Life Lately

It's finally Spring & we have taken full advantage of being outside in the sunshine (however brief it may be some days--we've had a mix of cold wind, a little hail, & cold temps along with the sunshine). Here's a few pics from our past few weeks!

Shortbread for Breakfast

This morning, Sunny & I wanted something to warm our hungry bellies up on this rainy, grey morning: Southern Shortcake. My mom (who grew up in Ohio but raised me along with my Dad in Kentucky) used to make this recipe often when I was growing up. It's easy & quickly adaptable to your style (you can add jam, fruit, milk, etc to your liking). Here's the recipe:

(We made a half-batch)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking flour
2 tsp. sugar (optional)
1/4 c. Crisco
1/3-2/3 c. milk

Quickly sift flour, b.powder, sugar (we added a little cinnamon as well). Cut Crisco in with a large fork. Add milk, stir with fork so it's nice & lumpy. Goop mixture into a small ungreased glass pan. Mess it up some more with the fork (your toddler will love helping). Bake at 450 for 12-15 min. Let sit for 5 min. Place in a bowl & enjoy topped with cold milk, jam, fruit, whatever you like! Enjoy!

Toddler vs. Food

So, lately (for about the past couple of months) the Sunnyboy (aka: Asher) has decided that he no longer has a need for his highchair. Fast-forward through battles, tantrums, etc. 

Sunny has kinda been a "grazer" for most of his self-feeding days in general (from about 9 months on), so it wasn't really surprising to The Hubby (aka: Josh) and me that he didn't want to be constricted & restrained once he had the magical ability to walk & eat. 

I usually serve his snacks on a little table like the one pictured above (from Ikea), so it wasn't a far leap to begin experimenting with serving lunch, etc. in that same area. I started with foods that he wouldn't normally use utensils for: The grandparents recently had mailed a care package complete with Barilla Cut Spaghetti. At first, I thought, "What a gimic! I can cut my own son's pasta!". Well, lemme tell ya, moms of toddlers & others who I know can understand, sometimes you have mere moments to tame the hungry afternoon bear boy and this pasta was a lifesaver! (Not to mention, he loved it being the perfect size for his little fingers).

I did strip him down to his diaper (turned the heat up a bit in the room), and placed the table on our wooden floor making it easier for clean-up or the doggie-vacuum (aka: "CJ", yellow Lab/Golden Retriever 5 year-old).

Sunnyboy has since graduated to enjoying all of his meals in this location, and our battles over eating seem to have ceased for the time being. He's quite proud of his new-found freedom! (and Mama is busy cleaning up...)

I'm by no means a proponent of letting toddler whims rule the house, but this to me was different. It was a Mama&Sun working together to find a solution that works for all of us, and that, I applaud ;-)