Happy Birthday Lila!!

Lila turned twelve this week which I still can't believe. Yikes!! With being twelve comes lots of fun new adventures and besides all the physical and emotional changes that will come at her like a freight train she does now get to sit in the front seat of the car. Negotiations for turns to sit in the front started well over a year ago and spanned several weekends. Finally stepping in as moderator they agreed to one month in the front seat for every year of age difference or three months. To which, Juliette, this past weekend, said " you know Lila, it's really not that great. You can't watch movies, dad can see how much time you are spending on your phone and you have to engage him in conversation".

At least I will look forward to the next three months.

Roomnesia

I recently read an article about keeping track of new words and how and when they enter the mainstream lexicon. As everyone has experienced that time you walk into a room and forget what you need or why you are there. Now there is a word for that, roomnesia. This could be my favorite new word and I thought how it related to my kids. How they can walk into a certain room and when I mean a certain room I am referring to the bathroom and their brains just turn off. I refer to it as bathroomnesia!

My kids are smart, they do well in school, they can remember the words to every Nikki Minaj song, so I find myself perplexed by their bathroomnesia. They know how a light switch works, I have seen them turn lights on, they don't use the bathroom in the dark. So what happens when they enter the room? They seem to forget how to turn the lights off. Maybe it's a one off thing but no. They can't remember how to hang up a towel or how to close the medicine cabinet and my favorite is how to change the roll of toilet paper. They know how to take the towel off the shelf, they know how to open the medicine cabinet and they know how to use the toilet paper. Maybe the toilet paper holder is not techie enough and unless Apple makes an app for that it will never get changed.

I know I am not alone on this and parents have been trying to tackle these issues for generations. I have tried gentle reminders and not so gentle reminders, humorous reminders and post it notes on the mirror, all to no avail. This weekend I decided to think like a teenager and stoop to their level. I thought it was genius, what better way to get their attention than digital parenting. I grabbed my Iphone and started videotaping a series of how-to instructional videos. How to turn the lights on and OFF, How to open and CLOSE the cabinet doors, you get the idea. I would have snapchatted (is that even a word? sp?) the videos to them if I knew how but texted them instead. Their attention I most certainly got but whether it remedies their bathroomnesia is still to be determined.

Birthday girl gets to call it

The birthday girl gets to call the breakfast and on this Sunday Lila asked for challah french toast and I was happy to oblige. I usually add 1 egg for each slice of bread and an extra yolk for added richness. I let the challah sit in the egg mixture for at least ten minutes on each side and sometimes refrigerated overnight. I love the added flavor of vanilla and lately been a little obsessed with orange blossom water, whose flavor and aroma reminds me of sunshine and blue skies.

Challah French Toast

Six 3/4 inch slices of Challah
6 Eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water
unsalted butter for cooking
powdered sugar
Maple Syrup

In a medium bowl mix together the eggs, egg yolk, milk or cream, vanilla extract and orange blossom water.
Place challah slices in a shallow baking dish. Pour 1/2 the egg mixture over slices and let sit for 10 minutes. Turn over slices and pour remaining egg mixture into baking dish. Let sit for 10 minutes or until egg mixture is soaked up by the bread.
Melt butter in a large skillet. Place two slices in skillet and cook until bottom is golden brown, about two minutes. Turn and again cook until bottom is golden brown, 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining challah slices.
Serve warm with either powdered sugar or warm maple syrup.