WebbleYou Mothers' Network

Random Toddler Paranoia

brit — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:49:44 +0000

This week’s WILL NOT EAT food? Anything pointy. You can hear him down the block if he accidentally bites a string cheese stick into a point. French fries are unacceptable this week, as are apple slices, and diagonally cut sandwiches.

In a few days, the pointy phobia will be all forgotten, and it’ll be something completely different.

What’s the oddest thing your child has objected to?

Toddlers and Fire Trucks

brit — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:06:58 +0000

Spring is here, kind of, and a rite of springtime up here in the Midwest is touch-a-truck days. Various libraries, recreation centers and parks in the city where I live have a morning where buses, street sweepers, police cars and so on gather for little boys - and little girls too - to ooh and ahh over them.

I took my 2-year-old son to one at the weekend. He was very impressed by all the trucks there, including a police horse trailer with two gigantic and amiable police horses. (Toddler description with random adjective - “those are very clever horses!” But then I suppose police horses must be quite clever, mustn’t they?) We also saw a “very clever” ambulance, and a “very clever” ride-on lawnmower, and a “very clever” thingy that lifts a person up to change the lightbulbs in streetlamps. Mom not quite so clever, especially with truck names.

In the middle of all the trucks, was the most wonderful thing my son had ever seen. A big, red, shiny fire truck, the kind with a ladder on the roof and flashing lights and polished chrome everywhere. And a couple of firefighters gamely wearing their boots and helmets in 80 degree heat. My toddler’s eyes turned to saucers. His mouth gaped. His little chatterboxy self was totally silenced in awe of this amazing object. After several moments, he recovered his composure enough to whisper to me. “It’s a nee nah!” he said. One has to speak reverently in the presence of a fire truck. He had seen fire trucks before, but they’ve always been whizzing past and this is the first one he’d seen standing still.

It’s so cute to see them so amazed by something. And attractive firemen made it all the more pleasant!

I’ll Take Embarassing Moments for $1000, Alex

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:51:50 +0000

Answer: Boobs!

Question: What my three year old finds extremely funny to scream while going through stores now (especially if she is in a cart right in front of mine)

Saving BIG on Iced Lattes

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:32:44 +0000

My favorite drink from Starbucks is a Venti (but quad - 4 shots espresso) Iced Latte with skim milk, and flavored with sugar-free caramel syrup. Right now…it runs me $4.77

I used to hit this up about 3 or so times per week…and it didn’t help that I passed by the store about 4 times per day while running one of my kids to preschool.

So…just say three times per week…times 4 weeks….at least $57 per month. That’s probably underestimating, because it doesn’t take into consideration my stops at the one inside Target.

So…trying to find a way around that expense…a few months ago I took a stab at making my own and they turn out wonderfully.

Don’t be scared! You don’t need an expensive machine (mine is a $29 Mr. Coffee espresso/cappuccino one) and they really are simple to use! You pour water in the reservoir, and you put the coffee in the little metal cup and screw it back in the machine. That’s it. I use it strictly for making espresso, so I haven’t tried the little steamer thing.

After you find a machine, find some coffee ground for espresso machines. I usually get this pre-ground canned espresso coffee (Bustello) at the grocery. Works okay for me…but get some ground for you if you’re picky.

As far as syrup goes, I only buy the bottles of it at Starbucks. I have tried other sugar-free caramel brands, and they just aren’t as good. And if you compare prices, the syrup from Starbucks is cheaper per ounce, so you might as well get the real thing so it tastes the same.

You’ll need to experiment to find your mixture, but I put in five squirts of syrup in a large glass (we have these big 26 or 28 ounce glasses that I like to use), and then pour in the brewed espresso. Add about a 1.5 cup or so of skim milk (or whatever you like to use)…and then fill the rest of the way with ice.

And that’s it.

I now make them about every morning, and I spend around $15 a month between the coffee and the syrup.

Menu Planning the Easy Way

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:31:40 +0000

Meal planning is one of the easiest ways to control expenses. How many times have you gone to the grocery store and just started picking up things that you planned on doing something with, and they either sit gathering dust in your pantry, or end up rotting in your refrigerator and get thrown out? That adds up to a lot of wasted money…and a lot of money that can be used towards offsetting some of the rising costs in gasoline that we’re all faced with today.

Don’t make things too complicated. Plan three dinners…each in quantity to get two full meals out of each for your family.

Then cook for three nights in a row (while your fresh foods are still at their best)…then serve the leftovers the next three nights (my husband prefers to have a little separation between the meal and the night the leftovers are served). For night number seven, either have an “everyone for themselves night”, or dine out (my favorite choice!). This could be done on the kids eat free night at many of your local restaurants.

Either way, you are cooking only three nights a week!

So your menu plan will look like this:

Day 1: Meal #1
Day 2: Meal #2
Day 3: Meal #3
Day 4: Leftovers Meal #1
Day 5: Leftovers Meal #2
Day 6: Leftovers Meal #3
Day 7: Eat Out (or “everyone for themselves” night)

Take advantage of online recipe sites, like recipezaar.com, that have a nifty little tool where you can add recipes to a shopping list, and prints everything out in a handy-dandy organized list for you to take with you to the store!

Add some of your recipes to the site, or find equivalents or new ones there, and save them to a cookbook. This will make things much easier to find them when you’re looking for the recipes you want to use for the upcoming week.

Doing all this makes your shopping trips MUCH easier. It helps cut down on the extra trips during the week because you forgot to pick up that package of taco seasoning or whatever…where you end up coming out of the store with $30 worth of impulse purchases.

Wasting Time - The Old Faithful Geyser Cam

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:30:49 +0000

Like I have nothing else better to do right now (ha) …but check this out. It’s a pretty decent cam of the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone Park. I can’t get there for a few more years, but this might carry me over until then.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

When Your Children Start to Read…

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:30:00 +0000

My oldest (5) daughter began reading right around the first of the year, and is reading very well (thank you, God!)..and I’m finding that my daughter likes to read EVERYTHING. I’m having to be very careful now about what she’s exposed to, but it’s also a source of great amusement for me and for her.

I was sitting at the table typing an email to my husband earlier, and she crawls up on my lap and eavesreads.

So I start throwing in the occasional “poop” (giggle), “booger” (another massive giggle), and “I think I’m going to make them sleep in the bathtub tonight” (”What!?! {giggle} That’s crazy, Mom!!!)

Ah…kids….now if they would just pick their crap up.

Right to Dry - No Closelines Rules

nancyo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:28:43 +0000

Our neighborhood development has deed restrictions. The big ones are no on street parking, keep your grass mowed, no above ground pools…and no clotheslines.

I like saving a little energy and money (which has nothing to do with the fact that our dryer is on the fritz, and I haven’t figured out the part we need )…but I love clothes that are dried outside. Your laundry just smells fresher.

I read about a “Right to Dry” trend where people are trying to get legislation to override various types of deed restriction/covenants. It’s not new. Some of these “movements” were started over 10 years ago.

So because I’m too lazy to start anything with our HOA, off I go to find a loophole. Which wasn’t hard. Ours only says “No outside clothes lines shall be erected or placed on any lot”…doesn’t say anything about putting out a couple of drying racks on my deck. It’s not unsightly. I don’t want the neighbors seeing our underwear anymore than they do, so that stuff is on the interior racks. So is that really so bad?

We have a wooded area to the back of us, it would be narrowed down to a couple of people if someone complained (so I wouldn’t have to give the evil eye to everyone), but if someone does complain, I’m going to tell the HOA to kiss my butt until they actually enforce the on-street parking ban. Or make my next door neighbor pick up the dog poop out of her yard so the odor doesn’t blow this way.

Our covenants are a bunch of hooey really, because they have NOTHING established as to what they would do to you except if you don’t mow your grass. But even at that, they just send you a bill or they put a lien on your property. What if you don’t move?

Little kids and TV

brit — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:02:07 +0000

The American Academy of Pediatricians says NO tv for kids under two.

Fair enough, but what the heck do you do when you are a single mom, and after a couple of days of eating what the Toddler won’t because you are too tired to cook proper food for yourself, and your body is crying out for vitamins in green foods, and vegetables require boiling? And your toddler is offering you the choice of 1. clinging to your leg and trying to get hot water dropped on his head or 2. watching barney the dinosaur?

I posted something along these lines on another blog I write for, and a commenter left a message saying I was an evil mom for allowing the kid to watch any TV, and she was a single mom too, and her kids never watched TV, even when she cooked.

So now I have the AAP, and some self-righteous mother on my case about the tiny amount of TV my son watches.

In the real world, TV exists. There is no point trying to pretend it doesn’t, or denying it to your kids when there’s plainly a box sitting in the front room. Especially if mom and dad watch it when the kids are in bed. If you are going to say NO TV then don’t be a hypocrite, sell the thing or bung it in the basement.

My opinion is that it’s best to teach kids responsible TV watching. Limited amounts, and talk about the message of the show - healthy eating, sharing, counting, whatever it was. And hopefully they’ll grow up and not become couch potatoes.

Home Imrovement with Toddler

brit — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:28:43 +0000

My name is Brit and I’m a new blogger at WebbleYou Mom’s Network. I’m the mother of a two-year-old, and to say hello, here’s a story from our life.

Due to living in a minuscule one bedroom apartment we have a lot of stuff squashed into a small space. Including two mattresses and one bed. Not counting Toddler’s crib. Bed was big pile of mattresses (a la princess and the pea) and Toddler could climb onto it and often fall off. We have très chic and très hard wood floors and obviously this is not ideal.

Me in all my wisdom attempted to do something about this today, in presence of Toddler. Pushed mattress 1 off bed, pushed mattress 2 off bed. Toddler is intrigued. Get screwdriver to take slats off. Toddler wants to help. Get slats off. Per-lank! says Toddler. Where do they get words you have never said to them from?

Get slats off. Attempt to remove Toddler far enough from mattresses but not too far so I can still see him and plonk mattress 2 in the space beneath the bed i.e. resting on the floor. Toddler wails that I have removed him from this interesting peril. Try to get mattress in space. Doesn’t fit. Swear. Toddler learns new word.

Get Allen keys to take pokey-out brackets off bed. Toddler wants to help. Toddler plays with allen key set. Try to get stupid mattress out and in properly. Toddler WANTS TO HELP. No he CAN’T. Toddler wails. Get mattress out and in resting on the floor. Put other mattress on top.

Now bed is only about 14 inches off the floor instead of 22 inches and Toddler will still try valiantly to fall off but hopefully won’t hurt himself as much.

Note to me. Don’t do anything like this again with Toddler around.