How to help kids to sleep with story massage

Photo: Hello Pinecone Photography

Happy Monday!

This daylight savings is often rough for us! Getting the kids to sleep earlier isn't easy. My four year old went to school late today as he just slept and slept. Story massage can help with sleep. Research shows that kids who were massaged before bedtime slept better - they fell asleep faster and their sleep patterns improved compared to the control group who was read a bedtime story but didn't receive massage. Read more why and how to try it tonight with your kids below!

Why story massage helps sleep?

1. Nurturing touch reduces stress hormones in the body (for both the one receiving touch and the one giving it!)

2. Story massage, nurturing touch, nurturing story and your mindful presence will create a safe space for the child to fall asleep. Feeling your hand on their back helps the child feel so safe that they can close their eyes and drift to sleep. It also helps the adult to stop after a busy day.

3. The safe space can inspire the child to share anything worrying them and help them fall asleep faster after getting the load off their backs.

Ideas for bedtime story massage:

• A story massage: This Day. Make up a story massage of the events of the day. 
• Use any story or nursery rhyme your child is already familiar with, or one you remember from your own childhood 
• Have children come up with their own stories and draw those on their back. 
• Print this bedtime story massage out and use it tonight: 

Night in the forestA tactile story for children by Sirpa Kaajakari

Follow the instructions below to draw the story on your child’s back to help them sleep, feel safe and to connect with them. Always ask permission before starting. Use gentle strokes avoiding pressure on the spine and kidneys in the low back.
A big old spruce tree stood in the forest. Its roots were planted deep in the ground, its trunk was thick and sturdy and its branches were wide and green. The sap from the tree smelled so fresh. (Using the palms of your hands start from the low back and draw a tree with lots of branches on the back.)

The tree was a home for birds and squirrels. They felt safe in the old tree and ate the seeds from the cones and the bugs that crawled on the trunk. (Draw small circles with the tips of your fingers on the back.)

Foxes hid under the tree when it was raining. (Rest your hands on the low back.)

Hikers who needed to rest their tired legs sat under the tree and leaned against the strong trunk of the tree and enjoyed the peace of the forest. (Stroke with your hands on both sides of the spine starting from the low back.)

At night stars were bright and the moon lighted the forest. (Sprinkle stars all over the back with your finger tips.)

An owl sat on the branch of the old spruce tree, alert and awake when everyone else was sleeping. Keeping an eye on everything so the others could sleep peacefully. (Gently squeeze the shoulders.)

The wind gently brushed the tree branches and whispered: You are safe. (Draw whirly wind all over the back.)

One star fell from the sky but the tree caught it and the star got stuck on the top of the tree. From there it shone brightly, bringing peace and happiness to everyone in the forest. (Stroke the head and run your hands down to the upper back and rest them there.)

Information about story massage classes in Los Angeles:

www.kaikulifestyle.com

Packing a healthy real food school lunch is super simple.

*** UPDATE: I don't know why the Blogger keeps sending this post to the subscribers of this blog! I will look into it! :) Sorry about extra emails. ***

Grilled chicken, olives, pomegranate and rutabaga sticks.

No-one brings lunch to school in Finland. The lunch is provided by the public school (most children attend public school) for free - well, not free, but paid by everyone's taxes. I grew up eating warm home cooked meal type school lunches in Finnish school cafeteria: Fish soup, ground beef soup, cabbage casserole, meat sauce and potatoes, meat balls and mashed potatoes, liver casserole, spinach pancakes and blood pancakes with lingonberry preserves (yes, you read that right). You can find a lot of those recipes from my other blog Rootlicious.

Here in the US I pack my children's school lunches and snacks (I still don't get it why they would need a snack in between breakfast they've had right before school at home and school lunch, it is just a few hours and the snack just spoils the appetite for lunch in my humble opinion). I pack them mostly paleo foods and the lunch consists of a protein (meat, mushrooms or nuts or seeds), a serving of vegetables and a serving of fruit or berries. Leftovers from last night's dinner are great. For snack I add one serving of veggies, fruit or nuts.

I use a bento box type lunch box with compartments to separate the different foods. My favorites are Planet Box and Lunch Bots. They are durable stainless steel lunch boxes with compartments and they are free from plastic (which I am afraid can contain chemicals that leach in to the food). I pack the stainless steel box in an insulated lunch bag.

Cucumber slices, spinach plantain pancakes,
water melon and blackberries in a Lunch Bots.

Packing a paleo school lunch is super simple. Even your children can do it themselves and save you a lot of work. They actually can find it fun to pack their own lunch starting from chopping vegetables or fruit. Even my three year old can chop most veggies and fruit with a knife. I like to give them sharp knives instead of dull ones (in fear of them hurting themselves) because the dull knives slip easier and can hurt them too. It feels good to use a proper knife and with supervision even very small children can totally do it. I also often leave vegetables or fruit whole, they don't always need to be chopped. An apple or banana are in perfect packages as they are!

Pick one from each category below and put them in a bento box. You can of course use two or more different kinds of fruit or berries or vegetables at once.

Spinach pancakes with apple sauce and
prosciutto wrapped grilled mushrooms

Category 1: Protein
I prefer to buy organic, grass fed and sustainable and without additives.

• Ground beef patty in lettuce wrap (fried the same morning)
• Mushrooms wrapped in prosciutto or bacon grilled in toaster oven that morning
• Nut butter with veggies or fruit
• Nuts or seeds
• Cooked/canned fish
• Larabar
• Epic bar
• Cooked chicken strips (alone or with a Paleo wrap and guacamole, ground beef is nice with the wrap and guacamole too)
• A grilled chicken drumstick
• Lunch meat, liverwurst or fried bacon (some healthy options can be found from US Wellness Meats)
• Cooked shrimp
• Paleo fish sticks (click for a recipe - the same recipe can be used to make paleo chicken nuggets)
• A boiled egg would be perfect if we didn't avoid eggs due to allergies.
• Paleo meat balls
• Peas
• Green beans

TIP: Use tooth picks to pin liverwurst, lunch meat or sausage pieces together with cucumber slices

Category 2: Vegetables
I like to use seasonal veggies.

• Spinach pancakes with apple sauce
• Baby carrots or carrot sticks
• Persian cucumbers (whole), or cucumber sticks or slices (a quick ranch dip can be made with coconut kefir, garlic, Herbamare, lemon, parsley)
• Raw rutabaga or turnip sticks
• Radishes
• Steamed broccoli
• Raw cauliflower florets
• Sea weed
• Guacamole (or is avocado technically a fruit?)
• Olives
• Salad
• Pickles
• Sauerkraut
• Other fermented veggies

Category 3: Fruit/treat/dessert (or snack)
I like to use seasonal fruit and berries.

• Blueberries/raspberries/blackberries/strawberries
• A whole apple/peach/plum
• Orange slices
• Pieces of melon
• A plantain pancake with Sunbutter (we use this one) or nut butter or homemade paleo "nutella" (add raw cacao powder to a nutbutter or use a recipe like this)
• Strawberries with paleo "Nutella"
• Apple sauce
• Fermented apple sauce
• Fruit salad with seasonal fruit
• Grapes
• Paleo muffins (Google for tons of recipes!)
• Coconut balls (kids love to make these themselves)
• Chocolate pudding from avocados
  
  

Remember to add an ice pack if you have packed meat. Don't forget water. We use stainless steel water bottles (we use this kind except always with a regular cap, sports caps and sippy cup caps worry me for mouth development issues). We pack a cloth napkin too. The kids can help sew those from leftover fabrics, or choose their own fabrics from the store. My son made a few spider napkins and they are his favorite. It is a nice touch to add a little love note, a joke or a fun fact for the kids who are learning to read. I make mine in our secret language, Finnish.

Coconut Balls (updated: two different recipes)

I have fond memories of making and eating coconut balls as a child. Me and my friends next door made them from time to time in their kitchen as a special treat. The delicious treat contained rolled oats, butter, sugar and cacao powder and were rolled in shredded coconut.  I have been trying to think how I could give my own children also the experience of making coconut balls without using oats, sugar or butter. The other night we came up with a recipe. This recipe is easy for the kids to do themselves with some help with measuring from an adult if needed.






Coconut balls ("Kookospallot")
VERSION 1

paleo, grain free, dairy free, gluten free, egg free, corn free, soy free, refined sugar free

1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut flour
pinch of salt (I like Himalayan pink salt)
1/3 cup palm shortening (or enough to make it right consistency)
1/4 cup unsweetened cacao powder
1/4 cup honey
(a pinch of ground vanilla bean)

more shredded coconut to roll the balls in


1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Wooden spoon works but some little hands might like to mix it by hand. Be careful not to mix by hand for too long so the warmth of the hands doesn't melt the shortening too much.
2. Form little bite size balls.
3. Spread some shredded coconut on a plate and roll the balls in it.
4. Serve right away or store in the fridge for a few days. (We had nothing to put to the fridge, they were gone very fast.)

Coconut balls ("Kookospallot")
VERSION 2

paleo, grain free, dairy free, gluten free, egg free, corn free, soy free , refined sugar free

1 cups dates, pitted
3/4 cup shredded coconut
pinch of salt (I like Himalayan pink salt)
3 tbsp palm shortening or coconut oil
1 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder
1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean

more shredded coconut to roll the balls in

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor bowl and mix until all the dates are pureed and everything is mixed well together.
2. Form balls and roll them in shredded coconut.

Lemonade Stand Connecting People

My seven year old decided today to make lemonade from the lemons in our lemon tree and sell it to get money to buy legos.

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon chatting with neighbors, meeting new people and socializing. So many people came by. He sold four quarts of lemonade. Organic and sweetened with maple syrup. He asked for 25 cents a glass but people were so delighted that many paid much more. I paid attention how happy it made some people. It made me think how isolated we live these days, without much contact with people living close to us.

His almost three year old assistant wasn't very helpful as he tried to drink all of the lemonade and there was some irritation until the three year old was distracted indoors to do other stuff.

The recipe was something like this:

Lemonade for a lemonade stand
Refined sugar free

Juice of 4-5 lemons
2 quarts of water
1/4 cup-1/2 cup maple syrup (or to taste)

How to Keep Kids Busy So I Can Make Kombucha?

Someone asked me this week again how I have time to do all this cooking, fermenting and blogging. And do I put the kids in front of the TV to be able to do it. This is a question that comes up often so I thought I'd post a few ideas I have found useful to get to do my chores with small kids at home. 

(I do say though that there are moments I will have them watch a movie to get to do something but we have now limited screen time to weekends and days off. During the week we don't watch much TV except on some special occasions, I am flexible with rules :))

(I also want to say that things get easier when the kids get bigger. Mine are almost three and seven now and they just play together while I do other things. It is wonderful!)

(Oh and my personal choice is to choose cooking, fermenting over other things to do when the kids are asleep. It is my hobby. I use nearly all my free time in the kitchen. Apart from my daily short yoga practice. I don't have time to watch TV etc. that normal people do. I choose to ferment instead because I am crazy for food!)

Six tips how to get work done with kids at home (aka Alternatives to the Screen):

Borrowed this chart from Maria Montessori Facebook Page.

1. Ask the kids to help you in what you are doing. They love helping with real jobs. It makes them feel good too. There are many things in the kitchen the kids can help with. They can tear lettuce, chop vegetables (yes, I do give knives to even small children as long as they are supervised and they can't run around with them), hold the funnel while you bottle kombucha, measure ingredients, peel vegetables, grate vegetables, wash dishes etc. The little ones who are little enough can even just bathe in the sink (supervised of course) while you work next to them!

2. Have the kids busy with some other easy household chores while you do what you need to do: empty the dish washer, clean surfaces with a spray bottle of water and vinegar and a rag, fold towels or wash cloths, wipe tables, dust, mop the floors, vacuum, set the table, water plants, put toys away and so on.

3. I have noticed that if I am busy doing something, the kids often stay busy with their play as well. The moment I sit down to check my email they want something from me. But as long as I am on the move, they seem to stay happy in whatever they are doing too. On their own.

4. Little boredom feeds the creativity! The kids will most often come up with things to do on their own too if I need to finish something and they don't want to help with that. Maybe not right away and not without some complaints but eventually they do :)

5. My older reads books to the younger one. This is great because he gets practice in reading, the little one gets someone to read him to and I get to do my own things.

6. I can see our back yard from my kitchen window. I send them out to play in the sand box while I work in the kitchen and I can keep an eye on them the whole time.

I (we!) need more tips - please add yours to the comments!

"Peace is making sure everybody is ok.”

My son goes to a Montessori School and they celebrated World peace day last week. They ate peace cake, sang songs about peace, stiched a peace dove and talked about peace. This is what the 3-6 year olds thought about peace (take out a tissue if you are like me, this touched me to tears).

“Peace is not throwing plastic on the ground.”
“Peace is keeping your hands to yourself.”
“Peace is doing everything nice.”
“Peace is not pushing people down.”
“Peace is being kind to people.”
“Peace is respecting each other’s bodies.”
“Peace is making sure everybody is ok.”
“Peace is loving and caring.”
“Peace is sharing and caring for people.”
“Peace is taking care of nature.”

Clothes that fit cloth diapering babies! (and coupon code)

I thought I'd share a discount code I got today for this little clothing company in the UK, Frugi. They make cute clothes for kids and also for breastfeeding moms, all organic and fair trade. And their collection for younger babies is made to fit over cloth diapers which I think is so cool. I struggle so much with clothes not fitting my cloth diaper babe. I also like it that they sell unisex clothes, another important issue for me. The company's work practices are ethical, and I am told that they're super nice quality and will last and last.

http://www.welovefrugi.com/

Discount for 10% off, enter code: moomins at checkout.

Coconut vanilla pancakes

Coconut pancakes/crepes
Dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, soy free, corn free

2 cups coconut flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp corn free and gluten free baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp flax seed meal/ground chia seeds
3 cups hemp milk or coconut milk
1-2 cups water until the consistency is right (more water/try sparkling water for crepes like pancakes)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sunflower oil for frying

For variations: sprinkle blueberries, dried pineapple pieces or chocolate chips on the pancake right after pouring the batter in the pan.

Fry on low to medium heat until golden brown. I used a Scandinavian pancake pan to make little pancakes (bought one from Amazon). They were a little hard to get to stay together so next time I will maybe add a little more starch instead of so much coconut flour.

Pancakes were eaten before I managed to get a photo. The reviews from the eaters: Best pancakes ever! I served them with agave nectar and fresh raspberries.

This is a good cooking project to get your little ones to help.

Please no more Sponge Bob!

Last spring we spent a few days in San Fransisco and in the hotel I let my son watch tv (at home we don't have cable, we let him watch some carefully chosen dvd's but not tv). He watched Sponge Bob. I remember paying attention how he seemed to go wild after the program and was acting really fast and kind of aggressive afterwards. I thought: Never again Sponge Bob to my kids. I have stuck to that promise and I am glad because today I read this on Facebook:

SpongeBob impairs little kids' thinking, study finds

[...] "To test what those might be, Lillard and Peterson randomly assigned 60 4-year-olds to three groups: one that watched nine minutes of a fast-paced, "very popular fantastical cartoon about an animated sponge that lives under the sea;" one that watched nine minutes of slower-paced programming from a PBS show "about a typical U.S. preschool-aged boy;" and a third group that was asked to draw for nine minutes with markers and crayons.

Immediately after their viewing and drawing tasks were complete, the kids were asked to perform four tests to assess executive function. Unfortunately for the denizens of Bikini Bottom, the kids who watched nine minutes of the frenetic high jinks of the "animated sponge" scored significantly worse than the other kids" [...] Read the whole article from here.

Same day I also read from Mothering blog that a new study finds that early TV watching has detrimental impact on literacy and language skills. This is because there is then less contact and talking with the parents. I don't think this last study is such new information but still, reading these both harmful TV related news today made me decide that today Miio isn't watching any dvd's. I will have to restrict it even more and same applies to little Leo in future.

Gluten free play dough

Making your own play dough is fun because the kids can participate in the process too. My son has been recently diagnosed with wheat allergy and I just realized today that it of course means that he can't use the regular wheat play dough we used to make (it took me a few months to connect the dots!), or even the store bought ones I guess. I found this recipe online and we made it since my son is home with a cold (he started this fall in a Montessori school!) It turned out ok, a little stickier than the one with wheat. It sticks to the table at least now when still a little warm so I am not completely happy with it but it is better than nothing!

I got the recipe from here.

Gluten Free Play Dough

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil
Food coloring (optional, try also cooking spinach or beets in the water you use for natural color)

Mix ingredients. Cook and stir on low heat for 3 minutes or until mixture forms a ball. Cool completely before storing in a sealable plastic bag (or a jar you can close, Sirpa's note).

Stamp stamp stamp!

 

We are getting settled in our new home. There is still a lot to unpack, but you can't unpack all day so today we made potato stamps. We made these a lot when I was a child. I didn't have any rubber stamps at least early in childhood but we had always potatoes.

Basically you just take a raw potato, cut it in half and carve a shape on it. I carved the outlines of the shape first with a knife and then cut the outsides of it off. But you could just leave the outsides too and carve from the middle (look at the photo below to understand better what I am trying to explain). Dip the stamp in paint, or paint the shape with a paint brush. We used poster paint and it was a bit thick for this purpose so next time I will mix it with water. You can also use water colors.

When you get bored with the shape you carved, just cut a layer off and make a new one. You probably know this already but boiled potatoes you can use as a non toxic "glue stick"! Try also what kind of stamps other cut vegetables make.

(My son has a phase in which he only paints with red paint!)

Built a house.

I got a big cardboard box from a friend and made a house for my son. It was such a fun project because we painted it together. It has a window and a door. And when we don't want it anymore we can throw it away! Or patch the window, close the door and use it for storage. I love it.


Sirpa

Enjoy parenting.

Today's Daily Groove from EnjoyParenting.com was so good that I have to share it. If you want to get more wonderful thoughts like this to our mailbox 5 times a week, go to www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove. I love to start my day by reading the daily groove.

Sirpa

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

:: "What's GOOD about that?" ::

If it's raining, you're supposed to call it "bad
weather" and complain.

Complaining makes you feel bad, but you've been led
to believe that the source of your angst is the rain
-- the weather *conditions*. That's conditionality.

UNconditionality means wanting so much to feel good
that you stop using conditions to justify feeling bad.

One way to practice the Art of Unconditionality in
the face of "bad" conditions is to ask yourself,
"What's GOOD about that?"

What's GOOD about the rain? It vitalizes the soil
and plants... It makes the air smell clean... It's
fun to get drenched and then go take a hot bath!

What's GOOD about children "misbehaving"? It means
they're trying to engage, explore, connect, create,
etc... It means you get to practice loving and
feeling good unconditionally, which is the key to
your Authentic Power.

Eventually you'll realize it's neither good nor
bad -- it just IS. Welcome to Reality. :-)

http://www.dailygroove.net/unconditionality

--> Get "The Daily Groove" book!
http://www.enjoyparenting.com/book

Feel free to forward this message to your friends!
(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)
Copyright (c) 2009 by Scott Noelle
_____________________________________________________

"Inspiration & Coaching for Progressive Parents"
http://www.ScottNoelle.com
http://www.EnjoyParenting.com

Oat seeds for booboo birds and therapy wraps.

 

Years ago I bought in Finland a wrap filled with oat seeds. You heat it up in the microwave for a couple of minutes and use on shoulders, your back or where-ever you need heat therapy. I used it even in my labor for pain. The good thing about it is that it has strings so you can tie it on your hips.

I have been making these myself too, see my Etsy shop.



I also tried the oat seeds for booboo pals for children. My son loves his booboo bird. We keep it in the freezer and take it out when he has a booboo, or "pipi" as he calls it in Finnish. It doesn't get too cold but I think the psychological effect is very good.

A path to the magical forest, part 1

Hi!

I wrote in an earlier posting about a magical forest for the children's room. I have been asked about instructions how to make the fantastic hiding place, "Suikalemätäs". In English the translation could be something like "the fabric strip shrub". Mätäs is hard to translate, it is not exactly a shrub, it is more like a big bunch of moss, grass and stuff like that.

The instructions in Finnish are in the book Maja by Mari Savio and Kati Rapia, that I referred to in my previous posting.

Find an old round table cloth and a small table that your children can fit under (round table is probably best, but I used a rectangle shaped and it works fine too). Check that the table cloth covers most of the table.

You can use all your old fabric strips for this! Cut or rip them in strips (I made about 8 inches or 20 cm long and an inch or 2 cm wide). This is fun to do with your child too.

Draw annual rings on the table cloth. Make sure they are less far apart than the fabric strips are long so they will cover each other.

Sew the strips from one end along the annual rings so that they are a little bit on top of each other. You can make a hole for the head in the middle and wear the creation too (or your children can if you don't feel like it).

I cut an opening for a door too and pulled it aside and tied it to a table leg with a couple of the strips.

TTYL,
Sirpa

New sewing machine and woolen socks.

I bought a sewing machine! Brother Innov-is 80. I am really bad in making decisions so I just chose one. I know you are supposed to try sewing with them in the store but I couldn't, I was so nervous. I was debating in my mind between a Husqvarna Scandinavia 100 that was in the same price range, because the "Scandinavia" text made me feel like home (even though I am from Finland, not Sweden, I speak some Swedish though). I liked the looks of the Scandinavia machine too. But this Brother machine had so many stiches and buttonholes and you name it that I was scared I might need them at some point. And it had a place for two spools I think which is good when knitting with a twin needle. You can also stich ready letters with it, which is another feature I am not sure if I will even need. At least it had the Scandinavian letters like Ä and Ö. Well, anyway, it is here now and I am a bit scared to try it. It is much fancier than any machine I have used before. I am a bit terrified about all the buttons. I will let you knwo how it goes.

The store I bought it from offers free lessons with purchase so I will go on Monday night to learn to use it.

I just listed on Etsy these woolen socks. They feel so nice but are a bit slippery on hardwood floors!



Don't these socks look like elf socks?

Mini pillows for a magic forest.

I have been truly inspired by this Finnish book my friend sent me: Maja by Kati Rapia and Mari Savio. Lovely book, ladies.


I made the "Suikalemätäs" from old fabric scraps and a thrift store table cloth (it has a hole for the head so it can also be worn, I wish I had taken a photo when my husband wore it.)



And then made some spruce tree pillows, from the book too. The little mattresses I made too, they are just some foam covered with fabric from old duvet covers I have carried with me from Finland only to notice that they were too small for all the duvets and blankets we bought here. The yellow one is actually an old duvet cover, a Finnish thrift store find.



The spruce tree pillows made me think of other kinds of pillow shapes and I made some mini pillows for my Etsy shop. Not only a spruce tree pillow, but also a mushroom and a cloud! Perfect for a magic forest.