Featured!

Check out Supermom Moments to read my little tip HERE.

You will absolutely LOVE this blog! It is one of my daily reads and I am constantly finding fun ideas/tips to help me be a supermom! 

Enjoy!

Life Through My Toddler's Eyes

I am always thinking of new ways to challenge my 15 month old little boy. How can I enhance his fine motor skills? How can I help him learn to count to 5 or say the word "bird"? I am constantly thinking on his level. I am not going to expect him to know how to say his ABC's right now because he is still learning how to talk. I am not going to expect him to know how to count because we haven't spent a ton of time on that subject. Children don't magically learn how to do things; WE have to teach them.

I've had a few friends ask me what they should be working on educationally with their toddler and what I do with mine. This is my answer:

1. Assess your child's abilities. Not your friend's child. Yours.

2. Once you know his abilities, focus on activities that are challenging TO HIM. For example, Owen is able to open and close things, sing songs using actions and hold a colored pencil to make marks on paper. SO I give him empty bottles with easy to open lids for him to practice with, sing songs such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider where he can do almost all the actions but is still needing to learn some more, and provide him with opportunities to color using colored pencils while helping him begin to learn how to correctly hold the pencil.

3. Talk to your toddler. I am constantly talking with my son. I tell him what I'm doing around the house, we look out the window and talk about what we see, I ask him questions such as "What do you see?" or "How do you feel?" My goal is to help him not only build vocabulary, but also learn important social skills such as knowing his feelings and using words such as "please" and "thank you."

4. Point out letters, numbers and words. If you are working on the letter "M" with your child, when you see a word that begins with "m" point it out to your child excitedly! Make a big deal about it and then let her find the next one. OR if you are teaching her how to count to 5, when you are putting toys away, count to 5 over and over again as you clean up. 

5. Lastly, recognize that there are ALWAYS "Teaching Moments" and take advantage of them.

I sure hope that helps! 

What do YOU do to help your toddler learn?

Get your grove on!

TIP #4

Exercise is an important key in being healthy. What better way to get your exercise in then with your family! There are so many fun ways to get your family moving. Here are some ideas:

~ Throw dance parties in your living room at night after dinner.

~ Go for walks outside in the morning or evening together.

~ Bike rides around the neighborhood.

~ Set up a simple obstacle coarse in the house or outside for the whole family to enjoy.

~ Go to the High School track and have a family race.

Not only is it important to exercise and keep your family active, but it is even more important to TEACH your kids WHY it is important to exercise and be active. 

Here is a great article that I read in the Fitness Magazine

Fit Kids = Fit Adults

Sometimes it seems that today's children are far more motivated to give their fingers a workout playing video games or using the remote control than they are to move bigger muscles in their bodies. In fact, research shows that 50 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds are not getting the exercise they need. And 34 percent of those kids would fail an eight-minute treadmill test.
"Children watch an average of 3 to 5 hours of television a day", according to Jennifer Trachtenberg, MD, author of Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children (Harper Collins, 2007). "That really doesn't leave much time to shape up their bodies and their brains."
According to Dr. Trachtenberg, children who enjoy doing physical activity are more likely to exercise as adults. "It's much easier to keep a good habit than it is to break a bad habit," she says.
So the question is, how do you get the good exercising habits started? Here, Dr. Trachtenberg shares her tips for making exercise entertaining for even the most confirmed couch potato kid.

Pages in this Story:

• Fit Kids = Fit Adults
• 1. Let them play video games.
• 2. Take out the TVs.
• 3. Expect them to say no.
• 4. Be a cheerleader.
• 5. Sneak in exercise.
• 6. Walk the walk.
• 7. Get the gift of fitness.
• 8. Involve older children in sports and exercise.

Read more about this article HERE

By Jennifer Saltiel, LMSW

Please share your thoughts. What does your family do to stay active?

 

Helping Your Child Eat More Fruits and Veggies

Tip #3

My son LOVES his fruits and many different veggies but he has an issue with texture. Sometimes he will not eat certain fruits, but mainly veggies, because it might be too bumpy or grainy. So sometimes I have to be creative...and sometimes I have to be deceiving. 

This is where this lovely cook book comes in:

I love this book to pieces! I add spinach to brownies, squash to homemade mac and cheese, white beans to homemade rice balls, broccoli to cookies and so much more. Sounds crazy huh? Well that's what I thought when my friend Jenn gave it to me for a baby shower long before baby O was born. But let me tell ya, I use it ALL. THE. TIME. I still offer O veggies steamed or raw, however, when he doesn't eat them that way, I puree them and in they go with our dinner...whatever we're having.

It truly is Deceptively Delicious!

What are some of your tricks on helping your children eat fruits and veggies?

The Winner is....

Kerrie!!

Congratulations!!

Thank you to all who contributed to our GIVEAWAY!!

Kerrie, please email Bite Rite at

devpettit@gmail.com

to claim your prize!!

:)

Tomorrow is...

St. Patrick's Day!!



Over at Mama J's house we are going to be....

Searching for leprauchauns (there just might be little green foot prints throughout the house)

Eating a GREEN brunch which includes: green pancakes, green eggs, green fruit kabobs with

kiwi, honey dew, and green grapes, mint brownies, and a green slush with 7up and lime sorbert

Making St. Patrick's Day cards with glittery paper, shamrock stickers and markers

Wearing shamrock necklaces found HERE

Playing with green play dough
{easiest recipe!}
2 c flour
1 c salt
1 c warmish water
green food coloring
*In a large bowl combine flour and salt. Add 1/2 water and mix till well absorbed. Then add the remaining water and mix until a ball forms. Don't forget to add the food coloring!

And of course enjoying some great company!

I hope you can use some of these ideas to make your St. Patrick's Day festive and fun!

p.s. What do YOU like to do for St. Patrick's Day?

Also, don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY!! Tomorrow is the last day to enter so hurry hurry!

Living Healthy

Before I get started...DON'T forget to enter our awesome March giveaway...click HERE!

TIP #2

Cook healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy!

This is hard for many busy families to do, but I feel that it is so important to make eating enjoyable, nutritious, and fun for the entire family. SO...make sure to involve your kids in the kitchen as much as possible!

Here are some helpful tips that I came up with to support cooking healthy meals in the kitchen with your kids:

1. Make a weekly meal plan. 

Usually on Sunday I sit down and plan out my meals for the week. My sister-in-law, author of Biterite.blogspot.com, gave me this lovely item for Christmas last year. I LOVE IT!

This helps me keep track of what we are eating for dinner each night and ideas for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I glance at it daily because it is on my refrigerator. 

THIS IS WHERE THE KIDS COME INTO PLAY....

 Ask your children what they would like for dinner this week.

~ They could choose from a list of options.

~ Maybe your family likes to have themed nights. For example: Meatless Mondays, Pizza Fridays, Mexican Wednesdays, Breakfast Sundays, etc. 

~ Another idea would be to have each child choose a dish on their night....just plan ahead. Mikey picks on Monday what you get to eat for dinner. Since it his night then he is the KITCHEN HELPER for MONDAY nights. 

I feel that when I write it down I stick to the menu better. With kids there will be no questions like, "What's for dinner mom?" They will no that you have decided ahead of time and the menu is on the fridge. 

Planning ahead also helps with your grocery shopping for the week. 

By including your kids in the process you are able to teach MANY lessons such as: writing lists, organization, money management, reading recipes, measuring ingredients, etc.

2. Plan Ahead: Meal Preparation

I have found that the closer to dinner time, the harder it is to prepare dinner. SO...I have found that if I do the prep work ahead of time (like the night before after the kids are in bed or in the morning) then it is much faster and easier to get dinner on the table by 6:00pm. Do what you can do ahead of time like chop veggies, prepare the salad, assemble the lasagna and then refrigerate it. Then when it is time to have your children help you they can set the table and prepare the final touches on the dishes That way you can give your child more attention in the kitchen. 

3. Finding Healthy Recipes

I LOVE trying new recipes! I especially love using the internet to do this. I love reading other people's reviews on recipes that they have tried and to learn from them. I have compiled a list of some of my all time favorite websites that feature nutritious recipes that the whole family will love!

www.skinnytaste.com 

www.allrecipes.com

www.eatingwell.com

www.cookinglight.com 

www.crockpot365.blogspot.com 

Happy Cooking!!!!

Counters....What do I do with them!?

 A little while ago, we had a reader ask us about activities she can do with her children using counters. First of all, I am so glad she purchased counters! They are such a great manipulative! They are a GREAT way to help your child develop number sense as well as practice basic addition and subtraction skills. Secondly, there are endless ways you can use counters and we are going to share a few of our ideas.

1. Put them in a cup and shake them!

When helping your child with number sense, have your child grab a handful of counters without looking (if this child is young, no more than 10) and place them in the cup. Then have her shake it and dump it and count how many fell onto the table. Next, have her correctly write down the number to practice the correct way to write a number. This is a basic way to practice counting and can be done starting at 2 years old!

**Please note that I have drawn the counters because mine are stuck in storage at the moment! :)

2. Shaking and separating for more number sense practice.

You can also use a regular 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper horizontally. Draw a line down the middle to separate it into two parts. Label one side with a RED crayon or marker "Red" and the other side with a YELLOW crayon or marker "Yellow". {By using the corresponding color, it will help your child read/learn the word better}. Then have your child count out ten counters and place them in the cup. Have him shake it and dump it onto the paper. Next, have him separate the yellow and the red counters into their correct side and count them. At the bottom of the "Red" side have him write the number of red counters shown. Have him do the same on the "Yellow" side.

3. Shaking and separating for addition and subtraction practice.

On a blank piece of paper, draw an upside down "T" and label like below.

Next have your child put 10 counters (or more or less depending on her age) into the cup. Have her shake them and dump them out onto the paper. Next have her separate them according to color in their correct spaces. Last, have her create a number sentence (either addition or subtraction) and record it on the bottom part of the paper.

If you notice I have color coordinated throughout the activity to further help with their understanding. 

Of course you can make any one of these activities into a fun game. Also, these activities can be done on white boards for a fun change. I would have my students do these activities at the red rug with me and when they had their answer ready, they couldn't hold up their white board until I said "1, 2, 3 show me!!" They loved using their white boards and counters with these activities.

These are just a few basic activities that can be done with counters. We will definitely be posting more!

**As with all activities, they can easily be adapted depending on your child's level/age. :)

GIVEAWAY!!

Yup that's right, another GIVEAWAY!! Bite Rite {an AMAZING blog} is giving away an awesome, educational book about eating right. It is called the Rainbow Bunch and is found on the Super Healthy Kids blog. It is a rhyming book that is geared toward children 2 to 5 and focuses on the importance of eating a "rainbow" of fruits of veggies daily. What a perfect way to introduce healthy eating to young children.

{Picture books are fun to read and listen to and always provide great illustrations that are both engaging and helpful with comprehension}.

Here's what you need to do in order to win this adorable book:

Please note: Each additional comment counts as an entry so do as many as you can!

**You must become a follower of Bite Rite and tell us {mandatory}
**Get a friend to become a follower of Bite Rite and tell us
**Leave a comment below with a meal idea for kids

**And just because Bite Rite is so kind, you can get an extra entry for becoming a follow of our blog too!! {make sure you tell us!}

The winner will be chosen and announced on March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day!!

Good luck and make sure you check out Bite Rite for wonderful nutritional tips for helping your family eat healthy!

Daily Diet

After posting TIP #1, I thought that I would show you what Mama K's daily diet consists of. I too am on the path of striving to live a healthy life style. Here are SOME of my favorite staples that my family eats almost every day! (Granted my three 6 month old boys are still eating baby food, but not for long!)

**OATMEAL: I always buy plain oatmeal and then add my own mix-ins (it's cheaper and healthier too!). Some of my favorite mis-in's include: cinnamon, 2 Tbsp. GoLean Crunch, milk, Agave Nectar, or even frozen berries!

**DAIRY: I am a firm believer that your body NEEDS the 5 FOOD GROUPS everyday! This is one food group that I could not live without. I LOVE milk (soy or cow's), eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, and string cheese! A goal of mine is to try and buy organic dairy as much as possible.

**VEGGIES & FRUIT: The best snacks of all! I love to peel carrots (I buy them whole because they are much cheaper and more tasty in my opinion.) and eat them whole! I eat a banana every morning, along with my oatmeal. I love an apple in the afternoon for a snack. Another snack I like is to heat up 1/2 cup of frozen peas in the microwave and add some pepper and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.

**Favorite brand: KASHI!!!  I love everything KASHI! If you haven't tried it, you should. I love Kashi cereals, granola bars, crackers, and cookies. If you ever want a CARB fix and you are in a rush, choose something Kashi. It's tasty, made from HEALTHY ingredients, and filling!

**WATER: I know we hear this over and over again, but it's true OUR BODIES NEED LOTS OF WATER! So drink up! It's free and refreshing!

What are you & your family eating/snacking on that's nutritious? 

March is National Nutrition Month

In honor of National Nutrition Month I thought it would be fun to post some healthy, nutritious tips that you and your family might enjoy over the next month!

GOAL: Striving to become a healthier family!

Here is the first tip that I live by to help my family strive to become healthier each day:

TIP #1) Evaluate your cupboards and refrigerator. 

What kind of snacks and food do you keep on hand? 

I like to use the first 5 ingredients as a checklist to ensure that what is sitting in my kitchen is healthy. 

5 Ingredients to AVOID

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Sugar

"Enriched" flour products

Trans fats

Saturated Fats

I try hard to make sure that 90% of the stuff that I keep in my home does not contain these ingredients. 

I also have a NO SODA in the house rule.

What are 3 things in your cupboards or refrigerator that you could eliminate from your diet to help your family stay healthy?

Please post ...we would love to hear!

also...

This website is an AWESOME resource:

SUPER HEALTHY KIDS

The Praise Board

The Praise Board was a popular area in my first grade classroom. It was a special place to display the VERY BEST work that my students created. It didn't have to be perfect; it just had to be their PERSONAL BEST.

I have decided to have a Praise Board (or wall) in my house where I can display my son's best work. Of course right now I have yet to display anything, or make a Praise Board at all. However, I am excited to do this one day. I know it will be not only uplifting and confidence building for him to see his best work, but it will also be motivating for him to continue to do his best....in everything.

Happy Praising!! :)

Star Crayons

It sure has been a while! I'm happy to be posting again after a much needed vacay in the sun. :)

I found these adorable stars on another blog I contribute to.

I couldn't help but share them! If you want to know how to make these with your little ones go to Poshish. This is a fun way to make crayons that also give you a chance to teach your little one about shapes. You can easily make these with other shapes too such as a heart, circle, square or rectangle. Start keeping old crayons now so that you can make fun crafts such as these later!