Crossover Blog: Getting my toddler to eat green veggies

One word: Smoothies

This cool treat has gotten my toddler to eat more green veggie than I have ever. Don't get me wrong my little munchkin eats pretty good. Her favorites are bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and she'll try most stuff if forced or bribed. But if it's green, it gets pushed to the side. So I started making her smoothies and she loves it. She also gets a cool straw to use when she drink them, so that doesn't hurt either. 

As I mentioned in Refrigerator/freezer/pantry Staples I like to keep frozen fruit on hand. I mostly buy store bought frozen fruit, but some fruit I buy in season and freeze myself. Since bananas are not typical a fruit you can buy commercially frozen, I freeze my own bananas and strawberries. Commercially frozen fruit is fairly sweet. It's usually picked at peak seasons then frozen. Also if you use frozen fruit, you don't have to use ice and water down your drinks. As the fruit begins to melt, it will liquify a bit more.

I keep peaches (also used for my teething baby boy), pineapple and mango on hand. Then I add any fresh veggies I have in the fridge (carrots, spinach, kale). I also throw in some ginger for good measure especially during winter, try to boost the immune system and ward off the germs. I normally add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh juice or almond milk. I recently tried just using natural no sugar added applesauce and no liquid, it worked..so excited about this revelation! And then I blend.

Until recently I was using my food processor for my frozen treats. Mainly because I was put on a kitchen moratorium until we moved into a place with a bigger kitchen. Plus I wanted one of those $600 blenders, which was way out of my price range. So I settled for a Ninja which I have been pleasantly surprised with so far. It blends well, even the tough stuff. My biggest gripe is that fact that you have to continuously hold the button down for the individual cups, you can't just put it on low or high.


Here are a few of my smoothie combinations, that have been hits:

Peach, Spinach, Ginger, Pineapple, Juice

Peach, Mango, Pineapple, Ginger, Juice

Applesauce, Pineapple, Ginger, Strawberry, Spinach, Banana

Carrot, Pineapple, Ginger, Mango, Applesauce


Also I make banana ice cream you can sneak protein into this using nut butter or even plain nuts. Go wild.
2 frozen bananas
1/4 cup milk (you don't need this liquid, but it gives it a frozen yogurt consistency that I love)
1 tablespoon peanut butter (optional)

What do you do all day?

So I've never been asked this question and it has gotten to be the stupidest question for a SAHM. I do what you pay daycare workers big bucks to do. My days are a mixed bag of tricks and treat. My minions who I shall refer to as thing 1 (2 years old) and thing 2 (8 months) for this exercise dictate what I do during most of the day. I won't bore you with diaper changes or potty runs, those too are also a mixed bag. Somehow I manage to use the bathroom, rarely alone but ya know.

7:45 AM (Thing 2) Turns over smiling and let mom know it's time to get up

8:00 AM (Thing 1) Run into mom's room and immediately jump into bed with her

8:15 AM Place thing 2 in his jumper, let thing 1 run around as I shower and dress

8:30 AM (Yes, my shower has to be this short) Change thing 1 and thing 2 into clothes, that will inevitably get dirty or come off for some reason during the course of the day

8:45 - 9:30 AM Breakfast. Thing 1 usually eats oatmeal but she's been refusing that those days so I have not get creative. Thing 2 is trying to decide if he should eat the food placed on his tray or throw it on the floor for mommy to clean up.

9:30 - 10:00 AM Clean Kitchen (put away dishes, wipe counter, put a load of clothes in)

(11:30 AM Thing 1 falls asleep for 20 mins...this is long enough for me to get thing 2 lunch/snack)

10:00 - 12:00 Errands (grocery store, Target, Costco...Starbucks) or Activity of the day. Wrangling 2 children under 3 in any store requires patience and time. If you don't have either, this is a bad idea.

12:00 - 2:00 PM Free play...pretty much every kid for themselves. Complete chaos. We are lucky enough to have a play room, which is kid-proof, so it's not as bad it could be. Also I allow for 30 mins before nap time to have thing 2 clean up. Also I've started trying to insert educational sheets in for my 2 year old.

2:00 - 3:30 PM (if i'm lucky 4) Thing 2 goes down for a nap, if I'm lucky thing 1 will take a nap also. Which gives the time to make my most important decision of the day: Do a chore? Take a nap? Watch tv?

4:00 - 6:00 PM Free Play and dinner prep. Sometimes I wait until my husband gets home at 6:30 to finish dinner because easier that way. Trust me.

6:00 - 8:00 PM Finish dinner, do the dishes, clean kitchen, fold clothes, put away clothes (yes again, I know, I don't know how it stays dirty either)

8:20 - 9:00 Bath and bedtime for thing 1 and thing 2

9:00 - 9:30 PM Finish cleaning kitchen (yes, now it's done!), pick up toys, clothes and random other artifacts

10:00 - 10:40 PM Sit down, turn on computer. Decide if I would like to blog or not. Get on Pinterest. Scroll through Instagram.

10:40 - 11:00 Thing 2 is ready to nurse.

11:00 - 11:30 Decide to blog...

11:30 - 11:50 Needs to get to bed...continues to blog, read Pinterest, scroll through instagram...will regret in the morning

12:00 Thing 2 ready to nurse again...so I decide it's time to go to bed.

....and I love it!

The beauty of lost perspective

At my first baby shower, people quickly started giving me advice. This has continued on and I imagine will indefinitely. People have a wealth of knowledge, and they're just itching to share. Who cares if you don't want it or need it, it needs to be shared. Most are just annoying helpful suggestions, so you smile and endure. But then some are intrusive quips meant to demean and shame your parenting choices. These...these get under my skin. Mostly because they're given by people who have lost perspective, i/e my parents and/or in-laws. Indulge me for a moment while I vent.

My parents and in-laws are done raising children, and frankly, they've lost perspective. It's not their fault, in fact, it's a celebration for them. They've been able to forget most of the hard stuff and replace it with good memories.  Memories of my husband and his brother at 2 and 3 sitting undisturbed in a restaurant while they wait for their food. Memories of toddlers sitting quietly in church service that lasted 3+ hours. Memories of non-drooling teething babies, unbothered preschoolers that only speak when spoken too, walking 6 month old babies, blah blah blah. Give. me. a. break. Sometimes I sit back and listen to these fables like they are being told to me by Mother Goose herself. I mean seriously people at least make it something believable.

I find it hard to believe that someone with 2 small children doesn't remember being overwhelmed, frustrated, tired. There is no way having 2 toddlers didn't give you some form of pause. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, which is extremely possible, but I call BS on your rose-colored memories. Now I will say this, my in-laws did raise a stand-up guy, and they should be commended. But let them tell it, this boy genius did no wrong (maybe I broke him...lol!).

My biggest issue with these sage "advice" is that it is void of reality. As mentioned lost perspective means a lost reality. The problem is I can't believe what you are saying because it happened long enough ago no one can really verify it's validity. And it's easy to romanticize now because the hard part is over. My parents and in-laws have a wealth of knowledge, but it's all being tunneled and filtered through 30+ years of experience.

In all honesty, I don't mind the advice, but make it personal. Try to remember this is new to me, I don't know what I am doing, but neither did you initially. Be sympathetic to the my needs as a mom. Motherhood is just as tough as it was back then as it is now.

The D word: Discipline

So my sister-in-law sent me a link to this cool blog called Black Moms Blog. It's got all kinds of articles about parenting, culture, and lifestyle. One article that caught my eye was Disciplining with Compassion in the Black Community.  The article was so nicely written and very thoughtful. And it totally spoke to me as a black mom and the mom of a toddler. And this has been the topic of conversation between my husband and I since we've entered the terrific 2's with our darling daughter.

Let me start by saying this, being a toddler is hard. The world around you is changing ever day, and honestly, you're just trying to understand it and have a say. And I don't want to crush spirits just protect in love. It's a delicate balance and I'm still learning. And my discipline techniques are ever-evolving. We are all shaped by our past, and we can't help but mimic what we learn sometimes. Knowing this keeps me on my toes when it comes to discipline. I have to understand that my firmness helps create that balance for her, and she has to learn discipline is necessary in all things. So I've realized a few things that have help me in toddler discipline.

First, I try my best to not discipline in anger. I try to understand if what she is doing has an underlining issue or if it's even a thing. By the end of the day like most people I'm spent. I've been saying, "no," "stop," "don't" all day, and frankly, I'm on a short fuse. So I try to be extra patient. I give myself timeouts. I remove myself from the situation and deal with it later. Most things can be dealt with later. Also I try to be mindful of her emotional state. Is she sleepy? Tired? Hungry? Sick? These effect us all in a BIG way, just as they do with toddlers.

Next, I believe in timeouts more than love taps, but I DO believe in love taps. At times we could all benefit from a timeout.  Just a moment to calm down and reflect.  And we discuss why we need to calm down. Discipline needs to be explained to help in behavior adjustment. The why is important. But sometimes "because I said so" will have to do. I like spankings to be a last resort option. The first time I had to really discipline my daughter my heart ached. She was defiantly pushing her boundaries. It was so much harder than I thought it would be. She cried, I wanted to cry. It's hard to see your child sad or angry and know that you caused it internationally. But I'd rather deal with the emotion of broken-hearted toddler now then see the result of not dealing with it later. I want to set her up for success in whatever she does, and that means teaching her discipline.

Finally, I don't mind (mostly) her showing emotions. This is a big one. We, as a black community, disregard children's emotion. They need to be able to show their discontent. Sometimes when she has to cool down in the corner or take a break. She stomps her foot or lets out a yelp. She is venting her frustration, the best way she knows how. I would get mad until my husband made me realize she was just expressing herself. Her discontentment shouldn't effect her punishment. She's upset. I know that, I would be too. She can't express that to me yet, and so I have to be mindful of that.

I hope this helps someone. I, by no means, have anything all figured it. Just one parent sharing what I learned on this journey.