Earting with a Toddler

Eating with a toddler can be tough. I think we are really blessed because the Little Guy will eat most anything we serve. He does have his favorites though!

So, here is some of what we eat. Each day, every meal is different. The only way to define it is that we eat what the cook makes!

As you can see, it's celery, cucumbers, mini tomatos and carrot sticks. I love English muffin pizza toast because it is easy to make and just the right size for toddler hands.
Here's my real secret joy of the meal... ranch dressing. Half a pack of Hidden Valley ranch herbs mixed into a container of fat-free yogurt and you get a great dip/dressing.

We all like ranch so this is one meal that the whole family can enjoy!

New Sorting Activity

As I've mentioned in previous posts we moved recently so since I've been busy taking care of various things the Little Guy has been busy creating his own activities. Here is the one from this morning...

It's our Chinese Checkers board game set (which he calls "the balls") and 6 little plastic containers that have yet to find a permanent use. He started out by sorting the colors and ended by making color mixes.

My contribution was to put down a sticky mat to help prevent the balls rolling away. You'd be amazed at the places we found some of the balls during our move!!!

Batting Practice

One of the first things we did after moving was make a space for the ourdoor toys. The Little Guy loves to play outside and will stay out until after dark if he is allowed. In spite the the strange weather over the past couple of weeks we've been able to squeeze in some play time.

Until recently the bat has been used more as a golf club. It's a lot tougher for to hit a flying ball but that doesn't make it any less fun!

Mama's Club Theater

Ok, so we are not big movie buffs but we do enjoy the occasional flick. So why today you wonder? Well, it's simple really - a chance to go + a movie that looked interesting.

There is something called "Mama's Club Theater" which is held by Toho Cinema. The page with some English is here. I found out about these special showings over a year ago but the closest place to us was about hour away by train and the movies were usually on days that we weren't free.

Now that we moved the theater at the next train station has Mam's Club Theater usually on my husband's day off so we can even go as a family! Now to find movies worth paying 1,800 yen ($18) a person to see...

Are you wondering what is so special about these movie showings? Well, it's simple really. Babies and toddlers are welcome. The lights don't go all the way off, the sound isn't as loud and the kids can roam freely. The Little Guy stayed in his seat for about the 1st half and spent the 2nd half making friends with babies and exploring the front rows. Most of the people in the theater had kids under 2 yrs. old with them.

I'll be checking the homepage regulraly to so when the next time is they are showing a movie that I want to watch!

New House, New Toys

In the past few weeks we packed, moved and started to unpack. Today we are finally hooked up to the internet. Here's a little of what the Little Guy has been up to:

We now have a kiddie table set up in the kitchen for his work space. The table was at the old house too but in a different room, away from the action and therefore it didn't get much use.

The food seen here is 2 sets of felt food from Daiso (100 yen shop) that I got for a total of 600 yen. While I do want to make more felt food time/money/energy are in short supply so I was very happy to find this nice deal!
It seems like each box that gets unpacked needs to be taken for a drive before it can be completely flattened. Here he has his dog and a doll in the "back seat" of his car!