Zucchini Pad Thai: A convert
Consider me a believer. The pad thai I made last night with zucchini noodles was life changing. I used this recipe from Health-bent . Mainly, it was super rich because it wasn't shy with either the coconut oil or the almond butter, but the sauce did the trick in making the zucchini noodles seem like actual noodles. Even Todd thought so. And it was super easy and was made with things in my fridge and cabinet.
I also used that nifty Spiralizer thing that everyone is talking about to make the noodles (or, "noodles"). Worth it. This is a picture of the leftovers. It ain't pretty, but it sure was tasty.

Off Topic: Kid Talk
We were reflecting yesterday that Toddler W is juuuuust about speaking fluently (in complete, connected sentences with fading grammatical errors). While this is something to celebrate, it also make my heart ache because it means the baby-ness is ebbing. There are still lots of moments I want to slice out and put in my pocket, though, especially since I know that I tend to forget them as soon as they happen.

A couple of toddler speakisms that I don't want to forget:
- (while driving past some plants): "It's a poohpah pepper!" (I have no idea what that was, but he kept on repeating it which made it both absurd and hilarious.
-That "Twinkle twinkle little star" comes out as "Twinkle twinkle lee-tee stah" (this one will probably actually hurt my heart when it goes away).
-Whenever we step outside, he exclaims: "It's BEAUTIFUL outside today!" no matter the weather.
-We visited a butterfly room yesterday, and he managed to be respectful and not touch the butterflies, all while exclaiming with ecstasy: "The butterflies are gonna get me!"
-Before entering said butterfly room, one of the volunteers was telling us the rules of the room (e.g., don't maul the butterflies, please), and Will ignored him, just yelling: "LOOK AT THE BUTTERFLIES, MOMMY!" This cracked up the volunteer.

I think that I will use this blog as a repository of those moments. Raising a kid is something else: it is utterly exhausting (and I only have one!) but it is also so filled with flashes of intense joy and love for this little creature. The love is always there,  but those flashes jar me with the reminders about its intensity.