A Budding Fashionista

I never set out to raise a girly girl. I'm a child of the 80s and never owned a Cabbage Patch doll. People gave me Barbies as gifts but I kept them in a zip up case and brought them out upon request when friends came over. I did like My Little Ponies and Rainbow Bright and I remember having bedding with those characters. So when I became a mom of a girl I just assumed she'd be like me - kind of middle of the road on the girliness factor. We both love nature and I'm not afraid of touching worms, frogs or lizards so I'm pretty sure her love of animals and general curiosity is from me.

Sure, I love fashion and even considered majoring in Fashion Design in college. But her love of princesses and Barbie is so foreign to me. It seems her obsession with the over the top girly stuff began when we took her to a live Nick Jr show that included a scene with Dora becoming a princess. After that it was princess mania which evolved once she discovered the Disney characters. I'm not even sure how Barbie permeated my protective force field. In the last 6 months she's acquired enough Barbie dolls and accessories to require a case on wheels to house them. And those minuscule accessories! For her birthday she only wanted one gift: the Barbie Jet. This thing came with "ice cubes" that are almost microscopic!

Anyway... most of her dolls are usually nude because she is constantly switching their clothing. She was out of school for Winter Break this week so when I get home she is so excited to see me. She greets me at the door with "Mommy, will you play with me?" So I had to think of an activity we could do together. I was simultaneously trying to prepare dinner and noticed some colorful tissue paper leftover from her recent birthday."Why don't we make dresses for your Barbies with these?" I said holding them up. Her eyes lit up so I know I had a winning idea! "YES!" And she went to work. I let her use the tape dispenser which is usually out of her reach and she felt so grown up. We made "shoes" out of strips of paper wrapped around their feet in mummy style bandages. She corrected me and said they were socks, not shoes. I loved finding ways to re-use things we normally throw away - like crumpled tissue paper from a gift. I think we did an awesome job. How about you?

The Best Day Ever!

My daughter told me today was "the best day ever". I admit, it warmed my heart on such a frigid day. I thought my allergies were to blame for my stuffy nose the last few days. But today my nose was dripping like a faucet and I feel "under the weather" for sure. How come no one ever says "above the weather" when they feel great? But I digress...

So the northeast got dumped with snow yesterday and since I don't live on a main road, my street doesn't get priority plowing. So I knew we'd be indoors today. I woke up and we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Then, I snuck back upstairs for a quick nap while my daughter (soon to be 4) watched tv with her dad. About an hour later I emerged from the bedroom and I was immediately bombarded with requests to go outside. My daughter's agenda: snow angel, snowman, snowball fight. Previous winters I was able to distract her and avoid snow activities but this year it was unavoidable. Thankfully, we have had much snow this winter. So I bundle her up. When I was zipping up her coat I thought to ask if she needed to potty. Thankfully not. But she kept falling down outside and couldn't get up without my help. She was cracking up!

Disclaimer: its been at least 20 years since I made a snowman. I'm from the Midwest. I don't remember snow being so powdery. It wouldn't stick together to make a ball so we pressed it into a hill. Can I get an A for effort?

Snow lady: we found vines with red berries so we gave her lips and hair.

We came in for hot cocoa and that's when she said this was "the best day ever" lol. I felt like an awesome mom. But now I'm using the heating pad on my back from all the bending I did earlier. It was totally worth it. Its supposed to rain tomorrow. I hope she won't take it too hard when her "snow lady" washes away.

Summer Fun Project: Making Healthy Yogurt Fruit Popsicles

As I gear up for a heat wave with estimates of 100 degrees with the heat index I figure what better way to beat the heat than a popsicle? I saw some fancy schmancy popsicle molds in a magazine about a month ago and planned to order online. Of course I was going to look for a bargain because $30 seemed pricey for popsicle molds. So, I was perusing the newly opened Whole Foods market in Fairfield, CT to see what all the hype was about. Talk about pricey! The things I sprang for were gourmet and worth every penny because you can't get them elsewhere, like the poppy seed chicken salad in the deli. I justified my purchases in my mind by telling myself "it's cheaper than a meal eating out at a restaurant". But I'm a frugalista so will continue buy my produce and canned goods at a discount store like Price Rite. But I digress, on my way to the checkout line I see an endcap display with nothing other than POPSICLE molds! $11.99? Ok, I'm in Whole Foods so I'm sure I could hunt down a  better price if I looked. But if I consider the precious time spent bargain hunting online or gas used to drive elsewhere, I'd probably break even. So, Tovolo popsicle molds it was. They came in a few shapes. I chose the star shaped mold. I knew my 3 yr old would be stoked!

We used fresh strawberries, a banana (both easy for toddlers to cut with a butter knife which also exercises fine motor skills).  

And We used lowfat Dannon yogurt with blueberries. She loved dumping everything in and licking the utensils.

 

 She loves being my kitchen helper. And I recently began letting her press the buttons on the blender. Who doesn't like that?

The hard part is waiting the suggested 4 hours for the pops to harden before enjoying. Run them under hot water for a few seconds if you have trouble with them releasing from the molds.

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