The last two weeks have been fraught with computer woes combined with blog tech woes, neither of which I'm good at resolving. I now have a new (to me) computer (thanks, Chief!) and blog tech help (thanks, Andy Malone!).
So here we go!
Ask Auntie Leila
Hi Aunt Leila,
Do you have advice for getting a toddler to stop thumb sucking? My almost 3 year old sucks her thumb at night and when she's tired during the day. I've told her she needs to keep her hands pretty like a princess and not suck her thumb or bite her nails. If I catch her, I remind her but she'll mindlessly resume seconds later. The dentist said she needs to stop by 3 to avoid dental/orthodontics problems. Any advice?
Love,
Erin
I never had a thumb-sucker (just one for a little bit, but it didn't take). So when Erin wrote, I wasn't sure exactly what to say. Then, providentially, I was with Deirdre and she showed me the devices she is using with her inveterate thumb-sucker!
Those with this issue know that children will overcome the nasty-tasting paint, nagging, and whatever, to get to their thumb. And even if you can prevent it during the day, the issue is that at night they are unconsciously reaching for it and you aren't there to stop them.
But Deirdre reports that she's had great success with Nipit — they are braces that go on the elbows and the child simply can't get that thumb up into his mouth.
(I only receive a return on the affiliate link — a little cash when you buy using the link — and am not promoting this otherwise; this is Deirdre's actual unsponsored review.)
They come with a chart which her daughter loves putting the stars on. It really does motivate her and she's doing super well with it. She doesn't mind it at all. I think she's proud to be breaking this habit.
I would definitely remove the braces when the child is actively playing, as the product advises.
My preventive advice is to nurse the baby when you see him going for the thumb. Babies do have different ways of soothing themselves, but this particular way is so detrimental to their long-term well being, affecting their bite and speech.
Try nursing more frequently; hold a nicely textured cotton or wool blanket near his nose. Aim to transition him to soothing with the blanket by putting it near his face when you put him down to sleep. It's the combination of sucking and smelling something familiar, preferably your own scent that they find comforting. A nice stuffed animal works too, though a blanket has the advantage of being able to be cut into four or more pieces down the road (so you can have extras in case of loss or needing to be washed!).
It's much easier gradually to detach them from a blanket than from their thumb!
Kitchen Corner
Today we're going to talk about the range.
If you are new here, I aim to put all the things in the context of homemaking as a vocation. The stove is central to what homemakers do! It needs to work and not break down every few years!
Bonus points for prettiness…
This is why I am going into details about the kitchen. I'm hoping my experience helps you work with what you have and do a good job choosing something new if you need to.
Appliances today are mostly made to break down — grievous but true fact! You could spend a fortune on any of it and in two years be so frustrated and vexed.
Okay, with that in mind, let's go through my entire thought process.
I moved the stove to where the fridge had been. There is room for a 36″ range. Really, not quite enough room! But I was willing to squeeze it in there to have the stovetop with its six burners — the 30″ is workable for a large family, but honestly, I was hampered by not being able to put two large pots one behind the other or for that matter, to use big pots together at all.
I wanted to be able to use a griddle. One of my previous stoves, an electric range with a glass cooktop, had a nice feature where there was a bridge between the two left burners that heated up and I could put my cast iron griddle there and make a good number of pancakes.
I actually liked that range a lot.
And then one day it turned itself on and wouldn't turn off, getting hotter and hotter… the only way to stop it was to flip the circuit breaker!
No help from the company (Frigidaire — it was a Profile) or Consumer Safety. It happened twice and so, not wanting my house to burn down, I got rid of it.
Anyway, yes, with the numbers we sometimes have here, canning, and even normal cooking, I did want the 36″. Of course I thought of an AGA or some other vast number, but the truth is, 36″ is the widest that would fit here and still give me a spot on the left to put things down on the left and right (absolutely non-negotiable, I cannot fathom not having a place to put something down there) as well as not paralyzing that corner.
Even a 40″ range would not have left enough room on the left and would have made the corner inaccessible (it's tight as it is!).
No, I wasn't moving the doorway, as I love the sightline through the dining room and into the living room.
Originally I was absolutely committed to the idea of getting a vintage stove. If there had been one near me that fit my space, I would totally have gone for it! What's not to love? Proven longevity, simple operation, built for the ages — if you have one, if your neighbor is (inadvisedly) getting rid of his, if you find one at the thrift, this is the way to go!
So many wonderful, thought-out features, like that enamel top that folds up to be a backsplash and shelf, or folds down to cover the burners… built-in griddle, storage, crumb trays that pull out for easy cleaning… just love it all!
However, after looking for a long time, I realized they are just not that common here in New England. The ones for sale were pricey yet unproven. I would have gone for cheap and doubtful or pricey and refurbished, but the ones I saw were just expensive without any sort of guarantee.
I was so close to shipping one from New York; I was even closer to shipping one from California that was completely renovated.
But it turns out that Massachusetts is the one, unique state with a code that specifies which appliances you can install, and our gas hookup is new, so there would be a lot of scrutiny. I just wasn't willing to commit to spending that much and then finding out it wouldn't be covered by insurance.
I had long before ruled out all stoves with any digital anything. There is one beautiful range going around on Instagram that is just so appealing, but the few reviews there are mention such deal breakers as the connectivity with one's phone going awry to the point of one being locked out of one's oven!! ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It has the further deal breaker of venting to the front; yes, venting into your body as you stand there stirring your sauce on the stovetop. No thanks — it's undeniably just gorgeous, but I just can't with that sort of thing; I'm standing there a lot!
Then my friend Shyla told me about the Kucht. (This is not an ad — both she and I have paid for ours in full and get nothing for telling you about it.)
Here are the factors that sold me on this gas range:
It's very reasonably priced; compared to a GE Café or Kitchenaid that will break after a few years, I'm satisfied with what I paid as being competitive and I know it will last longer than those, because —
It has zero digital anything — no computers, no motherboard. Can we rant a bit about how ovens are made to vent directly into their motherboards? My engineer father is spinning in his grave!
It has three lights: one for the convection fan, one for the oven light, and one that goes off when the oven reaches temperature. And that is all, besides the electronic ignition standard for safety reasons, as far as anything electrical on it.
It has a four-year warranty. This is telling. Every other range out there is warranted for one year only. The Kucht has gas innards and that is all that can really go wrong, and if it does, we'll know in the first four years or it will be easy to fix thereafter; my plumber agreed that he could do any repair, easily. In that it resembles the vintage stoves. Try getting a repairman for some of the fancy brands out there — from what I can see, it's nigh impossible.
It's pretty! The 36″ comes in this style; the 30″ comes in different colors. I probably would not have gone for the gold knobs etc.
But I love the dark stainless so much. I really didn't want a lot of bright stainless going on in my kitchen, since I was going for the more old-fashioned look.
The pros:
It works great. It came with the griddle (well, it actually didn't come but they sent it immediately when I called them to let them know it was missing; their customer service is direct and prompt; while I was still shopping I spoke to a tech guy directly and immediately). I have another griddle as well, so I could make a slew of pancakes and a pan of sausages, and a pan of eggs, all at once!
The oven is exactly calibrated (there is no readout of temperature; the dial has temp markings and they are correct, by my oven thermometer). It works beautifully.
It has all the “professional” features that make it heavy-duty, e.g. the racks slide easily and are very sturdy, the burner grates are excellently designed and will hold the smallest diameter pot as well as the largest; the enameled surface is easy to clean.
The cons:
I don't know how good the broiler is; so far not that great but maybe I don't get it.
The racks aren't easy to move (due to the easiness of them sliding out — it's a mechanism that works great until you want to move the whole shebang to another level).
I had to buy a simmer plate; even the lowest simmer burner is too high, but this seems to be a universal complaint about gas stoves.
It takes a while to preheat — ditto for this sort of range; they all seem to be this way. It's been so long (24+ years!) since I had a gas oven! And I'm getting used to these things all over again.
Truly, I love it. It's great! I'm so grateful to have a sturdy, practical, pretty range that didn't break the bank! And there's no doubt that when you see it as you walk in, it makes a statement!
I have a second oven built in on the other side of the kitchen, and it's electric. I can broil just fine in that one and it's handy to have an extra oven for when you have things that need vastly different temperatures and/or lots of things to bake, like on Thanksgiving.
That oven is a Kitchenaid. Built-in ovens are super pricey, as I found out to my chagrin, after I made the plan to have one. If I could have fit a 40″ range in the main work area, there would have been two ovens right there in it, but as I say, there simply is not room.
I really find I need two ovens on a regular basis — as you will too if you have a big family!
But I found this one on Facebook Marketplace for $150 (vs. $2-2.5K new). It broils very well and is otherwise great.
So that's the oven saga! Happy to answer any questions about the whole issue!
bits & pieces
- Phil and I will be in St. Louis March 9th! We hope we can see you! The event is a talk from each of us, followed by a luncheon (and that is what the charge is for!). There will be the opportunity to ask questions, visit with us, and purchase signed books! Do sign up!
- I have posted about the Riverside Club for Boys years ago when it was starting. I encourage you to read this article: Adventure, Imagination and Education Are Thriving at the Riverside Club for Boys. Many good thoughts about what boys need to thrive!
- If you happen to need ecclesiastical sculpture, well, here you go. Beautiful work by a living artist! That's what we like to see!
- I highly encourage you to listen to this lecture by Peter Kwasniewski on why it's better not to demand to understand everything immediately — or that others understand immediately. He's talking mainly about liturgy, but has important insights in other areas as well. When we think about educating our children, we simply must grasp this fact about human nature: we will not learn everything at once, and most things require a lot of pondering before they are assimilated.
- Beowulf and the thumos of Catholic manhood. This is a subject dear to my heart. Men need to recover their manliness, and it's not about wearing tweed jackets or bossing their wives around. What does it mean to be a man?
from the archives
- My thoughts on C. S. Lewis' Men without Chests. Important when we are considering what our children need in the way of moral education.
- Don't think so much about entertaining your children as about helping them see that the household is a project for everyone: What can children do?
liturgical living
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Whitney says
Having two ovens is very useful even in a small family! We only have two littles so far in a small kitchen but it came with a range that has two ovens in the same size as a normal 30 range. The smaller one on the top preheats in a minute or two! Assuming a spatchcocked turkey, we can be cooking the turkey in the top at one temp and four casseroles in the bottom at another temp. Plus the four burners, and I have ended up the host for our extended family and friends for holidays.
The one we have, though, is electric and apparently the house has a gas fireplace but no gas in the kitchen!
I have not been able to find a range like this with gas. But, for people with small kitchens and can’t do gas, this may be a good way to get two ovens
Leila says
So this is the sort of oven I had — I went through two of them. They are super useful. I found mine to be clutch with all the things I had to bake and roast!
The problem is that they are designed to vent right under the motherboard (computer), which is in the backsplash part.
Appliances today are over-engineered. That motherboard has all sorts of electronics and sensitive circuitry for processes that one may or may not need (settings for having the oven go on later, etc — yes, I have used those, but would gladly give them up for a simpler appliance).
Given that most people don’t do more than heat up the occasional pre-packaged meal, the oven might last for 5-8 years. But if, like me, you routinely use both ovens and often at a high temp (eg to bake sourdough or pizza etc), it will not make it even that far.
The one thing I would advise is to NEVER use the self-clean feature! It’s just too high temp.
You are right, gas stoves don’t come with this configuration. There are 40″ stoves that have a small oven on one side and a bigger one on the other. And then of course even wider ones with wider ovens!
Leila says
I should add that replacing the motherboard — which WILL fail after a few years — costs so much money that the whole thing is trashed and one buys a new one. Or one has spent so much on a warranty — spending in another way.
If it’s what you already have, then enjoy it!
But if anyone is in the market for a new stove, and these are not cheap, I would say, think again.
Rachel says
Erin may be interested to read what Ilg, Ames, and Baker have to say about thumb sucking in “Child Behavior” from the Gesell Institute. They give kind of account of the general curve of thumb sucking, and state that most children stop by 4 or 5 and that if you try to stop it too early it can just backfire. They also cast doubt on whether it’s actually bad for the bite/teeth, at least in children with a well-formed mouth to start with. And they list some positives of sucking.
I’d be curious to know what others think! I don’t have a strong opinion – I’m no expert in anything and my kids are so little my experience is limited. I have an almost 3 year old boy who sucks his two middle fingers and the thought of trying to get him to stop is so overwhelming I’m inclined to go with Gesell haha! He even was sucking his fingers in the womb when we had our ultrasound with him!
Leila says
There’s no doubt thumb sucking alters the bite and can affect speech. I have witnessed this!
One has to balance the emotional needs of the child with the other factors. When a child is getting older and his soothing method is close at hand, it can really inhibit his emotional growth, ironically. It affects how people react to him, what he asks of himself in interactions, and how responsive he is. It keeps him in a sort of drowsy, fugue state — makes it so he doesn’t just jump up and run off and do things.
Some of our kids had pacis or blankets and by the time they were 2, we insisted on “throwing it into the crib” when we got them up from naps and in the morning. We made a game of it! I just don’t want to listen to a child talking through a paci! and it’s not good for him — it hampers his speech (even if it doesn’t affect the bite). Obviously, you can’t do this with a thumb or finger!
As I said, my granddaughter is visibly proud for giving up her thumb (so far — we’ll see how long lasting it is, but she already seems brighter and fresher). She wanted to before — she just didn’t know how to help herself, and no one else did either.
You will know when the costs outweigh the benefits. It’s okay at that point to ask the child for more. It’s good for him to overcome, when he’s ready, things that hold him back from growing up.
Rachel says
Thank you, Leila helpful as always. I’m picturing some kind of Wiliam Steig-esque illustrated story in which a boy does remove his middle fingers and throw them into the crib in the morning…
Leila says
🤣
Ken H says
Okay – here is the real post that I tried to make yesterday –
I truly enjoyed this “Tome on the Range” (I just had to post that…)
But I did enjoy it, as I do all of your posts. Interesting information. We are loosely in the market for a new range, as ours is probably over 30 years old. (Most likely getting close to 35 years that we have had it.) But I looked up the Kucht website and it appears that they do not have electric ranges.
So we’ll have to find some good electric range (or just hope that ours keeps working for eternity, or at least as long as we have to cook on it.)
Keep writing – I love your posts!
Leila says
So happy to have the dad jokes over here!! LOL Thanks for the compliments!
Why not hook up some propane? It would help with your resale when that day comes.
Katie says
The oven sounds wonderful!
And thank you for the product idea for thumb sucking. My little one is the same age as the original questioner’s, and no one has said anything about getting her to stop yet, but I imagine it needs to happen soon. She’s going through a rough phase right now, so maybe after she gets back into equilibrium (I’m saying that for potty training too, haha).
But! As far as the preventive advice–that doesn’t work for those of us with an oversupply! Baby won’t nurse when her belly is full and the milk is still coming fast. 🙁 That’s where pacifiers are helpful–four of my 5 have taken them.
Leila says
I used pacis too with my first three, and at least they can be detached! I always had a robust milk supply and it’s true, it can make it so the baby still has sucking needs long after he’s full.
For those wondering about chronic oversupply, there are remedies to get you back into equilibrium. See this article from LLL: https://laleche.org.uk/too-much-milk-and-oversupply/
I wouldn’t take any medications but cabbage leaves on the breast help with engorgement and sage tea can lessen the supply. Of course, these things should be done carefully and a bit over time to see how one’s body reacts. Wouldn’t want to have a problem in the other direction!
Katie says
Thanks! I’ve evened out with the current baby but may look into that next time around.
We usually make a rule around 18mo that the paci is only for bed and car rides. And then it’s all done at age 3. One of mine actually got out of bed on her 3rd birthday, climbed onto a bench, and put her pacifier up on a high shelf, and that was that!
Leila says
Ha! What a great kid! Saved mommy a lot of trouble 🙂
Mary Keane says
Somehow the Kucht escaped my awareness during all of my research! It looks great and the griddles are awesome. We had a lot of the same requirements as you did and landed on Lacanche in the end. We used to have one of those double ovens Whitney describes and it yes was so useful. The way we found to squeeze in two ovens in a non-computerized model in our particular setup was to go for the smaller-than-we’re used to European ovens! Our range is a meter wide with side-by-side ovens, one gas and one electric. I find they are adequate for holiday dinners, but day to day I favor the electric.
My four-year-old was sitting next to me as I was reading this post earlier and he was noticing all the similarities between your house and ours. “We have those chairs! And that same blue wall! And those blue plates! And a Berkey! Do we know that house?” I sure feel like we do, Christopher!
Leila says
Well, the Lacanche is beautiful! Having two ovens in one appliance is great. I meant to include some pictures of vintage stoves with two ovens. If I only had 4 more inches!!
Given the price, I’m happy with the Kucht and my electric oven over on the other side. But surely if I could have gone for that beautiful French number, well…
Your son is so cute! I do feel that we all know each other, don’t you?