Carrot Soup

The pigs are on hiatus. It's all about the rabbits this week.

Charlie is completely taken with Carrot Soup by John Segal, wherein an unsuspecting rabbit is feted by friends of every ilk with (cue drumroll...) carrot soup. There's a recipe in the back. Guess what we made today?

Charlie's Carrot Soup (An adaptation)
As many carrots as Mom has the patience to wash, peel and shred (maybe a pound and a half?)
4 old cubes of chicken bouillion in water, even though there's an organic chicken carcass in the fridge begging to be made into stock. We'll plan ahead next time.
1 large onion, chopped
A big dab of butter
Fleur de Sel and cracked pepper
Some dill that Shirley gave us from her garden just yesterday

1. Dice and sweat the onions in the butter and salt. Remember the ocean when you add the salt. Add the shredded carrots and broth. Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about a half hour.
3. Puree the mixture in a blender.
4. Add pepper and minced dill to taste. Serve to Daddy with love.

August Pics

Piggies, Piggies Everywhere

We have been making a LOT of trips to the library lately. And not just the local library--whenever we visit one of the neighboring towns we check out their kids collection. From time to time we also visit our friend Nilanjana, who is the librarian for the mobile bus that visits all the wee hamlets on the South Shore. Charlie thinks that a bus full of books is pretty neat-o keen, as do I.

This week, Charlie has been particularly fascinated by a trio of library books; Small Pig by Arnold Lobel, Piggies by Audrey and Don Wood, and The Three Pigs by David Weisner. They have inspired him to fill his sandbox with water so he can be a piggy in the mud. I'm happy to oblige, just as long as he doesn't get any fancy ideas about Halloween... we already have the monkey costume!

Service, please!

Charlie runs most of my errands with me. This week, he decided to show off how much he's learned on our outings.

Yesterday at the mall he crowed, "Bookthtore!" and made a run for Chapters. By the time I caught up to him he had visited the kid's section, chosen a promising story, and was headed for the counter. He artfully evaded my grasp, put the book up on the counter, and eyed the cashier expectantly. (Almost successful--we ended up negotiating for another selection.)

Today we were at a coffeeshop in the middle of an excursion with our friends Katja and Lilly. They had some highly beguiling cupcakes in a glass case, just at Charlie and Lilly's height. After an extended discussion of cupcakes, including the cupcake he had eaten twenty minutes previously and the likelihood of getting a cupcake from the coffeeshop later in the week, Charlie again went to the counter. "A cupcake," he confidently ordered, pointing at his selection.

I had to stop the tickled countergirl from giving it to him. Another near miss with success. No doubt he'll get past me someday soon!

Just my Imagination...

Charlie is rapidly getting more verbal these days. As he learns to express himself, we're enjoying the ever-widening glimpses into his imagination. He can almost always come up with something to amuse himself. He plays endlessly with his hands , turning them into birds that flutter in the sky, or spiders that crawl up and down our arms, or a snake in a snake house. The other day we were driving to the farmer's market in the next village and he conducted a dialogue between his tounge and his teeth the whole way there. "Where are you, tounge? Right here, teeth! How are you, teeth? I'm OK!"