Valentine's Day

I wholeheartedly believe that Valentine's Day a Hallmark holiday, but one you really can't get around as far as your loved one is concerned (who wants to be the only one not acknowledged, even if it is a frivolous holiday?). So now that we have our toddler in the family, I want to get him involved, too (and hopefully do his future girlfriend/wife a favor by giving him a leg up).

One thing I like to to for all holidays, big and small, is buy a book to add to our collection. For Valentine's Day we got Elmo Loves You, which actually is not the best book ever, but it has Elmo and give us some talking points for love and Valentine's Day. I try to keep it at the top of the rotation as the holiday approaches.

Also, this year I was very excited to learn that M's daycare class is going to do a valentine exchange. The valentines won't be for any one child in particular, but we were asked to sign them from him and I am already envisioning a sweet little encounter of passing them out to each other. I went back and forth about if we should make some simple ones ourselves from construction paper, or look for a fancy-but-simple idea on Pinterest, or if we should just buy a box of commercial valentines with his favorite character on them. I decided we'd buy some commercial ones (zoo animal themed, as it turns out), but let him 'decorate' them by coloring with crayons or adding stickers. It seems he was very interested in pointing out and naming the animals, more so than decorating, but I like that he was involved in the process.

I thought we should also do some v-day themed food for the week, and made a batch of our favorite whole grain muffins* during M's nap on Sunday, with raspberries instead of the usual blueberries. I forgot that we still don't have our muffin pans here with us, so we baked the batter in a 9x11 pan, and cut into squares. They turned out just a yummy, and the raspberries were quite nice. I did find some ideas for some heart-shaped hard boiled eggs** (the oval variety are a weekly staple in our house) that I hope turn out OK for lunches.

Last, but not least, what will hubby and I do to celebrate with each other? Since we haven't established a babysitter here yet, we have decided to meet up for lunch instead of a nice dinner out. In our East Coast lives we rarely had the opportunity to meet up in the middle of the day, but now we work less than a mile apart from each other, so we are trying to make the effort to meet for lunches more frequently, Valentine's Day included (hopefully our meetings continue to permit!)

What crafts, activities, and traditions do you share with your family for Valentine's Day?

You can 'like' this blog on Facebook!!

*Whole Grain Muffin Recipe from Real Simple. We swapped raspberries for blueberries this go 'round. We also tend to omit the zest if we don't have it on hand.

** Heart-shaped hard boiled egg instructions

Anaheim Coves trail

Every time I meet someone new at work, I try to ask where we should be visiting, hanging out, or eating in the area. Recently, a colleague recommended this 'park' near our apartment. I was expecting some open green space for picnicking or throwing a ball, but when we arrived we concluded that this was 'just a trail'.  However, it was a decently scenic trail, given that there were thunderstorms happening all around us. Also every 100 yards or so there was a place to sit and read a display with historical information. Between these stops there were some artistic iron scenes in sections of the fence. I think this would be a great place for a run, out and back, or ride our bikes there and through, once we acquire some!!

We did see a fair amount of wildlife on this trip, including some herons nesting in these trees. They look so majestic flying!

M wasn't a happy camper on this trip, as I think we skimped on his PM snack. Shame on us. It would be interesting to see if he would be more into walking himself, were he properly fed. Even though he was pitching a fit as we inched our way to the car as the park was closing, the Park Ranger gave him a junior ranger badge sticker, which was sweet.

You can 'like' this blog on Facebook!!

Here's a link to info about Anaheim Coves from the OC Register.

Heritage Park, Santa Fe Springs

The mini-grove

This was a 'friends of friends' kind of weekend!! When we started telling people that we were moving to Orange, it was amazing how many of my friends knew other people who had just moved out here. Even more amazing was the number of people willing to talk to me, share advice, and even meet up!

So California is a big state. Orange County, even, is a big county. This weekend, we met one of our new 'friends' halfway between her home in Pasadena (which I hear is really cool, so we'll be making the whole trek soon) at Heritage Park in a town called Santa Fe Springs (I am finding that there are lots of parks named 'Heritage Park', so if you plan to visit this one please note the city).  The website was a little underwhelming, but it was a nice halfway point to meet in person. I know we have only lived here a month (wow! already a month!) but I am going to call this park a hidden gem.

Picnicing on the lawn

There were several real train cars that kids could climb on and play in, with real moving parts (one has a pretty mural painted on the side). M is very much into Choo-choos these days and loved it. There were a couple of sand pits (bring your shovel!) where the historical site markers explained that homes used to stand. There were examples of native huts that you could walk in. There was a mini-nature trail with little educational stops along the way. There was a bird exbit with doves, among other species. There was a mini-orange grove, and the boys had fun playing 'catch' with the fallen fruit. There was a pretty fountain inside walls of hedges. There was a greenhouse, and an irrigation windmill. On this particular day, there were also several couples picnicing on the vast green space. It appeared as though you could have made arrangements ahead of time to pick up a pre-made picnic basket complete with flowers and champagne and sit on the lawn and enjoy... the sound of little boys whooping and hollering :)

The garden fountain

This was actually a really lovely spot and all the things I listed were only the outside spots. The indoor exhibits closed at 4, so we missed them, but this is likely a place we'll have to come back and see!! I highly recommend it, especially if you are looking for a non-sketchy place to meet a friend between Orange County and LA. Also it is a mile away from a burger place called Habit, which is pretty tasty, too. AND its not far from IKEA, if you want to make a whole day of it.

You can 'like' this blog on Facebook!

* a link to the Heritage Park in Santa Fe Springs, CA

Inside the big hut!

inside the greenhouse

a look at the irrigation windmill

inspecting the huts

digging in the sand pit

Tide pool on the nature walk

playing on the train cars

Precious sleep

Etrade Baby

The one truth we all know about kids, whether we have many, one, or none, is that you get less sleep with them in your life. If you don't know this, and are expecting, here is your news for the day. Even if you don't sleep all that much, you will sleep less. And forgive this rambling post because of, well, lack of sleep.

With a new baby, I actually fully anticipated this, and was looking forward to finally getting to cuddle my bundle of joy at every opportunity, once I met him in person. And after he was born, the adrenaline kicked in, and we regularly had milk dates at 10 and 2. But then we were fortunate and the little guy started sleeping through the night. This continued beautifully until he was about 15 months or so (give or take the occasional growth spurt). And then he started seemingly random jags of getting up an hour early.

Now, I forgot to mention that once M was sleeping through the night, and we were constructing our morning routines when we were both working, we decided the best strategy was to get up about an hour before him, get ourselves ready, and bags packed, so we could fully attend the chaos that would ensue, and still end up at work with most of our belongings and clothes. So naturally, losing this hour of peace and privacy really bummed us out. Not to mention we somehow ended up mostly ready to go early... like before daycare was even open. Which means there is that much more time that we have to keep our work clothes protected from banana hands and toddler fluids. This hour early wakeup could last a week or two, then go back to normal for a week or two.

I tried to comb through the details of our lives to see what could have been the catalyst for the change, but came up empty handed. Sometimes we suspected teeth, or later an illness of some kind would be sprinkled in, but nothing truly clear cut. For about a week straight, he was waking up soaking wet, and I was losing faith in cloth diapers (thought they were doing their share of heavy lifting, the kid just had high output - he even outsoaked overnight disposables, such that we found little gel beads on him when we changed him in the morning). We even made a trip to a local cloth diaper boutique for suggested and they offered switching to the souped up nighttime solution, fitted bamboo diapers (such as sustainablebabyish or Sandy's fitted) + wool covers. These were a little pricey for us (especially this late in the diapering game), so I went the cheap route and bought some trim bamboo inserts to add to our overnight setup. They seemed to have helped some.

http://www.amazon.com/Newborn-Baby-Tracker
%C2%AE-Childcare-Journal/dp/9729375011

As I mentioned previously, just a few weeks ago, we moved our family from the East Coast to the West one. We adjusted to the 3-hr time zone shift over the customary 7-10 days. But still had this nagging 30 minutes-to-an-hour that we couldn't get him to sleep in. I consulted my What to Expect, the Toddler Years, and my Baby Whisperer, and Googled. Basically, if he was sleeping at least 10 hours (which he was hitting right on the nose), then they had no suggestions. ... except maybe to push bedtime back. Again, this feels like a milestone, but we are starting small, to make it seem less so.

So after about a week of going to bed 15 minutes later, I think we are mostly getting our hour back. He has legitimately had the sniffles, which gave us one rough night, but at least he slept in afterwards.

I'd love to hear what things worked for you! And if you suspect a cause I am overlooking!!

One last tip that I firmly believe has minimized the effects of this phenomenon: the Wait Just a Bit rule. When baby cries, if you know s/he is not wet or hungry or in pain (so new mommies of newborns, this probably doesn't apply to you) WAIT. Wait, like 10 minutes. It seems like a reeeeaaaallllly long time. But sometimes that is how long baby needs to figure out how to settle back down. You may hold your breath for this 10 minutes but will be rewarded!

You can still like this blog on facebook!

Toddler Lunch Ideas, part 1



Monday

In case you are struggling with what to pack/make your toddler, I wanted to share some ideas. It includes a mix of things I 'cooked' and things that are pre-packaged. We usually try to buy organic when we can but healthy and sometimes just handy, is good enough. I try to include a fruit or veggie in each snack and one of each with lunch. Please share your ideas, too!!

To get the conversation started, here are a few we packed this week:

For Monday

Lunch: 3/4 of a mini-whole-wheat-bagel pizza with peas (the recipe from weelicious.com), apple slices, steamed baby carrots, and milk

snack 1: yogurt + blueberry flax granola (blue container)



Tuesday



snack 2: cereal bar + clementine, peeled (yellow container)

Tuesday-lunch: leftover homemade whole wheat macaroni & cheese & steamed cauliflower (a recipe we loved from What to Eat When You're Expecting) , hard-boiled egg, halved cherry tomatoes, clementine sections, milk; snack 1: peach cubes + cereal bar; snack 2: yogurt + blueberry flax granola

Wednesday

Wednesday-

lunch: leftover stuffing from our stuffed peppers (from this month's Real Simple), steamed carrots, apple slices and milk; snacks 1& 2: mix and match a hard boiled egg, string cheese, simply baked potato chips, mixed blueberry granola and raisins.

Thursday -


Thursday



lunch: turkey, cream cheese, spinach roll up (on a half of a tortilla), frozen peas, raisins; snack 1: apples + steamed carrots; snack 2: cereal bar + plain yogurt mixed with blackberries

And don't forget, you can now like the blog on Facebook!



Citrus Ranch Park

Citrus Ranch Park in Tustin, CA

What a cute lemon-themed park. There are two play structures: one massive one for big kids, and one smaller one for toddlers. Both are surrounded by sand. The park also has a swingset. And probably the coolest theme are the walking trails through the lemon grove right on site. Over 900 lemon trees in rows on a hill, with a gazebo on top. This lookout point names two peaks you can see in either direction.

The park also ties into horse trails and sidewalks.

We had a great time test-driving all the slides and things to climb on!

It looks like a great place to have a birthday party, with the covered picnic tables, grills, and lots of open concrete space. There was even a yoga class meeting there on the weekday we visited.

The park does have some odd stainless steel commodes in the bathrooms, but its nice to have bathrooms.

This is definitely a favorite park!!

 you can now like this blog on Facebook!

Teaching your toddler to walk on his own

I totally have to credit my mother for this motivation.  It never occurred to me that we should stop carrying our toddler. He is still our baby! He is only 18 months old! If you count your kid's age in months is is still a baby and therefore needs to be cuddled and carried, right?

In all honesty, we didn't previously have all that many opportunities to carry him any great distance. On weekdays, we would walk a few steps out through our garage and strap him in his car seat. Drive him to school, carry him inside across the busy parking lot. We'd pick him up after school and do the reverse on the way home. In the evenings we'd play in the yard or take the wagon around the neighborhood. On weekends, we would stroll or put him in the backpack carrier for the Farmers' Market or mall, or he would play under his own power at the park.

However, now (at least temporarily) we are living in an apartment. Which means that to go anywhere we have to walk down the hall to the elevator, go down the elevator, and then walk across the parking deck to our car. It's not all that long of a walk unless you are carrying a 30 lb toddler. And also wanting to carry anything else, like say, two lunchboxes, a schoolbag packed with cloth diapers, and a work bag packed with a portfolio, purse, and coffee.

My mother came out to California with us to help us get through the airport, and get settled in our new space. She stayed a week, before we started at our new jobs, but astutely pointed out that surely we wouldn't be carrying M from our apartment to the car, would we? Hubby and I looked at each other like we'd never even thought about it. She took the lead by asking him to walk and offering her hand. This did not go over well with M. He wanted to be held. He pulled out his best terrible-two's tantrum in the hallways and planted himself on the floor, or on the ground in the parking garage and refused to walk with us toward the elevators. Hubby and I were not sure we liked this idea. Clearly he was upset about it, and our first reaction was to pick him up to shut him up and just figure it out later. Though the more we realized what was to come next week (see the note above about all the things to carry) not to mention that we would be doing this one-on-one with him as we took turns taking and picking up from school. And sometimes we would have to be walking a dog, too.

I won't lie: it was painful. And we were mortified that our apartment neighbors were going to evict us, with the volume of the protests. But it really didn't last long. By the time my mom went home, he was walking like a champ. Even offering to carry things himself, like his own lunchbox, or mine. He liked being in charge of pushing the elevator buttons, sometimes pushing both up and down. He got excited to think that one parent was already home ahead of him. Or even if just the dog was already home, he was excited to see her, too.

I know it seems obvious and simple. It was never a decision I anticipated, but it does feel like a milestone. This walking thing has really been a huge help. We are still working on holding hands. In the safety of the hallways, I am comfortable keeping him in sight, but in the parking garage, I would really like to hold his hand. He also gets distracted a lot. This can be frustrating if we are in a hurry, or all all loaded down carrying groceries. But on most days we are not in a hurry, and I try to keep in mind that his interest is part of being a child. I should be so lucky to be fascinated by the views of city lights two stories up. Or by the texture of paint or stucco. We do try to curb the interest in other doors that are not our own. His walking can even be its own adventure. If we get tired of being inside, we just go walk the hallways or explore the different amenities around the complex. Its a great tool to get some energy out!

When did you realize that you weren't going to carry your toddler anymore? How did that go over?

 you can now like us on Facebook!