Category: being mom

Fun things to do with little one…

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I did some crafting with Aidy this weekend…old-school potato prints (half a potato use a knife to cut out a shape and use it as a stamp) Aidy loved the stamping and we ended up with two sheets of pretty nice looking “wrapping paper”.
Naturally he went into full on crazy-boy mode after a while though and started banging the potato on the table and trying to lick the paint off . . . it was fun while it lasted though.
 He likes making things with me, he just has the attention span of a “Something with a short attention span – I cant think now”

It is so much fun watching him learn and create (and sitting still for second).. Here are some great activities I found online, dying to try them all…

animal matching // the activity mom (her site is full of great ideas)
this is a MUST!!!

Rainbow Salt Tray
This seems like a super idea but if the play snow incident taught us anything,
he will climb inside box and throw salt all over

Frog Spot: 2D Shape Puppets
Aidan will love these, he loves anything with eyes
Lilly loves a good cheerio necklace and she thinks she can help make it too - she sometimes can get one on ;)
This isn’t an activity per say…but seems like a brilliant idea
love the little bottles for little hands
And I do  have some extra bottles at home-must double seal so he doesn’t drink it

'100 Ways to entertain a toddler'. This Mom has fun (and funny) ideas to interest her toddler. She rates each with a grade to it's success. Good reference.
ooooh this looks like fun!!! spaghetti and oaties 🙂
but should I really blur the lines on one of the only things he eats
(oaties not raw spaghetti)

Little minds, Big ideas – TV and Kids

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I have never thought of myself as particularly prudish when it came to TV. Growing up I didn’t understand  why other kids weren’t allowed to watch Sabrina just because she was a teenage witch or how Power Rangers incited violence.
Personally I could always draw a line between reality and make believe so it was not likely that I would dress up in pink and try to defend my neighbourhood or ask for a black cat to help me with my magic tricks.
 I was never into soap operas (I’m still not) so my parents never told me to turn away during a kissing scene as I’ve seen other parents do (this would make most kids more curious actually-just saying) My parents never had to stop me from watching age inappropriate movies because I was a bit of a goody- two-shoes so wouldn’t watch anything I was not old enough for anyway and since I only like comedy movies  it was not like I was dying to see Nightmare on Elm Street, Chucky or even Die Hard for that matter.
Okay so what is my point?
I always thought that people gave TV too much credit, blaming it for children’s behaviour and I certainly never thought I’d be the type to mollycoddle my kids. But this past weekend with Aidan being sick I saw a different side of myself.  I brought some toys onto my bed and wanted to put on the TV to distract him from the pain and OMW was choosing something to watch that tough.
 At the risk of sounding like a 60’s housewife, ” Kids are just so impressionable!” and I never realised how much “adult themes” there were in the series I watch.
I’m not even into the vampirey, zombieish things, I watch Glee and Big Bang Theory for goodness sake. But yes there are bedroom scenes aplenty.
 Nothing hectic though, nothing like almost every movie I tried, so many cuss words and nudity and those are just the family rated ones…Watching things like that with my kid is almost as awkward as discovering that “interesting” sex scene in Good Luck Chuck with your parents (which I did, the joys).
Aidan has a collection of kiddies movies so I thought I would look into that, but in my already hypersensitive state, I realised that there is a lot of death and loss in these movies and a surprising amount of fighting. I settled on  Monsters Inc, at least no one died (Nemo, Bambi,Up,Frozen)
Aidan loved it, he roared with the monsters, tried to offer Boo his bottle when she cried and then shouted no no no at the screen when a fight broke out.
The no no no response startled me and I asked if the monsters were naughty for fighting to which he responded “Don’t fight”
I realised something there, You can’t protect your kids from the world, you can only equip them for it.
 I mean Tigger from Winnie the Pooh actually promotes jumping off things and he is in one of the “safest” kids shows. Jake from Jake and the Neverland Piratescarries a sword! Handy Manny plays with tools and Dora the Explorer wanders off by herself….
If I’m going to be overprotective I should just not let him watch TV ever (not that he has the attention span to watch more than 5 minutes now anyway) and also I think I could edit some nursery rhymes… I don’t think that Jack and Jill should fall down the hill and Georgie Porgie is highly inappropriate kissing girls and what not….
But in all seriousness he is growing up in the real world and will be exposed to lots of things in lots of ways… No it’s not about to be a free for all in the TV department I just think I want to be less neurotic about things…I have told Aidan countless times that it is wrong to fight I just  never realised that it had sunk in (as he loves to rough house)…but apparently he knows “Don’t fight” which makes me think that as long as  I explain things to him while we watch TV, things should be okay…. But seriously shouldn’t someone be supervising Dora, hehehe

Bye Bye Baby Room

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Creating  Aidan’s room  was a whole lot of fun!!! and it became a way for me to connect with the whole “we are having a baby” thing!
But the “baby room” is becoming a little impractical now that he is older.
Yes, he is only one, BUT his mother has a Decor Diy addiction  it needs to be done.
At the moment the cute bunting on the day bed in his room gives him Tarzan fantasies as all he wants to do is hang on them, the bouncy chair and mobile are not needed and all his cute stuffed animals wresting partners are in a box out of reach while I decide what to do with them.
The most dangerous of it all is that my kid seems to think his crib is a jungle gym – I have caught him on the arm rest of the feeding chair trying to hang off the bars of the crib….more than once!
So enter this weekends plan! I want to de-clutter and make the whole room a little safer for the little explorer  more “toddler like” and who knows maybe if he has a designated play area the rest of the house can stay clean for longer – a girl can hope hey…

Here are some of my pinterest inspirations:  Just watch how I ignore all this and do my own thing….I’m a pinterest fail, I am

(click on the pics for links)

sewing idea: bed storage. Pretty sure the original intended use is for kids... but I'm thinking I'd LOVE this for my ipad, glasses, books, cell phone, jewelry I forgot to take off before climbing into bed. I MUST make this.
I wonder if his gran is in a sewing mood

DIY Play House - Now that's a cool upcycled cardboard box house.
a less girlie version, like without the random bunnies 

Google images of "____ silhouettes", print on back of scrapbook paper and cut out. Frame. Simple and cute!
Would go well with those canvases covered in baby clothes his aunt made
Owl Bookends
I’d use stuffed animals for this maybe, seeing as I’m lazy he has quite a few 

Oil Pan Magnet Board
This looks so Awesome! now to find a giant to loan me his baking sheet

Brag book: Not a baby anymore

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So last night Aidan was sitting in the corner with his favourite truck making “car noises” as he pushed it up and down and you know what? I cried!!!
Maybe it’s because Logan was due early June or because Aidan is growing so fast or even more likely, because I’m certifiable…. regardless of the reason, the result was tears.
He walks now, all over the show…a vast improvement from THIS VIDEO but JUST as cute.  He is rapidly approaching (might have arrived and I’m just in denial) that “not a baby any more” stage and I’m all torn up about it.
 I’m proud as heck don’t get me wrong;  He toddles over to the bathroom when we tell him it’s time to brush his teeth and insists on sharing his bottle with  SCOUT (a teddy that is personalised with Aidan’s name and favourite things and which interacts with him) he can even press the buttons and make Scout sing and talk without my help.
He will pick up a crayon/pen/a stick even  and ask for a page (pashe). He believes all balls need to be kicked and that he can argue his way out of a disagreement.
ME: “Aidan get away from the fridge”
HIM: “mama don’t *words I don’t understand* *various hand gestures* no don’t” and then opens fridge.
He is strong willed and  no longer wants to be carried (us walking people don’t do that – unless we are tired then mom isn’t allowed to put us down).
He thinks outside the box this kid, like when I asked him a couple of months ago where the light is and was concerned that unlike other kids he didn’t point at the light, he pointed at the wall, but pretty soon I realised what he was pointing at was the light switch.
Or just last night when I asked him to “Show daddy how Scout sings” expecting him to press the teddy’s hand and get it to sing, but instead I was met with Aidan “showing how Scout sings” by mimicking what the teddy did earlier, and breaking out in song himself.
He is such a joy and I love watching him grow, but I won’t lie . . . sometimes, just sometimes I miss baby Aidan






Weaning Mommy

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I never saw myself as the breastfeeding type as I’m neither a Stepford wife or a hippie (In my mind those were the only types that breastfed their kids)…
The thought of someone drinking milk produced by my body just never appealed to me, it’s all rather weird and cow like I thought.
Why then am I so sad at the thought of giving it up?
We started the weaning process last week and I find myself feeling so sad about the whole thing.
Growing up I  don’t remember seeing people breastfeed much….I know my mom didn’t (Only recently discovered that this was a medical decision not a personal one) and to be honest I can’t even remember if my aunts did.
I remember making bottles for my cousins though and sneaking a spoon of dry formula for myself…it tasted yummy (Nan I think it was) as I clearly didn’t understand the financial implications of my “taste testing” – formula does not come cheap.
I also remember being sent to the pharmacy on the corner to buy teats, nothing fancy like we have now, shaped like a breast and with special vents, just a run of the mill teat that you had to poke a hole into yourself at the risk of messing it up and having to buy another one.
The only breastfeeding I clearly remember was that of the young unwed mothers living in my grandmothers street.
I remember overhearing gossiping old ladies remark that they had to wash nappies and breastfeed because they were not smart enough to wait to have jobs or get guys who could afford kimbies (disposable nappies) or formula —- this was before cloth nappies became the “in thing” again.
So I think in the back of my mind breast feeding was classed as a last option , a go-to because you couldn’t afford anything else.
That view clearly changed. Hearing the health benefits I decided to breastfeed with Logan already (taking the I’ll try my best, but if I can’t I won’t hate myself approach) and by the time Aidan was here I had picked up pumps, special blankets, a feeding chair and a bunch of tips from my already breastfeeding friends.
I had a rocky start, as I just didn’t seem to produce enough. Aidy was in the NICU and I was allowed to stay with the sole purpose of feeding him, so it became increasingly important to “get milk” because if I couldn’t feed him I’d be sent home.
I wanted to stay, so I pumped like crazy (almost being reduced to tears when another new mom requested a second bottle while I could barely pump a tablespoons worth) I drank home remedies and had him practice suckling, I even took meds.
Maybe I was haunted by the fact that I could never feed Logan-he had to have donated milk (Later my friend donated milk on his behalf when she weaned her twins…heart warming to say the least)
By the time we got home I contemplated exclusively expressing because suddenly my milk was too much and feeding him was traumatic for both of us. Milk went everywhere as poor Aidy coughed and sputtered and promptly learned to BITE DOWN….Most mornings I woke up covered in milk despite breast pads and don’t get me started on the pain.
But soon things sorted themselves out and we got into a grove, he ended up having formula in the day (while I was at work) because I could not pump enough and because the specific (crazy pricey) formula was said to help with reflux.
But every morning and evening he would drink from me and it became “our thing”
Something only I could do for him-Our US TIME.
But I had always said I would stop breastfeeding when he turned one, a walking “talking” toddler with a mouth full of teeth was just never part of the deal (personal preference)
I’m hoping this will encourage him to eat more and help him get to sleep without me having to go and cuddle him at 3 in the morning.
 So far so good, he is getting used to it, even if he tugs at me now and again asking for “juice” (weird I know-I say milk he says juice) but he seems to be “getting it”
As for me, I guess I will have to find another way to have “us time”
But all being said and done, I’m glad I gave this breastfeeding thing a go and I feel blessed that I could because I’m well aware that many woman are not as lucky.

HAPPY MONDAY ALL!