I am in the midst of changing a few things around here…
One… I had never wanted to give juice but it made its way into our household for occasional use and just became a more then occasional thing… Recently Xavier stopped wanting to drink water as much and wanted juice all of the time… I didn’t let him have it but it was a struggle that I just didn’t want anymore… so now… I have now stopped buying juice…
Since Colin was about 7-8 months old I would make him cold plain herbal teas… Xavier never wanted it before but now he sees it as the alternative to water and has started asking for it. I have quite a few kinds so he is having fun choosing… Today he tried Summer Berry.
Two… TV… I have to admit (not the first time that I admit this) that the kids watch more TV then I would like… However, we are starting to break the habit and it is working… I let them watch a show in the morning and then I turn the TV on to the Talk radio that I listen to and that is what stays on all day until I start getting Supper ready… Sure, they still watch a bit of TV but I am OK with that… Maybe our next step will be no TV at all but for now I don’t see it… we are cooped up in the house a lot because of the weather, cold etc and it just does help…. I do know that once spring comes we will be out more, I know that when summer is here we will live outside most of the time… for now… I am quite happy with the amount of TV that they are now watching….
Three… I have been making meal plans each week and sticking to it… I made a really cool Shopping list grid that I can just fill out every week…. I check what we already have, what is on special and choose about 7-8 meals including breakfast, lunch and snack ideas and then fill out my list to make sure that I have everything. Now, instead of asking myself (and Simon) everyday what we are going to eat, I just look at my meals for the week and choose one knowing that I have everything… I have also made sure that I use everything and I try to make enough for the next day’s lunch for Simon…
Four… You may or may not know this… but I have never been a good housekeeper… I hate cleaning and would rather be with the kids, and even before I had kids, I would put off cleaning… the house isn’t dirty (no food etc hanging around)… but it can become messy…
However, I have been cleaning more. We were in a rut… the house would get messier and messier as the week went on and then the whole weekend was used to clean, making family time almost non-existent… Now I have been doing quite a bit more throughout the week doing and I have set small goals for myself… (kitchen clean everyday, the floors swept, and sometimes I even make my bed!) Weekends have now been a lot more relax and have a completely different atmosphere… we clean but we have more time and if we have company over it isn’t as much work…. Also, the more I clean, the easier it is to keep it up, so it has become easier to clean and less depressing…
Five… I have been on the computer a lot less lately… which has meant less posts lately…but I am having fun with the boys… it also means that I don’t visit BabyCenter as much since I resigned as host and since then I have not needed to rant as much… but don’t worry… I still have a lot more ranting to do!
Yeah the TV thing…I thought I wouldn’t be letting my child watch any TV prior to the age of 2…but I flipped on Sesame Street a week ago and my 7-month old is cooing/sqealing/trying to sing along to the songs (well he thinks he is!) He absolutely loves it. Such things in moderation can’t hurt (at least that’s what I am telling myself as I sit here eating Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate ice cream.)
We had no electricity from between when Paul was 6 months old to about 2 1/2 years old and so television was not an issue. We did, however, do a few edutainment type games and definitely noticed his behaviour turn for the worse after even just a little while doing that.
Now we still don’t have a television (we haven’t owned one since before he was born) and that works well for us. We have a TV tuner card for the computer so we can hook up a VCR to watch the occasional video which is great when one or more of us is sick. But again, too much of that for any one of us makes any of the three of us impatient and irritable.
I remember both having a TV and not when I was a child… We also lived without electicity for a few years…
I liked the times that we did have a TV though… I have a few fond memories of watching Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup, Friendly Giant etc before my mom woke up in the morning…. (and Little House on Sundays before I went to Brownies)
However, I also lived in the Mountains and I would be out the door after breakfast, in for lunch and back out agin until supper…. I self regulated TV….
I think TV can be ok in moderation… (I know there are many that may not agree with me) but I knew that there was a problem when the boys were watching a bit more TV that I wanted it was a fight to turn it off….
However, since we started our new routine, the TV is off when I ask without a fight and then even the last few days they won’t even watch it when I trun it on while I prepare supper and would rather watch me… which is great and which is what I would have always wanted….
At times I would love to get rid of the TV… but I like watching a few shows after the kids have gone to bed…
For now we will go with the moderation route and getting the most fresh air possible (when it isn’t -20 with the wind like the last few weeks)
About juice: We don’t have it that often, but I’ve always added a lot of water to everything the girls’ drink, like 3/4 water.