Category Archives: Parenting

What Toddler Yoga Really Looks Like

Perform a Google search for Toddler Yoga and along with the glut of mommy & baby/toddler yoga info sites, you’ll find images of cooperative toddlers in yoga poses with their mom.

I’m not sure I could even get into that pose, much less hold it for more than half a second, but here this kid is doing it with apparent ease. They even have classes at yoga studios specifically for babies/toddlers and parents. I’ve seen it around before, but still hard to imagine things actually going as well as they portray on their site.

Look up the definition of yoga and, well, never mind, I’ll do it for you…

Yoga Definition

After observing my wife attempt to have a yoga session at home with Avery joining in, Toddler Yoga brings to mind another word.

Oxymoron Defined

Come to think of it, cooperative toddler fits into this definition too. Not always, but c’mon, you know it’s true.

With the end of my squat every day routine, I mentioned that I’ll be bringing some of my workouts inside. With the help of fitness DVDs, I will be able to workout while simultaneously keeping Avery entertained and maybe even joining in.

She still tends to walk in front of me or try to climb my back during certain exercises that could result in injury (for the both of us), but when it’s just us two, she’s usually pretty good. Maybe because she’s around me all day, but Avery is always more clingy to her Mommy, which makes it very hard for my wife to do the same workout videos.

The other day, feeling the need to relax and calm down, Kelley chose to do the yoga video we have. Great choice when relaxing is the goal according to the definition, but what about that extra variable….our toddler.

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Yep, there she is, sitting on Mommy in the Corpse Pose. Probably not a pic you’ll see on any yoga studio’s website trying to promote their Toddler Yoga class. Avery did get off to strike her own pose like Mommy for a bit.

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Using Kelley’s sweatshirt as her personal yoga mat, I’d say she was doing pretty good. At least they both look relaxed. But then…..

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….. as evidenced by the mischievous smirk on her face, her cling-o-meter was reading low and something had to be done fast!

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How’s this, Mom, is this in your way? Not that it mattered, under Mommy was NOT clingy enough.

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There we go, back to the Corpse Pose; perfect opportunity to sit on Mommy again. Hi!!

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I was beginning to wonder if Kelley was still in the Corpse Pose, or actually suffering from lack of oxygen. Obviously, I was extremely concerned since I still took pictures. No worries, I had Avery check her breath for me.

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Phew, she was still breathing!

Yep, she's good, Dad.
Yep, she’s good, Dad.

I missed several shots of Avery doing the Downward Dog Pose, but I’m sure I’ll get the chance again. She actually did that one pretty well, so I’ll be sure to share once we capture it on camera.

Have you ever tried doing something relaxing with your little tot(s)? Success or failure?

Our Toddler’s Daily Blue Plate Special + WIAW

Our toddler is getting a little more sophisticated around here. Before, we could just use her high chair tray as a “plate” for her to eat off of, but now she insists on using a plate. And not just any plate, and blue plate!

Actually, as long as the plate is next to her, she will still accept eating from the tray, but her plate must be blue. Pink or purple is a surefire way to set her off like Katie Ka-Boom from the Animaniacs (please, someone tell me they know the reference), so she gets her blue plate every day for at least dinner. Then wash, rinse, repeat (literally).

It doesn’t stop with just her plate either, she insists on sitting in her blue chair, drinking green smoothies from her blue bottle, wearing a blue shirt, and favors her blue cloth diaper over the other colors. And I lost count of how many times we are told the sky is blue and she has blue eyes. I know she’s too young to call it official, but for the time being, blue is definitely her favorite color.

Back to the blue plate. I’ve enjoyed sharing our toddler’s eats for past What I Ate Wednesday’s, so I figured I’d share her blue plate fare (rhyming rocks!) for this week’s edition.

Breakfast – Banana, homemade chocolate protein pancake, homemade NuttZo Banana Bread, and sprouted raw pumpkin seeds.

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I’m always a bit worried about the pumpkin seeds since we’ve had several tipped plate experiences already, but lately, she’s been much better at putting her pincer grasp to use.

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Snack – Tiny But Mighty Heirloom Popcorn with more NuttZo Banana Bread.

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So it wasn’t a plate, but a blue lid seemed to pass her stringent color standards of….um…blue.

Lunch – Lots of slow-cooker veggies with black beans and a 50/50 mash of cauliflower and potatoes mixed with nutritional yeast, goat cheese, and several spices.

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Please note the blue fork. I found it on Amazon and had to buy it for the name alone; Air Fork One. She loves it too!

Big Girl Snack – hard boiled egg, diced apple, slow-cooker butternut squash, steamed veggies, and cut cherry tomatoes.

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I swear, she eats more than most adults! She’ll finish off a plate like this and simply look at us and say “more”.

Dinner – chicken thighs from a local farmer, baked apple, and more slow-cooker veggies.

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Dinner time is when she tends to get a little ornery, so we keep more food to the side or feed her from our own plate/bowl. This time, however, she was all about the chicken and the veg and used her Air Fork One very well.

Picking up the cargo..

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…dropping it off…

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…and then back out for another load. Or she’s threatening us, not sure.

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Who knows how long the blue plate phase will last, but I guess it could be something much, much worse, so as long as she keeps eating so well, blue plate it is!

Hope you have a great day, we’re getting over the hump now!

Does your kid have a particular item they must have at all times?

Ever see the Air Fork One or something like it?

The Only Treat in Her Halloween Basket

Last year might have been her first Halloween, but this year was more exciting for sure. We were able to use the same pumpkin costume as last year (no Elsa here!), but that’s where the similarities end.

Avery’s First in 2014

Halloween Pumpkin 2014

Avery’s Second in 2015

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Good to see she’s growing! But maybe a little too fast, she’s already expressing herself a bit much.

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Fine, Avery, you can pick your own costume next year, geez!

During the day on Halloween, we carved our first pumpkin as a family.

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We tried to get Avery to stick her hand inside to help pull out the pumpkin guts, but all she wanted to do was stick her head in and sniff.

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Not wanting to waste the insides, I spread the seeds on a baking sheet to roast them. Avery was happy to sit and observe.

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I told her we were going to cook and eat the pumpkin’s guts. Although she didn’t look the slightest bit interested, she couldn’t stop eating them once out of the oven.

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Due to my lack of tools, skills, and overall desire to get elaborate, we kept it simple with a traditional jack-o-lantern look. Kelley drew the lines and I completely jacked up the outline with my unsteady knife hand.

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The end result was nothing mind-blowing, but hey, we did it together as a family and that’s what matters most.

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We just enjoyed seeing how involved and interested Avery was with the whole process, and you could tell how excited she was about our carved gourd.

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Maybe “excited” is not the right word, but she Iinterested, I swear! She really became interested as we prepared to go trick-or-treating, especially with all of the costumed big kids (parents too) out and about going door to door. Outside at the front of our house, she just stood in her pumpkin suit and stared as Elsa’s walked with Mummies, and The Hulk had apparently settled down and shrunk in size.

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There was no carrying around like last year, this time she was ready to walk on her own.

We have an almost half mile loop around our house that she walked most of on her own with only a few tiny trips. Those darn feet!

Avery still doesn’t know what candy is, she just calls out the color of the wrappers if she sees some, and we never expected for her to get anything on her trick-or-treating adventure, it was all for the experience. That said, one of our neighbor friends, Jason along with his wife Jennifer, had asked what she could have so they could have something to give her to put in her bucket, and I said she loves bananas. This simple, yet generous offer was extremely thoughtful and appreciated by Going Mom and myself.

He and his wife have two little girls, Natalie and Zoey, and I’ve mentioned how we’ve been over to jump on their trampoline and play a few times before. Their house was the only one we actually stopped at that night, and Avery happily (with a confused-about-her-surroundings look) accepted her banana treat to fill her Halloween basket.

Banana Trick-or-Treating at Dunn's

Kelley and I were trying to chat for a minute, and in that minute, Avery was already trying to eat her treat without even peeling the thing. We stopped her after she already had her teeth sunk in the peel, and I took it away to “unwrap” the wrapper so she could have a bite. Bad move, that set off our impatient pumpkin.

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Crap, meltdown! Luckily, the crisis was averted by her brown-spotted treat once it was in her belly.

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Good thing I didn’t mistake that other, more round pumpkin next to her as my costumed daughter or she would’ve been outraged when I tried to feed it her banana.

Happy once more, we set off to complete the loop with Avery doing mostly good on foot. We ran into some friends all around her age and as we stopped to talk to their parents, they conversed amongst themselves as well.

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On the right is Natalie, and the middle is another friend/neighbor, Emma. Not sure what they discussed, but none of them looked exactly happy with us.

Soon after, we completed the loop and thus, Avery’s first experience of trick-or-treating. I’m sure next year will be even more eventful and probably not as easy to get away with just a banana for her basket, but only time will tell.

Did you take your little ones out to trick-or-treat?

Any fun/exciting/hopefully not bad stories to share?