12 Holiday Gifts For 0-6 Months

I thought that I would make a short Christmas suggestion list for the ages my children have experienced. These will be items suggested because of the amount of use they received by my children or because they help further development. 

I figured I would start from infancy and work my way up to older kids. The thing about babies is they really benefit most from interaction with people. They are naturally attracted to faces in particular and notice contrast, like the lines of eyebrows and the hair line. The see black, white, and red the best in the begginning as well as things that are about a foot away. This means that toys that are bright and have lots and lots of color are not actually that interesting for a very young baby. They see much simpler patterns better, red, black, white. 

Younger infants have difficulty grabbing things but this is one of the first things other than smiling and lifting their heads that will be helpful in playing. Therefore things that are good for grabbing that have interesting textures or sounds are good for baby.

Here is a small list of some good things for baby. 

1. Both my kids liked either the whoozit or lamaze toys 


2. I have heard great things about this Giraffe, he is great for chewing mouths and made out of natural rubber so he is safe. His long neck and legs are great for gripping.

3. A mobile is always nice for above a changing table, just make sure it is out of reach of the baby so that later they don't get it messy.  

4.  A swing is both fun and relaxing for a baby and helpful to the parents, although I recommend baby wearing very much (Ergo Baby and Moby are excellent carriers).

5. A tummy time toy is good for helping to encourage development of upper body strength needed to crawl. We had one similar to this that my daughter loved and it can fold up to take it along places.

6. A mirror is great for babies to learn about self recognition and faces. 

7. I like rattles for babies but I don't like how they are usually hard so the baby ends up hitting their face with it. This one is nice and soft. 

8. This sqeak toy is also neat:


9. Books! Fabric books are great for baby or high contrast books also consider getting one you can put family pictures into. We liked this one called Look! Look! and had one to put our own photos in. My child liked that one until she was 2 and still goes back to look once and a while. Honestly my boy like to look at it when he was 4 and 5 but I am not sure if that was just because it was his sisters.

or


 
10. A soft ball that baby can hold onto is fun.

or

11. Another great gift is music, a cd with either calm music or fun common songs like the wheels on the bus are great choices. If you head to my Music tab you can find some good music for kids/babies.
12.  Of course since babies are not really going to know if they do not get lots of toys for holidays it is always a great idea to donate to a college fund. 

Coming soon...6-12 month toys (some of these will definitely work for that age too, there are just some new ones to add to that age group that would not really be useful to a baby under 6 months). 

Felt Hand Turkeys

The other day I was looking for a craft to do with the kids. Thanksgiving is coming up so I wanted to do something that fit the Thanksgiving theme. I adore hand print crafts because I love being able to have something later that reminds me of how big their hand was. Connected to the craft it also shows what their artistic ability is at that point in growth.

Hand print crafts also have the advantage utilizing many areas that little ones need to work on like fine motor skills (tracing, cutting things out), you can talk about how the hand that is traced is the same size as their hand and how it is larger than the one from last year (learning about growth and size), and usually there is either coloring, gluing, or some other form of decorating that takes place where patterning development, learning about colors, textures, shapes, etc. can all take place. 

This time of year is also a really good time to learn about history, culture, and reasons for being Thankful. I like to talk about the story of the first Thanksgiving and include some talk about how the Native Americans might feel about Thanksgiving given how they are no longer able to live on the land the way they used to.

So I went with the hand print turkey. I have done hand print turkeys in past years using a foot as the head and body and hand prints (usually at least 3) as "feathers". Those are really cute and I recommend them, but this year I went with something a little different.

I had some little googly eyes and toilet paper roles hanging around and I had gone to the craft strore a few days before looking for Thanksgiving colors and found these leaves and pompoms that looked like fun.

We traced the kids hands onto the felt leaving enough room below and next to it to cut out a line to wrap around the toilet paper tube (used for support). I cut the toilet paper tube to about and inch in length but with one side having enough room to extend the length of the hand so it would support the hand so the fingers would not fall over.

Then using a sticky, less watery, craft glue the kids went to town decorating the turkeys.

After the glue dried we glued them onto the toilet paper rolls and set them up.

And Suddenly She's Three!

My little girl was born 3 years ago. The time has gone so fast and it is so amazing to take a step back and look at her. All of a sudden I realize that she is a little girl not a toddler. I can start to see what she will look like in the years to come. These three years have gone so fast. Even faster it seems, than the first three of my son's life.

Maybe that is because my time is split between two children instead of one. It might have to do with my best friend getting diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer during the first week of my daughters life. Or with spending the month leading up to my daughter first birthday in the hospital most of the time with that same friend. Or spending the actual first birthday of this beautiful happy daughter of mine, in the hospital, while my friend left this world. It might be in part because the last two years have been amazingly painful grieving that friend.

It might also be because this little girl gives so much joy to my life that the time goes by quickly because I am contently enjoying her "reading" a book, playing games, and singing and dancing.

Whatever the reason these three years have gone by faster than I want them to. I wish I could slow the time down and relish in her cute phrasing, tenaciousness, and goofy playing. I love seeing her grow up, seeing her try and learn new things. I also want these stages to last just a bit longer they are so precious.

I love seeing her grow up and I am amazed every day by her.

As she turned three we planned a party for her. The theme was birds. We took to pinterest to find ideas for the party, she looked with me at the ideas I came up with and narrowed the playing field. She was especially sure about the cake.

Here is was we ended up with:

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

A couple of months ago I volunteered to make a grain free cupcake birthday dessert for a friend's son's 6th birthday. They are on the Paleo or Primal lifestyle diet and do not eat any grains and usually do not eat sugar either. Obviously there is some sugar in chocolate but they do eat dark chocolate so I had two ideas for them: flour-less chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. They opted for the flour-less cake and I decided to try it out as cupcakes. I was delighted to find that it worked out very well.

This is such a great recipe because it only uses four ingredients! 

16 ounces of dark chocolate

1 stick(half a cup) and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

5 eggs separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I would like to try this will very strong coffee too at some point)

First preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Line cupcake pan with the wrappers. 

Next chop the chocolate (or I just used good quality 80% dark chocolate chips). 

In a double broiler (or like I do a heat proof bowl over a pan of about 2 inches of boiling water( place the chocolate, butter, and vanilla. Stir to keep it all moving and melting evenly so the chocolate does not burn. Once this is all melted together remove from the heat. 

Next whip the egg whites until they produce stiff peaks but do not over whip them. Move the egg whites to a new bowl. Then beat the egg yokes together.

Combine the egg yokes with the chocolate stiring constantly, you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs in the chocolate!

Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate and then follow with the rest of the egg whites. Fold them in until you can not see any of the whites.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3-3/4 of the way full. You should be able to get 12 out of this recipe.

Bake for 15 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick it should still have a bit of cake come off and should look shiny on top like a brownie. You may still need to cook them for up to 10 minutes more. I started checking them at 15 and then ended up taking them out at about 20 minutes. Just try not to over cook them.

I served them with raspberry sauce made with raspberries, about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1/2 tablespoon local raw honey. I cooked  this until the raspberries were totally soft and then used the immersion blender to make them a sauce. I then added in a dollop of whipped cream for "frosting" at the time of serving the cupcakes.

These are actually not very difficult and pretty quick to make. AND oh so delicious!

I am using this recipe again next weekend for my daughter's third birthday, yay!

Later Addition: I did make these again for my daughter's birthday except as a full cake. I decided to use 1/4 of an avocado mixed in with the egg yoke to try and retain some moisture. It worked out really well. I highly recommend it. Here is what you do, when mixing the yoke in the blender add in 1/4 of an avocado and make sure to mix it until the avocado is very well mixed in and smooth. Then just add according to the recipe.

Glitter Jar Cool Off

Pinterest is great! I saw a link for making a time out jar there. This is basically just a jar with glitter, glitter glue and water. Glue the lid on and shake it up. The glitter floats around and then settles again but swirls around while on the way down. The great thing about this is that it fascinates children and is hypnotic creating a great way to calm the mind.

I happen to try and use Positive Discipline which tries to find ways to help a child feel better rather than worse when they are getting into trouble. The idea is that there is something they are trying to show they need through their behavior and so if you can figure that out and calm them down in a positive way you can have a conversation they will hear rather than block.

 I think that teaching my children how to find strategies to calm down when angry in a way that will end up with them feeling better about themselves and happy is a win. I think that this fits with that idea well. Another thing to put in the calm down area (time out area with a positive discipline twist).

We have used this cool down jar with great success so far. When my son is getting excited about something in particular. For some reason that seems the most difficult thing for the two of us to deal with together and get him to settle down. This has worked very well in helping him calm down. We even made one that is in a plastic tube (the one the glitter came in) that we can take with us.

We did two containers of glitter glue (they were small but I think we could have used three) and 1/2 a container of glitter for this jar. Then hot water to get the glue to melt. We just filled the jar the rest of the way with water.

One thing I did is put a permanent glue around the threads of the jar lid so that it will not come off.

Rainbow Fruit Salad

So I have been trying to come up with fun ways to add lots of colorful fruits and vegtables to our diet after starting the Eat a Rainbow Challenge. Here is the first one that came to mind and worked wonderfully.

Both of my kids ate this through out the day and got lots of variety and color. It would be great with yogurt. We also put it on top of Coconut Bliss Ice Cream. Yum. Let me know if you come up with any creative ways to use it. :)

RAINBOW FRUIT SALAD:

1/4 small watermelon in bite size chunks
1 peach
1 red skin plum (yellow inside)
3 kiwi
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup marionberries (or purple grapes cut in half)

Mix together or serve in clear bowl in layers so you can see the fun colors (inspiration for layering from myblessedlife).

15 Great Ways to Use Strawberries

1. Strawberry Short Bread/biscuits
2. Strawberry Glace Pie (so good and you can use any berries)
3. Smoothie  (just substitute strawberries for the mixed berries)

4. Strawberry Whole Grain Scones (see below for recipe)
5. Strawberry pancakes with strawberries on top (just add a few chopped strawberries to the batter)
6. Pattern kabobs with strawberries and bananas/blueberries
7. Rainbow Fruit Salad (strawberries, peach, pineapple, kiwi, blueberry, purple grapes)
8. Strawberry and Watermelon refresher
9. Make the filling for a strawberry-rhubarb pie and put it into a freezer bag so it is ready to use during the winter (maybe more than one)
10. Strawberry Spinach Salad
11. Sliced Strawberries on top of yogurt
12. Freeze them for later by washing, de-stemming, and letting them dry for a few hours. Then place them (do not let them touch each other) on a cookie sheet that will fit in your freezer flat. Once frozen place them in to a freezer bag and they are ready to use later. 
13. Place frozen berries with a container of greek yogurt and a bit of honey in a blender to create instant "ice cream"
14. On top of flour-less chocolate cake
15. Strawberry fruit rolls


NOW for the Strawberry Scones Recipe:

Whole Grain Strawberry Scones


1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond flour/meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup cleaned/de-stemmed and diced/sliced strawberries
1/2 cup heavy cream


1. Place the oven rack in the center of the oven, preheat to 425 degrees
2. Place the Dry ingredients in a large bowl mix with a whisk. 
3. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives. 
4. Add the strawberries and mix lightly to distribute through the flour mix.
5. Stir in the cream with a fork or spatula until dough just starts to form 
6. Transfer the contents of the bowl to the counter or a pastry cloth and knead by hand just until the dough comes together. It will be slightly sticky.
7. Divide into two balls and then flatten into two five in circles about 2 inches thick. Cut each round (like a pizza) into 6 wedges.
8. Place each wedge onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
9. Bake until the tops are light brown about 12-15 minutes. 
10. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

The BEST Biscuit Recipe I have ever had:

Cream Biscuits: From America's Test Kitchen
2 cups flour (it says unbleached all purpose but I have used everything from whole wheat to flour made from other grains)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder (fresh!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Heat oven to 425
Get your baking sheet ready, line it with parchment

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add in 1 1/4 cups of the cream and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is forming. 
2. Transfer the dough to the counter/pastry cloth leaving the dry bits in the bowl. Add (to the bowl) in 1 tablespoon of cream at a time until the bits in the bowl are moistened. Add the moist bits to the dough and knead until smooth (about 30 seconds). 
3. Roll the dough until about 1 inch thick and then use a biscuit cutter to cut out. Place on the baking sheet and cook right away until golden brown about 15 minutes.