~*~*~*~*Toddler Check- In*~*~*~*~

MJM3108

I really hope @RusalkaSings doesn't mind that I posted this, but it wasn't up last week, either, and we have LOTS of new toddlers!

So, here goes:

How's everyone doing? Any challenges this week? Milestones? Funny stories?

QOTW- What are your family plans for the summer? Vacations? Daytrips? What are you most looking forward to doing w/ your toddler this summer?

^^Okay so that was actually 4 QOTWs, but it's all related, lol!^^

NBBride05

We took Miss A on her first overseas trip last week and she did great! We spent the week in Cancun and she had a blast swimming!

Challenges: Miss A has been sneezing for the last 48 hours and I thought it was a cold, but now I am wondering if it is teething. She is coughing a little and cranky. I read that these can be symptoms of teething. She has several ready to break through. She finally STTN last night after not doing so for several days. I miss my good sleeper! 

Milestones: The big milestone is her 2nd country as mentioned above, but there are other things too. She finally started eating table food. It is slow going, but she has tried bread, pizza and french fries. Not exactly healthy, but it is a start. Oh, she did have some melon so that is healthy. She still wants her purees. She now likes shoes! I thought it was going to be a battle, but she realizes they make it easier to walk. She has another tooth so we are up to 6 that I can definitely see and I am pretty sure there are 3-4 more ready to pop. Oh and we are transitioning to WCM. 

Funny Stories: There was a fountain at the hotel where we stayed and she thought it was the coolest thing. We would go by it every day and she would reach out to put her hand in the water from her stroller. 

QOTW: We are going to Northern California (either Lassen Volcanic NP or Redwoods NP) for a family reunion. DH's cousin works at Lassen currently, but may be transferred soon. We will also do lots of day trips. As a teacher in So. Calif, Sea World provided free passes to any teacher who registered, so I will be taking her to see the animals several times. I am most looking forward to swimming with her. She loves being in the water and made so much progress in the week we were in Cancun. I can't wait to see what summer holds. 

MJM3108

How's everyone doing?  Eh, we're doing alright. H and I are working on things. It's going to be a long process, but we're starting to make some progress, and that's what counts. Personally, I am working hard on trying to forgive H. I've done a lot of praying about it, but like I said before, it's going to be a long process. 

Any challenges this week? Ben has started banging his head off the floor when he's upset. I try my best to ignore it, as I've heard/read that is the best way to end this phase quickly, but we have hardwood floors and he's given himself a little goose egg on his forehead. I'm worried he's going to hurt himself. He also likes to bang his head off the window when he's on the couch, which presents a whole other level of worry... Cue mental images of broken glass and blood and crying.... He is definitely getting more opinionated, though, and the mini tantrums are more and more frequent. I long for the day he can tell me what he wants/ needs!!

Milestones? He can now climb up on all the chairs and our couch, so he is spending his time climbing up and down and up and down again! He has also figured out how to open our kitchen door (it's a swinging door that opens both ways) and he loves to push it open, then closed, then open it back out the other way. It's quite adorable, actually!

Funny stories? Ben is absolutely obsessed with my bras. He loves to play with them, put the cups on his head and walk around, put his arm through the straps and carry it on his shoulder like a purse. Last night I was back in our bedroom sorting wash and he was parading around with my leopard print bra on his head. I about died laughing. 

QOTW- What are your family plans for the summer? Vacations? Daytrips? What are you most looking forward to doing w/ your toddler this summer? I can't wait to take Ben camping! We go camping every year at least 3 times, last year was actually the first year we hadn't gone in a long time. We're going to rent a cabin in a local state park with some friends, and do one round of tent camping (which out to be interesting w/ a toddler). We'll also be doing some daytrips- the zoo, aquarium, and "Please Touch" museum in Philly, and hopefully a weekend trip to Baltimore Inner Harbor to do the Baltimore Aquarium and the other attractions there. Oh, and swimming!

ProfessorPedals825

Any challenges this week?

She started having some diarrhea on Saturday, and it's still there today.  She's not bothered by it except for the diaper rash.  No fever or anything else.  I'm told it's related to teething, but if this poor girl doesn't feel better by Monday, I'm calling the doctor.

Oh, and another challenge, she is really fighting bedtime.  Now that she walks, that's all she wants to do.  I couldn't take the kicking and screaming and finally gave in last night, and just said screw it.  She played in the kitchen and living room until 9 when I finally had the kitchen cleaned up, then it was straight to bed, and she was out instantly.

Milestones?

She's had quite a few milestones over the last couple weeks: walking, switching to WCM, no more bottles, new convertible car seat.  I can barely keep up!

Funny stories?

I really shouldn't laugh, but her temper cracks me up.  I see so much of DH in her attitude.  And I'm one of those that truly believes that babies feed off our moods and energy.  When DH is in a bad mood, hers is even worse.  So we decided no more middle of the night bottles last Thursday.  I decided to just cut it off cold turkey.  When she wouldn't settle down during her 2am wake up, I handed her a sippy of water.  She immediately snatched it from my hands, took one sip, and threw the cup across the room.  LOL, it's so funny to see her so mad, because I know, like her father, she'll get over it in a couple minutes.  She did, calmed down, and let me cuddle her to calm her back down so she could go back to sleep.

QOTW- What are your family plans for the summer? Vacations? Daytrips? What are you most looking forward to doing w/ your toddler this summer?  Oh lots of things here.  We do daytrips/weekend trips often as it is, so there will be plenty of that this summer: driving to see FIL this weekend, driving to see my mom for Easter weekend, flying to see MIL on 4th of July.  Then we'll also be doing some bike races and take her along, baseball games (her first was last Friday), and swim lessons.  I'm excited for swim lessons, but what I'm really looking forward to is taking her down the river in my hometown.  DH is hesitant, but I was a baby when I started floating the river.  We'll make sure she has a life jacket and a tube with a bottom or I can hold her the whole time.  Besides, we'll only stick to the calm parts of the river.  No rapids for Phoebe!

MJM3108

PugLife5869 said:

Milestones? We have been bottle free for a few weeks now!  It's been wonderful!  Also she has figured out how to go down the stairs and get off the couch.  She has been climbing up the stairs for a while but the going down was tough.  She is also really into climbing things right now.  Lord, help me.
ETA:  She is choosing walking over crawling about 75% of the time now! 

I totally forgot to mention we are bottle free, too! It didn't even phase him. I started by dropping the mid-day bottle, then morning, and about a week ago we dropped the bedtime bottle. He gets milk in a sippy 2-3 times/ day now. SO glad to not be washing/sterilizing bottles anymore!

NBBride05

I am jealous of all of you being bottle free. Miss A regressed when we were in Mexico and she won't drink from her sippy unless it is the morning milk when she is starving. She is good for juice out of the sippy cup, but not milk. Any tips would be helpful!!! 

MJM3108

@NBBride05‌, I wish I had some words of wisdom for transitioning off of bottles... I totally agree with @PugLife5869‌ though, she'll start drinking it once she figures out that's all she's going to get. The only thing I would really recommend is to try warming her milk. Ben always got his formula warmed, so I did the same for WCM (when first introducing it, too). Now he only gets the night time sippy warmed up.
@Michbot12‌ , have you tried warning the milk at all for Liv?

ProfessorPedals825

PugLife5869 said:

@NBBride05 we just didn't give her a choice.  She didn't drink much milk at first but we made up for it with other dairy.  It only took her a few days before she realized that it was all she was getting and started drinking it out of the cup.  I know this approach isn't for everyone though.  M is a big eater and eats a balanced diet so I really wasn't worried.  She loves cheese and yogurt so no milk for a few days didn't concern me.

Ditto.  We just didn't give her a choice.  Here's your cup, no more bottles.  She was mad for a while, but then she realized that milk is milk no matter the container.  Again, like PugLife said, this approach is not for everybody, but worked for us.

NBBride05

Michbot12 said:

@mrsjessicamitchell I tried warming it up the last couple days and it didn't really make a difference for her.  We have been trying for about 3 weeks and I'm hitting the point where I may just stop giving her the option anymore like @andreahshields and @PugLife5869 did.  I have been trying to encourage more dairy in her diet to offset it if she refuses the milk for a while.  She HATES yogurt but I am finally getting some cheese down her besides mac n' cheese.  I fear I have a picky eater on my hands!

At least she will eat mac n cheese. Miss A still wants her purees. We gave her tiny little peaches last night and she spit it out. She loves peaches!!! UGH!!  She at least will eat yogurt, so once we have transition to WCM completely, I will fight the bottle fight. DH is concerned with her "starving" if she refuses to drink her milk. She normally was eating the puree chicken and veggie from Gerber just fine. When in Mexico, the Gerber food had a different consistency and A refused it. So I think I have the picky eater!!!!

ellebelle2384

No new milestones this week and it's actually been a pretty challenging week.  It seems that DD is giving up her nap.  She will nap occasionally at daycare but not consistently and refuses to nap at home now.  I just ordered the "Okay to Wake" clock to help with teaching her "quiet time" in the crib.  I hope it works because I need nap time too!

QOTW- We're probably going to visit the ILs in August for about a week and I'm trying to put together a surprise birthday trip for DH in July.  He's into rock climbing so I was going to book a house for a weekend in NY and invite a bunch of his climbing buddies as well.  DD loves playing outside so I think it will be fun for everyone.

CdnFarmGirl08

We're doing ok. Spent last week in Florida so that was fun. We really enjoyed seeing N take in all the sights and sounds and rides and what not. We did one day of Magic Kingdom, then 2 waterparks and SeaWorld. He loved it all. Was always a bit leery first, but then totally loved it and wanted to go back to everything.

Milestones: started saying some more words- we are up to about 15 on an average basis. Still feel like he's a bit behind, but we have 18 month check-up/needles tomorrow so I'll ask my pedi what she thinks.

Challenges: Sleeping as always. Tantrums are starting. Not listening. Hitting. All of them. It's getting to be very challenging and frustrating. He will be playing with me or my husband and then just hit us with his toy or his hand. We stop, take the toy away, say that hurts etc. but it doesn't seem to sink in. I've started doing time-outs which were working but now seem to have lots it effectiveness. He screamed when he wants something, even though he can say please. It's just getting to be a bit much!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

QOTW: Our summer plans will be low-key since we just went on a holiday. I'll spend time with DS at my parent's cabin. DH's cousin is getting married in Toronto so we might head over there for a long weekend. I might end up just going with my MIL has DH will probably be working as it's right in the middle of harvest. Spending as much time with DS as possible.

KJsbabe

Challenges: DD is sick. Again. Ugh, it's like she's a little germ magnet! Every time I get her healthy it's only a matter of days before she's a mess again. I feel like I can't take her anywhere for fear of spreading her colds or picking something new up.

Milestones: DD self weaned from BFing last week. I know it was time, but I was a little bummed about it. We're doing good, though. I'm getting my extra snuggles in when we read books together now.

Funny story: The other day DD was watching Daniel Tiger while I was making dinner. It was one of the episodes where he and his dad make pancakes together. Well, DH got home from work and DD ran over to him all excited saying "Daddy! Daddy! Pank!" And then proceeded to push a chair over the the kitchen counter, grabed his hand, pulled him over to the counter, too, climbed up on the chair, and looked at him, like "Well?? Are we going to make pancakes, or what??" It was so funny! So the two of them made blueberry pancakes for dinner

QOTW: This summer we have a number of weddings to go to that we'll have to do hotels for, so that's kind of like a mini vacation. I want to take DD to the zoo again. We took her last year when she was about 13m and she loved it. I think she'll love it even more this year now that she can name all the animals. I'd like to take her to the beach, too, maybe for a weekend trip.

Edited: paragraphs

ksyknelvr73

Doing well - I think our main challenges right now really just involve getting DS ready for his little brother's arrival. He seems excited but I just don't know how he will really react. We've been trying to talk to him about things babies do and need and trying our best to prepare him. We had a quick convo about BFing the other night and once I explained it to him, he yelled that "We don't eat mommy's boobies!"....so....that's fun! haha.

Family plans for the summer....well, this LO is due end of May so I will be home with a newborn, toddler, and DH is a teacher so he is off for the summer. LOTS of quality family time there. We are still sending DS to daycare 2 days a week. We do have a trip planned to the beach towards the end of July, that should be interesting. Hopefully it goes okay. DH is planning to take DS1 down to our neighborhood pool pretty frequently which will be a great thing - it wears DS1 out and he loves swimming. We probably won't be doing much else just b/c of the logistics of having a new baby and half my maternity leave is unpaid so not much money there to do a ton of things.

jobiann

I feel like I haven't stopped by this board forever! I've missed you ladies...I hope to be on more!

How's everyone doing? We are good. We just moved a few weeks ago so my life is still full of boxes and trying to figure out where to put everything and how to organize it. 

Any challenges this week? DS is a rockstar sleeper but he woke up at midnight two nights ago screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep until 2am. I'm assuming teething, maybe a noise woke him up. Regardless, I'm not used to that and I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep. Otherwise, just continuing to get him to eat his veggies, he loves proteins, breads and fruits...but he just pushes his veggies aside.

Milestones? We are starting to get some sentences. DS has said "Where's Momma" and "no, stop, no". His favorite word right now is still Daddee or No.

Funny stories?  The other night DH asked DS to please bring him Daddy's phone (DS did this for me the night before perfectly) but DS would look in the direction of the phone but at the last minute swerve and grab a mega blok or a book and take those to DH, and repeat. It was pretty funny. Finally I chimed in and asked DS where Daddy's phone is and pointing in the general direction...DS got it immediately and took it to DH. I was rolling. It was probably more entertaining if you were actually there.

QOTW- What are your family plans for the summer? Vacations? Daytrips? What are you most looking forward to doing w/ your toddler this summer?

I wish we had more plans but with just buying a new house we are keeping our budget on track. We have a wedding a few hours away from home in June that we'll go to, possibly overnight, not sure yet. I do want to get some nearby daytrips planned. To the zoo, the Children's Museum, and our local parks of course. I'm so excited to just be outside finally. I swear it was the longest winter EVER!

Junebug060609

How's everyone doing?

Overall pretty well.  DS has been doing well, which I love to see.  DH has returned from deployment and LO#2 is still cooking.  Can't ask for much more than that.

 Any challenges this week?

Adjusting to DH being back.  DS is on Spring Break (his preschool is in the public school system).  DS has been having some 'toddler moments' with his temper.  And I'm 9 months pregnant to boot.

Milestones?

DS has started getting his shoes when we mention going outside

Funny stories?

Nothing comes to mind.

QOTW- What are your family plans for the summer? Vacations? Daytrips? What are you most looking forward to doing w/ your toddler this summer?

This summer will be a blur of NB (lack of) sleep.  I'm looking forward to getting outside more with DS and to seeing him with his little sister.

MJM3108

Junebug060609 said:

How's everyone doing?

Overall pretty well.  DS has been doing well, which I love to see.  DH has returned from deployment and LO#2 is still cooking.  Can't ask for much more than that.

That's awesome news! SO happy for you! 

MJM3108

@DutchKatie, so sorry for your loss. I hope Miss F is back to her normal self, no more fever, and I hope you are feeling better, too. Lots of trans-Atlantic (((hugs))) to you, my dear!