Mom’s Favorite Banana Bread

Because we are trying to only spend $20 dollars a day, I find myself baking more. I especially find myself wanting to use any, and all, left-over food, especially produce on the brink of going bad. So in my quest to do so, I feel like a “frugal gourmet.”  One recipe that I have now baked twice and has come out remarkably well each time is from the blog Whipped. I googled “best banana bread” and happily found this recipe first time round. It was such a hit that we just made a double batch of it and intend to freeze it (if we have the self-control not to eat it). I only had two bananas instead of the three they suggested, so I put in a handful of blueberries, and it came out delightfully well. We haven’t added nuts yet, but I am sure that we will if we have them in. This recipe was easy, convenient, and incredibly good. Thank you to Whipped, for helping this mom keep to her daily budget in a tasty way!

Desperately Seeking Daycare

Yesterday my heart almost broke when a young woman hesitantly approached me at the park, apologetically asking “I am sorry to bother you, but we just moved to the area, and we are desperately seeking daycare, do you have any suggestions?” I remember those days all too well - when you put your first child into the hands of another and are wracked with the guilt and worry that can often accompany this. Our family was blessed to find two amazing women to help us with our own childcare struggles, but for months after our first child was born we honestly had no idea what to do or who to use (and we regretted how far away we lived from close friends and family).  Before I could even answer this woman, another piped in stating “Oh, this is why people use Craigslist – maybe you could check there.”  Although this might have been good advice, I sensed the young woman’s exasperation when she sighed back “Oh, I guess I didn’t think of that, thanks. Would I be able to find someone I could trust? My daughter has never even had a sitter before.”  I did offer three or four suggestions to the young mother, all based on the good experience my child, or a friends’ child, has had with different daycare centers. But regardless of these leads – I offered her some advice to finding the “right fit.” I told her to make an appointment with several schools, have both parents and the child visit, tour the school and talk to the teachers and staff. Then make sure to observe how your child is interacting with others and others with your child. Do you all feel comfortable? Does the facility seem safe? How many other children are being watched? What are the other childrens’ ages? How would the center contact you in an emergency? What are their safety practices? For more great questions to ask, see the Top 10 Questions to Ask a Prospective Child Care Provider. Otherwise, I think what this young mother was doing was the perfect, and gutsy, first step. Ask around, get opinions, find leads, and most of all make sure you feel that the solution you find (whether it is in house or not) makes you, your child, and the care provider all comfortable.

Crying Over Spilled Milk

Yes, it has been one of those weeks. Normal life presents us with the usual challenges of getting to work on time, making sure everyone is fed (and eats what they are fed), making sure we all have clean (enough) clothes to wear, and oh yes, trying to remember to pay that pile of bills sitting under the coloring books. This week we also took on a ridiculous house cleaning project (where everything came out of the cupboards and about an hour later we felt like giving up) in preparation for our house guests arriving. Oh, did I forget to mention that this was going on while trying to stick to our $20 dollars a day spending limit (while having guests???) and while having a very sick toddler who was running a 102 fever? Well as our guests pulled away early this morning, I began a premature pat on the back telling myself “good job for holding it all together” – especially as this morning our toddler seemed inconsolably miserable. So when our little boy went for a nap I dreamed of the quiet-time to reassemble our lives - that is until I heard this terrible crying from our toddler’s room, only to run in and see him standing on an island of a soggy book, surronded by a sea of milk that he must have smuggled with him to bed. An hour later, the washing machine going, all the tea towels dirtied, no errands done, but finally with a little peace, I had to shed a few tears over that spilled milk and the thought of a sick little boy covered in it.

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

I have to admit, sometimes Mister Rogers scared me. I dont’ know why – maybe it was his seriousness, or maybe it was the puppets in the “make-believe” section. But I did love the catchy “Won’t you be my neighbor” song.  At any rate this mom believes that we need more of that philosophy in this day in age. Do you know your neighbor?  When we build fences & gated communities around us, it sometimes is difficult to get to know your neighbor. I recently read an article in the NY Times, entitled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” which was about an author getting to know his neighbors and actually asking to stay over at their house for a night to do so. Though slightly unconventional in this day in age, this mom thinks that “getting to know” your neighbors is an important lesson to instill in children. I hope to teach my family to keep building bridges between our neighbors and not walls, because there are enough of those around us already.

Waste Not Want Not

Today, I caught a segment on NBC that was a great reminder for our family which was about not wasting food. This mom knows there is nothing worse then throwing away food that was carefully picked out, prepared, and bought for the family. This clip offered some good advice for families -which was if possible, shop less, buy less, and throw less. Is this common sense? Yes? Is this always possible? No. But when you see all the food that the average family throws away in a week it might be that extra little reminder you need to go ahead and warm up the left-overs instead of heading to the trash.

Yes, I admit it, I am an Old-Fashioned Mom

Over the last month, something keeps niggling at me – and I think I might have been too ashamed to admit it – but I am becoming an “old-fashioned” mom. I do think of myself as a “modern woman.” I am a full-time professional and a full-time mom. Like most parents in this day and age, I juggle too many balls and I acknowledge that I drop quite a few. But the more I reflect on motherhood, the more I see myself in my true colors – I am at heart an old-fashioned person, who is desperately trying to raise her family in an old-fashioned way. Maybe a few years ago I would have cringed as such a thought, but the more I look around me, the more I think this is a good thing. Why? Because we keep seeing the need for community, for manners, for niceties, for patience, for calm. I think back to my childhood, and I try to replicate some of the ways I was raised:

DO: smile at those that pass, say please and thank you, read books, play with the neighborhood kids, plant seeds and watch them grow, reuse what is the house, make crafts, jump rope, play jacks, play outside, clean your room, grow vegetables, eat  vegetables, honor mom and dad, respect adults, sit at the table until you are excused, walk with the family, start a piggy bank, make cards, say prayers, go to church.

DON’T: sass mouth, beg for new toys, watch too much television, waste food, play too many video games, eat too many sweets, litter, swear, chew with your mouth open, put your elbows on the table, stay out after dark, stay up too late, get up too late, whine, stare, point, punch, pinch, fidget, or smirk.

I never thought of any of these things as old-fashioned, but increasingly I see that they are. Even more increasingly I find myself drawn to the merits of these activities. So yes, I realize I am old-fashioned, and yes, I aspire to instilling these things in my family (even as a modern woman). And no, I am now not ashamed of it.

Mommy’s Preschool Blues

My husband and I just got back from a “preschool interview.” The interview is a prerequisite for our son to be enrolled in a September class. I have to say, this was one of the more depressing days I have had for a while. Was it a great preschool? Absolutely. Did our son seem to love it? Yes. Were the teachers, kids, and administration all exceedingly nice? Of course. So why am I so down? I think it is just the idea that our “baby” is growing up. But it is also the idea that our society now seems to expect toddlers to be ready to go to preschool. They might be, but I am not sure that the we are. At least not this set of parents. We keep weighing the pros & cons of making this leap, and most of the pros come down on the side of “it is time for our son to go to school.” But I just can’t shake the guilt, fear, and hesitation in taking this step.  Maybe it is our concern about being separated from our son. Or perhaps it is the fear that our son will do something “naughty” and others will sit in judgement of our parenting skills. Or maybe it is that we worry that now others will have a greater influence than us upon our son. Most likely we just know that once we start this process, there is no going back. Before we know it, he will be in “real school” and family time will be the exception not the rule. Whatever the case may be, I know that every day before September I plan to offer a few extra cuddles and cherish every little bit of mommy time I can get, but I can’t help thinking those preschool blues just aren’t going to go away.

For more “Mommy Talk” moments click here.

Why Etiquette Should Make A Comeback

Today was one of those days so many of us have.  In the course of what turned out to be a long day I and my family were honked at, shouted at, flipped off, almost run down at a cross-walk (that is the second time this week) and had a door we were trying to get through shut in our face. In and amongst it all, I just couldn’t stop thinking that it would have been better if more etiquette would have been displayed by my fellow citizens.

Really - whatever happened to etiquette?  As we are desperately trying to teach our toddler to always say “please” and “thank you” as well as “hello” to passerbys, it seems somehow we are being counter-cultural.  I understand that people are busy, and they are stressed, but a little etiquette makes life a bit better for all of us.

A little anecdote helps demonstrate this. The other week I was in the grocery store and with dread saw that it was the “wrong time” to be shopping and checking out.  Lines of customers were aggravatingly awaiting for their groceries to be scanned, all the while watching their frozen goods begin to thaw from their deep-freeze. You could see the faces of people turning a shade pinker.  I too joined a ridiculously long line with an over-filled basket and a toddler awaiting his own little melt-down.  Then I heard the magic words: “Line 8 is now open, please come across.”

Being in Line 7 I had a clear shot, but by the time I steered my finely balanced shopping over, a near stampede occurred, and I was convinced I would be relegated to the back of what was now a longer line. And then I heard something that sounded like a foreign tongue in this sea of “me, me, me, mine, mine, mine.” It was a woman at the front of Line 7, who positioned her cart to block those behind her, telling me “Please, go before me, you have a young child after all.”  Not that I think that a “young child” should always be a “get out of jail free card” but in this case, I was relieved. She proceeded to tell me “I used to be the sort of person that would have pushed you over to get in front, but I am not that way anymore and I am glad for it. That was ugly and obviously I was a worse person for it.” I have no idea what altered her behavior, but I was thankful for it (especially as I was a bit unsettled by the idea of her ‘pushing me over’).

And that is the crux of it, isn’t?  Even if it is warranted to snap at people, flip them off, or mow them down, are we really any better off for it? Obviously, I don’t think so. So we intend to “mind our p’s & q’s” and continue to raise our family the good old fashioned way – with manners, and yes, a bit of etiquette. Because it goes a long way.