Maddie's Adventures | Advice for Parenting, Short Stories About Kids

The great debate: Which age is worse, Two or Three? Is it the terrible twos with the screaming, crying fits, or the thunderous threes with the attitude and sudden outbursts? We’ll let you be the judge! With Maddie her twos were so horrific I’m not sure who cried more, me or her. Let’s get into it… The Terrible Twos At 21 months something snapped inside my daughter that I can’t explain. She went from being my little come-a-long dolly to some kind of beast I could barely control. She found [...]

Summer may be nearing its end, but we still have plenty of time to squeeze in any last activities with our kids. Especially if our children are heading back to school, we will want to go have some fun while we still can! If you have older children too here are some activities that everyone in the family will enjoy. For now we will focus on summer activities and will wait to talk about what to do in the winter when the time comes. Here are my top 5 Summer [...]

What better way is there to end a long work week and head into a hot weekend than with a discussion about ice cream? I think pretty much every kid loves ice cream! Some more than others, but still most do. Maddie is no different. Before she could even speak well, she had honed in on our spelling of the word and started calling it by those three letters. She would ask for i-c-e. We figured that since she knew what we were spelling, we may as well call it [...]

As much as I hate to say it, because I am not a fan of summer heat, there are a lot of great activities to do with your kids in the summer. We have discussed already some activities with toddlers that your little one might enjoy but whether or not your toddler will enjoy fishing depends more on her personal likes and dislikes. Take your toddler fishing! When Maddie was two I couldn’t help but get her a tiny little fishing pole made for kids — I realized that no [...]

Don’t toddlers have an incredible reserve when it comes to their energy supply? I know mine keeps me going from the time she awakes to the time she sleeps. These toddler years though are so important in our child’s development – much too important for us to rely on the TV, computer or video games to keep them entertained… we need to have fun and enjoy many different activities with toddlers to keep them going. In this article, I am going to focus on fun activities with toddlers that engage [...]

One tasty benefit of summer is the large, beautiful zucchinis you can purchase (or grow) from the farm. Some may not realize the potential for one of these monster zucchinis as they are not the most scrumptious  to cook and serve. However, many bakers identify this as the time to break out their zucchini nut bread recipe! Why does it have to be a big, farm size zucchini you may wonder. It doesn’t have to be, but since they are not all that good for eating, they are great for [...]

Maddie has been to many doctor appointments in her lifetime, like a lot of children, whether for a well-child check up or for sickness. She has always done good sitting on my lap but nervous still for the doctor. After her first appointment to get her shots though, this all changed. When it was time to go back for a visit we knew it would not go over smoothly unless we prepared her, so we decided to pretend to be the doctor and acted out a checklist of things the [...]

So I decided with the economy, price of fresh food, and the great taste of the farm’s produce that I would like to try a couple garden plants myself. Right now though we live in the city and do not have a backyard conducive to a “garden.” I told my husband that I would like to build a raised garden bed against the house someday soon… but for now I will improvise. By gardening with pots, this would allow us to have some plants until we are able to build [...]

When Maddie was younger and getting to the age when most children are starting to put together sentences, it was pointed out to me by my family and her pediatrician that she wasn’t “behind” but could be doing better with her vocabulary. I knew this myself but I also knew the main reason: not all children develop exactly the same. Some walk at 8 months and some at 15 months. Is one behind? No, they just do things at their own decided pace. Maddie is one of the children who [...]

I have two children. A 10 year old daughter Alyssa and an 8 year old son, Adam. Adam never ceases to amaze me! The other day while my husband, Chuck, was at work I was taking a shower. I heard a knock on the bathroom door, and my son calling “MOOOOOOOM!”. My first thoughts were ” Oh great! someone is either hurt, or they are fighting, or he needs to use the bathroom.” Surprisingly, it was none of these. He asked “Can I make myself some eggs?” Well, naturally my [...]

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As mentioned on the about us page, this blog is not just going to post stories and ideas, but also things we find that we think other moms might like to see or know about. Today I am going to share a really awesome site called “The Crafty Moms”. They sell a variety of different little girl accessories and necessities that are all adorable and fairly priced. They have everything from tutus for toddlers, to hairbows and beanies, to diaper bags and wipe holders. The best part of this site [...]

One great thing that summer brings is local, organic, farm fresh food that is super delicious and much better than anything you can buy in a market. If it must be 100ºF out at least there are some benefits, right? Well, on one of these 100ºF days we decided that we just had to get some sweet corn and other great produce that our local farm provides …so we made the trip. Maddie was very excited the whole way, asking when we were going to get to the “farm” because [...]

So, what does it take to create a toddler schedule that is beneficial for all? Structure, structure, structure! First, let me begin this story a few happy months ago when my husband and I used to have peaceful evenings and restful nights… My daughter was born full term yet very small at only 5 lbs and 14oz so I have always gotten away with putting her in tiny clothes and keeping her in a crib – until recently. This last winter she finally hit her highly anticipated growth spurt that [...]

You must love how the mind of a two year old works. It is so simple and yet so smart, the complete opposite of an adult’s. We have a recipe that has been in the family for probably fifteen years now, I know – not long compared to some hundred year old family recipes, but it’s long enough. It calls for only four ingredients but it is addicting and divine. We call them peanut butter balls, I call them peanut butter truffles as it sounds more sophisticated. How to make [...]