I Love Two-Year Olds

In all seriousness, I really LOVE two-year olds.

A couple of things seem to happening very quickly since Dane's second birthday a few weeks ago.  The first is that he has suddenly become very verbal.  He's always been chatty, but he's stringing together thoughts into sentences that *almost* make sense.  For instance, this weekend, I overheard him tell Jonathan (over and OVER again), "Read that one book, Daddy.  Read that one book, Daddy.  Read that one book, Daddy."  It's becoming very clear exactly what he wants from us.  The other night, he was crying in his crib and I couldn't quite make out what he was saying over the monitor.  When I walked into his bedroom, he was pointing at a corner of his blanket that was hung on a crib rail saying "Need help, Mama!"  Wow, this parenting thing sure is getting a lot easier when I don't have a guess what the heck is wrong with you, Dane!

He's also begun to have an understanding outside of what is immediately happening to him.  A week and a half ago, he was whining to go outside and get in the car before we were ready to leave.  He had seen us take his DVD player (which only goes with us on long trips) out to the car and wanted to watch "animal movie" right away.  He kept whining every time we passed by him as we rushed to get the car packed for an overnight stay at my parents' house.  I finally told him to go to his room until he was finished whining.  Not only did this keep him out of harm's way as we packed up, it removed the offending whiny child from our paths and reinforced for him that whining was not going to speed up the process.  This is my new favorite parenting technique.

When he's whining, I tell him he can either stop whining or take it to his room.  Everyone needs their own space.  Two-year olds are no different.  A little space can change a bad attitude in a hurry.  Monday night, I told him that it was time to clean up some toys.  He said no.  I said "Dane, you can either help me clean up your toys or you can go to your room while I clean up toys."  "Clean toys, Mama," he said and quickly began helping tote the mess back into the playroom.  He's such a sociable little guy that the threat of spending a couple of minutes alone, away from all the fun, are enough to get him to reconsider his actions.

This I can handle!  Now when he hits the teenage years, I probably won't be able to smoke him out of there.

Crock-Pot Meatloaf

My BFF made this delicious, simple, perfect meatloaf recipe for Dane's birthday dinner a few weeks ago.  She was sweet enough to email it to me and I made it this past Saturday for dinner.  It's easy and makes the house smell like you've been slaving away all day.  Best news of all?  It's cooked in the Crock-Pot.  Here it is below:

Meatloaf
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned)
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 lbs ground beef

Sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp mustard

Combine eggs, milk, bread crumbs, onion powder, salt, beef.  Mix well and shape to fit bottom of crock pot. Cook on low 5 or 6 hrs.  Combine sauce ingredients in small bowl.  Pour over meat.  Cover and cook on high 15 min.

The only thing I'd do differently next time would be to cut about a third (maybe even half) of the added salt out of the recipe.  It was great, but I just don't think Dane needs that much salt.  I might also double the sauce next time because it is just.that.good.  Mmmm.  And I don't even love meatloaf.

Thanks, Jamie!