Monday, August 18, 2008

An Assortment of Questions

Tonight my mind is awhirl with a variety of questions (must be all that medicine) and I am hopping some of you have answers.

1. Here are casa de phillips we are big time sippy cup users (the children...not Tobe or I). In the past, we have always gone with the Nuby brand. However, I think Isaac needs something a bit more mature and Evelyn has the tendency to gnaw on her lid until a large hole appears. Anyone have a brand of sippy cup they L-O-V-E?

2. After finding a post from my blog on another website (I realize the Internet is a public arena and the website did link to my blog), I am looking into copyrighting the materials that are posted here. Anyone know how to go about making something like that happen? I am sure I could Google the answer, but was looking for a quick answer if someone happened to have one.

3. I need some activity ideas for Evelyn when Isaac and I are working on various school/craft things at the table. E. thinks she would like to color or do play-doh but neither really hold her attention longer than 2.8 minutes. She desires to be at the table and I am in desperate need for some activities that are geared to a 15 month old. Any thoughts?

4. Speaking of E....bless that sweet girl's heart, but the child is SPIRITED. I know one day this spirit will be put to good use, but for today I need some advice. Any great parenting books out there for how to effectively parent a spirited child (aside from the obvious of "The Strong-Willed Child")?

5. Being the big (okay, slightly big) kid that he is, Isaac will be taking his lunch to preschool this year. I used to laugh at the parents of my former students who would send a twelve course meal precariously packed inside a Disney-themed lunch box. As we near the start of preschool, I find myself thinking of all the various items I should tuck inside Isaac's lunch box..."just in case." Hypocrisy is a bitter pill, my friend. Parents who have had experience with such things, any suggestions on tasty tidbits to pack in my three year old's lunch box?

Now that my brain has been purged of its questions, I am off to bed. Goodnight!

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

we love the Sigg cups and Kleen Kanteen cups too. They have a sippy spout or a water bottle/sport spout for when they get older.

Have you seen the Laptop Lunchbox? It's really cool. May be too big for I right now but has lots of compartments for various foods so that they have plenty of choices while at school.

Jennifer H. recently shared this cool site with me....has some good pics of different lunches.

http://flickr.com:80/photos/mslil65/sets/72157601755804789/

Hope that helps!

Jennifer Schroeder said...

Your work is under "copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." You don't have to register for copyright. However, it is sometimes better to do so. You should check out the U.S. copyright office for info. The laws have changed in the last 10 years, and so I am not completely sure of all the ins and outs. Plus you need to check out the Fair Use Doctrine. I know at church we are able to use a lot of things because of that.

Jordan said...

I really like the Nalgene cups for children. I think they are technically water bottles, but they have a spout that can be taken out and washed. They're good for Eli because they look more like water bottles, but Phoebe uses them, too. We bought ours at REI in Dallas.

The Family Fun website has some great school-lunch ideas and my mom bought us the book "The Magic Kitchen Cookbook" from her book fair at school. It's a Disney cookbook, but it's full of healthy, easy, kid-friendly recipes. Eli and I have made some together and he really likes them. Also, the Container Store has some great containers (surprising, I know) that are made for "dipping" foods. It's a square plastic container with a smaller circle container in the middle...great for carrots and ranch or fruit and dip or chips and queso (Eli's favorite)...really, the possibliites are endless! We use them all the time.

If anybody has any good books for those "spirited" children, be sure to share the title! I've read a few, but none of them seem to work so I'm at a loss. I think I'm on my own.

Hope this helps!

Anonymous said...

Lynley, Don Kersting here. You may want to consider limiting your blog to family and friends. I believe blogger allows you to do this by registering emails. I know it kind of limits the whole cool factor of having this available for all to read, but it may keep the crazies away.

Just an idea. Keep up the good blog-tastic work.

Anonymous said...

I really like the frozen PBJ sandwiches. You can buy them in bulk at costco or sams club. I like them because you can put them in the lunch box and by the time he is ready to eat it, its defrosted! add some strawberry's or other fruit. The Frozen PBJ sandwich will help keep everything else cool!

The Binkley Family said...

I am a big fan of "Conscious Discipline." Our church gave it as a seminar a few years back, but I think they have a book also. It is very good, and as they get older is better and better.

Amy said...

As for sippy cups, I got nuthin'. I'll be checking into other suggestions posted.

Kevin Leman has great books on parenting, specifically, "Making Your Children Mind Without Losing Yours." I really like his reality parenting philosophy.

I'm not finished with this book yet, but "Boundaries" by Henry Cloud has really been insightful in explaining how parents should foster healthy boundaries with our children, discipline being a major part in that.

Lastly, I have not read this, but have it on my reading list:
"Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child : Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries" by Robert J MacKenzie. I definitely can't vouch for it, but it has gotten a nearly perfect 5 star rating by Amazon reviewers.

When I made lunches for C's Mother's Day Out, she only went 1 day per week so I stuck ton about the same meal each week. I'm sure that won't help, so I give you this: I always made a sandwich, had a fruit (no sugar added and diced small enough) that I put in a container either C or the teacher could open with ease. I had a snack baggie filled with some cracker/chip/pretzel that was something I could feel guilt-free about sending. Recalling the days of lunch trading, I tried to make her lunch exciting by making her favorite sandwich (pbj) and making the "chip" part of the meal something that we had established as a "treat" (i.e. Natural Cheeto Puffs). Motts makes Motts for Tots that has juice boxes with watered-down apple juice or fuit punch. I sent those usually and milk occasionally. To keep it cold I bought the fun shaped ice packs.

Hope that helps!

Sydni said...

I too read all the comments because once again I really don't have any expert wisdom. I think Sayler is very strong willed, but we spank which I know you don't agree with... (I hate to open an ugly can of worms). We also have only one child and if we have/had another, I can only imagine how that one would put S's 'spirit' to shame.

We also use the little Nalgene 'water bottle' for S. It's fine. I don't know if it is fabulous though.

Margaret K said...

I have head a lot of good things about "The Spirited Child". It is on my parenting book list to read.

I would also recommend you switch Isaac to a water bottle type cup. The dentist I used to work for was very much against sippy cups because of the effect it can have on their teeth and speech.

Have you tried the aquadoodle mat with Evelyn?

Anonymous said...

Try the book "Sheparding a Child's Heart". It's really good.