A Blanket is Not Just a Blanket

Any parent of a baby or toddler knows that often a blanket is not just a blanket. Both of my kids have lovies that they are extremely attached to. Baby E loves nothing more than snuggling his blankie (AKA nay-nay). He even insists on dragging it through the mud with him as he crawls around outside. Big Brother is attached to a tiny striped washcloth from Babies R Us, that they obviously don't make anymore. Most of the time, I am extremely thankful that each one has an object that brings so much calm and comfort. These small items have helped my kids through many travels, tantrums, and other dramatic events in the lives of babies and toddlers.

The one bad thing about lovies, is that there is only one. There is no other Blankie for Baby E when he throws up all over it in the middle of the night. And there is no replacement washcloth for Big Brother when he loses it on his way to board an airplane (only to be returned by a kind stranger who we are forever grateful to). My older one understands that his lovy stays in the house unless we are taking a long car or plane trip. But Baby E is too little to understand, and I am too tired to get him used to that idea right now. So Blankie comes everywhere, and that's why you may see me walking in circles around the neighborhood looking for the blankie which he dropped out of the stroller. I think I need to cut it in half, so I can stop having nightmares about losing it.

But all in all, I think the pros of having a security doll/blanket outweigh all these cons.

What is your infant or toddler attached to? 

Salad in a Jar!

On Purim, it is customary to give friends and family baskets of food. I wanted to do something easy and healthy, so I decided to layer salad ingredients in pint size mason jars. I used lettuce, carrot slices, canned corn, red peppers, and croutons. It was very quick and easy to assemble and it looked pretty too! I tied each jar with some colorful ribbon, and attached the cards that my toddler helped make.

For the cards, I asked my 3 year old to paint a couple pieces of paper. He decided to use dot paints, and went to town painting the sheets of paper. I printed the text for our card, cut them up, and glued onto the painted pages. The text of the note was very short, so I was able to fit 10 copies on each piece of paper that had been painted. I then cut them out again, and laminated. It was a lot of fun, and my son loved participating!

Top Toys: 15 months

Baby E's favorite activity is anything that involves mess making and destruction. At 15 months, his only consistent word is "boom" which he repeats throughout the day as he knocks down block towers, clears out bookshelves, and destroys whatever his older brother is attempting to play with.

Here is our list of top toys at age 15 months:

Wooden Blocks: We have an ABC colorful set from Target, and it gets played with multiple times a day. The blocks have held up very well and are the perfect size. Sadly, it looks like Target doesn't have these anymore.  

Books: Believe it or not, Baby E also loves books. His favorites are the Elmo's World: First Flap Book Set, and he can spend a while looking at a bunch of different books when he feels like having some quiet time.



Bucket of Toys: He is pretty content to sit with a bucket of items that can be taken out, and then put back in. His favorite right now is a bucket of plastic animals. He likes to empty it out, fill it up, pour it into another bucket etc. This basically works with any small toys that are not choking hazards like little people, play food, and other similar items.

Nesting Blocks: I bought cardboard nesting blocks on a whim at a consignment sale, and I'm so happy I did! Baby E heads for these first in the morning, and is constantly bringing us the blocks and asking to go "boom". He is starting to stack them on his own as well. I love that these are so lightweight; they are very easy to build with, and haven't injured anyone when being knocked down. An added bonus is that our toddler loves working on his counting skills with these blocks.  We have an Eeboo set like the one shown below.





Step2 Push Car: Baby E could ride around in this car all day. During the witching hour at the end of the day, this is sometimes the only activity that will keep him somewhat content. Whenever we go down to the basement, we better be ready to push him around the room until he decides he has had enough. I reviewed this car in another post which you can find here.





MagnaTiles: While I wouldn't buy magnatiles specifically for a 15 month old, I have to mention them because Baby E loves them. They are great for fill and dump activities, and Baby E also loves to stack them, and look through the different colored tiles.  

What is your 15 month old playing with?

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Counting Fun and paper Chains!

We are snowed in today. Being snowed in with little kids can be an interesting adventure. The 3 year old has been keeping himself pretty busy, but Baby E does not like being cooped up inside.

Making paper chains is a great way to pass the time and have some fun. All you need is paper, scissors, and glue.

There are lots of ways to incorporate counting into this activity. We counted out our pieces of construction paper, we counted as we held our edges together for 10 seconds after gluing, and we counted the rings on our chains!

What toddler or pre-schooler doesn't enjoy the opportunity to cut (with mommy's help) and glue to his heart's content?

Now onto the next activity!

3rd Birthday Blondies!

I originally had grand plans for Munchkin's 3rd birthday party. Eventually I realized that all he really wanted was to sing happy birthday and eat cake, so that's what we did. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, I got lots of answers including: "a square cake", "an ABC cake", "a chocolate chip cake", and "a mickey cake". The only detail he was really consistent about, was that he did not want any frosting.

I have been eyeing some cake mixes at Trader Joes, so I decided to try to the chocolate chip blondie mix. I liked that it has all natural ingredients, and that it does most of the work for me! I decided to use applesauce instead of butter, and it still came out great.

Here's what you need:

1 box of TJ blondie mix
1 egg
1/2 cup of applesauce

Pour into an 8x8 and bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Review: Magna-Tiles!

I am really excited about this review! I first heard about Magna-Tiles last year, when Munchkin was still too young for them. Now that he is approaching three, I thought they would make an awesome (early) birthday present. He started building with the magna-tiles as soon as he got them, (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) and has played with them every day since. The tiles are little different than I expected, but they are amazing nonetheless!

Hard at work

We got the 100-piece set, and I think that was definitely the right decision. I don't think 32 pieces would be enough. The tiles are much bigger than I imagined, which makes it easy for little hands to build with them. There is a nice variety of shapes - large base plates, smaller squares, and three different types of triangles. 

Munchkin has mostly been stacking the tiles and making flat designs, but he has also started to experiment with 3D shapes. In a few short days he has become much better at building and thinking of designs he wants to make. 

Baby E getting in on the fun

 It is extremely easy to manipulate the shapes, but there is definitely a learning curve as well. The structures built with magna-tiles are pretty delicate, and my toddler has been frustrated a few times about not being able to get something to stay the way he wants it. But I love that he is engaged and challenged while playing. There are endless possibilities, and I am definitely enjoying building as well! I can see these being well loved, but only time will tell if the magna-tiles will have longevity in this house. 

I am storing our magna-tiles in a plain old sterilite container, and they are a breeze to clean up!

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Playing Pretend in the Kitchen!

Our toy kitchen has been getting a lot of love lately. I have recently added some accessories and revamped our storage, to make it a more inviting space for Munchkin to play.

We have the Kidkraft Suite Elite kitchen which I like a lot. Our toy kitchen is in our living room, and I love how this set looks. It's very kid friendly, but not too obtrusive. We got a deal on this kitchen last holiday season, and it came with a set of pots and pans from Step2 which are great! These pots and pans have been a favorite for a very long time even when the kitchen itself was ignored. 

I recently purchased a set of dishes and silverware from Green Toys after he started taking silverware from the kitchen for his pretend play. We have some wooden food from Melissa and Doug, but it is very heavy and also kind of dangerous with Baby E around. I am looking for some plastic food to add to our collection, and we also have a shopping basket with cardboard food by Melissa and Doug. (The food in the basket is great, but the basket itself is also very heavy). 

I bought a cheap set of drawers at Target to organize everything, and laminated some picture cards so the little ones who play can easily see where things go. The kitchen also has some good space for storage, but I find that the drawers keep things neater. 

I love how there are so many opportunities for imaginative play in the kitchen, the possibilities are endless! Right now, Munchkin enjoys making soup and setting the table with his play dishes. He also loves "feeding" Baby E his creations! Some easy and cheap additions to his kitchen include regular sponges, a set of measuring cups, and a tinfoil muffin pan that he loves to play with.

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