Kids in The Kitchen

When my toddler asks me if she can help in the kitchen, instead of pushing her away I embrace the opportunity. I have kid proofed my kitchen, we have a metal guard around our gas cook top (from http://www.ikea.com/ about 15$), the knife block is pushed back into the corner and we have a wall oven. Tasks I get my toddler to do are retrieving the fresh herbs from "her" herb garden, picking cherry tomatoes and raspberries and peeling the individual herb leaves off the stock. I allow her to throw all of the ingredients into the pot. I give her the chore of preparing the vegetables, she is capable of ripping the lettuce leaves off the the stock, putting vegetables into a pot and she sets the table. These are simple tasks that allow her to learn proper habits about food and cooking. I am proud to say she knows all of her fruits and vegetables (and all of the treats as well). I'm not saying she is perfect, there is a lot of struggle and sometimes bribary at the dinner table, but for the most part she is pretty good. My eldest understands that after we make a roast meal we use the bones and carcase to make soup stock as to not waste any of the ingredients. I buy the best quality ingredients I can afford and make sure I use them all. If I can instill good habits regarding food now I hope to prevent later food issues such as childhood obesity and eating disorders. There is a great website http://ourgeneralstore.typepad.com/our_general_store/2005/08/mission_real_fo.html if interested in more information regarding childrens eating habits.
I don't have much 1 on 1 time with my eldest daughter and we are able to bond while cooking together and it allows me to get more of my daily busy mom chores ticked off the list.

My workouts- Yesterday- started with some rehabilitative work, front planks, side planks, ball hamstring curls, ball adductor bridges (great for v-birth recovery), wall shoulder rotations with presses (stage 3 furious 5) and lunges. Onto my fat loss work- full squat/press, kettle bell high pull berpie, heavy kettle bell clean and press.
Today- light kb swings, plyo push ups, dive bomber push ups, jumping jacks, shoulder windmill, jump squats, kb lumber jack chops, dynamic split squat jumps (mixed my cns and metabolics together)after this for strength I performed 2 sets of full front barbell squats- 1 warm up and 1 to my 8 rep max.
Any questions regarding the exercises please ask over the comment, chances are someone else has the same question.