On to Solids January 26, 2007

It never ceases to amaze me how moving on to every new milestone sets off another bout of maternal insecurities.

The Little Girl moved onto solids last night and although I have done this before, it still didn’t prevent me from looking it up in every book known to motherkind (and those who know me know that this is probably not far from the truth).

But, I have to admit that even I was thrown by the following warning on the cereal box: “some settling may occur during handling”.

What the heck did this mean? The subtitle to this was, “with added prebiotics’ for a healthy digestive system”, to put my confusion into context.

Did this mean that our sleep was going to be disrupted even more than it already was, because my daughter’s stomach was now going to “settle in” for the night, even though the box had a spectacular yellow star promising “good nights”? Were the contents of her nappies going to warrant even more observation and speculation after this meal?

If there was one thing I didn’t need, it was the threat of “settling after handling” – I’ve gone this route before. Bigboy was started on solids at 4 months because of the completely untruthful, some marketing-genius-with-no-kids’ promise of “good nights”.

I lifted my thumb to have a better look and then with relief noticed the other half of this notice: “this package is sold by mass – not volume”.

I didn’t have to worry after all; the road to good sleep was indeed paved with empty promises.

The Toddler’s Busy Book – Trish Kuffner January 26, 2007

The Toddler’s Busy Book is written by a mother of 5 children, so I guess she really knows how to keep a toddler busy.

Trish Kuffner writes, “As my oldest child, my very first baby, approaches adolescence, it is a special joy to experience the toddler years again. Having several children halfway to adulthood has given me an appreciation of the brevity of the very early years of childhood – an appreciation I didn’t have 10 years ago when my oldest was a toddler. Although back then it seemed as though my babies would never grow up, most of them have – and yours will, too. Diapers will one day be a thing of the past, as will bottles, soothers, a bathtub full of toys, afternoon naps, sticky fingers, wet kisses, and so many other earmarks of toddlerhood.”

The book has excellent advice on organising your house for a toddler, from keeping a Baker’s Box in the kitchen to setting up a Rainy Day Box for when the weather forces you to spend more time indoors than is beneficial for the mental well-being of both the children and the sad sack who got the short straw.

The book is divided into the following :

Rainy Day Play

Kids in the Kitchen (gulp!)

Water Play

Outdoor Adventures

Out and About

Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays (a.k.a. mommy can’t be bothered to get off the couch)

Early Learning Fun

Music and Movement (mommy needs to lose weight and yoga isn’t working)

Arts and Crafts.

Of special interest to me was the inclusion of several paint and dough recipes that included edible versions for the really little ones, like this recipe for Condensed Milk Paint (downers not included)

Bowl

1 cup condensed milk

Food colouring

You mix the condensed milk with some drops of food colouring to make a very bright, glossy paint. This paint is apparently not intended to be eaten, but it won’t harm the child who decides to make a snack of it. Store in the refrigerator.

I ordered mine from Exclusive Books online for R104.85 and they add the nice touch of wrapping all the children’s books in gift wrap! (not this one).