Save your chin- The towel holder

Here is an item that my husband fully does not understand: The towel holder.
It's super simple, just two clips that hold up the towel for when you're getting your little one out of the bath.
Am I the only person who does the chin down to the towel, try to hold it up, while struggling to get a little wet, slippery body out of the tub?


Also, SUPER helpful for when your child decides that splashing like a lunatic is the most fun that can be had in life but YOU have on an outfit that you really like and actually want to wear out of the house that night.
How can my husband not think that this is the most brilliant idea ever?

So easy to make!

Materials:
Piece of fabric approximately 23 inches long and 4 inches wide (to determine length measure from one collar bone, around the back of your neck to the other then add two inches)
2- art board clips (found at Michaels in the same aisle as the fancy paint brushes)


1. Fold the fabric in half the long way and iron a crease down the middle.
2. Unfold the fabric, then fold each long side in so that it meets in the middle.

Fold this in half and press. Now you have a strap.
3. Stitch the strap closed.
4. String each end through the hole at the top of the art clip.

5. Sew the end to the strap, so that you have one art clip hanging on each side.

Harry Potter v. Twilight, why Bella will be banned

I fully admit and own up to having read both the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series.
I fully admit and own up to liking both, pouring over books for hours unable to put them down, lost in their little alternate universes.
I fully admit that Bella will be banned in this house until my daughter is 25.
Only then will she be allowed to read the Twilight series.

I never thought that I would be a censorship parent, that I would have a list of books I wanted to make sure my child never laid eyes on. I figured I would be open, understanding, willing to let my little cherubs explore literature til they burst at the seams with word joy.

But, admittedly, I am going to take Stephenie Meyer's books, that I enjoyed so thoroughly as beach reading, that I devoured, and I'm going to hide them until my daughter is well past her years of teenage angst.

Am I going to raise a daughter who is strong and confident in herself and who would never even think of reacting to a relationship in the outlandishly insane way Bella Swan does? Yes. Yes I am.
Am I even going to give her the temptation of reading a really well drawn character who crumbles when her boyfriend leaves her? No. No I'm not.

It is in some ways a testament to Ms.Meyer's writing that I'm even concerned about this. Her characters are rich, whole and extraordinarily life like even though they are in their own ways absurd caricatures. But, alas, so was Candide.

The crumbling and clinging of Bella is in some ways a part of what we all feel in the throws of a relationship, especially in those delicate teenage years. Just amplified to a point where it is clearly unhealthy.

Mr. Potter and company on the other hand actually face hardships, and I'm not particularly sure yet how I will address all of those with my daughter. From Harry's orphaned status, to his mistreatment by relatives, to the fact that every adult he's close to bites the dust, those are going to be difficult, harrowing conversations.
But in some ways I look forward to them because truly there is a message of strength and perseverance, along with a healthy reliance on friendship and love. Healthy.

I could wax poetic for hours about my love for Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the cast of characters, but suffice it to say I would rather have my daughter face death and weird rebirths of true evil than wallow in a breakup.

Wow, that was a fun rant!

Nothing to do with the kids this weekend?

I adore The Children's Museum in Easton for many reasons, the focus on play, the variety of activities for different ages and interests, but mostly because it's the best deal on the South Shore.

A family membership is $80 annually, and there are drop in activities galore. My absolute favorite of which is Wednesday and Thursday at 10am when the downstairs is turned in to Sing-a-long central with kids generally ages 18 months-4 (though I'm sure there is variation on either side) singing and dancing up a storm!

There are also dinosaur days, art days, and a bunch of fun extra activities that are mostly free for members with the occasional small fee. So basically instead of paying $80 for one month of music class at Isis, it's $80 for the whole year, and there is a ton of stuff to do. I know that Isis has value in it's own way as well, but for those of us who just can't stomach that kind of cost The Children's Museum offers so much for such a low cost.

This is a GREAT holiday gift for the family with young children in your life!

SO back to the post title: This weekend they are doing a Gingerbread Day on Saturday and Sunday, check out the website for hours. The event is free for members, with a $1 donation to decorate a cookie. Honestly, $1. I do have to throw in the caveat that I will not be attending this (I'm totally going holiday shopping instead), but my husband is excited about checking out the new spaceship with Belle!

Do you have a Children's Museum membership? What do you think?

I hate to talk Christmas already...

BUT, there was a project I had to start early!

First a quick note: I can't believe I've been MIA on this blog for so long, had a lot of stuff going on and wasn't feeling particularly creative, but I'm ready to get crafting again, and I'll be back in full force starting this week. Especially since theoretically I'm making Belle and I our Thanksgiving dresses....

So, here's a quick, super easy, super cheap gift that is great for any family with kids.

If your handwriting is anything short of horrific you can totally do this project!

Make a personalized cookies for Santa plate!

First, buy a plain white ceramic plate. At Christmas Tree Shop they are a whopping $0.69 a piece.

Then, purchase red acrylic paint intended for glass and ceramics, a startling $1.89 at Michaels.

Next, paint your message to Santa, let sit and dry for 21-25 days to assure that when you wash it the paint won't run off.

Mine isn't done yet, just one coat (it will need two), and I think I'm going to draw a little Christmas tree in the middle.

A few tips, be sure to wipe the ceramic with rubbing alcohol before you start to get rid of any finger prints. And if there's anything you don't like, just take a wet paper towel to it immediately and it will wipe away. So no fear on experimentation.

"Diva in Training"

At my little cherubs weekly sing a long today there was a girl with a shirt that said "Diva in Training".

There are many, many things that I wanted to say to her mother but I didn't because I was trying to stay in the confines of polite society and I was too busy moving Belle away from that girl lest she inadvertently become friends with her.

Following is a small rant of the things that are wrong with calling your daughter a "Diva in Training".

Self-confidence is wonderful, all little girls should have it, we should all do our best to teach our girls to be proud of who they are.

Self-importance is something entirely different. It is a horrific attitude that basically amounts to "I'm better than you, more important than you, and you should do stuff for me". This is dismal behavior in an adult, in a child it's so grotesque that it inspires a physical reaction in me, blood pressure rises, and I find myself wanting to assault the parents who cultivated that attitude.

I imagine that these Diva-children end up being the kind of self-absorbed horror shows that expect people to hold umbrellas for them (I'm looking at you Beyonce), who want people to see them work out in high heels (I'm looking at you Mariah), and who think that all the rules of society apply to everyone but them including silly little things like laws (Paris Hilton, your turn to get the evil eye).

But, the thing that really bothers me the MOST about a mother being proud that she has a "Diva in Training" is that this poor child is going to grow up without knowing the joy of what it means to help your fellow man.

I know that probably sounds a bit extreme, but it is this kind of attitude cultivated at a young age that causes children to lose their innate abilities of empathy, caring and compassion. If this little girl starts out now thinking that others are meant to serve her will she ever know what it means to serve others? To make a meal for someone, to help a friend, to give a stranger change for the parking meter, to hold a door open for a woman who has an arm full of groceries, to assist an elderly person in the grocery store.

It is time that we stopped teaching children that they are the only important thing in the world, that there needs come before anyone else's. It is not only severely detrimental to them, but to the vast majority of our future society if we continue to cultivate Divas.

Alphabet Soup

Ok, so I unfortunately don't have my camera down the Cape with me at my grandfather's house so I can't do a picture of this...but if we have leftovers I will take one later to try to give a visual.

I made tomato soup tonight, super easy:

Sautee half an onion and 2 cloves of garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter.

Add 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 1 small can of tomato paste and 1 quart of vegetable stock.

Bring to a boil, let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Done.

I use a hand held blender to make it smooth because my daughter won't eat it if she sees chunks of tomato. She's on of those kids who eats with her eyes.

Tonight I decided to add some alphabet pasta to the soup to make it a little fun for her.

Wow.

Apparently I have never cooked with this stuff, though I have very fond memories of alphabet in my chicken soup as a kid.

I poured in about 1/3 of the box, and it basically took over the soup. It was huge, and unwieldy, and impossible to get a bit of soup without Supercalafragilistic in it.

I mean, it was still good soup, but it was way heavier on the pasta than I intended.

Any tips???

Packing

Every time I finish packing for my little one I think I've forgotten something.
Pajamas, undies, toothbrush, something!
I check and recheck and it drives me virtually bananas but usually it's totally fine!

Except that one time in the dead of winter when I forgot to pack her socks.

But this time, this time I'm sure that I have everything! Oh wait...better go double check.

Sidewalk Chalk Paint...where have you been all my life?

I will happily admit I have parenting guilt issues.

For example, I barely watch TV in my own life, therefore I am zealous to the point of loony-toon sometimes about my daughter not watching TV.

Do I give in for movies when she's sick? Or an afternoon rainy day hour of Phineas and Ferb?

Yes, yes I do.

But every time I do it I send my husband the same text "Is it ok that I'm giving her an hour of TV?".

This is hilarious because my husband is not nearly as psycho about the TV time as I am, but bless his soul every time he sends me back a loving response that reminds me TV watching time in no way makes someone a bad mother. Which I know. I really, really do.

But I have a hard time not judging myself...everyone else I'm a really big, live and let live person, but I slam myself for silly things.

So now that confession time is out of the way, I needed an activity today to avoid the TV. A quick one. One that would entertain us for a solid hour preferably outside.

A google of sidewalk chalk paint lead me here, where I found the super easy recipe, 1 part cornstarch, 1 part water, and food coloring!

Rock on my friends, rock on!

It took some serious stirring to break up the lumps but we had a great activity in the afternoon and I avoided the inevitable and ridiculous guilt ridden text to my husband.

The colors dry very vibrant and pretty...probably even more so on a clean sidewalk!

Rainy Day Activity!

2 year old stuck in the house all day.

One would think that the toddler would crack first, but truly, it's usually the parent who is in the house with the toddler that starts to feel those walls closing in.

While sometimes this inspires nothing but an urge to turn on a movie, it does occasionally spark a creative project just before turning to madness.

I give you, the create-a-village project:

It is ideal for learning shapes and colors, and super easy.

I just cut a few triangles, squares, and vaguely "tree" shaped pieces out of construction paper and after we constructed our village I glued them together.

She liked it so much that I'm thinking I will do a version made out of felt (since the construction paper is easily destroyed by a toddler), with velcro on the back for a more permanent "shapes and colors" project.

Halloween Dinner!

Some days it is really hard to come up with something that you and your kids will eat, without sacrificing flavor and food quality. The husbando and I work super hard to expose our daughter to all kinds of tastes/textures and we work especially hard to make sure that almost everything is homemade.

However, sometimes I feel like the poor kid is missing out on some fun kid-like stuff. For example, she has no idea that chicken can come in dinosaur shaped nuggets!

So tonight was a quality compromise of delicious adult food, and fun little kid presentation.

We had homemade naan bread (look for a post on that when I have someone to "shoot" it for me), black bean hummus, sweet potato fries and assorted cheeses for dinner.

For the adults it looked like this:

And for the 2-year old?

Creepy Halloween Monster!!

Complete with fangs, black eyes, and fake ketchup blood. Which, obviously, my two year old called hair, but the husbando and I got a quality creepy laugh out of it.

PS For anyone who is interested, the beer is Mayflower IPA, an excellent beer bought in a growler straight from the brewery. Which I will post about soon. Awesome place!

A claustrophobic mother's "fort"

My lovely 2 year old asked me for a fort the other day.

I've been dreading this moment.

Not because I don't like to expend energy on my child, truth be told I love running around doing all the fun kiddie stuff we don't get to do anymore as adults.

But I'm not a big fan of tight spaces. And the forts of my childhood were always couch cushions stretching from the sofa to the coffee table.

THIS my friends, is a freakin' fort:

It's pretty much a two bedroom, probably bigger than most Manhattan apartments. Here are the keys: 1. if you have a tent in your house, even one of the little ones for toys like I have here, USE it! Wow it creates more space. 2. To unite your tons of sheets, nothing does the job like old fashioned wooden clothespins.

3. The ultimate secret key? An ironing board:

As seen here from the inside, it creates a whole wall, nice and high up off the ground.

It was more like a Bedouin tent than a fort, but it was glorious! Did she lose interest after about an hour and a half? Yes, yes she did.

Big girl room- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme

The husbando and I transformed our guest room in to Belle's "Big Girl" room on Sunday.

She just turned 2 last weekend, I'm completely not prepared to give up the safety and security of her crib, I need to know where she is, I'm thrown in to a fit of panic every time I picture her in the gigantic bed we got her.

But, this isn't about me, and she's ready to move on, so I'm in the process of getting over myself.

I'm almost embarrassed to post the before photos exceptno one reads this blog yet so I'll do it now before I blast it to the world, and then decide if they're too heinous to keep up!

Before:

After, complete with Mickey Mouse ears that the husbando cut out of wood and I covered with shiny black fabric, anda bed skirt that I sewed to look like MM's shorts!

I didn't take DIY pictures for the bed skirt, but it's super easy, basically take a store bought bedskirt or a large piece of fabric and cut out a square piece in the center, sew the sides, then add two white ovals just above it. I won't lie, sewing ovals is way easier by hand than on a sewing machine, unless you've got mad skill, that I totally don't have.