"Hi Fuzzy Man"

Today we went to Animal Adventure to visit our local wildlife neighbors.  They have a great setup and a beautiful new giraffe.  What was most fun for me today (along with the fabulous company of friends!) was watching my fearless little MMan greet and feed and pet the animals.  The greetings of "Hello fuzzy man!", "Hi buddy", and " Hi big man" were heard over and over again as he greeted pigs, goats, lambs, zebras, yaks, llamas and more.

Mommy Made It: Binky Leashes & Tags

G-Girl was a binky baby.  She figured out how to get them out of the binky leashes we had pretty early on.  I saw this post last week and got inspired.  I grabbed my fabric store coupons and G-Girl and I went shopping.  G-Girl picked out the ribbon, with much deliberation: there were a few different monkey options. I grabbed the ribbon and the clips, added the brown fabric from my stash and got to work.  The finished product: 

We used the Soothie binkies which G-girl loved, and we were fine with them.   Until she dropped them.  Then they roll and hide under furniture, into corners and all over the place.  Then we would mutter phrases that are not repeatable and join in the crying with the angry infant.  I had forgotten about these ordeals until the Little Guy I babysit came with the same binkies.  And I remembered.  I decided to try to figure out a solution before Itty Bitty gets here.  I made little tags that attach - they're about 3 inches square, and will hopefully prevent the disastrous rolling as well as making the semi-translucent binkies easier to find!

So, here's my stash.  We'll have leashes for the car seats and a couple extras.  When they get grubby, they can go in a lingerie bag in the washer.  What's not to like?

Kitchen Sensory Activity

I follow a couple of blogs that have all kinds of great ideas for sensory development activities for pre-schoolers.  I always look at them and think that sometime I'll get around to doing that for GTot.

Today, as I tried to decide whether to find a busy activity for GTot while I got tomatoes ready to can, or to include her in the process.  I took a look at my project gathered G up to help me in the kitchen.  I realized that the process of peeling tomatoes for canning is an amazing sensory experience for her.

First, she practiced sorting, as she pulled the stems off the tomatoes and put the stems in the compost bin and the tomatoes in the colander.  After I dipped the tomatoes into boiling water and they had cooled in ice water, the fun with textures began.  The textures of the smooth skin of the tomato, the squishy flesh of the fruit, the warm tomatoes and cold water and the colors of the tomatoes engaged her while she "hepped".  An extra squeeze of the tomatoes didn't hurt them in my process.  She continued sorting: skins to compost, tomatoes to my cutting board.


She had fun and I got at "thanks for helping me mommy" when we were done.

Dozen Layer Finger Jello

Most of the yummy jello recipes that I am fond of, originated from my Aunt Joyce.  I'm not usually a fan of straight up jello but certain combinations are so yummy.  This weekend we were expecting to have a bunch of kids around and most kids like jello, right?  I went searching and found this recipe for 12 Layer Finger Jello and it was very pretty, pretty fun and yummy too!

After making it, here are a few tips:

1.  Make sure you have a timer handy.  Each layer will take about 10 minutes to set in the fridge. Mix the jello, Pour the sour cream layer, set the timer, [go do something else], let the clear layer cool on the counter, turn water on to boil, pour clear layer, mix next batch, repeat.    My electric tea pot was also very useful.

2.  Consider a 11x14 pan- or a couple fewer layer - it filled the 9x13 up almost to the top.

3.  Make sure the shelf in the fridge is as level as possible for even layers.

Linked up at  Life as Mom's Picnic Recipe Swap

Pumpin' GBaby Full of Iron

Earlier this year after one of GBaby’s well-visits we were told that she had a minor iron deficiency.  “No big deal-LOTS of kids have iron deficiencies” the doctor said.  She continued “There’s a supplement you can give her, its brown and gooey and really nasty.”  Yeah!  Sign us up for that! I did some really quick thinking and asked my doctor if we could try for one month to adjust Gbaby’s diet and see if we could get the count up.  She said “Sure-I know you’ll be proactive about it” (this is why I love our doctor).  She calculated out how many milligrams of iron I needed to be getting into GBaby (about 30mg a day) and I was on my way to the internet.

First I found that the 30mg of iron prescribed by my doctor area actually over 150% of the daily RDA outlined on the nifty nutrition labels on food.  When I saw that I called the doctor back.  Sure enough, she said GBaby needed that much to replenish her iron stores and get the iron back in her system.

Then I studied up and learned about the different types of iron and how different foods interact with iron absorption (no high calcium foods with plant based iron sources, and vitamin C helps the body absorb iron).  Finally, I started looking at how much iron was in foods and how much I had to stuff into GBaby and decided that the iron fortified foods were our best bet and to treat them like a “supplement” trying to get the bulk of the iron needed through the fortified foods and then whatever was in extra meals was icing in the cake.

I realized that after GBaby started eating anything off of our dinner plates, we had not been giving her the whole grain infant cereal as often.  Since the cereal we use packs in about 8mg of iron per serving (or 45% RDA), we became much more disciplined about getting her a dose of cereal with fruit or veggie mixed in at least once a day – and often twice.  I also found some great recipes to use the cereal in baked goods that any kid would love!  I’ll be sharing those in the next few days.

We also switched to the whole grain version of the national brand –o cereal which has about18mg iron serving per cup: considerably more than the standard option.  Getting GBaby to gobble down a bunch of “O’s” is never a problem!  We also added scrambled eggs to the menu a lot more often.  “O’s” or “gooey brown stuff”.  Said a prayer that the O’s would work and let GBaby eat as many as she wanted!

We ran into trouble with many other foods high in iron, like meats, beans and broccoli.  Either she didn’t care for them, or they didn’t care for her.  So we didn’t press the issue.

After a month, we checked her iron again with the doctor and it was up!  We were told to “keep doing what you’re doing”.  So we are.

Please note: I am not a dietician and this is just our experience with managing our child’s iron deficiency.  Please consult with your family physician for the best course of action for your child.

Homemade Christmas: Shape Magnets & Sewing Project Link

For all the folks out there that sew and need a relatively easy and inexpensive way to use up all your fabric scraps, you have to check out the Scrap Buster page over at SewMamaSew.com.  There are tons of ideas and one that I picked up was originally posted at Chez Beeper Bebe for making a plush alphabet and surf around her site for other simple sewing projects too - she did some neat cloth napkins.

I used her method to make a set of magnetic shapes for GBaby.  Since I wanted them to be multipurpose, I did spring for some clearance rack fabrics so that I could have solid colors to work with.  I also ended up with a fun assortment of fabrics: nylon, denim, cotton and canvas.

I stenciled out squares, triangles, circles, arrows, hearts and stars.  I zig-zagged around the marker lines and then cut out the shapes.  Easy - the whole thing took me about an hour.  I was not concerned with the marker showing through the stitching, so I just  used a Sharpie.  However, if you want a more finished look, you may want to consider a washable marker designed for marking fabric.

Here's the shapes traced and the first batch sewn:



And here are the finished shapes on my dishwasher:



I was intentional about the construction of my shapes as I have plans in my mind that they will serve as a multifunction educational toy in the coming months.

-For now they are fun textures for GBaby to explore.

-She's having fun exploring the magic of magnets and how some things will stick to the fridge and the dishwasher.

-As she begins to learn shapes and colors, they're a quick sorting game while I'm working in the kitchen (or wherever).  For example: all shapes start on dishwasher and a star gets put on the fridge - she then finds all the stars and moves them over.  An orange shape gets moved over and she finds all the orange shapes.  You get the idea.

I'm excited about this project and can't wait to see how she grows into these fun shapes!

Freezer Friday: Baby Food

Welcome to Freezer Fridays!  Usually through the course of the week, there is something that is being stored in the freezer for later.  It may be batch meals, sauces or staple items. This time of year, produce from the garden, farmers’ market or sale often gets stashed.  This week more of our meals have come from the freezer rather than gone into it. Our garden is under attack by the local wildlife and poor weather patterns so there is a dismal amount of produce actually destined for the freezer.  So, this week, the meals that made it to the freezer were GBaby’s!

I made batches of yellow squash, zucchini and sweet potatoes baby food to have stashed for the next couple of weeks.  (I also made peaches, but the need to perfect that technique before I share it here.)

First, I scrubbed the veggies very well and chopped them into small pieces.  I ended up with about 4 cups of each vegetables.  Put the pieces in the bowl and then put the vegetables into the microwave.  While microwaves differ in power and cook times, the rule of thumb that I use is that when the vegetable is cooked enough that I would eat it (albeit with more seasonings!) it is ready to be made into baby food.  The zucchini and squash took about 4 minutes in my microwave and the sweet potatoes took about 6 minutes.



Then, puree the vegetables.  I like to use the immersion blender for this as I find it easier to get a good, smooth consistency without having to make the food too runny.  Others may choose their blender or food processor.  For me, I dump the cooked veggies into the mixing cup and attack them with the immersion blender.  The squash and zucchini had enough liquid in them that they blend down just fine.  I had to add about ½ cup of water to the sweet potatoes to get them smooth.  The consistency of the food is subjective and you may make it as thick or thin as you would like.  I like to make it on the thicker side and then thin it with breast milk or water when I serve it.



Once your puree has reached the consistency you like, spoon it into an ice-cube tray.  Put the tray in the freezer and freeze the baby food.  This is a great way to portion out your baby food.  Once the cubes are frozen they can be stored in a zip lock and the combined for baby food du jour when you are ready to serve them.

I have small plastic containers that perfectly fit one large cube or two smaller ones.  I pull enough food for 1-2 days at a time and stack up frozen cubes in these containers in the fridge to defrost.  At mealtime I combine the food with cereal and additional liquid if necessary and serve.  GBaby has preferred hers cold lately due to teething, but you may heat it with whatever method you are comfortable.

For 30 minutes of work and $2 in produce I was able to make three trays of food, with 12 ounces of baby food of food per tray.  36 ounces of Gerber: approximately $14. Not bad for a half hour’s work!

Thinking about making your own baby food?  Check out WholesomeBabyfood.com for more information.

Have you made your own baby food?  What was your experience?  Please share your reply below :)