Saturday, January 15, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Year and Half
Happy 1/2 birthday to Anna and Alex today. They are 18 months now, only 6 months before we hit the "terrible twos :)
It is hard to believe that my little 3lb12 oz and 4 lb 1 oz babies are now well over 20 lb toddlers. (Alex, who is lighter than Anna, was 22 lbs a month or 2 ago when he went to the Dr.) They are growing up and turning into little people so fast.
I haven't updated for a while, but there hasn't been too many changes. Alex has all his teeth (16, he still has his 2 year old molars to get) Anna has 12 teeth. We are still waiting for her 4 canine teeth to break through, and of course her 2 year old molars as well. Both are walking, running, climbing, jumping, rocking, dancing, hopping and falling like crazy. They are very active kids (compared to the 4 or 5 other kids of the same age I know well) and are always into stuff. I tell myself that their curiosity about the things around them means they are intelligent, not that they are out of control... I hope I am right:)
Both are making all kinds of new sounds and are trying to use words to communicate. Alex has more words that we understand than Anna. Some of his favorites include "tickle tickle", "all gone", "apple", "orange" and "cat". They both seem to understand a lot of the words that we say and are good at following simple directions (when it pleases them).
They really enjoyed Christmas. This year, for the first time ever, we stayed at home. It was a lovely day. Grammy Olga came to visit and to share our Christmas dinner. We spent most of the day opening up new toys and taking the time to play with everything. It was a totally relaxing day.
Friday, December 3, 2010
new blog!
I don't want to make this blog more public than it already is, because much of the information here is pretty personal. I did however want to make my posts about cloth diapers more public. So I started a new blog.
http://thebuttofit.blogspot.com/
check it out!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Paper plates
***After writing this and before I hit post I reread and realized I might sound a little preachy. Whatever choice you make in how you live your life is yours to make and I try not to judge.
Have any of you ever felt guilty using paper or plastic plates, plastic utensils, styrofoam cups and paper napkins? I always cringe a little when I am at a fast food restaurant and after eating I go and dump so much stuff into the waste containers. I am very happy that many places have implemented recycling and green bins, it makes throwing away all that stuff a little easier on my conscience. I have also eaten off of these disposable dishes at people's houses when they are having large gatherings. I even admit to buying some to use when I had 30 people coming to the twins birthday party. I try, if only having a smallish gathering, to use my real dishes. I use real dishes pretty much ever day of my life, even when I am working.
Now imagine someone telling you that they chose not to use real dishes. They preferred the ease of disposable ones. Yes it costs more money, but to them it is worth it. Yes we really have no idea what chemicals the plastics and papers they are made of contain. Yes they go into the landfill and take ages to break down. Yes there are a few greener options, some of these disposable dishes are even compostable. They may even argue that they are saving water by not having to wash dishes, forgetting that water is used in the fabricating process. They may tell you that they don't wash their dishes as they don't want wear and tear on their kitchen sink or their dishwasher. They may claim that it is a choice they made because they felt it was better for their family. They may insist that they are better parents because instead of spending time washing dishes, they are spending time with their kids. They may tell you that they made this choice because they get grossed out by leftover food and scraping that food and rinsing it off is just not something they want to deal with. They may tell you that they don't like the smell of food traces left to sit on real dishes, with disposable ones it is put in the garbage immediately, out of sight and out of mind. They might come up with all sorts of excuses to justify their choice. They also might tell you that they are too poor to afford a kitchen to wash their dishes in or to store them when when not in use. They might explain how they have to reuse their disposable dishes, allowing the less dirty ones to dry out before reusing them. They might have some good excuses.
There are times and places to use disposable dishes, but I am sure the majority of us choose not to use them on a regular basis. They are easier for sure, but using real dishes has been ingrained in us. I am sure some of my friends reading this have been tempted to use disposable dishes full time, especially in our lazy university days. I even was. Hopefully none of you have ever done so for very long. Our Grandparents used real dishes, our parents did too and hopefully our kids will continue on that tradition. I am sure there are disposable dish companies who hoped, back in the day they were invented, that they would catch on and that our lovely silver wear and china would become obsolete. Fortunately their marketing wasn't good enough, and it hasn't.
Sadly, with diapers, the marketing worked.
Have any of you ever felt guilty using paper or plastic plates, plastic utensils, styrofoam cups and paper napkins? I always cringe a little when I am at a fast food restaurant and after eating I go and dump so much stuff into the waste containers. I am very happy that many places have implemented recycling and green bins, it makes throwing away all that stuff a little easier on my conscience. I have also eaten off of these disposable dishes at people's houses when they are having large gatherings. I even admit to buying some to use when I had 30 people coming to the twins birthday party. I try, if only having a smallish gathering, to use my real dishes. I use real dishes pretty much ever day of my life, even when I am working.
Now imagine someone telling you that they chose not to use real dishes. They preferred the ease of disposable ones. Yes it costs more money, but to them it is worth it. Yes we really have no idea what chemicals the plastics and papers they are made of contain. Yes they go into the landfill and take ages to break down. Yes there are a few greener options, some of these disposable dishes are even compostable. They may even argue that they are saving water by not having to wash dishes, forgetting that water is used in the fabricating process. They may tell you that they don't wash their dishes as they don't want wear and tear on their kitchen sink or their dishwasher. They may claim that it is a choice they made because they felt it was better for their family. They may insist that they are better parents because instead of spending time washing dishes, they are spending time with their kids. They may tell you that they made this choice because they get grossed out by leftover food and scraping that food and rinsing it off is just not something they want to deal with. They may tell you that they don't like the smell of food traces left to sit on real dishes, with disposable ones it is put in the garbage immediately, out of sight and out of mind. They might come up with all sorts of excuses to justify their choice. They also might tell you that they are too poor to afford a kitchen to wash their dishes in or to store them when when not in use. They might explain how they have to reuse their disposable dishes, allowing the less dirty ones to dry out before reusing them. They might have some good excuses.
There are times and places to use disposable dishes, but I am sure the majority of us choose not to use them on a regular basis. They are easier for sure, but using real dishes has been ingrained in us. I am sure some of my friends reading this have been tempted to use disposable dishes full time, especially in our lazy university days. I even was. Hopefully none of you have ever done so for very long. Our Grandparents used real dishes, our parents did too and hopefully our kids will continue on that tradition. I am sure there are disposable dish companies who hoped, back in the day they were invented, that they would catch on and that our lovely silver wear and china would become obsolete. Fortunately their marketing wasn't good enough, and it hasn't.
Sadly, with diapers, the marketing worked.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
What to buy for a 1 1/2 year old for Christmas
I have had a few people ask me what Anna and Alex need for Christmas. Really the answer is nothing. They have pretty much everything a 1 1/2 year old needs. But, I know there are some of you out there who will insist on buying them some presents, so I figured I would write down some ideas here.
Toys. They LOVE little people toys right now, they already have the airport, the schoolhouse and the vegetable stand (and I hear Santa is bringing them a parking garage), but any of the other sets or people/animals/objects would be a big hit. Wooden toys, knit toys, handmade (but safe) toys are always wonderful to get as well. They both love to "help" and love kitchen things, brooms, etc. Stirring stuff is a favorite game these days as is dressing up and putting clothes on/taking clothes off of each other. Alex is a big fan of musical instruments.
Books. They have quite a few books already, and love to spend time reading them every day. They also love to rip paper and pull things apart. Books made of solid cardboard without pop up pieces or things to pull off are really the only ones they play with these days as they quickly destroy the others. They love books that have things to touch though and will read them for hours. They are big fans of animals, and short rhyming words.
Clothes. Although some of their 12 month clothes still fit around them, they are all much too short. They are wearing 18 month, 18 to 24 month, 24 month and 2T clothes now. Some 24 month and 2T stuff is still too big, but every few weeks something new fits them. 18 month onesies and sleepers are getting too short for them. We love hand made things and they could really use knit socks, hats, mittens, sweaters, pants etc. They both are starting to fit in size 5 shoes/boots.
Treats. They love treats, especially mum mums, toddler corn puffs, toddler cookies, cereal bars, animal crackers, fruit leather, dried fruit etc. We go through a ton of treats every week.
Care products. They use very little, really only Aveeno baby soap/shampoo. Because we cloth diaper/use cloth wipes they don't use any of the typical baby products.
Toys. They LOVE little people toys right now, they already have the airport, the schoolhouse and the vegetable stand (and I hear Santa is bringing them a parking garage), but any of the other sets or people/animals/objects would be a big hit. Wooden toys, knit toys, handmade (but safe) toys are always wonderful to get as well. They both love to "help" and love kitchen things, brooms, etc. Stirring stuff is a favorite game these days as is dressing up and putting clothes on/taking clothes off of each other. Alex is a big fan of musical instruments.
Books. They have quite a few books already, and love to spend time reading them every day. They also love to rip paper and pull things apart. Books made of solid cardboard without pop up pieces or things to pull off are really the only ones they play with these days as they quickly destroy the others. They love books that have things to touch though and will read them for hours. They are big fans of animals, and short rhyming words.
Clothes. Although some of their 12 month clothes still fit around them, they are all much too short. They are wearing 18 month, 18 to 24 month, 24 month and 2T clothes now. Some 24 month and 2T stuff is still too big, but every few weeks something new fits them. 18 month onesies and sleepers are getting too short for them. We love hand made things and they could really use knit socks, hats, mittens, sweaters, pants etc. They both are starting to fit in size 5 shoes/boots.
Treats. They love treats, especially mum mums, toddler corn puffs, toddler cookies, cereal bars, animal crackers, fruit leather, dried fruit etc. We go through a ton of treats every week.
Care products. They use very little, really only Aveeno baby soap/shampoo. Because we cloth diaper/use cloth wipes they don't use any of the typical baby products.
Friday, November 26, 2010
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