Dear TJ,

You seem to frame everything as a video game lately. I guess that’s going to be your little obsession in life, since you love playing games on the computer and on the Wii. You were making your Slinky walk down the stairs last night, and you told me that we “cleared the level.” This morning, I was giving you a light back massage to a rhyme about caterpillars, and once all the caterpillars “fell off” whatever they were climbing on, you informed me that the next level was to put all the caterpillars back in their places. And another level would be to match the colors of the caterpillars. You keep adding more rules and levels when talking about the caterpillars.

Occasionally, you’ll set up real life version of games you like to play, too. You used some marbles and many of daddy’s multi-faceted dice to play Peggle a few weeks back. Sometimes you’ll decide that you’re playing real life Luxor or Bejeweled Twist, too.

It can be cute sometimes, but it can also be very frustrating. I’m wondering, though, if we should stop fighting your obsession with games and instead use it as a learning tool or to encourage positive behavior. Maybe instead of trying (unsuccessfully) to get you to try foods you used to eat but decided you no longer like, I could tell you that you need to take a bite to get an extra life and move on to the next level. Hmm. This is something that never occurred to me until I was writing this letter to you. We’ll have to give it a try.

Love,
Mommy

Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:

1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.

2. Sign the MckLinky below with your name or blog name and the link to your Dear Kid post – the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.

3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Dear Kid Saturday – Everything Video Games

Dear TJ,

Since Grandma Kitty is visiting your cousin Kyle in Michigan, I picked you up from school yesterday. I was running a little late because it took me a while to get home from Social Media Breakfast, so Miss Maryellen was able to walk you over to me herself when I arrived. She told me you had good news. You sang during music group!

This was such great news! You told me that you sang and that you weren’t nervous at all about all of the kids there. Miss Maryellen also mentioned that you did not sit on a blue mat for circle time, but that you were a big boy about it. You, however, were being a stinker and told me that you did sit on a blue mat. But that’s okay. Because you had a great day! I’m so proud of you. Happy Halloween, buddy!

Love,
Mommy

Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:

1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.

2. Sign the MckLinky below with your name or blog name and the link to your Dear Kid post – the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.

3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Dear Kid Saturday – Music Group

Dear Readers,

I need to ask you a REALLY big favor. I’m one of the 15 finalists in the Delicious Moments Facebook Contest for $10,000, and I need your votes to win!

I am aware that it’s not my name on the video. I had problems uploading my video, so I had to email it to the company for them to upload. Imagine my surprise when I ended up as one of the finalists!

But seriously. TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. That would make a good chunk of a down payment on a REAL HOUSE for my family. We’re in a townhouse that was plenty big enough for just me and Tom, but it seriously inadequate with an active little boy like TJ.

Please help me win. You can only cast one vote per Facebook account. I need you to spread the word for me!

The Giveaway

If I win, I will award a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com to one of those who voted for me. How to enter:

• REQUIRED: Go to the Delicious Moments Facebook Contest page and vote for me. Then leave a comment here letting me know that you voted for me, and leave a link to your Facebook profile if you feel comfortable with it. (You don’t have to, but maybe we can friend each other that way.)
• OPTIONAL: Tweet about this contest using the following tweet, or another tweet that includes both my Twitter ID and the short URL:

  Help @CutestKidEver win $10k by voting for her video & get a chance to win $100 GC to Amazon! http://kl.am/DeliciousMoments Please RT

  Leave a comment linking to your tweet. You may complete this entry up to three times per day.

My giveaway will end when the voting ends on November 9, 2009. If I am announced as the winner of the video contest, I will use Random.org to choose one commenter to win a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Winner must be 18 or older and be a legal resident of the U.S. or Canada. Void where prohibited. No prize will be awarded if I do not win the $10,000 prize.

A final note: Feel free to visit the contest page and watch all of the videos. You do not have to feel compelled to vote for me if you think someone else deserves to win. However, if you do vote for someone else, I have to point out that it’s pretty silly to enter my giveaway, seeing how you’d be helping someone else win the $10,000 prize, and therefore I wouldn’t be giving anything away.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Delicious Moments Facebook Contest and Giveaway

Dear TJ,

Yesterday, Daddy and I went to a parent teacher conference at preschool. When we got there, Miss Maryellen introduced us to Diane Burke, who is one of the school administrators. Miss Maryellen started out by telling us that you’re a very sweet boy, and that you try very hard in school. She thinks you’re quite adorable. But she did have some concerns.

She seemed a little nervous when asking if you had an actual diagnosis, and when I said yes, she asked if it was PDD-NOS. I said no, you were diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. She took a deep breath, and I could tell she was relieved. She said that would make everything easier.

We talked about your rigidity issues. You have a hard time at circle time when you don’t get to sit on a blue mat. Miss Maryellen has been intentionally giving you a different colored mat so that you can learn it’s okay to have a different color. She said that you used to cry and have a tantrum when you got a red or yellow mat, but now you mostly just sulk about it. Diane said they might make a social story about it for you, taking pictures of you sitting on the red mat and showing you that everything turned out okay. “You Can’t Always Sit Where You Want.” I can’t wait to see that.

We also talked about your intolerance for noise and crowds, both of which are problems during music group on Fridays. Other classes come in to do music with your class, and you’ve told your teachers that it makes you nervous. Miss Emma was listening in and told us that you sat next to her at the back of the room last week. She said that you had your back turned to the rest of the class, but then you were laughing and singing along with her so long as you couldn’t see all the other kids.

Your teachers would like you to join the five days a week class. They think that you would really benefit from coming every day instead of just three days a week. You would stay in Miss Maryellen’s classroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but you would go to the Helping Hands classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You would have OT and PT at Helping Hands instead of down at Kids Care in Latham. They said you could even take the bus if you’re in the five day class. Wouldn’t that be cool?

But getting you into the five day class means meeting with the CPSE again. It’s been almost a year since your first evaluation, so they are going to ask for a program review for you. Since you now have a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome and you’re already receiving services on the additional days you’d be going to school, they hope that it won’t be difficult to convince the committee that this is the right thing to do.

We all agree that this would be the best thing for you. You love school, so I don’t think you’ll have a problem with it either. Even your grandmas think this would be a good move, and it’s hard to convince them of such things! I have been a little worried about your kindergarten readiness, so this would help ease my anxiety immensely. We just have to get the school district to agree.

So I haven’t told you any of this yet, because I don’t want you to get excited about something that might not happen. We’ll see! Let’s hope they schedule a hearing for us quickly.

Love,
Mommy

Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:

1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.

2. Sign the MckLinky below with your name or blog name and the link to your Dear Kid post – the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.

3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Dear Kid Saturday – Parent Teacher Conference

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming eBook, The Picky Eater’s Cookbook. Living in New York State, apple season is a wonderful time of year that makes autumn the official start of baking season. One of my favorite apple recipes is apple bread. I will fully admit to eating half a loaf in one sitting, and sending the other half to work with my husband so I can’t eat the whole thing at once.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening (I use Crisco baking sticks)
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium-large apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream together sugar, shortenening, and eggs. Mix in apples. Add the rest of the ingredients gradually, stirring as you go. If the mixture is not wet enough, you can add more chopped apples.

Place bread dough in metal loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top, if desired. Bake in the oven at 350 for one hour. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Recipes for Picky Eaters: Apple Bread

Tom and I are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary today. Nine years. Nine wonderful years. We’ve had our struggles and we’ve had our blessings. I’m looking forward to our 10th anniversary, and our 25th, 50th, and (God willing) our 75th.

A great song was recently released as a single, with the accompanying music video. It expresses a lot of how I feel about the man I love.

Dave Matthews Band – You & Me

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah

Happy anniversary, honey! I love you!

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Happy 9th Anniversary

I’d like to thank everyone who entered my giveaway for $100+ worth of Type-A Mom swag. I hope you’ve been enjoying the games on WorldWinner! So I used Random.org to select the winner. Out of 50 comments, Random.org chose…

#24 … Vickie B!

Congratulations, Vickie! I’m going to be contacting you first on Twitter to get your address, then by email if I don’t get a reply.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Type-A Mom Swag Giveaway WINNER

Do you remember reading Where the Wild Things Are when you were a kid? Have you read it to your kids yet? Where the Wild Things Are was released in theaters and IMAX last Friday. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have seen the trailers for it, and I’ve got to say… they’ve got the visuals spot on!

In celebration of the movie’s release, IMAX is launching a special promotion for their Facebook fans. For one week – starting today, Monday, October 19 – two fans who put the Where the Wild Things Are crown on their profile picture and leave a comment on the IMAX Wall  will be entered to win an exclusive prize package each day. The prize package includes an exclusive Where the Wild Things Are poster, the book, and a pair of IMAX movie tickets. Follow the instructions on the IMAX Fan Page to enter!

Another Chance to Win

Momfluence is giving us another chance to win Where the Wild Things Are prizes! Two lucky readers of Momfluence blogs (you’re reading one!) will win an awesome prize package that includes:

• An adult Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt (L or XL)
• A kids Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt (size large)
• A Where the Wild Things Are Crown
• An exclusive Where the Wild Things Are IMAX poster
• Where the Wild Things Are book
• A pair of IMAX movie tickets

Cool, huh? There are two things you need to do to enter the special  Momfluence contest:

1. Become a fan of IMAX on Facebook.
2. Fill out this secure form.

The contest ends on Friday night, October 23, 2009 at 11:59 pm ET. It is open to all legal  U.S. residents age 18 or older.

Want More Prizes?

There’s also a Twitter party with more Where the Wild Things Are prizes! Join us tonight (Monday, October 19) from 9:00 – 10:00 pm ET by following the hashtag #IMAXWildThings – I use TweetGrid to follow these parties, but others prefer TweetChat. Hope to see you there!

Note: I get entered into a bonus contest to win the Momfluence prize package for blogging about this. Wahoo!

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Momfluence – Where the Wild Things Are Contest

I can’t think of a more fun day to celebrate than National Cupcake Day… can you? I thought I’d take this opportunity to thank Hostess Cupcakes for sending me a few free boxes of chocolaty goodness a month or so back – to celebrate their 90th anniversary! It was pretty awesome. I was tweeting with them on Twitter and thought I’d be funny and ask if they deliver… and they did! (Note: Trying to replicate this probably won’t work a second time.)

I have to say, while I do appreciate many of the goodies that Little Debbie has to offer, I  got to try their chocolate cupcakes at the Type-A Mom Conference. I was totally spoiled by my present from Hostess, because the Little Debbie cupcakes just didn’t measure up. (Don’t be angry, Little Debbie. I’m still addicted to your Nutty Bars.) As a matter of fact, I’d brought some of my Hostess Cupcakes with me in my luggage, and even though they’d gotten squished on the plane, I ate them. Even though I had to gnaw some of the chocolate off the wrapper. (As long as TJ didn’t see it, I’m still a good mom, right?)

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Happy National Cupcake Day

Dear TJ,

You love working on your “projects.” That great big bucket of art supplies we bought a few months ago is getting some good use. You’ve been gluing pom poms, buttons, and googly eyes to construction paper last night and today. You’re so excited about it, it’s pretty cool. I just hope you don’t get too upset when you realize you’ve used all of the buttons and pom poms!

Love,
Mommy

Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:

1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.

2. Sign the MckLinky below with your name or blog name and the link to your Dear Kid post – the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.

3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.

Post from: Cutest Kid Ever - A mommy blog with parenting advice, cute kid pics, and more - formerly known as Cutest Baby Ever

Dear Kid Saturday – Art Projects