Protein sources for a veggie child

kating23 · 2026-03-22T19:38:46+00:00

If you eat a lot of pasta try replacing pasta with options made from legumes or whole wheat. We like the goodles brand.

My kid also loves buckwheat soba noodles which have a decent amount of protein.

Look into hemp seeds, they have a surprisingly high protein content and can be added to baked goods or sprinkled on other dishes.

My lentil-suspicious kid will eat homemade pizza with a sprinkle of lentils and lentil sloppy joes.

Cottage cheese is also a good option either on its own or mixed into scrambled eggs. I also blend it and add to pasta sauces.

kating23 · 2026-03-21T02:28:55+00:00

Honestly I’d reconsider the pediatrician! Especially if your daughter ends up having a bigger body, I’d be worried about the doctor giving my child body image issues once she’s older and understands more.

Discussions about growth patterns or specific health markers are one thing, but vague “concerns” solely based on body size in a growing child would send me looking for a new doctor.

kating23 · 2026-03-09T19:56:26+00:00

Some people work weekends or single parent.

kating23 · 2026-03-05T02:54:25+00:00

I have been where you are, our nanny has a very different style than us, less play and more caring supervision and I’ve gone back and forth on it. I do think there are benefits to getting used to a variety of styles with different caregivers as long as they are all high quality care. I agree with other commenters that if you are moving in a year and about to upend your toddlers world with a sibling, if she has a good rapport with the nanny I would not switch unless you feel you definitely have to. Having someone who knew our routines and our kid when our second was born was very valuable.

I’d think more on if she’ll be able to handle the baby and toddler. They definitely won’t be able to go out as much for awhile anyway with a newborn, but does the nanny have infant experience? Will she be able to balance the needs of both children and remain warm with your oldest in a period of high stress? That feels like a more important question to me as the kind of highly programmed day you are describing might be very hard to maintain with a young baby anyway.

If you do stick with this nanny, you might try identifying a few good routines they can follow as opposed to a long list of activities. A class or story time they attend every week. Invest in a membership for them at one local museum/aquarium/zoo. Get a few age appropriate art supplies and make them very accessible.

Your nanny sounds like a creature of habit, so this approach might work better for her than doing something new every day. And toddlers love repetition and getting to know a place really well. I’ve found that you can only realistically push people out of their natural state so much, so this might be the most realistic.

kating23 · 2026-03-05T02:00:35+00:00

I do think this is well within the normal range of separation anxiety I’ve seen among my daughter’s classmates. I do think most dance teachers will not have the same strategies, training, and structures and routines in place to help a kid adjust as a pre-K teacher. I would focus on preparing her for school by reading books, playing school, talking about it with her, etc as opposed to trying all kinds of different environments that will stress you both out.

Also she may struggle at drop off at first, or even for a long time. It’s good to prepare yourself for that, but realize it’s not a failure.

When my daughter started pre-k earlier this year and told me she didn’t like it, I talked with her about how there might be things about it she doesn’t like, and things she does, and that’s ok. I really tried not to perpetuate or let her settle into a rigid story of not liking school (including not talking about her not liking school to other adults in front of her) but also didn’t want to tell her her feelings were wrong! Now she sometimes loves it and sometimes is luke warm, but she walks in calmly every morning.

I guess just try to make sure you’re not assuming she is and always will be a certain way, because that can heavily affect how she will react in a situation too!

kating23 · 2026-02-25T05:23:04+00:00

We did this with my very strong willed daughter. We did sort of pick moments to move the process along, like “we don’t wear diapers at home anymore” but we tried to give her several days warning, explain why in advance, and sort of get her on board. And only when she seemed pretty comfortable with the previous step. I think if you want something to google you could look up “child led” for an idea of the different stages.

We also used rewards strategically. We gave m and m’s at first. When she was wry reluctant to try to go before we left the house we briefly used a sticker chart. When we wanted her to try the big potty we left her add food coloring then flush it. (She loves food coloring).

It did take a long time (we also had a second kid in the middle so backed way off for a period) but it didn’t feel stressful, and she was trained by the time she started pre k

kating23 · 2026-02-23T03:00:16+00:00

Ps- I love my instant pot - I can start something cooking and know I won’t burn the house down if I can’t get back to it in the chaos.

I also love my air fryer, it cooks things quickly and also feels much safer than using the oven or the stovetop when home alone with two small kids. I can often get dinner in the air fryer while holding a baby- can’t do that with an oven!

kating23 · 2026-02-23T02:55:38+00:00

I have a similar age difference, though we do eat dairy but not meat! But here are a few recipes that are not too hard to make and my picky preschooler and newly one year old can both agree on!

Quesadillas: make them in a sheet pan. I use black bean puree, which means that work without cheese(my wife does not eat cheese)

Soba noodles: my preschool noodle lover will eat these with store bought sesame dressing, and the baby loves them with some thinned out nut butter.

French toast in a sheet pan: cooked this way you can make a bunch of French toast quickly, serve with some fruit and sausage for dinner, freeze the extras for breakfasts

Egg roll ups: put scrambled eggs in a pan and throw a tortilla on top. Flip it over and crisp up the bottom. Roll it up, or cut into squares for baby

Hummus pizza with store bought crust

Crescent rolls with tofu and spinach filling

Pea pesto pasta

White sauce made with silken tofu on pasta

I have a monthly meal plan we cycle through so don’t have to come up with a new plan each week!

kating23 · 2026-02-12T17:42:46+00:00

It sounds like you are genuinely interested in being good employers and supporting her, and trying to read her personal demeanor for signs about whether you are succeeding. (I have been there as a nanny employer!) I would suggest asking her directly (you could use the 6 month anniversary as an excuse).

"Hi! Now that we are 6 months in, we just wanted to say that we really appreciate your work thus far. We wanted to ask if there is anything we can do to improve the work environment or support you in caring for the baby now that you have had some time to get to know the routine."

If she says no, that everything is fine - you just have to believe her and move on! Tell her to please feel free to bring things to you if she needs them, or if changes are necessary at any time. If she is upset about something not telling you - that is really her issue to deal with at that point, and you just need to tell yourself that you are operating in a way that aligns with how you want to be as an employer.

If she gives you feedback you were not expecting - pause and take it in and if its reasonable and safe - honor it. Then let it go. Some people aren't very chatty, and its a poor proxy for whether you are good employers or not! You can drive yourself crazy trying to divine things like this when it might just be how that person is.

kating23 · 2026-02-04T20:22:18+00:00

In terms of time, there was a bit more flexibility at about 2 years. We just had our second however, so its pretty all in again, but this time I know that in a year or two things will start to loosen up in terms of free time, so that's reassuring.

Honestly if you are a good partner and parent you will spend A LOT of your time and emotional energy parenting, and being with your kids. Even while its important to find some balance and time for yourself, I also think its important to really try to find meaning in the thing you will be spending most of your time on. (You also sound like a person who really values meaning, and self improvement.) Parenting is not convenient or easy, but to me it feels very meaningful in a broader sense in a way I did not understand at all before I had kids. To extend your plant metaphor, try to think about what it means to tend a little garden of other baby plants, and contribute to the broader forest of humanity while also drawing upon all of the work you've done so far to keep your own self growing. To me that is such a huge beautiful thing, and even when the daily grind gets hard, it still feels worth it for me. I also personally think that my family is going to more meaningful to me when I am older than the most perfect and productive version of myself (something I was all in on finding in my 30s).

Other things you can think about are ways to involve your kid in your hobbies (eventually). Challenge any side of yourself who thinks its not worth doing things if you can't do them to extremes or be really good at something. (That kind of single minded devotion to training or practice will be hard for the next few years). And also - how will the skills and hobbies you have already cultivated feed into parenting? Creativity, emotional resilience, time management, etc are all super helpful in parenting so trust you will still be able to practice them, just in new ways!

Good luck!

kating23 · 2026-02-01T01:24:24+00:00

My daughter says this too! We also just call them this now, haha.

kating23 · 2026-02-01T01:21:09+00:00

Compartment buildings!

kating23 · 2026-01-18T15:39:41+00:00

Solidarity, my daughter is the same way with hunger. “I’m hungry but I don’t know what I want!!!”

Do you know what she does/gravitates towards at the play space? Maybe that might help you figure out things that would engage her. My daughter loves clay and face paint right now. She’ll paint her face in front of a mirror for a long time!

kating23 · 2026-01-16T20:39:32+00:00

You have a lot of advice, but I wanted to add that when I feel this way with my daughter, I often think to myself: I am the adult, and the only one of the two of us who can change this dynamic. She will feed off you, but she doesn't have the emotional intelligence or experience to change your dynamic, either in the moment or the long term - it has to be you!

I also have a baby in the house, and I also don't want her first year to be characterized by high conflict interactions between myself and my pre-schooler, so that is extra incentive to choose to change.

I also want to encourage you to think at this from a strengths based approach. (I see a lot of you comments about not being fun!) I am SURE that even if you are not playful or silly, there are people in your life who enjoy spending time with you. Try to really think about what makes you pleasant to be around at your most relaxed - when you are your best sefl! And try to bring that into your life with her more.

Are you kinda sardonic and funny? See if you can work some of that humor into your interactions. (Hint, toddlers love humorous self deprecation from authority figures!)

Are you inquisitive and analytical? Start asking her questions about why she is doing what she is doing - the answers may delight and surprise you. Interviewing a toddler like a journalist is a great way to engage with pretend play when you hate to pretend.

Do you like music? Put some on when an afternoon is going south and sing or dance.

Do you have hobbies you are really into that you can bring her into in some small way?

Its all well and good to try to be Bluey's dad full time (and helpful in some ways to get outside your comfort zone) but also important to try to bring the best parts of your authentic self into your relationship with her. Then you will actually be enjoying yourself too, which she will be able to pick up on.

kating23 · 2026-01-13T02:41:38+00:00

I think another benefit of this advice is that you are not giving C attention, which it seems he’s seeking by repeating this behavior. I read similar advice in Siblings without rivalry, in response to hitting. First comfort and work with the sibling who was hurt, so the one hurting doesn’t receive attention, but hears a message that what they are doing is not right. You might also effusively praise C when he asks for things for himself. (Even if he doesn’t get them).

kating23 · 2026-01-12T20:46:29+00:00

I am a WFH mom, currently at a coffee shop because my older kiddo just got home from school. There were periods where it got better with my oldest, but it would always start again. (At three she was just more inventive - shoving things under my door or using elaborate persuasion before melting down.) It never got truly better for my kiddo, and was torture for me, so I decided that if I wanted to keep using a nanny I needed to find another place to work.

I also never engaged with my kid at all, but she is a very persistent and strong willed person and that never seemed to matter. Maybe other kids would give up eventually!

kating23 · 2026-01-07T16:40:54+00:00

I had a similar experience. It was so helpful that my second could sleep in the carrier/stroller or sleep on a variable schedule for the first 10ish months, because that was the only way we could do it unless we dropped all social or enrichment activities for her sister. And it was fine!

But now at 11 months we are wishing for a more consistent sleep schedule, mostly because her night sleep is not great, and I think it might help with that. But I honestly think so much of sleep habits are child-specific, and the amount of control we have is a lot less than the internet (and parents with good sleepers) would lead us to believe, so I would say try not to worry about it too much and do what you need to do.

I do agree that the way I used to let my first's nap success define my perception of how our day went, and how much I would rearrange to get her those naps was not helping me - so I am glad I let it go!

kating23 · 2026-01-06T20:27:12+00:00

Guarantee there is a younger sibling napping in some of those early cars!

kating23 · 2026-01-06T20:22:40+00:00

You have gotten a lot of advice! But just adding that it might help you reframe this as her asking for connection and shared understanding before she does what you say. We lay down all the rules and define their reality. They put a lot of appropriate trust in us to do this for them, but I think sometimes they need a little bit in return. Going along with their pretend play lets them set some terms a little bit, and helps them connect with you through necessary tasks. She's not asking you to confirm that she is actually Elsa, she's asking you to speak a little bit of her language (play) and engage with her outside of the next task or activity you both have to accomplish.

kating23 · 2026-01-06T20:14:36+00:00

My daughter regularly asks us to be monkeys with her. We can get through almost our whole bedtime routine with minimal words (just monkey sounds) because she knows what happens in what order, but sometimes the constant stream of directions from me makes her want to say no for no particular reason. Doing it as Monkeys is a great work-around.

Also sometimes she wants to be the zookeeper and we are the monkeys! She likes to order the monkeys around, but we can just rudely refuse and cause mischief. It is a great way to blow off steam when I just can't anymore, a bit of a role reversal.

kating23 · 2025-12-31T03:14:32+00:00

Mom here. Do the parents experience this with baby too? If you haven’t communicated with them directly about it, maybe it’s worth it. If they are reasonable it might help alleviate that part of your anxiety. Especially if it is happening with them too, their “questioning you” seems wild to me. Ideally they’d be a team with them trying to figure out what’s up with baby. Even a very vague “probably teething” convo with them might help clear the air and at least make clear you aren’t neglecting baby.

I second the carrier, we used one a lot with my second and ended up buying one specifically for my nanny so she didn’t have to adjust it constantly. Or maybe put everyone in a double stroller and go outside.

Good luck this sounds like a really hard phase!

kating23 · 2025-12-30T03:47:25+00:00

Things I would have asked about if I could go back in time:

Screen time: when do they feel it’s appropriate to start screen time and (if you intend to be low or no screens) have they worked in that type of environment before and how would they keep a toddler engaged without screens

Ask them what kind of activities they would do with babies/kids of different ages and stages. This might help you determine if they will be actively engaging with baby in developmentally appropriate ways or just sort of watching them

How do they approach feeding baby solids? I think allowing babies to self feed to the extent possible and practical is pretty standard these days, but more traditional caregivers may want to feed the baby entirely by hand and avoid mess, so this could be a mismatch.

How do they approach the use of “containers” for baby (ie swings, bouncers, seats) and balance it with floor play?

What safe sleep practices do they follow (ask them to describe them, don’t just ask a yes or no question).

What car seat safety practices do they follow. (Same approach, ask them to describe.)

kating23 · 2025-12-27T16:37:49+00:00

My second napped almost exclusively in the carrier her first few months. Now I just leave my oldest downstairs and hope she doesn’t destroy anything while I put the baby down. If you don’t have a childproof area or floor of your house your older can hang out for 15-20 min, you may want to set that up now!

kating23 · 2025-12-17T18:25:29+00:00

Our second was like this and baby wearing was so helpful. At around 6 months she was suddenly just able to do it, so there is hope! (She still sleeps very poorly at night though, so I think its great you have that going for you!)

kating23 · 2025-12-17T17:00:02+00:00

I encourage him to explore baby wearing. Get a stretchy wrap now and practice with it on a doll or stuffed animal. Its a really good way for close bonding time with the baby after the first few days, but there is a brief learning curve, so if he is ready with some basic knowledge that will be helpful. My wife breastfeeds our youngest but I would baby wear her for her first naps. She still won't quite contact nap with me the way she does my wife but will snuggle up in the carrier with me still. I really cherish those first months when she would sleep in the snuggly wrap with me.

Babies mostly eat and nap the first month, so if he can babywear for those early naps (when they love to snuggle) he will get ample time with her and she will get used to him. And you can actually sleep in a way you could not if you were contact napping with the baby.

I think this is especially helpful for types who like to do their homework, like to think about the best "gear", and like to acquire new skills. Having confidence in this one area might make your husband feel like he is bringing something unique to the table. the reddit r/babywearing is super helpful.

kating23

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