Toddler Check In?

Junebug060609

I don't know if there is an official one, but for the Moms of Toddlers out there, how are you all doing?

 

 

 

Luckie519

DS is being a real brat lately.  He is normally so well behaved.  Everything is an argument and a debate.  He told DH the other night "You don't tell me!"  I just want my cute and cuddly and polite DS back!

Luckie519

Also, all he wants to do is snack all day and not eat normal meals.  He used to tear up scramble eggs for breakfast, now he takes a bite or two and gets up, asking for chips, cookies or a freeze pop.

FmrAFBrat

I'd like to do a toddler check in. DS is doing well with his speech and will be reevaluated in October when he turns 2. I'm hoping to know more what the problem is. He is waving and saying hello and bye now on a regular basis, as well as repeating things. I've got him on a transitional cup and I think he'll be ready for a big boy one soon...although I don't want to clean up the mess. I'm just a little distressed that my nephew who just turned 1 talks more than he does.

hopefulmom81

Well, we had our 15 month appointment last week.  Great news overall, DD looks great.  Bad news?  Ped wants us to be done with the pacifier.  I agree that we have let her have it during the day for too long.  We meant to get rid of it months ago, but it is just so darn EASY!    We are on Day 1 and both DH and I are ready to rip our hair out.  DD is normally a pretty easy-peasy little girl, but man-oh-man, part of that might have been having a soothing paci!

VeilSdeGTO

Hi, there!

The terrible two's have definitely hit. DD has been throwing tantrums left and right. We don't think a big portion of it is due to lack of communication but more from not getting what she wants when she asks for it. Although most don't last too long, the ones that do are full blown thrashing on the floor. I'm really hoping it passes quickly.

Hope you guys are having an easier time with your toddlers.

Junebug060609

FmrAFBrat said:

I'd like to do a toddler check in. DS is doing well with his speech and will be reevaluated in October when he turns 2. I'm hoping to know more what the problem is. He is waving and saying hello and bye now on a regular basis, as well as repeating things. I've got him on a transitional cup and I think he'll be ready for a big boy one soon...although I don't want to clean up the mess. I'm just a little distressed that my nephew who just turned 1 talks more than he does.

My DS is seeing speech therapists as well.  He's got just 4 words at 22 months.  Pretty sure the issue was fluid in his ears that abx from his most recent ear infection cleared up (he literally went down for a nap one kid and woke up my normal kid...his receptive language skyrocketed immediately and is growing each day).  Since those abx his babbling has changed so much and increased dramatically as well.

I for sure get the concerns you're having.

Junebug060609

DS is doing better.  For those that might recall, he was dx with a severe speech delay (at a speech eval last month he was at a 6 month level when he was 21 months).  Since then though he's had an ear infection and the abx seemed to have worked magic!  As mentioned above, he woke up from a nap during the abx with a sudden abundance of receptive language he'd not had for MONTHS.  I suspect he had fluid in his ear that drained out.  His receptive language and babbling have increased and his words have doubled (up to 4 words, including the phrase "did it").  He's come so far in just a month it's amazing to me, but he still has a LOOOONG ways to go to get caught up.  It breaks my heart that he apparently wasn' t hearing right for about six months, but I'm truly hoping that's all the issue was. 

He's still being evaluated for autism.  He's not pointing much, though it's improved since his ears cleared.  His eye contact has gotten better since then as well, including giving me puppy dog eyes when he hands me his cup for a refill rather than just shoving it in my hands this weekend.  (That's huge for autism kids to do that)  He still does a weird hand thing (complex motor stereotypy, he doesn't hand flap but instead twists his wrists) when he's excited that is concerning to me (4% normal kids do it, but 50% of the autistic population does it).  He also sometimes spins or runs around while looking out of the corner of his eyes...but I'm not sure if that's him being almost 2 or autism.  More & more I'm starting to think he's not autistic, but it still is TBD...and it's pretty much torture to be living life wondering.

Other than the talking/autism concerns, he's doing well.  Like Theresat's LO, he's gone vertical on me lately.  Found the stinker standing on the diningroom table the other day!  He also likes to hide in the cupboard under the bathroom sink sometimes.  So fricking cute!  He's a suction cup to me lately and has decided naps are for babies again.  The tantrums are in full force here as well.  It's....lovely. 

damabo80

Preschool starts in 15 days!!!!! ::happy dance::

We're in the constantly testing phase, and whatever she's doing she'll slyly look at me to see how i'm going to react.

Oh, and we're also in a no phase. Which sucks because I don't know if she really means no or is just saying it because it's fun to say. Yesterday at the grocery she yelled "no no no no no" the whole time. Not because she was unhappy or anything it was just fun. The other patrons probably thought I was kidnapping or beating her.

Terrible 2s yo.

But then 3 minutes later she's back to acting all sweet and doing something funny or gathering up all her toys to give them to her little brother. I waver between wanting to wring her neck and wanting to smother her in kisses all day long.

damabo80

Junebug060609 said:

He also sometimes spins or runs around while looking out of the corner of his eyes...but I'm not sure if that's him being almost 2 or autism.

I think that's a 2 thing. DD does that all the time and she hasn't displayed any markers for autism except delayed expressive speech.

Junebug060609

damabo80 said:

Junebug060609 said:

He also sometimes spins or runs around while looking out of the corner of his eyes...but I'm not sure if that's him being almost 2 or autism.

I think that's a 2 thing. DD does that all the time and she hasn't displayed any markers for autism except delayed expressive speech.

. I hope you are right. It is super fun to be at appts when he does stuff like that though. The docs are all "look, there is a sign" and I get to tell them "or he's one and doing silly things because they are fun and he can".

CheesyPeas

We're in the midst of major tantrum season here too.  The other day he rolled around while crying and growling for a solid 15 minutes because I told him he was all done with hand washing after his third squirt of soap.  A similar act followed later that day when I only gave him 11 frozen blueberries to munch on instead of filling up his bowl.  Fun times.  I'm glad he hasn't had one quite this bad out in public yet but I know my fun is right around the corner.

In other recent developments, I think we've allowed him to watch a few too many Elmo videos because he now demands them anytime we're in the same room as a computer or laptop.  For an easily distracted toddler, I'm having one heck of a time making him forget about the computer in the room.  It could be worse though I suppose; he's got a pretty reconizable alphabet tune he sings due to Sesame Street youtube videos.  And I get an attitude-filled "no" and talk to the hand gesture whenever I try to fill in some missing letters in his rendition.  How dare I act as if I know his song better than he does?

martinimomma

So nice to see everyone's updates and glad to know I have plenty of company in the random tantrum boat.  G does not do it often, but when he does, he deserves an award for making it look like he lives a life of constant torture and abuse. What's that?  The straw sippy with the blue lid is in the dishwasher?  Stand back!  He has also started to have tantrums or nap-horrors or something (I am talking 45 minute, inconsolable, teary and snot-nosed bouts)when he wakes up from naps of more than 2 hours - which is luckily a rare occurrance.

He's also started climbing, which is nerve-wracking.  We are still in our rental apartment (only 2 more weeks!  Yay!) and we can't feasibly anchor everything down like we can at home, so even more vigilance than usual is the order of the day

We're still having food challenges.  G's last round of allergy tests were much, much improved, but he is still "sensitive" to a lot of things and that has meant a summer of recurrent, nasty diaper rashes.  I'm starting to wish we had a fancy schmantsy bidet in our being-remodeled bathroom just to give us the option of washing down his reddened bottom with every diaper change.  But in the absence of that, I guess we can only keep on with the butt balms and lotions and hope for good motivation to potty train. 

As a result of the food issues, and continued generally crappy eating, G continues to be a total skinny minnie, and the fact that his waist fits 12 month pants at 22 months means that the boy is in "floods" most of the time (or does "man-pris" cound better?).  We have a pedi appointment on the 26th and I'm going to see if she thinks it is worth seeing a nutritionist, maybe at least for ideas on how to get more fat and calories in his diet without dairy (and he has lately refused coconut or almond yogurt - still drinking almond milk).

Our little man is still high maintenance, but he is truly a joy and so hilarious.  While he is a wee little thing in size, his vocabulary is growing and he is becoming a little sponge with absorbing new (mis-pronounced, but so cute) words. 

He is also in a TOTAL Momma-centric phase (I can barely leave the room if I am home).  How he reacts to the new LO, who should arrive by scheduled c-section the second week in September, remains to be seen.

Have a great week!

martinimomma

Junebug, I can't get a partial quote to work, but I wanted to say that the running around thing sounds like a typical night at my house these days. I really think some of that is the age. 

Also, I had recurrent ear infections as a toddler and young child (and wound up with a mild hearing loss as a result, apparently) and I can tell you from experience how different things are when you can hear!  I am very hopeful that your little guy will continue to show improvement and can't wait to hear about it!

martinimomma

damabo80 said:

Preschool starts in 15 days!!!!! ::happy dance:: We're in the constantly testing phase, and whatever she's doing she'll slyly look at me to see how i'm going to react. Oh, and we're also in a no phase. Which sucks because I don't know if she really means no or is just saying it because it's fun to say. Yesterday at the grocery she yelled "no no no no no" the whole time. Not because she was unhappy or anything it was just fun. The other patrons probably thought I was kidnapping or beating her. Terrible 2s yo. But then 3 minutes later she's back to acting all sweet and doing something funny or gathering up all her toys to give them to her little brother. I waver between wanting to wring her neck and wanting to smother her in kisses all day long.

GAH!  Preschool!?!?!?!  Amazing.

ksyknelvr73

Doing well over here with DS. I can't believe he hit the 2.5 year mark. We are working on potty training and I already want to crawl into a hole and not come out. At daycare, he pees in the potty ALL DAY and then when he comes home, he refuses. He will usually go right before his bath b/c I tell him he needs to before he can take a bath (and he loves bath time so apparently it's an incentive), but otherwise he just won't go. I thought with him using the potty so well at daycare all last week that this past weekend, he'd be all about it....and he just wasn't at all. Part of that is also DH and being lazy - which is pissing me off. I sing in the praise band at my church and this last weekend I had a "workshop" on Saturday for a few hours then I had to sing on Sunday - so both mornings I was gone for 4-5 hours, and when I came home I asked DH if DS had gone potty and his response BOTH DAYS was "Oh....well no, I haven't taken him". DS is currently wearing pull-ups and I HATE them. So I think this weekend since I will be home the whole time, I'm putting him in underwear and staying on top of it.

Wow that was long. Other than PT issues, things are really good with DS. I feel like he is so much fun right now and I love seeing him learn so many new things all the time. The "terrible twos" really haven't been so bad for us and I am SO thankful.

adoxyinherear

... so I have a toddler now! I am going to jump in on this check-in because I've missed everyone and am hoping to get more active here again.

DD is climbing everything, but she's not cruising yet. She climbed the (concrete!) stairs on our patio on her birthday, just out of the blue. We had no idea she knew how to do it, since we don't have stairs in our house.

Mostly I'm all nerves about leaving for six days at the end of the month, and how it's going to impact our breastfeeding relationship. I'd like to try to keep nursing until she's two, and she's still nursing 4 - 6 times a day. I don't have a ton of milk in our freezer stash, though, so we've introduced WCM and she loves it. I'm okay with it replacing a feed or two, especially if it means I get to sleep more at night. But the idea that my vacation will tank my supply breaks my heart, because I'm really not ready to be done with nursing yet. I plan on pumping, but you just never know.

Albah

DS1 is turning 5 in 2 days and he started kindergarten this week. Sniff!!! He is sweet with his little brother and has adjusted quite well. However, he's had quite a temper the last couple of weeks and doing things "on the first try" when told is not happening. Working on it.

DS2 just turned 3 and started PK3 this week! He is a chatter box and such a funny guy!!