Parenting Check-In (2/2 - Groundhog Edition!)

ATXmommas

How was parenting this past week?  Tell us about any successes, challenges, or milestones that occurred this week.

QOTD:  It's Groundhog Day!  I imagine that many of us hope that Phil doesn't see his shadow.  What are you most looking forward to doing with your little one(s) in the Spring?

By the way, TB is being weird about how many characters I can include in the body of the discussion, so I'm posting the Roster in a response.  ETA: Well, it's not letting me post in a response either.  It says that the body is 19,931 characters too long.  I c&p into a Word doc and the character count with spaces was 1,806, so I don't know what is going on.  @BumpTara - what's going on here?

KH826

William will be 8 months on Wednesday! Totally crazy!!!

We had a good weekend. Lots of hanging out at home, which we hadn't done in a while. It was refreshing!

I feel like the phase right now should be described as "pre-toddlerhood".... he is truly all over the place. He loves to stand. He is super vocal and has been doing a lot of shouting and yelling lately, which I think is just his way of seeing what his voice can do. He also does thing vocalizing thing that I call singing (even though it really isn't). I think it is fun if I sing with him when he does it, it is kind of like a tone matching exercise between the two of us (for those singers in the group). J thinks it is nuts, but I think it is fun! He cracks himself up constantly... he will do something and just laugh and laugh at himself. He is pulling up on toys. Still no crawling but lots and lots and lots of rolling, scooting, wiggling, and other crazy movement. He seems to be showing a stubborn streak lately, which is a little frightening. He loves to pull his socks off, and I always put them right back on. Well, yesterday he pulled them off and had one sock in each hand. I took them from him and put them back on his feet. He looked right in my eyes and yelled pretty loudly and then pulled his socks right back off again and laughed. Seriously?!?! When he gets frustrated with something he has also taken to slamming his feet on the ground. I told J that it is like he is having little mini temper tantrums. This scares me for what is ahead. He is super sweet and good natured and funny and snuggly... but for a few seconds a couple times a day we can definitely get a short glimpse of a different personality when he gets frustrated with something. He also seems crazy smart, and I don't mean that in a "my child is a genius" kind of way, but he just seems to really understand things that I didn't think he would yet at this age. I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 8 months (will be in 2 days)!

Otherwise, everything is mostly status quo. Still loving bath time and loving eating solids. Still sleeping well at night. Daytime naps are still a struggle sometimes. He is wearing mostly all 12 month clothes. He has 7 teeth, but there is an 8th one starting to poke through on the bottom (that will make four bottom and four top teeth in total). I think we are going to move up to size 4 diapers overnight. He wears size 3 now and they don't seem too small, but he has been consistently wetting through at night for the last few nights, so I think he needs to go up a size for over nights.     

QOTD: Darn groundhog saw his shadow. I'm not shocked. Nor do I think it means anything. But I am ready for Spring! I look forward to walks outside, picnics at the park, visiting outdoor playgrounds. Being able to walk around outside for more than 5 mins and not having to be all bundled up like a snowman. I look forward to it being light out longer during the day, and having it not be dark when I get home from work! I look forward to cookouts and fresh fruit and letting Will try some new foods! We are also planning on having some major work done in our backyard, and I am really excited to create a play space for him.

ball.and.chain

B is 7 months old.

Snow day today!  My office is closed and so is daycare.  This was going to be a super busy day -- I had to get B to daycare early to make it to an eye doctor appointment, then I had therapy on my lunch break, then was going to get home late so my sister was going to pick B up.  Well, my therapy and eye doctor appointments got cancelled, so now I just get to spend the whole day hanging out at home with B.  Better!  Unfortunately my wife's store is open so she had to go in.  It's snowing pretty steadily and is supposed to all day.  I hope she makes it home safely.

B slept through the night (12 hours straight) again last night.  It doesn't happen every night but it happens at least once a week.  It is great!  His naps at home have been good lately too.  He is taking one now.

Oh speaking of -- nap question!  For those of you with kids in daycare, how does your child nap at daycare?  Ben takes two naps a day at home, usually about 90 min-2 hours each.  At daycare, he takes 2 naps of about 20 minutes each.  During one of the naps, the whole daycare is napping, but during his other nap, I think he's often the only one (he's the only kid under 1) and has a hard time napping through the noise.  Everything is in one room, so the other kids are right there.  We use a white noise machine at home, something I swore I wouldn't do because I didn't want him to need it, but it seemed to help soothe him when he was little.  So my first step is I'm not using the white noise machine during naps anymore at home.  I'm hoping he'll get used to being able to hear things in the house or outside without it waking him...but it's still a lot quieter here than at daycare.  Any advice for helping a kid get more sleep at daycare?  He's exhausted at the end of the day.

What else.  We are up to feeding him twice a day when he is home -- usually brown rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with a fruit puree in the morning and some kind of veggie in the late afternoon/evening.  He eats once at daycare but is so wiped when he gets home, it's hard to get that second meal in.  He doesn't like texture in his food but as long as it is smooth/thin enough, he seems to be willing to eat just about anything.  We introduced some spinach and potatoes this weekend and he dug it!  I also try to offer him non-pureed food here and there, a celery stick or whatever, just for exploratory purposes.

Still no teeth.  He's been healthy recently; seems to be getting over his cold so that's good.  Unfortunately he seems to have developed stranger fear in the last week.  My family came over to watch the Super Bowl last night and he cried when my sister gave him a kiss.  He knows her too, but obviously not as well as he knows his moms.  He did warm up to everyone by bedtime though.  We put him in an umbrella stroller this weekend to see if he was ready for it and he loved it!  (It was just in our house; we didn't actually go out in it).  We also let him sit and ride in the shopping cart at the grocery store for the first time.  I thought he would be excited but he just seemed kind of overwhelmed.  Still in the infant carseat.  He's nowhere near the weight limit (30 lbs) but is probably getting close to the length limit.  However we are using one of these to keep him warm in it and there is no convertible carseat equivalent so I'm hoping he'll last in the infant seat until it gets warmer.  Right now it is often below 20 when we take him to daycare in the morning!

QOTD: We live about 3 blocks from a nice park with a playground, baseball fields and a splash park.  We used to go there when he was a newborn just to get out of the house but of course he just slept in his carrier.  I'm excited that by the time it is warm enough to go back, he'll be able to try the swings and watch the kids and actually enjoy himself.  And once he can walk it will be splash park season!

jennicole85

D is 19 months.

My little boy is no longer my baby. It's so exciting seeing so many things finally 'click'. For Christmas he got a ton of mega blocks and can now easily build and deconstruct towers. He was able to with some assistance before but suddenly he's able to do it all by himself. He also has a tool workbench with a bunch of tools. He understands what many of the tools are supposed to do and it's just adorable. He's a bit loud with his toy hammer and drill but it's so cute to watch him use them the right way.

QOTD: I love everything about spring. We're in the middle of a snow storm and I'm so ready for this snow to be GONE! Last year we had so much fun with messy crafts and playing on swings and slides. This year I'm so excited for him to be able to run around the playground and use other playground structures. I have so many outdoor toddler crafts that I'm thrilled to try as well! I absolutely LOVE messy toddler/ baby art projects

And for fun, messy fingerpaints last spring (D was 9 months in the first and a year in the second).

Twochickshavinachick

Hey, so this is our first parenting check in. We're parents! All that time trying, carrying, birthing...and it still feels so strange to say that.

We're doing well. At our last appointment on Wednesday, an x-ray confirmed that Santana's lung has re-inflated very well and her oxygen levels were satisfactory, so we have been officially discharged from the specialist's care.  We've just been told to keep an eye on her and some things to watch for.

Santana is now sleeping much better through the night and we can sometimes go as many as three hours between feeds.  Needless to say that because of this, I am feeling more human and have moved past the four naps a day stage.  And we've passed some milestones this week, with baby's first bath (she loves the water!) and her first trip outside in the pram (and I got to push her - which is the first 'strenuous' activity I've been allowed to do since she was born)

On another note: between feeds, I'm getting through a fair amount of movies on Netflix. Having just seen my recently watched list and those still queued up, I'm noticing a lot of TTC and pregnancy movies. Anyone else?

Karlamo

R is 11 months.

I was about to say not too many new milestones to report, but then I remembered a BIG one.  R discovered his penis in the bathtub last week and he hasn't stop yanking on it since.  I looked at mamosey and said, "Do they really stretch that far?"  My god child, doesn't that hurt.  I feel like this is the milestone of all milestones that needs to go in his baby book since we all know how much these things mean to men. 

We are still getting teeth in, still attempting to walk, learned how to clap his hands.  He is much more interested in food lately which is great.  We are 90% sure he has a dairy sensitivity.  We tried yogurt again and he broke out in hives.  I'm setting up a dr appt to get him tested and come up with a dairy free plan going forward.

We continue to plan his birthday party.  We are expecting about 20 people.  So not a lot, but enough that I'm having it catered so we don't have to cook for all of them.  We have picked out his gifts and just need to order them through Amazon.

While we find ourselves counting down the days till his first birthday, we also are counting down the days till Feb 26 which is when he has an appt for his MMR vaccine.  With the recent outbreak I'm glad that we are only weeks away to getting him vaccinated. 

@KH826, Have you heard of sock on's?  We bought some and they are amazing.  We use them everyday.  Here's the link https://www.sockons.co.uk/products/sockons/

@Ball.and.Chain, R naps at DC are always less than an hour.  When he's home we can get up to 2 hours out of him. 

QOTW:  We didn't  get a chance to use our new backyard last spring, so I'm really looking forward to it this year.  We have some beautiful landscaping that I can't wait to see again.  Now that R will be walking, I can't wait to open the sliders and let him run around back there.  We also have a horse farm that's down the road and they allow you to feed the horses.  We had fun visiting them in the fall on our walks and I now R will be thrilled to see them again.

 

 

ball.and.chain

Karlamo said:

R discovered his penis in the bathtub last week and he hasn't stop yanking on it since.  I looked at mamosey and said, "Do they really stretch that far?"  My god child, doesn't that hurt.  I feel like this is the milestone of all milestones that needs to go in his baby book since we all know how much these things mean to men.

LOL.  Can't wait for that one.  I suspect I have a lot to learn about penises.

I'm glad B isn't the only one who doesn't nap well at daycare.  I wish I could do something about it but I wonder if it just is what it is.

ETA: Wow, quoted text is huge!

2brides

Carter thought it would be the first year he'd stay awake for the super bowl. Alas, it wasn't. He finally gave in around 9:15 - an hour past his usual bedtime. (Gray didn't care about the Super Bowl and watched a movie on his iPod.)

QOTD: I am just ready for them to get outside - to play in the field across from our house, to have soccer outside vs a crummy school gym, to play outside during recess vs playing Beyblades in their classroom, to run around outside in aftercare...they have a lot of energy and the bigger they are, the more space they need to release that energy.

ATXmommas

ETA: where are you paragraph breaks??? Argh. Ash is 14 months old! Other than minor tantrums here and there, he is really in a delightful stage. He still isn't saying many recognizable words, but he definitely understands a lot and is trying more and more to mimic. For instance, if we make an animal sound, he forms his mouth into the shape of ours without actually letting any noise out. Ash met so many of his physical milestones on the early side, so it feels a little disconcerting to me that he isn't saying many actual words yet. I'll bring it up again at his 15-month well check, but the pediatrician told me at his one year that all they expect is 3 words by 18 months. There really is nothing to worry about. Although we had a solid week of really successful night-time sleep, the last couple of days have not been so great. I'm hoping it's because our weekend routine this past weekend looked drastically different than our normal weekday routine. Assuming we have good sleep this week, I'm going to try and keep his routine next weekend as close to possible to his week day routine to see if that helps encourage better night time sleep. In regards to naps, Ash always takes better/longer naps at DC than at home - except for when he is in the car. Fortunately, he sleeps really well in the car seat and we often find ourselves driving around longer than necessary or sitting in a parked car so as to not interrupt his naps on the weekends. @ball.and.chain - Prior to transitioning to the 12-18 month classroom, Ash took 2 naps a day. All the kiddos did, but not at specific times, necessarily. They followed the babies lead, so it wasn’t really like all the babies were sleeping at the same time. He moved to one nap a day at 12 months - at DC all the kids nap from 12:30-2:30, though obviously some kids go to sleep later/wake up earlier than the schedule. @karlamo - I don't remember when Ash found his penis - I want to say it was earlier than 11 months. Once he found it, he checks for it during almost every bath. When I bathe him, I always tell him, "It's still there. It's not going anywhere." Welcome to the rest of our lives raising a boy! The fascination is so funny. We have a pic of him in the bath with a sheepish grin on his face. While it's not captured in the pic, you know exactly what's he doing from the look on his face. Cute things Ash does - he's been doing some of these things for a while, I just haven't thought to write about it. While Ash will not keep a hat on his head, he loves to put plastic Tupperware and colanders on his head and walk around. Yesterday, he picked a pair of Z's running shorts and managed to get one leg hole over his head and his arm through the other. If we change his diaper on the floor, he squirms away after we've taken off his diaper and walks around pants/diaper free until we can nab him and hold him still. He still loves to give hugs and kisses - to us and to Bama. He would love to hug the cats too, but they typically run away from him. Teaching him to touch Bama softly/gently is still a work in progress. QOTD: Well, one perk (to me) of living in Texas is that we have bouts of spring-like weather in the middle of winter. We've had several days lately in which the temps reached the 70-85 degree range. I really think that dreary winter weather has an impact on my mood, so it's really uplifting to have warm, sunny days every now and then. On warm days, we love to let Ash play outdoors in our little yard - he loves to pick up sticks and rocks, take him on runs in the jogging stroller, and take him to the park with Bama. Really looking forward to more consistently warm days.

CageyMack

Hi!

Status of the babies:

DD (age 12): She and I made a brioche Nutella star.  It was delicious and we had so much fun!

DS (age 22 mo): He got his first haircut (sooooo cute, though I am biased)! He also bloodied his lip not once, but twice during the Superbowl.  He is okay, but looks rough.  

DD (age almost 3 weeks): She is the cutest person ever born.  Also biased.  

QOTD:  We will be traveling back to the continental United States to visit family and show off the new baby.  Should be fun.  

Jazibel

Kaden is 2.5 years old and Owen is 9 months old (today)

Kaden is smitten with his penis. We are now starting to try and explain that he needs to leave his penis in his diaper. Yup... Luckily Owen is still into his feet :-)

Life is humming away.  Kaden is developing story lines for his cars and toys as he plays with them. They have conversations, dramatic interactions, even tears.  It's too cute to watch. The other day he opened one of his Richard Scarry books to a story about a train ride.  Then proceeded to use the drawings as schematic's for assembling his wooden railroad across the playroom floor.  With his new found understanding of empathy comes a much gentler big brother to his puppy sister and human brother.  Yay!! Finally.

I've been so busy that I haven't enrolled Kaden (or Owen) in any of the cool classes, programs that I wanted too and I feel guilty about that.  Still we manage to carve out fun times.  Last week we walked to a few nearby stores.  We we went to the pet store to pick up supplies for Sienna, and look at the fish, frogs and birds.  We ran another errand and then headed over to iHop for pancakes (Kaden's pick).  It was just the three of us, and ended up being lots of sticky fun.

Saturday we met friends at a local coffee roaster and then took the boys to a wildlife museum where we learned about owls and other birds. We let Owen crawl around and pull himself up on the displays (he was in 7th heaven along with his brother).  Finishing the day with hanging out at the park with his Aya and Mama - made Saturday an almost perfect day in Kaden's book.

Tomorrow I'm taking Kaden in for his first vaccination.  We're on an extended vaccination plan, we were originally going to wait until our kids started pre-school or daycare whichever came first. But this measles outbreak has us freaked out so we're taking him in for the MMR, and then we'll see what comes next.  He's a healthy, strong toddler so we're not worries about side effects but I heard fevers are possible, and he already had a mild fever Sunday, so I'm not looking forward to that if it happens.

Owen is just all over the place. Standing, crawling a little cruising and standing hands free. His core muscles put me to shame. He's eating solids 2-3 times a day. He's definitely getting the hang of eating and it's so cute to watch.  He's got a great pincher grip and can really make fast work of the little pieces of chicken or veggie we've laid out for him.  He hasn't had grains yet, but I gave him some yogurt last night.  It was plain and pretty sour so he made many funny faces even while slurping it off the spoon.  We were on route to the wildlife center and I gave him a pureed packet. I just opened it and handed it back to him.  Epic fail. I think he ate a quarter teaspoon and spread the rest all over himself, the carseat even the actually seat. How did it even get on his feet?  Whoopsie. I guess I sometimes forget when its a first for him. :P

QOTD:  It's going to be 70 today and I can't wait.  Still its a sunny warm Winter day (meaning warm for only a couple of hours).  I can't wait to spend more time at the playground. Signing up (finally) for soccer or basketball for Kaden. Hikes, walks, picnics, etc.

I know the Groundhog saw his shadow, and I know California needs more rain so I am trying to keep my spirits up, but I'm ready for Spring and Summer already.

JGY

@winstan1 I should have known you had dobermans. That is what our dog (Duncan) is and, as you know, we struggle mightily with him. Everything you've suggested for us training-wise is spot on! Unfortunately we've been less than stellar in finding the time to implement.

AandStilltrying

This week was great because we have had help! S parents are in town and I was SO worried about MIL after she had been so mean, but it's really like it never happened. She actually watched the boys so S and I could go grocery shopping together. It's the first time we've left house together without a kid since they've been home.

D is so fun...he is really bright and loves 4pm sun. He likes to look out our back door and just makes the cutest faces. So alert!

M has been getting a little less fussy at times and more fussy at others. Maybe I'm just learning him and what works and doesn't for him. I thank God they both aren't fussy and that 1 evens the other out, but I look at D and how peaceful he is and wish that for M.

Qotw: Spring!!!! I'm just excited to be able to take my kids Out Of The House!!!! Even if it's just a walk around the block. Looking forward to them being more alert and enjoying being outside as well.