Cot sheets for daycare? And what to feed an almost 2-year-old?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had to provide their own sheets for daycare cots? Does a regular crib sheet work okay? If not, does anyone have recs for where to buy decent cot sheets?

Also I'm running low on ideas for lunch for my 22 month old. Daycare has a fridge and microwave but we resort to a lot of pasta and mac and cheese.

Lastly, when do you stop cutting things up into tiny morsels? At home he eats bigger chunks but I am scared of him choking at daycare (when honestly I'm not sure how closely any one kid is being watched at a given moment) so I chop everything up tiny.

Thanks all!

[Anonymous]

Lunch ideas:
Black beans & rice
Cut up some chicken and mix with peas
Single serve quiches--Mix about 6 eggs, a little milk, shredded cheese and chopped spinach or other veggies in a bowl. Pour into muffin tins and bake. Put each one in a ziplock Baggie and freeze. You'll have enough for the week.
Quesadilla--ham, apple slice and cheese. Again, make a bunch for the week, freeze and then pull out each day.

[Anonymous]

We have always just sent a crib sheet and a small blanket. They send it home on Friday to be washed.

Re food... we are limited in that we cannot send meat (Jewish daycare/preschool). I send some combination of the below:
- sunbutter and peanut butter and jelly sandwich (DS's request... he was in a nut free room one year so we did sunbutter, now he likes both) (many days)
- leftover pasta - if it's plain noodles I'll throw a couple veggie "meatballs" on top. Or tortellini or mac and cheese
- yogurt (usually this goes for breakfast though)
- small container of beans (black beans, garbanzos, kidney beans, whatever we have in the house. He loves beans)
- small container of veggies (either thawed frozen veggies such as corn/peas, or cut up fresh veggies. Sometimes he gets a small salad with lettuce, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, etc)
- some kind of fruit. Hopefully fresh (apples, grapes, orange, etc) but I keep the little cups of mandarins for days when we don't have fresh fruit in the house
- string cheese or other cheese slices

I like to give him a "well rounded" meal but he doesn't always eat all of it. Sometimes he'll ask for a bar of some sort or if we have treats in the house he'll ask for one (like a cookie)... if he's being good in the morning I'll oblige.

I think I stopped cutting things up around 2... can't really remember. I usually still cut grapes if I'm sending them to school.

[Anonymous]

Ask about the size of sheets needed. At my daughter's day care, crib sheets (not pack n play) sheets work. We just bought some Aiden and Anias sheets from Target when they were on clearance. Each kid keeps two sheets at school - one to use, one as a back up. And each kid has a blanket.

For lunch, one of our go-tos is quinoa balls. We make them in big batches and freeze.

http://littlegrazers.com/feta-red-pepper-and-spinach-quinoa-balls/

[Anonymous]

my son (22 months) is addicted to boiled corn on the cob, apple slices (one whole apple a day), any kind of chicken or beef, hamburgers (basically a meat eater). Oh and grapes and clementines and popcorn.

He used to enjoy but now rejects, broccoli and cheese, stir fried mushrooms, grilled asparagus.

Now he's literally on the meat and corn/apple diet above.
He is also obsessed with almonds and walnuts. I'm sure he could have 50 pieces if I allowed it. But will eat 10 at a serving. I serve only once a week b/c I don't know if he should be having so many.

For quick meals we serve nuggets, fries, and prepacked fish you can bake.

Occasionally he'll have a yogurt cup, cheese, crackers.

He likes on occassion thick pasta noodles he can pick up and eat like penne, or fussuli in a homemade meat/red sauce.

He won't touch bread, rice, or most carbs, so we struggle there. However this weekend he saw his older sister eating bread with nutella and had a lick and had two slices afterwards so who I am going to try that again.

He's a very picky eater and eats his 'safe' foods. Not willing to try very much. So I feel like I always need to have meat and certain fruit/veg on hand otherwise he'll starve himself.

[Anonymous]

I tend to send a lot of pasta too or chicken nuggets. I will also send soup, cut up ham steak, fresh veggies or fruit, cheese, and some sort of treat. I will also send dinner leftovers if we have them. I am always looking for new ideas. My once adventurous 3.5 year old is now a very picky eater.

[Anonymous]

Crib sheets work perfectly for day care cots.

[Anonymous]

We send a lot of meatball+side of grain+cooked veggie dishes; fresh fruit or berries, and boiled
Egg for after nap. We are lucky that he's not a picky eater.

[Anonymous]

http://www.birdseye.com/vegetable-products/steamfresh-pure-simple-blends/broccoli-cauliflower

http://www.birdseye.com/vegetable-products/steamfresh-sauced-seasoned/pasta-broccoli-with-cheese

Frozen peas like everyone said

Carrots cooked until mushy

Even mushrooms, sometimes

Corn

[Anonymous]

Wow nuts and popcorn? Total choking hazard.

Anonymous wrote:my son (22 months) is addicted to boiled corn on the cob, apple slices (one whole apple a day), any kind of chicken or beef, hamburgers (basically a meat eater). Oh and grapes and clementines and popcorn.

He used to enjoy but now rejects, broccoli and cheese, stir fried mushrooms, grilled asparagus.

Now he's literally on the meat and corn/apple diet above.
He is also obsessed with almonds and walnuts. I'm sure he could have 50 pieces if I allowed it. But will eat 10 at a serving. I serve only once a week b/c I don't know if he should be having so many.

For quick meals we serve nuggets, fries, and prepacked fish you can bake.

Occasionally he'll have a yogurt cup, cheese, crackers.

He likes on occassion thick pasta noodles he can pick up and eat like penne, or fussuli in a homemade meat/red sauce.

He won't touch bread, rice, or most carbs, so we struggle there. However this weekend he saw his older sister eating bread with nutella and had a lick and had two slices afterwards so who I am going to try that again.

He's a very picky eater and eats his 'safe' foods. Not willing to try very much. So I feel like I always need to have meat and certain fruit/veg on hand otherwise he'll starve himself.

[Anonymous]

I rotate between the following for my soon to be 16 month old....

Fruits/Vegetables:
Pomegranate seeds (she LOVES...)
Grapes
Bananas
Clementines
Avocados
Frozen peas/corn kernels
Applesauce

Protein:
Applegate roasted turkey/ham
TJ turkey Meatballs
TJ hotdogs
Smoked salmon
Cheese sticks
Fresh mozerella balls

Snacks:
TJ mini crackers w/ pb or cheese
Teddy grahams
Annie's cookies or cheddar bunnies

Breakfast foods:
TJ silver dollar pancakes w/ syrup
Waffles w/ syrup