Update at 18 months

 

I can’t believe how fast time is passing and that Jack is already 18 months old! I remember when he was a tiny baby we’d always be the youngest ones at meetups and things, and now he is definitely a toddler! I try as much as possible to be present and enjoy each day because they really fly by, and even if we have another child it’ll never be the same as having all my time to enjoy just Jack. Some things that have been going on lately:

• Talking: Jack is saying about 10 words or so now. It’s on the low end of normal, but hopefully he’s just a later talker like his dad was. I make sure to narrate what we are doing all day and wait for him to respond to questions so he has the opportunity to practice talking. While he says 10 words he says the same 3 most often- ball, mama, and car. So it really doesn’t feel like he’s that grown up yet, I think once he is using his words all the time it will really feel like he’s not a baby any more.
• Eating: Jack has gradually been eating more solids. He likes most things that are breaded such as organic chicken nuggets or fish nuggets. He is also eating more fruits such as peaches. Our meals are still pretty random things at this point though, like raisins and peanut butter for breakfast.
• Babywearing: I still wear Jack for usually either a nap or to get him to sleep for bedtime. I also use the Tula a lot for when we are walking to of from a store or part of the time we are walking our dog.
• Breastfeeding: Jack still nurses a lot! If I’m gone for 4-5 hours for work I start feeling engorged. He also nurses every few hours at night. Once his teeth are in I’ll try to cut that down, but he keeps having teething pain at least a few weeks a month so it doesn’t seem worth it to deal with the crying and lack of sleep of night weaning just to go back on it a week later when he has horrible teething pain all night.
• Clothes: we have still been able to stick with 100% organic clothes! I’ve been happy to find toddler clothes at H&M, Frugi, Burt’s Bees, and some random stuff on amazon.
• Cloth diapers: Jack is wearing mostly Bumgenius 4.0 pockets now because they are easy to change while he’s standing or walking. He goes to the potty when he wakes up in the morning and usually after nap and we get almost all poops in the potty.
• Movement: Jack is almost running now which is cute. He is also climbing nonstop! He can push a chair to the kitchen counter and climb up on it which is scary. We are looking for a used learning tower for him to make standing at the kitchen sink a little safer.
• Playing: Jack still prefers playing with containers or laundry over mot of the toys he has! Some favorite toys that actually get used often are books, his wooden cart, and his pounding toy which he also likes to remove the pegs from and put them places.

Overall he can entertain himself for longer and longer now- sometimes 10-20 minutes, so it’s getting so much easier for me! I can now cook in the kitchen sometimes while he plays in the sink or with some containers, or I can clean while he “swiffers.” He also sits in his high chair long enough for me to eat an entire meal often, although sometimes I have to give him a little container with a lid for him to put raisins into to keep him busy at the end.

I love how he learns new things almost every day, like how to make a new animal noise. He is starting to get upset when we tell him he can’t do things, but luckily after reading a ton about positive parenting (I love the book Peaceful Parenting) I feel pretty well equipped to deal with it and help him learn to calm himself down so far. I’m sure it will get harder (but in some ways easier) as he gets older though!

Elimination communication on an airplane!

We just got back from a 6 day trip to Philadelphia to visit family (and managed to take only carry-on bags again!) I had my mom buy some whole foods disposable diapers for us to use there because people didn’t want us to wash our cloth diapers at their houses, and Jack ended up with his first ever diaper rash by the end of the week. I had packed 3 pocket diapers just in case, so the day we were traveling home I put him in a pocket diaper and figured I would cloth diaper him until we ran out and then put him back in disposables. I definitely didn’t expect it, but I managed to have Jack use the toilet for our entire trip!

Jack is 18 months old now and at home he always poops in the potty but often does not want to pee in the potty if he’s in the middle of playing, so we still rely on diapers most of the day. I also admittedly get lazy about taking him to the bathroom, especially in public places. But after this trip I realized I’m 99% of the reason Jack isn’t totally out of diapers!

Here’s how we handled EC on the trip:

Before we left I had Jack pee in the toilet of my mom’s house. I hold him over the toilet facing backwards in the “EC” hold.

At the airport, I found a family bathroom which makes things much easier and had him pee right when we arrived (it was 1.5 hours since he last peed). He also went again right before we boarded the plane (about another hour or so had passed). If he was hesitant to go, I found that turning on the sink helped him.

On the plane, I took him to the bathroom about every 2 hours so that ended up being twice during the 5 hour trip. It was a super tight squeeze in the plane bathroom! I found it helpful to bring a plastic bag with an extra diaper (in case I needed to change him) and hang it on the hook on the door. Then I put his pants in the bag while I was holding him to pee.

I took him to the bathroom again in the airport once we arrived, and then he stayed dry on the hour-long drive home. I was so proud of us for making it work over such a long day! I’m excited for Jack to continue getting better at communicating and I’m sure when that happens he’ll be out of diapers soon. It will be nice to stop doing all that laundry 🙂

DIY organic fabric wall decals

organic fabric animals on jack’s wall

We transitioned Jack to his new room recently, and I have been excited to make the decor more child-friendly. The room used to be our office so it was pretty plain, and it has large sliding wooden doors for the closet so I decided to use wall decals on them. We live in an apartment so I didn’t want anything permanent, and of course I didn’t want any toxic vinyl decals, so I started looking up fabric ones. However, the ones I found online that were nontoxic like these were adorable but pretty expensive! Most of them also seem to be made of polyester (not the most natural) and use water-based glue which seems ok but didn’t have an ingredients list. So I looked into DIY options and was so excited to find a really natural alternative that is cheaper and still cute!

the sheep and duckling

Materials:

• cotton fabric
• cornstarch
• water
• optional: some kind of brush or foam brush like these 

Directions:

1. Look around online for inspiration of what you want to put on the wall. Once you decide, you can search for “silhouette” of the thing on google images and pick one you like to copy. For example I searched for “bird silhouette” to find some birds I liked that looked somewhat realistic.
2. Find some fabric or use some that you already have. I used lightweight cotton which worked well. For the birds I used an old organic cotton pillowcase and for the animals I ordered organic cotton fabric online from here.
3. Draw the designs onto your fabric and cut it out. I just used a pencil and looked at the picture and freehanded it onto the fabric. After I cut the design out I erased the visible lines with an eraser. You can try to cut slightly inside the lines to skip the erasing step. You could also print the image out and cut it out and trace it.
4. Clean off your wall
5. Get materials for cornstarch glue. The ratio of cornstarch to water I found worked best after trying several was 5 teaspoons cornstarch to 1/2 cup water. If your project is big, double the recipe. If you use too little cornstarch (I tried with 3 teaspoons first) the decal may come off when dry, but you can just try again with more). If you use too much it might look slightly white.
6. Take your 1/2 cup of water and microwave it for about 1.5 minutes so it’s boiling or very hot
7. Mix 5 teaspoons cornstarch with a little cold water just to dissolve it
8. Add the cornstarch to the hot water and stir (if it’s really thick add a bit more water until it’s like dense water, but not like jello)
9. For small fabric pieces pour the mixture onto a plate and dip both sides of the fabric in it, then place on the wall. For large ones paint the mixture on the wall, put fabric on top, and paint mixture over the fabric
10. Smooth the fabric so there are no bubbles, and if there is fraying go around the edge and push it back into the fabric
11. Clean up the drips with a rag or paper towel- don’t worry if it’s not perfect because it dries clear
12. Let it dry overnight
13. Watch your child get excited about his new art which is totally edible if he (like Jack) decides to lick his animal friends!
    

    the turtle and rabbit

    

    Jack loves his new friends!

Review of baby paws soft soled shoes

Jack wearing his baby paws

When Jack started walking, I researched a lot of brands to find non-toxic soft soled shoes for babies. I previously reviewed SoftStar shoes which I liked for their leather shoes with rubber soles that work well in wet weather. However, for completely soft everyday shoes my favorite brand is Baby Paws. I didn’t get anything for writing this review, but I wanted to share information in case anyone else is looking.

Pros:

• The shoes are made of formaldehyde-free nontoxic leather
• They are also chromium-free and pass tests for  acetaldehyde and glutaraldehyde
• They are hand made in Australia
• Most of them have velcro which works well because you can customize the ankle opening size (Jack’s ankles were too chubby for moccasin style shoes!)
• They are completely soft leather all around and are the closest things to socks I’ve tried
• They are easy to put on (our soft stars with laces are a little more time consuming)

Cons:

• Because they are so soft they wear out faster- ours got holes in about 2 months
• The lighter colored shoes look dirty easily
• They are a little pricey, but there are also often sales
• The sizes only go up to 24 months (soft star goes up to adult)

Overall we have loved them and are on our 2nd pair already! Jack even brings me his shoes to put on when I say we are going for a walk.

Microwave miso soup

 

I love soup, and miso soup is really easy to make already, but this recipe is definitely the easiest ever! I can get it done in 5 minutes and have some nice fresh soup using only ingredients that store well.

I read recently that when you make miso soup it’s best not to heat the miso itself too much because it loses some of its health properties, so this recipe involves adding it in at the very end so it doesn’t boil or anything.

The ingredients are really flexible- you can add tofu, mushrooms, seaweed, scallions, or other veggies

The broth can also be fish broth, just water, or a little vegetable broth mixed with water

Ingredients:

2 cups of liquid (I did about 30% vegetable broth and the rest water). You can just fill waterver bowl you have mostly with liquid, it doesn’t have to be exact

1-2 tablespoons of miso depending how salty you like it

extras: a teaspoon of dried wakame flakes, rehydrated in water, a sliced mushroom, a few cubes of tofu etc

Directions:

1. Rehydrate the seaweed in some water if using

2. If you want to you can sautee some mushrooms or tofu and keep a bunch of it in the fridge so it’s ready to go, or just put it raw in the next step

3. Put everything but the miso in a bowl and microwave for 2-4 minutes, until it gets very hot

4. Meanwhile mix the miso with a little water in a separate small bowl to get rid of clumps

5. Add the miso watery paste to the soup and stir

Elimination communication update- staying dry at night!

 I have been doing elimination communication with Jack since he was a few weeks old, and now he is 17 months. Elimination communication involves following your baby’s cues for going to the bathroom and teaching them signals, but uses no external positive or negative reinforcement (no skittles for using the potty!). Babies are motivated to learn because no one naturally likes sitting in their own waste- we just train kids to be ok with it when using diapers.

Within the past month Jack really started understanding the sign language sign for “bathroom” and will do it if I ask him if he has to go! If he’s really involved in an activity he doesn’t like to stop for the bathroom (understandably!) but he uses the potty at least a few times per day. Yesterday he only had 2 wet diapers all day!

I was surprised to notice that in the last 4 days he has been waking up with his diaper totally dry, and then peeing in the potty. I never thought he could not pee at night at this age because he still breastfeeds often at night, and sleeps for about 11 hours. My husband and I were worried he was dehydrated initially, but he does breastfeed all the time, so I think he just naturally started staying dry at night. I’m excited about the diminishing laundry load!

I ordered Jack his first underwear yesterday which I’m excited about. I think we can try them around the house, but keep using diapers outside until he gets more consistent about communicating. I looked at several organic options, and chose these 100% organic cotton ones from Under The Nile. I heard they run big, so I hoe they fit! Hanna Andersson has some organic ones but they seemed too big based on reviews

under the nile trainers

Imse Vimse also had some I was thinking about because they had a layer of PUL which makes them more waterproof. I might order a pair and try them out as well

imse vimse organic trainers

 

I can’t believe how fast Jack is growing up! It really makes me want to savor every day with him (while he still wants to hang out with me!)

 

Vegan butternut squash quesadillas

I made these quesadillas today to try to recreate some sweet potato and caramelized onion tacos from my favorite vegan restaurant, and they turned out pretty good. Jack even enjoyed eating some of the tortilla parts!

I found frozen organic butternut squash cubes at  whole foods, so I used them, but any squash type thing would be good. I also didn’t have the time to caramelize onions because of my high-needs toddler, but if you have the time I bet that would taste great.

Ingredients:

1 package of frozen butternut squash cubes (or sweet potato or other squash)

1 package of organic tortillas

1/2 onion, chopped

a few tablespoons of pine nuts

some vegan shredded cheese or nutritional yeast (although the melted cheese works best)

whatever spices you like- I used paprika, but you can add something spicier

 

Directions:

Sautee the onions until browned (caramelize if you have a spare half hour)

Separately, prepare the squash as per the package (boil it or microwave), using whatever spices you like. Then put in a food processor or immersion blender to puree

Take a tortilla and spread a layer of squash on half, sprinkle some onions on top, sprinkle pine nuts over it, and then add a light layer of vegan cheese

Put some oil in a pan and lightly fry both sides of the quesadilla until a little brown

I bet this would taste great with guacamole, beans, or vegan sour cream!

 

 

Traveling with a toddler without checking luggage

all my stuff and the baby stuff fit in these bags!

My husband and I took Jack (16 months) to visit friends in Portland for 4 days, and we were happy to be able to fit our minimalistic necessities in only carryon baggage! It saved time because we skipped waiting for bags at the conveyor belt, and it was easier to carry everything around the airports. Here is a summary of what we brought:

Baby transportation: toddler tula

I wore Jack through the airport and hiked with him on my back during the trip. He took a few naps in the tula and we didn’t bring a stroller which saved a ton of space. I also know some people whose strollers were broken when checked on a plane, so we didn’t have to worry about that.

Car seat: borrowed from friends (backup option was to rent one with a car)

Jack still fits in an infant seat, so our friend’d toddler sat in her convertible seat and he used her old infant one which worked out perfectly fine.

Clothes: I brought layers for both of us- 2 short sleeves, 4 long sleeves, and a jacket per person. I took jeans and yoga pants for me, and 4 pants for Jack. I brought a bib per day for Jack and hats for both of us. I brought him soft leather shoes and rubber rainproof shoes.

Diapers: we decided to use our (ecofriendly) disposable diapers so we didn’t make our friends uncomfortable asking to wash cloth diapers at their house. We like the Bambo Nature diapers which are compostable and free of carcinogens and allergens. I brought enough diapers to change him every 3 hours and one for overnight, plus a couple extra. EC helps cut down on diapers though, as Jack pooped a few times in the toilet!

Toys: we stayed with friends who had a ton of toys at their house which Jack loved. For the plane, we brought a small wooden plane, his favorite small ball, and his favorite book. We also brought his Foogo straw thermos with almond milk (he loves to press the button!) and his pura bottle with some water. We spent time opening and closing those, eating snacks I brought, looking at the plane magazines, and playing with the plastic cups they provide on the plane. He loved looking out the window and opening and closing the window. We also walked around the plane a little.

Toiletries: I brought toothpaste and a toothbrush, and Jack’s toothbrush which doubles as a toy. I use a shampoo bar that doubles as soap which saves space.

Electronics: I brought my laptop which took up a ton of space, but I like watching videos on netflix while Jack naps on me 🙂 I also brought a phone which I use for white noise for Jack.

I may have forgotten a few things, but that’s most of what I packed. My husband took a carryon with his clothes and the gifts for our friends, so I fit my stuff and Jack’s all in my bags. Our next challenge will be to see if we can take only carryons during our 6 day trip to PA! In that case we may bring a few diapers and buy some natural ones at whole foods there, because the diapers took up a ton of space.

Attempting minimalism with a toddler

the majority of our toys and books

My husband and I try to be minimalistic with our possessions, but it’s been a challenge to keep that up once we had a baby! Now that Jack is 16 months old and a toddler, I wanted to update how we’re doing. You can see a post about minimalism with a baby here or about our minimalist baby registry here.

Diapers: we are still cloth diapering which saves tons of money and decreases our daily trash by a huge amount! We love it, and while we had ammonia issues now that Jack is peeing more, the poop is also SUPER easy to clean now that it’s solid- you just plop it into the toilet (or since we do EC Jack poops in the potty most of the time which is even easier).

Food: we do baby led weaning which minimizes the need to buy special baby purees or machines to make purees (although we already had an immersion blender). Jack eats what we eat, or we buy snacks from the dried foods or cereal section of Whole foods (like unsweetened organic corn puffs). We did buy a few stainless steel espresso spoons for Jack and these thick glass shot glasses he can drink from that are hard to break. We’re skipping sippy cups since dentists don’t recommend them, and just use a water bottle on the road.

Clothes: I try to buy as much gender neutral organic clothing as I can so we can hopefully use it for another child down the line. We do laundry about every 5 days, so we try to buy only the amount of clothes we need to last us that long. Jack has a few gender neutral shoes as well.

Toys: I have a secret: Jack prefers to play with things that aren’t even children’s toys 😉 We have a few nice wooden toys for him, and my dad has a bunch at his house which they bought. Jack spends a lot of time playing with our pots and pans, kitchen paraphernalia,  putting things inside bowls or ceramic vases, pushing our ottoman around, or playing with our dog’s (nontoxic) balls. I think we have never bought him a toy ourselves, but it’s harder to get relatives not to buy him toys and instead give him clothes or donate to his college fund. We go to the park or library playroom at least once a day, so Jack gets to play with different things there too.

Books: We have a handful of board books, most that were from my childhood and are in different languages so they can’t be found at the library. Once he gets a little older we plan to get most books from the library instead of buying them. (For my husband and I, we almost always buy ebooks now).

Sleeping: We still have our crib sidecared, and in the future may buy some kind of natural full size mattress for a floor bed. We use my old cell phone as a while noise player.

Transportation: We have a convertible car seat in each of our cars, and my dad has one also. I’m storing our Orbit nontoxic infant seat to hopefully use with another baby. We still use the City Mini stroller sometimes, but only maybe once a week.  I use baby carriers multiple times a day though! I love my Toddler Tula and Bamberoo, and also use my ring sling for quick trips to the library (love the pocket which works as a purse). I put Jack high on my back in a woven wrap while I vacuum so he can see what’s going on.

Bath: Jack has showered with me since day one, or sometimes if he just has food on him I’ll do a rinse in the sink. We rarely use soap on him, and put coconut oil to prevent diaper rash and dry skin. He uses our organic towels, we don’t have any special baby bath things. For bath toys we have some bowls and a ball or two that rotate as bath toys.

Babyproofing: we bought some cheap light switch covers and a few string things to keep drawers closed, but other than that we don’t babyprrof most things and instead watch Jack and teach him to “be gentle” with the low-hanging art, or “let’s not touch the toilet water, it’s wet” etc. It’s been working well so far, but we’ll see if we need to change the plan as he ages.

Things we skipped buying: baby gates, baby monitors (we cosleep), a play yard, baby bath tub and bath products, and baby swing.

Boiling cloth diapers to get rid of ammonia

Help! Ammonia in my diapers!

We’ve been having ammonia issues for months now, and I’ve tried Rockin Green detergent, their ammonia special detergent, and Eco Sprout detergent (based on recommendations of natural detergents from friends).

I used to just wash the diapers on one cycle, and I started doing two cycles (one hot, one cold/warm) and a soak beforehand.

But our diapers still smelled SUPER bad after they got pee in them, and the overnight diaper would be scary!

Thank goodness Jack never got ammonia burn, but the idea of that scared me which is why I kept trying different things.

I finally tried boiling diapers over the stove for 15 minutes, and it finally worked!

I boiled them for 15 minutes and then washed them as usual, and they didn’t smell like anything after they got peed on. Thank goodness!

The process was time consuming because I don’t have a huge pot so I couldn’t do too many at one time, but it’s worth it to take care of the problem, and probably only needs to be done once every few months I hope.

 

I’ll continue my usual routine with boiling occasionally (we live in an apartment with paid laundry which is why I don’t do extra rinses and stuff)

1. Wash on hot with Rockin Green ammonia detergent (open the lid to let the diapers soak for 30-60 minutes when the water is full)
2. Wash on warm with Eco Sprout detergent with other clothes and things added in, so we can still get out other laundry done without the process taking a whole day
3. Dry prefolds in the dryer, and hang the covers/pockets with PUL to dry