I'm the Baby, Gotta Love Me

Mila has always been good or one thing - reminding you that she's a baby. She has used the words for as long as she has been able to talk. If you ask her to clean up her toys, "But I'm a baby!" If you prompt her to eat like a big girl, "But I'm not a big girl! I'm a baby!"

I like it. Not only does it remind me of that Dinosaurs TV show from a zillion years ago, it's nice having a kid who isn't in a hurry to grow up. The other one is already planning for her retirement, so at least someone knows how to chill and live in the moment.

And then Mila took a sledgehammer to my happy.

In the past few weeks, she has made up her mind to sleep in her own bed, "Because I'm a big girl."

She very suddenly, and without warning, lost her mind over the fact that she had a booster seat at the kitchen table. It had to be removed RIGHT that second OR ELSE. "I'm a big girl! I don't need a big chair!" Could I get a little warning on these things? Do we have to make these decisions between bites of yogurt? And if she's so big, why was there a month's worth of casserole ingredients under her booster seat? Big girls don't miss their mouths, you know?

And now Mila has taken to telling me about the things she no longer does because she's not a baby. She doesn't need diapers. She doesn't use the baby toothbrushes. She's so totally over baby shows like Paw Patrol and the like.

Poor Skye. She had no idea she was about to be dumped.

I'm going to have to change the name of this website, aren't I? I'm like two seconds from having a 4-year old throw a tantrum because there are no babies in our house.

Ugh.

I Keep Losing At This Game

You guys. YOU GUYS. HELP. HAAAAAAAAALP!

Things are escalating much too quickly.

When Mila decided she wanted to take a dance class, I was all ::grumble::grumble:: but it is $40 cheaper ::grumble::grumble::. That's $40 cheaper than gymnastics, of course, so it's a trade. I am subjected to torture (Toddler parents at dance class are THE WORST, YOU GUYS. I should know. I was one. Twice.), but I get to save money. We'll call that a wash.

I knew Mila would care that we dropped gymnastics.

DAMMIT.

We made it all the way to Tuesday, which, by the way, is the day that she has taken gymnastics for basically her entire life. Apparently her internal clock is built around that fact because SHE KNEW when we "skipped." And she was pissed.

And then Saturday rolled around again and she was really very happy about dance, so. I don't know. If I had unlimited funds, maybe I'd let her do both. Maybe I wouldn't. Either way, it seems like I can maybe stretch my way past the pissiness on Tuesdays as long as there is a Saturday.

Except that Alexis has dance five days per week. Mila has dance one day per week. Guess which kid has decided this whole thing is stupid and not fair!

Yes. THAT kid. That kid thinks everything about her life is unfair and rotten and WTH, MOM. I don't know how I am to fix this because I am not letting my 4-year take dance class every day of the week because NOOOOOOO. I don't possess enough patience for that. Or money. Or places to take her because there aren't actually that many classes that would work with everyone's schedule. SO THERE, MILA.

Fortunately, tiny kid hockey starts in like two weeks. Fingers crossed that calms the store ...

Pumpkin Spice Stuffed French Toast

Alexis is ALL IN on all things pumpkin spice, so now that she's watched me make this, she's planning to make it every day for the next eight weeks, or until she gets sick of pumpkin spice, whichever comes first.

I'd bet on the eight weeks thing.

To put it bluntly, she's VERY basic and was stunned to learn how easy it is to make this. Now she's all in. LOOK OUT WORLD.

Pumpkin Spice Stuffed French Toast
Italian bread
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla extract
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves
Pumpkin cream cheese
Butter

Let's start with talking about quantities of stuff, shall we? I didn't list them because reasons. This is one of those things that you need to make for however many people you have so let's work it backwards. Each person gets:

- 2 pieces of Italian bread
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon milk
- Dash vanilla extract
- Dash of each spice
- Enough cream cheese to coat two pieces of bread

1. Spread the cream cheese on two pieces of toast. Stick them together, cream cheese sides in the middle.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, and spices.

3. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Toss in a tablespoon of butter and allow it to melt. Slide the pan around to evenly spread the melted butter.

4. Take your little pumpkin cream cheese sandwich and dip it in the egg mixture. Coat it thoroughly on both sides.

5. Place the eggy pumpkin cream cheese sandwich in the frying pan and cook over medium heat until the bottom is lightly browned. Flip and cook that side, too.

THAT'S IT. You can top it all with a little powdered sugar, or you can embrace the fact that it looks like grilled cheese.