Accessories

A girl's gotta have cool accessories, right?! Well mine have really been donning some interesting choices lately...here are a few I've managed to capture on camera. As a matter of fact, while we're on the subject of fashion, I think I need to blog post on self-dressing as well, because we're in that phase where some pretty crazy outfits are leaving this house each day!

Don't forget to wear your readers before eating oatmeal

Always wear ear protection when Mommy uses the noisy blender to make smoothies

Let's go for a bike ride! Bike? Check.  Helmet? Check. Creepy baby in the trunk? Check.

Every nature girl needs a flower crown...

And a little chef  must have the proper attire!

Loving the Kitty

Although each day Retta seems to be learning and progressing at lightning speed, there is one area she could use a little help in...kitty interactions. I feel bad for our cat, but it is also hilarious to witness the relationship between Wendell and Retta. She desperately loves the cat, and since she can't say "Wendell" she calls him "Towel" instead. So, Towel will just be sleeping away minding his business and doing his cat-thing, when Retta yanks on his tail, or lays on top of him with her full body weight. Luckily he is the world's gentlest, most forgiving cat and most of the time he just lies there and takes it. We keep trying to teach her how to pet the cat softly, but she really goes at him with gusto every time. I also never suspected I would utter the phrase, "Don't rub your cheese on the kitty" ever, let alone multiple times in my life.

Retta at 18 Months

  Holy heck, how is it that Retta is now sliding on toward two?! Or should I say running full throttle at it? Little Miss is so loveable and yet SO FULL OF IT. This was the summer of just keeping her safe. Forget about clean faces and cutesy crafts and lots of photos and blog posts, this kid has been keeping me on my toes...and if she's sleeping then probably I am passed out somewhere as well, or I am drinking a glass of wine and rocking maniacally back and forth in a corner. Seriously though, when I'm not cleaning up messes or making sure she's not drowning, she is downright adorable, a real joy. She's a spitfire and yet can also be very calm and even-keeled. She's now able to put herself to bed which is a first for our offspring, so I am grateful for that. Retta has also started potty training. She loves to spend lots of time sitting (with her clothes on) on her training potty and shoving armfuls of toilet paper into the real toilet. She also just got FOUR teeth at once...she now has all her fangs just in time for Halloween. She would spend all day brushing them if I let her- she likes to chew on her toothbrush and then say "Clean?!" and have me check her teeth. She even took her first few real pedal-pushes on her tricycle the other day!


Best of all, she's had an explosion of words over the past few months, and can now pretty much copy anything anyone says. Today she spent most of the day roaming around the house saying, "hummus," and "soap." Those were the words of the day, but yesterday it was "mazing" as in amazing...and she thought everything was amazing, especially the contents of my mom's purse. Earlier this summer she would say "special" in this cute quiet whisper that made my heart melt- she would always say it with this wonder in her voice. She also started saying, "Love you!" which is a wonderful thing to hear. Her calling her sister "Ro-Ro" has given way to a full-fledged "Rowan" now and each day I am amazed at how these words get more refined, more precise in their description of what she wants. Suddenly she has the words "broken" and "scratched" and "bossy"...hmm, that last one might be related to a frequent conversation we have with the big sister. The acquisition of language is fascinating. Our favorite Retta-ism right now is that instead of saying "oopsies" when she drops something on the floor she says, "OH-PEE-SEES!" So cute. She is so much fun and I'm so proud of what a kind little compassionate baby-turned-toddler she is.

Homemade Bubble Wands

Here's a fun and easy activity I stumbled upon while wasting hours of my precious life on Pinterest. Really, Pinterest is like crack for me. I'm just going to scroll through and pin a few more ideas, and then a few more, and then before I know it I've forgotten how to blink and it's two days later. AAAHH! Anyway, we used some of my old beads and cheap wire to make our own fancy bubble wands yesterday afternoon. Why would you make your own bubble wand when bubbles always come with a free, fully-functional wand you might ask? Good question. I don't know, but these are cute and it kept my little cherubs busy for a little while.

I cut a wire for each wand and let the girls choose and string their beads on. Okay- I made Retta's for her, but she had fun playing with the finished product! Then, leaving some wire at the top, I twisted it into either a circle or heart shapes. They don't work quite as well as the plastic wand included in the bubble stuff, but they are capable of making bubbles. It seems like maybe a thicker wire would have worked better. At the very least, they make fun fairy wands too!

** Disclaimer: Sometimes these projects aren't all fun and games for us. The girls look happy-ish in these pictures, but make no mistake, they were actually grumpy as all get out. Retta dumped the bubble stuff out of the dish several times, Rowan cried because she got a fuzzy caterpillar on her foot while she was engrossed in bead sorting, and then Retta smashed the plate on a rock...anyway, there was broken glass and tears and my pants were covered in bubble solution, but I'm sure someone somewhere might have fun making these. Just keepin' it real here on Wonder Parenting...you know, it's not all unicorns and rainbows here :)

Superstar Breakfast

This is one of our favorite breakfasts lately, and with fall days ahead, we'll definitely be having this comfort food more often. We call this breakfast Toad-in-the-Hole, but I think it's known by many names. Today it was a superstar breakfast though, because we have a star cookie cutter, not a toad.

First, use 1 piece of bread per person. We used Ezekial Sesame sprouted bread. It is organic, flourless, low glycemic, and preservative-free, but does contain gluten for those of you who are gluten-free. 

Use the cookie cutter to cut out your desired shape in each piece of bread, and save the cut-out too. Heat up a pan on the stovetop and melt a little bit of butter. When the pan is hot, place as many pieces of the bread you can fit and let it toast for a minute or so. Scramble one egg per person in a bowl and sprinkle in some sea salt and pepper, and a little pour of milk (we use almond milk).

 Once the eggs are ready to go, use one hand to press the piece of bread down into the pan and the other to pour the egg mixture in the cut-out space. Pour the egg in until it is level with the top of the piece of bread. Let cook in the pan for a few more minutes until the bottom is cooked. Use a spatula to flip and cook the other side until the egg is cooked through and the bread is toasted.

Serve with the cut-out shape placed on top of the egg or on the side. Eggs packed with protein, and sprouted whole-grain bread- a healthy breakfast and the kids LOVE it!

Flower Queens

 We recently went to a birthday party where one of the guests brought the birthday girl a flower crown they'd made at home. I had forgotten about making those--a simple but fun summer activity. A good lazy, hang-out-in-the-shade-and-play-with-flowers activity. So we went home and made some of our own. Behold the flower queens!

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