C is for Valentine’s Day

So, on Sunday night I was sitting there (presumably. or possibly pacing with Olivia.) and then suddenly I was struck with an idea. Wouldn’t it be fun if for Valentine’s Day I made some heart shaped sugar cookies? And decorated them? And invited my sister in law and some littles (hers and one borrowed one as well) to come over and decorate the cookies with us? YES! It would be! So I fired off a facebook message and boom, there you have it, we had a date. Of course, the fact that I acted on a whim instead of planning ahead meant that I had to choose between setting up for cookies or cleaning the bathroom on Monday morning. Guess what I picked?

MMM, these were a lot tastier than my bathroom, let me assure you. I used to be one of those swish&swipe people and I really need to be again, because with Chris’ line of work it takes exactly 2 days for my bathroom to look like a truckstop.

Mine are the cookies with no sprinkles. I like sprinkles well enough in theory, but I had my eye on eating my cookies so they were pretty much sprinkle-free. The white “V” cookie I made for my husband. And don’t worry, I scraped the sprinkles off of one of those big heart cookies and ate that, too. For the children. I’m not sure whose children, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. And of course, cookie pops for the kiddos. Everything tastes better on a stick! The age range of the kiddos, by the way, varied from 1 to 3 years. The one year old was pretty good at it, my SIL spread on icing for him and he put on sprinkles to his heart’s content!

The recipe for these cookies is from Our Best Bites over here. They were YUM. YUMYUMYUM. Soft, and buttery, and I do love a short ingredient list. And the icing was milk, icing sugar, and a bit of pancake syrup. That sounds totally insane perhaps, but I didn’t have corn syrup to make a shiny glaze so I tried it and it worked.  They hardened to a hard glaze but still soft to bite into. Did I say YUM yet? Okay, NOMNOMNOM then.

Cookie cookie start with C!

mini crafters

On days when I have more than one small child at a time I like to set them up with a craft or activity, as long as everyone is getting along. (and oh, they don’t always. There are some kids that are just lethal combos, or for example Nicole has one friend that gets along with her just splendidly, as long as it is just him and her. If there are other kids around, he and she are cats and dogs.)This particular little boy here never seems to have a problem with anybody, he’s just a chill little dude. So we did some beading! I bought this kit at Walnart (as my cellphone’s autocomplete likes to write) while I was in Grand Forks. I honestly couldn’t tell you if my local Walnart has it or not, I have never noticed it before, but that could just be me. Regardless, it’s a little kit that looks like a clear take-out box full of foam shapes, and it has a little plastic needle and a bunch of clear elastic thread.The needle even has a ball on it’s little plastic tip, so, super safe. But, problem, one needle, two kids. Solution? Bobby pin! Worked just fine, because I was doubling up the thread anyways with a knot on one end and the needle on the other, so the thread couldn’t be accidently yanked out of the needle.Both little crafters proudly (and quickly!) threaded up their necklaces. Little Boy L was very impressed with himself and wore it around for a while, then put it in his backpack so he wouldn’t lose it. Nicole, however, makes everything ‘for Grandma.’ Except the stuff she makes for Auntie ‘A-manna.’

This activity was great because it bought me a good half hour to do a crossword puzzle in the newspaper develops dexterity and they play around with sorting and recognizing colors and shapes! And then my ridiculously amazing child cleaned up all the foam shapes after they were done because she likes to clean up her activities before moving on to the next one. Not every time, but more than half! She won’t think to pick up a few dolls on the floor, and if a mess is too big and intimidating she ignores it or asks for help. But most things she tidies up after herself! *dreamy sigh*

Sorry, this kid is mine, get your own.

FREE: nearly-two-year-old bully

FREE TO GOOD HOME, one nearly-two-year-old bully. Enjoys biting, pushing, and yelling "GO AWAY!" Would do well in a home with big tough older brothers to whip her into shape.

Definitely not the highlight of my mothering career when my DARLING two year old clamps her teeth down onto Little Friend's arm in the middle of Safeway and Will. Not. Let. Go.

Ah, if it were only a few years ago, the appropriate reaction would have been the whupping she surely deserved. As it was, I conked her on the head with a box of Kraft Dinner*** in a near-panic through the stroller netting that separated me from the offending child while Little Friend hollered "COLE BITING ME! COLE BITING ME!" She finally released Little Friend, mainly to stop the yelling - she could have cared less about my cardboard 'weapon.' I was sure steamed. I marched out of there as soon as possible, straight home, and into her room for her longest timeout ever! OOOH! I am ramming my head against a brick wall lately with that girl! How did my sweet, friendly girl turn into such a bully? And just for funsies, too - the Safeway Incident was totally unprovoked.

Admittedly, she only seems to be bullying Little Friend. She has never bitten or pushed around any other kid, to my knowledge. She actually has a reputation as a little sweetheart! I'm pretty sure she's just being territorial. I feel awful for Little Friend, she's been crying when she gets dropped off at my house in the mornings! I would too, in her position!

I shall be doing some yoga and drinking half a pot of coffee during naptime. Perhaps saluting the sun will suddenly give me a brilliant solution. At the very least it will invigorate me a bit.

I have to stay up until... well, until tomorrow night. Sleep Deprived EEG tomorrow morning, so no sleep for me tonight! Expect a wierd, disjointed and/or emotional post in the middle of the night. LOL


***disclaimer: Had it not been for the netting, my reaction would have been to grab her jaw to prevent her from biting Little Friend. I am not a person who strolls around attacking people with Kraft Dinner all willy-nilly; in this case, it seemed like the best way to get her attention. Considering she ignored it, clearly I should have tried Hamburger Helper instead.

What a Lovely Weekend

There was actually some sun this weekend! Aside from my failure of a garage sale, we played with some sidewalk chalk... (i may have been slighly more into this than DD)

We crocheted, working on a blankie for a new friend we will meet after she comes out of NICU. (Well, one of us crocheted. The other one of us looked way cuter trying.)

And... we did crafts with DD's Little Friend! DD and Little Friend are both around two, so crafting obviously has some limitations. But the sense of pride when creating something is still very much there even if they are just picking the colours.

Funny Bunny Bracelets - Crafts for Toddlers

Requires : 4x6 foam sheets, marker, feathers, ribbons (all found at Dollarama), scissors, hot glue gun.

Let the toddlers pick out the colour of thier foam sheet, as well as two feathers and a ribbon. (if you have a few options for ribbon available of course) Nothing needs to match, and most likely won't. That's the fun of it!

(insert opportunity to learn colours here)

Fold the foam sheets in half and cut out the approximate shape of a bunny head. Circle-ish, oval-ish, whatever. They won't critisize. You should end up with a front and a back that are joined. Like an 8 shape, when unfolded.

Doodle funny faces on the designated 'front' while the toddlers admire the feathers. With your hot glue gun you will now glue your feathers, your ribbon (one long piece), and the two sides of your bunny head all together in one fell swoop.

Tie your funny-bunny-bracelet onto the chubby little wrist (thiers, not yours) and procede with the Funny Bunny Dance!

If anyone else has fun ideas for crafts to do with two year old girls (aside from the obvious paper + crayons/stickers) I'd love to hear them!