The Tea Time Experiment

We can thank Anna Marie Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford for starting the tradition of afternoon tea in the late 1830's. Her need for a late afternoon snack was the start of a daily ritual for most upper and middle class families for years to come. She wasn't the first to make drinking tea fashionable (that was Queen Catherine of Braganza). However, due to the "sinking feeling" she had at 3 p.m. each day, she started having a cup of tea and a light snack. This became her daily tradition that evolved into a perfect opportunity for socializing and various forms of tea gatherings, tea gardens and tea houses have carried on the brilliant tradition ever since.

As it turns out, pretty much everyone in my house experiences a "sinking feeling" at about 3 o'clock. And my six-year-old happens to ask me to have a tea party every day. And since I have been revamping our family schedule, I decided...why not take a page out of Anna the Duchess of Bedford's book.

We are in the early days of this snack experiment, but so far, so good. There are several reasons why I want to incorporate afternoon tea time into our day.

Health Reasons
Since we are all experiencing that dreaded sinking feeling... we usually have a snack at 3 o'clock. And in general snacks tend to be more casual and in the end can easily turn into kids munching on a bag of carbs while watching something on TV. This is a recipe for a spoiled appetite when the real food (AKA Dinner) is served. Secondly it is reinforcing the bad habit of absent minded snacking of non nutritive food.

Fun Reasons
I do have two girls who love tea parties right now and are willing participants. (I will say that I haven't met too many boys who will turn down a snack and a yummy mug of tea.) I also have an assortment of tea pots that don't get enough use. And this is a time that we can all look forward to enjoying together at the end of the school day. It is a lot of fun to set out a snack on a nicer plate, use a tea pot we haven't used in a while and take a break from school and chores for a few minutes.

Relationship Reasons
It is fun to sit around and talk while having our Afternoon Tea. We share a plate of veggies, pretzel and some hummus and peanut butter to dip them in. We look each other in the eye. We smile and enjoy the food and company. I want to be in the habit of having times through out the day where I am available to listen to whatever my children need to tell me. I want to give them face to face time starting when they are at their littlest and hoping that whatever stage they go through along the way that I will be there to sit down and have a spot of tea with them.

Afternoon Tea is a great time to invite a friend or neighbor to pop in for a spot of tea and a bit of a chat. It gives my children a chance to play host and an excuse to get-together for an hour, to keep it simple and just make time for people. I love sitting down with a friend over a cup of tea...some of my most favorite moments have happened over a cup of tea.

Side Note
At this point, you may be thinking...lovely sentiment Jen but in this modern age I am driving an SUV of kids around at 3 o'clock and a tea party everyday is just not practical. To this I say, you are right, this may not be for you. But maybe something strikes a chord and you will find your own version of this.

You may also be saying to yourself, this girl obviously watches a lot of PBS and must read a lot of Jane Austen. To this I have to say, "True, true, this is all true!"

Simple Reasons
We have a snack at this time anyway. I like to drink a cup of tea at this time. Why not actually sit down and enjoy the two, rather than standing over the sink as I munch a handful of something. We are not having High Tea every day. We aren't having a plate of cookies and scones, and my kids aren't dumping in large spoonfuls of sugar into their beverages. Tea Parties can definitely turn into guzzling straight sugar parties. We are having a healthful, portioned snack with a cup of chamomile tea (with a little drizzle of honey). Simply put we are stopping to smell the roses, taking the time to look each other right in the face and smile. And building relationships along with healthy eating habits.


In my mind, it's a worthy experiment, and I really hope we can keep it up!

A Very Revealing Celebration

The girls did their part to help with making the cupcakes.

These were our Gluten, Dairy, Egg Free ingredients. 

 We absolutely loved the idea of the gender reveal cupcakes that are totally trending right now. What a great way to break the news to the family.
We debated as to whether we wanted to find out with everyone else while eating the cupcakes or at the Ultrasound.
We opted to find out at the Ultrasound and kept it a surprise for all our loved ones. (Which was good because the minute our Ultrasound Tech put the wand on my belly...there was the boy bottom!)

Our party plans did not quite pan out as planned (Our family was busy or traveling the week we wanted to do the party.) but through lots of trial and error we were able to put together a very special and memorable celebration. We decided it would be absolutely wonderful to share our little party with just our family of four. Then we took our cupcakes on the road and shared them with our grandparents who live near by, and a special Aunt who is also local. 

Johanna inserted the colored frosting directly into the cupcake with a frosting tool. She did not cut out the middle. 

The rest of the family got either a phone call or a party in a card. We had one international call from London to share the news with my sister and her husband while on their backpacking trip through Europe.

My friend Johanna graciously came over and made and decorated the cupcakes for me. She did a fantastic job...even with all the diet substitutions. Such fluffy frosting!

This was so special and so much fun! What a great memory! 

The beautiful gender neutral result.

We sent cards to Great Grandparents and the Aunties and Grandparents that could not join in the celebration.

CJ discovering the hidden color. It's Blue!!! She knew it! 

A little party in an envelope!

Toasting baby brother with Sparkling Cider.

Can't wait to meet our little man!

Keep them Hopping

Here is an EGG-citing project that is perfect for this time of year. This is an activity jar. Inside this jar are eggs that have an activity listed on it.

Here are some objectives accomplished by our EGG-citing Activity Jar:
1. It answers the question... What should I do now? And it is a great alternative to letting them plop down in front of another episode of Strawberry Shortcake.

2. It reminds us of toys, games and activities that they don't play with every day. I intentionally wrote individual games and things that are tucked away in cupboards so that we remember to get them out and use them.

3. All of these activities inspire creativity and family interaction. This is also a great way to break free from boring ruts. We all know that especially when kids are young repetition is a great learning tool for kids. But it is also great to try something new, or rediscover something you have forgotten. And for the adult who is involved, it can be a refreshing change!

How does it work?
At a designated time of day, or when the time is right, get down the jar from it's shelf. Let the children choose one egg. Sometimes we let both of our daughters choose one each. Then decide which activity to do first. Perform the activity and put the completed egg into a separate jar. That way you won't keep pulling the same eggs out of the jar each time.

What do you need to make this project?
1. A large jar. I used an empty Costco sized Animal Cracker container.
2. Eggs or ping pong balls. I made my jar around Easter time. Go to the $1 store and see if you can find something that would work. I was originally going to use ping pong balls but they didn't have them at the dollar store and I couldn't find them for a cheap enough price.
3. An Inventory List of toys and games, and flash cards you want to include on your eggs. You may also want to add things like: Make a puppet show with stuffed animals behind the couch, or Dance Party!, and Put on a play of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
4. A Permanent Marker. Write on each egg one activity.
5. A shelf. Once you have written on all the eggs and put them in your jar, put them up on a shelf. The activity jar is not down where the kids can get into all the time, or dump it all out. I get it down when it is time to do an activity. Keeping it up actually adds to the excitement! 
A few pointers...

*** You may want to keep a time limit in mind. In our jar the average egg activity lasts from 10 to 30 minutes.

*** You may also like to approach your activity jar from a "Jump Start" perspective. Where you as the parent jump start the kid on the activity and then they complete it independently. This works really well if there is some kind of performance at the end. For example, put on a play and then perform it for mommy in 20 minutes. This also works well with activities like play dough.

However, I have found that the time when the eggs come in the most handy is when the girls need some parental interaction. More often than not, after completing their Egg-citing activity they are ready to do some independent play.

5210 Let's Go!

A couple of years ago I came across an article in Parents magazine that highlighted a program to educated parents and children in order to prevent childhood obesity.
5210 stands for a daily standard of what kids should be doing each day to stay healthy.

5- Five fruits and vegetables a day
2- Two- no more than two hours of television/TV/ or video & computer games per day.
1- One hour of physical activity
0-Zero sweets and foods that have no nutritional value.

It was a very small article, but it really caught my eye... what a simple recipe! I used this concept when developing our family schedule. I also wanted a way to keep track and stay accountable to the 5210 guidelines 
So I created and laminated a chart that I could mark off through out the day. This way the whole family could see where we were in each day.

I added a vitamin check list and my chore list to the chart. Whenever I complete any of those tasks I can just mark them off with the dry erase marker.

Now a couple of years later this program has really caught on and gained notoriety. Our local elementary School is doing this program as a school. There are lots of resources you can use to implement this program into your home.
Check it out: 5210 Let's Go!

(Let me know if you would like a chart of your own. I hope to make my charts available on PDF soon! If you want one it will probably make me get it done faster!)

She Has My Eyes

When someone says, "Oh she has your eyes," you usually assume you share the same eye color. However, when  Rose's eye doctor made this statement, my heart sank.
Rose has my eyes, in color and in condition. She is farsighted and when she tries to focus it causes her eyes to cross. If a child's eye is allowed to cross on a regular basis without correction than that eye is in danger of becoming a "lazy eye." (Amblyopia:  is the loss of one eye's ability to see details. It is the most common cause of vision problems in children. Can lead to vision loss in that eye). To prevent an eye from becoming "lazy" early intervention is key!
I got my first pair of glasses before I was a year old. My brother got his first pair by 18 months. And my grandmother should have had her glasses that early, but since she was the sixth child in a family of eight during the Great Depression...no one thought to take her to the doctor. Her sister took her to the doctor around age 7, by that time she had already lost vision in that eye.

70 years later we would hope that people would have a better understanding of the importance of early eye exams in babies and children. Sadly, this is not the case. When my first daughter was born I told our pediatrician about the history of Amblyopia in our family and asked when she should get her first check up. He told me that you can't do an eye exam in children until they are at least three or older. I knew this wasn't true because I had my first pair of glasses at 11 months and my first eye surgery at age three. So I asked my optometrist.

"The American Optometric Association recommends the first eye exam at six months of age, then at three years of age and every year while in school. " 

Both of my girls had eye exams before they were a year old. As it turns out CJ did not need glasses, but Rose did. Early eye exams can mean the difference between your child having the use of both of their eyes or not. Often by the time parents realize their kids need glasses it's already too late to redeem sight in that eye.

Rose showed no signs of needing glasses, and neither did I. Both of us seemed busy, and normal, if not a little ahead. (However, I did have more prominent strabismus that alerted my parents to take me in.)

After I got my glasses I went from a well-behaved kid who never got into anything to an amazing explorer who got into everything. I couldn't see all that was around me before glasses. Rose went from being a baby that had no interest in books to being a little reader.

I am glad to report that Rose has no sign of a "lazy eye." Both her eyes are working equally because she wears her glasses to prevent her eye from crossing. I am so glad we brought her in when we did.

Get your little one's eyes checked from a skilled Pediatric Ophthalmologist. What could it hurt?
Check out these links to find out more of what to expect:
An ounce of prevention is worth 17 pounds of cuteness
Uncovering Vision Problems Early

Little Jenni in her glasses!

Little Rose in her glasses. 

Diaper Ditch and Dash

CJ showing her "Potty Power" and Pull-ups!

If children came with directions I think it would make things a whole lot easier. For instance, my oldest daughter CJ's directions would read something like: Hi Mom, I will get constipated really easily so I will spend the first few months of life crying until you figure this out. And by the way, at around 15 months I will be ready to potty train. If I wake up screaming like someone is hurting me or I am desperately ill...it is just a night terror. The best thing you can do is leave me alone. Keeping me challenged will be  your biggest challenge. And a word of warning... I never forget anything, so be careful what you say.  Love you forever! CJ


Instead like detectives we just have to try and figure it out. Trial and error, try this and that, until we land on a solution. This solution may work for a phase, or indefinitely...you don't know definitely until it doesn't work anymore. One thing is for certain... just because it worked on child #1 doesn't mean it will help you at all with child #2 and so on. Every kid is a whole new ball game.

The girls hanging out during CJ's potty-training days.

My oldest daughter was completely potty trained by two. So naturally this was my goal with Rose. Who doesn't want to see the end to diapers? Between my health problems, and surgery etc. and her obvious lack of interest... we postponed. Then she turned two and she started whipping off her diaper every time she dirtied it. Not that long ago she threw her diaper at me as she ran by shouting "Diaper Change" on her way to play. Potty Training?  How about now?

So I began the exhausting cycle of putting her on and off the potty with her cloth training pants. On one hand she seems very aware of when she goes, but not until after the fact.
One day she was showing signs that she needed to poop (she was walking around like a cowboy) I kept putting her back on the potty, hoping for a success story. In the end, immediately after some unfruitful potty time, she ran into the kitchen and said, "Watch out mommy; here it comes!" And she was right. Well, at least it was one less diaper to wash, and that's why we have a steam mop!

She is getting more aware, but still just doesn't seem ready. But playing find-the-diaper wasn't on my list of fun games. It was a regular Easter egg hunt... and what I kept finding around the house were not delightful drops of chocolate! In response to this phase we did switch to Pull-ups (the diaper's more-expensive cousin) and still encourage potty time.

Rose in training November 2010

Then I read in the January  2011 edition of Parents magazine a statistic that would have been useful last year! Most children are not ready to potty train before 27 months. (My first child had misled me as to what was a normal time to train.) Apparently, for most children, if you try to train before 2 1/2 you just have more puddles to clean up. Another key tip they mentioned was that while your child may have all the signs of potty readiness BUT they may not be ready to train (in other words... ready to cooperate.)
I had already put potty training Rose on my list of summer projects. Now this new information further confirms it. Time to focus on the issue at hand... trying to keep her from playing with the light sockets.

If I had a guess at what Rose's directions would say it would be something like:  Dear Mommy, I will nurse exclusively until I am 1. Don't even try to give me baby food; that stuff is bland. After a year I will eat only what you eat, and make sure it has lots of garlic. By the way, I will nurse until I am two, and don't even think about trying to get me potty-trained before I am three. Best of luck, Mommy, and please buy me a helmet and parachute because I like to climb and jump off of things! Always your baby, Rose.

Like Mother Like Daughter Like Coffee

I am proud to say that my oldest girl is well trained. Whenever she and daddy are in town she often says, "Daddy don't forget to bring mommy home a coffee! You know she likes it!"
One of the first things I learned after Rosemary was born and I was juggling the -newborn-toddler- combo, all tea and beverages for Mommy need to have a lid too. So I switched from a regular mug for my morning tea to a tumbler. A valuable safety lesson! When juggling children it is best not to add a mug of hot anything to the routine. However, a mug of hot something is just what you may need to get through the day!
At any rate, Cecily loves to drink her milk out of a tumbler too... I love these cute sippy-cup tumblers. Cecily loves to be a big girl like mommy. And I have done my part as a Seattle-area citizen to raise coffee awareness. (The ironic part of it all... is I pretty much drink tea....and Chai is my special treat!) But my musing on tea I will save for another day!