Parenting Check-in (May 18)

[karlamo]

Good Morning!

How was everyone's week/weekend? Any new milestones to report?

Parenting
andstilltrying
jazibel
kh826
karlamo
jgy
sherminator
mahler5
wittyandwaiting
kona
strings
mrsnorris
2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)
jennicole
amberreva

QOTW:  We always play the "if you won the lottery game", but how about if you found $5.00 in your pocket, what big plans do you have for it?

[wittyandwaiting]

Hey I feel like I never participate here but I'm gonna make a point to be part of the conversation.

DS is 13 and pretty awesome. I'm really enjoying this age, we have great conversations, I love his perspective on life and the world! I think it's amazing that this current generation has had so much access to information that they take a real global perspective on things.

QOTW: I always try to do something fun with "found money" so if I found five bucks today I would take DS and I out for ice cream!

[kh826]

William is 11.5 months. Almost a year old -- eek!!!

We had a good weekend. It was busy. I don't feel like I have a ton of new milestone-ish things to report. William continues to jibber jabber constantly and mimic words and sounds. He has started following 2 commands at a time (i.e. can you go get your blanket and bring it to Momma?. He is still eating us out of house and home. We are still working on mastering the sippy cup - he just isn't always interested, but other times he thinks it is great. He has started giving kisses when we ask for them. he opens his mouth as wide as he can and slobbers our faces. It is super cute. Still hasn't let go of our hands when walking. Still loving balls, cars and board books. Still a giant ham -- he cracks himself and us up pretty much constantly.
That's about it for the moment, I think!

QOTW: Hmmm... I don't know what I would do with a random extra $5. If I'm being honest, probably nothing "fun." Now I need to think of something fun I could do with $5...

[andstilltrying]

Drew and Matt will be 5 months old next week!

Weekend was good but busy! Matt had made it his life mission to cry as much as possible Wed-Sat morning....constipation! This was all while after 2 ounces of prune juice spread out over 2 days. Finally Sat. He went and was back to Mr. Happy go lucky. Saturday I worked for a bit and Sarah hung out with the boys. We also cleaned out my car and devised a game plan for packing my Kia Sorento with 2 adults, 2 babies, and 2 dogs plus all needed gear for our first road trip back to WV to visit our families for the first time since boys were born. Fingers crossed!!!

Milestones: Drew found his feet and he's obsessed!!! Matt is starting to roll to his sides but just has no interest in continuing on over. He is sitting up a few seconds at a time on his own. Matt laughs at everything and is a flirt!!! Drew is shy and really makes you work for every smile, and if you get a belly laugh then you're exhausted when you're done!

Feeling sad and like my boys are horridly behind. Friends with a girl from the nicu when twins were born and her son, and he is already sitting it exesaucer and walker, plus standing and holding on to couch unassisted! He's a week younger than our boys!!! :/

QOTW: Sunni skies ice cream and I blame wittyandwaiting for putting thought in my mind. Sarah can't have it because of food allergies with boys, so I've refrained too, but man oh man... I want some!

[Stringy]

We are in the big ole pretty terrible 2's here. Any change of clothes is met with big resistance. Like huge. At first we thought it was clothes preference but now I actually think its just because its a transition. So I was that mom in starbucks last week with a toddler in bright colored pj pants and a clashing pink dress over the top. Whatever.

She's forming more and more multi-word sentences, engaging in some pretend play, and lately has loved "hanging" from things. AKA grabbing onto something and picking her feet up. I found a bar just the right height at the playground for her to do this on and she loves it.

andstilltrying, don't fret. Babies develop at all different paces. If I could count how many people say "my kids not gonna crawl, he's already standing" but then standing is just a fluke and they end up crawling and walking at average times. If you are truly worried as your pedi, but don't compare to other kids!!

[morven]

Finn is 6.

Finn's dad comes to visit him one weekend a month, and last weekend was it for this month, so I didn't see him from six o'clock on Friday until seven o'clock on Sunday. I always find it rather tough when he's with XH. I miss him so much when he's not here, and sometimes I wish XH didn't come to see him, and then I feel terrible for wishing his dad didn't want to see him and wanting to deprive him of a relationship that is so important to him. And it's not like XH is a bad dad at all, he's a really good dad, and Finn adores him, but still.

We did however, go and see Cinderella after he finished school on Friday. I thought I was going to hate it, but it was pretty awesome actually.

QOTW: I'd probably go for ice cream as well. I've literally never found money in my life, I always have to know where it is, lol

[jgy]

G is 2+

Oh my god the mood swings, the defiance, the tantrums, the energy, the sweetness, the crying ... I feel like G hits all the extremes in rotation on a daily basis. We had some real low moments this weekend (some good ones too). For example last night at bedtime, he just would NOT brush his teeth. That's a Mama job, and I sit on the couch trying to soak up my 2 minutes of relaxation before I take him up to bed. Well he was screaming, and S was yelling, and then he was sobbing, and then she was punching a pillow, and it was all a big disaster. In our defense, G had spent most of yesterday testing our boundaries and we were both completely exhausted by 7:30. He had napped only briefly, and it was in the car, so there had been no real break for 12 hours.

Anyway, fast forward to this morning and he was an angel. Came downstairs with no fuss, went right to lay down to get his diaper changed, allowed me to dress him, ate breakfast with no fuss and no mess, climbed right into the car, and into his car seat (!!!!), went into daycare with no dramatic fussing. It was kind of unreal, and I was on cloud nine. Then I realized as I was driving to work that I had failed to praise him for ANY OF IT! I was so busy holding my breath through the whole thing that I forgot the most important part - reinforcement!!! FML.

Anyway, things around our house are still pretty good since S's work hours are just so much more tolerable in the Spring and Summer. And sprinkled among the many moments of defiance, G also provides tons of really rewarding sweetness and truly hilarious behavior. In many ways I'm really enjoying this stage because he's so interactive. Not sure how I'm supposed to give that much attention to 2 kids at once, but I guess I'll figure that out along the way (like everything else).

kh826, thinking about you today, and anxious to hear your results!

andstilltrying, seriously, what Stringy said. Don't compare (unless it's to make yourself feel great about something your boys are seemingly ahead on ). There's so much going on in those little brains and bodies right now, we see so little of it. They'll hit their milestones in their own time. And if you need reassurance, talk to your Dr. They'll let you know if it's truly something to be concerned about. Also, I know the above is really hard to do.

QOTW: I'd do something fun with the $5. Perhaps ice cream, or maybe something at Target that I want to splurge on. It's amazing how far $5 can actually go if you put your mind to it.

[amandflo]

Daisy is 5 and Alice is 3

We had a great weekend! Daisy went to a birthday party on Saturday, and got invited to stay for a sleepover as well. It's not her first sleepover, but its the first one with more than one other people. She had a ball but came back on Sunday morning very sleepy and kind of cranky. But after a nap she was back to normal.

Since Daisy was away most of Saturday and the weather was nice, we took Alice and Frankie to a big country park for a run around and a picnic. Who knew our dog loved strawberries?

QOTW: I'd try and do something fun. Maybe buy a kite.

[mahler5]

C is almost 15 months!

She is saying more words. She said "Apple" but it sounded more like "AH pull". She tries really hard to say the beginning of strawberry but just makes an "Fff" sound. It's pretty cute. She loves fruit!!! She is still having little tantrums. I swear she whines more around me too than L. I'm starting to think I may be reinforcing the behavior by giving her what she wants a lot of the time. And if she is upset and runs to me I pick her up right away. I don't think I'm going to change that but I when she has a tantrum I don't want to give so much. I don't always but I usually at least try to appease her, give her another toy, etc. Maybe I need to let her have the tantrum and find he own " new thing" to distract her. Ugh.


I need to figure our her nap schedule. She usually takes one nap now but she wants to start taking it at 10 and I try to push until at least 11. I think she wakes up too early now with the days getting longer. I'm going to try and cover her window more. This morning I heard her at 6 but she didn't start making noise again until 645. Maybe she was awake the whole time though. It would explain why she is so tired!!

[amberreva]

Emerson will be 11w on Wednesday. She had her 2 month appointment last week at 10w she weighs 11 lbs 5 oz (56th percentile) and is 23 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile). She still sleeps the majority of the day but when she is awake she is a talker. She will sit there and try to have a conversation with grunts and coos and smiles. She also loves blowing spit bubbles. Tummy time finally clicked and although she still hates it and will roll out of it she does hold her head up and look around. She still won't nap unless being held which makes it hard to get anything done around the house. Also has frequent blowouts because she is two big for newborn diapers but size one doesn't fit snuggly around her stomach or legs even if you pull the tabs as tight as they will go.

QOTW: I would get a $5 footlong veggie sub from subway. Yum!

[2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)]

We had a good weekend. My mom is in ei and she is obsessed with tummy time. Like not letting him nap and doing it when he's crying. I finally went into the we are the parents speech... I feel bad but the nice hints weren't working!
I'm lame I would probably put the $5 in the wallet and spend it on usual crap.

[2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)]

amberreva try different brands . Huggies worked for us for nb and 1 but pampers worked better for 2. We don't like target

[amandflo]

May 18, 2015 13:06:50 GMT -5 mahler5 said:

C is almost 15 months!

She is saying more words. She said "Apple" but it sounded more like "AH pull".  

How do you guys pronounce apple? Because that is just how I say it.

[kona]

Olivia is 9 months

We had a trying weekend. This not sleeping deal is taking over our lives. We had a consult with the sleep lady tonight. It seems like she can help us but holy crap is she expensive. The lady we found locally was more reasonable but isn't taking new clients till fall. That will not work for us. So I'm hoping after dropping an outrageous amount of money on this we will see some results and fast. I feel guilty because I get so frustrated with O when she wont sleep. I feel guilty for wanting to spend time with my wife or get a workouts in during nap time. None of that happens now. I also feel like a failure as a parent because I can't teach my daughter how to put herself to sleep. I'm hoping for significant improvement in the near future.

QOTW: I'm a hoarder of found money especially pennies. I'd probably put it in my found money jar and save it!

[mahler5]

May 18, 2015 18:16:02 GMT -5 amandflo said:

May 18, 2015 13:06:50 GMT -5 mahler5 said:

C is almost 15 months!

She is saying more words. She said "Apple" but it sounded more like "AH pull".  

How do you guys pronounce apple? Because that is just how I say it.

We say the "a" more like "cat". She was saying it more like "mamma". And she was putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. It is always difficult for me to describe phonetics in writing.

We live in the US Midwest , so not sure if that is why it's different or I just totally botched my description of it!

[Deleted]

Very low key weekend. I made a decision about childcare this summer - hes going to stay with his preschool's summer program... and I had to tell the other possibility (private in home)that I wasnt going to go with them. It was really hard. A lesbian couple whose older daughter who is an experienced daycare worker is coming home from college and watching them, so I likely impacted her income. The parents are breaking up and the 2 (little) kids are amongst Js very BFF's. Hard not to feel I threw a grenade into that friendship. I hope not but somehow I just feel an echo on this end. I really think this is bestfor J. I hope.

Hes 4. and going to the same school in the fall for preK

[amandflo]

May 18, 2015 21:07:47 GMT -5 mahler5 said:

May 18, 2015 18:16:02 GMT -5 amandflo said:

How do you guys pronounce apple? Because that is just how I say it.

We say the "a" more like "cat". She was saying it more like "mamma". And she was putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. It is always difficult for me to describe phonetics in writing.

We live in the US Midwest , so not sure if that is why it's different or I just totally botched my description of it!

Yeah, I'm English so that's probably why we pronounce it differently, haha. I pronounce the a in apple, cat and mamma all the same. And I also put the emphasis on the A in apple.

[jazibel]

Late popping in. We're struggling with some behavior issues on Kaden's part. He gets frustrated, is super super high energy moving all over non-stop, doesn't listen and is too rough with his little brother. Regular toddler stuff. EV just texted me from the park saying Kaden is happily playing with kids in his age cohort. I think getting back into pre-school is moving to the top my list. I also want to have some Owen/Mama or Owen/Aya activity every week.

Owen is starting to develop a fiesty little will of his own. He likes to tease his brother when he knows Kaden's on time out, or has been asked not to take a particular toy from Owen. Siblings!!! :-)

Owen is also speaking more, but still no clearly definable words.

QOTD: We had ice cream yesterday after our walk. Yummmm. Owen had some avocado ice cream that was delicious. So definitely that. Or maybe a new ball for the kids.