Snack ideas

My kids love Popsicles. I hate all the sugar and no nutrition. So I started buying Moo Tubes from Aldis and freezing them. So they are eating frozen yogurt. I recently saw an add in a parenting magazine for Del Monte Fruit chillers. Each box is made from 1 lb. of fruit. So I bought some and my 19 month old son loves them! I actually like them to.

And the best thing is that they don't make to much of a mess. Unless your child turns it over and squeezes it out, but that usually only happens when they don't want to eat it. Which happens often with plain Popsicles. These are all in tubes so they don't drip like Popsicles on sticks. The fruit chillers are found in the grocery store with the canned fruits. I highly recommend them! We all love them.

Feeding the kids!

I have the hardest time finding foods the kids will eat. Really it is my daughter, Evie, is the pickiest eater ever! She might eat something today, but definitely won't tomorrow. Yesterday I made smoothies. 10oz juicy juice, apple banana, 2 containers Gerber 2nd foods Banana, and about 10 ice cubes (2 hand fulls). Then I blended it together, which scared Christopher to death! I felt so bad. Evie loved it. Today won't touch it! She pushed everything away and says, "No, Don't want it!" It is horrible.

I love the Graduates "Pasta Pick-ups" Christopher will always eat those! They are perfectly sized to, I take one everywhere! They also will usually eat the roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy meal to. That is the only one that Evie will eat! I feel so funny at the store because when they are on sale I buy 10 or 20 of them at a time. So when it is time to eat and she refuses everything else I can get her to eat something.

I am always searching for easy kid friendly foods. If anyone has any ideas. Let me know. My daughter is the only kid I know that won't eat PB&J or mac & cheese!

A Little Help Please!

I am running out of ideas and need help! What kinds of foods are safe for an 11 month old to eat by himself? He has 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on the top. He will only eat foods he can feed himself. Here is the problem they can't be choking hazards, need to be healthy, and not so messy? I am at a loss, and can't come up with anything. I am not very good at kitchen things! I have cooked more since my son has been born than I did the entire 10 years my husband and I had been together prior to that. If it wouldn't save money I would never cook. I am learning as I go, and despirately need help. Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.

Note, the simpler the better! I am not that great of a cook!

I'll do it!

My son refuses to eat anything I feed him. He screams when I try to give him a bottle. He spits out the food I spoon into his mouth. He wants to do it himself. I put a cheerio into his mouth he spit it out, and then put on in his mouth and ate it. The same thing with all his meals. I had to give him his plate last night so I could get him to eat dinner.

I know you are probably saying he's about 1 and should be starting to feed himself. The problem is the mess. He gets it everywhere. I'm talking he'd need a bath after every meal, and I need to shampoo the carpets. Last night The bowl was tossed over 3 times. Not intentionally, he's just not coordinated enough. When he tries to spoon out food the dish goes to. I need one that sticks to the high chair. Do they make those?

Once the dish ended up on my chest. I was picking food up off the floor! He did throw it over once he was done to! That was so much fun. The worst thing is it leaves me worring did he eat enough? I didn't really have this issue with my daughter. She still makes a horrible mess, but she didn't want to feed herself until later on. At that point she was coordinated enough she didn't have trouble. The mess she makes is because she likes to wear her food!

French Fries Please MA MA!

Christmas Eve we drove past McDonald's, which we always do when we head out to my mom's house. Today though my daughter shouted, "French Fries Please, Ma Ma!" I told her no we were going to eat at grandma's house. Then I thought, "how cute she knows that McDonald's has French Fries." Then I thought "Oh, crap she knows McDonald's has French Fries!"

What a horrible mother I am raising kids on junk food. No offense to McDonald's you have greatly improved the healthiness of your food, but it still is not the high quality food I want my kids eating. However, I still feed it to them and probably will continue to do so. It's just so easy.

I have so much trouble most days just getting my daughter to eat, let alone eat healthy. I know it's my fault if she doesn't eat good. In a perfect world I'd make 3 healthy meals a day and we would all sit down together and eat. Then I'd vacuum wearing pearls and high heals, LOL! For now just do the best I can. Obviously, I should cut back on the McDonald's, but we don't have to get rid of it all together.

Can you cry over spilled juice?

I thought I was going to have a great day. I woke up with the kids and was actually awake. Everyone ate breakfast and played. Then at 10 everyone was asleep for a nap! Yeah!!

At 11 my son woke up so we played together until noon when my daughter woke up. Time for lunch. I decided to make spaghetti ohs and grilled cheese (for the first time ever) how hard can it be right? Apparently very hard. They stuck to the pan, fell apart, and were all gushy. They looked horrible.

I was going to eat the worst looking one. The decent looking one was for my daughter. Unfortunately, on my way to the table carrying a plate with 2 not so yummy looking grilled cheese sandwiches and a small glass of apple juice I tripped. I spilled the juice all over the decent looking sandwich.

I couldn't help it I started balling. Both my kids were in their high chairs and looked at me totally confused. My son started laughing. I gathered my composure, threw out the soaking wet sandwich, and tried to salvage lunch.

I broke the yuckiest looking grilled cheese (and the only one that wasn't soggy) into some what decent looking bites for my daughter. She refused to eat the spaghetti ohs. Then refused to eat the sandwich too. I couldn't help it I felt like I screwed up everything, and started crying. My daughter must have felt bad because she started eating the grilled cheese. I tasted it, and it was actually pretty good.

I'm all done?

My daughter tells me she's all done after she's been in her high chair for a little bit. The problem is she's not all done eating yet. I guess she just doesn't want to sit any longer, but she does this all the time. She will insist that she is done. Most times I can distract her so she stays a little longer. She will continue to eat, but she always tells me she's done. When I give in and let her out she only goes a little while until she tells me she wants something to eat again.

I don't know what to do. Obviously, I can't force her to eat. If she says she is done and I don't let her up the only thing that happens is a melt down. I try to avoid her tantrums if I can. But having two small children makes it difficult to feed her a couple bits every few minutes. Plus, she wakes up at night more often now because she's hungry.

I don't know why she is doing this she just started it the past few days. It is wearing me out. She has also just started insisting on feeding herself. Which drives me crazy. She doesn't eat as much as if I fed her, and the mess is horrible. I know I need to let go so she can learn, but I think this is part of the problem. She only has a small window of time she will sit in her high chair. Therefore I need to make the most of it, and get the food in while she's in it. I think. I really don't know any ideas anyone!!!!

She is so tiny as it is. I am afraid of her losing weight to because of this behavior. She's only 20 lbs.