Parenting Check in Dec 28

[karlamo]

Good Monday Morning!  Who needs coffee?

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
firstcomeslove2013

*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:  If you celebrate Christmas, then how did it go?  What gifts were a hit, which were duds?  What are your NYE plans?  School vacation plans?

[2brides]

Parenting this week has been delightful. No homework, no schedules, lots of play time. Nothing exciting going on.

Christmas was good. My dad was in town for the first time which was both good and bad. He seemed to really enjoy himself, but also gets on L's last nerve. He is loud, quirky, and a bit disgusting. 48 hrs is about all of each other we can take. He was supposed to stay 4 days, but ended up staying 3...which was fine for all of us. He thinks he wants to come and stay with the kids for a week, but after 2 days, he is pretty over it.

The kids loved their laptops - the trick now will be constantly reminding them they are for homework and school..not game playing. They loved their new books - everything else was a bit anticlimatic. L went totally overboard in giving me gifts - lots of gifts cards and a trip to see my BFF in Florida next week! I am so excited!

NYE we are going to do a kid friendly thing with friends. We've never been so hope it will be fun. They have activities for the kids and fireworks at 7:30. Then we are all going to dinner and back to their house for smores. We shall see how long the kids last.

The kids are out of school this week and are at camp at our gym. I am working M-W and L is off all week but doing a combination of errands, job hunting, seeing movies, and getting stuff done around the house. I am taking Thursday off so we can go see a movie before picking up the kids from camp and doing NYE festivities.

I just realized I am not working a full week of work until the last week of January. Whooo hooo!

[karlamo]

I'm on my third cup of coffee today. I was tryint to switch over to herbal tea and made a cup. Then I thought I better google to make sure these herbs are safe for BF and good thing I did cause they're not. Oopps. Nothing dangerous but not something you should take.

The boys are terrific. R has had us in stiches lately. This kid has the best personality. Lsat week he was playing with our nativity and singing, "EI EI O". OMG, I almost died laughing.
He also has a toy piggy bank that he was pushing around the house saying, "pig, pig, pig". He's too much.

L has his 4 month apt on Wed. I'm curious to see how much he weighs/height. He is doing great with tummy time and head control. He hasn't rolled over yet so we need to work on getting that chub to move;) Otherwise he has started laughing at R which is funny to see. It's remarkable how much he and R look alike. I know they're siblings but they look like twins!

QOTW: R's train table was a huge hit. The trampoline, not so much. For L, he got new rattles and Sophie that he's been gnawing on. I forgot how much Sophie looks/sounds like a dog toy.

[healz413]

Ellis is 18w6d. She's handling all this travel really well. She is fighting naps some but has woken only once at night for the last 5 nights! She also seems to be lengthening her wake window from 1.5 hours to 2 hours. With a longer wake window we need her taking longer naps because you can't fit as many naps in in a day. She's still napping in arms or carriers which is not ideal. But after we get home from all of these travels we can work more on putting her down for naps.
She is becoming more engaged with the world, will tolerate tummy time for longer periods, and loves giggling at funny faces. She hasn't rolled again since our 3 roll night 2 weeks ago but she's desperately trying (and failing) to crawl.
She enjoys the world and gets overwhelmed by it easily. It is very typical wonder week stuff. And since this wonder week is actually many weeks long, there's plenty of time for us to get used to it.
We are in Chicago and will be celebrating Christmas with my family today. So far the trip has gone well and I'm happy to be here. We are staying in my parents' king sized bed (it's the room with space for the pack n play) and it's so huge compared to our queen sized bed. At M's fam's we were staying in a double bed which was so tiny. I wish we had a bed that could automatically change between queen (for cuddling) and King (for space).

QOTW: first Christmas was good. My favorite gift we received was a family membership to the science centre. Today is second Christmas. Hopefully that will go well too. Ellis slept well last night so that's a good start.

We are flying home on NYE. We may have a couple friends come over for takeout and games after Ellis is asleep for the night. (She still wakes up some after she goes to bed but she usually sleeps a long stretch which will hopefully give us the chance to hang out.)
On the 2nd we will probably be driving 4 hours to M's grandparents'. Ellis is not a good car traveller so we will probably make it an all day trip with lots of stops.

[2brides]

Dec 28, 2015 10:07:32 GMT -5 karlamo said:

 The trampoline, not so much.

don't give up on this. We have one in the kids' playroom and they still jump on it all of the time. They jump while watching movies, they jump while playing PS4...it is a great energy release!

[karlamo]

Dec 28, 2015 11:03:00 GMT -5 2brides said:

Dec 28, 2015 10:07:32 GMT -5 karlamo said:

 The trampoline, not so much.

don't give up on this. We have one in the kids' playroom and they still jump on it all of the time. They jump while watching movies, they jump while playing PS4...it is a great energy release!

I won't the kid loves to jump and even says jump but I think he doesn't understand the (basic) concept of it.  I want to model it for him but my booty is well over the max weight limit, lol.  This was my main plan on how he could burn off energy during the winter months. I need this to work!

[2brides]

Dec 28, 2015 11:14:36 GMT -5 karlamo said:

Dec 28, 2015 11:03:00 GMT -5 2brides said:

don't give up on this. We have one in the kids' playroom and they still jump on it all of the time. They jump while watching movies, they jump while playing PS4...it is a great energy release!

I won't the kid loves to jump and even says jump but I think he doesn't understand the (basic) concept of it.  I want to model it for him but my booty is well over the max weight limit, lol.  This was my main plan on how he could burn off energy during the winter months. I need this to work!

Yea, I think they were a bit over 2y when they figured out the coordination of jumping on a trampoline. He's almost there!

[kh826]

William is 18 months (will be 19 months next week).

Christmas was a success. William was a trouper with lots of local travel, long days and late nights. We visited with lots of family and friends, and overall everyone was a happy camper. We went to my in-laws on Christmas day after doing Christmas morning at our house just the three of us. It was a good balance, but a long day. William didn't nap, but he powered through and seemed too excited to sleep. He was a total ham -- dancing, being goofy, etc.

He has been talking about all of the family members that we spent a lot of time with over the last couple of weeks non-stop... every morning he has woken up asking if he will see Nan & Pops (J's parents) today.

He is very into coloring with crayons all of a sudden. It is his new favorite afternoon activity after nap.

His language continues to develop super fast, and it is so fun having little conversations with him.

He also continues to show his stubborn toddler streak lately. We have started introducing things that we know he won't want to do by saying "we are going to count to 10, and when we get to 10 we are going to...." We have used this for getting out of the bathtub, going upstairs for naptime, picking up certain toys, etc. It has had mixed results, but at least 50% of the time it seems to help.

QOTW: He totally loves his kitchen set, and the little shopping cart that my in-laws got him to go with it. He also got a lot of new books, puzzles and coloring supplies that he seems to totally love. My in-laws got him this little basket ball hoop that he was totally obsessed with at their house on Christmas. We haven't brought it home yet, as we couldn't fit it in the car with everything else we were bringing home on Christmas -- but I think my MIL is bringing it tomorrow. I can't think of any gifts that I would classify as a dud...

In terms of NYE -- we are planning to stay home, order Chinese take-out and watching a movie. William will go to bed at his normal time. We probably won't make it to midnight. We clearly like to live on the edge.

[2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)]

First Christmas in the books! Great time he loved everything! Family drama , impacted wisdoms (dw) and puking coughing baby came after the holiday....
Also r barks like (and at the) dogs and says ho ho ho lmao.
Santa went well (a few visits)
Next up- bathroom Reno (3 weeks), first plane trip to kc (mid feb) and 1st bday! 3/1. Time is going to fly!

[mahler5]

I swear C has become a different kid the last few weeks. Well, not really, but her nap and bedtime have changed a lot. Sometime a few weeks ago she was sick and we let her sleep on the mattress on the floor in her room instead of the crib. She was really cranky, and would start crying when we tried to transfer her from the mattress to the crib. Normally we lay next to her for 5 minutes while she winds down, and then Put her in the crib (still awake). So after she got better she would still cry when we tried to transfer her. Before I would have just put her in the crib, she would cry for 5 minutes and then fall asleep. But since she climbed out of her crib a few months ago I'm afraid to do that.

Anyway, suffice to say she has been sleeping on the mattress on the floor for the last few weeks. We should probably get her a toddler bed. She hasn't been waking up much thank god. However, getting her to bed has been harder. We now read her books in the dark (I have several memorized now). Some nights I will read the same over and over, and stop when she seems asleep and then she will sit up and demand it again, and in the process wake herself up!

This has all been very gradual I swear. But now I feel like my toddler is sort of running my life. Bedtime has turned into a 30 minute ordeal and she has been getting to bed a whole hour later. She's been sleeping in slightly more at least.

Also, we were doing lots of car rides around naptime and now it seems like it's the only way she will nap. I feel like I'm experiencing these same problems I was having when she was around 8 months old in a way.

I feel like she has me wrapped around her finger a lot of the time. Some of the disciplining has been getting better and behaviors more consistent. But other stuff is just crazy now!

QOTW-- she seems to like her kitchen set. And she loves these magnetic blocks we got her. They are for older kids, and she can't fully appreciate them, but she loves stacking them!

And she loved opening presents. After opening about 5 or 6 at our place (which was all we had) she asked us, "more presents?" ....... Seriously, this kid is something else sometimes!

[firstcomeslove2013]

H a year and doing great. She loves everything and is such a joyful kid.

The Christmas holiday has been a success so far, no major meltdowns BUT her sleep pattern has seriously changed. She's insisting on waking up at around 5 and is ready to party. I am currently listening to her babble in her room (she's been awake and talking and playing). I want her to learn to independent play and as long as she's not crying I'm okay with it. It sort of makes me feel like a bad parent but I want her to learn bedtime is bedtime.

My parents were here for Christmas and my sister and her family came over. H got some great stuff. We got her balls for a ball pit that we've made out of the pack and play and C made her a busy table. My parents got her a table and chairs for her room and a red ryder scooter. My sister got her a huge amount of bath toys and storage and accessories. She's a lucky girl.

We did have a small family drama thing happen that I'll address in a separate post. I'm just at odds with what to do about it.

C's parents are here now and will be leaving today. They went WAY overboard for Christmas but she was so attentive and excited to open presents. I know she's only a year but she seems to get it.

QOTW: I think I answered most of the question BUT I know we are talking about NYE. We are so excited to do nothing and just relax. H will be business as usual and we will most likely not make it to midnight either (kh826 I am loving your Chinese take out idea and we may be doing the same).

NYD we are having some friends over and I'll make pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes which is a tradition in my family.

[karlamo]

mahler5, Have you heard of Montessori style bedrooms? Basically you remove any dangers from the room and make sure that everything the child can access is safe, you put the mattress on the floor just as you're doing now. I know some moms who do this and swear by it. I don't trust R as far as I can throw him so this wouldn't work for me but it may be for you.

[mahler5]

Dec 29, 2015 9:13:14 GMT -5 karlamo said:

mahler5, Have you heard of Montessori style bedrooms? Basically you remove any dangers from the room and make sure that everything the child can access is safe, you put the mattress on the floor just as you're doing now. I know some moms who do this and swear by it. I don't trust R as far as I can throw him so this wouldn't work for me but it may be for you.

That's pretty much what we are doing now. I used to not trust her but it's gotten easier! It also helps for her to have as little stimulation as possible in her room to help her go to sleep.

The only problem now is she wants to bring in all her toys at bedtime. I don't think a stack of flower legos is really going to hurt her but I don't really want her to roll over them in bed, so I have to try and get them out of the room or under the crib when she starts to drift off!