Hello all! I am 23 with a 15 month old daughter and I dont know how to expand and teach her new things. With food, she eats; yogurt, fruit sauce (like apple sauce) oatmeal, cheese sandwich or P&J sandwich, water, pasta, and sometimes chicken (nuggets), lintel soups. I dont know what else I can feed her or introduce new and healthy foods that she will like. I am completely lost on how to educate her! She is a good child but i want to expand her thinking...what do kids her age do? what new things are they supposed to learn at her age? she walks, jibber jabbers, says a few words, plays and gets into things but what can I do to help her learn? She doesnt have friends to play with except when we go to the play area in the mall...is that a down fall? some one please help me...what did you do for your children?
Also, what kind of activities do they have here for toddlers and infants? I dont know of much resources out here.
Hi L. your message is very touching ,go to your local library and they will have books on what to do with young children,take her for walks ,discover nature ,flowers and beauty ,eveything you are sensitive to,sing ,put beautiful music and dance,movement is very important at her age,swings ,bouncing,ask your library for ressources .lovingly C.
Oh, I can TOTALLY relate to what you are saying. I remember feeling this way EXACTLY. My son is now 2 1/2, but I remember just around 12-15 months going through the exact same thing. First, I think you are doing great! Sounds like you are giving her development so much thought and attention! By just the fact that you are so concerned, it is probably a good indicator of how great a job you are doing! It's so hard to know, isn't it? You read all of these articles and books, and there is so much advice out there, but I remember feeling like, "Someone come over here and tell me what to do and what to buy at the store!"
With the food, sounds like she's eating well and just about everything all kids her age eat! I know it's hard to try new things when you just want your kid to eat, so you feed them what you know they like, but then they get bored, and you get bored and worried about nutrition, etc.
I say, simplify. Go back to basics; banana, avocado -- hell, my son ate gerber sweet potato puree and carrot puree until we was 22 months -- I bet he would still eat it if I bought it for him! Tomatoes, mashed potato with lots of milk and butter, if she eats pasta you have the whole tomato sauce, mac and cheese, butter noodle trifecta. You could try little bits of meat, sausage, garden burgers, if she eats lentils, she might go for other beans. Fish sticks, if she eats chicken nuggets. Try all kinds of fruit, pears were a real hit in my house.
If you have friends in Cali that have kids, one thing I did when I was feeling like we were in a toddler food rut: I emailed all my friends with kids and asked them to send me a list of everything their kids ate. I got a few ideas, but the most important thing I learned was that when I reached out to other moms, I found out my son was eating practically the same thing as everyone else.
As for activities, maybe check out some second hand baby stores in the area and get some books and new cheap toys. At that age, there's nothing that spices up a baby's home life like some new gizmos. Also, rotate the toys for variety. If you take some away for a while, it will be like a whole new toy in a week or two!
As for books, my kid LOVES to read. I think it really depends on the kid, but we read a lot to him around that time.
Also, check out Community centers. I found this link:
http://portorchard.net/organizations.htm
there's a mom's club listed there and a rec center -- looks like all sorts of moms stuff. I know in Seattle and Burien they have toddler gyms at the community centers, but I'm not sure what's available where you live. Toddler programs are a great way to get out of the house and get her interacting!
Interaction with other kids is great, but, in my personal opinion, I think it's a little overrated these days. As corny as it sounds, all the learning at this stage of the game comes from you. As long as you are talking, imitating her sounds and words and engaging her, you are doing awesome.
This is also a helpful resource:
http://moms.meetup.com/
Could it be that you are a little bored? Adjusting to your new surroundings? Maybe some time away, checking out Craig's list and looking for a babysitting swap or some part-time childcare so you can take a breather and recharge? Looking back, I feel like I was so involved and thinking about it 24 hours a day that taking a step back made me appreciate all my kid really did learn. Sorry to be so long winded, but I really wish someone would have said all this stuff to me. Good luck!
Hi L., I agree with Wendy. She can pretty much eat whatever you're eating now (check with your ped to make sure). My son loves beans and rice and it's a great source of protein. There's also a cookbook out there called "Feeding the Whole Family" that a few moms I know really like.
I think it would be good to get involved in a playgroup or meet other moms of kids her age (both for you and for her). It's nice to hang with other parents and be able to bounce questions off each other, etc. and just be able to talk to someone who can talk back!
I found this online:
MOMS CLUB of Port Orchard
A social support group for stay-at-home mothers and their children that participate in playgroups and community activities. For more information: ###-###-####
There's an email link too
I found it on this website: http://portorchard.net/organizations.htm
Good luck!
It seems as though you are doing great with her eating. At her age you can pretty much feed her anything and see if she likes it. Anything you eat try to give it to her or a bite of yours. I too am in Port Orchard and my hubby is in the navy, although he's stattioned in Bremerton right now, so I can relate to not knowing many people. I have 2 boys and #3 on the way. We've only lived here about a year and a half. I started going to a group called MOPS it is a group of Moms that get together twice a month and chit chat about life and being moms and such, and they also have FREE yep FREE daycare! Here is the website incase you are interested. www.mops.org I go to the one that is at Grace Bible Church. It really is nice to know there are other moms like us out there that are going through the same thing. Please come and check us out. My name is W. and i'm there every other Tuesday!
W.
P.s. here's my email if you want to email me personally. We could do coffee or something sometime, I'm always looking for friends. ____@____.com
