I was browsing through my old drafts when I ran across this post I never published. This was written a long time ago, I’m guessing in 2009 or 2010. I almost just deleted it, but then I opened it and smiled at the memories. It also inspired me to talk to you about how going through unfinished drafts is a great way to get inspiration when you have Writer’s Block.

The Old Post

I love to listen to my little boy talk. I love to dwell on his silly yet serious words. Here are some snippets of some of the things I have heard him say just recently.

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Mr. Z: Orange Monkey, there a orange monkey.
I look at him as he lay on the changing table wearing his orange shirt.
Me: An orange monkey?  I think I see this orange monkey! I think you are the orange monkey. (I start to tickle him.)
Mr Z:  giggle

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As I set Zarek down to play Zane starts yelling, “Zarek need bottle! Zarek need bottle!” In hopes that Zarek may not be allowed to play with “Zane’s” toys.

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I love to listen to him sing with his music in his car seat as we drive down the road.

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Zane was climbing all over the chair in our living room. He was saying, “We need our mouse-ka-tools, We need our mouse-ka-tools, Ohh, Tootles!!” (If you are not an avid toddler TV watcher then you may not know this is from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse aka Zane’s Favorite Show.)

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At the doctor’s office we were looking at the fish, which Zane loves to do. Zane points to a big fish, “Daddy Fish”. He points to a smaller fish, “Mommy Fish”. He has been doing this for a month now with everything, but then he pointed to another smaller fish, “Andrea Fish”. Andrea is my best friends who Zane adores. LOL

Any car we pass that isn’t our car he goes, “Andrea’s car”. It can be any color, any size and it’s still, “Andrea’s car.”

The Challenge

If you are staring at your computer and you don’t know what to write about go into your old drafts. Don’t just look at the titles, open up the whole post and read them. You may not find a post that is just ready to hit publish on, but you may find a post that you can add to or edit and post. You may even look at an old post and get a completely new idea from it.

The idea is that reading your old writing may bring back a previous passion for blogging you had forgotten about.

How many old drafts do you have that you have never published? Have you ever published a post from years ago before?

Download the PDF with 16 exercise cards!

Is it terrible to say that my first reaction to you coming into our lives was not that of glee and joy. But you my little boy have filled our lives with so much glee and joy. I was stressed about the idea of having a new little one so quickly. After waiting and trying for your brother so long, I was not expecting a such a quick repeat. I was afraid you would be a whirl wind of a little boy just as your bother.

But you are so much different than your brother. You Zarek are my little sunshine. You wake up with sunshine smiles, hugs and kisses and you just fill my day with warmth and happiness. You love to snuggle and share your love. You love to give out random kisses and have a huge heart. When Zaney gets hurt you run over to give him so many loves.

This last year I have watched you become the most efficient walker, runner, climber I have ever seen. You love to climb on everything and have only fallen a few rare times. Your words are slow to come but I suspect that is because you want to be confident in your wide range of movement.

You are also very quiet when you speak, I think that you are just more quiet in general. Though this last month you have really started picking up your words and even saying sentences. One being “Go Away” so clearly the first time I heard it I was sure it wasn’t you. I wonder who would have taught you that phrase? Maybe a big brother, even though he loves you and loves playing with you somedays he’s done and says this to you.

I love to watch your compassion grow and strengthen, you obviously will have a heart for animals and for people. You try and make sure everyone is happy and if not you try and comfort them with your sweet two year old way.

You have definitely decided that you are two and that this means you know how this world works and if mommy says no she must be wrong. Part of me is happy to see this strength of character, but part of me is sad to see the two-year-old defiance start to come out. Tantrums have started, but I know you will quickly grow out of them!

We have had such an amazing year and I cannot wait to see the years to come. I’m sorry your letter is a little late, life has been so hectic in this last few months, but I wanted to make sure I finished it!

Zane’s First Recipe: Ants Under Rocks

Ingredients:

• Graham Crackers
• Raisins and/or Craisins
• Peanut Butter
• Banana

Directions:

1. Break graham crackers apart

2. Spread peanut butter

3. Stick raisins into peanut butter

4. Slice banana and place on top of raisins

5. Enjoy!!

Guess who learned to get out of his crib today? – TJ via Text

I know I was gone the whole month of December, did you miss me? I have missed you, but December was a hard month for me. I was working a lot and I was having a lull in my business and I was incredibly stressed over Christmas.

All of this added in to just needing a break and having one less thing to worry about and more poor blog ended up being one of those things.

Christmas

Christmas was amazing! I worked hard and almost everything fell into place perfectly.

The boys loved Christmas. This is the first year we got to teach Zane Christmas songs and read Christmas books and he really understood what was happening. Zarek was much more aware and he loved all the family get togethers and presents and decorations.

Zane’s Christmas

For Zane we did something extra special. He had received a large remote control Lightening McQueen from his Granny (from a  garage sale) a while ago. He loved that poor car to falling apart in multiple pieces. He even slept with it. We finally took it away from him when it started splitting in half and told him we were sending it to Santa to see if he could find a mechanic to work on him.

We bought a new car similar but not remote control ( he ruined the gears in the original because of this feature). We put a big green bow on him and placed him by his bed when he was sleeping. He woke up and the first thing he told TJ was Now when he finds a broken toy he lets us know we can send it to Santa to get it fixed.

Another big find, one of my friends helped us with, was a big care bear. Zane loves Care Bears and I looked to find him a Care Bear, but soon found out they had taken them out of stores and all the ones I found on amazon were $25 to $50. I just couldn’t let myself pay that much for a Care Bear.

But my friend Andrea was at Good Will and found the biggest Care Bear (and of course Zane’s favorite the pink Cheer Bear) for only $4!

Zane was running around trying to carry that thing everywhere on Christmas Day and even now! And now it sleeps with him every night!

Zarek’s Christmas

Zarek got to have a huge fun ball pit/tent/tunnel that we have put in his room. It was all setup for him when he came down the stairs. He was more thrilled with some of Zane’s toys, but once we set up the ball pit in his room and laid down the foam squares Granny had bought he was in love. Both him and Zane flip and dive in the pit like crazy, screaming and laughing so hard. It is great!

My Christmas

I didn’t get my present on Christmas but on New’s Year Eve. I got a Samsung Galaxy Tablet! I love it. I’ve been needing something to replace my netbook since it’s little accident and this is perfect. I got the ATT version but didn’t get the 3g, I’m fine with just using it with WiFi. I’m really loving it so far!

That was the big things in December as you can see you didn’t miss much, but hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things and start blogging regularly.

We went to the dentist for the first time this week. One of the fun little things they had for the boys was a beanbag toss where they won little pumpkins!

So this week I pulled out some paint brushes and paint and let the boys paint them.

I took a food tray from the store and placed them under the pumpkins or you could use newspaper if you want.

I highly recommend non-toxic paint for your little ones because as you can see Zarek thought we were eating at first. But he got the hang of it. But he did still try each color every time I turned my back.

And as you can see he loved this so much he decided to paint his hand too!

Zane loved painting his, almost a little too much, his pumpkin took a full day to dry.

This is a fun and easy and safe way for the boys to decorate their pumpkins. How did your pumpkins turn out this year? How do you decorate them?