Top 5 time savers and tantrum spoilers

1) Put baby's shoes on in the car while he is strapped in his seat. This saves you endless amounts of time (and frustration) so that you are not bent over, chasing baby and his wiggly feet around the house. Unless, of course, you have slight memory loss (as I do) and you forget to throw the shoes in your bag on your way to the gym and you have to turn the car around, take baby out, run upstairs, find the shoes, run back downstairs and strap baby back into the car. At this point, all time saved is lost....and then some.
(p.s. any strapping mechanism will be appropriate for this task. The high chair works wonderfully as well.)

2) If you want baby to eat something, eat it yourself first. For some reason, he only trusts your cooking/food preparation skills if he sees you consume it with his own eyes. If you "mmmm" and "awwww" about it with wild, exaggerated, happy, facial expressions, all the better. Today alone I have consumed bites of oatmeal, a fruit cup, banana, yo baby yogurt, mashed green beans, babybell cheese, and saltless, tasteless crackers. And the day is only half done.

By the way, the opposite of this is also true. If you do NOT wish baby to consume something, do not eat it in front him. This especially goes for chex mix, peanut butter and jelly crackers, low fat pringles and Shiner Bock. Baby will throw himself on the ground and scream if you do not share.

3) Hide all books from baby until it is designated reading time. Ok, this may sound harsh, but if books are left lying around, be prepared to read "Pajama Time" and "Teeth are not for Biting" 50 times a day. This plan may not always work, either. If your baby has 10/10 super power xray vision, he will find those books in a matter of minutes even if they are on a shelf that's 9 feet high. He will then proceed to stand below that shelf pointing and whining until you eventually cave and pull one down.

4) Clip baby's nails while he is sleeping. This is just common sense people. Otherwise, you will have a bloody mess.

5) Quaker caramel corn rice cakes. Buy a bag. Seriously. Baby will stop crying immediately if you tempt him with this sweet and savory snack. I never said I was too good for a bribe.