MayJune05 Babies - So much to do at 2!

[MayJune05Moms]

Welcome to the May/June 2005 Parenting thread!

To join, please submit a post to this thread with the following information:

Me: AGE (including real 1st name is optional)
DH: AGE ( " " " " " )
Married: Date
DD/DS: Birthdate (can include multiple stats here if you have more than one child - if you prefer)
Baby's Stats: Weight & Height (at Birth)
any other information provided is also optional. :)



Please post any requests for a change in roster info in RED. Thanks!

YOUR THREAD MODERATORS ARE DISNEYGIRL and ALIENHOST


----------------------------------------------------------

45 members, WOW!!! :D

ahavnes
Me: Alicia (31)
DH: Scott (32)
Married: 2/21/04
DD: Gabrielle Kathleen (Abbey)
Born: 5/29/05 (7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches, 5:11pm)

alienhost
Me: 36
DH: 42
Married: 8/02
DD: Katherine 4/27/05

allyray231
Me: Allyson, 32
DH: Brad, 31
Married: 11/23/02
DS: Aiden Harrison, June 10, 2005

Aunt Liv
Me: Olivia, 30
DH: Adam, 33
Married: September 2, 2000
DD: Maia Sophie, 5/14/05

BAM 9-21-02
Me - 26
DH - 25
Married 9-21-02
DD - Emma Mary
Born 6-12-05
Weight 7lbs 6oz
Height 20 3/4 inches

BridalLace
Me: Heather, 35
DH: Cristian, 34
Married: 7/6/02
DD: Elodie Cristine, born May 7, 2005
8 lbs 2 oz; 19.5"

BTB
ME: 28
DH: 29
Married: June 29, 2002
DD: Evelyn Christine, born April 13, 2005

Carissa
Me: Carissa, 27
DH: Eric, 26
Married: August 17th, 2002
DD: Grace Elizabeth May 15th, 2005
6lbs. 3oz 12:34 p.m. 18"

christy1010
Me: Christy, 37
DH: Curt, 36
Married: 10/10/98
DD: Sarah Elizabeth 5/21/05 5:39pm
7lbs 10oz 20inches

Chylynn
Me: Chylynn (29)
DH: Dave (31)
Married: September 22, 2001
DD: Rebecca Ainsley, Born April 2nd, 2005

cynder
ME: 31
DH: 31
Married: May 25 2002
DS: Samuel Basil May 19, 2005

Dally
ME: 36
DH: 39
Married: August 18, 2002
DD: Annalie, May 12, 2005

December27JJB
Me: Jessica
DH: Joshua
Married: December 27, 2003
DD: Parker Alexandria 6/13/05

diedra1027
Me: Diedra, 31
DH: Blake, 34
Married: August 24, 2001
DD: Avery Jene born May 5, 2005

DisneyGirl
ME: Jenn, 30
DH: E, 30
Married: June 15,2002
DS: 9/30/03
DD: Nikki 5/10/05

Dreshny
Me: Roseanne, 32
DH: Daniel, 32
Married: 9/30/01
DS: Asher Isaiah 5/31/05

happy1nuv
Me: 30
DH: 31
Married: 8/21/02
DS: Nic - 5/18/05

HedgeGirl
Me: Shann, 31
DH: 34
Married: Aug 17, 2002
DS Brady: June 22, 2005
Brady's Stats: At birth 6 lb, 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches

hub1176
Me: Kate 28
DH: Bruce 33
Married 7/20/02
DD: Rhiley Beatrice, June 1, 2005

IrishEyes
Me: 33
DH: 34
Married: April 26, 2002
DS: Brody, born 5/25/05

Jessiesmama
Me: 34
DH: 35
Married: June 8, 2003
DD: Jessica Alexa
DOB: June 8, 2005
Time:8:29pm
Weight:8 lbs 3 oz
Length:21 1/2 inches

jmvan74
ME: 33
DH: 30
Married: July 24th, 2004
DS: born June 13th, 2005

jrdhbunny
Me: 34
DH: 37
Married: 7/26/03
DS: James Edward, 4/26/05

kelseyledare
Me: 27
DH: 36
DD: Ava Victoria
6/10/2005 10:59 AM
6 lb 6 oz, 20 in

KGif
Me - Kelly 32
DH - Mike 36
Married May 3, 2003
DS, Jack, born May 16, 2005; 7 lbs 13 oz; 21 inches

kimthebride
Me: Kim, 31
DH: Tom, 31
Married: 10/18/03
DS: Thomas Ryan, June 3, 2005

kphillips4
Me: Kimberly (26)
DH: Chris (29)
Married: 3/13/2004
DD:06/17/2005
Baby's Stats: 7pds. 9 ounces and 20 inches long

ladybug0525
ME: Judie
DH: Jason
DS: Jack Campbell born 5/16/05
Married: 05/25/02

lattee22
Me: lattee22, Jaime, 29
DH: Brian, 27
Married: September 21, 2001
DD: Noelle, born May 2, 2005
Baby's Stats: 8lbs., 3 oz., 20 inches

LIZNKEITH
Me: Liz, 28
DH: Keith, 37
Married: July 28, 2001
DD: Caroline Elizabeth, June 15th
Baby's Stats: 6lbs 13 oz, 20.5 inches

Misty911
Me: Misty, 28
DH: Patrick, 30
SD: Trisha, 9
DS: Caleb, 21 months Born Dec. 23, 2003 8lb 9oz 22" Long
DD: Emily, 5 Months Born May 9, 2005 6lb 13oz 19" Long

Mrs.Chappy
Me:29
DH:29
DS: Benjamin born 6-8-05
7.15 oz 20.5 inches.

Natrat80
me-Natalie 25
DH-Keri 26
Married 05.25.02
DD: Addison Grace, born 06.14.05
6 lbs 6 oz 18 1/2 inches

njnewyearsbride
Me: 32
DH: 32
Married: 12/31/03
DD: Hazel - 5/26/05
7lbs 4.8oz 21.5"

Pam27
me: Pam 28
DH: Ryan 27
Married: July 27, 2001
DD: Taylor Louise January 10, 2002
DS: Colin George May 4, 2005

portlandbride
Me: Brandi, 33
DH: Preston, 32
Married: September 16, 2001
DD: Brynn Pamela, May 12, 2005

psusna
Me: Becky, 30
DH: Doug, 33
Married: 9/22/01
DS: Jackson (5/3/05)
Stats: Birth--7lb. 7oz., 21"

rancherswife
Me: Kim 26
Dh: Brett 26
Ds: Landon Joseph 6/4/05 7lbs. 4 oz. 21 1/4 inches

Sasha
Me: Sasha, 31
DH: Greg, 36
Married: Nov. 3, 2001
DD: Sarah Elise, born May 16, 2005

September2002
Me: Carolyne, 34
DH: 32
Married: September 7, 2002
DD: Samantha, born December 19, 2003
DD: Grace, born June 2, 2005

Sherah
Me: 25
DH: 26
Married: 12/5/03
DS: Arik, 5-11-05

tgray99
Me: Tara 30
DH: 29
Married: 11/15/03
DD: Aidan Christine - 5/09/05
8lbs 3oz 20"

tgr68
Me: 26
DH: 27
Married: 6/1/02
DD: Shylah Ryann
Born: 6/18/05 (8lbs 0.8oz, 19 inches, 10:44am)

traciann
Me: Traci (30)
DH: Timothy (35)
Married: 11.23.02
DD: Mary Kate 4.26.05

usafwife
Me: 29
DH: 40
Married: 4/17/04
DD: Sarah Olivia
born 6/28/05
8 lbs, 7 oz.

wendstress
Me: Wendy, 29
DH: Jon, 34
Married: 4/28/01
DS: James Jack, born May 10, 2005

WinterBride1253
Me: 31
DH: 31
Married: 12/6/03
DS: Cole Robert, June 15, 2005

[MayJune05Moms]

Birthdays listed by date, and their Mommies... :)


4/2/05
Rebecca Ainsley...Chylynn

4/13/05
Evelyn Christine...BTB

4/26/05
Mary Kate...traciann
James Edward...jrdhbunny

4/27/05
Katherine...alienhost

----------------------------------------------------------
5/2/05
Noelle...lattee22

5/3/05
Will...Jenyfer9
Jackson...psusna

5/4/05
Colin George...Pam27

5/5/05
Avery Jene...diedra1027

5/7/05
Elodie Cristine...BridalLace

5/9/05
Aidan Christine...tgray99

5/10/05
Nicole Elizabeth...DisneyGirl
James Jack...wendstress

5/11/05
Arik...Sherah

5/12/05
Annalie...Dally
Brynn Pamela...portlandbride

5/14/05
Maia Sophie...Aunt Liv

5/15/05
Grace Elizabeth...Carissa

5/16/05
Sarah Elise...Sasha
Jack Campbell...ladybug0525
Jack...KGif

5/18/05
Dominic Jeffrey (Nic)...happy1nuv

5/19/05
Samuel Basil...cynder

5/21/05
Douglas...Ferris
Sarah Elizabeth...christy1010

5/25/05
Brody...IrishEyes

5/26/05
Hazel...njnewyearsbride

5/29/05
Gabrielle Kathleen (Abbey)...ahavnes

5/31/05
Asher Isaiah...Dreshny


---------------------------------------------------------------

6/1/05
Rhiley Beatrice...hub1176
Peter James...yooper

6/2/05
Grace...September2002

6/3/05
Thomas Ryan...kimthebride

6/4/05
Landon Joseph...rancherswife

6/8/05
Benjamin...Mrs.Chappy
Jessica Alexa...Jessiesmama

6/9/05
Ethan...golfer_girl

6/10/05
Aiden Harrison...allray231
Ava Victoria...kelseyledare
Madison Hannah and Logan Mackenzie...sabrinag

6/12/05
Emma Mary...BAM 9-21-02

6/13/05
Parker Alexandria...December27JJB
Collin Todd...jmvan74

6/14/05
Addison Grace...Natrat80

6/15/05
Caroline Elizabeth...LIZNKEITH
Cole Robert...WinterBride1253

6/17/05
Haley...kphillips4

6/18/05
Shylah Ryann...tgr68

6/22/05
Brady...HedgeGirl

6/28/05
Sarah Olivia...usafwife

[MayJune05Moms]

2 year stats!

ahavnes
Abbey:
Weight- 29 lbs (55%)
Height- 35.5 inches (75%...does that sound right? I think she is taller than about 95% of girls her age.)

Alienhost
Katherine
Weight: 22 lbs 2ozs
Height 33 1/2 inches

allyray231
Aiden:
weight: 25lbs 3 oz
height: 35 inches

Aunt Liv
Maia
Weight - 25lbs 14oz (50th percentile)
Height - 34.5" (75th percentile)

christy1010
Sarah:
Weight: 21Lbs 5oz 3%
Height: 31 inches 5%

Chylynn
Rebecca:
Weight: 28 lbs
Height: 34 inches

cynder
Sam:
Weight - 23.5 lbs (3%)
Height - 32.5 inches (5%)

DisneyGirl
Nikki:
Weight: 29 LBS
Height: 33.25 inches

Dreshny
Asher:
Weight: 24.4 lbs (9%)
Height: 33 1/2 inches (36%)

happy1nuv
Nic:
Weight: 25 lbs (50th %)
Height: 36" (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19 1/4" (75%)

IrishEyes
Brody:
Weight: 32 lbs
Height: 38 inches

Jessiesmama
Jessie:
Weight: 22 lbs 14 oz (6th percentile)
Height: 33 inches

jmvan74
Collin:
Weight: 28lbs 7oz.
Height: 36 inches (WOW!)

jrdhbunny
James:
Weight: 25 lbs 14 ounces (25%)
Height: 35" (75%)
Head Circum: 19.5 (50%)

KGif
Jack:
Weight: 33 lbs
Height: 35 1/2 inches

kimthebride
Thomas:
weight: 29.5 lbs
height: 34.5" tall (but his legs were bent, so this is wrong )

LIZNKEITH
Caroline:
Weight: 25 pounds, 2 ounces
Length: 33 inches

njnewyearsbride
Hazel:
weight: 28.5 lbs
height: 36"

portlandbride
Brynn
Weight: 26.6 lbs.
Height: 36 inches

psusna
Jackson:
Weight: 34.2 lbs (>95%)
Height: 39" (>95%)
Head Circum: 20 3/8 (90%)

rancherswife
Landon:
weight: 28lbs.
height: 34 1/2 inches

Sasha
Sarah:
Weight: 27lbs
Height: 36.5 inches (Sorry, but I really think it's more like 36")

tgr68
Shylah:
Height: 33 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs (50th percentile)
HC: 20 inches

tgray99
Aidan:
Weight: 29 lbs (80th %-tile)
Height: 34" (50th %-tile)
Head: 18" (90th %-tile)

wendstress
James:
Weight - 32 lbs (85%)
Height - 34 inches (33%)

[MayJune05Moms]

Repeat Offenders:

Congratulations to these Mommies and their newest additions:

Misty911
Joshua Holden on March 31, 2006

hub1176
Mia Angeline 7lbs 4ounces 20 inches long at 9:50 July 31st.

jennylou
Eleanor (Nora) Grace 7 lbs 9 oz, 20.25" August 10th

portlandbride
Addison September 24, 2006 at 8:28 pm.
7 lbs. 9 ounces; 19 3/4 inches long.

Carissa
Jonah Eric December 7, 2006 at 10:04 am
6 lbs 14 oz; 20 inches long

jmvan74
Brady Newell 9:31 on Jan 17, 2007
7lbs 14oz and 21 inches long

usafwife
Alexander Thomas 1:39 PM on January 19, 2007
7lbs 6 ozs and 19 1/4 inches long

njnewyearsbride
North Phelps 12:20PM on February 23, 2007
10 lbs 1oz and 22 inches long

rancherswife
Reece Carter 4:03 p.m. on February 26, 2007
7lbs. and 20 1/2 inches long

ladybug0525
Cooper Joseph born on March 14, 2007
9 lb 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long

happy1inuv
Joseph Charles 4:14pm on March 23, 2007
8 lbs 2 oz and 20 3/4 inches long

diedra1027
Ian Charles 9:42am on March 29, 2007
8 lbs 2 oz, 19.5" long

wendstress
Alexander Jon April 2, 2007
8 lbs 6 oz, 20 1/4 inches long

kimthebride
Ava Siena 5:16am on April 17, 2007
6lbs and 15oz, 20 inches long

DisneyGirl
Kevin Ryan on August 29, 2007

Aunt Liv
Amelia Celine on October 10, 2007
4lbs 10oz, and 18" long
--------------------------------------------------------

Currently Expecting:

LIZNKEITH
EDD: 1/12/08

jrdhbunny
EDD: 3/22/08

ferris
EDD: 3/23/08

tgr68
EDD: 3/27/08

bridalLace
EDD: 4/ /08

IrishEyes
EDD: 5/4/08

Mrs Chappy
EDD: 5/11/08

[MayJune05Moms]

Thread Histories: these links are now working! yeah! :D

MayJune05Moms Thread Archive (CC Threads):

MayJune05 Babies - We're All Turning 2! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31813)
MayJune05 Babies - Our Little Ones are Almost 2! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29366)
MayJune05 Babies - Passing the 18 month mark! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27434)
Walking, Talking, Getting into Everything! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25186)
Toddlers Already?! (CC-Vol VII) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23037)
Happy Birthday to You! (CC-Vol VI) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19988)
Almost 1 Year Old!(CC-Vol V) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17367)
Counting Down to Birthday #1!(CC - Vol IV) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13352)
Nearing the 6 Month Milestone!(CC - Vol III) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9575)
NEW! May/June '05 Parenting Thread - OPEN FOR POSTING!(CC - Vol II) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5147)
MayJune05Mommies (CC - Vol I) (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=664)

May 2005 Thread Archives
Vol VI - 45 Peas in a Pod!! (Vol VI) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=489050&tstart=50)

Vol V - 45 Peas in a Pod! (Vol V) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=484869&tstart=50)

Vol IV - 45 Peas in a Pod! (Vol IV) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=479932&tstart=75)

Vol III - 42 Peas in a Pod, Due 5/05! (Vol III) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=477234&tstart=75)

Vol II - 42 Peas in a Pod, Due 5/05! (Vol II) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=473349&tstart=75)

Vol I - PG & Due in May 05! (Vol I) (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=469446&tstart=75)

June 2005 Thread Archives
3rd trimester - Junebugs 2005: Welcome Sierra, Matthew, Liam, Parker, Sarah, Dean, & Kevin! (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=486105&tstart=0)

2nd trimester - Junebugs: The Next Generation! The Second Tri... 12 Boys, 13 Girls and 8 Surprises (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=477403&tstart=120)

1st trimester - Junebugs: The Next Generation! *32* due in June 2005 (http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=471862&tstart=165)

[MayJune05Moms]

saving....

[MayJune05Moms]

saving just in case

[MayJune05Moms]

Hi Ladies, we are open for posting! I haven't checked all the links, let me know if you find any that aren't working.

Thanks Tgray for the title suggestion!

-alienhost

[allyray231]

woohoo!

[alienhost]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO AVA and AIDEN!!!!!

jrdhbunny what adorable pics of you and your DS!

kim I hope T is doing better and sorry you had to postpone the party, what a bummer!

usafwife I hope you get the insurance and car stuff settled soon, what a hassle.

Father's Day I picked up a few items for DD to give him. I need for her to make him a card. I'm not sure what he wants to do on Sunday - we will probably keep it low key.

not much is new here. DD has had a cough for over a week now, no fever or other symptoms except an occasional runny nose - I was thinking it was allergies. She mostly coughs when lying down (at night, naptime, when she wakes up) Any other ideas on what it could be? I suppose I should call the ped's office and ask but she really doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

[jrdhbunny]

Yay for a new thread! Thanks!

[portlandbride]

Thanks for the new thread!

Could you please change some stats for me?

My DH age: 32


Two year stats:
Brynn
Weight: 26.6 lbs.
Height: 36 inches

Thanks!

[Dreshny]

Yay for a new thread!

[MayJune05Moms]

Thread updated!

Disney

[tgray99]

Aww...I was hopin' for the poo tossin' title. ;) Just kidding.

QOTD: So lets talk about free and fun things for 2 year olds to do during the summer because weekends are murder around here trying to figure out what to do with her and keep her occupied and me from losing my mind.

[HedgeGirl]

Great new thread. Thank you threadmistresses.

QOTD: Great idea tgray. We've done some of the these ideas and others are just my brainstorming or things I've read about in books (I also coordinate art playdates for my playgroup once a month so there are ideas I've collected for that). I love First Art: Art Experiences for Ones and Toddlers by Maryanne Kohl for "art" projects.
- Watering plants (one of Brady's favorite things to do)
- Painting with water (they can paint the sidewalk, deck, rocks, whatever)
- Bucket of water and some cups. They can splash and pour to their heart's content. Add some ice cubes to vary things up.
- Painting (watercolors have been a recent hit here, dot painting with bingo markers or they sell them premade at some places, finger painting with food or paint)
- Walks (collect rocks, i spy, do a hunt for things different colors)
- Obstacle course?
- Tent (use a table and blankets or an actual tent; could be inside or out)
- Bubbles (different sizes, add food coloring and catch the bubbles on paper)
- Library
- Check out if there are any free or discounted days at local zoos or children's museums
- Cooking projects (make lemonade, cookies, bread sculptures, whatever)
- Berry picking
- Tour the parks in your city and neighboring cities (find new favorites)
- Pick a letter of the day, number of the day or shape of the day. Point it out when you see it, do art on a cutout that shape, etc.

[psusna]

Thanks for the new thread! Can I update my stats?

DH age: 33
Remove both occupations (they are changing)

Guess who wanted to sleep in his big boy bed tonight?!?!?!?!? Currently, the BBB consists of a box spring and mattress on the floor in a room (former guest room being turned into BBR) under going a facelift. He didn't care, though. He asked to sleep there so we had to let him give it a go. We'll see what happens....... I'm actually kind of glad that it worked out this way because he can get accustomed to the bed on the floor before we expand his crib. I hadn't planned to move him for another month, but he's so excited about his BIG ROOM that I don't really care :)

We were in the car this evening coming home from dinner and he sneezed. He goes "God bless you, me" -- too stinking cute.

Tgray: totally agree with everything on HedgeGirl's list. Also, check out this blog Two Straight Lines (twostraightlines.typepad.com) -- she just posted her entire summer of activities, many of which are free/low cost/easy. See the entry entitled "Camp Russell" -- great blog.

[tgray99]

Wow, those are some great ideas, thanks y'all!

[cynder]

Hey y'all! Happy birthday to anyone I missed.

Umm...I am no longer 29. We're both (gulp) 31!

I had a nice toddler free weekend while DH tended to DS. The house was a mess but it looks like they had a good time, there was eating, and there were no time outs! Woohoo! I know this won't last but last week was HARD for me.

DS is starting to talk in sentences. He still gets words in the wrong order and he stumbles over saying things but it is so weird to say all this ....stuff! We also moved to a new room in daycare and the transition is going well so far.

HedgeGirl All excellent suggestions! The only other one I would add is Farmer markets on Sundays. It is my fav thing to do and to just sit and eat fresh food and people watch. We went 2 wks ago but DS wanted to go in the farmers' trucks!!

tgray Love the avatar!

[jmvan74]

Holy New Thread, Batman! I was not expecting to find this! Thanks for the updates. :p

Great ideas hedge!

My little boy is 2!! Where has the time gone! He refuses to tell me he's 2. :rolleyes: When I ask him how old he is, he just laughs.

psusna: Collin says "bless you," too. It's so funny b/c he'll say it even if someone coughs. :)

[psusna]

Happy Birthday Collin!!and anyone else that I missed along the way.

BBB night 1 -- success! DH laid with him until he fell asleep (DS' request) and we didn't hear a peep out of him until 5:40. He seems pretty sleepy today so I'm not sure how much actual sleeping was accomplished vs. moving all over the bed, etc. He gives a resounding YES if you ask him if he liked sleeping there and if he wants to do it again tonight. Guess we better get it in gear and get the room painted, decorated, etc.

In other major news for our house, he took NO PACI at nap yesterday! He is transitioning up to a new room at school and his new teacher told him one time "No pacis, this is the big boy room" and he laid down and went to sleep!

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-changes......

Tgray: One other thought I had was that DS is big into farms now. Perhaps there are farmers in the area who have a "day at the farm" type program or would even just show you around if you showed up at the fence! I'm sure there's cotton and peanut and maybe some vidalia farms down there.....

[Chylynn]

Wow, a new thread!

Happy Birthday, Collin!

psusna -Way to go for your son to transition so easily into his BBB! And no paci at naptime! Wow, lots of changes in your house! We converted Rebecca's crib a few months ago and it was a no go, so it went back to a crib about a week after transition. We still need to get on gear about ditching the paci!

Outdoor activities -Great list! Maybe add chalk? It is a new favorite in our house! Also, hopscotch! Although my Rebecca only wants pool, park, pool, park, pool, park...you get the picture! Her hair is almost white blond from the sun and she has tan lines even with wearing SPF 55. It is crazy how much we are outside now! And, down in Florida, it is so hot and muggy, so we are drinking water like crazy. I never was much of an outdoors person until DD came around!

[Sasha]

Thanks for the new thread!

Happy Birthday, Collin!

Chylynn - LOL, Sarah is sporting a major tanline too. It is so friggin hot in the afternoons and all Sarah wants to do is be outside!

psusna - Woo-hoo, sounds great with all the positive changes!

Tgray - LMAO, I love your avatar. :D

Outdoor activities - Wow, great suggestions. Another thing we recently discovered here are some of the county parks have water parks within them. They are pretty low cost and you can bring your own food, drinks, etc.

Which leads me to another activitiy-related question - what kinds of arts & crafts to do let your child do? We mostly stick to crayons at home, but I know at daycare, Sarah does all sorts of art and crafts projects (although I seriously wonder if she really does as much as they say she does ;) ). I tried playdough once and she tried to eat it, so I've had that on hold. Please share your art projects!

[MayJune05Moms]

thread updated to here :)

-alienhost

[LIZNKEITH]

Wow...this thread came out of thin air. I didn't even realize it was time! I have to say, I'm a little disappointed we didn't go with Tara's title suggestion. ;)

Can you please change my EDD to January 12th, 2008? Yip, I had my u/s on Friday and I'm a whole 2 weeks ahead of where I thought I was. :D

Arts & Crafts
Mostly just crayons. At school she'll do finger painting. I did see that Color Wonders makes finger paints too. I've been debating getting her a set for her birthday. I know one of my friends is getting her play-doh for her birthday too. I don't know whether to be fearful or excited.

psusna,
Ack! Can you send Jackson down here to give Caroline lessons on sleeping sans paci? That thing has got to go! We've got her down to only taking it when she sleeps, but she demands it before we put her down. I'm scared...

[kelseyledare]

Thanks for the new thread...


Happy Birthday, Collin!!

Outdoors: Yup, Ava's got tan lines, too, just from her daily afternoons outside at daycare. And I know they're putting the sunscreen on her since you can usually find some in her hair, LOL. We're trying to incorporate some evening walks, watering flowers, etc, after dinner. I agree with everyone else- it's just too stinking hot when the sun's still up.

Arts & Crafts: We've got the Color Wonder finger paints and tried them awhile back. Not good. She kept mashing her fingers into the paint when it only needs a light touch and just really didn't understand. I think she was used to old-fashioned paints from daycare. I've thought about getting some of those (water-based ones), putting her in old clothes in the backyard and letting her paint on cardboard or large sheets of paper. She likes her Color Wonder markers those and we've also used the washable markers at Great-Grandma's house (the colors are more vibrant).

Pacis: We're down to naps and bedtime at home, too. She hasn't used it at daycare for over a year. No nope of easily ditching it here, though. She always asks/demands a paci.

[DisneyGirl]

arts & Crafts I let her play with crayons, color wonder: markers, paints, finger paints, colored pencils, molding clay, play-doh. Pretty much anything craft related we use.

[wendstress]

de-pacifying - we never used one here, but some friends said they just started cutting small holes in the bottom of the pacis over the course of several weeks until their daughter couldn't hold onto them anymore. They said it worked for them!

Night Terrors - Another night of hysterical crying, last night. I'm starting to think night terrors, since he didn't even wake up during the episode. Anyone else experience this???

On the plus side, Alex (10 weeks now) slept from 9 PM until 7 AM!!!!

[diedra1027]

Happy Birthday, Collin!

Arts & Crafts - We pretty much stick to chalk and colored pencils.

Outdoors - Avery also has tan lines going (and we're in Seattle where there hasn't been *that* much opportunity to get a tan yet!!). Another suggestion for summer activities is to check out local community centers or the city park system, if you have those. Our community center has affordable toddler activities like dance or art classes. We went on a walk through our local park (HUGE park, BTW) and we noticed that they have weekly nature related activities for toddlers and parents.

[ahavnes]

Happy B-day Collin!

Arts & Crafts- Abbey still eats her crayons and markers. It's ridiculous. :rolleyes: For now we're sticking to the Aquadoodle and the Magnadoodle.

Outdoors- I think Abbey would live out there if we let her. ;) She even has sandal tan lines from when I forgot to lotion her up last week. :p

[kimthebride]

Thomas Update
Thanks ladies for asking about him. It's been almost a week, and he's doing much better. Still a little cranky (I'm thinking sore throat), but every day he's a little better. We rescheduled his bday party for the 16th (yea, 2 weeks after his actual day, lol!), so let's all hope *I* can stay healthy so we don't have to cancel again. :rolleyes:

Arts & Crafts
We do stickers, crayons, etc but we have wall to wall carpeting so we don't do too much messy stuff here. i bought finger paints but DH gave me The Look when I showed him (ummm...we are trying to sell the place, so maybe this wasnt a good purchase :o ). Maybe I'll find a way to squeeze the 3 of us into the master bathroom and let him paint while in the tub??

Outdoor Activities
Man, i wish we had a yard! :(
But for now its walks, the park, playground, sidewalk chalk, bubbles...

Okay, off to nap since the A/C guys just left and I am fighting off the cold...

[alienhost]

I was checking the birthday roster - lots coming up!

Happy Birthday to Parker and Collin!

cheap/free activities I believe there is a thread in the toddler section. Let me see if I can find it...

here is one on indoor activities (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9171&highlight=free) (when it is blazing hot out) and cheap activities (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33508&highlight=outdoor+activities)

Hedgegirl that's a great list, going to save a copy for my reference.

We do a lot of exploring outdoors in our yard - looking for bugs, picking/sniffing flowers, rolling around on the grass. You could do a mini-scavenger hunt - finding flowers, rocks, leaves, sticks etc.

Definitely check out your local library - many have passes to museums and zoos that you can use for free.

I second the idea of checking your local parks and recreation departments. Many have activties on the weekend - like the DPW did "Touch the trucks" or other similar things.

Arts and Crafts Inside we only do crayons, playdough and stickers.

Outside I do washable markers (she gets it all over her hands/arms and drew all over her shirt when I turned my back - but it did wash off) and chalk. I bought some water colors to use outside too. I'm toying with some other projects like sand art or paints.

At her weekly group, she has done some projects with glue - basically squeezing it out on paper and crinkling colored tissue paper and sticking it on.

psusna wow lots of new things going on in your household!

kim I'm glad T is feeling better. I hope you and Ava avoid all sicknesses too.

[jmvan74]

Looking at the first page, I need my stats changed, tooo.... Ooops..
I'm 33 and DH is 30.:o

[Jessiesmama]

Can you change some stats for me too?
Me: 34 (tomorrow)
DH: 35

2 Year WBV
Weight: 22 lbs 14 oz (6th percentile)
Height: 33 inches

Happy Birthday to all of the b-day boys and girls!!!

[happy1nuv]

great new thread...thanks! ":)

[tgray99]

They went with one of my suggestions...just not the poo tossing one. Shucks. ;)

Anyone get the Parenthacks emails? They have some really cool ideas and solutions. I got this hack today and loved it...thought I'd share it with y'all:

When kidlets want to pour their own milk or juice at our house but cannot be trusted not to spill, we open up the dishwasher and let her use the flat door surface as a table to pour on.. If she spills, no big deal, it can just be closed and the next time I run the dishwasher, it is cleaned up for me. Another benefit is that it is the right height for the kidlet, so they have an easier time balancing the milk or juice container over the cup.

Pretty neat, huh? I'm going to try it sometime!

[tgr68]

Checking in & subscribing!!

Free Toddler Entertainment~I was hunting this down just the other day. I bookmarked one site, but I'll have to wait to post the link when I get back to my computer.

Happy Birthday, Collin!!

Outdoors~Sadly, it's been pouring rain here for a few days, so no outside play for us. :(

Tgray~Cool suggestion! Thanks for sharing!

Okay, gotta get out the door for church!

[tgray99]

1) I officially hate Capri Suns...Aidan LOVES to squeeze them out and get juice all over everything. My right leg and shorts are sticky now. :rolleyes:

2) The dishwasher door thing works perfectly as a water table! I gave Aidan 2 bowls full of water and some plastic spoons so she could "cook" and she was completely occupied while I got dinner ready. SO easy to clean up afterwards! Two toddler thumbs way up on this one!

[MayJune05Moms]

changes through here made...

Sorry, Tgray I didn't use the poo title, I used your second suggestion instead. I figured maybe we should stay away from the "toilet humor" since we deal with it all the time! ;)

-alienhost

[ahavnes]

Tara- Aidan didn't try to move the bowls or carry them around the kitchen? I'm afraid that would be Abbey's first action. :o

[diedra1027]

1) I officially hate Capri Suns...Aidan LOVES to squeeze them out and get juice all over everything. My right leg and shorts are sticky now. :rolleyes:Do you have any of the cheapy sippy cups laying around? We set the juice box inside a sippy cup (without the top on)...problem solved. Actually any wide mouth, hard plastic cup should suffice as long as the little trouble makers don't just pull the juice box out and sqeeze away.

[tgray99]

Tara- Aidan didn't try to move the bowls or carry them around the kitchen? I'm afraid that would be Abbey's first action. :o
Nope. But she plays on a water table at day care and knows she isn't allowed to carry it around.

Do you have any of the cheapy sippy cups laying around? We set the juice box inside a sippy cup (without the top on)...problem solved. Actually any wide mouth, hard plastic cup should suffice as long as the little trouble makers don't just pull the juice box out and sqeeze away.
What a great idea!! I'm doing that tomorrow. Thanks!

[psusna]

Tara: Great tip about the dishwasher! Thanks for sharing.

Kim: Glad Thomas is doing better, and I hope you and Ava don't catch his bug.

BBB night 2 -- YIPPEE!!! We had to go wake him at 6:30 today :) I laid with him for 5 minutes last night and then he was out. Fingers crossed for continued ease of sleep. I think he just loves having all of the extra space (full size bed) to roll around!

[happy1nuv]

Never woulda thought of the dishwasher thing, but that is GENIUS!!!!

[rancherswife]

waaaay far behind....

thanks for the new thread!

Happy b-day to those i missed, and jessiesmama!

dishwasher: I try and keep him out of the thing! He climbs into it and bounces on the door daily, it's a constant battle when we're in the kitchen! Cool idea though!

[Sasha]

Dishwasher - Sounds like a great idea in theory to me, but Sarah generally thinks the dishwasher is a jungle gym and often tries to climb on it. :rolleyes: So, not sure how it would pan out in our house!

[tgray99]

I put a towel down for her to kneel on and catch spills and then gave her the bowls of water and spoons to "cook" with. It never even occurred to her to climb on it (she likes to do that too) or pull the drawers out. She was way too interested in her own stuff and asking for more water.

[Dreshny]

Dishwasher: Of course, this presupposes I have a dishwasher (I don't!) ;)

[psusna]

Liz: I forgot to mention earlier that the biggest help in dropping the paci during the day, naps included, is that his new room at school is a paci-free zone. No pacis! She told me that she only had to tell him one time and he didn't put up a fuss. He even tells me now "no pacis at nap" or "no pacis in big boy room" or "Ms. Samina no pacis in room". Maybe Caroline's next room will be the same way and give her a jumpstart.... Hope you and bebe #2 are feeling well this week!

[cynder]

DS is not a climber but he totally loves climbing the dishwasher so it's a no zone right now. But I love the water table idea so I'll have to try that angle!!!

We are all about straw cups right now. OBSESSED. So I am using it as an incentive for good eating. I am about to get sneaky and try V8 and SunnyD's veggie juice. Anyone try these?? DS is not allowed fruit juice since he eats enough of it but I am all for veggie juice !:)

[alienhost]

Vacation Sleeping Arrangements for Crib Sleeping kids I know this was discussed a while back but I can't find it. DD is still in a crib (and should be for a while longer). We are going on vacation and spending 2 weeks in a condo. DD will have her own room. I'm now worried that the pack n play is too small for her (although she does curl up to sleep). She is 33.5 inches long. I need to open it up and see. What have others done on vacation/trips? I really think she needs to be contained, especially when sleeping in a strange place. Is anyone still using a PNP? TIA!

dishwasher that's a cool idea, but I think DD will still get the water all over the kitchen floor. :)

[LIZNKEITH]

Dishwasher,
That's a great idea! However, Caroline sounds like some of the other kids in here in that she thinks it is only for climbing. I'm willing to try everything once though.

psusna,
Congrats on another successful night! I really thought the transition to a BGB would be harder as well, but she's done very well with it. Thanks for the tip on the paci. We've tried to tell her before she doesn't need a paci anymore since she is a big girl. She just looks at us with glazed over eyes and repeats "I want paci" slowly and melodically until we eventually break down and stuff one in her mouth. ;)

Veggie Juice
Our Ped actually suggested when she was about 12 months old that we offer her V-8 Splash since veggies were hit or miss. She didn't like it at the time and eventually started eating veggies again. But now that she is on strike again, maybe I should try to reintroduce it.

[LIZNKEITH]

We cross-posted, Alienhost.

Sleeping arrangements
Caroline is a bit shorter, but the PNP still works good for us on trips. Like you said, she curls up/tucks legs under her tummy when she sleeps so it's not really an issue. Rather than reinvest in something else, I would bust it out and give it a shot a night or two before you leave. See how she does with it.

[MayJune05Moms]

LizNKeith - I updated your EDD, sorry, I missed it last night.

Kim - I was looking over the RO thread and realized I don't have Ava's length at birth, I know you listed it but I must not have updated it. Sorry about that! Post it again and I'll add it.

-alienhost

[Sasha]

Alien - That was me who previously posted about that issue. I would say at K's length, she should be fine in the PNP. I used it in Feb. when Sarah was probably 34-35 inches and it was ok. LOL, however once again I am dealing with the same issue as we'll be at my mom's next month, and I really think my tall 36" girl may need something else! Ugh, I am so dreading dealing with this.

Veggie Juice - I tried giving Sarah some of the V-8 Fusion Light a few weeks ago but she wouldn't drink it. The bottle is still sitting in my fridge and I would like to try again, I think it's a great way to get veggies in them.

[kimthebride]

Travelling With Toddlers
We're going to Martha's Vineyard for a week next month, and we're bring 2 PnPs (one for each kid). Thomas' will have the crib tent on it to keep him from escaping - he still uses this on his crib at home. He's long, but rarely ever lays fully spread out flat when sleeping.

Oh Threadmistress!
Ava was 20" at birth. :) Thanks for keeping on top of things - I never look!

[psusna]

Not so big after all....guess who is back in his "little bed" tonight? For some reason he wanted in that crib tonight -- no questions asked. So, he's back in the "little bed". DH and I both think that he was over tired tonight and just wanted something comfortable and familiar. We are fine with it and won't force the BBB on him. Just glad we didn't take the crib down....

Do you think we did the right thing?!

[tgray99]

So Aidan is sick. I had to go up to the PX this evening to get new tires on my car and she proceeded to barf all over me while in line at Burger King. I had to go to the bathroom, wash her off, me off, my shirt off and then go buy both of us new shirts. Not fun.

[ahavnes]

Tara- Oh man! Aidan sure has a knack for getting you dirty. I hope she is feeling better soon. :)

Psusna- I think you did the right thing with letting him sleep in the crib again. But then again, I am definitely not the expert, since I can hardly get Abbey to sleep through the night! :o

Liz- Oh my gosh...Abbey gets that same glazed look in her eye and says "Neeeeed paci!" It's a hard habit to break. We call it "baby crack" around here. ;)

[Chylynn]

Tara -man, does Aidan take aim on you all the time? You poor thing! I hope she is feeling better soon.

Psusna -Yes, I think you did the right thing letting him sleep in his crib again. He will let you know when he is ready to be in the BBB 100%.

Liz and Alicia -Total baby crack in our house! We were at Gymboree this past week for open gym and R kept pointing to a baby's paci in their mouth. I was afraid she might try to steal it!

Happy second birthday, Caroline!

[jmvan74]

veggie Juice: I give Collin about 4oz of V-8 fusion a day. I water it down and he loves it. always asks for more juice. It's the only vegtable besides tomatoe sauce I can get in him. :rolleyes:

travel bed: We still use the PNP. Collin is 36" long.

tgray: Ugghh. Poor baby and mommy.

psusna: We haven't transitioned to a BBB, but I think you did the right thing. It's normal for toddlers to backslide when it comes to being a "big kid." No worries. :)

2 year WCV
Weight: 28lbs 7oz.
Height: 36 inches (WOW!)

I guess I have a tall, skinny boy. This would make him 6ft at adult height if that formula rings true. We'll see about that. LOL!

Happy Birthday Caroline!

[psusna]

Happy Belated Birthday Addie!
Happy Birthday Caroline!

BBB: Thanks for the votes of confidence, girls. It felt like the right thing to do, like we shouldn't force him to sleep in a big bed in a strange room if he wasn't totally ready. So we are going to keep working on the big room and let him sleep there when he is interested, saving expanding his crib to a bed until the last thing.

Tgray: Ugh, not again! I hope she is doing better today.

Veggie Juice: Never tried it. The kid eats veggies frozen, steamed, mashed, etc. I am curious, though -- if you started veggies/fruit first when they were transitioning to solids, is that the category they prefer? We started DS with veggies first (peas, I remember it well) and he has a heavy bent for veggies over fruit.

Travel Bed: Still in a PnP with DS curled up in a ball in the corner.

Today is "Doughnuts with Dad" at DS' school and they were both so excited this morning! DH missed it last year b/c he was traveling so he was extra happy to volunteer to drive him to school today :)

[allyray231]

Happy birthday to anyone I missed!

[Sasha]

Happy 2nd Birthday, Caroline!

Tgray - Ugh, that stinks she is sick again. Man, Aidan sure has a knack for getting sick on you!

psusna - I think you did the right thing, don't want to push the BBB and make him upset about it.

Veggie vs. Fruit - We did veggie first, sweet potatoes, and she definitely prefers fruit over veggies. I have to be creative with veggies!

Hmm, seeing all these other long kiddos still using PnP is giving me hope that it is still an option for our trip next month. My mom bought this inflatable sleeping bag type thing, but I just know Sarah won't stay put, with the strange surroundings and all...maybe PNP is still the way to go, since she usually does curl up.

[allyray231]

Happy 2nd Birthday, Caroline!

Veggies=no Fruit=yes :)

We still use PNP

[jmvan74]

[B]Veggie vs. Fruit - We did veggie first, sweet potatoes, and she definitely prefers fruit over veggies. I have to be creative with veggies!



Same here.:)

[tgray99]

She's all better today. Not sure if it was a little bug or something she ate but no fever and back to her old self :) Thanks for all your kind wishes and sympathies for getting barfed on. :o

[Dreshny]

Happy birthday Caroline!

I have Asher's WCV today. Should be interesting to see how he's grown.

[ahavnes]

Happy B_day Caroline!

I am so excited! I have Fridays off from work all summer. I can't wait to spend the day at the pool, wearing Abbey out! :)

Tara- Sounds like Aidan is a puker like Abbey. Abbey does that a lot (where she'll puke once or twice and then be fine. Maybe it's payback for the m/s she caused me! ;))

[cynder]

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Veggie vs fruit We started with peas and sweet potatoe and now he avoid them like the plague. I know with him it is not taste but the texture. He can suss out a pea not matter how good I hide it. I hated veggies growing up so who knows. As long as I can sneak things, I am cool. Going to try V8 watered down this weekend.

PnP We used it recently with no issues.

[Chylynn]

Veggie vs fruit -Started with pears and she eats veggies as well as fruits. She does like fruit over veggis, but honestly, who doesn't? Fruit is sweeter than veggis and is almost like a dessert.

Father's Day -So, what are you all doing for Father's Day? I'm letting Dave sleep in Saturday and Sunday, and after Church on Sunday, Rebecca and I are making brunch for him and inlaws.

-Crab eggs benedict
-hashbrown potatos
-fresh fruit
-mimosas
-coffee/cappucinco

Anything else I should add?

We bought a Daddy's Girl Book, a Flipbook (I sent a video of Dave and Rebecca at the beach last year and they turned it into a flipbook- so cool!), Seinfeld Season 8, Barbra Streisand 2006 Concert CD, wine preserver, and now I think I am going to buy a hammock for him since ours broke.

[happy1nuv]

roseanne ~ how do you live without a dishwasher?!? I spent a year in hoboken (stupid girl didn't BUY but rented...argh!) ... without a dishwasher and I will NEVER AGAIN live anywhere without one!

[jmvan74]

Father's Day: Honestly, we aren't doing anything. He got a new grill last weekend and that was his gift. I bought him a card from the boys and I'll give him a bag of Milky Ways...his favorite. There's no way I'm letting him sleep in. :o I need all the help I can get on the weekends. Especially since we are having Collin's bday party on saturday.

[Dreshny]

roseanne ~ how do you live without a dishwasher?!? I spent a year in hoboken (stupid girl didn't BUY but rented...argh!) ... without a dishwasher and I will NEVER AGAIN live anywhere without one!

LOL! I actually don't know what I'm missing because I've never had a dishwasher--my parents didn't have one, either.

Asher's Well-Peanut visit:
Height: 33 1/2 inches (36%)
Weight: 24.4 lbs (9%)

He had a Hep A shot and a blood draw for iron and lead.

[MayJune05Moms]

stats updated through here....

enjoy the weekend!
-alienhost

[jrdhbunny]

Happy Birthday Caroline!

dishwasher- Nope, we don't have one either. In fact, it's been over 10 years since I've had one of those fancy contraptions. :p

tgray- Oh no! Glad Aidan is feeling better!

kim- Good luck with the birthday party tomorrow! Hope the 3rd time is the charm!

travel/pnp- We're one of the unlucky ones that do not have luck with the pnp. DS sleeps in the bed with us.

It looks like we're going to make an offer on a house. I'm so nervous/excited! It's a real mess inside- I have no idea why anyone would show their house in that condition, plus it hasn't been updated in 26 years. Most of the stuff seems to be cosmetic (except the roof, but luckily for us DH's dad is a roofer!) so we're hoping that they'll take our admittedly low offer because we'd never be able to afford to fix it up otherwise.
The other side to this is that I'm going to have to go back to work. It's somewhat of a relief actually because we're struggling financially and this will give us some security. My main concern is DS- I have NO idea how he'll react to daycare. He's only really been with me or DH on a regular basis, not counting a few hours here or there. I'm off to the WOHM group to get some advice/stories but if anyone has anything they want to share here- I'd love to hear it.

Oh and DH just had a birthday:
DH=37

[alienhost]

Happy Birthday Caroline!
Happy Belated Birthday Addie!

PNP thanks for all the input ladies. I'm going to take it out this weekend and see how she fits in it but I'm thinking we should be able to use it next month.

veggies vs fruit we did veggies first (sweet potato, I think). She prefers fruit but is a decent veggie eater, she loves peas.

veggie juice I haven't tried it for her, she doesn't like any fruit juices so I can't imagine she would drink it. I'm going to try to get her to drink smoothies this summer, maybe I can make them with the V8 frusion as an ingredient.

[allyray231]

we never had one in queens either.

[usafwife]

Happy Birthday to those I missed!
Happy Birthday, Caroline!!

alien ~ Thank you. It's been a major hassle to say the least.

Arts & Crafts ~ Just crayons/colored pencils here. I'm not brave enough to let her have markers just yet.

Roseanne and jrdh ~ You aren't the only ones without a dishwasher. I miss mine and hope to get one soon. I'm sick of always having to wash every dish myself (although DH will wash some dishes every so often but not really dinner dishes).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Vehicle shopping ~ I can honestly say that I hate vehicle shopping. We've looked at vehicles until I'm blue in the face. Although I think as of last night we finally found one that we can live with. It's a van and we will see how well we like it. If don't then come tax time we will go back to the SUV (DH already said we'd do this and he'd forgo getting his newer truck...although I know we need a larger truck (one that had at least 3 doors). I'll check back in later.

[ahavnes]

Dishwashwer- We didn't have one in our house in Miami. I thought it would be a huge deal, but you really get used to it. Granted, that was before I had a child and started manufacturing dirty dishes. ;)

Veggies/Fruit- We started with Sweet Potato and squash. Abbey likes fruit and veggies both. It's protein that's a battle...unless it's milk of cheese, which she could live on.

jrdhbunny- Good luck on the house!

[tgray99]

Veggies/Fruit- We started with Sweet Potato and squash. Abbey likes fruit and veggies both. It's protein that's a battle...unless it's milk of cheese, which she could live on.

Ditto for Aidan...although, occasionally she'll eat a couple of chicken nuggets.

[LIZNKEITH]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone. I still can't believe she is TWO!

fruit vs. veggies
Started with veggies first. She prefers fruit over veggies, but does still eat a fair amount of veggies. She loves green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob (not regular corn though!)..

2 Year Stats:
Weight- 25 pounds, 2 ounces
Length- 33 inches

[rancherswife]

I am so freakin' behind it's crazy! Still have two more pages to read...But I wanna take a nap, we've been so damn busy this past week/weekend. Hopefully I can catch up this evening. :)

[jrdhbunny]

Hope all the DHs had wonderful Fathers Days!

Well, no house for us. I'm sad, but relieved at the same time. It was in much worse shape that we had thought- that's what we get for bringing an active 2 year old with us on the first visit. :rolleyes: We've decided to wait until next spring to start looking again so we have a little time to get in better shape financially.

Memo- We're having some serious sleeping issues here. Getting DS down for his nap and bedtime sucks; he begs me for "one more song" or "one more story" over and over, and when I finally leave, he calls for me or cries for at least 20 minutes. Last night it was almost an hour. On top of that, no matter when he goes to sleep, he's up at 6:30 a.m. Thank goodness tomorrow night is our MOMS Club banquet- I so need a break.

[tgray99]

Memo: Aidan has really been fighting sleep too. I'm wondering if I need to push back her bed time. She used to get really fussy and cranky if I kept her up past 7. I might try that tonight.

[christy1010]

Well I finally found time to post! I have been reading along, it is just so hard to find time to post with working, chasing an active two year old, keeping house, trying to find time for me!

It is so hard for me to wrap my head around having a two year old! I do enjoy this stage though, she is so funny and learning like crazy!

Happy Belated Birthday's to all the kids and mommies I have missed in my abscence from posting

2 year stats:
Height: 31 inches 5%
Weight 21Lbs 5oz 3%

PPlease change DH age to 35

Sarah's second birthday party was not what I had hoped for. She ended up getting a virus two nights before her party and was in the emergency room. I could not cancel her party because my dad came from CA to meet Sarah for the 1st time and my Aunt came from TX. All the family ended up sick except for me. My Aunt stayed an additional two days because she was sick. DH was sick on the day of the party!

Sarah is currently sick with a sinus infection. Poor kid, I can't seem to keep her well.

I had a horrible Mother's Day. DH choose not to acknowledge the day at all! I choose to make a big deal out of Father's Day maybe in hopes of making him feel guilty.

I have a question and need some advice. Sarah is in daycare 30 hours a week, I am really good at observing bed time. My question is that next week I am helping with Vacation Bible School and may have to take DD with me which means that we won't get home until after her 8pm bedtime and probably won't get her into bed until almost 9pm. Does anyone think three days of change will hurt her sleeping schedule?

Need to get going! Little angel is up from a three hour nap!

[ahavnes]

Memo- MAJOE sleep issues here also. I have temporarily given up. Abbey, you win. Mommy will just take a nap with you. Daddy can handle bed time. :cool:

Liz and tgr- Adorable pictures!

Christy- I wouldn't think that a few days of messed up bed time will hurt too much. Abbey is a terrible sleeper, but even when we do break our rigid 8:30 pm bedtime, she usually is just fine. Good luck!

[rancherswife]

memo: Oh lord, please don't tell me there's one of those damn things going around!!! What am I talking about...that thing comes through our house at least once a week. It was pure heaven last night, both babes STTN, I didn't even have to lay down and nap with them this afternoon. ;) Surely won't happen again tonight, I'm just not that lucky. The biggest problem right now is Landon, not Reece, if you can believe that!

swim lessons: So, Landon had his first private swim lesson today. First ten minutes were pure hell for him, melting completely down (as I fully expected!) then it got quiet and when I looked out the window, he was blowing bubbles and kicking his legs. He's got nine more days of it, so I hope he begins to like it more and more each day!

veggies vs. fruit: We started Landon out on veggies, but he's a major fruit eater....loves fruit, will eat veggies, but prefers fruit!

[HedgeGirl]

Christy Sorry to hear Sarah has been sick (and the rest of your family too). I'd agree that a few days away from the schedule will probably not have long term effects.

Memo: Yep, we get requests for more books or potty or "Mommy put Brady to sleep" He definitely seems to know that if he says potty we are more likely to give in for that. Tonight was particularly bad.

Advice: I've got a question/dilemma and I'd be interesting to hear how others deal with similar situations. Lately, DS has been having a hard time with classes. He insists on going home and me getting him out of there. I've been trying to figure out what triggers it and address that (we've got a range of culprits from being tired, hungry, wanting to be outside running around, being insecure around new people and kids and a big case of mommy clingyness). I totally understand and respect that this is a phase common to this age and that I'm not alone (though hearing that more would help too :)) My question is, how much do you "push" your kids to stick it out when they aren't comfortable in a given situation? Or do you respect their voice and leave? What kind of results to you get? Does it turn into a power struggle? Any books you've found helpful on this topic?

[psusna]

Struggling...........

I've gotta tell 'ya, girls, this is HARD. DS is really struggling with the little/big thing right now in a major way. He has chosen to sleep in his big bed the past two nights (fell out last night, put himself back in), and done great. The problem, however, is at school. He moved up last week to the "old two's" room with 5 of his friends. He knows both teachers in there, likes the room, etc. The past two mornings he has refused to go into the room -- flat out fits of screaming. When we leave the hosue in the morning he is excited, happy, fine, but the closer we get to school the quieter he gets and by the time we reach his room he's just a wreck. I think that the issue may be that there is no paci in this room and the teacher is hard core about it -- no transition, just cold turkey. He's done fine without it, but I think that he is afraid the teacher is going to take something else away from him (blanket, etc.). I honestly think he is scared of her and wants back in his old class. I don't know what to do -- you can really see him struggling and it makes me ache for him. I don't know how to help him anymore than I am. We talk about what he does at school and how much fun he has and his great friends and his nice teachers who help him, etc. He loves school when he's not there. Maybe it's just too much change at once -- in fact, I was sure he would want back in the little bed last night, but nope. Any ideas?!?!?!?

Hedge: see above -- we are in a similar boat and he does the wanting to leave early thing from his MyGym on Saturday's too. Typically he wants to leave if they are doing something he doesn't care for or if his two buddies aren't there. I notice it more when he's tired than any other time. He just starts with the "mommy up" -- "mommy home". We go over in a quiet corner and just watch the kids for a bit, and he usually comes around. I don't want to leave and take him home b/c then he knows it works -- I just take him to the side and we watch. When he's ready to participate again (Circle Time), he does so. Gosh, this toddler thing is HARD!!! Hang in there!!

Ranchers: Wow! Landon is going to be quite the fish, I think :)

JRDH: I'm sorry about the house. When the right house comes along, it will be yours!

Memo: Nnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Liz/Tgr: Great parties!

[LIZNKEITH]

jrdh,
Sorry things didn't work out with the house, but it sounds like it was for the best. You certainly don't want to get in over your head with repairs.

Christy,
Poor Sarah!! I hope she feels better soon! I agree with the other, changing the routine for a few days probably won't throw her off. She'll be so wiped out from a busy day, I wouldn't be surprised if she even zonks out in the car. Maybe bring her PJ's with you and change her in to the before you leave the church. That was if she does fall asleep in the car, you can quickly transfer her to her bed without disrupting her too much.

Thanks, ahavnes & psusna!!

Hedge,
Is there any way you can arrange smaller GTG's with a couple of the kids from his class so that he sees some familiar faces every week? Sounds like you've done a good job of ruling out the usual suspects.

psusna,
Oh, that is breaking my heart!! I know Caroline had a rough patch when she transitioned from the infant room to the beginner room. Poor DH, he's the one who does drop offs and there were many days he'd have to leave her screaming because she could not be consoled. I think it was a combination of new faces/new teachers/new routine. She finally got used to it within a week or two and grew to LOVE her teacher. I really thinks it's just a matter of him getting used to it. Maybe send an extra lovely with him to school?

Memo
Caroline may have been the one who started circulating this memo. We had an awful stretch of sleep a couple of weeks ago, but (knock on wood) she's done much better the past week.

[Sasha]

psusna - Does the teacher tell you if he is ok shortly after you leave him in the AM or does it continue through the day? If you could swing it with work, could you hang out there with him for a bit when you drop him off to give him some level of comfort, and also check things out for yourself? I hope that after a week or so he gets comfortable, and if not, maybe you should talk to the center director.

Hedge - I second the advice that psusna gave. If Sarah get shy or clingy in a new situation, I just tend to either hold her hand or go to a quieter place and we just watch, until she feels more comfortable.

Memo - Our memo has been reading something like this: "Prolong bedtime as long as possible, even tell them you need to go potty - they will definitely let you stay up longer for that! Finally give in to getting in crib, but stay awake until at least 9:30PM, singing songs to them over the monitor. Wake up time has now been moved up an hour to 6-6:30AM." Actually, she slept until 7:15 (normal time for her) the past two days, so I am praying that part of the memo has ceased!

So that talk of veggies we were just having....for those of you who have success with veggies, do you have any tricks or recipes you can share? For example, I can get Sarah to eat squash by using the frozen cooked squash and adding a small amount cinnamon and brown sugar to it. Anyone else care to play?

[allyray231]

my skinny boy

2 year WBV
25lbs 3 oz
35 inches

tall and skinny. he for the Hep A shot and there is some confuision about his final dose of his Pneumococcal dose. I guess he is suppose to have 4 now and he has only had 3 so I called my old ped just to check. So we will probably get that later and also have to do his blood draw for lead and iron.

[usafwife]

Happy Belated Birthday, Shylah!!

Our new vehicle is a major hit with DD. She loves that she can walk to her seat. We bought a DVD system for it and it's been a MAJOR hit. She stayed awake while making errands last night.

[allyray231]

usa what did you guys get? we are looking for a new car

[psusna]

Liz & Sasha: Thanks for the words of support about DS’ struggle. I think I will take your advice, Sasha, and monitor the situation this week and then speak to the director if it lingers. It’s nothing his teacher is doing wrong at all, she is great and I’m excited for DS to be with her – it’s just I want to make sure that he is not being forced into being “big” if he’s not totally ready. He is such a sensitive boy when it comes to emotions and change, he always has been. He knows his routine, he likes his routine, he expects his routine. I just want to make sure that he’s not being forced to act/behave/participate in a manner that he just might not be ready for just yet (and by forced I mean by the way the class is structured, etc.). He does calm down shortly after I leave and does great when his best best friends arrive. Good ideas, girls – I appreciate the thoughts!!

USAF: Congrats on the new car!! How exciting for you and the family :) DVD in the car is a lifesaver somedays. Enjoy!

Veggies: Lately DS has been eating them straight from the freezer. I think it feels good on his teething gums. I do put cinnamon on sweet potatoes, and he enjoys garlic on things like green beans, etc. He does NOT like cheese on his veggies.

[DisneyGirl]

USA Congrats on getting a new car...what did you guys end up getting?

DVD player: I have one in my minivan and I never turned the thing on before..LOL

[tgray99]

Two Year WBV
Weight: 29 lbs (80th %-tile)
Height: 34" (50th %-tile)
Head: 18" (90th %-tile)

She got the HEP A booster.

[usafwife]

ally, psusna, Disney ~ We ended up getting a Chevy Venture.

[kimthebride]

I've only been able to peek in now & again this week, but am wondering: has anyone else gone from having a GREAT sleeper/napper to wondering WTF is going on?
- wanting earlier naps
- either doing an hour less or 2 hours longer...but no rhyme or reason as to why in either case
- random crying or playing or yelling at night
- instead of calling out for us to get him in the morning, just sitting there leaning against the wall of the crib quietly (sulking??)
Its just perplexing me & DH!

[wendstress]

I've only been able to peek in now & again this week, but am wondering: has anyone else gone from having a GREAT sleeper/napper to wondering WTF is going on?
- wanting earlier naps
- either doing an hour less or 2 hours longer...but no rhyme or reason as to why in either case
- random crying or playing or yelling at night
- instead of calling out for us to get him in the morning, just sitting there leaning against the wall of the crib quietly (sulking??)
Its just perplexing me & DH!


Yes....

-Sleeping much longer.
-Will fall asleep in the car at 10 AM if we're out and about (but he'd never ask to sleep earlier)
-Bed-time has again become the low point of my day. Listening to "Where'd Mommy go? I want Mommy!" for 20 minutes is taking it's toll.....

-------------------------

Ladies, I'm feeling like crap right now. I spanked James out of pure frustration....something I know I shouldn't do. I'm not against spanking if it is warranted (life or death situation, or repeated and deliberate disobedience (timeouts are my first avenue) is my criteria).

He bit my finger really hard around 6:30PM. It caught me totally by suprise and I actually screamed. He cried because I was so upset. We talked about not biting and he said he was sorry and wouldn't bite again. 7:15 PM I was holding him and he bit my shoulder. I sat down on the couch and popped him 3 times.... I should have taken a deep breath and done a time out. But I didn't.

Ugh. Time to go to bed. Thanks for letting my confess my sins :rolleyes:

[jrdhbunny]

Sleeping- Yeah- today was a low point. Yesterday we had a 2+ hour nap and an easy bedtime so I thought we were back on track. Well, DS was up at 3:30 a.m. calling for me; that lasted about 45 minutes. Then he was up for the day at 5:45 a.m. I'm thinking- wow, he's going to take a heck of a nap and he did, but the other way- clocking in at just over 1/2 hour. :mad: Tonight he actually fell asleep in my lap while I was reading, but I have no guesses as to how long he'll sleep.

wendstress- I know how you feel. A while back I smacked James very lightly on the thigh when he had a temper tantrum during a diaper change (almost vaulting over the side of the changing table, kicking me, getting poop everywhere) and thanks to his fair skin it left a mark :(:(:( . It faded fairly quickly but I cried about it for the rest of the day.

[rancherswife]

sleep: What is with these kids. Never in my life would I have guessed that at 2 he'd not be sleeping through the night and not be stuck to a certain sleep pattern. His naps are much like the rest of you are describing. Some days an hour less, some two hours more...it's a totally random thing, bed time has been pushed back to 9 or later, it is hard this time of year with it still being light outside though, so I'll give him that. If we're in the car for longer than 20 mins. in the morning, he's asleep, which totally screws his "real" nap up later on...ughhh!!!! WHY??? I do however, take comfort in knowing they're all doing it though...well...most of them! ;)

spanking/frustration: I've had a couple of these incidents happen as well. And you feel like complete ass after you do it. Beat yourself up over it the rest of the day...yeah....totally been there. Being a parent of a toddler is freakin' hard work!!!

[njnewyearsbride]

dropping off 2 year stats -- didnt realize we had a new thread!

2 year stats
height - 36"
weight 28.5 lbs

[diedra1027]

Sleep - Same problems here...except the naps. At night she's been goofing off for an hour or more before finally settling in - last night I even had to take some stuff out of her room to get her to stop messing around. We're also getting the diversion attempts - when it's time for bed she says she's hungry...and conversely, when it's time for dinner she says she's tired :rolleyes:. I guessing things will improve when it's not light out so late!

Spanking/Frustration - I think we've all done things we're no so proud of. I'm often thankful that Avery's not going to be able to remember a whole lot about this time in her life!

[tgr68]

New thread and I'm already a week behind. :rolleyes:

Free/Cheap and Fun Things~sidewalk chalk ($5 for a huge pail), library, reading, fridge magnets ($1 at Dollar Store), water hose, etc.

Arts & Crafts~Mostly coloring around here. At storytime though, she makes animal pictures using pre-cut construction paper and glue, finger print characters, hats out of folded & cut paper, etc. She just got some playdough for her birthday though, so we may be busting that out soon!

Outdoors/Tan Lines~None here! We are super-vigilant about the sunscreen with DD since I burn so easily, and we're not sure whose skin she got. She loves being outside though. Her favorite things are her slide and our trampoline.

Travel~We always tote along the PNP, but lately I've been looking into one of these (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5640590) for her.

Veggies vs. Fruit~She usually eats fruit with breakfast and veggies with dinner. Lunch we try to switch it back and forth, but DH tends to give her fruit more often.

Father's Day~I got DH a thing of cologne since he had run out and this picture (http://www.dropshots.com/photos/32398/20070614/094759.jpg) in a frame.

Thank you all for the compliments on DDs party! :D

Sleep~Luckily the memo hasn't gotten passed to us. (Knock on wood.)

Spanking~Yep. There have been times that I've swatted her out of frustration/in the heat of the moment. Yeah, I've felt like crap. When that happens though, I always go back and apologize to her.

Last night we had a pretty scary half hour or so. I went in to check on DD and put her on the potty, and she was just burning up. I took her temp and it read 104.5!! :eek: DH and I got her some Motrin and gave her a quick spongebath with a cool washcloth to get her temp down. After about a half hour, her temp dropped to 102, and this morning it dropped even further to 100. Fortunately her WCV was scheduled for this morning.

2 Year WCV Stats
Height: 33 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs (50th percentile)
HC: 20 inches

The appt went really well. Dr said that she is hitting all of her milestones and even some advanced skills, so I'm pleased. As far as the fever goes, dr said to just keep an eye on things and gave us an antibiotic prescription just in case.

[happy1nuv]

shyness ~ totally over here. like, really bad. we dont leave, but we will hold/cuddle/etc. to get him through....

more later since the crank is up

[cynder]

wendstress We all have low points. Don't beat yourself up about it. It's hard to take a timeout for yourself when something like that happens. DS outright kicked me totally on purpose the other and giggled about it. I came real close to wanting to do something to make him realize how angry and serious I was. Then I thought how spanking or causing physical pain was going to make him stop causing me physical pain. But man, when you are in the moment, all rationality goes out the window. The giggling is what drove me over the top!! They know just how to push it at the wrong time. I am weird about spanking. My mom spanked and pinched me and both my sister and I have bad memories of it.

Sleep DS is trying all sorts of stalling tactics and just breaks down into tears when i put him down lately. DH and I have both been working like dogs so I think it's starting to affect him in a weird way. I need life to slow down.

[MayJune05Moms]

I believe I've made all changes through here...

-alienhost

[alienhost]

lots to catch up on!

Happy Belated Birthday to Shylah and any others I might have missed..

sleeping or lack thereof DD has been struggling the past few weeks but I was afraid to mention it. At night she wakes up calling for me and then when I go in she freaks out when I try to leave. I've been sleeping on the double bed in her room until she falls asleep and sneaking out (this is happening around 1 AM). This continued for 2-3 days. Now it is on and off every couple of days or so she wakes up and I have to lie down in her room. I REALLY don't want to get into the habit of sleeping in her room though. I tried a nightlight thinking she was scared of the dark. After 2 nights of it on she asked me to turn it off. Naps have been better this week (knock on wood) but a week or so ago my normal 2 hour napper was napping for 45 minutes and then miserable the rest of the day. If she falls asleep in the car just before lunch/naptime, we are doomed since she wakes up and doesn't want to go down. I hope everyone dealing with lousy sleep is coping OK.

Father's Day it was nice and relaxing, I made breakfast then we went for a long walk to a new playground. Of course it was the hotest day so far here. We had ice cream afterwards and walked back home (DD actually fell asleep in the stroller, which she hasn't done since she was an infant). We relaxed the rest of the day and DD swam in her pool.

christy1010 I'm sorry that S was so sick on her birthday, no fun! I hope she is better soon.

psusna is J feeling better about school? I hope this week is better.

wendstress Don't beat yourself up, I think we all have moments that we aren't proud of, motherhood is hard.

[jmvan74]

sleep: It is definitely off. He gets whiney for bed early and he's usually in bed by 7pm already. He's been waking up a ton for no apparent reason. So frustrating. Luckily, he puts himself back to sleep eventually, but is tired in the morning b/c he wants to get up an hour early, too. Baaah. Maybe it's a growth spurt of some sort. I hear him singing and talking to himself, so maybe he's practicing his verbal skills.;)

Spanking: Been there too. :o Hugs.

[usafwife]

sleep ~ DD will wake up in the night, scream/cry for a few seconds, turn over and then go back to sleep. I've started letting her sleep with a stuffed animal/blanket because it helps her when she wakes up in the night to have something to grab on to and go back to sleep.

Travel ~ Depending upon the rooms we stay in, she either sleeps in the other bed or on the sofa/loveseat in the other room. We do take her travel mat (similar to what tgr68 posted) that we bought last September while my mom was in the hospital.

spanking/frustration ~ I've been there but usually only spank as a last resort/serious offense. We've been using the word 'no' for a while so she knows when we say it what it means. She is kicking more and I have lightly spanked/tapped her for kicking me in my incision area before (it made me double over in pain when she did it). DH got on to her for it as well. She's good about coming up to us (or anyone) and asking us if we are okay (after coughing, sneezing, DS burping, saying ouch, etc). We are also using timeouts and the 1,2,3 system.

[tgray99]

Discipline: I use redirection, time-out (Thinkin' Chair), 1-2-3 (but actually go get her when I get to 3...unlike my dad did with us) and occasionally I'll swat her hiney (which is diapered so I doubt it even phases her). I also will get my face very close to hers to make sure she's looking at me and making eye contact when I tell her what she should or shouldn't be doing.

Freaked Out: Aidan let go of my hand in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot yesterday and ran away from me. I have never been so scared. Luckily there weren't any cars coming but, dang, it happened so quick! Scary stuff.

[psusna]

Alien: He had a great day yesterday! He got two stickers for being a good helper, was a good sharing partner, etc. She put a very nice note on his paper and told me again today how good he was. She said he got angry a few times and she could see him working to control his frustration. However, he didn't want me to leave again today. I stayed until his friend Mason got there (20 minutes!) and then he was totally ok with me going. I think I know what his issue may be but I have no clue how to solve it....

Sleep: We are going for night 3 in a row in the BBB. We'll see what happens there...

Frustration/Spanking: Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

[Sasha]

Frustration/Spanking - I will admit that I took a little swat at her tush a few weeks ago when I was at my wits end. She was repeatedly kicking me and laughing while doing it and I just couldnt' take it anymore. Not my finest hour. I don't want to spank her and we use TOs when she acts up....but that one was particularly bad! :o

Sleeping - Totally fighting going to sleep at night. Once she does, she is STTN, but man, getting her to go to sleep has been a chore. At least she is waking up closer to her normal time again, as opposed the 6AM wake up call we were getting last week.

[DisneyGirl]

Frustration/Spanking: Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

Yeah, same here.

[rancherswife]

I love the true confessions...it's good for us girls... ;)

[kimthebride]

Spanking
Since we have no good "time out" place or room for a chair, I have had to physically hold him down in a sitting position in the corner after doing something worthy of a time-out or spank....it feels terrible to do that!

Though mostly we just inform him that boarding school is always an option. :D

[allyray231]

kim we use a doorway for timeout.

[kimthebride]

How? (I am sleep-deprived an not quite picturing how this would work....)

[diedra1027]

Freaked Out: Aidan let go of my hand in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot yesterday and ran away from me. I have never been so scared. Luckily there weren't any cars coming but, dang, it happened so quick! Scary stuff. YIKES!! Yesterday evening Avery was 'helping' Daddy water the front lawn. He apparantly wasn't watching close enough because he turned around and she was gone...he caught up with her a block and a half away (GULP!! and :mad: ). I refuse to let go of her in a parking lot, but she's run off from our house three times now. So So Scary!

[Chylynn]

Diedra _OMG! Thank goodness Avery was okay. I would have killed my husband.

tgray -Phew, thank goodness no cars were coming. It does happen fast.

Potty Training -We are on day 4 of potty training and DD is doing pretty good. She has the pooping in the potty pretty well, but we have 1-2 PP accidents daily. She just doesn't have the muscle yet to hold it to get to the potty and if we do not move fast enough, she has an accident. We did the PT in One Day method and I am pretty impressed how fast she picked up on it. I think in about two weeks we will be free from accidents for the most part. Once we get her PT full-time, we will work on removing the paci....

Hope everyone else is doing well!

[tgray99]

I've read that this is the age where toddlers can get backed over with the car, wander out of the house and other dangerous things because they're mobile and have no concept of fear or danger. Scary stuff!

[psusna]

Fly by post....

Does anyone have recommendations for books to read to/with our kids about sharing? Also, do you remember those Little Miss and Little Mr. books by Roger Hargreaves (sp?) from when we were tykes? Do you think our kids are still too young for those books?

BBL. Hi to all!

[kimthebride]

Also, do you remember those Little Miss and Little Mr. books by Roger Hargreaves (sp?) from when we were tykes? Do you think our kids are still too young for those books?

I had the ENTIRE collection as a kid, so began collecting the Little Mr. ones when T was born. I have almost all of them. I tried reading them to him when he was about 1 and he just ate the pages :rolleyes: , but now he's more interested.

I got a lot of them on eBay, but they also make a great grandparent gift! I'm asking my mom for the Little Miss ones for Ava this Xmas. :)


Sharing? WTF is sharing??! :confused:

[rancherswife]

Since we have no good "time out" place or room for a chair, I have had to physically hold him down in a sitting position in the corner after doing something worthy of a time-out or spank....it feels terrible to do that!


Oh yes...we've done this a time or two ourselves....those are the times I've been head butted, etc. from the screaming fits that continue while he's in my arms. Good times! :)

sharing: Yeah, he's not so good at that, I find that NO child at this age is good at sharing! ;)

Holy shit diedra, that would have surely given me a heart attack! You poor thing. :(

[tgray99]

Sharing: At this age and cognitive developmental stage, toddlers aren't built to share...it's not in them...neither is playing with other kids...they're still at the parallel play stage. Which isn't to say that I don't ask her to share when she's with other kids, I just know that it isn't something that she should know.

[psusna]

Tgray & Diedra: Holy moley! I'm glad that your little ones are ok. Man, what a wake up call to keep on keeping on with the hand holding.

Kim: Thanks for the info on the books. I LOVED them when I was little and my 2nd grade reading teacher had a whole unit dedicated to them with a little playhouse she made with life-sized Little Mr's. I'll check out eBay. Thanks!

Sharing: I brought up sharing b/c he has been way posessive of his things lately. While I agree with Tgray, I still think it can't hurt to talk about sharing or read books that show sharing, etc. He's been getting into trouble at school b/c he's taking toys or swatting at someone trying to take his toy, etc.

BBB Update: (knock on wood) He's been in the BBB for 5 nights now and done fabulos!! We are slowly finishing his room and he seems to love it, as do we.

[ahavnes]

Sharing-Abbey is actually really good at sharing. Maybe it makes up for her crappy sleep habits, lol. We actually have to "tone down" the sharing sometimes b/c she'll follow kids around, insisting that they take what she is offering. :)

Spanking- I think all of us in this thread are good parents. We're all well-read on parenting topics and we try our hardest to raise our children with their best interests in mind. Obviously...that's why we're on here asking each other for advice! ;) However, we're all human. Like everyone else, I've spanked Abbey a time or two and have beaten myself up for it. It sucks, but I just try to remember that I'm doing the best I can...and that she won't remember it likely. Haha. Not that it phases her anyway. The one time I really spanked her was at the vet's office and she just turned around and spanked me while saying "bad Mama" and laughing. :rolleyes:

Diedra- That is really scary! I would have killed DH also! :cool:

Chylynn- Glad the PT is going well!

[rancherswife]

Not that it phases her anyway.

LOL! So true w/ Landon too. He gets a kick out of it. That's why I find other avenues (i.e. TO's, holding him down on my lap, etc) because he just laughs whenever I've tried the spanking thing...ughh! And you know the "powder room" incident! ;)

[Sasha]

Sharing - Sarah is like Abbey, she is actually pretty good about sharing and will go out of her way to share something with another child. We have to make up for the temper tantrums somehow, right? ;)

Diedra & Tgray - So scary, glad both girls are ok! I had a similiar incident when we were on vacation last month and I thought DH was watching Sarah, he thought I was, and she walked off to the other side of the tiki bar...I have never been so terrified in my life. Really need to keep your eyes on them at all times.

Has anyone else seen a major decrease in appetite lately? Sarah is hardly eating her breakfast and dinner this week - although her teacher said she is eating her normal lunch at daycare. And, she will only eat ravioli for dinner right now, although barely any of it. Every night, she asks for pasta. Do I just keep giving into her or when do I put my foot down and say she has to eat something else?

[psusna]

Appetite: YES! Major decrease. He eats all of his breakfast at school, most of his lunch and then barely any dinner. Last night's dinner was 1/2 of a dinner roll and a cup of applesauce. The night before it was 2 pieces of cheese, a spoon of rice, and 4 blueberries. I have asked him both nights if he wants something different to eat and he said no both times. I've started giving him a vitamin before bed, which he loves and can't understand why he can't have more than one!

[cynder]

Sharing This really irked me a few months ago but I have learned to be okay with it. I guess they are like dogs - need to pee to declare what is theirs! :) We have some book called The Red Ribbon that someone gave us that is kind of nice to show sharing. We just talk about it a lot, make him share , etc. Now he shares but he wants it back right away. Fine!

Appetite: We had a hunger strike last week, hunger feast this week, and then today refusal of the one solid meal - breakfast. For the 500th time, I give up. Sasha, I would make what she if she is asking for it. Just look for ways to sneak things in. I have been taking yellow Annie's Mac and cheese and adding all sorts of purees. So when he refuses carrots, I shovel in some mac with pureed carrots and smile to myself.

[ahavnes]

Appetite- TOTAL decrease! She barely eats anything these days. Glad to know we're not alone.

[DisneyGirl]

Appetite Thanks to who ever brought this up because i was starting to wondering if something was wrong with Nikki. She hardly eats anything.

[kimthebride]

Appetite
Thomas used to eat a CRAZY amount of food - I didn't even understand biologically how it would fit in his stomach.
Anyway, now he's back & forth. He was just grazing, eating very little all of May so at his 2 year WBV DH & I asked the Ped about it. He looked at us and all seriously said "He's two now. He makes his own decisions." I guess eating/not eating is a big control issue, so when they realize they can make decisions and control situations regarding food (you can't actually FORCE a kid to eat...) they get all over it for a while. Annoying, but normal and okay.
Ped said he was healthy and active and did put something in his belly every day (peeing/pooping normally too) so don't worry about it.
He is starting to come around now. He went from simply refusing to eat, to now insisting he sit in a regular chair at the end of the table and have his food on a partitioned tray. If he gets his wish, he'll sit there like a good boy and eat.

[tgr68]

Appetite~YES! I thought it was just because of the fever she's had the last few days. Last night, she refused mac & cheese, which she normal devours before I can even fill her sippy.

[jmvan74]

appetite: Count us in the decrease camp... I can't even count on him finishing his breakfast anymore. The only thing he will always eat is fruit. :rolleyes: Better than candy.

[Chylynn]

appetite decrease -Yes! We just deal with it as it comes, because her appetite eventually comes back. It is hard, though!

[diedra1027]

Running Away - Ladies, I wish I could say that DH got an earful from me for Avery's latest running adventure, but I was too shocked to say much. Plus, he was white as a sheet as he was telling me what happened--he freaked himself out enough!!

Appetite - Don't think we've seen a decrease, but she eats so little to begin with it's hard to tell ;).

[alienhost]

diedra and Tgray wow scary ladies, I'm glad your little ones are OK. Things happen so fast it is insane.

sharing A social worker told me that they don't really master sharing until 4. That's a long way to go if it's true. DD will share on her terms - if she feels like giving you something she will. She talks about sharing though. If someone takes something from her she says "no, share!". I'm not sure if she is saying this person isn't sharing or if she is telling the kid to share. Funny story though - the other day, 3 of them were playing and each had their own bowl of goldfish crackers. One kid beelined towards her bowl (which she left sitting on a table) and she ran after him yelling "no, no, no, no touch the bowl!"

appetite I think it has decreased here too.

[jrdhbunny]

Running away- Oh gosh, it is about the scariest thing that has happened to me in my life! (I can't remember if I had posted about it when it happened, but DS got out of the house and was halfway down the block before I caught up with him.) Those little buggers are quick!

Appetite- DS is still eating pretty much the same as always, in fact, probably more. But he wins no prizes because it's still the baby food. :rolleyes:

Sharing- James loves to share his drinks with us, and he's pretty good about sharing his toys with other kids. But I think it's just his personality because it's more that he won't fight for it, KWIM? He did have a tussle with a friend at playgroup over a riding toy and the other kid won. Luckily there was no tantrum, he just tried to find another thing to play with.

[rancherswife]

appetite: MAJOR decrease w/ Landon too. He will almost go all day w/ hardly anything, then he'll eat a good meal. OR, if he doesn't go all day w/ out...he'll snack a *little* throughout the day, and just make a mess while we eat dinner.

[tgray99]

Appetite: Aidan has barely been eating much at dinner. Although yesterday she ate spinach...I was shocked. Even asked for more!

[usafwife]

Running Away ~ DD has walked off while I was trying to get her in the vehicle at home before. Not really that much of a problem since we live out in the middle of nowhere but if the idiots up north decide to use our road (which they don't have permission to do but use it anyway...long story) they go up it like 90 to nothing. I'm seriously considering buying one of those 'caution: children at play' signs and putting it up on the road to caution them about slowing down. Probably wouldn't do me any good though they'd still use it like a freeway. I also don't want her to get in the habit of thinking she can just run away/take off whenever. I've also started locking the screen door (doesn't make DH happy when he comes home from work) to keep her inside. It will work until she figures out how to lock it (and if she seems me lock it that will be the end of her not knowing).

Appetite ~ Definitely been decreased. Somedays she hardly eats anything. I can always count on her to eat cheese though. She's been eating a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches. And she loves the mexican rice I make. She used to eat chicken but it's hit or miss (and mostly miss) lately. She won't eat beef of any kind right now.

Sharing ~ It's hit or miss as well. Sometimes she'll share and other times she won't. Her cousin who is going to be 5 will take something away from her and she'll go try and grab it and a fight/struggle will take place. She is one strong little girl and won't let anyone walk all over her. She definitely stands up for herself. We've went to the park a few times and she will take turns sliding down the slide when there are other kids around. I don't know how well she shares while she's in the nursery at church. No one ever says anything so hopefully it isn't a problem (or I'd hope they would say something). She loves to share her food with DS though. I have to remind her that he can't eat what she's eating just yet. Sometimes she is okay with that and other times it makes her upset (especially around nap time).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo montages ~ Anyone know how to make a CD with pictures on it and set it to music? I'm wanting to do one for DD's birthday party but I'm not exactly sure how to make it. And I'm not sure what songs to use. Anyone have any ideas?

[tgr68]

Photo Montages~I know that on Shutterfly you can make one. Creative Memories also has some software that will allow you to make a video montage. I'm not sure though if you could burn it to DVD.

Running Away~With all these kids running away, have any of you considered purchasing one of those child harnesses? The old ones looked horribly like leases, but the new ones just look like little backpacks. I never thought I'd consider actually using one, but I cannot count the amount of times she has taken off in the store yelling "mom, chase me"!

[tgray99]

Go to OneTrue Media. Here's the website (http://www.onetruemedia.com/). That's where I made Aidan's photo montage for father's day last year.

[LIZNKEITH]

running away
You don't know how relieved I am to read these stories! We had a horrible experience about 2 months ago. Caroline had poured a drink in my purse damaging my nearly new cell phone. So, Keith and I set off to T-Mobile to discuss our options. I told him to keep an eye on her while I talked to the lady. She'd kind of play close by though so he kept joining in the conversation and asking questions. Suddenly I looked up and she was GONE! My heart was in my throat while we ran frantically around the store looking for her. No sign. We went to the back of the store where there were several offices. No Caroline. I ran outside to look around the building to see if somehow she had gotten out. No sign of her. I am *freaking out* by this time. The girl had grabbed the store keys and decided to check some of the locked offices in the back. There she was, playing in a locked office, lights off, door closed. I swear, I lost 10 years off my life (and probably 5 years off our marriage).

Sharing
Not good either. It's a problem that's really just developed in the past month or two.

appetite
Some days good, but more often than not it's been a struggle to get her to eat. It never ceases to amaze me how toddlers can maintain their energy level with the little amount of food they consume.

[DisneyGirl]

running away wow, all thoses stories are so scary. Thankfully Nikki has never done that to me.

[ahavnes]

Appetite Question- Can we talk seriously about this appetite decrease? I am starting to wonder if maybe I should take Abbey to the doctor. She seems energetic and is happy, but I just don't understand how she can be growing on just the small amount of food she consumes each day. Yesterday she had maybe 1/2 a pancake, 5 blueberries and milk for breakfast; peaches and a half a tortilla for lunch, and yogurt with raisins for dinner. That's it!!! Granted, she had some sippys of milk too, but still. Is that normal...even for a 2-year-old? I ask b/c I really don't want to take her to the ped if their just going to tell me it's normal toddler behavior. :confused:

[DisneyGirl]

AliciaNikki like Abbey eats almost NOTHING all day long. I have even(gasp) offered her cookies, bownies anything just so she eats something and she still refuses to eat even them. Not sure if its normal or not, but should be interesting to see what others say.

[allyray231]

OK is my kid the only one that is eating MORE?

[Sasha]

Alicia - Sarah has had some days like that too. Is there anything that is a sure-fire food that you can offer? I know that if I give Sarah pasta mixed with veggies for dinner, she'll eat more of that than anything else I could offer. On Saturday, Sarah ate like 2 mini pancakes and a couple spoonfuls of applesauce for breakfast, a few bites of peanut butter and a couple grapes for lunch, a little bit of my smoothie for a snack and then like 4 bites of pizza and a couple spoonfuls of cooked squash for dinner. I'm guessing this is pretty normal.

[LIZNKEITH]

Alicia,
That loogs comparable to a Caroline menu. The important thing is she still seems to be eating healthy foods (albeit, if even in small amounts), so she's probably getting adequate nutrition. I read something once (can't remember where), that a toddlers portions are roughly 1/3 an adults. While her dinner looks pretty small, her other two meals seem to scale. FWIW, Dinner is usually our most difficult meal, too. Sometimes we're lucky if we can get her to take 3 bites.

[diedra1027]

Liz - Your running story takes the cake...I think I got an ulcer just reading about that little adventure! Avery has run and hid from me in a store before, but nothing like what Caroline did.

Ally - Avery had been eating more than usual until I dared to comment here that we haven't seen an appetite decrease. :rolleyes:

For the last few days, she's eaten next to nothing. She's been a little feverish and I think the last of the molars are breaking through, so that might have something to do with it. Yesterday she sampled and refused what I made for breakfast, then took an early nap (10-12), we woke her up to go to a party and while there she ate maybe 4 animal crackers, maybe a cup of milk, and a few other treats. I am constantly surprised at the energy output for such minimal input!

Sharing - Were in the same boat as the rest of you. Avery 'knows' what it means to share, but it is always your turn to share with her ;).

[cynder]

ahavnes I have 3 friends who swear that their toddlers survive on air. This weekend cousin in law's 3 yr was with us and he ate way less than DS which is normal for him but he's huge. He's in the 90% for height. Abbey's eating is fine and is actually more than DS normally eats. Really.

Speaking of DS, he was so busy playing with cousin that he ate a ton, pooped a ton and is now suffering from diaper rash for a change. If it's not one thing, it's the other. We also had a first here: as soon as he woke up this AM, he told me "Teeth hurt!" Nice that he told me, sucks that his teeth hurt!

running away I think I have 3 new hairs reading all this.

[tgray99]

Eating: Aidan's appetite has tanked lately. I can almost always get her to eat cheese and juice even if she won't eat dinner. Yesterday she ate maybe 2 bites of chicken for dinner and started throwing the rest so I took it away and she didn't seem too upset about it...The Wiggles were on and far more important. :rolleyes:

[psusna]

Running away: These stories are scaring me!! Liz, I can't believe Caroline!!! I would have totally lost it. I can get DS to hold my hand outside no problem, but in stores is another issue.

Alicia: I agree with the rest. That seems typical for J lately too. I've been giving a multivitamin on days that are really bad.

Not much new to report here. Went to a birthday party on Saturday and took the crib down yesterday, converting it to a bed. He's in the BBB full time now and really does great. I have no complaints. I posted pics of the BBR in the BB/BG Room thread in Toddlers. It's 98% complete.

Taking the crib down was WAY more emotional than I anticipated, even for DH.

[rancherswife]

Taking the crib down was WAY more emotional than I anticipated, even for DH.

Oh gosh, I hadn't even thought about what it would be like taking a crib down....don't even want to think about it! Totally sad! :(

alicia: Landon's the same way. Brett and I often wonder how he survives....it's crazy! His ped says this is all normal, I still can't understand it though!

[ahavnes]

Thanks girls! I feel much better! At least we are all saving $ on groceries. :)

[jrdhbunny]

psusna- Congrats on the transition to the BBR!

allyray- You're not alone- DS eats more than he used to, although a smaller variety. He's become very picky with even his yogurt, but he'll eat a ton of the ones he likes.

Sleeping woes- We've hit Threat Level Midnight around here. DS has regressed; he'll go down no problem, but he's up by 2 a.m. calling for me. Saturday night it went on for about an hour and a half before I finally went in there to soothe him. Once I left, he went on again for about an hour before we finally gave up and brought him into our bed. Last night, it started again and DH just couldn't face even trying to get him back down so we got him right away. I already told DH that we're not doing that again- if he cries all night so be it- I won't go back to the way it was before. We'll see how long my resolve lasts with a screaming toddler down the hall. :rolleyes: I need to go back to previous threads- I remember that you guys had some great advice.

[happy1nuv]

Sleep woes ~ well, we went to visit my family last weekend in upstate new york, and our sleep has totally tanked. Worse than it was before we went, and it was bad before. So needs help!

food ~ nic is totally getting picky. He tends to eat a lot of one thing each day... and that thing is different every day and who knows if you find it...

[Sasha]

So Sarah is sporting a big goose egg on her forehead right now. She ran up our front walkway, slipped on the welcome mat, and landed head first on the edge of our front brick step. She's got a big black and blue bump with a bright red line going through the center of it. She was with DH when it happened and I got home about 10-15 mins later and I freaked when I saw it. Called the ped., she told me what to be on the look out for, but luckily Sarah seems ok. It does look better today...and ironically, all she cares about is the boo boo on her knee, a scrape, as opposed to the big bump on her head.

[ahavnes]

Sasha- Poor Sarah! They really are kindred spirits, given the fact that Abbey was bitten yesterday. :o

[allyray231]

Hi guys-sorry I have been MIA. Sick kid, sick cat-things are nuts.

Hope eveyone is doing well

[usafwife]

Sasha ~ DD fell from her chair last June and got a huge goose egg on her forward when she hit the bar on the chair. We were majorly concerned about the size and color of it. We took her by my mom's and let her see it and then decided if we should make a trip to the ER or not. We ended up going to the ER just to be sure. I was scared about her having a concussion or something serious. They told us it was perfectly okay to bring her out considering the injury and how it looked.

I hope she's feeling better soon. I figured she'd have a headache for days after but she never acted like it.

ally ~ Hope the sick ones are doing better.

I'm trying to get the things ready for the party and our trip to the zoo on Thursday. And I'm starting to freak out about having a 2 year old. I still am in amazement that she's going to be 2. Two years ago I was sitting here wondering how many more days were going to pass before she would arrive, who she was going to look like, how labor was going to go. My OB was pretty sure that I'd go into labor over the weekend (two years ago today was Sunday) so I was anxiously awaiting that moment. I had an appt schedule for the next day (turns out I had a NST and then an unscheduled bio-physical profile u/s in the afternoon).

[jrdhbunny]

allyray- Hope everyone (human and animal) starts feeling better ASAP!

usafwife- Ooo- the zoo sounds like so much fun. Have a great time at the party and enjoy your new 2 year old!

sasha- Yikes! How scary!

Well, I completely jinxed myself when I said DS is going down easily. Tonight he's been screaming like a banshee, nay, like a wild, feral animal since I put him in for bed. I mean, this is ludicrous. DH went out for a while and I already called him and told him he's dealing with him; I can't. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[tgray99]

Sleep: Aidan's been doing the screaming thing too. I put her down, we do our nightly routine, I kiss her goodnight and then 10 minutes later she screaming and crying. I know if I go in there she'll want me to stay. Not sure what the deal is. I've just been letting her CIO. I hate it though and wish it would stop.

[ahavnes]

Sleep-Our sleep is a total and complete disaster also. Abbey screams and cries and even throws herself outside the crib some nights. :rolleyes: She can do this for over 3 hours. Makes no difference if we go in or not. I’ve decided to stop fighting it this week. I am taking her to Miami solo next week so I won’t be able to bring the PNP and will just sleep with her. I figure-- why bother if our travel is just going to set us back anyway? The result is that Scott and I have been going to bed at 9pm with her every night. It stinks!!

[happy1nuv]

I swear... parenting would be SOOOO much easier if it werent for this sleep stuff!??!>?

[Chylynn]

I thought we were the only ones with sleep problems! Sorry to hear everyone else is going through it as well. She went down for her nap today fairly fast, so hopefully we are at the end of a very long week.

[jrdhbunny]

Oy- what is it with these kiddos? How can they be so active on so little sleep? Once DH got home, he took him out of his crib and we sat in the living room until about midnight. I then took him in for the second routine and he was fine until the end when he started screaming again. Thank goodness it only lasted about 1/2 hour, then he was asleep until 7:30 this morning. We went strawberry picking today and I think the heat tuckered him out because he went down fairly quickly for his nap. Of course, we have thunderstorms right now so I expect it to be a short one. (Or maybe not because we have a birthday party to go to which Murphy's Law dictates that he'll sleep right through. :rolleyes:)

ETA- he's awake. Oh well, at least we'll get some cake!

[psusna]

Sasha: I hope that Sarah's big boo-boo is doing better!

Ally: Hope things are taking a turn for the better.

USAF: Enjoy the zoo!

RO's who had a shower or sprinkle for baby #2: I need your inspiration!! I'm throwing a shower/sprinkle in September and am curious about how the invitations were worded, and what the decor/theme was like. Was it less like a shower and more like a dinner party? Was it just like a shower you may have had for baby 1? I guess I'm struggling to define a sprinkle to make sure that's what I really want to call it :) This will be the mom's second DC (they are not finding out the sex) and the kids will be 4 years apart, so it's been a little while for mom and dad. TIA!!

[rancherswife]

sleep: I don't even want to discuss it....

shower/sprinkle: My shower for Reece was just that....a full blown shower. They did have something cute about my having two little boys or something like that...I can't remember now...but anyhow, it was a luncheon, no games though. Pretty normal "shower" type stuff. I didn't really want a "shower" but w/ my family...that's just the way it is, it doesn't matter what # baby it is. They're crazy! ;)

disney: How are you doing? Getting close!!! :)

[diedra1027]

Shower/Sprinkle for #2 - My sister threw us a small party, only family and close family friends, but I wanted to do it after Ian arrived so we just had the party last weekend. Since he was already here, the party was just a 'Come meet Baby Ian' thing even though everyone there had already met him ;). We pretty much just ate (and ate and ATE) and opened a few gifts.

[DisneyGirl]

Rancher HI, I am doing well(thanks for asking)...No major complaints so far and I hope the next ten weeks go by quickly. EEK! Did I say 10 more weeks..WOW! how time flies!
Hope all is well at your place with the boys.

[kimthebride]

RO's who had a shower or sprinkle for baby #2: I need your inspiration!!
I loved my sprinkle!
Here's the invitation (with personal info whited out)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/376866569_a44d7a7f12.jpg?v=1170368943
- It was a brunch at my friend Alexis' house - no kids or husbands allowed ;) .
- We played a game of Guess the Celebrity Mom! while she got brunch on the table. Everyone gets a sticker on their back with the name of a celeb mom, and you can ask only yes/no questions to guess who it is. The first one who figures out their celeb mom, wins a prize.
- Then we ate
- Then we wrote out some future birthday cards. We each got a birthday card with an age on it and wrote a message in it for her. This way, on each bday I can open the coordinating card with her and read her the messages from today. I did the 7th one, and it was just so special to know I am writing a message my daughter can read with me in just over 7 years.
- Then we opened gifts (I had 2 registries of stuff I was planning to get even if no one threw me a party).
- After opening gifts, we headed into the sunroom for a little cake and decorated some blank onesies.

It was perfect!

Even with kids only 2 years apart, there is stuff that needs to be replaced or duplicated...and since i had different genders there was all sorts of pink that needed to be added to my home. :) I think with 4 years between kids, they will need a good replenishing of stuff.

My 1st shower for Thomas was a MASSIVE event thrown at a catering hall, a sit-down lunch that was mostly my ILs friends and family. I got a lot of stuff which helped, but it just felt really 'formal'.

Food
Did you know that the Scooby Doo shaped mac & cheese is WAY better than regular? It must be, because he'll finish half a box of them but now won't touch the tube-shaped one. :rolleyes:
Oh, and i am now the proud owner of a bunch of partitioned trays which apparently make food taste SO much better....

[Sasha]

Sleep - Knock on wood, we are not having any problem in the middle of the night. But getting her to sleep, well that's a different story. She will get in her crib without too much of a fight, but it takes her forever to fall asleep. Last night it was 10:00 before she was finally out...and I had put her down at 8:30! She is still getting up at her ususal time, and naps are still generally anywhere from 1-2 hours, so she is getting sleep. I'm listening to her last night, thinking, if she doesn't want to go to sleep, I sure as hell do!

Food - Oh yes, Kim, those partition trays are great. ;) Ack, we are on what feels like day 159 of her only wanting to eat ravioli for dinner. Dude, this is just ridiculous. I do give her spinach or squash filled raviolis and I always mix in some peas & carrots, but come on....how many days in a row can she eat the same food? I think food is kicking my ass more than sleep, actually. :p

Question! What stores do you go to for your kiddos' shoes? I generally do Stride Rite or Target, but am looking for some other ideas.

[psusna]

Kim Squared, Diedra: Perfect! That is exactly what I was looking for in the sprinkle v. shower debate. I'll hash it out with my friend this weekend and get the party train headed in the right direction. I know that she doesn't want anything formal so I think Kim's decription is what she's looking for. Thanks again!!

Food: Partitioned trays ROCK! That's all DS eats off of at home.

Shoes: DS has feet as wide as the Grand Canyon. Therefore, his shoes come from Stride Rite and the occasional pair of WalMart wides, when you can find them. I HATE paying so much for his shoes.

[usafwife]

jrdh ~ Thanks. Unfortunately we had to reschedule the zoo trip for another day. Yesterday there was a 30% chance of rain but as of this morning it went up to between 50 and 60%.

psusna ~ Thanks. Hopefully we can go tomorrow. DH thinks he wants to go on Saturday but that was going to be my day to do prep work, decorate, and get things ready (since we had to reschedule the party for Sunday due to DH's work....sometimes I get so fed up with that place I could shoot nails at it from here).

Disney ~ Wow, 10 weeks! :eek: I know the last ten weeks I was pregnant with DS flew by (well, all but the last two but that was because of everything that was going on and how worried I was about him coming too early).

kim ~ The partitioned trays are the only things that my nieces and nephew will eat off. I think they get it from their dad who will eat all of the meat (or all of the potatoes, all of the veggies, etc) before eating anything else on his plate. (In other words he eats only one thing at a time instead of taking bites of everything on his plate.)

Spinkle/Shower for #2 ~ Nope. In fact I can count on one hand (okay I need two additional fingers on my other hand) those who got DS something. It was like he was the red headed stepchild and didn't deserve anything. I didn't really care if I had a shower but not having to buy every darn thing (clothes since we had absolutely no boy clothes, things that needed to be doubled up on/replaced, etc) ourselves but that didn't happen. It made me feel as though he wasn't as special. DD's gifts take up pages in her baby book and his take up not even a half a page (7 lines to be exact). I'm greatful for the gifts we got but even some immediate family didn't get him anything. How about even just a simple "Congratulations on your son's arrival" card would have been nice. Didn't even get that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can't believe that today is DD's 2nd birthday. It doesn't seem possible. I was nearly completely dilated now. My epi had been gone for a couple of hours and I was back to breathing and concentrating to get through the contractions. I remember begging for her to come out.

[allyray231]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

[DisneyGirl]

Happy Birthday Sarah

[Chylynn]

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

[jmvan74]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

[rancherswife]

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

partitioned trays: Oh yeah, huge hit in our house as well.

disney: WOW! Ten weeks, crazy. Glad you're doing well. :) I myself can't wait to hear what #3 is!!!

[happy1nuv]

happy birthday sarah!

Ok... what are these partitioned trays that you are talking about? permanent or disposable? asking since nic has recently started this thing where he won't eat the food on the edges that touch the other food... just the stuff from the middle thats "pure" ... yeah, he's a strange kid :) but we love him!

Bedtime ~ so what time do you put your kid down? we've been doing 7:30-ish, and its just not working. We tried 8:00 last night, and it still didn't work... he was up til after 9. (he did have a late nap, but i ran him outside in the heat to try and make up for it) And... total vent ahead.
BUT... last night was a not a good night for getting the kids to bed. We ate late and joe was miserable so I ate and ran him right upstairs, thinking he'd pass right out and i could come back down to put food away/clean up. Well, it took over an hour and half to get him down. DH's been doing bedtime for nic since joe was born, so i wasn't worried about nic getting to bed so i took my time transferring joe from arms to bed (the transfer is my big prob with that one...and he was too overtired last night i think). anyway, as im walking out of our bedroom, dh comes storming out of nics room, nic in arms throwing a tantrum worthy of a 2 year old (did i share i have THREE kids?) ... i take nic, we go back in his room, reassure him that daddy is fine and so is he... get him off to sleep. It's now after 9 ...I come downstairs..and do you think any of the dishes had MOVED? Ok...I get it... dh had to pay bills and thats what he was doing as I came downstairs but REALLY!?!? it does NOT take you 30 minutes to pay bills. Couldn't you have either a.) done the dishes or 2.) helped when you saw i was doing them??? AND... its not my fault that nic's sleep is the way it is (although im the one that insists on NOT cio - my child is stubborn and can outlast me...besides which he'd wake joe - and i do NOT want him to learn that he just needs to cry longer to get mommy to come which is all i think cio would do in our house)... so back the heck off and when you do speak to me, do so in a normal non accusatory manner! sheesh... (harboring much, huh?)

[tgray99]

Trays: Yup, Aidan loves hers. I did discover that even though melamine is shatter-proof, it will still break when it's launched off the booster chair tray. :rolleyes: The monkey plate has a big chunk broken off the handle on the side.

Food Rut: I swear all this kid wants to eat is cheese. Anytime she asks for food that's all she wants. Yesterday I finally convinced her to eat some fruit cocktail by singing the Wiggles' "Fruit Salad" song to her.

Disgusting Car: I went and washed my car and vacuumed out the inside...the area around Aidan's car seat was disgusting. Sand (from the playground), cereal, crumbs, etc., all in the floor and seat. It looks like I have a brand new car now. Anyone have any ideas on how to keep my floorboards and seats clean with a slob for a toddler?

[alienhost]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

wow I'm behind again.

sleep woes I'm sorry people are still struggling with this. Not fun!

Sasha I hope Sarah's bump is getting better.

allyray I hope everyone is feeling better.

trays I bought some at Target but haven't used them yet, maybe that will get her to eat something. :)

disgusting car same here, tons of crumbs, goldfish, you name it in, and around her seat. I have no good ideas on keeping it clean though.

shoes I try and buy one main pair of walking shoes at Stride Rite (outlet, if I can or on-line through some place like shoebuy.com when there is a deal). I've gotten pairs of "dress" shoes at Target/Payless. I've also found a couple of cute dressy pairs at Sears. I've gotten summer shoes (water and sandal) at Land's End.

[jrdhbunny]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

[Dreshny]

Happy birthday Sarah!

Food: My kid is a weird one. His new thing is that he won't eat "American" food. All he ate for lunch yesterday was a few bites of my friend's seaweed salad. He refused his sandwich, yogurt, crackers, and fruit. Dinner, though, was fine, since DH brought home Indian food. :rolleyes:

[ahavnes]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

[Sasha]

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

[kimthebride]

what are these partitioned trays that you are talking about? permanent or disposable?
We have a few kinds. I put my hand in the photos I took so you get an idea of size....
- Disposable ones i think that are a part of the "Take N Toss" collection. These are more the size of round plates though, but I have seen more rectangular ones at Baby Depot
- Found these at Target this week on clearance for i think $0.68
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1296/653067860_ecece03024.jpg?v=0
- Found these at Buy Buy Baby for about $5 (he actually picked them out, lol)
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1297/653067884_3d9bb585bc.jpg?v=0
- And this was a gift, but funny enough I got a 'girl' version as a gift for a couple kids this year. I love thier entire collection - nice size, holds up well & cute patterns. The link to the website (store is in Chicago where I get them) is below the picture:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1024/653067934_119132c6da.jpg?v=0
http://www.allshewrote.com/260baby.html

...and if you are looking for good kid-sized cups to transition to, as well as bowls & forks/spoons...Target has a bunch of plastic (resin...whatever its called) cups, trays, flatwear, servers etc on clearance. I got these grat small drinking cups the perfect size for Thomas, as well as small bowls (about the size of 1.5 cups) and some 'picnic' forks & spoons that are the right size for his hand, bigger than kiddie ones yet not too big or sharp. Can't find a pic online, but the have almost like a horizonal wide rib texture to them, making them slip-proof. Set of 6 cups or bowls was under $2!

[tgr68]

Appetite~Since we've been one this topic for a while, I have another question. Has anyone's DC gone through a growth spurt after a DECREASE in appetite? I swear DD is taller, but like others here she's hardly been eating anything.

Working Out~Okay, I just gotta give a shout out here to Carmen Electra's Striptease series. It is amazing!!! Perfect mommy workout. I know that sounds weird, but it allows you to choose a 15, 20, or 30 minute workout to fit perfectly with your schedule. Plus it really works you. Just through the warm-up you are basically doing crunches.

Sharing~DD does pretty good considering her age. She gets really upset if another kids tries to play with the toy she has and whines "have to share" the whole time the other kid is near her.

Running Away~We almost had an incident in Walmart yesterday. I took her out of the cart to hold a shirtdress up to her to guestimate size. As soon as I went to put it back, so I could pick her up, she took off. I said her first & middle name very sternly and luckily she stopped. Had she taken off, I know it would've taken me forever to catch up to her.

Sasha~Glad Sarah is okay.

Happy birthday Sarah!!!

Disgusting Car~Oh, we had quite the mess yesterday. DH decided to give her one of those really soft cookies with icing on top, and it literally crumbled into a million pieces the second she sat down in the carseat. I know that One Step Ahead has some seat protector things that fit under the carseat, but I'm not sure how expensive they are.

Shoes~We typically get DDs shoes at Walmart, Payless, and Shoe Dept. with the occasional purchase at Target.

I hope I don't jinx myself with this one, but potty training is going great! DD asked 3 times this morning to sit on the potty and peed all three times! :D She's spending the afternoon with GMIL, so I really hope it's going just as well there.

Not much else going on. I've got to get dinner in the oven and then change for my crop tonight.

[psusna]

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

[happy1nuv]

sharing - nic is actually pretty good at sharing, but he gets offended if he tries to share and they don't take it.... and he LOVES to share his food.

So... my child has turned into a hair pulling, biting, hitting machine. Every time he does it i redirect (gentle, kiss, pat, etc.) ... and he'll do the gentler version when directed. Move on to other stuff... then he'll do it again. I don't know where he picked it up from, but its got staying power... anyone else come up with any better solutions? (i think im making it worse, but if i dont catch him winding up, he gets an honest reaction from me...but IT HURTS!!!) And... the past 2 days the boys have been napping off sides each other, so he's gotten some good quality time in... wtf!

[cynder]

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Car I gave up a long time ago and just clean once in a while.

Shoes Mostly Target and Stride Rite Outlet. Do you have Rack Room Shoes? They have a good selection of kids shoes and I get our Chuck Taylors from there. We also bought a Keen pair from Nordstrom's. Way $$$ than I would like but I love the style and got raves from others for longevity.

Plates I love the last one, Kim. I use the cheapy ones from Party City, that has three divisions. We throw them out every few months since they don't last long but I can't find good plates that fit on the FB booster seat. I did stock up on a bunch of the plastic plates that Kim got from Target. They are perfect.

Dreshny Wanna switch kids at mealtime? Actually I can;t complain. He ate cottage cheese for the first time since I was eating it and he had asian noodles the other day when we all went out. Mmmmm...maybe we should eat together as a family?

[alienhost]

WARNING: Veggie Booty Recall (http://www.robscape.com/press-release4.pdf)

My sister just sent me this link - I know a lot of you moms serve this as snacks! DD ate 1/2 a bag about a week ago, thankfully (knock on wood) she didn't get sick!

[Dreshny]

Cynder: And here I was thinking that Asher would be happier eating with your family. My kid eats Indian food like there's no tomorrow! :cool:

Happy1: Welcome to my world. I don't mind so much when he hits me, but it's a real problem when he hits other kids. I just redirect, redirect, redirect. It's a very sucky phase.

Alienhost: We cross-posted about the Veggie Booty recall.

[rancherswife]

hitting: oh yes...hitting, one of Landon's favorite things to do....he started this months ago and it's acutally kinda died off here lately, although I took one to the cheek earlier today. What seems to work best is if I either totally ignore, like I didn't even feel it (hard to do sometimes) or if I have to react, I stick his little but in the powder room (thank you, alicia!). This seems to work really well too. The ignoring really annoys him too though. For major offenses (i.e. his brother, friends, etc.) the time out in the powder room usually does the trick. He's big into apologizing these days, it melts my heart!

car: HA! Yeah, mines nasty where Landon is too. I get my car detailed about every two weeks and the kid that details it is always amazed at what Landon's side of the car looks like, or what is stuck around it. Yuck! We're getting ready to trade it in, next month and we've got to do some serious cleaning of the floor boards etc. in the back. We do have a carseat undermat thingy, but still...it's pretty bad! His carseat gets pretty funk too, but I usually take the Totally Toddler to that about once a month and it looks like new again! I love that stuff!!! :)

[psusna]

Recall: Thank you so much for posting that Alien! Luckily we only have about 1/4 of a bag left and I had not bought a new bag. Man, the kid has really taken a recall beating lately. First his trains and now his booty!

Car: My car is gross. I get it cleaned really well once/month. The problem with our car is the insane amount of books we drive around! He has books everywhere.

Hitting: We went through a very short phase of this, thankfully. Ignoring it worked well and broke him of it, but he was a lot younger then (like 14mo?). With our recent biting phase, we would take away things he enjoyed (like no Wiggles after school, etc) and that worked great!

Plates: I too love the last one Kim posted! We use the melamine ones from Target and PBK. I like them because they also help with portion control. I sometimes forget that his stomach is not the size of my stomach :o

Working out: What the (#@$)*% is that?! ;) Maybe I'll have time for working out during my forced retirement this fall. HA!

Potty Training: Kudos to JRDH and TRG's kiddos!! DS is almost ready. I'm going to start seriously with him when we get back from our trip next week. It helps that he's not in the PT room at school so that has definitely increased his interest in all things potty.

Not much new here. I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned. We are going to a 4 yo's birthday at Build a Bear, which should be interesting. I'm not sure how into that DS will be, but we'll go with the flow.

[Sasha]

Recall - Thanks for posting, Alien. We just finished a bag of Veggie Booty, but she hasn't gotten sick....LOL, she already had salmonella poisoning once, I do not want to go through that again, please! I was planning on picking up a new bag this weekend...guess not.

Car - It's not terrible, it's not great. Although, funny story....you know I work for a non-profit run by Sarah's ped. and her DH....well her ped. and I drove together to a meeting the other week in my car and she looks down in between the seats and say, "I like your goldfish decor." :o I was embarrassed, but thankfully as both a mom and a ped., she totally understood.

Plates - We have the melamine ones from Target and some SS ones from Party City. I like both of them.

Thank you all for asking, Sarah's bump went away pretty quickly and now there is just a small scrape on her head. And woo-hoo, I finally got Sarah to eat something last night besides spinach ravioli - I just plopped down some pizza bites, cooked squash and meat quesadilla in front of her and she gladly ate it...well not so much the meat quesadilla, but she did enjoy using it as a transporter for the guacamole.

[jmvan74]

car: Complete disaster! LOL! There's probably enough snack food stuck in his carseat to feed a small country. :o

plates: I've been using "zoo pals."

hitting: We have just started dealing w/ hitting and biting. Luckily, it's been aimed at me and not other children (except his brother). Uggh.

[happy1nuv]

jmvan - love the pic in your sig... all my pics are the other way around! :)

ranchers - what is totally toddler?

roseanne - sorry asher is at it too, but at least its normal... and i guess i cant make excuses for it because of non-talking frustrations (thats what i was thinking it came from) but, if asher - as verbal as he is - is doing it too... argh. hopefully its a quick stage!
:)

[Chylynn]

Recall -luckily, we ran out a few weeks ago and I never replaced it. Do you know if it applies to the pirates booty? We have a few bags.

Car -Oh, ya! DH complains everytime he cleans the car. I try to pick up behind her, but sometimes I forget if I am in a rush.

Plates -We have princess ones and mickey mouse ones. Love the ones Kim posted.

hitting -None here, but now that I said that it will start happening!

Potty Learned -Rebecca's done. We have not had any accidents in over a week. She learned in 4 days and has been accident free since. We are still working on her pulling her big girl panties up by herself, but she is still young, so I am fine with doing it for her. If anyone needs any recommendations, I love the potty training in one day concept.

Got to run!

[alienhost]

Recall -luckily, we ran out a few weeks ago and I never replaced it. Do you know if it applies to the pirates booty? We have a few bags.

The website says it's only the Veggie Booty (all size bags) and NOT the Pirate Booty.

potty training wow I'm impressed. I really haven't started and just bought a huge case of diapers (I guess that shows my commitment to getting it done ;)) Anyway Chylynn I'd love to know what book you used. PT Question are those who have had success still using Pull ups or diapers at night and nap times?

afraid for my "baby" to grow up I think I'm afraid to have her grow up! I'm resisiting the BGB and potty training.

[tgr68]

Chylynn~A huge congrats!!! I'm currently reading the potty training in a day book, so I'm glad to hear that it works so well! :D

[Chylynn]

tgr -Aw, thanks! I was so scared to do it last week, but after a few days of morning accidents, she understood it. Your DD has been going to the bathroom for a while, so it should be really fast for her! Good luck!

alienhost -We were doing the pull up for naptime, but she keeps wakin up dry, so we are now doing panties. As for bedtime, we are still putting her in a pull up because I believe at this age their bladder is not capable of holding their urine for 11-12 hours.

This is the method we used:

Potty Training in One Day book method (it is the same method Dr. Phil suggests). You really don't have to purchase the book if you don't want to because there are a few websites out there that pretty much explains the process.

Here is the basic day from one of the websites:

Potty Train Your Child In Less Than a Day
What You Need:

A doll that wets (babies r us has them and the doll potty chairs)
A potty chair
Training pants (instead of diapers)
Vinyl pants to go over training pants for when you are in public
Special treats for everytime your child urinates/has a BM in the potty
A few hershey kisses to stimulate BM from the doll (I added this one- how else are the children going to know to have a BM there??? Basically I melted it in the microwave for 10 seconds to get it mooshy and then placed the doll on top of her potty and let Rebecca find her. She got the biggest kick out of the dolls "poop".)

Lots of liquids for your child and the doll to drink
**Note that the following instructions using liquids also apply to potty training for bowel movements.
Consider Before You Begin

Development: The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests waiting until 2 years of age to potty train.

Modeling: You can demonstrate or have the doll demonstrate the process of "going potty."

Motivation: Find out who your child's superhero is. The hero will provide the motivation in this process.

Step 1: Teach a Doll That Wets
Your child will learn by teaching the doll how to go potty. Have your child name the doll and give it something to drink. Then walk the doll to the potty chair with your child. Pull the doll's "big kid" underwear down and watch the doll go potty together.

Step 2: Throw the Doll a Potty Party!
When the doll successfully goes potty, throw a potty party! Make it a big blowout with party hats, horns and celebrate. Give lots of attention to the doll so that your child understands that going potty is a good thing.

Let your child know that when he goes potty, he will have a potty party too. Not only that, your child gets to call his favorite superhero to report the good news!

Step 3: Get Rid of the Diapers
At the beginning of the process you placed underwear on your child's doll. Now it's time to take away the diapers and put underwear on your child.

Step 4: Drink Lots of Fluids
Give your child plenty of fluids to drink. The sooner he has to go potty, the sooner you can begin potty training.

Step 5: Ten Trips to Potty When Accident

Okay, I did not like this step and I skipped it. Feel free to do it if you want.

As your child if he needs to go potty. Your child might say no and that's OK. Because you've given your child plenty of fluids, he will soon need to go.

If your child has an accident in his underwear, don't scold him. You want this to be a positive experience. Instead, take your child to the potty, pull his underwear down, and have your child sit down. Do this 10 times. This builds muscle memory and your child will eventually go.

Step 6: Let the Celebration Begin!

When your child successfully goes potty, throw him a potty party. Most importantly, your child can now call his favorite superhero and tell the hero about what he just did! Enlist the help of a friend or relative to play the hero and take the phone call.

When your child has an accident, simply take him/her to the bathroom ten times in a row as you did before. This will continue to build muscle memory. And don't forget to keep up the positive reinforcement.

(I omitted the last step) I just thought it was too much for my child to have her underwear pulled up and down when she had an accident. She felt bad as it was, you know?

Sorry for the book!

[usafwife]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, ladies. It rained so our day at the zoo got cancelled. We hope to be able to go tomorrow.

Chylynn ~ Congrats! We may have to try that book.

Potty training ~ We are using the pull ups for day and night.

Hitting ~ We definitely got it going on here. I wish I knew how to make it stop. Hopefully it's just a phase and she'll stop it shortly.

Shut up ~ I wish I knew where she learned this phrase because I'd go have a major discussion with the person. I've never said it to her and never will. I absolutely hate that phrase!

[usafwife]

Chylynn ~ I'm going to print out those instructions. Thank you so much for posting all of that.

[tgr68]

Okay, Chylynn, I have a TON of questions for you.

How helpful was the doll portion of the training process? If DD already seems to "get it", do you think it's neccessary? (BTW, I love how you used Hershey's kisses to simulate poop in this step!)

Did you get rid of diapers/pull-ups as well for sleep times? How have you handled night training?

How have you handled visits to others' homes and public outings during the training process? (I take DD to GMIL's house on Thursday afternoons and GMIL refuses to put her in anything but pull-ups until she's fully trained. :( Also, church won't allow them in underwear until they are fully trained.)

Did you start at the very first step each morning (teaching the doll) or did you just jump right in with DD sitting on the potty after the first day?

How did you handle eliminating distractions during the day? Did you not have anything at all in the room with you? Did you allow her to play, read, or otherwise entertain herself between trips?

Okay, I think I'll stop my interrogation now. :p

[Chylynn]

How helpful was the doll portion of the training process? If DD already seems to "get it", do you think it's neccessary?

I would say, yes. My DD understood before we did the PTIOD Method what she needed to do by watching me in the restroom, but she never executed it on her own. By the child "teaching" their doll how to go potty, they learn themselves according to the book.

Did you get rid of diapers/pull-ups as well for sleep times? How have you handled night training?

We used pull-ups at naptime for the first week. We are now using panties since she wakes up dry from her naps for the past week or so. I would do pull ups at first and then switch over once they are dry for at least a week.

As for night training, we use pull ups still. I just think it really is too long to expect a young toddler to keep themselves dry for 11-12 hours. We also still give our DD milk just before bed. She does go to the restroom before bed each night while we are reading books, but is not able to hold it all night long.

How have you handled visits to others' homes and public outings during the training process? (I take DD to GMIL's house on Thursday afternoons and GMIL refuses to put her in anything but pull-ups until she's fully trained. Also, church won't allow them in underwear until they are fully trained.)


We placed DD in training underwear and vinyl pants during the first week of potty learning. The training underwear has a middle layer to absorb some of the wetness if they have an accident and the vinyl pants hold the wetness inside the underwear to prevent it from going on the floor (although a little does come out, but not a lot).

My DD goes to my MILs house on Thursdays as well. What I did was teach this method on Monday morning at 8:00 and by that Thursday, she had one accident with my MIL only because my MIL did not catch Rebecca signing potty in time. talked to my MIL before potty learning Rebecca and explained that once we go to underwear we would perfer not to place her in pull ups except for naps and bedtime. I showed her the training underwear and the vinyl pants and explained that it will keep the wetness inside for the most part. She was totally cool with it once I explained how it worked. I used the vinyl pants when we went in public for the first week. Once DD mastered the potty, we don't use them anymore.

In your case, I guess, I would place DD in pull ups when she is at GMIL house and Church, but at home, only panties unless it is naptime or bedtime.

Did you start at the very first step each morning (teaching the doll) or did you just jump right in with DD sitting on the potty after the first day?


No, I only did the teaching of the doll on the first day. You do it the morning of, and once DD takes her nap, you just go about your normal day. Yes, there will be accidents, but eventually something clicks and they get it. You are supposed to have them help you clean up the messes. Oh, and the first day of, you are supposed to ask like every 5 minutes if there panties are dry? They are supposed to touch their pants/panties and say yes or no. If yes, good job, lots of praise. If not, uh, oh, you had an accident, let's clean it up and put on fresh panties. At that time, the child is supposed to pull their pants/panties up and down 10 times to help them have muscle memory, but again, I did not do this with her. I would not want wet panties put back on me, so why would she? I also had a chart that I kept of each time she was successful on the potty and each time she had an accident. I did this more for myself than for her so I would know approximatly how often she had to go potty.

How did you handle eliminating distractions during the day? Did you not have anything at all in the room with you? Did you allow her to play, read, or otherwise entertain herself between trips?

The book recommends you potty learn your child in the kitchen thus no distractions. We started at 8:00, and by 9:00, Rebecca was tired of playing with the doll and the dolls potty, so I brought some books in the kitchen. At 10:00, I moved her into her playroom, asking her every 5 minutes if her panties were dry, if they were we clapped, if they weren't we cleaned up the accident. I kept it very light and easy and did not want her to be shameful if there was an accident. Truthfully, the first morning, we had all accidents. It was awful, but we got through it. Rebecca was a good sport through it all. She loved when she got her M&Ms and wanted to please us as well as herself. At 11:00 that morning, I took her to the park and then we went out and got ice cream together as a celebration. After her nap, she went potty on the small potty and we celebrated with a M&M. Each day that went on, we had less and less accidents until they were all gone.

I do keep a small baby bjorn potty in our car for when we are out and about. I ask her each time before the park/store/wherever we are going if she has to go potty. She will say yes or no and we move on with our day. When we were at Publix yesterday, she signed potty so I had to leave, run to the car, have her sit on the potty and do her thing and then go back in. Soon she will use the public restrooms and it will get a little easier, but honestly, I don't want her using them for a long, long time, kwim? She will go potty on our big toilet now, but only if we assist her.

Phew, what a book I just wrote! LOL, please let me know if I did not cover anything you have a question about. Got to run!

[portlandbride]

Potty Training I am also on the PT train and wanted to share a few of my observations. We are not following any certain method, per say, just sort of following her cues.
I have found that my DD does MUCH better when we are out than when we are at home. In fact, we never have accidents while we are out and about, but still have them rather frequently at home. I'm not sure if this is because she loves being able to go potty at the stores or what. It is a PITA, though. We were at Home Depot the other day and she wanted to go three times while we were there!
Also, I thought she might be afraid of the big potty since we use a potty chair at home, but she wasn't at all.
Okay, those are the only two things I could think of. Heaven help us all during this PT stage! :)

[rancherswife]

happy: Totally Toddler is a stain remover and it is freakin' awesome. I use it on everything. It's great. I find it at BRU, haven't seen it at target and not sure about wal-mart. They also make TT wipes and they are handy to have in the diaper bag for random spills, drips, etc.!

potty training: eh...so not motivated! ;) he goes a couple of times a day though, takes his dipe of the SECOND he's done pooping, but doesn't TELL me before he needs to poop. makes for fun messes.

[allyray231]

god I am a horrible mother-we really haven't started yet!

[Aunt Liv]

Wow, Chylynn! I'm totally impressed. Maia has NO interest and I've thought about getting this book, so thanks for all this info. I don't think I'm ready to potty train her yet, just b/c I don't have the energy right now, and I'm worried that it will be more of a battle than anything. Who knows, maybe I'll get the doll that wets and see if that peeks her interest.

Hope everyone's doing great and had a GREAT weekend!

[Aunt Liv]

OK, this is totally not an emergency by any means, but my age and DH's age are a bit off. Not that I want to jump ahead 2 years, but...

mods: could you change my age to 30 (yikes), and DH's age to 33.

Now, I'm not 30 until 7/7/07, so don't feel like you have to run over there and change it now ;). I just noticed that I hadn't updated our front page stats it in 2 years...oops!

[Sasha]

Chylynn - Wow, thanks so much for the extensive information!

PT'ing - We on the train, but making slow progress. It's tough since she is in daycare, although they are working on it there too. I would love to do the method that Chy has described, but I don't think I could do it over the course of just a weekend, and I can't send her to school in underwear until she is fully PT'ed. She loves to go potty at school, it's like an event there. And she has peed on the potty there a bunch and will occassionally even say if she needs to go. But at home, we have a harder time getting her to go. However, we did have two successes this weekend, both times poo, and once she even told me she needed to go, so that was pretty good. But it's definitely a slow work in progress in our house.

[happy1nuv]

py - were not on tyhe train yet, but congrats to thise that re

[LIZNKEITH]

PT
No luck here. We tried to do a potty boot camp on Friday night by leaving her diaper/pantless, bringing her potty in to the living room, and telling her to sit on the potty when she felt the need to. About 10 minutes later I hear a wimper and see she's looking down at her legs. She had peed. No biggie. We got her cleaned up and said "Yuck, that doesn't feel good does it? Next time try going on the potty." Five minutes later she comes over to me and said "Gotta go poopy". Excitedly, I walked her over to her potty and sat her on it for 10 minutes. Nothing. Finally she got bored and walked away. About 15 minutes later, I see her standing up, shaking her butt back and forth and spy a little turtle head poking out. Quickly I put her on the potty. We managed to get one little dumpling in the toilet (and made a HUGE praise over it...cheering, treat, etc.), but two more dumplings ended up on the floor. Dare I say I really need to check out this book?

Dinner,
Found a trick to get her to eat more, but at the expense of regression. She'll clean her plate if I let her sit on my lap. ;)

[DisneyGirl]

PT HAHAHAHAH, noway! I just don't think we are ready for that yet.

[Dreshny]

PT: Very slow going over here, too. We started back in March. He understands how to use the potty and will at least pee every time we sit him on it. For a good month, he was poop-trained and never had poop accidents, but recently I'm changing poopy diapers occasionally again. Pee, I don't know. He knows how to do it in the potty, but doesn't tell me if he needs to go, so we've been having lots of wet underpants at home. When we go out, he wears diapers and just pees whenever. Unless, of course, we happen to sit him on a public toilet, and then he uses it, no problem. So frustrating, because he seems to get it, but doesn't really.

[jrdhbunny]

PT- Not really. We're encouraging him to let us know if he has to go and we sit him on it every night before his bath, but that's about it. A couple times he told us that he needed to go and actually went; that was very exciting for everyone. But he's still not telling us when he's gone in his diaper, in fact, he denies it even though you can smell him in the next town.

[IrishEyes]

PT: haven't really given it much thought. Although lately I notice that when Brody gets up in the morning or after naps he hasn't peed very much. Maybe it's a good time to bring out the training potty. I guess I figure I'd wait since the average age to potty train a boy is 3.

2 yr WBV stats:
We're always a month behind!
Weight: 32 lbs
Height: 38 inches (which we think is short, since we've measured him at 39 inches at home and he would not stay standing at the ped's office; as a matter of fact, he was screaming like a banshee and doing anything he could to keep us from measuring him, silly boy)
I'll have to look up percentiles, because our ped checks them (I saw him doing that on the computer) without saying anything to us.

Eating: so Brody has gone through a week or two of decreased appetite like everyone else here. We can get him to eat 2 good meals (usually) and the third meal is a joke. Then we have a day like yesterday pop up: 1/2 banana, 1 1/2 slices of pumpkin bread, 1 1/2 slices of pizza, 1 whole grilled cheese + a few fries. (Not the healthiest of foods, I know, but this is what DH buys for DS while I'm out of town.)

Car: we generally don't go to far from the house, so I typically don't pack snacks. That's good, since my DH is a neat freak when it comes to the cars.

Plates: I've gotten a few cute sectioned plates from Target and KMart with a circus motif or Elmo on it. Brody doesn't seem to notice it yet, though.

[jmvan74]

PT: Not working on it here, yet. Collin has started telling me after he poops so I can change him, but he won't use the potty. He sits on it w/ his clothes on and says "bye-bye pee pee," but won't actually go. :rolleyes: I'm not in any rush. I figure it will be much easier and go faster if I just wait until he is completely ready. :)

[usafwife]

Hi ladies. Not sure if you all have seen the news or not but we are in the midst of a major flood here. We are basically stuck here (can't go anywhere on the highways even if we needed to). The highways out of here are all closed. We were lucky to get home after our trip to the zoo on Saturday. In fact there was a while in which we weren't getting home. It took us over 4+ hours to get home (and it's usually just under 2 hours or less).

[diedra1027]

usawife - Yikes!! Stay safe!

PT - She's showing almost all of the readiness signs, but she's not interested in the least. She is, thankfully, over the stage where she totally denies it when she has made a dirty diaper. We've got the potty seat and we're talking to her about it. I think since brother is so little right now it's actually easier for me not to work on it full force yet.

[tgr68]

Meri~Stay safe!! I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even think of you during all of this craziness! :o I'm glad you were able to make it home safely, and I hope you had fun at the zoo celebrating Sarah's birthday. :) Water has finally receeded here to a safe level. I hope it goes down for you very quickly!

[DisneyGirl]

Usa Stay safe..I really have to start watching the news.


Big girl bed Today DH and I went and ordered Nikki's bedroom furniture and it will be in on Monday...YEAH! we decided that a twin bed is just too small so we opted to get her a full size bed. Now, i think I want to change her room color as well..DH is not over thrilled with the idea since i have him already painting our room this week because Saturday I ordered a whole new bedroom set for us.

[happy1nuv]

usa - stay safe. hope the water fades quickly!

[psusna]

USA: Be safe! I hope that things dry out soon.

PT: We are shifting it up a notch when we get home from our trip north. DS is definitely showing more interest, which i think is because some of the older kids in his room (6mo older than him) are going potty at school now on a regular basis. I didn't want to ramp it up with him before our trip b/c I didn't want to have to deal with him and airplane/airport bathrooms by myself. I'll delay that as long as possible.

Disney: Yay on the BGB purshase! We have a full for DS and love it. There is room for one of us to lay with him and read before bed, and he has pleanty of room to move. He'll be sleeping in a twin at my parents this weekend, so I'm anxious to see how that goes.... All in all the transition was MUCH better than expected. We just followed his lead.

We are leaving on Friday to spend five days with my family up north. I'm really excited about the trip, but concerned about how DS will react when Daddy doesn't come with us past security. I've been telling him that he is going on a plane with mommy, etc. but never came out and said daddy is staying here to work. I'm not sure if I should say anything or not for fear of turning him off to the trip completely. He's really excited about it so I may just let it go. Not sure.....

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!!

[Sasha]

usa - Be careful, hope the water recedes quickly.

Disney - Hope the transition to BGB goes smoothly.

psusna - Have a good trip, good luck on the plane by yourself with J!

We are off to Philly tomorrow for 5 days with my mom. We are taking Sarah to Sesame Place while we are there, which I am so excited to do. I think she will be beside herself with happiness to actually meet Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird, etc. They even do a live Elmo's World show, with Mr. Noodle and Dorothy....she will be in heaven. :)

Hope everyone has a fun July 4th!

[rancherswife]

usaf: Hope the water clears fast and you all stay safe. What a pain to be stuck inside the house. Esp. on a holiday you should be outside!!! :(

sasha: enjoy your trip!!!

aunt liv: Congrats on another baby girl!!! Very fun!!! :)

Hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July!!!

[kimthebride]

PT
Uhhh...no. I can barely make it to the bathroom myself these days. :rolleyes:

sasha
If you can, keep driving north and come visit us!
You have to give a good review of SP, let us know if its worth the trip.

usawife
Ugh - stay dry & safe!

Aunt Liv
There is NOTHING wrong with 30! :p Happy birthday!!!
BTW: who is that teenager in your avatar?

Eating
I just found something Thomas will eat every time: Amy's organic Pizza Bites. He (and I) loves her frozen pizzas, but these are really handy to portion-control.
http://www.amys.com/products/category_view.php?prod_category=5
---
I am so far behind, but I try to peek in here...between a growth spurt for Ava (ie: BFing every other minute), parties, planning a baptism, visitors, going away in a couple weeks, the holiday, trying to (still dammit) sell our place...its been a bit nuts here.

Hope everyone is well & has a fun 4th! :D

[DisneyGirl]

Sasha Enjoy your trip to seasme place..Sarah is going to LOVE it!

[Sasha]

Disney - Have you taken your kids there? If so, any reccommedations?

[happy1nuv]

Hope everyone has a fun 4th!

[alienhost]

I have to catch up but wanted to let you guys know that the Veggie Booty company has recalled another product

Super Veggie Tings (http://www.robscape.com/press-release_superveggietings.pdf)

BBL for shoutouts...

[alienhost]

PT

PT- But he's still not telling us when he's gone in his diaper, in fact, he denies it even though you can smell him in the next town.

DD is the same, most of the time she denies it. Occasionally she asks for a diaper change but that's rare. I think we are going to wait a bit longer before *seriously* starting PTing.

usafwife I hope you stay safe and dry.

traveling for the 4th Travel safe everyone!

Happy Fourth of July!

[MayJune05Moms]

stats updated to here...

-alienhost

[cynder]

I am on vacation but I wanted to post a little traveling trick that has been wonderful for us on this trip. I bought a little backpack with wheels on it from Target for DS to tote while we traveled on two flights to our hometown. FANTASTIC!!! Held my hand nicely while he toted the thing around and played with it at the gate. Others in the airport got a kick of seeing such a pipsqueak with his own bag. Only downside, it has Diego on it but we haven't told him who it is. Other kids have but he thinks it's him. (He kind of looks like Diego, I guess)

Totally recommend getting their own bag, esp with wheels, for traveling. I found mine in Target's luggage section.

[HedgeGirl]

cynder: We got that same bag for DS when we traveled in April (he has no clue who Diego is either, but he likes the cat/leopard on it). DS loved it as well and it helped to get him to walk threw the airport...at least part of the time. Funny story...my cousin came to visit us last week and we went to pick her up from the airport. As we get out of the car, DS says "Brady's backpack" (he associated the backpack with the airport). Fortunately, the backpack was in the car and he got to relive the fun!

[Chylynn]

Quick question, where are you all purchasing your toddlers shoes? We have always been a stride rite fam, but Rebecca is now a size 8.5 wide and I do not like any of the current styles at stride rite in that size. They seem way too old for her and the one that we did try on did not fit her that well. Any ideas? I need a pair of nice white shoes and a pair of sneakers for preschool/playground. Thanks!

[ahavnes]

bought a little backpack with wheels on it from Target for DS to tote while we traveled on two flights to our hometown. FANTASTIC!!! Held my hand nicely while he toted the thing around and played with it at the gate.

Ugh. I just got back today from a solo trip with Abbey to Miami. She refused to walk by herself in the airport AT ALL. I think my arms are twice as big and strong now. Not sure I will ever be able to do the solo trip again. Very scarred from this!!! This child has been on no less than 10 plane trips, so I'm not sure what went wrong.

Let's recap:

- Flight from Houston to Miami was delayd 2 hours, which left me in a crowded airport alone with a very energetic toddler for 3 hours...not to mention a stroller, huge Britax car seat and a diaper bag the size of Rhode Island.

- Batteries on the DVD player ran out before the "fasten seatbelt" sign even went out. Must have used them all during the 3-hours at the airport. :rolleyes:

- Abbey didn't sleep at all on the flight there, despite the fact that it ended up being a late night flight.

- On the way home this morning, Abbey refused to walk by herself. At all. She actually threw herself down in the jetway and started screaming (while I was loaded up with the stroller, car seat and Rhode Island-sized diaper bag.) :cool: Naturally, nobody helped me, they just stared. Probably too busy hoping they weren't in row 18 with us. ;)

- Once we actually got on the plane, Abbey threw herself in the aisle and started crying. I was so frustrated by this time that I threw the carseat in a random first class seat and stormed off with Abbey. Nice. Luckily, a sweet lady took pity on me and brought the seat back to us.

- Abbey fell asleep about 20 minutes before we landed. :rolleyes:

- American Airlines lost our luggage. Sweet!!!

So anyways, we're home. And so freaking glad!!!!

[rancherswife]

OK.....alicia, that is just a nightmare girl! Is it wrong that your description of the "events" had me lmao though? I am so sorry. Why do they pull this shit at the most fabulous times/locations, etc.? Glad you got home, try and get some rest/relaxation this weekend!

[DisneyGirl]

alicia OMG! Reading your post made my blood pressure rise..LOL Nikki pulled the same exact thing on our way to Florida! I was about to leave her at the airport with a sign..Needs a home! I know it sounds bad..but I am SOOOOOO happy to hear I am n ot the only one who has a DD who throws fits and crap! HEHEHEHEH Frustrating I know!

[tgr68]

Meri~How are things where you are? Our yard is finally water free, and DH was able to mow this morning.

BGR~Wednesday we were able to get DDs new matress into place (switched it with an old set) and the additional furniture moved out of the room. We still have the closet to clear out and a few of DH's bachelor things to get gone before we are ready to paint. I think I'm going to go with a light/dark pink stripe on the bottom and a lavendar on top with this (http://www.decoratetoday.com/imageserver_wallpaper/images/gallery/017489/001452/pat/720/DF059301B.JPG) Princess border in the middle.

PT~I'm planning on doing the potty training in less than a day method next Monday. This week was just too crazy with the 4th and my niece being in town to try and tackle this. I'm really positive about this because just this morning, she brought her doll to me and said "Christy Lynn" needs to potty. I let her take her doll potty and then asked if she wanted to try, which she did and peed on the potty! :D Although it wasn't totally self-initiated, I was really pleased with how she did.

July 4th~DD did really well. At first she completely freaked because of the noise, but once DH or I covered her ears, she was able to relax and enjoy the show.

Aunt Liv~Congrats on your second GIRL!

Shoes~We buy at Walmart, Target, Payless, and Shoe Dept.

Alicia~Ugh! Huge pat on the back for surviving that (and I don't mean just the toddler breakdowns)! Get some rest.

Like I said earlier things have been quite crazy for us this week. My niece has been down for a visit all week, and it has been quite the stretching experience for DD. ;) July 4th went pretty well until one of the fireworks exploded on the ground burning a hole DH's shirt and giving the spectators quite a scare. Fortunately no one was hurt. Whew!

Lastly, I'm hoping to have some big news to share in the very near future. DH and I have been very busy with our businesses and things are finally starting to look up.

[cynder]

Alicia What a nightmare. I've had a flight like that and it's no fun for anyone. Delays make everything worse. DH didn't believe me but we're better off without the car seat. I check it in with our baggage (and Southwest did lose it once but loaned us one while they tracked ours down). DS sits much better in the seat where as with the car seat, he gets ansty after 10 minutes in. As for the stroller, I barely use ours so I stopped bringing it on trips. I hate how no one helps. I was chaning DS in a bathroom and helped out a mom with 2 under 2 while all the other ladies gaped like cows waitiing for a stall.

I also learned how to change a diaper with child on your lap in a stall because there is no changing table. It wasn't pretty.

DH thought he was brilliant for booking 2:30 flights yesterday home. DS refused to nap and was slightly delirious by the time we got home. DS doesn't like Magna Doodle stuff but this book was a life saver:
http://www.priddybooks.com/uploadedImages/Book_Migration/9781843323983_JKT.jpg
It has little square magnets that match photos on the bottom of the page which is great for a flight where you can supervise the magnets.

[Sasha]

Alicia - Ugh, I am so sorry to hear that your return trip wasn't much better than the first one. I hope you got some R&R and a chance to recoup over the weekend! If it helps, Sarah and I had a great time with you and Abbey. Ever since you guys left our house, Sarah will randomly annouce, "Abbey went bye-bye." :)

Cynder - LOL, I also bought the Dora backpack in hopes of using it on our trip last week, but Sarah wanted nothing to do with it. DH also gave me daggers as he looked at it as just another thing to lug on the plane. Back to Target it went. ;)

Sesame Place - A huge hit! Highly recommend it to any of they NY/NJ/PA girls. If you go, definitely do a character meal, it is the best way get up close and personal with the SS gang. Sarah was a bit frightened of them when we first got there, but as you can see, she got over it!
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r122/SashaM76/July2007PhillyTrip005.jpg

[allyray231]

Once again I am SUPER behind!! Sorry ladies!! Question

Aiden has had a cough for almost 2 weeks. We were at the ped the friday before the 4th and it was just a cold. He still seems to have this nasal drip that is making him cough. I plan to bring him in the end of the week to get it checked out (he is due for for a shot) but does anyone have any suggestions?? Could it be allergies?