Instead of losing your baby socks and washcloths...

try putting all those small items in a delicates bag instead of throwing them in the laundry basket. They are much easier to keep track of that way!

Weapon X

Weapon X posted more pictures over here.

Food cooling technique

When you heat up something for your little one, and it gets a little too hot, spread it out on a plate to let it cool. We have stoneware plates that suck the heat right out of anything, so it only takes about 30 seconds to cool some hot whatever the heck that is! Sorry for the bad picture, but you get the point.

The very best cupcakes ever!

I got a great cupcake recipe from one of my favorite blogs. And I used the Fluffy Chocolate Frosting recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor. The evidence on my husband's face shows how good the frosting was!

Frosting:

1 stick of butter at room temperature

2/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

3 c confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/3 c whole milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt.

Mix the butter and cocoa until well blended and soft

Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.

Add more sugar or milk to get desired thickness.

The books says to beat for 2 to 3 minutes, but I gave it a good 5 minutes so it would be ultra fluffy!

At room temperature, this frosting spreads really well!

Sometimes motherhood calls for a cocktail...

Today was one of those days. Weapon X seems to be learning so much! Today he took a 2D wooden bee and waved it in the air saying "Fly bee. Fly!" But with this higher awareness has come the need to test me. So today he did. We came home, filled with frustration, from a failed attempt to eat dinner out. He just refused to sit down at the table. Instead he jumped, giggled, and had a grand old time.

Having just watched Supernanny last night, I was primed and ready to go with my naughty chair technique. Now I feel so guilty for disciplining him when he was just trying to tell me something.

When I changed his diaper before bed, I felt like a horrible parent. He usually only poops once per day, but he had pooped for the third time! He already had a slight diaper rash from the unexpected second poop. Now he has a pretty nasty diaper rash, and it could have been prevented if I had only read his refusal to sit as a signal that he had pooped!

What's done is done. I will just have to slather his bottom with Dr. Smith's and hope he doesn't have 3 poops tomorrow :)

Update: One should never shop on Amazon after having a cocktail :) I found the following fabulous things.

All you need is Luvs...

We have tried all the big brand diapers. We have tried the store brand diapers. In the end, we settled on Luvs. Pampers, HEB, Huggies, and Target diapers all leaked on us... especially at night. Seventh Generation diapers chafed X in the leg/hip crease.

Luvs have yet to give us a problem. Why? I think it is because we have a skinny kid. The luvs come up really high in the back to help Weapon X avoid selling crack. And that prevents leaks too. Surprisingly, the Luvs are not bulky at all. They feel very thin, but somehow they hold on to the liquid.

So thank you Luvs, for creating a diaper that works for the skinny kid. His bed and car seat, ad our washing machine thank you too!

Yo Yo! It's Potty Time!

They say stressing out about potty training is a sure way to keep it from happening, so we plan to go with the flow... ok, I know that was a bad joke :) You can read an insightful article here.

But, it never hurts to be ready when your kid is ready. So we are going to get a potty. We haven't decided on one yet. Some people swear that you need to let your kid pick the potty, but I think you need to make sure your limit the choices to pottys you can live with!

Your two potty types are the toilet insert and the stand alone potty. Stand alone pottys can go anywhere in the house, which can be important! Inserts stay on the toilet, but they can go with you to restaurants and other public pottying places.

My choice is the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair. It only has 2 pieces, which makes for easier cleaning.

Moss wants to get something like the Padded Potty Seat with Step Stool, but I'm afraid that Weapon X will be wary of sitting on the big potty at first. He has shown much interest in flushing and rolling out large amounts of TP, but I tried to pick him up to put him on the potty once and it really freaked him out.

Here are some links to reviews of other potty options: