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Our favourite weaning products
Monday, October 7, 2024
Today I am sharing some of our favourite weaning products with our daughter (our second child) now that she turned 1 and we introduced food to her 6 months ago.
1. We love Liewood bibs! In particular this style that is easy to put on and take off, wash, and also small so folds up nicely for travel. We got most of our daughters' from Vinted - you can also find them on the Liewood website here.
2. Baby Kilner Jars - I love the size of these mini jars, they have been perfect for storing different small portions of food for our daughter. The silicone lids are also great and they stack well on top of eachother in the fridge. We also take them out with us to carry snacks in.
3. Nibble bowls - We have collected a large variety of these in our kitchen, they work so well for so many things. I have found that nibble bowls - usually used for things like serving olives - work great and the more flat the base, the sturdier and easier for our daughter to use and scoop food from. Our favourites are similar to these linked.
4. Tiny metal cutlery - We found ours second hand and they are even smaller than a regular teaspoon! They are wonderful and the perfect size for 6-12 months. Our daughter is keen to try and feed herself using them now.
5. Shot glasses from IKEA - These are so tiny at 5CL (50ml), I love them! I found these unopened in a charity shop. They were perfect for my daughter to be introduced to at 6 months. It took a bit of time (lots of mopping up spills!) and we helped her at first but now she is quite confident carefully picking up her glass and drinking from it. We are using real glass (like the rest of the family uses) and teaching her to be careful, and the glass allows her to feel the weight of it. So far we have not broken any!
6. Tiny Milk Jug - We have this one and also a mix of second hand ceramic jugs that are usually used for tiny portions of milk to go with tea. I love hunting second hand to find ones that will be perfect for small hands to use them in our family. So far it has been the adults pouring my daughter's water into her glass but she has also started trying to do this herself in recent times.
7. Cheeky wipes - For every spill and messy meal times. These are small and easy to wash and have a stack on hand for everything. When wiping my daughter's mouth, I hold up the cheeky wipe and slowly tell her that I am going to clean her face with it. I give her a few seconds to understand and process what I said, before cleaning her. She also has recently started to copy the action of cleaning the table with a cheeky wipe, which has been fun to observe.
8. Tripp Trapp Highchair - We used the Baby Bjorn highchair at 6 months (which is quite small and our daughter grew out of it quickly) and then the Tripp Trapp highchair from around 8 months, with the baby set addition. The highchair goes up to the dining table so that our daughter joins us at the table. This is our favourite highchair because it is such great quality and can be adjusted as the child grows. We have had one for our son since he was a toddler as well and he loves it.
9. Ikea LATT table and chairs - We cut the table and chair legs down so that they are more suited to a child aged 8 months onwards so that the feet can touch the floor when they are sitting at it. We have this in a separate area in the living space and it is mainly used for snacks and drinks.
10. Reusable mini wet bag - so handy for when we go out, we take one with us almost everywhere we go! We use ours for bringing cheeky wipes in. Perfect for cleaning hands and faces on the go, and they can go straight into the washing machine when we are home.
11. Silicone feeding spoons - These are a great size for small hands and for the baby to be able to hold them and feed themselves.
12. Printable placemat - This is available in my Etsy shop and helps the child to understand where each item goes on the table. It is a Canva template available in US Letter and A4 sizes and so you can move around and edit the sizes and positioning of each item to suit you exactly. We print and laminate ours and it lasts a very long time, plus is easy to clean.
Today I am sharing with an easy DIY posting activity that that my husband made for our daughter. She is 12 months old and I have recently observed her use wooden lollipop sticks to try and post them into various solid objects in the house.
We used large cut up wooden dowels to make posting sticks but you could also use wooden craft lollipop sticks, wooden pegs or other similar objects (that are quite chunky).
A little appreciation post for the IKEA ALSEDA stool! It is made of banana fibre, did you know? We recently got 4 of these from Facebook marketplace and have been loving them at home. They are flat and wide so nice and stable for little ones to climb.
A few uses for them in our home so far…
🤍one or several stacked, to help my daughter get up and down from the sofa independently
🤍little stools for adults to sit on while the little ones are playing on the floor (including in the garden!)
🤍low tables for adults and children
🤍I sit on one whilst doing bath times now, rather than on the uncomfortable floor
🤍older children incorporate them into their play - respecting the stool and material
🤍they stack so nicely and are really sturdy - they have a wire frame inside
🤍easy for (slightly older) children to carry to where they need to take it or to help younger siblings
🤍they also make beautiful, natural decor pieces when not in use, so I’m happy to keep them out in our living room
Freebie - First Day of School Signs
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
20 ideas for Montessori in the kitchen
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Today I am sharing one of my favourite healthier cakes; a carrot cake. It is adapted from the Hemsley + Hemsley book, The Art of Eating Well.
MAKES 1 LARGE CAKE OR TRAYBAKE
INGREDIENTS...
FOR THE CAKE
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil / butter, melted
- 250g ground almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon bicarb
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 eggs
- 3.5 tbsp maple syrup
- 300g carrots, grated
- Handful walnuts for decorating
FOR THE FROSTING
- 2 tubs of Philadelphia full fat cream cheese
- 2.5 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to Fan 180 and line the base of two 23cm diameter cake tins (for a whole cake) or a 20cm x 40cm baking tin (for a traybake). Grease the sides with coconut oil or butter
2. In a large bowl, combine the ground almonds with the salt, bicarb and cinnamon
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the maple syrup and melted coconut oil / butter, then stir in the carrots before mixing with the dry ingredients in the large bowl.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin/s, spreading it out evenly, and bake in the oven for 35 mins until springy to the touch and golden brown on top. Remove from oven and place tins on a wire rack to cool
5. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Add the cream cheese to a bowl and mix in the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Leave in fridge until the cake bases have cooled down completely
6. Spread the cooled cakes with the frosting. If making a 2 layered cake, place each frosted layer in the fridge for a few hours, and then stack them on top of each other.
Sprinkle cut up walnuts on the top to decorate.