This question came up on my local twins list this week: what do you feed toddlers? How to you get them to eat healthy food? Or any food? What do your toddlers eat?
I don't intend this as a brag, but I've never had any real problems getting my daughters to eat a variety of food. Some days they devour it, some days they throw it on the floor (or paste it into their hair...), but this is true whether we're talking about cheese crackers or carrot coins, so I don't stress.
One thing you should know: I get a CSA box of vegetables once a week, and thus eat mostly along with the seasons. I also probably eat a lot more vegetables than average in general as a result.
The ladies generally eat more or less what the rest of the household eats. That is, I am prone to serving them reheated leftovers. This week, it's been oyster beef with broccoli over brown rice. Tonight, it will be ground pork and noodles. Last week, diced roast chicken and leftover cauliflower.
I do also prepare a lot of food just for them, but I don't make a big fuss. I'll boil up some dried tortellini once every few weeks -- they love to stick them on their fingers. Also every once in a while I make a small pot of dal, an Indian lentil dish. The last batch I made had leftover diced canned tomatoes mixed in. I like to serve it with yogurt on the side.
I also generally prepare a bag of frozen vegetables once a week. Green beans and peas and carrots are very popular right now; I also like to try out various stir-fry mixes. This is the simplest way to get vegetables into meals, frankly.
Oven-roasted vegetables are also popular with the ladies, and easy to make. I just toss cut-up veggies with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and put in the oven at 400 degrees until they're a little bit browned. This works for carrots, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, winter squash, or any combination thereof.
I also sometimes steam or saute these same vegetables. I also occasionally saute strips of cabbage or kale or chard when I have extra lying around -- they love it. Really!
I also often feed them canned beans (or, sometimes, leftover dried beans).
And fruit, let's not forget fruit. My daughters devour just about any fruit. "Apple" is one of their favorite words. Of course, they use it for pears, Asian pears, oranges and tangelos, oroblancos, mangoes, etc., too, but that's OK. I've tried the occasional canned fruit, but pineapple is the only success so far. I also offer poached prunes at least once a day because one of my daughters has some ongoing issues with constipation.
I supplement all this with a revolving rotation of whole-grain crackers, tortilla and pita chips, and pretzel sticks. And graham crackers and cheese crackers, too. And saltines while the adults are eating. I'm no saint.
A lot of this is finger food because my daughters adore finger food and have for ages now. They can manage a spoon and bowl well enough, and are starting to work on forks, but we are by no means civilized yet.
I'm avoiding some foods (cheese, bananas) because of the constipation issues, not because of general nutrition concerns. My daughters love both cheese and bananas. I might try sneaking it back in on occasion just as a treat. Nothing is forbidden, including sugar; everything is in moderation -- especially sugar, and also white flour.
This is what a typical day of meals looks like at the moment (17 months), not including milk, water, or (usually prune) juice. Also not including various bites of adult food, from gnawing on pork rib bones to spoonfuls of ice cream.
Breakfast: Dry cereal (wheat puffs or Cheerios) and fruit. Sometimes scrambled eggs, too, if the adults are eating them. (My daughters adore eggs.) Very occasionally: oatmeal, pancakes, whole wheat toast, yogurt and fruit.
Lunch: Finger food. Something with protein (beans, eggs--scrambled or hard-boiled or diced-up omelet, leftover chicken, peanut butter, cheese), a vegetable, a fruit, crackers or toast.
Dinner: Bowl and spoon food. Leftovers, dal, noodles or rice, Greek yogurt. A vegetable if there aren't enough veggies in the main dish. More protein if needed, too. More fruit, most of the time.
We're a little inconsistent on snacks in my household. I lean heavily on crackers and fruit here. (More fruit?) The tortilla chips and salsa experiment was kind of fun, though.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
One More Piece of Gear I Forgot!
The pod bouncer! They look like this:
I had two.
It might be an expensive but handy luxury for a singleton parent; for me, they were a lifesaver. I could hold one baby and put the other in the pod chair, or put one in the swing and the other in the pod chair, or both in pod chairs while I cooked dinner so they could watch, etc., etc., etc. They were indispensable for about the first eight months.
Now, if they hadn't been a gift, I might have resorted instead to laundry baskets or something cheap and easy like that. But they're a nice splurge item for sure.
I had two.
It might be an expensive but handy luxury for a singleton parent; for me, they were a lifesaver. I could hold one baby and put the other in the pod chair, or put one in the swing and the other in the pod chair, or both in pod chairs while I cooked dinner so they could watch, etc., etc., etc. They were indispensable for about the first eight months.
Now, if they hadn't been a gift, I might have resorted instead to laundry baskets or something cheap and easy like that. But they're a nice splurge item for sure.
Friday, September 25, 2009
And Then There's The Baby Monitor.
There's one item I forgot to mention in my epic post about first-year baby gear:
The baby monitor.
I loathe baby monitors. I think they are the first step toward over-paranoid helicopter parenting. I also find them horribly distracting, the opposite of white-noise generators. Was that a significant sound? What about that one? That one? Wait, what was I supposed to be doing again?
I can see it being useful in, say, multi-level homes, or other specific situations, but none of those applied to me. I live in a three-bedroom flat, for one thing. The babies are just never very far away. And I have enough anxiety, thank you, I don't need to enhance it with baseless fretting about their breathing patterns or whatnot.
So I vowed not to buy one. Not to register for one. To turn down all gifts, suggestions, and hand-me-down ones. There would be No Baby Monitors in my house. The nursery would be a Monitor-Free Zone. I would make signs.
And I would have stayed blissfully monitor-free if not for a slightly complicated situation in my household.
After the first six weeks, the twins had settled into a loosely predictable sleep pattern, but still required two or three or so nighttime feedings. One of my partners had used up his parental leave and had to return to work; the other one, like me, was unemployed at the time. And I was in desperate need of a solid night's sleep once in a while. Up until that point, we'd been splitting the night into three shifts. Whoever was 'on shift' would stay awake and listen for a baby's cry. Now, we sat down and hammered out a different shift rotation. We each would take a certain number of nights a week. My working partner, S., would take Friday and Saturday nights.
S. sleeps with a C-PAP machine, which assists with his breathing at night (he suffers from obstructive sleep apnea). It's a quiet machine, but not silent, and S. sleeps at the far end of the flat from the nursery. He was worried that he wouldn't hear the babies until they'd awakened the entire household, thus defeating the purpose of taking shifts in the first place.
So, reluctantly, and with much gnashing of teeth, I bought the simplest digital monitor I could find. No bells and whistles, please.
And yes, it did work. I still hate sleeping in the same room as the monitor - my mommy instincts are tuned too high, and I never get any sleep at all. Nonetheless, it's handy in its own way. You still won't find me praising it to the skies or recommending anyone add it to their registry, but OK. Sometimes they have their place.
Sometimes.
The baby monitor.
I loathe baby monitors. I think they are the first step toward over-paranoid helicopter parenting. I also find them horribly distracting, the opposite of white-noise generators. Was that a significant sound? What about that one? That one? Wait, what was I supposed to be doing again?
I can see it being useful in, say, multi-level homes, or other specific situations, but none of those applied to me. I live in a three-bedroom flat, for one thing. The babies are just never very far away. And I have enough anxiety, thank you, I don't need to enhance it with baseless fretting about their breathing patterns or whatnot.
So I vowed not to buy one. Not to register for one. To turn down all gifts, suggestions, and hand-me-down ones. There would be No Baby Monitors in my house. The nursery would be a Monitor-Free Zone. I would make signs.
And I would have stayed blissfully monitor-free if not for a slightly complicated situation in my household.
After the first six weeks, the twins had settled into a loosely predictable sleep pattern, but still required two or three or so nighttime feedings. One of my partners had used up his parental leave and had to return to work; the other one, like me, was unemployed at the time. And I was in desperate need of a solid night's sleep once in a while. Up until that point, we'd been splitting the night into three shifts. Whoever was 'on shift' would stay awake and listen for a baby's cry. Now, we sat down and hammered out a different shift rotation. We each would take a certain number of nights a week. My working partner, S., would take Friday and Saturday nights.
S. sleeps with a C-PAP machine, which assists with his breathing at night (he suffers from obstructive sleep apnea). It's a quiet machine, but not silent, and S. sleeps at the far end of the flat from the nursery. He was worried that he wouldn't hear the babies until they'd awakened the entire household, thus defeating the purpose of taking shifts in the first place.
So, reluctantly, and with much gnashing of teeth, I bought the simplest digital monitor I could find. No bells and whistles, please.
And yes, it did work. I still hate sleeping in the same room as the monitor - my mommy instincts are tuned too high, and I never get any sleep at all. Nonetheless, it's handy in its own way. You still won't find me praising it to the skies or recommending anyone add it to their registry, but OK. Sometimes they have their place.
Sometimes.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The twins will be a year old at the end of this month. Hard to believe! But true. Party plans are in progress. In the meantime, however, I thought I'd take the opportunity to reflect on a perennial topic of interest: baby gear. What worked? What didn't? What couldn't I live without? What did I never even touch? It's all here.
ObDisclaimer: This is a subjective discussion of what I, personally, found useful (or not, as the case may be). This is not an objective endorsement list. Really!
The big stuff, a.k.a. furniture I use:
• A changing table. Not everybody needs one of these; in fact, my own mother recommended against them. But I am old and tall and bending over to change a baby is hard on my back now. I found one - used - that had a multitude of drawers and shelves, and now it's the main storage unit in the nursery, holding all the babies' clothes, towels, sheets, and other good stuff. It’s been indispensible.
• A crib. So far, I've only needed one. Crossed fingers…
• High chairs. I wanted one that could fold up, and whose tray was removable if I ever decided to push them up to the big table. So far I haven’t used either of these features, but it’s nice to have the option.
• A double-sized playpen. Oh, wait, they’re called ‘playards’ now, aren’t they? :P To add to the hilarity, the brand name of mine is Joovy. As in “juvie,” juvenile detention. If I’m supposed to have shame about this object, I don’t. It was extremely handy for keeping the twins confined before they were ready to crawl and before I had childproofed the living room. Now it’s great for naps, or when we’re eating in the living room.
• A diaper pail. Yes, I unrepentantly use disposable diapers. I am on my second diaper pail; the first one’s pop-up lid broke a few weeks ago. Diaper pails tend to be horribly overbuilt and feature-heavy; all I really want is one that has some form of odor control and will take regular garbage bags rather than some overpriced proprietary form.
• I also used a Moses basket for the first two or three months. Eventually, they were too big to fit, but in the meantime, it came in handy for a secondary sleep place/landing spot for babies, before we graduated to the playpen.
Stuff I knew I'd need (or want), and I was right:
• The Sleep Sheep – a sheep-shaped plushie with a built-in white noise generator that emits a selection of ‘soothing’ sounds. I think white noise was a big boon in helping babies fall asleep in the crib at night. A cheaper option (if this hadn’t been a shower gift) would have been lullaby CDs, or even just a small fan, both of which we also used. Btw, G. hated the ‘heartbeat’ selection on this thing, so we usually chose something like ocean waves.
• Car seats. How I agonized. Convertible, or infant? I finally, reluctantly went for infant ‘bucket’ seats, the kind that can snap in and out of a base, on the advice of a great many people. I was initially reluctant because I didn’t want to have to buy another whole set of car seats just a year later. But the ‘bucket’ design was so handy for those first few months when they weren’t yet very mobile, that I now know I made the right choice. Also, it was nice to be able to buy a second set of bases for the second car, instead of either buying a whole second set of car seats, or switching them in and out of the car (which is what we’re going to try to do now that the kids have outgrown their old seats).
• An umbrella (i.e. folding) double stroller. Fits in the car! I was dead-set on having as small and portable a stroller as I could get away with, and I made the right decision. Again, this is partly a taste thing, but I hate strollers that seem to double as tanks. They’re bulky and heavy and hard to maneuver.
•
BPA-free teething toys that can be chilled. We have four, which seems the perfect number.
• Socks and warm hats. Onesies. Baby leggings.
• Diaper bags. One for each parent. I knew I wanted a messenger-style bag with a mini carrying handle, and that was about it for my requirements (other than cleanable, please). I found that I do not like lots of little pockets out in plain sight, but that’s a personal taste thing.
Stuff I needed, but in larger quantities than I anticipated:
• Burp cloths (aka cloth diapers). Some of you may remember that April in particular was a fountain all the way up until the transition to solid food. We kept a stack of burp cloths with us in every room to wipe up the inevitable messes.
• Pajamas and ‘sleep sacks,’ a.k.a. wearable blankets. For some reason, we didn’t get many of these as hand-me-downs. Wearable blankets are extra-cool because they can act as either an extra layer in cold weather, or a light layer (over skin) in hot weather. And babies can’t kick them off or get entangled in them (or throw them out of the crib)
• Hand cream. Wow, all that hand-washing in the early months did a job on my sensitive skin! I went through this stuff like water.
• Outerwear. Most jackets are too heavy for California weather, but it’s still nice to have an extra outer layer in the winter. Baby hoodies and/or cardigans are perfect, but I had to hunt them down. And since babies throw up on their coats, it’s good to have a spare set.
• Sun hats. Once their hair starts coming in, sunscreen is yucky, but their scalp is still too exposed to go bare.
Stuff I needed, but in smaller quantities than I anticipated:
• Wash cloths. I don’t know how I ended up with so many! They’re smaller and softer than adult washcloths, which is nice, although one could certainly use the latter in a pinch.
• Cloth bibs. Best for catching drool and spit-up, and therefore quite handy, but somehow I didn’t end up using them as often as I thought I might.
• Blankets. In a less temperate climate, I might have used more of these. But since the crib safety guidelines recommend no blankets at all in the crib when they’re young, and since it never gets all that cold in California, I find myself with a lot of baby blankets that I just don’t use much. Oh well.
Stuff I resisted buying but turned out to be a tremendous boon:
• A swing. But they take up so much space! And they can only take one baby at a time! It turns out that’s OK; one sleeping baby is one less to have to carry around. Whew. We actually ended up using a big swing and a small foldable swing at the same time.
* Pacifiers. The babies weaned themselves off of these at about six months. Now they like them again, but just for play and teething.
Stuff I thought I’d need, but didn’t:
• Undershirts. Honestly, I thought they’d be wearing undershirts and diapers for the first few weeks, at least until the umbilical cord healed. I hunted and searched for kimono-style undershirts that could be put on without pulling anything over a baby’s head. Then I never used them. Oh well.
Stuff other people told me I'd need, but I didn't:
• A snap-n-go stroller. This is a stroller that you can snap the bucket of a car seat into. Which works until they graduate car seats…this might be convenient for singleton parents, I guess, but it just seemed pointless to me.
• A bottle warmer. Babies will drink it (breastmilk or formula) cold. Trust me.
Surprise! I never thought these would be so handy!
• Boogie Wipes, which are really just saline-infused disposable wipes. But, dang, they do the job.
• Humidifier. When the babies caught colds, this was a lifesaver for bedtime hours.
• Baby lotion and hydrocortisone cream. Especially for April’s sensitive skin.
Special section - baby carriers:
I’ve owned at least one of each of the following: pouch, sling, mei tai, Bella baby carrier. The pouches were great when the babies were tiny and immobile, but now they don’t get much use. G. didn’t like the sling, so I gave it away. I like the Bella but it’s too small for Steven. I also really like the mei tai and this is what I would recommend to new parents who ask. (It has nothing to do with the skull and crossbones pattern on the front, either. Promise.) However, I also confess that I don’t use it very often any more. It’s handy when we’re taking one baby out, but now that they’re older and less needy, we often take two and just keep them in the stroller. As they get even older and less content to just sit back and get pushed, the carriers may come back into prominence. We’ll see.
Special section – bathing with baby:
At first, most of the time we just took the babies into the shower with us. That worked well. As they got a little bigger, we used a standard bulky plastic baby bath tub, with also worked fine. Now that they can sit up, we stick them both straight in the tub together, and that seems to be great fun.
We have a variety of squirty and poury bath toys for them to play with. They’re cheap and easy to find and lots of fun for everyone, adults included.
I have a mild bath products fetish, and so I have purchased a variety of shampoo-and-body-wash items for the babies that they cycle through. They’re good on April’s sensitive skin.
We bought a few of those hooded bath towels because they are cute (you should see Simone as Cookie Monster), but again, regular bath towels would have worked just fine if needed.
Special section – feeding the babies:
The first big investment was bottles. Because of April’s tendency to throw up her meals, we looked for bottles that claimed to minimize that sort of thing. And also BPA free, please. I ended up with a bunch of Dr. Browns and Born Frees.
I bought one cheap set of sippy cups, and have since had a bunch passed on down to me. I also bought a couple inexpensive sets of plastic and silicone-tipped metal spoons.
Plastic bibs with a pocket at the bottom are ubiquitous and indispensible. I must have a dozen.
I made my own baby food, for the most part. It isn’t hard. To puree foods, I used an attachment that came with my immersion blender. To store them, I used a couple sets of Baby Cubes.
I really should have a ‘splat mat’ underneath the high chairs, but I don’t. The floor’s slate. It’s dirty anyway. I just sweep three times a day and mop frequently. (I did buy a new broom...)
Oh yeah, I also used a Medela breast pump for the first six months.
Special section - childproofing:
Our biggest childproofing investment was for a big flexible play gate. We’re using this to block off the fireplace and television area in the living room right now. We also use it to create a penned-in area outside, and we’ve been known to take it to friends’ houses to help with temporary childproofing there, too.
Other than that, we’re making do with outlet covers and cord covers for the drapes, plus some cord control tubing here and there. We’ll install some bookcase anchors and drawer latches soon, I swear.
Special section – toys:
Things that rattle, clack, or make some sort of noise make the best ‘grasping toys.’ We have a bunch, plus a set of maracas that a friend passed on after the girls fell in love with a set at music class. Nowadays, these toys get banged hard on the floor, the table, and any other available hard surface. Sigh. Soft rattling toys are therefore also nice to have around.
We have two small blankets that make the very best hats and peekaboo drapes, although burp cloths also do well in this regard.
We haven’t needed to buy a single plush toy; we got plenty as gifts.
You know how some babies become attached to a specific toy? This happened with Simone, only it’s a book. (Baby Faces.) Figures. Board books are another thing we apparently can’t have enough of.
Anything else? Other than sunscreen, baby nail clippers, and Baby Orajel – all very handy - I can’t think of anything. Whew!
ObDisclaimer: This is a subjective discussion of what I, personally, found useful (or not, as the case may be). This is not an objective endorsement list. Really!
The big stuff, a.k.a. furniture I use:
• A changing table. Not everybody needs one of these; in fact, my own mother recommended against them. But I am old and tall and bending over to change a baby is hard on my back now. I found one - used - that had a multitude of drawers and shelves, and now it's the main storage unit in the nursery, holding all the babies' clothes, towels, sheets, and other good stuff. It’s been indispensible.
• A crib. So far, I've only needed one. Crossed fingers…
• High chairs. I wanted one that could fold up, and whose tray was removable if I ever decided to push them up to the big table. So far I haven’t used either of these features, but it’s nice to have the option.
• A double-sized playpen. Oh, wait, they’re called ‘playards’ now, aren’t they? :P To add to the hilarity, the brand name of mine is Joovy. As in “juvie,” juvenile detention. If I’m supposed to have shame about this object, I don’t. It was extremely handy for keeping the twins confined before they were ready to crawl and before I had childproofed the living room. Now it’s great for naps, or when we’re eating in the living room.
• A diaper pail. Yes, I unrepentantly use disposable diapers. I am on my second diaper pail; the first one’s pop-up lid broke a few weeks ago. Diaper pails tend to be horribly overbuilt and feature-heavy; all I really want is one that has some form of odor control and will take regular garbage bags rather than some overpriced proprietary form.
• I also used a Moses basket for the first two or three months. Eventually, they were too big to fit, but in the meantime, it came in handy for a secondary sleep place/landing spot for babies, before we graduated to the playpen.
Stuff I knew I'd need (or want), and I was right:
• The Sleep Sheep – a sheep-shaped plushie with a built-in white noise generator that emits a selection of ‘soothing’ sounds. I think white noise was a big boon in helping babies fall asleep in the crib at night. A cheaper option (if this hadn’t been a shower gift) would have been lullaby CDs, or even just a small fan, both of which we also used. Btw, G. hated the ‘heartbeat’ selection on this thing, so we usually chose something like ocean waves.
• Car seats. How I agonized. Convertible, or infant? I finally, reluctantly went for infant ‘bucket’ seats, the kind that can snap in and out of a base, on the advice of a great many people. I was initially reluctant because I didn’t want to have to buy another whole set of car seats just a year later. But the ‘bucket’ design was so handy for those first few months when they weren’t yet very mobile, that I now know I made the right choice. Also, it was nice to be able to buy a second set of bases for the second car, instead of either buying a whole second set of car seats, or switching them in and out of the car (which is what we’re going to try to do now that the kids have outgrown their old seats).
• An umbrella (i.e. folding) double stroller. Fits in the car! I was dead-set on having as small and portable a stroller as I could get away with, and I made the right decision. Again, this is partly a taste thing, but I hate strollers that seem to double as tanks. They’re bulky and heavy and hard to maneuver.
•
BPA-free teething toys that can be chilled. We have four, which seems the perfect number.
• Socks and warm hats. Onesies. Baby leggings.
• Diaper bags. One for each parent. I knew I wanted a messenger-style bag with a mini carrying handle, and that was about it for my requirements (other than cleanable, please). I found that I do not like lots of little pockets out in plain sight, but that’s a personal taste thing.
Stuff I needed, but in larger quantities than I anticipated:
• Burp cloths (aka cloth diapers). Some of you may remember that April in particular was a fountain all the way up until the transition to solid food. We kept a stack of burp cloths with us in every room to wipe up the inevitable messes.
• Pajamas and ‘sleep sacks,’ a.k.a. wearable blankets. For some reason, we didn’t get many of these as hand-me-downs. Wearable blankets are extra-cool because they can act as either an extra layer in cold weather, or a light layer (over skin) in hot weather. And babies can’t kick them off or get entangled in them (or throw them out of the crib)
• Hand cream. Wow, all that hand-washing in the early months did a job on my sensitive skin! I went through this stuff like water.
• Outerwear. Most jackets are too heavy for California weather, but it’s still nice to have an extra outer layer in the winter. Baby hoodies and/or cardigans are perfect, but I had to hunt them down. And since babies throw up on their coats, it’s good to have a spare set.
• Sun hats. Once their hair starts coming in, sunscreen is yucky, but their scalp is still too exposed to go bare.
Stuff I needed, but in smaller quantities than I anticipated:
• Wash cloths. I don’t know how I ended up with so many! They’re smaller and softer than adult washcloths, which is nice, although one could certainly use the latter in a pinch.
• Cloth bibs. Best for catching drool and spit-up, and therefore quite handy, but somehow I didn’t end up using them as often as I thought I might.
• Blankets. In a less temperate climate, I might have used more of these. But since the crib safety guidelines recommend no blankets at all in the crib when they’re young, and since it never gets all that cold in California, I find myself with a lot of baby blankets that I just don’t use much. Oh well.
Stuff I resisted buying but turned out to be a tremendous boon:
• A swing. But they take up so much space! And they can only take one baby at a time! It turns out that’s OK; one sleeping baby is one less to have to carry around. Whew. We actually ended up using a big swing and a small foldable swing at the same time.
* Pacifiers. The babies weaned themselves off of these at about six months. Now they like them again, but just for play and teething.
Stuff I thought I’d need, but didn’t:
• Undershirts. Honestly, I thought they’d be wearing undershirts and diapers for the first few weeks, at least until the umbilical cord healed. I hunted and searched for kimono-style undershirts that could be put on without pulling anything over a baby’s head. Then I never used them. Oh well.
Stuff other people told me I'd need, but I didn't:
• A snap-n-go stroller. This is a stroller that you can snap the bucket of a car seat into. Which works until they graduate car seats…this might be convenient for singleton parents, I guess, but it just seemed pointless to me.
• A bottle warmer. Babies will drink it (breastmilk or formula) cold. Trust me.
Surprise! I never thought these would be so handy!
• Boogie Wipes, which are really just saline-infused disposable wipes. But, dang, they do the job.
• Humidifier. When the babies caught colds, this was a lifesaver for bedtime hours.
• Baby lotion and hydrocortisone cream. Especially for April’s sensitive skin.
Special section - baby carriers:
I’ve owned at least one of each of the following: pouch, sling, mei tai, Bella baby carrier. The pouches were great when the babies were tiny and immobile, but now they don’t get much use. G. didn’t like the sling, so I gave it away. I like the Bella but it’s too small for Steven. I also really like the mei tai and this is what I would recommend to new parents who ask. (It has nothing to do with the skull and crossbones pattern on the front, either. Promise.) However, I also confess that I don’t use it very often any more. It’s handy when we’re taking one baby out, but now that they’re older and less needy, we often take two and just keep them in the stroller. As they get even older and less content to just sit back and get pushed, the carriers may come back into prominence. We’ll see.
Special section – bathing with baby:
At first, most of the time we just took the babies into the shower with us. That worked well. As they got a little bigger, we used a standard bulky plastic baby bath tub, with also worked fine. Now that they can sit up, we stick them both straight in the tub together, and that seems to be great fun.
We have a variety of squirty and poury bath toys for them to play with. They’re cheap and easy to find and lots of fun for everyone, adults included.
I have a mild bath products fetish, and so I have purchased a variety of shampoo-and-body-wash items for the babies that they cycle through. They’re good on April’s sensitive skin.
We bought a few of those hooded bath towels because they are cute (you should see Simone as Cookie Monster), but again, regular bath towels would have worked just fine if needed.
Special section – feeding the babies:
The first big investment was bottles. Because of April’s tendency to throw up her meals, we looked for bottles that claimed to minimize that sort of thing. And also BPA free, please. I ended up with a bunch of Dr. Browns and Born Frees.
I bought one cheap set of sippy cups, and have since had a bunch passed on down to me. I also bought a couple inexpensive sets of plastic and silicone-tipped metal spoons.
Plastic bibs with a pocket at the bottom are ubiquitous and indispensible. I must have a dozen.
I made my own baby food, for the most part. It isn’t hard. To puree foods, I used an attachment that came with my immersion blender. To store them, I used a couple sets of Baby Cubes.
I really should have a ‘splat mat’ underneath the high chairs, but I don’t. The floor’s slate. It’s dirty anyway. I just sweep three times a day and mop frequently. (I did buy a new broom...)
Oh yeah, I also used a Medela breast pump for the first six months.
Special section - childproofing:
Our biggest childproofing investment was for a big flexible play gate. We’re using this to block off the fireplace and television area in the living room right now. We also use it to create a penned-in area outside, and we’ve been known to take it to friends’ houses to help with temporary childproofing there, too.
Other than that, we’re making do with outlet covers and cord covers for the drapes, plus some cord control tubing here and there. We’ll install some bookcase anchors and drawer latches soon, I swear.
Special section – toys:
Things that rattle, clack, or make some sort of noise make the best ‘grasping toys.’ We have a bunch, plus a set of maracas that a friend passed on after the girls fell in love with a set at music class. Nowadays, these toys get banged hard on the floor, the table, and any other available hard surface. Sigh. Soft rattling toys are therefore also nice to have around.
We have two small blankets that make the very best hats and peekaboo drapes, although burp cloths also do well in this regard.
We haven’t needed to buy a single plush toy; we got plenty as gifts.
You know how some babies become attached to a specific toy? This happened with Simone, only it’s a book. (Baby Faces.) Figures. Board books are another thing we apparently can’t have enough of.
Anything else? Other than sunscreen, baby nail clippers, and Baby Orajel – all very handy - I can’t think of anything. Whew!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Chichi Baby Food, Reviewed
Canned baby food is so passe. Frozen baby food is the the new It Girl on the scene. Supposedly, frozen baby food is better because it's less processed and preservative-laden, more nutritious and wholesome and maybe even better-tasting, too. You're supposed to think frozen peas - yum! - vs. canned peas - yuck!
You don't have to believe the hype. I've read the labels on both frozen and canned baby food, and they're all pretty innocuous-looking to me. Plus, frozen is more expensive and takes up more space - and resources; for all the eco-chic of some frozen brands, I would like to point out that glass jars are recyclable and can be stored without use of electricity to run that freezer. The green choice, if you're not making your own (and I'm doing that too, but convenience is convenience), is clearly canned.
Canned is also more portable than frozen. Much easier to stuff a spoon and a jar in the diaper bag and go, without having to worry about defrosting, knocking open a plastic lid, and so on.
Still, I admit to a weakness for the frozen stuff. It's fun. It looks more appetizing, on the whole. And freezing does preserve texture better for my chunk-loving babies. And maybe it preserves nutrients better, too, who knows.
So I went a little nuts and bought a range of frozen baby foods to try out on the twins. I thought I'd share the results of my taste test with you all.
First up, the Dr. Sears-approved HappyBaby Food. This stuff comes in little plastic ice cube trays, one cube per serving, twelve cubes to a pack. Each package has two different flavors with cutesy names like "Yes Peas & Thank-You Carrots" or "Sweeter Potatoes & Purer Pear." The ice-cube motif is cute and the portion sizing is perfect.
Verdict? Well, Dr. Sears may approve, but my babies don't. The one-ingredient purees were OK, but, well, I could make them myself, and do, so why pay the money?
Everything else I tried flunked so completely that most of it ended up down the garbage disposal. The babies just didn't seem to like the taste or texture, and I must admit, I found it rather bland myself. (I notice that the advertising copy uses the word 'mild' a lot. Mild = blah. Babies like flavor, too!) The Baby Dhal was a minor success, at least, but that's another thing I could just as well make myself - and they absolutely hated the counterpart in the package, 'Mama Grain.'
HappyBaby likes to dose its chunkier foods with hippie grains like quinoa and amaranth and such. They are not alone in this, as we'll see later, but it annoys me. I want to feed my babies a variety of foods, but I also want to remain in the realm of things I might normally eat once in a while, too. And I have never eaten quinoa or amaranth outside of a vegan potluck, thank you.
So, HappyBaby may have Dr. Sears' approval, and it may be 'healthy,' but it fails the taste test. Thumbs down.
(One exception: my babies adore both halves of the "Grrreat Greans & Easygoing Greens" package. They won't touch greens that I prepare myself. I am so excited that they're not only eating, but begging for, green veggies that I think this one has found a spot in my overcrowded freezer for now.)
Next contestant: Plum Organics.
I love the name of this company. 'Plum' sounds so posh and yet not at all decadent. You're indulging your baby, but with something wholesome. Perfect. Sold.
Well, I may be sold, but my babies weren't so thrilled.
I tried two varieties: Harvest Vegetables with Turkey, and Red Lentil Vegetables.
Plum Organics packages their food in little plastic bins. Recyclable, of course, and easy to defrost. I'd say that each bin contains about two servings worth of food, which in theory makes it perfect for my twins. In practice, though...
The turkey was a dud. They didn't hate it, but they didn't particularly like it either. Could it be that my ladies are budding vegetarians? Remember how much they liked the greens...
The Red Lentil Vegetables were a moderate success. Red lentils are the main ingredient in HappyBaby's Baby Dhal, too, so I am sensing a pattern here. My babies are health food junkies: they like lentils and greens, but not meat. OK! But only if it tastes good (and doesn't have quinoa) - they are gourmet health food junkies. Figures.
I might try Plum again if I see a package of one of their other flavors - Banana Peach Rice Pudding, maybe, or Mango Muesli, or of course! Super Greens. But I'm in no rush, because there are better (and more moderately prices) alternatives out there.
Like Tasty Baby.
Again, I skipped the first level of their products, the one-ingredient purees. I can do that myself.
And I also skipped the flavors that incorporated 'quinoa pasta' (i.e., all 'Stage 3' foods). I have never eaten quinoa pasta in my life and I don't plan to start. So why inflict it upon my children?
That left me with the 'Stage 2' Flavors, like "Bangoes" (mangoes and banana) or "Sweetie Pie" (sweet potatoes and apples with cinnamon).
Oh, baby.
These were so good I almost didn't share. I am not kidding. A container of this stuff would make a great breakfast or snack.
Normally, I'd question the size of these containers. They're a little larger than Plum's, and hold what I would usually consider a bit more than two servings of food. If it wasn't for the fact that my babies practically inhale anything from Tasty Baby that I provide them. Leftovers are not a problem here. Which makes Tasty Baby cost-effective, too!
Thus, in our taste test sweepstakes, the clear winner is Tasty Baby. So tasty, in fact, that it just might be worth joining the frozen-baby-food trendwagon.
Two other upscale baby foods deserve a short mention here:
The first is World Baby Foods. These aren't frozen; they come in the old-fashioned glass jar, which, as I have noted, is fine for certain kinds of foods anyway. And I love these foods.
Flavors include Sweetie Tahiti, which includes bananas, coconut, apples, pear, and rice. This one was a big hit at our house. The other winner? Baby Dal - you might notice a trend here? Apparently, my babies love lentils. Also turmeric and cumin. I confess I haven't mustered the gumption to try Baby Borscht, just because beets are so staining and feeding babies is so messy. But I can't wait to test-drive some of the other flavors.
I love this food in part because it's not afraid of seasoning. Que Pasa Calabasa has a dash of chili; Lullabye Thai has ginger and cardamom. Forget 'mild'! "Mild' is the culinary equivalent of talking down to your kids. Don't dial down the taste or dumb down your food.
Final mention goes to Little Bug Foods, a company that's local to me here in Oakland, California. They even have a stand at one of the neighborhood farmer's markets here, but you can also find them in some grocery stores around here.
Little Bug doesn't just walk the walk. Their packaging is extra-eco-friendly and their produce is all local and seasonal - what they're selling in any given month depends on the harvest. I admit to thinking "why does seasonal matter quite so much when it's frozen?" but I guess that just means I'm not hardcore.
That's fine, because the food is delicious. We tried the kiwi-apple puree, and it was a hit - not as popular as Tasty Baby's 'Bangoes,' but a close runner-up. Carrots and brown rice were also accepted, and considering I've had problems feeding them straight-up carrots that I made myself, I was impressed. I might not sneak it into my own lunch box, but it's not bland, boring, or excessively hippified. The flavors do tend toward the one-ingredient purees that I try to avoid, just because I always feel like I could do it myself for less cost, but that's my own hang-up and besides, there are exceptions.
Little Bug is strictly a Northern California phenomenon, but if you're in the area, they're worth checking out.
You don't have to believe the hype. I've read the labels on both frozen and canned baby food, and they're all pretty innocuous-looking to me. Plus, frozen is more expensive and takes up more space - and resources; for all the eco-chic of some frozen brands, I would like to point out that glass jars are recyclable and can be stored without use of electricity to run that freezer. The green choice, if you're not making your own (and I'm doing that too, but convenience is convenience), is clearly canned.
Canned is also more portable than frozen. Much easier to stuff a spoon and a jar in the diaper bag and go, without having to worry about defrosting, knocking open a plastic lid, and so on.
Still, I admit to a weakness for the frozen stuff. It's fun. It looks more appetizing, on the whole. And freezing does preserve texture better for my chunk-loving babies. And maybe it preserves nutrients better, too, who knows.
So I went a little nuts and bought a range of frozen baby foods to try out on the twins. I thought I'd share the results of my taste test with you all.
First up, the Dr. Sears-approved HappyBaby Food. This stuff comes in little plastic ice cube trays, one cube per serving, twelve cubes to a pack. Each package has two different flavors with cutesy names like "Yes Peas & Thank-You Carrots" or "Sweeter Potatoes & Purer Pear." The ice-cube motif is cute and the portion sizing is perfect.
Verdict? Well, Dr. Sears may approve, but my babies don't. The one-ingredient purees were OK, but, well, I could make them myself, and do, so why pay the money?
Everything else I tried flunked so completely that most of it ended up down the garbage disposal. The babies just didn't seem to like the taste or texture, and I must admit, I found it rather bland myself. (I notice that the advertising copy uses the word 'mild' a lot. Mild = blah. Babies like flavor, too!) The Baby Dhal was a minor success, at least, but that's another thing I could just as well make myself - and they absolutely hated the counterpart in the package, 'Mama Grain.'
HappyBaby likes to dose its chunkier foods with hippie grains like quinoa and amaranth and such. They are not alone in this, as we'll see later, but it annoys me. I want to feed my babies a variety of foods, but I also want to remain in the realm of things I might normally eat once in a while, too. And I have never eaten quinoa or amaranth outside of a vegan potluck, thank you.
So, HappyBaby may have Dr. Sears' approval, and it may be 'healthy,' but it fails the taste test. Thumbs down.
(One exception: my babies adore both halves of the "Grrreat Greans & Easygoing Greens" package. They won't touch greens that I prepare myself. I am so excited that they're not only eating, but begging for, green veggies that I think this one has found a spot in my overcrowded freezer for now.)
Next contestant: Plum Organics.
I love the name of this company. 'Plum' sounds so posh and yet not at all decadent. You're indulging your baby, but with something wholesome. Perfect. Sold.
Well, I may be sold, but my babies weren't so thrilled.
I tried two varieties: Harvest Vegetables with Turkey, and Red Lentil Vegetables.
Plum Organics packages their food in little plastic bins. Recyclable, of course, and easy to defrost. I'd say that each bin contains about two servings worth of food, which in theory makes it perfect for my twins. In practice, though...
The turkey was a dud. They didn't hate it, but they didn't particularly like it either. Could it be that my ladies are budding vegetarians? Remember how much they liked the greens...
The Red Lentil Vegetables were a moderate success. Red lentils are the main ingredient in HappyBaby's Baby Dhal, too, so I am sensing a pattern here. My babies are health food junkies: they like lentils and greens, but not meat. OK! But only if it tastes good (and doesn't have quinoa) - they are gourmet health food junkies. Figures.
I might try Plum again if I see a package of one of their other flavors - Banana Peach Rice Pudding, maybe, or Mango Muesli, or of course! Super Greens. But I'm in no rush, because there are better (and more moderately prices) alternatives out there.
Like Tasty Baby.
Again, I skipped the first level of their products, the one-ingredient purees. I can do that myself.
And I also skipped the flavors that incorporated 'quinoa pasta' (i.e., all 'Stage 3' foods). I have never eaten quinoa pasta in my life and I don't plan to start. So why inflict it upon my children?
That left me with the 'Stage 2' Flavors, like "Bangoes" (mangoes and banana) or "Sweetie Pie" (sweet potatoes and apples with cinnamon).
Oh, baby.
These were so good I almost didn't share. I am not kidding. A container of this stuff would make a great breakfast or snack.
Normally, I'd question the size of these containers. They're a little larger than Plum's, and hold what I would usually consider a bit more than two servings of food. If it wasn't for the fact that my babies practically inhale anything from Tasty Baby that I provide them. Leftovers are not a problem here. Which makes Tasty Baby cost-effective, too!
Thus, in our taste test sweepstakes, the clear winner is Tasty Baby. So tasty, in fact, that it just might be worth joining the frozen-baby-food trendwagon.
Two other upscale baby foods deserve a short mention here:
The first is World Baby Foods. These aren't frozen; they come in the old-fashioned glass jar, which, as I have noted, is fine for certain kinds of foods anyway. And I love these foods.
Flavors include Sweetie Tahiti, which includes bananas, coconut, apples, pear, and rice. This one was a big hit at our house. The other winner? Baby Dal - you might notice a trend here? Apparently, my babies love lentils. Also turmeric and cumin. I confess I haven't mustered the gumption to try Baby Borscht, just because beets are so staining and feeding babies is so messy. But I can't wait to test-drive some of the other flavors.
I love this food in part because it's not afraid of seasoning. Que Pasa Calabasa has a dash of chili; Lullabye Thai has ginger and cardamom. Forget 'mild'! "Mild' is the culinary equivalent of talking down to your kids. Don't dial down the taste or dumb down your food.
Final mention goes to Little Bug Foods, a company that's local to me here in Oakland, California. They even have a stand at one of the neighborhood farmer's markets here, but you can also find them in some grocery stores around here.
Little Bug doesn't just walk the walk. Their packaging is extra-eco-friendly and their produce is all local and seasonal - what they're selling in any given month depends on the harvest. I admit to thinking "why does seasonal matter quite so much when it's frozen?" but I guess that just means I'm not hardcore.
That's fine, because the food is delicious. We tried the kiwi-apple puree, and it was a hit - not as popular as Tasty Baby's 'Bangoes,' but a close runner-up. Carrots and brown rice were also accepted, and considering I've had problems feeding them straight-up carrots that I made myself, I was impressed. I might not sneak it into my own lunch box, but it's not bland, boring, or excessively hippified. The flavors do tend toward the one-ingredient purees that I try to avoid, just because I always feel like I could do it myself for less cost, but that's my own hang-up and besides, there are exceptions.
Little Bug is strictly a Northern California phenomenon, but if you're in the area, they're worth checking out.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cool and Geeky Gender-Neutral Item of the Month
Geeky fun shouldn't be reserved for the boys. I am constantly angered when I find monsters, spaceships, and dinosaurs classified in the "boy's" section of stores. Dinosaurs were my absolute favorite as a kid. And sabre-toothed tigers. Rocket ships may not have been my thing, but planets! Absolutely.
So I am always delighted when I find ungendered clothing and toys with geeky undertones. Sure, I can always cross the invisible gender line and buy whatever I feel like for my girls, but what a relief it is when I find a vendor who seems to understand, like I do, that the appeal of bugs and frogs and things transcends all gender divisions.
This week: Alphabet T-shirts!
My favorite from ABCD Tees is the jellyfish pictured here. Runner-up: the seahorse. (Yes, I had an aquarium as a child, how did you guess?) But they also have crabs, katydids, dragonflies...and newts! Awesome. If you prefer something a little more mainstream, zoologically speaking, there's also elephants, rhinos, and alligators.
The realistic dictionary-art style of the images is what makes these t-shirts extra-geeky for me. They might not be the most stylish, but that doesn't make them any less cute.
So I am always delighted when I find ungendered clothing and toys with geeky undertones. Sure, I can always cross the invisible gender line and buy whatever I feel like for my girls, but what a relief it is when I find a vendor who seems to understand, like I do, that the appeal of bugs and frogs and things transcends all gender divisions.
This week: Alphabet T-shirts!
My favorite from ABCD Tees is the jellyfish pictured here. Runner-up: the seahorse. (Yes, I had an aquarium as a child, how did you guess?) But they also have crabs, katydids, dragonflies...and newts! Awesome. If you prefer something a little more mainstream, zoologically speaking, there's also elephants, rhinos, and alligators.
The realistic dictionary-art style of the images is what makes these t-shirts extra-geeky for me. They might not be the most stylish, but that doesn't make them any less cute.
Friday, July 3, 2009
First Things First: Why Binary Star?
Well, what else would an avid reader of science fiction
call a blog about parenting twins?
Twin girls, to be exact -- almost exactly nine months
old.
I'm not a traditional fan; I'm not a traditional mom.
I'm sureit will all become clear sooner than later if
you stick around.
And in the meantime, there will be cute baby pictures
and notes on fun gear and bleary-eyed tales of how
I've been chasing the girls down all day long. Plus
tips on how to dress your kid like a space alien.
Maybe. And not just for Halloween.
Welcome, and enjoy!
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