Day Trip Packing Tips—Part II

In our postings, we explored day trip packing tips for a trip to the zoo. Today we’ll venture off to the pool or beach with your tots! Whoo hoo!

1. Water bottle - filled (freeze half full and then fill to the top) 
2. Basic first aid kit
3. Camera 
4. Hand sanitizer 
5. Beach towels 
6. Snacks! 
7. Hat- keep the sun from beating down on your head! 
8. Sunglasses 
9. Sunscreen- this is important! Remember to reapply often. There’s nothing worse than a painful sunburn. 

Day Trip Packing Tips—Part I

In our last few postings, we explored healthy and fun snack ideas for families to make & enjoy together so take them along on your day trips! In our next two postings, we will explore day trip packing tips. Today is all about taking a day trip to the zoo or amusement park.

When you're heading off for a full day of fun at the zoo or park, you must be prepared! You'll be walking a lot in the bright sun. You don't want to forget any essentials and have to cut your day short. And we don't have to tell you what happens if you forget snacks...

Sassy Toddler and Big Sibling Art With Fruits and Veggies

Summer is the perfect time to be creative with your children. I love to get artistic with fruit and veggies to get those healthy juices flowing both in the mouth and the brain! Food art not only improves hand-eye coordination, it's a great opportunity to discuss different shapes and colors. My kids love it, because it's not often I let them "play" with their food! Here's the recipe to a fun food-art session.

Healthy, Fun Snack Ideas

Parent, baby & toddler summers are usually busy, busy, busy! Between summer strolls, a big sibling’s soccer game, water fun and simply enjoying family time in bright & awesome weather. Preparing for those long days of summer means we have our work cut out for us. Make your life a little easier with these fun and healthy snack ideas. They are perfect for busy and sassy families on the go.

Sassy Color Pops

One thing borrowed, one thing blue, one thing FROZEN for me and for you (familiar?). In our continuing series on healthy fun snacks that you can make and enjoy with your little one, we introduce Sassy color pops – a way to:

1. Encourage fruity fun even for little ones just starting to enjoy pureed fruits
2. Learn about colors  
3. Learn about the magic of texture and temperature – the room temperature blueberries mix with the cold yogurt and then become SUPER COLD in the freezer.  
4. Buy some wooden popsicle sticks or use plastic reusable ones  
5. Get an ice cube tray, popsicle mold or a small paper cup 
6. Pick out your fruit combo with your little one, thinking about the colors you’ll end up with. Bananas mix well with just about any fruit (mango, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries) and are simple DELISH frozen  

Sassy Kabobs and Sassy Chachos

Back to healthy & fun snacking with your toddler! We explored cereal necklaces and our sassy version of pizza, now we’re giving two ideas for fun activity based healthy snacks! Healthy food projects you can do with your little one create opportunities for healthy modeling, physical development and bonding. Getting your little one in the kitchen and part of the preparation process is a great way to start healthy eating habits. So, here we go with Dr. Jen’s SASSYKABOBS and SASSYCHACHOS! As always, follow our food safety tips and make sure to accommodate any allergies or special needs your child may have!

Sassy Pizzalicious Pizza

Welcome back to our series on healthy and fun snacking for toddler & family to enjoy. We covered healthy carb necklaces in our last post. Remember, our Sassy Suggestion is for a balanced colorful plate—so go ahead and switch these projects up—and we’d love to hear more about what you do on Facebook or Twitter.

As always, follow our food safety tips and make sure to accommodate any allergies or special needs your child may have!

Today we’ll focus on two super-sonic fun toddler foods that include various food groups:

Twist It Up Cereal Jewelry

In the next five posts, we’re going to explore cute, fun and healthy snacks for the family to make and enjoy together. Remember, our Sassy Suggestion is for a balanced colorful plate, so go ahead and switch these up, and we’d love to hear more about what you do on Facebook or Twitter.

As always, follow our food safety tips and make sure to accommodate any allergies or special needs your child may have!

Today we’ll focus on a super cool snack & some education about whole grains!

Realities of Water Safety

Water is fun! There’s a whole lot of developmental exploration and play that takes place in a bathtub or swimming pool. As we all know, however, water and safety are two words that go back to back.
As we’d expect, babies who are under 12 months of age are most likely to drown in a bathtub, toilet or a bucket. Babies can drown in just a teeny bit of water and can happen in seconds.

Drowning is the second cause of unintentional injury-related death among children between the ages of 1 and 14 (2005-U.S. Centers for Disease Control). In 2005, drowning accounted for 30% of unintentional deaths in children ages 1 to 4 years old. In University of Chicago economist Dr. Steven Levitt’s book “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything”, the professor says that children are 100 times more likely to die in a given year from swimming pool accidents than gun accidents.

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Touch—Part Two!

Last week we focused more on the younger babies and soft tender touches between parents and newborns. This week we’ll focus more on the 6 month and up crew—with some activities that can be expanded to toddlers, too!

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Touch—Part One!

Touch is simply the most wonderful part of bonding we’re blessed to enjoy with our children. In fact, I’m at a loss for the perfect words to stress just how important for both mom, dad and baby the sensation of touch is in fostering security & developing attachment with baby is. Perhaps the word is love? Yep—that’s it. We show our love to babies through touch, and they show it right back to us the same way.

Through touch, babies also become more aware of their surroundings. They were in a warm and cozy tummy with fluid surrounding them for an entire pregnancy. Then they pop out into a room with bright lights and a bunch of doctors and nurses with masks on their faces. Give them a hug and cuddle with them after an experience like that!

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Hearing—Part Two!

Earlier this week we talked about why engaging in hearing silly activities is a good thing for baby. We went over some ways babies automatically engage in fun with mom while still in the womb such as the heart beat and digestive system sounds.

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Hearing—Part One!

Hear me now! Do I have your attention? Playing with a new baby is super duper important, and although you’re certainly not going to get into a full-on conversation about the latest Hollywood gossip, communication is a fundamental part of bonding.

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Vision—Part Two!

Earlier this week, we gave you some cute ideas how to be sassy and silly with baby vision and now we’re really ready to jiggle it out. Whoops! I slipped! This One Sassy Doctor gave away the number one silliest way to have fun with baby vision!

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Vision—Part One!

We’ve written about baby vision on previous One Sassy Doctor posts. Initially, a newborn can see only about 8 to 12 inches from his face and tries to focus when close up to something fun, like mommy’s face. Initially, babies are not able to focus on objects that are far away, so if you’re waving a red flag across the bedroom as you do a silly dance, don’t be offended if only your partner is laughing at you. One note: young babies do respond to bright light and actually prefer (as noted by eye opening) lower light. Babies love faces, bright colors and high-contrast patterns with movement. So, how can we have some Sassy silly vision fun?

Sassy Silly Ways to Have Fun: Taste & Smell!

Ahhhh, the smell of a new baby. Close your eyes (or just sniff if your baby is in front of you!) and enjoy that amazing, yummy, delicious smell. When your children are a little older, don’t be surprised if they spontaneously tell you that they love the way you smell! Sometimes, the root of baby & toddler special objects has its root in mommy’s smell. Without even knowing it, we’re drawn to our children and they are drawn to us in many ways through smell.

A Sassy Silly New Year!

Welcome to the newest year of your baby or toddler’s life! Oooooh, I’m soooo super excited for this special sassy month dedicated to two sassy-rific words: silly & development.

What’s better than being silly with baby? Being silly and having fun with our babies & toddlers is a fabulous way to promote development and bond with baby. Letting loose gives mom & dad a little taste of what it’s like to be a baby or toddler again. In the everyday stressors of life, we often lose the laughing & creativity that silly play has to offer. One Sassy Doctor’s prescription for “bringing silly back” is here!

Healthy Sassy Smiles! Information About Healthy Dental Development

Wow, is this One Sassy Doctor’s husband obsessed with our kids having good teeth. Perhaps that’s because his late father was a dentist. Or perhaps he knows how healthy teeth create healthy smiles and reflect a positive projection into the world. Well, I married him for his glowing smile, so I suppose he’s right (lucky guy…).

Anyhoo … with tooth decay being the primary dental problem among children ages 2 to 5, we’re fortunate that it can be completely prevented! If we encourage healthy dental habits starting from the baby years (sassy baby years, if I may…), this will help foster positive habits and the healthy glowing smiles we want to see when they are all grown up.

Here are some One Sassy Doctor informational tips on healthy dental development—starting from birth!

Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery

It’s ridiculously cute to see a little one imitating mommy, daddy or an older sibling. It’s even cuter when the imitating is just a little bit “off”—for example, my daughter said “in the meantime”, and her little brother later said, “You are going to go into the mean time. Mommy why is time mean?”

Some little ones even imitate themselves!

And, believe me, my little one is certainly imitating my dramatic flair in this shot!

Go-Go-Go in the Car, Sassy Style

We’ve posted all about car seat safety in the past here on the One Sassy Doctor blog. Now we’re going to go into how to make car rides, the longer ones, more enjoyable for you and for your little one.

Here are One Sassy Doctor’s tips for a fun, safe and chilled out car ride: