Toddler Entertainment

I found this activity to be quite entertaining for The Boy, for about 15 minutes, which we know at 19 months is pretty good. I took a piece of cardboard and punched holes all around the edges using a hole punch. I tied a large knot at one end of a long shoe lace and allowed The Boy to sew inside and out of the holes. What other fun and cheap activities do you do around your house with kids?

Peeling Fingernails: Updated

The bloodwork all came back normal. The next step is to see the dermatologist that our pediatrician recommended.

Peeling Fingernails

When The Boy is asked what a doctor says, his reply is something like "No more monkeys" while he shakes his finger up and down, it's mighty cute. However last week he wanted nothing to do with his doctor or his doctor's nurse! He started to cry the minute we got to the hallway. Poor kid thought he was going to have to get shots again, and no matter how many times we said no shots, the crying never stopped.

We took The Boy in to see the doctor today because he's been having some strange things happening with is fingernails. His nails have been breaking and peeling up in places where they shouldn't, and then the other day I noticed that his toenails on his two big toes were peeling up from the nail bed at the cuticle. The Husband and I decided that this was something worth having checked out, so he made an appointment.

The doctor isn't sure what it is exactly, but he has seen it before. It could have been some serious disease of which I can't remember or even if I could, couldn't spell or pronounce, but it would involve massivley swollen lymphnodes and some other very obvious symptoms, so that was easily ruled out.

There are a few other things that this could be, most of which are not serious, but we're following the process that the doctor has recommended. First of which was checking his blood for his potassium, magnesium and phosphorus levels. So after all those promises of no needles, we ended up at the lab giving blood (oops!) The next step is to head to a dermatologist to see that she agrees with our doctors orders. I admit, I'm a little worried, but the doctor was clear that it wasn't anything to worry about. I will follow up as soon as I know anything.

Who gets the flu in August?

I do. And it's why I haven't posted. Some crazy flu bug has hit Minnesota and I managed to get it. Now, I just have to hope that The Boy doesn't get it.

Your Local Fire Station

We are lucky enough to have a firefighter in the family, so getting an up close and personal look into fire trucks is a pretty easy thing for The Boy to do. Just this weekend we took The Boy to visit the fire chief and he LOVED hanging out in the command center, with all the buttons and levers to push and pull. The Boy sat on my lap and steered the big wheel all the while, making siren noises. I tried to take a picture with a fire hat on him, but those hats are just too heavy for his little head.

I know most elementary schools head to their local fire station for a field trip every year, but the fire trucks are exciting for pre-schoolers too!

Have you tried calling the local fire department for a tour? Do fire stations do that sort of thing? I would imagine it would be easier in smaller towns, but what about major cities? Share your experiences with the rest of us.

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: going for a hike, new books, fire trucks, breaking sticks, family, chipmunks, puppies, playing in cars, frybread, bike rides, canoe rides, daddy's toothbrush, camping and zippers

Dislikes: not being able to play in cars, potato salad, cucumbers, not getting a long enough naps and new molars

Weeknight Recipe: Marinated Chicken Breasts

Add chicken breasts to a ziplock bag filled with Italian Salad Dressing and allow to marinate overnight. After work, put them on the grill for roughly 7 mins a side, or try using a George Foreman type grill in the cold months. The chicken stays moist and is oozing with delicious flavor. Best of all, it's easy! Add a veggie and fruit to the meal and you are done.

What chicken marinades to you use?

Weeknight Recipe: Cold Linguine and Peanut Sauce

This is an easy recipe to make the night before or transport (camping) as it can all be done ahead of time and it's served cold.

Ingredients

1 pkg. linguine

3 breasts cooked bite-sized chicken

2 cucumbers (squeezed and cut length wise)

4 carrots (sliced lengthwise)

2 cups bean sprouts

Sesame seeds

Peanut Sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup sesame oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp. fresh grated ginger

To make peanut sauce combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a fork until smooth. You can add more peaunut butter until you get the consistency you are looking for.

Toss the peaunut sauce over cooled linguine noodles, chicken and vegetabes. You can garnish with sesame seeds if you wish. The peaunut sauce will keep in fridge for a week.

Potty Training Help

Here are two resources for help with potty training:

Huggies offers a free potty training dvd. It says it takes something like 5-6 weeks for delivery, but we got ours in two. Sign up here

And Pampers offers a free potty training kit

The Children's Museum

I haven't taken The Boy yet, but I hear that The Children's Museum is a great place for toddlers on up. The third Sunday of the month is always free, check it out this Sunday!

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: baby bunnies, pulling weeds, black olives, swim lessons, playing with friends, lawn mower tractor rides, The Ting Tings, Elmo videos, macaroni and soy cheese, chocolate soy milk, climbing up the step ladder

Dislikes: Chucky Cheese's Rat, sharing his toys, being told no, getting out of the bath, the monster truck ride at Chucky Cheese

A Lesson in Bike Safety

We had a bit of a scare at our house yesterday afternoon, but thankfully everyone is okay. We took The Boy out for a bike ride around the lake near our house. On one side of the lake, the trail is downhill and twisty, making it easy to hit speeds of 20+ mph. On one of the corners the bike trailer made its way off of the path a bit and upon re-entry, the trailer came up off the ground and rolled. It was incredibly scary to see, and could have produced serious injury if not for all the precautions we have taken.

We did a lot of research while shopping for the perfect bike trailer, and wanted the safest and most comfortable trailer for The Boy to ride in. We found the safest trailer on the market, and thanks to my dad's financial assistance we were able to afford it, The Trek Go Bug.

The roll cage on the Go Bug, saved The Boy's head from reaching the trail, though his helmet did make contact with the ground and rubbed a hole through the screen. The rest of the trailer that made contact with the trail is damaged, scratched and the fabric torn. The Boy did end up with a little scrape where his elbow made just a bit of contact.

While the event itself was incredibly scary, and caused us to spend the remainder of the day indoors getting through the emotions of such an event, everyone is safe. I wanted share this post with everyone, to encourage the use of helmet, even in a bike trailer. Accidents can happen, on the road and on a secluded bike trail. The Boy escaped serious injury because he was wearing his helmet properly!

This shows a bit of the damage to the trailer

Weeknight Recipe: BLTs

I'm sure that you don't need a recipe to make BLTs, but I thought that this could serve as a good reminder for an easy weeknight meal. I pick our tomatoes fresh from the garden and I add cheese (everything is better with cheese). For The Boy's sandwich I add a slice of veggie cheese. This week, he picked his sandwich apart and ate the contents separate and was much happier with the raspberries I offered, but it's worth a try... especially with the fresh tomatoes this time of year.

Chorebuster

My husband and I have frequently had the "who does more chores debates". I have now found a way to put an end to it and keep up on those chores that are easy to put off. It's called Chorebuster. Chorebuster is a free internet resource for organizing your chores and generating a calendar for your family to keep track of what's on the "to do list".

Each week I print out a calendar that includes checkboxes next to each chore, and tape it to the refrigerator door. The Boy is too young yet to have his own chore list, but I imagine that this will be a nice tool when he is able to pull his own weight around the house. It also includes an option of adding rewards to each chore, a handy resource for sure!

Weeknight Recipe: Pineapple Fried Rice

After someone gave me feedback on one of my recipes over at Minnmoms.com, I decided that there is indeed a need for sharing my quick weeknight recipes. So here is the first of many I hope:

Pineapple Fried Rice

2 diced chicken breasts
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 can chunk pineapple
small can bean sprouts
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 package Uncle Ben's 90 sec. microwavable brown rice
1 egg scrambled

1. Cook diced chicken in two tablespoons vegetable oil. Add soy sauce simmer 2 minutes.

2. Add pineapple, bean sprouts, peas and carrots, stir fry for 4 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

3. Add microwaved brown rice to the pan.

4. Add scrambled egg, stir fry another 1-2 minutes until egg is cooked.

Horse Racing at Canterbury Park

Another cheap site to visit if you are from Minnesota is Canterbury Park. Cost of admission is $5 (we had a BOGO coupon). Sorry, I don't know what the age limit is on kids get in free, but The Boy is only 18 months, so his admission was free. He loved watching the horses race and there is plenty to do during the breaks in racing. Including a large outdoor park to play at, you can watch horses get their place ribbons or keep your eye on them in their stalls. And on Sundays there are free pony rides! August 17 and 31 are listed on their site as free admission days.

The kids don't even have to know that you sneak inside to bet your retirement savings on PUTYOURLEFTFOOTIN being riden by jockey Garcia. Indeed he has a good chance, the race program states "This horse should challenge the top choice for the lead and if Garcia can sprint to the lead he may have a chance at a wire to wire score."

You may not want to take my betting advice, although we did walk away with $1.20 in winnings!

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: new books, Elmo, horses racing fast, telephones, playing hide and seek, the butterfly garden at Como Zoo, treats, veggie cheeseburgers, radios, stereo cords, metal tongs

Dislikes: being strapped in his stroller, going to sleep at night, being hungry, rain, petting puppies, staying in the bathroom with his toothbrush, being quiet in the library

Shh We're In the Library

I learned my lesson. The Ramsey Country Library is not the place for a toddler. I know, they have story hours, and maybe then it's okay for The Boy to screach at the top of his lungs, but even then I think those that are enjoy the solitude of the library are going to be quite annoyed, even if The Boy is one of the cutest you've ever seen.

I was looking for some titles that haven't shown up at Half Price Books, and thought I would give the library a try. The Husband and The Boy came along for the trip. We found a great Elmo video and some jazzy kids music for The Boy to try out, and for those first few moments he did okay. Then we headed of to the aisles of non-fiction for myself and The Husband. We attempted to beat record speed at the relay race of "I take the boy, you look, you take the boy I look" but we came in last. The relay race ended with me out in the parking lot with the boy while The Husband quickly checked out our less than perfect finds.

I will go back to the library for more CDs, DVDs and books for all of us, I'll just drop the boy off with a grandparent before I do it, for the next few months anyway. We'll give it another go come winter when The Boy knows what "shh... we're in the library" means.

Como Zoo

Yesterday a friend and I took our boys to Como Zoo. It was a beautiful afternoon, and because we showed up in the late afternoon, the park wasn't as crowded as usual, and the animals were at a very active time of day. The Boys went on the train ride (with moms right beside, of course) and had a blast. The tooted their horns the whole way around the track.

We also checked out the giant butterfly garden, it was a great spot to let The Boy explore, and he was even lucky enough to have a Blue Morpho land right on his leg, so he could get a very close look.

Besides the gas money it took to get there, not a dime was spent. My girlfriend bought the train ride, but the butterfly garden is free along with the rest of the park. (They do request a donation at the door, unfortunately I did have any cash on me, but usually donate a few dollars, it's worth it!)

Repeat after Me (or don't)

This morning while we were getting in a little play time before The Husband had to jet off to work, The Boy surprised us again. I don't remember what it was exactly that prompted The Husband to end a statement with "Oh My God" but he did. And like father, like son, so did The Boy: "ohmy ahd" or something close to that. I guess it's time to really start watching the words coming out of our mouths, because he's picking up on it, even when we think he's not listening.

Favorite Toddler Foods

I'm looking to add a little more variety in The Boys diet, but having a hard time finding new ideas. Here is what is on our menu a lot lately, what's on your's?

-rice
-mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes
-chicken
-beans (black)
-jelly sandwiches
-tacos
-chicken sausage with sundried tomatoes
-brocolli
-peas
-pizza (no cheese)
-soy yogurt
-carrots

Today for lunch The Boy had half a ham sandwich, sweet potatoes, and half a bagel with Tofutti. The last time he had this, he gobbled it up, today, he wouldn't eat the bagel. I can't keep up with his ever changing tastes.