First and last twist out

Bentobaby's wet hair right after her twist were removed. In this picture her hair looks kind of cute.

But after her hair dried, it looked awful. I'm not sure how to describe it but it wasn't a pleasing look. We had errands to run so the kiddo wore one of her cute summer hats. Today I spent 20 minutes combing out the weird puff looking strands. Bentobaby's hair was really dry after being in the twists for a few weeks. I've been adding coconut oil, and a bunch of leave in conditioner. Today we busted out Oyin's Whipped Pudding. Her hair feels great right now but we'll see how it feels once its dry.

Sensory toys

Meet Rody. Rody is a very sturdy rubber horse made to bounce. While most of bento baby's symptoms present as sensory avoidant (not wanting to touch something. Afraid of new things etc) she does have some sensory seeking behavior. Add that to the fact that she is a SUPER high energy kid. And we live in a very rainy area. She needs some way to use up her excess energy. If we had a lot of space or an unfinished basement I would fill a room full of (used) play equipment for her. I do not have that option. Rody lets her bounce while not taking up much space. Of course she didn't like it at first. But now she's getting better at pulling him out for a bounce when she needs to move.

Rody isn't a cheap ride. He was $40 on Amazon. But I consider him a good purchase. Not vital, as we did have to give her another option. I'll tell you about that later. :)

Twists

I spent about 2 hours giving Bentobaby a head full of two strand twists. I LOVE this style. Its super low maintenance and it looked good for 3 weeks. She didn't lose many beads either, maybe 5 over a 3 week period. And the kiddo loves having a head of beads, lots of clanking noises. :)

Every other night her hair gets rinsed in the tub. Every night its sprayed with Darcy Botanical's Herbal Leave in Conditioning Spritz. I do not like the smell but it works well. In the morning I spray Bentobaby's hair with Greg juice. Eventually the ends start to feel dry, at which point i would add Darcy Botanical's twisting cream and a little coconut oil. That routine worked well. Her hair was shampooed twice while she had the twists. When we noticed her scratching at it often, time for a shampoo. After the first shampoo the twists still looked great. After the second the base of the twist were too fuzzy for me. Time to come out! :)

CSA

Our first share from the CSA: Spinach, mixed greens, garlic greens, and beet greens.

Our family decided to try a CSA for the first time this year. Our csa costs $475 for 20 weeks of organic produce. Thats $23.75 a week. I hope it gets better!

Beads

Why does a 2 year old need spring break? What exactly is she burnt out on, coloring? *sigh* As you can probably guess Bentobaby is enjoying a spring break. While Mama is burnt out city. I'm not one of those moms who can parent 24/7 with out getting burnt out. I think those of you who can are great, not me. I'm going to the movies tomorrow for a much needed break. Plus our family has been under a great deal of continuing stress for the past week. Fun. My nerves are raw and bentobaby is deep into wanting to do everything herself. We encourage this as much as possible, but there are things she simply can't do. Enter fireworks.

ANYWAYS, I needed a new activity to keep her occupied. She's bored with our toys. (i hid a bag in the closet to bring out next week, old toys new again) I had an empty sensory box (used to hold Orbeez) but no idea what I was going to use in the box. Sand is an outside toy at my house, she already has a cotton, dress up, rice, and popcorn box. I did consider dry beans but those are for dinner in a few days. Then I remembered the cheap plastic beads from the dollar store. USE CAUTION when giving your child small objects. Bentobaby doesn't put things in her mouth and i stayed with her the whole time. I gave her a kitchen scoop, scraps of ribbon, an empty cream cheese container, and an empty spice shaker. She spent a good 20 minutes happily scooping and dumping beads while i enjoyed some blessed peace. Ahhhh.

(yes, her hair is being re-done today. She keeps pulling off her sleep cap and not using her satin pillow)

Bento Dinner

Hubby's dinner bento. He planned to take leftover pizza for dinner. I made him a quick bento box while he put bento baby to bed.

Hubby has carrots, strawberries, a clementine, a clearance valentine candy, two pieces of pizza, and a sauce container full of raisins. I didn't think raisin covered pizza would be good.

Colorful bento filler

I have been looking everywhere for re-usable ice cubes. Why? For Bento of course! I think these will make great fillers/ ice packs for bento boxes. Plus iIbet they will fit into a packed lunch bag more easily then a big ice pack. I have had not had any luck locating re-usable ice cubes anywhere. I'm guessing because its winter and not really ice cube season. Imagine my joy with hubby found these for me. Best of all, it was at Dollar Tree!

16 cubes for a buck! YAY! Of course I have yet to use them (not really bento season where I live) but I'll be sure and update when I've given them a shot.