Archives For Raising Children

Top 10: Favorite Food

February 13, 2012 — Leave a comment
I heard so many stories of children who were either picky eaters or never wanted to eat their vegetables. I am so thankful that my little one not only loves his veggies but he actually enjoys them more than fruit! Parenting has no road map and every child is different so you never know what kind of eater you will get. Here is my top 10 list of foods that I never thought my child would love but does!
  1. Avocado 
  2. Squash
  3. Mushrooms
  4. Almond milk
  5. Cauliflower
  6. Kale
  7. Prune juice
  8. Peas
  9. Broccoli
  10. Bell pepper

What food does your child love that you never thought they would?

Photo Credit: Naotake Murayama

“Children learn to smile from their parents.” Shinichi Suzuki 

Isn’t it amazing how we sit forever trying to teach our babies to say “mama” or “dada” and the fun of trying so hard to get them to learn to crawl which then leads to teaching them to walk and yet we never get tired of those moments, they are precious! Who knows how much time we really do spend trying to teach them these things. On the flip side, isn’t it funny how quickly they pick up on something that you were never trying to teach them?!? For example, this morning Eli was sitting in the middle of the living room playing with his toys happily saying “no, no, no.” As soon as I heard that I couldn’t help but to laugh. I have never sat down with him and tried to teach him the word “no” but I have had to tell him no and he has obviously learned this word. I know that this is usually every child’s favorite word for a while but I just never expected to hear him saying that this morning while playing with his toys. It’s a great reminder that our children really do pick up on things more than we realize!

Photo Credit: Paul Reynolds

Every parent wants the best for their children in all aspects of their lives, including the safest and healthiest products for them. So many items on the shelves are believed to be good, safe products for our children but in reality many times that is not the case. All parents have to decide what they will do about that situation, for some it could be homemade baby food, organic food, cloth diapers, all natural soaps etc. Just last week I stumbled across a new company founded by Jessica Alba (who is also the spokes person for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families organization). The company is The Honest Company. Their products are natural, safe, eco-friendly and affordable! The bonus is that they are delivered right to your door! I haven’t tried the products yet, but intend to, I just want to make sure to pass on any new information I get about affordable natural products to other parents who might be interested, because if your like me I didn’t even know about this new company until someone told me. Check out Green Oklahoma‘s page for an article I have written about The Honest Company and be sure to check out the company’s website for a free trial pack and please comment any time you come across new products, let’s share the new information with each other so we can all be aware of our choices!

Patience: First Steps

January 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:25 (NIV)

20120118-144547.jpg

Eli took his first steps during the Christmas holiday. We were visiting Chase’s grandparents and it was so exciting watching him take those steps. Now it is almost a month later and he is just not interested in walking. He will take a few steps now and then but for the most part he will only walk if we are holding his hands or if he is using his walker toy that he can push. I know that as soon as he starts walking all the time that things will be that much more eventful in our home, but I still look forward to the day. Most of this morning we worked on walking, he took several steps alone, and did it a few times. I think the he is gradually becoming more interested, so I am sure that it is only a matter of time.

Thinking about all the fun milestones Eli has reached and how I had to wait for him to accomplish each one when he was ready is a reminder to be patient, all things come together at the right time. He crawled when he was ready and I know that he will walk when he is ready also. Even though I know that, I am still impatient as I wait, I just can’t wait to see him walking on his own! So I guess I just need to have a little patience because he will walk before I know it!

 

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.” Walt Disney

I love to take pictures. In high school I practically always had a disposable camera in my purse and when I went on trips I was picture crazy. I had so many picture frames in my room, plus a bulletin board filled. I still love to take pictures, however now we have a digital camera like so many people do. Our digital camera is great, it’s the kind that snaps quickly like disposable cameras do, you don’t have to wait the five million seconds it takes for other digital cameras to actually take the picture. It’s also big and bulky, but its awesome. I love having it. We did so good taking pictures once a month for Eli’s baby book, I have some in the baby book but still need to have several printed, but at least they are taken and on my computer.

Is it just me or do pictures with a digital camera tend to stay on a computer rather than getting printed? I get my pictures printed less often than I ever used to now that I have the digital camera. I take the picture, load it onto the computer and then tell myself I’ll print them later and then many times I don’t or at least it’s WAY later when they get printed. I don’t ever want to pay to have one or two pictures printed, I always want to wait until I at least have a dozen to make it worth it, so they tend to sit for a while. It’s even worse now with the camera phones. Half the pictures we have of Eli aren’t even with the camera, they are with our phones. Yes you can have those printed, but I’ve already mentioned that process. While I love the ability to delete pictures that didn’t turn out good and pick and choose what I want printed, sometimes I think that it was a little easier to have the disposable camera because you have to get them printed to see anything, there was no uploading to a computer first. Am I the only one who takes forever to have pictures printed?

Photo Credit: Bailey Weaver