Obsessions

It is weird how children just become obsessed with things. My daughter recently had become enamored with her shoes. It started innocently enough one morning when she saw her dad getting ready to walk out the door. She brought me her shoes and with a series of grunts let me know she wanted them on. From those humble beginnings a monster has sprung. Now she must have socks and shoes on at all times. She will bring me her socks and push them in my face. Never mind what I'm doing they must be put on. Then she'll run over to the shoe basket and get her shoes often one at a time so that for a portion of the day she's doing a off kilter wobble to the basket to get the other. Getting them on her though is not the end. Sometimes even then she is not satisfied. Why wear sneakers when you can get mom to put boots on you or yellow socks when you can find purple. You might ask does it really matter is she's wearing shoes...well the answer is yes. Little girls that crawl up legs should not be wearing sneakers!

Snow Fun

So I got this idea from a parenting magazine. I realize some of you out there hate parenting magazines. I myself have my own issues with them generally related to the fact that reporters are often misinformed or do not have the skills necessary to pass on health information correctly. Regardless though parenting magazines are a great place to glean activities, especially Wondertime and Family Fun. This idea is totally ripped off from a parenting issue. The mother said she brought in a bucket of snow for her daughter to play with. I put our snow in the sink although I'm sure a bucket or the tub would do just fine. Then I set #1 on it. We've now done this twice and both times he loved it. It is a fun was to extend the snow fun without having to actually be outside freezing your tushie off. We even made a mini snowman with chocolate chips for eyes and his belly button (#1's idea).

First Hair Cut?

With your first daughter when is it OK to do her first hair cut?

Grooming

Mother tip: painting the toenails of a 13 month definitely easier then those of a six month old :)

Homemade Pasta

Two Christmas ago Dr. J bought me the the Betty Crocker Cook Book. At the time I thought, "Honey do I really need another cook book. I mean I really love them but another one." Well apparently I did. This is the cookbook that is more then just a cookbook. It tells you how to set a table. It clues you in on how long to cook your meat. It lets you know secrets on how to make your cooking better. I LOVE IT. Anyway I've never made homemade pasta but two nights ago thanks to Betty I decided to try. Then I needed something to go with it so we made Chicken Marsala although we just used chicken broth instead of wine. So I guess it was really more Chicken Chicken Broth. Anyway #1 was supper help getting dinner ready. He loved rolling out the pasta and called himself the baker. He name #2 little chef and spent time trying to feed her mushrooms he had cut up himself with a butter knife. He also was a huge fan of smashing the chicken.

Wondertime

I mention this site from time to time. Wondertime is a magazine I get at home but really everything you have access to at home you can see online. They send out sheets to help you keep memories from what your kids are up to, give you access to fun printables, and have articles like, "How to teach your child to catch a ball." I love them!

Star Fall

Since starting preschool #1 always wants to be on the computer. My mom clued me into this site and we love it.

http://www.starfall.com/

Check it out for fun reading games!

A Fool Proof Methodology...or so we thought.

When #1 was born we spent significant amounts of time making sure that he had a routine for going to bed and with the exception of the three months we spent in Jordan when he was in bed with us our plan worked pretty good. Even when he got moved over to the bottom bunk on the bunk bed he would still get in after prayer and lay quietly until he feel asleep. Of course that was all pre little baby #2. That girl can and does scream every night when we put her in bed. It doesn't matter how tired she is, how low her eyelids are, what time it is, the technique we use. No that girl is going to scream. #1 hates it. I think that was spurred his exodus from his room although it is not completely to blame. For the last two weeks the second he can he sneaks out to try and negotiate a stay in our bed. When he is rebuffed he sets himself up in the hallway. We of course put him back in bed but somewhere around two and three the little guys sneaks across our floor and up into bed on dads side. He knows if he sneaks up into mine I'll wake up and send him back. Yesterday the answer hit me. Clear off the top bunk and get him up there. We did and he spent the night in bed, probably because he was to scared to attempt a night descent. Lets hope this is the answer and we don't end up with any broken bones or wet underpants.