Little Girls Gone Wild: Why Daughters Are Acting Too Sexy, Too Soon

This is quite scary. Especially since I'm the mother of an almost-two-year-old girl. I don't want her to end up on a pole or in a rehab facility. I guess I need to start thinking about how I'm going to combat this.

Little Girls Gone Wild: Why Daughters Are Acting Too Sex y, Too Soon

Pancakes make my day

After a pretty busy day at work I really appreciate not having to think.  Really about anything, but especially about dinner.  I think it's because I have been organizing, planning and picking up messes all day that having to do it at home puts me over the edge.  Today was especially emotionally draining after receiving some not so great news on our time of waiting, so coming home to dinner ready to be made was wonderful.

I had to get over the fact that I hate Valentine's and appreciate the incredibly thoughtful, kind and selfless act Munchkie's Daddy did by making me dinner tonight.  Not only was it dinner, but it was breakfast for dinner, my absolute favorite kind of meal, and his absolute least favorite meal.  Now that is a complete selfless act.  I can even somewhat appreciate the V-day sprinkles in and on the pancakes.

I think that it what Valentine's Day is truly about.  Not all that ridiculous sappy love crap that is thrown in your face everywhere, but the selfless and unconditional acts of love.  Completely putting yourself aside to do something for someone else, even if you don't like it.  That is what love is about.  Not about how many flowers, how expensive the chocolates or how fancy the dinner, but unconditional love expressed through something simple and sacrificial. Whether it be your mom as I appreciated for so many years, a beloved pet, or your romantic interest, unconditional love is the ultimate gift to receive.

My least favorite holiday

I hate Valentine's Day.  Hate it.  Again, I hate it.  I always have.  I know that Munchkie's Daddy doesn't understand, but 22 years of being single and alone isn't completely negated with 7 years of being with someone.  My wonderful mom would always give me Valentine's care packages and send me fun things while I was single.  And even after I was with Munchkie's Daddy.  These cookies are what I think of when I think about Valentine's Day.  My mom would send them to me every year.

Ginger Valentine's Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup molasses (I actually didn't have any so I used 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup maple syrup)
2 eggs
4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Raw (or coarse) sugar
Dove chocolates

1. Cream together the sugar and shortening.
2. Add molasses and unbeaten eggs.
3. Mix well.
4. Sift together the dry ingredients and stir in.
5. Roll into 1 inch balls.
6. Dip the balls in a bowl of raw sugar until coated.
7. Place balls on greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
9. When you take out of the oven press a chocolate into cookie while still warm.
10. **Dough keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator**

And now I am going to bed because I am exhausted.

So young and naive,  if only we had an inkling of what our life would be like.

Bop the Bunny meets The Big Girl

So I was beyond excited when Munchkie successfully used the Elmo potty.  I spoke with her teachers at daycare and they said that potty training at daycare starts with her being able to pull her own pants and diaper off. She is perfectly capable of taking her pjs off, and yesterday her poopy diaper (that was a fun mess).  I decided before I showed her how to take her clothes and diaper off, I needed to make sure that she is really going to potty train.

My goal was have Munchkie potty trained and pacifier free by her second birthday.  I realized that if she became potty trained, she might regress if the pacifier was taken away.  So even though I need to jump on the chance to stop having to change diapers, I want to make sure that it's for real.

So we went on quite an expedition today to get to a Build-A-Bear Workshop (obviously I pay such good attention at the mall closest to us that I didn't realize there wasn't one and had to ask where there was a Build-A-Bear).  Several years ago I had read in a magazine a suggestion of using Build-A-Bear to wean off of pacifiers and I always wanted to use it when I had a child of my own.  However, I realized that it was basically going cold turkey, so we are also going to incorporate the technique that my own parents used on me.  Each night they would cut little pieces off of my pacifier, and I am going to do the same with Munchkie.  Tonight Munchkie cried for a few minutes, but fell asleep after just a few minutes of crying (could have been that she didn't take any nap today) and hopefully will stay asleep.

Since I'm working the next four days in a row, and I don't really remember the last time I worked days, I hope that Munchkie sleeps through the night pacifier free.  Next week we will go hardcore into potty training.  Because in a month from tomorrow, she will be two.  How did this happen??? 

Stuffing her bops into the bunny.

Using the peddle to add the stuffing.

Deciding that it's perfectly stuffed.

Hugs for Bop the Bunny while enjoying Big Girl Smoothies.

Bop the Bunny takes her place in Munchkie's crib with a bop in each extremity.

So proud I could cry (and did)

This morning I was checking my email after getting home from work and Munchkie was standing next to me, all of the sudden she looked up at me and said "Elmo potty?"  I said "do you need to go sit on the Elmo potty?" She said "yeah, ok!"

So we went to the bathroom and sat on the potty.  Then she PEED IN THE POTTY!  She said "Yay!  Pee pee in potty!  Sticker!  Yay!"  Then I said "are you all finished or do you want to keep trying?"  She said "keep trying!"  and so she sat there and POOPED IN THE POTTY!

The cheers in our bathroom were probably pretty similar to sports bars across Wisconsin last night.  As soon as she was finished she reminded me that she got two stickers, a "peepee sicker, poopoo sicker, 1, 2"

I was so proud of my little Munchkinroo!  It may have been the exhaustion from last night being my third night in a row at work, but I was so overwhelmed by how grown up my little baby is.  She's not a little baby anymore.  Not at all.  She can tell us when she has to go potty.  I'm just so stinkin proud.  What a huge accomplishment.  Now if only we could get rid of that bop (pacifier)........

Yummy Tummy!

We've been playing all morning since we are snowed/iced in.  I'm hoping that it will be safe enough to venture out when Munchkie wakes up from her nap so we can get some supplies for a homemade playdough recipe Munchkie's Mimi emailed me after the last failed attempt.  Munchkie found an a-bin (apron) and was playing with it on so I asked if she wanted to cook something.  Of course she said yes and literally ran to the spot on the kitchen counter that she gets to sit.  I looked through a super cool cookbook Munchkie's Aunt gave her for Christmas and found a recipe that we actually had the ingredients for.  We made something that I can send with Munchkie for lunch tomorrow at daycare too.

Broccoli Trees in Haystacks from Oscar's Good-For-You-Greens

1 small broccoli crown, broken into florets
2 tablespoons water (I used frozen broccoli and so I skipped the water, defrosted the broccoli and cut the "trunks" off)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole grain cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup honey)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat milk
2 eggs
1/4 (1/2 stick) butter, melted (I used 1/4 cup melted coconut oil)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 12 standard muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.  Place the broccoli and water in a microwaveable dish.  Cover and microwave on HIGH or 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. (I used a mini muffin pan because that was all that I had, and just ran warm water over the frozen broccoli until defrosted.)

2. Mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. (I added the honey with the wet ingredients)
3. Stir together the milk, eggs and butter in a medium bowl.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until just moistened.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each of the muffin cups.

5. Place one piece of broccoli (a "tree) in each cup.

6. Spoon additional batter into each cup, filling them about 3/4 full.  Bake 15 minutes (10-13 for mini muffins) or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack.  Serve warm.

This is the super cool book!

"Munchkie are they good?"

"Yummy tummy! Yummy tuuummmmmy!"

Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana Coins

As I've already said I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, especially to relieve stress, frustration or a bad mood.  Yesterday I first make breakfast for the fam, then a batch of granola bars, popped some of these in the freezer, tried out a homemade playdough recipe (fail on that one), then cut up a ton of peppers (for my dinner at work and Munchkie daycare lunch).  I am trying very hard not to be stressed, but I'm just not doing very well with that.  I guess I'll just keep spending time in the kitchen for now and keep praying for peace.

I want to start off by saying that I cannot stand bananas.  I don't like to eat them, to have them in smoothies and will pick them out of a fruit salad.  However, I do like them in things like banana bread and frozen.  This is weird, I know.  When I was little my mom would make us these frozen banana snacks.  One was whole bananas dipped in chocolate, rolled in nuts and frozen while the other was sliced bananas and peanut butter in a graham cracker sandwich, again frozen.  A little while ago I decided to make these to both bring me back to my childhood and also have a chilled chocolate snack available so I wouldn't turn to something way less healthy.  I can pull a couple pieces out of the freezer, slowly eat them and have my cravings filled.  They are super easy and the active part only takes a few minutes.  I never really like dark chocolate, but the sweetness of the banana makes the dark chocolate much more tolerable, so I recommend trying out a darker chocolate than you think you would like, because the darker, the better for you.

Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana Coins

3 Bananas
3 large bars of dark chocolate
Almond butter (or any nut butter)
Almond pieces
Aluminum foil or wax paper
Freezer space

1. First cut the banana lengthwise.
2. Then cut the bananas into one inch "coins"

3. Place a small dab of almond butter in between each piece of banana coin.
4. Freeze these for at least an hour, preferably until firm.

5. Take the chocolate bars and break up into small pieces.
6. Once the bananas are frozen, melt the chocolate in a small pan.
7. Dip the banana coins in the chocolate and place on aluminum foil.

8. Drizzle the left over chocolate over the top of the bananas.
9. Sprinkle the almond pieces over top.
10. Drizzle more chocolate over the top of the almond pieces.

11. Freeze until chocolate is firm.
12. Break apart and store in a Ziploc or airtight container in the freezer.
13. Enjoy!