10

It is ten days before Newbie is due, so LO and I tried to squeeze a little fun into our day.  We started our morning my making chocolate chip cookie dough.  You might recall that when I was expecting LO I had planned to bake cookies during early labor so I could give them to nurses and visitors at the hospital.  DH ended up doing most of that task, and it stressed him out just a little.  Needless to say the mention of making cookies this go around has been met with some raised eyebrows.  I hope I will be more reasonable about them this go around, but I still like the idea.  I toyed with the idea of making pies or brownies, but I can't start those in advance, so there's hardly much advantage to them. There's no harm in having dough in the freezer, right?  That's what I thought.

So, LO and I made dough this morning.  It was the first time that he really got into the process and stuck with it.  In the past he has been curious, but then left to play with toys after about 30 seconds on the stool.  We started by mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  I measured and LO dumped into the bowl.  After three "dumps" of flour, we added 1/2 tsp of salt.  I did not blend those together because I still had to add the baking soda.  LO was having fun between dumps just digging in the flour, and he had a little on his face.  I wasn't sure if he was tasting it or just wiped some on his face, so we talked about how the flour wasn't ready to eat yet.  (As an aside, he kept confusing the baking flour with cauliflower even though he is well acquainted with the appearance of the latter.)  It was no surprise really that when I turned to grab the baking soda, I heard LO coughing, spitting, gagging, and found him with the 1/2 tsp in his mouth and a face full of flour.  The tsp was actually still full, so he must have gotten a heaping scoop.  He made an awful face, and it took me a minute to make the area safe enough for me to make him some water.  I think that was lesson enough that he did not take any more tastes without permission for the rest of the morning.  We did, however, have to start over with fresh dry ingredients.  He did a great job with dumping the dry ingredients, then tapping on the bottom of the measuring cup to make the packed brown sugar dump out.  He chose the eggs I cracked in later, and dumped the vanilla without spilling.  He was also patient in adding dry to wet so I could add the eggs in when needed.  He even added 3 1/2 cups of chocolate chips to the dough without stealing a single one!  I can't say the same for myself.  Needless to say, the boy earned the "licks" he had patiently awaited the whole time.  Since Daddy wasn't around, LO got to lick the spatula AND the beater!

We talked about the dough being for "baby brother's happy birthday," and I explained that when it was time for baby brother to come we would get the dough out and make the cookies.  I also explained that baby brother cannot eat his "happy birthday" (cookies) until next year, so LO will have to eat them for him.  I think LO might just find that the best part of the next couple of weeks.

After making dough, LO and I packed our stuff and, after swinging by Lowe's for a light switch (which LO seemed to enjoy), we headed to a new park in a neighboring county.  LO had been here before, but it had been several months since I had taken him.  I have mixed feelings about this particular park since it has a play area for two to five year olds in very close proximity to one for five to 12 year olds and it is easy for LO to either get into play situations that are above his skill-level or get run over by 12 year olds who don't look out for 2 year olds. Nanny K has taken him to this park several times recently, so I thought we'd give it a try again.  I also expected all the big kids to be in school.  I was apparently wrong about the last part.  In any case, we went and LO played pretty hard.  He stuck exclusively to the five to 12 year old play area and aside from scaring both of us a little when he dove head first down a tube slide 3 stories off the ground, he did fine.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he was headed back for the same tube slide after he got over the initial scare, but found an alternative that we both liked a little better.  He is very into climbing lately and there were no shortage of climbing walls, stools, and ladders in this thing (which is how he ended up 3 stories off the ground to get to the tube slide).  Worn out, we both headed home for LOs nap and an afternoon of play with Mom and Dad at home.  It was a gorgeous day made even more so by the time LO and I had to do a couple of special things.