Question

My toddler has started hitting.  Mostly, it's out of frustration if she isn't capable of doing something that she wants or if her sister is "getting in the way" (the Toddler will sort of swat at the Noob) or if she's told that she can't do something that she wants.

We have been telling her that "we don't hit people that we love", but it's having less of an effect.  Time outs, followed by an apology to the offended, are the next "resort", and last night was the first time ever that she flat out refused to apologize:  "I don't WANT to.  I NOT sorry." 

While I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily against spanking at all costs, I think that it could send a dangerous message, particularly to little girls, and I don't really want to go there. 

That said, I don't know what else to do.  Ideas?

Updated:  I've skimmed these two links, and will read them for realz (you know, when I can actually concentrate on them!) later.  Meantime, here you go.
Children and Aggression
Managing Your Toddler
one more... barely skimmed:  Obedience

Speaking of Saving Money...

My dear friend, the Fabric Donkey, is searching the Interwebz far and wide and giving you the scoop on all the best fabric deals.  She's mostly working in quilting cotton right now, but, holy cow, there are some deals to be had.

My other dear friends at Distant Pickles are having a giveaway, and just wrapped up another quilt along.  Go check them out.

How I Survive (financially) With Two Kids In Diapers

I have two little kids.  My Toddler is 2 1/2 and very slowly potty training.  My Noob is almost 10 months old and ... not potty training.  Diapers are expensive.

When the Toddler was in-utero, I wanted to try cloth diapering.  I also wanted to teach her sign language and breastfeed.  I knew that I would have to return to work after my maternity leave, so I sort of picked my priorities and took into consideration the comfort levels of my babysitter and husband, and cloth diapering fell by the wayside.  Then my sister decided to cloth diaper her son, born in the winter of 2009, and I was able to live vicariously through her and let her figure out a system for me.  She chose to use prefolds and covers.

Prefolds and covers are probably the most economical way to go about cloth diapering.  I use prefolds from Green Mountain Diaper Company, mostly because they're what my sister used and because they're what was recommended to me.  I'm sure that there are less expensive options that are just as great.  I have a friend that uses Little Lions diapers and loves them.  They're a little bit less expensive, and she says that the quality is just as good.

When my Noob was a very small baby, my sister sent me a dozen GMD Orange Edge prefolds, a dozen GMD Yellow Edge Prefolds, and a GMD "Workhorse" Fitted.  She also sent a couple of small Bummi covers.  I purchased a couple Thirsties covers, and 3 Snappi fasteners and I was set to begin my adventure.  I CD on nights and weekends, and a dozen diapers easily gets me 2+ (weekend) days between washes.

The Orange Edged diapers are sized for newborns.  They fit from about 5-10 lbs.  I think I used my orange edged pfs until the Noob was closer to 13 lbs, so it's all kind of relative.

The Yellow Edged diapers are sized for babies from 10-15 lbs, according to GMD's website.  The Noob is 16.5 or so and still has plenty of room to fasten hers. 

The "Workhorse" fitted diaper is probably my very favorite diaper, but I didn't buy any more because I kept thinking that the Noob was going to outgrow this size any time now.  I'm buying a few in the next size, though.  They're more trim and easier to get onto a wiggly baby because there is absolutely no folding involved.  Just position and fasten. 

Red Edged diapers are sized for babies from 15-29 lbs.  My toddler is tipping the scales at 26 lbs, so I'm figuring this will be the last set that I will buy.

I've been using the same small diaper covers this whole time.  Even if I had needed to purchase all of the diapers that we use, I would have spent $28 for the orange edged pfs, $33 for the yellow edged pfs, $9-$12 for each of the covers, and $8 for 3 Snappi fasteners.
Initial Investment: $117. 
Next, I'll buy red edged pfs, and those will probably get me through potty training, if the Noob follows her older sister's growth curve.  My list to purchase now is $36 for the red edged pfs, $7.40x4 for the red workhorse fitteds, $9.75 for a new set of Snappis (they do wear out), and $11.50x3 for some size Medium Thirsties covers.
Secondary Investment:  $110-ish.
You could buy a wetbag, but I just use a plastic grocery bag looped over a doorknob.  Since I do laundry every other day-ish, I haven't run into stink issues yet.

Best of all, since all of my prefolds are 100% cotton, I don't have a complicated laundry routine, like you'll have to come up with if you do microfiber or other types of diapers.  I dump "solids" into the toilet, then, on laundry day, I run one rinse (with extra rinse) cycle, then one hot wash with Charlie's Soap, extra rinse, and then dry on medium.  Easy Peasy.

Since the toddler is in disposable diapers when she's not feeling the potty training mojo and the Noob is in disposeable diapers at daycare, I just search out the best possible deals.  Right now, I'm signed up for Amazon Mom (which gets me free 2-day shipping) and Subscribe and Save (which gives me an additional discount for scheduling automatic deliveries) and a few weeks ago, I got a 228 count case of Size 2 Luvs diapers and a 204 count case of Size 3 Luvs diapers for $49.06 TOTAL delivered to my door.

And, while I was there...

This happened!

 It's really totally handy to have the church in one's back yard and a Pastor on the payroll.

 

Fun In The Car

 Because Kansas is booooooooooooring, and I'd already bothered spent all of a certain Shrew's productive hours on the phone, I decided to entertain myself while I drove across the prairie.

Please excuse the very speck-y whateverthatthing'scalled.  Yes, it's dirty, but so is my camera lens...

This picture is to illustrate my loaves-and-fishes style gas.  Normally, I get about 230 miles to a full tank.  I think I got to 255 before the needle moved off of the half marker, but that picture was blurry, so you'll just have to believe me.

Mulit-tasking.  If you need an explination, it would probably make you blush.

After approximately 5 hours of driving straight North, I get to turn Left!

What do Christina Agulara, Air Supply, George Jones, Bon Jovi, and some newer teeney-bopper artists that I didn't recognise have in common?  This radio station.  It was easily the most eclectic station I have ever heard.

Destination: Small Town, Nebraska, where I had a lovely time with lots of lovely people. 

Then, I drove home.

What was advertised as "winter weather" started off like this: 

Then turned into this:

Then this: 

Then, about 5 hours of this:

Which turned to freezing rain, then just rain, then, about the time I got to Oklahoma, it was dry and just cold and windy.

This picture is as I was coming up on my town. 

Home again home again, jiggety jig.

So much for a post a day, every day...

But I have a great excuse.  Promise.

Cash Alan Caywood

One of Stacie's dearest friends made this video of Cash. I've watched it about 6 times so far, and still wiping tears. Hug your babies, boys and girls, and thank God for every single second.

Because Moms Need Prayers

If you can't find just the right words on your own (am I the only one that thinks that placentas must be made largely of the host's brain cells?  I am?  oh.) the good folks at Emmanuel Press have a little gift for you.  They're cheap reasonably priced, so pick one up for that mother-to-be on your list.  Heck, go nuts and buy a short stack for your church library.

Or, in the words of the lovely Rebekah Curtis (because she's a whole lot more elequent than I am), "In your time of trouble, God invites you to pray and be comforted.  In your time of happiness, God invites you to pray, for He delights in your joy.  And if you don’t know how you could ever tell God everything that is in your heart, dear mother, the Motherhood Prayers are for you."

I'm going to see this guy today.

And I pushed back the start of my FPU class by a week so that I could.  Wonder if I need to get a note?

Conversations With My Children

(from the backseat, on our way home a few weeks ago)
Toddler:  Mama!  Dada home?
Me:  No, Baby, Daddy's working.
Toddler:  Dada count parts?  (It was Inventory Week at my husband's job a month or so ago.  Ever since then, he "counts parts" at his day job.)
Me:  No, Baby, Daddy's at the farm tonight.
Toddler:  Dada feed cows?
Me:  Yup, Daddy's feeeding the cows.
Toddler:  Cows saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Me:  The cows were sad, but now that Daddy's there to feed them, they'll be happy!
Toddler:  Cows sad.  Dada feed cows.  Cows haha (happy).  Dada feed cows HAMBURGERS!
Me:  (giggle)  Hamburgers, huh?
Toddler:  Cows haha.  Dada feed cows hamburgers and ICE CREAM!

Mmmmmmm.  Cheeseburgers.

Things

I have things going on.  In no particular order:

• My kids are gigantic.  And, when the Toddler was this old, I was getting pregnant with the Noob.  And, I'm at the magic weight - 143.5 lbs.  Every time I hit 143.5 (going up or coming down), I get pregnant.  Do with that what you will.
• The Noob is trying to walk.  And talk.  And make friends near and far.  She's pretty stingy with her smiles, but when she thinks you have earned one.... wowza!  You wind up with the overwhelming desire to buy her a pony.  Or something.
• I'm leading a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class starting next weekend.  I'm insanely excited about it.
• My husband is the most awesome husband ever.  The end.
• I got "laterally moved" this morning at my job.  The position is not considered a promotion (no extra pay - yet) but it involves more strategic planning and reporting and consists mostly of parts of a position that I had before maternity leave with the Toddler.  It's also more visible and I'll be working with people that I like and respect.  My current/former position is one of those monkey see/monkey do types, I'm bored out of my mind, and I don't think anyone would notice if I didn't show up for weeks on end.
• I'm going to try to blog more.  Hi!

One Year Ago, Today

My friend held her baby boy while he took his last breath.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.