vegetable trouble

    Just recently my son has decided that he no longer wants to eat his vegetables. It didn't matter if i told him he couldn't get down from the table until he ate them, or if i said no dessert till you eat your vegetables. He was determined not to eat them.
   
    I started bargaining with him telling him if he would eat two green beans he could get down from the table. Sometimes i even bribed him by saying eat two bites of corn and we will go for a walk outside. In most cases he would eat a bite or two and i would let him get down or do whatever i promised we would if he ate some of his vegetables, but i wasn't getting anywhere with him. Every meal it was back to the same thing he just didn't want to eat any vegetables. I started feeling like i was begging him to eat them and i didn't like that so I decided to try to outsmart him.

     Here are a few thing i did to get him to eat some vegetables.
 
    Mashed potatoes became my best friend as i could mix just a small amount in with some ground beef and gravy. My son didn't think twice about eating it this way i also mixed a little cream corn in with it a few times. They key is not to put too much mashed potatoes or cream corn this way they don't realize they are even eating it.

   Another thing that worked really well was vegetable soup. My son likes soup so I bought some vegetable soup. I don't give him a lot of the broth when i give him soup so he can feed himself. He also likes to put crackers in his soup which helps soak up some of the broth.

   V8 juice is great if you can get your kid to drink it. Mine will take a couple sips from the can but wont drink it if you put it in a glass.

    This is how i got my son to eat his vegetables. Im sure there are lots of other tricks out there but these are the ones that worked for me.

Learning entertainment for my toddler

  I am always looking for new ways to keep my toddler entertained. I like to find things that help develop fine motor skills.
   My favorite thing is a sensory bottle. They are fun, cool, and cheap to make! All you need is a plastic water bottle mineral oil or baby oil and some cool confetti. Fill the water bottle with with mineral oil then add your choice of confetti I like to use at least three different kinds. Then glue the lid on and hand to your child. I glue the lid on so i don't have to worry about it coming off while they are playing with it.
   This next one is supper easy for mom and entertaining for your toddler. All you do is take a cylinder that is open on both ends and tape it to the wall. next grab some pom poms stick a bowl under your cylinder and let your toddler drop the pom poms into the cylinder. This is a great way to help develop hand-eye coordination.
    Another great one is the box and lid sorting game. I used an old shoe box and saved different size lids from bottles and jars. I then cut slots to match the size of the lids in the shoe box. I cut some colored paper and glued it on the top of the lids and also around the slots in the shoe box. This way my toddler could match the color on the lid with the color on the slot. This is another great game to help with hand-eye coordination as well as concentration and gripping. It is also a good learning tool for colors.
   These are just a few of the things i do with my little boy but there are so many more games and activities you could do.

mom's don't take sick days

  Every mother knows there is no such thing as a sick day. So what do you do when you get sick? How do you take care of yourself and your family?
    Well if you have school age children and you getting lucky enough to get sick during the week when school is in, your problem is solved. However most of us don't get that lucky.
    If you have older children it should be a little easier for you to get some rest time as older children tend not to need constant attention. You could give them a game to play if you have more then one child try giving them a board game or card game something they can play together. Older children understand what being sick is and can often times entertain themselves for a time while you rest.
  So what do you do if you have younger children who require a lot more attention? Well in an ideal situation you would tell your husband to watch the kids while you took some much needed time to yourself, But since we all know that's probably not going to happen so here are a few other ideas.
    The thing that works best for me is to have a box with a few toys in it. New ones that my son has never seen or played with before. When i get sick I bring out the box and give it to him. I usually put 3 or 4 small inexpensive toys in it. He has fun pulling toys out of the box and playing with them. Because i don't get sick very often it is always a treat for him, and it usually gives me about an hour of rest time
  Another thing that works well is crayons and coloring book. Coloring is something we don't do on a regular basis so when he does get to color it keeps him entertained for twenty to thirty minuets.
  I hope this helps some of you get a little rest when you need it.

   
  

Water, Water, Water

   Water is the most important thing a person needs and as your, and as your baby grows into a toddler it will be your job to make sure they drink enough water even though they don't really think they should.
    If your child is anything like mine they will avoid water at all cost so here are a few ideas that might help you to get them to drink some water
      A family friend told me to try putting frozen fruit in there sippy cup along with the water. This however did not work for me as my son looked at it and refused to even try it because there was something strange in his sippy cup. However just because my son didn't like it doesn't mean it wont work for you.
     use a regular glass and put some water in it, letting them drink from a glass when they have only used a sippy cup is new and exciting and they don't pay a whole lot of attention to whats in the glass right away. however the more they drink from it the faster it loses it appeal. If your child is already drinking from a glass you can still put a little water in it and tell them that when they drink it they can have something else. This worked for me.
     The best thing that has worked for me so far as been letting my son drink out of a water bottle. I bought some of the little water bottles they worked best for his little hands and they were easier for him to tip up. I take one and pour most of the water out leaving a third or so in the bottle at a time. However if your child has never drank from a water bottle before you may want to start out with less in the bottle as they tend to spill.
    These are some things that worked for me. 

eating trouble

    For the past couple months i have struggled with getting my son, (who is now twenty months old) to eat. He would take one or two bites and say "done". Of course i would tell him he wasn't done and that he needed to eat what was on his plate. he would fuss and cry and even scream sometimes. Sometimes he would even through his plate of food on the floor. Needless to say it was a very frustrating time for me.
   I thought i would share some of the things that worked for me. The first thing i did was removed the tray from my high chair and allowed my son to sit at the table like mom and dad do. this helped his to feel like he was a big boy and i found that he didn't fight me as much.
   I gave him his own spoon and fork and allowed him to feed himself. even though he made a rather large mess most meals.
   I gave him smaller portions and when i set the plate down told him right away that he would have to finish everything on his plate before he could get down. If you do this make sure you follow through and leave your child sit until they finish everything on there plate don't give in when they start throwing a fit. And they will throw a fit and you are going to want to give in because it's hard to see your child crying and saying they want down. Or it was for me.
   The last thing i did was to cut back on how much my son ate for snacks and how much juice he drank.
   I am sure there are lot's of other things you can do that will help with a fussy eater. These are just the ones that worked for me. And now my son eats with no fussing or crying. 

the hospital experiance

  My experience at the hospital after giving birth wasn't really all that good.  The birthing was that bad i had a great set of nurses and a good doctor. The problem came after i gave birth.
   It seemed like every ten minuets someone was coming into my room to check on me ask if i needed anything. At one point a lady came in to talk to me about breastfeeding I'm not even sure she was a nurse. I always told them i was fine didn't need anything but what i really wanted to say was leave me alone so i can sleep.
   I went into labor at 9:00 pm the night before and my son was born at 3:15 in the morning. By the time they finished cleaning up my son and getting me taken care of it was 6:00 in the morning. after attempting my first breastfeeding i was ready to sleep. However that was not going to happen. I don't think i got more then an hour or two of sleep for the two days i was in the hospital.
    Lack of sleep was not the only problem i had.  They didn't want to release my son saying that he wasn't eating enough. Breastfeeding wasn't working for me and i wanted to try a bottle. The nurses kept telling me that i needed to just keep trying and that feeding him a bottle would hinder being able to breastfeed him. finally after going almost six hours without him eating i got my husband to get my own bottle and formula that i had brought along and fed him.
      They gave me the hardest time until finally one older nurse came and checked the ounces of formula that my son was eating and released him.

    My advice to any new soon to be mother is don't let anyone tell you what you should do with your child even if they are a nurse at the hospital. if something isn't working for you try something different. and be prepared.
    I know that not everyone has a bad experience with labor and afterwards and i would love to hear some of your stories. weather they are good or bad.

joys of motherhood

    When i was a teenager I told my mother i wasn't sure i wanted to have kids when i grew up. Her response was "there is no greater joy then being a mother." and i believe that is true, however she forgot to mention all the sleepless nights, dirty dippers and midnight feedings. She conveniently left out how tiring it is trying to keep a crawling child from getting into everything he isn't suppose to , and that no matter how well you think you have an area secured to keep him in he will find a way to escape. She certainly didn't tell me how frustrating it is to have a simple ten minuet project take a whole hour because you child chooses that time to no longer be satisfied to play by himself with his own toys.
   Don't get me wrong there are a lot of joys that come with motherhood. Like holding your newborn baby for the first time after you have been in labor for hours. And you will never forget hearing your child say Mama for the first time. You will be amazed at how much pride you will feel when you watch you little baby take there very first steps.
     Motherhood can be the most rewarding experience and it can also be the most frustrating, stressful and depressing. Every mother has there high and low points don't think for a second that any mother has had it easy no matter what they say. A true mother will tell you that motherhood isn't always easy but it is always rewarding.