Tis The Season...For A Cold!

I don't know how it is at your house, but in our house, when we get colds, we like to share them with everyone! Jellybean gets it first, then Daddy gets it, and then Mama gets it in the end.  I try so hard to avoid it by using good hand washing and alcohol soap, but somehow it always manages to get me.  I am just getting over a terrible cold, one that completely knocked me on my backside and stayed awhile.  It was one that made it physically hard to breathe, and made it impossible to sleep.  I woke up in coughing fits more times than I can count, so I'm glad to be on the tail end of it!

One of the only things that I really wanted to eat was Chicken Noodle Soup, but I wanted to find something that was really low in sodium and would be really healthy.  I wanted big pieces of chicken and vegetables, but I wanted them soft and mushy.  There wasn't anything canned that would fit the bill, so I made my own!  I wanted to share my recipe, as I know that there are a bunch of different illnesses going around.  And for those of you who have more than one kid or a child in daycare or school, you'll be needing this before too long!!

Supplies Needed

Chicken Broth

4 stalks of celery

4 large carrots

4 cloves of garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken 

1 medium white onion

Garlic salt 

Garlic powder

1.  Prepare your chicken broth.  I happened to have a chicken carcass from the night before, so I boiled my chicken bones for about 3-4 hours on low.  I also used some chicken broth from Epicure (amazing, low in sodium and no MSG!).  You could use canned or boxed broth, whatever floats your boat!  I think I did about 16 cups of broth and 8 cups of water.

2.  Remove your chicken bones and discard, if you chose to make your own broth.  Crush your garlic with a garlic press or chop it into tiny pieces.  Garlic is a natural illness fighter, so use it profusely!!!  Chop and add your chicken.  Chop your onion, celery and carrot into bite-sized pieces and add those as well.  **Note!  When you add your veggies in, remember that your broth is hot!!  Do not drop them from a great height or you will splash and potentially get burnt!!**

3.  Add your spices.  Don't be stingy!  Remember that you're working with a large volume of liquid, so you will definitely want to taste as you go.  I thought I had added too much salt, but it was actually not quite enough.  The garlic salt is great because it adds a ton of flavor.  I also add about 1-2 tablespoons of butter as well.  It sounds really weird, but it actually adds a ton of great flavor.  I don't know if it's the salt from the butter or the fat content, but it just tastes so yummy!  You'll be amazed at the difference in the taste!

4.  Let this boil for 3-4 hours on low.  You could do this whole thing in a crock pot (without boiling the bones, of course), and leave it on low for the day while you're out, and it would  taste awesome, too!  I served mine with some baking powder biscuits; it was the perfect sick day food!!!

Infant and Baby Sensory Tubs

Recently, I've started looking after a VERY sweet little guy (BabyJ) while his mama works.  I had forgotten what it was like to have a baby around!  I was doing a sensory tub with Jellybean on Friday, and had a lot of fun making one for BabyJ, too!

Sensory tubs can be made out of absolutely anything you happen to have on hand.  You could use buttons, pasta, fabric scraps, sequins, beads, lentils, beans, chalk, cotton balls; you name it!  The point of a sensory tub is to allow your child to run the items through their hands, feel the different surfaces, fire synapses in their brains and so on. (You can see our earlier post on sensory tubs for all of the benefits!).  We also use it as a tool to introduce new words.  Like if we use colored pasta, we use words like "Rainbow" or "Hard" or "Bumpy".  If we use fabric scraps, we use words like "Scratchy" or "Rough" or "Smooth".

When I was making one for BabyJ, who just turned 1, I tried to think of things I could put in a sensory tub that he wouldn't eat or try to stuff in his mouth.  So I went scavenging in Jellybean's room and found some big, chunky toys for him to use and he loved it!

We used a Rain Stick (we totally scored this one for $1 at Value Village!), a shaker, a teething ring, a big teacup and saucer, a plastic bunny, a MegaBlok, a stool from a Little People set and a heart that came with one of Jellybean's games.  BabyJ loved the rain stick the most, as it is full of little plastic beads that sound like rain when you flip it over.  The beads were all different colors, and he was mesmerized as they fell!  He also liked the fact that it is a very hard plastic that he could bang around on his high-chair tray :)

I was super intimidated by sensory tubs when we first started doing them with Jellybean, but she loves stacking and sorting things and pouring whatever is in there back and forth between cups and bowls that we do it at least once a week now.  It's also awesome for fine and gross motor skills, so it's really a win-win activity!

Colored Baths

One of the problems we encounter as parents with little ones is the dreaded "B" word.  That's right, I'm talking about the Bath!  Jellybean used to LOVE being in the tub, but now that her hair is super long and curly, she hates having it washed.  So we had to come up with some creative ways to get our little girl washed!  While blog surfing, I came across colored baths and the first time we used it, it was a hit!

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Food Coloring of Your Choice

Bathtub With Warm Water

One Child (Or As Many As You Have!)

1.  Get your tub set up as you usually would for your child.  

2.  Add about 15 drops of food coloring.

3.  Enjoy!

One of the great things about this idea is that it doesn't stain your child!  Jellybean LOVES it when we put red in because it turns the water a very pretty pink color, so she loves to have her pink bath.  It has been a great bargaining tool for getting her in the tub!  Everything right now is about Princesses and dresses and everything girly, so having a pink bath is very appealing for her!  Kids love it because it's out of the norm, and it entices them to stay in longer!  Usually, Jellybean is so busy playing in her pink water that she forgets that I'm washing her hair!  It's awesome!!