MEET FLUFFY

Meet our new addition Fluffy the dwarf hamster...

C MONSTER NEW FOOD GUIDE

One of my biggest challenges as a parent is to get C Monster to eat fruits and vegetables. To make it less arbitrary to him when I say "you can not have more bread until you eat vegetables", I decided to make him an interactive food guide.   I used the canadian food guide as my example. They have a section where one can create a personal food guide.  I used this to determine how much food a 4-year-old boy should be eating. 

For the interactive guide I just drew and coloured a chart on a piece of paper and then printed pictures of the food groups off the internet.  I cut each one out and attached a magnet to each. Voila: a food guide simple enough a 4-year-old gets it.

The house rules for the food guide are:

• No dessert until all other categories are filled up.
• Once you are done your bread products, that is it for that category.
• Once you have filled up all 4 food group categories, you get a sticker.

DANCE RECITAL

The C Monster had his first dance recital on Saturday. A 6 minute hip hop dance routine.  He looked so cute. 

DAY OUT WITH FRIENDS

I have to say I feel so fortunate to have made some fantastic friends in my neighbourhood and am reminded of that almost daily.  Last week I made a trip with Sallyanne to Playground Paradise; it's in the Flemingdon Park area of Toronto and is so worth the trip every time.

We left extra early so we could have a picnic lunch and play in there outdoor playground before they opened for the afternoon.  We should have hung out at the park that is just across the street until Playground Paradise opened as the playground was pretty much just a climbing structure and a bit to complex for Sallyanne daughter.  However it's a pretty cool climbing structure that C Monster & H really enjoyed.

Look at me I am Spiderman

Once we got in at Playground Paradise everyone had a ball.  I would post picture but I can't as no cameras are aloud inside.  On the way home we just missed our bus, meaning we got stuck in rush hour traffic.  There was kind gentlemen that gave his seat to C Monster and H. The picture below is of them pretending to sleep squished together on a single TTC bus seat.  G, Sallyanne daughter, was comfortable in her stroller sleeping for the trip home.

C Monster & H on the bus

Thanks Sallyanne for a great day.

BTW - H is the little girl I looked after last summer, Sallyanne is now her care provider.

WHAT TO DO IN TO

I wanted to compile a list of places in Toronto that I want to visit with the C Monster and I was trying to figure out were to write the list what better place the on The Wiseman Conspiracy.  Every time we visit a place I will update the list.

1. Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament
2. Cirque du Soleil 
3. Young People's Theatre
4. Solar Stage
5. Casa Loma
6. Hockey Hall of Fame
7. Royal Ontario Museum - Visited; great children section
8. Textile Museum of Canada
9. Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Arts Centre
10. Toronto Refrence Library
11. Fort York National Historic Site
12. Gardiner Museum
13. National Film Board of Canada
14. Luminato
15. Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
16. Nuit Blanche
17. Art Gallery of Ontario - Visited; great children section but it has limited hours
18. Tall Ship Kajama 
19. Canada's Wonderland - Visited
20. Centreville
21. Fantasy Fair
22. Sky Zone - visited in May 2012 I think I had as much fun if not more then him
23. Wild Water Kingdom
24. Evergreen Brickworks 
25. CN Tower - Visited; I am pretty certain C would be willing to go up the tower everyday if we could afford it
26. Indy Toronto
27. Toronto Leafs Game
28. Toronto Raptors Game
29. Toronto Football Club Game
30. Toronto Marlies Game - done April 1st 2012
31. Toronto Blue Jays Game
32. Toronto Argonauts Game
33. Ontario Science Centre - Visited; we are members :-)
34. Toronto Zoo - Visited; we are members :-)
35. Riverdale Farm - Visited; I think C Monster could go here every week and never get board
36. Reptilia - Visited; we did this about 2 years ago and I keep on meaning to go agin C really enjoyed himself
37. Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory - Visited; C Monster was afraid that the butterflies would land on him 
38. African Lion Safari
39. HtO Park
40. Toronto Island Beaches
41. Allan Gardens Conservatory - Visited March 12 with papa
42. Centennial Park Conservatory
43. Cummer Skateboard park
44. Franklin Children's Garden
45. High Park - Visited; we try to go here once a year
46. Music Garden
47. Toronto Botanical Gardens
48. Trinity Public Labyrinth 
49. Take the Ferry to Toronto Island
50. S Walter Stewart Library - visited; this is C's favourite library
51. East York Farmers Market - visited
52. Evergreen Brickworks Farmers Market - visited
53. Leslieville Farmers Market 
54. East Lynn Farmers Market 
55. Apple picking - we go every year
56. Raspberry picking - done in 2011
57. Strawberry picking - done in 2011
58. Blueberry Picking 
59. Maple Syrup Farm - we go every year 
60. Honey Farm
61. Camping
62. Lionel's Pony Farm & Petting Zoo
63. North York Fire Dept. Museum
64. Take the Go Train
65. Douglas Snow Aquatic Center
66. Corn Maze
67. Bizzy Bee Play Center - Visited 
68. Playground Paradise - Visited; this is probably our favourite indoor playground so far
69. Book bank  - visited 

I am certain I have missed things and will add to the list as times goes by.  What are your favourite places to go with kids in Toronto?

LUNCH BOX

As the C Monster will be starting school in September he needed a new lunch box.  This was no brainer for me; a few of my friends have a Planetbox for their kids and well we knew that is what we wanted.

Here is a picture of C enjoying his lunch packed in his new Planetbox.

I am gonna spend the summer trying to figure out lunch ideas to pack up for him; if any one has great suggestions please do share.

ON THE HUNT FOR AN EASEL

We decided that we wanted to get an easel for Christophe's birthday that is coming up.  We looked online and narrowed it down to 3 then to 1...

Double Sided Art Easel from Scholars Choice

Art Easel from P'Kolino

And our choice....

Art Easel with Paper Roll from KidKraft

I hate to admit we bought it from Walmart but it was almost 20$ cheeper then any other location and delivery was under 1$. 

VALENTINES DAY

Here is a quick look at what the C Monster and I were up to this week to celebrate the day of love...

We made these cake pops for a Valentines day party that was at our house for C and all his friends.  They may look complicated but it was one of the easiest things I have ever made. 

• Buy pound cake cut it up in hearts with a cookie cutter
• Stick popsicle sticks in the bottom
• Freeze overnight
• Use store bought frosting (this is important) melt it in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds on medium heat
• Once it's pretty liquidy dip your frozen cake pops in; let extra frosting drip off
• It's good if you can find a way to stand up the cake pops while they dry not to mess up the frosting on the back
• Once dry, decorate as pleased
• Store in refrigerator until ready to eat (you can pull out about an hour before)

This was Geoff Valentines day present C Monster selected the tool box and then said we need fill it with tools. When I asked what kind off tools he said tool treats.

Valentines day breakfast at the Wiseman's. Heart shaped Wow Butter and Honey sandwich with a side of chocolate dots and oranges.

PLAY TABLE

Now that the C monster has a play room we decided that we should get him a nice play table that he can make puzzles on or play games at.  I wanted something on larger size as the room he has is pretty big and this way he could have friends join him at the table.  Below are a few of my favourite choices...

Rectangular Activity Table from Kapland:

Offi Play Table:

Caspar from Perludi:

However we have decided to retrofit a desk my dad made for me when I was about 16 into a kids table stay tuned for some pictures of the transformation.