toddler book fav

Ok, I have a new favorite set of books for my toddler and I just have to share it with you. Ever since teaching preschool, I've loved anything by Eric Carle. Kids of all ages seems to love the bright-colored pics and simple phrases. I recently bought her his "My Very First Library" set of books. It was super reasonably priced at Amazon and has 4 awesome books inside about first words, colors, shapes, and numbers. They are so neat because they are cut in half so that the child has to match up the color with an animal of that color or a word with the correct picture, etc. (if that didn't make sense, just clink on the link to read the Amazon description :) Anyways, my toddler and I both love them. I started out making it a game for her. With the word book, I would say the word and then ask, "is this a sun?" She would grin and shake her head "no" and we would move onto the next picture til she found the right one. She thinks its so much fun! I have always done the sign for "no" with her (mainly for discipline purposes :) but have recently gotten out of the habit. And I never did "yes" with her very much. But I decided to bring it back as we read this book and introduce "yes" and she picked it up in just a few pages. She really thinks these books are so much fun and is learning so quickly that I just had to give my thumbs up for the books :)

5 favorite natural remedies

Last week, my toddler woke up sneezing like crazy, with snot going everywhere. And she was a little fussy. So I immediately gave her my top five natural remedies and within a couple hours she was back to her normal self. I'm serious! Now she might not have really had anything really bad going on yesterday, but these steps have worked so many times that I thought I should share. Honestly, since I've started doing these things, the only time she has had more than a sniffle or a cough in the past year is when she got that horrible H,F, and M virus. In May, it will have been a year since she had to see a doctor. So these things are totally worth trying! I give credit to my favorite POH blog and my friend Beth for getting me started on these natural remedies.

1. Oregano Oil -- Be sure to get the concentrated bottle and check the label to make sure there is no olive oil in it or it won't work. A little bottle will last FOREVER. The reason it works so well is because it's a HOT herb and the heat from this oil will kill the bacteria inside the body. There is a special way to take this oil though, so do not just drop it in your mouth. You will feel like you've just poisoned yourself. For children: rub the oil on the bottom of one foot. The bottom of our feet are so porous and you'll be surprised how this works. (I know, it's sounds so strange.) Be sure to cover the feet with socks for you DO NOT want your child putting his/her foot in the mouth with this oil on it. Footed-pjs work well, along with the soft-soled leather shoes(hard for infants to remove). If you're an adult, use a dixie cup, add only an ounce of water, drop only three drops into the water, drink it down fast and follow it with a spoonful of peanut butter. Why peanut butter? Water will repel off of the oil, so guzzling a glass of water will do you no good, for you will feel like you have just eaten the biggest jalapeno of your life. You need something that you #1 don't have to chew and can swallow right away and #2 something the oil will stick to and remove it from your mouth. Diluting is absolutely necessary.

2. Garlic – It has great anti-viral, antibiotic properties. When you feel like you're getting a cold, chop up several cloves of garlic into pill sizes and swallow them three times a day. You can't even taste it since you're not chewing it. For children, cut open a clove and rub the wet part of the clove on the bottom of the other foot . I’ve also read that if you rub a mosquito bite with garlic, it will stop itching.But I’m still waiting for my first bite of the spring to try that out J

Eating raw cloves can help the body fight off almost any kind of infection. Add garlic to a simple vegetable or chicken broth for almost any sickness. For ear infections, put a few drops of garlic juice in the affected ear. Warm a clove of garlic in a spoonful of olive oil, then when it is cooled to body temperature, dripped it into their ear.

3. Grapefruit Seed Extract -- I put about 3 drops of this in some juice. Grapefruit seed extract stimulates the immune system. It is gentle yet preserves the integrity of your intestinal bacteria. GSE also helps alkalize the body which is important because disease cannot live in an alkaline environment within the body.

4. Cod Liver Oil -- We take this everyday, but I up the dose a little when one of us shows signs of getting sick

5. Coconut oil – We use this a lot anyways, but I try extra hard to get it in our diet when we are sick. It has antibacterial properties and is just so good for us in so many ways! My husband will just eat spoonfuls of it like it is candy. For my toddler, I drown her pancakes, oatmeal, muffins, etc, in it.  We also use it instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches.