EXCITING NEWS! :) No, I'm not pregnant lol

It's sad that I have to put that little add-in in my title, but I don't want people to ask, gasp or get excited for nothing lol

So the past two days have been real quiet. Grayson and I have dived into the blue boxes once more so there aren't really any new pictures to show, in fact I didn't even take any of us with the sensory bucket, box or bottle lol. Just the same ole' same ole'! I'm really hoping the weather would warm up just a little bit without this chilly wind so I can strip Grayson down to a diaper and do the blue WATER sensory bucket....but alas, I missed my chance Monday to do it when it was SO nice outside. But I just didn't want to overload Grayson too much. So I guess the bathtub will have to suffice. It's pretty much the same exact toys and the same exact water we use in the bathtub, just in a bucket outside instead lol knowing Grayson, he would want to be IN the bucket so we might as well just do it in the bathtub haha!

Anyway, I do have some REALLY good news! I've been playing phone tag with BabyNet since yesterday morning. They'll call and my phone won't be on me or I won't hear it, I'll call them back and they don't answer. But thankfully the guy got my message and when I called back, he picked up. We have an appointment with BabyNet on March 11 and I can't wait! This just brings us one step closer and I'm really glad we've gotten in with his developmental pediatrician AND BabyNet before Grayson starts Preschool in August. We'll be able to get him evaluated and get him the proper care before he enters the whole new world of Preschool. I know he'll do great!

Grayson has been so full of himself this week in a funny way. He's just had so much confidence with everything and he's always been like that but it's been a double dose of it this week lol. He's learning new words and phrases like crazy! He's learned how to say our dog's name, Bacon. He has learned how to say "get down" when the dog needs to get down lol. TMI I know, but when I asked him if he poo-pooed today, he said, "uhhhh....I did....good God!" lol it was so funny! But he's been listening SO well the past week! When I tell him we need to go get a diaper change, he goes straight to his room with no hesitation or me having to say it a million times. I know I wanted to stray away from threats like, "IF you don't do this, I'm going to do this," but I have really learned that by ASKING Grayson CALMLY if he wants a spanking when I have to repeat myself more than three times to him to do something, he does it after I ask him if he wants a spanking. I'm calm about it but firm at the same time where Grayson knows it's not funny. He LOVES to go into our bedroom and plunder! And he hates when Daddy has to go to bed where he literally won't come out. So instead of picking him up causing him throw a tantrum where he gets real upset and where it takes me forever to calm him down where it's also a guessing game to figure out what he wants....I tell him to give Daddy night night kisses and ask him calmly to come with me. If he doesn't by the time I have asked him 3 times, I ask him if he wants a spanking and he crawls real fast while laughing right out the door. Same for when he wants to plunder minus nigh night kisses to Daddy lol.

Taking a calmer approach to Grayson has REALLY affected his whole demeanor. It has REALLY eliminated most of his tantrums. Now, he still has tantrums don't get me wrong lol that comes with being a toddler....but they are slowly disappearing. He's still learning how to use his big boy words or his sign language when it comes to asking for something like more juice. He usually whines for you to give him something, but every time he does, I ask him, "how do we ask for MORE without pitching a fit?" And he'll usually do the sign language for "more". We still have a ways to go with that, but we're getting there :)

Today, the only NEW thing we did with the color blue was make a vanilla cake and vanilla cupcakes both with blue icing and rainbow fish sprinkles. Grayson loved it! He of course wanted a cupcake BEFORE dinner since Daddy just HAD to get a spoonful of icing BEFORE dinner so instead of giving Grayson a cupcake, I gave him one of his baby spoons with a TINY bit of icing so he could be like Daddy. Monkey see, monkey do right? Lol! I told Grayson he had to eat all of his food before he got a cupcake. When I thought Grayson was done since he only had a couple of noodles on his plate (we had alfredo spaghetti by the way lol), I asked him if he was ready for a cupcake. Drum roll please!....HE SAID NO! TC and I stood there in shock! Lol! He finished EVERY SINGLE piece of noodle on his plate and THEN he was ready for a cupcake lol smart boy!

I'm really proud of what he's accomplished and what I have accomplished just since last Monday. It's only been a week and a half but we've come a long way and I couldn't be happier. We still have a ways to go but I know we'll handle everything and deal with it all head on! I just love my sweet boy so much! He's SO smart and he amazes me every day!

Since I didn't get around to it yesterday, I wanted to share a recipe with yall that I made yesterday. I've made it before and it's really good, although it calls for boneless, skinless chicken THIGHS and I wasn't a fan of it so next time I'll be using boneless, skinless chicken BREASTS!

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- pepper to taste
- 1 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I left this out)
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I left these out too because when I made it before, boy was it spicy!)
- cornstarch
- sesame seeds

Directions:
- Spray your crock-pot with cooking spray
- Sprinkle pepper on both sides of the each chicken breast
- Place chicken in your crock-pot
- In a bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, oil, garlic, onion and red pepper flakes and mix well
- Pour mixture over chicken
- Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high for 1.5-2.5 hours
- When done, remove chicken from your crock-pot and cut into chunks
- Prior to returning chicken to your crock-pot, combine cornstarch and water and whisk into crock-pot to thicken the sauce
- Put the chicken back into your crock-pot and stir around to re-coat
- Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve over rice

And to follow this recipe, I also made some yummy Fried Rice:

Ingredients:
- 4 cups cooked and chilled rice (seriously yall use cooked and CHILLED rice. It works better)
- 3 tablespoons butter (divided)
- 2 eggs (whisked)
- 2 medium carrots (peeled and diced)
. 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 3 cloves garlic (again I left these out)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 green onions (thinly sliced)
- 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
* I didn't use any carrots due to a very picky husband and I didn't use eggs due to Grayson being allergic

Directions:
Heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter in skillet over medium-high heat until melted
- Add egg and cook until scrambled, stirring occasionally
- Remove egg and transfer to a separate bowl and set aside
- Add an additional 1 tablespoon of butter to skillet and heat until melted
- Add carrots, onions, peas and garlic and season with salt and pepper
- Sauté for about 5 minutes or until onion and carrots are soften
- Increase heat to high and add in remaining 1.5 tablespoons of butter until melted
- Immediately add rice, green onions and soy sauce and stir to combine
- Continue stirring for an additional 3 minutes to fry rice
- Add in eggs and stir to combine
- Add sesame oil and stir to combine
- Remove from heat and serve