Parenting Check-in (week of Sept 7th)

[kh826]

Good Morning Parents!

Here is our roster for this check-in:

Parenting
healz413
Manada
kevinandjesse
foodislove
megd893
calsurb
andstilltrying
jazibel
kh826
karlamo
jgy
sherminator
mahler5
wittyandwaiting
kona
strings
mrsnorris
2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)
jennicole
amberreva

*If you would like to be added to the list, just let us know!

Also, if the group thinks it would be helpful to add a name/initial and/or birthdate for children to the roster, just let me know. I would be happy to add that.

So, tell us about your parenting experiences this past week? Any new milestones? Anything exciting in your house?

QOTW: What is a victory (big or small) that you have had as a parent recently?

[shemarie82]

I am excited to really go here now!

The twins are 15.5 months. Both running everywhere that they go. #2 babbles the whole time that he is awake, but hasn't said any real words yet. #1 mostly grunts and quacks like a duck. We have been told that they are hitting all of their developmental goals at this point, but I would like for them to start talking (I may regret that).

Today was the 1st day at daycare, luckily B did the drop off so I didn't have to be a crying mess. They are going to our good friend, so she has been doing updates throughout the day. They didn't nap well for her, but she said they are her new favorites.

QOTW: We held our ground and let them cry it out since the placement and they have went to bed without a fuss the last two nights (knock on wood).

[2brides]

Sept 8, 2015 12:37:27 GMT -5 shemarie82 said:

I am excited to really go here now!

The twins are 15.5 months. Both running everywhere that they go. #2 babbles the whole time that he is awake, but hasn't said any real words yet. #1 mostly grunts and quacks like a duck. We have been told that they are hitting all of their developmental goals at this point, but I would like for them to start talking (I may regret that).

I would recommend teaching them basic signs. There are videos on You Tube called Signing Times to teach you and them - but signing helped our late talkers (not that they are...) so much!

[shemarie82]

Sept 8, 2015 12:53:53 GMT -5 2brides said:

Sept 8, 2015 12:37:27 GMT -5 shemarie82 said:

I am excited to really go here now!

The twins are 15.5 months. Both running everywhere that they go. #2 babbles the whole time that he is awake, but hasn't said any real words yet. #1 mostly grunts and quacks like a duck. We have been told that they are hitting all of their developmental goals at this point, but I would like for them to start talking (I may regret that).

I would recommend teaching them basic signs. There are videos on You Tube called Signing Times to teach you and them - but signing helped our late talkers (not that they are...) so much!

We have been working on more, please, and thank you. I will definitely check out the videos.  #2 especially has become increasingly verbal since we have had him, I expect that with them being with other kids at daycare, that will continue. At their last foster placement, there were 7 kids, so I don't suspect that they were really talked to very much because there was so much going on.

[jazibel]

The boys are at daycare and I'm going to take a couple of minutes to sit down in the a/c playroom and check-in. shemarie82, the boys sounds great, and like a handful. Owen (16 months) also says a few words, some short sentences but doesn't "talk" all that much. His older brother Kaden also warmed slowly to talking but now is a literal chatterbox. I'm sure they will thrive in their new family (7 kids sounds like a handful!)

Kaden is testing his boundaries every which way. It's definitely not an easy time, it makes me so much more grateful for my wife EV, I feel like our communication and teamwork is critical right now as we strategize, act, re-evaluate change our strategy. All to negotiate these three year old behavioral challenges.

Owen is full or energy, climbing all manner of things, table, counter tops, etc. He's so expressive and his sense of humor is developing.

We moved the boys into one room in preparation for being in our new house. They have had good nights, and some really terrible ones. I'm trying to stay optimistic.

[shemarie82]

We are trying to decide whether we should put the boys together in one room. They sleep well now separate, but once they move to toddler beds, I would prefer them to be in the back bedroom away from the stairs. They struggled at nap time today because they heard each other which they aren't used to.

[calsurb]

Hey everyone! I just remembered my log in and password. Sorry for being mia. Our Sarah is 3 months old and is doing pretty well. She sleeping in 10-11 hour stretches every night and is starting to smile and almost laugh.
Our excitement for the week was camping for 3 nights in 95f weather. She did great and didn't fuss much. She didn't like being in the house when we got home but she settled down and slept a lot. That's all from me in Chicagoland!

[healz413]

Ellis is 3 weeks old today and today is her due date.
She's currently lying on my chest while I "power pump" (20min on, 10 off, 10 on, 10 off, 10 on). This is actually the first time I have held her while pumping. Realzing that she can lie on my chest while I pump will be helpful for Future pumping, especially once my mom isn't here anymore.
Ellis is doing really well and is gaining weight (yay!) and she is such a light in our lives.
My breast milk supply still hasn't increased and we have reached the end of our frozen donated breast milk stash. So we bought formula tonight and will start supplementing with that. I'm going to keep pumping and breast feeding and we will see where that gets us. I can't (don't want to) pump 8 times a day every day in addition to breastfed sign for a year. But it's still early so I will keep doing it for now and we will see where things go.

QOTW: I survived a trip with Ellis and my mom to Costco without breaking down.

[mahler5]

C is 18 months.

She is talking all the time! She wants to eat breakfast at the grown up table in Mommy's chair. She has settled for eating with the booster seat at the table.

We've decided to take her out of daycare since I'm not getting a lot of day shifts and she has been getting sick a lot. I'll work some evenings and weekends. But overall will work a lot less. I'm excited to have more time with her but feel bad taking her out when she seems to like it and gets a lot of socialization. I think in the next year I will hopefully get her in a part time day care place. L wants me to take her out but gets that there are some draw backs. I just feel like I will need to plan more activities for her now as she gets bored at home now.

Oh, and she is taking her diaper off all the time now. If I don't put pants or shorts over it, she takes it off. I haven't used cloth for awhile though. Maybe the snaps would help. Today she took it off so fast, and managed to pee on the kitchen floor and then poop on the living room floor in less than 30 seconds.

I'm seriously thinking about potty training soon. I want to wait until she follows commands better ( not that she will ever do this when she doesn't want to, but enough that she will do it when I offer an incentive..... Or bribe).


QOTW: she now says "go bed" when she is ready to go to bed. Often she will lie down on a towel on floor when I ask her to, when I change her.

[kona]

O is 13 months.

We still haven't really started her baby book. I was on the fence about even doing one, but M wants to, it's just finding the time. #parentingfail

We had a great long weekend, we had very few plans so everyone got to sleep enough. It's amazing how much better life is when you are not exhausted all of the time.

I feel very much misunderstood by everyone in my life right now other than M. I finally sent my mom an email about feelings we were both having over O's birth. It's been radio silence since then so I'm sure I offended her.

QOTW: I'm trying to give O more direction and opportunity to do as I ask rather than wrangle her. She surprises me every day by following directions and listening. The biggest example is we have an issue with her throwing her drink cup on the floor at meal time. Basically she just drops it once she is done drinking. So I have been very proactive about tell her "when you are done drinking, the cup goes back on the table" and then patting the table with my hand. She definitely understands and about 95% of the time will put her cup back on the table. Seriously it's the little things!

[2brides]

The boys are still 9y.

Nothing big going on this week. School is going well - we have back to school night tonight.

QOTW: My victory was not losing my $hit on C last week. He was acting like a fool when I picked him up from school - rude, disrespectful, slamming stuff around, etc. I knew he was hungry and that was why he was acting that way. I kept my cool, shoved a protein bar at him as soon as we got in the house, and not so shockingly he came down from his shower a new human.

[kh826]

William is 15 months.

He is so active, it is hard to keep up!
His little vocabulary (which is actually not so little) is continuing to grow in leaps and bounds. He has gotten really good at telling us what he wants with words, identifying objects, animals, colors, people in his life, etc. by name, and just overall using words and sounds with intention.
He has a pedi appointment tomorrow, and I am excited to see how much he has grown!
He has also started to memorize some of his favorite books. One of my favorite things now is when J and I are reading to him and we pause mid-sentence and he tells us what is next. He does this with "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "10 Little Ladybugs" -- it's so fun!
He has added a few more multiple word phrases lately too, including "Help me" and "I did it."
Reading books, playing with puzzles, blocks and balls, and anything that involves animals and the sounds that they make are his favorite things in life at the moment.
He is not a fan of loud noises and does not like to be told no (though he likes to tell us no -- "No, Mama!" is one of his favorites.
We allow him about 30 mins of screen time a day (I know lots of parents don't at this age, but we have decided that we are OK with it in small doses). He really loves the show Bubble Guppies. We DVRed a bunch of episodes, and usually allow him to watch 1 30 min episode a day (but it ends up not being every day). Anyway, he loves the songs and now J and I walk around singing them too (get out of our heads!!!) -- he calls them "the Duppies."

QOTW: We seem to have successfully made brushing teeth a fun part of the bed time routine that William enjoys. We have a song that we sing while we brush his teeth, and at first he just tolerated it, but now he seems to actually enjoy it!