1. First off, here is a snack I made for Lara today. Bananas are rolled in yogurt and topped with sprinkles that Lara picked out. You can also roll them in granola, probably a little more tasty and definitely more nutritious; I ran out.
2. Energy Balls (not that a toddler is lacking energy).
-1/4 C grated carrots
-1/4 C oats/granola
-1/4 C raisins
-1/4 C wheat germ
-1 TBsp honey
-3 TBsp peanut butter
(You can also include sunflower seeds, if you'd like.)
Mix it all up; roll into balls and chill to harden.
3. Toddler Trail Mix
granola, peanuts, raisins, dried fruits, cereal rings (cheerios, etc.), yogurt chips, basically whatever your little one likes!
4. Fruit Salad
Fruit slices dipped into yogurt. Yummy.
5. Lara's Fave:
Avacado and melted cheddar over an English muffin. She'd eat 5 if I'd let her. You can also use pita or toast.
6. Yogurt Cereal Bars:
-2 C corn flakes
-3/4 C flour
-1/4 C brown sugar
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 C butter
-1 C yogurt (always yobaby for us)
-1 egg, a little beaten
-2 Tbsp flour.
A. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl.
B. Put in the butter and mix until you've got coarse crumbs
C. Press 3/4 of the mixture firmly into bottom of a small casserole dish.
D. Combine last 3 ingredients in a small bowl and spread over mixture.
E. Spread the remaining mixture over this.
F. Bake at 350 degrees for 30min.
7. Simple snack options:
A. Applesauce spread on graham crackers. Yum-o.
B. Celery filled with PB and sprinkled with raisins. Not so yum-o and a little hard to chew up.
C. Crackers spread with hummus. Ho-hum is hummus, IMO, but the little ones do good with eating it.
I mentioned awhile ago, after Lara's 18mo well-baby that she was having some digestive issues, and the doctor mentioned adding more fat to her diet. So I have, and problem solved!! Now I don't cringe every time I have to change her diaper! I have a rule that every time she eats fruit, cheese must go with it. It helps digest fruit better, and we all know how toddlers are with fruit anyway!
Onto other things. You wouldn't believe the way Lara is communicating these days. She's just about putting two words together now, and she will repeat words really well, so her pronunication is blossoming also. She'll look right at you and babble a long sentence while shaking her head. At the end, you might catch "no shirt" and she'll point to her belly, and you realize she was must be giving you a detailed explanation as to the why of her not wearing a shirt. Then, also, she is remembering words after hearing them only once. It's really great, but also a little sad. I will miss her incomprehensible babbling. Of course, she still will NOT say mommy, though she will sit on the floor and say "mamamamamamama" over and over, but will NOT say Mommy when asked who I am and directed to do so. I do not understand it. She says everyone else's name, from Papa to Grandpa (BTW, any man with grayish hair is Grandpa now) to Jill to Andy, but never Mommy. Well, okay, and not usually Amber, but sometimes at least. *sigh* I am starting to feel a little insulted.
I must also mention that Lara is very interested in letters and words, and we realized the other day that she knows a few letters of her own accord, from reading books, such as D, O, N, S, and sometimes E. So we have begun teaching those to her.
Physically, I am feeling discouraged. Lara refuses to let me do exercises with her anymore, and she screams and cries the whole time. I can't do anything to distract her, she just hates it. I worry that her legs might be getting worse since I can't stretch them, and she has started walking on her tippy toes (VERY common for children with CP). The good news, however, is that she loves to walk, which is a good exercise, and her braces should be in in 1-2 weeks, which will correct the tip-toe walking, among other expected improvements. She is starting to do better with standing up on her own. Lara's therapists are in agreement that she should be walking and moving around with her peers by age 3. Of course, when I say that Lara walks, I am implying that she does so with her push toy.
In other news, I might be doing some child care when the school year starts up. Only a couple of days a week, but extra money is always good. Except that for what it's truly worth, childcare is a bleak business in terms of income.
Our neighbors are fixing up their backyard, and I do hope it won't take long because it is making it hard for Dustin to sleep in the day; plus, we have wood and cars parked in our yard-I guess that's our excuse not to mow.
No comments:
Post a Comment