Prep Time

Wow, we have had a whirlwind couple of weeks around here. The Eskimo turned two at the end of May and there was much celebration to be had! It started off with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa (hooray!) and our first trip down to the Texas coastline. The Eskimo really enjoyed the "big wa-wa" and the sand. Then, when we got back from the beach, I had to dive right into preparations for his party. Everything went off without a hitch, and we had an amazing time. I'll have to write a separate post about the party sometime...

But this post is about prepping for this week. My husband is out of town for work, which is fine, but I realized that I've never actually been completely 100% alone with the Eskimo for that long. Sure, we've been away from Daddy for long stretches of time, but always to visit relatives who could take over when I needed a break. Now I know there are a ton of parents out there who do this whole child-rearing thing all on their own everyday and they're awesome at it. Huge props to all of you! But my slightly compulsive need to over prepare for everything has taken over.

If you don't know, my background is in education. That's what my undergraduate degree is in and I'm currently working on a masters as well. So, I like to plan and I like to be prepared. If there's one thing you learn about lesson planning, it is to prepare way more material than you could ever possibly use. Because there's nothing worse than standing in front of a classroom full of kids with nothing to do. I have taken that same approach to this week. I prepared an extensive list of activities that has a nice mix of outside time, art, learning, and quiet time.

My husband left on Sunday afternoon, and the Eskimo took this opportunity to skip his afternoon nap. Of course. So, I let him wallow in his crib for a little while, then brought him downstairs and made oatmeal play dough. Normally my little man doesn't enjoy getting messy, but this play dough was a huge hit.

Thumbs up!

And I can eat it!

The key here was giving him utensils. An ice-cream scoop, a pastry cutter and a couple cookie cutters had him enthralled. This activity lasted over an hour. When it was all said and done, I didn't have the heart to throw the dough away. I mixed in some more flour, half a cup of sugar, two eggs, a little vanilla extract, baking soda, some coconut oil, and blue food coloring and baked "cookies"in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I am not skilled at improvisational baking, but I figured these would work as dog cookies if all else failed. They are definitely not the most delicious thing I've ever made, but the Eskimo thinks they are his special cookies and he really enjoyed watching me make them out of his play dough. Plus, they're a pretty healthy snack, so I guess this one's a win. :)

So, we survived Sunday without too much trouble, in spite of the missed nap. My consolation prize was the fact that the Eskimo crashed immediately at bedtime. Phew!