Toothpicks in a colander

    We have let big L do this activity before but this time she set it up herself.  Proud mommy moment right here.     

   Although when she first took the colander out of the cabinet I was   annoyed.  I told her to put it back; I really did not feel like washing it agian.  Par for the course she ignored me and pulled the bucket of toothpicks off the counter.  

At that point I understood what she was doing.  I changed from annoyed to proud.  I'm always happy to have her do a fine motor activity such as putting toothpicks through the holes in a colander.  

    She did dump all the toothpicks into the floor, I was not overly happy about that.  I should have made her clean it up but at that point it did not seem worth the fight.  I wish I had though.  I hate when I look back and realize I've missed a learning opportunity.  Also who wants to pick up a ton of toothpicks off the floor when they did not make the mess? Oh well that's one of the many 'joys' of mootherhood, picking up after your children.   

Emotional first bite

    Well we did it, we started solids.  Little L has had some allergy issues so we were told to wait till 5 months.  She can't tolerate if I eat soy or dairy.  Talk about hard, I can't believe how much food has soy in it.  Makes me want to do this

Also I drive myself nuts second guessing if dairy and soy both are both the problem.  

    Anyway a few days past 5 months and the hubby would not let me put it off anymore.  I gave her a tiny amount of no sugar added applesauce but I was not exactly happy about it.    

    I actually had a much stronger reaction than I ever expected I would.  I had a pit in my stomach the whole time I was feeding her and I shed some tears after I cleaned her up.  

   I guess the worry about how her tummy would handle it was part of the reason for my emotion.  By the way she was not impressed with the taste but no tummy issues or allergic reactions.  Yay!  

Still I'm going to tread lightly with solids because I can't stop myself from worrying.  

   The other part of my reaction I think stemmed from the fact that she is my last.  We are planning to only have these two girls, so now that I've jumped the hurdle of solids I have to face the fact that I won't be doing that again. I won't be giving a baby their first bite of food again.  My baby's are growing up, I can't stop it, and this is all I have.  

    Now that I have jumped that hurdle I'm kinda excited about her next first taste though.  I'm thinking oatmeal or bananas.  

    

No naps = no TV after 5

   We have a new rule in our house after last night; no TV after 5pm if big L doesn't take a nap. 

    If she watches tv past 5 on no nap days this is what happens.  

 You might think oh nice, early bed time.  Well we are not so lucky in this house.  If you move her she wakes up, is cranky, and takes a while to fall back to sleep.  If you leave her she might sleep for 30 minutes, then will wake up cranky and fight sleep.  It's a lose lose situation.  

   We will continue to encourage mid day naps by requiring an hour of rest in her bed.  But one thing I have learned is you can't force a child to sleep.  So if she holds out on the naps I will hold out on tv after 5pm.  Really we watch too much anyway.  
  *update to her being 3.5 and we now feel any nap is a good nap but nap time is still a constant battle.  

Mid day silence

    Yesterday I thought 'oh nice.  Best birthday present ever' as my children both took 2-2.5 hour naps at the same time.

    I got so much cleaning done.  I was able to switch over laundry by myself.  Most of the floors got swept and the kitchen floor got wiped down.  I was able to wash a ton of dishes.  I even got to sit and finish a show I was watching the night before.  

    Today I'm wondering what I did right because they did it again!  Prolonged birthday present? Or maybe God just knew I needed a break?

    If it happens tomorow I might faint, I'm not holding my breath though.  

I want to make my peanut butter and jelly all by myself

    I can't make my daughter's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches anymore.  She has to do it herself, or kind of.

    We bring the peanut butter, the jelly, two slices of bread on a plate, and a little butter knife all to her table.  She attempts to get the jelly out of the jar and spread it on her bread.

Not much gets on and then I end up getting more jelly and in the end spreading it on the bread.  Repeat this with the peanut butter.

She then puts the two slices together and eats.  

     So for the most part I'm really making the sandwich it just takes longer but she loves it and seems pretty proud that she can do it all by herself.  

   Happy side note, this way I don't cut it in half so she ends up eating more crust.  I don't know why but about a month ago she started eating around the crust.  

   She can get her own cup of water from the water cooler now too.  My little self sufficient girl.  :)