February 18, 2009 • 3:55 pm 2
You can definitely save some money by making your own rice cereal using your spice grinder or coffee grinder. Make sure your grinder is cleaned well before you use it to make rice cereal.
Ingredients
Instructions
Filed under: Brown Rice, Grains
February 14, 2009 • 6:48 am 0
Recently, I discovered You Grow Girl, an online destination for the modern gardener. Other than composting and collecting Starbucks’ Grounds for Your Garden, I’ve done little this winter to ensure my readiness for the upcoming gardening season. Enter You Grow Girl, and her brilliant idea of replacing peat pellets with – wait for it – toilet paper rolls. Start collecting now, and you’ll be prepared when it comes time for spring, which is hopefully right around the corner.
Filed under: Around the Play Yard, DIY, Family
February 13, 2009 • 6:33 pm 0
You know a baby outfit like this when you see it, I call it granny bait. They’re (sometimes) adorable alright – just maybe not something you might have picked out, possibly a little outdated, possibly never in style. But grandmas can pick up on a baby wearing granny bait a mile away – and they come running. I have some Enfamil Next Step Lipil checks that I won’t be using, and I want to give them to someone who can use them (not someone that will sell them on ebay) — enter the Granny Bait Contest.
The Prize: $25 in Enfamil Next Step Lipil formula checks (coupons). There are five checks, ranging in value from $4 to $7, and ranging in expiration from 2/28/09 to 4/30/09.
The Contest: Post your best “granny bait” photo of your little one, let’s say between ages 0 and 24 months, to Vanilla Pumpkin’s Granny Bait photo album on Facebook. Of the entries, I’ll pick three finalists, and we’ll vote on them. Your photos must be submitted by Monday, February 16 at 5 pm EST.
Need inspiration or wanna know what the hell I’m talking about?
Check this outfit out, or this one, and lastly, this one.
I hate that I feel like I need to say this, but I feel like I need to clarify that in no way is this meant to ridicule or humiliate anyone – or any of the babies. It’s all in fun, kind of like an ugly sweater party. Enjoy!
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February 13, 2009 • 2:09 pm 0
The blueberries in this dessert or snack are easily substituted. Try raspberries, peaches or bananas for variety!
Ingredients
Instructions
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Filed under: Dessert, Snack, baby, baby food, berry, blueberry, Cheerio, Dessert, fresh, graham cracker, homemade baby food, parfait, peach, Peaches, recipe, Snack, yogurt
February 12, 2009 • 12:57 pm 0
If you’ve been following this blog, I’m terrified of the day I explain to Baby K where meat comes from. So I asked HARO, my followers on Twitter, and followers of Vanilla Pumpkin to weigh in on how to best answer this question: Where does meat come from? I searched Amazon looking for books like “My Beautiful Mommy” “A Terrible Thing Happened” or “I Miss You: A First Look at Death” that tactfully explain the concept of where food comes from, but didn’t find any.
Due to the great response I had when I asked this question, I’ll post in two parts.
From Parenting Experts:
Julie Freedman Smith, Parenting Power
Firstly, parents don’t always have the answers or don’t feel confident in trying to explain something to the child so stalling is important.
1. Thank the child for asking the question: “That’s a great question!” “I’m glad you asked that.”
2. Find out what they know: “Where do you think meat comes from?” “What have you heard about that?”
When we find out their perspective, we can clear up any misunderstandings and find out what they are really asking.
3. Explain that you are not sure how to answer but that you’ll find out and get back to the child: “I need to check with Daddy about that – let’s talk about it on Saturday”
So you now know where your child is coming from and you have supported the child in asking good questions rather than freaking out so much that the child doesn’t ever want to ask you anything again.
The content used in the answer is each parent’s choice. We recommend giving facts and in very small doses. Only answer the child’s specific question. Don’t give a multi media presentation because that is overkill. If you answer the direct question with a fact, that might be all the child wanted to hear. OR the child might ask another question and then you take the next step.
When we get involved in answering our children’s questions, it means we can also inject our values so after giving the facts you could then add:
“In our family, we believe that … and that is why we choose to only eat…” – Julie Friedman Smith, Parenting Power
From Parents:
I’ve always told my kids the truth… and that some animals are raised for food, others for pets. But we live in a rural area, so they know a lot of farm kids and go to the 4-H fair….. I guess you COULD just say ‘from the butcher’s shop!’ =) – Deirdre
My toddler asked this question a few months ago. I told her that some people like to eat animals. She was horrified. “People EAT animals?!” she said in disbelief. Then she asked WHY? I said because some people think they taste good. I then explained that I’m a vegetarian–that unlike her Dad I don’t eat animals. I explained that I don’t like the taste of meat that’s why I eat soy. No judgement –just a matter of fact. Later, when she’s older, I’ll teach her about the importance of knowing where your food comes from & treating animals humanely and all that. – Jen Matlack
I took my nieces out to eat and my 4 year-old was eating chicken. She said, “Where does chicken come from? Is it like chicken at Granny’s?” Uh oh. She’d just made the connection between the chicken she was eating to the chickens running around on her grandmother’s farm. I said, “Yes. They are both the same.” She thought about it and then said, “Really? [Pause] Mmmmm….” Not a big deal! – Hali ChambersI don’t know if this will help but we told our daughter that all food comes from the ground. As she got older, it’s become quite a family joke. On family road trips, when we see a cow, she’ll say, “Remember Mom, all food comes from the ground,” and we all laugh. 🙂 – Erin Peacock
I would simply be honest and let the little ones decide for themselves. I was very young when I decided to be a vegetarian, mainly for the reason that I could not bear to eat animals, since I naturally loved them (as most children do).
It’s only later as I became a certified nutritionist that I learned that a vegetarian (vegan, in my case) diet is extremely healthy.
It’s not a surprise that we call food “beef” instead of “cow” or “pork” instead of “pig” — we naturally find eating animals offensive. If you ever visited a slaughterhouse, you would stop eating meat in a minute.
For some reason, we deaden our hearts to the suffering of animals all in the name of food.
As people become enlightened about the environment, it becomes all too clear that the amount of energy it takes to raise and kill one cow could be put toward feeding countless other.
I say: tell the little ones the truth and let them decide.
My son at 6 was a very picky eater – one of the few foods he would eat was chicken fingers. So he ate them alot – I would guess 4 to 5x a week? One day, he asked if chickens “laid” chicken fingers the way they do eggs.My wife explained, that no, that was the chicken itself. He was very unhappy with the answer, and he swore off eating animals forever (he loves animals, like many boys). I didn’t think much about it, I really assumed it was a “phase.”
He has been a vegetarian ever since (about a year and a half). Incredibly, he is alone in his efforts – no one else in our family is a non-meat eater! He is an amazing kid! – Cotter Cunningham
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Filed under: Around the Play Yard, baby, food, nutrition, Reading, advice, appreciation, discussion, expert, Family, food, HARO, meat, motherhood, Parenting Power, toddler, Twitter, vegan, vegetarian
February 10, 2009 • 5:54 pm 0
I’d never thought about making my own baby oil before, but Vanilla Pumpkin reader Kristina sent in this recipe for her Coconut Baby Oil, and I’m sold! This was so easy, and Kristina says that it even helps clear up her son’s eczema. Thanks for submitting your idea Kristina! If you have a suggestion or recipe, please send to vanillapumpkin@ymail.com.
Ingredients
Instructions
Yields 8 ounces.
Filed under: baby, Family, No-Cook, Baby Oil, bath, coconut, coconut butter DIY, homemade, parenting, parenting blog
February 8, 2009 • 5:26 pm 0
When I first started making Baby K homemade baby food, I scoured the baby food grocery aisle in search of ideas for recipes. Baby food can’t be that hard to “knock-off”, I thought, as most of the products had only a few main ingredients.
I noticed, and I’m sure you have too, that several brands have DHA fortified product lines. So I wondered, like any concerned parent, if by making my own baby food, I was denying baby of “support in brain and eye development”. Currently, The American Academy of Pediatrics does not have a statement concerning DHA additives due to insufficient data and evidence. DHA occurs naturally in algae, fatty fish such as salmon and halibut, organ meat, fish oil, and small amounts in poultry and egg yolks.
I consulted pediatrician Lara Zibners, MD, who is board-certified in both pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine. Dr. Zibners is also the author of forthcoming parenting book “If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How To Know If Your Child’s Illness or Injury is Really an Emergency.” (Hatchette Book Group, June 17, 2009). Here is her advice regarding DHA-fortified foods:
Fatty acids are important for an infant’s brain development. That we know. And we also know that breast milk is a great source of DHA and similar fatty chains, which is one of the many reasons that pediatricians almost universally recommend breastfeeding whenever possible. But science has failed to convince us that a healthy child who is receiving an age-appropriate diet benefits from fatty acid supplementation in a meaningful way. Not having served DHA-fortified strained peas is not the reason Johnny failed his long division test. Keep the cash and save it for a math tutor. – Lara Zibners, MD
What do you think?
Dear friends, I try hard to exceed your expectations with my posts. If you enjoyed this one, please share it via Delicious, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!
Filed under: baby, Family, food, Guidelines, News, nutrition, Reading
February 7, 2009 • 8:25 pm 1
February 5, 2009 • 3:51 pm 2
Uhhh….
I’m not looking forward to answering this question. Although I can’t wait to teach Baby K about growing produce, as an animal lover, it’s sometimes even hard for me to think about where my meal comes from, let alone explain this to a naive toddler. So I’ll be working on a post with advice, anecdotes and thoughts about how to approach this one. Anything to share? Please comment!
February 4, 2009 • 8:00 am 1
Lentil Veggie Soup is most appropriate for babies at least 9 months, and can be made in a saucepan or a crockpot!
Ingredients
Instructions
FREEZER FRIENDLY
Filed under: Basil, Freezer Friendly, Herbs and Spices, Legumes, Lentils, nutrition, baby, baby food, basil, carrot, Celery, food, Freezer Friendly, lentil, Medley, potato, puree, recipe, soup, squash, stock, Sweet Potato, toddler, tomato, vegetable, veggies, winter squash
Vanilla Pumpkin - Homemade Baby Food Blog 