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Baby Food and Funny Faces

April 30, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

I’m totally turning into one of those moms who think her baby eating solid food is the cutest thing ever. And yes I’m going to share it with you, too. But trust me, it’s cute.

I was so sure Ethan was going to love solids because he was practically taking our forks from us at dinnertime before he started eating. But not so much. The faces he makes just kill me – I can imagine from looking at him what it must be like to taste some of these things for the first time. You’d think we were feeding him lemons or something.

He’s got his act down – take a bite, make a face, swallow very carefully, shudder. Makes me laugh every time.

Oh here, you need to see it in action:

Okay, so he didn’t swallow that one. (Yeah, I know. That’s gross. Hey, you’re the one reading a mom blog.)

But seriously. That’s banana. What baby doesn’t like banana?!

The only thing Connor didn’t like at first was carrot. He quite adamantly refused to eat any, but with everything else he was quite happy to gobble it up. Based on Ethan’s reaction to everything else I wasn’t very optimistic that carrot would be especially well-received, but it was actually the first thing we fed him that he loved. He liked carrots better than pear! Weird baby.

Since we started him on carrots he’s been much more enthusiastic about eating in general. See?

He sits there like a little baby bird with his mouth wide open, and if we don’t spoon it in there fast enough he complains.

Have I mentioned this kid cracks me up? Just wait until we try to get him to eat meat.

***

Disclosure: This delightful post was brought to you by Natrel Baboo. I am part of the Natrel Baboo Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog (and disgusting videos of my kid eating mushed up banana) are my own.

Incidentally, you can get a coupon to try Natrel Baboo through the link below. Baboo is a dairy product made with fresh milk specially designed to ensure a smooth transition from breast milk or infant formula to regular milk for toddlers aged 12-24 months.

Filed Under: Motherhood, Stuff I like · Tagged With: firsts

Snail Mail and a Minted Giveaway

April 20, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

Did you see that thing going around on Facebook in the first week of January? A bunch of people were posting that they’d send something by mail to the first 10 of their friends to comment and commit to posting the same in their status. I thought that was cool—an actual something in the mail! My mail is boring – I don’t even get paper bills anymore so it’s mostly just junk mail— so I posted it too.

I’ve done nothing about it yet, not because I forgot but because I want to send something cool and haven’t been able to decide what. A postcard from my city? Lame. A photograph? That would be cool but I don’t even know how to get photos printed anymore (geez). But I figured it out. I’m going to shop Minted – they of the cool cards and art prints and baby announcements. And have you seen Minted wedding invitations? (If they had been around when we got married we probably wouldn’t have been printing our invites at the last minute. Oh, who am I kidding? We totally would have.) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Stuff I like · Tagged With: I was paid for this but it doesn't mean I'm not genuinely interested

Kiwi Crate: Crafts for the Uncrafty

April 10, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

Let’s just be honest: I suck at entertaining a four-year-old. I think I’ve reached my limit for LEGO and my attention span for playing cars is about 4 seconds. I’m really trying, but this is one part of motherhood I find totally hard.

In theory, I think crafts are great. Connor actually likes them and I don’t mind pretending I have some crafty talent. The problem is that I don’t really have the craft gene and, while Connor likes doing crafts, he’s often entertained only slightly longer than I am playing dinosaurs so it’s a little disheartening to find craft ideas and gather all the stuff and not have it take more than six minutes.

But hark! I hear the gentle call of a crafty fairy godmother.

The lovely folks at Kiwi Crate got in touch to see if I’d like to try one of their kits. Um, yes please! If someone wants to send me a box of stuff that will help me play with my kid I will not say no.

I’m going to tell you about our experience, because I really like what they offer, but first here’s what Kiwi Crate is in their own words:

Kiwi Crate is a monthly subscription service, targeted at kids ages 3-7. We deliver a box to your child each month that’s designed around a certain theme (think dinosaurs, garden, superheroes, space.) In each box are 2-3 carefully designed and kid-tested projects, which cover a range of developmental areas and subjects, including art, science, and imaginative play. All the materials and inspiration to encourage creativity and curiosity are included – you just supply the kid!

Now, a box of craft supplies is fab enough. But one that is fun, artsy and with a science or learning element? That totally scores me points in my Am I a Good Mom spreadsheet. And these kits are done really well.

We got a box that had two crafts – a wind sock and two wind cars. See?

The box has EVERYTHING you need. Even bits of tape where tape is called for. And I love that they include scissors because, while we happen to have our kid scissors accessible, they could very easily be buried in our craft box in the basement.

Connor chose to do the wind sock first, so we checked out all the supplies and pulled out the pieces we needed for that one.

Next up: decorating the sock with the full set of oil pastels provided (which gave me a serious case of nostalgia). Connor loved this part and used ALL the colours.

Then there were some steps that I didn’t get pictures of because there’s only so much multitasking an uncrafty mama can do. We glued the ribbons on (using glue dots – easy peasy) and got the wind sock all put together. I helped a little bit but the little dude could really do this whole thing almost entirely on his own.

Cool, right? And what I loved about this one is that we also got a (kid-friendly) Beaufort scale and an observation card to see how strong the wind is. (0 = Calm, no wind. Your wind sock is completely still. 1 = Light, barely a wind. The ribbons on your wind sock move a little. 2 = Light breeze. Leaves are moving and rustling lightly. You can feel the wind on your skin. And so on.)

We hung the wind sock on a tree on our deck and watched the wind blow the ribbons. It’s still there, actually. A nice little burst of colour outside the window.

The next day we donned our Superman jammies and made wind cars. This craft was great because there were supplies for two (so you can race them), which meant I got to make one of my very own and the four-year-old didn’t get any input into the design. Ahem.

We got to decorate both the base and the sail, and putting the cars together was a cinch – wheels, straws, tape, and some dough. (Can you tell which one is mine?)

The idea is to make them go using your breath.

Seriously, these kits are fantastic. We had enough supplies plus some extras just in case. There are cards inside with ideas for parents to talk about the concepts (e.g. What else can make your car go? (A fan?) If you put something on your wind car, is it easier or harder to blow the car?) and the Kiwi Crate website has even more resources.

Kiwi Crate was recently featured on Good Morning America, the Today Show, In Style, Parents Magazine, and they have a partnership with Pottery Barn Kids. They were also just recently named one of Dr. Toy’s 10 best creative products of 2012, and I can totally understand why they’re getting all this attention. It takes a lot to make me rave about something, but I’m raving about this.

You can get a monthly subscription or an annual one, and they offer sibling add-ons (the “no fight” crate – brilliant!) as well as options for giving this as a gift. I think this would make a really good gift. *bats eyelashes* (And Canadians, you can get these too. Kiwi Crate is a U.S.-based company but they’ve just started shipping to Canada.)

And—last thing!—Kiwi Crate has a big giveaway going on Facebook right now where you can enter to win everything in Kiwi Crate’s DIY Materials craft shop and a brand new craft table from Pottery Barn. (Worth $750 and is open to US and Canada.)

And that’s my rave review. Gold star. Two thumbs up. Recommended wholeheartedly by this mom.

Disclosure: I was provided one Kiwi Crate box to try and tell you about, but the side effects of inspiration and sanity saved are all my own.

Filed Under: Happy things, Stuff I like · Tagged With: favourite activities

I’m Turning Into Jennifer Aniston

April 1, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

Any Friends fans out there? Did you ever hear that Jennifer Aniston ate the same salad for lunch every day for 10 years? I’m totally turning into her.

(I wish.)

Okay, so I’m not turning into Jennifer Aniston, but I am on a salad kick and I’ve been eating the same one for lunch an awful lot lately. It’s totally simple:

Iceberg lettuce (stick with me here – there’s a reason)
Half an avocado
1 Roma tomato
Snap peas
Carrots
Cucumber
Ham cubes
Baby corn
Goat cheese
Sesame seeds
Ranch dressing

It’s not complicated and it’s not meant to be (otherwise there’s no way it would be a habit). I think it’s the avocado that has me addicted. I only started eating avocado in the last few years—I never thought to before because I had never really tried it—but my mom started putting it on salads and now I’m totally hooked.

So the iceberg lettuce thing – the reason I use it is that I’ve found it gets me to eat salad more often. It’s easy, I really like the crunch, and it gives me a nice base for a salad without overwhelming the other stuff. I’ve tried to switch to lettuce that actually has some nutritional value, but then I tend not to eat salad at all, so this is better, right? (That’s a rhetorical question. Please don’t tell me how lame iceberg lettuce is because I really like my lunchtime salad habit.) My veggie intake is way higher this way, and if I make salad to go with dinner I do use other greens, so I figure it’s all good.

My salad isn’t the exact same every day (which is probably why I don’t look like Jennifer Aniston yet) in part because I run out of avocado way too often (Pinterest tells me you can freeze avocados – has anyone tried?) but also because a certain small person who also lives here tends to hog some of the good stuff. (Seriously, that kid can eat a whole can of baby corn in one sitting.) His favourite lunch is ham cubes with carrot sticks, cucumber slices and broccoli florets with a side of ranch dressing (in a separate container please, not on the plate in case it – gasp! – touches the veggies before he’s ready to dip). That makes it really easy to make him lunch while I’m making my own, but the problem is that he eats it so much he totally hogs all the ranch dressing. But hey, he’s four and he’s eating his veggies so this mama’s not going to complain. As long as he doesn’t eat my avocado.

The Newborn Phase

March 21, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

You know when you find out a friend is pregnant with her first baby? And you want to share everything you know but don’t want to overwhelm her or be the one who tells her to sleep now because she won’t sleep again for years? I had that dilemma recently. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no point trying to convey what having a baby is like to someone who hasn’t had one, because you really, truly can’t know what it’s like until you get there.

Luckily in this case, my friend wanted to talk baby stuff — strollers, cribs, nursery decor — instead of sleep or the frequency with which babies poop. And that’s all stuff I can talk about with great enthusiasm.

I have grand ideas about “doing” our house, but I’ve never done it. Not in any really deliberate way. But when it came to putting together baby rooms I was all over it. (And Rich was too.) There’s just something about having a room specially designed for the baby you’re about to welcome. When we did Connor’s room it was a little less deliberate – we had everything we wanted and needed except stuff for the walls, but I bought jungle decals in a panic a couple of weeks before he was born. Because there was NO WAY I could bring my baby home to a room that had nothing on the walls. (Never mind the fact that he slept in our room for the first six weeks.)

We had a ton of fun doing Ethan’s room too. We weren’t starting from scratch because, while we got rid of a lot of our baby stuff before we moved, we did keep the crib and changing table/dresser, which are two pieces we really like. And I was also smart enough this time not to buy a whole set including stuff we’ll never use (like crib bumpers).

So that’s what we talked about with my friend. We did a tour of Ethan’s room and talked about the wall decals. We gave our perspective on the changing table/dresser combo compared to the standalone change table option. We whipped out the stroller and talked about why we like ours.

Between that conversation and the recent sort I had to do on Ethan’s clothes (because the little bugger is growing out of stuff – why do they have to grow so fast?!) I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic for the newborn phase. Especially, it must be said, because when he was a newborn he slept whereas now we’re having an increasing number of visits during the night. But I digress…

I guess that’s the nice thing about having friends who are having babies. As another friend of mine said, I don’t actually want another baby but I do want friends to have babies I can snuggle (and not at 3 am, preferably).

Do you miss the newborn phase?