5 Outdoor Summer Activities for Toddlers

Now that summer is officially here (it’s even the last day of school in our area today), it’s time to start taking advantage of the longer days and warmer weather.  Here are a few ideas you can use to keep your little ones entertained and enjoy a little sunshine yourself:

Get Wet

With hot summer days, there is nothing like a little water play to cool off.  If you have a kiddie pool and/or a sprinkler, you can set something up in your own backyard!  Here is a little video of our most recent set-up.  The pool is about $20 at target, and the slide was a gift from a good friend (yes, she always closes the door behind her).

 

Most cities also have public pools, or maybe your local neighborhood or apartment complex maintains a pool.  We are fortunate to have two pools that have kid-friendly activity pools.  Abby actually is less than thrilled to have water shot at her, but I think as she gets older and a little more fearless she will really enjoy it.

Plant Something

Gardening is a great teaching tool.  Kids get the satisfaction of getting down and dirty in the soil and also learn about the lifecycle of plants.  You can either start a backyard garden, or get a small pot and plant 1-2 seeds and watch them grow.  They can also participate in taking responsibility for remembering to water and fertilize as necessary.  Some plants, such as radishes, sprout really fast.  Radishes are usually ready to harvest within a few weeks so those are great starter plant to keep younger kids engaged.  Marigolds and Sunflowers are good flowers to grow with kids as well.

Watch Wildlife

Every time we are outside for even a minute, Abby will shout “Look Mommy!  Birds!”  We also have lizards, squirrels, and even snakes that we can see just around the house.  You could also go to a local park or nature preserve in order to observe animals that you may not get to see in your own backyard.  If you live near a lake, river, or the ocean, you can go observe aquatic wildlife as well.  My daughter gets a kick out of watching turtles and fish swim around, and also to watch ducks dive under the water and pop back up a few feet away.  Easy toddler entertainment!

Get Messy

Do lots and lots and lots of outdoor crafts!  Whole body “finger” painting, shaving cream fun, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, etc are fun ways to entertain those toddlers while also getting some fresh air and sunshine (yay Vitamin D!).  Here are a few links that will get you started:

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Spray Painting Fun

Shaving Cream Paint
 

Have a Picnic

We are fortunate enough to have several wonderful public greenways very near us.  It is the perfect place to stock up the picnic supplies and a few outdoor toys (balls, bubbles, whatever you can think of) and run around.  Eating outdoors is always a fun novelty for kids.  They can even help you prepare for the event by packing the cooler and picking out what type of food they would like to bring to the picnic.  Picnics are also a great opportunity to meet up with other families for both adult and child play dates.  The last time we had a picnic at the greenway there were 3 families total.  The kids had a blast playing with each other and the parents sat and relaxed and chatted while the kids ran around.  As you can see from the photos, it was tons of fun!

There you have it.  Five simple and fun ideas for you to take advantage of this summer.  What kind of activities do you enjoy doing outdoors with your children?

Wordless Wednesday: Rock!

Menu Monday: A New Diet

So, this past week I finally decided I was tired of carrying my baby weight around.  So I am going to try a different diet.  It’s a pseudo Paleo/low/nocarb diet that Christina introduced me to.  I figure, why not?  Will’s godmother was in town last weekend for his baptism and she said she started doing Paleo in December and has lost about 20lbs without really adding an excessive amount of exercise into her routine.  She looked great!  So, I am going to give it a go.  It is going to be hard at first, but, I think as long as I don’t keep any of the non-recommended food around the house I will be ok.  Eating out will be a challenge, but I figure if I am eating better at home, even if I don’t keep up while we are out, it will still help.

Here is my weekly dinner menu, with some alterations for my new diet:

Monday: BBQ Burgers w/ grilled fries and side salad (no fries for me)

Tuesday: Mango Curry Chicken w/ mixed vegetables and basmati rice (riced cauliflower for me)

Wednesday: SlowCooker Pork Roast w/ carrots & onions and potatoes (no potatoes for me)

Thursday: Taco Salad

Friday: Maple GlazedMeatballs served over Cauliflower Mash.

Saturday: Probably out
 

I will let you know how I do.  Breakfasts are going to be the biggest challenge, as I typically eat oatmeal or cereal.  And I don't like eggs.  Should be interesting!

Sydney’s Favorite Books & Rain Gutter Bookshelves

At the beginning of 2012, my husband installed Rain Gutter Bookshelves for our daughter. We read books to her in our bedroom, so I had a ton of her books right by my bedside, and I also had some stacked in her room because I didn’t have room near my bed! Clearly, it was just becoming a huge mess:

Book Mess!

So at my request, my husband installed the rain gutter bookshelves. They looked so pretty and organized!

Yay, shelves!

I love the method of display in these bookshelves: face-forward. I believe they have helped Sydney become more interested in reading books. Of course right now, at the age of 2, she’s more into trying to read them to us vs. being still and listening to us read them to her!

At the time we did the bookshelves, her favorite books were by Eric Carle. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Busy Spider, From Head to Toe and The Greedy Python were all on our nightly rotation.

Ask her to pick a book today, and it’s Go, Dog. Go! (This actually was my favorite book as a child!) We have the abbreviated version we read to her, and my old original, unabbreviated version, in her room. We’ve read both of them to her and she can recite some of the book by heart.

What are your child’s favorite books? Obviously, we love Eric Carle, but have plenty of other books, too! Let me know if you have suggestions for books, too!

Wordless Wednesday: Baptism

Menu Monday #5

I want to start my post out this week with a, “Hooray!!!!” Two weeks ago, I posted about how my husband is prone to gout attacks and his request to go on a “low purine diet.”

Scott's body produces too many RBCs,
leading to an increased # of gout attacks.

After a visit to a new rheumatologist, we can confidently say, “F@#% that!” I really struggled finding non-conflicting gout diet information on foods low in purines. And of the information I read, what I found really difficult to deal with is that some of what we would have to eat went against my idea of “healthy” foods. For example, the diet encouraged eating foods low in fat. Ok, that’s fine… but when a product is stripped of fat, something else is used in its place to make it more palatable. But that doesn’t mean I want to eat it. I also saw sites saying to use products like margarine, because it’s lower in fat… but, ick! I can’t even remember the last time I even bought margarine. My mom jumped my ass about using margarine one day, saying something about how unnatural it was, so I switched to butter.

And for those of you interested, my husband’s body makes too many red blood cells, a condition my mother-in-law also suffers from. Basically, the extra RBCs make it seem like he’s a heavy meat eater, so his body makes extra uric acid. He is set up with a hematologist to withdraw some blood and hopefully get on a treatment plan path. We’ll see how it goes!

Switching gears, we got a lot of yummy goodies in this week’s basket. Cauliflower, fava beans, corn on the cob, lettuce, tomato, mangoes, banana, honey dew, apricots… and that’s all I can remember. And I’m keeping most all of it in the fridge because this weekend we are headed to Austin, TX with some good friends of ours (and their 2 girls) for the Memorial Day weekend. The guys are going to see Soundgarden on Saturday night. The girls are going to, well… be girls! Probably movies and stuff for the kiddos, WINE for the ladies! I’m looking forward to spending time with everyone.

Clearly I didn’t do a good job of coming up with stuff to utilize our produce, but… it’s a vacation week. Next week, I’ll make it up!

Monday – Bulgogi, Rice, and Jalapeno Poppers (Note: I modified the recipe some, since I’m half Korean. If you’re interested in my adjustments, leave a comment!)

Tuesday – Spaghetti, sourdough toast.

Wednesday – Taco Mac

Thursday – Friends drive in. Thinking of doing breakfast for dinner… either breakfast tacos or cereal.

Friday – Vacation! Out.

Saturday – Memorial Day BBQ in Austin (early). We’re staying at a house and we plan on cooking.

Sunday – Vacation! Out.

Memorial Day – Something light at home after all that eating out!

What are your Memorial Day weekend plans? Hopefully you are doing something fun! Remember those who died for your freedoms... wishing you all a fabulous holiday week! 

Wordless Wednesday (Late): Love

First Day of School

Will started school this week.  Yes, I call daycare “school” instead of daycare.  I think it sounds more pleasant, and by calling it “school” it implies that he is learning something while he is there.  Which he is.

I was unsure how he would adjust.  It took him over two weeks to take a bottle when he stayed home with Steve.  So I wasn’t sure how he would do for strangers.  His (future) teachers suggested that we start dropping him off for 30 minutes in the mornings so he can become used to them, and the environment.  So we did that for about 2 weeks, and I think it helped.

Luckily, we have been through this before.  So I somewhat knew what to expect.  I at least knew what to pack.  And he got a new backpack for the occasion.

 

The contents include:

·         3-3oz bottles of breastmilk

·         6 cloth diapers

·         Wetbag

·         3 changes of clothes

·         Pacifier and clip

·         3 spare disposable diapers (for those extra messy days)

·         Naptime toy (he likes to fall asleep with something soft rubbing on his face)

 

When we walked into the room on the first day, I could tell those babies were having a case of the Mondays.  Total chaos.  I think it overwhelmed Will because he instantly started to cry when we walked in.  He was not happy.  I put him on the floor with a boppy behind him in case he fell over (he’s still learning how to sit – he’s pretty good, but still sometimes falls).  I quickly learned that he had a favorite swing in the room.  So that’s where I started putting him when I dropped him off.  Makes sense, since he usually takes a morning nap anyway.

Every day I nurse him at lunch, and by Wednesday, he was totally oblivious to me arriving.  He was also way too busy and distracted to nurse well.  So I started to nurse him in the church library which is a little quieter, but, apparently it is still way too interesting to look at, as he still doesn’t eat well during “lunch” – but I think it’s just his age too.

Overall, he adjusted better than I could have expected.  It took my daughter an entire 2 weeks to really adjust.  But, she did not have the opportunity to transition the same way he did, and she also started 4 weeks earlier than he did (she was 5mo, Will is 6mo). 

This week I threw some solids into the mix.  He will now be getting “breakfast” at school.  Also, in June, all children will move up to their new classrooms for the 2013-2014 school year.  While it will be another transition for him, the teachers will mostly be the same.  I think he will do fine.  Abby on the other hand, will probably have a harder time.  She will be graduating to a preschool room!

Menu Monday #4

Florida State summer session has started again, which means my husband will be attending classes from 5:30pm-8:30pm two nights a week.  This means, my toddler and I get to fend for ourselves for dinner.  This can be a challenge, as it’s hard enough cooking for 2.5, and even harder cooking for 1.5 to minimize leftovers and not spend forever in the kitchen because, well, cooking with a toddler is a challenge!

This week is also crazy, because Tuesday night I have to (hopefully) register my daughter for gymnastics.  Due to high demand, all new students are registered via a lottery.  This consists of me going, sitting around, drawing a number out of a basket, and waiting for my turn to stand in a very long line in HOPES there is a class open on a day/time that works for us.  I tried in the fall, and it was ultra chaotic and a mess with both kids, and I even had my mother in law there to help.  This time, I’m solo.  With both kids.  Not looking forward to it, but I really really really want Miss A to get into a gymnastics class this summer.

Then, Friday, some good friends of ours are coming into town.  William is getting baptized on Sunday, and we have asked them to be his godparents.  It should be a fun weekend, and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen them.  In fact, it’s been probably 5-6 years.  Way too long.

But, despite all these activities, I still have a meal plan.  We’ll be eating out more than normal, but, still cooking some things and pulling from my freezer stash for others:

Sunday: Grilled Brats & Hot Dogs w/ corn on the cob & baked beans

Monday: Confetti Mac & Cheese

Tuesday: Chick-fil-A

Wednesday: Taco Salad

Thursday:  Beef Ravioli (store brand, frozen) w/ Bag Salad and Garlic Bread

Friday: Out

Saturday: Baptism BBQ – Menu TBD

I pulled one meal from my freezer stash, but won’t be adding to it this week.  That’s ok.  That’s why I have it – for busy weeks like these!

Working Out With Kids

For many busy families with small kids, it’s very hard to find the time or motivation to workout. Parents are chronically tired and get less exercise than their child-free counterparts. Some people have 2-year-olds that still don’t sleep through the night. Or maybe you may have a toddler that sleeps through the night, but you also have an infant – good luck getting any kind of unbroken sleep! 

Unmotivate Me

Knowing how time-restricting it is to be a mom with a toddler, I can’t begin to tell you how infuriating it is for me to read “motivational” workout posts by friends on FaceBook, as they check into their favorite gym for the 98th straight time. Usually the image says something to the extent of, “If your family meant anything to you, you should be working out right now. Get up off your ass and let’s go. Because if you don’t get up now, you’ll end up taking pills for the rest of your life or you’re going to die and miss out on seeing your children grow up.” At least, that’s how I read them. And while these sayings may have an underlying truth, the overwhelming majority of people who posts those motivational pictures on my feed have no children, so they have no idea what balancing family, work, and home life is truly like. It’s hard work. And reading those is often times, rubbing salt into the wound.

I will tell you a small secret of mine; my husband and I are asked, or rather reminded over and over, that we are reaching the time that we should try for a sibling. This is something I would love to do. But aside from financial concerns over adding another diaper and daycare expense – anxieties that are strong enough to paralyze me from even thinking about a 2nd – I don’t think my body can handle another pregnancy at my current weight. I feel like I’d be depressed watching the scale go upward, and if I were to get pregnant, I’m likely to get gestational diabetes or something else crazy will happen to me because of my increased weight. And I just don’t like the idea of being so big that no one even knows I’m pregnant. I’d just look like a fat person.

The boring cardio.

At this point in my life, I am trying to get fit, but it’s literally a daily struggle. Nothing is 100% consistent in my world, as much as I want it to be. But, the fact is, I’m trying to be as consistent as possible. So how have I been able to accomplish workouts with a toddler? In one of my previous posts, I talked about how my work schedule is from 8 – 4. This allows me around 45 minutes – 1 hour of workout time before I have to go pick up my daughter from daycare, which closes at 6:00 PM. Usually when I go to the gym, I just hit up an elliptical or a treadmill. I like interval runs on the treadmill and the elliptical is just to get some easy cardio in. If I’m feeling ambitious, which I’m usually not, I’ll use free weights to do some combo exercises. The elliptical and treadmill can be boring, but hey, it’s cardio.

However, science has proven that high intensity interval workouts (HIIT) and sprint interval training (SIT) can be just as effective, if not more effective, than traditional cardio. And the results are achieved in shorter amounts of time – 90 minutes of sprint interval training produced the same results as 5 hours of “traditional” cardio – meaning you could do 3 – 30 min SIT sessions verses 5 – 1 hour runs. 

For busy moms – HIIT/SIT are a WIN.

Working on Day 11!

I personally think HIITs are awesome because of the fact they don’t require much time. Actually, I do them when I’ve left the office later than I want to but yet still have time for exercise. My favorite free source of HIITs on the web is Zuzka Light. She’s amazingly fit and I’m tempted to buy her ZCut workouts and become one of her “Warriorz.” She’s also a co-founder of Body Rock TV, which is another great source for free videos and other 30 day fitness challenges. But, if I had to pick my overall favorite workout video fitness personality, though, I’d say my favorite is Cathe Friedrich. She’s a workout video pioneer and I remember when I was unemployed and first moved to San Antonio, I saw her videos on the fitness channel. They left me sore, which at the time, had never happened before. Her videos however, aren’t free, and some series are actually quite expensive. But if you can afford it, they are worth it!

Currently, I’m working on getting my cardio, doing ZWOWs and doing a 30-day squat challenge, which I've posted a picture of. I’ll post other challenges I do and report on my progress. 

Now it’s your turn – how do you squeeze in a workout with your children? Do you have a favorite exercise, website, or fitness personality? Weigh-in!