Manners start early!

I love it when my darling son says something like thank you for parking in the shade! Not just thanks for my juice etc, which is all good manners etc!

One ingredient eating!

Library - value of values

Engage your kids when encouraging healthy eating habits!

Tired of your kids making unhealthy choices, or being fussy eaters? Engage them in the meal process - menu planning, meal preparation - even better - growing their own salad and veggies! Ideas - for fun shaped, decorated foods... My kids love picking fruit in our garden - making a simple pie - is easy fun and tasty! (Photo)

Safe summer fun

hydrate hydrate hydrate plan ahead - healthy, refreshing kid friendly snacks - don't get caught out!

Turning three...time flies

reflect on time flying (b'day next week) and Annabel being 19 months already (less milestones marked!)

Double nursery - double trouble?

double nursery pros and cons debate continues!

Potette plus potty - perfection!

Love the potette plus potty! pic story referencing both kids (purchasing of refills!)

Getting eggcited!

Started a few Eastery activities round here!

Not easy doing any really complicated crafts with two under three....but we had a fun, messy time!

This was my first experience using dollar store craft kids and well the paint is basically dye and it was rather messey and difficult, perhaps a greater $ investment would have brought a better product, not dye based, who knows....but I will look into it more thoroughly for next time!

Our next project is to paint some Easter bunny money banks.... I am toying with the kids giving them as Easter gifts to the local women and kids shelter...to brighten two little ones Easter break...?

Pictures to follow....

Money management for mini's

Sorry about the title - I could not encapsulate what I wanted to say any better than that!

Ever since I was a wee one - money management was important to me...The first time I was allowed to cycle to the neighbouring town by myself (2.5 miles of fields away) I took the opportunity to open my own bank account! Spurred on by all the negative talk of these kids are eating us out of house and home. The rate these kids go through shoes we won't be able to buy food! That kind of thing that grown up folks never thought twice about saying... well it had an impact on me... let's not get into my feet and how they are brick shaped, but stay focused on the money side.

Because I genuinely feared for my parent's ability to keep a roof over my head - I felt I needed to take matters into my own hands and start saving - I used to be sad when my parent's cars were clean, no leaves had fallen and I could see no other way to make a buck (couldn't do a lemonade stand - what with being surrounded by field after field.. no people!) One time whilst my mother was scraping melon pips into the garbage I had a light bulb moment I planned to save them and put one a night under my pillow and dupe the tooth fairy into leaving 50pence a night! That would have been a good racket!

It is against this backdrop that I wish to make my own conversations and contributions to my children's understanding of how money comes into and goes out of our lives, but in so much more a healthy way!

Recently discussing this topic with a friend I got to find out that a tool I was hoping to find to help with this does actually exist - The Money Savvy Pig®



"Personal finance education needs to start young. How? With the same universally loved childhood toy, the piggy bank....but with a 21st century twist! The Money Savvy Pig piggy bank has four chambers, one for each of the four money management choices a child should be taught from the time they are small. They are SAVE, SPEND, DONATE, and INVEST. "

I am so excited and so getting a pink one and a blue one for my wee ones! I use a jar system and the kids know about the jars, but it is not as child friendly as I would choose, so this is fantastic! Excellent range of colours and great price of $17! (This is not sponsored - but I wouldn't say no to receiving a savvy pig that we could gift on!)

Suitcase sleeper

Sleep - it has been a big topic and a sorely missed friend for the last 15 months, especially as my firstborn started sleeping through at 5 months!

Anyway - I keep lamenting my mistake when I had to go away for a few days and I took my then 5 month old daughter and she had to sleep in my suitcase, each night her sleeping got better until the last night she slept through!



In the busyness of getting back I didn't get time to unpack before bed the first night home and I just didn't think, I put her in her proper crib and she slept badly, somewhere in my sleep deprived haze my brain was unable to think of trying her in the case again!

Well fast forward ten months, sleep is still an issue, not as bad as the every 10/20 or at best 40 mins waking - I am a light sleeper so getting back to sleep was impossible! A few times that suitcase crossed my mind and then the other day I was going through some old photos and I saw one I had taken (on my phone still only digital, not printed) of her in the case and I so regret not having tried it!

Ho hum - one day she will be a teenager and not wanting to get out of bed - I know it, until then, I am functioning on v little sleep!

(No she is not a good napper either!)

((Yes - I have tried an insanely long list of options - just about everything except putting her in a case and now she is way too mobile for that option!))

Winter colds

Yikes - we made it all the way to February without any colds and I saw lots of friend's families being taken down with bugs etc and being wiped out for weeks at a time. I was delighted that we escaped it, until a few weeks ago the first cold hit our house, it comes for a few days we lose a night's sleep or so, it fades away then after a few days - it's back!! And so it goes on! I don't get it! Oh well, I can feel spring coming despite the huge snowfall recently!

Amy Poehler Toast at Time 100 Gala

Totally love Amy's toast - I do not have in home help, but do have adhoc solutions for which I am very grateful! Awesome!

What my son and I made - two

I had thought I would be writing these regular updates, but well my daughter just is not a napper and whilst I am cool with one toddler at my feet whilst in the kitchen - two I find can be quite un-relaxing! My best time for cooking with the two of them is snack time - they are in their chairs at the kitchen gate and I power through and get it all assembled in the slow cooker, or just setting the oven to reheat a previously made meal - for more info and recipe ideas see make ahead mammas group on facebook Anyway - my kids are loving the Pinkalicious book series at the moment - we only have 3 out of the 5 titles, but Pinkalicious is the favourite - so making pink cupcakes is a real hit in this house! We have had a few batches of these. Looking forward to future kitchen adventures!

Baby Led Weaning - BLW

This is a topic along with elimination communication (EC-ing) that I have wanted to cover for a while. If you have been following any of my themes for the last year you will see sleep has been at a premium in this house and catching up on life and work has been slow progress over the last few months, but I am getting there. 2013 is the year of clearing through the to do list - both big and small! Anyway back on topic: There are a number of things I wanted to do when I was expecting my first child - my son including doing BLW (baby led weaning, however I allowed myself as a new mum to be pressured out of it by those around me who knew nothing about it! I loved making all his meals - the freezing in cube trays was all a bit fiddly and a bit of a chore, but great time savers in the long run! I enjoyed getting fresh fruit and veg and whipping up batches of things for him to try and thawing 2 or 3 different things for each meal. My son was a great eater so it was all very rewarding, but then there comes the stage where you introduce textures etc - and that is a slow progress cautious stage, until the point where you introduce 'real food'! Well baby led weaning really is moving from liquids to solids without the puree stage. This is all perfectly safe and sensible, however if your wee one has any health concerns, of if allergies are a family issues or if you need extra advice see your family doctor. So you can assume that your wee one has hit the 6 month mark (or is close to it) they can sit up and hold there heads up properly, can pick up food, is showing an interest in food etc. Also you continue to supply liquid feeds be that in the form of breastmilk, formula or some form of milk or milk substitute ..whatever your baby is used to. To begin with it is best to not try this when your baby is hungry or tired. So perhaps after the morning feed - sit your baby in it's high chair - I recommend a plastic play sheet under the chair that you can shake outside after the meal! Place 2 or 3 items on your babies tray - for example steamed broccoli, a toast soldier and a piece of soft apple or pear. Do remember at this stage it is about your baby enjoying exploring tastes, textures etc - not about them sitting down to a 3 course meal! Try to remain calm whilst watching your baby - never give round chunks of food, i.e. cut a carrot in fingers etc. I recommend all parents BLW or otherwise attend a first aid course, this background will help you feel at ease. If you hover over your baby and panick at the first sign of their natural gag reflex - where they move food from the back of their mouth to the front, your baby will sense this and think the whole thing is a bit too scary! One point I would like to make and I have no idea about the science - people often instinctively slap someone on the back when they think something is lodged in their throat - this can actually cause food to do downwards in a baby and create a problem where there wasn't one. Getting your child to raise their arms is better. Luckily we had toddler brother to help demo this and my baby girl got this technique quickly! As with any method of introducing food babies can show preferences - my wee one LOVES HAM! We call her the ham monster, however I try at each meal to represent all the food groups - veggies, carbs, protein, dairy etc One thought also is that you do have to offer the same food many times in some cases to get take up... pureed or otherwise, with my daughter two foods that took a while were spaghetti squash and sweet potato - I found when I provided it on the skin for her to pick the whole thing up and chew on she did much better than when just served from the skin. Also I should mention that my wee one was eating tonnes when she had no teeth and chewing all kinds of food when she only had the one tooth! Not many people have seen babies doing BLW - so we would get all kinds of looks even from Gran and Poppa! I am glad that this time I have gone with my instincts and I just thrown down whole, home cooked delights in front of my daughter - it makes meal times a breeze and she is at her happiest as she is a part of the family not 'apart'! :) EC article to follow....

Loving our family fun starts to the day

Instead of rushing through the morning to head out on a big work commute, we had fun and giggles with a silly drawing game! silly huh - but magic and it then pulls me through my morning's work!

oooops

Has it really been that long? Happy 2013! lol - well the last post and lack of sleep gives it away! well slowly getting back on track, so expect to see more, although I do have a new and possibly only temporary diversion:

sssshdonttellthekidzitshealthy!