A few toddler ideas...

Our recent schedule since I've gone back to work has left very little time for blogging, which makes me sad. It's left little time for showering and sleeping, too, which is another story. But I hope to keep popping in for updates as much as I can. I love this little space and am thankful for you (yes, you!) who takes the time to read it, time gaps and all. 

If you have a toddler in your house, you might be like me... when you come across an idea that actually works for your picky little one, you want to tell the world. Like getting your little guy or gal to eat squash or keeping him occupied for an entire hour. So act like you're getting a text from me with a link to these three little projects, a handful of our recent favorites. 

1. Squash waffles.

Liam's diet consists of three main food groups: waffles, Larabars (which he calls "bar snacks") and fruit (sometimes hummus and eggs make the cut, too). So when I came across this recipe for summer squash pancakes, I knew I needed to try it out to sneak a few veggies in without him realizing it.  The only thing I tweaked about the recipe was to use an all-purpose gluten free flour in lieu of whole wheat flour... and I made them into waffles instead of pancakes. They're Liam-approved, which is saying a lot, and they freeze well. 

2. Dinos in ice.
This idea has made the Pinterest and Facebook rounds, so you may have already seen it. Basically, throw some water, some little plastic toys (in our case, dinosaurs), and a little food coloring into a tupperware container and freeze it overnight. Then let your toddler use a variety of tools to dig and hammer and chop and try to figure out how to rescue the dinosaurs from the ice block. After being slightly confused initially, Liam loved this challenge and loved eventually pouring warm water on the ice block to rescue his beloved dinos. The project lasted much longer than I anticipated (nearly an hour!), which is a win for us.

3. Our little fox.

One of our nieces loves foxes, so when I saw this fox costume tutorial and pattern, Liam insisted we make a fox costume for her. We had Lanie model it, and we fell in love with her all over again. The pattern does seem to run a little small - it just barely fit on Liam's head, but fit 6-month-old Lanie just perfectly.