So I have a two year old and a nine month old and I've learned that there is a point in every child's life where flashing lights and sounds no longer hold their attention, lucky for me my nine month old loves a good noise or a flashy light and will be amused by it for awhile. My two year old on the other hand requires me to get extremely creative and even then she is hardly amused, so I call it "the art of distraction". The idea is to find something, anything that will hold her attention long enough for me to chug my coffee and swallow a bagel in two bites. Yesterday I went to target and purchased a few "tricks" for up my sleeve if you will.
I snuck out after bedtime and left Daddy in charge, and I drove to the furthest Target just because I could and I armed myself with an ICEE that I drank all by myself. For those 2 hours I was a free woman alone in retail heaven. I like to visually go back to that happiness when I'm knee deep in dishes and laundry with crying babies, it is my happy place.
Fast forward to Monday and Em was down for her nap and Dani was itching for something to do. I pulled out my first trick Crayola Twistables I love these because they don't look like crayons and they don't break like regular crayons which is something my two year old likes to do. However she was not amused for more than 3 minutes. I had to improvise and get creative because I think she caught on that they were just fancy crayons, damn those genius Daddy engineer jeans. I stepped up my game and taped paper to our sliding glass door and handed her Crayola Paint Brush Pens these are markers that have a special brush tip so they write like your painting, its basically painting without the drippy mess! Genius! Mommy win! She loved them! She painted all over the paper and didn't even attempt to paint anything else (this is not to say you will be so lucky). With these bad boys I got a load of laundry in and a cup of coffee! I joined in the fun because they really are so neat.
After all our arts and crafts were over Dani worked up an appetite. I was texting a friend and she was making Oreo cakes do I decided to ruin Danis lunch with an Oreo pop! I have pinned them and was going to wait until Valentines Day, and I'm glad I didn't. All tasty treats should be tried ahead of time especially if they involve a stick. After cracking 3 Oreos I finally got one on the stick. I didn't have any chocolate melts which in hindsight was where I went wrong! I heated up some frosting and dipped the cookie in it... Are you picturing this? The cookie got heavy and fell off the stick. 
I was determined to deliver what I promised so I kept trying. I had an ingenious idea and stuck the whole pop in the freezer! It worked long enough for her to be excited and the rest didn't matter. However I think we will try marshmallow pops for Valentines Day.
One of my newest favorite things to do is make baby food! I love coming up with combinations and having loads of fresh food for my baby Em. My latest recipe was cherry berry pear. I bought frozen cherries because they are pitted already and last longer. I steamed pears and blueberries and blended it all up. I have an awesome baby food maker called Beaba but I love my stick blender more!
It's going to be a long winter so we are also taking lots of trips and outings as much as we can! But sometimes you have to make the most of a day at home.
After ruining Dani's lunch I was worried she would need more than just an Oreo pop so I decided a kid friendly protein smoothie was in order! This fun creation is called a Nutty Monkey. A recipe I also found on Pinterest. It was very good and I had some too. Who doesn't love Greek yogurt, bananas and peanut butter!
