5 healthy recipes for picky toddlers

Feeding a Toddler is a daily exercise in patience, flexibility (both physically and mentally...as you are often dodging food being thrown or spilled) and creativity. There are weeks when Aiden could eat the same thing for lunch every day, but then there are days where yesterday's favorite is the most disgusting food in the universe. 

I really try to feed Aiden healthy things, but as I'm sure most Moms of toddlers have experienced, feeding a Toddler is no joke. I have my go-to foods for when Aiden just won't eat anything else, but these are a few tried and true "recipes" that are more healthy and are still some of Aiden's favorites...

1. Cucumber + Cream Cheese + Turkey Tortilla Wrap

• Cucumber
• Cream Cheese
• Deli Turkey
• Tortilla (corn or flour, I used corn this time because we had some leftover from Taco night)

Peel and thinly slice a cucumber (I also steamed it to make it even softer for my little one, but for older toddlers it'd be fine chopped up into small pieces.) Take a tortilla, spread cream cheese on it,  lay a piece of turkey on top and the cucumber pieces. Cut up and serve.

2. Chipotle style burrito bowl

• Rice
• Black Beans
• Plain Greek Yogurt
• Shredded Cheese
• Assorted veggies (frozen corn, avocado, diced tomato...)

Combine cooked rice with black beans, top with cheese and non-fat plain greek yogurt. If you can get your toddler to eat vegetables (congratulations!) Add some corn, avocado or even a little diced tomato. For a simple addition to this meal, serve with a cheese quesadilla.

3. Honey, Almond Butter and Banana "Sushi" Roll-up

• Almond butter
• Honey
• Banana
• Flour Tortilla

Warm the flour tortilla in the microwave on a paper towel for 10 seconds to soften. Spread with almond butter (about 2 Tbsp.) and honey. Lay out a banana on the tortilla and roll tortilla up around the banana tightly. Cut like sushi and serve. Yum.

4. Sweet Potato Tacos

Aiden loves these almost as much as my husband and I do. Click here for the recipe! This one is for the whole family!

5. Butternut Squash Sandwich 

• Butternut squash (peeled, cubed and steamed)
• Cream Cheese
• Deli Turkey or Ham

This recipe is an easy way to conceal veggies and it's really good! Peel and cube the squash then steam it. Puree it with cream cheese. Spread on your choice of  bread or tortilla and add your child's favorite deli meat and any other toppings you want. Cut up and serve.

What are your go-to healthy foods for the Toddler in your life?

Spring Break 2016

Since my husband is a teacher, we still look forward to Spring Break in our house. This year we may not have headed somewhere warm and sunny, but we had a relaxing few days in South Bend visiting my sister and brother in law. It was nice to get a way for some delicious food, hiking and family time. We visited the South Bend Chocolate Factory, got a golden ticket to tour the factory and enjoyed plenty of samples. We tried Mexican Ice cream for the first time (yum!) and played a new (to us) game called Qwirkle. Aiden loved exploring new territory and he did great in the car too! (Tips for long car rides with toddlers coming in a future post.)

Did you get to enjoy a "Spring Break" this year?

An Aiden Update {17 Month Pictures}

Aiden is now 17 months old and counting. He is growing and changing so quickly and this age is too fun not to document so here are some things I want to remember about Aiden at this age...

My favorite things he says...
+ He calls milk "B".
+ WubbaNub is "Buh." When he can't find it, he has a little song he sings "Buh, where are you?"
+ He whispers "Love you" and my heart melts.
+ He always requests "More cookie"even with his mouth is still full of one.
+ Besides "Mama" his favorite saying is "Out".
+ When we go to the grocery store or see a big group of people he says, "Hi People!" (He is such an extrovert.)
+ If something impresses him he says, "Wow"
+ He knows the difference between train, tractor, truck and car and asks for them all by name.
+ He knows his directional words and if he wants you to join him somewhere, he will say "Up" and then push you toward his desired destination (usually the front door to go outside!)
+ He knows all his animal sounds including obscure ones like fish, turkey and woodpecker

I tried to count all the words that he knows yesterday and it's always growing. I got up to 50 words then got distracted. He has recently started stringing multiple words together. I love seeing how his mind is working right now! It's crazy!

My favorite things he does...
+ Gives kisses on demand
+ When he gets two of something (two cookies, two stuffed animals, two trucks, etc.) he proudly holds them both up in his hands above his head and gets the biggest smile on his face.
+ Sings the "Mama, Dada, Bubba, Yaya" song.
+ Holds my hair when he is tired or needs comfort (He just loves having me close, boy loves his Mama)
+ After I sing a song he will clap, say "Yay" and request "More song". I feel like a very accomplished and talented singer with all that praise. Haha.

Aiden's current favorites...
+ Thomas the train everything (We just signed up for A Day Out with Thomas and I can't wait to see Aiden's face light up when he actually sees and gets to ride on Thomas.)
+ Books! He is constantly bringing us books and telling us "Book, book, book!" He definitely has opinions about his books too. I will bring over a stack of books and he'll look at a book and say "yah" or "no."
+ Watching the Garbage truck collect our garbage
+ Anything and everything outside. Swinging, riding in the wagon, going on hikes...he could live outside. His current favorite thing is pushing toys up and down our neighbors driveways and letting them go at the top followed by him saying, "Weeeeee!"

Stats: (From his 15 month appointment)
+ Weight: 21 pounds
+ Height: 29 inches (Aw still my little peanut in the 10th percentile for height)

I can't believe I'll have a one and a half year old in just a few weeks. 

He is the light of my life and I am so happy he is mine.

Views from the weekend

My weekend was a good one. My book club got together on Friday night. We drank wine, ate appetizers and talked about our latest read, The Nightingale. It's a book about two sisters in France during WWII. They both handle the presence of the Germans in their home very differently. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a fan of Historical Fiction. If you read and loved The Girl You Left Behind, you will love it! Our next book: The Boston Girl. Have any of you read it?

In our house, weekends equal big family breakfasts and staying in our jammies until 11 because we can. Saturday we woke up to snow....in April. We took Aiden to a Discovery Center inside a new shopping center, which meant play time for him and shopping for me. If you take in a bag of old/worn clothes to H&M over the next few weeks, you can get 30% off your purchase!

Sunday we booked our flights to South Carolina and spent some time looking up restaurants and places to site see. I can't wait to be on the beach again in less than two months!

What were some of your favorite views this weekend?

Easter on the Farm

We had such a sweet Easter weekend. Full of family time, delicious food and being thankful that we have a risen Savior. Easter is just such a special day already, then add the wonderful weather and my baby in a bow tie and I was all smiles.

Saturday we got together with Drew's family at our favorite restaurant, Grand Finale. After lunch, we headed back to our house to hang out, open Easter baskets and eat dessert.

Sunday I spent most of my day at church then we headed out to my Aunt and Uncle's farm for what is becoming one of my favorite family traditions. An Easter egg hunt where the "big kids" can hunt too. My Aunt calls it the "100 dollar Egg hunt" and let's just say Drew, Aiden and I left that day with 60 more dollars to our names. Cha-ching. That's my kind of egg hunt.

Aiden had so much fun. He cared about the colorful eggs in his basket for about 5 minutes and spent the rest of his time pushing his toy cars around and enjoying his freedom on the farm. It was a wonderful day.

And of course we took a bunch of family pictures because why not...

I hope your Easter was wonderful. Happy Hoppy April!