Parenting Check-in June 22

[karlamo]

Goood Morning! It's Monday....

How was everyone's week/end?

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

QOTW:  Anyone got any good parenting bloopers to share?  You know, the ones that would win you MOTY.

[kh826]

William is 12.5 months!

We are back from vacation, and I think it will take our little guy a few days to fall back into his routine. We had a nice trip though, and it was our first real family vacation, which was awesome. He had lots of "firsts" actually over the course of the last 9 days... his first time at the beach, first time in a pool, lots of first times trying new foods, AND his first solo steps. He has now taken 2-3 steps without holding onto anything and he has consistently done it a few times. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next week or so he was walking longer distances.

Highlights from vacation for William seem to be:
*Sand - omg he couldn't get enough. Digging, dumping, throwing sand. He was in heaven.
*The Pool - We definitely have a water baby on our hands! He totally loved the pool. He would stay in for 2+ hours and not want to get out. We bought him a little floaty with a sun shade, and he totally loved it.
*It seems his skin is more sensitive than we thought. He had a bit of an allergic reaction to Baby Aveeno Sunscreen. He broke out in a rash on his arms, legs and face. Mid-week we switched to the Honest Company baby sunscreen, and he didn't react to that, luckily.
*He tried his first French Fry, and he is definitely a fan. It was hard to stick to his usual healthy eating routine, but we tried. We went to the grocery store when we got there and stocked up on berries, unsweetened applesauce, whole wheat crackers, avocado, etc. and we tried to take a few things with us whenever we went out for a while. We ate out about 60% of the time, so he did end up having grilled cheese and PB&J, which aren't our first choices, but he survived.
*He loved the aquarium! Particularly the jelly fish exhibit. He was mesmerized. I think we will have to make a trip to our local aquarium soon!
*The boy is like his moms, and he does NOT like heat. It was mega hot all week (97-100 degrees, with a heat index of 105-112!). He definitely did not like being hot and sweaty, and he was just kind of tired and a little cranky when he was overheated. As soon as he spent some time in the AC again though, he was back to his old self.
*He was totally unimpressed by flying and did a great job on the plane both times. He slept almost the entire first flight.
*He loved all his time with J's family, especially J's Mom (who he calls Nan). I think he is going to go through withdrawals this week...
*He went to sleep at night just fine without any problems while we were away, and he STTN every night, but he did seem to wake up about 60-90 mins earlier than usual every morning while we were away. We can't really figure out why. Napping was also a bit erratic. He took a couple of good long naps, but some days he didn't nap at all and just crashed at 7pm.

I'm sure there are a lot of other things that I am leaving out that I will remember later, but that is the highlight reel for the moment.

Now that we are back from vacation we will be working on transitioning him to whole milk this week, and then once that transition is complete, we will work to transition away from the bottle and exclusively to the sippy cup. He is currently getting 2 bottles of formula a day (one when he wakes up and one before bed). We didn't want to transition right before vacation, so we decided to wait until we got back to start working on that. So that will be our adventure this week. I am hoping it is painless, but we shall see...

We also need to work on more structured naps. I am hoping J makes this a priority at home during the day, but I'm not sure she will. I just worry when number 2 comes along, we will really regret it if William isn't on a more reliable schedule for naps and more consistently naps independently...

QOTW: We are pretty sure that William said "SH*T" while on vacation. Ugh! It is a word that J's dad uses a lot, and I think William was mimicking him. We tried not to make a big deal out of it and just gloss over it and hope that he doesn't say it again. J and I really try not to use bad words in front of him, especially since he is such a little chatter box and loves to mimic, but we occasionally slip up too. Now I definitely want to focus on making sure that doesn't happen!

[2brides]

Weekend was good. Kids had a friend spend the night, went to see Inside Out (super cute - but better for older kids), went to a laser tag birthday party, and had way too much screen time (tv/handhelds/PS4.)

QOTD: My MOTY would probably come from the amount of screen time my kids have had recently. We'd curbed it significantly during the school year (no screen time M-Th) and then it had to be earned for weekend time. But that flew out of the window as school ended and we became more lenient. This weekend they had a lot of screen time with their friend and then it was crazy hot out and they hung out inside vs outside, and DW has been having stress headaches so we've been hanging out at home vs going to the pool, etc.

Just one of those things where you say, "oh, my kid won't play video games..." and then they do...for much longer than intended because they are having fun/quiet/hanging out in the kid cave.

[mahler5]

C is 16 months!

She has been saying more two syllable words. She has also been hitting more when frustrated or throwing things. She has started to be able to put some Legos together which is so cool! But when she can't get them together she gets really frustrated, says, "no no no no no no no no NO!" And throws the blocks:)

When I tell her no hitting or I grab her hand to prevent a second hit she often laughs and just does it again when I let go. So I've been trying to ignore her, get up and move etc.

Otherwise things are good! She's waking up so I gotta go.

[mahler5]

QOTW-- I like this question! I had a good one earlier. I let c play in the baby pool in the backyard this afternoon. Her cloth diaper was soaking wet after so I changed her in the kitchen with her standing up. She (and I) often prefers me to change her standing up as long as there isn't any poo. Well this time there was poo (which I normally smell but didn't) and it was mixed with water and it came flying out all over the kitchen floor. So I was frantically trying to clean that up while C goes over to the doggie water bowl and dumps it out on the kitchen floor and slips ( not badly). But then I'm trying to keep her away from the water and poop all over the floor while I clean it up.

Also, she just figured out how to stand on the oven pan door handle( you know the drawer beneath the oven that you can store pots, cookie sheets etc). And when she stands on this her little hands can probably reach the stove top. She was also trying to pull down on the oven door handle. So now I'm afraid to bake or cook on the stove unless she is strapped in her high chair.

[kona]

Olivia is 10.5 months.

She is walking all over the place, loves practicing the stairs (up 3 steps then down 3 steps) and is a little chatter box to herself. She doesn't have any words just baby chatter that I find adorable. She finished her first session of swim lessons and we went to the town pool yesterday with my mom. She does enjoy the water. She is *still* teething, seems like she is always teething. I think that has affected her sleep but overall the training has been worth it. We got her an amber necklace to see if that helps. We have also decided not to push anymore with the sleep training until we come back from vacation (3 days!) DW really wants to stay home and is having a rough week being away from Olivia. I feel horribly about this and I'm hoping that vacation will be good for all of us, some solid family time. We haven't been on vacation in over 2 years and this will be our first trip with Olivia and we will get to see my sister and her wife and I am very excited.

QOTW: Olivia has recently discovered how fun toilet paper can be. The other day she had the roll into the kitchen before I realized what she was doing.

[karlamo]

R is heading into 16 months on Thursday.

He's doing great, nothing major happening at the moment. His use of language is taking off and he keeps adding more words and mimicing us which is fun. He said water and Rudy which was really funny to hear him say his own name.

He does this awful thing when he's frustrated or mad, he'll bang his head on the floor. We can't stand it and it sends us both running and screaming over to him to stop. I know it's a developmental thing and he'll grow out of it. He doesn't do it all the time but enough that it gives me grey hair. Last week he did it on concrete and now has a tiny bruise on his forehead.

QOTW: I have too many!!! A few months ago I dropped ice cubes on the kitchen floor and left them there. Awhile later R went running into the kitchen and landed smack on his back from slipping on the melted ice cubes.

Last week I made up a new game with R. On Wed and Thurs. I'm a SAHM and by the end of the day I'm so ready for my wife to get home and get a break. We were playing in the playroom downstairs and R sat on the bottom step and I tossed a semi deflated baby size soccer ball up the stairs and let it bonk him on the head on it's way down. He LOVED it. Well my wife came home and saw our game and shut it down:(

[karlamo]

2brides, Curious to know what your screen time limit is? Is it based on age. So like when they were younger was it like 30 min and then as they got older they got more time?

Looking for ref. point. R doesn't get any screen time yet. Not that I'm anti-tv/tablet, but we're not ready to start opening up that can of worms just yet.

[2brides]

Jun 23, 2015 8:44:55 GMT -5 karlamo said:

2brides, Curious to know what your screen time limit is? Is it based on age. So like when they were younger was it like 30 min and then as they got older they got more time?

Looking for ref. point. R doesn't get any screen time yet. Not that I'm anti-tv/tablet, but we're not ready to start opening up that can of worms just yet.

It's never been about a certain age or a certain number - it has been more about balance.

They started watching Signing Time DVDs around 18m - probably 1 30m video spread across the day. They pretty much only watched Signing Times till 3y (they had 70-80 signs and it helped immensely with communication/frustration levels.)

Around 3y they started watching 1 show in the AM while I got ready for work and another in the PM before bed (generally stuff on Sprout.)  And then an occasional movie on the weekend (they couldn't sit through a full length movie until about 4y.)

Around 6y they still did the show in the AM, but the tv show before bed was replaced by time playing on their iPod. They also played their iPod in the car to/from school since it was a 45m ride each way (and in the afternoons, I needed to keep C awake!) We didn't have a time limit on the weekends - but tried to ensure they did a variety of activities.

Around 8y they AM show stopped because they had to be at school earlier and we stopped all after school iPods/tv Monday-Thursday because they would rush through their homework so they could play. We also had them start earning weekend time by cleaning their room each AM, eating veggies (they hate veggies), being respectful, doing homework nicely/neatly, and then they get 1:1 exercise to screen time (if they play an hour long soccer game, they get an hour of screen time.) In reality, they earn more than they play most of the time - but they still pause to think about how they are using their time. Screen time = tv, iPods, and their new PS4.

We've relaxed it since school got out and they can play/watch after camp and we aren't monitoring it as closely on the weekends. Last weekend they played A LOT because it was 100 degrees out and L didn't feel well. But this weekend will hopefully be cooler so they can play outside with the neighbors, we can go to the pool, we're planning a day trip, etc. I'm finding it gets increasingly more difficult as they get older since they aren't into play with toys (even the Legos have been forsaken.) They do love to read and read for at least an hour most nights before bed.

All that to say, it is a constant evolution/negotiation.

[karlamo]

2brides, thanks for this. I like how it's set and scheduled. Hopefully that cut down on the whiny and begging to watch something.

[dannigirl]

Quick question.

Did any of you, or your 'better halves' experience a change in your cycles once they started up again??
Before giving birth to our Baby Girl I had perfect 28 day cycles, but now it seems to be changing to 26 days. I've heard it is common for things to change a bit, but I was just wondering if anyone else experienced changes like that?

Thanks!!!!!

[karlamo]

dannigirl, I haven't given birth yet, but from what I read on my son's BMB, many women have wonky PP periods for awhile before they even out. My wife has been breast feeding and she *just* got her period back 16 months PP and it was earlier than she normaly cycles.

Maybe some of the other women on here might be of better help.