Favorite Spaces: Playtown!!

Ok, so I know wayyyy back in November, we put on our brave faces and embraced the cold.  We made a rink and were excited when it dipped down below -10 at night.  Buuuuuutttt...  Now it's February and it's been so cold out that at school the kids haven't been outside to play in over a month.  So we've really been counting on the indoor play spaces to get us through the winter.  I'll share with you two of our favorite educations play places we've been spending time with our mamas groups this winter.  One of them is Playtown.

Where do I even begin with how amazing this place is.  You walk in the doors and into the big common area which is filled with little houses and store fronts and shops filled with all sorts of hands-on things to do.  A grocery store, a fire hall, a construction site, a house, a hair salon, a diner...  cars to drive and gas stations to fill up at, flower pots, street lamps. 

Not only is a toddler paradise where they never get bored, it's also a parent paradise too.  So many times I go to places and stand chatting with other mamas, which is great of course, but here I actually was inspired to get involved and play along too--putting on a vet costume to check the heartbeat of a puppy, curl hair in the hair salon, check out groceries at the play store.  On top of that, it's also new (aka clean).

We got there nearly when it opened and stayed past lunch into the early afternoon.  If it wasn't for naptime, I'm sure we would have stayed until supper.  (You can pack a lunch and eat lunch in their lunch room). 

Needless to say, it kept us all happy for hours and we will definitely be going back!

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DIY Pizzas: Toddler Style

I don't know about meals with littles in your house, but our babies were great eaters....   To start with.....  And then suddenly along the way, the list of food likes got smaller.  It's a bit of an usual list of likes for a toddler I think--olives, cream cheese, pickled beets and frozen peas, but it is a shorter list than I'd like nonetheless. And pizza of all things, is NOT on the list. 

A few weeks ago,  under the powerful influence of cousin Elsie, Gabriel took the first bite of pizza in months.  But the moment his tongue touched a red pepper, the pizza hit the plate.  I've recently come to the conclusion that part of the issue with toddlers and mixed foods is CHOICE.  And pizza seemed like the perfect place to try.

I remember reading an article about a link between young children helping to make meals and healthy food choices as young adults.  No doubt this is true.  While kids can definitely make the occasion of making supper a little chaotic, getting them in the kitchen to help out can make a difference not only on their ability as adults to prepare their own (healthy) meals, but also to enjoy the food they are eating now, not only because they helped make it but because they are able to then choose (within reason) what they want in the meal they are preparing.

Late yesterday afternoon, I started to prepare food for "making supper."  Ok, so now not only was I making supper, I was preparing to make supper and then allow two tornadoes in my kitchen while we put it altogether...  My inner latent OCD was kicking in.  But nevertheless, with everything prepped we went ahead. 

My son loved the idea of rolling out the pizza, folding cheese into the crust, painting it with sauce, and topping it with his choices, all the while, snacking on bits as we prepped.  (Hey, I don't really care too much about how the food is consumed so much as the fact that it IS consumed).  We talked about the green peppers (not a fan), and so we left them off.  Gabriel proudly put his pizza in the oven.  And when it was ready, helped cut it with the pizza cutter.  Sure enough, being a part of the pizza making made a difference.

Now, it wasn't all pretty.  There was plenty of behind-the-scenes mayhem--Maggie into the flour, the dog nearly ate Gabriel's pizza as he was walking it to the oven, and the pizza was cut in a sorts of silly ways, and it took awhile to clean up the disaster that was our kitchen.  (Apparently, my kids take after me?)  But it was worth it not to have to coax and coerce at the table the entire meal. After all, pizza nights are supposed to be fun, right?

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