After going to bed early and getting a good night’s rest last night, we have all recovered from our weekend. Isn’t it the best feeling when you wake up rested and refreshed? My goal for this month is to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night because I feel and function so much better. It is also better for your health! Starting tonight, I’m going to make sure I get to bed early. We’ll see how it goes!
Speaking of sleep affecting your health….over the weekend, I had a great conversation with my husband’s cousin about modelling healthy habits for your children. My husband’s cousin is a Librarian, and a mother and her son recently came into her library asking for book recommendations and how to get her child to read more. The mother admitted that she doesn’t read that often, but she wanted to make sure her son developed a joy for reading. As my husband’s cousin helped her with finding books, the mother stopped as she was walking away and said, “Wait, if I read more, and my son sees me reading, he will probably want to read more.” This is powerful and really stuck with me. It is a perfect example how we as parents are crucial and important role models for our children. We can’t expect our children to do something, if we don’t do it ourselves. We need to model the behaviour we want our kids to exhibit. If we want our children to eat healthy foods then we need to eat them. If we want our children to develop a love for exercise and/or being active, then we need to demonstrate for them and incorporate them into our activity, i.e. family bike rides, jogging (having our child ride in a jogging stroller), swimming, hiking, etc. If we want our children to learn to be polite and be respectful to others, we need to respect others. Too often, we get busy or too tired to remember to be consistent in modelling the behaviours or actions that we want our children to learn, but it shouldn’t be an excuse to forget about it. Children are like little sponges and pick up things from us and their environment so easily; we need to remember how our actions effect them, both positively and negatively.
Since Keenan has turned two, he’s even more of a little sponge these days. He mimics what we say and do all the time, so we always have to be careful with what we say. I aim to be the best role model for him as possible, which is why I bring him to the gym, we go for family walks and bike rides, he is our “Sous Chef” in the kitchen, my “Little Shopper Helper” at the grocery store, picking out fresh produce and being respectful to others. In order for Keenan to be the best that he can be, I need to be the best that I can be. How do you influence your children? How do you handle negative influences?
Once we got up and made our way downstairs this morning (Keenan is now waking up at 7:00 a.m. again, ugh!), we had breakfast. We had some of the peach oatmeal bake that was leftover from yesterday, with yogurt and blackberries on top. It was a perfect combo! Keenan loved it, because he inhaled his breakfast in 5 minutes! I also made myself an iced coffee using the coffee concentrate that my husband made (he made another batch last week). It was tasty!
Breakfast this morning!
Today has been a nice and somewhat relaxing day. After breakfast, Keenan and I played at his table with his new toy, thanks to our friends, Elisa and Jon! He loves sticking random things, like his salt and pepper shakers, in the holes!
Thinking about what he wants to stick in the holes next!
A little while later, we headed upstairs, got dressed and had some “piano time.” We hadn’t played the piano together for a while, so it was fun to play and sing together. Keenan did so much better today, playing the keys (instead of banging them!) and singing with me. We played and sang several songs from one of his music class books!
Piano time with “Mr. Turtle!”
After playing the piano, we skyped with my brother and niece and then headed to the park for some outside play time (riding his trike there). It was a fun morning!
Playing on the Teeter Totter!
Playing on the play structure!
By the time we got home from the park, Keenan was pooped! He had a busy morning and played really hard at the park! He loved going on the “roundy slide” (as he calls it)!
Going down the “roundy slide!”
For lunch, Keenan had some leftover pasta (whole wheat noodles with pasta sauce), chicken and carrots. I made myself a salad with half of a peach, chopped chicken, dried cherries, walnuts and feta cheese with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Keenan was so tired from this morning that during lunch, he kept saying “sleepy-sleep!”
My lunch.
Once Keenan wakes up from his nap, we are heading to CrossFit. After our food-filled weekend, I’m looking forward to a good workout today! For dinner tonight, we are having Chinese long beans that got at our local farmer’s market over the weekend sautéed with an onion, sun dried tomatoes and Italian sausages with feta cheese. I know, you are probably thinking…Chinese long beans and Italian? The flavors actually blend really well together (and the Chinese long beans are more tender, so they’re easier for Keenan to eat).
Well, it is time to do some packing for our little getaway before we go to CrossFit. We are heading to the North Coast for a few days before my cousin’s wedding on Saturday. They are getting married in Healdsburg, so we thought it would be nice to make it a little getaway. I’ll be sure to post from over there and share some of the activities we will be doing. Have a great afternoon!
Oh, before I forget, here is the recipe for the basil avocado edamame dip:
Basil Avocado Edamame Dip: (Adapted from Bon Appetit)
Ingredients:
– one 14-ounce bag frozen shelled edamame, unthawed
– 1/2 ripe avocado
– 1yellow onion, peeled and sliced into quarters
– 1 clove of garlic, peeled
– 2 teaspoons olive oil or more, if needed, to create a smoother dip
– 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or more to taste
– 1 large handful fresh basil or more to taste
– pinch of salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Cook edamame in large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, 3-4 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.
2. Place cooked edamame, avocado, onion, garlic, oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid in food processor. Blend in more olive oil, if mixture is too thick.
3. Transfer to a bowl and serve with pita chips.
Notes: I doubled the recipe, since it didn’t seem like enough for 8 people. I’m glad I did, because most of the dip was all gone by the end of the evening. I also added a little of our sodium-free garlic all-purpose seasoning from Costco for added flavor. Since I didn’t have any lemons, I added a little red wine and white wine vinegar, instead. The dip turned out okay, but I think the lemon juice would have added the zip that it needed.
