Progressive Pioneer

Ice Cream for Breakfast

I haven't had much success getting Sam to drink green smoothies.  But last week we ran out of spinach and so I started making a plain fruit smoothie, something I've tried to tempt him with before, but with little success.  However, this time, as I was halfway through blending up all the frozen fruit, I noticed I had made ice cream!  When I offered this to Sam, it was met with wholehearted enthusiasm!  And now we've been having ice cream for breakfast every morning. The basic recipe is frozen fruit and almond milk; you can feel positively virtuous feeding it to your kids (or having it yourself!).  You could use any kind of milk though, we've done hemp milk, and I think coconut milk would be delicious.  These pictures are of a mango one I made with some coconut mixed in.  It was pretty yummy, but our favorite is still mango-blueberry-strawberry. 
We use a Vitamix, which is amazing; I think you can even make nut butter with it.  A less powerful blender will probably work too, but maybe not give you quite as creamy results at the end.  So, just toss in the fruit and plenty of milk and whiz it up.  Keep adding milk and pressing the mixture down into the blades until it's a nice sorbet-like consistency.  Then eat it up right away as it melts quickly!  Another fun option would be making popsicles.  I've been daydreaming of summer and popsicles on a hot day sounds so perfect.

Giveaway: BabyRoo Slings

If making your own sling isn't in the cards or up your alley, how about a beautiful, handmade sling from Baby 'Roo Slings?!  Made with love by a WAHM, you can feel good about supporting a small cottage industry and carrying your baby in style.

 
She has plenty to choose from; wraps, ring slings, mei tais, and more.  And our winner will get to choose a basic ring sling or one of their new woven wraps!  A sling is such a great gift for a new mom, especially first time moms.  And for you seasoned moms, maybe it's time to upgrade to a pretty new sling?  Baby 'Roo also has great information about why babywearing is so great and  how to wear your baby. 

Leave a comment to be entered to win.  You can gain FIVE additional entries in the following ways, but remember to leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY.  1) add PP to your blog roll (1st timers only) 2) become a fan on facebook (1st timers only) 3) become a friend (1st timers) 4) add a button (1st timers) 5) mention the giveaway on your blog.  Good luck!

MamaViews: Jean of The Artful Parent

I'm so excited to have Jean here today, sharing her ideas and insights about creating art with children.  Her blog is a treasure trove of great ideas for art projects and raising creative kids.  In fact, she may have inspired a potential toddler art group with a friend and I for this summer!

Aside from more creative children, what benefits do you see from living in a creativity-rich environment?

Oh, so many benefits! The foremost being that it’s FUN! Fun and beautiful and enriching.

Art is not just an end in itself, but also a way to explore and learn about the world around you. About color, observation, and cause and effect, for example. The same is true for other creative endeavors as well.

Being creative involves making something new. Whether you draw, paint, sew, cook, build, dance, or sing you are bringing something new into the world that wasn’t there before. And that is just so exciting! It’s a way of sharing yourself with the world and also of exploring what you are about.

Do you find it easy to create alongside your daughter and to feel somewhat fulfilled by the act of creation, or do you find that you need to carve out your own time and space for mama-creating?

This is something I struggle with. I would like to feel fulfilled by creating alongside my daughter, and sometimes I do, but I really value having my own time and space to create. I am a quiet-seeking introvert who thinks and works best when I have plenty of mental and physical space. And space like that is rare when you have young kids, especially if one of them is a rambunctious extrovert! 

I love exploring art alongside Maia, though. I am fulfilled in a different way by facilitating art experiences for her (and sometimes for the art group). I love observing her interactions with art activities and art materials and watching her change and grow and learn over time.

What books can you recommend for parents wanting to develop a more creative environment for their little ones?

I’m a book junky so it’s hard for me to limit myself. But I’d say my favorites are those that promote open-ended art exploration and that really seem to get the magic and creativity of childhood:

Scribble Art: Independent Creative Art Experiences for Children by MaryAnn Kohl (or anything else by her!) for so many fun art activities

Young at Art: Teaching Toddlers Self-Expression, Problem-Solving Skills, and an Appreciation for Art  by Susan Striker for the developmental stages of drawing, painting, etc

The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections  by Amanda Soule for a wonderful outlook on life and ideas to infuse everyday family life with creativity

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Activities To Do in the Garden by Sharon Lovejoy for creativity outdoors, gardening with children, and exploring nature in our backyard

Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative & Naturally Curious Children by Ginger Carlson for tons of ideas on encouraging an active exploration of our world by our children.    

Aside from the straightforward ways of encouraging creativity (ones that involve art supplies and whatnot), how do you find the goal of encouraging "creative expression, imagination, joyfulness, and a love of learning" influences the rest of your parenting?

I try to say yes as much as possible, encourage Maia’s interests and her ability to explore the world, and provide plenty of books, art supplies, games, excursions, time with friends, and other things that keep her excited and interested.

This is a goal, mind you. I don’t always succeed. There are days when I find myself saying no to messes, yes to DVDs, and when I think I’m far from the best parent out there! But I’m trying. We also have wonderful days where everything flows so beautifully – where we bake, laugh, create, play, and generally feel creative and happy. My goal is to have more days like those!

What are some of the most fun and/or successful projects you've done with your daughter (or other kids) that you think we might want to try with our own kiddos?

Oh, the funnest are generally the messiest. Are you ready for this?

Body painting

Splatter painting

Shaving cream painting

Also, some not-so-messy-but-still-very-fun art projects:

Glue batik on fabric

Monoprinting

Plaster of paris collages

Melted crayon and watercolors

And if you want more, here’s a list (with links) of many of the art projects we’ve done.

Thanks so much for sharing all your great ideas, Jean!  Keep in touch!

PS There's a great giveaway coming up later today (as soon as I get time to sit down and post it)!

Book Review: The Rainbow Goblins

Yesterday I brought home an enormous stack of picture books from the library, inspiration for my marathon(!).  But, today I'm going to share an old, falling apart copy of one of my childhood favorites from off our own bookshelf.  My mom got me The Rainbow Goblins when I was quite small.  I was mesmerized from the first reading!  
The goblins are creepy, kind of freaky little guys, which made it all the more fascinating.  They are the bad guys in the book, and the flowers (who come to the rescue in the end) are the good guys.  The goblins truly look and play their part well, putting their bald, pointy-eared heads together, rolling their scary eyes and conspiring in dank, dark caves.The illustrations always swept me away; beautiful, two-page spreads of rainbows, birds in flight and animal filled valleys.  They were rich and detailed and so easy to fall right into. Sam is just now getting to an age where he will sit still for a reading of it and is starting to enjoy the images.  Each page must be turned every so carefully, flipped really, as none are holding on to the binding any longer and just sit as a stack of loose pages between the covers.  The sign of a very well-loved story.

I Did Something Crazy...

Remember how I posted about following your dreams awhile ago?  I've always wanted to write a children's book.  And the mere wanting wasn't getting me any closer to that goal!  So, I signed up for a picture book marathon!  What is a picture book marathon, you ask?  It's basically a writing exercise where you write a picture book each day for a month, actually 26 days in February, because there are 26 miles in a marathon, of course:)  Obviously the emphasis is on quantity and simply loosening up and just writing, not on creating the next award winner.  But I'm really excited to get the creative juices flowing; I'm also a little nervous about adding this generous serving of stuff to do to my already quite full plate!  But, I think it's important to take baby steps towards your dreams, and this month, that's what I'm going to do!
pictures from this rad site.

Love in the Mail

I have always loved getting things in the mail; hand written letters from friends, belated birthday presents (isn't it kind of exciting when they're late?  It prolongs the celebration!), even things I order for myself are fun.  I forget they're coming and then it's like getting a present when they arrive!  So, I was beyond delighted to get this wonderful package from Abi (remember her great interview a couple weeks ago?) in the mail.  Not only were the contents wonderful, the whole package was just so lovely.  Brown paper packages truly are the most fun to open, I think.  And this one was made of thick paper, sewn together at the edges!  How clever is that? 

Inside were the most thoughtful gifts; I always admire people who can think of just the right gift.  That really is a talent.  I'm always wracking my brain trying to come up with something just right.  For my burgeoning career as a serious knitter(!) she made me a beautiful cloth roll to store my needles in!  It's linen on the outside with a cheerful pattern inside and bright turquoise ties.  And accompanying the needle holder was the softest, loveliest yarn in varying shades of bluish green; the shifting colors remind me of the ocean.  It's a nice baby weight and you know I can put that to good use!  The yarn was hand dyed by a good friend of hers. 

The whole thing just made my day; so thoughtful, so full of handmade goodness and warm sentiments. 

Homemade Herbal Cough Syrup

Sam had a bit of a cough last week, he may have picked up RSV from his cousin.  Thankfully, it hasn't been enough to keep him down, but just enough for him to have a bit of congestion in his chest and the occasional cough.  I hated hearing that rumbly cough and the wheezy breathing down in his chest, even though he hardly seemed to notice. 
Knowing that there was likely something in my cupboards that would ease the cough a bit, I turned to my herbal remedy book and decided to just brew up some thyme with honey.  It was the simplest recipe and I had both ingredients on hand already.  I just made an extremely strong tea (just a couple tablespoons worth) and mixed it with honey. 
It probably would have been more efficacious with fresh thyme, but it seemed to calm his coughing for about twenty minutes at a time anyway.  And he was nuts about it; honey it one of his favorite things, right up there with maple syrup.  He probably would have drunk down the whole thing at once if he'd had his way. With some liberal dowsing in essential oils (an immunity blend and some tea tree oil) two nights in a row and the honey cough syrup the cold seems to have faded and he's back to his chirpy self.  I love being able to take care of my family in simple, natural ways.  It's amazing what you can do with a handful of items in your kitchen; garlic, herbs, vinegar...  If taken early and often I find that we pretty much never have to resort to harsher medicine than those ingredients that also double as a salad dressing or herbal tea!

The Beard: Handmade Ride-On Toy

Sam has been riding the vacuum for months now.  Amy picked up these casters with the intention of making him a little toy to ride on. Like most projects we do, we get excited, gather all of the necessary materials... and six months later we finally find the time to make it!  This project was no exception. There has been a small pause at work.  Instead of making benches for the dining room table, which would have been the logical thing to work on, and instead of working on my beloved sauna, which sadly is still nowhere near ready to use, I picked this project and ran with it. The body is a big scrap of douglass fir.  Fir smells really good when you cut into it and it is easy to shape.  The seat and neck are made of cherry.   I put it all together using wooden dowels and glue, except for the casters, which are screwed on.  As far as fabricating a toy piece by piece like this, it went fairly quickly, except for the seat.  I spent as long on the seat as on all of the rest of the parts combined.  It has to be comfortable, you know? Sam seems to like it.  He gets on an off of it frequently, looks at it, gets back on, Flintstone shuffles, stops, gets off and repeats the process.  He even tried to surf it, but that got him in trouble with mom.

Giveaway: Hazelnut Kids

Hazelnut Kids was created in order to give parents a beautiful, easy-to-navigate website where they can find natural toys for their children, and where they would know that all of the toys offered were created by companies that follow the strictest safety standards. I fall in love with nearly everything I see; beautiful natural materials, art supplies and all sorts of things to feed children's imaginations. 

Together with Hazelnut Kids I picked out two of my favorite toys for you guys to choose from!  This week's winner will be able to pick either the Gluckskafer Wooden Nesting House OR this completely delightful Waldorf doll!  So generous and so lovely.

You know what else is rad about Hazelnut Kids?  They donate 1% of their sales to land conservancies, so future generations have places in nature to explore, learn about, and enjoy.  And for every item you purchase they have one tree planted through Trees for the Future!  How cool is that?

Here are a few more of my favorites:

Leave a comment to be entered to win.  You can gain FIVE additional entries in the following ways, but remember to leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY.  1) add PP to your blog roll (1st timers only) 2) become a fan on facebook (1st timers only) 3) become a friend (1st timers) 4) add a button (1st timers) 5) mention the giveaway on your blog.  Good luck!

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Congratulations to Shanna, who said, "I just found you!!! Thank you for inspiring us in our Pioneer Lifestyle!!!"

Book Review: The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

For understandable reasons, pregnancy and birth have been on my mind lately.  Somehow it seems like when you're pregnant, the whole world is pregnant; preggie ladies just come out of the woodwork!  At playgroup yesterday much of the conversation revolved around pregnancy and birth stories, most of them less than delightful.  The thing that strikes me about so many women's stories is the trust they put in one paradigm and how control of their birth quickly slips out their hands leaving them feeling powerless, frustrated and often wishing their birth had been somehow different.  I feel so defensive of these woman, upset that they didn't get the birth that they had hoped for, and sad that their trust was somehow violated.  And I get frustrated with a system that works great for emergencies, but more often than not ends up intervening when mother nature and the birthing woman should simply be allowed to do their thing. 

I think the answer lies in educating ourselves.  When a profit stands to be made from unnecessary interventions (keep in mind that I'm not talking about necessary interventions here!), we will be hard pressed to find advocates within the medical model for natural births.  However, by learning what constitutes a normal birth and safe, normal birthing conditions we can arm ourselves with the knowledge necessary to have the sort of birth we want!

I love this book because it gives you every angle, every argument for the various ways there are to birth.  It puts all the information at your fingertips and puts you in the driver's seat.  You can decide for yourself if a certain risk is high enough to warrant the inherent risks of interventions and treatments that some claim are necessary.  You get to make the choice because you are educated and it is, after all, your birth and your body.  I love feeling empowered and I love seeing other women empowered by knowledge; it's so exciting and liberating!  The Thinking Woman's Guide is just the book to help women calmly make decisions that are best for themselves and their babies.  And this is no hippie tome ignorant of current medical trends; it's got all the latest information on medical procedures, what they're about, why you might need them etc.  It looks objectively at both sides of the coin and gives you the information you needs to make the best choice for you.  I love it!

We're a Contributing House!

Last night we went to a town meeting of sorts.  I love town meetings!  We used to go to them when we lived in our tiny town in Maine and I always felt such a part of something, so included and optimistic.  I love gathering with my neighbors to discuss and make my voice heard, even if the only statement I make is merely by being present.  And often just being a warm body in a seat is plenty of statement, expressing solidarity, camaraderie and engagement. 
So, yesterday we got a flier on our door stating that there would be a Historic Preservation Open House the next night.  Our neighborhood was being considered for listing on the National Register of Historic Places!  Maybe I'm just a geek, but I think that's so exciting.  At the meeting we discovered that while a whole area could be designated, certain buildings would be listed as "contributing buildings," meaning you add to the historic significance rather than detract.  I was holding my breath until we could look at the map and see if we were one!  And we were!  I felt like I'd won a prize, like I should get some sort of present or something.  It was all very exciting. 
The funny thing is, being from New England, houses that are under 100 years old (ours is only 85) just seem like baby houses to me, practically new developments!  So, it's funny to see our little brick bungalow called "historic."  But they gave a great lecture about the development of the area and how the public transportation system, the war, and various periods and styles of development all affected it.  Even styles that don't look like much to me, like those plain, postwar ones or even ours, are still significant because of the time period and zeitgeist they represent.  All in all it was a fun evening, enjoyable to mingle with our neighbors (we saw plenty of friendly faces), learn about the history of our neighborhood and just to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves.  

PS We've recently been on an architecture kick.  If you're local, these tours are perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.  And if not, I bet you have a local historical society too, just waiting to be explored!

PPS These photos in no way represent our district, these were just so much more charming:)  Perhaps in another 85 years our neighborhood will elicit the same feelings as these do.  Photos from here and here.

MamaViews: Me!

The lovely girls over at Bloom interviewed me today and I thought I would share it for this week's MamaView:) 
You can read my thoughts on simplicty here, and definitely take a minute to explore the rest of their site; it's a wonderful spot to visit.

Something Growing on My Counter...

Seeds are amazing!  A little soil, water and light and that's all they need.  No complaining, they just push up through that soil, optimistically green and delightfully tasty.  The roquette from the seeds we saved last summer was the first to arrive in bright green rows.  The spinach and Swiss chard followed with their deep red stalks, just mere wisps at this point. 

I couldn't resist a little nibble of the roquette, my favorite.  And it didn't disappoint.  All that fresh, spicy taste packed into one tiny sprout instantly transported me to my summer garden.  I could practically feel the warm soil under my knees.  Oooh, I can't wait to get my hands in some good soil!

Hand Woven Fabric, Handmade Sling

I love my Moby and Clay swears by the Baby Bjorn, but I've been thinking about one of those simple, pea pod type slings for awhile.  You know the ones that are basically one big loop of fabric?  I found a great tutorial online and they really are as simple to make as they look. I've had this huge square of fabric that my Guatemalan mom wove for me when I spent a summer in Guatemala during college.  It was just like the ones all the women carried their babies in and she presented it to me, saying it was to carry my own babies in some day.  Unfortunately, I never could get the tying technique down, but I thought that turning it into a sling would be the perfect thing. The whole time I was sewing I kept thinking about Katarina's gnarled hands weaving the threads over and under, over and under.  The loom they use is called a back strap loom.  It's anchored to the wall at one end and wrapped around their back at the other such that they lean against it to keep it taut, sitting cross-legged on the dirt floor.  Katarina spoke little Spanish and I spoke only a few words of her indigenous Mayan language, but there was much communication in the simple acts of caring for each other; cooking, sharing our cultures' foods, she washed my clothes and I brought her back little treats from the market, and of course, much was said, if not in so many words, as she handed me this special cloth before I left at the end of the summer. You can read the tutorial for more details if you want to make your own, but the basic process was to fold a rectangle of cloth, trim one end so it's a bit rounded (this makes a cozier pocket for baby), sew the rounded ends together and hem off the raw edges.  Easy as pie! 

Even though this is really more to use with the new baby, I was pleased to see that it works so well for carrying Sam on my hip when I need both hands free.  It's surprisingly comfortable and he seems to like it as well.  Oh, and I couldn't help but make him a pair of matching stripey pants with the leftover material:)  The material is so sturdy, perfect for play pants.

Giveaway: Hypnobabies Home Study Course!

I'm so excited about today's giveaway!  This is the course I'm going to be doing in preparation for the upcoming birth, and one of you will get the entire home study set as well!  It's everything you need and is worth $140!

In their own words, "Our Hypnobabies Home Study Course for Expectant Mothers is for women who want to ENJOY their baby's natural birth by using hypnosis to eliminate pain and fear, and cannot attend a Hypnobabies Class, or simply want to study on their own. Hypnobabies Home Study Course is an *advanced* Hypnosis for Childbirth course, using CDs and our Hypnobabies Workbook to prepare for birthing with little or no discomfort."

In the kit you'll get the 195 page workbook, the partner's guide, the quick reference guide for labor, and 12 CDs with advanced hypnosis for childbirth scripts.  I know so many of you are already expecting or know someone who is or are planning to be soon.  What a wonderful gift this would be to yourself or a friend!

Leave a comment to be entered to win.  You can gain FIVE additional entries in the following ways, but remember to leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY.  1) add PP to your blog roll (1st timers only) 2) become a fan on facebook (1st timers only) 3) become a friend (1st timers) 4) add a button (1st timers) 5) mention the giveaway on your blog.  Good luck!

 

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Congratulations to Janya who said, Thank you for putting this out there. I would love this course for my upcoming unmedicated VBAC in June. I would really enjoy having hypnobabies to meditate on while I walk through the woods on our property, giving myself and my baby a chance at a fantastic birth! Thank you!!