Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in toronto, CN

Preschoolers Like to "Work" Too: Jobs Around the House for the Little One

by Katie

May 12, 2009

Behold! One of the biggest perks of Gigi turning three is she always wants to help. It's wonderful especially when totally appropriate for her to do. At this age, Gigi is able to do a lot of supervised and unsupervised chores around the house and it makes everyone very happy. I get free maid-service, She feels good for contributing and helping out; it's a total win-win situation. Now I'd love to know what household chores you get your preschooler to help out with around the house - here are some of Gigi's usual jobs:

Dusting. A total triple-word score. She does the book shelves and basically anything close to the ground. She's pretty good and she hums while she works. She dawdles often, but it's worth it.

Sweeping. Arm her with one dustpan and mini brush and she does a pretty good job. Again, I think it's the proximity to the ground.

Sorting laundry. Darks from lights, she knows her colours and she only occasionally tries to flop into the pile and throw the clothes around. It's hard to resist apparently.

Dishes. I can't believe it but she has been doing some the plastic and unbreakable things and recently, I've added in some silverware. She loves this job and I can get so much done in the kitchen when she's busy with her bubbles and sponge. We must take advantage of this as much as possible before she figures it out.

Picking up her toys and other things. This was her first chore when she old enough to grasp toys and probably the one she likes doing least. I sense this will be an ongoing battle for years to come.

In years to come Gigi will earn her allowance by doing her chores but until then, I'm taking advantage of her love of helping out. I'm no fool ;)

A Trip to the Firehouse

by Katie

May 11, 2009

For the past few weeks the theme at my daughter’s nursery school has been “Community Helpers”. All the activities have focused on different kinds of community workers and volunteers who help members of the community on a daily basis. They talk about doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, and fire fighters. In one section of Gigi’s classroom an area has been set up as a miniature fire-station, with lots of trucks, hats, and fire fighter jackets to lend a genuine touch to the emergency re enactments. She loves it.

Firefighters are fascinating to children – scratch that: Firefighters are fascinating. Everything and everybody stops when a fire truck goes by with screaming sirens at top speed. I think that kind of attention is only rivalled by police officers in squad cars and ambulances.

Community Resources: Toronto

by Katie

May 05, 2009

Yesterday I talked about important local numbers and resources for dealing with a sick child. Today I'll focus on local resources for child health and safety. These services can provide answers to questions regarding child health, sleep, nutrition, potty training, or behaviour, and some even provide home visits. When I first had Gigi, a nurse at the hospital offered to do home visit/follow up post-partum and I surprised myself in saying yes. I'm very private but knew enough to take all all the support and information available -- family was days away and only staying for a short visit. It was the right decision. Because of that nurse's home visit, I learned all about the programs in my area. She brought information specific to my neighbourhood and hooked me up with drop-in centres galore. I don't think I would have done well that first winter without that visit. Please add any other Toronto services to the comments, I know there is a lot out there.

Tough Stuff: Sick Kids

by Katie

May 04, 2009

How insane is this: I researched important numbers and clinics to have on hand for when a child is sick and this morning I woke up with a sick child. And not just regular sick with cold, but the kind that made me think it probably required a trip to the doctor office.
 Read more...

Yummiest Web Resources for Cooking Inspiration

by Katie

April 27, 2009

Cooking inspiration is something I pretty much need daily. I wish I was more creative in the kitchen but I seriously need help in order to make a plain meal into something magical. Or at least desirable. Or even edible.

Back before the days of Gigi, I used to have all the time in the world to watch cooking shows (and a whole lot more television plus read books! Without pictures even!) But those came to an abrupt halt when she became aware of the television during those marathon nursing sessions and I thought I’d better curb it now lest she becomes addicted.

Enter my current day life-saving ring: the Internet.

These days I rely heavily on the web to bring me that same cooking magic as the televsion, where a chicken dish can go from plain chicken to lemon garlic chicken or a fast-prep / cook family favorite, salsa chicken

All Recipes has the handy ingredients search function which is great when I know I’ve got something with all this stuff in the fridge and pantry, I just don’t know what.

The kitchn is an offshoot of Apartment Therapy and it has a recipe section that hasn’t let me down yet. The photos make me drool and I want to make this Hot Pink Raspberry Cake right now. And um, YUM I say when I salivate over these goat Cheese Pops with Herbs, Pecans, & Bacon. Gigi would like them because they are cheese lollipops.

Another site that makes me want to whip out my mezzaluna and start chopping up fresh herbs, David Rocco. His show on the Food Network always made me hungry and the images on the site are enticing. I have never wanted frittata more after seeing his ‘Clean out the Fridge” Frittata; he makes it seem so easy.

But, my first stop whenever I’m stumped and just need to look at yummy food to get the kick start, I turn to a site the brings all the beautiful food together: Tastespotting. Tastespotting is a community driven blog or as they refer to it, a community driven visual potluck. It allows the reader to just drool over the photos, or jump to the original post or search by categories or popularity. And yes, it has a recipe section. Because the site always links back to the original recipe or post about the featured food, I find myself falling down a rabbit hole of cooking blogs that are thankfully calorie-free.

What can I say, I like to look at food p*rn, the more fat and sugar, the more I drool.

Everyone loves a giveaway

by Katie

January 07, 2009

January is a great time to start something new or start doing something you've always meant to do, a new way. Everyone else seems to be making resolutions so why not join in on the "fun". When it comes to my friends, declared resolutions usually revolve around health lifestyle choices - heck, even I, Madame Lazybones, committed to flossing each day this year and so far, so good ( day seven and  Read more...

Teaching my child about charity

by Katie

December 15, 2008

Teaching Gigi about charity isn't a new topic for me at Savvy Source. The two charities I like to support are the local food bank (year round) and Toy Mountain (seasonal). Helping those in need are is an important lesson I've tried to share with Gigi now that she has the vocabulary and ravenous reporter-style ability to understand a new concept. Sharing of course is a sometimes-reluctant quality  Read more...

I'm dreaming of a green(er) Christmas*

by Katie

December 10, 2008

* forgive me Irving Berlin While I'd love to apply all the really earth-friendly tips I read for making Christmas greener ( except not exchanging gifts, that one is not acceptable to all parties in this household ), I'd be fibbing if I said I even tried. I do some good things and I try to make responsible choices when shopping, yet I am a master at the justify this game. But I try which is  Read more...

Mom time: bootcamp mama mio style

by Katie

December 08, 2008

While the idea of bootcamp might turn some people off, when I was asked to participate in a little bootcamp for the booty, it sounded like a good idea to me. Let's just say in the "booty" department I suffer from pancake-itis, meaning when it comes to booty, I am not a pear, or an apple, or even a grape - I possess a pancake to the crepe extreme. My booty is a non-booty [cue violins]. Seriously,  Read more...

A season of giving

by Katie

December 01, 2008

December has always kicked off with celebration in my family and the celebration goes all month long. December 1st is my Dad's birthday and I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the season of sharing and caring. Now that I have my own family, I think it's high time we had some type of annual rituals to get ready for Christmas and what better time to start than now. We can kick it off with  Read more...

Cold reality: toronto food banks

by Katie

November 12, 2008

Food banks are a cold reality in Toronto, and even though I don't want to believe it, many of their clients are children. At the North York Harvest Food Bank, 46% of the clients are children and 34% are under 18 at the Daily Bread Food Bank . These children aren't just from families using assistance or currently unemployed, 20% of clients at North York Harvest are employed. Based on the median  Read more...

Top Five: Storytime in Toronto

by Katie

November 11, 2008

In my research for Toronto Savvy Source, this is probably one of the more difficult top five lists to pull together. Deciding which story times are the best in the city is pretty much impossible.  So I decided the easiest thing to do is to list the first five that I can think of off the top of my head.  Cop out? You bet, and without further ado here it goes (drumroll please): Mabel's Fables  Read more...