The Five Things I've Learned In Preschool

Over at B-Metro today:

Those professional placemat decorators, craft lords and glitter warriors will always have a place for their "art".

I. Don't. Do. Hand Turkeys.

Or glitter.

Really, I've never been skilled in the art of table decorations, bulletin board design, or bubble letters. But those people have a special role in preschool (and most of school) and they will showcase their "talents" every chance they get. You bring a roll of red streamers to tape in sections above the door. They bring white tin buckets hand-painted with pink, purple and red spots brimming with pink "easter grass" with a small field of 8-inch suckers stuck inside for the "centerpieces".

To read the whole thing, click here. 

Picking Battles With A Picky Eater

Over at B-Metro today:

t's Saturday and I'm making chicken noodle soup (via my crock pot - it's so simple, hearty and soul-meltingly delicious). Everyone has a full bowl of noodles, chicken, carrots and celery, well... everyone except Conner. He is eating processed cheese with his fingers. Again.

I've had a lot of guilt about Conner's 10 Items or Less menu for the longest time. For years, I cooked full dinners at least 5 days a week (and always things remotely "kid friendly" to encourage him to partake) - chicken, mashed potatoes, an array of veggies, lasagna, etc. - all in hopes that at some point, Conner would accidentally smell the cheesy potatoes or saucy lasagna and oh, I don't know, TRY IT.

To continue reading, click here!

7 Quick Takes - I Haven't Done One Of These In FOREVER.

--1--

Have not done one of these in a while, but I have so many random things going on that I'd like to share or get comments back on that are too long for a tweet but too short for a full blog post. 7 Quick Takes is perfect for just that.

If there's anything in this post that'd you like me to expand on, just leave that in the comment section! I'd love to ramble about it, I'm sure.

--2--

Conner and Chase now sleep in Chase's room each and every night together and go to bed at a time that doesn't make a majority of friends, family, co-workers or strangers give the O-face (the bad version). It took a lot of work, more so with Conner, because we co-slept with Conner, moved around a good bit and in the process, he never fully learned how to sleep on his own.

We also co-slept with Chase, but Chase being the more independent child, it was obvious when he could handle sleeping on his own at night (around 12 months). This went hand-in-hand with when he could wean off night feedings, and then eventually fully wean from nursing all-together (get ready for another shock face when I tell you he was 16 months once completely weaned).

Conner spent a week or so getting up in the middle of the night, wandering to our bed, and in full steal mode, climbing in next to me without ever waking a soul.

But eventually, he just stopped. He is now even better than Chase about staying in bed once we put them down and doesn't give us one ounce of trouble. It's truly amazing and I have finally, after 5 years taken back my bed.

--3--

In taking back my bed, I'm taking steps to transform my ENTIRE bedroom (ballsy, I know). I have a "plan", one might say, for the overall look, design and even price range for this "transformation" of my less than appealing boudoir. I think I'll blog the change too!

This includes new bedding (for my birthday, thus "free"), the already purchased and in use sheets (60% off post-Christmas at Target = major score), fresh paint, new curtains (that don't suck), and ... (and this is SOOO not typical Amanda) MONOGRAMMED PILLOWS! Shocked, I'm sure. Oh! And maybe even a rug!! An envelope pusher, I am.

More info to come.

--4--

I've been drinking one (hahahahahaha. I should have just stopped this sentence here!), hot cup of green tea each day for a week now - for the antioxidants. It's yummy.

--5-- 

I'm writing for B-Metro now, so I have no idea why you haven't read it yet (unless you read it here too), in which case please take a look-see at their other bloggers and articles. Good stuff.

--6--

We are almost 2 full weeks into potty training for Chase. It's AMAZING how fast he is with it. To him, for some reason, it's just NO BIG DEAL.

I don't get it.
... but I'll take it!

He can go to the bathroom, throw on the training seat, plop down (no pun intended) and just... go. We've caught him doing it even when no one is around to "ooooHhhh" and "ahhhhh" and "OMG YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD BOY!!" at him.

Now, this means he's naked 90% of the time, with exception to at nap, bedtime, in public or with guests at the house. It's just the method that works for us (and probably very boy-centric) (although I'm sure many parents of girls have used this method as well).

--7--

Conner is signed up for speech to start in March after an innumerable amount of set backs with the in-house speech pathologist with his school. We are pretty confident about this new speech clinic and hopefully we can go full force into a summer filled with weekly speech clinics, fun workbooks and a reading program at the local library.

For more Quick Takes, check out the Conversion Diary.

Now Contributing to B-Metro.com

As you may have noticed, I'm now a weekly contributor to B-Metro's online magazine at B-Metro! Make sure to check it out, as well as the other bloggers' contributions.

And if you'd like to flip through magazines, admiring layout design, sleek ads or to read thought-provoking pieces, I'd like to suggest you become a subscriber and get the magazine in your mail! (Not bias here, but it really is a sharp magazine. You won't be disappointed.)

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