Real-Life Guides for Pregnancy, Babies, Toddlers & Travel

Shopping for a two-year-old can be surprisingly tricky. They're no longer babies, but they're not quite big kids either. Their interests are changing constantly, and it's hard to know which toys they'll actually play with versus which ones will end up collecting dust. As a mom of two, I'm a big believer that less is more when it comes to baby and toddler gear. I'd much rather invest in a handful of toys that my kids genuinely love than fill our house with things they'll lose

If you have a toddler who is obsessed with Spidey, you probably already know that putting Spidey on basically anything makes it instantly more exciting. My 3-year-old is currently in a major Spidey phase. The remote-control car? Huge hit. Spidey stuffed animals? Obsessed. A Spidey watch he got for his birthday? Loved it. He even got an Oral-B Spidey electric toothbrush for his birthday, and somehow brushing his teeth became exciting. So if you're looking for the best Spidey g

Shopping for a 3-year-old is fun because they suddenly have opinions. Very strong opinions. My son is three, and right now, he is completely obsessed with Spidey. If it has Spidey on it, there is a very good chance he wants it. But after three years of accumulating toys, I've also learned that there's a big difference between something that gets an exciting reaction when he opens it and something he actually continues playing with months later. I'm trying to be much more inte

When my son first started daycare, I knew he was probably going to get sick more often. I don't think I fully understood just how quickly it would happen. I started him at daycare about a month before I was scheduled to go back to work after maternity leave. At the time, part of me wondered what I was going to do with myself for an entire month while he was at daycare and I wasn't working yet. Then, within about a week or two, he got sick. And then I got sick. I am someone wh

One of the things that surprised me most about potty training was realizing that a toddler can seem completely potty trained at home and still have accidents at daycare. We used the three-day potty training method with my son, and by the end of those first few days, he understood what he was supposed to do. But I quickly learned that completing the three-day method and being completely independent with the potty in every environment are two very different things. Daycare was

Halloween with a toddler is one of those things that sounds simple until you actually have to convince a two- or three-year-old to wear a costume for more than five minutes. At this age, I’ve realized the best toddler Halloween costumes aren’t necessarily the most elaborate ones. They’re the costumes kids are actually excited about, can comfortably walk around in and, ideally, don’t require you to spend the entire night adjusting a hat, mask or accessory. This year, we’re lea

If you are about to try the 3-day potty training method, you might be wondering what happens on day four. Is your toddler actually potty trained? Can you leave the house? Can you send them back to daycare? Are accidents supposed to be completely over? I had all of these questions before potty training my toddler. We used the Big Little Feelings three-day potty training approach over a long weekend, and in our experience, the three-day method really did work. By the end of the

Packing preschool lunch every day sounds simple until you realize you have to come up with something your child will actually eat five days a week. My approach is pretty straightforward: I pack foods I know my 3-year-old likes, keep the sides predictable, and don't put pressure on myself to make his lunchbox particularly creative. Now that my son is 3, his preschool lunches look a little different than they did when he was younger. I pack bigger portions, I don't cut everythi

I pack my three year old’s daycare lunch five days a week, which means I have made a lot of toddler lunches at this point. And if there is one thing I have learned, it is that daycare lunch does not need to be complicated. I am not cutting sandwiches into shapes. I am not coming up with a brand new combination every day. And I am definitely not spending 30 minutes making a toddler lunch at 7:30 in the morning. Most mornings, I can pack his entire lunch in about five minutes w

These broccoli cheese tots are one of those toddler recipes I come back to again and again. They're easy, cheesy, and a simple way to get some broccoli into my toddler's meals without making an entirely separate dish. I've simplified the recipe over time, and now I use equal parts broccoli and cheese. My three-year-old loves them, and I've recently started packing them cold in his preschool lunchbox. He eats them that way, too! No food processor. No elaborate prep. Just an ea

When we potty trained my son at 2½, I didn’t want to buy a million things we didn’t need. But there were a handful of potty training essentials that genuinely made the process easier. We followed the three-day potty training method, and while every toddler is different, these are the products we actually used, what I liked about them, and what I’d buy again. If a friend told me she was potty training this weekend, this is what I’d tell her to have ready. 1. The Big Little Fee

Wondering how to potty train your toddler in 3 days? Here's exactly how we potty trained our 2½-year-old, what worked, what didn't, and the products that made the biggest difference. Toddler sitting on a potty chair during potty training. Potty training felt like one of those parenting milestones that everyone had an opinion about. Some people said, "Just wait until they're ready." Others swore by rewards charts. Some said to use pull-ups. Others said never let your child wea

Traveling internationally with a toddler can feel overwhelming, but after taking our own long-haul trip overseas, I learned that it doesn't have to be. Here's everything that made our trip smoother...from the travel gear we swear by to the mindset shift that changed everything. You can find all of my baby and toddler travel tips, guides, and favorite gear in my travel resources. Before We Left, I Was Nervous About Traveling Internationally With a Toddler If you've ever search