How to entertain a 3 year old

Here at the House of B we keep our tv watching to a minimum. Little B is only allowed to watch 30 minutes a day after dinner and I tape the programs he is allowed to watch. He is mainly enamoured with Play School (though Lunar Jim, Fifi & the Flower Tots and Curious George make an appearance as well).

Playing on swings

But the question I get asked the most, is how do I entertain a 3 year-old for 12 hours a day without tv?

Well the things we do (in no particular order):

* go for a walk at the local nature reserve

* play in the sandpit

* painting

* make and / or play with play dough

* work in the garden (Little B loves to dig and look at bugs, he also loves to pick and plant vegies)

* bake (muffins, biscuits, icy poles, bread rolls)

* go to the local swimming pool in summer, to the indoor pool in winter

* investigate a variety of playgrounds

* go to story time at the library

* go to the library to borrow books

* play with puppets and put on a puppet show

* listen to stories on our ipod (e-books)

* read books

* play dress ups

* water play / washing “dishes”/ paddling pool

* listen to / make music with drums, tambourines, guitars

* play soccer outside on the grass

Most of these things cost very little to no dollars. Little B goes to preschool twice a week (2.5 hours a time) so this fills some time.

I try to have a day for craft, a day for baking, a day that we go out to the playground, a day for the library. Things like reading books and listening to stories are every day options. Also throw in play dates and really our time is pretty full.

Dress Ups

I also encourage Little B to play by himself each day, even if its only looking at pictures in his books, so that he can get used to entertaining himself. This means that I have a very creative imaginative little boy….his imaginative play is out of this world.

I’m also lucky that I have close friends who follow a similar lifestyle and also choose the tv-free option when raising their kids. We share ideas about different things to do or try depending on the ages of our kidlets.

Lazy Sundays

Artwork by Art Harrison

Harvested

- yet more cherry tomatoes and green beans (these plants are amazing but on the wind down)

Planted

- peas, fennel,

Cooked

- Roast Vegie Pizzas (my first time making pizza dough – two thumbs up

- Banana Bread

Reading

- Latest issue of Organic Gardener magazine

Project

- digging out the summer veggie beds, and digging in 80 litres of manure and compost. To let it all rot down over winter and become good fertile soil for spring.

- fixing the roof of our deck outside Little B’s room – the banging from the wind is waking him up oh so early!

Cheeky Check-up

Pic courtesy of Beyond Breast Cancer

On Good Friday, I had the misfortune to find a lump in my breast. After a very long and worry full Easter weekend, I began the roller coaster that revolves around breast lumps and their infamous potential.

First up the GP, then a mammogram and an ultrasound…. I’ll be the first to say a mammogram is uncomfortable (unless you like your boobs being squished between two plates LOL) but not nearly as fearsome as some people make them out to be.

Now I’m lucky, it turned out to only be a calcified duct. Nothing needs to be done for this and it will re-absorb with time. I was also told that I have fibrocystic breasts – which just means I have a particular dense type of breast tissue that is actually fairly common amongst women. It also means that I need to keep an eye on myself and rush straight to the doc should anything like this happen again. There is a very very small risk that a lump could be breast cancer.

But I heartily recommend monthly breast self-checks no matter how young you are. I’m only 32 but it shows you that anything can happen and we should all take the first responsibility of caring for our body and our health. Cheeky check-up is a cute little website that tells you how to go about it.

After all the stress, Mr B decide to spoil me…. now for some people that’s chocolate or ice cream…but for me it’s a DVD full of Chuck Bass ;-)

The latest rubbish drive addition

Its hard rubbish collection time here in the Dandenong Ranges, and Mr B and I have been gleefully trawling the rubbish drive looking for gems.

We have had sparkling success this year:

A Hills Swing Set for Little B (in fantastic condition)

Wicker baskets to store toys (in my bid to go plastic-free)

And the piece de resistance – a little tractor – Mr B has already begun the process of converting it into a mini electric vehicle (There are benefits to marrying an engineer J.

What can I say (as Mr B reminds me daily) – free is the right price LOL.

Organic & Fair-trade

It used to be that if I couldn’t get organic, then I’d be happy to buy fair-trade instead. But now I find my opinion has changed, in that I’m really not happy unless it’s both. Especially where food is concerned.

Easter is a good example. Last year I was happy with fair-trade eggs from Oxfam but this year I would only settling for organic and fair-trade. Luckily I came across Organic Times easter eggs – these are organic, fair-trade and made with rapadura sugar so not highly processed or refined. They were delicious!!

A combination of factors has influenced my decision. The more I read about the chemicals used in and on our food, the more I become more staunchly organic across all facets of the House of B. Plus the more I read about the chemicals used in growing food overseas and the fumigants used on fabrics / clothing / wood items that are imported into Australia (methyl bromide in particular), the less enamoured I am with some fair-trade items.

Methyl Bromide is a fumigant that is banned in Australia but an exception is made for quarantine use. It is highly toxic, can cause cancers and a myriad of other symptoms, and they are only required to set the products aside for 9 days before people can touch it. It is heavily used in the quarantine industry in Australia and New Zealand.

This doesn’t stop me buying all fair-trade items, it just means I am much more selective about what I do purchase. I also donate directly to organisations in need (such as Ki Kati and Carpets for Communities).

I also support organisations such as Oxfam and Plan International due to their programs that help encourage and support small industry within countries of need. I love the concept of Kiva as well (lending to small entrepreneurs to combat poverty - a bit like micro-loans) and have just started participating there as well.

What can I say, I love to help with community building, and supporting small industry (especially those that help women) but I am equally committed to living as toxic free as possible and giving Little B the best possible chance to be healthy and poison free.

Lazy Sundays

Artwork by Art Harrison 

Happy Easter

Harvested

- cherry tomatoes, beans and spring onions

Planted

- carrots

Cooked

- Sweet Potato & Quinoa Soup

- Hot crusty rolls

- Organic pear icypoles

Knitted

- My trusty arm warmers – I’ll finish them one day, I promise J

Projects

- Making Easter frames and painting blown eggs with Little B & Granny B

- Healesville Craft & Produce Market

- Eating yummy organic fair-trade easter eggs with Mr B

Home-made Gnocchi

This is a staple recipe in our household. Its quick and easy and tastes divine :-) It was only hard the first time I made it, when I had no idea what I was doing and used a garlic press to puree the potatoes LOL. Now I know what I’m doing, its easy peasy.

We either use this with an organic tomato pasta sauce for us with lots of added vegies (which we blanche quickly with the gnocchi) & organic cheese or with a lentil vegie pasta sauce that we make for Little B.

The two important things in a gnocchi recipe are having the right kind of potatoes, -they need to be floury. And using the right amount of flour – too much and they become stodgy, too little and they disintegrate in the water when they are cooking.

I prefer Sebago potatoes. I find desiree are too time consuming to peel by hand. This recipe I adapted from a recipe at www.taste.com.au

Fresh uncooked home-made gnocchi

4 x organic desiree or Sebago potatoes, unpeeled

1 and 1/3 cup organic plain flour

-  Place potatoes in saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over a high heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes (depending on size of potatoes). Drain well and set aside until cool enough to handle.

-  While still hot, peel by hand and discard the skins. Using sieve or potato ricer, puree potatoes into bowl. Cool slightly.

-  Add flour to the potatoes, then use hands to knead briefly until a soft dough forms.

- Cut into 4 equal pieces. Using your hands, gently roll each piece to form a log 2cm wide. Cut lengths of 1.5cm. You can run one side of gnocchi over the tines of a fork (this pattern helps the sauce to stick – but I sometimes skip this step and hasn’t made a difference that I can see).

-  Add to boiling water. Once the gnocchi has floated to the surface, let them cook for approx 10 secs. Drain well.

-  Add sauce and serve.