Two acts of kindness, a new birthday tradition!

 I was completely inspired by Valerie at Inner Child Fun and her 35 random acts of kindness for her birthday.  My daughter’s second birthday was approaching when I read the blog post.  I had been thinking about the traditions that we would be starting this year.  The idea of “paying it forward” really resonates with me, especially starting at a young age.

 Little Roo still received many gifts from her family members and had an absolutely amazing birthday party with help from my party planner friend at Minnow and Co Productions.

Our yard transformed into a fabulous play land!

Her two acts of kindness:

* Book drive in lieu of gifts at her party.  We collected books to donate rather than gifts from her toddler friends.  It was fun to see the generosity of others as well as the creativity in the hand-made cards she received.  I will keep the paintings, cards, and drawings forever.

* Cookies for community workers.  There has been construction across the street from our neighborhood all summer.  The same “worker” helps direct the truck traffic and always helps stop traffic so we can cross the street safely.  The rest of the construction crew always wave and stop to help us navigate through the maze of holes in the road and detours so that we can make it to the playground.  We decided to make the workers a batch of cookies. They were delightfully surprised to receive the cookies.  I told them how much we appreciate their friendliness and that the trucks themselves provide great entertainment.  The crossing guard’s reply, “We try to be nice, the trucks drawing so much attention just comes along with it.”

I plan to encourage Roo to continue this tradition of “giving back” to match her age every year!  I can’t wait to hear what her ideas are in the future!  What birthday traditions does your family enjoy?? Tell me how you perform Random Acts of Kindness!

Early Learning in the Garden

I admittedly have a “black thumb” when it comes to gardening.  I have never been able to keep any kind of houseplant alive.  However, I really love the idea of growing our own food, and urged my husband to get on board with the idea of planting a few vegetables this year.  Luckily, once he was invested in the project, he built a raised bed and remembers to water the plant regularly.

Most of us have heard that when children help with growing fruits and vegetables they are more likely to eat them!  I am going to take it a step further and give a few activities to engage little ones in the garden.  If you are not growing your own garden, these ideas can still be used at a farm or farmer’s market.

• Give them their own tools and their own space to dig!  This can be as simple as letting them use the plastic containers that your seedlings came in (which is what we did) or actually making them their own space like this one from The Imagination Tree. Bottom line: if you want to be working in the garden, give them something similar to do to keep them engaged.

Roo collected sticks from around the yard and used the empty seedling containers to create art!

• Go on a color scavenger hunt—find every color of the rainbow in your garden/backyard/farm/market. Pick the red tomatoes, find a yellow blossom, point to the green zucchini….etc

finding the red, ripe tomatoes and picking them!

• Count your harvest.  How many tomatoes did we pick?  We’ll need ___ lettuce leaves for our salad.

• Sort your harvest. You can sort by color, fruit or vegetable, shape, sweet or sour, etc.  You can use hula hoops or buckets to sort the produce into.

• Introduce descriptive vocabulary that engages all the senses: talk about textures, tastes, shapes, smells, and noises that they make when dropped into a bucket.  Possibly the most fun activity related to gardening is the taste test!

smelling... 

tasting....

Once they are a little older, they can help with the planting and maintenance as well.

We have been successful (so far) with lettuce, basil, zucchini and tomatoes.  Our strawberries keep getting eaten and aren’t quite flourishing.  I know that our garden is small by some standards and we didn't grow from seeds, but for our first year of gardening, I am proud that we are producing anything!!!  I absolutely LOVE picking fresh food to use in my recipes and to serve/eat as a healthful snack.

Following in her mama and dada's footsteps….

 I have yet to post much about myself….and this one will only be partly about myself ;)  After nearly ten years of running at the same pace and mostly the same distance, I decided to actually train for a half-marathon last year and increase my speed.  Last year’s training was dream-like: I had a friend to run and chat with, I didn’t get injured, every new milestone fueled me to go faster and further (there was only one super hot and humid long run that my watch wasn’t working properly so we couldn’t even see how many miles we had been that didn’t go so smoothly)!! This year I decided to tackle the marathon….I am six weeks into the training plan and have gotten shin splints for the first time and feel like I am on the verge of getting blisters, and the runs aren’t quite as dreamy!  With that being said, I have also PR’d for 5Ks and 5-milers this year, which feels great. 

Most of the time I run in the morning before Little Roo wakes up, but on occasion I take her and the BOB stroller for a spin (a worthy investment for anyone who wants to run with baby in tow).  Yesterday I decided to run to the local high school track to do some speed work.  She enjoys riding in the stroller while I am running, even asks for more “running” when we slow down or stop.  The plan was to run there, then have her play, look at books, and have a little snack in the field while I ran around the track.  We had done this once before, when my husband was able to come along.  At first, she was content eating her snack.

Once her snack was gone, she was more interested in clapping for me and bringing me my water bottle. I think her "coaching" is one of the sweetest acts…when her dad was there, he was doing that and it amazes me that after seeing him do it once, she followed suit!  What a testament to modeling the behavior we want to see.  While I also realize I am modeling healthy habits, I would rather her see kindness in action and apply it than have her be a runner!

Eventually, she wanted to run, too!! Training for the next Kid's Fun Run?!

Firework-inspired art for toddlers

Inspired by the shape and color of fireworks, we created some patriotic art work!  We used the “doodle paint” recipe (flour, salt, water, paint) in squeeze bottles--- the girls (Little Roo and a friend) were able to squeeze and drip paint onto coffee filters.  We talked about how to turn the bottle and wait for it to drip or squeeze it, as well as the colors and the shape of the coffee filter.  I mentioned the colors of the American flag and we can see one out the window.   They don’t know what fireworks are yet, and probably won’t be up late enough to see them this year.  For them it was about exploring paint in a new way, on a new paper. The texture of the paint is also different because of the salt, when it did get on their hands we talked about how it felt rough, not smooth like finger-paint.  I like to keep projects open-ended, but get inspiration from holidays, seasons, interests, etc. When this paint dries, there is a bit of a sparkle to it from the salt!

w

two hands!

waiting for the blue to drip!

To Gift Or Not To Gift??

Why is it so hard to respect a “no-gift” request for a child’s birthday party?  I am serious….I will be making a similar request when Little Roo turns two in a couple months, so why when I am asked to just come to celebrate a little boy turning one do I immediately think “I should at least get him something little?!”  I think there are many reasons to make the request of friends to skip gift giving.  Financial burden, child already has plenty of toys, parent wanting to ensure toys fit with their philosophy, burden of time and effort-- to name a few.  That being said, traditions become hard-wired in us and we can’t imagine a birthday without presents or cake.  We know that this child is going to get presents, even if it is not from us. Yet, we still have trouble respecting the parents’ wishes, which would actually make our lives just a little easier. The first party Little Roo was ever invited to had a “no gift” request, which I promptly I ignored.  Some of the other party-goers listened and I, in turn, unintentionally made them feel bad for not bringing a gift.  I was excited for the party and thought that I would never be able to show up without a gift.  Nearly a year later, Little Roo has a lot of friends that will all be celebrating birthdays every year.  From my perspective, I have started to realize that can really add up!   This time around, I decided to make a little something for the birthday boy instead….I guess I would still feel bad showing up “empty-handed.”  I made a small batch of play dough, stuck it in a cupcake liner and added a candle.  This would also make a cute party favor!  What are your thoughts on birthday parties with "no gifts??"

Sidewalk Painting!

All you need is a paintbrush, water, a sunny day and a sidewalk!!   Sometimes the hardest thing to come by in New England is the sunshine!! This fun activity is a no-mess (although depending on how much your child likes getting wet, may require a change of clothes) way to paint.  When the picture dries up, paint another, and another, and another. Older kids can time how long it takes to dry and then compare to other days findings.

When I taught preschool, the children also enjoyed “painting” the climbing structure, picnic table, fence, etc.  It can be fun to mix water painting with chalk for a different spin on the creativity!  

Simple Sorting for Young Toddlers

Toddlers learn so much from just living and playing!  If your toddler is anything like mine, they also like simple tasks and activities that they can feel successful at accomplishing. Aside from puzzles, shape sorters, and stacking rings, here are some of our favorites!  When we have had a stretch of time at home, I often quickly pull together an activity to engage Little Roo that happens to introduce her to a learning concept or skill.  Most of these activities were thrown together from items around the house (even better, in my opinion!).

Basic Color Sorting  Our first color sorting activity, I took shapes from a shape sorter and corresponding colors of cardstock and showed Roo how to make matches.  We use stacking cups and pom-poms for a similar activity.

she often puts it in the incorrect spot first and says, "no!"

"yes!"

so proud!

Freight Train Cut and Match  I had made felt train cars inspired by Donald Crew’s book Freight Train.  There was a stack of magazines about to go in the recycling bin.  I decided to cut out vibrant colored objects from the magazines and have Roo place them in the train car of the same color.  Older children, who have experience with scissors, can help find and cut the pictures themselves. 

Buttons or Pom-Poms and an Egg Carton  Roo opened a drawer of scrapbooking supplies and pulled out a small container of buttons.  I rummaged around to find an empty egg carton.  I let her explore on her own, and wouldn’t you know? She placed one button in each opening! How’s that for one-to-one correspondence?!  You can also put colors or numbers at the bottom of each egg holder and have your child sort colored buttons or pom-poms or when they are older count and place the corresponding amount in each spot. (Make sure your child is no longer placing items in their mouth if you are going to use buttons or pom-poms or just watch them very closely!)

Animal and Book Matching  I noticed that the set of little plastic animals we own coordinates with some of Little Roo’s chunky animal books.  We match them, placing the animal on top of the book.  This is a perfect activity to throw in the diaper bag, we pull it out while waiting at a restaurant or doctor’s office (5 small books and 5 plastic animals have a lot of playing potential and since the books are small they aren’t too cumbersome!).  We also find other animals in books to match with animal toys.  If you don’t happen to have books that match, you can print photos to match with any of your animal toys.

Roo (now 20 months) loves to complete these tasks. What toddler doesn’t like to clap for themselves??  She learns so quickly and amazes me everyday by how much she has learned and changed in her short 20 months of living!  I look forward to spending more time with her and finding teachable moments in her every day play! 

Family Meal Monday---Sweet Potato Soup and Kale Chips

There is nothing like a rainy day to make a batch of soup!  We have come to realize how much extra sodium is in packaged soups.  Last fall/winter I began broadening my soup making repertoire.  One of our favorites is Sweet Potato Soup.  I portion some out for Little Roo (allowing time to cool) and then add in chipotle peppers (I am kind of obsessed with them!) 

 I put some dried fruit and nuts in the bowl before serving the soup.  A little sweetness and crunch in the soup is delicious! 

 As you can see, I had a willing helper in the kitchen, mashing and sampling the sweet potatoes.  Luckily, the girl loves to wash her hands so we alternated smashing and washing.

The only other adaptation from the recipe we make it that my husband prefers a thicker, chunkier soup so rather than blending the soup, I just bake the sweet potatoes until they are really soft and mashable and don’t blend it at all.

We recently came across a huge bag of kale at BJ’s for a very small price.  I knew that it was a super food, but I hadn’t ever used it in my cooking.  I banked on Pinterest providing me with some great ideas!  I found making Kale Chips so easy, and they turn out crunchy, and yummy!! I don’t like the smell in the house as they bake, but it is a small price to pay for nutritious food.  Other seasonings can be used; I like them with chili powder!

Refrigerator Re-Do

I was tired of the outside of my refrigerator looking like this:

So, I used a little scrapbook paper to create some visually appealing places for a grocery list, artwork and a weekly menu.  I had them laminated at Staples, added some clothespins and viola! I use dry erase markers for the menu.  I am still undecided about the photos (love the actual pictures, but I am not sure if it makes it too busy?)…maybe some color ones instead of the black and whites?

Family Meal Monday--Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

I love cooking for my family.  Finding healthy meals for everyone can be tricky.  There are almost too many places to search for recipes.  I will be sharing recipes (either my own or, more often, from other sources) and how I adapt them to meet the needs and preferences of two adults and a toddler.   We strive to eat at least one meal a day together as a family.  My husband doesn't always work the same schedule, so sometimes our meal is breakfast and other times it is dinner, on the weekends it is usually all three!  Coming together as a family and connecting over a healthy meal is a habit we knew we wanted to start with little Roo from the beginning.

First up—veggie burgers and baked sweet potato fries.  As vegetarians, we do enjoy veggie burgers, and my favorites tend to be home-made black bean burgers!  I found this recipe and love the flavor the spices bring to the burgers.  I mix in shredded zucchini and carrots to add a little extra nutrition to the meal.  Chiptole or other peppers will add some heat, if you like it!  Serve with fresh spinach, tomatoes, and avocado.  I find a bun is not necessary, the burgers are super filling.

Adapt for the younger set: make the burgers into “meatballs” (for some reason “veggie balls” just sounds weird to me).  I separate some of the mixture out for meatballs prior to adding anything spicy.  Sprinkle with a little cheese for the reluctant eater.

Sweet potato fries—These baked fries made from sweet potatoes are delicious and good for you!  I used chili powder, nutmeg, and chipotle to season ours. With the little ones in mind, you can place the cut sweet potatoes and seasoning in a large bag and let them shake it up, if they like to help in the kitchen.  I reserved a few and sprinkled with just a bit of cinnamon for Little Roo.

Any requests? Should I write about the actual process making the meals, if they aren't my own recipes? I would love feedback!

From Milk to Muffins

Many friends have inquired about my baby food making process, so here it is!

loving a bowl of oatmeal

Many recipes found here: wholesome baby food

As far as recipes go, I found I didn’t need many in the beginning (6 months)…you simply steam or bake vegetables and fruits until they are soft, let them cool and then blend them with your baby’s milk, water, or broth.  I used a blender to make purees, but many methods work (immersion blender, baby bullet, food processor). When we first introduced solids to Baby Roo I used the ice cube tray method; freezing individual portions of vegetable and fruit purees in ice cube trays.  You can defrost in the refrigerator or serve frozen in a mesh feeder (which, I imagine, feels great on teething gums!) You can experiment with spices if your baby seems to like more flavor…add a little cinnamon to baked apples, for example.  Avoid salt and sugar…babies get excited by the newness of eating…the natural colors, flavors, and textures are enough of an adventure!.

mesh feeder with peas

As Roo began to grow so did her appetite (9-12 months)…it was when she started asking for 3 or 4 cubes (by signing “more”) that I decided to look for a different way to make batches of food and still be able to freeze.  I found 4 oz glass jars (mini-canning jars) that were perfect for a serving.  At the same time, she began to eat a wider variety of food, was able to handle chunkier textures, and I wanted to introduce some vegetarian proteins.  Our basic method was: steamed chunks of vegetables/fruits + protein + whole grain (optional) or whole dairy (optional).  For proteins we started with beans, lentils, quinoa…adding a few minutes to the cooking time so they were very soft and mashable.  These little glass jars are great for freezing and I typically popped the next day’s meals into the fridge the night before to allow time to defrost…but, they can be microwaved, if necessary.   Most of the time I served her food straight from the jar.

asking for more broccoli and brown rice...her first sign!

At this point (18months) we still use the small canning jars and follow the same formula for meals: vegetables/fruits + protein + whole grain (optional) or whole dairy (optional).   She now has her favorite foods and not-so-favorite foods and can eat crunchy foods and will often try what her dad and I are eating.  I often serve her meals in a three-compartment plastic container.  Roo loves each food to have its own spot and one for her cup (in fact, if I want to give her three choices, she’ll smush the extra choice with her cup so it can go in its proper location.)

sweet potatoes in a small canning jar

When we will be out for a meal or traveling for the day I have used the “Laptop Lunch” box.  We love the little containers for each food, but it is bigger and has more room for options than I giver her on a daily basis.

An absolute favorite among Little Roo and her friends is muffins.  I find that you can add almost any fruit of veggie to them with great results!! In fact, her first birthday treat was an apple spice muffin. I have adapted a muffin recipe, which works very well as a base and is dairy-free and has an adaptation to make it egg-free!  Here it is:

on her birthday, enjoying her "cupcake" 

Baby Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup shredded zucchini

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, mixed with 6 tablespoons water (or 2 eggs, beaten)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease or line muffin tin.  Mix ground flaxseed with water in a small bowl, set aside and allow to become gelatinous.  Sift the flour and spices into a large bowl.  Mix the applesauce and zucchini with the flaxseed and water.  Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Spoon by into mini-muffin tin ( I find one tablespoon of batter is the perfect amount).  Bake about 10 minutes. Zucchini can be substituted with other fruits or veggies.

We continue adventures with food, allowing Little Roo to feed herself with utensils and sometimes let her try drinking from a “real” cup!   When she really loves a food she will exclaim, "yummy, yummy, yummy!!"  Her favorites include oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, grapes, black beans, and eggs with spinach. We are looking forward to going to farmer’s markets this summer (maybe one day we will even grow our own fruits and veggies!)  She is very interested in helping in the kitchen, loves feeding her baby doll, and cooking in her own kitchen!  What are your favorite foods to serve your little ones??

cooking in her kitchen on Christmas morning 

Please follow food safety guidelines as well as introduction to foods at the rate and appropriateness you decide, with help from your child’s doctor.

It's all about the PROCESS!

I first learned about “process art” when I was in college, that is art that allows children to explore colors, textures, tools, mixed media with no intended outcome (more info can be found here: http://www.brightring.com/FAQ.html).  Even as a child I was a big fan of collage art as I never quite developed drawing skills. That is not to say I never liked crafts—I did and I still do, but I now value that self-expression and discovery can come from enabling children to take part of a process and let go of the idea of an end product.  We took the idea even further when I worked at a preschool that embodied “process not product,” not only the art was open-ended—any project be it science, drama, cooking, or sensory was more about the process than a desired outcome.  I had to remind my self of these ideals over the weekend.  I had seen some great ideas for using natural dyes for Easter eggs on Pinterest…sounds right up my alley.  I didn’t want to have to purchase too many extra ingredients or items that I wouldn’t use.  I thought to myself that since Roo is still so young, she may not even enjoy it this year and because of that I decided to choose one color and assumed that since when you cook beets just about everything turns red/pink, that is what we would use.  We love beet and goat cheese salads, so I knew nothing would go to waste.  I did have to buy white eggs, since the eggs we normally buy are brown.  I boiled the beets in the morning and reserved the cooking liquid.

 Little Roo was interested in placing the eggs into the water and occasionally taking a peek at them. 

Sadly, the nice rosy hue I had dreamed up never happened. 

Instead, we got the lovely shade of brown that the eggs I normally buy are! 

The good news is that, we had fun experimenting with natural dyes and enjoyed a great salad for lunch.  I am sure many more times in my parenting adventures projects will not go the way I had planned, but as long as we can learn something in the process, I will not consider them failures!

Have Toddler, Will Travel

We have taken Little Roo on two vacations in the last six months..one when she was 13 months on an all-expense paid trip (by my husband’s company) to Vegas

Here she is dancing to the fountains at the Bellagio

and the other, from which we just returned, a trip to FL to visit my husband’s family.  A lot has changed in the past six months—Roo was still nursing on that trip to Vegas, she was crawling at the time (actually took her first steps in the airport on the way home!), she took two naps a day, and was very content sitting in her mama’s lap.  Fast forward to our trip to FL—no longer an option to nurse during take-off, she is running around, napping once a day, wanting to stay busy with activities, asserting her independence,  and is very interested in communicating wants and needs. In typical fashion, I worried and over prepared for certain parts of the trip, but had not anticipated the few hiccups we encountered.  I was super excited to collect and make little travel activities for her, which she did enjoy the ones that I could actually manage to wrangle out of the bottom of the backpack ;)  We thought that a layover would be a good chance for us all to stretch our legs and have a meal…Little Roo did not understand that she needed to hold a hand in the busy Atlanta airport, so walking around became impossible, and the timing was off for meals (we had brought breakfast and eaten on the first flight) so we weren’t even hungry.  When our flight was delayed another 30 minutes, we all started to lose a little patience.   Luckily it wasn’t long before we were boarding again and Roo was happy to sit and play with the window shade next to our seat for awhile.

Here are the items I packed, their inspirations, and how well they worked! Addison's Travel Activities

Finger Puppets: I have had these for years (in my classroom), she loves them at home, didn’t make it out on the trip.

Color Wheel Matching: Home-made, modeled after Engaging Toddler Activities, she wasn't interested in the color matching or the clothespins.

Crayons and Coloring Book: We love Crayola Twistables because I don’t worry as much about her putting them in her mouth or breaking them, I printed the Brown Bear coloring pages from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html, coloring is an activity she enjoys both home and away…for a few minutes at a time!

Mini-Backpack: Borrowed from a friend, I thought Roo would like to pull the zippers and find the toys (she loves opening the different pockets in our diaper bag/backpack!)…she wasn’t very interested in the backpack itself.  She adores pressing the buttons on my old cell phone; the Koosh ball, which was always a hit with my students, did not go over well..I think it was a sensory thing!  We soon forgot about the little backpack and lint roller (another idea from a friend).

Family Pictures: I used Photoshop to put the names of the family members we would be visiting. On the way there she wanted to find herself in the pictures, but on the way back and since we have been home, she has enjoyed looking at the other family members, pointing to them and hearing their names.  I need to make these pictures of everyone in our family!

Paint With Water Book and Q-tips: Came across this when I was looking for an airplane board book and thought we’d give it a try…it didn’t make it out on the plane and she really didn’t get into it once we were home.

Stickers: Any scrap booking stickers that I am not going to use, go to Roo..we didn’t play with them on the plane.  She is still trying to grasp the concept of sticking them on paper and then they won't come off...maybe she needs a sticker book!

Stacking Cups: These were a gift that she received for her first Christmas and they are always a popular toy!   We usually keep them in the diaper bag and pull them out at restaurants or waiting rooms.  We pulled down the tray table and she nested them for awhile, until she started thinking it was funny to throw them off!

Matching Game: I printed this Brown, Bear Brown Bear “heads and tails” game from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html.  I made two copies, laminated them, and added Velcro so she could make matches (I think finding the heads and tails without matching would be a little too tricky for her).  I wasn’t sure if she would be able to complete the puzzles herself, but figured she would at least enjoy pulling off the Velcro pieces.  She probably spent more time playing with this than any other thing we packed!  She was able to complete the puzzles…and liked pulling the pieces off!!

Gel Clings: A friend suggested this, but we still haven’t opened them!

Pop-Poms and Cup: I had my husband drill holes in the lid to a small plastic container.  (I have seen this on many blogs).  Roo really enjoyed pushing the pom-poms through the holes. I wish I had brought another container to store the pom-poms in.

Golf Whiffle Balls: I bought these because she loves the ones that they have at our local Childnren’s Museum (plus they are light!)  at the last minute I stuck an empty toilet paper roll in the bag…she liked pushing the balls through the tunnel….and only one rolled away!

Brown Bear Book and Felt Pieces: I ordered the felt pieces from a teacher friend…Little Roo likes the story and the animals, and it coordinated with some of the other activities.  The felt pieces were a little tricky to manage on the plane.

Pipe Cleaners and Beads: We had this set of chunky beads in the basement and I knew the only way she would be able to manage them would be on pipe cleaners…she did like this activity, but still needs a little help.

Other activities that she enjoyed: watching the workers load/unload the luggage, pulling the window screen up and down, browsing the magazines & safety info, looking at pictures of dogs in SkyMall, playing peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind us, sharing snacks (She tried Goldfish crackers for the first time!), and singing songs with motions.  We found that the ERGO carrier was a must have for walking around the airports.

Roo is an easy-going little girl, who makes a great traveler….my husband is already looking at booking a cruise in the next couple months!!

Enjoying some swinging time in the Florida sunshine!