Favorites, FAVORIT

Every once in a while, I just need to talk about my girls.  I mean, look at these sweet things!  I can't get over how fast they are both changing before our eyes.  

2 1/2 years old & 7 months old

My favorite things these days are watching Little Girl reach for toys and put them in her mouth (she is so visibly proud of herself), and having real conversations with Big Girl.  She's like a real kid!  This is pretty cool.

She's doing a great job of ...
sitting up
reaching for toys
putting everything in her mouth

And Little Lady over here is eating some solid foods, jumping in her Jenny Jump-up, and pre-crawling.

This is pre-crawling: she goes BACKWARD instead of forward
... ending up under the arm chair

We've had a busy week or so: Fourth of July, a visit to the Mystic Aquarium with some friends, and a few other engagements.  The girls have really been troopers, but I think it's catching up with us: this one asked for a nap!  What a strange scenario: my 2 1/2 year old comes up to me and begs for rest time.  How odd.

In other news, I finally took the plunge and retired the old nonstick cookware in favor of some stainless steel pots!  I've been wanting to do this for years.  The nonstick had served us well, but was pretty beat up.  So it was time!  Plus, I'd been saving up (by having yard sales and craigslisting and ebaying) so I needed to put that money to its proper use.

I bought the Ikea FAVORIT 5 quart, 2 quart, and 1 quart pots.  So far I love them!  They are very sturdy but did not have the price tag that most other stainless steel pots have.  I only got these three (and not the frying and saute pans) because when I need pans like that I use cast iron.

It's taking a bit of adjustment to cook without nonstick, especially for rice, but I'm working on tweaking my methods.  Feel free to pass along your suggestions for making the switch from nonstick!