after that long ordeal (for her)!
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Fingers crossed for you.
I’m going to bed. You and Steepman hold down the fort.
Steeplejack
@Morgan:
Great pictures. The one labeled “Photo 93” was particularly good. And beautiful cats, of course.
freelancer (itouch)
@Yutsano:
Someone definitly has seen “On the Beach”.
Gravenstone
@arguingwithsignposts:
Ah, memories. We had an entire line of cats who were pure white except for the grey tabby mark between the ears. PuttPutt begat Mischief (Missy) and both begat hordes of barn cats (the first two were the only “house” cats of the lot) over the span of about 15 years.
R-Jud
“Smudge” — catch the sensation!
Cookie baking begins today at Chateau Jud. I made chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal cranberry doughs and let them chill for 48 hours (this really, really improves the flavor). SIL will be coming over later to help bake them off, provided she isn’t in labor by then.
I’m still looking for a gingerbread recipe for New Year’s. This one looks interesting, but if anyone else on this (dead) thread knows of one, please speak up.
RedKitten
@madmommy:
Well, I WAS back in my pre-pregnancy jeans a few weeks after delivery (I had gestational diabetes, so I had to be super-careful with what I ate, resulting in very little real weight gain), but the problem is that pre-pregnancy, I was still carrying much more extra poundage than I would have liked.
RedKitten
@Tx Expat:
Hard to say, as my grandfather’s recipe involves Marshmallow Fluff. : )
R-Jud
@RedKitten:
I hear that. I gained 40 lbs with Eve, and have lost 45 since July, but there’s another 12-15 lbs of fluff sitting there, going by my body fat estimates.
Lifting weights– heavy weights– has had a huge impact on my size, very quickly.
RedKitten
Speaking of Eve, how IS Sam’s betrothed doing anyway?
DZ
@R-Jud
My late wife’s gingerbread recipe.
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan.
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
Blend into the creamed mixture.
Stir in the hot water.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving
R-Jud
@DZ:
Thank you very kindly for that. I’ll use it. I’ll be decorating the cookies with a pack of kids on New Year’s Eve; I’ll report back.
@RedKitten:
Your future daughter-in-law is lovely, as usual. She had fun in America last month. Not too keen on crawling; she’s already pulling herself up to standing and cruising around the room with whatever’s to hand (couch, table, my lower lip, etc.). She’s become very good at mimicking others’ facial expressions and has learned to perform the sign for “nappy”, although she doesn’t use it correctly yet. This has led to several false alarms.
She’s getting a cousin very shortly– SIL was due yesterday.
RedKitten
@R-Jud: What a beautiful, beautiful girl! It sounds like she’s just as bright as a button, too! At what age did you start teaching her signs? I’ve read that there’s not much point trying before 6 months. I’d like to teach Sam the signs for “milk” and “diaper”, at the very least.
R-Jud
@RedKitten: Basically, as soon as the kid can wave to someone, she or he is ready to be exposed to signs. For Bean, this was around 6 months. She knows four signs in addition to waving: “eat”, “drink”, “nappy”, “cat”. We started with “eat” and “cat”, as these were the things that interested her most, and would perform the sign whenever speaking about eating or cats.
There is a period during which the baby learns the gesture and then tries it out at random– waving hello to inanimate objects, for instance, was a favorite of Bean’s. Later she or he starts to use it appropriately.
My main problem with the signing is that I forget to use the sign when I’m around the baby, and then remember it when she’s not in the room at all (much to my brother’s amusement).
Betsy
If anyone’s still around this thread…
@Yutsano:
Oh wow, I’ve never tried rugelach before! My mom does love them. They always were a little dry for my tastes, though, but maybe I should give it a whirl, along with my chocolate chips, brown sugar cookies, and peanut-butter-kiss cookies.
@arguingwithsignposts:
OMG she’s precious!! Congratulations! And I like the name Smudge very much.
asiangrrlMN
@R-Jud: She’s a doll and sounds like a live wire. Such a cutie, and such bright eyes.