Parental Ramblings, Recipes, and More

Okay, so anyone who is a Mother of twins? God bless ya! P’s friend Jaxon spent the night with us and we’re all hanging out until church (by “all” I mean me, the kiddos, while R gets some blissful sleep – must be something about men, how do they get away with it? Why am I so friggin nice??). Aaaannnd…. Wow! Last night was fun – of course there’s the requisite fight about 10 minutes into it, but then with pizza, popcorn and M&Ms (minus the popcorn for the kids apparently) and a little Curious George, we were all friends again.

Each gets to choose a book, each wants the other – P is going to have to learn about this sharing at home thing, she gets it at school but when it’s her turf it’s HER TURF dang it! So… that’ll be a lesson when this next little boy starts to grow up. To get both to sleep? In the same bed? With one 3 yo that is so beyond tired she’s wound like a spring? It was divide and conquer – well, divide my time and conquer that is. Just getting P to settle with a back rub and the “shhhh – Mama’s here” soft voice that I’ve used since day one was enough to in 2 minutes make her realize she was tired and was O.U.T.

J took a little convincing – you know, his Mama wasn’t there – it’s tough when you’re 3! It was round 2 at 11:00 that night when he realized his Mama still wasn’t there. But with some extra snuggles we I got to sleep until 6:45. At that point we’re not sure who woke up who, but whatever. After rousing games of Crazy 8′s (which turned into a matching game), Memory (which was a straight matching game), Go Fish (which – you guessed it, turned into a matching game), Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, a couple of beach bums in beach bum attire taking pictures, Hide and Seek, Curious George, and now Dominoes, a quick breakfast, a husband/wife tag team bath – and we’re getting ready for church… Mamas of multiples have my utmost respect! Not even that the events are that different, but the dynamic with two three year olds is completely different. Hats off to you Helene, Mama of TWO sets of twins! (Go check her out, quick – you’ll be doubled over in laughter).

Random Bambling #2: I’ve also discovered with P as we’re really working on her listening (what a concept!) that if I make sure to point out what she’s doing right – even when I tell her she can’t touch Daddy’s PS3 and so she hands me the movie – when I praise her for the little things and tell her how proud I am, it seems to breed results of more of the same. Instead of the negative, “No.” “Don’t do this.” “Don’t touch that?” “Are you listening?” – which, you need to have some of that, but when I catch her doing good things – she loves it. Then I get a “Mom! I’m staying in the covers! Are you so proud of me?!?!” Yep babe! I am. New goal – to “catch” her doing good things to be proud of her at least three times a day.

Last random thought – I found a pancake recipe that was easy, came together well, and the family loved. It’s nothing super special – just a combination of two different recipes that I found online, but I always lose them and when I’m out of pancake batter (the just add water kind – cuz that’s how I roll usually) it’s nice to have one on hand instead of having to search out every single time.

Easy Pancakes
1 c flour
1 T sugar or honey (I may increase this just a tad next time – but not by much)
1t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg
2 T melted butter (used this instead of canola oil like they suggested – I liked this much better!)
1t cinnamon
1/2 t vanilla (I always add extra vanilla b/c I love the taste)

There you have it! An easy recipe – it made oh about 9-10 mid-sized pancakes. Yummeh!