1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teapsoon baking soda

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 cup M&M’s mini baking bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.  Beat butter and sugars together with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low. 

Add half of flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture, beat until combined.  Add sour cream and other half of flour mixture, and beat until just combined.  Stir in M&M’s by hand.  Cover, and freeze for 10 minutes.

Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart.  Bake until centers are set and cookies are pale golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.

Yields: About 2 dozen

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This TRUE story below comes to us from one of our readers in hopes to educate all of our readers about a condition called Osteomyelitis.  Thank you to Lori from Little Rock, Arkansas for sharing her story below:

Gage’s story

My son, who is normally a very happy, agreeable two year old, began being really cranky on a Tuesday night.  On Thursday morning, he ran a fever so I took him to the doctor, who said there was nothing she could find, including ear infection, strep throat, all the “normal” things.  So all we could do was wait it out.  The fever went away.  On Saturday morning, he woke up and would not bend his right knee.  I figured, he is two and a boy, he banged it on something, although there was no sign of injury.  I went on to work that night.

Later that night, my husband called me and said his knee felt warm and looked swollen.  I told some of my friends about it, looking for clues as to what the deal was.  One of my friends (my lifesaver), worked in the ER at our children’s hospital before transferring to my unit, and she told me that it could be osteomyelitis, an infection in the bone, and that I should take him into the ER.  So, as soon as I got home on Sunday morning, we went.

We ended up there for a week, ended up having surgery, a bone scan, xrays, IV antibiotics, and went home with a cast for two weeks and antibiotics for 4 weeks, and weekly lab draws.  Luckily, thanks to my friend, he did not develop osteomyelitis, instead it stayed in his knee since we caught it early enough.  Had we waited, it would have spread and he could have potentially lost his leg from it.  As it is, we should have no lasting effects from it, he is running around and fine now.

The doctors told me that they are seeing this a lot now, and usually parents do not bring the kids in as early as we did, for the same reasons that I might not have, age, activity, so forth…again, there was no sign of injury at all to his knee.  The doctors said it just happens randomly, you cannot do anything to either cause or prevent it, it usually develops from a cold or strep or something like that.  He was actually tested for strep and it was negative. Two days after we came home, my 4 year old came down with strep, so we assume now that he had strep that was undiagnosed or that was never in his throat.

So, the point of me passing this along to all the moms is this…..if your child shows any indication of pain in a knee, ankle, or hip, take them in right away if there is no obvious injury to the area.  The doctors asked me to pass this information along to my friends, cause this is much easier to treat if you catch it early enough, and it is more common than you would think.  You could save your child a lot of trouble and pain down the road.  Trust me, I never thought anything like this would happen to one of my children.  They stay at home with me, no daycare, I take them to the doctor at the first sign of illness…but it still happened to Gage.

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So this past week was my 20 month old’s first week of swimming lessons at our local community center.  Let me clarify “swimming lessons” ….basically mom and child get in the pool and do a little kicking of the legs, singing songs in the water, having someone pass your child to you in a swimming motion, and quickly dunking the child under water. 

Our lesson is twice a week for two weeks and each lesson is 30 minutes long.  Our lesson is a group lesson with one instructor and about 10 parents with their children.  Our first lesson was this past Tuesday and as soon as my daughter and I got in the pool I could tell she wasn’t having it.  She did enjoy singing the two songs that we sang in the beginning of the lesson, but after about 5 minutes of being in the pool she was over it.  So instead of spending the next 25 minutes as a Jeff Corwin imposter and wresting a small alligator (uh hum, my child) I decided to let her out of the pool…which she was very happy about.  As soon as her feet hit the side of the pool, she ran to the nearest corner…squatted down and pooped.  Lesson complete and thank goodness for swim diapers!  As we were leaving the center, the instructor tracked me down and encouraged me to come back for lesson two….she must have worried that I might be discouraged, which I assured her we had a great time and would be back.

After our first lesson, I just thought well she just wasn’t into it today…she will do better on Thursday at lesson two.  Lesson two rolls around, we get in the pool and we sing our songs and she is having a blast.  About 15 minutes into the lesson the instructor swims over and wants to pass my daughter to me in the pool.  I figure…why not?  As soon as the instructor has a hold of her, she is not happy.  We do the exercise quickly and then my daughter wants out of the pool.  Once again, I let her out of the pool.  The last thing I want to do is keep her in the pool when she wants out and make her terrified of the water.  Can you guess what happens next?  Yup, you got it…she finds the nearest corner, squats and poops.  Lesson two complete!

The jury is still out on the swim lessons.  It could be the fact that my daughter just needs to poop….can’t say that I blame her, who wants to poop while sitting in water?  Or it could the fact that our swim instructor who wears a wet suit, a swim cap with her red hair sticking out of it, and big bright goggles on her eyes resembles some sort of scary salamander.

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Check out the new Graco AirBooster Car Seat. The AirBooster is designed as a booster seat that kids ages 3 - 10 can enjoy sitting in. The AirBooster replaces traditional seats with the patented FLEX-Comfort suspension seating that adapts to a child’s weight and size, reducing pressure points and providing the right fit as your child grows. Additional features of the AirBooster include:

• Breathable seat material that allows air to circulate to keep your child comfortable

• Easy to clean seat & removable seat pad

• Pull out cup holders to store drinks and snacks

• Deep side wings for head support

• Color coded belt guides to help parents position the seat belt correctly

The AirBooster is for children 30 - 100 lbs. and 38 - 57 inches tall. You can find the AirBooster at national retailers or online for $99.99. Check out www.gracobaby.com to see a demo on the AirBooster.

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Here is a picture of my zingy little one, Mackenzie.  In this photo she is enjoying a trolley ride through the town of Savannah, GA in the lovely 95 degree weather.

Do you have any adorable, silly or funny pictures of your child?  Send them to us at mommyzing@gmail.com and check back to see if your child is the Zingy kid of the week!

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