tunes: super simple songs

We have been on a bit of a technology shut down of late, there were too many tantrums when the fun is over! When I am feeling a) in need of a break, b) so much in need of a break I forget about the tantrum after I play the kids "Super Simple Songs" on you tube. They are all the classics with some cute animations.

Here are a few good uns to get you started!

Row row row...

Five little monkeys...

Old MacDonald...

foodie: lunches with a one year old

When Ada is in bed Olive and I eat lunch together. Olive has already had a sammy and some fruit with her sister at about 11am and a feed from me at about 12pm. Then we eat lunch about 1pm. Somedays she eats loads and others very little but she always wants to be up the table with me. It is often a bit messy...

This is a sample menu from a good week. There is always a leftover day and in a typical week I would repeat a lunch rather than having 5 different meals.

Monday: Hummus and Pita.

We make our own hummus with lemon juice, rinsed tinned chickpeas, olive oil and some grated garlic. Olive loves it! You can add peanut butter or tahini for depth but we don't miss it. Pita bread is a bit of a treat at my house but they are $3 for 8 at Countdown on price lock down so I keep them in the freezer now, Olive seems to eat pita more readily than sandwich bread. It is delicious.

Let me do it!

Tuesday: Tuna Sandwich.

I mix tinned sandwich tuna with mayo, lemon and diced gherkin, I usually have this on an open sandwich with rocket. Yums. Olive eats the tuna with her fingers!

Wednesday: Egg sandwich or on toast.

There used to be fears about babies and eggs but Plunket says from about 8 months... Olive loves the yolk. So do I.

Thursday: Vege chips and Baked Beans.

I had the oven on for muffins so I made some kumara chips and gave Olive some beans straight from the tin with them for a bit of protein.

Friday: Crunchy Omelette

Everyone eating the same thing is kind of my pet project at the moment. What do you do for lunches? What about for your babies/toddlers?

thankful: babysitting swap

Hooray for people who offer to come and sit in your house while the kids sleep, at least that is the plan, are you reading this Ada? A friend approached me with the idea that I had been sitting on and not got around to initiating. Why not look after each other's kids so the other can have some time with their S.O? Especially helpful when you don't have lots of family close by. We came up with a mutual arrangement about start and finish times that work for both families. So simple, so genius. Thank you friend, De Post was wonderful! I'm already looking forward to the next installment.

Watch me!

what we're reading: why kids fidget

This article from the blog Balanced and Barefoot has been doing the rounds on Facebook lately and is worth a read. It seems like modern kids are missing opportunities to move due to this are not having the necessary brain development to facilitate a good attention span. It made me think of the Herald's articles a few months back about the 'little schools' in NZ's big cities where 3 year old's learn to sit still and hold a pencil before they go to real school. This article from Sprouts Child Development points out that early academics aren't necessarily the ingredients that makes a child ready for school. We are involved at the local Playcentre so the debate about what makes good Early Childhood Education comes up and is definitely interesting to me.

 

 

The first time more went on the page than was eaten.

tunes: twisting

We have an after dinner dance party some nights. The kids are happy after they have eaten, or not eaten and therefore so happy to be allowed down from the table. The Twist by Chubby Checker is a great way to kill 10 minutes before bath time. This video mash up has so many different examples you will learn a thing or two.

And lets twist again:

Dance little people dance!

What do you and your kids groove to?

fun for free! the museum

The Auckland Museum in the Domain is a great free (for Auckland residents, just present your library card) place for small children. There are always  groups of Mums hanging in the foyer whilst tiny toddlers clamber on the furniture. Upstairs they have a Kai room, you can go mad and messy there small people. Next to that is Weird and Wonderful. Lots of live bugs and fish next to stuffed animals and drawers upon drawers of specimens. Insects, molluscs, birds, butterflies. It's not a huge space so your toddler can explore without you having to be right next toy them, but the specimen drawers are very heavy.

This week I went with Ada and Olive and the front pack and the double pram. We went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. The photographs are amazing and the entries come from experienced photo journalists through to young children. Olive really loved these when she was in the front pack, reaching out and exclaiming with each image but didn't engage from the floor. The tiles confused her and she crawled for the first time in months! Ada enjoyed being about to identify the animals, even thought they photos are taken from new perspectives. They really enjoyed upstairs and the freesom to explore there. There were a lot of people there so we didn't stay long, but that doesn't matter!

Here is the helpful link for getting there and parking.

Here is the helpful link for kids activities.

Have you discovered anywhere lately?
Have fun friends xx

(Here is another visit pic)

good reads: Olive joins the party!

In her gorgeous way Olive has been loving books for a while. Mostly just carrying them like a little puppy! Now she comes and sits in my lap and we have started having story time, adorable. Hard cover books that she can hold work best as she always wants to hold them. She gives kisses to the characters and especially loves if there is a mirror too! I am glad to be sharing reading time with Olive too now. We all enjoyed Friends, by Eric Carle this week. It is the cutest story about a boy whose friend moves away and he travels the earth to find her. I mean, so sweet!

We love Eric Carle around here!

on the clock: 11 months

This time next month I will have a one year old and a two year old. It will sound as difficult as it is! My dear Olive is firing on all cylinders. She is a delight and constantly surprising us, making us feel proud or making us laugh. This month she has been trialling some early walker shoes for Bobux, yay free! Mr Shoe Developer said all his testers are girls and confirmed Olive was indeed a confident walker for her age. "Does she crawl at all?" he asked, "not if she can run" I replied!

This month I have mourned the loss of the baby months. Tiny babies have been captivating me again and using their powers to have me speculate on when a third may be on the horizon. Two has been our plan for the longest time and still is, but oh little babies you are too sweet. It seemed like Olive went from tricky newborn to confident crawler, her soft cuddly infant phase was so very breif. That's not to say she's not affectionate, Olive gives wonderful cuddles, but oh how she wiggles once she is done! Now I have an 11 month old toddler who enjoys playing kitchens and with prams just like her sister. Not long now until she is one, I can hardly believe it. This year has gone too fast!

This goes in here. 

Hello cow!

just another manic monday

Olive knows how to party!

confession: I want my brain back

I don't quite know where to look for it or what I would do with it once I have located it. I have posted about this in a round about way before. Something about the motherhood gig leaves me wanting more. It seems so wrong to admit that I am not completely satisfied by this immensely challenging and rewarding task (read: all consuming and bang-your-head-against-the-wall-frustrating  task). Guys, raising kids is hard work, raising two girls a year and a half apart is hard work. It just doesn't stop and the pay back for doing a good job goes straight back in your pocket (or your tantrum free trip to the mall say) so you just keep on trying. Consistency takes a lot of effort and that means that you will be paying attention to the little things, carefully choosing what to ignore and what to address. What to adress with distraction or a 'chat' or humour. So many micro decisions all the time. What I am trying to say is that, there is not a lot of space left in my brain for other stuff. It's funny, when I imagine working I think about a job in a call centre or at Bunnings! It seems like you could almost go to work and switch off your brain for a while! That sounds heavenly. But that isn't going to happen any time soon. Do you only get some perspective with a chance to relax? I can't see this happening soon either?! So how to get some head space back? Creative types I envy you and your drive to create! So far I have ordered 5 books from the library and only one of them is about parenting. That's a start I guess...

How do you do it?

You are so distracting my clever, funny girl!

foodie friday: crunchy omelette

Hmm, what to feed the kids? What's for dinner? Common questions at my house. What about you? We do our best to eat as a family. When you have been up since 5.30am a 5.30pm dinner is not a big deal, so we eat with the kids most nights. Eating together cuts down on the cooking I do, means the clean up is almost done before the kids are in bed and sometimes the kids eat better and sometimes eat more variety.

At our house we have a fussy toddler and a very adventurous 10 month old with two spice loving parents. Olive eats pretty much what we eat at dinner time, she loves meat and lentils, baked veges and eggs. Ada doesn't like eggs, sad face. Easiest food on the planet, out. Last weekend Olive and I came home from visiting family in Katikati and were in need of something tastier and healthier and quick. I put some brown rice in the rice cooker and Olive in the front pack and headed out for a spot of fresh air before the sun went down. When we got home the rice was done, and thanks to our crappy rice cooker, a little dry - perfect for what I needed. Olive was about to try my favourite leftover meal: I call it crunchy omlette.

It is so easy! 

First you fry maybe a cup or more leftover rice in a pan, then when it is a little crunchy add some grated garlic and ginger, I did just one clove and a cm or so of ginger root. 

While that is cooking whisk together about eggs and the pour over. You then throw in half a cup of frozen peas. Stir and form into an omelette shape. 

When brown flip it! Cook the other side-voila!

I eat mine with hot sauce and soy sauce and Olive eats hers as is. Yums. 

good reads: relationships

One of this years goals was to spend time with Cameron. We are doing great at this! While we are on the topic I am kind of walking a couple of times a week, definitely still eating white carbs and no new hobbies yet. The table is much cleaner these days though...

Today's good read is easily digestible, I love a good infographic! Numbers and advice? Dreamy! Below is all about relationships from happify.com It looks like from this Cam and I should both get a hobby. Hmm! Something to think about!

tunes: my songs

Do you play kids music in the car? In general I do and Cam doesn't! I have started to regret my decision and wish Ada enjoyed a wider range of music! I like quiet in the car more often than not so I haven't been exposing her to enough I guess. Cam and Ada have dance parties which is rather cute.

At the moment I want to get something for Ada's room to play music. Something quiet for nap time and something fun for when nap time becomes room time.A few months ago both girls slept for a couple of hours at the same time, now some days we get a toddler sleep other days we have the battle of "back to your room".

So do you listen to kids music at your house? How do you encourage your two year olds and older to have a rest?

Cheetah says sleep