Rookie Moms

Spill it. What’s in that thing? Anything slimy? Anything that would make your former (cooler) self completely embarrassed?

I tend to spend a lot of time with my son that my husband doesn’t witness… he has a fulltime job, you see, and probably imagines that what he doesn’t see simply doesn’t happen.

This means I have a few tricks up my sleeve (often in the form of portable snack food) that he doesn’t know about; it also means I’m hoarding some pretty weird stuff in my stylish tote purse that I carry every day (courtesy of Whitney that she probably now wishes she could rip from my hands and retire, but she can’t cuz she made it).

Yesterday (while not with baby), I found:

1. a mini board book
2. Holden’s socks and Robeez
3. a pacifier on a leash
4. some bubbles with a cool wand
5. a miniature slinky
6. some Veggie Booty in a ziplock

Now you have the option to streamline your purse (and thus your life) or just laugh at yourself and reload. Or make some piles, compost what was left inside, and move on

There’s also a flickr cluster for the voyeuristic purse-dumpers among you.

I snagged this inspiration from Cathy at Not Eating Out in New York and my husband Alec who responded to my demand of “dinner must be on the table by 6:00″ with impromptu turkey quesadillas and root vegetables. It’s time to mix it up and make do with what’s on hand and call it dinner.

She offers tips for eating in when you’d rather just eat out (or grab carry-out): 5 tips for not eating out.

I have great intentions of easing up on the eating out. I know that if I can pack my own lunch each day at work, I’ll have more money left to spend on my relentless hot chocolate habit (that’s win-win, right?). I sometimes remember to schedule my freezer full of leftovers, but I’m downright terrible at using my pantry of odds and ends like the “savings account” it is.

Do you and your baby live walking distance to grocery stores?

• If so, you can make a walk to the market your daily outing. Go at 3:00 each day.
• If not, load your baby into the car every couple days and stock up.

See tips on grocery shopping with cart and meal planning.

Need more inspiration? Check out Cathy’s reason of the month. This site also has some fun dinner party at home ideas, which I love.

Let us know the best or worst meal you’ve concocted once you’ve declared it dinner time and belted the baby into his highchair before deciding what to cook! Or am I the only one who turns to scrambled eggs at least one night a week?

If you’ve got a toddler, you know you’ve got to get out of the house. Like I said in my review of Naptime is the New Happy Hour, author Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is totally on board with the spirit of this site– which is that you’ve got to do activities, but they don’t all have to be kid-centric destinations.

My friend Nikki in LA takes her not-quite-two-year-old son to a lighting store on a regular basis. He has favorite lights that he likes to go check on. A decorating prodigy? Maybe, but I think his parents are the geniuses for realizing that a lighting showroom serves as a toddler fun house.

Most of the ideas below are already somewhere on RookieMoms.com, but I understand it is too much work for you to read the whole site. To make your life easier, I am sharing with you Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s list of good places to take your child within a few miles from your house. (Her book is hilarious if you like a healthy dose of sarcasm with your Cheerios, by the way.)

1- The Bookstore – Think of a bookstore as a giant maze of secret passages.

2- The Grocery Store – If you want to get your errands done while entertaining your child, let your kid ride in the basket of the cart.

3- The 99 Cents Store – Even if your child runs around the aisles breaking crap for a half hour, you’ll still end up spending less than what you would on a Happy Meal.

4- Crafts Stores – Boy and girl children alike will browse colorful beads, construction paper and ready-to-paint figurines with more enthusiasm than a starlet browsing Oscar de la Renta’s collection for a dress to wear to the Emmys.

5- The Park – Children are like puppies. They need to run and jump and trek sand and poop into your house.

6- Anywhere with Trains – Kid’s love ‘em. I don’t get it, but I don’t need to.

Related links
> Read more from Stefanie
> Other Rookie Moms favorite outings for toddlers:

• Pet store
• Graffiti photo shoots
• Riding the bus (like Becky in Boston)

The first year, four-month old Julian slept through the whole thing, but when he got his first taste of Easter, Julian never looked back. Since he is not actually Christian, his experience of Easter was limited to the hunting of plastic and hard-boiled eggs. And hunt he did.

It was so much fun, that I realized we should be doing this in the backyard whenever boredom strikes. The more the merrier, so this might be something to suggest when your relatives are visiting. A little fresh air is good for everyone.

So the activity of the day is to conduct an age-appropriate treasure hunt for pre-verbal toddlers.

Materials needed:
- three or four of the same object, such as golf balls, tennis balls, or plastic eggs (we use lemons).
- small gift bag
How to do it:
- Place objects in a grassy area in plain view.
- Hold a small gift bag on behalf of your little scavenger.
- Announce the hunt: “Let’s go find some golf balls!”
- Model the desired behavior: “I found a ball - now I’ll put it in the bag!”
- Help child “find” another object and place it in the bag.
- When child is not watching, take “found” object and toss it from the bag back onto the grass for more finding fun.
- Practice this exercise periodically so that when Easter rolls around next year, your toddler will be kicking butt and taking names.