stressed to get dressed

Years two and three for a toddler are tough… and tough on you too. One of the many things that we face is our child’s growing independence. This isn’t such a bad thing, but I find that it tests my patience in ways that I wasn’t expecting. For a while, we were dealing with a toddler who didn’t want to get dressed in the mornings… and then only wanted to wear her princess dress-ups. At times, I didn’t care about this, but other times really strained me! It was only 8 am and my endurance was lost for the day… and so was my toddler’s!

I came across a little blurb out of Parents magazine in May that I wanted to share with you. As we implemented them into our routine, it really helped us get ready and stay in good moods!

Start them Sleepy – The article says that dressing your child when they first get up and before they can get out of their room will help things go more smoothly. When they have time to run around and play first, then they seem to be about to resist more.

Give lots of Loves – take some time to cuddle with your toddler to give a gradual wake up and help get their mood off on the right track. You could sing a song, read a book, or just cuddle.

Be Silly- make getting dressed a game. Put the shirt on your head or on your toddler’s feet – then let them correct you. It will help them not only laugh but feel in control – don’t we all like to feel in control?

For my husband and I, we find that these tactics work good on different occasions. Especially with my being pregnant, I can’t always get up before our toddler does so cuddling works great; however, when I have places to be the sleepy one works great. My husband, he loves the silly one, but that is his nature and it seems to work every time!

celebrate independence

I saw this cute idea in the Family Fun magazine for July and had to create one of my own. I LOVE this magazine and get so many ideas from it. However, this month’s issue was LOADED with fun things to do. I made a list and me and Little Miss A are going to do them all… hopefully before Little Miss B gets here next week! So I guess you could say that it is wishful thinking :)

This was SO EASY! In the magazine, they just have the garland glued to a Styrofoam circle. I felt it a little too juvenile… maybe it was the photo of the garland. So I tried to find something to fit my tastes and I found what I needed at Hobby Lobby! Most dangerous store ever!

We took a wreath frame, wrapped some fun garland around the frame and hot glued it in place. (it took us two 9’ strands) and glued in a cute Fourth of July pick. This was a great activity for my daughter to do and she felt so proud of her creation.

It cost me about $8.00 to make. But what was fun was actually getting A’s opinion on the garland and the pick and letting her help me. So nice!

picky eaters or parenting fail

it sure has been a while since I have posted about family… this was posted to a community blog I am a member of.

I hear a lot of parents talk about their kids being picky eaters. Did you know that it is normally the parents’ fault? Think about it. If your child starts complaining about what you are eating at dinner and you get up, and prepare a whole different meal for your child… you just initiated a picky eater. Next time around, your child is going to do the same thing and then you will be known as a short order cook… always making special dishes for each member of your family. And just think about doing this for two or three different kids! Yikes!

On average, it takes a toddler 25 times of having a food placed in front of them before they will like it and even try a bite of it! That is a lot of times! So if your toddler doesn’t eat their broccoli the first time, or even second time… keep trying! Just one or two pieces of what you are serving will suffice too!

So to get your child to eat unique foods… we call them fruits and veggies… here are some extra tips-

· Involve- have your child help you prepare your meals/snacks. We always have our daughter wash the fruits and veggies. Something that she can do for her age. She also loves to help me add the spices to our meals. I am amazed at what we can get her to try and even like if she has invested her time into the preparation.

· Snacks- This is even a good tip for me! I always try to leave out a bowl of fruits and veggies on the counter or in the fridge that our daughter has free reign to. If she wants a snack that is what she eats. It also makes her feel like she is independent and can make her own food choices.

· Different versions- if your child won’t eat a raw version try steamed…

· Creativity- I have a wonderful book called Deceptively Delicious that is all recipes with hidden fruits and veggies. Our favorite is Mac and Cheese made with cauliflower and the avocado cupcakes.

· Variety and repetition- my last to tips that can really help…

one for my girls

this is the one I had inspiration for and have decided to keep (and not post to etsy, sadly for my hubby). I am very, very, very pleased with it and think it is the perfect addition to my nursery!

I love the polka dot vellum… which really surprised me how much I like it!

butterfly specimen art

these are some glittery butterflies that I had left over from little miss A’s birthday party last year. I have wanted to do something with them for a long time and this is what I came up with… it looks great in the girls’ room!

another butterfly chandelier

so after I made this one my husband thought it was so nice and well made that he challenged me to post it in my etsy shop. No kidding, within a day I had sold it! So I packaged that beauty up and shipped it off. Props to my business minded hubby…

I made another one… and it just sold too. Thankfully I was prepared for it to go…

… until it hung in the nursery today and I was kind of sad that I have to send it off… but I had some great inspiration and I cannot wait to show you what version I came up with for the girls’ room! Hopefully it will be just as fantastic as these have been! If not, I will just post it up for sale :)

sweet bracelet

when little miss A was born I made her and myself a matching bracelet set.

Oh! Look how cute she was…

So I decided to make Little Miss B one too. A bit different, by using dark pink instead of red.

Just a couple more weeks until this sweetie comes into the world! I cannot wait to meet her!