New Rules of the Universe

There are a few things that I am beginning to learn are just rules of the universe, they cannot be avoided and cannot be changed. 

1. When you change your child's diaper and are in a hurry to get out of the door, they will immediately poop in the fresh one.

2. If you clean a window or glass door, your child will immediately go lick it.

3. If food is a. expensive b. healthy or c. took you a long time to make, your child will throw it on the floor (or on you).

4. If food is a. cheap b. crap or c. you threw it together in 2 minutes, they will act like it is the best thing they have ever eaten.

5. If you expect your child to behave they will throw a fit, if you think they will throw a fit, they will be a perfect angel.

6. You child will have a meltdown in the middle of the grocery store (multiple times).

7. As above mentioned meltdown is taking place a snooty older woman will come by and either give you a condescending look or completely horrible parenting advice.

8. All of the childproofing materials in the world are not enough to stop a clever toddler.

9. Autumn mix candy corn must be consumed by the bag full, there is absolutely no way to resist its powers (or is this just me?).

Genius? I think so!

My little helper!

A few times in my life I have had some really great ideas; marrying Scott, becoming a stay at home mom and joining my mom’s group are all ones that really stand out.  Now I am sure I have had my greatest mom idea ever!  I have talked before about our struggle to find things that Mason will eat (as any parents of toddlers do) and that I came up with the great idea to let him dip pretty much anything he wants in ketchup.  This worked wonders and Mason has been eating pretty well, even branching out to a few meals without slathering food in ketchup! 

I wasn’t really thrilled with the fact that ketchup has high fructose corn syrup; something my husband thinks I worry about too much.  This has even become a joke when we go grocery shopping, he will pick up something and say, “Oh no! High fructose corn syrup, guess we can’t eat that,” sarcasm all over the place.  So to get rid of the ketchup and still have a happy eater I have come up with THE BEST IDEA EVER!  It’s probably been done, maybe even by some of you, but it just occurred to me and I love it!  Replace the ketchup with baby food!! Simple, yes. Effective, so far.  I have begun replacing ketchup with things like pureed sweet potatoes, bananas, apricots with mixed fruit and carrots.  He loves the dipping so much I don’t even think he realizes there was a change.  This allows him to get extra fruit and veggies while still eating what I make for him. 

It has become extremely messy, the other day he even said, “Mmm, drink” and picked up the baby food container and drank the food out of it, but I say so what.  As long as he will eat up those veggies and fruits I am all for it!  I’m sure a lot of you were so excited to be done buying baby food as soon as you could, I was there too!  I am definitely not saying this is replacing table food in any way for Mason, it is simple an alternative to the ketchup he was becoming all too familiar with. 

Here’s a great recipe that Mason loved to dip in bananas:

Oatmeal Pancakes:

• 1 cup fat free milk
• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by heating the milk to very warm, but not boiling.  Pour the milk over the oatmeal in a small bowl and let sit.  Whip egg whites with an electric beater until stiff peaks form.  In the meantime, combine all remaining dry ingredients.  Stir up oatmeal/milk mixture and add to dry ingredients.  Once the egg whites are stiff fold them very carefully into the other batter, making sure not to overmix.  Cook 1/3 of a cup at a time on a greased griddle.  These will be very fluffy, but they won't produce bubbles like other pancakes, so be careful not to over brown them. 

 

Projects, Painting, and Playing: It’s hard to multitask

It has been a busy few weeks in the Jowers’ household.  I had to quickly come up with an internship that would allow me to stay at home and also allow me to graduate on time.  This was rather stressful but after some frantic searching I found an online magazine that needed an Associate Style Editor, what a relief.  We also decided it was time to remove the watered down Pepto Bismol paint from our bathrooms and spare room, it was just too hideous.  With all of this adult activity going on I found it hard to remember to stop and take time for Mason who showed his displeasure with all of the activity by climbing on chairs, screaming at the top of his lungs, and even hitting himself.  Scott and I tried to distract Mason from the unsafe and ear splitting activities he was fond of by setting up toys, getting paper and pencils to color, or even turning on the T.V. (gasp, I know)! 

None of our distraction tactics worked and I quickly realized I just needed to play with my son; put down the work that could wait until after he went to bed, stop stalking people on Facebook, and leave the kitchen to be cleaned later.  I took Mason to the park, went on a walk in his wagon, and set up a race track for his cars.  He loves the park (of course) and really likes riding in his wagon.  The cars are a new obsession for him and we spent 25 minutes last night driving them on our side table, he was in Heaven.  Today we didn’t turn on the TV once, spent most of our day upstairs in his room playing, and had the best day I can remember!  I just need to take that time out to remember what my job is, mom to Mason first, student and intern second.  It is going to be a long three months until graduation, but who needs sleep anyway?