Being a Mommy = Priceless

Banning Babies and Kids from Restaurants??

http://www.embracethechaos.ca/2010/11/banning-kids-from-restaurants-leaves-a-bad-taste.html
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/banning-noisy-children/

Excerpt from the above article:

 How does a child learn to behave in a restaurant if they are never allowed in a restaurant? On the other hand, why do paying customers, out for a quiet evening, have to listen while the youngsters in the next booth learn table manners?
Dr. Richard Bromfield, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of “How to Unspoil Your Child Fast: A Speedy, Complete Guide to Contented Children and Happy Parents” says yes, restaurants can be a learning experience for children, but no, other diners do not have to suffer through the lesson.
He suggests some rules, as follows:

1. Plan to take your toddler or school-age child to a restaurant that he or she loves (preferably a modestly priced one).
2. Share her excitement about going there for several days.
3. On the way to the restaurant, let your child know, in clear and casually stated terms exactly what kind of behavior you expect.  ”I want you to use good manners, a quiet voice and so on.”
4. Order the food.
5. When your child starts to act up, scream or disrupt, calmly stand up and leave the restaurant.
6. Do not finish dinner.  If the food hasn’t arrived, still leave.  If the food just arrived, do not take a bite.
7. Do not take any of the food home with you.
8 .It is O.K. that siblings suffer the same consequence.  It is just one meal, and your goal of shaping up your child is much bigger.
9. Just leave without explanation, excuses or anger.
10. On the way home, or later, do not yell at the child or punish her for what happened.  You will only undercut the power of your strong parenting deed.

O.K., but now onto the harder question. What about children who can’t help themselves? Who have been dealt a deck by life that includes lack of impulse control or excess vocalization?
We tend to assume that every child breaking the decorum of a public space is misbehaving. Would we be more sympathetic if we knew that they weren’t?

I'd love to hear your opinions on the issue...

DELICIOUS & EASY Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Since my 3 yr old son LOVES to cook...lucky me...he loves when I let him help me in the kitchen. This recipe is pretty good with that since its quite simple plus they taste oh so good...Ive tried other recipes and so far this one is the best...I even got a thumbs up from my mother in law, and she doesn't like "Canadian" food (she's from Mauritius). I got it from the Canadian Living Magazine. The only difference is that I usually omit the buttermilk because its not exactly a staple ingredient in my home that we always have on hand...but still turns out soooo yummy. Let me know how it turns out for you!

Ingredients

2-1/2 2-1/2cups cups(625 mL) (625 mL) all-purpose flour 1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) packed brown sugar 1-1/2 1-1/2tsp tsp(7 mL) (7 mL) baking powder 1 1tsp tsp(5 mL) (5 mL) baking soda 1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) salt 2 2eggeggs 1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) buttermilk 1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) mashed bananabananas 1/3 1/3cup cup(75 mL) (75 mL) vegetable oil 1 1tsp tsp(5 mL) (5 mL) vanilla 3/4 3/4cup cup(175 mL) (175 mL) chocolate chips

Preparation:

In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In separate bowl, beat eggs; blend in buttermilk, bananas, oil and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients. Sprinkle with chocolate chips; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling three-quarters full. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until tops are firm to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes; transfer to rack and let cool.

Nutritional Info
Per muffin: about	-
cal	305
pro	5 g
total fat	11 g
sat. fat	3 g
carb	50 g
fibre	2 g
chol	32 mg
sodium	264 mg
% RDI:	-
calcium	6%
iron	14%
vit A	2%
vit C	2%
folate	16%

The Story of My Life

The truly useless question I just stopped asking

Clean House = Potentially Saner You

Anyone with kids who can walk (or even crawl) probably knows what it is like to be constantly picking and cleaning up toys, crumbs, spills, etc. Lately this has been making me go absolutely insane because, being a minimalist when it comes to design, I simply do NOT like clutter!

I think the breaking point was when my younger son Adam turned 1 and learned what I call "the windshield wiper"  (i.e. anything he sees that he sees in a pile or puddle he simply swishes his hands in them), coupled with the fact I recently got a cat...

But anyhow, here are just a couple of things I have been doing lately to help keep the house a little tidier:

1. Everyone sits at the table to eat, no matter how small the snack is: This eliminates unnecessary crumbs and spills everywhere and also eliminates the "But Dad is sitting on the sofa!!!!". 
   
2. Whenever you displace something, put it back in its place immediately: This may sound simplistic but you would be surprised how a diaper, box of wipes, change of clothes, bottle, etc. can pile up toward the end of the day. Sometimes I'm so exhausted that I say "I'll do it later", but at the end of the day I'm even more exhausted plus I have a houseful of stuff to put away.
   
3. Teach the kids to play with only 1 toy (or one set of toys) at a time, AND to put away the first toy before they start playing with the second one: As tempting as it is, and much faster too, please don't put all toys away for them, because that will teach them that Mommy or Daddy is my servant. Teaching them the above will help them learn valuable lessons for school where they must put away their own toys.
   
4. Follow the age recommendations on toys: There were often times when I saw toys with the label ages 4+ or 5+ and would wonder what could possibly be so dangerous for a 3 or 4 yr old since it's not like they put toys in their mouths or anything? Well apart from smaller parts being potentially dangerous, it will be easier to maintain sanity when your home is not full of small pieces of plastic called toys all over the floors, under furniture, in drawers, etc.
   
   • How to know which toys are the culprit? Each time they are done playing, I take a bag and fill it with ALL the small things that make me sweat. Bag could be stored for when they get older, or better, go straight into the donation bin.
   
   
5. At the end of the day do a quick sweep, vacuum and wipe-down of surfaces: Don't leave it all for one day in the week- it will greatly alleviate your weekly chores. Personally, I usually do a light cleaning every 2-3 days especially in the bathroom and kitchen area-I almost never an overburdening "weekly" cleaning day.
   
6. Wearing socks or slippers should lessen the amount of smudgy prints  if you have darker wood floors (laminate is the worst): Its usually moisture such as sweat or water mixed with oils (such as natural body oils) that makes the smudge.

Here are a couple for starters, and will add more as I learn them via trial and error! They have really helped, and are worth it to implement.

Welcome to Baby City!

Though we still have much work to do, this space will hopefully provide a lot of people with a lot of pertinent and useful info regarding their little ones.

Being a mother of a 1 and 3 year old myself, I have had (and believe me, still have) my share of sleeping nightmares, feeding wars (both my kids seem to constantly go on hunger strikes), bumps, bruises, fevers, teething terrors, potty horrors and much more. 

Its funny how my 10 years of child development study has done little to calm my mommy nerves. In fact, when my 3 years old is riding my 1 year old as a horse, or when I look in the cupboards and find nothing to cook with, I do not think I have ever remembered a single line of what I studied and taught many mothers myself! Sigh, just yesterday I lost a perfectly good and expensive non stick sauce pot to my kids toy kitchen. Btw I have 2 boys.

I will be adding things often, so keep checking!