I am thrilled to be featuring a new guest poster today. Jeannie, of The Adventures of Mr. Busypants, graciously offered to help me out with a guest post, as I have been backed up with work this week I have been enjoying her blog for a while now, and I am very excited to be introducing her to any of you who haven’t found her blog yet.

So, without further introduction: Kids and Restaurants (Part 2)

Jeannie

Margo’s blog post about Kids and Restaurants instantly inspired me to write on this subject. I know there are many families out there who take their kids to restaurants often, but we are not one of those families. Early in my parenting years (a whole six years ago), I decided that it was more work than it was worth to go to a restaurant since the task of enjoying a meal while I keeping my little guy happy was insurmountable.

Alex (aka. Mr. Busypants) was awful in public practically from day one. The first three months I was pretty much a prisoner in my own home. And why wouldn’t I stay home? At home, the kid happily sat in his Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Cradle Swing (to which I am deeply indebted) and swayed side to side for hours. I felt pretty guilty about it at first because I wasn’t holding him 24/7, but I gave that up because a not-screaming-at-the-top-of-his-lungs baby is a happy baby.

From there we just kind of got used to not going out. I mean, we did from time to time take him to restaurants, but he was always whiny and in general, a pain.

During that first year, I considered Alex to be a pretty good eater. He pretty much ate any Stage 1 or 2 foods I gave him (with the exception of the stinky meat that my dog wouldn’t eat either).  When we hit the solid food, it got more difficult. He had a pretty basic regime that he’d accept and outside of that he’d obsessively pick up each individual piece of food and drop it on the floor.

His picky behavior surpassed that of typical toddlers. He refused eat anything slimy (like fruit) or crunchy (like cookies), or that had to be bitten off a large part; everything had to be cut in tiny pieces. While I watched all the other toddlers at play group swarming around their mommies eating coffee cake, I sat peacefully eating my own piece because Alex wasn’t the least bit interested. This started to make sense when, at 21 months old, Alex was diagnosed with sensory integration dysfunction, and later autism.

As we learned more about the diagnosis and how it related to Alex specifically, it became pretty obvious why the kid wouldn’t sit in a restaurant: sensory overload. It also explained the food refusal: his mouth is overly sensitive to foods to this day. In fact, we spent three months in food therapy trying to get him to hold a fruit snack in his mouth for 60 seconds before he spit it out. And that’s without any chewing.

During those early years in his diagnosis, we could go to a restaurant, order mac-n-cheese, and pretty much know that he’d eat it—with his hand like a caveman, but nonetheless, he’d eat it. These days he’ll only eat Kraft, and only if it’s been prepared at home. Chili’s serves Kraft mac-n-cheese, but as far as he’s concerned, it’s different. So without there being an item on the menu that he would partake in, we figured, why bother taking him to restaurants. I mean, we couldn’t even wave the food-is-coming-soon carrot: he could care less. As a result, from the time we were seated ‘til the time we left, we had one antsy kid on our hands.

Several months ago, I took my daughter, Jorie, to a restaurant with my friend, who insisted that we (and when I say we I mean she) train Jorie to understand that getting out of the high chair is never an option. She screamed through half our meal. My friend insisted on leaving her. Having spent six years of my parenting life not being able to eat with my kid in a restaurant, I defaulted to her judgment, all the while apologizing profusely to anyone within earshot. Everyone was incredibly gracious and understanding, citing times in their lives when they were in the same position. Still, I didn’t feel right about it, yet if one hellish nightmare of a meal is what it takes to train my kid to sit quietly for the rest, it’s got to be acceptable, right?

More recently, Alex was away for a weekend with a friend, so my husband Scott and I took Jorie to a local Italian restaurant, where, for the first time ever, I had the joy of taking a mostly civilized child to a restaurant where she actually ate something off the menu. Our dining experience couldn’t have been nicer. Jorie smiled and charmed anyone in her eye line and Scott and I actually had a conversation that wasn’t constantly interrupted. Who knew dining with a kid could go so smoothly? We even stopped for ice cream afterwards.

A week later, we were driving home from an appointment. The kids were hungry and after having such a nice experience the week before, I suggested we eat at a nearby Chili’s. Scott was surprised because it’s just not something we do, but with a couple of bags of Cheezits, crayons and some paper to keep Alex busy, and a rack of lamb to keep Jorie chomping (she’s quite an eater—but I’m exaggerating just a little), we had our first, drama-free, full-family dining experience that wasn’t at a Chuck-E-Cheese, McDonalds or the like.

Jeannie Anderson is a stay-at-home mom with two children, Alex (aka Mr. Busypants), 6, and Jorie (aka Miss Chattyshoes), 2. She is a part-time college-level writing instructor at three Chicago-area colleges and writes about the Adventures of Mr. Busypants and her life as a writer and a teacher. You can find her on Twitter @mamabusypants.

You Can Find Jeannie at: http://mamabusypants.blogspot.com and http://jeannieanderson.blogspot.com

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I like to cook.  I like to bake.  Needless to say, I spend a good bit of time in my kitchen.  Over the years, my collection of kitchen pots, pans, and gadgets has expanded from one strainer and two 10″ nonstick skillets that weren’t flat to a full array of Calphalon and Cuisinart cookware, my very own imitation Le Creuset dutch oven (by a brand called Tramontina), and more kitchen gadgets than I can count on four hands.  I like kitchen stuff.  I get into trouble when I go to Williams-Sonoma, because inevitably I spot something new that I covet.  I know not everyone is a huge cook, but that cooking at home is becoming more and more popular again as the economy goes into the toilet, so I thought I would share my top five kitchen tools.  The tools I could not live without for various reasons.  Enjoy!

1. Kitchen Aid stand mixer – I have the baby stand mixer, the smallest one.  It was given to my mother by my father for Christmas a few years before he passed away.  My mother loved her stand mixer, and used it every Christmas for cookie baking, but after my dad passed away, she baked and cooked less and less, so she passed the mixer on to me.  It’s now probably 8 years old, but it still works like a champ.  We used to joke in my family that to beat cookies, you had to have Dad’s go-go-gadget arm.  He could always beat the crap out of any dough, no matter how stiff, whereas my arm wimps out pretty fast, so my stand mixer does the heavy lifting for me.  Not only do I use it for baking sweets, but it’s awesome for making bread dough and pizza dough.  Definitely a worthwhile investment, and you don’t need the one with all the bells and whistles (although it’s been on my Christmas list for years!).

2. Williams-Sonoma cookie scoop – This is a newer addition to my kitchen, it joined us here on Mother’s Day when my husband gave it to me as a Mother’s Day gift.  I love this little tool.  It looks like a small ice cream scoop – it has a scraper on the inside of the bowl to scrape out your precious cookie dough, and it’s amazing – it really does give you evenly sized cookies.  So awesome!

3. Heatproof spatulas – I have like five of these things.  I use them for everything, from stirring a hot pan sauce to smoothing out cake batter in a cake pan.  These things are so handy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love wooden spoons, too, but the spatulas are a little more versatile, if you ask me.

4. Parchment paper – OK, this isn’t exactly a tool or gadget, but boy is it an essential.  I use parchment paper every time I use a cookie sheet.  Not only does it keep your cookie sheets cleaner and avoids getting sticky cookies royally stuck to your nice cookie sheets, but it helps those same sticky cookies stay in one piece.  I cool almost every cookie I make for about two minutes on the cookie sheet, which is covered in parchment paper, and the cookies release with ease when I transfer them to a rack to finish cooling.  My local grocery store, Publix, even makes their own generic, cheaper version of parchment paper, and it’s pretty awesome.  Parchment paper is my AMEX of baking – don’t bake without it.  It’s simple to use – lay a sheet of parchment on top of your cookie sheet, scoop your cookies out on top of the parchment and bake.

5. Williams-Sonoma garlic press -  I’m pretty good with a knife, but I’m not the world’s best mincer.  Actually, I’m kind of bad at it.  Especially with garlic.  So when I was in the market for a garlic press and spotted one at Williams-Sonomas that promised to either slice or mince garlic, I thought it was a super idea.  I brought it home and eagerly started using it.  Problem was, some of the grates that do the cutting broke.  I mentioned that to the salesperson on my next visit to Williams-Sonoma, and she encouraged me to bring it back, that it should not do that.  So I did just that – I brought my broken one back, with no receipt, and they gave me a brand new one, which is working perfectly now.  It’s so handy.  I use garlic a lot when I cook, and this tool is a great way to make sure that I can cut it up small enough.

So what’s your favorite kitchen tool or gadget?  What did I forget to put on this list?  Share your thoughts below with a comment!

Blogging Buddies are Twice the Fun!

Hello, everyone!

Today is a very special day here at Writer Mom at Home. Today is the first collaboration between Elizabeth (Type A Mommy) and I. Let me tell you a little about her. Elizabeth left a very exciting career, which involved traveling to places like the Bahamas, when her son was born. All of the energy she put into her work has been redirected to her efforts in being a stay at home mom. Not only is she a great mother and wife, she is an amazing cook. There are always new recipes going up on her blog, and they all look super yummy. She loves to read, The Princess Bride is one of her favorite movies, and she even loves to write. This woman could be my long lost twin, if I had one. I think we should get DNA testing done, just to be sure, though.

When we first decided to team up, we took a couple days getting to know each other a little bit and learning about each other’s blogs. As it turns out, we have a lot in common. The next thing we did was start coming up with ideas for our first project. We wanted to find a way to introduce our readers to each other in a way that would be kind of fun and would encourage everyone to check out both sites.We decided that the best way to do this was through an interview.

We each came up with five questions, and quickly emailed them off. Elizabeth asked a couple challenging questions, and I like to think that I asked her a tough one as well. I don’t think I could choose just one kitchen item that I couldn’t live without, so I was pretty impressed when she could, even if she did really choose three. (Don’t think I didn’t catch that, Elizabeth!)

So, without further adieu, let me introduce you to Elizabeth, the blogger behind Type A Mommy:

1.What makes you a Type A Mommy?

Well, before I was Type A Mommy, I was Type A Wife.  And before that I was Type A Worker, Type A College Student, and so on.  I’ve always been what I would call meticulous.  I’ve also always been a bit…well…spoiled.  My two older siblings are vastly older than I am, so I was kind of raised like an only child, and I was somewhat treated as such.  I generally got my way (did you see my post about my mother letting me eat meatloaf for a year?).  So when I went on a kick of baking with my Easy-Bake oven every day for a week, there was no sibling to share it with.  I think that my love of sweets can be traced back to my Easy-Bake oven…that or the fact that when I uttered my first word, “cookie,” while gesturing to the cookie jar, my mom gave me one.  Anyway, my mother was also a type A mom, so I’d say that’s where I get a lot of my habits from.

2. What is the hardest part about being a mom? What is the best?

I think, for me, the hardest part about being a mom, or at least a first-time mom, is that I don’t like feeling like a fish out of water, like I don’t know what I’m doing.  That’s why I read (and still read) so many parenting and childcare books.  I wasn’t a babysitter growing up, so Baby was really the first child I ever took care of.  My husband and the nurse at the hospital had to show me how to change a diaper.  I have always been the kind of person who was always proficient in everything, so the learning curve has been a huge challenge for me.  I still struggle with it, now that Baby is becoming a toddler and is starting to really test me.  I like knowing the answers, so when Baby does something I don’t expect or can’t figure out, it can be very frustrating for me, so keeping that frustration to myself can be really tough.  Then, as soon as I put him down for a nap, I do my homework on it.  The best part about being a mom, though, is definitely the love.  I had no idea I could feel such love for someone.  I love my husband don’t get me wrong, but it’s a totally different flavor of love.  Now that he’s bigger, too, Baby can show me his love, too, which is so awesome.  I just love the hugs.  Sometimes he’ll come up behind me and just throw himself at me for the world’s biggest hug.  It’s the best feeling.  You can’t not smile when a baby hugs you.  Even if we’re having a rough day, one hug from Baby makes me forget (at least momentarily) about the bad moments.

3. What one person in your life has had the most influence on you? Why?

I think right now, that’s my son, Baby.  He’s the one person I spend the most amount of time with, and he’s the one person I am constantly trying to improve for.  I want to be a positive role model for him, someone he can look up to, someone he can count on, someone he can appreciate.  I want to be better than I am for him.  The other person who has had a profound affect on my life was my father, who passed away when I was 22.  He was a very determined, hard-working person who taught me a lot about learning – he was the kind of person who would tackle things.  If he didn’t know how to do it, he’d figure it out.  He’d read a book on it.  Or he’d figure it out by doing it.  That’s how he taught himself how to work on cars.  We never owned a single car that cost my dad more than probably $1000 to purchase, and he was constantly repairing them on the weekends (or whenever they stopped running).

4.What is the one kitchen product that you couldn’t live without?

This is a super tough question!!  My first instinct was to say my stand mixer, because mixing cookie dough (not to mention bread or pizza dough!) is quite a work out without one.  Then I re-read the question and I thought, hmm, maybe we’re talking more about ingredients, in which case good quality vanilla extract was what came to mind.  Then I thought about kitchen gadgets, and I absolutely could not live without my garlic press.  I love garlic, and while I think I’m decent with a knife, I am not fantastic at mincing garlic.  My press does a much better job than I can, although a few of the metal grates have broken recently.  I went into Williams-Sonoma to raise heck about it, because that’s where I bought it, today, though, and they assured me I must have a dud and to bring it back straightaway.

5. Where is the most amazing place you have ever visited?

Probably the Bahamas – back in my former life as a meeting and event planner, I got the opportunity to plan meetings in some pretty neat places.  We stayed at the Atlantis (the doctors I worked for always seemed interested in wowing their attendees with the accommodations), which was just beautiful.  I was six months pregnant with Baby during the conference, which drained me a good bit, but I still managed to have a good bit of fun.  The wildlife at the Atlantis is quite a sight to behold.  Just amazing.  I spent probably 90% of my time there working, but during those few minutes in the morning at 5:30 a.m. when I’d leave my room to head to the conference center, I saw some beautiful, beautiful things.  I did get one afternoon off (that’s the beauty of being the boss and making the staff schedule), and I spent that in their water park, which was wonderful.  A close second would be my honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia.  I’d love to go back to Savannah one day.

Want to know more? Check out Type A Mommy. In fact, you should make sure that you are subscribed to each of our blogs so you don’t miss any of the fun. This is just the beginning of a long and wonderful partnership (and friendship) between our two blogs.

Curious about what Elizabeth asked me? I can tell you the questions, but to see my answers, you’ll have to check out her post, Meet Writer Mom at Home, over at Type A Mommy. Here’s what she asked me:

1. Who is the Writer Mom at Home?

2. What’s your most embarrassing mommy moment thus far?

3. What are you most proud of?

4. What’s the best part of your job?

5. What’s the hardest part of motherhood in your opinion?

Want the answers? You know where to find them…

I’ll be introducing you all to Elizabeth on Wednesday, but I encourage you to all go check out her blog before then. Maybe even leave some comment love.

UPDATE: Want to meet the Elizabeth? I posted the interview I did with her on my Meet the Type A Mommy post, as part of our first collaborative effort.