toddler Archives - Wait Til Your Father Gets Home

{Nap Time Mommy Tip}

May 21, 2013 by meredith · 1 Comment

Hello to all the friends and followers of Wait Til Your Father Gets Home. It’s so great to be here today! I’m Marilyn of 4 You With Love and like Meredith, I’m a Mommy blogger. However, my babies are “big babies”: my daughter just graduated from Ohio University, my older son is finishing up his 2nd year at Ohio University, and my yo{ungest son is finishing up his sophomore year in high school.

When I signed up to be a guest contributor here at Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, I was first thinking about sharing a recipe, craft tutorial, or knitting project but then I had an “A-HA” moment. I thought, “Meredith has a little one with one on the way so how about I share a ‘mommy tip’ with her readers”.

Okay, a little quiz first. What is the phrase that mom’s love and toddlers dislike with a passion? Would you like a hint? Okay, I’ll give you one. It happens in the afternoon usually soon after lunch. It’s….

Yes, the dreaded nap time. Now before I share my tip with you today, I’d like to give you a bit of background on my three kids.

My Youngest

He is 5.5 years younger than my daughter and 3.75 years younger than my older son. We live .75 miles from the elementary school which means my kids were “walkers”. So between my middle child going to preschool and my oldest in elementary school, my youngest never had the pleasure of taking naps. So, he just learned to pace himself, slow and steady, and he is that way to this day in everything he does.

My Middle Child

My older son has always LOVED sleeping and contrary to most babies & toddlers, he was not an early riser. He always slept in until 10:00 am and always LOVED his afternoon nap. And just like my youngest, he is this way to this day. Sleeping is one of his favorite past-times and he is truly not a morning person.

My Oldest

My daughter is my oldest and is one who lives her life to the fullest. She is also the one who sees potential and possibility at every turn: the optimist. As a toddler, she would wake up in the morning and even if it was raining cats and dogs, she would say, “let’s go Mommy, it’s a pretty day!”. This love of life meant that she hated naps because if she slept, she just might miss something. However, she lived her life so large that without a nap, from 4:00 on was miserable for her and everyone around her.

So, today I’d like to share with you how I got my beautiful daughter to take a nap EVERY afternoon without fights, tears, or struggles. I had a secret weapon and here it is.

Yup, this Playskool tape recorder. ”How does this get a child to nap?” you ask? It’s really simple.

I first determined that even if my daughter didn’t sleep, if she rested quietly for 45 minutes to 1 hour she would be recharged enough to last the rest of the day. Most of our kids (music) tapes were15-20 minutes in length so if she listened to a tape 3 times, she would have rested long enough.

So, every day at nap time, I would tuck my daughter in and tell her, “You don’t have to sleep but you have to rest with your eyes closed. Once you have listened to your tape three times, your rest is over and you can come downstairs.”

Well, you’ll never guess what happened every time. I would hear the tape play through one time. Then I would hear it play a second time and then……..complete silence for an hour or so! Then, I would hear the tape play through for a third time. My daughter had no idea that she had drifted off to sleep and I always had a “warning” that she would be up soon when I heard the music play that third time! A win-win for everyone!

Now, I know they don’t sell these tapes anymore but I would think you could burn a CD and create the same scenario for your little one.

Thanks for allowing me to visit today. I’d love for you to stop by 4 You With Love sometime. I have a Spa Day Saturday series where you’ll find some DIY spa recipes, you’ll find some free knitting patterns along with crafting and DIY tutorials and much more. In June I am also kicking off a spice party that a long with other things, includes monthly and seasonal spice giveaways! I hope to see you soon!

Thanks so much to Marilyn for that awesome tip! I might just have to try that with my toddler once naps become an issue for him {hoping they don’t, but you never know!}

About Meredith Hazel

Meredith is a stay at home mom and has been blogging since 2012. She started Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home as a creative outlet in between nap times for her little one. Wait 'Til Your Father gets home is a combination of crafting tutorials, DIY projects, recipes and, sharing some of life's journey along the way.

Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged With: baby, guest post, mommy tips, naptime, toddler

{Toddler Valentine Cards}

February 14, 2013 by meredith · 6 Comments

A few week’s ago, I shared the thank you cards that Jackson made for his Christmas gifts.

They were such a hit with his grandparents, that I wanted him to make something similar for Valentine’s Day as well. So I came up with another punched card/coloring project for him.

To make Toddler Valentine Cards, you’ll need:

blank white cards and envelopes

crayons

a hole punch

washi tape

heart stickers

fine tip Sharpie

I began the project by letting Jackson color inside the cards.

He takes his art work very seriously!

While he colored, I began to apply washi tape to the leftover heart punches from his thank you cards. Yes, I saved them. I knew Valentine’s Day was coming up and figured I could probably use them for something!

I let the tape hang off the edges…

…and then used scissors to trim around the heart shape, so they looked nice and neat.

To assemble the cards, I punched holes at the bottom, used double-sided tape to attach the heart to the front, and wrote out

I love you a “hole punch”!

Inside each card, I also signed Jackson’s name and wrote the year so his grandparents could remember when this masterpiece was created!

I think the beauty of making these cards is that no one card is exactly the same.

I hope you and your loved ones have a

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ll be linking up here!

About Meredith Hazel

Filed Under: Crafting, Family, Holidays, Uncategorized Tagged With: cards, crafting, toddler, Valentine's Day

{Bear Hugs Mix}

February 6, 2013 by meredith · 17 Comments

I mentioned earlier this week that Jackson and I went to a play group together. Well, for the adults I made Chocolate & Oreo Parfaits, but for the kiddos I wanted something a bit more at their level. Again, I headed to my pantry to see what I could put together that would be perfect for little hands. I found the following ingredients and got a brilliant {at least I thought so} idea.

To make Bear Hugs Mix, you’ll need:

1 box of honey flavored Teddy Grahams

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup Mallow Bits {think the size that comes in the hot chocolate packets}

To get started, rip off a few pieces of wax paper and place on a clean counter top. Dump the entire box of Teddy Grahams onto the wax paper and spread into a single layer.

Melt 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips according to package directions. Using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate all over the Teddy Grahams.

Before the chocolate begins to harden, sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Mallow Bits over the chocolate bears.

Note: I found the jar of Mallow Bits at Wal Mart, but have also seen them at my regular grocery store as well. Look in the hot chocolate & coffee aisle.

Let the mix dry on your counter for at least an hour so that the chocolate hardens and the mallows stick to the bears. You can store Bear Hugs Mix in an airtight container for about a week.

To share with the kiddos I put a small scoop into snack sized Ziploc bags {since we were travelling to another house}. You could also use a cute cupcake liner to share the snack.

This little mix would also be so cute for a class Valentine’s Day party!

Enjoy!

Linking up here.