Okay, so this was from Pinterest, too...

This was a breakfast for Harper, by Harper.  This child of mine loves cheese, eggs, butter, and chocolate milk.  So what better breakfast than one that involves most of her favorite things? (I excluded cheese from this, only because if given a choice, that would be all Harper would eat.  She loves it so!)

So I taught her how to use cookie cutters.  I gave her her own piece of bread and let her select what size cutter she wanted to use.  I let her help me scramble the eggs.  She helped to butter the bread.  

And then, of course, she helped me to gobble it all up.

Pinterest-ing

Yes, I am one of those people who is addicted to Pinterest.  I just can't help myself.  I've pinned and liked so many things I hardly think I'll be able to go through them all.  But every once in a while I'm able to remember some really cool thing I pinned and do it in real life!  (Must be all that DHA from my multi-vitamin kicking in, finally).  Anyway, the other morning I was all excited because I was going to be a cool mom!  And let my kid paint with colored shaving cream!  In the bathtub!  And perhaps help her to learn along the way!  Go me!

Then I realized that my husband uses a shaving cream warmer (thanks to his wonderful (at the time girlfriend) wife who bought it for his birthday one year) (I told you I'm awesome!) and you have to take the top off the shaving cream to put it into the warmer.  Problem #1.  I had to put the shaving cream back into the warmer, without plugging it in, and firmly push the button down while the cream slithered out ever.so.slowly.  Meanwhile, I have to distract Harper with something else to do because, hello?  Didn't I just say we were taking a bath where we get to do something incredibly fun?  And now we're not?  C'mon mommy!
Then, I couldn't find the food color.  In my quest for making our lives free of processed food, I hid it from myself.  Why?  I don't know.  The only reason I kept it was to be used for crafts anyway.  (Perhaps the DHA isn't working as well as I thought...?)

I next realized we don't have any paint brushed.  Oops.  So I dug around my kitchen until I found a cooking brush (for basting?  for what exactly?).  Problem #3 solved.
I finally got Harper into the tub and showed her what she could do with the brush and "paint" when I then thought, "Uh oh! What if this stains the tile?  Or the tub?"  and in a very not-so-great parenting moment I washed off part of Harper's "painting" just to make sure.  Thankfully, no damage was done.

And finally, Harper starting freaking out when a blob of the blue shaving cream landed in the water and started floating towards her.  I hadn't even bathed her at this point (obviously, since I was trying to be so cool and let her have some fun firth), so I had to quickly let the water drain out and re-fill the tub so I could clean her up.


So there you have it folks.  The idea was good in theory, but, as my husband says, proper planning prevents poor performance!  And I definitely was ill-prepared.  I also scarred my child for life a little bit more, thus deflating my awesome ego for the day.


Onto the next Pinterest challenge!

Harper at 14 Months

I know it's not necessary to say that I've always loved (and always will love) Harper.  The moment I got two pink lines, I loved the little ball of cells that she was.  But this love I have for her is ever changing, ever growing.  Each day I find something new to love about her.  Each day I see something that wasn't there before and my heart grows a little bit more.  I've loved every stage of her life so far: the newborn, the colic, the hold-me-all-the-time, the crawler, and the walk-between-everything stage.  But out of all the stages she's been through, the one she's in now is my favorite.  She is so much fun.  She's constantly learning, mimicking, repeating, discovering, laughing, and loving.  She's into imaginative play (giving stuffed animals or babies her binkie, sippy cup, or food and rocking them to sleep.  Love.)  She's trying to put on and take off her clothes.  She knows pretty much everything we're saying to her (like trying to take off her clothes when MiMi asked her if she wanted to take a bath).  She still loves music and dances all the time (we call it "dancey, dancey feet!")  She rubs our heads and says "kay-zee!" for "Crazy, crazy hair!"  She tries to put on shoes (which she calls "shoo-zies").  She can mimic animal sounds.  She can point to her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, eyes, hands, toes, and head.  She says "mah-mah" (more more) for food and "dee!" for drink.  She loves outside and swimming and playing with dogs.  She sits on Charlie (our English bulldog) and says "go go go" like she's on a horse.  She covers her mouth when she burps, trying to say "excuse me," and says thank you in her own sort of way.  She likes to be scared and loves hide and seek or peekaboo.  

It's amazing to watch her develop.  She's an amazingly smart little girl (gah! no longer a baby!)  I (try to) say that not with a mother's bias or without trying to brag, honestly.  I'm so proud of her and so deeply in love with her.  I still get all emotional at least once a week over how much I just completely love her.  I look at her and can't believe that I have such a beautiful daughter.  Yes, I've always loved her, but oh how much fun we're having now!