Having Fun With Toddler

Little caterpillar is growing up so fast, learning a lot from daycare, which makes me happy and sad at the same time. I am happy she is enjoying all the activities, like finger painting, crafting, and singing and dancing. At the mean time, I am sad that I am not the one that teaching her those. Don't get me wrong. Even with all my education, I don't think I am qualified to teach toddler, since I don't know a thing when it comes to early education, and I am a very impatient person when it comes to teaching. And I am supposed to be bedresting, so cannot enjoy any exciting activities with her. But I promised myself I will at least try and apply all my crafty skills.

Yesterday, I took out some paper and paint, and did some fun finger painting with little caterpillar. It was lots of fun, I don't believe I ever did finger painting as a child. Kids growing up in China, at least during our time, you are told to follow strict rules, you cannot make a mess, you have to color inside the lines, and you are supposed to use painting brush not your fingers. So, you guessed, I enjoyed it too. We painted a nice xmas tree together, with lots of ornaments. It's drying on the wall, I will show it to you as soon as it's totally dry. But of course, I was not prepared enough, so got a huge mess to clean up. Even when I cleaned up immediately, some paint dried up on our dining table, so hard to get off! After some reading online, I learned that I supposed to put down some newspaper on the table first! We used so much paint, it was going to break the bank, I thought. So, I mixed some homemade fingerpaint following online recipes (3 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup corn starch, 2 cups water, food coloring). I didn't have food coloring, and little caterpillar never tried eating paints, so I just used the paints I have on hand. They look pretty good, I will let you know how their performance is.

Then while I was making some fun pillows, I all of a sudden thought of a puppet theater! Little caterpillar has 10 finger puppets (animal set from Ikea), and two hand puppets, and she loves playing them with me. Think how much fun it will be to playing them in a real 'theater'. This way, I can also encourage her story telling and pretend playing. The puppet theaters are so easy for me to make, I have so many fabric, ribbons and sewing machine. But I have no idea to make more hand puppets. Got to do more research on that. Here is just one tutorial I found. Will show you my creation later.

Homemade Birthday Gifts

Last week, little caterpillar came home with her first birthday party invitation from daycare. Woohoo! My girl is fitting in and having some little friends there. I am pretty sure all the kids got it, but I still felt very happy for my girl. The party is for a little boy in her class, and his sister. Guess their birthday is really close, so they can celebrate together. Since this is little caterpillar first daycare friend's party, I know I have to work hard to help her making more friends. After some research online about what kinds of gifts are suitable for 2-yr-old and 4-yr-old nowadays, and considering how many more kids in her class, plus all the parties coming up during the holiday seasons among our own friends, I decided to make most the gifts for all the kids from now on to keep the cost low. We have to think twice about how we spend our money now that our little family is growing.

Here are some of the ideas I came up with, after lots of researching of course. Well, first of all they have to be functional and fun, and every kids will like it, AND it has to be EASY to make. I am not taking on time-consuming projects, since I have very limited energy nowadays.
1. first thing came up my mind are these little shoulder bags I made for our friends' kids before. They are fun to make and relatively easy. And I can use up some of my scraps. I can also make them the matching bowtie, like this one.

2. coloring bag with crayon holders or crayon rolls. I have seen these around the internet for a while, and thought about making them for my girl. I am sure her little friends all love coloring with crayons too. Forgot where I found this picture though. Of course, I cannot just give them a bag without filling it up with lots of crayons and some fun coloring books.

3. draw string bags. They are so easy to make and kids need lots of them to organize their tiny toys, like legos. I bookmarked this wonderful tutorial before, now it's time to make some. I can collect some small toys from dollar store or Target dollar section to fill them up.

4. an activity mat. I made this car mat kit for my best friend's little boy earlier this year,
it's so cute, but too big and time-consuming. I didn't mind making it for him, but not practical to make for too many kids. So, I probably will make some smaller ones like this,
or a dinosaur mat like this one, (tutorial here)
or a doll house mat for a little girl.Of course, I will put some matchbox cars, or dinosaurs, or tiny dolls in there, so they can play with it immediately.

5. a set of felt alphabet or numbers in their own bags. I tried making some just like this following picture, but all that embroidery took too long, I ran out of patience. So, if making these for other kids, I will have to make the plain ones instead. Guess this one only fits younger kids.

6. a tic-tac-toe set. can be made with fabric or felt. So simple and lots of fun. Of course you can buy this set online, but $60 isn't exactly in my budget. So, I will be stealing their idea and make some myself. And again, there won't be fancy embroidery either.

7. I can also make lots of cute hair clips or pins for girls, or those dress up hats (like the one I made for littler caterpillar's birthday last month).

There are still so many ideas, but I have to be careful not get too excited and spending too much money or energy on these. Otherwise it will be totally against my goal. I already made the gifts for this party, will show you some pictures later.

Big News

I have been hiding a big secret from you guys, but I think it's time to let you know that I am pregnant with our second baby! This baby is nothing short of a miracle! Remember I had a couple of really bad falls in July? I didn't even know I was already pregnant! Lucky the doctor only ordered foot X-ray on me, and I told the X-ray doctor to double shield my belly just in case. I still cannot totally believe this baby held on during those two falls! This pregnancy so far is nothing like my last, which was so smooth, no morning sickness, great appetite, and happy all the way. This time, I got not only morning sickness, but also some bleeding, had fever a couple of times, got some germs from little caterpillar and coughed like crazy for a week, and I seem to lost my appetite! Thank goodness I can still tolerate cooking, I cannot eat the stuffs Stubborn cooks. Every evening, I cook for about an hour, 4 dishes and a soup, so there might be one dish that little caterpillar likes. Yeah, we have been having hard time feeding her as well. I have been so tired too, well, last time I didn't have to deal with a super active toddler. Now every night after dinner, I just want to collapse in the couch and watch some TV. Stubborn has been really helpful, giving little caterpillar bath, giving her a bottle and then putting her to bed. She won't sleep if I am upstairs, she will play with me (even if I pretend to sleep) till midnight. So, while they are upstairs, I have to gather all my energy to clean up the dinning room and kitchen, pack up our lunch for the next day, and take out the trash. Thank goodness we have dishwasher! Since I cook a lot, I basically have to run it every night! I am so missing our nanny, but we cannot afford having her and sending our girl to daycare at the same time. Pretty soon though, we will have her back (or another nanny) once I had this baby. That will be a tremendous help physically, but financially we might have to work harder.

Anyway, now that I am out of first trimester, I can be sure this baby is here to stay, so I can start letting my friends know. And I can start planning somethings. Well, since we don't know the gender yet, I cannot really buy any new clothes for the baby, but what I can do is to re-arrange the furniture and set up the crib. Last pregnancy, stubborn didn't take good pictures of me, which was always one of my biggest regrets. So this time, he has to do a better job. I want weekly pictures to show my progress, and I want to have some fun with it.

I found this amazing idea online lately, has been looking out for similar shirt ever since. Miranda from One Little Minute shared with us the amazing idea of Maternity Calendar Shirt. Love how simple this project is, and Miranda and her hubby are hilarious! I think I have seen this idea somewhere else, but don't remember where. In that tutorial I saw before there was a collage picture of all 40 weeks of the pregnancy. That's exact what I want this time. Well, I won't have 40 weeks pictures, since I didn't want any pictures in the first trimester, in case I jinx it. But still I will start this project asap, maybe this weekend. I already bought a maternity shirt I think will be perfect for this project. Let's see how good I am at freezer paper stencilling.

I also have so many other ideas about documenting the new baby's growth, but that will be another post.

Bento, Anyone?

I have seen those super cute japanese bento boxes in magazines when I was just a little girl, and always wondered who makes them and how hard it is to make. A couple years ago, I found lots of amazing bento pictures on flickr, so I started reading some of the bento blogs. (Source: Happy Little Bento)

(Source: Happy Little Bento)

(Source: Lunch In A Box)

These moms are AMAZING! I don't know where they got the energy and time to make these every morning. When we looked for daycare center for little caterpillar, we went for the one that provides breakfast and lunch, so I don't have to stress too much in the morning. I know my homemade food will always be more nutritious than theirs, but I just don't think I can handle it. We had nanny for almost two years, she cooks and cleans and takes care of our baby. I always complained (to my family, not to the nanny) her cooking is not so good (I help her with dinner every day), and sometimes she misplaces stuffs. But once she was gone, I struggled very hard the first month, just to keep with the cooking, cleaning, and laundry. I didn't even have time to sanitize the floor every day, like I required her to do. But I work full time and have a two and half hour commute! I have my excuses. OK, where was I? Back to bento box. I just admire those moms who have the talent and skills to pack super cute and nutritious bento boxes for their kids. One day I will have to try it out. Once we get a bigger kitchen (the next house), I will buy a cabinet full of cute bento boxes and accessories. Then I will try out every single recipe from sherimiya and Biggie. Where can I find a nice Japanese market here in Boston area?

What A Fun Party!

I was reading one of my favorite blog Sarah Janes Studios Blog today, and saw this cute little birthday party done by one of her fan. I love her Children at play fabrics, so I had to jump over and read the entire post. Seriously, you guys should read it too, so many great ideas, fun games, yummy food and drinks, and the best part is the decoration! Oh, how I want to throw a bday party for my little girl, just like this! BUT, Stubborn insisted no party this year! He thinks only the first birthday worth celebrating. Hmmm! Well, maybe I can just decorate the house a little bit, even if there won't be any guests. It is so hard to not copy everything from this party. Nobody likes a copycat, but who can resist all that cuteness!? Seriously!

Projects That Teasing Me Now

I have been surfing the blog world like usual, did I tell you that I am addicted to reading about other people's life, looking at other people's babies, and admiring their brilliant crafting or sewing projects? OK, you probably knew this already. Here are just some new ones I found, and so desperately want to go home and make them for my little caterpillar. Not that she really need more clothes, she might have enough clothes to rotate a month already. Hehe!

Found this at Girl Inspired. Just by looking at the picture, you can never guess this adorable boutique style outfit is made from a adult T-shirt! Check out the amazingly simple tutorial on how to make this adorable top and matching pants.

How about this cute Button Top from Shwin and Shwin? I love dress my little caterpillar with those very girly dresses, but I love these earthy color paired with simple design (kind of like those Japanese sewing books) even more. I thrifted some linen shirts before, this might be the perfect project for them. Oh, while you are there, you should check out all her other tutorials as well! I am drooling over these super cute outfits now! I can literally hear Stubborn calling for me at the basement door (my sewing place is in the basement) "Time For Bed!!!"

And there was another sew-along dress I saw earlier this week. Just cannot find it now. It's so simple, yet so darling. I actually dream about making it! Well, this should be enough eye candy for today. Go get inspired, and make something beautiful this weekend.

What "Upgrades" I Want For Our Umbrella Stroller

Remember the stroller accessories I wanted from this post last month? I made a couple of bottle holders instead of cup holders. We always carry our stainless steel bottle and a sippy cup with us, so no need for those heavy duty plastic cupholders. These bottle holders are so easy to make, used just a couple of small scraps, and about 10 minutes to cut and make. I used them for our entire stay in Orlando, and they are just perfect! I didn't have time to make a cute stroller bag like the one I showed in that post, just hang a canvas shopping bag (I got from our hospital benefit fair for free) on the handles. I used it to hold any other liquidy/wet stuffs, and little caterpillar's snacks (for easy access). I kept her extra clothes and other dry stuffs in my backpack, along with my camera and lenses. Didn't want to carry an extra camera bag, learnt my lesson from the first day. So, what else I could do to improve my stroller experience for the future? OK, stubborn did offer to buy a fancier stroller for our next big trip to China, but the usual DIYer in me kindly said no. I believe what my friend told me, get the cheaper ones, so when they broke down, you won't be broke as well. She went through 3 already! Maybe that won't happen with a higher end one, but who knows. We gate checked ours this time, and one handle cover was badly damaged.

Anyway, here are some issues I had with our umbrella stroller, and I really want some "upgrades".First of all, both Stubborn and I are tall, so pushing a umbrella stroller around for a whole day became a backbreaking chore! I want to stand up straight when pushing it! Found this while googling. So easy and affective! Next time I will keep my eyes open for a old/broken umbrella stroller while thrifting.

The third day we were at Orlando, there was a big thunder storm. We had to stay at hotel waiting for it to stop. I decided not to wait till it stops (predicted after 3pm) to go to Seaworld across the street. We never used a stroller in rain before, so the only thing I could do was covering it with a beach towel, pushing it with one hand and holding my umbrella with the other! It was so hard! Then little caterpillar was so bored sitting in there cannot see anything, she decided to pull the towel down. She loved my umbrella though. So, she ended up holding my umbrella handle, while I hold the edge with my both hands on stroller handles and wearing the towel on my head and shoulder. We must looked rediculous! The towel was wet even before we sat down for the shamu show! I saw other people had those rain cover thing,and their kids didn't miss a thing while getting pushed around. Well, that rain cover is not expensive at all, but you guessed, I had to search for tutorials on how to make one! I know it doesn't worth the effort to make one, but I really want one that I can easily access my girl. Maybe I can come up with a design that I can use for both a raincover and a mosqito net.

While googling for umbrella stroller upgrade, found this blog Baby Porting. It's full of interesting ideas, I am sure I can find some inspirations.

Oh, this is a totally unrelated topic. I also found a couple of tutorials about toy stroller. One is how to make this cute DIY Doll Stroller Liner.
And this amazing transformation from a broken doll stroller to this vintage-y baby buggy.

Very Smart Ladies

(Source: Small Notebook)

Forgot how I found Rachel yesterday, I think I liked her comment on someone else's blog, or someone else mentioned her in their blog. Oh, I found her when googling ideas about travelling light with kid. Anyway, after jumping over to her blog, I totally fell in love with her Small Notebook. So far, I am only reading the organizing section, and her view of an organized home is so refreshing! Like her "Organizing until it's good enough, admire your work, and then move one to something else." approach on a kitchen drawer. Yes, we all want our home beautiful and organized like the ones in the magazines, but only some people were bornt like that, the rest of us just work extra hard try to catch up. And not all of us can afford the expensive organizers and drawer dividers the magazines promoting. I am a big believer of "use what you have" when it comes to organizing. This is also one of the reasons I love Chez Larsson and Lazy Organizer. I love their idea of organizing is to minimize first! Do we really need all that stuffs? They don't make us "rich", they just possess us! We are slowly becoming slaves to our house, cars, stuffs, spending our precious time trying to maintain "control", instead of enjoy what we have. This is just wrong. And we don't have to wait till we can afford those beautiful organizers to declutter our home!

Last night, while I was packing for our little trip, (yeah, I always start packing way too early just in case I forget something), I tried to remember to "pack light". So I packed 3 sets of outfits for two of us, and a couple more for little caterpillar (she makes messes all the time). We like to use our own shampoo and lotion that kind of stuffs, so I poured them into the little empty hotel bottles I collected from previous vacations. When I was staring at the our stuffs, I suddenly realized I might be able to fit everything in two carry-on luggages! No check-in? I am so excited!

Then I took a look at our tiny closet. It's so small, we each have about 3 feet of space! So, every year I have to move seasonal clothes up and down (off season stuffs stay in attic) TWICE! Tons of work! And all mine! Then half of the sweaters I don't even wear, and haven't wear them for years! Why am I keeping them? And why am I moving them around? Stubborn has only 4 sweaters, about a dozen of dress shirts, a dozen of tshirts, a couple of shorts, some pants and jeans! That's it! And he wears them all the time, until they die! If I get rid of more stuffs (already donated tons over the past several years), I probably will be able to keep everything in my side of the closet! No more trip to the attic! Oh, this will be one of my spring cleaning goals!

You know how mind works, at least for us women, once you start thinking about something, you cannot stop it. Oh, it's just me? Anyway, I have been planning to clean out our living room closet lately. It's so packed, I cannot seem to find anything! Same problem there! Way too many my stuffs. There are 2 coats for little caterpillar, 2 for Stubborn, and maybe more than a dozen coats and jackets for me! And I only wear 3 or 4 of them! Two pairs of shoes for Stubborn, 4 pairs for little caterpillar, and more than half a dozen of my shoes! One diaper bag, and 2 toddler backpacks for little caterpillar, and tons of bags for me! Plus I have two more bins of bags up in my closet! Too many stuffs, I have to keep off season shoes in the basement! Again, more moving stuffs around for me TWICE a year! I have to correct this! Not later! This Spring!!!

What's on your spring cleaning list?

Umbrella Stroller Accessory

Cannot stop thinking about our upcoming FL trip! I will be alone with little caterpillar most of the time, without the help of our big stroller! How am I supposed to carry all the stuffs and my heavy camera? Here are some accessories I found online, that might lighten my load a little bit. Actually move stuffs from my shoulder to the umbrella stroller, so I can have both hands free to take care of my girl and take pictures.

Stroller bag! This one was made by Brandy from Gluesticks. I love it's so simple, yet so practical. I probably will make another longer strap, so when I take it off the stroller, I can wear it as a shoulderbag. This can be fold so small, won't take up too much space or weight in our luggage! Hmm, now, what color should I choose? What is the no-time-to-sew version for this? I wonder if I can hang my backpack on the handles, without tipping backward. Have to try this first tonight! Yeah, I am very impatient!

Cup holder? Actually this one is an organizer, for drinks and more. Hmm, I might be able to make a couple of drawing string bags for our bottles and sippy cup, so I can just hang them on the handles.

Sun shade? We all know that tiny shade on the umbrella stroller is no match for the sunny FL. This will be so helpful, if little caterpillar will allow me! She is way too curious to sit in there quietly. She probably will break it in 5 minutes! Still, it's not a bad idea, I can use it when she fell asleep in the stroller after running around for hours. And best part is it's made of some sort of mesh material, so I am confident the ventilation is pretty good, my baby won't be too hot in it.

Stroller bag/carrier? At first I thought it's just a bag for carrying stroller around, then I realized it's for checking-in or gate-check! Well, I don't need that! What I might need is something simple so I can carry the umbrella stroller on my shoulder, and have both hands free to carry my girl! Say, boarding a bus? I need something very small, and simpler than a drawstring bag! Oh I know! I can use the strap from my yoga mat! Genius! Need to remember to check whether it fits, and leave it next to the stroller, so I won't forget about it when running to the airport.

Oh, look what I found! The perfect solution for almost all my needs, except the sun shade thing of course. This is the Magic Stroller Bag from Europe! It even has the built-in stroller carrier! But for €37 up to €120!? It costs way more than our little stroller! I might have to sew up my own version, won't be as stylish, but will fit all my needs! Anyone have extra hours that I can borrow?

Oh, silly me. Walmart sells this Stroller Starter Kit, including weather shield, mesh bag, netting, and a dozen linkables. But still, this one can only solve half of my problems. OK, keep looking.

Preparing For First Plane Trip With Toddler

We are taking little caterpillar to Orlando soon. So, naturally, I am a little freaked out. I started doing lots of research online, for both professional and other moms' suggestions and experiences. Got lots of great ideas. Frankly, some of them made me panicked even more, but some are simply amazing and encouraging.

(Source: Pillow Sew Cute's Etsy shop)
Like this post from Modern Parents Messy Kids, offered lots of tips and lessons. I will definitely pack one of my own "ouch pouch" with all the first aid stuffs I can think of. It's good little caterpillar's next apointment is coming up, I can ask her doctor for correct dosage for those medicine, maybe some tips even.


(Source: Sew Liberated)
I also read this post about 'bag of tricks for airplane travel' on Sew Liberated. We thought about buying a nice backpack for little caterpillar to keep her favorites closeby. Stubborn wanted to buy those princess ones, which I totally don't like. I am not anti-princess, I want to treat my girl as a princess, but I don't want to expose her to all these concepts too early and get hooked on these very commercial stuffs. No, I want something more stylish, and she probably can use for many years without being embarrassed. This post gave me the courage to design and make one myself. She used the Made By Rae's toddler backpack pattern, and there are lots of amazing versions other people made in her flickr group. It looks pretty simple, I might be able to make it without the pattern. And I can make it a little bit smaller too. Oh, got side tracked. I also loved all the goodies she put in that backpack for her son. Well, little caterpillar is a little girl, so I might switch some items out. I will show you the pictures if I can actually make one before the trip, not much time left.

Oh, there are also lots of tips here at Good Little Traveler. Look like I have lots of reading to do tonight.

Motivated

to declutter, that is. This next picture is not my house, oh, I can only wish. It belongs to Benita from Chez Larsson. Look how clean and organized it is! Well, there is no surprise there, I have been following her blog for a while now, and her house always looks like this. But this is the first time I see pictures of all different angles of her house in one post. Well, you see, Benita is selling it! She did such a great job with the house, and looks like her realtor is pretty good at his/her job too. I am sure this house is going to be sold really fast. Good luck, Benita.

The reason for this post is not just showing you Benita's amazingly clean house and her style. After checking out all her pictures, I felt so ashamed that my house is so messy. Also, I still remember my best friend Jackie had to sell a lot of stuffs and threw the rest away, for moving. Or, it's almost spring cleaning time. Anyway, it got me thinking and planning. I have to go through our stuffs again, and get rid of all the unused and unwanted stuffs, clothes or furniture, and finish all those WIPs all over the basement. If I can pare down our belongings, not only my house will be less crowded, it also will be safer for little caterpillar. And the future moving plan will be much simpler too. Stubborn absolutely loved my plan. He is a very simple guy, anything not essential should be gone. No decoration or coziness for him. Well, I am not that simple. I still need some of my decorations, and all my crafting and sewing supplies. I just need to really organize them. In fact, I think about 90% of stuffs in the house are mine, and Stubborn calls lots of them junks. Me offering to clean things up must be like music to his ears. Hopefully this will be a begin of something wonderful in our household. I will show you the progress once a while.

So, any of you also got inspired by Benita's home? Want to join the early spring cleaning?

Portable Highchair

Stubborn just reminded me that we are going on a 3 day mini vacation soon. I totally forgot about that. He has a conference coming up, and he mentioned it to me months ago. All of a sudden, I got so excited, my mind couldn't stop spinning, thinking about what to pack, and what places I could take little caterpillar to. This is not her first vacation, but her first flight. So, I am doing lots of research about toddler travel safety, entertainments, food, and anything else I can think of. Then I thought about eating in hotel room or in restaurants. Last vacation was kind of local, so we packed everything, including her little portable plastic highchair seat. But this time, we are flying, cannot really pack that one in the luggage. So, I went on research for alternative. Then I found these amazing fabric ones, just tie them to regular dining chair. Oh, right up my alley.

Jill from Home Made By Jill posted this amazing idea. It's so simple, and stylish.

Then I thought, what if that dining chair has solid back, how am I suppose to make that work? And little caterpillar already figured out how to open those velcro tape closures. Then I found this one at Ragamuffin Designs and this tutorial. They are basically the same idea. The best part is it fits any kind of dining chair! And since it ties at the back of the chair, little caterpillar simply cannot undo it and get out. Looove!

I cannot wait to make one or two with some of the babyish fabric from my stash. Who knows when little caterpillar will make a huge mess and I have to wash it. This will be perfect for our next big trip back to China. My parents don't have highchair, and I don't remember seeing highchairs in restaurants either. But I haven't been to many of them in the past 10 years, maybe they changed. There will be some minor updates to make it more little caterpillar proof. =) She is way to active, can get out of almost all the restaurant highchairs. Will show you my version soon.

I Might Found The Queen Bee of Sweater Refashion

Don't you agree? Every single transformation on Grosgrain is so amazing, some even very simple. The best part, every single one of them comes with a tutorial! That's right. FREE TUTORIALS! It's like she just opened the magic blackbox, and spilled all the secrets! Now, if you, like me, have lots of plain Jane, boring, ill-fitting, out-of-fashion sweaters cluttering your precious closet space, go read her blog and get inspired. Who knows, it might open your mind and totally and permanently change your life, at least your wardrobe. Oh, don't forget to check out her other great tutorials here.

Toddler Lunch

We are researching and touring daycares around home and work now. We plan to send little Caterpillar to daycare next year, so she can have more social and play time. Don't get me wrong, our nanny is great. The fact she doesn't like to take my girl outside is killing me! She has tons of toys and books at home to play with, listens to Chinese kids songs or classic music all the time. But I still think she needs some fresh air, and some little friends to play with. By next spring she will be over a year and half, so we think she is ready for school. Anyway, while we were researching, we realized some daycare offer breakfast, lunch and snacks, while others only have breakfast and snacks. Some help them warming up their homepacked lunch, others just let them eat cold food or you have to use thermal lunch box. I am not trying to offend anyone, but I do think regular American kids eat too much junk food and cold stuffs, not good to their stomach or overall health. And I always dreamed about packing those cute cute bento box for my kids, even when I was younger myself. How much fun will it be to eat something like this?(source Happy Little Bento)

OK, I found a couple of great blogs about bento boxes. I really think Japanese people have mastered cuteness thing in both crafts and food! One of the site is called Lunch In A Box, I probably featured her a long time ago. She has so much knowledge about how to pack a fast and nutrious bento box for little kids and shares her resources all the time. While I was reading her blog, I saw this post, How long does your schoolkid have for lunch. I was totally shocked! This country complains about the weight issues and diseases related to that all the time, tons of media coverages on healthy diet and life style, while our schools are teaching kids to eat faster (not wise nor healthy) and 'forcing' them to eat 'junk' food. And from what I learned from the comments, lots of school have recess after a very short lunch. How do you expect kids to finish their food when all they want is to go out and play with their friends, and how do you expect them to keep their food down while hanging upside down on a monkey bar or something? This is just wrong. When we were growing up, back in China, everyone gets a two hours break around noon time, to have lunch and nap or play or do your homework, whatever you want. Lots of European and Asian countries still have this long seista time during the day, it's actually great for work efficiency, believe it or not. Here in America, people try to eat less to avoid food coma, and never take naps. Such a tragedy! Now this posting got me so worried, I might start training her to eat faster before she goes to daycare, so she won't go hungry all the time.

One of the daycare center we really like do not provide lunch. Then I started thinking all the great food I can pack for her. I got so inspired by Biggie, and was thrilled to find another great blog all about bentos, Happy Little Bento. Here are just some more cutest boxes she packed.

Hello Kitty Ninja Bento
Rudolph and Misobutterfish Bento
Mummy Turkey Dog and Candy Corn Egg
There are tons of other unbelievable cute bento boxes on her blog, you just have to check it out. Even if you don't have kids, you can always pack yourself or your lovely other half something cute and special once a while. She even make them for different seasons and holidays! How amazing is that! I am definitely going to try these out. First I need to buy some of those supper cute bento boxes! I know H mart at Burlington MA carries them, and most of the Chinese grocery stores sell them too, but they may not have the very cute ones. Anyone lives around Boston area and know a good source for cute Japanese bento boxes? Please share.

Beautiful Paper Ornaments

While searching for toddler proof Christmas ornaments, I came across these amazing ideas, again on Flickr. Here are just some of my favorites. Read my earlier post for other ideas.

Found lots of pictures of these paper ball ornaments. Absolutely stunning! Great way to use up all my scrapbook paper stash, or even better, I can upcycle some of my old magazine, so they can be not just tearing toys for little Caterpillar. You can find more ideas from this blog or on youtube. You can even find great tutorials, like this one and this one.

How about these modern ones? If you use some Christmasy colors, they will make great additions to your tree. You can find a great tutorial on Design Sponge.

These little numbers are so easy to make!

And these table top trees are just amazing!

And how cute are these Elf Houses?

Try some search on Flickr, you will fall in love too! Oh, definite try these simple projects this year. You will have a very special holiday season.

Ready For Big Girl Bed?

OK, not this kind of bed. Her room is too small. But in the future if my little girl wants to be a princess, mommy will build her the best castle in the world. I am talking about a toddler bed like these! How cute is this room? And check out this slide show. Love them.

My original plan was to let her skip toddler bed, and move on to a twin size bed directly. But I am changing my mind the other night. Little caterpillar goes to bed pretty late, later than all my friends' babies. We have dinner around 7pm, her bath time is around 8pm, then after that, she will play for a while, normally 'reads' lots of her books, or flip through some big scrapbooks. We try to put her to bed around 9pm, she normally fall asleep soon after finishing her bottle. The other night, I was helping her reading her favorite books, now she has to be the one turn the pages, points to something and I will explain. Anyway, we were on the floor reading, all of a sudden, she got up, walked to her crib, sucking her thumb, looking really tired. She hugged her crib while staring at me, like she was saying "mommy, I am tired, ready to go to bed. Could you pls put me in there?" Ohhh, my little girl is growing up. I picked her up, and put her in the crib, no more fighting or screaming, she quietly stood by the railing, pointed to her bottle. She knows how to say bottle, but when she is tired, she won't say a word. I grabbed the bottle, and told her to lie down, she looked at me, and turned around and lay down, then opened her little mouth. My girl is definitely growing up. I was overwhelmed, and almost want to pick her up and kiss her. But I had to respect her as a big girl now. Sad, but proud at the same time!
The next morning, I told Stubborn that we need to get her a toddler bed, so she can crawl in and out easily. Then where can we hang her Choo Choo Train organizer thing? She loves that thing, squeezes the cheeks and the nose all the time, take her toys out of the pockets and put them back. I don't want to change her environment so dramatically at this early stage. Then I thought about altering this crib. I can remove the front railing, drill new holes on the frame to lower the mattress even more. And if necessary, I can add an extra 2 by 2 at front, of course stained the same color. This could work. Well, I will need to do this on weekend, with really bad weather. Yes, I can do it. I am still looking for a perfect little dresser or bookshelf thing to replace the changing station, and I have been working on a tiny set of table and chairs. Her room will go through some major transformation soon. My girl is really growing up!

Toddler Safe Christmas

Last night when we got home from work, we saw our next door neighbor put their Xmas lights on the porch! Darnit! They did it first! Well, we live in a townhouse, sharing the front porch with this young family. Sometimes, it feels like a competation, who has better holiday decorations, who starts decorate earlier. I am the one doing all these, and Stubborn is the one competing with the neighbors!? Then he will complaint I am wasting energy, and won't let me light them up! What's that all about? Complicated man!

Anyway, that got me thinking about our indoor holiday decor. We have been using a fake white christmas tree for years, I love the white background, like plain paper, I can choose whatever color theme I like at the moment. And at 6 feet tall, it's perfect size for our small living room. Last year we used my Norfolk Pine tree, simply because we don't have enough space to set up another tree with all the baby toys and my plants. But this year, I gave away my Norfolk pine and some bigger houseplants to accommodate the ever growing toy collections. It's my fault, I cannot stop buying 'new' ones for her. I know, she is spoiled, but she is such a good girl, I want to give her everything. So now I have to get very creative and make it beautiful without a tree and toddler safe as well. Little caterpillar is running around the house nonstop, pinching my plants, picking up soil or little rocks from the pots, pulling curtains, pushing toys and small furniture around. If I have a tree in the playroom, aka living room, all wrapped up with sparkling lights and shiny glass ornaments, it's a disaster waiting to happen. That's when I got the big light bulb moment. Maybe I can cut out a tree shape in those carton box material, paint it green, tape it to the wall, and make tons of paper or felt ornaments. Oh oh, I can put those velcro tape on them, so I can hold her up high and she can stick the ornaments on the tree! Or I can make more smaller tree and make the whole living room looking like a forest! I can still use my favorite glass ornaments, just hang them from the ceiling instead, so she can only look at them, no grabbing means no breaking. Loving it! OK, what kind of ornaments I can make, that's simple but lots of fun?

I love several projects from my latest issue of Family Circle. One is the felt circle garland, like this one but only in red, aqua and white! I have to remember to take picture of that page and show it to you here later. Update: found the slideshow on Family Circle website, with links to detailed instructions. Lovely!

They also made felt poinsettia flowers in white and red! Very simple, but striking when you group them on the wall! Again, I have to show you that picture later.

They make a felt covered wreath, with that poinsettia flower too, again, simple colors in the most pleasing way. And how about a paper wreath like this one? Thank you so much to the red thread for sharing this wonderful tutorial.

I also found this slide show. Like the name, they are all very vibrant and refreshing. I might pick some of those ideas to go with mine.

These paper ornaments from How About Orange looks very elegant, yet so easy to make. Best thing is I can use up some of my scrapbook paper collections.

How about these paper hearts from Reese Dixon? I can make these for Xmas, or make some red ones for Valentine's Day.

Well, these could be the best table top trees ever! I have some white and pink little buckets, I can change the nursery decor to a white and pink winter wonderland! Too much? I am a little carried away.

Oh, these cute little stockings from Rikrak has been on my to make list forever, maybe this year I should give it a try.

What is your holiday theme this year? How do you keep both your kids and house safe during the happiest and busiest time of the year?