EO Series: What is an essential oil?

EOs come from plants!

If you read anything at all about living "naturally" whether it's cleaning, medicinal, etc., you've probably heard about essential oils (a.k.a. EOs). They are wonderful and amazing, but just because they're "pure" and "natural" doesn't mean they're 100% safe. Not everything in nature is safe, right? Think thorny bushes, cactus, and a multitude of poisonous plants! Even though these cute little bottles with beautiful labels and aromas appear safe, they're very concentrated forms of plants. I could probably have an ongoing series on this topic alone, and perhaps it will turn into that, so DON'T go out and buy some EOs today unless you've already done some extensive research about it. If you want to go do more research now, check out Learning about EOs.

My Picky Eater: Speech Delay and Early Intervention Assessment

Around 18 months old, my husband became concerned with our son's speech development. I thought he was doing okay though. But, a little over a month ago when we decided to take action with his eating habits, we read about the average speech development for a 2 year-old and I had to admit he seemed behind. Thankfully, the Your Kid's Table blog I had been reading about picky eating had a link to a mom/speech therapist blog called Playing with Words 365. I sent my husband there to do some research about how we could do more to help our son's speech development. Here are some things we learned:

My Picky Eater: A Reflection After One Month of Experimenting

My picky eater enjoying chips and salsa for his birthday

My picky eater primarily enjoys three types of foods: crunchy, mushy, and dips. This means that veggies, fruit, and meat weren't usually eaten by him, so he ate snack-type foods and baby food. But he's two, so we decided he needed to pushed into real table foods instead of gently introduced to them. It's been about a month since we started this adventure in transforming our picky eater, and we had about two weeks that went a little downhill because he was sick and my mom was visiting, so things weren't exactly normal. However, we actually have made great progress, but I'm beginning to feel stumped about what to try next.

My Picky Eater: Days 1 and 2 Videos

Not much progress was made today. I had eggs over hard, or fried, this morning, and he noticed some pieces were particularly crunchy, wanted to try it, and ate it. He ate two pieces that were more crunchy and wanted nothing to do with the rest of the eggs on his tray. Lunch and dinner went the same as yesterday: He ate one thing and played with the rest until he was over it. Joseph and I figure that he'll be quite ravenous and finally "get it" within the next couple days, so he'll start eating more of what's on his plate.

I want to chronicle as much of his progress as possible in eating, so I'm going to try to take videos and/or pictures daily. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook to see photo uploads there. Below is a video from today's short-lived sensory play, followed by the video of him yesterday during snack.

My Picky Eater

The end of day 1 lunch--demolished and largely uneaten

I'm a natural mama trying to make healthy food choices for me and my family by eating more raw foods, lots of vegetables, cutting gluten, cutting sugar and limiting dairy for me and the hubby. However, what's a natural mama to do with a picky eater?! This has been my dilemma since day one with this boy. We had a hard time getting going with breastfeeding, transitioning to baby food, and now, he barely eats any table food. He's TWO now, so this had to stop. Many kids his age are eating most of the stuff their parents and siblings are eating, but not my son! Until now...

Around the House Cleaner Series: Wrap Up!

photo credit

For a few weeks now I've been posting cleaning solutions you can use throughout your home. For your convenience, or in case you missed one, they're all listed here for you!!

• DIY Non-Toxic All-Purpose Cleaner
• DIY Non-Toxic Glass Cleaner
• DIY Non-Toxic Wood Cleaner
• Non-Toxic Disinfectant (Bleach not necessary)
• Vacuuming (the vacuum I chose and why)
• Stain Removal for Carpets and Furniture
• Leather Cleaner and Conditioner

Around the House Cleaner Series: Leather Cleaning and Conditioning

Leather furniture and accessories are more expensive, so is it worth it?! My daily-user purse is bright yellow leather, so you can imagine the dirt it shows!! It got to a point where it really needed to be cleaned, but I wasn't sure how to do so without ruining the leather, but I found an easy, non-toxic solution!