Online children's books

I tried putting my daughter to bed, but she was resisting. I therefore left her to play, and got on the computer. After a while, I remembered that I did not read her bedtime stories, so I decided to see if I could find any stories online. I found these sites and thought they were cool.

Children's storybooks online: http://www.magickeys.com/books/

A sister-site teaching phonics: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/index.html

It is always good to have options.

Homemade baby food

My husband and I decided that we would NOT feed our daughter pre-packaged baby food, and would make our own. Ellisa started on solids a little later than most babies because she had [unofficially diagnosed] reflux. However by the time she was 8 months old she started drinking freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh fruits pureed, homemade apple sauce, and homemade baby food. Below are some of the meals we prepared for her and the method we used.  

Orange Juice (Citrus Juice)
We use oranges only, or sometimes we combine oranges with tangerines, and/or grapefruit. We sometimes dilute the mixture also. It is good to invest in an electric juicer as you get more juice from the fruits, and it is less strenuous on your hands.


Fresh Fruit Puree
Mango, pear, and papaya are some of my favorite fruits. Peal the fruits, de-seed, and use a hand blender (or other type of blender) to puree them. I portion them out into small containers and freeze them. I take them out at night and thaw in the fridge. I sometimes add oatmeal to the puree to thicken it.


Apple Sauce
I found many apple sauce recipes on the internet, but I choose the ones that don't add sugar. The green apples  tend to make better apple sauce.  Basically you peal and core the apples, cut them into thin wedges, and boil or bake in little water for about 20 minutes. Puree the apples and freeze. You can add spices to your liking.  Ellisa seems to like vanilla and cinnamon.


Baby Food
There are so many different types of food that can be used to make baby food.  The choice is pretty much up to the parents. We experimented with a few different kinds and we realized she likes chicken breast, salmon, avocado, potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, spinach, and other types of ethnic yams. We basically make a soup with all the ingredients (except the salmon which is cooked separately (baked), and the avocado that is not cooked at all but served fresh). Once the soup is finished, we use a hand blender to puree the mixture, adding olive oil. You can control the texture by the amount of liquid you add, and the speed of the blender. As Ellisa gets older, we have been spicing up her food more by adding onions, pepper, garlic, tomatoes, but always keeping the salt at a minimum. The mixture is then put into smaller individual serving containers and frozen.


You can get creative with the type of food you use, as long as it is freshly prepared. I have on occasions used a juice extractor to make other fruit juice.  We make orange/citrus juice most times though as it helps with her immune system, especially when she was in daycare. We usually set aside a couple hours on the weekend to prepare her meals. This is time well spent, to ensure a healthier child.


Thanks to my friend Nadine for sending me a link to a website that outlines in more detail how you can make your own baby food.
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/


Questions:

• Do/Did you make your own baby food?  
• Do you think giving your child homemade foods make them healthier?
• Do you think your parents fed you homemade food or pre-packaged food?

Helping toddlers learn the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes etc.

I came across this website  (www.starfall.com) and thought it was absolutely beautiful!  It teaches early reading skills, and even sign language.  I have been trying to teach my daughter her ABC's using sign language, but she just looks at me and smile. I am sure one day she will sign back to me.

I have a personalized ABC book for my daughter that I read to her every night.  She looks forward to reading it, and even points to her name and says the first letter 'E'.  She blurted out "Y... Yak!" one day, and says "yak" when we are at the letter Y.  Just two days ago she started saying "X, Y, Z".  I think that is pretty impressive for a 19 month old preemie.

My theory is that I must give her as much information as possible.  Most if not all of it is being absorbed, and she will one day recall it.

Questions:

• How do you effectively teach your toddler the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes etc?  
• If you do not teach them early, do they eventually catch up?