Tip #48: Make your own fruit concentrates from dehydrated fruits

In the search for how to make prune puree for adding to yogurt to aid in my son's digestive system, I found the best way to do this is to rehydrate prunes and puree, adding extra water as needed.  This turns out to be an awesome way to make concentrated fruit purees for adding to cereal and yogurt, without having to buy baby food.  To make apricots for example, rehydrate by steaming them, I found about 30minutes to be sufficient.  Next, puree them with water as needed, now freeze in ice cube trays! Now you have yummy fruit with all the fun fiber.  Because of the skins, this is definitely for a baby at the age that can handle a bit of chunkiness in their food, about 9months I believe in most cases.  When you buy the dehydrated fruit, watch for what agents may have been added (sulfates for example are often used), but in most cases you can find fruit with no additives at places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Tip #47: Encourage standing with toys

A friend of ours gave us a great tip.  Once their daughter had started pulling to a stand holding one toy, they would tempt her with another toy to encourage her to let go and stand all on her own.  Worked with ours too!  Turns out there's an irresistability to holding as many toys as possible to little ones.