***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[ImSoTired]

Hi LuLu!

I have a tantrum thrower as well. She has actually improved quite a bit over the last month or so, so I am hoping it's just a phase. Caitlyn is doing quite well. We are officially drinking whole milk from a sippy cup and taking 1 nap! I still haven't gotten her to take a liking to water or juice but I'm hoping it'll come in time. I am also not feeding Cait at all. She is doing it all herself and she is attempting to use utensils sometimes successfully and other times not so much. She can literally run now which is tough for me but she loves it and often laughs while doing so. Her vocab is growing slowly but surely and I think she is about average as far as that goes.

I'm hoping to introduce potty training in April or May. I don't expect too much but it is my goal to at least begin her before we TTC for another in July. Maybe I'll be fortunate and she will catch on quickly, who knows? My other before TTC goal were paying off the new car [done], cleaning out the basement/Spring cleaning [pending], and perhaps introducing a big girl bed. I'm not sure she's ready for that one but that's not a deal breaker for me. Oh and also I was going to lose my last 20lbs or so but that can wait too, lol! Not that I'm not still trying but I'm not trying as hard. Lastly my cycles are getting more regular so that is a great sign. Oops I went on about it a little much. Sorry!

I hope everyone is well!

 

[Chloe597]

Hi Lulu! Good to see you have found us all again! Sorry to hear D is a poor sleeper. It is bound to get better soon!

Lolly, FX for you! Hope its a real BFP!

great that cait is feeding herself and drinking from a sippy! I would watch out on introducing juice before water..she may never want water again once she tastes how great juice is! but if you want to get her to drink something other than milk, maybe super dilute juice would be good?

I can't wait to hear everyone's adventures in potty training. We have gotten as far as to put a baby potty in our bathroom and sometimes i sit gabby on it (fully clothed) while I use the toilet. Not sure where to go from there really...

 

[Beanonorder]

haha, potty training doesn't even feature in my peripheral vision at the moment! No point in thinking about it until Amber is actually walking. And she is still showing no interest in it. I think she is too scared to let go and try. Every now and then she stands for about 5 seconds when she isn't paying attention. And I can see she's thinking about letting go but she just doesn't have it in her yet.

Good going IST! Amber will drink milk from a sippy cup but I haven't made it a regular thing yet. Sorry she hasn't taken to water or juice. Amber happily drinks water and diluted juice, thankfully - seeing as we have regular constipation issues! How much whole milk does she drink a day? We are busy changing down to one nap. But I think I need to bring bedtime forward to 7pm because by 6pm she is so grumpy!

 

[joeliza24]

Hi ladies!

Sorry I've been MIA.

Nathan is so bored of his toys these days. He literally prefers emptying packets of anything he gets a hold of or emptying cabinets I haven't found locks suitable for (which I leave things he can't choke or hurt himself with).

What toys are your LOs into these days?

 

[LuluSS]

Hi ladies!

Sorry I've been MIA.

Nathan is so bored of his toys these days. He literally prefers emptying packets of anything he gets a hold of or emptying cabinets I haven't found locks suitable for (which I leave things he can't choke or hurt himself with).

What toys are your LOs into these days?

Anything he's not supposed to have

 

[joeliza24]

Hahaha! So I'm not alone.

 

[ImSoTired]

lol joliza. Cait prefers anything that she shouldn't have over her toys as well.

Bean Cait is drinking maybe 4 or 5 8oz cups of milk a day. Some days less. I offer it with meals and before nap time and bedtime, like a bottle. Sometimes she finishes it and others not. I have introduced both water and juice to her and she's just not interested yet. Hopefully that will change eventually.

 

[Beanonorder]

Oh wow, that is quite a bit! And you've had no problems? I was under the impression they weren't supposed to have more than 600ml (20 oz) a day so that's one of the reasons why I give Amber tea. (She has decaffinated tea or rooibos/redbush tea). If you've had no problems with it then maybe I won't be so strict on the limit! Maybe you should try Cait on some tea? Amber loves it. With juice and water she will sip away at in during the day but if I give her tea she sits and drinks it all like she does with milk.

I had the most awful night last night! I went to bed at 10pm and my phone woke me up at 11pm and I didn't get back to sleep AT ALL! Either the cat was meowing, Amber was crying or dh was snoring. I'm at work now and want to die. I eventually got up at 5:30am and let Amber sleep on me because she was fussing so much so at least her and dh got some sleep.

 

[scoobydrlp]

IST - wonder if Amber would be more interested in other fluids if you dropped her milk intake? At Camden's 1 year pedi visit we were instructed 10-16 oz of whole milk/day. She usually drinks 15oz milk, 2-3oz prune juice (for constipation), and 4-6oz of water. That's an average day, some days she will take more water than that.

I've been w wondering about potty training and when that should start. We're not ready yet, but it is usually pretty obvious to me when she's having a BM, so maybe I should just stick her on the potty when I see it happening? She will often tell me after she's had a BM by saying "boo", which means poop. I guess that's a step! Does anyone have opinions as to whether to get a baby potty or just use a little seat on top of the regular potty? I'm not really a fan of having to clean out a little potty every time she goes, but she won't be able to get onto the big one on her own.

As far as toys, Camden is really into a bucket of blocks or those big plastic beads, she doesn't really use them appropriately but if I dump them out she will put them back in one by one. She would do this all day! Similarly she has a Fisher Price toy gumball machine that has 3 big balls with it - you put the balls in the top, then press a lever and it makes them roll out the bottom. That keeps her busy for quite a while. She also loves her little push car that she can either sit on and scoot with her feet, or stand behind and push. The seat lifts up and she puts toys in it and rolls around the living room. She has a bunch of stuffed animals and dolls and she loves feeding them with a little plastic baby bottle. She goes through a whole pile of them feeding, hugging, and kissing each one, then throwing them to the side and moving onto the next.

We're walking a little more each day. She still takes only about 6 steps at a time, and seems to prefer crawling because it's faster at this point. Learning new words almost daily too! Her newest are "bad dog", "bad cat", "pa pa" for Grandpa, and "eye" which she says as she's poking you in the eye.

We're going to try story time at the library this morning, so I guess I should get going. Not sure how long she'll sit still, but it's worth a try!

 

[bbygurl719]

Hi ladies sorry I have been mia. Ella is one the mend when she had her blood transfusion her hemoglobin was a 5.1 normal is a 12 or 13 we took her last Tuesday and it's up to 11.6. They drew more blood to rerun a test that came back abnormal and we go back on Friday to check hemoglobin level n get results and we will finally have an answer.

Angel has been a piece of work. She getsick than she gets better than sick again. I have had very little sleep. She's not a great sleeper as it is but been alot worse with being sick. The first two night of this one she was up coughing so hard gagging.took her to doctors and they told me to give breathing treatment and a teaspoon of honey before bed and it has worked miracles hardly any coughing but she still tosses n turns. Before she got sick she was sleeping in crib for 4-6 hours n than climbing into bed withe me and is up n down from than till we get up breastfeeding sleeping breastfeeding sleeping. Since being sick she only makes it 30 mins - hour in crib n than hops in bed with me.( her crib is converted into the toddler bed and is pressed up against my side of the bed).

as for temper tantrums it is hell over here lol. I have my two year old who throws full blown temper tantrums and angel who is learning from her. My two year old is so bad. I have been having lots of issues with her since she was one. We have tried talking to her pediatricians and he just kept saying put in crib walk away or strap her in chair walk away spank her. We have tried EVERYTHING. so we recently switche'd doctors and the sent her to a behavior specialist and for her age her score should be below 57 and her score was 185. Behavior specialist thinks it may be alot from her not communicating very well. My two year old and angel talk about the same. We go back on the 19th of this month n hopefully we can get some help. Cuz angel is starting to mimic what she does.

Angel is running all over the place and talking up a storm. She has her top two teeth, three bottom teeth a molar coming thru on top and her other top two teeth are right at the gums.

 

[Chloe597]

Wow, bbygirl, sounds like you have your hands full! I hope your can get your 2 yo to calm down before Angel picks up too much of that behavior!

I was wondering how everyone is disciplining their LO when they do something they shouldn't be doing? my DH wants to smack G on the hand, but I won't let him because I think that will just teach her to hit. And one of the things we are trying to make her not do is hit the cat (she loves to go up to them and say 'no!' while trying to smack them in the face). When we sternly tell her no and take her away from the source of the problem, she just laughs at us. I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done at this point to make her understand that she shoudln't press buttons on the receiver/put plugs into open outlets/put her fingers into the fan/hit the cat/hit mommy or daddy. I just say now and try to show her what she should be doing instead, which so far hasn't worked.

 

[LuluSS]

For us, we just tell Dominik "no", or "that's not nice", etc. Then I will just let him sit/stand there (whatever he is doing) and throw a fit. Since they can't really communicate this young, I figure "time outs" and things like that won't be much help. So I either ignore his tantrum, or try and distract him with something else. He is pretty good though and will only tantrum for a few seconds and then be over it and doing something new.

 

[scoobydrlp]

Bbygurl- hope things get better on your end quick, you sure have been through a lot!

Camden went through a hitting stage and we are finally out of it. We tried "no" for a while but it did nothing. Then we went to "be nice" and took her hand and showed her to lightly pet whatever/whoever she had hit. It took a while but now she gets it. As soon as I see her going towards one of our pets I tell her "be nice" and she usually does pet them nicely. I guess it goes along with the theory of telling them what they should do, rather than what they should not do.

So we went to story time at the library yesterday and she LOVED it! They sang songs and did nursery rhymes and read 2 short books. She had a little trouble sitting still during the books, but nothing any worse than any of the other kids there. She was the youngest one, and the lady running it told me there's another program called "bouncing babies" that is geared towards kids 1-18 months, so I think we'll try that next week. It's at a different library branch but it's not far from home, so worth a try!

 

[ImSoTired]

On the subject of milk- She doesn't always drink that much that's how many cups I fill though. I usually dump some out. I am thinking of maybe giving her water before naptime to start and just taking it away if she refuses it and putting her down. I suppose she will eventually either drink it or not have anything before nap. We will see. She has an appt on the 17th so I will see if the pediatrician has any ideas. But no issues with the milk this time. Juts the water and juice now. Maybe she would drink some decaf, sugar free tea, it's worth a shot.

bbygrl It sounds like your little ones are keeping you busy! I hope you can get things situated.

Nothing much new to add. I hope all is well

 

[Beanonorder]

Wow, bbygirl, sounds like you have your hands full! I hope your can get your 2 yo to calm down before Angel picks up too much of that behavior!

I was wondering how everyone is disciplining their LO when they do something they shouldn't be doing? my DH wants to smack G on the hand, but I won't let him because I think that will just teach her to hit. And one of the things we are trying to make her not do is hit the cat (she loves to go up to them and say 'no!' while trying to smack them in the face). When we sternly tell her no and take her away from the source of the problem, she just laughs at us. I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done at this point to make her understand that she shoudln't press buttons on the receiver/put plugs into open outlets/put her fingers into the fan/hit the cat/hit mommy or daddy. I just say now and try to show her what she should be doing instead, which so far hasn't worked.

You definitely have the right opinion there! We tried smacking Amber on the hand when she was touching things she shouldn't be and now she hits me everytime I do something she doesn't like! So I told dh no smacking because all we've done it teach her to do it. She does understand no and listens sometimes. But with the cats I always be gentle and show her how to stroke and that usually works. And now when she hits me I hold her hand and say we don't hit mommy - it seems to be helping. When she screams I tell her its not nice and ask her to please not do it. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. She has a short temper and not being able to communicate effectively really frustrates her. Hopefully we'll get out of this soon!
I tried to do some research on dealing with Ambers screaming and hitting and do you know how many gave the advice of time outs and naughty steps?! I specifically searched 14 month olds and this is the advice given in reference to this age group! No-one gave advice as to how to keep them on the naughty step.

Bbygurl sorry you're having such a rough time! I hope you can get help soon. I'm really curious to know how the potty training has been going?

What time is your LO having their nap/s? Amber is trying to change down to one nap but she ends up sleeping at around 10:30am and often for only 40 minutes. Then she refuses to sleep in the afternoon and she is so grumpy by early evening. Or like yesterday we went to Jitterbugs which is at 10:45am. She didn't fall asleep on the way there like she sometimes does so she was a little grumpy during the class cos she was tired. I'm just not sure what to do. Make bedtime earlier? Keep putting her down in the afternoon anyway for quiet time?

 

[scoobydrlp]

We were struggling with naps for a while when I first became a SAHM because I was trying to figure out what would work best. I really felt like she needed 2 naps, but she had already gotten used to just one at daycare. She is tired enough for a nap around 10am, but if I put her down then she is super cranky by late afternoon but refuses a second nap. I have decided feeding her lunch at 11 gets her down for a nap around 11:30 and she will sleep until 2-2:30 and does pretty well the rest of the day. I have also moved bedtime to an hour earlier which makes up for the second nap.

 

[Beanonorder]

Wow that's a good nap! Amber has just never slept that long during the day. Very rarely she does two hours. Usually her naps are between 40 minutes and an hour and a half. But even over an hour is becoming quite rare. I have seriously been contemplating moving bedtime to 7pm instead of 7:30/8pm. But of course I'm concerned that she is just going to wake up earlier!! Its so difficult with dh staying at home with her. Oh well, I guess trial and error...

 

[Chloe597]

Thanks for the advice, girls. It really sucks because G knows she shouldn't be pushing buttons, or playing with the fan, because she looks right at me when she does those things. She is getting better with the cats, but it doesnt help that me and DH yell 'no' and have to pound the ground around them to get the one to stop scratching our carpet. So she is really just mimicking us for the most part. sigh...

On the subject of naps, G goes down around 1130 for a 1-2 hr nap. Sometimes she falls asleep in the car on the way home from daycare, which is about 20 min, so that sorta counts as nap 2. On the weekends if she takes a nap less than 1 hour, and wakes up before 1230, i try to get her down for an afternoon nap, but usually that fails. So we are pretty much at 1 nap a day around noon. Sometimes its before lunch, sometimes after. All depends what time and how much she ate for breakfast. Wish it was a more exact science tho. I am an engineer...i like measureable quantities, not this estimated variability!

 

[LuluSS]

Dominik naps once a day too. He has been since 12 months, because that is how his daycare's schedule is in the toddler room. He naps there from 12:00 until 2 or 3. He goes to bed in between 7:30 and 8 and wakes up at 6:00. On the weekends it is so different. I have a hard time keeping him up until noon. So he usually naps around 11:00/11:30 but will only take a 1-2 hour nap. Then he is fine the rest of the day. He definitely sleeps better at night when he takes a longer nap during the day. Like Monday, he napped from 12-3 at daycare. He then fought sleep at night and didn't go down until 8:45. But he didn't wake up until 6:45 and he only woke twice throughout the night! Then yesterday he napped from 12-2, but then got tired earlier so went to bed at 7:45. He woke up at 6:00 and was grumpy, plus he also woke up 5+ times throughout the night too. So trying to get them to sleep longer during the day is much better for their night time sleep. But it is so hard!

 

[ImSoTired]

So last night I told DH that Cait shouldn't be drinking as much milk as we're giving her and he laughed at me and told me that the sippy cups we have aren't even 8 oz. They are more like 6. I had no clue because they don't have lines on them! So if she is drinking about 4 of them a day and I'm having to dump a little out here or there that's about normal. I swear I still have mommy brain sometimes. I did start giving her water last night at bedtime after I brushed her teeth. As expected she refused it and I put her in her crib. She screamed and I went in and cuddled her for a few minutes and she went to sleep no problem.

As for the discipline issue DH slapped Cait's hand once and I didn't think I would be, but I was shocked and angry. Every time I have done it, it seems to be less of a slap and more of a tap. She is also so very hurt everytime DH raises his voice to her so the slap, although I don't think it was particularly painful, made her quite upset. I told DH we aren't going to do that anymore. Cait sometimes will hit us now (this happened maybe around the 1 yr mark) and I just tell her no and hold her hand as bean said. We don't have an issue with her behavior for the most part and try to ignore it mostly but sometimes I do have to correct her and tell her no. She then throws a tantrum but I usually just go on with my business and she gets over it quickly. When I worked in childcare the classes i took taught redirection, redirection, redirection! It's tiring for a parent/caregiver but the child does eventually catch on I suppose.

On the subject of napping, sometimes Cait gives me a hard time going down. I usually put her to sleep around 12:30 or 1pm (she just fell asleep a few min ago) after shes had her lunch. She will usually sleep about 2 hrs or so. Sometimes more or less. This has been our schedule for about a month now. Sometimes it takes her a while to nod off if she isn't ready or is grumpy, or extra tired.

On a weird note, Cait still only has 2 teeth. I know that getting teeth late runs in my family and it's clearly not hindering her eating at all but it's worrying me just a little. Her top gums look like something might be happening in there but I can't be sure. I don't feel anything there when I'm brushing her gums. I asked my dentist yesterday and she said it's no big deal. Occasionally a kid will be really late getting teeth and she gave me some pamphlet which I read but wasn't too helpful. I will be asking her doctor at her upcoming appt.

Sorry so long. I hope all is well!