A cookie by any other name

Little Man and Baby Girl got into the habit of eating a granola bar every morning for breakfast. For a long time I was okay with it, I mean, it was better than a doughnut or super surgery cereal, right? But we've come a long way on our healthy eating journey, and while we don't always follow the right path, we really, really try to. So I came across a recipe for homemade, chewy granola bars. Granola bars without refined sugars, artificial ingredients, and preservatives, all right! The ingredients are simple, oats, natural peanut butter, coconut oil, and whatever mix of added ingredients you want - coconut, nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate, pretty much whatever sounds good to you. So I made some - they were delicious. I ate them up. Baby Girl ate them up, too. Little Man, however, didn't take to them. They were "different" from his beloved granola bars, and he didn't like that. I kept offering them to him, and he kept refusing them. So one day I decided to call them something different. Something like,

"Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie."

Guess who ate it right up?

So it's been awhile..

Never mind that I haven't written in months, oops.

This morning the cutest thing happened. We've recently moved Baby Girl into her own room. That's right, Little Man doesn't share his room with her anymore, and neither do The Husband and I. For the first time in over two years I don't have a pack n play with a sleeping baby in it at night. It's bittersweet, but mostly sweet.

Anyway, this morning Baby Girl woke up first, so I went upstairs to get her. She's so cute in the mornings, as soon as she sees you she says, "Hi, Mommy," or "Hi, Daddy." Adorable. So this morning I had just finished changing her, and Little Man walks into her room through their adjoining bathroom. Baby Girl sees him, jumps up, runs over to him, gives him a big bear hug, and says, "I love you, Bubby!"

Little Man just looked at her, but that's besides the point.

I've got a sweet baby girl!

Little Man's Favorite Sandwich

Well, it's very apparent that I've lost my blog mojo. That makes me a bit sad, only because the reason I blog is so I can remember some of the cute, sweet, and funny things my kids do on a daily basis. Well, I'm writing this tidbit down for posterity, so maybe when Little Man is 40 years old we'll be laughing about this - his new favorite sandwich, which is......

Bread, flat yellow cheese (cheddar), and mustard. No ham or turkey, mommy.

I am as surprised as anyone, but he ate it up!

Today, Mama lost it.

I know I've already written about how Little Man started preschool last week. Not parent's day out preschool, but "real" pre-kindergarten. Last week I was expecting tears on my part, but really none came.

Until today, that is.

Today was Little Man's second week of school, and really only his fourth day. But today held something new for me - I had to drop Little Man off in the carpool line. That's right, I had to let a stranger (a teacher at the school, but a stranger never the less) open my car door, unbuckle my newly four year old son, and walk him off to his classroom, all while I sat there and watched. Actually, I didn't really get to watch, because there were what seemed like a gazillion cars waiting behind me (this school's carpool is insane!), and I was encouraged to promptly drive away.

I had only rounded the corner (still on school property) before my face started to crumble. I didn't even know what was happening at first, the tears came and then the awareness of the emotions followed. Before I was on the street I was in full blown crying mode. I was only hoping to keep it together long enough to get away from the guys directing traffic and the other parents waiting at the stoplight. I was only semi-successful.

That was hard. An unexpected hard. Wow, it caught me by surprise. It's two hours later and I'm still tearing up thinking about it. I really enjoyed walking Little Man into his classroom, seeing the morning activities laid out, saying "Good morning" to his teacher, and giving him a hug goodbye. It doesn't seem like too much to ask, especially for a pre-k class. This morning made me realize that, even though I'm trying not to, I'm taking my babies for granted. They do grow up too fast. Little Man is already gone from me for three entire days, and while I'm glad he's learning and having fun, I don't really like it.

Maybe I should check into homeschooling...

Baby Girlisms - Finally!

Baby Girl is getting older - 22 months now - and she's talking a lot! She now has a few of her own "isms" to write about!

A new song she made up, "Abcdefghijklmno - eee, iii, eee, iii ohh."

These new phrases really aren't "isms,", but they sure are cute:

"Daddy's home!" - said whenever the dogs go crazy and bark at someone on the street.

"Where did paci go?" - said while looking for her paci, I just can't believe she formulated a correct four word utterance!

"Here you go!" - said in a cute singsong voice while handing me a cup of "water" from her "kitchen," and after holding the cup under the "faucet" and saying, "sshhh, sshhh" to mimic the sound of water flowing. Absolutely delicious!

"I see you!" - also said in a singsong voice while holding a magnifying glass up to her face and looking at me with a huge grin on her face.

She has also starting making a new face, I call it "Famous Smile." It's a smile just like her big brother used to make at this age, the waaayy over exaggerated smile and squinched up eyes, oh, it's so cute!

I just love my Baby Girl!

Little Manisms

On night recently The Husband asked Little Man (newly four) what he wanted to eat for dinner. Little Man thought a minute, looked at his daddy, and said,

"A bowl of candy with candy juice."

That really was what he wanted. I think The Husband learned that if you ask Little Man an open ended question you never know how he's going to answer!

School Days..

Have I mentioned that I love Little Man and Baby Girl's school? I'm sure I have, but I'll say it again.


I LOVE their school!


Today is Little Man's third day of pre-k, and he's loving it! Yesterday I picked him up, all smiles, and he talked the entire way home. Then, once we were home, he bounced around the house, still all smiles, and told me about his day. They had a Spanish encore class yesterday, and while we were eating an after school snack, he looked at me and said, "Hola, amigos!" How fun it that!?


So this morning I took the kids to school, Baby Girl is in PDO today, and I ended up staying for nearly an hour! I walked Little Man into his classroom (last day to do that, next week it's drop him off in the carpool lane :(. ), saw where he puts his bag and where his chair is, and talked to the teacher, who gave a great report. :) I also offered my assistance in the classroom, I told the teacher I'll make copies, cut out crafts, I'll do anything. I just want to be involved in Little Man's school in some way. I really hope she'll take me up on my offer, I think it would be so much fun!


Then it was off to take Baby Girl to PDO, and I realized we were early. I mean 15 minutes early for Early Birds, which is a program that lets parents drop their children off 30 minutes early. So we found a little person playground and played for a bit, and then went on to the classroom. Once there, I tried to drop Baby Girl off and leave, really I did, but there was only one teacher in Early Birds, and she had four babies, all of whom were crying! Oh no! She was acting so calm, she said not to worry, that she "had it," but I saw the look on her face, and knew she was overwhelmed. So Baby Girl and I stayed, I grabbed a crying baby, and walked around the room with two little ones in my arms. Once one baby calmed down I grabbed another. I loved it. Soon enough a few more teachers came in and there was enough help to go around, but I still wasn't about to leave Baby Girl there with all those crying babies, and we had a few more minutes before regular hours started. So...we went to the directors office, she's really sweet and so easy to talk to. I told her what had happened and then I said, "Do you need any extra help? I'll be happy to help." What had gotten into me!? I would love to help, though. I love holding the babies, even the crying ones. I wasn't even going to put Baby Girl into Early Birds, I was planning on dropping Little Man off, then running and errand or two, then coming back and dropping Baby Girl off. However, I soon realized the ridiculousness of this plan, and decided to enroll her in Early Birds. Truly, though, except for the one day I'm planning to work, she doesn't have to be there, so it would be easy to help. Anyway, while I was in the office, several of the teachers trickled in, and many of them have taken care of Little Man at some point, and they all asked about him and how he liked pre-k. A few said they've seen him on the campus, and they reported that he looks like he's having a great time. According to them, he's smiling, playing, and behaving well. One teacher said, "The class was walking down the hall in a line, and he was actually standing in line." It was so sweet for them to tell me this, it made my heart feel so good. Finally, it was time to take Baby Girl to her regular classroom, so we made our way to it, and I dropped her off. She cried, but only for a minute. I waved to the other teachers as I left.

I think I've made friends for life in some of those teachers.

Oh, and I love this school!