We're On the Tutu Train

Freida's infatuation with severely gnarly tutus (or any tulle, for that matter!) is rapidly spiraling out of control. Sometimes I have to literally wrestle her to get them off before bath or bed! She cries and holds onto the elastic waistband with such tight fists that her knuckles go white, whimpering "princess, princess". I know it's quite pathetic. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be one of those moms, whose kids show up at preschool each and every day sporting the same Buzz Lightyear rain-boots, or (worse!) Cinderella princess dress. I thought I was destined for a tomboy, a daughter after my own heart... not a fairy-wing loving, lipstick adoring, pirouette perfecting, tea-party obsessing child --- but I absolutely adore her, even more for all the unfamiliar princess quirks that come along with her!! Plus, she's teaching me a thing or two about being a lady (I never wore pink - now it's my favorite color!), and I must admit, tea-time with a group of stuffed animals and my little love calling out "pinkies up!" has proven to be rather relaxing and satisfying.

But, the gnarly Tutus must be nipped in the bud - especially now that I'm quite certain she will be seen in public adorned in "princess" garb at some future point...

That's what brings me to currently coveting these beauties:

How breathtaking are these??? By the incredibly awesome Australian tutu producers: TutuDuMonde. All tutus are hand-made and hand-dyed - lending each a one-of-a-kind feel inspired by vintage couture. Now that's more like it!

Yummy Earth: Nixing Negative Candy Connotations

When I was a kid, my mother's stash of (what she considered) "candy" ranged from carob-covered rice cakes to oatmeal plum & raisin bars (dubbed "poop bars" by my younger siblings) to a tiny box of Sunmaid raisins. There were some Glenny's lollipops in the mix, but they were far from "yummy". I made a promise to myself when I was a little girl that I would never subject my children to the sort of candy-withdrawal I felt as a kid... I was always stuffing birthday party candy in my pockets, and hoarding the cupcakes because who knew when the next time I'd meet sugar would be?  (Sorry Mother! I do understand you though...)

Well, thank God I live in a time where markets are filled with heaps of goodies that are made of goodness! I discovered Yummy Earth Organic candies when I was pregnant with Freida. It seemed that every baby boutique we frequented had a bucket of Yummy Earth pops at the checkout counter (after snagging a few at a time - I was hooked). Now we go through bags of these natural and truly delicious "Poppies" (Frieda named them that, and it stuck); I always have one of their pop pouches in my bag (I refill it on demand - it's the perfect public-meltdown-prevention tactic), the play-daters go directly to our pantry in search of Tooberry Blueberry or Strawberry Smash (Freida already knows to pluck out a "white one for mommy" - Sour Apple Tart), and even the adults can't seem to pass up a round of Yummy Earth suckers!

Invented by two Daddies looking for some sort of healthy candy for their children to consume guilt-free, this line of lollipops and candy drops are made from only the most natural and organic ingredients - including the flavors and colors! There's a tag-line on all the bags, "The best lollipop I've ever tasted!", and it is so damn straight!

P.S. We snag bags of the Vitamin C variety at Marshalls - $5 for 50 pops!

You can find out more about the making of these wonderfully succulent candies here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlFrEFb0Dmg&feature=player_embedded]

Bird Feeding Frenzy!

Fortunately, we are blessed with a wonderful "Mommy & Me" that meets weekly out of the Hebrew Academy Huntington Beach. It's held by the ECE director Chanie Perelmuter in the Hebrew Academy Preschool, and it's really quite lovely! This week, all the mommies (and babies) got to paint and decorate a wooden bird house in honor of Shabbos Shira (it is a Jewish tradition to commemorate and thank the birds for "saving the day" once long ago while the Jewish people wandered the desert).

We filled the little birdhouse with the birdseed and hung it outside of Freida's bedroom window.

We had plenty of birdseed left over, so we went on a little nature walk in search of some pinecones. I totally forgot that there are really very few trees that produce pinecones in our neighborhood, so we settled for some spikey Sweetgum berries that had fallen all over one of the sidewalks nearby...

Birds love peanut butter (especially the crunchy kind!), so I gave Freida a spoon and a half empty jar of crunchy peanut butter with flaxseed (flax is usually an ingredient in birdseed recipes anyways). After coating the Sweetgum in a nice thick layer, I let her roll them in the birdseed. We then hung them up beneath the birdhouse for some extra bird-feeding fun.

Freida hung out there calling the birds to what she dubbed as "My Birdie Berries" all morning long! :)

P.S. I'm totally digging this wickedly modern folding birdhouse from Jesper Moller Hansen and Dorthe Weis!! How hot??

Here's to the furry & flighful (I know, that's not a word - but it should be)!!

Wishing you all a fabulous extended weekend!!

Sweet Sailing

During the extent of our month of rain (plus my 2 week virus), I was forced to recall any and all things I have seen or heard of doing indoors with children in order to keep up with my toddler's activity demands. I vaguely remembered seeing a juice box sail boat featured in a Parents magazine once, and with some help from my main man Google (why would anyone use any other search engine???), I happened upon the very magazine image I was looking for!

Here's some photos of the how-to via Inchamark:

Freida really enjoyed the process of watching something as simple as her apple juice box + a piece of scribbled paper turn into a sail boat (and I felt good knowing this type of "play" was great for her cognitive advancement of understanding cause and effect). Plus, setting the boats adrift was definitely a hit! It kept her busy for a nice little while (she even took them out to play with again after her nap - score!).

(I'd advise you not to use marker on the sails like I did - the ink bled all over as soon as the little boat tipped...)

Curious Little Chef

Apparently for Freida, the most exciting and cherished activity in our house at the moment is working in the kitchen. She's been up at the counter-top with me all month long; I can't even scramble an egg without her tugging at the step-stool! At first I was really annoyed at myself for letting her join me so much culinarily - I was annoyed for not having foreseen that making dinner would take double the time with her up there in the action. But after a while I realized that not only is all the kitchen exploration a great sensory, tactile, and fine-motor skill activity, but that it is actually quite beneficial having her cook with me. Believe it or not, I can swear that having a kid help cook the food will up the odds of them actually consuming it by a significant amount! When she was put in charge of wiping the dirt off the fresh mushrooms, she  not only tried them at dinnertime; but liked them! After rinsing the beans and barley together in a colander, she spit out the white bean from her soup as usual, but when I said "it's the beans you washed, remember?", she gave it another go! I'm honestly quite shocked at how much we both benefit from our little cooking sessions. Gone are the days of finding some form of entertainment for her so that I can dinner in the over... preparing, assembling, and cooking dinner is the entertainment! And she has turned out to be quite the useful sous chef!!

Our only issue was on the chopping block: the knife. The extent of her frustration at smashed tomatos and crumbling mushrooms got me looking into other options. A bit of searching landed me on a company called Curious Chef. They've created a line of very well-thought-out kitchen tools for kids. With a few recurring features, such as rubber grips on the handles and streamlined safety precautions, this line of tools really seems to deliver; geared for a broad range of jr. chefs, no matter the kitchen experience (or lack thereof).

I'll definitely be ordering some of their serrated knives. They are officially safe for children 5 years and up, but I think I'm going to try these out with Freida (while supervising her, of course!), though they may be a little too big for her tiny little hands... I'll keep you posted on how they work out for us in our "test kitchen".

Curious Chef Knives (set of 3), $8.99