Friday, April 21, 2023

5 on a Friday: Mom Hacks

 1. Okay— this is one I have not tried, but I have seen people do it, and I am going for it today because I REALLY NEED A PEDICURE: Take your toddler with you to the salon and ply them with screens and maybe some toe polish. Minnie and I have to take a kid to the therapist this morning and then we are hitting the nail place. WISH ME LUCK (but seriously, I do not have any free time to get a pedicure right now, and I haven’t for the last 2 weeks (which is how long I have needed one— things are getting desperate) and I have to spend all day tomorrow at a dance competition, and the place is closed Sunday).

2. If you plan to be gone all morning returning around, say, lunch time (AKA a toddler’s daytime witching hour), make lunch BEFORE YOU LEAVE. I did this for Minnie and me this week, and it was lovely to come home to plates of food in the fridge. She was a happy, chatty little clam, and I did not eat random bits of her lunch while making mine because I was starving. Something else that happens to me when we come in hot and need to each lunch ASAP is that I make hers first, and but the time I am sitting down with mine, she is done, and I have to go play blocks or something and then I spend the first part of nap cleaning the kitchen and eating my lunch, which kills my productivity.


3. Easy dinner on repeat over here (and leftovers pictured on my (way too big— I usually use a salad plate for lunch but I wanted to eat all the leftover salad) lunch plate) is a rotisserie chicken wrap with a bag of salad. SO easy! So few steps: Bag of salad that you can put in the wrap and eat on the side (any Taylor Farms variety is a delight IMO), wrap (I like the Mission Carb Balance ones that are only 70 calories, but my family uses the big fluffy 250-calorie burrito ones). Rotisserie chicken picked from the carcass. Some pre-cut fruit or veggies from my awesome veggie tray. Chips or pretzels. DONE-ZO. Want some variety? BUY A DIFFERENT BAG OF SALAD. (Can you tell that we are in a busy activity season? LOL).

4. Sometimes a variety box of cookies is the only thing you need to keep your toddlers happy at dive practice. Your high schooler who was done with his activity at the same time you were headed to campus and got roped in to the whole 2 hour affair doesn’t mind them, either.




(Also a Tupperware of Legos is a good distraction in a pinch, and it turns out that dive practice is the only time I had all day to watch her closely enough with them (choking hazard, etc).)

5. Don’t forget that 5th babies like to see your office, too.









18 comments:

  1. Those are good hacks! Happy Friday!

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  2. Happy Friday! Precut veg, sad, fruit are truly lifesavers. I sometimes use the heartier salad mixes as stir-fry starters too.

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    1. salad mix as stir fry-- great idea!

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  3. OMG, the Minnie video is precious - love seeing her "fake" phone call. Too cute.

    My mom hack is that whispering can be really effective with a cranky toddler. I think I learned this from Dr. Becky. Will is the crankiest toddler in the morning so I usually whisper when I go to get him out of his crib. It isn't always successful but often is!

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    1. Love this-- am going to try it next time she's out of sorts.

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  4. OMG - a computer AND a phone to play with? Heaven! I love how she's like, "I have to go, bye." Way to cut the small talk short and get back to work, Minnie!

    We are in a busy season here, too (do they ever end?) and I use the same Mission Carb Balance tortillas. I just fill them with pre-made black beans and pre-cut lettuce and call it a taco. Done.

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    1. I think I am just calling it a season so I can pretend like it ends.

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  5. The phone and Minnie - too cute!
    I love tuna filling - on a rice cake (the tomato and basil kind is my FAV) or in mini nori sheets. SO GOOD. I make up two cans of tuna so it lasts me a few lunches. Yum!

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    1. ooooh this sounds delish. I was on a major tuna wrap kick a couple of weeks ago

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  6. Having lunch ready for myself is always crucial and I don't even have a toddler to deal with! Otherwise, I just get hungry and eat whatever easy to prepare junk is around! I think it's really a life hack for all - parent or not.

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    1. Gretchen Rubin always says to treat yourself like a toddler, and this is one way it really pays off

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  7. Anonymous2:33 PM

    I'm so into picnics right now (it's picnic weather in DC). Stroll up to a park, pull out food for adults and baby and let the toddler run around grabbing bites when the mood strikes. Any lunch not eaten becomes a stroller snack for the walk home

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    1. I am so excited for baseball diamond picnic season!

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  8. We used the rotisserie chicken/ bag salad thing ALL THE TIME when the kids lived at home and we were in baseball/glee club/play rehearsal madness. I reminded my daughter she could do this away at school, and just freeze some of the chicken, and she was overjoyed.

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  9. I like these mom hacks! The dinner one is a classic. And I can see how a variety box of cookies and a tupperware of legos would keep a toddler happy for a long time. And Minnie... omg those rosy cheeks. She is PRECIOUS.

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  10. And this would be why, despite working from home most days/week, I persist in my pre-COVID approach to breakfast and lunch: prep and store in individual containers for the 5 weekdays. (Um, still the same containers because, well, they still work?) Because when it's time to eat, I don't want to have to think. I do enough of that, thanks. Just give me the food. :)

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