Aren't we clever?

There are days when I am quite proud to have outsmarted my 2 year old.  I know full well that because I'm writing this, she will be onto me tomorrow and I'll have to find new ways to fool her, but for today I am feeling quite clever. If you need some clever ideas, please, steal these.  I hope they work once or twice for you.

1.  Eat your vegis!

Maybe you don't know that Kate isn't a vegi eater.  She will eat broccoli and some cucumber, but that's about it.  My attempt to make Zucchini muffins? She took one look and told me she didn't want them because they had cucumbers in them. Eh? I couldn't even see it, but she knew. So I am always looking for new ways to trick coax her into eating vegis.  She is always asking for those cute little apple sauces in the squeezy pouches, so when I ran across these, I thought... BINGO!  Tonight she had spinach, mango and pear for dinner. Spinach! Clever!!  Now, please know that she spotted those little leaves on the front of the package and told me this one had apples and leaves in it.  I assured  her that the leaves were just decoration, but I'm certain she knows better. Personally, I don't think it tastes great, but she doesn't seem to mind.  She's also had apple/butternut squash and sweet potato/carrot/apple/cinnamon (which is quite tasty). At any rate, if you have a picky eater, it's worth a shot.  The smaller ones are actually baby food, but the larger ones are for toddlers. Oh, and if you chill them, they don't seem to taste so weird. There are also juices out there that combine both fruits and vegis, but taste fruity. Full serving of vegis in every glass!

2. Lollipop Lollipop, oh Lolly Lolly Lolly Lollipop! (Pop! Ba dum dum dum)

Kate loves lollipops. I find them a huge sticky mess.  I also don't like the little ones because I'm paranoid she'll choke. Solution? A GIANT lollipop (this one happens to be from the weekend we broke her foot) in the bathtub!

3.   A picture is worth a thousand words.

Ok, I can't take credit for this one.  A co-worker of mine, who has 4 kids (!!), told me about it.  Kate is pretty good about leaving toys in the store and not crying and whining to bring them home, but if you find yourself in the Target toy isles at naptime, this might just work.  Take a picture of whatever it is that they can't live without so they can "look at it later - anytime." Surprisingly, that is a lot of fun for a two year old. Voila! No meltdown!

Ok, that's all I've got for now.  I'm off to bed because tomorrow is my first day back at work.  It will be a bittersweet day.  We've had a fun summer.  I've enjoyed hanging out with Kate and going to the theatre and puppet shows, but I've missed work too - at least a little bit, and mostly when Mason was screaming his head off with no consolation. :)  And, because it's not cool to post without a picture of our little porky man, here he is: