The Television Diet

I’ve gone on a television diet and I’m hoping that unlike the weight people often gain back after crash dieting that I manage to keep this weight off. We still watch tv but now we are watching much, much, much less.

The fact that I watched too much tv was far from news to me. I grew up with family members that leave tvs on all around their houses just as background noise. I’d gotten very used to that and even a bit comforted by it. Some nights I even chose to use the television to fall asleep – that’s how used to it I was.

Periodically commercials would invade my dreams and somehow I managed to ignore or not notice how unacceptable this really was.  A movie I like or an interesting show might wake me up, even energize me to the point where I watched longer than I should have before falling back asleep.

These are the actions and habits of someone who has "a television problem" and to make matters worse I was worried I was passing it on to our daughter. When previously I thought it was adorable to find my child under the age of one passed out in the floor from watching Sesame Street I was no longer able to see it that way. Only months ago I would joke about how she would wake up in the morning and immediately tell me she wanted to watch Elmo.

Pediatricians aren't the only people or source out there telling you to try to keep your childrens screen time under two hours a day. At first I tried my hardest to avoid letting her even see the tv, but eventually I caved and it became easy to just turn it on for her. Too easy. I told myself it was okay because I would only let her watch educational television.

I've got news for you - tv is tv no matter what's on it. It sounds obvious but it really isn't

Only somewhat recently did I come to truly understand what is meant by, "screen time." We're subjected to lots of screens - tvs, computers, cell phones, hand-held gaming systems, e-readers, etc. I'd managed to notice yet not notice just how many screens I was surrounded by.

Back in March some of you may remember my tweeting about how cutting off our cable seemed like bad timing during March Madness. The choice was one forced upon us. Cable is an expensive luxury we just wouldn't afford - but we still had Netflix. 

We had been using Netflix far more than the actual tv for so long I can't even try to guess just how long it had been and not being subjected to commercials seemed like a serious bonus.

A few weeks ago I walked away from the tv - almost entirely - allowing only about an hour of tv a day. During this hour it wasn't usually even me who was watching the tv - it was my daughter. She missed tv. In fact, she would walk up to the tv and turn it on, or grab a remote and turn one on, or; on occasion, she would even turn the XBox on by herself and hand me a controller.

I missed the tv as well. I was so used to it that I almost didn't even know what to do without it on in the background to catch my attention throughout the day.

Children adapt quickly and I'd say by the end of the week she began to ask less and less. She still asks and still sometimes turns on the tv but she will actually turn it down when offered during my decreasing moments of exasperated weakness and desire for a moment "alone."

The combination of less tv (leading to sensory overload) and the toy library has left me with a child that is a little easier to get to sleep, throwing less tantrums, and is now very obviously having more imaginative and creative play time.

As for myself, I'm feeling a lot less daily stress in general. Series of events that would have left me complaining about a terrible day now no longer seem like such a big deal. Whatever was going on was rough and unpleasant - but hey, that day wasn't bad at all!

Now I just need to work on decreasing my other forms of screen dependance and I'll really be on to something.

Must Dash For Girls

After watching me work on her brothers Must Dash quilt I watched my little lamb spend the next few days running around holding my mustache template up to her face and talking about mustaches.

It seemed only fair to make her one too.

This pattern is too too much fun!

And Baby Makes Four (Five If You Count Our Dog)

It was a post like this that started Small Fries.

Baby Ironhide has finally joined us here on the outside.

Welcome to the world son. Mommy, daddy, your big sister, and I'm sure even the dog - love you very much.

Fighting The Good Fight - Against Picky Eating

Friday was once again grocery day. Before-hand I made sure to ask as many mommies as I could about what they have done when their children enter phases of picky eating.

Here are some of the bits and pieces of info that I found particularly helpful that perhaps other parents going through a similar hard time may find of some use as well.

- Drinks only after meals. Not during to avoid your child filling up

- Only water between meals

- Is there any chance your child may have a food sensitivity?

- If your child is teething they may find eating a lot of foods painful

- "... kids around 2 just sometimes say things because they like communicating. She may just be saying she's hungry because she likes for you to react to her."

- "What about a muffin tin full of healthy snacks set at her level so that she can graze all day? She won't starve herself and some of this sounds like Quinny wanting to take control. Definitely fruit in one cup, string cheese or cheese cubes in another, goldfish crackers in a third and maybe some baby carrots in another one? Offer her a variety and let her choose."

- "There are snack bowls w/handles and a rubber lid that has slits in it so the toddler can reach their hand in & pull out finger foods but it provides some spill protection. Munchkin makes them & I think Gerber does too. Have you tried those? It is also great for letting her snack in the car. She can still make a mess, hopefully it just takes a bit longer"

- "We loved those snack bowls when my girls were toddlers. Ideas...what about the freeze dried fruits and veggies from Just Peas? I know they're a bit expensive, but it could help as a transition away from all the candy and junk. Freeze the yogurt tubes and let her have one."

- "Food boot camp. Worked like a charm for us but most importantly it changed their entire attitude about food." take away all of their favourite foods and make all new things. "Then they earn back their favorites after a week or two. But they have to have 3 bites before they can say if they like it or not. Now the girls eat a lot of new food and its not always tears when there is something new to eat. They are glad to try it. I also try to have them taste each thing as it goes in so they understand the flavor changes."

- " I do food boot camp stuff as well, but not for super young kids. I do it a little differently though. I don't have an "earn things back" part. I just serve what I serve and they can eat it or not. If they complain about it, then we don't have any of the special food (pizza, etc) for a long time until they have changed their attitudes about the healthy stuff. This goes over better with older children though. With toddlers, the trick though is to get rid of all the junky foods. Don't have them in the house at ALL. That way it isn't even an option. I have a super finicky eater (Lydia). That's why at 27 months, she only weighs 21lbs. She is insanely picky and fickle about what and when she will eat. At first, I 'd give her whatever she wanted because I just wanted her to EAT, kwim? But then, it became unfair to my older two because they wanted the things I was giving Lydia AND it wasn't good for her. What I do now is require her to sit at the table with us at every meal. I serve her a plate of food and if she eats, fine. If not, fine. I've found that putting the food in front of her and making her sit down helped. She still won't always eat much, but she will at least usually eat a few bites. I serve her what I serve everyone else. In between meals, I offer only certain foods: fruits, popcorn (plain-no salt, no butter-- and the good kind, not the microwaveable bags), peanuts, raisins, yogurt, dheese cubes, homemade granola etc. They won't starve themselves and if they are truly hungry, they will eventually eat something that you have. If you have removed the junk, you won't be tempted to give in to the whining for it or to hand it over because of their refusal of other things. ALSO my kids are allowed only one cup of milk and one cup of juice per day (I dilute juice until age 4 about 3/4 water, 1/4 juice) an only WITH meals. The rest of the time they have to drink water. That keeps them from filling up on drink so they won't eat later. Oh yeah, and I became a master at hiding pureed veggies in other things"

-" ... get milk with breakfast and dinner and juice with lunch. Water only after that and limited snacks since they fill up on those and then won't eat much of their meals. Thought I do serve healthy snacks, they'd rather eat yogurt and cheese and fruit than eat their meals. So no snacks 2 hours before a meal. They are pretty accustomed to it now and I rarely have to say more than "so we need to go back to food boot camp or are you going to try this new stuff?" They'd much rather try it for a few bites than eat it everyday for a week, lol"

- "You can also "healthify" favorite foods. Macaroni & Cheese=instead of using the boxed processed kind, make your own and mix in peas or veggies. Use less cheese and butter and use whole wheat pasta. Mix carrots into pasta sauces. This is my favorite recipe for chicken nuggets and it has spinach in the breading! You can't even taste it!
 Put sweet potato or pumpkin puree in muffins or pancakes, use whole wheat flour in place of all purpose, get plain yogurt and add honey instead of flavored yogurts that are full of sugar, etc.
I also make "popsicles" with healthy ingredients: fruit AND vegetable juices (buy a juicer!), yogurt with real strawberries and flax seed with a little honey, etc
I make pita pizzas with whole wheat pita bread, tomato sauce with some oregano mixed in and cheese. You can mix pureed spinach into the sauce there too"

- "If my girls start to go overboard with something I just remove it from the house. Then they aren't upset with me bc I said no, they are just upset bc we don't have anymore, lol."

- "Can you get some of those nutritional shakes for kids?"

- "Does she go to daycare? I don’t stress too much over dinner because {Little Lamb} pretty much always eats all of his food at daycare, even the fruit & veggies, because…monkey see, monkey do."

- "If she likes bread, could you try some breads or muffins with veggies and fruits baked in?"

- "The head of UCDavis’ pediatric gastroenterology department suggested using Carnatian Instant Breakfast"

Here are a couple of links provided by a helpful mommy:
http://wholesometoddlerfood.com/
http://www.food.com/recipe/Deceptively-Delicious-Chicken-Nuggets-With-Veggie-Puree-257969

After preparing a detailed grocery list I was ready to hit the store. I did my best to stick RIGHT to the list and not just browse every aisle to remember what I may have forgotten.

 While I unloaded the car the little lamb kept telling me she was hungry so I tried some of these veggie crunchers on her first. She ate most of her bowl but brought me the rest and asked for something else.

 The problem with these banana chips is that there aren't enough for more than one sitting if your child loves bananas like mine does.

 Because she decided she liked raisins the day before I made sure to get plenty.

One of these bananas didn't even make it out of the store intact! In fact she learned the word banana on the spot.

 Lots and lots of frozen fruit to make smoothies with.

Frozen veggies for smoothies and some veggies that come with cheese. Usually I'm not all for that but right now what I'm all for it keeping my childs immune system strong and her belly full.

My biggest problems this time may have been 1) maybe too  much fruit 2) probably too little food for the hubs and I.

Okay, I deviated from the list a little.

I've been trying to keep my Pintrest boards as easy to navigate as possible which has left me having quite a few boards. One of the more recent boards that directly pertains to this particular blog post is the one for "kids recipes"; there you will find recipes for smoothies and things like that to feed your children.

If you're interested in interesting looking kid snacks and things like that then you'd be interested in the "kid food" board.

What Happens I Leave My Husband Alone With Our Daughter

I came home to see his laptop open on the bed playing Elmo's potty time movie and a large, glass bowl I use for blocking knitwear in the floor, and full of the last of the Cheerios.

I Had A Dream

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had a dream.

I dreamed that my daughter came out with white skin more like her fathers than than that she had my own caramel colored skin, that she had blond, curly hair, and that she was quite the mischievous little person. That dream came true.

The other night I had another dream. I was once again pregnant and I was having my sonogram to find out if my new little lamb to be would be a boy or a girl. "Congratulations! It's a boy! . . . . and three girls."

I woke up right away.

This is what my little girl looks like to me.

And this is what the good people of the internet or people on the other of a picture text message thinks she looks like.

That is all.

Dresser Drawer Organization For Children

I've been picked on occasionally for the way I have my kids clothes in her dresser. You wouldn't think that's the sort of thing that would become a subject of any interest but for those who have to deal with it - I guess it must be. So here's how I do it. This is the current top drawer of her dresser which contains sizes 9 months to 12 months. There are very very few 9 month things left because she is now 16 months but children's sizes seem to be a pot shot. Sometimes 6 months really means 6 months, other times, not so much.

On the right side are shirts and onesies; in the center are full outfits (like jumpsuit type things, pants, and skirts; and on the left are the jammies. The smallest of each type of clothing is always put towards the front of the stack so I can get the most wear out of each item before she outgrows it. (Once she outgrows an item I remove it from the drawer and put it away for the next child we hope to have.) On the left where the jammies are I put the most season appropriate jammies in front. Because it's summer, all winter jammies are now at the back of the drawer. Right now when my husband looks for clothes for her I tell him she can wear anything from the top two drawers. This is the second drawer, which is pretty much all size 18 months clothing. The same general rules apply here: shirts and onesies on the right; outfits and pants in the center; and jammies on the left.

In my third drawer which has a lot of 24 month and 2T's I have most of the warm, hand knitted clothing towards the front because quite a bit of this time my little one will be towards the end of winter.

That last picture is upside down - sorry about that. Once she has no need for a 12 month drawer I just shift everything up a drawer and begin filling the one below it with the next size she should wear.