Terrible 2s / Sprouts / Bad Plastics

Terrible twos

Today I did something I never though I would after C Monster hit me in the head hard enough for me to see stars I told him mama was leaving him in his room alone for a few minutes because he hurt me and needed to think about what he did.

I left him there for a total of about 10 minutes - I was sure he was going to cry as soon as I left but instead he said "mama ouch" and played for a bit with some blocks. When I came back to the room he gave me a hug and a kiss and asked to nurse so we did.

What I though I would not do is just put him in his room if he was "bad" and leave. I always told myself that this is not how you resolve conflict. If he does things like this typically we talk about feelings and why did he hurt. However today, well we had been having a ruff day and this was the tipping point; I was scared if I stayed with him and he did it again that I might scream at him instead of reacting calmly. I think I needed the time out as much as he did.

As I write this and C Monster is upstairs getting ready for bed with papa I heard papa say "Are you done throwing stuff at me, can I come back now?"

Sprouts

For a few years now we have been making our own sprouts instead of buying them at the grocery store. It's pretty easy as long as you have a sprouting jar. I really like the crunchy bean and pea sprouts you can buy; so I decided to try to make some at home. It was super simple here is what I did (the instruction are assuming you are using a sprouting jar)

Use 3 tablespoon dried whole peas soak for 8 to 10 hours. After that rinse and make sure you rinse the peas twice a day and drain. After about 3 to 4 days you will crunchy sprouted peas to add to salads or just snack on.

Bad Plastics

I was looking for some information on polystyrene the other day and came across this great website that really brakes down well good and bad plastics and explains the reasons why one would call a plastic bad in very understandable terms. You should check it out:

http://www.badplastics.com/index.html

Looking Forward To

The maple syrup farm - assuming the weather is cooperating this weekend.

Seedlings, Supper and Terrible Twos

Seedlings

This afternoon C Monster and I planted most of our seedlings for the vegetable garden. I say most because I am recycling plastic containers, toilet paper rolls and other various containers for planters - and well ran out of planters. I bought a bag of potting soil and dragged it into the kitchen were we worked together at filing all the containers - C Monster quite enjoyed playing with dirt in the house. I did the actual seed planting because C Monster was way to excited and I am pretty sure if I would have let him handle the seeds they would of all ended up on the ground.

We planted chard, kale, onions, broccoli, cauliflower and beans. The seedlings are going to be placed on the window box in our master bedroom; until they sprout I am going to keep them in plastic bags - this causes a greenhouse effect.

Supper

Tonight for supper I think I outdid myself we had homemade soda bread; lemonade and soup. The soda bread was crazy good. As always I followed a recipe but modified the ingredients - Irish Soda Bread with Dates by Phoebe Bites.

All-purpose flour, 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons
Whole Wheat Bread Flour, 2 cups
Granulated sugar, 1/4 cup
Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
Salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick), cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Whole milk, 1 3/4 cup
Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 teaspoon
Egg, 1 extra-large
Zest of 3 Blood oranges
Cranberries dried, 1 cup
Flax seeds, 1/4 cup
Pumpkin Seeds, 1/2 cup

Terrible Twos

I try really hard to only use positive discipline - try not to say no. Today well I was not that good at it; I caught myself over and over saying no out of frustration as C Monster was driving me crazy with his shenanigans.

1. Tackles E Monster not once not twice but 5 times during their play date
2. Dumps his snack on the floor 2 seconds after I give it to him
3. Discovers if he shakes is sippy cup that contained smoothie it will splash all over the place
4. Spits at E Monster
   
5. Throws is edamame all over the kitchen
6. Throws one of the planters for my seedlings up in the air when it's full of dirt
7. Bit me
8. Pinched my nipple when I told him he could not nurse
   
9. Kicked me in the face while nursing (twice) - this is why I told him he could not nurse
10. Dumped his soup in his juice then asked for more juice
11. Raspberry style spit in my face

Despite all of those crazy annoying things C Monster did today he also:

1. Kissed me good morning
   
2. Helped me pot my seedlings
3. Ran around the house wearing a crown for most of the day
4. Helped clean up the potting mess
5. Let E Monster play with his favorite toy all morning
6. Said mine and mmm to the bread I baked
7. Sat on the potty
8. Is asking for help when needing instead of screaming in frustration
9. Kinda let me brush his teeth (only after a fight)
10. Kissed E Monster all better every time he tackled her without me asking him to
    
11. Gave me a great big hug ans kiss goodnight
    

Geoff hurry up and finish the book on discipline you are reading....