table for two

One of the things I hemmed and hawed and dragged my feet about was buying a first table and chair for Vicki.  This is sort of an essential piece of Montessori home equipment, to be used for meals, work, and other independent activities.  It's helpful because it allows the child to delineate whatever experience they are having:  eating your yogurt?  Go sit at your table.  Want to do some transferring with tongs?  Take the work to your table.  It provides a beginning and ending point for the activity.

Michael Olaf recommends a very specific first table and chair, ergonomically fitted to the infant.  I never bought these, because I really wanted something that would last a bit longer for Vicki Jo, size-wise.

For her 2nd birthday, Jeff and I got her the table and chairs you see above.  They are KidKraft, which is one of my favorite brands of children's furniture.  Jeff did the assembly - pretty quick compared to some other items.  You can see that it's still a touch big for her.  She can get into the chairs easily, but needs help pushing them up to the table.  I'm okay with this, as it means she will be able to comfortably sit there for at least another year or two.

There was really only one place in our small kitchen that the table and chairs could go.  We put them right in front of the big window.  Now Vicki has a spot of her very own to sit, gaze out at the neighborhood kitties and house building adventures, drink her milk, and not be quite so underfoot in the morning.  We both love it.

labor foods

As we approached our 36-week home visit, our midwives gave me a list of items to have ready before the birth.  They wanted them all gathered in one place.  Some of them make perfect sense:  old towels, trash bags, plastic sheeting, ibuprofen.  Some of them left me scratching my head a bit:  apricot nectar, three baby hats, bendable straws . . . ?

Then there was the food list.  This was really kind of fun for me.  In addition to the aforementioned apricot nectar, I am supposed to have prune juice, electrolyte drink, protein snacks, carb snacks, and food for midwives and support people (especially coffee!).

I got the juices, no problem.

For protein snacks, I decided to have on hand:
-cheese
-boiled eggs
-homemade fruit snacks (lots of gelatin)

For carb snacks:
-assorted fruit
-homemade crackers

These are both carb and protein snacks:
-smoothie popsicles (yogurt + fruit)
-granola (oats + nuts)

For the support folks:
-coffee!
-oatmeal raisin cookies:  I made up a big batch of dough and froze half of it.  I kept the other half rolled in wax paper in the fridge.  I've baked up a few of them, and will just have them ready!  (I don't have a special recipe - I just use the one on the container of oats.)

And for the electrolyte drink, I found a few different recipes online to make your own.  They all involve these basic ingredients, in different proportions:  salt, water, honey, citrus.  Here's my recipe:

Electrolyte Drink
2 T raw honey
1/2 t sea salt
juice of one lemon
warm water

Mix first three ingredients in a quart-size mason jar.  Fill with warm enough water to dissolve the honey and salt.  Put the lid on and shake well.  Be sure to leave some headspace if freezing - it will expand.  Pop it in the fridge or freezer to sip as needed.

Hopefully I will just remember to pull it from the freezer when the time comes!

This drink would be really good to make up and have on hand for when your family gets a stomach virus, or if you are a big-time exerciser in the summer and need to replace lost fluids quickly.

Watch - when labor actually starts, I won't be hungry at all . . . oh well - these are still great snacks just to have around!

[This post is part of Fight Back Friday 12/20/13.]