Eating: Take 2

Earlier I had written that M does not like to eat. She loves certain foods like crackers and cheese, but when it comes to anything nutritious you can forget it. We have been trying a lot of new things to get the food down to her little tummy. One of my favourites is making a fruit smoothie. M can help out and even decides what to put in it. We start off with some yogurt. We were using the little child yogurt cups (it was a great amount and I didn't have to guess a measurement), but now we've started to use Greek yogurt for the great texture it adds. Then we add as much fruit as we want. Some favourites are strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. Once in a while M likes to put in kiwi and apple too. Last we add orange juice. We add as much as we think we need to make sure it's not too thick. Then we put in the blender and watch the magic happen. Ta-da! A nutritious drink that is fun to make.

Every Child's Dream

What did you want as a child? I always loved making forts. My sister and I would use our bunk beds and lots of sheets and blankets to make a super sweet fort on our bed. We would use pillows to stuff into the ladder and were small enough to fit through the ladder. This was a perfect door. When we wanted to hide we could just stuff the pillow back in. We also had a fort in the back yard behind the shed. It was our secret clubhouse and my mom even let us paint on the fence. The best forts were the ones that all of my sisters and I made in the snow. If the snow stayed long enough we were able to make whole cities including the shops. We all had our own little snow forts and we would go and visit each other. I can't tell you all the good memories we had in those forts.

Transportation

Since M's family only has one car and her dad uses it for work we rely on the closeness of things in the big city to get by. We can walk to the park, M's school, the grocery store, the museum, and the library. Ballet is the only thing M does that is too far to walk to. So today I was able to take M on the three different modes of public transportation that the city offers. We started off the trip to ballet on a streetcar. M loves the streetcar and loves watching everyone on the streetcar. It has the added bonus of being high up so there is a great view from the window. When we reached our stop we raced to the bus to take us the rest of the way to ballet class.

Craft Time!

Hello all. So sorry for the delayed posting. The power cord for my laptop broke just as I was about to upload some crafting pictures. Finally the new power cord as arrived and I am back in business.

Here are a couple of crafts that you can do on the fly with household items. These are my favourite kind because they require little to no prep time. M loves making these sorts of crafts too because they are easy and have great results. They also make great gifts for grandparents :)

Potty Training

Here we go. I have been debating whether or not to write a post on potty training. It's going to be a long one and involve words like wee-wee and bum. But alas, it is an important part of my day with M and it's been a long journey. So, let's begin.

When I first started working with M in April, she had just turned 2 and her parents had just bought her a potty. They also bought these great books that had potty songs and different stories about Elmo and Ernie on the potty. This was great and M loved singing along to the potty songs. As the weather grew warmer and we were in the wading pool out on the back deck M would be naked and the potty would be close by. We spent a lot of time with M sitting on the potty and I would sit on the ground and read her stories or sing songs. She was getting very comfortable on the potty.

Worn Out

Sometimes kids can wear you out. Tonight I feel so tired, I can only imagine what M is feeling like. M had an exciting morning at school and I had an exciting morning cooking some freezer meals for her. We then had a fun afternoon together which included a walk, finger painting, and some dancing. Luckily for M, she didn't have to do all the walking I did. She is the spoiled one in the stroller. I calculated it (mapmyrun.com) and I walked 6.67 MILES today! Can you believe it? The things I will do for M. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I will post some of the crafts we have been doing. For now, I'll leave you with a delicious recipe.

Joy of Baking

Baking is fun for all ages. M and I love an afternoon spending baking or cooking. It's really great to watch M grow and develop more skills when to baking. She used to watch and attempt to help pour ingredients into the bowl. Today she was so great that she even poured a couple of things in all by herself! It's a great activity to let your little one help with counting, identifying different ingredients, following directions, understanding the order things must be done in, and even up to reading.
Today we decided to take a break from our usually brownies and even from chocolate chip cookies and take a stab at shortbread cookies. This turned out to be a great idea. These cookies do not have a lot of sugar in them (no hyper little girl is a good thing for me) and we were able to use cookie cutters to make shapes. After 15 minutes, these cookies were baked and ready for a short cool down. We took a couple outside (a nice beautiful day!) and ate the crumbly cookies without worrying about a mess.

Sharing

Every child needs to learn the word "share." This is a hard concept for most children. M is no exception. She doesn't mind sharing toys that aren't hers, but it's a different story when other children come to play with her toys. It could be because M is an only child and she never has to share her toys. Today a 10 month old baby come for a visit and M didn't want to share with her. It was a good thing the little baby didn't mind and didn't know the difference. M grabbed her toys from the little baby and said "NO." Ms. nicely explained to M that the baby just wanted to use them for a little bit and then was going to give them back. This seemed to calm M down a little bit. Both her and the baby got a toy to play with and everything was great. Hopefully M will continue to learn how to share.

Out of Control

I have experienced the dreaded Temper Tantrum. Yesterday M threw a full on tantrum complete with kicking, screaming, and crying. I thought I would be one of those lucky people who would never have to experience this horror. I have been babysitting for a long time for many different families and this was my first tantrum. Being in the situation reminds me that it's not that easy to follow the advice about tantrums.

1. Stay calm. It's very hard to stay calm when you have a screaming child right in front of you. The pressure builds up because they are usually trying to resist something you told them to do. I found it very helpful to let M scream a little and take some deep breaths. This calmed me down and made the situation managable. It wouldn't have been good for M to get more upset because I was upset.

Staying Organized

Taking care of a little one can be quite tricky. They have a lot of stuff and need a lot as well. Children need your attention all the time, and yet you are supposed to cook, clean, do laundry, etc... How are you supposed to fit it all into one day. This week I have been on a cooking spree for M. I have been making her meals, separating them into portions and freezing them. This is perfect because you just take a portion sized packet out the freezer in the morning and when dinner rolls around all you have to do is heat it up. Wednesday I made spaghetti sauce with grated zucchini and carrots. Yesterday I made a wonderful fish pie (kinda of like Sheppard's Pie, but with fish). On Monday I'm going to try my hand at Spicy Bean Burgers. How do you stay organized?

Sugar and Spice

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

M's family recently got a little kitten. When I found out the family was getting this purebred British Blue shorthair I got a little nervous. M is still young and doesn't know that she has to be gentle with things. I was afraid that she was going to hurt this poor little soul.

Terrible Twos

M had her first ballet class today. It was so lovely. All this little girls were running and jumping around in cute, pink, leotards and adorable little ballet slippers. M was so cute with her dancing and the huge smile on her face. She was the youngest in the class by far, but she did so well. And then we went home and ate cotton candy and rode unicorns....

Ya right! As if that was real life. This is really what the rest of my day was like.

First Day of School

Today was M's first day at her new school. She was very excited that both her mother and I were going to be taking her there. We walked right in, said "hi" to the teachers (all three of them) and watched as M walked away to join the other children. She was so excited about everything she had a hard time deciding what to do first. M's Mum (let's call her Ms.) and I started to leave. But Ms. kept on looking back and stopping to make sure M was okay. Ms. was so upset about having to leave M and hoping that she was going to be alright. I wonder if I'll react that way when I have children and I send them off to school. I wasn't scared about leaving M at all. I know that she gets along well with other children and loves to do new things. Maybe it's just a Mum thing and I'll have to wait to experience this. Everything was a good in the end though. We both got huge hugs when we went to pick her up. M loved her class and couldn't stop chatting about how much fun she had.

Why?

Why is it raining?
Why do I have to go to bed?
Why are you going home?

M is at the age where "why" is her favourite question. These questions are both frustrating and time consuming. We might be in the middle of eating breakfast, getting dressed, or running out the door. I know she means well, but I don't always have an answer. I try to give her the most honest answer without having to go into detail that is way above her head or her maturity level. This is hard when she asks why the homeless man is asking for money or why I have to go home at the end of the day.

Is this a job?

"I love you Kriken the whole wide world"

Some days I can't believe how lucky I am to be taking care of the cutest girl. I can't believe that I have the opportunity to mold and shape this little girl into the woman that she will become. I can't believe that it is my job to play with her all day. Today was one of those days that makes it all worth it.