Parenting Check-in (December 7th)

[kh826]

Good Morning Parents!

Congratulations to ionaerebor on the birth of her baby girl! Welcome to the parenting world - so happy to have you here!

Here is our roster for this check-in:

Parenting Roster
healz413
Manada
kevinandjesse
foodislove
megd893
calsurb
andstilltrying
jazibel
kh826
karlamo
jgy
sherminator
mahler5
wittyandwaiting
kona
strings
mrsnorris
2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)
jennicole
amberreva
shemarie82
officerofthelaw

ionaerebor

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

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

QOTW: How does your parenting style differ from your partner/spouse's style? What are some techniques you use as a couple to ensure that you are on the same page with parenting? If you are a single parent, tell us about your experience with making parenting decisions solo. What are some of the most important tools you have added to your parenting toolbox as a single parent?

[kh826]

William is 18 months old!

He had his 18 month check-up on Friday.
He is 29 lbs & 35 inches tall (97% for weight & 98% for height) -- our kid is huge!
It was a good check-up, and as I posted in another thread last week he mostly kept it together with the dr and did a good job.

Pedi recommended that we switch from whole milk to 2% now, so we will be making that transition this week.
We also need to make an appointment for his first visit to the dentist. We are going to hold off until January on that one, since our health insurance is changing, and I would prefer to wait to pick a provider that we know for sure is in our new network.

In the last week or so William has definitely started doing more imaginative and independent play. On Saturday he was clopping around in circles around the kitchen table and I asked him what he was doing. He said "Horsey, neigh, neigh!" ... I asked if he was pretending to be a horse and he said "Yeah!"
He also just randomly started singing to himself yesterday while he was playing with blocks. It was total gibberish and to a tune that was not recognizable, but it was definitely singing and not just talking or jibber jabbering.
He has gotten a lot better at pronouncing the letter "s" at the end of words too. So "fox" no longer sounds like a curse word! Victory!

Yesterday he had a play date with Pops (J's Dad) while J and I went to a bridal shower with her mom. He did great (and so did Pops!), so we were very happy about that. This is only the second time that Pops and William have ever been left solo, and he is definitely much more mobile and active now than he was the last time Pops watched him (in May when he was 11 months). Anyway, they played ball and puzzles, and Pops gave him lunch... then he put him down in the pack-n-play for a nap. William didn't sleep, but he just happily babbled in the pack-n-play for an hour until we got back. It's reassuring to know that he does well with other family members, especially with #2 coming soon. We admittedly have hardly left him at all (mainly just with J's parents and J's cousin, and only a few times), so we still have anxiety about it, but it seems William does not. He didn't cry at all when we left yesterday (I did once we got into the car though!).

My mom bought William a learning tower for Christmas, and I am so excited to use it! We are just going to put it under the tree with a big bow on it.
J and I bought William a kitchen set for Christmas. We are planning to put it in the corner of our kitchen so that he can play/cook with his kitchen while we cook. I think he will love it.
We will have a lot of things to assemble on Christmas Eve after he goes to bed!

William's new thing is that he likes certain food one day, and then doesn't like it the next, but then a few days later will like it again... there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. He is still a really good eater, but some days he will eat cheese, and other days cheese is "yucky"... some days he gobbles up mandarin oranges, and other days he says "no" and pushes them away. Hopefully this isn't the start of a finicky eating phase, but it is rather perplexing b/c we never really know what he is going to love or hate in terms of the food that we offer him... toddler probs...

After a couple of months of both J and I being referred to as "mommy," in the last week William has returned to differentiating between us! J is clearly Mommy and I am back to being Mama. This weekend he must have said Mama about 12 million times. I think to reiterate that he could and he knows who is who. I am personally super happy that he is back to differentiating between us, as I selfishly really like being Mama and like that he acknowledges the difference between us.

QOTW: J and I are very different. Just in general. When it comes to parenting she is very patient and methodical. She is super creative and loves the silly stuff. She is GREAT with imaginative play. She is definitely a firm parent, but she hates having to do redirecting, etc. I am more of a hoverer (which J teases me about). I could sit and read to William for hours. I love our snuggle time, and prefer that to silly on the floor time. I am the mom that will rush to his side to hug and kiss him when he gets hurt. I am much more overprotective. We definitely balance each other out, but it can be a struggle to make sure we are on the same page. It is harder than I thought it would be, but we have found our footing. It continues to change though as he gets older. I am interested to see how the dynamic will change with 2 kiddos!

[healz413]

Ellis will be 16 weeks tomorrow and she's doing well. She seems to get cuter every day and is getting more and more expressive. She started grabbing toys pulling them to her mouth. She loves reading books on the floor with mama and seems to enjoy baba's singing even though I am a horrible singer.
Twice this weekend she let M rock and Hush her to sleep for a nap. This is a new thing. Until this point she is always had to be carried or breast-fed or every once a while bottle-fed to sleep. I have yet to try the rocking and hushing now that I know it can work (I've tried in the past and failed).
Bedtime is still a moving target. We keep trying different things to find something that will work. Last night for instance she fell asleep at nine but then woke up every time I tried to transfer her to her pack n play until 11 . That said we still have a baby you sleep very well at night and now I'm starting to dread the four-month sleep regression as we get closer and closer.

She's getting her four month vaccinations on Friday. In Ontario you can do them anytime after 16 weeks you don't have to wait until four months exactly. I hope that those go fairly well. She didn't have any problems with her two month vaccinations except that it's always hard to see your baby in pain.

QOTW: I'm not sure! Right now differences seem to be largely attributable to the fact that I'm home with Ellis and am breastfeeding. I think there will be clear differences, but I'm not sure what they will be.

[jgy]

G is closing in on 3 (32 months), and g is 3 1/2 months (15 weeks)

We had a fantastic weekend, which is amazing considering we barely left the house and I usually dread that. We did some cleaning and general house stuff on Saturday and then in the evening we went to the Volleyball game at the U. I was really nervous about it, but both boys did AMAZINGLY well. Which is fantastic because we ended up seated in front of S's boss's boss (the big cheese). Before we left, she complimented us on how great the boys were. YES!! We win!! Yesterday we hung at home, and I don't know that any of us even changed out of our pj's. I took G to the grocery store and even left his pj's on for that (okay, I did put on jeans). By the evening G was starting to get a bit squirrely, but we survived. Little g had some cranky moments last night, but we figured him out after a little while.

This weekend I noticed some pretty big-time changes in G and I was thrilled. Instead of it being a constant stream of "I want," (I want to go outside, I want to have a snack, I want to watch Curious George, etc, etc), he started asking us if WE want to do things. I was shocked when he walked up to me and asked "You want to take a bath?" It was so sweet to see that other people have desires and needs and that we might coordinate to do things together. The other thing he surprised me with was declaring "I have an idea!" Hilarious. I seriously love this kid.

The other big thing with G is that he now IS going to transition to the Preschool room at DC. Turns out it was all a space issue. And while I still haven't gotten the answer as to why we were the losers on that one, it seems a space has now opened up and he will start to transition on the 21st. Yay! So he'll be back with his buddies, and he will get more challenging and interesting activities on a daily basis. He'll be held more accountable and best of all he'll get to go outside twice a day instead of just once (right in time for the frigid Midwest winter).

Little g is still amazing. He's regularly putting his hands into his mouth and has started self-soothing that way. I might end up with a thumb-sucker after all. He also is grabbing things and sometimes shoving those into his mouth. He's super smiley and pretty predicable and I could just eat him up. We've started putting him in his bumbo chair for short periods of time and he's actually ready for it. He looks almost proud of himself sitting there with a big drooly grin on his face. I can't believe this is all going so fast and I won't ever have another tiny baby to love on.

We're still figuring g out a little bit here and there. Last night he was cranky and we just couldn't figure out what was wrong. For a period of time it seemed like he really wanted to be held and walked but then he tired of that. He wasn't wanting to eat. Bicycle legs weren't helping. Turns out he was just hot. Once I stripped him down to his diaper, he lay happily on the changing table for 30 minutes, just kicking and flapping away. Sheesh, kid! Still, what a love.

QOTW: S and I are pretty dramatically different parents. I am lovey and cuddly and will read to the boys until the end of time. But I am also more willing to let them climb and explore and do dangerous things. I am the house organizer; the one who gets their clothes ready and packs their bags and makes sure that dinners are planned, etc. S is CRAZY fun and creative and a wonderful player. She is more tentative about what she'll let them do though, and I know she worries that I give them too long of a leash (well, really just G since the little guy isn't even sitting up yet). S is totally capable of doing all of the care taking stuff too, but she defers to me. We trade off on who has more patience in any given moment. Sometimes we literally have to switch kids when one of us reaches our breaking point (last night). Most of the time it works well. Most of the time ...

[karlamo]

R is 22 months. We are closing in on 2....EEEK!
L is 3 months

Both are doing well. Nothing brand new for R is happening. He's learning new words and phrases and is in full toddler mode. Last week I let him "hold" L while standing up and he thought it was the best thing ever. He has a pretty strong grip too. He continues to love on L and is offering him his paci which is not the thing I want shared, lol. We decorated for Christmas and he has completely taken over our village under the tree. Yesterday he was dipping the lamp post in his hummus and eating it. Gross. Why are kids so gross??
L is giggling and is really stable with holding his head up. He is not taking the bottle willingly and is holding out until he can't stand it anymore. It's frustrating to say the least. He's not reverse cycling probably because he's in our bed and eats all night anyway. It's heartbreaking seeing my breast milk go to waste when he won't take the bottle.

QOTW: We have enough overlap in our parenting styles that we don't butt heads too much. We both have things that we are strict on and soft on. For me, I'm strict with diaper changes but more lenient with what he eats and where he eats it; hence the lamppost being used as a spoon for hummus:)
One thing I've noticed is that now we have 2 kids, we are on a learning curve with how to parent 2 kids. We are learning to pick our battles. We have had a few people comment to us how different we are as parents to L. Their exact comment was, "This never would have happened with R..." We had to laugh because they're right.

[karlamo]

jgy, We do the ol' kid switcheroo all the time at our house. Which ever one of us has to pee the worst calls in the relief mom to take over:)

[2brides]

Much to my suprise, we have full Santa (and Elf on the Shelf) believers still. We thought for sure that last year would be the year, but apparently not. We've told the kids to make their Christmas list forever...and they half heartedly did. Now 90% of everything is purchased and they are coming up with big ticket items. When I told them that the list is closed, Carter said, " No, this stuff isn't for you to buy. It is for Santa to bring. I haven't mailed my letter yet." Ooookay.

The Elf on the Shelf is still a huge hit and they are loving the stuff that we are doing. We aren't as creative as some of those Pintresters, but are holding our own.

QOTD: As vastly different as L and I are in temperament and personality, we are amazingly in sync when it comes to parenting. Our parenting styles are pretty similar - she is more diligent with correcting manners and not letting things slide (as she is with most things) but it also has made me raise my game on expectations - and in turn we have really polite kids. We'd both been around kids our whole lives in various capacities and have felt prepared (as much as you can) for every age thus far. We've often said that sometimes we aren't the best matched spouses, but we are a great parental team.

[karlamo]

2brides, What grade are your boys in? 3rd? I'm surprised their friends haven't slipped if they don't believe.

I was just talking to someone about that darn Elf and told them I had no plans to do that. They said neither did they till their kid went to school and all their friends would talk about what their elves did.... Now my mom guilt tells me we will have to do this when our time comes.

[firstcomeslove2013]

I know I'm new but I would love to stick around. I would love to be added to the list for parenting check in.

H is 11 months and will be a year on Dec 20...its crazy how quickly she's growing and changing. She's been walking for about 2 weeks now and she is such a love.

My parenting experiences for this week: I work from home and I also keep my sister's girls on top of that (I know...I'm a crazy person). Wednesday was her first day back to work from maternity leave so I have been very stressed this week. H takes it in such stride and she is so great at going with the flow. She loves spending time with her cousins and I love getting to be with them every day. This weekend was great because C was off work so we got a lot of family time which doesn't happen very often with C's job. No new milestones except for the walking but she is doing so many cool and new things every day.

QOTW: How does your parenting style differ from your partner/spouse's style? What are some techniques you use as a couple to ensure that you are on the same page with parenting? C and I tend to be a really good team. We have pretty different views on certain things but at the end of the day we can compromise. Sometimes I'm the stricter one and sometimes C is...it just depends. We are both pretty silly but C tends to spend more time crawling around on the floor.

[kona]

O is 16 months.

O is starting to talk a lot more. "oh no", "oh boy" and she will say "ok" if you ask her a question and she is in agreement and she will attempt to repeat anything you ask her to. We like to go through all the names in the family and anything we see on our walks. She also has taken much more interest in being read to (even more so than before and she has always enjoyed her books). We have a TON of books and she likes to bring them to you and will sit and listen to the story. She usually wants to hear the same story multiple times in a row too. She is also being more vocal with her animal sounds. She loves to help with diaper laundry and pretty much any other task you ask her to do. She LOVES her Christmas tree. We haven't had issues with her messing with it, which I am very happy about because it's in the living room and that is our only living space.

QOTW:
M and I agree on a lot of parenting decisions; what to eat, use cloth diapers, schedules, how long to breastfeed, college education etc. As far as hands on, I am more strict and I expect a lot out of O already. M is definitely the more easy going parent and will involve her in activities, I am more likely to chase her around the house and get on the floor. So far it's working for us. I think it will be interesting to see the challenges that 2 will bring.

[2brides]

Dec 7, 2015 15:58:37 GMT -5 karlamo said:

2brides , What grade are your boys in? 3rd? I'm surprised their friends haven't slipped if they don't believe.

I was just talking to someone about that darn Elf and told them I had no plans to do that. They said neither did they till their kid went to school and all their friends would talk about what their elves did.... Now my mom guilt tells me we will have to do this when our time comes.

They are in 4th.  They have said that kids have mentioned it, but they think their friends are lying. LOL. Their BFF hasn't believed in a few years, but has pledged not to tell them - and so far, has stuck to her word. C asked me the other day if he was real and I said, "Do you think he is real?" "Yes." "Ok."

Yea, someone bought us the Elf several years ago. L has a great time doing stuff with it (last night she set them up as having a fight with silly string (that we have told the kids they could not spray in the house.) The biggest issue, it remembering to move it after the kids go to sleep.

[karlamo]

Dec 8, 2015 8:58:10 GMT -5 2brides said:

Dec 7, 2015 15:58:37 GMT -5 karlamo said:

2brides , What grade are your boys in? 3rd? I'm surprised their friends haven't slipped if they don't believe.

I was just talking to someone about that darn Elf and told them I had no plans to do that. They said neither did they till their kid went to school and all their friends would talk about what their elves did.... Now my mom guilt tells me we will have to do this when our time comes.

They are in 4th.  They have said that kids have mentioned it, but they think their friends are lying. LOL. Their BFF hasn't believed in a few years, but has pledged not to tell them - and so far, has stuck to her word. C asked me the other day if he was real and I said, "Do you think he is real?" "Yes." "Ok."

Yea, someone bought us the Elf several years ago. L has a great time doing stuff with it (last night she set them up as having a fight with silly string (that we have told the kids they could not spray in the house.) The biggest issue, it remembering to move it after the kids go to sleep.

This is so sweet.  I love how innocent they are.  It's so magical for them. 

[2brides]

It really is. In some ways they are so innocent and in other ways they are wise beyond their years. We've thought for the last few Christmases that it would be the last year they would believe...and then it's another year.

[2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)]

Age:9 mo
Height:28.5
Weight:21 lb 6.5 oz
Percentiles: not sure I don't think we got a sheet this time
Milestones: walking , speed crawling, waves (backwards) and says bye bye (appropriately), pincer (sp?) self feeds, passes items from hand to hand.
Solids: almost everything

It's been crazy here lately- work baby making a playroom getting ready for a bathroom remodel and Christmas.!

[Deleted]

Blending kids remains challenging. I handed M an apple which J previously rejected, and resulted in many tears for J- as he wanted M's apple not the clearly inferior( the other half of the same apple) portion.
J is so emotional these days. On both sides, breaks down easily/ is soooo sweet and lovely. The other amazing thing is that he woke himself up once to go pee in the night. Hes been dry a lot, but needs to get up and pee overnight still, with mixed results.. he occasionally stands in front of the potty and is too tired to go- and then freaks out if you try to help him with pjs etc. We are almost there!

[Deleted]

Oh.. and since now gf is living with us- I suppose I can answer the QOTD... She is much more task oriented. Dishes brought to the sink, picking clothes and dressing themselves. I will cut corners and take the dishes from him. I also play a lot more with him, which I think is because for the first 4 3/4 years hes been an only.