This little tea party was put together by my father-in-law, and believe me it was a huge hit with Monk.  She couldn’t get enough of pouring, and then drinking, the water.  We were all drafted, I mean invited, to attend the tea party.  Eventually we moved into snacks which included Pepperidge Farm Goldfish instead of the traditional toast and jam. It didn’t matter to monk: she’s had toast and jam before, but now goldfish are her newfound love.

Monk loves to put her shoes on her self.  Who am I kidding?  These days, everything is “No Mommy.  I want to do it myself!”  In order to help her determine left from right, because inevitably the shoe would end up the wrong foot, we invested in these little doo-hickeys (at some places they are called jibbitz, or any other name) and since then there has been no confusion.  The stars go on the right foot!

Some days, this is really all there is.  I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it but there you have it.  She was hungry, time was short (as was my patience) and this was easy.  Voila!  Lunch is served.

The monk loves these!  Fiberfuls are only available at Trader Joe’s (http://www.traderjoes.com/index.html).  They fill her up and are full of fruit.  We only get them once or twice a month and that seems to be enough to keep her interested.  In fact, most of the time I just have her eat one in the store and we’re good on them until the next shopping trip.

Like the new look?  We’re trying out a few new recipes at home in addition to the new web site digs, so hold on.  Unfortunately, this has meant that we’re low on pictures – that is, can’t seem to get them uploaded.  Never fear – all will be well within a few days.

Yes, Paul Young Fans, I’m borrowing a tag line here. I’ve been meaning to post photos of our awesome graffiti playhouse that my husband made out of cardboard. He was inspired by his dad who made a to-die-for outdoors playhouse – more pictures of that to come later. Monk and her friends love this little playhouse which is tall enough for them to stand in and sits three. Sometimes I wish I would have decorated it more – lots of curtains and cute drawings – but believe me that this is a major art project that lets kids just dig in and draw. No lines, no objectives and no adults hovering. Perfect for a tea party (see supplies in shoebox at front of playhouse.)

Monkey has a new found love. Typically she’s on her milk all day like a barnacle on a rock, but now that she’s discovered sparkling water we’ve got a new winner. We don’t allow juice, except on the rare occasion that its diluted, so this is a real find. She asks for it throughout the day. Our next step is to explore various brands, and fingers crossed, our own home water carbonator system.

I suppose every parent bribes their child at some point. Monk has been having some difficulties adjusting to life without her Grammy, Poppa and Max, and consequently – in desperation – I offered her a cupcake if she was a good girl.

Now, everything has become about her being a good girl (or a good monkey). As a woman, sometimes the phrase “good girl” and all of its loaded implications makes me shudder. And I have unwittingly have installed the idea into my 2 year old’s vocabulary. She is already a good girl! Kids need treats, sure, and treats are a good reward for hard work as she gets older. But at 2, I don’t like using a food as reward in general. Food is food and not something to be withheld.

A departure here … an activity to do on a hot day. We use an old tissue box to hold crayons and then we the crayons become stubs I throw them into a separate little bag. We’ve had some scorching hot days recently so I had Monk put the stubby crayons between a couple sheets of wax paper and then set it outside in the heat. Within 30 minutes, we had this gorgeous “stained glass”.

What? You wanted recipes for kids? We don’t do that at our house. We just buy all of our food already made, eat out, or have delivery. It’s really more convenient that way.

Ha ha. What I mean to say, is that prior to having a kid, I thought that I would be making all of those pancakes with smiley faces and eggs in the shapes of dinosaurs. And I have tried making “special kid-friendly meals” but they never seem to work out. A quick scan of previous posts will show you that Monkey just prefers food in the raw, in the rough if you will. No matter what we serve – she likes it plain, unadulterated, as nature intended. As I find recipes that work, I will share them.

In the meantime, we like to focus on location – especially dining al fresco such as at this local fountain.