Having a two year old kinda sucks

I love gabe with all of my heart. He is my world, my sunshine. Except when he's not.

Since gabe has turned two, he has totally embodied a two year old. He throws tantrums, he is rude to people, he refuses to kiss his mama, he is not my little angel anymore. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes to see the way he is behaving. I'm not sure what to do and I know that it is a phase...but it's hard.



I'm a nanny. I've watched supernanny. How am I letting my two year old walk all over me? How can my two year old be bringing me to tears? He screamed at Jorge's mom Saturday, he screamed and pushed my mom Sunday. He wouldn't say goodbye to anyone he came into contact all weekend (family). Does time out for a two year old work? What if he cries and screams for 20 minutes? Is it really worth it then? I know what supernanny would do, what have you guys done? I know many of you have older kids, I need some guidance please.



My mom has said I have to gage his mood and decide which battles to fight. I agree, but at what point does letting something slide turn into in outraging bad behavior? I know that it is a very fine line. I've seen the results of allowing a kid to push that line until it is no longer there and you don't know where the kid in front of you came from. I just hope I get a handle on this and that "this too shall pass"




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Toy store and date night!

I would have written about this yesterday, but I was busy going on a date with my hubby!

We spent the afternoon at our favorite toy store, Quake, in Lincoln square. I've mentioned it before, and I know I mentioned the owner, Dave, when we ate sushi with him and his family. here

Gabe fell asleep on the way there and somehow stayed sleeping for almost 20 minutes, while I was holding him and talking to Dave. He eventually woke up and demanded all of the trucks he could find.









Oh yeah, he was also running all over the place, looking for more trucks and demanding to be picked up.






The unattainable ghostbusters airplane.






Dave was nice enough to give my crabby, greedy 2 year old a car.

After the toystore, we dropped gabe and Sidney at Jorge's parents house and Jorge and I went on a date!! It was a for real, dinner and a movie and no kid talk kinda date. It's been so long since we've been out, just the two of us, and even longer since I've seen a movie!



We went to a Mexican restaurant in rosemont and we saw taken 2. It was really good, but I'm so not cut out for action movies. My heart was pounding the whole time! We may have date night again soon, because I really want to see pitch perfect and Jorge said he would go with me since I cannot convince anyone else to go.

It was a perfect, and of course busy Saturday.
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Pumpkin farm!!

Yesterday was a great day to go to the pumpkin farm. The weather was so perfect! I had horrible pressure in my head and sinuses, but otherwise it was a great day.

Gabe and I went to the pumpkin farm with my cousin Colleen, her hubby frank and their daughter, Samantha. Samantha is 4, and is going to be a great big sister one day. She wanted to hold gabes hand and play with him. It's so sweet. Gabe was kinda being a typical two year old, didn't want to hold hands, wanted to run in every direction, and act like no one was calling his name. But I know he was having fun.











One of the great things about goebberts is all of the animals. They have giraffes that you can get super close to and feed carrots. They also have three tents of all kinds of animals, camels, bears, goats and alpacas. I was so excited about gabe seeing the giraffes, but he freaked out, and not in a good way. He would not really get that close and forget about giving them carrots.













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I made it!

My pinterest obsession is kinda good. It's allowing me to cook and bake tons of new things. I love to cook and bake and really haven't done a lot since I was pregnant. Now, gabe watches tv and I can make something. (no lectures about tv being a babysitter please. You know you do it too)

So, I found the simplest recipe ever for one of my favorite foods....pumpkin.



A can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix. That's all! No eggs, no oil. They come out super cakey and moist and would probably be a great cake too. I think next time I will add some nutmeg just to give it a little more flavor.




It's a kinda sticky batter, so you really need some kind of spoon to scoop the batter. I used a tbsp measuring spoon. Place them on a lined cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to 350.


Bake for 13-15 minutes, depending how large of balls you made. You can test with a toothpick, when they are firm they are done.


Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Then I just pulled the parchment and cookies off the sheet and cooled them on the counter. If I have frosting or was ambitious enough to make a glaze they would be even better. They are so yummy even gabe ate them! (pumpkin is technically a vegetable!)

Enjoy these cake-like cookies! (I had to wrap them up so I would stop eating them!)

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I have a two year old

I also have one of the luckiest two year olds, because he had a GINORMOUS birthday party (about 90 people). It was a bubble guppy themed party because the are his favorite.

*pre party*
Thursday, I was running a fever. I was a little in denial, I even went to kohls with my mom that night instead of resting. Friday, I woke up even worse if that's possible. I had to take Tylenol every four hours or my fever would come back. I called the dr and they made me come in because I might have strep (!). Major freaking out so much that I made myself sick to my stomach. Anyways, she said I had a virus which is code for good luck, you may feel better tomorrow or in ten days. Super!

Friday night was bad. I was achy, running a fever, tired, and I couldn't do anything for the party. I downed NyQuil and slept and slept and woke up Saturday morning with only a sore throat!! Awesome!

*party*
We were so so so lucky! The weather was wonderful and tons of people showed up! Gabe didn't nap, but he ran strong with his cousins (after some cuddle time with Karen).






We had two piñatas, a 2 and a ghost. Gabe loves ghosts "dost" because they are in one of his favorite bubble guppies episodes. The 2 went quickly, but the ghost kept hanging on...




























We were soooooo incredibly lucky that our friend Kim showed up. She took some amazing pictures! I only had three, she took 141! Thanks Kim!!!

I'm gonna post a ton of my favorites.

Baby J





Our wonderful cake made by Andrea!




Jorge and his ladies....Lynn, Kim, and barb.



Gabe passed out right after cake...he didn't even get a bite before he passed out!



*sunday*








It was a great day, a great party. I'm so glad we could share it with so many friends and family. Thank you to everyone who helped make this day so wonderful!

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