5 Ways to Get Your Child to Eat Anything!

Today I'm thrilled to have my dear friend Tricia here to share all about feeding your kiddo! As a pediatric speech pathologist (plus mother of two and a good ol' fashioned overachiever), Trish has a ton of experience educating parents on how to expand their kids' palates to eat anything. Since we are now feeding solid foods to Daxton and I am no expert in this area, I thought it would be fun to have her share a few tips with us mamas today!

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Although I'm a pediatric speech-language pathologist and parent educator, I spend most of my time at home with my two beautiful girls. Much of our day is spent preparing and enjoying food in the kitchen together. I wanted to share my tips for successfully introducing foods to your infant and helping your child form a diverse palette for all things healthy! Mealtime with small children can be enjoyable and non-stressful.

1. Start early.
Research shows that a child's palate for likes and dislikes is largely formed by 9 months, so it's best to start earlier with feeding and introduce a WIDE variety of healthy foods. Just little tastes here and there beginning around 5-6 months will increase your child's life-long willingness to consume WHATEVER YOU PUT IN FRONT OF THEM. Isn't that the goal?

2. Start with vegetables and fruits.
No one needs encouragement to like bread. That seems to be an innate desire. Vegetables and fruits are more nutritionally dense and flavorful, so they will give your child more vitamins and minerals in addition to cultivating their palate. If you begin the feeding process with more flavorful foods, then it's easier to incorporate more varied (and bland) items in later.

3. Make your food at home.
Packaged baby food is overcooked and lower in nutrition and flavor. Citric acid and lemon juice are frequently added to preserve the foods and can cause upset stomachs or increased diaper rash. Many people feel overwhelmed at the idea of making two separate meals for themselves and their baby, and my advice is EVERYONE EATS THE SAME THING! Don't make different food for your child, just blend or mash what you have cooked for yourself. Consider steamed or roasted veggies or even raw fruits or veggies blended into a smoothie. (I recommend using spices but limiting salt as you prepare dishes for you and your child. Salt is necessary for our bodies in healthful amounts, but you don't want your child needing lots of salt to enjoy a meal, so it's best to train their palate with spices but limited salt.)

4. Present a familiar food with a non-familiar food.
Trying something new is often overwhelming for little ones, so I reduce stress around the table by pairing a familiar food item with a novel food. Children often require about 10-15 introductions to a new food before they like it, so don't stop trying if things don't go well the first few times. When a child licks or takes a small bite of something, they are still increasing their familiarity with different foods and flavors.

5. Give choices.
Infants and toddlers are always wanting new ways to express their independence, and making choices affords them the opportunity to be powerful! Make a few types of vegetables and then rotate them through meals during the week by offering options between two. Young children can express their opinion through pointing, so separate the items on different plates and hold them out for your child to select. Our job as parents is to provide healthy options and allow the child to feel powerful by choosing from the wonderful foods available.

As a speech-language pathologist and parent educator, I train families to make meaningful connections with their children during routine interactions. As parents communicate and interact intentionally, their child thrives in all areas of development- language, play, social skills, positive behavior, and feeding. If you are struggling with stressful mealtimes and picky eaters, I'm happy to connect with you. Visit my website for more info!

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Many thanks for joining and sharing in this space, Tricia! You guys feel free to ask questions in the comments and make sure to give her some love on Instagram @thespicknall4!

Help a Mother Out.

New motherhood is a foggy time. It's joyful, overwhelming, exhausting, sweet, memorable... there is nothing like that swift season of having your brand new baby fall asleep on your chest, grab your fingers, search your eyes for the answer to every need. When you're in that moment, it can feel like a very long time, but it really is a fleeting season.

I wanted to share a few ways to help out those new mothers in your life. My friends and family really banded around me as I was healing from my c-section with Daxton back in December. I don't know what I would have done without the help and support I received - it was everything during a time that I was hurting, processing and recovering. I am so so grateful that I was surrounded with an abundance of love and support, and I wanted to share the things that were so nourishing to me during that season. Because while baby gifts are a sweet gesture, when it comes down to whether you should buy a pack of onesies or buy a sleeve of blueberry muffins - a mom of two wants the muffins! Just trust me on this one.

1. Meals!
This was hands-down, my favorite gift from anyone and everyone. It made me feel so loved and cared for when people took the time to cook for me and my family. Having entire meals delivered to my door was actually healing to my heart, since it took care of my family, so it was one less thing to stress about. And postpartum, I was stressed. This is by far the most immediate way to meet the needs of that new mama and her family. And meals don't have to be fancy, gourmet, home-cooked creations (while that is amazing, obviously) - but it can be take out! It can be the wings and mac'n'cheese from the Kroger buffet! It can be Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits. Just one less need to have to worry about when I had a busy toddler and a needy newborn on my hands. I loved knowing that I didn't have to worry about feeding everyone, too! There are a few great websites like Take Them A Meal and Mealtrain that make organizing a meal delivery with friends and family super easy. If you have a friend who is about to pop, offer to organize the meal train for her - it really is such an enormous blessing.

2. Paper products.
This kind of goes along with the meals thing, but I thought it was such a simple and genius addition to the postpartum meal times. Duh! Paper products! Then there are no dishes to do! I don't know why this was such a foreign concept to me, but when someone brought over a meal with a stack of paper plates and napkins, it was like the Heavens parted. I'm sure my weeping wasn't just due to hormones, in this case those were actual tears of wonder and joy too.

3. House Cleaning.
One of my dear friends gifted me a professional house cleaning session as a baby gift. What a brilliant, generous gift! It had been a looooong while since my floors and bathrooms had really gotten any cleaning attention, so her gift came at the perfect time. But even if you can't gift someone a whole house cleaning session, you could show up on her doorstep with some Clorox wipes and Windex - I promise, if you offer to vacuum up her living room and kitchen, she won't be able to say no! And since you don't leave the house much when you're a new mom, it's really nice to have your environment clean and neat.

4. New Pajamas.
This one might not matter to everyone, but my sister-in-law gave me the prettiest purple pajamas for me to lounge around in postpartum, and it was the BEST. I felt so pampered, having my matching pajamas on, even if I hadn't showered and my hair looked like a rat's nest. And still, six months later, I feel so pretty and cared for when I put those jammies on. And it was really nice having someone bring something over for me, not just for the baby. In fact, last week I picked up another pair of matching pajamas at Target, and I've kept them in almost constant rotation since then. It's not the kind of thing I would normally buy for myself, but it makes me feel so cozy when I'm in the house so much.

5. Staying Connected.
I've recognized this second time around that I tend to isolate myself during the postpartum months. Obviously, because most of my time is accounted for in babyland, but also, it can feel overwhelming to get out of the house to do things. So I will say that having people who reached out to me and asked to hang out or come over, or even just texted to check in - all of these things really helped make me feel loved and connected, even during times where I wasn't making an effort to connect with anyone outside of my family. I really appreciated those friends who continued to badger me with love and support and encouragement - those connection points gave me so much strength when I was exhausted and overwhelmed!

My postpartum experience this time around was difficult. I am so grateful that people around me pushed extra hard to love on me while I attempted to put up a brave front - I needed the help, even though I didn't really want to ask for it. So if you know a new mama and you ask her what you can do, and she doesn't answer you - try out a few of these! I promise you, she needs your support - probably more than she would care to admit.

Oh Father, my Father.

My dad is quite a man. He has a frightening sense of humor that leaves you questioning - is he serious? Is he joking?? He has an unquenchable hankering for the finer things in life - good scotch, good coffee, good music, having a really good time. And yet he can roll up his sleeves and get elbows-deep in the muck of fixing just about anything - he's never met an appliance he couldn't tinker with and ultimately diagnose the problem to. He's quite the juxtaposition, my father.

And yes, he can be intimidating. His tough exterior consists of leather motorcycle boots and a resting "Don't mess with me" Yankee facial expression, yet he goofs off with the best of them, making up the silliest voices that leaves my toddler giggling in stitches. Growing up he would watch Doris Day musicals with us girls on Friday nights, he would put our underwear on his head to make us laugh, and he would play us songs on his guitar that made me fall in love with music.

These days he's getting a gorgeous salt-and-pepper look to him, his dark eyes still sparkly when he's got a story (or conspiracy) to tell of. He wells up with tears whenever he sees a horse in a field (something that is endlessly funny to me), because it brings back memories of his days working on his uncle's farm. He's curious, pouring hours into looking up every root word of the Bible, seeking answers to life's most confounding questions. He's a warrior, an out-of-the-box thinker, a troublemaker with a mouthful to say, a passionate teach and musician and a romantic with my mom.

Lacquered with layers of tough love and teddy bear love, he has been the most perfect dad to me and my two sisters. Not perfect in that he never made mistakes - he's always the first one to apologize, a quality I really respect about him - but he's perfect because he's tried his hardest to give us everything we could ever need or want. He didn't have involved parents while growing up, so his parenting skills have been learned along the way of raising us. Guided by only his instincts, and punctuated with lessons learned while on the job. I'm constantly amazed by him - his intense work ethic, his perceptive listening ear, his diligent commitment to discipline - these are all things that he had to learn the hard way while raising us girls. He didn't have parents to call on when he didn't know how to do something. He simply had to figure it out for himself.

As a parent myself these days, I'm humbled as I realize more and more how incredibly generous my dad has been with his life and his love. Even though I'm an adult, I still lean heavily on my parents for their wisdom and insights, especially as I raise my two little boys. I am so comforted by my dad's words of encouragement, his gentle corrections (okay, sometimes they're not so gentle, but they're usually necessary when I'm being a knucklehead), and his silly sense of humor that I am so endeared to. Sometimes I wonder how other people get along in life without laughing at themselves a little, a wonderful quality I so appreciate because I got it from him.

He's my dad, and I am so proud to be his daughter.

Thank you Dad, for being so wise and funny and generous and available to me whenever I need you. In an age when fatherhood is fading, I am keenly aware of your investment in my life and I wouldn't be the woman I am without you. You are the bravest, most wondrous soul, and I love you endlessly.

Sprints and Sprinklers!

I want to remember them just like this.

Young, brave, silly. Free.

I want to remember this stage of our life. Even though it's been a challenge, it's also been a dream come true, watching my boys grow together in love.

I want to remember this summer, every moment of it. This humidity, thick enough to swallow. The slick wet of the sprinkler, the infectious giggle of my baby, the flare of the sun through the backyard trees. Everett's flick of the frisbee, Daxton eying his brother with adoration. Stevie instructing them with everything he knows. I even want to remember the thickness of my body, the roundness of my thighs, ripe with nourishment for my baby boy. I was created to steward my family just like this. I am blessed.

I want to remember it being so hot, so so hot, that we all ran into the yard to cool off in the sprinkler 15 minutes before dinner. Even the mosquitoes needed a reprieve from this heat, and I won't be able to forget them, since our bodies are now riddled with their bites.

I want to remember Everett screaming "super heroes!!!", as he sprints back and forth through the sprinkler.

Every single moment of this life is a blessing. Every single moment, not just the picturesque ones when everyone is smiling in their perfectly pressed clothing. The messy ones, too. The sweaty ones, the stinky ones, the screaming ones. The moments when I'm overwhelmed because everyone is hungry for dinner, the moments when I'm followed into the bathroom by everyone because they all want to tell me things they need, the moments when I'm so tired that I want to slump into a nap at 4pm. These moments, though trying and taxing, are my great blessings. Because they are weaving together the fabric of this family that I am so privileged to shepherd. When I was a little girl, I never really dreamed of having a family. I always dreamed of having my name is lights on Broadway and wearing a red dress while I accepted an Oscar for best actress ;) Gotta love the dreams of a child! But now I know that this, this life I am living right now, is the greatest dream that could have ever come true for me. It's not easy, it's not perfect, but it is stunning. I revel in this blessing, to be a mom and a wife, and if I never accomplish another thing outside of this family life, I will still be a successful, accomplished, astonishingly blessed woman.

The heat is making me all swoony and that is just okay. May there be sprinklers and super heroes and melty popsicles in your future this weekend! Happy summer to us all!

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That Momiform.

This is the day that the lady at Sams Club didn't take my picture for the membership card. She was all, "You don't look like you're ready to have your picture taken, you can get it taken next time." Oops. Little did she know, 60 seconds before I walked in the door, we took these photos for the blog. I wanted to talk momiforms with you guys - you know, the real clothes us real mamas wear when we're momming. I thought walking into a big box store makeup free and double-timing the stroller and buggy depicted mom reality well...? Don't worry, we didn't switch our membership from the reigning king, Costco. Long live Costco, you guys. It doesn't discriminate against my scruffy vibe :)

While I value and appreciate the art of delicious fabric and custom tailoring, the truth is that I barely ever wear those cute clothes that hang in my closet. Most of the time, I am a bit unwashed and throwing on the cleanest clothes on the top of my stack of laundry. Lately, this consists of these nursing tanks, these oversized tees and these loose-fitting chino shorts (currently 25% off!) Sandals or sneakers, depending on the need for the day. I have a super big baby, so I like to wear sneakers to keep myself supported for the long haul of the day :)

Below are a few links that are perfect for everyday wear that give me an alternative to the other mom uniform I'm often sporting - yoga pants and a tank top. Thank God athleisure is a thing, can I get an amen?

Have any favorite basics that you are constantly rotating through in your closet? I would love to know if you have any comfy ideas I should be adding to my routine!