Healthy Lunchbox Ideas

Starting back at playcentre this year i found it very hard to figure out what to put in his lunchbox that would taste gud, be healthy, and would last until it was time to eat. Luckily that very first session i found an article that had a very extensive guide to wat sort of food to pack YAY!! Things like protein foods, cold meats ie mini meatballs, salami etc, yogurts and custard, cheese cubes, eggs, hummus dip. And then a list of foods that could be frozen so they defrost by lunchtime and stay fresh to eat like breads and bagels, cooked meats, fritters, hummus, yoghurt with fruit blended together and a whole list of other lunchbox filler ideas fantstic! I can't wait to try out new things i hadn't thought of (and to see if Kaydin will actually eat them) There are some great health food websites with ideas as well as some food magazines. Around this time of the year lots of magazines are doing school lunch box ideas so if you get a chance go out and have a look at some.

Smile today!!

Ever noticed how many people smile or even chat to your children while your out and about? Today in the space of an hour we visited 4 shops and the beach and had 6 shop ladies talk to Kaydin about his 'ben 10 watch' and his curly hair (he gets that one just about everytime we go out) older ladies always want to stop and chat to him, people walking past often smile indulgently at him, shop assistants think it soo cute when he says please, thank you and bye. Even men both younger and older often at least smile and maybe say hi when they see him or as we walk past. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could be that friendly to everyone else regardless of wether they're children or another adult or wether their hair is curly or straight.
A simple smile from another person while your out can make a bad day seem better and a gud day even brighter, i know from experience. i always try to smile at people when im out (almost habit after working as a waitress and receptionist) and most of the time they do smile back. Even if just one person feels better after i give them a smile it makes it worth it. So the next time you go out just try and smile at anyone you can and you will be contributing to national happiness :)

Back from holiday

What an awesome 5 days!! I had a better time then i thought I was going to have and i was planning on having a good time. I just couldn't believe how stressfree it really was. We walked down to the beach everyday and went swimming. I would go in with Kaydin and we practised his kicking and then I would hop out and sit on the bank while he carried on playing in and out of the shallow water. He had fun jumping and splashing. He learned that BIG rocks make BIG splashes and sink to the sandy bottom and little rocks make little splashes but still sink to the bottom the same, while sticks make smaller splashes and float on the water. We went for a walk to the wharf to look for fishes but couldn't see any, (i think next time i may have to have a go at fishing with him cos no1 else will and he would love it). He loved being with Grandma and was her little helper, he helped make bread rolls and got to knead his own dough and roll his own rolls and he loved it!!! He also loved just following her around and being her shadow and she was quite happy for him to do that. It made me realise how much more stressede i am living at my mothers place though, here i'm condtantly jumping upi and telling him not to touch this or get into that and i always feel horribly guilty if he does get into something while at grandmas everytime i thought i should be telling him to leave something or come away from somewhere she was saying no he's fine leave him and my stress levels totally platoed at low point, even putting him to bed when he didn't want to sleep was not a worry i had so much more patience. Now i definately can't wait to get my own place and am looking harder than ever.
I just can't wait to go back again and now know for sure that holidays with a nearly 3yr old aren't even half as stressful as i had thought they would be :)

Coming up soon...a holiday!

In a couple of days Kaydin and I are going up to my grandmother's old house near a beach for 5 days and I can't wait! The family got together to buy the house off my grandmother to use as a holiday home of sorts but I haven't been up there since Kaydin was less than a year so i'm really looking foward to taking him up there again and also to spend some time with just my grandma and me and kaydin. I had to ask Kaydins dad if we could swap weekends though as it would run into his weekend but he was ok with that which worked out well. That's just one of the issues surrounding shared parenting, when something falls on the other parents time and you really want to have your child with you and you can't reschedule (or in this case HAVE to have your child with you because we will be gone longer than just the weekend dad would have had him.)
I'm looking foward to taking Kaydin in the water at the beach, last time he wasn't that keen on standing or sitting in that cold, wet stuff, but now he really likes water. We will go for walks and collect shells, we shall swing on the rope swing on the water's edge. We will play games and cuddle up and watch dvds (Smurfs are his favourite). And we will go for a walk up the hill to visit Grandads grave to say hi. I just can't wait to spend quality time with Kaydin when we are so far removed from anything that quality time ( and quantity) is all we have. Soooo very excited!!!

Butterflies

Kaydin loves butterflies. He loves the way they have bright colours and the way they fly. They also have emotional significance to his family on his father's side. So the other weekend I took him out to a butterfly place with my mum and his godparents. He loved it! We went through the house twice with him running back and forth "look mum! look mum!" & "Butterfly! Butterfly!" pointing at all the different butterflies. Hw also enjoyed seeing the turtles in the pond as well (even more so then the butterflies i think), especially when one started sunning itself on the rocks. After the butterflies he got a snapping tiger at the gift store which he thoroughly enjoyed snapping at people and then he got to go on the train ride. He loves trains and had a grin that stretched across his face everytime the driver blew the whistle. Of course he did fall asleep on the drive home but who wouldn't after an exciting day :)