Wax Paper Fall Collages

This past Monday Fun-day, we made wax paper fall collages with our friends, Jax and Sarah. This was everyone's first time making wax paper collages, but they turned out nicely. I wasn't really impressed until I hung them in the windows - that was definitely the trick to making these beautiful. The sun shines through and makes the colors pop out brilliantly.

Here are the easy steps to make your own wax paper collages:

1) Gather fall leaves/grasses/flowers/etc. - anything that will lay flat once pressed. Most of our leaves were wet, and I think that the collages would have pressed better if the leaves were dry. (So you may want to let your pretties dry overnight.)

2) Get other things to decoarte with. We used glitter glue and crayon shavings (we just used a pencil sharpener).

3) Decorate your wax paper - this is the fun part! Kieran loved squeezing the glitter glue everywhere.

4) Put a second piece of wax paper over the first, cover with a very thin towel, and iron. We used the high setting on the iron, and it still didn't completely melt together (this is where I think dry leaves would have been better).

5) Hang in a window and enjoy!

 

Thank You, Thumper

We are vacationing in Orlando, complete with trips to Disney, both coasts, and a designated manatee refuge with 72 degree springs.

Initially, our only Disney plans were to spend one day at Animal Kingdom. We did not think Magic Kingdom (the traditional Disney destination) was necessary since Kieran has never seen anything Disney. The only introduction he had to Mickey Mouse and crew before Florida was the pack of stickers and temporary tattoos I got him at the store last week.

I guess that was enough.

Much to our surprise, Kieran has fallen in love with the Disney characters. Walt and his successors have done an excellent job of turning Orlando into Mickey's town. Even though we didn't do any of the parks until we'd been in town four days, we were inundated by mouse ears at every turn. I'll admit, it might have made even me a little mouse-crazy.

And so I talked Tom into a trip to Magic Kingdom.

Because we weren't planning on the expense of two extra Disney tickets, we had to get creative. In a very short amount of time. (There aren't a lot of legit options out there, by the way.)

Consequently, we pimped ourselves out as potential resort shareholders. It's not necessarily a route I would recommend to anyone with small children with no babysitter. Basically you eat a one star lunch, hear a two bit sales pitch, tour a five star resort, and have to refuse three or four offers before you are shown the door (and your much-reduced park tickets). It doesn't help that you are tag-teamed during the final push - their banter is reminiscent of the good cop/bad cop routine on cheesy TV shows. The strangest part in all of this is that the salesperson who was your best friend for the first 1.5 hours becomes almost hostile as soon as you give the final "no."

At any rate, we got our tickets and were shipped off to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived in time for the 3:00 parade, and we closed the park down after the last fireworks sparkled out over Cinderella's castle. Kieran rode "up! down! up! down!" on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride, fell asleep during the Haunted Mansion, and watched with wide eyes as the floats and characters passed in front of us during the Spectral Magic Light Parade.

The best part of the day was when Kieran finally got to meet Mickey and Minnie. He had talked about them for hours. As soon as I told him we were going to meet and perhaps hug Mickey, he had been repeating "hug Mickey? hug Mickey?!" incessantly. When we reached the front of the line, he ran up to Mickey and gave him a big hug. And then he kissed Mickey on the nose. It was incredibly sweet.

I must admit, it wasn't the only moment during our two days at Disney that I got a little misty.

I had another misty moment the following day at Animal Kingdom. Kieran loves animals, and I have been excited to see his reaction at something a little more flashy than the exhibits he is accustomed to. We are Friends of the Zoo at home, and Kieran never tires of visiting. He loved the exhibits at Animal Kingdom too, but we had to laugh when he fell asleep during the last few minutes of the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride (one of the most popular rides in the park). His favorite part of Animal Kingdom was the Finding Nemo musical. He was frightened at the beginning of the sharks' number, but once he realized they were harmless he kept (nervously) bebopping along to the music.

Before "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade" started, we hurried over to meet a few characters. Kieran gave some loves to Donald Duck, and then he spied Thumper - the only Disney character he was actually familiar with outside of his new stickers and tattoos. My mom bought him a "Thumper Counts to 10" book last year, and it is a semi-regular read in our house. The pictures are beautiful, and he was set on kissing Thumper as soon as he made the connection.

Unfortunately, we were a few back in line when Thumper had to leave to join the parade. Kieran saw Thumper leaving and started crying as if his heart was broken. We tried to tell him that we would see Thumper in the parade, but Kieran wanted none of it - he started running after Thumper.

 

As he ran behind Thumper, he cried and sobbed "hug! hug!" I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Thumper heard the distraught toddler losing ground behind him and took pity.

Thumper stopped to hug my baby. He hugged him long and hard, waiting for Kieran's tears to dry up.

Disney may be a billion dollar corporation, but it has instilled in its cast members the reason behind its success:

Us.

Rah Rah Roh

When I posted last week's Toddlerese word, I had already started thinking about making the following video. Unfortunately, I'm not a techno geek; but I live with one! Many thanks to my dear hubby for spending a few hours splicing some video clips together. I'm sure the fact that Kieran and I were hanging over his shoulder the whole time made it that much easier.

For your viewing pleasure, this video will reveal the true meaning of last week's Toddlerese word.

This video is dedicated to my lady Kelly, who always belted out "Old Time Rock & Roll" almost as good as Seger himself on karaoke night.

And Tia Tammy? You rock. ;)

Toddlerese 3

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for another one of Kieran's special toddlerese words.

If you're still wondering about last week's word, wonder no more. Kieran was saying "potty chair." He doubles the first consonant sound of most words, so potty became "pah-pah". Chair has always been some version of "cow", we're really not sure why. So there you have it: "po-po coooo" = potty chair.

Here's number 3:

Guesses?

Rice Diving

I have a friend who has a son that is almost two months older than Kieran. We are both stay at home mamas, and we both enjoy doing fun, "educational" things with our toddlers. Neither one of us is drilling our kids with flash cards or making them memorize things by rote, but we do like to plan fun activities that happen to have a bonus, like painting with colors or talking about seasons. The best part is that they live less than ten minutes from us by car, so we have started meeting on Monday mornings to do a "Toddler Activity Time." (Please help us think of a catchy name, I love catchy names and have not come up with anything acceptable yet.)

We take turns hosting each week, and last week was my turn. I planned two activities. The first activity was simply making pictures with stickers. My mom got Kieran some fall-themed foam stickers, so while the boys stuck their stickers everywhere we talked about the red and yellow leaves, the orange pumpkins, the brown and red turkeys, and the green trees.

For our second activity, I filled a bowl with rice and buried seven or eight small toys (magnets, small wooden playfood, marbles, and matchbox cars). This one was definitely the bigger hit. Our friend loved digging his hands deep into the rice and groping around for the toys. Kieran was a little more tentative - he delicately moved the rice around the top, then he started digging deeper when he felt comfortable with the material. They both got so excited when they found something buried. Kieran has actually requested that the rice bowl be left on the table - he's gone back to play with it several times in the past week.

 

Depositing a wooden broccoli tree in the basket.

 

A marble!

Sensory activities like finding toys in rice, digging around in sand or beans, or getting messy with finger painting or shaving cream drawings are not only fun, but they also help improve something called "tactile perception." Tactile perception is the term that describes how your brain sends information to and from your fingertips. Improving your toddler's tactile perception helps him feel more confident performing tasks with his hands and fingers.

Here are a few more sensory activities you can do with your toddler:

1. Shaving cream painting: find a clean surface (the dining room table? We prefer the outdoor picnic table), spray on some shaving cream, and let your toddler go crazy. We sprinkle in a few drops of food coloring to make things interesting. (You can also use whipped cream or pudding)
2. Put dried beans in a large tupperware bowl. Let your toddler sit on the floor with the bowl of beans and a few utensils (a spoon, a measuring cup, etc.). Kieran has loved this activity ever since he was about a year old. Just be careful that your toddler does not try to eat any of the beans!
3. Nature table: go on a walk and pick up different things you find (leaves, acorns, pine cones, grass, rocks). Bring them home and put them on the table for your toddler to examine. This is a great activity to do throughout the year to use when talking about seasons.
   

Toot Burgers

Kieran used to eat just about anything we put in front of him. Lately, though, he's become more finicky. It's frustrating to make a healthy meal and have it sit untouched. It would be easier if he didn't like certain foods, but it really just depends on the day. Sometimes he loves to eat broccoli "trees," sometimes he won't go near them. Sometimes he loves to munch on tomatoes, other times he takes a bite and spits it back out on the floor. Same thing for just about any food (except crackers of course).

Since he does eat a wide range of foods (albeit not all in one day), I'm not worried about his diet. He's also still breastfeeding, so he's getting nutrition from me. And of course I will continue to offer healthy alternatives. We are also not above making the occasional "chicken helicopter" or "carrot choo choo." Another fun favorite is pretending that we're going to take a bite of Kieran's food, then swerving it over to his mouth. He gets a kick out of "stealing" our bites.

Tonight we had garbanzo bean burgers and sweet potato fries. We've had them before, and they have been a hit for everyone. The last time I made them, I made a double batch and froze several extra patties for an easy freezer meal. This time, however, Kieran wouldn't even take a nibble. I shouldn't have worried since he had eaten about half of a large avocado before dinner, but we still tried to get him to try his burger.

Garbanzo bean burger helicopter: fail

Garbanzo bean burger train: fail

Garbanzo bean burger airplane: fail (even though he specifically requested it)

Garbanzo bean burger swerved away from mama's mouth: fail (but with the added bonus of lots of giggles)

Then I thought of something. The last time we'd had garbanzo bean burgers, my sister and her boyfriend had eaten with us. Tammy had called the next day complaining about the ensuing flatulence. I thought about it and, yes, it had been a little more musical than usual in our house too. But what do you expect after eating a burger made of beans?

I decided to use this information as ammunition. As Kieran was trying to scramble down from his booster seat I said offhandedly: "Kieran, did you know that these burgers will make you toot?" He stopped scrambling.

Tom got the hint and played along: "Yeah, mama and papa are gonna make lots of big toots after we eat our burgers. Don't you want to toot too?"

The impish twinkle in Kieran's eyes was priceless. He quickly considered, then maneuvered back into his booster. "Yup!"

Success! I thought we were so sly. Tom put the bite in Kieran's mouth, Kieran gave it a cursory chew, then spit it back out into his hand.

Foiled again. (We do love the way he says "excuse me," so we really wouldn't have minded a few Kieran toots.)

 

These burgers are delicious. I modified the recipe I found here, following is the recipe with my changes (this is my double recipe - no need to double it again). To freeze, just cook the burgers as called for in the directions and then put them in the freezer (I wrapped them in foil and put them in an airtight container). To reheat, thaw and broil for a few minutes (I baked them with the fries tonight and they did not do as well as they have under the broiler).

Garbanzo Bean Burgers (aka "Toot Burgers")

Makes approx. 20 patties

2 15 Oz. Can Garbanzo Beans, drained and rinsed (I used dry beans that I had boiled; I used about half the bag and made at least 20 burgers; if cooking with canned beans you might want a third can of beans on hand just in case)
1 Carrot, grated

1/2 of a Zucchini, grated
1 Garlic Clove
1 Small Onion, chopped
2 Eggs
Oatmeal (I probably used 3/4 cup)

2 tsp Flaxseed meal
1 Tbsp Oil

*Place garbanzo beans in a food processor and pulse until combined (I used a blender).
*Place bean mixture in a bowl and combine with remaining ingredients (except oil).
*Form into patties (mixture will be moist).
*Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat.
*Cook the patties for 5 minutes.
*Turn the patties, reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes.
*Serve and/or freeze.

Toddlerese 2

I'm sure you've been wondering all week what the translation of Kieran's toddlerese word is.

Ready for it?

It was avocado.

Signing wouldn't really help us with that word, as it gets finger-spelled in ASL. While Kieran does know his alphabet (spoken), he's not quite there with signs.

I decided to try toddlerese part 2 - take a stab at this one:

I'll put up a hint later - all I'll say for now is that if you are a signing family, please don't give this one away ;)

Ok, I've been asked for a hint. It is two words - first word, two syllables. He's actually signing the first word in the video.

Water Sprites

I hosted a particularly messy co-op class today: "Design Your Own Wrapping Paper." I bought butcher paper and some powdered Tempera paint, then everyone used hands, feet, cookie cutters, cars, balls, and various natural objects to paint the paper on our driveway. The plan is to use the paper to wrap presents.

After the painting festivities, Kieran and his friend London (whose mama blogs here) decided that they needed a bath. Who were we to argue?! They had a blast, and we are definitely inviting Jessica and crew back again soon.

 

 

Toddlerese

We’ve been signing with Kieran since he was just a few months old. I’d guess he can sign almost 150 words and recognizes many more than that. Quick tip for anyone who signs with their baby – don’t stop signing just because they start speaking. You may think your toddler is going to be a verbal genius because she can say “mama,” “papa,” “nana”*, and “uh-uh-uh-uh!”**, but you will likely have to wait months or even years before you are graced with things like consonant blends or prepositions.

Signing has been a learning experience for all three of us. Neither Tom nor I knew much about sign language before Kieran, but after reading a little about it we knew we wanted to try it out with him. I really can’t say enough about the benefits of signing. Kieran started signing well before he could say a recognizable word (aside from "mama"). His first sign was “more” when he was about 8 or 9 months old, and as soon as he realized that putting his fingertips together brought about a specific response from us, he said “more” about everything.

By 10 months Kieran had a handful of signs: “more,” “mama,” “papa,” “fish,” “motorcycle,” “hat,” “dog,” “light,” “book,” “hot” . . . We learned signs for anything he took an interest in. He loved pulling the string to turn the kitchen ceiling fan light on and off; we learned the sign for light, and within days he was signing “light” when he wanted to pull the string. At 11 months, he signed his first sentence: “more food.” We patted ourselves on the back for nurturing the next great linguist.

We are entirely convinced that signing has staved off more tantrums than we can count. We learned signs for things Kieran liked, as he liked them. “Cracker” was an early (and frequent) sign. “Mama’s milk,” “water,” “food,” “book, “music”; all these words represented parts of our daily rhythm, and Kieran could ask for whatever he wanted. As his world expanded, so did our signing repertoire.

Interested in signing but not sure where to start? Think about the major activities in your baby’s day: nursing, eating, singing, family, toys. We started with “mama,” “papa,” “mama’s milk,” “more,” and “book.” Once you learn a few, the rest will come much easier. Just keep expanding as your baby’s (or toddler’s) interests branch out. We learned many of our signs because of books that Kieran liked (animals in particular). As Kieran got older, we added action words (“swing,” “slide,” “walk,” “play”) and less ordinary words that we might not talk about every day (“store,” “fire”). And we didn't get any fancy programs to learn sign language, we just learned from the ASL site.

Now that he is working on his spoken language we rely on signing just as much, if not more. He really tries to say things, but he’s right in the middle of Toddlerese – that language unique to the three and under crowd that simultaneously warms your heart, makes you giggle, and frustrates the heck out of you. Because he’s learning things faster than he can make his vocal cords work, we are still introducing new signs. For example, he learned signs for the basic colors around 18 months (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white), but he’s just now saying the same words with his mouth in a recognizable way. Without sign language, it would have taken much more pointing and frustration for us to figure out he understood colors.

I find myself continuously asking Kieran to sign something when I’m having problems understanding his words. Most of the time that clears everything up, but there are still many things we don’t have signs for. I thought it would be amusing to have you all "guess that Kieran word." If there’s any interest, I might make it a regular feature – Toddlerese Tuesdays or something fun like that.

So without further ado, here is the first installment:

Care to venture a guess? Here's a hint: it's one word, four syllables.

*That’s banana, but we all know the “ba” is optional.

**That’s dog. Ok, it’s the sound of a dog barking through the eyes and vocal cords of a 15 month old, but dang it we thought it was brilliant.

It was THIS big!

Some of the ideas Kieran comes up with just amaze me. We have a book that we read daily called "My Grandma and Me." In said book, the grandma takes the grandchild fishing (the text reads: "we like to go fishing without any hooks"). At one point months ago, I casually mentioned that Auntie Shawna (or "YaYa," as Kieran calls her) loves to go fishing.

Two weeks ago, we were playing at a park with a fishing pond. We happened to be on the dock when a little boy and his parents caught a fish. Kieran didn't seem terribly interested, but that night he started grabbing at the page about fishing and saying "YaYa!" while doing the sign for fish. This happened every time we read the book. I would ask him "do you want to go fishing?", and he would practically scream "Yeah! YaYa!", while frantically signing fish.

It got to the point where I hid the book, he was so upset about wanting to fish. It was a classic fixation.

Finally, I broke down and begged Shawna to come fish with us. She fishes all the time, and we already had an understanding that she would be taking Kieran on his first fishing expedition - we just didn't know it would be this soon.

Shawna showed up yesterday with a kid-sized fishing pole. Kieran was fascinated. We drove to the pond and Kieran made a beeline for the dock.

Within minutes of Shawna and Kieran putting the hook in the water, they had their first bite. Whatever was on the line was pulling so hard, I started getting worried that we'd find a turtle.

When we got our first glimpse of what was at the end of the line, Shawna and I squealed so loudly that we drew an audience.

Kieran's first catch was a catfish - and he was a big'un! Probably two pounds or so. We had to walk the line around the dock so Shawna could climb down into the weeds to pull him out of the water. Kieran was not quite as excited. He was pretty hesitant to touch his first fish, but he did manage to swipe a quick finger down the catfish's soft, slimy side.

In the thirty minutes we were there, Kieran caught 6 or 7 fish: one catfish and the rest bluegill. He loved putting the bobber in the water, he was a little reluctant to pull a fish back out.

It was an awesome first experience fishing for him! Of course the first time he ever goes to a different lake, he'll wonder why the fish aren't biting every five minutes.  ;)

Snozzberries

Kieran never ceases to amaze me. We really don't actively "teach" him much of anything , but he seems to pick it all up (we have actively taught him signs, but now that he's talking we don't focus on new signs like we should).

Tonight he showed me that he could count to 10 all by himself. He can also get most of the way through the alphabet. I'm guessing that he learned to count by playing hide and seek (we count very loudly so he can hear us), and I'm sure he learned the alphabet because we sing it while brushing his teeth.

Of course immediately after he counted to ten, he leaned over and licked the flocked wallpaper in our dining room.

Who ever heard of a snozzberry?

Smile!

Today's post is merely to share a few things that have made me smile today.

My sister's boyfriend, Darin, stayed with us last night. He and Tammy are almost as crazy about Kieran as Tom and I are, and we were very excited that he was coming over to visit. We celebrated by taking Kieran to his first miniature golf game, where we got this picture:

Today before Darin left for home (loaded down with leftover pork loin, mashed potatoes, cherry tomatoes from the vine, frozen homemade pancakes, frozen homemade chicken/green chile burritos, and some special things to tuck into Tia Tammy's care package), he and Kieran went out back to play. I got this shot of them blowing bubbles together:

 

Also, Darin can no longer say that Kieran learned his cheesy smile face from me, as evidenced by this picture:

And finally: Nikki shared a poem today that really made me smile, so I'm passing it along:

God Says Yes to Me

Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

I hope you've had your own smiles today, too.

~d

Poor Jack-jow

We are entering the hitting phase. It started a month or so ago, and I cannot wait for it to be over. I've searched several places for help, only to come to the conclusion that hitting seems to be a fairly common part of toddlerhood. I noticed during my reading on the subject, though, that while hitting is a typical phase, the main difference is in how parents react to it.

We are a non-violent family. We do not believe in striking/spanking a child for any reason, just as we wouldn't hit another adult. The studies that have been done on physical punishment are overwhelming in their conclusions that spanking does not work. A blogger I respect compiled a great list of resources on why spanking doesn't work, I'm going to share some of those links along with our reasons for using gentle discipline here, too.

1) It has a detrimental effect on the parent-child relationship. Imagine it from the child's perspective - "mama and/or papa, the most important person in my universe, the one who kisses my booboos, tucks me in, feeds me, bathes me, etc. also chooses to hurt me." It erodes the trust that should be ever present in the parent-child relationship, and gives children lasting memories of pain and heart break. Spanking isn't something that just stays in childhood - both the effects and the memories are forever imprinted on a child's heart and mind.

2) As detailed on this site, spanking can have long lasting effects on a child's (turned adult's) sexual development, brain development, and behavior.

3) Hitting only promotes more hitting (by children and by adults in the form of further and more troublesome abuse) and anger (again, in both children and adults). (The previous link also has a great discussion on why spanking is not biblical. From my upbringing as a Southern Baptist, it makes me ill that any Christian would use Jesus as a justification for striking children. It's also funny to me that there exists an unspoken agreement between spanking churchgoers - I've never heard a pastor preach that violence toward children is part of the path to heaven, but people who believe it sure can point to a few select verses that they *think* support their actions.)

4) Spanking simply doesn't work - it actually tends to increase kids' aggression and misbehavior. So what's the point? And since toddlers/preschoolers haven't even developed impulse control (regardless of whether they've internalized whether a behavior is "right" or "wrong"), spanking just isn't fair. They cannot help themselves! (And let's be honest - teens and even adults sometimes have poor impulse control. Are we going to hit every person who does something we don't approve of? No? Then why hit a defenseless child?)

I have been shocked on more than one occasion out in public when I see a parent strike a child. Too often, it's not only casual (the assault is so ordinary to them that they can do it in front of strangers), but the look on their faces is often one of anger and barely controlled violence. Traditional spanking advocates advise parents not to spank from a place of anger, but when does that ever happen? Anger is the root of spanking a vast majority of the time. And can you imagine how a child perceives the anger twisted onto their parent's face? It must be terrifying.

Anyway - I digress.* Kieran is hitting. And the unfortunate object of his disfavor is usually my sister's cat that we are keeping while she is in Spain for a year. Poor Jack-jow (Jack-jow is Kieran-speak for Jasper) - most of the time he and Kieran are best friends. Kieran is the first one to notice an empty food bowl and make sure I help him fill it, he's constantly going over to give Jasper hugs and kisses and cuddles, he plays with him nonstop . . . and then something clicks and he wants to turn the kitty toy into a kitty whip. "Like a train, Kieran!" is a common phrase in our house - Jasper's kitty stick with feathers attached by a string should always be pulled like a train, instead it is often slicing through the air as an instrument of torture.

Per the above reasons, we refuse to hit our child for hitting. For various other reasons, we aren't planning on using traditional "time-outs" (that's a post for a different day). We've settled on a few different tactics to employ while we ride this phase out.

First and foremost, we are much more vigilant - we try to intercede on Jasper's behalf before anything happens. It can be exhausting, but isn't most of toddlerhood? The same thing goes during play dates - I make sure to watch for signs of frustration and then step in before another child gets walloped.

Along with vigilance is talking about it. We constantly remind Kieran to "use the toy like a train," we explain in plain language why we use gentle touches (hitting is ouch, we like gentle touches, etc.), we talk about Jasper's feelings (or the person's feelings, if he hits someone else), and we help Kieran think of alternatives to hitting ("Kieran, I see you wanted to play with the truck. Let's ask our friend if you can have a turn in two minutes.")

The partner of talking is modeling - we model how to ask for toys/turns, how to use things in a gentle way, how to use gentle hands, etc. 

Those things do the trick, for the most part. If Kieran is especially tired or cranky, they may not. As a last resort, we will have him give us whatever he has hit with (so if he continuously isn't using the kitty toy like a train, we'll ask him to put it up for awhile). Or if he's hitting during a play date and I can't calm him down, we'll move to a different area and play with something new.

And because we're not perfect, we've raised our voices at him; but we're constantly trying to practice a more gentle form of redirection.

Kieran + Jack-jow = BFF (usually)

I hope some of these ideas will help someone else one day when their gentle baby turns into a toddler with a heavy hand. Sometimes the most helpful thing, though, is to remember that "this too shall pass." Things that seem so frustrating in the moment will only be a memory very quickly.

Have a gentle day,

~d

*One more comment about spanking: I understand that discipline techniques are always evolving. I do not condemn the parents of past generations who were taught that spanking was an effective and acceptable form of discipline. I hope that every parent makes educated decisions about how to raise their children in *this* generation. There is no reason to keep making the same mistakes when we now have so much information available to us on the detrimental effects of the practice.

Roll Over, I'm Crowded!

We have co-slept with Kieran since the beginning. I had a bassinet that I tried to use a few times - he had none of it. Along with breastfeeding, co-sleeping is one of the most convenient things we've done as parents. We have never had to get up in the middle of the night to either make a bottle or leave the bed to tend to a crying baby, and that has been wonderful for our sleep. Now that Kieran is a toddler, however, co-sleeping is becoming more of a challenge.

For some reason, many toddlers have a tendency to flail and spread out in bed.
Everywhere.
I am woken up several times each night because I feel Kieran flipping over and kicking Tom, so I wrestle him back over with me. Invariably, Kieran and I both end up crowding Tom by the end of the night, who has to fight for both bed space and the sheet. We have a queen size bed right now, but we have outgrown its usefulness.

Make yourself comfortable, kid!

 Consequently, we have been on the hunt for a king size bed. We think we have it narrowed down to this memory foam bed from Costco, but I hate buying a bed without being able to lie down in it first. If anyone has any experience with NovaForm from Costco, I'm interested in hearing your story. Personally, I wish we could just put another bed down next to ours. We could just have a room full of beds! But Tom is drooling over memory foam.

Why do we continue to co-sleep, you may wonder? Well, for many of the same reasons we started out that way. Here are a few of our reasons:

1) Convenience: like I said before, there was nothing easier than nursing in bed and falling asleep with Kieran. It took me a few months of nursing before I was able to do it in my sleep, but we have it down to a science now. And since we're still nursing to sleep (and many other times each day), it's still convenient to have Kieran in our bed.

2) Bonding: what better way to form a solid attachment to both parents than snuggling up with them every night? I can't tell you the hours Tom and I spent just staring in awe at the little life nestled in bed with us. Along these same lines, Tom can tell you that I hate sleeping without him; my thoughts on Kieran in his own bed are - why would he want to sleep alone either? He's just a little guy! I'm not forcing him into his own bed until he's ready.

3) Health: skin to skin contact is so essential for a new baby; it can act as pain intervention, it can help stabilize heartrate and breathing as well as reduce crying, it is an essential part of establishing a breastfeeding relationship, it completes brain growth/development, and more. I also felt more secure as a new mama having such close contact with my baby.

4) Sleep: all of us have gotten hours more sleep with Kieran in bed. As a baby nurses, the mother produces a special hormone which acts as a sleep aid for both mother and baby. It was easy for us to drift off during breastfeeding! And having Kieran in bed meant never getting up to tend to him when he was sick, wet, or just restless. (For the record, we also do not believe in "crying it out" or "Ferberizing" kids: it is psychologically and physically damaging to babies and is simply disrespectful to babies' needs. This blogger describes my feelings on CIO exactly.) And even though Kieran is in the midst of the toddler nighttime Olympics (a close cousin of the breastfeeding Olympics, by the way), we still get much more sleep than if we had to get up several times a night to go settle him back to sleep in a separate bed. Kieran simply doesn't sleep well on his own - and yes, we envy those parents who have the rare good sleepers. But it is much more common for kids (and adults) to wake up many times each night. (For a really quick lesson on sleep cycles, read pages 41-47 of the No Cry Sleep Solution, available in this Google Book Preview.)

Those reasons have been compelling enough to keep Kieran in the family bed. It may not work for every family, but we are quite happy with it. Well, if happiness includes a toddler's foot in your eye.

Have a restful evening,
~d

My Bookworm

So often in one of my online communities, mamas will ask what books toddler and parents really want to read. I'm going to start a running list, to be updated as we go. For now, here are 10 books that we enjoy on a regular basis:

1) Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?: Thank you, Auntie Shawna for this one! This was the first Dr. Seuss book that Kieran really loved. It also inadvertently fast forwarded the letter recognition process: one day we realized Kieran recognized most of the sound words from the book (moo, buzz, pop, etc.) when he pointed them out on the inside front/back covers. Who knew?! It definitely helped him become fascinated with letters.

2) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: I was really excited Kieran liked this one. I used to read this book my preschool class, so I wasn't sure if he'd be ready for it - he is! It's a fun book of silly "consequences."

3) Doctor Dan the Bandage Man: My mom surprised me last year with a copy of several classic Golden Books that I had loved as a child - this was number one on the list. Tom makes fun of me because I often have to change wording in books to align with my parenting/life philosophies (bottles become mama's milk, firemen become firefighters, etc.), this is one of them. (Ok, for those who will ask - when Dan hurts his finger, he cries and runs to his mama. His mama says "Dan, that is nothing to cry about!" I change it to "Dan's mama gave him a kiss and said, 'here let me help make you feel better!'" Per my Toddler Commandments post (#2), I hesitate to minimize Dan's feelings by telling him he's crying over nothing. Let the making-fun-of commence!)

4) Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball: not only is this a really cute story, but it's got wonderful illustrations. It's one of several that we've checked out from the library for months at a time, and we need to just buy our own copy. The star of the book is a spunky little wombat - Kieran likes to mimic the wombat's actions, and he loves to point out the detail of the other Australian (I assume) animals.

5) Biscuit books: these are actually easy reader books - they are meant for kids who are just learning to read. Kieran just likes the dog and the simple stories; he can "tell" most of the stories from memory. The one we have next to the bed that gets read daily is Biscuit Takes A Walk. Any book with a family member in it is a favorite in our house - Biscuit Takes A Walk is about a grandpa. Kieran alternately tells me that it is either about "Grandpa Hat" (my dad who always wears a hat) or "Grandpa Motorcycle" (Tom's dad who owns a motorcycle). The other family member favorite book is called "My Grandma and I." We also read that one at nap/bed times.

6) Llama Llama, Red Pajama: since I'm on the subject, his favorite "mama" book is this one by Anna Dewdney. It's got great verse, and it's another one that Kieran likes to act out while we are reading it (particularly the part that says "Baby Llama stomps and pouts, Baby Llama jumps and shouts"). It's also on the list of "books we've kept too long from the library and just need to cough up the money for."

7) Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and Hop on Pop: three Seuss favorites that Kieran could have read over and over. These bad boys are LONG, so I try to limit them to one or two readings a day. On a side note, Kieran is a sensitive boy - there are several books that I either have to skip pages or take time to soothe him when we get to a problem page, because he tends to get overly emotional. Hop on Pop has a page where a boy bites a tiger's tail - he doesn't like that at all. My Grandma and I (mentioned in #5) has a page where a boy falls off his bike and cries - Kieran "fake cries" every single time we get there, and I have to stop and say something about how the grandma gives him hugs and kisses. Ah, toddlers.

8) Caps for Sale: this is another one that I loved as a child and I purchased it for half-selfish reasons. Tom teases me relentlessly for it, but he also does really funny voices for the peddler when he reads it.

9) Boynton and Carle: I couldn't pick just one book by either of these authors. Boynton's verse is awesome - we particularly like Barnyard Dance and The Belly Button Book. She's a really fun read. Carle has trippy pictures, but Kieran loves his books, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

10) Goodnight Moon: ah, Goodnight Moon. My mom and I started to calculate the number of times I've read this book in the last year or so. It's the last book we read as Kieran is nursing to sleep at nap and bed times, and I usually read it 3 times each time before he's out. He's just now transitioning to one nap/day, and I started reading this book when he was not yet a year old. So let's do a conservative estimate - 9 times/day since he was 12 months old . . . I've read this book almost 2500 times in the last 9 months. Just so you know, Kieran *just* ripped the back binding off last week, so we're in need of our second copy. That's pretty good for a book read that many times! It is a nice way to drop off to sleep though (I've fallen asleep reading it many times!) - she put lots of "shhhhhhh" sounds in, so you can shush your little one to sleep within the verse.

And now it is time for me to go read a little Goodnight Moon to myself. Goodnight, noises everywhere!

~d

Another Fine Mess

Many of the families that I know from my area attachment parenting group participate in a cooperative learning program (“co-op”). It’s pretty simple: to participate in the co-op, you have to offer at least one class. Classes can be geared toward any age, even adults, but most of our classes are for the preschool set. Once you offer a class, you can enroll in as many classes as you’d like. No one can make money off of a class; teachers can only charge enough fees to cover their expenses.

Kieran and I have participated in the co-op since he was seven or eight months old, and I have been helping coordinate behind the scenes for the last three quarters. We’ve done so many things that I never would have thought of (or had the energy to prepare) on our own. Here are a few examples: we’ve done tours of a fire station, nature centers, and a local television weather station, a watercolor class, nuudle art, puppet shows, a class where we rode a city bus, and our favorite – a music class called “Toddler Tunes” that lasted for almost a year before the mama had another commitment that prevented her from teaching it (sniff).

This quarter, the first class I offered was a “Messy Party.” Today a group of one to four year olds descended on us to finger paint with pudding, sit in a pool full of beans for measure and pouring play, stick their fingers in Gloop, and enjoy the rest of Kieran’s regular toys. Originally, we were also going to have a pool full of dried rice, painting with regular paint, and fun with bubbles and our sand/water table, but Mother Nature decided to pour on us all day. We did, however, go out and have some messy and wet fun playing in the rain. Everyone had so much fun, and since parents came with the expectation that their kids were going to be a mess, there was no tension or frustration due to smeared clothing or extensive clean-up.

Any one of these activities would be perfect for a toddler on any given day, and none of them are incredibly expensive to prepare. The pudding was simply vanilla instant pudding with a few drops of food coloring; the beans were the biggest expense but will be bagged and stored for later use (I just bought the cheapie pinto beans from Walmart). I love the feeling of Gloop, I've included the very easy recipe below. 

 

Finger painting with pudding

 Kieran is much more interested in eating the paint rather than painting with it.

How many kids can you fit into a pool full of beans?

Gloop! So fun to squish and squeeze.

Gloop Recipe

2 parts cornstarch

1 part water

Food coloring

*Mix food coloring into water. Pour cornstarch into a bowl, add water. The mixture should feel kind of hard/crumbly, but when you hold it in your hand the Gloop will "melt" off of it. The top of the Gloop will look like liquid, but feel like a solid. It's a great sensory activity!

Have a messy day!

~d

That's How We Roll

As a stay at home mama to a busy toddler, I’m constantly searching online for new ideas in several areas: 

*fun/educational activities for my son;

*information on attachment parenting, gentle discipline, and other techniques that model responsive/sensitive parenting;

*creative ways to be frugal on our one income budget;

*information on living more consciously (i.e., eating healthy, whole foods; doing our part to leave the Earth a nice place to live by reducing our ecological footprint); and

*promoting causes I believe in such as increased/extended breastfeeding; an overhaul of our broken vaccination system/schedule; the case against circumcision; and others that I’ll write about here from time to time.

On those rare occasions I have time to be crafty, I also like finding ideas on relatively simple crafts to make (and perhaps sell).

It is my hope that this blog will compile some useful information on the above topics for others who are searching.

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For this first post, I thought I’d share one of Kieran’s recent firsts – his first homemade biscuit-making experience. I am guilty of giving in to the simplicity of store-bought biscuits. It’s so easy to peel the can open and slide the pre-made dough into the oven. (On that note, am I the only person who always jumps as the can bursts open at the seam when pressed with a spoon? I know it's coming, yet I still gasp and jump like it was surprising.) But in my quest to make more things from scratch and do new things with Kieran, I decided to give from-scratch biscuits a try. 

I remember making biscuits with my mom when I was younger. Kneading and rolling the dough was always intensely relaxing, and I can still hear the sound of each biscuit falling out of the mouth of the glass we used to cut them out – a small, satisfying “pop.” As you can see from the pictures below, Kieran shares my fondness for the process. 

He knew he was in for a treat when I cleared the table and let him throw flour everywhere. A mess? He was in! He helped me with every step – he measured, poured, stirred, cut, kneaded, and rolled like a pro. And true to his mama’s side of the family, he took several pinches of dough to nibble on (sampling for quality is a requirement in our house).

Being a complete biscuit novice, I was surprised when my biscuits stayed as flat as we’d rolled them. Doh (or dough, as the case may be *wink wink*) – that’s what happens when you don’t use a recipe that calls for yeast! Regardless of their thinness, the biscuits were little round hunks of heaven. We doubled the recipe that follows below and made about 20 biscuits and 15 cinnamon kisses. We froze half for later consumption (I’ll let you know if they thaw and reheat well).

Making biscuits from scratch is a money saver. Even if you had to buy every ingredient listed I doubt you'd spend more than $10.00, and you could make hundreds of biscuits if you so chose. Cans of pre-made biscuits sell for $1-$2 at Walmart and Aldi, 8-10 biscuits per can. 

Enjoy the pictures of our precious mini-baker, and let me know if you have a favorite biscuit recipe. Maybe we can have a bake-off!

 

Rolling with the miniature rolling pin I used to play with as a little girl.

 

I think he liked rolling with mama's big rolling pin even more!

 Cutting out the biscuits using a glass I filched from my grandma's cupboard.

 

Spooning on cinnamon sugar to make kisses. 

This, by the way, was the dough he most enjoyed sampling.

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My Mom's Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

  

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)

2 c all purpose/unbleached flour

(*the reviews I read or whole wheat flour were less than stellar, so I didn't try it this time)

1 Tbsp Sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 c buttermilk (more or less; it needs to be enough to mix 

all of the dry ingredients into the ball of dough.)

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Cut the Crisco into the dry ingredients until it is about the consistency of cornmeal.

Stir in buttermilk until the dough forms a "ball" and doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl.

Flour your table (use wax paper if you'd like); roll your rolling pin and what you are going to cut the biscuits out with in the flour so they don't stick to the dough.

Put the dough in the middle of the flour and knead it at least 20 times. Handle lightly and don't overknead it or it will get too tough.  Pat the dough out a bit with your hands and then finish with the rolling pin. The biscuits will not rise in the oven, so leave your dough at least 3/4 of an inch thick. 

Cut out biscuits and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Put them side by side if you want them to have soft sides or about an inch apart if you want them to have crispier sides.  

Bake at 450 degrees until golden brown; about 10-12 minutes. 

For cinnamon kisses, conserve part of the batch (or make a double batch like I did!), and roll it out thinner than you did for the biscuits (about 1/4 inch thick).

Spread butter on the layer of dough, then sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mix (like you would use to make cinnamon toast) generously all over the butter. 

Roll it up about 3 rolls, then cut it and start a fresh roll. 

Slice into pieces about 1 inch wide. Place them on the cookie sheet with the biscuits. (My mom's recipe said to cook at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, but I just tossed them in with the biscuits and they turned out fine.)

I cut out all of my biscuits and made the kisses, flash froze them on a cookie sheet, then tossed them in a freezer safe Ziploc bag.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of our biscuits to share with you right now, I'll try to remember to snap one next time. 

Thanks for stopping by! 


~d