sar3j's Profile

I am making these now! This will be a pefect light dinner with cheese, crackers, and some greens.

Well this is useful! I want to eat everything on this list. I like the idea of menus bcause often I have plenty of recipes, but not ability to know what goes together. I just draw a blank sometimes. Thanks!

All of these are great tips. My 20 month old had edemame and cubed butternut squash (leftover in the freezer from last fall) with a dash of hot pepper sauce, which he loves. The baby can handle spicier food than I!

I usually make a lentil vegetable soup once a month or so and then strain the broth for him and mix with plain whole milk yogurt. I freeze the leftover soup in small portions to defrost as needed. This might be his favorite meal. I just dice the vegetables he doesn't love (aka green beans) finely and add them to the soup.

Another idea is green smoothies. I take a few handfuls of frozen berries and a a few handfuls of spinach and add a little water to thin it out and dump it all in my blender. Frozen peas are another winner.

These look delicious.

This is may be my favorite nursery ever, and that includes the three I have decorated for my own children. it is classy and beautiful. My seven year old just said she wished it was her room and I have to agree.

The before was great and so is the after. I think the navy contrasting with the rustic wood headboard is a nice choice. That headboard is really the star of the show.

I have a 7, 5, and 1.5 year old. When my oldest two were toddlers/preschoolers, they watched a fair amount of tv, maybe 2 hours a day. After a while, I started to notice that the more tv they watched the more they wanted to watch. It also became a struggle to ever end tv time. One day I decided to end it for good, except on the weekends. This has worked quite well. Usually, we are all so busy on the weekends, going to parks, having firneds over, etc...that they forget about it. Weeks will go by when they watch nothing at all. Then, one rainy Saturday, they will watch a 3 hour Arthur marathon. This works for us.

My youngest child watches no tv. We no longer own a tv, so this maks it easier (all of my kids' entertainment comes from Netflix on the computer). He might stare at the computer screen for two minutes while his sisters are watching something, but then he moves along. Unless he asks to watch something, I have no plans to force it!

I do not get hung up on "educational" shows, as this is so subjective, but we do enjoy more realistic shows such as documentaries and those about nature. The one rule I do have is no "rude" shows. This means you Bratz!

The whole thing is very nice. I like the path and the garden. I think the house was greatly improved with the addition.

We received the commercial version of this for Christmas last year. It is nice for more than one child to play with at a time. I can see how this would be a very simple diy project. The only downside is that the house is huge! Our home is large enough to accommodate it, but it does kind of take over the room.

My mother in law about blows a gasket when she comes to our house because of our snack cabinet. She can not believe we let them make their own choices about when to eat and how much. Now, that being said, the cabinet only has things I am okay with them eating at all times...apples, walnuts, dried fruit, carrots, hummus, rice cakes, oranges, etc..There is no packaged or processed food available to them in the cabinet. In our home, granola bars, Lara bars, etc. are treats and have to be asked for. To my thinking, even if they eat too much between meals, it is all wholesome, quality food, but this has never been an issue. I think the key is to line out your expectations with your child and to only stock the cabinet with items that you are okay with being eaten at any time. My daughters do attend a Montessori grade school and previously a preschool, so this concept is very familiar to them, but I firmly believe that most children can learn to not abuse this set up if it is gradually introduced. Maybe water cups and a pitcher of water first. Then, add in a bowl of fruit with only the number of pieces you would allow them to have in a day. You can continue on from there.