Why I think it's a bad thing my son sleeps with a baby doll

Now before you judge me, a self-proclaimed feminist and fierce equal rights advocate, hear me out.

It all started a week ago. We hosted a playdate at our house where one of Ethan's friends had her 6 month old brother joining us.  I pulled out Ethan's old bouncy seat from when he was an infant for the little boy.  After watching the baby use it, Ethan was FASCINATED.

He put a random baby doll (that he has never really paid much attention to) in the bouncy seat, saying "baby! baby!" (Note: That baby doll is the same size Ethan was when he was born, just 22 months ago, his first onsies fit her perfectly.)

Here he is giving the baby one of his many, many kisses!

He hopped in too, I think just to remind me who my real baby is.

Now here comes the interesting part.  Starting that night, Ethan started taking the baby to bed!  He kisses her "night-night" and asks for "baby" when it's time for bed.  Every night since then he's slept with this little doll in his arms.

Now why do I think this is a bad thing for my son?

Because I CANNOT STOP TAKING PICTURES OF HIM HOLDING THE DOLL WHILE HE SLEEPS!  Seriously, this is a problem.  I have to use flash to take the photos as it's obviously dark at night when he goes to bed.  I'm risking disrupting his fragile bedtime and sleep to take picture after picture.

See?  I can't stop!  This one even shows the puddle of drool under his cheek from his deep, happy sleep holding his "baby."  

It is a bad thing Ethan sleeps with a doll because his mother can't control herself!

Mommy-Free Magic Muffins

Every Friday, a group of friends and I rotate "Mommy-Free Time."  This is the best SAHM invention I've ever heard of, closely followed by our babysitting co-op where we swap babysitting.  Every Friday morning, we rotate whose home we drop the kids off at, and rotate care-taking responsibilities.  It sort of just happened that the mom's started frequently making the same mini-muffins every Friday morning.  The kids just gobble these up!  It's funny, even the ones with the most separation anxiety cling to mommy's leg when the enter the door, but literally look around and tearfully request, "Muffins?"  Seriously, they are such a tradition now that when a friend hosted a Easter Egg party, she stuffed the plastic eggs with what else? These muffins!  (Again, most of our kids haven't met Jelly Beans yet, so they were satisfied ;)

 I look forward to this time so much every week.  I plan extravagant outings... like getting the oil changed!  Okay, that doesn't sound so exciting, but the experience of AVOIDING being at the auto shop for an hour with a restless toddler is sublime.

So this today was my turn to host, and as Chris was working extra crazy overtime, I had to step in for our Head Chef and bake them myself.  Here's a shot of them and the recipe in case you want to try the Mommy-Free Magic Muffins for yourself.

Mini Sweet Potato Muffins Recipe (Makes 30 Mini Muffins)
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Large Eggs, whisked
1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree, cooked*
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients just until they are combined (be careful not to over mix the batter).
5. Place 1 tbsp of batter in each cup of greased mini muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Serve.
* To make sweet potato puree, bake sweet potatoes (or yams) in a 400 degree oven for one hour, allow to cool, slice in half lengthwise and mash flesh with a fork until smooth.
** You can place muffins in labeled freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.

Happy Spring!

Here are some adorable shots from an Easter get together we had with some friends.  

Ethan made an entrance holding hands with his lady love, Eva.

(I think it was this GQ pose that won her over)

Ethan showing me his hunt's finds.

"Look Mommy!"

(Of course we were with a cool crowd who didn't hide any candy, they hid even more fun goodies! ;)

 

Is he doing a jig to celebrate the holiday? Or is this just how redheads dance?

One of the dads dressed up in a bunny costume and not a single child got scared.  All of these pictures are from a friend Rene with some great photography skills, you can see her pictures of her own adorable son here. Great day!