What happens when you give a toddler a chocolate Clif bar?

First Bites...

This week we gave Novak his first baby food.  Although I've read mixed reviews on whether to start with cereal, we decided that it was best for us.

With Nate and Nile, we started cereal and baby food at around 4 months.  We decided to wait longer with Novak.  So, there was almost NO learning curve for him.  He knew exactly what to do when that spoon came up to his mouth (guess he's been watching those big brothers eat!).

I just LOVE this picture of him with his messy face... :)

Today, Nile and I made Novak some "real" baby food - we cooked and pureed carrots.  We've entered the big time now! 

calm within the chaos

I'm sitting here in the recliner in our living room, nursing Novak. All around me is laundry. In one basket, a load of Nate's clothes I folded this morning. In another, a pile of Nile's clothes, clean, but needing to be folded. And in another, a half-folded load of diapers. The rest of the diapers are on the floor partially sorted, patiently waiting for me to stuff and fold them. And, I can hear the washer entering it's final spin cycle on a load of swim trunks and beach towels (we have swim lessons tomorrow). All of these will need to be put away, hopefully before Tom gets home from work. Hopefully.

The kitchen is a disaster from Nile and my baking experiment this morning. (peanut butter oatmeal sandwich cookies - which are very, very good! Maybe too good...)

I have a to-do list a mile long, some things that I should have already done (preschool registration papers for next year), and some I would just like to do (scrapbooks are way out of date, I need to set up the boys' college savings accounts...)

But I'm not complaining one bit.

I am exactly where I want to be. And I wouldn't change a thing.

Unless, of course, you know of any laundry fairies that are available...?

Cleaning the bowl

There is one reason Nile likes to cook...to lick the bowl.

Play-Doh Explosion

We are at home for another snow day, which means no preschool, no babysitting room at the gym, and because it's so cold out, no playing outside. So I am looking for ideas to entertain these two for a whole day. Remember we just had two straight weeks at home. You would think that with all the new Christmas presents they would have plenty to do. But...the first thing they asked for was the old standby, the Play-Doh table.

What mom wouldn't trade 20 minutes of cleanup for an hour of peaceful playtime? I was able to start two loads of laundry (one is in the dryer, another in the washer), put waterproof mattress covers on the boys' beds, get some Facebook and CafeMom time, and I'm even blogging...all before 9:15 am!

Unfortunately, this is all before 9:15 am, and we still have two hours before lunch and even longer before Tom gets home... I'm still thinking about ideas for things to do later.

But...back to the Play-Doh.

Nate made me a Play-Doh cookie, caramel apple, and pretzel.

I have no idea what Nile is doing here.

Below is the aftermath. This is just a shot of the table. In the picture at the end, you may be able to see some of the thousands (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but there had to be hundreds) of tiny pieces of Play-Doh that are on the floor.

It was quite messy.

I got a small lightweight stick vacuum from Tom's mom for Christmas. I have used it every day. But no day have I been more thankful for it than today. What would have taken me a long time to pick up by hand was actually not too bad.

Now, off to figure out entertainment for the next few hours.

Shoes, shoes, shoes.

Take two boys, a neatly organized shoe rack, and what do you get?








What you get is a mess. But, at least they had a blast doing it!

well, at least it smells good...

You know that saying that you know there's a problem when the kids are too quiet?

Today I had to take a call from work, so I asked Nate and Nile to play quietly for a few minutes. 5 minutes later, I get off the phone and the two boys are quietly playing in Nate's room. I call out to Nate from the kitchen and tell him thank you for playing quietly.

A minute or so later I hear this tapping noise. Odd, but not unusual. Nate likes to "fix" things with his play hammer, so I assumed he was repairing a truck or something.

Next thing I know, Nate comes in to talk to me. "Mom, I have something to show you! All my toys are going to smell great!"

My first thought? "Oh, no...what did you do?"

We had moved an odor absorber into his room (because it smelled like a dead mouse - the joys of living in an old farmhouse). "No way," I thought, "No way did he get that stuff out."

"Nate, did you open the air freshener?"

"No..."

"Nate, are you sure? Show me what you did."

"I don't want to."

"Nate, you're not in trouble. Just show me."

"Okay."

Somehow he had turned the odor absorber upside down and gotten the gel inside to break into tiny pieces, then he had covered all his toys with the stuff. This stuff is the consistency of deodorant, so when trying to clean it off, it smashes down and smears all over. Luckily it does vacuum up fairly well...

Here is a small sampling of what his room looked like.

"See, Mom? Now they smell great!"

The source.

I'll give him credit for TRYING to clean...