My Little Girl is Growing Up. Maybe.

The Big Kid is good at a lot of things. She is a beast when it comes to tumbling. She's a smarty pants at school. She's kind and caring and she's responsible beyond her years.

Mostly.

That whole "responsible" thing has its limitations. She's 10, so she's allowed to forget some things once and a while. BUT WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE SAME THINGS?

I can guarantee that I will trip over a pair of her shoes in the next 24 hours. I trip over her shoes EVERY SINGLE DAY. I can also guarantee that I will tell her to pick her jacket up off the floor. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Doors.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO REMEMBER TO CLOSE DOORS? That is one that amazes me because I'm not talking about her bedroom door or a bathroom door; I'm talking about the doors that are on either side of the hallways that connect our dining room and kitchen. Basically, there is no way to navigate our house without walking through one of those two halls. You can't walk through those halls if the pantry door, laundry area doors, or coat closet doors are left open. So what exactly is Alexis doing when she squeezes around the open doors instead of just closing them? I DON'T KNOW. I just know that she is the one who opened them.

The whole thing super confuses me.

The other one that confuses me is Miss Alexis' inability to clear dirty laundry out of her bedroom. Despite the fact that her room is small, she lets the laundry pile up until she is completely out of things to wear. Considering that she's a tiny person who still fits into some of the articles of clothing she has had since she was four (seriously, it's a little weird), she can go a REALLY long time. It often reaches the point where no part of her carpet is visible and there is no way to walk into her room without stepping into a pile of glitter-covered fabric.

She ALWAYS has to be reminded to walk her dirty laundry down the hall to where it belongs. Mind you, I don't remind her because I think it's her problem if she wakes up one day and doesn't have black leggings to wear. Either she'll get better about putting her dirty clothes away or she'll have to make use of those laundry-doing skills I taught her a while back. But other people remind her or she reaches the limits of desperation. It's a thing.

BUT THEN SOMETHING MAGICAL HAPPENED!!!!

Tonight, as I was putting Mila to bed, I caught a glimpse of Alexis wandering the halls in the dark. She just cleaned her room this weekend (it sometimes happens when she's trying to avoid other things), so no way she was putting dirty clothes away. But, YES WAY! SHE DID! She gathered her laundry from the past two days and walked it down the hall! Without being asked! All by herself! It's a miracle!

I'm not saying it's easy to impress me, but if she manages to close a door without being told this week, I might have to buy her a pony.

Up and Down

Maybe I have a mental block and have rewritten history to make it better, but I'm pretty sure teething was mostly a non-issue with Mila. She got her first teeth early, and it was a plural early. She hasn't ever just gotten one tooth at a time, in fact. They always come in pairs. And pretty much unannounced.

Yeah. I don't think I've admitted that out loud to anyone. She's not a perfect sleeper, but I don't think Mila has ever lost sleep because of teeth. She certainly has had grumpy days over them, but it wasn't THE WORST other than the first few. Some drooling and lots of chewing, but that's about it.

UNTIL NOW.

You guys, the two-year molars are going to be the death of us all.

It's been about a week since the first two started to come in and they're taking its sweet time. Which, GREAT. LET'S PROLONG THE MISERY. The long of the short is that one second there's a happy baby standing around playing and giggling, and the next second there's a monster screaming at the top of her lungs. She can't be calmed with anything other than time. It seems that ten minutes after she remembers that she's miserable, the cloud lifts and she's back to happy.

It's like watching Jekyll and Hyde possess a tiny girl's body, alternating at the speed of light.

There's a limit to how much Tylenol you can give a kid but teething tabs and all of the other things seem to be failing. I mean, I suppose booze might help, but I'm not sure who should drink it. Besides, booze won't really help us get through errands.

Which, people of Target, I am sorry. I am sorry that my child stood in the middle of the aisle screaming at the top of her lungs with tears running down her face. I'm also sorry that two aisles over, she smiled sweetly at you and say, "Hi!" thereby making you question your sanity. Was she just angry? Yes. Did she stop being angry? Yes. Did it only last about two aisles? Absolutely. Back and forth, happy and sad.

Sorry about that. I'm especially sorry to the person who was obviously REALLY confused by the whole thing because she stopped me to ask if Mila had a twin who was maybe over in the cereal aisle.

Nope. That was one kid. One kid who is absolutely capable of going from angel to devil and back again in a snap.

Spinach and Feta Quiche

I don't know why I had it in my head that quiche is stupid hard to make, but I'm happy to report that I have corrected course. After making it dozens of different ways in the past few months, I'm happy to say that it's easy to make.

And Spinach and Feta Quiche is THE BEST OMG.

I think the biggest thing I needed to get over was the crust. I kept wanting to make a crust from scratch (crustless quiche = a crime against food), but then it occurred to me that there is no shame in a frozen pie crust. Why spend time making crust when there is perfectly acceptable crust waiting for me in the freezer aisle. Lazy, er, I mean efficient, FTW!

Spinach and Feta Quiche

1 deep dish pie crust
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow or red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 8-oz bag pre-washed spinach (I rinse it one more time before using it.)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 4-oz package feta cheese
4 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Hey! Let's start by preheating that oven to 375 degrees. Leave your pie crust sitting out while the oven heats up.

2. Toss that crust in the oven for four minutes. When time is up, pull it out and stab all of the puffy spots with a fork. Then put it back in the oven for four more minutes.

3. While that whole thing is going on, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.

4. Add the onion and sauté.

You want to brown the onion a bit. Like this.

5. Toss the garlic in the pan and stir. Then toss in the spinach. It's going to start out VERY BIG.

6. But it will wilt quickly. Once it does, add the mozzarella cheese.

7. Stir! Then add in the feta and stir some more.

8. By this point, you should have a mostly baked crust, so go ahead and spread the spinach and cheese in the bottom of that crust.

We put it at the bottom because otherwise you'll end up with all of the  yummy stuff stuck to the top of the quiche. This helps spread it out a bit more.

9. Whisk together the eggs and milk then pour them over the spinach.

10. Your work is done! Now all you have to do is allow it to bake. 40-50 minutes at 375 degrees should land you with a quiche that is cooked all the way through. You can stab the center with a toothpick to check doneness -- it should come out clean from egg goop and there shouldn't be jiggle.

11. Hello, beautiful.

11. Allow the quiche to cool for about ten minutes before serving.