Kiwi Berries

When I discover a new food, I get great joys in bringing it home for my family to discover and taste with me. I want to teach my daughters to keep an open mind with everything, and food is a great way to start. So, when I was shopping at my local Sam's club, and discovered kiwi berries, We had to try them.

What is a kiwi berry? They are grape sized fruits that look like miniature kiwis-minus the fuzz and are native to northeastern Asia.

I cut some open revealing innards of a full sized kiwi. Interesting.

I washed them off and we each took one. They had little stems on either side, but John popped the whole thing in his mouth. I pulled the stem off and but mine in half. Mya watched us, then followed my example. Super sweet bite sized kiwis! 

Mya loves them. She asks for them for a treat, instead of candy.

She gets thrilled when I offer her more.

Next was Zoey's turn. She has never had a kiwi. She's not eaten most things, but we certainly weren't going to exclude her from a new food that she could try! 

Zoey has no teeth yet; she is still only six months old, but it wasn't hard to peel. The skin was the thickness of grape skin, but easier to peel, because the fruit is softer. It ended up in a blob, instead of quarters, though.

She had to investigate the texture first. And, it was in the fridge.

 The tasting! She yum-ed loudly, and squealed for more

 Looks like kiwi berries received Zoey's seal of approval.

Eight thumbs up from us. Everyone went crazy for them. They had a concentrated kiwi flavor, but were sweeter than that of your average kiwi. There was no fuzzy skin to peel, cut off or eat around, so they are neater and easier to eat than kiwis. (Well, neater for those of us not new to the wide, wonderful world of food.) But, at about four dollars for a single pound they are a bit pricey.

Still, I encourage everyone to try kiwi berries. Look for new and interesting foods when you are out. Follow the rule of food we are teaching our girls: "You can't dislike it if you've never tried it."  You never know what you'll find to love.

Crib bumpers, finally deemed unsafe

Although, I may be still a young parent, although a veteran in some senses, I always researched. When I was first pregnant, I spent hours reading everything I could get my hands on about pregnancy, babies, and everything vaguely related to motherhood.


One thing that stood out so vividly, was the risks of crib bumpers. The American Academy of Pediatrics says, 


"Do not use pillows, bumper pads, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, stuffed toys, other soft products, or any objects that could increase the risk of suffocation or strangulation." 


With Mya, I was on such limited income it could barely be considered an income. We didn't recieve a fancy bedding set for the crib, so we never looked into buying one. We had more important things to spend our money on. (Diapers are expensive.)

Mya, 5 days before her first birthday.

Come four years later, we decided to have another baby. This time we were living much more comfortably, and I was excited to indulge a little. So, I shopped for a nice bedding set for Zoey's crib. In the four years between Mya and Zoey, we outlawed drop side cribs, yet, I couldn't find a single crib bedding set that did not include the bumper pads. Why?  We have known these were unsafe for years. 


I was talking to a friend and fellow blogger, earlier and she informed me that we were finally going to rid of crib bumpers! I did remember reading an article that Chicago banned crib bumpers, so I researched. It appears that we actually, are finally, getting rid of these long know death traps.


Sorry, baby bedding industry, but there may soon be a ban on the sale of bumpers, much like the drop side crib.


And, on this note, parents: please be aware of recent bans and recalls, for the safety of your children. Don't makeshift something to protect your baby from hitting their head on the crib. SIDS and suffocation are so much worse than a few tears, and a little bruise.  


Sweet dreams to the little ones.

Buggy surprises.

Starting young, and poor, we always appreciated the little joys that could happen. Although we are living a lot more comfortably, we still want to teach our girls to enjoy simple things. When we found a little green caterpillar,  in my mother's basil garden, Mya was overjoyed. And, I knew we could add a little lesson, and make it special.

We took the little green inchworm home, with a bunch of the basil he was found in, and put home in a little Kritter Keeper. Two days passed and I noticed the basil was beginning to wilt, so I took each piece out very carefully and inspected it, looking for out little green friend. My heart sank, when I took out the last piece, and still had not a sign of life-except for the mountains of caterpillar poop. I had to tell Mya, that her little pet was no more. Then I noticed what looked like a bit of white cotton it the corner of the Kritter Keeper. It had cocooned!

A beautiful green cocoon.

Wonderful! I called Mya to see her friend in his dormant state, when she happily told me, "Mom! Shhh! He's sleeping! He has to sleep a lot to become a butterfly!"

A few more days passed, and our cocoon began to turn a little brown. You could start to see an outline of wings. Unfortunately,  I procrastinated a day too much to get a picture of this stage of his development, because as we were all sitting on the couch, I heard a crash. Oh no! The cats knocked over the Kritter Keeper! "That was the caterpillar, John!" I was nursing Zoey, so it would have taken me a bit longer to run to his aid.

John picked up his home and sighed, "Dumb cats, they knocked it out of the cocoon. It's dead." I was a little confused, so I investigated.
It hatched! The cats must have seen it moving and knocked it down trying to catch it.

He looked like he was a bit cramped. Welcome to the world, Mr. Moth.

He was still wrinkled from just waking up, but he was very much alive, but not so much a butterfly. We called Mya. She was wonderfully excited and wanted to go out to pick him flowers. I told her we should wait until it was a bit darker, because moths prefer night, and he needs to rest after hatching.

He fluffed out, and became much more active within a few hours.

His cocoon, with a hole in the top, form hatching.

 A view of his wings. Quite pretty, in daylight.

His fluffy body.  

As promised, as soon as it was dark, we took him out to live wild and free, where bugs should be. Mya was ecstatic to let him go, and chose the flower he should land on. He had different plans, of course, but it was very thoughtful.

Mya informed me that moths were "nighttime butterflies."

The lid was a little tricky, especially while he was fluttering around, waiting his release. 

"Come out moth!"

 "Why'd he go up there?! He should have landed on that flower!"

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Mya got to see a creature go through three life stages. Not many people get to see that. Honestly, I may have been just as excited when I first noticed the cocoon. Mya said "We have to get two worms from Grandma's garden next time! So, we can let two moths go! Maybe one will be a butterfly, and one will be a moth next time!"

As I was tucking her into bed, I asked if she gave the moth a name. She looked thoughtful for a moment, even put her finger on her chin, and responded, "Poopsauce." 

What?

"I named him Poopsauce, because he pooped so much when he was a caterpillar."  

Good luck in life, Poopsauce. I hope you are happily fluttering around a light somewhere.

Starting young

My name is Melissa. I have a two daughters, ages four and six months. I am 22 years old.

If you do your math, you will come to see that I was around 17 when I had my first daughter, Mya. 17 is a not the age many people think of as being in charge of another life. It is not legal to drink alcohol. It is not legal to smoke. It is not legal to vote, yet, I was given this life that depended on me for everything.

I was lucky, however, in the sense that the father of my daughter, John, was a man. He was 19 when Mya was born. He was overwhelmed with the thought of starting a family while we were so unprepared. And, we were very unprepared. But, he stood by me. He stood by me for the big announcements-to tell our parents, that they were going to be grandparents. He stood by me when I quit school, my job, and moved in with his family, and he stood by me when I went into labor in the middle of the night and had our baby. The decisions we made were very difficult. I rested my life in him. I had no money, no job, and nothing to my name.

Many people may say that these decisions were foolish. Looking back, I can see why, and could easily say the same to another girl in the same position. But, because John is a man, and not a dick, I made the right choices for my family.

Now, I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom. We married in 2008, after being high school sweethearts since 2004. John was able to get his Bachelors in Nursing, and works as a registered nurse to support our family, and we live with no one, in our own apartment. And I am happy to say, through all of our hard work, I love my family, our home, and would not change a thing.