Wordless Wednesday- Ice Cream with Daddy

Filed Under Daddy, Food, Three Years Old, Wordless Wednesday | 4 Comments

Trying New Foods

Filed Under Avon, Cooking/Baking, Food, Sensory Processing Disorder, Two and a half years old | 4 Comments

We had some major progress today with trying new foods! It is SO hard to get Bailey to try anything new. After hundreds of hours of OT, and a cooking class at her Early Childhood Center, we have determined that she is just going to be a picky and hesitant eater. It frustrates me to no end. It’s like if I could just get her to try a certain food, I know she would like it. Mealtimes are not pleasant at our house- mainly because I stress out over everything and Jonathon keeps trying to convince her to eat.

Well tonight, I made a pot roast for dinner. Roasts are one of my favorite comfort foods. Jonathon is not a big fan, and Bailey has never touched one before. Well despite the opposition from those two, I make a roast anyway once every few months. Today Bailey smelled it cooking and started asking what it was. She said she wanted to taste it. At dinnertime I put a few carrots, pieces of celery, and meat on her plate. Along with a half a banana, a buttermilk biscuit, and some corn. We always give her at least one thing she is guaranteed to eat (in this case the corn and banana) and one thing we KNOW she won’t eat (the roast) and one thing that she might try (biscuit).

She started off by telling us that biscuits were for dogs, and flat-out refusing to taste it. So she kissed it goodbye and handed it to me. That was fine. Then she ate all of her corn, as expected. Then I casually picked up a carrot off my plate and commented, “I’m going to bite this little carrot in half.” She picked up her own carrot, repeated that, and ate it. Then she said, “That’s very good!” and ate the rest of her carrots. AND tried the celery- which I thought she would hate- but she said, “These green beans are good!” Since the child has honestly not eaten a green bean in at least a year I guess she didn’t even know that wasn’t what it was. We just went with it and she ate about five bites of cooked celery and took seconds on carrots!

Once she was done with that, she wanted to get down and I told her to eat her banana first. She did, and then as I was washing dishes she came into the kitchen and asked for more carrots. I’m not one to ever deny my child a vegetable (maybe because she only eats them once every six months) so we stood in the kitchen and picked cooked carrots out of the pot and ate them together.

We opened a new silicone baking pan that I got from Avon, and I showed Bailey how we can make little cakes and muffins in the shape of butterflies, ladybugs, etc. She wanted to try it, so we used a Jiffy chocolate muffin mix (the box ones that are like 2/$1). It was the perfect amount of mix and they only took 12 minutes to bake. She was so excited to watch them in the oven with the light on. After we took them out I told her they needed to cool off, and that when we got back from delivering Avon we could have a tea party with our special cakes.

We went to deliver some Avon orders and drop off new brochures to my customers. She mentioned a few times how she wanted to go home and eat one of her special cakes. She had fun deciding which one to try. She ate a ladybug one and I had a butterfly. They turned out really cute. This is my child who will NOT eat any sort of bread, muffin, or cake. She has has problems in the past with gagging on these textures and basically avoids them at all costs now. I think she was excited enough to try these, that she didn’t worry about that. She ate almost the whole ladybug and then told me she wanted to save the rest for later.

This was a super way to make a snack into something fun. I am going to have to buy more healthy mixes (like berry ones instead of chocolate!) so we can do it again soon. If you have a child who is a picky eater, this pan is an absolute miracle. They aren’t available yet on my website because they are brand new, but I can advance order them if anyone is interested. I believe they are only around $10 intro price.

Anyway, all this talking about food. If you have a child who eats normally it doesn’t make sense. If your kid is a bad eater like Bailey, well first of all HUGS to you, and second, you know why I am so happy about this small step we took today!

Free Day

Filed Under Books, Food, Grandparents, Me, St. Louis | 1 Comment

Tomorrow my parents are watching Bailey so I can have a day to myself. They always watch her if we have kid-free plans, or if our schedules don’t work out right. But about once a month they take her for the day so I can just go do something fun.

Tomorrow I am going to deliver ONE Avon order (not wasting the whole day with work stuff!!) and then I am going to go to the new CVS and use my coupons! We are just starting to get CVS’s in our area but I am assuming it’s pretty similar to Walgreens. Only they mailed me some pretty sweet coupons! Like $10 off $20, which will be used for diapers…

Then I am planning on going to a book sale at the library and hopefully getting some new books for Bailey (25 and 50 cents each, if you are local, email me and I’ll tell you which branch!) and then I am going to enjoy a lunch alone with a book at either Macaroni Grill (Chicken Scalloppine) or Uno’s (deep dish pizza and dessert). I’m leaning toward pizza!

Healthy Eating

Filed Under Food, Learning, Talking, Two and a half years old | Leave a Comment

We have been doing a lot to teach Bailey about healthy foods vs. junk foods. I would love for her to have better eating habits than me or Jonathon. We have also been more careful about what we eat (okay, at least in front of her!) since she has been noticing. She knows that she has to eat healthy food before she can have a “junk snack” and she only gets one junk snack per day. For her, a junk snack is something like fruit snacks, a cookie, chips etc.

I think it is starting to sink in with her. When she was playing with the pretend kitchen in one of her classes, I heard her say, “I’m playing with all these healfy foods!” Another time, she was eating lunch with a little girl at church. She looked at the other girls lunch and said, “You have lots of junk snacks. Those are not healfy foods. I eat healfy foods so my body can have energy!” And it was true- the other girl had a half sandwich, pudding, chips, cookies and a candy. I was proud of Bailey for recognizing that. Next we will work on being tactful…

She does get fun foods and snacks occasionally. We eat fast food about once a week. She loves pizza too. We are not crazy about what she is allowed to consume (I think parents who are too much this way almost encourage their kids to gorge on junk food when they have the chance). I have also seen some statistics about girls- even younger than you would think- with eating disorders or using dieting pills. I don’t want her to be obsessed but I want her to be able to make smart choices for herself.

We just make sure that we have healthy things to offer her and that she gets a balanced diet. I wish she would eat more vegetables but we’re working on it. The other day at her cooking class she announced, “I don’t like to eat betchtables. I only like cookies!” Nice and loud and clear for everyone to hear, of course.

And here she is enjoying her pudding snack! She gets a half a cup of pudding when we need to hide a pill or something in it crushed up. She does okay with liquid medicine, but unfortunately her allergy medicine only comes in chewables

Mall Playdate with Ella

Filed Under Food, Friends, Playdates, Talking, Two and a half years old | Leave a Comment

Today we met Emily and Ella and Beatrice (Babytrice) at the mall for a playdate. The play area was disgustingly crowded. That place is just like a petry dish for germs anyway though. Bailey and Ella were DONE with it in about five minutes. They checked out the little rides outside the play area and then we were on to other things.

We went to Gymboree to do some shopping (also way too crowded but I got some really cute stuff) and then to Barnes and Noble. I just love buying books for Bailey and looking at books. I didn’t even get anything today though. We just hung out in the kids area and let the girls play at the train table. The cutest thing happened when we were leaving. I commented to Emily that I needed to find a bathroom. Bailey heard me and immediately walked up to some random 12 year old boy and said, “Excuse me, Boy. Where is the bathroom?” I was so surprised that she would approach a stranger to ask for directions. I was also so proud of her that she took the initiative to ask someone for help. And how sweet of her to want to help me. It was just such a good mommy moment.

Bailey also did a pretty good job of staying next to me in the mall. I brought her stroller, but really I just used it to carry the diaper bag and our purchases and my chai latte. We had lunch at Chick Fil-A, my favorite place to eat with a kid. They gave us plastic placemats that have adhesive to put on the table, wipes, extra napkins, and then we traded in Bailey’s toy for an ice cream.

The girls had so much fun eating ice cream together. They interact so much with each other now and really talk to each other. I’m glad they’re friends too, because then Emily and I get to spend time together!

Jonathon’s Birthday- Oberweis

Filed Under Birthdays, Daddy, Food, Outings, Shopping, Two and a half years old | 1 Comment

Jonathon’s birthday was also in December. We celebrated at Oberweis. Pregnant ladies do not need to host lots of events at their house, in my opinion at least. The lady at Oberweis told Bailey she was the cutest little girl she’d ever seen. She gave her multiple balloons and sheets of stickers and free ice cream treats. I thought she looked pretty cute too of course!

Bailey liked her ice cream but said that she didn’t want any sprinkles next time. How was I supposed to know? She loves sprinkles on cookies!

Then afterward, we (I) convinced Jonathon to go shopping at Target all together. Bailey wanted to just sit and read in the cart. It never ceases to amaze me how much she enjoys reading.

Happy birthday to my Jonathon! I love you and I’m so glad to have you as my husband.

2 1/2 Years Old

Filed Under Being a Mom, Food, Learning, Talking, Two and a half years old, classes | 3 Comments

Bailey Bug,

Happy “half birthday” little sweetie! You are the love of my life. You have a strong little personality (hmmm just like your mommy!) and you are so smart and funny. You are becoming more affectionate and even more independent! You love going to your classes at the early childhood center and at The Little Gym. You are very brave at gymnastics but you always want to do everything by yourself. You know now that we are getting a baby brother at our house. Sometimes you are excited about this, and sometimes you don’t want to talk about it. I am trying to follow your lead and not make too big of a deal about it.

Two weeks ago you had your first ambulance ride. You tripped and fell into the kitchen doorway. Your forehead split open and you ended up getting glued back together at the hospital. You still talk about it, and how you don’t want to bump your head. You say “I rided in the ambalance” and will tell anyone your hospital story. You still won’t let us peel what’s left of the bandage off. I keep telling you that I am cutting your hair and clipping little parts off since you don’t want anyone to touch it.

In the last few months we have started calling you “Bugle Bug” and you laugh at all your nicknames. If we ask “Where is Muffie?” You say “Right here, Mommy!” If I make a comment like “I’m cold” you say “You’re not cold, you’re Mommy!” and you laugh. You have also started interrupting when I am talking to Daddy, and saying “Mommy stop talking to Daddy!” and waving your hand at us. We are trying to correct your behavior and manners but sometimes it’s so hard not to smile. Today you had the biggest fit EVER when it was time to get dressed. You were saying “No take off my pants Mommy!” and kicking and it took everything I had to wrestle you into your clothes. Age two can be quite a challenge for both of us. Fortunately you have more sunshiney moments than difficult ones!

You still amaze us with your vocabulary and your counting and letter skills. You know the sound each letter makes, thanks to your Leapfrog Letter Factory video. You love to learn and figure out new concepts. You also- just like your Daddy- love to watch tv. Your current favorites are Franny’s Feet, SuperWhy, and Barney. You are kind of over Elmo (sad, but I don’t miss it… yet…) and you hate Dragon Tales- which for some reason you call Dinosaur Train. If it comes on you freak out and find me to change the channel. “No no I don’t like Dinosaur Train! Turn it off Mommy, I don’t like to watch it!” I have banned your father from watching the news when you are in the room because you are just way too observant and you also get scared easily.

Your new favorite food is crackers with peanut butter. You still love cottage cheese and fruit snacks, of course. We are learning about healthy foods vs. junk snacks at our house so that you can start making good food choices. With my help, of course. You can tell us “Junk snacks don’t give my body energy. I need energy!” You also have a love for orange juice, which definitely did NOT come from me. I still water it down a lot and you only get one glass a day.

I love having a “helper” when I deliver my Avon, put the laundry in the dryer, and clean up toys. You love to help me and you love to clean. I guess you didn’t get that from me, either. You have a very loving personality. You always want to share your snacks and treats. Just today you offered me your last fruit snack that you spent forever digging out of the package. You like to do “noses” at bedtime (Eskimo kisses, I think is what it’s called) and to pray before you go to sleep. Last night you thanked God for all your family and friends by name, and then for your lunch, your animal game, and your class. So sweet!

Speaking of class, here is a picture of you today at your music class. On your actual half birthday… You are now closer to three and I can’t believe you are growing up so fast! I love you so much. You are the baby who made me a mommy, you are the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen, and you hold my heart in your hand.

Love, Mommy

Bailey’s New Foods- A Success Story!

Filed Under Food, Two Years Old | 3 Comments

A few weeks ago we were sent some new food for Bailey to try. It is part of Safeway’s Eating Right Kids food and beverage line. My first thought when we got it was, “Oh great, more food to try and convince my child to eat.” If you have ever tried to feed a child who is sensitive to textures, you might understand my lack of excitement in introducing new food. It came in a really cute reusable lunch bag with Looney Tunes characters on it, though, and Bailey was intrigued.

She took out each item to examine them. The first thing she wanted to try was the Kids Mixed Berry Milk Chocolate cereal bar. She generally loves anything in bar form loved this one. It has a layer of chocolate along the bottom but also has fruit and 6 grams of whole grains and no high fructose corn syrup. Something different than the same breakfast bar she eats every single day. There was also a fruit cup and she willingly ate all the diced peaches and pears. She refused to touch the cherries. She is convinced she doesn’t like cherries but she won’t try them.

The big test was the ravioli. She typically WILL NOT eat pasta, except for spaghetti chopped into itty bitty bites. Well she begged me to open the ravioli and she loved it! I could not have been happier. It was in one of those bowls that you can heat in the microwave so it was super easy. She kept asking for more. I finally cut her off after about half the container, and saved the rest for dinner. She didn’t get to try the juice for a few days. I really limit how much juice she gets- only about two ounces a day, with almost two ounces of water added.

I was so happy that we tried this food. It is such a relief to find new things that Bailey will eat- especially things that are actually healthy AND easy to prepare. It seems like that is a hard combination to find. If we had a Safeway nearby these would probably become staples at our house!

Wordless Wednesday- Pizza

Filed Under Food, Two Years Old, Wordless Wednesday | 5 Comments

Bloop Bloops

Filed Under Food, Talking, Two Years Old | 2 Comments

Bailey just discovered Froot Loops (thank you, Jonathon) and she loves them! She started out calling them “Bloop Bloops” but now they are “Snack Loops.” I love hearing the things she comes up with! She just told me “Come on Mommy! Get it, more Snack Loops!”

Oh and she is wearing her “cracks” (a.k.a. Crocs) again. I think because they are the only shoes she can put on by herself. She tends to get hung up on things that she likes- I know that’s a normal two year old thing but I think it’s funny.

And a totally unrelated, but cute, picture

Bailey’s Family Party, Part 1

Filed Under Bailey's Birthday, Cooking/Baking, Food, Twenty-three Months, Two Years Old | 6 Comments

Bailey has been soooo excited for her party. She has been saying, “Beelay’s happy birthday! Can-do’s! (Candles) Cake! Eat it! All friends! Ah cream! Elmo!” and singing Happy Birthday for days now. So when she got up from her nap yesterday and we told her it was time to get ready for her party… well she was pretty thrilled.

I tried to get a picture of her in her cupcake shirt before the party. We are saving her party dress for her “friend party” on Saturday. Once again she wasn’t cooperating the best because we were at Grammy’s house.

Guess why I didn’t want to bake an Easter cake- I made an Elmo cake for Bailey! It’s not perfect but I think it turned out fairly well!

The cake wasn’t hard to make… just time consuming. I enjoy doing crafty stuff so it was fun for me. It would have been more fun if MIL hadn’t been leaning over my shoulder. Jonathon finally told her to go away and give me some space. After I gave him The Look. You know, the “Get your mother away from me right now” look.

Anyway back to the party. Bailey LOVED her cake. She does not really like cake in general (in fact she informed me before seeing the cake that she was ONLY going to eat ice cream). Here she was waiting for someone to start serving her food! This look cracks me up. And yes, she is topless under that bib. We stripped her down to a diaper for her cake and ice cream. There is an entire bottle of red food coloring in that icing! My right hand is still a little stained, in fact.

But when she saw the cake…. she couldn’t help but put her fingers in Elmo’s mouth, nose, eyes etc and taste all the different colors of icing. She loved it and we just let her do it since it was her own cake. I mean, it was just family…

This is what her plate looked like after mixing the cake and ice cream together and squishing them. Yum.

And now I am tired of blogging. Three posts in one day, that’s like a record for me lately. I will finish with the family party pictures later or tomorrow.

Sweet Tart Problem

Filed Under Food | 4 Comments

My favorite Easter candy is those Sweet Tart Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies. They are really hard to find, at least around here. They haven’t been at any of the grocery stores or at T@rget. So today when I was at W@lgreens I looked and lo and behold, there they were. And of course on sale 2/$5 so I HAD to get two packs.

I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of a problem with this candy. If you eat approximately half a bag in less than 8 hours, you will get sores in your mouth from the sourness. Your tongue will also get a little shrivelly and weird. That is probably a sign to stop.

Muffin and Muffins

Filed Under Food, Twenty-two Months | 1 Comment

My little Muffin ate a banana nut muffin today! The reason I care? My child has a huge aversion to any type of bread- sandwich bread, cheesy bread, bagels, soft pretzels, muffins, cake, etc. Today at the store they had mini banana muffins to sample and I left her try it. I told her if she didn’t like it, I would eat it. She ate the whole thing! It took about 15 minutes but maybe we are finally making some progress with this food thing.

22 Months

Filed Under Being a Mom, Food, Professional Pictures, Twenty-two Months | 2 Comments

Little Muffy Muff,

I can’t believe you are almost two years old. I have already booked your birthday party! Yes, you are having a big party with all of your friends. I have been told that’s silly but I just want you to be happy. I know you will have so much fun. Especially when you find out that we get to sing and dance and do parachute time at your party!

You have grown up so much just within the last month. You continue to come up with new two and three word phrases. You are a good problem solver. You are now obsessed with letters and numbers. You want to learn letters and match them and make the sounds. I don’t think it makes much sense to you yet, but you love it all anyway. I hope you continue to have that love for letters and words. You are one of the most well-mannered toddlers I have seen. You insist on saying please and thank you for everything! You even thank me for things like putting your pajamas on. It makes my heart smile to think about it. You have such a sweet and kind and loving spirit. You are also so active and I like to say that you are part pogo stick. You bounce and jump and never stop. Even when you get in bed, some nights it takes an hour of you laying there before you fall asleep. But you never complain, you just lay in bed and play quietly.

It still drives me crazy that you are such a picky eater. Your favorite food is a Big Bird Bar (still) which you call a “Bee Barn” and ask for at least five fifty times a day. The only meat you will eat is chicken. In the form of nuggets. Although last week you surprised us and ate tacos one night. Crunchy tacos with ONLY meat and cheese. You also like yogurt, cheese, bananas, and any sort of baby food fruit. We tell you it’s applesauce.

You are still my entire world. I don’t know how I lived without you until you came into my life. I spend so much time thinking about you, praying for you, doing things that I think will make you happy. Including obsessing over Gymboree clothes for you! I just want you to have it all but somehow not have that attitude. I’m sure that will be a line I always struggle to stay on top of, without falling to one side or the other. Just know that I woul do anything for you.

Love, Mommy

* 22 months, from Kiddie Kandids (scanned in on my once-again-dirty scanner)

20 Months

Filed Under Food, Talking, Twenty Months | 2 Comments

Bailey has been 20 months old for a while so I figure it’s high time for me to post about it. This month has been amazing, frustrating, exhausting, energizing, snotty, funny… I have run the whole gamut of emotions over the last few weeks. I can tell Bailey is getting closer to two. She has a mind of her own and an attitude, too. She can also be very sweet and loves to try to make us laugh. She makes funny faces and is talking like crazy.

She puts two or three words together now! Some of her latest phrases are “Where’s it?” “Where’s it baby?” (looking for her doll) “Open it,” “Need that,” and “Thank you, welcome” which she says after I hand her something. Here is a list of her current words:
Addie
All done
All gone
Amy
Avie
Baby
Backpack
Bad
Bag
Bailey
Balloon
Bang
Bar
Barn
Barney
Bear
Beautiful
Bebo (for belly button)
Bed
Bert
Bible
Big bird
Bird
Black
Blankie
Blue
Booger
Boogie
Book
Boots
Brown
Brush
Bunny
Button
Cake
Candle
Candy
Car
Cat
Chair
Cheerio
Cheese
Chickie
Christmas
Church
Color
Come on!
Cookie
Corn
Couch
Cow
Cream
Dada
Daddy
Dance
Dargan (Dungan)
Diaper
Ding
Doctor
Dog
Doggie
Door
Dora
Down
Drum
Duck
Eat
Eat it
Eight
Elephant
Ella
Elle
Elmo
Ernie
Exercise
Eye
Eyebrow
Face
Finger
Fish
Fishies
Flower
Foot
Fork
Fridge (feej)
Fries
Frog
Gabe
Geenay
Geoff
God
Good
Green
Grover
Guitar
Hair
Head
Horn
Horse
Hot
Hug
Ice cream
Jesus
Juice
Jump
Kangaroo
Kate
Kenzie
Kick
Kiss
Kitty cat
Knee
Koby
Light
Lion
Lollipop
Mail
Mama
Man
Meow
Milk
Mine
Mommy
Money
Monkey
Moo
More
Movie
Nana
Neck
Need that
Neigh
Night night
Nine
No
Nose
Office
Oh man
One
Papa
Paper
Party
Pat
Peacock
Peas
Pee
Pencil
People
Picture
Pig
Pillow
Pinky
Pizza
Please
Poop
Popock
Potty
Pretty
Purple
Push
Quack quack
Raisin
Reach
Red
Ring
Sandal
Santa claus
Scissors
Sconce
Scoop
Seven
Sheep
Shoe
Sing
Sit
Sleep
Slide
Snack
Snowman
Sock
Sorry
Spoon
Sssss (snake)
Sticker
Table
Teddy
Teeth
Telly
Ten
Tiny
Toe
Tree
Triangle
Truck
Tub
Tummy
Turkey
Turn
Tweet tweet
Two
Up
Video
Wake up
Walk
Want it
Water
Where’s it
Woof woof
Work
Yellow
Yes
Yogurt
Yuck
Zoe

I can tell we are getting closer to the “terrible twos” as we certainly have our rough days! Bailey likes to test her limits. Once she ends up in time out she is quick to say “Sowwy, mommy!” and try to get out of trouble. She is also sneaky. She tries to duck and sneak away if you are trying to catch her for a diaper change or bedtime. Speaking of which, she loves sleeping with lots of blankies now. I keep finding her with them over her head. I check on her right after she falls asleep and move all of her blankets away from her face. We are also working on learning more about the potty. Not much success, but we have some new books and she understands that she makes pee in her diaper, etc.

Favorite foods right now are shredded cheese, grapes, Gerber ravioli, crackers and milk. She also has discovered that she likes pizza and lollipops. She also likes raw carrots cut into thin strips but they make her gag sometimes. She refuses to even taste most things that she doesn’t recognize.