MayJune05 Babies - Toddlers Already?!

[psusna]

Tgray: SSSSSOOOOOOOO cute!!!

Sasha: Wowzers! Go Sarah.

On the way home yesterday my little backseat driver pointed out and identified 2 school busses and a bunch of balloons outside a new subdivision. Then promptly went into tantrum mode when we got home. I can't take this much longer. It's not the tantrums themselves, it's the screaming! We did a PnP time out last night so we'll see how it goes.

[Carissa]

Grace is another Elmo lover, she loves Sesame Street period but is especially fond of Elmo and Cookie Monster. We bought her an Elmo chair a couple weeks ago and loves it :)
She has had an exciting week with words. We got her saying "thank you" just need to work on the "please" part. she has also started to imitate me when we do animal sounds. It's pretty big for us since she has shown no signs of really wanting to talk that much.

[Dreshny]

Asher is finally really starting to walk. He likes to walk everywhere holding hands, and he can walk several steps on his own, too. It is so weird seeing him vertical.

Shoes: Anyone's kid have Umi shoes? My MIL was watching Asher yesterday, and she wanted to buy him his first pair of shoes. So she got him measured at a local store, and apparently his foot is too narrow to wear Stride Rites. Instead, she spent $50 (ouch!) on these for him:
http://www.uniquehomestore.com/imagesosb1/1146_1.jpg
I think they're cute, BUT, they seem awfully hard and heavy for a baby who's always gone barefoot or worn soft shoes. I actually ordered him these from Pedoodles:
http://www.pedoodles.com/shopimages/products/normal/medium-sporty.gif
They're supposed to have very soft rubber soles. Haven't received them yet, though, and it will probably be a few weeks, since I got them though a coop. Maybe I should return/exchange the Umis?


He's a talking machine! It's a little scary. I'd say he has more than 40 words already. :eek: He also makes animal sounds for cow, cat, dog, lion, sheep, bear, rabbit ("boing, boing"), and fish (open and close mouth with no sound.) This morning he said "umbrella."

My mom babysat for him last week, and she told me he was handing her books and saying "read it." I didn't believe her...until my MIL babysat and told me the same thing! :cool:

And here's a weird question about toxic-smelling poop: um, anyone else, uh, experiencing this? For a long, long time, Asher's poop was pretty inoffensive, but in the last few weeks we have to take the diaper outside right away, or it literally stinks up the whole apt. It doesn't actually smell like poop (you know, like dog poop or people poop); more like something acidic and toxic. I know he's teething--maybe it's that? It's horrible, though. No matter how many times you wipe him, he still stinks for hours afterwards.

[ahavnes]

Stalemate after sickness?? Abbey was learning so quickly before she got sick, and now she seems to be content with crawling again and using her same old words. Is this normal? I’m sure it is, but sometimes I just feel like she’s behind the other kids. She does have a good vocabulary, but she hasn’t added any new words in a while. I wonder if it’s b/c she was concentrating on walking and then got sick. Sorry, I’m rambling.:o

Tantrums- Wow. We had a big one at the grocery store yesterday. Silent cry leading up to screaming at the checkout. Everyone was staring. It was awesome. :rolleyes: Even worse, I have no idea what triggered it.

Backseat Driver- Yesterday we had to take Scott’s car b/c mine was being serviced. When we got into the car, Abbey said “dada.” She did it when I picked her up from school too. She already knows the difference between cars. Too funny.

Sesame Street- We have a big Elmo fan here too. We sing the song all the time, only we changed it to "Abbey's World." Elmo's World was about cats yesterday (her favorite thing) and I thought she was going to explode with happiness. :) She actually said his name the other day perfectly and totally out of the blue. I can't wait to get her a Tickle Me Elmo and an Abby Cadabby doll for C-mas. :)

Sasha- That is really impressive! :)

[alienhost]

tgray VERY cute!

Sasha Counting, wow that's impressive.

Dreshny 40 spoken words? Wow!

We had a friend over w/ her 18 month old. I was so impressed by her speaking skills. DD was looking at the flowers outside and her little friend said "careful". So funny. She also was saying "come out" (of the Super Yard Play yard) and "help" when her mom didn't take her out right away.

toxic poop I dump poop in the toilet and flush it b/c DD's stinks! That way the diaper pail is a lot less stinky.

ahavnes if she is concentrating on walking then I think it is normal for new words and things to be at a stalemate. She probably is working so hard on the walking.

Sesame Street/Elmo Elmo is by far her favorite. She'll stop in her tracks when he comes on but sort of ignores the rest of the show unless something really interesting is on.

new word I brought out an apple yesterday and she said "apple". I thought it was interesting b/c I have not worked on "apple" since we've been eating more summer fruits. The whole learning dynamic is so interesting. She won't say "cantaloupe" though ;)

ETA: this week she has started really saying "no". If I tell her "no" she shakes her head back and forth and says "no". She even does "no" and the head shake when she does something she knows she shouldn't (throw food/cup), before I get a chance to say no. I *guess* she understands 'No' but I have to keep myself from laughing b/c it is pretty funny.

[Sasha]

Alicia - There is an Elmo DVD that is Elmo Pets...all about dogs and cats. We bought it for our plane trip and it was a huge hit because Sarah is all about "doggies" and "kittees". I bet Abbey would love it too! As for the stalemate, I definitely remember when Sarah got out of the hospital last March, it seemed like she slowed down in all of her progression. But I think it only lasted like a week or so, and then she was back to normal. And when they are concentrating on walking, the vocab definitely takes a backseat. Hang in there, Abbey is doing great!

[Dreshny]

alienhost: (Sorry if TMI) I can't dump the poop in the toilet, because it's rarely solid. He still nurses frequently. It's not runny, but not solid, either. Ick.

[tgray99]

Dreshny: Aidan walks way better in her hard Stride Rites than barefooted. I think it's because they're more stable. She tends to have more balance trouble when she's in her flexible sandals or barefooted. They help hold her feet in place and support her ankles. I'd give the hard-soled ones a chance...kids have been wearing hard-soled shoes for years and learning to walk before the soft-soled/barefooted thing started. FWIW, Aidan is barefooted in the house all the time and can still walk.

[Jessiesmama]

Resolving Sleep Issues
I've been missing from this thread because I've been battling sleep issues for the last few weeks. (really the last 13 months) but I've been gearing up to make a change and finally ST for the last 3 weeks. We started on Wednesday night. Tonight will be the third night. I started a threat in the 0-18 month section if anyone is interested.
http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24536

Camp Grandma
My mom watches DD 4 days/wk and she teaches her so much every day. DD is counting to 4 now and understands a new concept every time I pick her up. Mom spent last week on the tantrums. When DD is having a melt down or throwing a fit b/c she's not getting her way, mom tells Jessie "No whining" and Jessie stops crying and repeats her. Then mom says "use your words" - Jessie will say "words" then she calmly points to what she wants or says what she wants. I just try to take what mom teaches her and remain consistent with her. I feel so inadequate as a mother when my mom is so successful with teaching DD and I feel like I teach her much less. But I try to look at the bright side and just focus on the fact that she's learning and that I'm so lucky to have my mom doing the teaching!

Elmo
Her hero - she calls him "Mo". For her b-day my Aunt in Florida sent her the Chicken Dance ELmo. If it wasn't for the fact that Jessie loved it so much I would have thrown it out the window on the second day. Holy annoying. I left that gift at mom's house!;)

Speaking and understanding
Jessie's vocabulary is tremendous. She also understands everything. I can even ask her is she has pee-pee or poo-poo in her diaper and she tells me. I think I'll have to start the potty training process sooner rather than later. My mom also taught her about wiping her tushy. She'll take a piece of TP and wipe her tush (with her clothes on) then use the same piece to wipe her nose... We haven't gotten to the lesson on hygiene yet... But she's getting the concept.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice about ST I'd love to hear it. I totally should have done this 8 months ago - but I was a wimp and just prayed that it would resolve itself. :rolleyes: I'm such a first-time mom...

[allyray231]

Dreshny: Aidan walks way better in her hard Stride Rites than barefooted. I think it's because they're more stable. She tends to have more balance trouble when she's in her flexible sandals or barefooted. They help hold her feet in place and support her ankles. I'd give the hard-soled ones a chance...kids have been wearing hard-soled shoes for years and learning to walk before the soft-soled/barefooted thing started. FWIW, Aidan is barefooted in the house all the time and can still walk.

Ditto on this. Aiden walks really well in his Stride Rite shoes. They are a little heavy but he walks soo much better outside then in (he is barfoot inside all the time)

poop Sometimes it is REALLY bad.

ahavnes Aiden will say a word and then next week not say it again. I am sure it is because she was sick.

SS we are fans here but he isn't nuts for it. Now Jack's Big Music Show is a WHOLE other story!!

[cynder]

I got to laugh because seriously all your kids have a much better vocab than my boy. We still get "dog" as "dag" and points to his teeth for everything. Counting and hygene?!? That's awesome!

So I do have to say that we have a voracious reader. The other day I came home to find DH reading a financial prospectus to DS and he was looking and listening intently. After catching up on the day, DS then grabbed the prospectus, held it like he was reading with his finger, then gave to DH and laid down on the sofa pillow. After a few times, we realized he wanted a bedtime story. We've been reading 2 children's book and excerpts from my adult books until he finishes his sippy. He's always grabbing what we read and then handing it back to us and grunting to us to read to him.

But we still get "dog" as "dag".

[happy1nuv]

Nic's a big reader too, but not such a good speaker. Everything is still dada. DH swears he's said mama, but I wouldn't know that. He can point to the pictures in his brown bear book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see .... by Eric Carle.... GREAT book for pointing to animals/colors...)

Poop~ Oh yea. Hugely stinky. Up til a few weeks ago, we were just throwing his diapers out in the garbage...Now, they go outside ASAP. It's gross. (I think Nic's teething too - molars - but, not sure if thats what happened...ugh)

Shoes ~ I think I'm going to order a pair of preschoolians for Nic. Theyre a lil more expensive than I'd like for baby shoes, but its a FIGHT to get his stride rites on. And, yesterday, he was wearing them and all of sudden started screaming and wouldn't stop (after they were on for 45 min already). Took his shoes off an hour later, and his toe was red... No clue why...he's barely a size 5 (we bought size 5's when he was a big 4, not quite 4 1/2...) Ugh... Anyone try them?

[psusna]

Words: He is saying more and trying more each day. I’d say he’s around 25 now. His teacher told me this morning that no matter what she does for or helps him with that he always says thank you :) He’s also into the animal sounds and woofs if we pass a dog. He does dog, cat, duck, bunny (hop hop), and cow. Oh yea, he also says mine. Great. He is better and better at following instruction and goes to the steps when he needs his diaper changed, calling for mimi (apparently the new, more in style version of mama) or daddy to go with him. He is still wanting to read and we keep encouraging it .

SS: Not big into TV here. He does love Jack’s Big Music Show which we TiVo and watch on a weekend morning.

Shoes: Ditto what everyone else says about StrideRite shoes and barefoot and walking , etc. He’s got big ole wide feet so it’s hard to find any non-StrideRite shoes.

Poop: Oh yea. It’s at its worst when he is teething. Stanky stank!

Jessiesmama: Is Camp Grandma accepting applications???? We do the “use your words” thing too and are waiting for it to work! Your mom rocks. She should write a book :)

[wendstress]

Words... Our dogs name is "Chili". James learned to say it this weekend, "Che-ee". Now, every animal is "Che-ee." Jon was pointing out his Deer Mount to James and James pointed to it and said "Che-ee".

Too cute. And yes, we'll join the club, he's saying more and more every day. He repeats tons of what we say, but doesn't retain too much. His top 3 words right now are Hi, No, and Chili.

[Carissa]

Shoes I picked up a pair of the brand made by stride rite for Target at Target and really like them they were like 12.99.

[allyray231]

Shoes I picked up a pair of the brand made by stride rite for Target at Target and really like them they were like 12.99.

I got a pair of these too


For those of you who's kids have wide feet-SR makes wide shoes. Did you try those?

[HedgeGirl]

SS: Ally, wasn't Aiden's 1st bday sesame street? DS got a huge Elmo for his bday...he likes him but plays with other toys a lot more. Though Elmo (and friends) do make diaper changes easier on us -- we show him the pictures on the Pampers Cruisers and he is more likely to sit still if he gets to hold a diaper during the change. DS says Elmo as "ahhh" but he is able to make cow sounds...Mo makes more sense to me than "Ahh"

Sleep: I'm gonna have to check out the sleep thread. Thanks Jessiesmama

Shoes: I'm not much help because we've only done soft soled here. DS seems to do fine -- he's pretty well balanced so I don't really think the stability of a hard soled shoe is necessary. Plus, there are just so many cute soft soled shoes out there. I just ordered a pair of Preschoolians but I was also looking at those Pedoodles. I think we're going to want a 2nd pair anyway :) That said, we do have a pair of sandals that are harder soled. DS was very wobbly in them at first, but he asks for us to put them on (so he can take them off, of course). Anyway, he has adjusted to the harder soles on those pretty well so I suspect Dreshny, if you give the shoes a chance he'll probably do fine in them. Does Asher seem enamoured with them?

[DisneyGirl]

SHOES: Does someone else make shoes for wide feet beside Stide rite?

[allyray231]

Yup we had a SS Bday. He really like Cookie Monster and Elmo a lot. However, now his tastes have changed a bit. He is all about music and LOVE to dance :)

[IrishEyes]

jessiesmama: We're right there with you on the sleep issues. We would try to ST the way you're doing it, but when we've tried, DS screams for 5 minutes and makes himself throw-up! After cleaning up the kid, crib sheets, and carpet, I decided that wasn't going to work. DS has been hard to get to sleep since he was born. It may be his one and only fault :p . We've tried to keep the bedtime routine the same every night, etc., and its helped a little but he rolls around on our bed for 10-20 minutes then all of the sudden falls asleep. There's no point at which he's drowsy where we can put him in his crib and he'll be content. We wait until he's asleep and put him in the crib. If we try beforehand, he screams like a banshee and makes himself sick :( .

wendtress: love the 'chee ee'!!! how cute!

first fever: DH is home with Brody today. He has his first cold/fever. I don't know how we made it to 15 months without a cold (of course, it helps that he's alone with MIL everyday). At least he's drinking milk, but I never realized how awful it is to watch your DC sick.

[jrdhbunny]

Disney- I don't think I ever answered your question- we are close to 80; you take 80 W until 380, then you take that into Scranton.

jessiesmama- As you know from my post in your thread, I'm right there with you with the sleep training woes. We were going to start initiating a more rigorous bedtime routine and try to get him in earlier last night, but it was opening night for the NFL and the Steelers were playing. 'Nough said. :rolleyes: But tonight we are going to make an effort.

Elmo/Sesame Street- We don't really watch the tv show, but James has several DVDs and he really likes them, especially Favorite Songs 1 and 2. I'll have to get the Pets one because DS is all about animals. His favorite show in the world is "Brum". He also likes "Peep".

Talking- He understands everything, but doesn't say so much. If we ask him to repeat a word after we've said it he does, but he doesn't use them spontaneously (except for "mom" and "dad"). He does sign a lot; every day he signs "vaccuum", "car", "airplane", "eat". Some other popular ones are "flower", "rain", "thunder", and "guitar". Oh and Jim taught him to ball up his fists and grimace like a football player when you say "Pittsburgh Steelers" :D

Shoes- James wore his Stride Rights outside until recently because they don't fit anymore. Now he wears these great Nikes, but they're on the verge of being too small too- he's pretty much a size 6 now. We never did put the soft soled shoes like Robeez on him- he was always either barefoot inside or outside with shoes.

HELP!- I am still having the toughest time trying to get James to eat real food. Ugh!!! I tried to give him diced peaches today and the kid wouldn't touch them. The only things he eats (other than baby food) are Puffs, cereal, Gerber cookies, raisins and ice cream/yogurt. He is so darned stubborn! I just do not know what to do anymore because he doesn't eat a lot period (he's even picky with the baby food) and I can't imagine making him go all day without eating in order to withold the baby food and make him eat "real" food. He's pooping and peeing so I know he's getting something, but it's very frustrating and every meal is a battle royale.

Edited to add:
We've tried to keep the bedtime routine the same every night, etc., and its helped a little but he rolls around on our bed for 10-20 minutes then all of the sudden falls asleep. There's no point at which he's drowsy where we can put him in his crib and he'll be content. We wait until he's asleep and put him in the crib. If we try beforehand, he screams like a banshee and makes himself sick
Irish Eyes- we cross posted but we do the exact same thing with James (lie with him in our bed then transfer him when he's asleep).

[DisneyGirl]

JRD I was just trying to get an idea how far you lived from me.

[DisneyGirl]

(I know I had mentioned this on Wednesday)
I also wrote this same post in the 18-4yr old thread:

What would you do?

My DS just started a Nursery School Program 3 mornings a week and my Problem is that he is the only boy in the class with 10 girls. Of course I want him to be friends with girls and play with girls, however I was really wanting him to be friends with little boys as well. To play trucks, cars ect with during free play. He has a sister at home who is 19 months younger than he so he has enough time with girls and me all day.
So, if you were me would you talk/ask the teacher and see if I can put him into the afternoon 3 day a week class? ( I know that there are 4 boys in the afternoon class, because I looked at the snack sign up sheet outside the classroom) Or do you think I should just leave him be?

The only reason I want to leave him be is because a little girl who lives across the way from us is in his class,however she also has a few friends in that class from last year, so when i peak threw the windows that little girl is playing with her little girlfriends and no so much DS.

Can you please help me figure out what to do.. Maybe I am just overthinking this whole things.

ETA: I have no problem with DS playing dolls..ect and I don't want him to just play boy things. I want him to experience all play.

[ahavnes]

Abbey loves to read too. You would think she would have a ginormous vocab with all of the reading we do. I can't believe some of you are up to 25 (or 40!!) words! Abbey says about 10 words, but I'd say she understands most of what we say to her. She's a funny kid. Even though we read the "Aminal Sounds" book every day, she will only do the sounds for dog and cat. But she knows which car is Daddy's, even though she's never ridden in it. :confused:

Shoes- Hah! I have no idea if Abbey has wide feet b/c she won't let us measure them. I took her to Stride Rite and she pitched an all-out fit when the lady tried to measure her feet. It was weird. :cool:

Irish Eyes- I hope Brody feels better soon!

Sasha- Thanks soooo much for the tip on the video. I am taking Abbey to Houston alone next weekend (3 hour drive) so Elmo will come in handy in the car dvd player. ;)

jrdhbunny- I wish I had some advice for you in the food dept. Luckily, I have a pretty good eater. Sorry! Does your ped have any advice?

Disney- I have no idea if it matters developmentally, but if you think DS would be happier with other little boys, then you should switch him. He'll be able to play with the little girl across the street plenty of other times. :)

[diedra1027]

Vocab - Avery is in the huge vocab department too, although I've noticed her slowing down on adding new words lately. I've never bothered to count how many words she says, but I'd guess between 50-60. Many of those words probably wouldn't be understood by anyone but DH and I (and I often have to tell DH what she is saying). For example 'water' comes out 'watty', 'ready' sounds like 'body'. She's been saying what sounds like 'own' over and over and over (and OVER!!) for two days now and I have no idea what she's talking about yet (it took me two weeks to figure out her 'ready'!).

shoes - I haven't really seen a difference between the hard and soft soled shoes with Avery. I have noticed that she does tend to trip more while wearing the hard shoes inside (we usually just go barefoot inside).

Elmo - No interest here. She does like her cousin's Elmo sprinkler though :). She doesn't have an interest in watching the TV for more than a few minutes at a time (if that), so her exposure to the characters is very limited.

Disney - Ohhh that's a tough one. I have a little girl who is just as interested in trucks as dolls, but I can understand wanting your guy to get a 'full' range of experiences with his playmates.

jrdh - Is James at all influenced by seeing you eat? Sometimes I can get Avery to eat a little more or try new things by sitting down and eating the same thing with her.

[Jessiesmama]

psuna
Camp Grandma has a wait list. All my friends want to get their kids in. My best friend has an 8 month old and she has him shuffling between Day Care and family all week while she works. My mom actually went out and got a double stroller so that she could accommodate my BF's son if she needed a back-up sitter. My mom is incredible. She takes Jessie to activities during the week (story time at the library, a music program, etc.) - the Ped when she needs to go - I'm very lucky. If I didn't have her I really couldn't work. Knowing mom has everything covered makes it a bit easier to work 1.5 hours from home.

IrishEyes and jrdhbunny
Do Brody and James wake in the middle of the night? What do you do then? That was my problem - and it got to be too much. I could deal with the (longer than life) bedtime ritual - but the night wakings were making it impossible for any of us to get the sleep we needed.

diedra1027
could "own" be phone?? Jessie calls the phone a "shone" she can't say the F sound. But id she sees the cell, a cordless or a regular phone it's "shone...shone....shone"

[tgray99]

SHOES: Does someone else make shoes for wide feet beside Stide rite?

See Kai Run (www.seeekairun.com)

I am taking Abbey to Houston alone next weekend (3 hour drive) so Elmo will come in handy in the car dvd player.
:cool: Jealous. ;)

Words: I really need to sit down and figure out how many words Aidan has. Like a lot of you, a number of them are words that only Ryan and I understand like "Zazoo" is baby. "Baboo" is paci. "Bobble" is her sippy cup. "Ball" is not only a ball but anything round, including fruit. "Zhuzsh" is anything to drink. She signs a lot also. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing a crappy job at this whole SAHM gig because we don't do a whole lot. I completely blank on things to do. Sometimes she plays with her stuff, sometimes she wanders around. Sometimes she brings me a book to read her. She still naps twice a day, her first one is usually about 3 hours long and her second is like 1.5-2 hours. We always watch Sesame Street and we have music playing all day long. So, what do y'all do with your kiddos? I'm coming up empty here. I'm starting to think that she'll be better off once I put her in day care since she's so social and she'll have teachers that know what to do with her. Ugh, sorry to turn this into a vent. :rolleyes:

[Traciann]

wordshmmmm you guys have me a little worried. I am hoping that mary kate will have a word explosion before 18 months. my ped said he would not be concerned until 18 months the main word she says is dada. but i have heard mama, bye bye, night night and baby. but honestly she has only said these words once or twice and they are not a daily occurance. she does sign please and more, and i want to work on more now i know how handy it can be. she undertands alot and will follow commands, just lacking in actual words. i guess she is just taking her time? .

disneyif it wouldn't be an inconvience for you to switch ds to the afternoon class, I would. I don't see a problem with wanting him to be exposed to more boys...11 girls is alot!

Activities here are some things that we do to keep busy. but i think downtime is just as important!
coloring (really this is more like hold the crayons and "talk" to them) she gets very excited about and actually does scribble some.
library/story time-we have a great one and its free!
park, animal park, feed ducks
walks
water the plants, play in the dirt
play in the water - you could use any size storage container and fill it with water, give her cups or spoons and let her play
i have a bunch of mini beach balls i got for super cheap from oriental trading co. i have 20 or so blown up that i keep in a laundry bag and bring out every so often. she really loves chasing the balls all over the house.
books
shopping with mama

[diedra1027]

psuna
diedra1027
could "own" be phone??Hmm...maybe. She has actually been saying phone for a while now, but for the life of me I can not remember if that one comes out 'own' or not! She typically only pulls that word out when she actually sees a phone, but maybe she is trying to ask me to find one of her play phones?

[DisneyGirl]

See Kai Run (www.seeekairun.com)


:cool: Jealous. ;)

Sometimes I feel like I'm doing a crappy job at this whole SAHM gig because we don't do a whole lot. I completely blank on things to do. Sometimes she plays with her stuff, sometimes she wanders around. Sometimes she brings me a book to read her. She still naps twice a day, her first one is usually about 3 hours long and her second is like 1.5-2 hours. We always watch Sesame Street and we have music playing all day long. So, what do y'all do with your kiddos? I'm coming up empty here. I'm starting to think that she'll be better off once I put her in day care since she's so social and she'll have teachers that know what to do with her. Ugh, sorry to turn this into a vent. :rolleyes:

I so understand what you are saying. I too feel like a crappy SAHM that doesn't do much. I bring them outside to play and we go to parks , but how many times a week can we go to the same park and do the same thing day in and day out. For that reason I put my older child in a nursery school program for 2 yr old, just so he can get out of the house and have some interaction with kids his age ect..
Are you going back to work and thats why she will be in day care?

[kimthebride]

Any reason I didn't get notification on any of the 6,000 posts in the last 2 days??!!

Anyhoo...

Words
Thomas still only says a few: mama, dada, bye-bye, hi, baby and repeats a random word here & there. But he does know what a lot of things mean, like fruit or truck or whatever. I figure with time words will come!

TV
He looooooves Jacks Big Music Show!! Puppets + Music + Laurie Berkner "videos" = FUN. I turned it on today and he actually ran over to me to give me a hug and kiss.

Shoes
He's barefoot indoors but in solid-soled shoes outdoors. He does well in hard soles, I think it keeps him steadier on uneven ground.
The other day both DH & I came home with new pairs of shoes for DS. I got him some black Converse
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:98lKur0ID_YMjM:www.playersarena.com/images/Converse/black%2520hi%2520cut.jpg
Amd DH got him 2 pair of Nikes - green & black Shox and a blue & white retro-looking low sneaker. We are too alike, lol!

New Talent
DH gave him his bath last night, and we have this bath toy:
http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/51/99/Fisher_Price_Sesame_Street_Tub_Pots_and_Pans_Bath_ Hygiene_Accessories-resized200.jpg
Well....when DH held out the red spaghetti pan asking Thomas if he wanted to cook some pasta, my gifted child stood up and peed right into the pan! TOP THAT, LADIES!!! My boy's got AIM! :cool:

Camp Grandma
Many of you know I am house hunting. What you don't know is we are looking to move near Jodie's mom so I can kick Jessie out of the program and get DS some serious tutoring. ;)

Disney
As a mom with friends who mostly have girls, I see what you are saying. Sure, nothing wrong with a boy being surrounded by girls but if you want him to have more exposure to boys since he gets so much girl exposure at home...I see nothing wrong with moving him around, as long as its the same level as is appropriate for him.

Stinky Poop
New foods = new stinks. Every single poop diaper I change gets put into a diaper disposal bag before being tossed out, and the trash goes out daily. YUCK. Lord knows how that kind of a stink comes out such a cute little bum.

[DisneyGirl]

...


Well....when DH held out the red spaghetti pan asking Thomas if he wanted to cook some pasta, my gifted child stood up and peed right into the pan! TOP THAT, LADIES!!! My boy's got AIM! :cool: [quote]


OMG! How funny is that!

[quote]Disney
As a mom with friends who mostly have girls, I see what you are saying. Sure, nothing wrong with a boy being surrounded by girls but if you want him to have more exposure to boys since he gets so much girl exposure at home...I see nothing wrong with moving him around, as long as its the same level as is appropriate for him.

Yeah it would be the same program, same days with the same teachers..ect it would just be in the afternoon instead of the AM.

Maybe its just me creating a big deal out of nothing when DS most likely could careless.

[jrdhbunny]

ARGH! My entire post just got erased! ARGH!

Anyway...

Kim- We have the same Converse for DS. They're a little big, but I'm looking forward to when he can wear them- so cute! And great aim, Thomas!:D

Disney- I think I would have the same concern as you. I think it's important for kids to have interaction with both sexes.

tgray99- I'm very new to the whole SAHM thing so no real advice. You're probably doing a wonderful job. I worry that we're not doing enough learning stuff, but I think at this age children learn so much from what seems to us to be the the simplest day-to-day tasks- the best thing we can do is talk to them and include them in as much as we can. Like Traciann said, it's ok for them have downtime and to play quietly by themselves for periods of time too; it helps them process what they've "learned".
Indoors we read, color, play with his toys, and do some housework together (he loves to help me sweep- he has his own toy broom- and unload the dryer). We also watch a little TV in the morning- I try and use it as a way to show him what certain things are called that he might not see in his everyday life. He's not too content inside the house though; his favorite thing in the world is to go outside. Unfortunately our yard is very small and not fenced in and he hates holding my hand for very long which causes us both frustration, but luckily there's a cute park within walking distance (I'm not driving yet).

jessiesmama- We bring him back into our bed. We try to put him back in his crib after that, but he wakes up in mid-transfer. We wind up keeping him with us. It's definitely got to stop though- I recognize that we're doing the wrong thing- we are just going to have to deal with the crying.

ahavnes- We haven't seen our ped here yet, but our NYC ped told us to stop giving baby food altogether and only offer "real" food. Like I said before, I cannot imagine how to do that- he's so stubborn I think he'd starve!

diedra- He's such a little mimic, you'd think he'd imitate us when we eat. Nope. When I made a big deal out of eating one of the peaches I gave him today, he picked one up and fed it to me. :rolleyes: He wouldn't open his mouth for anything.

[tgray99]

Disneygirl: Yes, I'm looking for a job right now. I'll be subbing and I have an application in with Auburn University that's gone to the hiring committee. We just have to get Ryan's bonus so he can buy another vehicle.

Kimthebride: Wow, very impressive! ;)

Activities: Ya know, you'd think someone who has taken as many education classes as I have would know how to play with a child. I believe in play as an educational tool, totally buy into the Montessori Methodology but I have NO FREAKIN' clue how to play with a 16 month old. :rolleyes: I checked out a book on the subject but it hasn't helped much. This is where I miss my mom. She taught preschool and babysat kids for years and totally gets little people and loves playing with them. She could get Aidan to do things in a day that would take me weeks to teach. Ugh, I miss my mommy. :( It's starting to cool off here, we might be hitting a nearby park soon so we can at least get outside.

[DisneyGirl]

tgray I know what you mean when you say you have no idea how to play with a 16 month old. I too find myself saying "what the hell can we actually play with and have fun together".
I recently found that she LOVES playing ball. I will kick the ball around the yard and she will chase it all the while laughing so loudly. Other than that I have no clue.

[Traciann]

kim thomas is a genius! i bought that exact toy to give to mk for christmas.

jrdhbunnyyou are so right about the household chores. i forgot about that.

I went to my first MOPS meeting this year, and as I was driving in today I realized that last year this time I had 4 month old. It just seems so crazy to me how quickly it goes by. I ccan't even THINK about next year when I have a TWO year old.

[ahavnes]

This is where I miss my mom. She taught preschool and babysat kids for years and totally gets little people and loves playing with them. She could get Aidan to do things in a day that would take me weeks to teach.

Same here! My mom lives in Miami so we don't see her too much, but she is so good with Abbey and loves playing with her. I hate to admit it, but I get bored after a while. :o I love spending time with Abbey, but I draw a blank a lot of the time on how to stimulate her. I think that's why she's so grumpy half the time. She's probably bored. ;)

[tgray99]

Same here! My mom lives in Miami so we don't see her too much, but she is so good with Abbey and loves playing with her. I hate to admit it, but I get bored after a while. :o I love spending time with Abbey, but I draw a blank a lot of the time on how to stimulate her. I think that's why she's so grumpy half the time. She's probably bored. ;)
THANK YOU for saying this! I've thought it a lot and never wanted to say anything because I thought it was the only one that ever thought it. I completely agree with everything you said.

[allyray231]

I am with you ladies. This morning I was sitting there all tired with Aiden and thought-man I should be doing MORE with him!!

I miss my mom too-only see her once a month. Both her and my dad are great with Aiden.

[jrdhbunny]

Yeah- my mom is great with James. She's only seen him a handful of times, but he takes to her like a duck to water. The last time they were together, he cried when she left. :(

I really want to learn to drive so I can take James to hang out with his three cousins- they live 20 minutes away now. We had dinner over there the other night and he was loving being with them. I try to be as "childlike" when with James, but since his cousins are 8, 7, and 4, they are actually children and can relate to James as such. Does that make sense?

[alienhost]

jessiesmama wow your Mom is awesome! I'm very impressed...I hope the ST is going well for you. Stick with it, she'll be trained in no time I'm sure.

Irish Eyes sorry to hear DS is sick

kimthebride LOL, too funny!

Disneygirl I'm surprised they didn't try to "level out" the class more by gender. If it's not a pain to do you could switch him as I also think it's helpful to interact w/ both boys and girls. If you don't it's probably not too big a deal.

jrdhbunny I don't have too much advice for you, but to just keep offering things. Maybe try just one new thing at a time so he doesn't get overwhelmed? I know you are afraid he will starve but I've always heard that if they are hungry they will eat. Maybe try something new when you know he is really hungry? I've found if DD is only mildly hungry she won't eat things she doesn't "love" but if she is very hungry (like napped a long time and now it's been 5 plus hours since she ate) she will try something new if it is presented to her. Good luck.

SAHM stuff there are days I definitely wonder if I'm doing enough interesting stuff.

- I do let her play independently for periods of time, while I clean up the dishes or I'll sit on the couch and just watch her. I think it's good for her to entertain herself.
- we read or look through a lot of books.
- I give her instructions and try to get her to do them (like "go get the teddy bear and bring it to mama" or "where is Nemo, can you find him") She follows directions pretty well and understands when I ask her.
- I walk her around the yard, let her touch the trees/leaves/flowers. I tell her what everything is,
- we talk lots of walks
- go to the playground and play on the swings/slide, let her watch other kids
- playgroups once per week
- have friends over with kids
- she watches me fold laundry and I tell her what everything is called ("pink t-shirt etc.)
- we to to the grocery store and I tell her about stuff there (like in the produce section)
- I tried crayons a month or so ago and she was eating them so I have that on my list to try again.
- working on signing. Trying to check out another volume of Signing Time from the library.
- she does watch some TV - Sesame Street, Boobah and Barney on occasion.

I'm sure there is other stuff I can't think of. I do a lot of talking to her, telling her what I am doing or what things are (like at meal time, I ask her "do you want more cheese?" and she signs more and cheese and I put it on her tray. If we don't know the sign I just tell her what the item is.

[portlandbride]

I just wanted to add myself to the list of moms who are worried they might be "boring" their child. I try to do as many activites as I can with her, but now that I am so big I hate to admit we've been watching way more TV than I would like.
Since DD is so active I try and take her to a playgroup at least once a week. I am also looking into enrolling her in Gymboree again after the baby gets here. I will also put her in swim lessons.
There are a few preschools here that will take children as young as 18 months that I am going to look into. It's not because I want to get rid of her, I just don't want her to be bored with me and the new baby, you know?
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that you're not the only ones feeling this way! :)

[psusna]

Just had to share one of my finds from a big craft show that I went to today. It's a hand painted piece that is going in the playroom. I thought that it was applicable to our DC's right now :)

Toddlers Creed
If I want it, it's mine
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine
If I can take it away from you, it's mine
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine
If it's mine, it will never belong to anyone else, no matter what
If we are building something together, all of the pieces are mine
If it looks like mine, it's mine

:)

Back later for SOs.

[DisneyGirl]

Same here! My mom lives in Miami so we don't see her too much, but she is so good with Abbey and loves playing with her. I hate to admit it, but I get bored after a while. :o I love spending time with Abbey, but I draw a blank a lot of the time on how to stimulate her. I think that's why she's so grumpy half the time. She's probably bored. ;)

I wonder if thats why my DD is also so grumpy and getting into" trouble" all the time maybe its because she is bored. Interseting.....

[tgr68]

Elmo~DD has a radio that plays the Elmo song! She loves it! I gets on my nerves after a while, and then she starts demanding that I sing the Elmo song along with the radio.

Shoes/Walking~I've noticed that DD is willing to take more steps when she is in shoes with a harder sole than without. I try to by her shoes with the flexible rubber soles.

Camp Grandma~With us, it's GMIL that works so well with DD. I will try to teach her something with no avail, but her Ggma will teach her something and it's the only thing she'll do for a couple of days. :rolleyes: Go figure!

Vocab~DD does well with this, but (I'm not sure if this is because I'm signing to her as I'm teaching her new words or not) she seems so much further behind that what you are all posting. :confused: I'm not really worried about it because she will sit and "read" a book for a half hour or more, can sign and speak several words, follows verbal directions pretty well (as in when she feels like it), etc. Jim taught him to ball up his fists and grimace like a football player when you say "Pittsburgh Steelers" Halarious!!

Activities~DH and I were just talking about how we get bored while entertaining DD here lately. Of course it doesn't help matters when she crawls away the second we sit on the floor and then cries when we get up to do something else. :rolleyes: We visit the library at least once a week, blow bubbles at least once a day, and color every so often. She also has a a soccer ball, basketball, and football that she bats around and puts in the laundry baskets. Sometimes I'll involve her in folding the laundry. I try to her lots of free play, but it still seems as though there is a lot of time when she's bored.

[DisneyGirl]

JRDToo bad we don't live closer..We could let our children play 16 month old stuff together. :)

[tgray99]

I wonder if thats why my DD is also so grumpy and getting into" trouble" all the time maybe its because she is bored. Interseting.....
It's true of puppies, I'm betting it's true of toddlers. ;)

tgr68: We have the Elmo radio. If I've heard "Rock with Elmo" once, I've heard it a million times! Annoying is an understatement. ;)

Activities: I took Aidan to the park today. We played on the playground equipment, the bridge, etc. She hated the slide. Seriously. HATED. Screamed her head off. Then we went over to the swings. This kid loves to swing. The higher the better. Then some ne'er do-wells walked up with backpacks cups with who knows what in them and a little dog. Aidan barked and yelled "puppy!" when she saw it and the people hit the dog and cussed at it. I felt so bad because you could tell the puppy still had it's playful spirit. It probably won't be there for long. Poor sweet little dog. So we left shortly after they got there. I'm pretty sure they were drinking and getting ready to do drugs. Something about them just seemed like they were trouble-makers. I hate that a few bad seeds had to ruin it but Aidan was tiring out.

[alienhost]

tgray I'm sorry your experience at the park wasn't the greatest with those trouble makers there....I actually usually go down the slide w/ DD. Since I'm usually there by myself, I don't have someone to catch her or watch her at the top. If I put her down it myself I hold her and make the "wheeee" sound.

DD went to her first tailgate today. We have season tickets to a college football team with DH's parents. We didn't have a babysitter today so a friend went on my ticket and I drove over, parked as close to the stadium as I could and walked over w/ DD to meet them. It was a 20 minute walk each way, not too bad. DD had fun eating pretzels and cheese its. ;) I thought about taking DD to the game but it's just too long of a day (tailgating at 1 the game started at 3:30 but wasn't over until almost 7:30 or so - overtime).

[kimthebride]

Mommy "Slackerdom"
I find I have an ebb and flow to when I am Supermom and when I am Not Now, Please! Mom.

Right now DS is REALLY into running around the livingroom (its our only babyproofed living space) doing new things over and over. Even when I try to focus him in on something in particular, he seems to have his mind set.

Today he was into:
- piling DH's shoes on the window sill and trying to get all 4 on them on top of each other
- putting random things in his stroller (ie: DH's dirty socks...do you see a trend here? :rolleyes: ) and pushing it around
- taking all the Mega Blocks out of the wagon, all the books out of the book box, all the pieces out of his wooden puzzle
- stacking the nesting cups inside each other

I tried to do body parts, read, get him to play with his Darth Vadar and he kept turning me down to explore on his own. Fine with me! I really do think that around this age they want to do things on their own, build their independance and decision-making, practice new discoveries. So I try not to push.

He "reads" a lot alone, isn't really into me reading to him as of late.
I am constantly identifying things for him, even if he doesn't seem super-interested.
I do the open-ended question...wait for his response...answer the question thing all day long.
We do get out a lot, so he really sees his world and has new non-our-apartment experiences every day. Just that alone I think is a good thing.

Don't forget ladies, even when we are "boring" they are still watching & listening, and figuring things out on their own. They are never bored for too long, in this still-new world of theirs!

Toddler Creed
Target was selling a t-shirt with that on it and I thought it was too funny! It might still be around, if anyone's interested...

[psusna]

Kim: That's hysterical! Thomas cracks me up.

alien: Glad DD enjoyed her tailgate! We wish every fall that we lived near one of our schools. I miss that so much.

Activities: I remembered last night about a great resource provided by DS' school that is also online: www.scholastic.com (http://www.scholastic.com). We get a mag in our box at school from them with a lot of good activities, book/CD/DVD recs, projects. That is where I found the ghost footprint halloween card idea that DS made for his buds last year.

[diedra1027]

Activities - We have a set of wood blocks from Pottery Barn Kids that Avery loves to play with. We stack a few and she'll add a few more on top, then push the tower over. They have great pictures on them, so they've been really great for teaching her new words too.
* Swim lessons
* Baby Dolls have been a great source of entertainment.
* I'm thinking about taking her to Gymboree for something to do in the fall/winter.

[happy1nuv]

So we found a new place to go. (For anyone close to Howell NJ, it's free for the month of Sept since they just opened). It's called Jungle of Fun (www.jungleoffunnj.com) -- it's one of those open play places. Some of the bigger kids were annoying (they have a foam play set that the kids would stand on the lil walls that block off the toddler area from the bigger kids areas and jump onto the top of it...ummm, annoying...) But, Nic did great. We stayed for 2 1/2 hours and he LOVED all the different toys/stuff to do. What he did most... walk around with all of the different ride ons/doll strollers/etc.

Other than that, I highly recommend joining moms groups (we belong to momsclub.org and holisticmomsnetwork.org) -- We have playgroup at least once a week and usually a bunch of other outings as well... it really helps. Keeps us from going to the mall everyday just to get out of the house anyway... and, momsclub really helped me find stuff to do that was relatively local... (Like, who knew that I had a wildlife rescue zoo 30 minutes from me?)

Kim ~ I LOVE that bath toy...must find it. :) And, great aim Thomas!
:)

[Traciann]

happyyou can find the bathtoy at target!

[kimthebride]

Ummm...have you heard?

I'm knocked up. :D

Been really sick (if you haven't noticed me being MIA and rather cranky) but I'm on some good meds and back on my feet. Due 4/18 and I *think* its a girl - we're very excited!

So that's it for now. Must go rest...yay for finally getting my secret out!

[psusna]

Kim: OMG!! Congratulations. H&H 9mo to you. I hope that you are feeling better and that your girl vibes are right. All the best!!

[tgray99]

Yay, Kim! That's so exciting for y'all! I have baby fever like crazy right now. I wanna get knocked up too!!! Congrats!

[allyray231]

:-)

[tgr68]

Yay, Kim!! :D :D :D

[DisneyGirl]

Congrats KIM!!

We were having a dry spell for awhile, so I guess that means we will be having more RO's since they seem to comes in groups around here.
Okay ..who's next????????????

[ahavnes]

Congrats Kim!! :) Going to take my pill now as I'm super scared of this thread.. ;)

Abbey learned to say "thank you" this weekend. It comes out as "dane kew" and is just so cute. I also taught her to point each pointer finger while she dances. It's hilarious. Oh, and she also just started feeding her baby doll with the pretend bottles I got her on Friday. She says "mmmmm" while she's feeding it. Too cute. Ok, done bragging. We had a big weekend developmentally. :)

Activities- I started feeling bad for Abs b/c she's not interested in her toys (mostly likes books), so DH and I went on a shopping spree this weekend and got her some new toys. She LOVES the two below. I highly recommend them. The polar bear says "raar," which Abbey has been imitating all weekend, lol.

http://www.fisher-price.com/us/img/product_shots/k0475_b_3.jpg

http://www.fisher-price.com/img/product_shots/K2830_b_1.jpg

We also got her an Elmo doll. I can't remember the last time I saw her so happy. :)

[DisneyGirl]

Congrats Kim!! :) Going to take my pill now as I'm super scared of this thread.. ;)



LOL! That many not even help since this thread is so fertile. :p

[Traciann]

congrats kim!!!! i can't believe how many preggos there are.

[rancherswife]

kim: Congrats!!! Very exciting! Hope you're feeling better w/ the meds. You weren't sick w/ Thomas were you?

tgray: Oh, come on...join the club...it's fun!!! ;) Just "do" it! ;)

I've been MIA since for a few days, it's been a busy weekend, I caught up on the boards, but need to go do a few loads of laundry since I've got the energy to even AFTER Landon has gone down for the night! ;)

I'll catch up tomorrow.

[Sasha]

Congrats, Kim! Hope you are feeling better. Did they put you on Zofran? That stuff saved my life when I was pregnant with Sarah! (Now I'm running and joining Alicia to make sure I'm stocked up on BCPs :p )

Activities - This weekend I think we bored the hell out of Sarah because we did practically nothing and it was crappy weather every afternoon. But some of the things that we usually do are go to parks (she loves swings and slides), go swimming, chase around the house, take her push car or balls outside, play in her blow-up pool on the patio, and of course, her 5 billion toys. What she loves more than anything is this toy that has parts that fit into slots. She spends so much time just re-arranging which toy goes into which slot, she LOVES it.

Alicia - Sounds like Abbey had a very busy weekend! Sarah does the same thing with her sippy cups and her Elmo and Cookie Monster dolls. She even tries feed our cats with her sippies, LOL.

We had the worst temper tantrum I have ever seen last night. Over mashed potatoes, of all things. :rolleyes: It was all she wanted to eat and she freaked when they were gone. Tears, screaming, kicking, I thought she was going to throw up she had herself so worked up. We did a "time-out" by me taking her to our 3rd bedroom. I sat there with her until she calmed down, then we went back to the kitchen and since she had refused to eat anything else on her plate, DH made her some chicken patty pieces and he fed her those. But I have never seen her so worked up before. The scary part is that she figured out she can play me against DH; when he refused to give her more mashed potatoes, she then handed her fork to me!

[cynder]

CONGRATS KIM!!!!

It's in pink for a girl, like you're hoping for!

Bored Mommies Thanks tgray and ahvanes for your posts because they underline my biggest fear as a mom. I'm a pretty cool person how could I possibly be boring to a toddler? :) What I realized is when at home, DS needs at least one outing a day. I love, love, love that our house one block from the subdivison playground so that we're walking there once a day before bed.

So far we've done children musuems, parks, the mall playground (awesome free playgroup and the fancier the mall, the better), Barnes and Noble, the pool, the library, and the zoo. We're looking into a Sat morning Gym class but only if it's affordable. We also are starting to do arts and crafts and home (finger paint, sidewalk chalk, crayons, markers - most goes in the mouth). While cooking I give him a bunch of bowls, measuring things, whisks, and tupperware. The dollar store is awesome for cheap finds - a certain someone still thinks easter baskets are the funniest things to play peekaboo with. Oh and changing rooms and hiding old toys and bringing them out prolongs fascination with new places and toys.

For those that have room, our daycare has this and all the kids love this and cry alot less at dropoff time:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000IUX5.01-AWPGRT0FUEEOB._AA250_SCLZZZZZZZ_V61447002_.jpg

2nd time I'm feeling pangs of it esp when I held my friend's 1 month old this weekend. But then she told me about her nursing him ever 2 hours on the dot and I quickly got over it. DH and I talked about it a little this weekend and we're still committed to trying once DS is able to communicate and understand better. Plan is to TTC next fall.

[ladybug0525]

Congrats Kim, too fun!!

Activities - Gosh we hit the park about everyday of the weekend and it seems to wear Jack out before his nap. This weekend he was very nice and slept 3 and 2 hours! Bubbles are also a new favorite or really I should say my kid is obsessed with bubbles and says bubbles about every hour hoping we will go outside and play.

[alienhost]

kimthebride congrats and happy/healthy 9 months to you!! I hope you feel better soon!

DD is feeling pretty icky. She has a runny nose/cough/sneezing and had a mild fever last night. She woke up at 2 and wouldn't go back down until 3ish. I'm just trying to get her to eat and drink as much as she can.

Why do they hate it when we wipe their nose? She screams bloody murder and turns her head frantically in both directions. I even bought Puffs Plus to make it a little softer on her. Poor girl.

ahavnes DD loves the FP little people Noah's Ark, although our animals don't have the fabric parts. She also loves the FP Little People School Bus - she puts all sorts of things in it and pushes it around the house.

[Jessiesmama]

Congratulations Kim!!!

I'm Thinking Pink for you!!!

Wishing you a H&H pregnancy! I hope you're feeling better!

Let's celebrate!

[jmvan74]

Way behind of course!

Congrats Kim!;)

Activities: I'm glad this was brought up b/c i've been having difficulty, too. We go to the playground, take walks, spend most of our day running around the house chasing each other. He loves to run. :rolleyes:

[Carissa]

Traciann do you like MOPS? I am really thinking about joining a group.

Moms I miss my family period. We only see them twice a year and now that we arn't moving back to Texas :( we will continue the twice a year thing :( it stinks.

activities we watch sesame street, color, go to the park, she loves to help with the laundry ;) bascially unfolding it all for me, we play ball since she loves to throw balls back and forth, she is really into shapes right now as well and the ball we got from Tupperware that has the shapes is her favorite toy, we read, listen to music and dance.

Kim CONGRATS!!!

Well I am off on a shopping spree because today is my birthday!

[happy1nuv]

Congrats Kim!!! :) H/H 9 months to ya...

Random question to all ro's: Was m/s way worse this time around than last time? (I have been SOO nauseous ALL.THE.TIME this time around...thought it was just me, but it seems its Kim too... ) It scares me for #3...

Happy birthday Carissa!! Buy yourself something nice!!!
:)

[alienhost]

Carissa Happy Birthday to you! Does Tupperware still sell that shape sorter? I remember that from when my sister was little, for some reason I thought it wasn't made any more. I hope it still is though...

[diedra1027]

Congrats to KIM!!! Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy (we're practically due date buddies!!).

Random question to all ro's: Was m/s way worse this time around than last time? (I have been SOO nauseous ALL.THE.TIME this time around...thought it was just me, but it seems its Kim too... )YES! I'm actually starting to feel a little depressed about how crappy I've been feeling. I should buck-up, I haven't actually thrown up or anything, I just feel terrible all day long. I'm totally freaked out that I'm going to be one of those ladies that has m/s for the whole 9 months!

[Carissa]

Alien Yup they still sell it I got it for Grace for Christmas last year , she loves it! Tupperware (http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/home) click on category and then Kids, kids, kids and it is there.

Originally Posted by happy1nuv
Random question to all ro's: Was m/s way worse this time around than last time? (I have been SOO nauseous ALL.THE.TIME this time around...thought it was just me, but it seems its Kim too... )

Yup it was far worse with this one, even at 25 weeks I am still throwing up every now and then with Grace m/s was gone by 16 weeks!

[kimthebride]

My Good News
Thanks everyone! :) We are thrilled, though I will answer happy1's question with an update here:
I have been very sick, a hyperemesis scare. I lost weight, got dehydrated, couldn't take care of Thomas for about 3 weeks. Literally at 12DPO when I got my + i felt nauseous, and it escalated daily. I am not vomiting, but I literally was unable to eat or drink and so exhausted I couldn't get off the couch. I now have a whole preventing-hyperemesis plan in place (I'll spare you the details), am on Premesis which is a Rx prenatal for m/s and Zofran 8mg every 8 hours. These are really helping, so i am slowly getting back into the world of the lviing. I actually ate a salad for the 1st time in a month on Saturday AND managed to walk 2 laps around the mall. DH was so proud of me, it was a very big deal.

With Thomas I was pretty nauseous but could eat something, so I never lost weight. I was more tired though, like in bed at 7:30pm every night!

Fertile Thread
Go ahead and double up on that protection, because don't forget that I have PCOS yet get pregnant on my FIRST ATTEMPT. Yeah, I used my CBE Fertility Monitor and all that, but still DH and I are pretty shocked. If *I* can get knocked up this quickly, none of you are safe with a measly old Pill! lol!!

Tupperware Shape Sorter
I took pics of Thomas playing with the one my MIL has at her place from when my 7yo nephew was little. I think they are still available here and there. Just search around, and I'm sure you'll find it!

Happy Birthday Carissa!

Nose-Wiping
DS acts like I am wiping him with a glass rag when I do it. Sooooo dramatic!

Cranky Boy
Ok, I know I am a bit out of it and focused on my health but I really couldn't figure why DS has been a bit off & cranky lately. Ummm...could it be the TWO new teeth he just cut? :rolleyes: I felt so bad when I found them last night! No wonder he's been sitting in my lap and not napping well. Duh!

[Traciann]

carissa I really like it. The way our group works is we do a craft and eat. last year we did a lot of fun crafts that i still have. then we have a devotional and then a speaker. The topics are always good and relevant to us. I think the main thing is that I have 2 hrs to socialize with other moms with young kids while the kids are in childcare and its really nice. They also do several gets togethers over the year which are fun. For the MOPS memberships you get the Momsense magazine, email devotionals, a book for you and a dvd (i think this years is VeggieTales) for the kids. I really enjoy the emails and magazine because its all things that are right where we are right now with raising kids. I am always inspired! If you have a local one...I would highly recommend it.

[ahavnes]

Happy B-day Carissa!

M/S- This is sooo not what I want to hear. :mad: If it's worse than last time, I don't know what I'll do. With Abbey, I lost 12 pounds in the first trimester (I was already pretty thin) and had to go to the ER for an IV b/c I couldn't even keep water down for a few days. I literally threw up 5-6 times a day for 18 weeks. I totally know where you ladies are coming from, and I hope you feel better soon! If it's any consolation for you ladies who weren't sick last time, having terrible m/s makes labor a piece of cake (at least for me). After feeling like you do for weeks on end, a few hours of pain is comparatively nothing. ;) At least that's how I felt, but then again, I hate vomiting more than just about anything.

Suffice to say, that is a big reason why we're waiting to have #2. I am just not ready to feel that sick again.

[DisneyGirl]

CarissaHappy Birthday Hope you have a good day!
Sorry to hear you are not moving to TX like you had hoped. ((HUGS))

[jmvan74]

M/S #2: It's been the opposite for me. I can't remember a single day of my pg#1 that I felt good. This time...13 weeks and I was off and running! I still tire easily, but for the most part, I feel great and even forget that I'm pg. Well, until I look at my stomach or get kicked. I thought for sure it was a girl b/c it was such a different pregnancy. Nope. Another boy, so I think regardless of sex...every pg is different. :D

[jrdhbunny]

Kim- Hooray!! Happy and healthy 9 months!! Sorry to hear you've been so sick; hope you continue to feel better!

[tgray99]

Ugh, the baby bug is kicking in big time between all of y'all getting pregnant and then my best friend calling and telling me she's pregnant today.

[Sasha]

LOL, Tgray, a close friend of mine also told me today that she is pregnant. Definitely something in the water! But I don't have the baby bug quite yet....the memory of barfing for 10 weeks, multiple times a day is still a little too fresh in my head. ;) But I really admire all of you who are having 2 under 2! I don't know if I could do that!

[allyray231]

Ditto-I am not even CLOSE to having the baby bug ;) We are a group of fertile women though!! MAN!

[kimthebride]

If you'd like to talk baby-bugness, listen to how crazy it is for me!
1. Last month a college friend of DH's had their 1st
2. This weekend my close friend was due with her 2nd (we're still waiting to hear if anything has happened yet today, as of last night nothing)
3. The wife of DH's friend is due December with her 1st
4. My friend IRL njnewyearsbride here is due with #2 in Feb (right? Late Feb?)
5. A quasi-cousin (her parents grew up with DH's) is due March with #1
6. Another quasi-cousin is due with #2 in March
7. My close friend (and bridesmaid) is due with #2 in March
8. I am due with #2 in April
WHEW!!!

tgray
C'mon, join in the fun! ;)

RO's And M/S
The *good* news is that at least you can be prepared this time! Tell your OB you are TTCing and ask for a couple doses of Zofran or the Premesis prenatal so as soon as you are preggo and feel sick, you can drug up. Otherwise, you can do the over-the-counter remedy of 1/2 a Unisom Sleep Aid Tablet (12.5mg) and 10mg of B6 3x a day until you see your OB. My OB is high-risk, and he was perfectly fine with me doing that until I got to see him (he was on vacation - UGH!).

[Traciann]

babybug not here! as a matter of fact I had my well woman exam today to refill my birth control!!! and i take extra precautions on certain days just in case! with dh's work schedule and my school schedule it would be better all around for mk to be a little older, so we TTC next summer.

I had a friend that had a baby 2 weeks ago, and another one is due in 4 weeks, so I can hold them until its my turn again. :)

[psusna]

Baby bug: No thank you. I'll keep my Rx filled, tell DH to wrap it up and start getting hairy and nasty so he doesn't want any part of me ;)

Mystery bug? So DS started with a 99temp yesterday at 2, still had it this morning but we went to school, since it was under 100. No problems today, he was great. Now he's been in bed since 7:10 and I've had to go in once to calm him down and he's awake again. I even gave motrin before bed. I'm hopeful that we aren't working on an ear infection....

Carissa: Happy Birthday!

[happy1nuv]

So Nic is not sleeping tonight. DH's turn to rock/sing to him to see if that helps... he's usually able to get him to sleep when I can't (he has a great rumbly deep voice that is perfect for soothing... when he finds enough patience that is...) Ugh... what is wrong with this child?!?

Kim ~ I found that bath toy at Target today. LOVE IT. Nic hasn't played with it in the tub yet, but I let him play with it on the floor for a few... would NOT give it back. Too cute!! (I wanted something for him to learn to pour with...was just going to get him a set of measuring cups, but this is sooo much cuter...)

;)

[DisneyGirl]

Baby Bug I want to join in on the fun!!! Not sure if that will every happen since having two 19 months apart keeps me pretty busy right now and throwing another one in the mix will be too much.

[alienhost]

Baby Bug not here yet, I just don't think I can deal with two little ones right now. I'm thinking the belt and suspenders approach to birth control might be in order. :)

[tgr68]

Alicia~That Noah's Ark set is really cute!! I must add it to DD's Christmas list! ;) Hope Abbey is feeling better.

Activities~I really need to rework our weekly outings schedule. DH's gpa is starting in with his "what do I have to live for" and "I'm in so much pain" stuff again. He never acted this way when he and Ggma babysat Shylah.

Baby Bug~DH and I both have it! :eek: We just can't afford to TTC right now. Plus two online pgcies announced this week alone and a friend IRL being pg just isn't helping matters any!

Nose~She fights us horribly when we try to wipe her nose and laughs when we blow our own. :rolleyes:

Carissa~Hope you had a wonderful birthday today!!

Julie~I'm so relieved to hear that someone's morning sickness got better with #2!! :D

Not much going on here. We are still dealing with teething issues! :eek: :( Shylah is getting more proficient in her walking - yesterday she went all the way across the dining room on her own! She's also learned a couple of new words - "bus" and "stairs". I have no idea where she picked "bus" up.

[tgray99]

Kimthebride: I'd love to just go ahead and get pregnant but we're concerned about our finances at the moment. Weird thing is, all day long Aidan kept pointing at my stomach and saying "Baby!" I have no idea where that came from!

It is hard to not get baby fever, my SIL just had a baby, Ryan's cousin is pregnant with her second, one of my Houston CC buddies Katmg is pregnant and now my best friend is. If we do decide to have another, we'll wait until at least November so there's some spacing between their birthdays. I couldn't handle 2 May babies! ;) Anyone wanna give me a couple hundred thousand dollars so I can have another baby? ;)

[tgr68]

Forgot to mention in my previous post that DD had now learned to undress herself! :eek: I went upstairs to get her up from her nap to find her in her crib and her pants on the floor! :rolleyes:

[Dreshny]

Baby bug: Hmmm. My kiddo's high maintenence, my apartment is tiny, and I swore I'd space my kids farther than 2 years apart. It doesn't mean I wouldn't love to be pregnant, but I just can't right now.

15-month checkup:
Height: 31 1/4 inches 50%
Weight: 21 lbs, 13 oz 15%
Head: 47 cm

I'm kind of concerned because Asher only gained 2 oz (!) since his 12-month ped visit. Ped said he looked fine, though, since his thighs are still chubby. Said I should probably try to get him to eat more, though. Said he had the verbal skills of a 20/21-month old, which is nice, since he's at the very low end of average with his (non-) walking skills.

[rancherswife]

carissa: Happy Birthday!!!

[kimthebride]

Birth Control
LMAO at all you ladies letting your body hair grow and tightening the belts around here. Hopefully its effective!

tgr
You passed a 15mo WBV question! Woo hoo!!! Undressing herself was one of the 1st questions we were asked.

tgray
Honey if I had an extra couple hundred grand to throw to you, I would.
Of course, I could use that to help us get out of this apartment and into a house before April. ACK!!!

Classy Baby
Anyone else's kid laugh after burp & fart he does? :rolleyes:

New Things Every Day
I looooove this age. I don't see as many "big" milestones like when we were waiting for rolling and crawling and standing and the 1st word. But I enjoy the little new recognitions and understandings we get to see.
Like yesterday DS was wearing a bib with a duck on it, and we were eating breakfast together by the open window. I was pointing to the duck on his bib, saying "That's a duck. Do you know what a duck says? Quack! Quack!".
A few minutes later, we were quietly eating and a REAL duck quacked outside. He stopped eating, looked down, pointed to the duck on his bib and looked at me expectantly! So I said "Yes, that was a duck! Ducks say Quack!" I was so proud! :D

Cranky Boy
I normally don't post too many pics, but I had to share this one. He has been just grumpy with his small diaper rash and 2 new teeth and figuring out whether he wants 1 or 2 naps a day. The other night he crawled up onto the couch to sulk, and DH and I could not stop laughing. He actually crossed his legs, rested his head on his hand and sighed as if the world was just too darn tough a place for him:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/kimtomtom/09_10_06_1932-1.jpg

usawife
Thinking of you....hoping everything is well.

[tgr68]

Kim~I love that pic of Thomas! Anyone else's kid laugh after burp & fart he does? No, but she blows a raspberry everytime DH or I do! :rolleyes:

I am ni such a tired cranky mood today. I just want to crawl back into bed and sleep. :( Of course, Shylah is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! As soon as I get awake enough to not cause bodily harm to myself trying to make coffee, I'm so having a cup!

[cynder]

UUGGGHHHH!

I just knew it. And you can go look in my past posts but the time of good, non fussy eating is definitely OVER! I.am.at.my.wits.end! I actually dropped him at daycare today without him eating anything besides a couple bites of orange. Last night he had a couple of bites of turkey and rice. Mealtime has completely turned into battletime. We've done everything - cater to him, let him play, read, bang pots, dance, sing, make 7 d/n things, ignore his whining - while shoving food. Forget about self feeding. Everything gets thrown or dropped. And the kicker is that the daycare teachers look at me like I am high and say that he's eating perfectly fine on his own at lunch.

UUGGGHHHH!
I'm just sad that it got to point when I sent him without eating breakfast. And I know (or hope) it's teeth because he had a fist in his mouth all morning and teeths on anything besides teething toys.

Ok. Vent over.

Classy Baby Anyone else's kid laugh after burp & fart he does? Yep. In public. I'm very proud.

New Things Every Day Last night he "water" my plants. We were so proud that he did that instead of putting the watering pot on his head!

Baby bug I'm v. jealous but the 2 under 2 spacing is just too much for me with no family around. I'm still enjoying the 7:30 pm -6:00 am sleeping. Living vicariously through y'all.

[Sasha]

Kim - That picture is adorable!

Cynder - Oh I feel for you, I was just in your shoes. If it's teething related, have you tried giving him Mac & Cheese? That was pretty much the only thing Sarah would eat the other week when her teeth were pushing through. This too shall pass....although I know I didn't feel like it ever would, but it did. ;)

Classy Baby - She thinks farting is very funny. She makes her Daddy proud. :rolleyes:

New Things Every Day - For the first time, yesterday she took her mini Elmo and Cookie Monster dolls and put them in her Little People School Bus to push them around the playroom. She would call out "Bye Momo, bye Cookie" as she pushed them. Very cute. :)

[Jessiesmama]

Kim
I can't see the picture :confused:

Baby Bug
Reasons I can not TTC now:
1) I, like Cynder am now enjoying an 8:00pm - 6:00am sleep schedule.
2) I can't do 2 quite yet - not with working 1.5 hours from home (took me 2 hours this morning :mad:).
3) I still have 20 lbs to loose from baby #1.
4) I hava a great arrangement with my mom for DD and if I had another - it would be too much to ask of my mom - so I'd have to make other (very different) arrangements. Not ready for that.

On the other hand, I want to have both before I'm 35 - I'm 33 now - so I was thinking next summer we'd start trying.

[psusna]

Cynder: Oh I’m so sorry :( I really hope that its teeth and will pass in a few days.

Classy baby: Yes with the toots, no with the burps. The toots are the highlight of his life!

Kim: Cuteness in a footed sleeper. Being a toddler is hard work! Hope you are feeling well today.

Another night of crappy sleep: I’m beginning to suspect the ear infection. I’ll give him tonight yet and see how it goes or I’ll take him by for a check tomorrow. The thing I don’t get is that I gave him motrin before bed b/c he is also cutting teeth but that didn’t knock him out!!! Is there such a thing as night time SA? DH went in at 11 to calm him and he wanted out immediately and snuggled up with DH in the chair, nodded back off. As soon as he laid him back down, more crying! I can’t tell if the crying is the ears or wanting to be near one of us. This kid is a rubix cube I tell ya!

[allyray231]

cynder I am so sorry!

Dreshny I doubt A has gained much since his 12 month either-we find out this weekend

farts and burps He laughs when DH burps--nice right ;)

Well we are making steps with steps. He took 3 steps to each side of his playpen last night twice. Also walked from the bed to the TV. Hoping this is a good sign of things to come

Still fighting with the cup. We are down to an AM bottle and a PM bottle and we give him a cup during the day. My nanny can get him to drink from the cup but he won't do it for me. Sigh

We are also started to get tantrums and pulling the cats tail!! FUN

[diedra1027]

Classy baby - Oh Yeah. My little lady likes to shout 'TOOT!!' whenever she lets one go. Just in case we didn't notice ;).

[Carissa]

Traciann I am seriously conisdering joining one because I think it would benefit both Grace and I, thanks for the info!

Naamah Way to go Shylah!

Kim What a cute picture!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, I had a very good day. Eric bought me a sewing machine so now I must figure out how to use it :)

[ahavnes]

New Developments- Still working on walking over here. :o Plus the other new developments that I posted from this weekend.

Classy baby- This girl loves a good toot-toot. She looks at her bum and then at me and laughs, which makes me crack up. :D She is just like her father (ahem).

Ally- Congrats on the steps! Our babies are finally getting there I guess. ;)

Dreshny- That's an impressive vocab! :)

Diedra- LOL! :)

Sasha- Thought of you guys last night when we gave Abbey mashed potatoes. She hasn't had them in ages and I guess she realized how much she likes them. She didn't have an all-out tantrum when they were gone, but let's just say she wasn't happy AT ALL! :p

Cynder- So sorry about the mealtime battles. You may have already tried this, but I've found that I can get Abbey to eat things she wouldn't normally touch if I put a little salt on it. Just a thought.

tgr68- I hope you are feeling more rested tomorrow. I hate it when Abs is all fired up and I am exhausted.

Kim- Love the picture! I hope you're starting to feel better each day.

psusna- Abbey goes through phases at bedtime, so my guess is that Jack is going through a phase. For about 2 weeks, Abbey will want to go into her crib wide awake and will play until she falls asleep. Then she'll go through a phase where she can't go into the crib until she is sound asleep. We've been rotating through these phases for about 6 months. Maybe that's what it is with Jack? Our ped once told us that a sure sign of ear infection is if they scream when on their back. Hope that helps!

[kimthebride]

My little lady likes to shout 'TOOT!!' whenever she lets one go. Just in case we didn't notice.
LMAO!!! I love classy ladies. ;)

Cynder
How. Frustrating.
Thomas is driving me to drink right now (oh how I wish I could!) by having messed-up naps, being a grouch, eating voraciously at one meal then tossing all his food on the new carpeting the next. :rolleyes: I have been muttering a lot of curses under my breath these days.
Last night I told Tom we are putting him in the tub NOW and he WILL be asleep by 8pm because Mommy is getting a little cranky too! and he was like Really sweetheart? I didn't notice.... :o

Carissa
I *totally* want a sewing machine - have for years! I told Tom to get me one for last Xmas, but he thinks its insulting to get your wife a household item as a gift. Considerate, yes. But I REALLY want a fancy fan-dangled sewing machine!!!

M/S
Every day I am feeling better. The extra drugs help :D. My nausea is abating, but I don't really have an appetite. So I have to tell myself to eat & drink, but at least I can now! I finally had a week of no weight loss - yippee!

Jessiesmama
I am SO EXCITED that you are now tlaking about 2! Even this past Spring it didn't sound like siblings were in the cards for you. :) Fun!!
As for the 20 lbs...I figure I'll just pretend I am showing already instead of do sit-ups. So far its working. ;)

Sasha
That is too. Darn. Adorable.

tgr
Get that coffee yet? I just had some...mmmmmmmm vanilla skim latte...

The Little Gym
Its official, we being TLG tomorrow for a 19-week series that takes us through 1/22. I am happy! Since we have so much going on this will be the only series we'll sign up for this season (I so want to do Music Together as well....), and if I'm up to it we can always do the local drop-in music classes, puppet show, Romparoo etc.

[Carissa]

Kim I haven't sewn in 10 years so trying to figure out and remember things are hard, I told him he should of got me some lessons too :)

[tgr68]

Cynder~Sorry about the eating woes.

psusna~Sorry about the possible ear infection. Hope you get some rest tonight!

Diedra~LOL!

Alicia~Thanks. DD ended up taking a really long nap today, so I think this morning wore her out!

Kim~Yep! Lovin' the caffiene! ;) Tell DH a really nice sewing machine is like a power tool - practical but really fun to use!

Carissa~I would love to learn to sew. My sis took some sewing classes in grade school, but I wasn't interested in that sort of thing at the time. What I would give to be able to make DD some cute clothes, though! ;)

Feeling much better this afternoon. I cleared off my computer desk and filing cabinet and replaced all the junk with a coaster (for my coffee), a family photo, and a yummy candle!! :D Now it's a much more relaxing environment!

[jrdhbunny]

cynder- I totally totally feel your pain.

Dreshny- Asher is almost the same height and weight as James! : )

Carissa- Yay for a nice birthday! I used to sew in college because of costume design class, but that was over 10 years ago. My upstairs neighbor sews and I've been thinking of asking her to give me some lessons.

Kim- Great picture!

psusna- Hope the little guy gets back on track with sleeping soon!

New developments- DS just put himself to sleep for his nap in his crib in under 30 minutes. Woo-hoo!

Bodily functions are hilarious- Yup, James cracks up when noises come out from either end. Then he tries to do it again to keep the comedy going.

[kimthebride]

Tell DH a really nice sewing machine is like a power tool - practical but really fun to use!
Oh Good Lord you haven't met DH! He looks at me like a deer in headlights when I break out MY toolbox. Heck he didn't know what to do with a can od WD-40! lol!!

Ooooh Carissa good idea!

[tgr68]

Kim~LOL! I'll never forget the time my pastor was in shock that I was the one with the only tool box in the house when there were a bunch of guys helping to move us. He just couldn't believe that a former cheerleader/sorority girl could handle tools! Most of the girls in our church were all girly and wouldn't dream of touching a dirty old hammer!

[BridalLace]

Carissa Happy Birthday, late!! hope it was a nice one. :)

Elodie loves to chuckle after farting. teehee...

congrats kimthebride!!! just waiting for DH to finish his degree/get a job here so we can TTC again...hopefully December. :)

just lurkin' and trying to keep up... :)

[tgray99]

Is anyone else's kid completely enamored of their highchair? Aidan plays with hers all the time. She likes to climb it, push the wheel-locks up and down, pry the tray up and whatever else she can think of to do to it. Makes me crazy. I hate the thing anyway...it takes up WAY too much room in my already small dining room. I would love to sell it and get a Fisher Price Booster Chair but my dad got it for her when she was born. :rolleyes:

[DisneyGirl]

Oh Good Lord you haven't met DH! He looks at me like a deer in headlights when I break out MY toolbox. Heck he didn't know what to do with a can od WD-40! lol!!




LMAO!!

My DH can fix and do just about anything..I swear hes a jack of all Trades.

[DisneyGirl]

For those that have their DD ears peirced Has she started pulled her earing out? I have had DD ears pierced since was 3 months old an all of a sudden over the last week or so she has been pulling them out. Not sure what I should do.

[psusna]

Guess who has Hand, Foot & Mouth? Freaktastic, just freaktastic. I need to go warn the neighbors b/c he was playing with and kissing their DD on Sunday. He was temping at 101, 102 today. He has no sores anywhere but his mouth so I'm sure there is more to come. Great. Off to find the HFM thread and learn what we are up against.

[tgray99]

LMAO!!

My DH can fix and do just about anything..I swear hes a jack of all Trades.
Mine too. Actually since we no longer have a garage, all of his tools are now in my living room. Hoo.ray. :rolleyes:

[kimthebride]

H, F & M
I am soooo sorry! That totally sucks.
Thomas' best friend contracted it at the park the day after we spent the whole day together, so she was quarantined from kids for 2 full weeks. My friend took her to her mom's in Long Island so she could help her out. It was so sad, I heard her on my friend's lap the morning she knew something was up. She had a sudden temp of 102 and was just laying in her lap, whimpering. Poor baby!

Hang in there, in a couple weeks you will be free again. Hope he feels ok soon!

High Chair
Mmm....not really. But he LOVES the livingroom furniture. He loves to climb onto the chair or couch and sit back like he's an adult. Or he;ll climb from the seat of the chair, over the arm rest, into his toy box. Up. Down. On. Off. I am so glad we got them pre-stainproofed!

[alienhost]

psusna I saw in the "what your child is eating thread" about HFMD. I feel your pain. DD went through it about 2 months ago and it is no fun. The sores developed a few days after the temp started. She was so miserable, wouldn't eat much. I basically just let her eat what she wanted (which was mostly crackers). Anyway I hope your DS feels better soon. Hang in there.

[Dreshny]

Cynder: I've found I can spoon things like yogurt, hummus, mac and cheese, or guacamole into Asher's mouth if I get down onto the floor with him and read him a book. He gets so interested in the book that he just keeps opening his mouth for more food. I can also feed him chunks of sandwich or fruit if he's climbing around on the playground. The highchair is hit or miss for us. He spits out and drops a lot of food.

[wendstress]

As usual, I'm behind.....

Kim - congratulations! Glad you're feeling better... Starting to feel like a family reunion over on the April '07 Moms thread.

High Chair - he mostly hates it. Doesn't mind pushing it around, but sitting in it is a chore.....

PSUNA - so sorry....

Eating - I've been doing some food games... I make silly sounds and "fly" the food into his mouth and say "BOOM!" the second it goes into his mouth. He thinks it's hilarious and readily opens his mouth for more, even after he's given me signs that he's done eating.

Second PG and M/S - I've had virtually none. Zero. With James I was pretty constantly nauseous, and got sick a half dozen times or so.... WIth this one, I think I've been nauseous 3-4 times, and haven't even gotten close to being sick. It's not too bad.

Handy Husband - Yup. Except that he's a perfectionist and jobs take way longer than they should...but they are done *VERY* well!

Crappy Sleep - will it ever end? Bedtimes have been a battle for 2 months, and then he gets up SOOOO early.... Last night he woke around 2 AM and wouldn't go back into his crib. I was all set to let him CIO, except that DH had a job interview today and I knew he needed his sleep. So, James and I crashed on the sofa up until 7 AM. (Funny, he'll sleep in if he's with someone....stinker!) I'm so running on empty.....

QOTD - How are bedtimes for everyone ? I put James down 7:30-8 ish and he cries solid for 15 minutes, standing at the end of his crib. I go in and lie him down (he refuses to lie himself down...wtf?), and then he's usually ready for sleep. I'm clueless how to break this cycle! Last night I let him CIO longer, and sat himself down in the crib, but still refused to lie down. He's stubborn, like both his mom and dad!

[DisneyGirl]

Bedtime Nikki goes to bed every single night at 9:00 without any problems. knock on wood.

[rancherswife]

tools: I'm just the opposite, I can hang pics., screw in light bulbs, etc., but not mechanically inclined what so ever! No exageration. Thank goodness dh is, or we'd be in a world of hurt! ;) I admire you girley girls w/ tool boxes!

new developments: I'd have to agree w/ Kim I am SO enjoying this stage. The huge milestones have slowed way down, it's the new little things every day that he's doing, he's saying a new word a day and SO proud of himself, he pretty much uses the word a million times after the first time that he says it. Just watching his independence develop is so neat. He's very into playing w/ his stuff by himself lately, no so dependent on ME entertaining him, which is nice in some ways, but sad in others.

naps: I really think he's starting to only need one big nap a day. And I think I'm OK w/ that. We've been struggling for the past couple of weeks, he'll take a good morning nap, but a 45 min. afternoon nap. So, I think tomorrow, I'll try and keep him up through the morning nap and put him down after he has lunch. We'll see how it goes.

[kimthebride]

Bedtime
8pm every night, give or take a few minutes. He is usually very god about taking about 3-5oz formula, then going into bed awake and falling asleep on his own.
I almost want to move it to 7:30, but sometimes DH doesn't get home until 7/7:30 so as soon as he is done with his bathtime from 7-7:15 its playtime with Daddy. I'd hate for them to miss that time together (yet I'd love that extra half hour a night of freedom ;) ).

Naps
I think we are officially transitioning to one. I will admit I am selfish, because 2 works out better for me! We have a good system down and I like the 2 breaks a day. :o Oh well! The one big stretch mid-day could be nice when I get more and more preggo and need a longer rest.

Food tricks
If I or DH are eating something, it MUST be good in DS's eyes. "Eat" his food as if it is yours, and I am sure your DS will take it.
Funny story: my friend's daughter is notoriously stubborn (16mo). She adamantly refused milk. My friend tried every cup, every time of day, every timing before, during, after meals, everything. You know what works? She went to Starbucks for a latte and got her daughter whole milk in the exact same cup. She guzzled it down! So she usues those coffee cups to get her DD to drink milk as if she is a Big Girl like all the adults in Starbucks. Lol!

Tools
I swear DH married me because I can lift heavy furniture and come with not one but 2 of my own tool boxes. ;) His whole family is like him, so they are very impressed when I do anything handy!

[allyray231]

ok I might have to try the starbucks thing :)

Aiden stood on his own last night. Granted it was in his playpen but he still did it

bedtimeI think we have to move back bedtime. With all the new walking he is doing (well practicing that is) he get to meltdown mode by the time we have to take a bath. The last two nights he didn't even want to be in the bath and all he wanted was to go in his crib and get his paci. So tonight we will try to move it back. However he has been passing out right after I put him down which is a good thing :)

Tools I was a theater major in college and spent a lot of time in the shop so I love tools. However, Brad is better at putting things together.

[Sasha]

Bedtime - Knock on wood, things have been very good in this department. She goes down between 7:45 - 8:00pm without any problems. Sometimes she plays with her FP Aquarium for a few minutes or "talks" to her doll that she takes to bed, but things have gone really smoothly for awhile now. Heck, since she usually only naps for 30-45 mins at daycare, she has to be pretty tired by bedtime, right? :rolleyes:

Tools - I'm married to a guy that owns his own home improvement business, so he is definitely the handy one. I'll screw in a lightbulb, but he LOVES taking on any project that involves using his many power tools. His whole family is that way, while my whole family is your stereotypical Jewish, call someone to do it for you type of clan. :o :p I swear, my mother saves projects for him to do around her condo whenever we go visit her!

High Chair - Sarah's newest fascination is standing on the bar (between the legs) of her highchair. She has loved to push it around for awhile now. I think it may go into retirement sooner than later and we'll just use the FP Booster seat.

Kim - I know you are one of the "diaper bag gurus" and I posted a question over there that I think you'll be able to help me with. If you have a moment, would you mind checking out my question in the diaper bag thread, please? TIA!

psusna - Yikes, sorry about the HFM! Hope Jackson feels better soon.

[cynder]

Thanks for all the commiseration, ladies! Yesterday, daycare reported excellent eating all day. When we got home, he was in the middle of a meltdown when I figured out that he wanted the Indian flatbread I was warming up. Ate two huge pieces (more than I can eat) and oatmeal and applesauce. Whew. Of course I am sure he will refuse everything today.

Of course this morning he slept really late that I was getting concerned he was sick or something. Sure enough he started making noise. When DH went in he intially saw something in the crib and said "Vomit" b/c DS was coughing a bit last night.

Nope. That would be poop.

First blowout in the crib and may it be the last.

Kim I'll drink for you, okay. :) Let me know how you like Little Gym. We're looking at it on Sat mornings but not sure if we want that long of a block of clasees.

Tgray DH hated our highchair from an aesthetic point of view and it was a PITA to clean. We ditched it and got the Fisher Price Booster Chair and love it especially when we travel to a friends house b/c we can make an impromptu high chair on the go. Very easy clean up.

If anyone knows where I can get more trays for that thing, I would be forever indebited. I've searched and came up empty.

DS was never into the highchair b/c he has a lot of push toys but right now he's ultra drawn to our new Pottery Barn couches. I'm hoping the microsuede holds up.

psusna Hope he feels better soon.

Bedtime Very regimented 7:15 bath and in crib my 7:30. It used to be he would turn on FP Aquarium or his poor bear toy but now when we put him in, he rolls over and sticks his butt and stays down. Occassionally we'll hear the FP Aquarium during the night but ususally he's quiet.

Wendtress I hate giving sleep tips because every baby and family is different. Hang in there and hopefully this phase will pass soon. We def. go through phases of early wake up esp when we travel back to WI. We did CIO this time last year and it's not for everyone. The only think I can say is that you have to be consistent everynight in the things that you do before bed and while putting him down. This age is verrrry sensitive to change and likes consistentcy.

[Dreshny]

Tools: Ha. We're Jewish. DH has tools, but we usually have to ask for help if something needs to be fixed. But, DH can fix all kinds of computer problems.

Bedtime: It's after DH comes home (which varies), after dinner, and after his bath, which is DH's job. DH came home at 8:15 last night, so Asher went to bed at 9:30. It's admittedly very frustrating, because I'm the one who has to deal with a cranky, tired baby before DH comes home. But DH wants to see him. If for some reason, I know DH will be really late, I do feed Asher and put him to bed. But it's rare.

psuna: Hope Jackson feels better soon.

[cynder]

Roseanne Thanks for your tip. We do allow him books and a few toyswhen we try and feed him but it's getting to the point where he will be occupied for awhile and toss them looking for the next best thing. We trying to teach table manners esp since they do it at daycare.

Alicia Thanks for the tip. We season pretty liberally and I add butter and olive oil alot to entice.

[jmvan74]

Tools: I could change my oil if I had to! I'm somewhat handy around the house. Probably more so than DH. He's a computer guy, so...enough said.

Highchair: He's been playing with it since he started walking. He'll push it all the way across the dining room. He hates to sit in it lately. I think It's time to use a booster seat.

Bedtime: 7:00 give or take 15 minutes. He gets his bath at 6:30 and then bed. He goes down awake and is "usually" asleep with in 30 minutes. He often plays or talks before he goes to sleep.

Nap: We are transitioning to one nap a day. Today he went down for a morning nap b/c I could tell he would not make it until 11:00. I heard him a lot last night, so I know he had a restless night and was tired.

[alienhost]

cynder I'm glad things in the food dept seem to be getting better. I think everyone has gone through it and can relate, just hang in there!

allyray yeah for standing and the continued progress on walking. Any day now and he's going to be walking around all the time!

speaking of walking DD is walking really well these days. Almost full-time, however if we are some where interesting (Like outside) she likes to crawl so she can explore the dirty ground (finding every insect, piece of leaf etc - cigarette butt at the playground :( ). It is pretty funny to see her walking around the house though.

shoes - Stride Rite Outlet I ventured to the Stride Rite outlet, they had a nice selection of styles and sizes, about $15-20 cheaper than the regular store. I was so happy to find her a pair then DH reminded me how much I spent in gas to get there (about 45 min each way vs 15 min to the mall). Oh well, leave it to him to be a buzz kill!

tools DH is very handy and fixes just about everything around the house. Because of his skills, I don't have to fix much, which is nice.

bedtime we like to have her in the crib by 7:30 at the latest if possible. Dinner/playtime w/ daddy/bath/bed is our routine. If DH is late I go ahead and put her down b/c I feel she really needs her sleep.

highchair DD doesn't mind sitting in her highchair. She does like to push down the wheel locks. We use the FP Booster when out but she has learned to take off the white tray (any ideas on how to keep it securely on? Duct tape?) I haven't seen replacement trays for the booster, just the FP regular highchair.

sick well the whole household has colds. Started w/ DD, DH and I came down with it yesterday. Last night I slept OK but DD and DH kept waking up (which woke me up of course). DD is in her 3rd day so she seems better today but has a slight cough. Fun fun fun... PS Can I just say DH is a total baby when he is sick? I think DD has complained less than he has :)

[tgr68]

Highchair~Sometimes she'll play with it, but right now she's more into opening & shutting ever cabinet and drawer she can get her hands on.

psusna~Hope Jackson starts feeling better soon!

Bedtimes~We try to have DD down by 8:30. When DH has a meeting or appt with a client, I'll keep her up later though.

Developments~This has been crazy here lately just in the past couple of days she's added probably 6 new words to her vocabulary, and while she still crawls to get somewhere quickly she's been walking just about everywhere!

Starbucks~That is too funny. DD always tries to grab my coffee while I'm sitting at the computer.

Tools~DH and I aargue who's going to get to hang the picture or put the new furniture together! LOL! Now when it comes to the car, I prefer him to handle everything - even filling up the tank! :p

[Traciann]

highchair we still use ours...and mk is forever closing the locks on the wheels. if the chair is at the lowest position she will try to climb on if the tray is not there. I have a fp booster, but honestly I hate it for more than traveling. I was really wanting a kinderzeat, but my dh had a youth chair at his parents house that he used as a child. So we are stripping and staining it to match our current furniture. Mary Kate loves climbing up in it, and its the perfect size to sit at our table and eat.

Toolsdh is VERY handy. which is suprising to me because he is a band director. I guess I thought artsy type people were not handy...but I was wrong. He has built shelves in our closets, his own bookshelves custom for for his music and cd's, and all other kinds of things around the house. Me not so much and that is a-ok with me.

[psusna]

Thanks for the get well wishes everyone. He seems to be doing a bit better today. No fever this morning, and he slept great last night. He only had four blisters on his legs (the majority are in his mouth), and his appetite is still crappy. MIL is with him today and I’ll stay with him tomorrow – I’m actually looking forward to it b/c I have major mom guilt when he’s sick and I can’t stay home. He’s mad today because it’s raining and he can’t push his wagon outside.

Bedtime: 7:30. Bath is at 7:00 and we play and read in the bath and he’s in bed, teeth brushed by 7:30. Some nights he lays and talks to/plays with his puppy or turns his music box on (it’s the music part of the Sassy mobile we had with the mobile piece removed) for 10-15 minutes, but most nights it’s bottoms up and lights out!

Nap: He does 1/day during the week at school lasting anywhere from one and a half to two hours. On the weekend we still let him nap as needed b/c if it wasn’t for school, I think he would just now be starting to move to one nap. Some days he is just so tired. We let him play catch up on the weekends.

Highchair: Loves to snap and unsnap the belt but can’t push it around based on its location in the