Feel Good Friday: Grunty Babies and Hoyney Toddlers

Spring finally arrived here in my neck of the woods.  And nothing makes me feel more optimistic than warm sunshine after months of frigid temperatures and heaping piles of nasty white stuff.

So I am participating in Feel Good Friday, hosted by The Girl Next Door Grows Up, where I can give voice to the things that made me happy on this, the first real week of spring (at least in my mind). 

Here it goes...

1. The Growling Whine Grunt

When the baby is hungry he begins with a low whine. 

If that doesn't get my attention he grunts.  I mean, really grunts.  Like, slap on some low-riding jeans, pull the diaper down to expose his unusually long butt crack, and you've got yourself a little construction worker hauling one heavy load.  (I would like to note that he gets this trait from my husband who grunts his way through any and every physically laborious task just so I know what stud he is). 

If I allow him to build up to the dreaded scream cry there is no going back.  In fact, he ravenously takes his milk, then glares from the tops of his eyes, all the while loudly complaining (with a mouth full of breast) in a strange kind of growling whine grunt.

And I absolutely love it.  Probably the cutest thing ever (sorry there baby, but as long as you continue this behavior I just can't rush to your rescue and miss that sweet little wrath)!

2. My Hoyney Toddler

I posted a few weeks back about my toddler's translation of the word "hungry."  The word continues to draw loads of laughter in the privacy of our own home.

He decided, however, to take his act to the public this week. 

While playing in the kid's kitchen of our local library, during a rare moment of absolute silence (though not without onlookers), he began rubbing his belly, a physical sign of his pretend hunger.  Only instead of his belly he stroked his chest with both hands and yelled out, over and over, "I'm hoyney, I'm hoyney, I'm hoyney!"

3. Brownie Pizza

Need I say more.

Fun to make, and even more fun to eat (acutally, it was too sweet for my two year-old, but I loved it!).

4. A Husband Who Cooks

Picture this...

The kids are in bed, I am sitting down for the first time in hours, my feet kicked up and the TV tuned to NBC's "Comedy Night Done Right." 

As I giggle away at the latest Parks and Rec antics delicious, Mexican smells waft from the kitchen.

In no time a steaming plate of Huevos Rancheros, complete with yellow rice and homemade guacamole, an ice cold beer, and my angelic husband are before me.

In the tradition of Mexican food I eat until I am so bloated I can barely move, set my plate on the coffee table, and contentedly sigh.

At the next commercial break I tear myself from the couch's vice-like grip to clear our plates...

at which point I stop dead in my tracks at the door to the kitchen and think...

"If only I could find a husband who cleans up!"

5. Kids and Coffee

I know, they normally don't mix.

But there is this great, family-owned coffee shop in our town that is actually kid-friendly, and even kid-inviting. 

When you walk in a giant aquarium full of bright yellow and electric blue fish greets you.  And if that is not enough, shelves full of toys and books for kids await you in the back.  (I'm usually happy if a coffeehouse just keeps highchairs on hand.)

With an infant and a toddler we are still lucky to stay for just 15 minutes, but it is 15 minutes of glorious, coffee-sipping, kid-amusing semi-relaxation and in the middle of a long day it feels amazing.