toddler tips

Toddler Tip #457: Shake it up, Baby

Amber 14 Comments
With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I'm sharing.

With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. Sometimes I think we are taking the “crash course” in parenting.  They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I’m sharing.

Not surprisingly, the quads are rapidly becoming picky, toddler eaters.   For the most part they are decent eaters, but lately it’s been a challenge to convince them to eat fresh fruits and veggies.  They even shake their heads and say, “no” when they don’t want to try something.  Also, I often catch them putting undesirable food on the plates of their siblings as they snatch their favored morsels.

Last week, I excitedly borrowed some frugal meal tips from my friend, Becky.  One of her takeaway items was –“Applesaucy Drink”, served in Toss and Take Cups.  It seemed to be a great way to get them to eat fruit, while also promoting oral motor skills (something Sydney and Mason need work on).  I attempted it with the quads the very next day, and they DEVOURED this drink.  The only problem was they the boys pulverized the straws in the process.  Hmmm.  Maybe not a keeper yet.  We shall revisit.   The quads have been using silicone straw cups well for several months, but I suspected they would easily clog with applesauce so I had to think of something else.

Bananas, once the favorite fruit at our house are now a no-go.  Yet, I wasn’t willing to give up on getting the quads to eat them.  After all, bananas are the most inexpensive fruit and easiest to serve and keep.  Using the Magic Bullet, I created a banana milkshake that went through their straws seamlessly.  It was slurped down by all four in a matter of minutes.   I’m not sure anyone bothered to pause for a breath.   Upon finishing his drink, Mason let out a gigantic belch.  This week, I also tried making shakes with frozen berries, but it didn’t go as well.  I think fresh strawberries or mangoes may work so I’ll try them soon.

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The Magic Bullet does a fabulous job of making banana milk shakes. Usually, I just blend banana and milk, but I've also added Carnation Instant Breakfast for extra calories on days they don't eat well.

Baby Banana Milk Shake- 1 cup whole milk + 1 banana

I’ve also added a Carnation Instant Breakfast on days when they didn’t eat well, and I wanted to add calories for the day.  They really lap those chocolately banana shakes up.

You may notice we use Braum’s milk.  That’s because they do not use growth hormone and sell a gallon of milk for about half the price of grocery store organic.  George goes to Braum’s to buy 2-3 gallons of milk twice per week, and he’s now a “regular”.  When they see him, they bag whole milk and hand him an ice cream cone!

For months, I’ve been also successfully using Becky’s idea of “Sneaky Mac ‘n’ Cheese”.  It’s a huge hit at our house.  After sampling part of the quad’s lunch, a friend’s daughter even requested it to be served at her house. I’m fully aware that Becky and I aren’t the first to sneak fresh produce into our children’s mouths.  In fact, there are several cookbooks based upon the principle.  However as quad moms, we are looking for SUPER SIMPLE.  What are your favorite sneaky ways to serve fruits and veggies?

Hugs!

Amber

Toddler Tips #51: Stubborn Baby Shoes Solved

Amber 10 Comments
With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I'm sharing.

With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parent of little ones so I’m sharing.

Before the quads could walk, I rarely bothered putting shoes on them.  I figured that shoes at that age were primarily for admiration.  Once they began walking, we did start going out more often, but the weather was warm then.  I had no problems whatsoever putting sandals on their tiny feet.

The game changed with cooler weather and different shoes like boots and tennis shoes.  My favorite baby shoes are the magenta Converse given to us by my cousin, Jennifer.  However, cramming baby feet into them is an all out Olympic sport.  I typically unlace them to the first row of eyes and try to cajole their feet inside.  It’s absolutely frustrating.  I know what you’re probably thinking…don’t put high top shoes on a baby because it’s not practical.  BUT- I LOVE these shoes and I like enjoying things gifted to us.  I knew there had to be a better way, and joked about getting a baby shoe horn.  I didn’t expect they actually existed, but they do!  Day after day, I forgot to search Amazon for one (Amazon is almost the sole provider of stuff in our house these days).  There isn’t technically a “baby” shoe horn, but I did find a small one and we tried it today.  It worked like a charm!  It took a little convincing to get it to work, but it was a vast improvement over the other times Rylin wore these shoes.   I think I’ll add “small shoe horn” to my list of baby gear suggestions.

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hugs!

Amber

Toddler Tips #14: Board Book Rehab

Amber 11 Comments
With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I'm sharing.

With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”. They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day-to-day life. While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I’m sharing.

Because I want the quads to develop a love of reading, I leave book baskets within their reach within in every room where they congregate.  I even keep a basket of them in the kitchen so they can peruse them before and after meals.  Our “basket books” are primarily ones I picked up at garage sales and Half Price Books, or were handed down.  We have our special books located on high bookshelves and we take them down only when an adult can sit and read them, most often at bedtime.

When we finish a meal, I’ll often hear Rylin’s raspy voice whisper, “book” as she signs “please”.  They will sometimes sit for up to 30 minutes flipping through pages of books, examining the pictures, and sometimes even asking us to label things.  It warms my heart to see this.

Photographer, Christina Childress, captured this group shot during their one year photo session.

Photographer, Christina Childress, captured this group shot during their one year photo session.  This is one of my favorite photos of the quads.

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However, sometimes I’m convinced that our children are part Billy Goat.  They love gnawing the edges of books almost as much as they enjoy looking at them.  It doesn’t matter how closely we supervise them or how often we redirect this behavior, they are toddlers and they simply chew voraciously.  At first it wasn’t really a problem aside from making books a little less attractive.  After a while, their books were so tattered they’d chomp of bits of them, posing a choking hazard among other things.  The first few times this happened, I chucked the worst books into the garbage.   Then, our collection of board books began to dwindle forcing me to look for replacements.   I didn’t want to spend money on more books I knew they’d find delectable so instead began a repair process.

Here are a few of the books with chewed spines.

Here are a few of the books with chewed spines.

To fix them, I gathered our collection of Duct tape and a pair of scissors.

To fix them, I gathered our collection of Duct tape and a pair of scissors.

Voila! These books were put back into rotation. Since the repair, they have chewed the edges a little bit, but they cannot get through the Duct tape and don't seem as interested in Duct tape as cardboard.

Voila! These books were put back into rotation. Since the repair, they have chewed the edges a little bit, but they cannot get through the Duct tape and don’t seem as interested in Duct tape as cardboard.

My desire to repair books began when they nearly finished off our copy of “Yummy Yucky”, which is a family favorite here.  What is your favorite children’s book?

Hugs!

Amber

Toddler Tips #25: No More Slippin’

Amber 8 Comments

toddler tips

With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”.  They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life.  While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones so I’m sharing.

Last week, I shared my tip for holding off the pee pee flood gates in the bath tub.  Several of you noticed our huge bathtub mat in the picture I posted.  Which brings me to another tip.  When the babies transitioned from bath seats to sitting independently, it became apparent that the tub floor was too slippery for them.  I picked up a bath mat at Target, but was dismayed when it would not stick to the texture on our bathtub floor.  I tried putting a bath towel down, but it floated up and made a huge mess for me to contend with.

No matter how hard I tried, this mat would not stick to our bathtub and instead floated up, making an even bigger slip hazard.

No matter how hard I tried, this mat would not stick to our bathtub and instead floated up, making an even bigger slip hazard.

That’s when the idea struck, I simply turned the mat we had so it stuck on the sides of the bath tub rather than the floor.  It worked perfectly!  However, it did not cover near enough real estate for multiple babies in the bath tub.  I picked up a second mat and now they are flush against each other, creating a large area.

What appears to be an oversize bathmat, is actually two identical bathmats.

What appears to be an oversize bathmat, is actually two identical bathmats.

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Anna, from All Bad Things Must End, shared her favorite toddler bath tip and I gave it a whirl.  While the bath water was running, I attempted to sit the babies on the toilet (individually of course) without a diaper to encourage them to urinate on the toilet.  It didn’t go so well.  Rylin had a major meltdown complete with back arching and wailing.  The other three sat a little more willingly, but no action.  I’m not throwing in the towel on this one yet.  I will revisit this idea in a few months because I think it’s a brilliant way to begin the concept of toilet training.  I will also try it with a toddler seat, I think the seat would make a huge difference, but I just don’t have one yet.  Thank you for sharing, Anna!

What is your favorite toddler tip?

hugs,

Amber

Toddler Tips #1: Tinkle Catcher

Amber 12 Comments

toddler tips

I’m ecstatic to launch our new series, Toddler Tips.  With each passing day, I find myself trying to solve some new challenge with raising four toddlers, aka “quaddlers”.  They are a cunning lot who inspires a little ingenuity on my part (and George’s) just to manage day to day life.  While my ideas are born from being surrounded by four toddlers, I think many of them could be helpful to any parents of little ones.

Dating all the way back to the days of the NICU, I can recall that all four of our children have peed in their bathwater.  As soon as their little piggy toes make contact with the water, the flood gates open.  When they were tiny infants it didn’t bother me too much.  Perhaps because I expected the volume was small, or maybe because they were in the infant tub and got their own fresh water.  Once they could sit up, we began pairing them up or even dunking all four in the same water.  The thought of bathing in urine, especially someone else’s disgusts me.

While the babies were in the NICU, we bathed them in tiny plastic tubs. It's incredible that they fit into those things.

While the babies were in the NICU, we bathed them in tiny plastic tubs. It’s incredible that they fit into those things.

We used bath seats like this when they could sit up, but not with the buoyancy of water.

We used bath seats like this when they could sit up, but not with the buoyancy of water.

Alas, a four baby dunk.

Alas, a four baby dunk.

Then the idea struck!  Now, I dress them down to their diapers and stand them in the water for a few seconds before removing the diaper.  Before I totally remove the diaper, I peel back the tabs just to make sure they’re done.  Voila!  No more pee pee in the water (they could tinkle a little more, but this prevents the flood gates at least).  I always check for two minor details 1. check the diaper to make sure it’s not soiled 2. don’t let them sit prematurely.

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Stay tuned for more toddler tips. There’s good stuff coming because necessity is the mother of invention!  If you have any toddler tips of your own, I’d love to hear them.  If I try a great one, I’ll feature it and give credit where it’s due.  I’m always open to ingenious ideas.

hugs!

Amber