Says the Big Brother {wordless wednesday}

I don't believe in picky eaters.

This is a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while but honestly too afraid to say my peace in fear I will offend. Because I will offend.  Your child doesn’t have to survive off peanut butter sandwiches and mac n cheese; cook and they will eat!

This is how we did things and this is the outcome we got. That me preface by saying when he was a baby I made his baby food (which I don’t think made a difference in this story but who knows) and just like most parents we avoided peanut butter or honey for a while in fear of allergies, choking, yadda yadda.

Fast forward to 1 - 2 year old Mo and he was eating mostly what we ate but in toddler form. You know chicken breast sliced up, little chunks of soft veggies, bananas, and whatever we had he would eat. Some of it he hated but the important note being we didn’t say “ok you don’t like this so we will never give it to you again”. We would just try again.

As 2 turned into 3 he was eating any and everything we ate. I prepare an adult dinner and portion out a toddler size for his plate. If it’s spicy I make sure to separate that part because come on, common sense; kids can’t handle too much heat!  At this age if he says I don’t like it we say too bad you have to eat some of it. Half the time he’ll surprise himself and actually like it and the other times he will only eat the 3 bites required and move on. We don’t make hot dogs or fish sticks, we don’t let him eat a PB&J for dinner, and we don’t back off.

Yes, my child’s favorite food is chicken and french fries from Chick Fil A…he’s 3. But he also loves broccoli, Italian subs, and shrimp. He loves real food because that’s his normal. Does he have any idea his peanut butter is all natural and spread over healthy hearty wheat bread? Nope. Does he know what a happy meal is? Nay. Does he whole heartedly believe eating vegetables give you big muscles? You bet.

Parents: don’t sell your kids short. Be firm at dinner. Make it fun and tasty. We all have to pick our battles but make this one of the things you fight for.  If you have to sprinkle a tablespoon of cheese over those brussle spouts to get them to eat them, go for it. You are in control and what you’re feeding your toddler at an early age will set the tone for their palette the rest of their childhood.

Toddler eats. {giveaway}

If you haven’t already at one point in your life you’re going to wonder what’s the best child’s plate out there is. With a baby any simple bowl is all you may need but as that baby turns into a toddler and solids are introduced it gets a little tricky. A bowl for the mush, a plate for the solids, and what about keeping them from all running together? I introduce to you the plate to solve all your problems: Green Eats divided plates! 

It’s silly to say but I thought I had good toddler plates…until the day these came in the mail! They’re a good sturdy weight made from 100% recycled plastic milk containers and contain no BPA, melamine, or phthalates AND come in 4 great colors. My favorite part about the plates is the depth of the dividers; they’re slightly curved and so deep! Finally a place to put yogurt or applesauce without frustrating little hands trying to push a spoon around every corner for a good bite. 

The pictures below are a Saturday breakfast of eggs, chicken sausage link (sliced), hash browns, and homemade applesauce; it gives a good idea of how much you can fit on one plate while still keeping it separate. The dividers are also good for keeping dip contained or a place for a scope of homemade baby food next to slew of Puffs. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t used them for time to time!

 

 

The great people at The Green Nursery are offering a set of 2 Green Eats plates for one lucky US reader. The Green Nursery is a great earth friendly website offering an array of everything for your kiddos. It’s easy to navigate and the best part about the site is having the knowledge that anything you pick out has already been tested and chosen as a legitimate green product. There is no need to browse 10 different sites for toys, dinnerware, or strollers because it’s all right here at the Green Nursery! For all of you shopping for Christmas they have a free shipping promotion going on for orders over $49! 

Simply fan/like their Facebook page and then check out their site and tell me which color you like best in the comment section. Anonymous comments will be ignored so please make sure an email address is provided.

For extra entries tweet about the giveaway and make sure to mention @busylandb and a link so they can enter too!

I will announce the winner next week!

Good luck and special thanks to The Green Nursery for hosting this giveaway!

Squeezable goodness {Peter Rabbit Organics giveaway}

I want to introduce you to one of Moses’ favorite snacks; the squeezable puree pouch. We teamed up with Peter Rabbit Organics who offers 100% pure fruit or fruit & vegetable purees in a convenient grab and go pouch for this review and giveaway. Moses has loved these pouches long before this review so he was thrilled to receive his very own package in the mail filled with all 6 pouch varieties. I’m not kidding… want to make your toddler the happiest guy on the planet…put something special for him in the mailbox!  Moses loves the BPA-free resealable, individual packaging and feels like a big boy because he can have this snack without any help; I love them because I know they’re healthy and filled with nothing but pure fruits and vegetables.

 

There was no favoritism when it came to flavor options; whether it was sweet potato, corn, & apple or mango, banana, & orange he loved them all. I tasted the pea, spinach, & apple and was very surprised how strong the pea flavor was however mixed in with the fruit it simply tasted like a sweet treat to Moses and he loved it. They are perfect for a morning on the run, an afternoon snack, or when we are stuck in the car longer than expected.  You can find them in Starbucks nationwide, in select Whole Foods Markets, Publix and Albertsons, and natural food stores, in all Buy Buy Baby stores, and online at Amazon.com, Diapers.com, BabiesRUs.com and Spud.com.

Peter Rabbit would like to offer someone their own gift pack featuring all 6 flavors two times over; meaning someone will receive 12 pouches of their own! 

To Enter: Leave a comment telling me which flavor you’re most interested in trying! 

Extra entries: Please leave an additional, separate comment for each of the follow you do:

Tweet about the giveaway; make sure to include @BusylandB and the blog link

Share the giveaway with your Facebook followers and including the blog link

Fan on FB OR follow Peter Rabbit Organics on Twitter @PR_Organics

The giveaway will close on Saturday and I’ll announce the winner next week!

Two truths and a lie.

Two truths and a lie; you decide. 

1. I’ve worked out 5 times this week!  1^st cardio session was after our trip Sunday when I felt as big as a house eating all those sweets. Two mornings I was at the gym before work doing cardio and two nights were my favorite sweat dripping insane cardio class. I feel great!  

2. My house is incredibly clean! I was sick of all the mess so each night I’ve been working on one room making it perfect. Sweeping, dusting, putting things were they belong and not in another junk pile. I’ve even made boxes for trash and donations so I can get rid of all the extra crap for good!

3. Last night I was heating up my dinner plate when Moses came over and asked for a piece of broccoli…as in actually wanted vegetables. I gave him one and he munched down and asked for more. After that he proceeded to eat half the broccoli off my plate literally piling it into his mouth. I would go hungry every night if it meant my baby was begging for greens! 

Summertime Chill

With the 100 degree heat hovering over North Florida lately and Summer Solstice this week I knew I wanted to make something that yelled “SUMMERTIME”! I stumbled upon Gina’s Skinny Recipes a couple weeks ago when trying to find a healthy banana nut bread recipe and have fallen in love. She takes classic recipes (along with some I’ve never heard of) and gives them a healthy spin all while keeping their flavor. Not only does she offer up the recipes but she gives Weight Watchers points and nutritional facts on everything.
I have been eyeing these fruit filled popsicles since last week and can imagine many hot summer days in the kiddie pool with these in hand.
I quadrupled the recipe to make 16 popsicles and used organic apple juice (because that’s all I had on hand). They are super simple to make and taste wonderful!

Basically you pick out a few of your favorite fruits.

 Dice them up and add them together in a big bowl.

Fill each of the 5 oz cups with the fruit mixture and add 1 tbsp of juice.

Insert popsicle sticks and freeze.

I was hoping to debut them this weekend but after dinner last night we couldn’t resist!

 

Moses is picky about his fruit but since everything was chopped up and frozen he didn’t seem to mind the tartness of the kiwi. When I first made them I thought they seemed kind of small but since they literally are frozen fruit chunks it actually takes a nice long while to lick (or bite if you’re a toddler) your way through.

About half way through bitting/licking/chewing

I stuck with Gina’s recipe to avoid a flavor mix up but next on my list I’m going to make more of a tropical popsicle by adding chunks of pineapple, mango, banana, and kiwi with a slash of orange juice. At under 40 calories a pops these are the perfect hot summer day treat regardless of your age!

Snack Happened [Itzy Ritzy Review]

If you’ve been around Moses more than 2 hours you’ll know the boy loves to snack! His favorite is bananas followed by (in no particular order) Anne’s bunny, Anne’s gummies, Pirate Booty, cheese sticks, and Kashi cheerios (or if he’s at Grammies house it’s Goldfish, Cheezits, Ritz crackers, and anything else his heart desires). When he was younger we used a hard plastic snack holder with a rubber lid but found that it a. only held a small amount of snacks and b. didn’t keep crumbs from falling everywhere. Lately we’ve been using plastic baggies but more recently I’ve stumbled across something so brilliant; reusable snack bags!

They fit perfectly into our “going green” lifestyle by being economically and environmentally friendly. Think about how many plastic snack bags I could save by just using one reusable bag!

I was so happy Itzy Ritzy sent me their “Snack Happened” bag in Urban Jungle Blue for review this month. I knew the brand name from my niece’s adorable car seat cover but I had no idea all the other great products they made. Snack Happens bags are FDA approved, CPSIA compliant, PVC- free, lead –free, and BPA- free. They are 100% cotton exterior, polyester & PUL interior. I love the zipper top closure and water-resistant interiors to keep crumbs, drips & contents securely inside.

I LOVE that they are PUL lined for easy clean up and machine washable for those days you think toting around blueberries is a good idea. The bags are 7x7 inches and get this, can fit a banana inside! Do you know how much easier this makes life to have one bag holding Moses’ banana and bunnies? If you can’t already tell from the picture their fabrics are so beautiful; they range from childish to neutral to chic and everything in between. From the beautiful fabric, lined inside, and zipper closure it really feels nice to hold with the appearance of store bought and makes the purchase justifiable.

Moses has loved carrying his around and I even used it last week to bring strawberries into the movie theater (zipper = quiet snaking). Itzy Ritzy wants all Busyland’s readers to experience how great their bags are by offering 20% off promotion code for all the readers good until the end of the month at Itzy Rity's site. Just type in BUSYLAND11 when prompted! I'll update the post with pictures of Mosey and his new bag but for now I wanted to get it up so you could all have time to take advantage of the discount! Enjoy!

The end of the beginning: Family Food Challenge

I promise I didn’t mean to leave anyone hanging at the end of last week. See what happened, and what I don’t like to announce to the internet, was Davy went out of town Thursday night. It’s now Tuesday and I don’t remember all the details but I will share the two memorable dishes we enjoyed.
Remember that whole chicken I placed in the crock pot Thursday? Well I took the other half and pulled in apart until it was shredded then added BBQ sauce. I stored it in the fridge and when the time was right we pulled in out and had BBQ sandwiches; quick, easy and tasteful!
The other meal we enjoyed was Earth Fare’s frozen mozzarella and pesto pizza. I knew all along this meal would be saved for the weekend because it took 10 minutes and it’s easy. The pizza contained four large circles of mozzarella cheese and four blobs of pesto along with cherry tomatoes and a tiny bit of sprinkled cheese. To be honest when I removed it from the box I was disappointed; it seemed pretty bare and the slices of mozzarella and pesto where mis-proportioned on the pizza. Some slices where practically naked while some were full of flavor. Overall it tasted pretty good but would have taste a lot better if it was covered with toppings.

My overall thoughts on this food challenge were very positive. After one week my body wasn’t transformed but I could definitely feel a difference; a few days into it I desired to eat better. I would look forward to and wanted to eat the new foods and felt good about it afterwards. Not once did I eat a meal and then feel sluggish like McDonalds sometimes always does. I felt good and I honestly believe it was the ingredients in the food. span>
As for this week and all those to follow….we aren’t going to strictly stay on the challenge however there are many staples in our house that will be forever changed. Things like milk, eggs, sour cream, yogurt, refried beans, ect will remain to be the items we picked out for the challenge. Other things like meat, cheese, butter, snacks will now be constantly monitored to make sure we are making the best choices possible. Although the grocery bill wasn’t as high as expected it was definitely more than we normally spend thus being the main reason we are not switching over 100%. This challenge has thought us to really open our eyes to the things we consume. It thought me that spending a little more for the good stuff isn’t such a bad idea and to remember why the good stuff is the good stuff!

Food Challenge Day #4

It seems like day #4 of the challenge came more natural because I wanted to stick with the diet and do well. I wanted to eat every meal as planned. I wanted finish the day feeling good.


Breakfast:
Me- a large grapefruit
Moses- banana (starting to see a pattern, folks!)
Davy- eggs… I think. It’s bad when we are rushing around the house in the morning and I’m completely unaware of what he’s doing. ….it may have been a PB&J.


Lunch:
Davy couldn’t shake wanting to eat out so we decided to have a lunch date….at Earth Fare! It seems silly to love a Grocery store so much but seeing as they have so many options (groceries, take out, hot bar, pizza, sweets, ect) we knew the options were limitless. We decided to split the ham & cheese Panini which came with a side of fruit and split a shrimp tempura roll. We took our lunch outside to the covered eating area and enjoyed the warm afternoon. I love going on lunch dates and I love feeling good about what I’m eating. After lunch we strolled around the wellness section of the store trying on different lotions and sampling drinks and teas they had available; Davy ended up getting two small packs of Super food mix because he liked the sample so much.

Dinner:
Thankfully I already had most of dinner made because once I got home things went a little different than planned. That morning I place a whole fresh chicken into the crock pot and it slow cooked all day. Once it cooks that long it becomes so tender and moist I literally broke it apart to use half for the meal. I was planning on cooking a side of rice and grilled squash with it but we had company come over for longer than expected and didn’t start dinner again until closer to 7. At this point I didn’t have time for any of the planned sides that I made us a spinach salad (with my FREE Organic Girl spinach) and had chicken on the side. It was quick, easy, and tasty. Moses had a side of applesauce and leftover sweet potato wedges with his chicken.

Food Challenge Day #2

Day 2 of our Family Food Challenge a little more interesting because it was our first time cooking a meal with all our new ingredients. I feel like I did a great job picking out the right products when I went shopping over the weekend because every time any of us want something we seem to have it. Well almost everything…. I want sweets, like always, but chose not to buy any because I need to train my body to want healthier things (like fruit and yogurt) instead of chocolate and sugar. Depending on how the rest of the week goes I might have to go pick up a healthy sweet treat from Earth Fare but my goal is to stay away altogether.

Breakfast:

Davy made us all a big batch of scrambled eggs

Lunch:

Davy- Chicken salad sandwich and peanut butter and strawberry preserve sandwich

Me- Chicken salad on a salad. I have this amazing ranch dressing I was going to put on it but the creamy-ness from the chicken salad acted like dressing and it was oh so tasty!

Snacks: (between all of us)

Banana
Chobani yogurt

Kashi dark chocolate coconut chewy bar 

Mixed nuts  

Dinner:

I was excited about converting this meal to a “thought about” meal because this is a staple in our house that’s eaten on a weekly basis; Mexican Night. Normally it’s chicken soft tacos with rice and beans and this is how it broke down Earth Fare style:

• Whole wheat tortillas found in the freezer section near the frozen entrées
• Chicken breast sliced up
• Sliced bell peppers and onions
• Sliced avocado
• Organic Valley sour cream (surprisingly only $2 for an 8oz container)
• Amy’s organic vegetarian refried beans

The final verdict…..wonderful! I was most curious about the refried beans because they were thinner than our normal brand but incredibly flavorful. Normally we have yellow rice as a side item but after walking the rice isle for 10 minutes I couldn’t find any. I was surprised but figured if they didn’t sell it then we weren’t eating it. Moses never mentioned the rice and Davy actually said “I’m full even without the rice” after dinner.  

Food Challenge Day #1

The first day of our food challenge went great….well….almost too great. I felt like we cheated in the sense that everything was so easy!

Breakfast:
Moses: A banana and handful of dry Kashi cereal. I was hesitant about buying the cereal because I didn’t know if it would taste like cardboard or pass a toddler’s approval. It doesn’t taste like cardboard at all and has a slight cinnamon taste to it; Moses also gave it two thumbs up!
Me: Chobani yogurt with sliced strawberries. A little mental trick I do is scoop the yogurt into a regular bowl so I feel like I’m eating a meal, not a quick packaged snack. Like I said yesterday I L-O-V-E Chobani greek yogurt; it is so thick and smooth and tasty! I also had one egg but feel like the yogurt could have filled me up; it’s packed with tons of protein I really do feel like it’s an all in one type of breakfast item.
Davy had already left the house before we woke up so I’m not sure what he ate!
Lunch:
This is where the cheating comes in; I went to Earth Fare for lunch! I needed to pick up sour cream and ended up getting the ham and cheese Panini with a side of fruit. I also wasn’t expecting it but I received an email right before lunch from Earth Fare with a coupon for a free pound of deli rotisserie chicken salad if you spend $10. So I picked $10 worth of chicken salad FREE with my other purchases. Oh yeah….and I also got….chocolate covered almonds! They have been on sale in the bulk section for the past week or so and we also LOVE them! They have dark or milk chocolate coating and they are thick and delicious. I ended up grabbing a handful which came out to about $1.25.
Dinner:
Originally we were going to have Mexican night (the whole reason I went to Earth Fare at lunch) but we were in a hurry so we changed things up and decided to have chicken salad sandwiches. I literally put mine in a napkin and ran out the door but the boys enjoyed a side of fries found in the freezer section of the store near the frozen entrees.
Snacks:
Lunch was so filling I didn’t eat any snacks and Moses and Davy ate the zucchini muffins.


A good first day to ease into things!

Zucchini mini muffins

Taking a friend’s advice via Twitter (don’t you just love social networking) I decided to post yesterday’s recipe for mini zucchini muffins. Not only do they taste great but they are packed full of good stuff and perfect for toddlers and adults. I am so happy I decided to bake then in the mini muffin tins because they are literally bit sized and perfect for portion control during snack time; plus I think Moses loves the idea he can hold then between two fingers. I got the recipe by Google-ing then modified it a little more.

• 2 cp Wheat flour
• 1/4th TSP Baking Soda
• 1/3 cp Wheat gem
• 3 TSP Cinnamon
• 1 TSP Nutmeg
• 1 TSP Salt
• 2 cp shredded zucchini (about 2 average size zucchini)
• Carrots *
• 1 cp Brown sugar
• 3 Eggs **
• 1/3 cp Vegetable oil (I actually did even less and added a tiny bit more applesauce)
• 2/3 cp Natural, un-sweetened apple sauce
• 2 TSP Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and spray mini muffin tins
1. Add all dry ingredients together (except the sugar) and stir.
2. Add all wet ingredients including the sugar and stir in large bowl.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and stir until well blended.
4. Bake at 350 for 30ish minuets. Check them after 25 min to see if the center is cooked. I actually took mine out when the centers were ever so slightly mushy because I knew once they cooled I still wanted them to be moist.

* I also added a few shredded carrots because I thought “why the heck not” but it maybe only equaled out to 1/4th. I figure if I masking vegetables in a muffin might as well get as much out of it as I can.
** Next time I want to try 1 egg and 3 egg whites so if you try it let me know

Note: They do not really rise out of the tins like normal muffins do; feel free to fill the entire tin up to the top if you want a large muffin then in my picture.
One batch yielded over 48 mini muffins.  

Family Food Challenge

Last week I was watching a TV program with the general message of “think about what you eat” and it got me thinking. When my now 2 ½ year old Moses was younger I was very aware of the types of foods we fed him; all homemade baby food and never packed snacks. After watching Food Inc I even tried to change my eating habits however since then we’ve all drifted from our original intent. We are more lenient on what snacks he eats and I can say I’ve know I’ve made some bad decisions myself.



Jumping back to late last year our town got our first Earth Fare. Opening weekend Moses and I took our first trip inside to see exactly what is they had to offer and it was love at first site. It was large but still had a homey feel to it. They offered everything I expected plus more featuring a bulk nut section, cosmetics, and a large premade deli section which included a cold bar, fresh pizza, and massive Panini sandwiches. We were in heaven; so many samples and smiling faces and the best part was someone was already doing the thinking for me. They have a policy which includes a long list of things that are NOT in their store and have boiled it down to this simple list:

• NO hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (added trans fats)
• NO High-Fructose Corn Syrup
• NO artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives
• NO antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones or animal by-products in the feed (fresh meats & milk)
• NO bleached or bromated flour
• NO irradiated single source spices, produce or meat
• NO animal by-products in foods
• NO inhumane treatment of the animals providing us with dairy, meat, and eggs

Meaning I can walk around the store and throw things into my cart without thinking about the extras that might be added in. Ever since they’ve opened I make it a point to stop by whenever I can to pick up a few things but continued stick with my major Grocery store because it’s what I’m used to.


So putting my love with Earth Fare and my new desire to think about what I’m eating I decided to challenge my family. For one week we would center every meal on thinking about what we were eating. This was going to be a challenge for my coupon loving self because I knew a lot of times the “good for you” stuff isn’t always on sale. This was going to be a challenge for my husband because he doesn’t like to try anything out of the ordinary and lastly a challenge (or more so a test) for Moses to see if he would be receptive to the new snacks.


I created a weekly menu and shopping list then headed out to Earth Fare Saturday for my big shopping day. I took my time comparing products and picking out some already adorned favorites like Chobain yogurt and Anne’s bunny snacks. Like always it was such a pleasure shopping at Earth Fare. (I have tried to shop at the other similar store in town that has been local to the area for years but every time I go in there I get an uncomfortable vibe like I'm not welcome; after having repeated positive experiences at Earth Fare I stopped shopping at the other store all together.) For instance when I was there Saturday they had samples going on and store manager was even walking down the aisle offering samples of jelly beans for the Easter season.


We started the challenge this morning but I am going to post the days meals and opinions the following day in case we have to mix things up unexpectedly. I will say we all seemed optimistic this weekend talking about it and I even had to keep Davy away from the Earth Fare frozen pizza I bought for this weekend.


To kick start the challenge I made a big batch of bite size zucchini muffins made with healthy, thought about, ingredients and I’m happy to report Moses LOVES them.


I’m looking forward to what this challenge is going to teach our family and generally how we feel emotionally and physically by the weekend.

Burp.

It makes me happy to see a mom with three or more young children and still has a smile on her face. I know kids can be challenging but it’s nice to see a mom can relax enough to enjoy the chaos of a full house.


God always provides, always. Sometimes it takes turning off the cable, a few cry fests, and a prayer but He always does.

Davy asked me the other day is we were going to “do” Santa. Growing up never believing in Santa (thanks my sis) I don’t know what it’s like to “believe” and what it’s like to find out he’s not real. We stood there and look at each other for a moment before I spoke. “I guess” was my answer. I’m not going to lead him down this huge fabricated lie that Santa is watching his behavior and yadda yadda but I think the thrill of Santa coming Christmas Eve night might be fun. We will leave out cookies, write Santa’s name on a few presents and do that mess until he’s old enough to understand. Good solution, right?

Driving in the car the other on the way to school Moses happily ate his banana. When he finished he said “Mommy, banana?”
“You ate it all”
“All gone?”
“Yes Mo, it’s in your tummy”. Moses looked down at his tummy and started to pat it; he smiled but still didn’t understand.
“Tummy, Mommy?”
“Yes Mo, it goes in your tummy and then out your hiney”. He paused for a moment then slid his hand down to the crouch of his pants and exclaimed, “Ouchy, hiney!”
(I love this age)


It was finals week and I was too busy studying, freaking out, and taking tests to write real posts. Next week I’ll either be writing the “I’m done with college” post or the “Wah Wah life sucks I’m retaking one class” post.

Oh and I have a really cute giveaway post for next week too!

Eat your veggies, Kids!

Last week we cut our Friday workday short for Moses’ 18 month checkup. He is technically 19 months on the 5th of August but we were close enough. Plus we skipped the 15 month check up all together so we figured it was about time to hang out in the waiting room for a while. Here are the stats: Height: 75th percentile (not sure the actual number) weight: 28.5 lbs, also 75th percentile. I wasn’t too surprised with these stats because everyone knows he’s a “big boy”. He is very active (or “has a lot of energy” as his teachers say) so I’m not too worried he also loves to snack. The rest of the appointment he passed with flying colors. The doctor was very impressed with his verbal and motor skills and that made us very proud parents. He cracked all the nurses up when they walked in and he asked them for “shots, please!” and the tears were quickly dried up (post shots) with his choice of stickers (he picked a puppy, naturally).


Some things he does as a 19 month old (that maybe he didn’t do as a 15 month old):

• Still wakes up wanting a banana every morning.
• Knows where his head, elbows, knees, privates (which he also likes to refer to as “BOOBIES” (thanks Davy) when referring to me) hands, fingers, toes, and feet (along with all the other facial features).
• The collection of Curious George is still his favorite book but also likes to read a variety of others at bed time.
• Knows as soon as we walk into Publix where to get a free cookie and where his cold fruit puree pouches are. The pouches have been his special shopping treat for a while now but after two trips to get a cookie the boy has found a deeper love for Publix.
• Picky about where toys are placed, especially building blocks; he likes you to help balance the tower but he must be the one placing them on top.
• Working on saying “yes” to things he wants (opposed to happily saying NO when meaning yes).
• Loves to watch Handy Manny and MickyMouse Clubhouse in the mornings when I’m getting ready for work.
• (referring to Clubhouse) Mimics the characters in a singy voice “Oh Tooooootles”.
• Down to 1 bottle only at night but we are on day 3 of replacing bottles with cups (waa hoo!).
• Does art work weekly at school that is proudly displayed on the fridge.
• As soon as he is done eating dinner begs to have “bath time”.
• And lots more that makes up smile all day long but I’m drawling a blank!

One thing that has been lacking in his diet is vegetables. He loves to snack and eat fruit and meat but turns his nose up to any plain veggies. I’ve made a commitment to transform his eating and I’m proud to say its gone great! I researched some healthy snacks and side items that deliciously hide veggies. Two big hits are broccoli nuggets and carrot, zucchini, applesauce muffins. We’ve also bought fruit leathers and Pirate Booty Veggies (a healthy puffed snack like Cheetoes) for snack. I wanted toddler friendly snacks without skimping on the nutrition. For dinners I always incorporate a veggie nugget paired with a chemical free natural beef hotdog, organic Mac n cheese, or part of the dinner we’re eating. I’m reverting back to baby Moses style of eating and plan to make a few vegetable purees I can add to scrambled eggs, meat loafs, or anything else he enjoys.

We are eating up his daily new words and how his personality has formed into a little boy; it’s hard to believe we can fall deeper and deeper in love with him (yeah I say it every month but it’s TRUE!)