SURPRISE!

100th Post Giveaway!!!!!

Well I have typed out one hundred posts! Woohoo - and figured hey, lets do another giveaway. Keeping it simple this time. Comment your little one's favorite food and first name and be entered to win a mini Monster Sillybet in orange!

You must have a child under the age of 2 to enter, and please only enter once. Comment by FRIDAY NOVEMBER 4th, 2011 12am EST to qualify. Winner will be chosen in a drawing at random on Saturday November 5th, 2011 and if you win please comment back your email address so I can get in touch with you and the Sillybet will be shipped the following Friday.

If you don't win but want to get a Monster Sillybet for the holidays visit my Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PlusPeace Message me "Mommy" and I will give you 10% off the item price!

Goodluck!

PlusPeace

How to Handle a Teething Toddler

Bear has been a TERROR since he started teething again. Maybe this will all sound familiar, he is short tempered because he's in pain and doesn't understand why, then he's frustrated because it hurts to eat and he can't tell me, then he throws a tantrum while I try to figure out what he wants, then he bites me. Which logically would be a good way to show someone that your mouth hurts.

Step Number 1: Stay calm. The angrier I get, the shorter my temper is and the less helpful I will be. If you stay composed, while trying to figure everything out it goes way smoother. I know it's not easy having a little 2.5' person hanging off your leg by his teeth but trust me, as much as you want to flip out, you'll only feel guilty for doing it.

Number 2: Figure out exactly what he needs. If it's some kind of food, let him explore the kitchen and find what he wants - within reason. Keep in mind hard foods may hurt, yogurt, peanut butter, canned fruit and vegetables, spaghettios, etc are all nice soft foods.

Number 3: Tylenol, Orajel Night & a redbull for you (you wont be getting much sleep).

Some great things Bear likes is me keeping him distracted (like playing and being silly), brushing his teeth (he loves how this feels) & that vibtrating corn teether that he liked when he was 6 months is now a favorite again.

Best of luck,

PlusPeace

Budgeting for Tot’s Second Christmas

Holidays are coming!!!!

Last Christmas I tried to keep it small, after all, he wouldn’t remember it anyway. This year he is running and enjoying the family activities more and more and I want this year to be super special! I really just love the Holidays, cool crisp days, freezing nights and maybe the occasional light snow…YEAH RIGHT! More like heavy snow, cold winds and brown slush covered streets. But I do love every moment of the end of the year. We’ve been through a lot this year, and I want to top it off with a star on the tree!

I have super low income, and as we all know, the cost of living is high. I am starting my Christmas shopping this Friday. Here is the plan:

I use instapaper.com as a go to for one big universal wish list. As I browse the internet I just click a button in my toolbar and it saves the page to my account on instapaper.com. From there I have categories; Bear, Tim, Nana, Popy & Aunty. I now have a list of ideas on what to get each person – so easy!

The idea is to hunt for sales between now and Christmas to avoid Black Friday shopping – with a Toddler that sounds like a nightmare! (Hugs to all the moms out there who do it) I’m hoping to be able to pace myself and buy 1 item per week so I don’t overwhelm myself with debt.

Here are a few of the items I plan to get my Tot!

Tool set by GreenToys.com as well as some of their trucks
Construction plate at spoonsisters.com
A play camera since he shows interest in mine.
A toy chest from the local unfinished furniture shop.

(there were pictures but they didn't load for some reason!)

What are you getting your little ones for Christmas??

Love,

PlusPeace

DIY Photo Shoot - Results!

I promised pictures from my DIY photo shoot. Which went really well. It was hard because he just wanted to RUN EVERYWHERE! But with the help of my Mom and a friend, we were able to capture some goodies :)

Happy Fall!

Love,

PlusPeace

DIY Toddler Costume for...

...$7.49!!!!

Amazing right?

So my mom always made our costumes on Halloween, we NEVER had store bought ones and I LOVED it as a kid. It meant that nobody else had the exact same costume as mine! I plan to carry this tradition on, last year Bear was a pitiful looking cowboy because I completely ran out of time. This year he will be...drumrollllll...a tiger!

This costume can be ANY animal just add the proper tail and ears. I got orange fleece (1 yard) at 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics - all solid colored fleece was 50% off so I got a yard for $4.49. I bought a black fabric paint pen for $2.99 and I have a sewing machine, white thread, two buttons and scissors at home.

Instead of buying a pattern, i traced a hat bear already owns, cut it out and sew it together. I did the same with the coveralls, but I have to give credit to my mother for helping with the pattern as it was my first time making baby sized pants. But after I got it down I could make 100 pair almost effortlessly! We traced a pair of loose fitting pants on a piece of paper and then cut it out and traced it onto the fabric. We added the length of the bib to the top and the length of his legs to the bottom. Cut out all four pieces and pretty much sewed 4 straight lines and voila! Done. No need to hem the edges of fleece because it doesn't unravel. Then I drew stripes with the fabric paint pen. I also cut out a tail to safety pin on and drew stripes on that as well and let it dry, then ironed to heat set the ink, sewed on two buttons by hand and that was it. Total probably took 2 hours.

When the time comes I'll use eye liner and make his nose black and give him some whiskers and he'll be the cutest kid on the block!!

Buy black fleece for a cat, brown for a monkey, grey or a dog or wolf, etc! I am going to put him in a long sleeve white shirt and may also end up making him mittens to match with the scraps.

We decided to go as a pack of tigers so I got orange dye for Tim and I to dye one of our white shirts orange ($2.29) and I'll use a sharpie we already have for the stripes.

Have a safe Halloween :)

Love,

PlusPeace

Adding New Members to the Family...

…ones that bark or purr.

We got a kitten, totally unplanned, they were off a dairy farm where Nana buys milk and there were two little cuties left. We brought one home with the necessary accessories and Bear was in heaven, until he learned that the kitten was not leaving. He’s been extremely jealous the past few days and this morning even kicked the kitten. NOT OK! So it was Time-Out for Bear. I know adding a new member to the family will make him jealous but I am stuck on how to teach him to play nice with the kitty. Will it just pass or is there something specific I should be doing? When I come home I immediately come to Bear, not the kitten, and I have spent all my time when both of us are awake playing and tending to him, so I am not sure WHY he is jealous. I am determined to find the answer one way or another and will get back to you all when I know.

Has anyone added pets to the mix lately?

Love,

PlusPeace

DIY Photo Shoot

Doing a DIM (do it myself) photo shoot today!

What will I bring?

Smiles

Cannon Rebel T2i

Blanket

Toy Truck

Bear dressed in something casual

Where am I going?

I did them last year at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Saco, so we will head there again.

This is one from last year:

I'll post the results after!! Truthfull I just cant afford a photographer but I took the picture above on 10.17.10 last year so it's been almost exactly a year! I jUst love the fall!

Internet =[

My internet was down, something to do with an orange cat - I guess I have lots of catching up to do after this weekend!

What are you favorite kid-friendly weekend activities???

Love,

PlusPeace

Best Deal EVER!

I am not sure why the 1st years, "Take & Toss" is called that. I would never dream of tossing any of those plastic spoons or cups - they are AMAZING! I just got 5 sippy cups and 5 straw cups for 2.99/pack - on top of that the lids fit the other cups which was awesome because I know I'll loose a cup and not a lit. I have take and toss containers, bowls, cups, spoons, forks, knives - if you are looking for cheap toddler-ware, go take and toss!

Just a helpful, money-saving tip =]

Love,

PlusPeace

Painty Mess

I often write about the dollar store - it is my favorite place for cheap, quick activities - so here we are at the dollar store (again) and we see paint. Another crazy messy project that Bear will somehow get on the ceiling, or walls, or carpet! I remembered that list of 25 things to do with a toddler and so we got the paints (6 colors) and we got home. I stripped him down to his diapers - i put on a shirt I dont care about and I lay 5 pieces of paper in the tub and plopped out the colors on the floor of the bathtub and set him in there. At first he didn't understand what to do with it and didn't real.y want to touch it but then i started smearing it on him and the sides of the tub and making handprints and he joined in - turned out to be tons of fun. For cleanup I took the shower head down and his diaper off and just gave everything a hose down. The paper was covered in hand and footprints so i hung them to dry and saved them for the baby book or a memoir or something.

Bundles of fun for only $1.00!

Love,

PlusPeace

Indoor RICE Box

A spin on the "sand box" - this is totally not my idea I've seen tons of mom's post this in va

rious places but I thought I'd try it. It's very risky, tiny grains of rice, in my living room, with a toddler. It went very well! We went to the dollar store where they sell 1.5lb bags of long grain white rice and I have "under the bed" boxes already (they are shallow) and we bought 4 bags of rice (6lb) enough to evenly coat the bottom with about 3/4 of an inch. I grabbed a plastic parking cone (mini) they had in the checkout sections and some of Bear's trucks, measureing cups, anything solid plastic, and layed out a big blanket (for easy cleanup) and we have so much fun. We drew the alphabet in the rice and played trucks, filled various containers and poured them out - a blast. And the cleanup was easy just bundled up the blanket poured it into the container, put the lid on and slid it under the couch for later!

I hope someone else trys this because it was an awesome rainy day activity :)

Love,

PlusPeace

Snactivity!

Snacktivity - an edible craft!

Cheerio necklace - you will need fairly thick string, multi-grain cheerios, scissors.

This is more for you to make and them to wear. Today we got bored and made cheerio necklaces. I discovered they are good to make adult sized. I sit on the floor while he plays and he stops to take a bit. I also made one for Bear to wear (supervised as these can probably be a choking hazard) and he liked taking it on and off (repeat).

Just string 25 on and let dangle! You might need to show them how it works, he just kinda looked at it before understanding he could eat it. ha

Have fun,

PlusPeace

25 Things to Do...

With a Wiggly Toddler! - This list is taken from the courage zone, my sister posted this to my wall and I found it really fun!

1. Put him in an empty bath tub, give him water colors and let him go.
2. Put rice in a cake pan and let him pour from cup to cup.
3. Put him outside everyday regardless of weather.
4. Give him a small spray bottle of water and a rag. Set him loose on the fridge front, bathroom tile, linoleum, etc.
5. Make homemade play dough; give him a rolling pin.
6. When reading aloud, ask him many questions. Get him pointing, naming, giggling over each picture.
7. Have him run and tag the front door, run back and give you a high five, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
8. Find an empty box we can fit in; stay in the room with him to ensure safety- but get that book you’ve wanted to read for a while, because he’ll be busy for a while.
9. Teach him how to build a fort with the cushions.
10. Let him spread the PB and J.
11. Play with him for at least 10 minutes at a game he loves. This will satisfy much of the need for attention that leads to naughtiness.
12. Bubbles!
13. Boys tend to be tactile learners; stacking cups and plastic containers in an accessible cabinet can be fun.
14. Fill the kitchen sink with soapy foam; get out a big ladle and some cups and let him go at it. Let him “do dishes.”
15. If you have a play house, let him throw a safe ball out of it.
16. Find an old spoon and let him dig in dirt.
17. Music facilitates learning like no other activity. Make up silly songs to everything- be silly and tease your children with music.
18. When he is feeling mean and you are feeling mean, tickle him.
19. Don’t be afraid to repeat activities often; if he is getting restless, immediately choose a “go-to.”
20. Let the little guy “help” you in all of your tasks until he discovers his blocks or trains again. You’ll be teaching him valuable skills. This one can be hard because we want to get things done, but the boy will be grown soon and might now want to help anymore. This may be one of the most special times of your lives.
21. Play a favorite dance song of yours; let loose and dance around. Your boy will either laugh or join in; both are fun.
22. Use your pull up bar low on the door frame- and let him swing.
23. Find markers and a notebook; let him go to.
24. Assess his needs- is he hungry, tired, wet, overstimulated, bored, or lonely? Help him fulfill that need.

25. Replace every negative thought immediately with a positive one. Instead of, “My kids drive me crazy” think on purpose “This is a phase; Jonny really is a good kid” or “My kids must be bored. What can I do to help them?”

Enjoy =]

PlusPeace

VACATION! - Need Your Help

Hi Ladies!

I went back to work 5 weeks after Bear was born and have worked full time work weeks since. I take off the occasional Friday or sick day but haven't spent more than a weekend at a time with Bear since those 5 weeks. I have the entire week off next week and have two day trips planned but other than that I am not sure what to do! I feel like we should do something mom and son special but low cost - anyone have suggestions? FYI it's rainy and I live in Maine =]

Thanks!

PlusPeace