Welcome to Montessori...

Today was my little heartbeat first day of Montessori school and I was a ball a nerves.

My love on the other hand had no clue what was going on and was just EXCITED that mommy was home when she woke up this morning.

So excited that it threw dada’ s morning routine OFF and had him rolling his eyes at me even after we dropped her off lol.

Who knew mama being there to see her off would result in no Spanish lesson, no morning pictures, and lots of tears?  Whelp! Maybe I should have expected that but I just couldn’t miss her first day in her new environment.  I just couldn’t so, I was there snapping iphone pics, fixing hair, holding, hugging, and kissing my baby.

And after sneaking a few photos in at the house, we headed off to school where I watched these two walk in the school like they owned the place.

Everything was going great until she realized I was there.  Then she LOST it. It was HORRIBLE. Like the teacher had to pry her out of my arms horrible. Y’all already know I cried like a baby when I got back to the car and can’t stop thinking about how she’s doing :-(

A Moment in Baby Hair

Since its Wednesday and normally I post a wordless post I’ll make this brief.

I came across the photo below and had to share it with you guys because it truly depicts the struggle I have when trying to keep Baby O’s hair looking semi decent.

The worst part about this photo is I spend an hour putting up with these shenanigans only for her to wake up the next morning with her hair looking a week old 😊

Battle Of Wheels (Update)

Hey loves,

Last night while going through my nightly dinner time battle with Baby O I realized that I never updated you all on how things were going with Battle of Wheels.

So here it is...

At this stage in Baby O’s life she is absolutely a picky eater with a very strong opinion about food yet, loves to snack. When it comes to full meals either she loves what’s placed in front of her and will devour every last drop. In such a manner that you’d awesome she never ate before or, she HATES it and will run around the house or kitchen kicking and screaming if you try to convince her otherwise...smh.

The worse part about these dinner shenanigans are the fact that they are very inconsistent. One day chicken is broccoli works and the next day it doesn’t. One day she wants it because mommy and daddy are eating it but, the moment you thing you’re going to give it to her again hunty acts all sorts of brand new on you lol.

That’s her play cooking her dinner from last night (aka feeding it to the dog) because, she didn’t want to eat. Mind you this is the exact same chicken breast she ate of off her dad’s fork the night before...I can’t deal

Although, I can laugh about all this in hindsight, I am very aware that in the moment this is/can be a frustrating ordeal. Especially when I pick her up from school the next day and her daily charts says she ate all her food. I totally go all...Huh? What the heck are they doing that I’m not? What the heck is in their food? Then I have to remind myself that kids are influenced by those around them and everyone else is sitting and eating like a big kid she will as well. I can’t lie that little fact annoys the heck out me but, I try to turn my annoyance into gratitude because in the grand scheme of things she atleast she gets in one balanced meal a day.

As, for our nightly battle I’ve learned to no longer fight with her about it.  I try to avoid force feeding her and instead I take the approach of this is your only option. If she chooses to eat it great, if not I’ve learned to be ok with that too.Especially, after I recently received this article in my inbox...Picky Toddler Eating. It gave me a ton of perspective and, taught me to trust her judgment when it comes to this food thing. After all she knows her body best :).

Fellow HeartBEATS

Is your toddler a picky eater as well? What are some of the things you’re doing to resolve the issue?

Little Miss Personality

Happy Monday Loves!

My apologies for going all MIA last week but I spent the week diligently working on another project (will share details soon) and by the time I came up for air it was the weekend lol.

Any who. I'm back like I never left and ready to share some updates. 

Baby O is officially 16 months and although there aren’t any major milestones to share there are some silent developments taking place.

What’s a silent development?

To me it’s the subtle changes that show growth that we often take advantage of. The ones we see but happening daily but because it’s not crawling, walking, or talking we don’t feel the need to share.

For instance my tiny tot has TONS of personality and I swear it crept up on us.

Honestly it didn’t I’ve been watching it develop since birth and, have been living a life of denial about it lol. And, now that she’s a little mover and shaker I can no longer hide the fact that I know which is cool...I guess. Because, at the moment the real question is what in the world am I going to do with her little strong, independent, determined, loving, and funny self? I totally didn’t expect all this at 16 months.

Battle Of Wheels

I'm sure from this title you thought this article would be about Olivia and her little hot wheels. Ummmm it's not, but check this photo the hubs got of her in her ride couple of Sundays ago.

Now, the main purpose of today’s blog, in my house there is a real battle of WILLs going down.

I’ve finally realized that Baby O is whole heartedly a toddler and has really be trying my patience. Yeah we have some... She tried it (in my Tamara voice) moments.  The crazy part is I didn't realize that’s what she was doing until I was chatting with my friend Amber, about some of my recent dinner time experiences with Baby O. Over the past couple weeks the shenanigans at dinner time have simply been getting out of control. Of course, I blamed teething (because I blame everything on teething lol) but in reality she was pulling these stunts, because she knew she could. Talking to Amber helped me realize what was going on though.

But, I honestly wasn’t 100% convinced that she was playing me until I arrived at her school that same day. When I arrived to pick her up from school her teacher informed me that Baby O is learning to self sooth in the classroom. Of course, I inquired to see what self-soothing technique they were using, turns out when my tiny tot gets upset they walk her over to a little plush chair, explain to her that all is well, she has her moment and comes out when she’s ready to play again.

So my child gets the concept of time out? Really?

You better believe I left the school in total shock. Home girl listens to everyone but me lol (it's not funny but it is)...

For the first time in a long time I was the soft one. Totally thought I left that ish back in my childhood with my rough a** brothers. Guess I was wrong because home girl be punking me y'all. That night at dinner I put some base in my voice when speaking to her, how about home girl ate her entire dinner...oh it's ON. Bet I won't be around here letting a tiny tot get over on me anymore. It's her will against mine, and she may have won a few battles, but I promise I'll win this war.

After all it's simply a matter of respect. Which is not optional in our house.

Fellow HeartBEATS

I'll keep you all posted on our little war but for now is like to know when you first discovered the Battle of Wills in your home?

Wordless Wednesdays: Baby O is 14 Months And...