School Skills For Babies and Toddlers, Part 4: Science

January 17, 2013May 13, 2013Leave a comment

Babies and toddlers are natural explorers and experimenters. Everything in their world is new to them and requires further investigation. Science, then, comes quite naturally to young children. Here are some ways I help guide my kids in their scientific discoveries!

Make Observations

Note properties of objects in your baby’s world: the size, shape, color, feel, smell, taste (when appropriate. Which, for a baby, happens to be all the time) and sound it makes. For instance, when you’re feeding ducks at the duck pond you can say, “See the duck in the pond? It’s a small brown duck. It makes a quacking sound. Feel a feather. It’s soft and shiny.”
Compare objects and their properties- Which slide in the park is bigger? Which snack tastes saltier, the cracker or the grape? What shape is the cover of the book we just read? Which is softer, your blanket or the baby wipes case?
When you’re at the park, on a walk, or even in your living room just stop and make observations. What sounds can you hear (a bird, an airplane, the dishwasher)? How does it feel (warm, hot, cold)? What can you smell (a flower, fresh-cut grass, dinner cooking in the oven)?
Play peek-a-boo: your baby will be observing you like crazy!
Describe your food: “See this grape. It’s green and round like an oval. It’s smooth and shiny. Let’s taste it. Yum! It’s sweet and juicy, even a bit tart.”
Point out “same” and “different”: “See these two toys? They are both the same because they’re both blue and can fit in my hand. They’re different because this one bounces and this one makes a rattling sound when I shake it.”
Turn off all the lights when it’s getting dark out and play with flashlights. See if your little one can find objects with his light. Or, you hold the light and shine it over the floor–have your little one chase the light (toddlers really are a lot like puppies!)

Explore Cause and Effect

Build a block tower (or soup can tower) and knock it down. Then build it back up and knock it down again. Repeat.
Play “Sink or Float”- Get a tub of water (or play in the bath tub). One by one, drop objects into the water to see if they sink or float. For your older toddler, you can have them make a prediction of sink or float before you put the object in the water
When your child does something naughty (what, YOUR little angel be naughty?) explain–in not too many words–the effect of their actions. When you hit, it hurts. When you throw your food, it makes a mess. When you scream that high-pitched whiny scream at the top of your lungs from the back seat of the car, it makes Mommy veer off the road. Then let your little rebel help make restitution for their “effects” (here’s a rag to clean up the mashed bananas in the carpet, Sweetie).
Note what happens when you blow air into a balloon. If your baby doesn’t startle too easily, let them see what happens when you KEEP blowing into the balloon (POP!).

Experiment and Investigate

Kids naturally want to explore their surroundings. Set up safe boundaries to allow your child to explore on their own or with your guidance. And don’t worry if your toddler gets dirty–they can always take a bath!

Cook with your kids
Play in the dirt, a sand box, or a mud puddle
Make predictions- What do you think will happen if we put this cup of yogurt in the freezer during your nap? (Then eat the frozen yogurt for a snack when he wakes up!)
Make a “sensory box”- fill a plastic bin with sand, dry rice or beans (*Note* small beans can be a choking hazard for the little guys, so use your discretion here). Put some small cups, spoons, or even excavator toys in the bin for digging around.
If your baby wants to see what it feels like to smear pureed carrots through her hair, let her give it a go. If your toddler wants to help dress himself in mismatched boots and backward sweat pants, let him. Young children learn by doing, even if it’s something we’d rather they not be doing. As long as they’re safe, there’s no harm in letting them experiment.
Put baby in a backpack and go for a good ‘ol nature walk. Point out the plants, animals, sights, and sounds around you.
Explore static- Rub a balloon on your hair and watch it stand up
Explore friction- Rub your baby with her towel to warm up after a bath

Weather and Temperature

Talk about the weather when you look outside in the morning, are driving in the car, or are playing in the park. Play meteorologist for your baby and name the weather: sunny, cloudy, foggy, snowy, rainy (or, if you’re from Seattle, you can use the fancy rain words: drizzly, showers, downpour, sprinkles, misty, monsoon).
Talk about day and night, morning and afternoon- note how it gets dark and night and light during the day. The sun (or, in Seattle, the light clouds) come out in the day and the moon comes out at night.
Notice temperature changes- it’s warm inside and cold outside (at least where I’m from. If you’re lucky, you live in a place where it’s cool inside and hot outside. Can you tell it’s winter in Seattle right now?)

Know Your Body

Sing and “play” “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”–point out the body parts on your baby as you sing or have your toddler point them out on himself.
Lay your baby on her back and gently touch a body part and say what it is. Repeat 3-4 times before moving on to another body part: “Where is your chin? There’s your chin! There’s your chin! There’s your chin!”
Use proper names when talking about your child’s body parts. You might feel weird saying the proper name instead of some other cutesy word, but it’s important for kids to learn the correct vocabulary.
Read body books- As you’re reading, have your child find the body parts that are in the book. One of my favorites is “Here Are My Hands” by Bill Martin Jr.

Have fun exploring with your baby–you will probably both learn a lot in the process!

Another house-hunting trip!

January 16, 2013Leave a comment

Jon found out last week that he needs to be back in Ireland next month for work. We still haven’t gotten our moving paperwork (or a moving date or any other pertinent information that you might need to ACTUALLY move half-way around the world). We did, however, get approval for me to tag along with Jon on his trip so we can go house-hunting together! And, since Jacob is still nursing and gets to fly for free, he’s coming along for the ride with us. David will stay with my parents while we’re gone–a very good thing because I have a hard time imagining anything worse than flying for 15 hours with a restless 2-year old. We’ll be over there for about a week and, provided we DO have our paperwork by then, will try to sign a lease on a house for our family.

I’m really excited to go over there and see where our *potential* new home will be. And, if nothing else, at least I’ll get a free trip to Ireland 🙂

School Skills For Babies and Toddlers, Part 3: Math

January 16, 2013May 13, 20132 Comments

Now that we’ve got reading and writing under control, we’ll tackle math. I have found that most adults seem dislike math or think it’s too hard, but children LOVE it! Math is fun, and somehow as we grow older it becomes “work” and we forget how much fun it really is. Plus, math skills are so important, both in and out of school, as children and as adults. Since math skills build upon each other, it’s really important for kids to have a firm grasp on the basics before they can move on. Setting a firm foundation in math skills is one way you can ensure success, and not frustration, when your child gets to school. Learning should be fun for kids and part of your daily life–no flash cards or lectures necessary! You can start doing any of these things with your baby or toddler to help prepare them for their math days ahead.

Number Concepts:

Count- Count everything-the numbers on a mailbox, how many apple slices your child is eating for lunch, how many buttons are on his shirt, how many stairs you walk up to the nursery. If you’re feeling fancy, count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s as well. Don’t forget to include zero sometimes, and count backward as well!
Ordinals- Talk about ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) as you see them in your world (“The tree is the first plant by our fence, the rose bush is second, and the shrub is third.”).
Represent numbers- Show your child with concrete examples of what each number represents. For instance, get a group of five objects and count them together: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You can then show them the number 5 and say “This is a five. When we see the number five, we can think of five ____.”
More or less- As you’re playing with blocks or Legos, make groups of objects that are obviously more or less (and towers that are shorter or taller). Talk about which group has more and which one has less, or point out which tower is taller and which one is shorter. You can even throw in the words “most” and “tallest” for some added challenge.
Sing number songs and say number rhymes like “One, Two Buckle My Shoe” and “The Ants Go Marching”

Colors

Point out colors- Find colors all around you, and talk about them. Talk about the colors on your child’s clothes, the colors of his favorite toys, and the colors on his dinner plate. It’s also helpful to point out color variances (a light blue ball versus a dark blue train).
Sing about colors- We like to sing about the colors we see. As I’m getting David dressed in the morning we’ll sing a song to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”: “David is wearing his yellow shirt, yellow shirt, yellow shirt. David is wearing his yellow shirt, all day long.” and we’ll repeat the song with as many different articles of clothing as we can.
Do a color sort- Find an object that is a single color and have your child find other objects in the room that are the same color. Repeat with another object of another color. Start a collection of “green things” or “blue things” that you can add to throughout the day.

Shapes

Look for shapes in your world- Find circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and rhombuses (the official name for diamonds) all around you. Point them out on road signs, in the grocery store, in books and when you’re playing in the park
Name 3-D shapes- As you’re pointing out shapes to your little one, don’t forget to show them 3-D shapes like spheres (balls), cones (ice cream cones), cubes (square boxes), and cylinders (an empty oatmeal container or soup can).

Time

Talk about what you’re doing first, what you’ll do next, and what you’ll do last (“First we’ll take off your dirty diaper, then we’ll wipe your bottom, and last we’ll put on a clean, dry diaper”).
Point out things that you did yesterday (or this morning), and give your child a preview about what will happen tomorrow (or what will happen after lunch, after his nap, etc).
Show how things change over time- show your toddler a picture of him as a baby, point out his empty plate after dinner (where once there was food, now it’s gone!), let your baby watch–from a safe distance–as you boil water for tea (see how hot and bubbly the water got!).

Patterns

Find patterns around you- The stripes on his shirt, the lines going down the middle of the road, the spots on a leopard at the zoo.
Create patterns together- Pick out two colors of blocks, and lay them out in an alternating “AB” pattern (red, blue, red, blue…). Have your child help you continue your pattern.
Find patterns in books- Many stories have language patterns that are pretty easy to pick out. Find these patterns and talk about them. Also, many books that your child may be familiar with have patterns (For instance, many books have a pattern of 3’s: 3 pigs, 3 bears, 3 wishes).

Sorting and Matching
You can really sort anything. Just choose a property(size, shape, color, feel), and start sorting! You’ll have to do the sorting for the tiny ones, but your toddler can help out or even start doing it on his own.

Have your toddler help you sort socks when you’re folding the laundry. Two birds, one stone.
Sort objects by type: crayons in one pile, balls in another pile
Sort objects by size: big sticks in one pile, small sticks in another pile
Sort objects by color: purple toys here, green toys there, and yellow toys over there
Sort objects by use: toys in one pile, clothes in another pile
Sort objects by feel: rough materials here, smooth ones there
Do puzzles
Match two halves: Cut a picture in half. Match the two ends together to complete the picture.
Have your toddler help you sort the silverware as you’re putting away the dishes.

Measurement

Talk about long, longer, longest; tall, taller, and tallest; small, smaller and smallest; big, bigger and biggest; and short, shorter, shortest. Find examples around your house.
Measure an object (or your child!) with “non-standard units”. How many Legos tall is the chair? How many toothpicks long is Mommy’s shoe?
Weigh produce at the grocery store. Which is heavier: the watermelon or the onion?
Record your child’s height on a growth chart and watch how he grows over time.
Pour the same amount of liquid into different sizes of containers to see how the surface area changes
Have your toddler help you measure ingredients while you’re cooking together
Hold different-sized objects to feel which is heavier and lighter

Math is all around us, and your baby or toddler will love learning with you!

School Skills For Babies and Toddlers, Part 2: Literacy

January 15, 2013May 13, 20131 Comment

My first topic for this exploration into school skills for babies and toddlers will be literacy (reading and writing). This is probably the biggest area of instruction in early elementary school, so we’ll start here. You can do any of these things with your baby or toddler. Even if they can’t tell you what they’re learning, trust me, they’re soaking it all in!

Early Reading Skills:

Read- I’ve mentioned this before, but reading is so very important. Make it a priority, and a habit, to read with your kids every single day. For us, this means we have an “official” story time before nap time and Bible story time before bed. We also read at various points throughout the day, but this way I know we have a set time every day when reading will definitely happen. If you establish good reading habits (and good reading memories) early on, it will be a lot easier for your kid to keep up those habits in school.
**One other thing here. As you’re reading to your child, read slowly and with a lot of expression. Give your baby time to process what you’re doing. Also, repetition is key. Children love hearing the same stories over and over and over and over again–and it research shows that repetition helps young children learn and retain information. So indulge your little guy in reading “Goodnight, Moon” for the 5,000th time this week.
Talk about “concepts of print”- As you’re reading, point out different concepts in the book: the title, the cover of the book, the author (“the person who wrote the wonderful words”), the illustrator (“the person who drew the beautiful pictures”), where the sentence begins and ends (talk about different forms of punctuation–“Wow, see that little dot after this word? That’s called a period. A period is like a stop sign for readers.”), the author’s note at the end of the book. This may seem really silly to do all of this with a baby or a young toddler, but they’ll start to get it and they’ll start to become familiar with the language you’re using (so always use the proper names: author, illustrator, etc. and then explain them as necessary).
Point out details in the story- Rather than just reading the words on the page and calling it a day, take time to elaborate on the story on each page. Point out details in the illustrations, ask questions about what’s happened so far, and see what your child thinks will happen next.

Early Phonics Skills
Phonics basically deals with letters and sounds. Here are some things you can do with your budding linguist:

Find letters- Find letters and words in your world (on food packaging, road signs, the side of a bus, etc.) and point them out. It’s fun for young kids to see how letters and words are all around them!
Teach letter sounds- Letters are a confusing concept for young children, especially in the English language where our letters make so many different sounds. At a very young age, it’s best to not even teach the letter “names” (A, B, C, etc.). Rather, focus on the sound each letter makes. For instance, when you see the letter A, say, “this letter says /a/ like apple, alligator, animal.” After all, when it comes time to read, your kid’s going to need to know the sound of the letter, not it’s name, in order to read a word.
I told David that all letters make sounds, just like animals make sounds. We learned the names of the letters and the special sounds that they each made, then we even sing about the letter sounds in a song to the tune of “Old McDonald”. For instance, I’ll hold up the letter A (we have a foam set of letters that we play with in the bath tub) and sing: “Old McDonald had a word, e-i-e-i-o. And in that word there was a letter, e-i-e-i-o. With an /a/ /a/ here, and an /a/ /a/ there, here an /a/, there an /a/, everywhere an /a/, /a/. Old McDonald had a word, e-i-e-i-o.
Find sounds- Say a sound, and see how many things you can find that begin with that sound. You can even make a “sound box” where you put all of the things that begin with that sound into a box. Making things concrete will help your young child to learn the skill.
Practice rhyming- Find rhyming words in the stories you’re reading or things you see (“You’re wearing a blue shoe today. Blue, shoe. Those words rhyme!”). There are lots of fun nursery rhymes and songs that have rhyming words, too (“Hickory Dickory, Dock”, “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, “Jack and Jill”, “Down By the Bay”, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”).
Sing- Singing is a great way to develop your baby’s language skills. You can sing about things you’re doing (you can make up the song as you’re going. It can be ridiculous, off-tune, and not make any sense. Your baby will love it). You can sing while you’re doing things–I like singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” during diaper changes. I use my fingers to go up the water spout (up baby’s legs), make the rain come down (tickle baby’s tummy), wash the spider out (rub baby’s tummy), and have the sun come out (trace a circle around baby’s face). You can also sing to teach (like when you sing the “ABC song”).

Early Writing Skills
Young children lack the fine motor skills to physically hold a pencil and write. There’s a lot you can do now, though, to help get them ready.

Writing with fingers- Give your kid a chance to practice writing and drawing with something they don’t have to hold on to–their own fingers! Just get a large surface–a high chair tray, table, or a cookie sheet–and cover it with something they can write in. Some of my favorites are shaving cream, finger paints, pudding and whipped cream (just make sure if your baby is still in the puts-everything-in-his-mouth-regardless-of-it’s-level-of-toxicity stage that you give him something edible to play in). If you don’t like messes, put a bit of the “painting material” in a large ziploc bag and duct tape the edges. Your kid can still paint through the bag mess-free.
Pinching practice- One of the greatest hurdles to writing for young children is the simple fact that their bodies are not physically able to do it. Holding and controlling a pencil is a specific fine motor skill that takes time to develop. Pinching practice can help get those little fingers ready to grasp a pencil. We play a “pincher pick-up” game where I give David a set of tongs and a bunch of little things for him to try to pick up with them (small toys, crafting pom-pom’s, large buttons and beads). He still uses two hands on the pinchers most of the time, but he’s already able to control them a lot more than when we first started playing. A variation on this game is to play in a rice table (to make your own rice table, just fill a large bucket or rubbermaid bin with rice or uncooked beans). Bury the toys in the rice and let your kiddo dig around with the pinchers to find them.
Playing with clay and dough- Get those little finger muscles strong by letting your kids play with play dough and clay (clay is harder to use, so wait until they’re a bit older for this one). You can make your own play dough or even let them play with bread dough or pizza dough if you’re concerned they will eat it.
Hand-eye coordination–This is an important foundation to develop for both reading and writing. With a baby, have him practice grasping at toys that you dangle in front of him or reaching for toys that you shake on the floor. For older tots, you can play catching games with “slow” objects like scarves or balloons. You can even make a parachute out of a bed sheet and put soft objects on it to watch as you shake the sheet up and down (get another grown up to help hold the sheet, or invite your friends over for a play date and play parachute together).One of my favorite baby parachute games is “popcorn”. I fill up old socks or nylons with cotton balls, fabric scraps, etc. and tie them off into “popcorn kernels”. Then we make imaginary popcorn: lay out our pan (the sheet), pour our popcorn kernels (the sock balls) into the pan, add whatever flavorings we want (just shake our hands over the “pan” adding chocolate, salt, sprinkles, and cheese…yummmmm….), and then we hold opposite sides of the “pan” and give our popcorn a good shake until all of our popcorn balls invariably pop out of the pan. Repeat until you’re all good and full of popcorn.

Best Play-Dough Recipe Ever

January 14, 2013April 24, 20131 Comment

I make lots of play-dough for David to play with–it’s cheaper than buying it at the store and it’s safe to eat (a very important point if you have orally-fixated children like I do). I got this recipe from my husband’s mom, who got it when she was in MoPS 30 years ago. It’s the best recipe EVER because it lasts forever (ok, not forever by scientific standards, but definitely forever by toddler standards), it keeps it’s color well, and it does everything a good play-dough should do: molds well, cuts well, and comes out of clothes easily. Enjoy!

Salt-Flour Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tablespoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
*optional* food coloring and flavoring (vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and cinnamon are some of my favorites)

Add food coloring to the water–you’ll need several drops for a nice rich color. Put all ingredients into a pan. Stir and cook over low heat until a ball forms. Let your play-dough cool on a sheet of wax paper before playing or storing. Store in a ziploc bag.

School Skills For Babies and Toddlers Part 1: Introduction

January 14, 2013May 13, 20132 Comments

Back in the days before I had babies, I was a teacher. I got to enlighten the young minds of America for 6 hours a day, 180 days a year. Now that I’m a full-time mom, I’m not in the classroom anymore. It has become quite obvious, however, that I am still a teacher. Only now, I’m in teacher-mode 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with my own kids–no Christmas break or summer vacation, no sick days or off-site training days. Oh, yeah. And I don’t get paid any more. And I wouldn’t change a thing about it!

It is one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities I have as a mom: to be my childrens’ first teacher. And, whether or not they know it, this is every parent’s role. Our children are always learning, and so every little thing we say or do is teaching them something. Babies and young children are like little learning sponges who soak up this wide new world they have entered. And, as the big people in these little people’s lives, we get to share in that with them.

Kids are never too young to start learning, so why not start teaching them? I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts about how I incorporate learning into our days. I don’t do anything formal or “academic” (c’mon, my oldest kid is only 2!) but I do try to teach them at every possible opportunity. For young children, play is serious business. When I “teach” my baby and toddler, then, most of it is done while we’re playing together or through little songs and games that we play.

Since I used to teach Kindergarten and first grade, I know a lot about what kinds of skills kids need to be familiar with before they enter school. I’m certainly not an expert on this matter– not by a long shot!–but there are lots of things I do every day that will help my kids be better prepared for the school years that lay in their (not-so) distant futures. And if you have young children I bet you’re already doing a lot of these things, too! I’ll do a post each day this week covering a different topic: literacy, math, science, and social/emotional skills. So, read on this week to find out how great of a parent you already are and maybe get a few ideas for some fun new things to try!

This Week’s Menu

January 13, 2013January 13, 20132 Comments

Back by popular request, here is my menu for this week:

Sunday: Butternut Squash Soup and salad- This is a new recipe that was in my latest edition of the Rachael Ray magazine. It’s got lots of yummy fruits and veggies: squash, onions, sweet potato, carrots and apple. I’m also roasting some extra squash to puree for little guy’s baby food. Right now everything is roasting in my oven and it smells sooooo good! It looks like this will make a pretty big batch, so I’m planning on freezing the leftovers.
*Update* This recipe is DELICIOUS and made enough for me to freeze a few quarts of leftovers. Definitely making this one again!

Monday: Sloppy Joe’s and sweet potato fries with baked beans and steamed broccoli. This recipe is similar to how I make my “Joe’s”.

Tuesday: Community Group potluck. I’m making brownies and gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Wednesday: Panang Curry and Spring Rolls, salad with peanut sauce dressing

Thursday: Garlic Chicken Pasta with stir-fried veggies

Friday: Burritos with Spanish Rice and Refried Beans, salad

Saturday: Pizza to celebrate David’s first successful day of potty training! (we’ll still celebrate with pizza even if it’s not very successful. I think we’ll all need some pizza by the end of that!)

Our Week In Photos

January 11, 2013January 11, 2013Leave a comment

Welcome to my new blog address! The new address is just because I wanted something a bit more general for the blog title now that I’ve figured out a better direction for what I want to write about on here.

This was our first week of getting back into the swing of things after our busy Christmas and New Year’s adventures. Here’s a little photo-log of what we’ve been up to:

David resting after a busy Stroller Strides class. We were excited to be back to class after a long break away!

This was at Community Group on Tuesday. Our little friend Emery loves David. He’s not sure how he feels about the situation.

Baking chocolate chip cookies. Because Mommy needed a mid-morning chocolate fix.

David packing his backpack "for work" just like Daddy :)

David packing his backpack “to go to work” just like Daddy 🙂

We had our first BSF class of 2013 on Thursday. So great to be back studying God’s Word!

Painting get well cards for Daddy (sick with a cold) and Great-Granny Doreen (sick with pneumonia)

A fun trip to the Children’s Museum with our friends Sara and Elias

We usually go to the park for play time after lunch. Today, David requested that we stay inside and cuddle on the couch instead. And, since it was 28 degrees outside, I was happy to oblige! (P.S. This is David’s “smile for the camera” look)

Jacob is experimenting with solids. He mostly just smears the food around his face and sucks on his fingers.

Check back here next week for an *exciting* series of posts I’m going to do about getting your baby ready for school. Once a teacher, always a teacher 🙂 Have a great weekend, everybody!

Meal Planning

January 9, 2013Leave a comment

I love food–I love eating it, I love reading about it, and I love cooking it. Unfortunately, I just don’t have as much time to devote to preparing food as I used to. Between the hours of 4:30 and 6:00 when people without children are enjoying happy hour, we have our daily “Meltdown Hour”. I think the kids know that I have to feed the baby, clean up the house for Daddy’s arrival (see, I AM a good little wifey!), and get dinner ready at that exact moment. It’s really quite terrible. The other day during Meltdown Hour I just put both screaming, crying boys on the couch and laughed at the whole situation. How am I supposed to get ANYTHING done with the chaos that comes at that time every day?

I have learned that it really is impossible to cook a healthy dinner every night of the week and actually have it on the table at a reasonable time. That is, unless you have a really solid game plan. Enter the meal plan.

Every Sunday I sit down and fill out my schedule (which I mentioned in an earlier post). Part of my schedule is my meal plan. I decide each meal I will cook that week and I enter it into my schedule. I then go through my menu day by day and add items to my shopping list that I will need to pick up so I can prepare all of that wonderful food. This saves me from getting to the grocery store and wandering aimlessly through the aisles searching for who-knows-what to put in what’s-that-stuff. I always do my grocery shopping on Tuesday mornings (because I just have to catch up from the weekend on Mondays. I can’t add anything else to my repertoire that early in the week). Going into our week with a meal game plan also means we eat healthier since we don’t have to resort to chicken nuggets (at least not often) or a trip to a restaurant (which is actually quite stressful with young children. Bummer, cuz I kinda like that alternative).

When I’m planning my meals, I always try to plan for at least one item that will create leftovers (or parts that I can “re-purpose” in another dish), one dish that I can make an extra-big batch of for freezing, and one meal that is already prepared (in my freezer or by someone else). We also have a potluck dinner at our Bible study on Tuesday nights, so that cuts out one day of the week that I have to whole meal. With this plan, I only end up cooking from scratch 4-5 days a week instead of all 7. I also try to plan my weeknight meals to be something that is easy to prepare ahead of time so I can get it all ready to go while the boys are napping (or at least when the mischievous toddler is napping. Things always go smoother when he’s not “helping”).

One little side note. I am not a short-order cook. That means that everyone in my house eats what I cook–no separate meals for kids and parents. I barely have time to cook one meal, let alone two! Now, there are times when I will modify the meal for David’s tender 2-year old palette. For instance, if I’m making a spicy curry dish, I’ll make his portion relatively bland with just a touch of the curry. I still want him to grow accustomed to all of the foods we eat, but at the same time I want to make the food inviting for him to try. And, now that Jacob is starting to experiment with solids, I also serve the baby a bit of what we’re eating. For instance, when I’m making butternut squash soup I’ll save out a bit of the squash to puree into baby food. I’m no expert on kids’ eating habits, but it seems like offering kids “normal” food is as good a way as any to avoid the dreaded picky eater. Sure, kids wont’ eat everything–but they won’t eat ANYTHING if you don’t let them try!

Here’s how that all looks practically speaking. This was our menu from last week:

Sunday: Rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes
Monday: Shepherd’s pie (using up mashed potatoes from the night before.) I made the “pie” during nap time and just popped it in the oven at 5:00.
Tuesday: Potluck at Bible Study (I was in charge of bread this week so I brought store-bought roles. Win!)
Wednesday: White Chicken Chili (using up leftover rotisserie chicken and making a double batch for freezing. Double win!)
Thursday: Sweet and Sour Chicken– A recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine that I’ve been wanting to try
Friday: Pasta- I got some free boxes of pasta with coupons, and made a simple sauce out of diced tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.
Saturday: Curry- I love making curry. I have a few different curry pastes in my fridge and I just add whatever meat and veggies I have on hand, then serve over rice.

And, in case you want to give it a try, here’s my recipe for super-easy White Chicken Chili. I got this recipe from a family friend and it’s one of our go-to meals. This is a great recipe because it’ fast (10-15 minutes of prep), it can be made ahead in a crock pot, it only gets one dish dirty, and you can freeze the leftovers. Oh yeah, and it’s delicious! Have I sold you on it yet?

Easy White Chicken Chili
Ingredients:

Meat from 1/2 rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can chicken broth
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 cans white beans (great northern beans)
(optional) squeeze of lime juice
**sour cream, cilantro and crushed tortilla chips for serving**

Cook onions in a bit of chicken broth until they are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add all other ingredients and heat through (this can be done in a crock pot–just cook on low for 2-4 hours). If desired, top with sour cream, cilantro, and tortilla chips for serving.

Stay-cation

January 7, 2013April 26, 2013Leave a comment

As I mentioned earlier, Jon had a crazy month of work in December. He was gone traveling for a good portion of it and, the days he was in this country, they had him working up to 20 hours a day. So he needed a break. We ALL needed a break.

On New Year’s Eve we got the best gift ever: Jon’s company gave him the week off. Since the time off came as a surprise, we had no plans for our time together. There are a lot of things close to home that I’ve been wanting to do with Jon and the kids but because of our crazy schedules have just never done. This was going to be our week to do them all. Bring on the stay-cation.

With bedtimes starting at 7:00 in our house, it’s hard to do many of the traditional New Year’s Eve shenanigans. We decided to just go out for dinner with the kids and be home in time for a peaceful night at home ringing in 2013. Dinner turned out to be amazing. Our friends Scott and Alison were driving home from Mt. Baker and passed through our neighborhood right as we were heading out to the restaurant. They decided to join us for dinner and we had a great time catching up with them (and, as an added bonus, I think our kids’ dinnertime behavior provided these newlyweds with some adequate birth control). Dinner was actually quite wonderful–good friends and good food. Then, to top off the night, the restaurant had a raffle for free dinner right as we were about to leave. And guess who won? Us! Free food for our whole table. Not a bad way to send off 2012!

The next morning was New Year’s Day. It was clear and sunny when we woke up, so we decided to do something outside. We drove down to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and got there right as they were opening. It was a great day at the zoo–no crowds (probably in part because it was 28 degrees out there), lots of animals were out to entertain us and David had a great time running through all of the paths and pointing out his favorite animals.

: Me and David with the elephant sculpture.

: Well, hello, peacock.

: Jacob enjoyed his time at the zoo.

: Touring.

On Wednesday we went to the new Lynnwood Recreation Center for some swimming. They have a great pool (actually, they have THREE pools), a kids play area with splash toys, water slides, a lazy river and hot tubs. David had fun playing in the water until he got cold and retreated to the hot tub. This was Jacob’s first trip to the pool, and he seemed to enjoy all of it just fine. I’m so glad Jon was with me because there’s NO WAY I could ever take both boys to the pool by myself unless they were both strong swimmers. We did havea lot of fun there, though, and we’ll definitely be going back.

: Pool time!

: Jacob after his first pool swim

On Thursday we went to Normandy Park to visit Jon’s grandma for her 90th birthday. We didn’t get to make it down the day before on her actual birthday because I got locked out of the house. It was great to spend some one-on-one time with Great-Grandma Doreen at her house. She LOVES the boys, so her greatest gift was just getting to see them.

Great Granny Doreen with her David

On Friday morning we went to the mall to do a little shopping. Jon and I both needed warm winter coats and we found just what we were looking for at REI (mine was even on clearance for 60% off–CHA-CHING!).

My mom and sister came up on Friday night to babysit the boys so that Jon and I could have a night out (Thanks, Mom and Jess!). We had a perfect date in downtown Seattle. We went to a trendy little place called BOKA for a happy hour dinner: a nice juicy burger for Jon and Vietnamese short ribs for me. We had a bit of time after dinner so we headed over to Westlake Center to grab a quick dessert. Then we went to our favorite spa, Ummelina, for hot stone massages. Everything was just wonderful, and I was so happy to get to spend some special time with Jon.

: Me and my date enjoying a night out on the town!

We decided to drive over to Leavenworth for the weekend to visit Jon’s parents. For those of you who don’t know about Leavenworth, it’s this quirky little town East of the mountains. It’s a Bavarian town, kind of a “little Germany”, surrounded by mountains and snowy in the winter. We had a fun time sledding, checking out the sights in town, visiting with Grammy and Grandpa Pete, and watching the herds of deer that come to their house to graze. It really was the perfect way to end our little stay-cation!

: Bota enjoying the snow

: David playing with Grammy’s “yarn balls”

: Leavenworth

Playing pool at Grammy and Grandpa Pete’s house Jacob testing out the sled Driving home through Steven’s Pass

Today is my first day of “back to reality” with Jon back at work. It’s been a long time since I’ve had some of my usual activities like Stroller Strides and BSF, though, so I’m actually pretty happy to be getting back into our routine. I probably won’t be blogging as often now that I’m home alone with the boys during the day again, but I’ll try to get at least one post per week up for you guys. Until next time!

We Love, Teach, Grow

My journey through motherhood

Month: January 2013