As a mom (and teacher), I strive everyday to engage, nurture, and expand the mind of my little one.
Here you will find the books, music, and activities most useful to me in my endeavors.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Question(s) of the Day

As moms (and dads), we are suppose to have ALL the answers, right?! The big ones like the hows and whys. And the more mundane wheres - like my shoes? I tell ya, Alex Trebek's got nothing on the moms of the world!

It's a good thing we have each other to rely on. To share what works and what doesn't. To suggest a new approach. To tell about the latest and greatest and the oldies-but-goodies. To speak from experience. To learn from mistakes. To impart wisdom. To provide ah-ha moments :)



Allow me to pose a few toddler-related QUESTIONS for you to ponder. If you have some insight, please leave a comment ... start a dialogue ... let's build up our arsenal of ANSWERS.


1. How do you clean up your toddler after a meal?

I've tried using baby wipes but that just seemed wasteful. Mostly, I've been using infant wash clothes - a new one each day - that I wet with warm water and a little soap, wipe face and then hands, rinse it and hang it to dry by the sink. But I wonder if that's really "clean."


2. How many pairs of shoes does your toddler have at any one time (seasonally)?

This summer NHV had three pair: white sandals to wear with dresses, bright pink Crocs meant as pool shoes but she wore them all the time, and sneakers. I am gearing up for fall and wondering how many pairs of shoes she'll need. Perhaps this is more of a girl thing than a boy thing? I am seeing so many cute options ... sneakers, Mary Janes, boots, ... but I want to be rational because they outgrow those darn things so quickly!


  • Nothing too deep ... just looking for insight and input ... let me know your thoughts :)
  • If you have a question you'd like featured on a future Question of the Day post, please email me.
  • Also, I will have a great Accidents Happen post for you on Wednesday - just need another day to finalize it :)

6 comments:

Oliver'sMom said...

Oh, go for the shoes! Their feet (at least Ollie's) have kinda slowed down from that "I can SEE them growing!" pace that they had even just a year ago. We've actually been in the same size for 4 months now. AND in the fall, they HAVE to wear shoes, so I think 4-5 pairs is reasonable! Ollie right now has 5: water shoes, flip flops (fweep fwops) becuase I couldn't resist and they were only $2, two pairs of sneakers blue and brown, and a pair of sandals he outgrew but I can't bring myself to throw out.

On the clean up, we go the washcloth route with a clean one each morning. Germ wise, they're her germs, and nothing serious is gonna grow in the 12 hours you use it (says the girl with "almost" a biology degree...). Especially considering you are putting soap on the cloth, you're pretty safe for breakfast-dinner use. We chuck em in the whites load with bleach just to be on the safe side.

Hey-if Chris wants to hang with NPV for an afternoon, I'm going to be teaching some mommy friends of mine (kids all born the same summer as ours or younger) a mini-album project Sunday Oct 4th. If you think you'd be up for it, I'd love to invite you! Probably a mid afternoon to early evening thing.

Unknown said...

well i totally agree --- shoes seems to be such a hard thing to buy -- but I am kinda happy that Simran feet have seemed to stop growing soooo fast. We have been good at buying her three pairs every season. So go for it -- I am pretty sure NHV will slow down growth wise too now that she is two.

And how do i clean up Simran after a meal -- well we used to do the wipes but i felt it was not clean enough. So now we put a stool at the sink for Simran and she stands up by the sink. We wash her off and make a big deal out of using soap and cleaning up. She is getting there. Loves drying herself afterwards. :)It has worked so far so we love it -- she even likes to do the same at the sink while brushing her teeth.

Chi-town momma said...

Shoes - we have 2 pairs. B's feet are still so fat that I have the hardest time finding shoes that fit. We used to only have one, but then we played a two hour version of "Where did Benjamin hide his shoe?" and decided a backup pair was a must!
Clean up - we do the wash cloth and it never crossed my mind that this wouldn't be clean. Some times I use the same cloth for TWO days...the horror!!!

Deb said...

Cleanup: Most of the time we use paper towels soaked in warm water, but go through streaks when I'm good about using a washcloth instead. If they're really messy, I fill a plastic bowl with warm water and baby shampoo to bring to the table and dip the cloth in as much as necessary. We call it a "mini tubby" and the kids are thrilled by it for some reason. I also rinse the same cloth in hot water and use it for a day or two. I'm sure it's not 100% sanitary, but passes the "good enough" test with flying colors.

Shoes: I usually buy both kids sneakers every season and they get very well worn by the time they're outgrown. We're lucky enough to get lots of hand me downs, so I've never had to buy any other shoes. But other than sandals in the summer and dress shoes on holidays, they wear the sneaks 99% of the time.

Jessica {Team Rasler} said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jessica {Team Rasler} said...

Blogger Jessica said...

Cleanup: I use a kitchen hand towel. It has enough corners to handle the day's worth of cleanup wipes! For serious messes I might grab a paper towel before doing the towel wipe.

Shoes: I've had lots that were bought for SP for his first year, but now that I'm financing them myself, I'm aiming for two pairs - one blue pair and one brown. That seems to handle every outfit. Right now I've got three b/c of including a pair of sandals - a nonissue when the nice weather disappears. :-) I go to Small Threads to get shoes and if I see cute ones within a full size (he's in 5 now, so anything 5.5 or 6), I buy them!