Update

I'm happy to report that just after I wrote about Noah hitting, he virtually stopped. It's an answered prayer and a good reminder that children go through all kinds of phases and we have to remain positive through it all.  We were consistent with what had worked the first time and it payed off.  I think in the first few days Noah really fed off of our frustration from the hitting, which made it worse. Once I felt refreshed from a good day and had a positive outlook, it all changed! Lesson learned :)

We aren't onto another color box yet because he still likes to play in the Red Box a few times a day. It was so fun watching him explore the initial time, and the funny thing was, he was very concerned that the things were not in the right place. He felt the need to go put the red ball back in the ball pit. Ha! I think that comes from his daddy :) I will be honest, Justin is cleaner than I am. I love to organize and such, but he likes things more neat and tidy than I do in general. We will move on to our next color when I think he is good and over the red one...probably pretty soon.

We have been lounging around lately with the occasional park stop, as I now have Noah's cold. Summer please come fast! Like really fast.  No more GERMS please! Needless to say, I was very happy when Justin returned home from his trip on Monday night. 

Here are some recent phone photos of simple, every day life :)

This is how Daddy warmed his towel while I was doing bath time ~ so sweet!

When Mamma is sick and we can't really go anywhere, we play in the sink :)

At the park

Love these two!!

Snug as a bug in a rug! 

A Favorite

Noah has a favorite book right now that is written by one of my favorite celebrity bloggers/Food Network Stars, Ree Drummond. He calls it CharlieSuzie, as if it's one word, but as you can see, the title is really, Charlie, the Ranch Dog. It is one cute book, and Noah loves it! He adores Charlie's best friend Suizie, and has blast pointing out the chipmunk on every page. It will be fun one day when he understands some of the humor in the story. We read the book at least twice a day, and usually more. If you haven't already, check it out!

Noah has been sick the past few days. He got his first fever. I am so thankful that it was at 22 months. He's had a number of head colds, but he has had a fever the last 2 1/2 days, so today we went to see the doctor, just to be safe. And safe he is...ears are clear, lungs are clear, so we will just wait it out with the at home remedies we are already doing. Here's a video of Noah (and I) singing a song he loves from our music class. The main arm motion is a rolling of the hands, which I must say, he does pretty well. I was taking it with my phone and he was able to see himself as we were making the video, so towards the end he is enthralled with himself on camera :)

Pinterest Recipes

Here are a few Pinterest Recipes that I have tried recently and enjoyed!

Black Raspberry Brie Bites

 (picture courtesy of the above link)

These were really good and pretty easy. I was able to make 2 dozen pretty quickly to bring to Bible Study with me this past week. I followed the recipe exactly as it's listed, except I changed the jam to Blackberry (my favorite).

Spinach Dip Mini Bread Bowls

(picture courtesy of the above link)

If you like Spinach Dip, I think you'll like these. I would definitely eat them straight out of the oven though. I brought them to a Super Bowl gathering and they needed to be reheated. I think they would have been better if eaten right away. I did change the way I began cooking. I sautéed the garlic in butter and olive oil (why not right?!) and then added the spinach. Yummy! These were easy to make and I was able to make the spinach mixture ahead of time, which is always helpful with an ALMOST 2 year old running around :)

Browned Butter Rice Krispie Treats

(picture courtesy of the above link)

I will start by saying, I need to make these more!! They are extremely easy and yummyyyyyy :) I pinned these on Pinterest because Justin recently mentioned how much he loves them and that I (ha!) should make them more often...so I did...and they were goooood! I can't say for sure that they are better than an original recipe because it has been forever, but I will say, they were awesome. Go make them right now!

Shocking, that two out of the three are dessert or sweet related ;)

Update: 

I just made these beauties and they are good!! I had everything on hand. I used a different jam because I didn't have Strawberry in my fridge, but I want to compare it in the future. I love Ree Drummond and so many of her recipes. 

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

(picture courtesy of the above link)

Red

I read this blog from time to time because I love her Toddler Trays! I got the idea for the beans we have (have I told you about the Bean Bucket? I'll check on that...) from her blog too I think. Between reading about how children best learn colors and reading her blog, I decided that each week I am going to make a "Color Box." Sorry, I don't have a fancy name for it yet.  It's not really a Toddler Tray, but I hope to get to those soon.  Today we started with our first one, Red.

You see, I read this article a month or so ago, (I can't remember who forwarded it to me or where I found it...) and it mentioned how children learn color names pretty easily, but truly identifying them and matching them is tricky. When adults say something like, "look at the red truck," all children really hear is truck (the noun), and that if we are working on colors we should really phrase it more like, "I see a truck that is red."

Any who, with this in mind and posts such as this puzzle one, Noah and I have been having some new fun. I really have no excuse because the "Color Box" literally took 2 minutes to put together. I'll keep you posted on how he likes it...

Look Mamma, a heart!

All done :)

Hitting

Sigh...let me just preface this post with a large sigh...

A few months ago Noah began hitting here at home when he didn't like something we said. It was more me than anyone. Occasionally he would hit one of his closest friends, but after reading and taking a step back we tried a few things here at home and the hitting got much, much better. It was pretty much nonexistent...until last week...(long sigh)...

Noah has begun hitting us again and he has tried to hit a friend or two as well. It makes me so sad. It makes me want to not take him anywhere, have zero play dates, and just stay at home, or at least keep things just us... I know this is not the answer, but it is so sad and frustrating to me. Other people and/or their children do not deserve to be hit. Period. I can handle the hitting here at home, but when we are out and about and with friends I just feel so bad for others and I want to bury myself deep in a whole out of embarrassment. 

I have found that reacting the least actually makes it go away much faster than reacting with more intense intervention. This is hard in a group setting though :( I am thankful that what we are doing (and what worked last time) seems to be the consensus from what I read that works well for other children. 

I know that each child goes through phases of these sorts of things, whether it be hitting, biting, etc. and yet even though I know this, it did not help my deflated spirit yesterday as I became sad and frustrated by the return of the hitting. I don't ever want to be the mom and son where people look at us and say, "Oh dear, look at that boy hitting," but in all reality I think that will be us at some point as we work through this. 

From what I have read it seems that the main reason children hit is because they cannot express their frustration or anger. I want to begin to help Noah identify these emotions, but I know that will take time as well. Part of me wishes there was some easy answer that other moms have found, but I know that's not reality and I need to stay as positive as I can with what we are doing. 

I seem to be going on, so I guess I needed to vent ;) Thanks for listening. 

I will leave you with some fun pictures of Noah having some fine motor fun with cheerios and play dough (I just said fine motor...the teacher in me apologizes :)

Obviously a break for eating some was a must ;)

 Focused

Being proud and goofy!

Where does the time go?

I cannot believe that it is February and Noah will be 22 months (2 months away from TWO!!) in just a few days. We haven't been up to anything super exciting lately, just the normal everyday toddler stuff :) We have been walking to a park almost every day and playing outside in the backyard on top of it :) We started a music class called Kindermusik, Our Time and Noah loves, loves, loves going. He gets so excited to dance and sing, and then when we get there he is very quiet and more into observing. It's all very cute and we are making some great memories. I will post pictures and videos once I take some. It's a very hands-on class, so it's hard to take pictures this early in the game. Here are a few pictures from my phone until I get my you-know-what together to take pictures on my real camera :) They are very random, but nonetheless, they are of Noah :)

Using Jenn's table to draw. I think he loves it because it is just his size and has a light. Mmm...I think I know what he's getting for his 2nd birthday!

Park fun-look at that face

Happy Boy

A visit from Auntie Chris (see, at the park...again)

Noah's first art project from the toddler room at church 

Here's a couple of videos as well :-)

Obviously a little old-sad face, but still worth sharing...Giants season next-yes!!

Justin and I were making the bed, hence the disheveled mess ;) and stopped to have some fun.  

Daddy sure knows how to make him giggle!