Mealtime Battles

We've been having some mealtime battles here lately...picky eating, wanting something other than what's being served, wanting to leave the table 3 minutes into the meal...normal 2-year old stuff.  When I announced the other night that dinner was ready, I turned around to find Molly strapping "Doggy" into her booster seat.  She went on to tell him to stay in his seat and wear his bib.  I added a directive about eating his vegetables, just for good measure.  We proceeded to have a lovely dinner ending with a clean plate, a happy 2-year-old, and a smiling Mommy.  Hey, whatever works!  

After dinner, I gave Molly a small bowl of ice cream as a special dessert prize.  When I set it in front of her, she promptly declared, "Mmmm!  Hummus!"  I corrected, "No sweetie.  It's ice cream.  Taste it."  After her first taste, she exclaimed, "Mmmm!  Tastes like cottage cheese!"  Guess that goes to show how rare a treat of ice cream really is in our house.

The Drought had Ended!

Ok, I realize that my blog has been very poorly maintained over the past few months...well, almost 5 months, to be exact.  Eeek!  I'm sorry!  Life has just been busy busy busy.  In my valiant effort to wear all my different hats at once...wife, mom, teacher, church volunteer...my blogger hat got trampled in the mayhem.

On the teacher end of things, it was a particularly grueling mad dash to the finish line this year.  On top of all the normal end-of-year madness of state-mandated testing, graduation, and crazy middle school students ready for summer, North Carolina is also revamping its state standards for next school year.  The new North Carolina Essential Standards are aligning with the Next Generation Science Standards, which should become national over the next few years.  What that meant for me was basically double work: prepare daily lessons for this year's classes while simultaneously rewriting all my curriculum units for next year's classes.  It was a few months of insanity, but I'm glad it's finished and I actually really like the new curriculum. 

On the home end of things, it's been almost as crazy.  We're quickly transitioning out of the toddler-and-a-baby stage into the preschooler-and-a-toddler stage, which has been very interesting.  Molly has become very verbal, talking almost nonstop throughout the day.  It's been a fun thing to watch, but along with all those words have come some VERY strong opinions.  And now that she has the words to express those opinions, the "terrible two tantrums" have been kicked up a notch.  On the flip side, her verbal skills have also opened many doors for us to really talk with her, reason with her, and help her see the consequences of her actions, which has been quite rewarding as well.

Displaying her "camera smile".

Ian, now 16 months old, has been walking (and now running) for the last 8-9 months, which is crazy to me because Molly was just starting to feel comfortable walking at 16 months.  They are SO different.  Ian does everything at lightning speed and can destroy a room in a matter of seconds if you're not on the ball.  Our countertops, mantle, and upper bookshelves have become much more crowded lately as we move everything mess-worthy out of his reach.  But he's quickly getting the hang of climbing, so we're not safe for long.

Playing on top of the music table. Oy!

So, can you forgive me for dropping the ball on blogging?  Now that I've officially caught up on all the sleep I lost in April and May, I can stay awake long enough in the evening to blog to my heart's content.  Thanks for your patience.