So a couple of weeks ago, I came across “Around the World Cookbook: More than 50 International Recipes for Children” at our office book fair, a collection of fun recipes to try with your little ones.

Though I have often summoned my sous chefs for baking cupcakes, I had never really allowed them near the open flame. The kids were so excited by the prospect, they spent an entire evening sifting through the colorful recipes and picking the one (their search was restricted to one each) they wanted to cook.

My daughter’s choice was “Vegetable Fried Rice,” and my son wanted to try, “Caprese Salad.” The next day, we set up our workstation on the kitchen island: two chopping boards, two knives, some assorted tools and me in the center. That was the most strategic decision I made, given the constant, “She got to do that, what about me?”

I discovered my 5-year-old son could hold his hand steady enough to slice a green pepper, and my 7-year-old daughter was an expert carrot grater. Who knew?

Once the prep work was done, they stood on little step stools to reach the large wok on the range. I was surprised by how careful they were while stirring with the ladle, and truly impressed by the quality of the final product.

The fun we had was not lost on my hubby, who picked out two adorable kiddie aprons (pink for Sanjana; red for Krishna) from Williams-Sonoma during our trip to the store last weekend. What are some of the recipes you have tried with your kids?

In the last month or so, Zyla, my 16-month-old, has developed a habit for drinking water or “gwa-gwa” as she puts it (she’s used to hearing agua not water). I usually just fill up her sippy cup and off she goes to quench her thirst. She’s even pretty adept at taking a water bottle and gulping it down with nary a spill.

Her favorite is drinking ice cold water from her mom’s glass. Believe me, it’s no easy feat making sure the ice cubes don’t escape into her tiny throat.

But all this H2O started me thinking about when is enough enough, especially after noticing that her stools are not as firm as they used to be. I’m not sure how much water intake she has per day since I’m not with her for most of it, but it’s definitely more than a cup.

Adults are usually told to drink 8 glasses a day for good health. A quick Internet search said that toddlers should drink 24 to 36 ounces a day.

Anyone have recommendations or some water tales to share?

Photo courtesy of TJN. 

We’re coming up on a major milestone in our house this week—JD will be 1 tomorrow! And that means starting the transition from formula to milk. Our pediatrician’s office recommends making the transition over a couple of weeks, starting by mixing 3/4 of formula with 1/4 whole milk. As long as there aren’t any adverse reactions (diarrhea), they recommended slowly decreasing the amount of formula and increasing the amount of milk.

Nobody in our family has a milk allergy, so I’m not anticipating any major problems, but I plan to start this over the weekend so I can keep an eye on the little guy.

The other thing I thought was interesting was that the doctor’s office recommends giving whole milk only until about 15 to 18 months. And my sister-in-law’s pediatrician told her to skip whole milk entirely and go straight to 2%. Anybody else get similar advice from their pediatrician?

And since we’re making transitions, I need to dump the baby bottles and start introducing JD to a cup. We’ve already tried a sippy cup and it didn’t go over very well. I think he was too frustrated when the liquid didn’t come out fast enough. (That’s my guess since he flung the cup across the room from his high chair!) However, he’s done well with the straws in juice boxes so I’m going to try a cup with a straw.

I’d be curious to know how others have handled the transition to milk and a cup. Were your kids frustrated with cups? How long did it take to get used to a cup?

(Isn’t the cow cute?)

Photos by Vincent DiSalvio and Elizabeth Orozco

I’m not a big fan of blueberries, so when my husband and eldest decided to go blueberry picking over the weekend, I sent them off with secret hopes they were too late for a good harvest.

They brought back two nice containers of fruit, one of which immediately got washed and frozen and the other sent my amateur cook to the recipe box.

I was working on Saturday, so I only heard about this on Sunday morning. She had made her usual, blueberry crisp, and I got a small piece when I got home at night (very good, especially with whipped cream). But she was looking toward new horizons, apparently.

“I want something different,” she told me Sunday morning. “Not blueberry muffins because we always make those. Maybe something that isn’t baked.”

Well, there are the usual fruit-mixed-with-ice-and-a-little-milk drinks, for which we picked up some strawberries and bananas from the grocery store to add to the blueberries. And I had suggested making an angel food cake and making a sauce out of the berries. And there was always pie. We add fresh blueberries to the traditional Sunday pancake breakfast.
But we had very little luck in the cookbooks looking for a blueberry recipe with a little pizzaz. So anyone with a suggestion would get our undying appreciation.

Back in the good old days, a $175 weekly grocery bill meant I had a cart topped with imported cheese, a couple of nice strip steaks and wild salmon — splurge city. 

Now I can’t seem to get out of the store without spending $200 no matter what, even with the family pack of chicken thighs and store brand rice, that delicious Spanish manchego a distant memory. So last week I tried to stick to a pre-determined 5-day menu from my Everyday Food magazine, basic stuff, hoping that such pre-planning would curb any impulse buys.

Still, the final bill was upwards of $180 and I completely forgot the diapers. It got me thinking — what is a reasonable grocery bill for a family of our size these days anyway? (Two adults and three kids, all under the age of 7) Do I just have to adjust my expectations? (Like when you perk up at seeing gas for $4.15? Score!) 

Anyone out there with a similar-sized family who wants to share how much they spend each week on groceries?

How have you adjusted to higher food prices? Just suck it up or have you found ways to cut? Is powdered milk just as nutritious? (Joke!) And I’m no coupon maven. I’ve tried, really I’ve tried, but I just can’t seem to get it together enough to save more than a dollar or two each week.  

Anyone who reads this blog even occasionally knows that I’m always looking for ways to feed my children healthy food (that they’ll eat) and inexpensive is always helpful.

So reading Divine Caroline recently, I stumbled upon “The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1,” and I found it interesting that so many of the items on this list also showed up on the list of 11 healthy foods that are easily purchased anywhere at any time of year, which we recently wrote about here.

Keep in mind, the $1 pricetag on these foods is really a per-serving price.  But it’s good to know that you can still get healthy foods for reasonable prices. Will that last much longer with the way food costs keep escalating? We’ll see.

Anyhow, hoepfully this list can help. I’m taking the crew to the grocery store tonight (Saturday nights are such the best time to go to the store with two little ones in tow, trust me. Yes, I lead SUCH an exciting life as a mom. Sigh.), and at least a few of these items are going to be on the shopping list.

If you happened to be on a Brooklyn-bound A train in the city today, you may have noticed a group of breastfeeding mothers and supporters, collectively known as the New York City Breastfeeding Promotion Leadership Committee, riding the rails educating the public on the benefits of mothers milk and on womens’ rights to breastfeed.

The annual “Subway Caravan” was formed in 2004 after a transit cop issued a ticket to a young woman breastfeeding her child. According to this group, the “fear of public reaction to breastfeeding is still cited by women as a reason why they are reluctant to breastfeed.”

As a mom who breastfed her daughter for her first six months of life—whether on a park bench or in a mall—I never knew there were any laws ANYWHERE saying you couldn’t do so. And quite frankly, that’s just plain wrong. How can you equate nourishing your child to indecent exposure?

I understand there should be a level of discreetness when engaging in a breastfeeding session—I always carried around a blanket or large shawl for such excursions—but banning it in some public areas should not be happening in this day and age. Hey, that’s just my ahhmm, humble opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

At a recent visit with our children’s pediatrician for their annual check up, Grandma got an A+. Apparently, in the first month my mom spent with us, my 5-year-old son Krishna had gained 2 lbs. That might sound real easy for those of us with slow metabolic rates, but it’s not so simple when it comes to my fussy eater.

Her trick: Don’t take no for an answer. The doctor might tell you that they’ll eat when they’re hungry, and that as along as they are active, you’ve nothing to worry about.

Now that the kids are home on their summer break, Grandma is on their case 24/7, and it seems to be working! Knock on wood!!!

Mothers, any tricks or tips ?

So my 16-month-old daughter Zyla is really beginning to exercise her walking skills—she’s a late bloomer who just two weeks ago started ambling without putting her hands in the air and darting toward the nearest support, namely me or her father.

The other day we went out for lunch at a low key place and while she was content to sit in her highchair for her meal, it wasn’t long before she wanted to explore the restaurant. I gave in to her curiosity and went round and round the eatery, dodging waitstaff wondering all along if they were muttering in their heads to sit that child down.

What really got me nervous was when she would wander up to diners and stand there waiting for some sort of exchange. I scurried her along and, for the most part, no one seemed to mind. But I’m sure that isn’t the last of her mealtime interruptions.

Any tips on the restaurant-roaming set?

From pretty early on, we took Rafael to restaurants. He was very well-behaved until he became a toddler, and even then he so effectively charmed all waitstaff that they just smiled and cooed over him anyway.

And even at his worst, he was never too bad. Yeah, lots of Cheerios ended up on the floor, but he was’t flinging food at other tables or screaming or generally annoying other folks.

Then I saw this Dining Out Survival Guide For Parents on the Foodio54 blog and realized these tips were excellent, and perhaps things had gone as well as they had because we did most of these things.

Here are the tips Foodio54 suggested, along with my thoughts:

Tip #1: Go Out Often

This is a good idea, because the more you go out, the less unusual it is for the kids.This doesn’t mean you need to be spending a fortune on fancy dinners. We went to the diner probably once a week, usually for a weekend brunch. There were plenty of other well-behaved children there and the bill wasn’t too bad.

When we visited my father in California when Markus was just 18 months old, we found ourselves eating out almost every day, sometimes twice a day. It was no big deal, because the smitchiks were used to it. We only had one “incident” where Rafael ended up sorta spilling/sorta pouring out his milk on the table.

Tip #2: Plan ahead

Always have baby wipes, snacks and drinks with you, plus a toy or two.

First off, if you don’t feel like the table or the baby seat is clean enough (more of an issue for us when Markus was still a baby and tended to try to suck on the table or suck his thumb incessantly), the wipes are essential. Plus, it’s much easier to wipe their hands and face with baby wipes than napkins.

And when the fork or spoon drops (OK, or is thrown) on the floor, you have something to wipe it off with, instead of having to wait for a new one.

As for the snacks and drinks, you don’t want to spoil their appetites, but let’s face it: They want the food NOW. Some Cheerios and an apple juice will keep them occupied and patient. So will a toy. Sometimes one works better than the other. You’re the parent; you can figure out which one to use when.