Cold Applesauce to Cool and Sweeten Oatmeal

My toddler enjoys a nice bowl of quick oats made in the microwave on weekend mornings, but what to do about the fact that it emerges from the microwave flaming hot? We keep a jar of natural applesauce in the fridge. A generous helping of applesauce stirred into his bowl of oatmeal, along with a bit of cinnamon if you like, not only cools it to the perfect temperature but naturally sweetens it. He loves it!

Fun Craft Project: Toilet-paper Tube People

Even your small toddler has the motor skills to color the pictures of faces, arms and feet in this PDF document. (It doesn't matter if she stays inside the lines or if the construction worker's face is just a purple scribble!) Once this is done, you can cut out the individual parts and help your child tape or glue them to toilet paper tubes to make charming, little people. I advise you to take the "It doesn't have to look realistic and it's okay if the girl on the right has a leg coming out of her head" approach. I wish I could include pictures of the final product when my son made these, but the files are somewhere among the bazillion pics we've taken of him within the last several months.

Coloring is Free

Coloring books are a great, inexpensive way for your young one to release his artistic energy and have fun. What's cheaper than cheap? Why, FREE of course! The internet age has brought us a wealth of free coloring pages that you can print and keep on hand for your child's next session with the ol' crayons. Just Google the term "coloring pages" and see.

Throw in additional keywords to find coloring pages suited to a variety of interests. I want to expose my son to lots of cool science stuff, so I am totally jazzed at what you can find searching for NASA and dinosaurs. My toddler's current favorite TV show is Curious George, and PBS Kids has a site with numerous printable pictures and games.

Free Your Shipping with Amazon Filler

From Clever Mom:

It is almost potty training time here, so of course I headed over to Amazon to find a few board books for potty time reading. I discovered that there is a 4 for the price of 3 sale going on, so I picked my four books and went to checkout. I discovered that I was 8 cents short of free shipping. Eight cents. I did some googling, and discovered that "amazon filler" leads to websites with great ideas for cheap, cheap things to push your order ever so slightly into free shipping land. My favorite was a link to the Small Parts, Inc store.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rs=16403521&sort=price&ref_=sr_pg_1&me=AIUBT5HP6PMAF&qid=1229469626&rh=n%3A16403521&page=1

In addition for Lift the Lid, Use the Potty, Too Big For Diapers, and My Big Boy Potty for my little big boy, I'm getting a copy of my favorite parent's book about potty training On Becoming Potty Wise and a pack of 5 Alloy Steel Hex Socket Set Screws M3 Black, 5mm Length, Cup Point -- all for $25.17.

Sex Education

The Washington Post's On Parenting blog has a post by Brian Reid that brings up a lot of important points regarding parents' responsibility to teach their children about sex. Specifically, what do they need to know and how early do they need to know it? It's important for parents to realize early on that they are primarily responsible for teaching their kids about this aspect of life on Earth.

There's a lot in Brian's post to be discussed. One idea that I picked up from a friend and absolutely love is to find a good, frank, candid, smart book about human sexuality and keep it on a low shelf. It sounds like this would be a great supplement to an open and honest approach to parenting, as anything your tweenage kid is too embarassed to ask you they can look up in a book you approve of instead of picking up bonkers urban myths from their friends.

Chocolate Cake Mug

From the "How Could Something So Chocolatey Good Be Wrong?" department: The Wired How-To Wiki has an article about how to make a tasty chocolate cake in a coffee mug using only your microwave and these simple ingredients:

Hot cocoa mix
Flour
1 Egg
Oil and water
Chocolate chips (optional, but amazing)

My wife and I tried this last night, and the results are gooey and chocolatey and satisfying indeed. If you aren't much of a baker, just make sure you don't overmix it. Beat the egg before you add the dry ingredients and then just stir until everything is wet.

We found that you end up with an aesthetically pleasing, dome-shaped cake if you use one of those Friends style, gigantic, round coffee mugs. I found one in a box in my basement, next to a dishevelled-looking David Schwimmer. He moaned something to me along the lines of, "Does Rachel want to get back together?" and I silently took the mug and closed the lid.

The Magic of Tractors

Our son has taken a liking to tractors, trucks, cars, riding mowers, and various other things with wheels. When we're out for a walk, he'll often point to passing cars and ask "Da?" to which we'll respond with the make and model. On a recent trip to great-grandpa's farm he was in heaven looking at the antique tractors. This led to the discovery of a great way to keep him occupied during those difficult, antsy times when we're all waiting for something or he's in a particularly squirmy mood in his car seat. Check the rack of free publications near the doors of your local grocery store for auto/truck/tractor trader magazines. The hundreds (thousands, perhaps?) pictures of cool vehicles in these magazines will enchant any kid who happens to be in an "everything with wheels is awesome" phase.