Butterbees and Bumbleflies

Wacky Wednesday

It’s that time again! Here’s what Becca’s saying this week:

“I go see Daddy. He’s in Mommy and Daddy’s room. He’s a really nice guy.” You got that right, girl! He’s the best!
“I feel yucky. But why? Why? I have a headache right dere.” SO nice that she can now explain what hurts and where!!
Playing outside- “I need to take a break, Mommy. I need to take a drink. (Takes a drink, goes off to play again, then later says:) I sit down right here and take a break again.” (Sits down on the porch steps and sighs loudly. All drama. All. The. Time. But OH SO CUTE while she’s being dramatic! 🙂 )
Of her toys: “Oh no! They got all dirty. They need to take a bath.”
“I’m riding on Daddy’s rockin chair.” Yup, she’s big enough to climb up and rock all by herself in any chair we own now!
“I’m going to leave teddy bear in the clubhouse.” She has started calling our house the clubhouse randomly when we are going outside… lots of things stay inside the clubhouse. Too cute!
“Where is Deorge went?” She gets her past and present tenses correct most of the time, but this one seems to escape her… but that’s ok – it’s too cute to hear her wandering around looking for him and saying, “Where is Deorge went? I don’t see him! Oh no! (pause) Oh! There he is! I see him!”

Everywhere you look in the grocery stores are items that SAY they are better for you… and it’s not hard to look on the Internet to find countless articles telling you all the million ways that those items are NOT REALLY better for you. How you eat it is up to you. It’s up to your personal health issues, and up to your finances. And honestly, you could be on your deathbed and super wealthy and choose to eat crap. Because if that’s what you want, then it’s not crap at all. What we chose to put into our bodies is what we chose to put into our bodies. So many moms today argue and bicker about what is healthy and what’s not for their kids. They criticize other moms for the choices they make for their families, when they’ve never walked for even a second in her shoes. Personally, I find myself a little offended when folks tell me what I should and shouldn’t eat, and what I should and shouldn’t feed to my kids, and it puts me on the defense…

But then I sit here and I think about my health and the problems our family faces (not all in one body, thankfully!): Rheumatoid Arthritis, Migraines, Lactose Intolerance, Skin Allergies, Asthma, and Seasonal Allergies. Mostly all in relation directly to inflammation of some sort. And isn’t this becoming more and more common in America today? The more processed and chemical based that our foods become, the more our health declines. Granted, some of our issues have been around for years and are only just now being properly diagnosed. But it is a proven fact that Autism is on the rise. Heart disease is claiming lives left and right. And why? Because of what we put into our bodies.

Back when I was first diagnosed with RA, I read a book called The Inflammation Syndrome: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, Allergies, and Asthma by Jack Challam (that’s an affiliate link -thank you for participating!), and my eyes were opened for the first time to all of the junk I was putting in my body. I started cutting out night shade veggies (which I need to do again because for folks with RA, night shades are a PROVEN problem – for a complete list of night shade veggies, and to learn more about them, click here.), and I started cutting gluten, but didn’t dive wholeheartedly into either one. Because, you see, I love my night shades. I really do. We eat bell peppers around here practically every day. And, well, gluten and I have a not-so-secret love affair going. I’m in love with breads and pastas. Bring on the carbs!

However, after having our kids and looking to set forth a healthier living diet plan, I decided to dive into gluten free living – for myself, not for the whole family. And man! Is it ever expensive!?!?! And I also noticed that while it’s super easy to find a bazillion gluten free desserts that are really tasty, I started eating more desserts than I was eating before, and I didn’t lose any weight at all… didn’t ease any pressure on my joints at all either… because I was just filling my body with a different kind of crap. Gluten free crap.

So this week I decided to dive wholeheartedly into a new kind of living. Yup, after just a couple weeks I gave up the gluten free “fad.” (I call it a fad because that’s what it was for me – I am not saying that all people who live a gluten free lifestyle are living a fad! Don’t read that wrong!) But what I’ve started this week is far from a fad. It truly will be a lifestyle change. And here’s why. Because I’m going to focus on putting REAL FOOD into our bodies. I’ve heard of the Real Food revolution in the past and honestly thought we were living that. Until I started reading labels. Seriously ya’ll, it’s hard to find time to read labels when you’re in the grocery store with a toddler and a newborn – I KNOW – but do it. Just once. Or, for an even more eye opening time, during nap one day, take two minutes and go pick up 5-10 items in your pantry and read the labels on the things that you eat most often. Stop reading that item when you get to the first word in the ingredients that you don’t know how to pronounce. Yeah… I’m good at sounding stuff out… but man. That was an eye opener. Also look to see how many fillers like various types of grain are in the ingredients list of random items that you didn’t even realize grain was in. Also an eye opener.

It’s cheaper to grow modified corn. It’s cheaper to process modified corn. It’s cheaper to buy products with modified corn. And that’s what I’ve been doing. But that is changing. If we consume corn, I want it to be the yummy, sweet, juicy kind that I cut right off the cob myself in the summertime after cooking it on the grill. I don’t want to read about it on the label of some food in my pantry. But that’s MY CHOICE. It doesn’t have to be yours.

If it has more than 5 ingredients total, it might not be a good choice for my family. If it has ingredients that I can’t read, then it might not be a good choice for my family. If it has GMO corn in it, it might not be a good choice for my family. OR, it might be one of those three or all of the above, and I might buy it anyway because I feel it’s justified. And that’s ok – because it’s my choice. It’s your choice. But on a whole, I’m stepping out and making a plan to feed my family REAL FOOD. I want to know what’s in it. When I started making that choice and reading labels, I was amazed how many things that were real foods that were already naturally gluten free for me, and also dairy free for the kids.

Know the bodies in your family. Know what nutrients will help and what will hurt, and what things might affect the medical conditions that you’re dealing with on a daily basis. Be educated. Take the time to do the research. And then make an educated choice. No-one should be telling you not to buy Twinkies and ice cream. (I personally love Twinkies and ice cream… even together in the same bowl!) No-one but you can make the choice for or against ANY food.

But, if you’d like to slowly start looking for healthier options, try reading the ingredients on your breakfast, and start there. I found this blog post with information about making my own oatmeal packets. I read it, and decided what things I wanted to put in and leave out, and had a fabulous breakfast this morning that I feel satisfied with, and enjoyed. I did mine different than hers, but her information had me educated at the store and able to make a good decision for my own needs based on my own budget, and I definitely look forward to breakfast for lots of mornings to come! Here’s what I put in mine, in case you want an additional set of ideas on top of what she has:

Brown sugar (abt 2 Tbsp), Cinnamon (abt a tsp), Kosher salt (a pinch), Old Fashioned Gluten Free Rolled Oats (1/3 cup), Natural Coconut Flakes (abt 1 1/2 Tbsp), dried blueberries (abt 1 tsp), and a dried cranberry/pomegranate mix (abt 1 tsp). Then to cook, I dumped all that in a bowl, drizzled raw local honey on top, added 1 cup of coconut milk and stirred. I cooked that in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirred, and then let it stand for about 5 minutes (maybe longer b/c I went and threw on some clothes and put my hair up). It turned out AWESOME. The perfect hot breakfast for me. Might not be perfect for you, but I hope that IF YOU WANT to find healthier options, that you will search for them, and that you will find success.

An Invitation to Autumn Play

Continuing the theme of fall/autumn activities this week, I thought I’d share the shelf I set up as an invitation to dramatic play as well as reading – on theme. Here’s how I prepared the shelf:

I didn’t have to buy a thing – just went thru my decorations in the attic! I went thru our various shelves of books, and came up with some fabulous options, and put the board books here for easy access. (See below for a listing and links for purchasing.)

In the basket, I placed a bunch of little pumpkins and gourds that I had on hand – I believe I got them at dollar tree and hobby lobby a few years back. The basket was also a hobby lobby find ions ago. (AKA – if it gets torn up, I’m not gonna cry over it!)

So the books – as you can see, a couple of them are Target dollar section books. But here are the links to the others (all affiliate links – thank you for your participation!).

Duck & Goose, Find a Pumpkin – Becca LOVES Duck and Goose books. So much that she’s already excited about writing a letter to Santa Clause to ask for more of them. 🙂

It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse!

Eating the Alphabet (yes, I consider this a fall/harvest book)

Jack and Jill: A Halloween Nursery Rhyme

She immediately went for the Duck & Goose book, and then slowly got everything else out. She has really enjoyed having these items available for free play/read anytime!

Total Prep Time for Mommy: About ten minutes – because I got distracted while digging through the decor in the attic. 😉

Total Play Time for Becca: She will regularly sit here and spend about 5-10 minutes at a time, if not longer.

Orange/Pumpkin Scented Playdough

I love making play dough, I really do. But it’s been a LONG time since I had made any because I really need stuff I can throw together quick, and I’m not really willing to dedicate 20 minutes of my time just to making something I’m gonna throw away in two weeks. But, with all the fun play dough options out there, I wanted to try my hand at modifying my favorite recipe, to see if I could make something fun for fall. And wow, was it a success!! I had to remind Becca that we don’t eat the play dough, we just smell it and look at it and feel it.

Here she is smelling it – she did this several times – it really does smell GOOD, ya’ll. (A great conversation about our 5 senses followed – and she informed me that we can hear it too – we can hold it to our ears and squeeze it!) I gave her some fall shaped cookie cutters to play with, and she loved them! She kept calling the turkey a chicken, but we can work on bird recognition later. 🙂

So, here’s how you make your very own pumpkin play dough:

It works best in an electric skillet, but can be done on the stovetop in a non-stick pan. I recommend using a wooden spoon for mixing, but that’s not required. Bring to a boil: 1 1/4 cup water and an overflowing Tbsp + an overflowing tsp of vegetable oil

Meanwhile, mix in a bowl (child can help if you feel like also having a math lesson!): 1 cup flour, a little less than 1/2 cup table salt, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, and 2 packets of orange Kool-aid.

Turn the heat off on water/oil after it’s boiled hard. Dump in the dry ingredients, and stir well until dough forms. Use the spoon to lump dough together in the center, allow to cool for about ten minutes, then place in freezer bag or sealed plastic container. Condensation will form- this is good, and helps the play dough stay moist.

Note: If your dough isn’t very moist, but rather grainy, you have too much salt and/or not enough oil.

I highly recommend thorough hand washing when done, and then using hand lotion- the salt in the dough can really dry your skin, and the cinnamon and nutmeg can cause super sensitive skin (like Becca’s) to turn a bit pink. The dough should be kept in a sealed container when not in use, and will stay fresh for about two weeks.

Enjoy the scents of fall in your kitchen!

Total Prep Time for Mommy: about 20-25 minutes

Total Play Time for Becca: on first use, about 30 minutes, but I know she’ll use it every day for the two weeks til I have to throw it away and make some more. Maybe I’ll try apple scented play dough then… hmmm…

Crazy Hair Day

As I have been racking my brain trying to think of good hand-eye coordination activities that also include math, this was a fun one I came up with using a styrofoam ball that I cut in half, and pipe cleaners that I cut into quarters. These spiky haired dudes are super funny, apparently, because giggles abounded when I brought them out. Then we worked on patterning by threading the colored beads onto the “strands” of “hair.” I would start a pattern, and she would continue it. She also liked sorting them by color so that one strand had only purple or only blue. This was the first time I really worked with her on patterning, so I was amazed to see how well she did – I even introduced an “AAB” pattern, and she repeated it like a pro. Her attention span of adding to each strand was short – so sometimes she would just say with color came next, which I thought was just fine. I have left this activity where she can reach it – still on its tray, with all beads available for use, and she keeps coming back to it at various times to add more beads. She says it’s “super fun, Mommy!”

The original presentation

I had to show her how to put the first bead on the pipe cleaner – she was unsure what to do with them, which kind of surprised me because she usually does really well with invitations to play, and figures out on her own what to do, but she was trying to poke the beads into the styrofoam, which was NOT what I wanted her to do. After a while, she got obviously tired, so I dumped the beads out on her tray, and grabbed her bulldozer, which was nearby, and let her have fun pushing the beads around.

Total Prep Time for Mommy: About 5 minutes – since I had to cut the styrofoam ball and the pipe cleaners and then stick them in, and try to find a little bowl for the beads.

Total Play Time for Becca: In the first sitting, she played for 30 minutes, but has gone back to the tray several times for 2-5 minutes at a time.