“Daddy, look at THIS! I want it!” 

“Mommy, it’s pink! It’s CINDERELLA SHAMPOO! Can I drink it?” 

“I NEED THIS TOW MATER BALL! NO I DON’T WANT TOW MATER I WANT LIGHTENING McQUEEN!” 

Dave looks at me. “Why is marketing so damn effective for kids? They are the biggest suckers for advertising EVER.”

It’s true. If you want to see a toddler meltdown, tell them they can’t have that Thomas the Train frisbee. As parents, it’s incredibly frustrating. Sometimes I feel like the companies responsible are suckering me out of my money because they know a pink princess potty will work for toilet training. They know a Dora water bottle will get Little Miss Picky to drink more liquids. They know a Hello Kitty Band Aid will calm the crying after a scraped knee. And even if your kid has never watched television, they somehow know who all these cartoon characters are. Gah!

But what I’ve come to realize is that gimmicks work because kids just don’t want things to be boring. They want something they can identify with, something that’s fun. So as parents, we can totally use this to our advantage.

Take snacking, for example. I have a heck of a time getting Lucy to snack healthy. I’ve tried every trick in the book and she still whines for granola bars and goldfish. But if I make snacks fun—give her an activity within the snack—it works like a charm.

I give you the Peanut Butter Fishin’ Hole. Stick pretzels in a lake of peanut butter (hippie peanut butter—natural with no added sugar), surrounded by dried blueberries.

The sticky peanut butter allows your little one to “fish” for blueberries. I guarantee you’ll hear “Mom! I got one!” over and over. Lucy even asks for this one for breakfast.

Her other favorite? The Hummus Hut. Get architectural with some thick hummus, a few baby carrots and some snap peas.

If your kid’s imagination is anything like Lucy’s, they’ll be making up stories about who lives in the house (for her, it’s a monkey and a sock), how they water the garden, where they park the car, what they eat for dinner…and then their humble abode will be munched to pieces. Poor little hut dwellers.

It’s also fun to make hummus cars using olives or grape tomatoes as wheels. Zoom, zoom.

And the last member of my creative snack arsenal is Nutella Builders. Cut up fruit into different shapes and sizes, add a dollop of Nutella and break apart a few graham crackers.

Give your tiny snacker a child-safe knife for spreading the Nutella (or let them use their fingers if you like) and then watch them get creative with the fruit. Clearly I’m not as inspired as my toddler because I made a happy face. Lucy has been known to create puppies, hospitals and motorcycles. If you don’t have Nutella it’s easy to substitute cream cheese, peanut butter, or even hummus with crackers and chopped veggies.

Your little one doesn’t want anything to be dull, so let them use a little creative energy during snack time. You might even be able to steer them toward healthier, whole foods. Steering them away from that Disney Princess Halloween costume, however? Sorry. Can’t help you there.

What are your tricks to get kids to snack healthy?

As she approaches the big 0-2 I’m more amazed than ever that a) we haven’t irreversibly screwed her up yet, b) all of her digits seem to be intact, and c) how much more I love her every single day.

You hear the parenting cliche all the time, but it’s true: there is no love like the love you have for your children, and it only gets bigger and more unimaginable day by day.

Of course there are days when you’d rather jump out the window than hear a Caspar Babypants song one more time. And there are times when you must accept that they have inherited your more charming qualities (or those of your husband…see above).

But when then they emerge from underneath the Christmas tree with a shit-eating grin and proclaim, “Mommy give Lucy tacos for Christmas!” all is quickly forgiven. Especially since all she asked for was tacos. And a Chapstick.

She’s so independent, so stubborn (like me), so curious (like her dad), so fierce, and so funny. She knows how to crack a joke, command the attention of a room, get exactly what she wants by outsmarting her opponent (me), bribe, bargain, and push every button in the book.

But she is also incredibly kind and sensitive. Every stuffed animal must be kissed and tucked in at bedtime. She shares toys with her friends (most of the time). She adores me (unless I’m walking her past Trophy Cupcake, instead of inside). She needs her dad like she needs oxygen. She has buckets of love for her grandparents (in the pic above she’s “helping” Papa put together a storage system for her room).

A friend asked us the other day what we think she’ll be when she grows up. Dave and I were a bit puzzled—we hadn’t really thought about it.

I answered, “anything she wants to be.” And that’s the truth. I know that wherever her life takes her she will be successful. Whatever she chooses to do, she will do it because it makes her happy. And when she’s not happy I’ll stand by her and hold her hand until she is.

And whoever she turns out to be—gay or straight, democrat or republican, astrophysicist or barista—I will be so incredibly proud of my little girl. And I will continue to love her more every single day, not just for who she is but for all of the joy and love and laughter that she brings to my life.

As she continues to grow and change she’ll only burn brighter, bringing that joy and love and laughter to other lives as she breezes through this world with that contagious grin. And I hope that every Christmas, no matter what else is on her list, she will always ask me for tacos.

-RDG