Life with a Toddler

I’ve been asked to share some toddler tips as of late – things like routines, sleeping habits, favorite toys, activities etc.

So for those of you who have been patient and sent this request along thank you! I told you I’d do it 🙂

First of all, the more I learn and share as a mom, the more I learn that kids/parents and everything in between are different. It’s easy to compare and critique based on what you see and read, but the reality is we’re all just trying to figure it out and doing our best along the way.

Hudson is just over 2 1/2 – on most days, to me anyway, he looks 4. It blows my mind how true the saying is “the days are long but the years are short.” My baby, isn’t so much a baby anymore.

BUT just because I can’t rock him to sleep anymore or easily just hand him a bottle, this age is insanely fun. So let me break a few things down…

SLEEP

Our routine for bedtime is pretty much consistent every night. By 7pm we are in his playroom playing. By 7:30 we’re either bathing him or brushing his teeth + getting his pajamas on. By 8pm we’re reading a book. Most of the time he chooses and most of the time we read it twice or read another book.

On occasion he’ll ask to sing (with either me “twinkle twinkle” or with his dad ” lullaby“) and then in his crib he goes. He still loves his crib and his space which is SO great. We keep his favorite stuffed animals in there, a blanket, a race car or two, a book and a sippy cup.

We notice when he has a few things in his crib, he likes to just lay and play when he wakes up until he’s ready for us to get him – anywhere from 7am to 8am.

SNACKS

He’s been into these Z bars lately, and we have, too. Nick and I are both guilty about sneaking one from time to time. He also loves the Annie’s Bunny Snacks and the Chobani kids yogurt pouches. We also chow on healthy all-natural popsicles every weekend at the Farmer’s Market!

Breakfast consists of TJ’s silver dollar pancakes plus any fruit we have. Lunch is usually a PB&J with some pretzels and maybe a veggie like carrots. Dinners range from what we’re eating that night – but Kid Fresh cauliflower tots and chicken tenders are in heavy rotation. Same thing with frozen peas and broccoli that we just steam real quick for a healthy side. He’s a big cheese eater (grilled cheese, quesadilla, mac’n cheese) so we try to limit it a bit.

TOYS/GAMES

Trains, trucks, duplos. He’s also into these puzzles from Melissa & Doug. Over our rainy Boca Grande vacation he saw us work on puzzles and got into the idea. It’s super cute to see his little brain work and how excited he gets when he gets a piece right.

We have a guitar downstairs and also in his playroom. Musical instruments (although sometimes annoying) are awesome to have.

And pom poms. He loves putting them in trucks and cars. We also work on counting and colors and he thinks it’s super fun.

ACTIVITIES

We’re pushing the pool as much as we can right now. He did the infant survival class last year, but still needs to learn how to actually swim. Whatever fear of the water he had it’s slowly going away and he’s getting more comfortable every day with us, which is a good thing.

We also do a lot of arts and crafts – he’s big into water color. Probably just big in the water, but hey – we’ll take it. He also likes to cook with us – we get him on a chair and have him help us in the kitchen when he shows even a sliver of interest. We make pizza, snap asparagus and bake cookies.

He’s also big into his balance bike. We try (if the weather cooperates) to walk around the neighborhood a couple nights a week. He’s a quick little dude on that thing and it’s pretty cool to see.

Every weekend we bike to the farmer’s market, grab lunch somewhere and on Sunday mornings we stuff our face full of cinnamon rolls and bacon. Oh, and good coffee. Not for Hudson though, he’ll just drink a half gallon of orange juice.

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So that’s kinda the gist. Anything else you’d like to know? Most of his clothes come from Gap, Old Navy, H&M, Zara and Nordstrom Rack.

Here’s where you can shop some of the things mentioned above: