Spice muffins and A-Ha! Moments..

Waiting semi-patiently for the spice cake muffins that he has so dearly loved since the day he could chew. 

Once he saw me pouring things into my mixer he became a excited little minion and tried to get bites of everything before it even went in the oven and was asking me "a bite?" For the past 30 min.. 

At last.. The muffin is on it's way into Bruce's tummy where it belongs. 

I'm not kidding when he was a year old he would sneak these somehow off the table and eat 3 in a row. 

Lately it has been so fun eating meals together because he always remembers to bless the food and he knows exactly what he wants, like more juice or only the corners o his pizza. Or so I thought. 

Him and I make pizza every once In awhile for lunch or dinner and I noticed he usually just eats the tip of the pizza. I assumed the big round pepperoni was what he was avoiding so one day I decided to "help" him by eating the piece of pepperoni on his slice. 

Mmmmm... Wrong move. 

Right away he looks at the crater of cheese where his pepperoni used to be and with a furrowed brow points at it and looks at me. "Mama! ... No!... No, Mama."

Poor kid.. All I could do was laugh. I replaced his pepperoni with one of mine and he said, "tee too" (thank you) and continued to eat around it. 

Of Bruce could send me this poem in a card he totally would. 

Something I learned this week {probably for the 10th time} is that my attitude and how I react to Bruce's toddler ways greatly impacts the happy feelings in our home. They say the woman is the heart of the home and my goal this year is to learn how to make the hearts that I am in charge of in my home, happy hearts. I think I have to start with my own. 

I read a great blog post the other week about "positive touch" with children. It said basically that when we give our children more careing and positive physical contact {such as holding their hands, looking in their eyes and telling them how important and loved they are} it most often results in positive behavior changes and more emotionally well adjusted children. 

BINGO. I want that! And it's so simple but in the rush of the day I often forget to slow down and kiss his feet or when he's grouchy, getting down on his level and caressing his hair as I try to figure out what he needs. 

I'm so grateful for that reminder to slow down and pay attention and give them more affection than I usually do because of all the "tasks" I rush around doing. 

Sometimes he needs more than just a bottle of milk. Sometimes he needs a bottle of milk and my hand rubbing his cheek for a minuet while he drinks it before I return to doing dishes or make a phone call.