Cooking meals with a toddler around - help!

Raj,
Not sure if these were mentioned by try cutting up all needed veggies over the weekend. Make packages according to the dish. For example one plastic bag of veggies for sambar, another with all veggies for avial and so on. When I was going thru this stage, I did that. Plus I was working full time for this was a great time saver. Also, place ur baby in a play pen but make sure she can see you...throw some toys in there as well. Good luck - but don't worry - this stage too shall pass and then you'll end up like me wondering where all those years went.

 

Raj
Looks like you have got great ideas here going for you.. still I wanted to step in. One to acknowledge how similar we both are. Though I noticed it earlier this seals it for us that we both dont like getting up early. Even today dh gives me bed coffee to get going

One thing I did differently since day one was involve my husband in everything. All the ladies here have given great tips but I am not able to see mention of dh much anywhere!:spin (sorry if i missed)

Though I stayed at home and back then dh worked shifts and long hours we used to for th emost part do cooking together.

I used to cook when he played with our son and they used to hang around the kitchen..sometimes dh also helped cooked while I played with child.

What I would like to share is to make it a family affair if possible.

 

Hi Raj,
This site is very helpful.Just register. FlyLady.net: Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home

Hi AC- Role of DH is kitchen is minimal.Good to know about your cooking pattern.

 

Supriya
Role of a husband does not have to be in the kitchen ONLY. I did not imply that a dh should be in the kitchen. Also there is no pattern. Just what we thought we should do.

I meant to say was the evenings can be a fun time with mother cooking and father playing with child.

These days there are more possibilties than before. nowadays my husband can do more work from home too because of the advancement of teachnology.

anyway just my 1 cent to Raj.

 

Hey Raj,
I have only one piece of advice for you.Do you think she gets enough sleep by skipping her nap ?Whether her bed-time has moved ahead of time or is it same ?
Try to skip morning nap so she can sleep longer in afternoon.Thats what happened wit my DD when she skipped her morning nap.Our dinner is very simple idli/dosa with a vegetable.My DH engages my DD when I cook.If I'm tired then we swap the places.As a last resort if my DH is not unavailable for help I do use DVD to finish my cooking.

Thanks
Mangai

 

oh dear.. you're all (or atleast most of you) so well organised. I remember my days when A was of Riya's age... i was a mad woman. Now i'm lot more composed, learnt a lot along with A.

Raj,

Here we go:

1. I'm not an early-riser. I cannot forego my tea with news on laptop for anything.
2. Since I have the luxury of living bang in the city i just cannot plan and shop for a week. i am spontaneous on this.
3. I cannot plan my cooking (to a large extent that is).
4. My DH has never been home early... rarely we have dinner together.
5. For us too dinner is the main food since DH eats lunch at work he wants home-cooked. It need not be fresh though but I insist.
6. I usually cook only dinner and the left-over i have for lunch. Or whip up something very primitive.

What I (remember) did:

1. For me shopping while A was asleep was the absolute mission. I invariably shopped every 2nd day.
2. My own time were Saturdays when I could leave him with DH and go where i wish (remember just 2 hrs).
3. We have always lived in apartments so cleaning is not really hard compared to your cases. But still when I got pregnant we hired a cleaning lady who comes in every week for 2 hrs.
(earlier i had to do ironing as well that took us almost close to a divorcebonk.. now she takes care of ironing too!).
4. Breakfasts are DH's duty. He'll make sure his son eats and then rest are my job.
5. Problem with me is I never took a routine seriously and a mess was fine too (i mean not really bad mess but toddler mess). Before cleaning lady i did one room a day. Bathrooms and kitchen were everyday.
6. I never pre-prepared any food. I do not like frozen too.. so i did everything while A hung around. No, TV too didn't help.
7. Waking up early too didn't help me because A somehow knew when i was sneaking out of bed and so no 'my time' in the mornings. So I decided i sleep extra hours as well.

These days my life is much more structured and I have to enjoy it. I must get up at 6 and by the time A is either dropped by DH or I take him to school most part of work is done. On the days i don't have to make lunch for me i do shopping part. I have started chopping up veges, making dhal, making chapathi dough for dinner when he is at school. Else i don't get time with him at all. I have also put a mental time-table on browsing (that is my severe addiction).

Before i used to get upset if the bins weren't emptied (we have to sort a great deal in Germany). But now it's only DH's responsibility so i do not care if he does it only on week-ends.

I hope i haven't missed out anything... i know it'll be quite over-whelming the first few weeks when they are awake more but you'll find your way.

Good luck!
Latha

 

I perhaps misread your saying "Good" meal as non-nutritive. We too have our dinner at 6 pm with Kiran, but we do tend to eat a snack before brushing our teeth, right after we finish cleaning up, 10ish. Yeah, but again I need to do that given my impaired glucose tolerance condition and eat small meals, many meals through the day. So perhaps this system worked very well for us. (anyways, different strokes for different folks )