Moms, Dads and respective caregivers-tips and Q&A

[Raynygirl]

I was thinking maybe it would be a good idea to have a place we could go to with either child rearing related questions or advice that others might benefit from-for instance the KidFutures from Julieonmymind...

Just an idea but I know personally that there sure is a lot of helpful stuff out there I still need to learn !


I don't have much tip-wise yet other then if you are in the neighbourhood of a Dollarama, always browse the book section-you can get some real "quality" board books in there ( I just got some Dick and Jane and a nice series about a mouse called Macy that is a big hit) as well as some decent teethers !

[jimmycanuck]

Agreed on both points! There are a lot of parents here on SmartCanucks, so a Parenting board seems like a natural step to take.

Also - books at Dollarama rock. I picked one up last week that totally scored me good daddy points - it was called "My Mommy Is a Number." As it turns out she's number one, which I guess makes me some number between zero and one that has yet to be discovered.

[Julie Andrews]

Agreed!
This is a great place to seek and share advice with others.

jimmycanuck... i wonder what number that would be. lol

[jimmycanuck]

I call it flooglesnorf. It kinda looks like that symbol that Prince was using as a name if he hadn't recorded Little Red Corvette.

[Raynygirl]

Ready for a big surprise Jimmy ? I totally have that book and we even read it today !! ha ha

Julie I saw the yogurt at Walmart today..forget what it was called but it had the baby on it like you said they all had fruit so I have to wait cuz we aren't trying fruit til month nine according to the doc but after that I will be all over it


Is anyone out there raising their kids vegetarian ? Or making their own food by chance..?

[Julie Andrews]

I'm glad you found the yoghurt!
The baby yoghurt should have some plain ones too... They seem to be harder to find because people would buy those as soon as they hit the shelves. lol

I made everything from scratch for my son for the entire first year.
We started him with chicken though sometime around 8 or 9 months.

When I started him on fruit and veg at about 6 months, I had to introduce them one by one and then wait 3-5 days in between each. Anytime he got gassy or fussy or had any sort of a reaction, I'd cut out the newest food I introduced to see if he improved. It was exciting but tense at the same time.

He was so happy when he could finally eat what we were eating- and so much easier too!

[Raynygirl]

Wow you made it ALL from scratch ? Is it hard ? I mean carrots for example- are they boiled or raw ? I would think raw has more vitamins ..? Do you blend them with water or anything in them ? I would love to start making my own as I figure you not only can control the sugars but save money while ya do so

I will look for the plain stuff tonight-off to get the Glow Pooh from the anniversary special and the really big box of Megablox

[Julie Andrews]

I used this website to help me... http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
Very useful!!
I learnt about everything I needed to know about preparing baby foods at home and how to store it from that site.

I'd only use enough water to make it soft... sometimes I'd bake the fruits/veg (eg with squash)
Depending on how he was doing with his formula, I'd mix the pureed baby food with the formula instead of the milk.

What I really liked was that I was able to mix my own combos. (Apple-carrot was one of his favs as well as avocado-banana).

[Julie Andrews]

Oh yeah... you also have greater control over the texture and consistency of the foods. So when it was time to transition to regular table food, we were able to make it gradually a little harder each week, until he was 'gumming' the food good and proper. It took a long while for his teeth to come in. lol

[Raynygirl]

Wow awesome tips about the texture and the site ! Thanks SO much !! And really great sounding combos too ! I never even thought of avacado and since he'll be vegetarian that will be a super high vitamin option

[Boo Radley]

okies, I'll work on that :D

[ilovemykids]

That sounds exciting!!

[Raynygirl]

Just a suggestion for those of you with digital cameras and some extra time on your hands (with which I mean time with the kids where you don't have to do other things other then have fun with them-extra time. .ha ha what's that ? )

It's really rewarding and loads of fun (in my opinion) to dress the little ones up for occasions and make pictures in a theme of the coming holiday. I dressed Hayden as a cupid for Valentines, a moose for Canada Day, bunny for Easter and just did a fun one for Thanksgiving where I dressed him as a pumpkin and sat him in a box of pumpkins I would share them but I'm not too sure how to link a pic properly :oops:

Anyhow I just take about 20 pictures (sometimes this takes a couple seperate sessions depending on how bored he gets), then I take the best one and paste it into Microsoft Word, using Word Art to add in the greeting or caption. Then I print it in Adobe so I can covert it to a jpeg and voila something to send to all my family and friends online I also usually order one for the photo album You can also of course download a background wallpaper to put behind the picture (formatting it to behind text) to make a border I do this all the time -birthdays, anniversaries-so much more personal, a great keepsake for me (and later him) and totally free

[Boo Radley]

Rayn I wanna see the pics please, pretty please :D
So I guess the tie was one of the occasions too? he looks sooo adorable in it :D

it’s a good idea to dress him the way you like. Before you even know it he’ll be making his own clothing decisions

just use the attachment feature to post the pics

[Raynygirl]

Aww thanks Boo ! The suit and tie was for Father's Day And you're totally right about his own clothing decisions later (hopefully I can influence him a bit but you never know ! ha ha )

I have to wait until I am not at the cottage for the other occasion pics but I will gladly post them when back in the city if ya want Here is the Thanksgiving one (I had it up here as I just sent it to everyone and have it on my MSN

If the pic is too big please let me know -I wasn't sure if it was okay to upload stuff that wasn't freebie related so I didn't before..