The Mall with Two boys and One Stroller Adventure

Yesterday, Lucas, Landon and I went to the Mall. My wife works every third weekend, and I have been trying to be better in getting them out the house. That being said, getting an infant and toddler fed, changed, and in the car can be daunting. It literally took me an hour to get them ready in the car. The ride there was good, Lucas for the most part is relaxed, but Landon who I call (Bonga from LionGuard) was screaming (Talking) the whole ride there.

When we got there I couldn’t find a parking spot.. I drove around a few times and only saw a couple spots all the way in the back... That’s when I made the decision. Valet it is... Even though it was $5.00 and I try to save (cheap) as much as I can. I just thought about the time and energy I would be saving, being right in the front compared to parking/walking all the way from the back. I put Landon in the stroller and Luke was walking with me. I’m not going to lie it was tough having both at the sametime, while being by myself. First thing I did was get Luke a snack to keep him busy/occupied. I got him a pretzel from Aunt Anne, can’t go wrong with bread LOL. We went to Lord & Taylor to return a couple items. We stopped in at Build a Bear workshop to see if Luke wanted a Teddy Bear, because that the thing to do with a 2yr old right!? We ended up buying one. I also wanted to take him to the Pet Store in the mall, Lucas loves dogs, and I do to as long as we don’t have one. He enjoyed it but we didn’t stay long maybe 10-15minutes tops. I got paranoid. Is that normal? There was a strong odor and Having my 5month in the stroller Landon just didn’t feel right. Was I being to protective there?

From there I wanted to take them to the kids plays section, I wanted them to see other kids. I wanted to see how Lucas was going to be. Was he going to be engaged, was he going to just hangout solo, or was he going to be tough on the other kids, not sharing and being defensive.

I took Lucas shoes off and he went sprinting to the play area. He first kind of just was looking at the slides and watching the kids go up and down and he decided to go for it. I’m not going to lie I had to keep the tears in.. For me at this point in my life seeing them grow and go through these life experiences means everything to me. Lucas was good for about 25-30min before he had his first episode.. There was a boy that ran by him to go up the slide and Lucas felt threatened when he ran towards him. So Lucas just started yelling and flaring his arms. As soon as I grabbed him Landon started crying ( of course always happens like that)at that point made a decision that I think it was time to wrap up our first solo adventure to the mall. It was tough, not going to lie but we had fun, sometimes people think everything is a snap of a fingers and it really isn’t. We took pictures and I hope one day when they get older they look at them and think they have one cool dad that really tried to be there/play, hangout, care for them as much as he could.


This is a clip of a father and his two kids trip to the Mall.. I related to this
https://youtu.be/FhpLAFyoSw8

Healthy eating habits for my sons. Is there a right way? A bad way?

Having a toddler and an infant and trying to feed them healthy can be tough at times. We started feeding my infant Landon solid foods about 2-3 weeks ago. It has been challenging at times as he has been resistant. We have been feeding him baby cereal, crushed peas, crushed carrots, squash. Lindsay has been also adding in milk with the baby cereal in hopes of having him slowly getting used to eating foods. Are there certain healthy foods we should be giving him? As parents it’s something we have been trying to manage. Ensuring they are getting healthy foods, but also being fit and not just junk. We are hoping that Landon starts to fully embrace the solid foods. He is 5 months; shouldn’t he be eating foods by now? The reality is there is not handbook to being parents. We try to always have their best interests at heart; we like to talk about things, talk to parents, friends, shows, books, and anything that we think can hold value.

Lucas is a whole other animal, LOL. I say that because his eating habits continue to change. Is that normal? Usually he wakes up we give him his own bottle of milk, within the next 30 minutes we usually give him a snack, a piece of toast with peanut butter. Around 10-1030am he gets a scrambled egg or pancakes. Lunch time has evolved to him eating foods, to know just eating cheerios with milk. He normally eats blueberries, and bananas as snacks throughout the day and we sometimes mix in StoneyField organic yogurt for him. He really liked it. Lindsay feels if they have healthy eating habits now, it will pay dividends later. As parents we try and incorporate fruits and vegetables everyday for him. That being said, I will not shy from the fact that sometimes he does eat cookies, chips,when he catches me and my heart just melts for the looks he gives me. The noises/ trying to talk to me voice he makes is something I cherish. I want to share as much experiences I can with my boys.

There is a great forum that we have been on. They talk about healthy eating for toddlers and infants. It is Infantandtoddler.org. From diets, to healthy eating, to being fit, the focus is promoting health, growth and development to these children. Having an active forum to speak about this is something that Lindsay I  have utilized.


Here is a clip that I thought was very informative. She talks about Healthy eating with Infants and Toddlers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UC8pYnbV9U&noredirect=1