Rockin'

It is 2:15 am and I just finished putting Will back to bed.  It was the second time he had gotten up tonight.  I keep thinking that soon he will sleep through the night, but I also don't expect it.  I know that by this time my other kids were sleeping through the night and I can't, for my life, remember how that happened.  I have read all sorts of advice on how to get him to sleep longer but I just can't bring myself to attempt them. 

The advice all seems to require me to allow him to cry it out some.  Some recommend just letting him cry himself back to sleep, supposedly thereby making him teach himself to self soothe.  Some recommend that I allow him to cry for a while so that gradually it will be longer between wake ups. I just can't do those.  Every time I think maybe I will attempt it I think about my friend's little boy.

Two years ago a friend of mine adopted one of the world's sweetest children from the Ukraine.  Children in orphanages in the Ukraine, and many other countries, don't get rocked to sleep.  No one sings to them at night or reads them bedtime stories.  There are no loving cuddles, tickles or kisses.  Actually, those things are true all day long for those little angels.  Consequently, when she first brought him home he would rock himself to sleep (or just to being calm) any time he was upset or when he needed to go to sleep.  Can you imagine watching your child feel the need to curl up in a ball and rock themselves? 

Now, Will gets lots of love.  I hold him when he asks me and sometimes when he doesn't ask me too.  I sing to him.  I read to him.  I play games and act a fool.  He gets a million things that those children don't get.  I don't for a minute think he will be as deprived as those children if, for one night, I let him "cry it out."  I do, however, look at him and think that, at least for as long he is a baby, I don't want to give him even one reason to rock himself. 

So, for now, I guess I will just keep getting up every few hours to be Will's personal record player and rocking chair with built in pillows.

Baker's Dozen

If you have come around my house at Christmastime then you know that I bake and bake and bake throughout the holiday season.  This Christmas was no different.  Actually,  I even added a few things to my baking list.  As I was baking I kept thinking, "My goodness.  I am making a baker's dozen of types of things!"  Little did I know how wrong I was.  I actually made 19 different goodies.  I made:
1. Crinkle Cookies
2. Dipped Pretzel Rods (decorated by Boog)
3. Candied Noodles
4. Dipped Ritz
5. Peanut Butter Cookies
6. Gingerbread Men
7. Toffee Cookies
8. Butterscotch and Chocolate Chip Cookies
9. Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies
10. Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
11. Chocolate Fudge
12. Peanut Butter Fudge
13. Dipped Crinkle Cookies
14. Peanut Brittle
15. Mint Chocolate Bark
16. Painted Sugar Cookies
17. Candy Cane Cookies
18. Party Mix
19. Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Over the course of this years baking I actually learned a few things.  See, even an old dog can learn new tricks! 
1. I ADORE parchment paper!
2. Publix parchment paper is better than name brand!  The name brand would brown up quickly but the Publix parchment paper kept going and going!
3. You can use parchment paper when making peanut brittle.  My whole life we have greased the pan so the peanut brittle would come out.  On a whim I decided to try the parchment paper.  Oh, how wonderfully it worked!  And there wasn't any of the extra grease to deal with afterwards!  Woot Woot!
4. Never try to just split an egg yolk for two different cookie paints.  Just use two eggs, even if that means going to the store to buy another dozen!
5. Unbleached flour is wonderful.  I always figured it would make my cookies darker than I like them to look.  I was WRONG!  Seriously, it made them beautiful and has the added benefit of being unbleached.  I bought it by mistake because I was hurrying but I will always buy it in the future!
6. Nothing at all sticks to parchment paper.  No seriously, all the things that I used to have to scrub forever just brushed off the parchment paper.  It was glorious!
7. I always have to automatically make double batches of each cookie, otherwise there aren't any left from boys "testing" them.
8. Always use the Ulu to cut the fudge!  Hubby says the fudge has never been easier to cut straight out of the fridge.  He loved it, so I love it!
Overall, I used; 40 eggs,17 pounds of sugar, 12 pounds of flour, 10 bags of baking chips (6 different types!), 8 pounds of butter, 7 cans of milk, 6 boxes of cereal, 5 pounds of nuts, 4 jars of sprinkles, 3 bags of pretzels, 2 jars of cherries and an entire bottle of vanilla extract.  That could almost be my own version of the 12 days of Christmas! 

But Christmas is over now.  The oven has gone back to cooking more dinners than desserts.  My stove cooks more soups than candies now.  At least for a while!