# April 2003 mamas?



## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I was reading the March 2003 thread and getting quite jealous. DS was due in March, but not interested in being born until April. So I was wondering if there are any April 2003 mams who would like to have their own thread?

Hi, I'm Alison, and DS is Andrew, born April 6 2003. He's amazing, and likes to talk and dance and read and watch Thomas the Tank Engine, and he can name pretty much every engine. He loves dogs and birds (he can even say chickadee, pigeon, chicken, duck, and starling!). He talks all the time, it blows my mind how much he can say! He actually said "excuse me!" the other day when he had to squeeze past someone at the grocery store! He's totally the love of my life. We cosleep, are still nursing, and are starting to toilet train. I hadn't planned on starting so soon, but Andrew started asking if he could pee pee in the toilet! He goes to daycare, and I think that he is watching some of the slightly older toddlers toilet train. I WOHM full time as a children's librarian, and DH brought Andrew to a programme at work one Saturday, and Andrew now thinks that when mummy goes to work she plays with green play-doh. In fact, whenever anyone says they have to go to work, he says "work, playdoh". Ah, to be so young that you think work means green playdoh!

Any other April 2003 babies out there? What is your child mad about?

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

aloha, I have a little girl, 4/20/03, also the love of my life ) I am a SAHM, but also WAHM part-time with my dh business. born at home, we co-sleep, also still nursing, love walking on our farm, feeding guavas to our horses, watching the chickens, petting the dogs and cats - basically love all animals...we love to sing, play blocks, push the "babies" in the buggy, bounce balls, not many words but very clear communicator, what else?
I have always wondered about April 2003 when I see those other months posted...


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## kaydee (Aug 13, 2004)

My son T came on April 9, 2003. He's a delightful person, although we are definitely entering toddler territory! He's quite a talker, although the more words he gets, the faster he talks, and the less we understand. :LOL T loves swings, the cats, "driving" our car, running, and baked tofu.







:


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

.


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

Nice to connect w/all you April 2003 Mama & Toddlers!:bf

I'm Lisa and my dd Amber entered the world via waterbirth on April 24, 2003. I'm a SAHM, but have a very, very part time massage business out of the home.

Amber loves playing w/her babies and nurses them all the time:bf! She loves jewelry, shoes, Elmo and Dora and of course, she adores her big brother. She has a bit of a sweet tooth (which my ds has never had) and loves baking "tookies" with mama. She has quite the vocabulary and is in the process of potty learning. My ds learned at age 3, so this was a big surprise to us when she became interested at 16 mo. old.

She co-sleeps with us and nurses still on demand. But we have been in the process of nightweaning.

Warmly~

Lisa


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

It's lovely to meet everybody! I check everyone's sigs for birthdates all the time in other forums, and have never seen an April one until now!

Anyone here dealing with temper tantrums? I had always thought that the terrible twos was some sort of myth, but DS has developed quite the temper if he doesn't get his own way "no want it no want it!". Anyone else coping with that?

Alison


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## indie (Jun 16, 2003)

We are definately dealing with tantrums. DD learned the word no a couple of months ago and it has been hell ever since, lol.

My dd is Madeira, born April 5. She loves tomatoes, olives, avacados (which she calls "tacos"), Dora,Teletubbies, books, numbers, letters, dancing, trying to eat dirt, and coloring on the walls and TV screen. EvEN though SHE KnowS LOts OF LETters AND NUMBERS, she thinks all colors are either blue oR red. She also likES the caps lock button. LOL.

I'm about 8 weeks pregnant and have been having terrible morning sickness so I've let her watch too much TV and we been kind of grumpy with each other. But hopefully it will get better if I start feeling better soon.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *indie*
EvEN though SHE KnowS LOts OF LETters AND NUMBERS, she thinks all colors are either blue oR red.

Andrew is just like this! Our conversations go something like this:

ME: what colour is the fire engine?
DS: It's green!
ME: no, silly, it's red!
DS: It's green!
ME: are you sure?
DS: It's green!
ME: Okay, it's green!
DS: No, it's blue! (followed by maniacal laughter!)

Don't you just love toddlers?

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

I am so glad you started this thread. I was also feeling jealous when I saw the March 2003 thread.

My dd was born April 16, 2003. She is just getting so big. She surprised me by self-weaning at 19 months. She also started sleeping in her own bed...except when she is sick or teething. Her 2 yr molars sure are rough. She does okay during the day but has a hard time at night and seems a little sleep deprived. I am using Hylands teething tablets and occassionally tylenol. Any other advice?

Another recent change...she is less picky about food all of a sudden. She refused green veggies for months and all of a sudden now she loves green peas and broccoli. She also decided she loves hard boiled eggs.

So far we aren't dealing with tantrums. She is strong willed and lets us know what she thinks and wants but no full blown tantrums yet. I'm in no rush for those!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, everyone! Hope it's not too late to join the fun. My son Tony was born April 25, 2003 (midwife-assisted, at hospital). He weaned himself at 19 mos. He is loving and loud and hilarious and amazing. He's currently obsessed with language. He LOVES naming the letters of the alphabet and parroting complex sentences. (Which cracks me up, because he sounds just like one of the Chipmunks, and his pronunciation is...um...creative.) He often surprises me by saying, out of the blue (and quite accurately), things like, "Moon over Minneapolis!" He adores noodles, eggs, tomatoes, cheese, avocados, and any fruit you care to name. He's had some humdinger tantrums lately...they're earsplitting! We practice "quiet voice" constantly, but the kiddo is just naturally loud. His tantrums are exponentially louder--yikes! As for me, I'm a WOHM (editor at a publishing company).


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

By the way, Alison, I see you live in Halifax. Lucky woman. My dear friend (also a 2003 mama) lives there and we've visited twice. What a lovely city! Such great seafood, scenery, and of course Celtic music. I'd move there if I weren't afraid of being murdered by my parents for taking their only grandchild 2000 miles away.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine--who's your friend? I ask cause I know a few crunchy mamas in Halifax, and if there is another, you should let her know that we have a playgroup on Mondays. The thread is over in the Tribal Areas--Canada forum.

Surf Mama--I can't wait til Andrew gets less picky! He used to eat everything we put in front of him, now he doesn't seem to eat anything except grapes and cheese. In fact, dinner tends to end when Andrew suddenly whacks his plate and everything on it on to the floor!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Alison: My friend is Kathleen Martin-James. I just sent her an e-mail telling her about your playgroup and the MDC thread. Thanks!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tine*
Alison: My friend is Kathleen Martin-James. I just sent her an e-mail telling her about your playgroup and the MDC thread. Thanks!

Excellent! We need more mamas, some of our regulars went back to work (well, so did I, but I can still manage to go every second Monday).

I'm interested in how many of the April 03 toddlers have already self weaned. DS is showing no signs of self-weaning, and I had hoped that would be the way we'd go. I'm not sure anymore. I hadn't ever pictured myself nursing a two year old, never mind a three year old. I'd really wanted to be able to say that DS self-weaned, but if that means nursing him until he's 4, that probably isn't going to be the way it goes!

Alison


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Alison*
I'm interested in how many of the April 03 toddlers have already self weaned.

Well, we didn't really self-wean, it was more like Mommy nudged her to nurse less and she stopped. I just found myself getting very frustrated with the constant nursing during the day and it was hurting our relationship, so I started offering her milk, snacks instead and boom she stopped nursing during the day. About that time we night weaned too and that didn't take long, leaving just nursing to sleep, but she just stopped doing that - one day I realized, huh we haven't nursed in almost a week, I guess we are done! That was at 17 months. While she didn't come up with the idea, she was more than ready otherwise I would have met with some resistance.

I always saw myself as doing child-led weaning too, but I also didn't anticipate how annoyed and angry I would start to becoming constnatly nursing a toddler. For me, it worked out perfectly since I'm pregnant with #2 and I know personally I would not be able to handle nursing #2 all the time if I hadn't had a break to have my body to myself for a while.


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

My ds self weaned at 20 mo. and my dd is almost 22 mo. and shows no signs of slowing down. She is also cutting her molars and has been sick this winter too. She has been such an avid nurser, so different than my son.:bf

Warmly~

Lisa


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd nursed A LOT as an infant and toddler. She self weaned all of a sudden at 19 months and is now 22 mo. It happened over two days. (I'm thinking that I might have been pregnant...my period was late but the pg test was negative. It seemed like there was something about my milk she didn't like all of a sudden)

So around that time she bit a few times while nursing and I would put her down and say she had to nurse nice....then I would offer again and she would nurse nice. The next day when I offered to nurse she said no and pretended to bite her finger. I told her that she could nurse nice and she said no and all done. I waited awhile and then offered again, I didn't want to get engorged. She continued to refuse until finally I tried to latch her on anyways and of course she bit. I tracked down my breast pump and decided to wait until she wanted to nurse again. She never did. I offered a few times over the following week and she always said no.

Before weaning she had been nursing 3-5 times a day and 2-4 times a night. Once she weaned she started sleeping thru the night for the 1st time ever! So nice! She stops sleeping thru the night when she is sick or teething though.

I really thought that I would be nursing her until at least 3 but she had another idea. I miss nursing but it is also nice to be done and to have it end so peacefully for her. I hope you can find a nice ending to your nursing relationship too.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine--I went to a meeting tonight for a book award committee I'm on, and guess who is on the committee with me? Yup, Kathleen. You know, this is a small, small world! They talk about six degrees of separation, but I'm not sure it's that many!

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

still nursing here, 8-10x in a 24hr period - I don't mind, she doesn't show any signs of slowing down...so we'll see. I guess at 3 I will question the longevity of it past that, but so far so good. I also imagine a child-led situation, but if not, a peacful one for us both since we have both gotten so much out of the experience.


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## springbabes (Aug 23, 2003)

I have an April '03 baby too







. Henry was born at home on April 10th 2003. We are still BFing but I'm thinking I need to wean since I'm going on a trip without him the week before his birthday. My goal was to go 18-24 months so I've made it







. He was almost weaned right before Christmas--he would only nurse twice a day--in the morning when he woke up and right after his nap. But then he got the stomach flu and I think it made him feel so good to nurse that it's still all he wants to do--and this was like 2 months ago. He asks to nurse ALL DAY long. I have no idea how I'm supposed to wean him at this point.

He has been sleeping in his toddler bed for a few months now. He wakes between 4-6am and wanders into my room for some nursing and cuddling. He did at one time sleep through the night, but that's a distant memory now







.

Henry is mad about Elmo, Barbie movies, and Winnie the Pooh. He loves legos, weapons (how?!!), books, playing in his kitchen, and tagging along with his sisters. He's decided lately that he's not a little boy, but a cat. I get to make dinner with him meowing at my feet and rubbing on my legs







.

He says a few hundred words and will string 2-3 words together, but still no prepositions. No potty training here yet. We bought him a little potty but he never wants to sit it on it. I'm not pushing him at this point. We've had a few tantrums here and there, but on the whole he's a very easy-going kid.


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## H&Hmommy (Aug 14, 2003)

Hi everyone. I'm Chrissy and my son Hayden was born April 16, 2003. He is really small for his age-I don't know why and it's really bothering me. He is not eating much at all these past few weeks. He's probably 25 lbs or so. We breastfed for a year.

He is a wildman who loves his sister, (6y/o) trucks and cars and animals. Lately we've been watching the Sound of Music DVD and he loves to replay the songs over & over and dance. He still uses baby signs for some words, and is getting better with his pronunciation, which was poor for awhile, perhaps due to his need for tubes in his ears, which he got last January.


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

Chrissy~

My kids are also on the petite side. My ds, who is 8 yo, was probably the same size (or even smaller) than your ds. He is healthy, but just petite (like us). My dd is almost 22 mo. old and weighs 21 lbs. Her appetite varies and I just try to remind myself that as a toddler, this is normal for her. Some days she eats tons and other days, hardly anything.

Warmly~

Lisa:bf


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

My ds self-weaned at 19 months exactly, which happened to be Thanksgiving morning. He'd had a really rough night for some unknown reason, and we all wanted to get a little more rest before heading out of town for the day. So I snuggled in bed with him, and we nursed and snoozed for 3 hours. He'd been growing less & less interested in nursing up until then. He never asked (and I never offered) again after that. It seemed like the perfect ending to our nursing relationship.

Alison: I just got an e-mail from Kathleen telling me the same thing--wow! She called it "a true Nova Scotia moment"--meaning that NS is a small world, I guess. But even if it is a tight-knit community up there, I still think your crossing paths was incredibly serendipitous.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine, you can take two Nova Scotians, put them together anywhere in the world, and they will figure out that they either know someone in common or are related. Guaranteed!

I like these self weaning stories, some of thema re so nice and gentle. I just don't see us headed that way! I pick Andrew up at daycare, and he says "I snack, I snack now". I say that we need to wait until we get home. the minute we get in the door at home he says "coat off, shoes off, mummy coat off, I snack now". He is a nursaholic!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *H&Hmommy*
Hi everyone. I'm Chrissy and my son Hayden was born April 16, 2003. He is really small for his age-I don't know why and it's really bothering me. He is not eating much at all these past few weeks. He's probably 25 lbs or so. We breastfed for a year.

He is a wildman who loves his sister, (6y/o) trucks and cars and animals. Lately we've been watching the Sound of Music DVD and he loves to replay the songs over & over and dance. He still uses baby signs for some words, and is getting better with his pronunciation, which was poor for awhile, perhaps due to his need for tubes in his ears, which he got last January.

Chrissy, Andrew also is small for his age, a little less than your son. He's still breastfeeding, for which I am quite glad, because there are days where he seems to eat nothing! He's been that way for a while now, maybe since Christmas? The daycare folks tell me that he eats lunch there, but at home, most of his dinner ends up on the floor. Every day. Drives DH nuts. But he's healthy, active, and very, very happy. I think that should be more important than what he weighs! Andrew also has tubes in his ears too, since October, but it didn't seem to affect his speech.

Alison


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## OneAtHome (Jan 16, 2005)

What a nice thread-sounds like a great bunch of kids! I have a dd, born April 2, due April 1...ha..ha. We had a home waterbirth-one of the best experiences of our life. I am so interested in the weaning patterns of everybody. We'd love to have another baby, but just when I think that dd is tapering off, at least at night, almost as soon as I notice, she seems to latch on and nurse for dear life!! Oh well, I guess we'll just have to have faith in the wisdom of natural child spacing. We are about to get chickens, and already have 8 cats, so mostly we spend our days looking after the animals! DD talks all day right up until she closes her eyes (and sometimes even after)!! I think she has the idea of going on the potty, but mostly she is too busy to stop what she is doing and go through the whole rigamarole of it!! Anyway, she makes me want to have 10 babies, just for the wonder of this particular age. Also a nice development is that she and her Dad are really getting along so well now-not that they didn't before, but she is so much of a little person that I think he finds it easier to relate to her now.


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

it's nice to find some people at the (relatively) same stage as us! ds was born 4-23-03, about 2 and 1/2 wks. late, he was 12 lbs. and is now 38 lbs. Perfectly healthy, just huge (tall, too) for some reason. Last summer I had to cut nursing back a little because he was eating too much for me to keep up with- it was the best diet ever but not very healthy!! He went a couple days without nursing at about 19 months, but when he remembered, he never wanted to stop! He says "Coat off!" when we get home too, Alison! For some reason, he calls nursing "num-num's" but is starting to call it "milk". He is also starting to make his dolls and stuffed animals nurse. I'm trying to cut him back a little again because it's getting really frustrating to have him pulling on me whenever I sit down, and when I'm standing too! I'd like to just be able to sit with him and read without him spinning around and wanting to nurse every 10 mins. I feel like we're moving to a new developmental stage and I want to have a relationship where we can be together without him constantly wanting milk.
On another subject! He is really starting to love daddy time! It's so great to watch them together. He's recently started going to bed with dad so that I can get my own stuff done and have some personal time, and tonight (when he was done nursing) he gave me a hug and kiss, then ran to the foot of the stairs and said "night night, Amy. Come, Daddy" (for some reason he always calls me amy, but "bradley" must be too hard so he uses daddy- his choice!) dh and i were both shocked, as he's never really liked going to bed without me!
getting so old...
we're thinking about ttc another this fall!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Though I'm generally happy that my Tony self-weaned when he did (and how he did), there are times I wish he was still nursing. Now that he's entered the tantrum stage, I wish I had a reliable tool to help him feel better when he's out of control. Also, when he was nursing, he had better protection from all the colds and flus going around. A horrible stomach bug raged through my entire family during the 2003-04 winter holidays; it felled everyone in sight except Tony, presumably because he got my antibodies. I feel as if he's more vulnerable now.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Tine- I also miss things about nursing my dd. She weaned at 19 mo and then got strep throat and 2 ear infections at 21mo! Most of all I miss the way nursing would get her to sleep so fast. Now we sing, read, rock and walk around with her...not as easy as nursing in the recliner. Oh well.

morgansmom-it's nice to hear about a toddler who is big and healthy. My dd isn't tall but she is 27 lbs and has a belly and chubby cheeks. My dr says she is just right and she eats so healthy.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *surf mama*
Tine- I also miss things about nursing my dd. She weaned at 19 mo and then got strep throat and 2 ear infections at 21mo! Most of all I miss the way nursing would get her to sleep so fast. Now we sing, read, rock and walk around with her...not as easy as nursing in the recliner. Oh well.

morgansmom-it's nice to hear about a toddler who is big and healthy. My dd isn't tall but she is 27 lbs and has a belly and chubby cheeks. My dr says she is just right and she eats so healthy.

surf mama: Have you tried putting your dd to bed awake? Just asking b/c I thought my ds would NEVER go to sleep w/o nursing to sleep. He LOVED to snooze at the breast. But about a month before he weaned, we started trying the awake-to-bed thing and he took to it right away. We were amazed.

surf mama and morgansmom: Ditto. My ds is at the 50th percentile for height and the 75th for weight (about 29 lbs.). He's chunky all over (especially his enormous cheeks and Buddha belly), but I've decided that it's just his body type! He is CONSTANTLY running and climbing and dancing, and we eat a no-junk vegetarian diet. So it's certainly not his lifestyle.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

we nurse to sleep as well - which I am fine with, I can see why she is into it (and she is WAY into it - plus it is still her main calory intake - she does eat but not big amounts). I figure I'll nurse 'till 3ish - her amount decreases more and more evey month - and I figure that when she weans is when we won't nurse to sleep anymore.

I think that kids all have different body types - as long as they are growing consistantly then there is nothing to worry about. my babe was way above her age group until she hit one (born at 10.2, 23 inches) and then leveled out - she is 22 months now, a bit over 30 pounds and 34 inches - a lot is genetics as well and how can a chart take all the variables into account - my mom was a 10 pounder, I was a 10 punder and now I am 5-4 and weigh 106 pounds. my husband on the other hand was a 7lb baby but is 6-8 now and wieghs 200lbs. as long as they are healthy, happy and growing I figure it's all good.

2 questions:
* any mamas here with older kids? my little one is super smart, communicates great and understands everything but uses few words - any inwight, experience, etc. with this type of situation? I'm not all that concerned at this point, figure she'll talk more when she is ready - just wondering what others experiences have been.
* are there any mamas here that this is their first and possible their only by choice? we are strongly concidering that option - we have already raised my 16 year old borhter (for the past 10 years) and there are all the logical reasons, but when it comes down to it it just feels right - when lily wanted to come to us I felt/heard her, it was strong, we felt incomplete - I don't feel now like anything is missing, etc. if we were to have a 2nd I would aim for getting pregnant this fall, they would then be about 3 years apart, but if that window doesn't feel right and passes us by we will go the permanent route of birth control (him, not me) and move forward from this "baby phase"...
just seeing if there were any other singlets out there )

nice connecting with you all, interesting to see where other april babes are in their development and other mamas are as well )!!!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Tine- how did you do the awake to sleep thing? Do you lay with him, do you wait until he is really sleepy? I'm open to trying new things. It hasn't worked when I've laid down with her and she doesn't like being alone in a room but she surprises me sometimes by doing things I don't expect...like weaning.

konamama-from what I know they say that if a toddler understands a lot and can communicate wants and needs then you don't need to worry yet if their vocabulary is small. Seems like she is just on her own schedule and will probably surprise you one day soon. They say by age 5 most kids level out and you can't tell who did what earlier or later.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

konamama: Every day I wonder whether we should have another baby. We've actually started TTC#2, but I'll confess I'm ambivalent. One day I really reallly want another child for umpteen reasons, and the next I'm overwhelmed at the thought, for umpteen different reasons. I guess in the end I can't imagine being sorry about having another, but I can imagine being sorry we didn't even try. Time is of the essence for us, so that's why we're not waiting around for absolute certainty. It took 2 yrs., 2 surgeries, 1 mc, zillions of tests, and lots of medical help to get our ds. I'm 36 and dh is 49, so we're no spring chickens!

surf mama: I'll give you all the boring details b/c I know sometimes the devil is in the details. Hopefully you'll find a useful idea or two here. When ds was still nursing to sleep, it was the last step in a bedtime routine that we always did the same way (bath, lotion, PJs, brush teeth, read books, say good-night to each room and person in the house, then nurse). We kept the rest of the routine to help ds get his brain and body in sleepy mode, but simply dropped the nursing. Instead, we held him at his bedside, said "time for night-night" gave him hugs and kisses, put him in bed with a few favorite stuffed animals, covered him up w/ his blanket, and walked out saying "night-night, love you, see you in the morning." We still do it exactly this way. At first he would sometimes call for me or dh, or cry a little (5 min. or less), but more often he'd talk to himself or just zonk out. I know the routine really helped. Also, he loves snuggling with his "friends" (animals), so I think he looked forward to that. I think another thing he looks forward to is gazing at the glow-in-the-dark stars and moon we stuck on the ceiling over his bed. He gets a big kick out of switching off his bedroom light and seeing the stars and moon come "on".


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

Rrrrgh, I just got back from the store with ds & my mother, and I'm







!!!
ds did not want to sit in the cart, so I told him he could walk but he had to stay by me. That lasted for a little while, then he wanted to run away squealing and play hide-and-seek. My mom offered to take him walking outside, but she just had rotator-cuff surgery so I said we should just go. On the way home, my mom took the opportunity to say that "other" people spank their kids and other people's kids "behave" in the store, and Morgan needs to learn that he's not "running the show"








I'm just so frustrated. Maybe I should go to the gd forum, but I wanted some age-appropriate insight. Sometimes it's really hard to take ds places, sometimes he does great. When he doesn't do well, I warn him and then we leave if he's still not listening. He is SO huge and SO thrashy that it's nearly impossible to pick him up and go, plus he's started this ear-piercing blood-curdling scream when he's in one of those moods and doesn't get his way.
I used to work in Montessori, both with 3-6 yr. olds and 14mo.- 3 yr. olds and I never remember having this much trouble with limit-setting and limit-pushing (well, maybe a little with the 3 yr. olds).
I got this picture of me having a little baby in a sling and trying to wrestle this 50 lb. 3 yr-old... not pretty.
Today I'm feeling like I have a one baby limit...








Maybe he'll grow out of it. How do your april babies do in public? Any suggestions?


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Stores are the diciest outings for my ds. He'll stay in the cart for a little while, but once he wants out, it's tantrum-o-rama. We don't let him out (unless there are 2 adults along so 1 can chase ds around--he's a big hider, too) and the other can shop. We make our shopping trips as quick as possible. You deserve congrats for not ripping your mom's head off--I probably would have said something really snarky (and regretted it later, of course).


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

my dd is a pretty reasonable kid most often, but we all need a few store tricks - she also doesnt' like the cart all that much, so she "pushes" the cart from behind and I stear from the front which she loves and then when that gets old we go towards the dried fruit zone, pick out a package that she wants and then she wants to sit in the cart and eat her treat - I find that works the best. Plus also staying real calm, if I get worked up so does as well, in all situations, not just in stores.
and sorry to hear that your mom made it worse by giving "her advice/opinion" - that is always a bummer - I feel lucky that my mom agrees with my parenting style and the things she doesn't she is wise enough to keep her mouth shut b/c I wouldn't take it )
I don't do Costco alone though, that is a 2-parent job for sure 

Tine - I hear you, our situation is a bit different since conceiving wasn't ahrd for us nad it's interesting you use that analogy about regret, etc. I use the same analogy but the other way - I would rather regret not having a 2nd than being overwhelmed and not having as much fun with 2 as I do with 1 - plus I try regretting things anyhow, so I think it comes down to listening to your heart and the answer will come...hope it works out for you!


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

Oh, did I forget to include what I said to my mom about spanking, and where those "people who hit their toddlers because they don't want to do something that shouldn't really be expected of them anyway" should go?








yes, I might have said some thing(s) I shouldn't have








I've really noticed that ds FEEDS off my energy and the atmosphere like you wouldn't believe. For some reason I never let him eat the food in grocery stores until we checkout, but I'm going to abandon that rule!!! As long as they can still scan it!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

When I read the stories about stores I was relieved that we didn't have that problem and told dh how lucky we were AND guess what happened at the store today????







oh yeah it was a fun time! She wanted to hold things only to decide a minute later to drop it and then OF COURSE she wanted it back to start the whole cycle again. The second store was a quiet little health food store so she could walk with me and that went much better.

morgansmom- sorry about the conflict with your mom. My mom doesn't agree with my choices either. She's worried that we're spoiling dd. It is easier to take other people's comments but family comments are the toughest.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I'm laughing at your grocery store stories! DS is the same way--with me. So now DH does the groceries with DS, and they have a blast! I think that our babies know that they can manipulate us. No, that didn't sound right. It's not a conscious thing, I don't think. It's just that we're so emotionally involved with them that we don't have enough distance to cope as well as their fathers might. it's like Morgansmom says, they feed off our energy. I must say, I don't miss doing groceries! Ds and I do other things instead.

As for child spacing. I want two, we were always supposed to have two. but after Ds (who STILL isn't a good sleeper, fights going to sleep, and then wakes up to climb in with us and then gets up before dawn!), DH decided we only want one. Recently, I think, he's coming back to the idea of having two, but any time DS acts up, I get "and you think you're ready for another one of these???". Well, no, I'm not ready, I don't want another right this very minute, I'm thinking more a year or two or even three from now. But I'm already 33, and I really don't want to put it off for too long!

Konamama, my DS is a big talker, never stops, but I have a girlfriend with a little guy born Feb 03, so pretty close in age to ours, and he doesn't talk. I mean, he has very few partial words--"duh" for truck and "dee" for soothie, and mama and dada. He understands a lot, but doesn't say much! In her case though, he also doesn't eat. It's as if he doesn't get the idea of "food goes in mouth". If my child found food on the floor, he'd stick it in his mouth so fast! Her little guy just brings it to her and offers it up. He doesn't put anything in his mouth. Anyway, they are having a developmental assessment done soon, but it's not just because of the speech delay. She was told that the speech delay alone, especially in a third child who clearly understands a lot of what he hears, wouldn't be cause for worry. It's the combination of not eating and not talking that has the doctors concerned.

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd is also not much of a sleeper especially when teething. Alison, my dh also thinks about not having more when dd isn't sleeping well at night. However I am VERY ready to conceive another so we'll see. If I am pg this cycle







otherwise we agreed to wait awhile.

It's fun to read about our kids going thru similar things and giving us similar challenges.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

Alison - interesting about the lack of talking and non-eating combination that is a concern - not the case with Lily, likes eating very much, I'll be interested to hear what the outcome is. I'm not all that worried, I figure she'll get around to it when she needs to - at this point everyone understands her, she understands us - communication isn't a problem, I figure she'll expand her vocabulary when it becomes one ) plus, I'm sure there will be a time when we wish she would talk less )!!!
grocery stores are not so much a problem for us, we have a few tricks that work real well - Borders is another story - I like to go there to relax and cruz around, Lily wants to follow other mamas with babies (since she loves babies), play in the kids section and not look at magazines, like I do...so that whole trip has transformed for me - I know get the things I know I want, don't cruz the store and follow her around until I can convince her to head towards the counter to pay - often we go to the food counter to pay so that we can get some food for the drive home and that is always a winner.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Okay, I swear it must be the full moon, but DS hardly slept at all last night. Up at 12, then up at 3, and it was after 4 before he settled down again, fussing and saying "I don't want it I don't want it I don't want it" over and over again. Then he didn't want blankets, but as soon as they were off he wanted them onagain. The he wanted his doggie, then he didn't, same with the sookie. Argh! Finally fell alseep with his head on my shoulder, and his nose in my armpit. Couldn't have been comfy for him, certainly wasn't for me! Anyone else have a tough night last night? DH was not coping well either







. He seems to think that things will be better when DS has his own room, rather than just his own bed. I wonder how him having his own room will change things--he's still going to fight sleep, just like he always has, DH just won't be able to hear him! Does he seriously think that I will be able to sleep knowing that my child is in another room crying and fussing?

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Sorry about the rough night...I sure hope tonight is much better! My dd actually had 2 good nights of sleep the last 2 nights after a stretch of rough nights. (teething molars)

The last 2 nights I slept with dd and she slept thru the night. Last month she was only sleeping thru the night if she was in her own bed in her own room. When she was in her own room I put on a monitor turned down low so I could hear her and go to her as soon as she needed me and then I would comfort her and if needed sleep in her twin bed with her for the rest of the night. That's been our experience lately.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

I always find that dd sleeps less/wakes more as the moon is getting to full - maybe you son is the opposite Alison...is us rough though - I've had those nights and they SUCK!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I would agree to DS having his own room if we were living in a different situation. But right now, the only spare room is in the basement (we live inthe main floor and the basement of a house). And there is no way I can put me and my child on different floors for through the night. I might suggest to DH that maybe we put both bedrooms in the basement, so that at least DS and us are on the same floor. But he has always refused to move our bedroom to the basement, I think because he always had a basement room growing up, and it seems to have stuck with him. Not sure why--I enjoyed being in the basement when I was a kid!

Anyway, last night was better, but we woke up to more snow, freezing rain, high winds etc. And I had to drive to work. I was really hoping it would be closed due to the weather! it was a LONG drive, let me tell you!

Alison


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Alison*
And there is no way I can put me and my child on different floors for through the night.

Oh, I would be exactly the same way. DD has her own room, but its right across the hall and even that seems too far too me some nights. There are nights when I'm awake and wishing she'd just wake up and come join me so I can sleep instead of worrying.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Sorry about your rough night, Alison. We've had some tough ones lately, too, thanks to a nasty cold. We're all finally feeling better this week--whew! I hope you get some relief soon.

I agree with everyone's feelings about having their toddler sleep in a different part of the house. I'd be tossing and turning all night!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I'm trying to convince DH that we should all move to the basement, there are two bedrooms down there, so that DS could try his own room. Oh well. We had another awful night last night, I'm pretty sure that he's working on molars, he's always gnawing on his fingers, or whatever he can get his hands on to gnaw. And I'm so tired!

DS had his hair cut this morning. I feel like a bad mother because I resorted to letting the hairdresser give him a sucker so that he would sit still! It worked too! She nearly stabbed him a couple of times cause he wouldn't sit still, he was saying "don't" and "no want it". Then she handed him the sucker, after asking permission from me, and it was like magic. He has a beautiful haircut now!

If only I wasn't so tired! I start a new job on Monday (well same job for a different branch of the library), and I'm certainly not at my best!

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

Alison - is there a way for you to get a a few naps in this weekend, just to feel rested for your sanity on Monday?


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Molars are the worst! My dd has been getting them too. I think they have all broken thru now and it is such a relief to be sleeping well again! On our worst nights, for part of the night I held dd in the recliner and slept with her lying upright against me...for some reaons she could sleep better that way. I didn't sleep as well that way but it was better than being all the way awake.

Alison-I hope your ds's teeth come in quickly!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I wish I could have naps. I'm sorely tempted to give DS to my mother for the day, and tell DH to get lost, and just sleep all day!

We were spoiled with earlier teething. Teeth came in very quickly and in groups, so he really only teethed for a few days at 10 mos, a few days at 14 mos and a few days at 16 mos. These molars have been weeks already, and they're still just bumps!

And we had leaky diapers again last night. We haven't ever had those, but then this week we had them twice. I think it's cause he's nursing all night long cause of the teeth, so then he pees all night long too.

How are all the other April 03 babes doing? Isn't this a fun age, most of the time? He's just so full of energy and able to do so much! He amazes me constantly! Especially since he's not sleeping much either!

Alison


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## OneAtHome (Jan 16, 2005)

We are right there with you with the molars and the nursing all night!! Most days I wake up more tired than when I went to bed with the switching sides and general acrobatics. This really is a fun age-we are starting to have conversations and DD is starting to say the funniest things! It just cracks me up to have such a little tyke that can throw her toys all over and then say, with such emotion, "Oh what a terrible mess! What are we going to do?" I am also worrying less about her when she is out of sight for more than a few seconds-she is usually just around the corner reading a book or something equally non life threatening. Up until now I had to watch her every second, now she is learning so fast what's ok and whats not. I am also developing more confidence in those "eyes in the back of my head"..they really do exist!!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi everyone! I was just about to pose a question for all of you when I noticed Alison's new post, asking how all our babes are doing.

We're having a molarama, too. It's been going on for months. The teething doesn't keep Tony from napping reasonably or getting back to sleep when he wakes up at night (thank heavens), but he does seem to be night-waking more often. And yes, gnawing on his finger constantly. He's constantly got a chapped something-or-other (chin, finger, lips, etc.) from all the drooling.

Here's my question: How does your kiddo do with fork & spoon? Does he/she eat mostly with fingers, or mostly with utensils? Does he/she need help getting food onto the fork/spoon or getting food into his/her mouth?

Just wondering if Tony's a little slow in this area. He'll sometimes use a utensil, but it takes lots of encouragement, and he's not too swift at it. He'd rather double-fist his food into his mouth. In all other areas his development is great. Maybe he's just too hungry/impatient for utensils??


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine: Andrew will use utensils if you remind him. I say "can you use your spoon?" and he eats one mouthful with the spoon and goes back to using his hands. So I remindhim again, same story, one spoonmouthful, back to hands. So I don't think Tony is slow for his age or anything like that! Funny thing is, he'll eat with a spoon for a whole meal if he's at his granny's or at daycare, just not for us at home!

OneAtHome: Andrew is just like this! He'll toss his trains all over the room and say "Oh oh, I made a mess!! I clean up". Well, if you didn't make the mess you wouldn't have to clean up just doesn't seem to be a concept that he has yet! And I totally get you with the more tired than when you went to bed. The switching sides in the middle of the night drives me nuts. I just want to sleep! And DH is making weaning noises again. Even though he's only sleeping through the night cause I'm nursing to keep Andrew quiet!

Alison


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

we had a leaky diaper night too! We used to have those ALL the time, but thankfully have been spared for a while... We had to go downstairs and change clothes (me too), get a new sheet, even pillowcase (Major spillage)!!! It was about 4, so dh was already up, and of course ds didn't want to go back to sleep. I kept telling him it was too early to get up, and he kept telling me "Daddy downstairs! Go now! Get up!" he also picked up a new phrase, "Middle night" as in "No, it's the middle of the night!"

about the spoon/fork thing, don't worry at all. He's working on his fine motor skills by feeding himself with his hands, and soon enough he'll master the great spoon and fork! Just make it available to him and he'll get it eventually.

hmmm... we've found ourselves renting this huge house with plenty of extra rooms, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep with Morgan in a different room. I can't even sleep if he's on the other side of the bed (or if he's too close for that matter).
I'll probably be the one with a hard time transitioning to my "own" bed!!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Well, we tried something different last night. DS slept in our bed, just like normal. Only we didn't come to bed, we stayed on the pull-out in the living room. Didn't make any difference, really, to the amount he woke up. The only difference was that I'd help him go back to sleep and then I went back out to the living room. I think DS slept better, but DS was pretty much the same. Maybe when he's teething was a bad time to try something like this anyway!

Morgansmom, your DS sounds just like Andrew. If he wakes up and DH isn't in the bed, it's "Daddy living room, I get up, I get up"! I've also wondered about letting his sleep with just DH and me have a night in the spare room downstairs, since he misses DH so much when he's not there.

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

I am planning dd's 2nd birthday party and I'm curious what the rest of you are doing to celebrate?

We are having a small group of family over for a beach party. We live about a mile from the beach. There will be two other young kids there so we'll have buckets, shovels and kites to play with. After that I figure we'll all come back to our house for a snack. I can't decide if I should make a cake with candles or fun shaped cookies like seashells or sand dollars. (If it rains we'll play inside with shells and rocks collected from the beach and maybe a tub of sand with plastic beach critters like crabs, seals etc.)

And as far as birthday presents...she has soooo many toys that I am thinking of getting her a few small items like felt balls and playsilks and a new kids music CD.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

We've decided not to do anything this year. His 1st birthday was supposed to be a few close friends and family members with no gifts, and it turned into tons of people who all bought gifts. This year we're just going to have dinner at granny's house with a cake. That's it! He's getting some more Thomas engines for his birthday, because that's what he's into, and they're good quality so can be passed on to my future kids or to his own kids.

Interesting to hear what others are planning though!

Alison


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

We live far from family, but my Mom and brother are planning a visit and they will be here a couple days before DD's birthday - my inlaws have decided to do what they did last year which was to come the week before my Mom comes and overlap for DD's birthday. So we'll have a family party, probably with a few friends and a cake.

As for the presents, a few months ago I napped a plan toys dollhouse complete with furnishings used for a great price, so that will be her present. Becasue the new baby is coming shortly after, I really wanted to get her a wooden doll cradle and high chair as well, so she could take care of her dolly while Mommy takes care of the baby, but the ones I want are made by Elves and Angels and they had that horrible fire, so I don't know if we'll get them or not, supposedly they will start shipping again soon.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

the 1st was BIG, as is the tradition in Hawaii - so the 2nd will be mellow - day of we'll do gifts (a few clothes, puzzles, etc.) and maybe a cakeish item with my parents (dh's parents live in NY) - but the weekend after her birthday we are going to the other side of the island (the 3 of us) and spend the night and go to the zoo, which she has never been to and LOVES animals - probably won't have any more parties until she asks for one - doing something special is more my style and energy level ) a room filled with many 2-3 year olds is A LOT ))))!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

We'll probably have a medium-size party just like we did for DS's 1st b-day. He's an only grandchild on my side of the family, and most of my family lives very close to us, so everyone likes to celebrate him. (And he sure doesn't mind it either!) I'm guessing we'll have my family as well as DS's godparents and DCP, a couple of our close friends, and another kid or two.


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## sahm (Nov 19, 2001)

Hey, I just found this thread! Can I join late?

My dd was born April 8, 2003!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sahm*
Hey, I just found this thread! Can I join late?

My dd was born April 8, 2003!

Absolutely! Welcome! (I didn't start this thread, but hey...the more the merrier!)


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sahm*
Hey, I just found this thread! Can I join late?

My dd was born April 8, 2003!
































































































Please do join us!

Tell us a bit about yourself and your DD, we love to meet new people. Oh, and we've already played a little bit of "six degrees of separation" on this thread, so we're just one big happy bunch!

Although some of us are a little more tired than others--DS fussed from 12-2 last night, then he fell off our bed onto the toddler bed (it's only about three inches lower, but he wasn't intending to go there!), and went to sleep! When will he learn to sleep through the night?????

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, Alison. Just a hug for you.









Sorry you're so tired. Sleep deprivation is torture!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

:







:







:







:







:

Well, I'm going to catch up on sleep tonight! Andrew is sleeping over at Granny's house, which means NO middle of the night waking for me! Hooray!

Alison


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## sahm (Nov 19, 2001)

Thank you for the nice welcome.

I am a sahm two two beautiful children. My ds is 4 and my dd is 23 months (the April 03 baby).

I'm just enjoying motherhood. My kids are amazing!









Oh, and I live in Michigan where it's cold but starting to tempt us with warmer temperatures...


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sahm*
Oh, and I live in Michigan where it's cold but starting to tempt us with warmer temperatures...









Yeah, Nova Scotia just tried tempting uswith warmer temperatures last week, and today we're waiting for 20 cm of snow!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-hope you got good sleep last night!

sahm-







Welcome!







Our weather is getting nicer and we are getting out more. We live by the beach so we collect rocks and shells at the beach or pinecones in our yard. She sleeps so much better on the days we can get out.

Is anyone else noticing your kid getting busier? The last few months dd is getting more active and prefering active games to calmer ones. We have a soft ball we kick around the living room and she loves to play chase or march around the couch. She just might get me in shape with this workout.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Yes, Andrew is so active right now that I'm not sure I can keep up with him! He just had a wonderful night at his grandparents', and completely tired himself out. And them too, come to think of it! He's just a total ball of energy, and hasn't gained much weight recently cause he's burning it all off. I wish I had his energy and his metabolism!

Anyway, I'm off to the doctor. I seem to have thrush again. One of the drawbacks to extended breastfeeding! It's only the second bout I've had, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Andrew seems to not have it this time though, at least.

Alison


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## sahm (Nov 19, 2001)

Yep, my dd has become more active lately. She asks all the time to go outside and ride her bike... An idea from her brother since she doesn't actually have a bike yet and doesn't know how to ride a bike. :LOL But her brother is asking for it, so she parrots his request...









I think spring fever is hitting my kids as hard as it is hitting me.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Yes, my DS is a total wiggle-bug, too. He literally never stops moving, even when he's asleep. Somehow all that activity hasn't burned off his incredibly chubby cheeks and Buddha-belly, though!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Is anyone working on potty learning yet?

We are kind of....I don't think dd is quite ready but she loves copying. She is sooooo excited to wear undies and to sit on the potty like mama and daddy. When she goes it seems to be an accident that we catch it and she has a hard time pulling her pants up and down...so those are the reasons why I think she's not quite ready. I am letting her have fun with copying when she wants to though and she has had a yeast rash off and on for a few months now and I think extra time naked on her potty is good for her bum.

I'm interested to learn more from you about pottying with kids this age.


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

We are toying with it I guess. She loves the copying too, so she'll demand to sit on the potty, but only on very rare occaisions does she actually go. Mostly she is up and down and its hard to get her to actually stay on the potty to try to go.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Same thing. Just copying. Andrew was terrible for pooping in the bath, but now we just ask him in the bath if he needs to poop, and usually he'll tell us and we'll hold him over the toilet. In fact, I've lost track of the last time he pooped in the tub, which has been welcome change! However, he's not interested in the potty. If you hold him over the toilet and ask if he needs to pee, you can feel his body tighten up as he tries to figure out how to make the pee come!

He just woke up, gotta run!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

We're just dabbling. For a few weeks, a few months ago, DS was very interested; he peed in the toilet many times and even pooped once. He's totally uninterested now, though, and we see no point in pushing it when we can't really mount a focused effort. (Both DH and I WOHM full-time.) If DS is ready & willing come June, when DH's summer break begins (he's a teacher), we'll start some intensive toilet teaching. Hopefully we'll "graduate" by summer's end.







:


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

oh what a day we are having







: ....and it had been so happy and peaceful around here lately. Okay I must admit AF showed up today so I might be partly to blame for the grumpies







: ....but dd is also not herself. She is very demanding and fussy. Last night I don't think she slept well...I remember waking up quite a bit because she was moving all around without completing waking. I'm really not sure what the deal is, just wanted to vent and hopefully today will get better and tomorrow even better


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## sahm (Nov 19, 2001)

My dd asks to use the potty a few times each day. She usually pees at least a little at each try. She is very proud of herself.







She is no where near "potty learning" but I figure as long as she is asking and wants to do it, I'm not going to deny her.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *surf mama*
oh what a day we are having







: ....and it had been so happy and peaceful around here lately. Okay I must admit AF showed up today so I might be partly to blame for the grumpies







: ....but dd is also not herself. She is very demanding and fussy. Last night I don't think she slept well...I remember waking up quite a bit because she was moving all around without completing waking. I'm really not sure what the deal is, just wanted to vent and hopefully today will get better and tomorrow even better









You and me both. I'm in exactly the same boat right now. Andrew is teething, I think, so he's not restful at all. And I nearly passed out at work yesterday afternoon--they sent me home. I had thought that AF was coming, because I'm all crampy, but then just got hit by waves of nausea. Feeling alittle better today, but it's no fun being sick with a 2 year old who's grumpy! Plus I've got thrush (one of the joys of EBF!), and the nystatin doesn't seem to be doing much, but the doc insisted that we try that way first instead of going straight for the systemic medication. I suppose I should admire her way of thinking, but cream on your nipples 4 times a day is a big hassle, and the way I feel right now, two doses of diflucan seems a lot easier to cope with. Plus going to visit the inlaws for ten days on Sunday, and they keep e-mailing me for stranger and stranger things to bring down to them (they moved to the US from Canada about 5 years ago now). So far the list consists of a maple leaf windsock, maple leaf decals, and windchimes with the Bluenose (famous schooner, it's on the Canadian dime). Can't wait to see what tomorrow adds to the list! At least Andrew went happily to daycare this morning, so I didn't start the day with the guilt that always comes if he doesn't want to go!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hmm, Alison...crampy, nauseated, and feeling faint...could you be...you know....???


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tine*
Hmm, Alison...crampy, nauseated, and feeling faint...could you be...you know....???

Don't think so--I had some spotting yesterday, and AF usually starts with a day or two of spotting, so that's right on schedule. And my temp dropped yesterday too, which is also right on schedule. And even if I was, I couldn't be more than a week or two max, and does morning sickness show up that early? although my temp was WAY up this morning, I figured it was just a little bit of fever from being sick.

I don't WANT to be pregnant right now, we were planning a 4 or 5 year gap, for my sanity and DH's sanity, but also so that I'd be off on mat leave for Andrew's first months of school. I thought it would be nice for him to have mum to come home to in those first months. Although we're not using BC, except for timing, so it's possible. Just unlikely.

What is everyone else planning for child spacing?

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Alison*
What is everyone else planning for child spacing?

Sorry for my nosiness. Your symptoms were just screaming PG, though, and I couldn't stand it that you hadn't said anything about the possibility! Guess I'm turning into a dirty old woman.







:

Our ordeal with infertility has caused us to dispense w/ any notions of child spacing. Planning/timing pregnancy is, frankly, impossible for us. We've recently started TTC#2 now b/c (1) DS is now MUCH easier to parent (sleeps well, communicates well, etc.); (2) DS is such a hilarious, loving little miracle that we want another, not to mention a sibling for him to love and enjoy; and (3) Time's a-wastin'. DH is 49 and I'm 36.

TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! Hear that? It's my biological clock.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

Tine & Alison, I thought PG too ) so funny...
spacing - we are leaning towards only Lily, can go down the list of why or why not, but what it really comes down to is that we feel complete...but we'll see. if I were to have a 2nd (and only 2) I would ttc this fall so that they would be about 3 years apart...


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tine*
(1) DS is now MUCH easier to parent (sleeps well, communicates well, etc.);

Yeah, if Andrew slept well we might be considering a smaller gap. It's only recently that DH has even admitted the possibility that we'll have two. He was totally against it after the first few months with Andrew. But I don't think newborns have the same effect on most men that they do on most women!

You're not that much older than me, I'm 33 now. DH is 36. We had no trouble getting pg with Andrew though. Sometimes I worry about leaving a 2nd one so long, we're talking about 2.5 more years before even TTC. I'll be 36 then. I guess if it's meant to happen it'll happen!

Tine, I saw Kathleen on Sunday. Her DS is a lot like mine, it sounds, very verbal, wants to go out and shovel snow! Andrew is always saying "I shovel snow" every time it snows. And that's been a lot lately!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Alison*
Tine, I saw Kathleen on Sunday. Her DS is a lot like mine, it sounds, very verbal, wants to go out and shovel snow! Andrew is always saying "I shovel snow" every time it snows. And that's been a lot lately!

Kathleen was just telling me the same thing about snow & shoveling. Funny! I'm still floored by this whole 2-degrees-of-separation thing.

I know I'm not ancient for a mom, but my DH thinks he's positively prehistoric (never mind his stellar health and the fact that he looks and acts younger than me) and doesn't want to wait too long. Plus we know it'll probably take us a while. So combine all that with low (and waning) fertility, and you get a very loud ticking noise.

Incidentally, Kathleen was the 1st person to foresee our marriage, less than a week after DH and I met, and before she met either one of us. Weird, eh?


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine, I have a high school friend who was a long-awaited long-wanted late baby, and her father always seemed more like the rest of us expected our grandfathers to be. I can understand what your DH is thinking. You say that he looks and acts young, and I've always thought that was the key to staying young, but I'm sure there are days where he feels his age!

You lot have me all paranoid. I still feel vaguely sick and dizzy, still feel crampy. Never had sickness or dizziness as an AF symptom before. I'm SURE I'm not pg, I can't be! It hadn't even crossed my mind until it was mentioned here! Now I'm stressing. Thanks guys!









Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Alison*
Tine, I have a high school friend who was a long-awaited long-wanted late baby, and her father always seemed more like the rest of us expected our grandfathers to be. I can understand what your DH is thinking. You say that he looks and acts young, and I've always thought that was the key to staying young, but I'm sure there are days where he feels his age!

You lot have me all paranoid. I still feel vaguely sick and dizzy, still feel crampy. Never had sickness or dizziness as an AF symptom before. I'm SURE I'm not pg, I can't be! It hadn't even crossed my mind until it was mentioned here! Now I'm stressing. Thanks guys!









Alison

Thanks for the insight on your friend and her dad. It's good for me to keep that in mind.

Sorry for adding stress to your day...you didn't need that on top of everything else!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine, I just wanted to add that I wasn't implying that your husband was too old or anything, just that I could understand what he was feeling, knowing how my friend's dad always felt!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

No misunderstanding. You're saying pretty much the same thing DH says. Ironically (age issues aside), he is the one all gung-ho about having another kiddo. I'm more ambivalent--excited one day, terrified the next. Maybe because I remember oh-so-vividly all the nausea and contractions and mastitis?


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

I am ttc right now but it is taking awhile...originally I wanted to have kids two years apart and well I missed that....but now I am grateful that didn't happen. My dd is big enough now and easy enough most days that I am ready to add being pg and then having another when she is getting closer to 3. I am glad my body decided to space them further but I also hope my body cooperates soon









Alison-hope you are feeling better soon and hope you get the answer you are wanting for pg or not.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

How is everyone doing here? It's been a few days since anyone posted. I'm off on vacation tomorrow--just Andrew and I going down to visit the in-laws. I'm a little worried about flying with Andrew by myself. I've always had help before. We only have to switch planes once, in Newark, we'll see how it goes! Especially now that he's so darn active. He's still sitting on my lap, since he's not two yet!

The nice thing is that it's already Spring in North Carolina, unlike up here where we had more flurries today.

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

All is well here. We just had a spring blizzard, and I went cross-country skiing this morning. Alone at a nature center, with not another soul in sight. (Well, except the geese--but they're more like demons.) Aaahh, now THAT was a treat! Normally I wouldn't call snow in March a treat, but our snow has been pathetic this season. This was only the 3rd time I got to ski, and I live in Minnesota fer cryin' out loud!

I hope you have a wonderful time in NC, Alison. Even though I'm enjoying the snow, I'd like some sunshine and warm weather even more. Wish I could offer you some tips for the plane, but I've never flown w/ Tony yet.


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## galadriel (Jan 21, 2003)

Just joining in here. DD was born April 11, 2003, and I'm about to pop with #2, due...April 11th, 2005!

DD loves dressing up, getting undressed, doing EVERYTHING herself







, nursing all the time, reading stories constantly, and chattering up a storm. Life is never dull around here.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-I hope you have a great trip! I haven't flown yet with my dd but I have heard suggestions from other friends. The best idea was to wrap small gifts that can be opened one at a time as needed....opening the wrapping is fun and takes awhile....the gift could be a box of raisins or dried fruit that will take awhile to enjoy....or a small coloring book with a couple crayons..or a bag of favorite crackers...etc. I'm going to try that idea whenever we decide to fly with her.

Ubertulip-







Welcome!!! My dd also loves to read books alone and with us. Running and reading are her two favorite activites.

My dd isn't interested in dressing/undressing yet. She will help me when I am dressing her but I thought she would be able to do more by herself. From books I've read it sounds like kids this age should be undressing themselves. I'm curious what the rest of you think. Dd is on track for everything else so I figure she'll catch up on dressing when she's ready.

Our sunny weather recently left...dd and I are missing our outside time. When I open the door she peaks out and says "rain, lots of rain"....I'm thinking about putting on her boots and seeing if she'd like to try getting some fresh air in the rain....we'll see how it goes.


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## sahm (Nov 19, 2001)

Melissa, welcome.

Funny that no. 2 is due on no. 1's birthday! You could havea busy day.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Woohooo, not pregnant. Didn't think so, but now I know for sure!

Andrew doesn't do much undressing himself. He can get his socks off, and his shoes, and his coat and hat. He will try to help with the rest, but he gets stuck and needs help. I figure he's bright enough, I'm not worried, he'll figure it out eventually.

Ubertulip, hope number 2 comes on the due date. I think that having birthdays close together sucks, but having them on the same day is kinda cool. My sister was born on my grandad's birthday, and they always had a special bond!

Gotta pack, nothing done yet!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, Melissa! I'll be sending you vibes for a fast (but not too fast) and easy birth.

My DS is very into doing things himself, too. ("Tony do it! Tony do it!") Except dressing and undressing: When it comes to that, he yells, "Shoes off! Socks off! Pants off!" Obviously he thinks I'm his personal valet.









Alison: Glad you got the answer you were looking for.







I was wondering...but not feeling nosy enough to ask if you'd solved the mystery.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

How's everyone doing? We are having a great visit in NC. Andrew practically imploded Thursday-Friday though. We took his Grandpa's race car to a track in Virginia for a test day, and it was as if the race car was his new best friend. We had to tell him it was sleeping in the trailer to get him to come into the hotel for the night! He wasn't even strange with his grandparents for a minute when we arrived, and he hasn't seen them since Christmas, and before that last summer. My BIL and SIL and their one year old are here now as well, so Andrew's feeling a little "mine-y"--as in "No, Geordie (his cousin) that's mine". Hopefully he'll get over it soon. It's funny, he plays well at playgroup where he knows things aren't his, but here, where he thinks stuff is his, he basically follows the little guy around and takes everything he puts his hands on and tries to put it out of Geordie's reach! How do people cope with toddlers this age and siblings, I don't know, I don't think I could!

Hope everyone is having as much fun as we are right now!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-Glad to hear your trip is going well!







(How was the flight?)

We are doing okay. Dd is getting over a croupy cough but she is staying pretty happy thru it all. She needs a little extra help to get to bed at night and for naps.

She is getting into songs even more. She tries to sing her favorites like Baa Baa Black Sheep and gets most of the words right or close







And she likes to mix it up and sing Baa Baa White Sheep sometimes too. I'm guessing that's because all the sheep we see in pictures are white.

For those of you who celebrate Easter...what are you doing? Dd is getting her first Easter basket tomorrow and first Easter egg hunt. Should be fun!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

We don't celebrate easter ourselves, but I think that we will be doing something this year, since we're with the inlaws. I guess that my MIL is organising a egg hunt for tomorrow. I don't know if it's chocolate eggs like she did for DH and BIL until very recently! We'll see, I guess!

DS is also starting to sing his own songs. He sings horsey, horsey don't you stop and twinkle twinkle. And he was trying to sing the theme to Thomas the Tank Engine too. Funny thing is he changes words around. Yesterday, for example, he was singing horsey horsey while we were sitting on the stairs and he sang "horsey horsey go downstairs" instead of the actual words, even though he knows the real words!

The flight wasn't bad at all, since they were both really short flights. The hard part was because of a delay in the second flight, we ended up waiting for four hours in the airport at Newark. That was hard on both of us! Wouldn't have been as bad if I'd been traveling with another adult, but I was trying to make sure not to let our bags out of sight, as they repeat over the PA again and again and again, but also trying not to let a wired and rambunctious toddler out of my sight either! he ended up spending most of the four hours climbing over those golf cart type things that they use for passengers who need help getting around, cause we happened to sit next to the wall where they plug them in to recharge!

Went to the beach today and he freaked when the first wave hit his feet! Don't think he knew what to expect, since the last time it was warm enough for the beach he wasn't even 18 months. And the water was pretty darn cold still, even though it's beautiful here otherwise!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My mom sent an Easter basket for dd with empty plastic eggs and a stuffed bunny. It's nice that she is young enough to be excited about empty plastic eggs without the candy. She loves taking the eggs apart and putting them back together. Later this morning we are going to hide them around the house....since they are plastic if we forget one it won't get stinky







I remember when I was little we would always manage to lose at least one during an egg hunt.


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

This morning we did an egg hunt with the plastic eggs with puffins (cereal) inside them. She generally has puffins in the morning anyway and she just loved hunting around for the eggs for it!


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

we didn't do any hunt, etc. here - she just doesn't "get it" yeat - colored some eggs with friends yesterady and she was interested for about 2 minutes - much more interested in "hunting" the cat )
I had a question this morning for all the 2003 April mamas that I can't remember now - will get back to you all if my brain kicks back in...


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, everyone!

Seems like our DCs are all discovering the joy of singing at the same time. Tony just starting singing last week. His favorite is the ABC song (amazingly, he sings the whole thing with no mistakes--blew me away when I first heard it). He also does Baa Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle.

Alison, your stay in NC sounds lovely! I'm a bit jealous of the warm weather and beach activities, I must say. But at least spring has FINALLY arrived here.

Tony enjoyed the Easter festivities yesterday. Well, all except church, that is. Normally he does great at church (and ours is very kid-friendly, which helps), but this time he could not handle sitting in the pew with DH while I sang/played with the music ensemble I belong to. He was wailing "MOMMY!!!!" at the top of his lungs...after about 3 minutes DH bailed and took him home.

Other than that, it was lots of fun. We gave him a small basket with a stuffed piggy, a toy car, a big bag of craisins (a favorite treat of his), and lots of real (dyed) Easter eggs. He adores eggs--ate one for each meal yesterday. Went to brunch at a restaurant with Grandma & Grandpa, where he pretty much followed the costumed Easter Bunny around for 1.5 hours. G&G gave him a set of his very own kitchen stuff (mixing bowls, eggbeater, spoons, cups, etc.) for an Easter gift. He thought it was really cool--he loves "helping" in the kitchen.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

It is fun to hear about others this age doing similar things. My dd just keeps singing more and more songs on her own. She is getting more independent all the way around and that is nice because she had been very clingy as an infant and young toddler.

We had sooo much fun with Easter this year. Our first year celebrating it with dd. She LOVED hunting eggs and wore herself out to where she fell asleep eating her lunch and even woke up halfway thru her nap asking for eggs.








We also read a kids book about Jesus and dd was most interested in the fact that Jesus rode on a donkey. She loves donkeys for some reason.

Tine- Your Easter brunch sounds like it was a lot of fun! How cute that he followed the bunny around!

mightymoo-Great idea putting cereal in the eggs. I think we will do that next year.

konamama-My dd loves "hunting" the neighbors cats too. None of the cats let us get very close though....maybe they've know some toddlers








So far dd is gentle with animals though. MIL has small poodles that dd gets to play with.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

Lily is all about animals - and she is very sweet to them thank goodness! we have a "zoo", 3 dogs, 6 cats, a slew of wild chickens and roosters and 2 horses - so she has learned to be gentle and kind b/c they are "wild", etc.

on another note, chicken pox...anyone had them yet? anyone go to a "chicken pox party"? what do you all think of that?

also, who all is involved with "mama groups"? I am getting on going for moms and "babies", 2.5-still pregnant ladies, going to the beach, etc. what do you all do? how often?

off to finish up my paperwork prior to dinner )


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd got chicken pox at 13 months and it was really easy. She got a moderate amount and never scratched at them. I gave her lots of oatmeal baths. The only bad part is that it knocked down her immune system and she got an ear infection at the end of the pox. I was surprised that the chicken pox was so easy for her....I had them at age 6 and I remember how hard it was. My dr told me it tends to be easier on little ones for some reason. So that's my experience. With my next I'd be tempted to go to a chicken pox party.


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## galadriel (Jan 21, 2003)

My dd got the pox late in her first year. She had about 500 spots; I think that's a pretty good case. I used a tiny bit of peppermint extract in water to cool and soothe them. She was only miserable for a day or two-- totally worth it, in my book. I have no idea where she caught'em!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

We're not involved in any mama (or dada, for that matter) groups. Both DH and I WOHM full-time, so evenings and weekends are strictly family time.

We had DS vax'd for varicella, so I don't expect him to get the pox, though it's possible.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

My doctor recommended the pox vaccine, but I've turned it down for now--it's free here now for all kids, so a lot of the kids we know have had it. Andrew hasn't had pox yet, although I expected he would have, since he goes to daycare full time. He has had a host of other cold-like viruses, hand foot and mouth disease, and two stomach flus, so daycare is certainly doing it's job of building his immune system! I haven't been this sick with colds and stomach bugs in years either, so maybe it's giving my immune system a boost too! I'm sure we'll probably end up with him having chickenpox before too long, unless everyone else at his daycare is vaccinated, and I'm betting they aren't, since it only recently because a freebie.

We still go to the playgroup that we went to when I was off on mat leave. I'm lucky enough to alternate working on Saturdays and Mondays, and the playgroup is on Mondays, so I get to every second meeting. A few MDC mamas are involved, so it's a fairly crunchy group, which is nice, because so many of our other friends are mainstream. Not that mainstream is bad, I just get tired of being called the crunchy one! Cause I'm not really even that crunchy, if you know what I mean! My SIL down in Georgia is attending every mother and baby group she can find (she can't work, she doesn't have a work visa for the US, she's just there cause her hubby has a visa), and she's having a hard time finding a group where she feels comfortable. I guess many of the groups that she's finding are very conservative and often times quite religious as well, which isn't really her scene.

Andrew is talking in whole sentences now! He just seemed to figure things out over the time we were on vacation. And he's figured out plurals mean more than one of something, but he hasn't quite figured out the details yet--we are hearing things like "carses" and "truckses". So cute, I hate to correct him!

Alison


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

WOW, our babies are going to be 2 years old this month!!!







Remember when we were all awaiting our babes over at the Pregnancy Forum







?

Anyways, Amber and I do "Toddler Gym" at the YMCA twice a week. They take the area that they usually have gymnastics in (the big blue padded carpeted rug thingy







) and place tons of push toys, tubes to crawl in, b-ball hoops, swings, slides, climbing toys, etc. for the kids to play on/in. They also have a trampoline and other cushions to climb on. Then at the end we sing songs w/hand motions. She LOVES







it. At first she was so shy, but this has really helped her come out of her shell a bit. We used to do swim too, but last year she loved it and then now she hates it (But she loves her bath). So we are going to wait.

She is now potty learned too. It was all her own doing and has blown me away. Both pee and poop too. My ds didn't learn this until he was over 3 yo and she began at 16 mo. She still wears a diaper for nap and night though.

We didn't vax her for chicken pox either. I did w/my ds and he got a mild 2 day version of it in preschool.

She is a talker and loves to dance, but can be shy around others. She wants to be like brother and do her "homework" when he is doing his (its so cute).

Happy Birthday April Toddlers~

Lisa


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

I haven't been here for a while, we've been on vacation, but it's so nice to hear about all the other ALMOST 2!!!!! year olds are up to! We were visiting family in Seattle, and the first night we got there, ds started singing "twinkle twinkle" at the table and the WHOLE family, all 9 of us, joined in. I'll never forget the look on his face, it was part awe/wonder and part wooo hooo! It was a magical moment, to say the least. It just reminded me of that when I was reading about the other kids singing. ds loves "snuggle puppy" and "itsy spider" and I'm really happy that he's starting to like the big-kid songs like 5 little monkeys.
The first time I took him on a plane was at 3 1/2 months, I was by myself and had an overnight flight from Alaska to Wisconsin. It was about 20 hours each way... that was the hardest. Most airports have "nurseries" or little quiet rooms with an attached bathroom, toys and usually a crib and couches for families. Seek them out on layovers! It's sooooo much easier to fly with him now, he just wants to look out the window and talk about flying, read books, play with the stupid phone they attach to the back of the seat







... I can only imagine it keeps getting easier. But- food, drink, new toys, favorite toys, things like playdough, trips to the bathroom or back of the plane during flight and finding childrens areas on layover make flying... a breeze!


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Today was DD's due date. Man, how time flies! At the time I was so happy she hadn't been born yet, I wanted an April baby. Of course I didn't realize that she was going to stay in there until we pried her out on the 17th


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo*
Today was DD's due date. Man, how time flies! At the time I was so happy she hadn't been born yet, I wanted an April baby. Of course I didn't realize that she was going to stay in there until we pried her out on the 17th









Yup, Andrew did that--due date March 28th, hung on for 11 days til the 6th of April. I let myself be induced then, even though I wish I hadn't now. Oh well, we had snow when I went into hospital, and by the time I came out most of it had melted and the weather was lovely!

Alison


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

Morgan's due date was april 7th... he finally came on the 23rd. I'm still feeling bad about inducing, which led to a c/s... but if he was 12 lbs. at 42 weeks, he could have been the famed 16 pounder if I would have gone too much longer! I've heard stories of natural homebirths of 12+ lb babies, and pregnancies going past 43, 44 weeks without problems, but I guess there's nothing to be done about it now. It gets easier every year


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Wow 2 years sure flew by....I remember in my last month of pregnancy, there were so many friends having their babies early. I was ready to be done with pregnancy and I was sure my dd would be early too. When her April 10th due date came and passed I couldn't believe it! Each day I was sure it would be time. I waited for what seemed so long and finally went into labor on the 14th. I too had to be induced and had her on the 16th. I had a hospital birth with a midwife. There are so many things I would do differently but at that time I did the best with what I knew. When I am blessed with another pregnancy I look forward to being more empowered to have the pregnancy and birth that I want without being pressured into so many interventions.

I am excited to celebrate her birthday! We are having 2 parties one with my husband's family next weekend and then my family is coming on her birthday to spend the weekend celebrating dd. (My family all live far away) I'm excited for everyone to see how much she has grown and to see how fun she is.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, everyone. Yeah, it's hard to believe our DCs are going to be 2, isn't it? Sounds like I'm the only one whose baby came early instead of late. DS was due on May 8 and came on April 25. I was praying for--actually, counting on--him to be overdue b/c I was desperately trying to finish editing a book before his birth. I probably have only myself to blame.... We joke that the fatty (but yummy) walleye sandwich & fries I ate that night caused DS to say "I'm outta here!" I wound up practically killing myself to finish that editing project during the sleepless 1st month of Tony's life. What a stupid, stupid woman I was. Ah well...live and learn, eh?


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

That's funny, Tine. I've been thinking of all the stupid things I did when ds was just born, and I can't imagine... for instance, when ds would wake up in the morning, all i would want to do is go back to sleep for a half hour. dh would hear ds wake up and come in (dh is an early bird and was always up before us) to tell us he was now going to go get coffee... for an hour... yes he would do this every morning for months and I just want to scream at him now just thinking about it!







:
our big problem was that ds was colicky, and dh was secretly freaking out thinking the "baby stuff" was never going to end. He says it will be easier with the second because he'll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. or maybe the next one will have no eating or sleeping difficulties and it'll be a breeze! we've finally agreed on the time to start ttc- September!! Hoping for a summer 06







girl: !!!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

So, have we had any birthdays yet? Andrew's is in two days! We had cake and presents yesterday though, since I'm working the night of his birthday, and it's not like he really cares right now! He certainly gets the concept of presents, I must say! He had a blast tearing paper of parcels and opening boxes. And he even seemed to get blowing out the candles. My baby's growing up







!

On another note, I too often dwell on the things I would like to do differently the second time around. I still haven't got a firm word from DH that there will be a second time around. Although, while he says he only wants one, he's not doing anything about birth control. No way am I going back on anything hormonal. I told him BC was now his responsibility, since he's the one who says he doesn't want a second child. But you know, so much of what happened was beyone our control, or due to our inexperience (I mean, you have to take lessons and a test before they let you drive, but pretty much anyone can have a baby) as parents. I'm sure most of us have similar feelings about our first children.

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hello, mamas--

Just a quick note to see how everyone's doing, since no one's posted since Monday. I hope you all are enjoying the same type of splendid spring weather as has FINALLY arrived here. Tony has been spending almost every waking moment outdoors this week, and is having a ball. He's been sleeping like a rock, too...I think we can thank all the fresh air and running around for that. And the dirt! Criminy, I had no idea a 2-year-old could get so dirty! The other evening I peeked out the window at DH and DS in the back yard and saw DS lying on his tummy in a big pile of dirt (DH had been laying paving stones), admiring bugs and squishing soil through his fingers and rolling around like a puppy. It made me feel like a kid just to see that!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Lucky you! We had two days of sun, but now it's back to cold and rainy. I wish summer would just hurry up! Andrew had a blast being outside all the time when we were in North Carolina, and he keeps asking to go outside here, and honestly, it's either freezing or raining, or the backyard is soaking, and I feel terrible trying to convince him to stay in!

I think we're going to go swimming on Sunday at the pool. I'm parenting by myself for the next ten days, DH is away on vacation (his turn to visit the in-laws, so that he can be pit crew for his dad at a couple of race weekends). We'll see how it goes!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Sending you sunny thoughts and hopes that your single-mom week (and a half) will go smoothly!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-How is your week going with dh gone? I know I sure miss my dh when he is gone for work. Hope you are having a nice week.

My family is coming to visit this weekend so I am cleaning and planning and hoping for sunny weather while they visit. We live by the beach and this is their first time coming to see our new home. It would just be so fun to play on the beach in the sun but the forecast so far is for showers.

And my dd has the sniffles...clear runny nose and mild congestion. I'm doing everything I know to help her get better before my family arrives. Her little face looks droopy and pitiful but she's happy. She has a book about when Snuffy had the sniffles so she is talking about that a lot. She is also telling me "nose run run" whenever she needs help wiping.

On Saturday we are giving her an easel for her present...she loves art and this will make it easier and less messy so I'll be more willing to set up projects for her. Should be fun.

Hope the rest of you are having a fun birthday month.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

surf mama- DS had 3 colds in a row this spring and started calling himself "boogie boy" b/c his nose was running all the time.:LOL

He, too, is getting an easel for his birthday next week (from my sister). I think he'll also be getting a wagon (from grandparents) and a playhouse (from us). Lucky kid!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

My time alone with DS is going really well, thanks to all who asked. In some ways, being without DH makes things easier, because he's the one who gets grumpy when woken up in the middle of the night. Without him around, I can just deal with comforting Andrew without having to worry about a grumpy DH! Not that I don't love him dearly, he's just not a morning person AT ALL!

Andrew got some nice wooden toys from his gran for his birthday, but it's the Thomas trains that have been the big hit. Not that we didn't know it, he's totally obsessed. To the point where our local children's bookstore (we're blessed to have a WONDERFUL independent children's bookstore--Tine, has Kathleen ever talked about Woozles???) staff are now saving Thomas promotional items that they get, like stickers and stuff, til they see him coming! Aren't 2nd birthdays exciting--Andrew gets the whole concept of "present" now, even more so than at Chrismas!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Alison- No, Kathleen hasn't mentioned Woozles to me. (But knowing her, I'm sure she's a regular.) Do tell--what's it like? We've got a couple of great ones here, too.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Oh, it's in what's probably either a Victorian or Edwardian house right of Spring Garden Road, which is THE street for stores/restaurants/hanging out in Halifax. They're just an awesome little store, and since Kathleen knows the assistant manager well, I'm sure she's a regular! If you ever get up to visit her again, make sure she takes you into Woozles (www.woozles.com). We are there often, because they're open Sundays (Nova Scotia does not allow Sunday shopping, so very few stores are legally allowed to open on Sunday!), and they have a Thomas the Tank Engine playtable set up on each side of the store, so we can spend hours there! Anyway, I love having a good independent children's bookstore so close to home (15 minute walk!).

Okay, here's a new topic to throw out to the list. What's your child's favourite book just now? Andrew is head over heels for "Get to Work Trucks" and "See you Soon Moon", both by Don Carter, who does awesome illustrations using paint and plaster. I'd recommend them heartily to everyone!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd loves books. She likes to hear at least 20 before bed...well she would like more but that is when I have had enough







After that many I pull out a book of my own and lay with her while she looks at more by herself.

She really likes books by Olivier Dunrea-one called Gossie about a yellow goose who wears red boots and one called BooBoo about a blue goose who eats a lot and burps. They are cute books and there are more in the series we need to get.

She also loves Dr Seuss books especially Go Dog Go! and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

I look forward to more suggestions of books to try next. I haven't seen the ones you mentioned Alison so we'll look for those at the library.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Oh, I love the Gossie and Gertie books! Andrew hasn't had them yet, because I haven't managed to get them from the library, but I have ought a few to give to my niece as presents, and she loved them too. Very cute and very simple, and about things that toddlers understand. Oh, I LOVE talking about kids books, which is why my job is so great for me. I adore being a children's librarian!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Tony's current favorite is "I Spy Little Letters" (an alphabet book) by Jean Marzollo. His longest-running favorite book is "Goodnight Moon."

My favorite bookstore here in Minneapolis is called Wild Rumpus. It has a kid-size purple door within the regular door. It's home to many animals, from chickens to cats to tarantulas to parakeets to bunnies to lizards! There are lots of nifty nooks for reading, and of course the books are fabulous.

It seems you and I have another thing in common, Alison: books! Being a children's librarian is one of the few things I've thought I'd enjoy doing besides what I do. (I'm an editor at a book publishing company.) I currently edit both parenting books and children's books, but I worked for the Cricket Magazine Group for a long time and also a children's book publishing company for a couple of years.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Well, we had our first really bad night of "single parenting" last night! Andrew woke at 1, after not going to sleep until well after 10, which is very, very late for him. I nursed him, and he insisted on talking and asking where his dad was and saying he needed this car or that car or a drink or something to eat, very whiny the whole time. I nearly lost it, I had to work today, and after two hours, at almost three am, I was pretty much in tears, and he kept saying "big hug mummy, big hug" and hugging me, but then he'd whine for something again. I gave up and called my mum, who is an angel, and she came over, and then Andrew said "Granny, yay, go to granny's house see Michael, bye mummy, see ya". Michael is the dog. I just about lost it, he obviously knew he was skating on thin ice with me and wanted out of there! So she took him, and I guess he was up til 5 am! Anyway, I went in to work, did the puppet show (on a normal day, I would really love my job!), came home and went to sleep before it was even lunch time! Andrew is still at mum's, my sister is entertaining him, and he's having a blast, got on the phone and told me all the fun he's having, then said "bye mummy" and kissed the phone. Well, he's going to stay there tonight as well, and I'm going to sleep here, all by myself, in peace and quiet, and hopefully feel better tomorrow! I have always thought single parents had their work cut out for them, it must be hard to do it alone.

Has anyone read "Operating Instructions" by Anne Lamott? It's her diary entries from the first year of her son's life--she's an author, and was a recovering addict and single parent at the time she had her son. It's such a funny, sad, wonderful little book, that I don't think you would get if you didn't have a child. I recommend it to anyone. That and the CD by Nancy White called "Momnipotent", which has a little song on it called "The Secret", that you should all rush out and listen to as well. Another one of those things that you just wouldn't get until you had a child of your own.

Alison, who is so tired and starting to ramble.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hugs to you, Alison, for what sounds like an awful, awful night. I, too, have no idea how single parents do it. Yikes.









I hope you had a lovely, peaceful, wonderful night of sleep last night with the house all to yourself. Yay!

I know of Lamott's book but haven't read it. Glad to hear the good review; I'll put it on my list!


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## marnie (Jul 13, 2004)

hi, I'm marnie, my daughter Maya will be 2 on the 22nd!

She's wonderful in every way









She's a major talker. we're a bilingual family (italian/english) and she's started saying complete sentences in english ("i like it" or "don't like it" are her favorites!) She loves dolls and trains and pointing to the sky to find the moon, airplanes, and helicopters. She adores books, and will show anyone who cares to see where all the mice are hiding in "Goodnight Moon".

She has a bunch of great friends her age, including another Maya who lives across the street who has her second birthday on the 26th. The Maya's are sharing a birthday party this year and they're pretty excited about it.

Sometimes she asks to use the potty, but for the most part she's firmly in diapers. Now that she likes to pick by color and pattern which one she'll wear i think we'll be in diapers for a long time









We nurse at naptimes and bedtime and occasionally overnight (about a month ago she started sleeping for more than 3 hour stretches for the first time in her life! woo hoo!). She's a pretty good eater when she's not teething, and she loves veggies and popsicles most of all.

Our biggest problem is that maya loves to run away and thinks it's hysterical. i cannot let go of her for a second or she's off. we live in New York City and walk everywhere and it's really hard keeping her close by. on two occasions she ran right out of a store and into the street before i caught her. and she just laughs and laughs. it's giving me a heart attack daily.

off to read the rest of the thread


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## marnie (Jul 13, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *H&Hmommy*
Hi everyone. I'm Chrissy and my son Hayden was born April 16, 2003. He is really small for his age-I don't know why and it's really bothering me. He is not eating much at all these past few weeks. He's probably 25 lbs or so. We breastfed for a year.

Maya's only 23 pounds and 32 inches. She was 22 pounds from the time she was 6 months until last month. Do you have a good pediatrician you can talk to?

I feel that Maya's doing ok because she's developing in a bunch of different ways, so i'm thinking height and weight will come later.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, Marnie!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

How is everyone? We've had a really mixed ten days without DH, but he's back tonight, so hooray! Leaving Andrew at daycare this am was the hardest thing ever! He just bawled "my daddy, my daddy. my daddy". He has been missing DH terribly!

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

we've had a great few days - today is lily's 2nd birthday! this past weekend we took her to the other side of island for 2 days, went to the zoo, a horse ranch, stood guard by a koi fish pond outside the hotel many times a day and had a great time. this morning we are going for our usual Wed. morning walk with my mother, add in my father and dh and then some gifts after...I am so blessed to have her and am excited to celebrate the day that she arrived )!!!!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

konamama: Wow, sounds like a fabulous time. Happy birthday to Lily!

Alison: We're all well here. Um, except that DH just lost his job. (Huge education budget cuts; he's a teacher.) If I allowed myself to focus on it, I'd be really, really angry and worried. But right now I/we are just focusing on getting ready for weekend houseguests, big birthday party on Sunday, etc.

As I told DH when he gave me the news...the most important thing is that we're all together. Like you, konamama, we feel very blessed!


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

DD is very into "The Cat in the Hat" - we have to read it once or twice a day at least. She can even repeat a lot of the lines! For her birthday last sunday we did a cat in the hat themed birthday party. It was just us, grandparents and one set of friends with a toddler, so we didn't go nuts or anything, but I made her a cat in the hat coloring book by scanning the pages of the book and removing the color.

My husband talked me into attempting to make a hat cake - 6 layers of 6" round cake, each decorated with red or white. It was pretty funny since we didn't do any of the internal structure you are supposed to use with those types of cakes, so by the time we were ready to blow out the candles the cake was leaning significantly to one side - it wouldn't have lasted much longer!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

It's fun to hear how all of you celebrated 2nd birthdays! I had to cancel dd's beach party because her grandma and niece were both sick. Bummer! We are re-scheduling for sometime in May.

My family did fly in to celebrate with us and brought some fun presents. Dd loves birds so they got her a kids bird book and she likes to read it again and again and loves to say Chickadee.









I tried a bunch of healthy cake recipes but none of them tasted good to us so I made her honey sweetened oatmeal cookies and for some reason they didn't turn out as good as usual. I'm usually a good cook but something about the pressure of cooking for a birthday always ends up turning something into a disaster







dd still liked them and had fun blowing out the candles.

Tine-Sorry to hear dh lost his job....hope something else turns up real soon! And hope you have a great birthday party!

marnie-Welcome! The Mayas birthday party sounds like fun!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine:







I'm so sorry to hear about your husband losing his job. That really sucks. Does that mean he gets to be a SAHD to save on daycare costs? Jeff hates his job so much some days that I think he'd like to get laid off. Some days I wish we could afford for him to stay at home. He'd certainly learn patience with Andrew then. Anyway, I hope things work out for the best, whatever that may be. Sometimes it amazes me how little importance governments place on education though. I mean, even in Canada I think we spend more on prisoners than we do on school kids. It's nuts. And don't even get me started on how we undervalue teachers and early childhood educators.

surf mama: Andrew loves birds too. We have one of those plush chickadees that you get from I think the Audubon Society, and he squeezes it and imitates the chickadee call. The only problem is that if we're having chicken for dinner, he insists on calling it chickadee, so I'm not sure what people think we eat!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Alison and surf mama: Thanks for your kind words.

We've often considered having DH be a SAHD; he's perfectly suited for it, and really wants to. He LOVES spending the summers at home with Tony. But I just don't think we could swing it. The cost of living is high here, and DH is also in grad school right now, so we have a lot of expenses. Plus we're committed to starting Tony in Montessori next fall; we've found a wonderful little school that we think will help him flourish in a way that we couldn't do at home. So...the job hunt begins. Sigh. I'm an optimistic person, but this is getting tiring...it's the 3rd time it's happened. DH is a stellar teacher who gets great performance reviews, but he's been teaching for only 6 years and doesn't have much seniority, which is the deciding factor when jobs get cut. Teaching was a career change for DH. He used to own his own business. It was lucrative, but DH wasn't happy--he'd always wanted to teach. So he went back to college at the age of 40 and followed his dream. Little did he know he'd enter the profession just when education budgets across the country would start being slashed. It's so unfair. And yeah...don't get me started on our screwed-up education system either!

Yikes--this post turned into a long vent. Sorry! We'll be fine, of course. Just wish things didn't have to be so darn complicated all the time.

Loved the chickadee stories. Tony's recent favorite bird to talk about is the flamingo. He calls it "pampinko"--so cute!


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## Annik (Dec 9, 2003)

I'm jumping into this thread a little late, but oh well. So many posts! I knew there must be a lot of April '03 babes because three of our local hospital maternity wards were full when I was in labor. Crazy.

Anyway, DS Alex was born 4/12. He's just started talking about 3 weeks ago - it seems like he learns about 50 words a day at least. His favorite word by far is "park" which he says at least 100 times a day. Other than playing at the park, he loves basketball. He already shoots, dribbles and passes. He also loves watching basketball on TV with his dad and "reading" Sports Illustrated. I'm the earthy-crunchy type, so the sports thing is hard for me to understand, but I'm learning to be more open-minded









We night weaned DS about 2 months ago. At that point he was still nursing 8 to 10 times a day. However, there's nothing like pregnancy to get you motivated to wean. Alex is now completely weaned. I must admit the whole process was much easier than I anticipated it would be. He still touches me sometimes and makes a little sad sound, but that's pretty rare. A glass of water or a snack always does the trick.

While toddlerhood can certainly be tricky at times, I just love watching their little worlds open up. So cool.


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## Rida (Apr 22, 2005)

Hi ... I'm new here, but I saw this thread and had to post because my son was born on 04 April 2003. His name is Eben. So hello!


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

Alison - funny "bird" story. lily's favorite bird is the chicken, there are a bunch who run wild on our farm - she especially loves the babies... so we were at the store the other day, passing the deli section and she saw the pre-cooked chickens, asked what they were, I told her and asked if she wanted me to get one for her and dh (I am a veg) and she said "no yum the doo" translation, no eat the chicken - sooo funny! I'll get my little one to see the light yet, in her own time, on her own terms


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Hey, guys, this is my 1000th post! So I've decided to share it with you guys!

Welcome Rida and Annik!

Annik, Andrew has been talking for ages, but he still seems to learn 50 words a day--it's just amazing how much they pick up and how fast they pick it up! Right now he's trying to figure out plurals. So we often hear things like "lotsa carses" or "two birdses". I know he'll figure it out evetually, but it's so funny to hear him trying words out to see what works!

Alison


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Wow, that was magic, I'm a Senior Member now!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-







:














: Congratulations on becoming a senior member! Thanks for sharing it with us!

konamama-I am a veg too but dd and dh eat meat...in fact dd LOVES meat best of all. I get her free range organic meat so I feel better about that. I love the "no yum the doo" comment. Cute!

Rida-Welcome! I look forward to getting to know you.

Annik-Welcome! There were so many babies born around here (NW) when my dd was born too. When I went to buy her clothes or diaper wraps her size was often sold out. I had to start buying the next sizes ahead of time!

Tine-my dd loves flamingos too. She used to insist that they were ducks but now calls them mingos. She is an independent little one.

Hope you are all doing well. Dd has a cold and I am hoping and praying that it doesn't turn into an infection! I'm using all the natural remedies I know of. She almost always gets ear infections after being sick. I hope this time is different!


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## Annik (Dec 9, 2003)

Thanks for the welcomes.









Surfmama - have you tried Mullein/Willow Bark/Garlic Oil drops for your DD? We've had great luck with it.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Annik-thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried that but I am hoping to get to the health food store to get some soon! She seems to be feeling better this evening...tonight will be the real test though.....it is always the worst in the middle of the night.


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

Today is Amber's 2nd Birthday














:














:














!!!!! Its amazing because she woke up around 4:30 am to nurse and 2 years ago, she awoke me at 4:15 am w/contractions. She nursed back to sleep and then woke up again at exactly 6:37 am, which is the time she arrived







. I sang Happy Birthday to her and then she told me about her birth, which is "ambur water, mama too, nummies". Translated is: Amber was born in the water and then had nummies.:bf

surf mama~I hope that your dd had a good night. Amber got her very first ear infection this week. She had been battling something for weeks now and this week she told me "mama, ear hurts". We tried garlic oil, but it didn't work for her, so now she is on antibotics.

I have a chest cold, but the party will go on. We are having a family party today, which can be quite big because all of our family is here in town and my dh has 6 siblings. We have our families go in on presents for the kids together, so my side got her a covered sand box w/sand toys and my dh's got her bedding for her new big girl bed.

Amber has been napping in her room in her new bed for about a week now, but we haven't transitioned to night time. She is very proud and loves it.

Happy Birthday Sweetie~

Lisa


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

: Amber!!! Hope you have a great birthday! That's really neat that she woke you right at those special times.








Sorry to hear you're both sick though. Hope you all enjoy celebrating Amber today!

My dd slept much better last night. As far as I can tell-there are no infections yet. Keeping my fingers crossed that she will continue to improve!


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

surf-mama, llily hasn't ever had an ear infection but I have used hte garlic oil drops before and it has been great. do you do hydrotherapy? that is a good one too... for overall sicknesses, especially fevers!

also, I only let dd have organic meat, it is the only way I can handle it - and she loves beaf - she hasn't realized that that is a cow yet...


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

You guys are lucky to have had so few ear infections. Andrew had his first at 10 months in January 2004, his second at 11 months, and then had pretty much constant ear infections until May 2004. We had 7 dfferent antibiotics, and tried all the alternative things we could. Including a few dietary changes, although I don't think we were terribly successful with that, although I did try. They cleared up for the summer, but then bang! Autumn rolled around and he had them again. So we gave up and had tubes put in last October. What a difference! He still gets ear infections, but they drain out the tubes, no pain, no fever, no missing work or daycare. Now I just put some antibiotic drops in if I see discharge and it's cleared up in a day or two. Which I still have to do at least twice a month, which makes me think he'd have had another winter just like the last one if we hadn't had the surgery. It was awful, he was a different child, always grumpy and whiny if he wasn't on antibiotics, I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

Alison


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

Allison~You know, we had the same experience w/my ds. He selfweaned at 20 mo. and 6 wks. later he got his first ear infection and then repeatedly got them for months. We tried everything naturally to treat it~chiropractor, an ND, garlic oil, etc. and no luck. He began having some hearing loss and at that point nothing was working, so we also did tubes. It made such a difference







But the prolonged antibotics did such a number on his digestive system







.

Amber had a great birthday party yesterday. Great weather







and the sandbox that my family got her was such a hit.

Warmly~

Lisa


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Andrew was still nursing when he started with the ear infections. He's still nursing now. I can't even imagine what his ears would have been like if he'd been formula fed rather than the little boob monkey that he is!

The antibiotic use was one of the main reasons that we decided to go for the tubes. He'd had more antibiotics that I had in my first 20 years in his first 18 months!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Happy Monday, everybody. Looks like I missed a lot of posts over the weekend! We had MIL, FIL, and DH's 6yo grandson (from his 1st marriage) stay w/ us for the weekend. Lots of outings, lots of chaos, lots of fun. Yesterday's bday party for Tony was a grand success. And today's his birthday--yay!









It's hard to believe that 2 years ago at this time, I was sitting on a birth ball wondering how on earth I was going to get through that awful back labor. But I did, and here we are, and now I can't imagine life without him.









Rida & Annik: Welcome!

Alison: Congratulations!

Our experience w/ ear infections has been moderate. Tony had 2 during his 1st yr., but none since. Didn't know about those natural remedies at the time, but I'll remember them if he gets another one...thanks for the tip! He does seem to get a lot of colds, so I'm constantly watching for ear issues.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Just checking in. We went to a baby shower today that was for families (ie not just the mamas) and there were 4 2-3 year old boys there, and one 15 month old girl, and a 5 month old baby girl, and they played together and shared and it was peaceful for the entire 2 hours! It was no less than amazing! The host shared his toys with no problems, and the guests were all well behaved and polite. We've decided we need to do it more often!

How's everyone holding up, now that all the birthdays are over? We had a birthday dinner for my sister last night (she'd be an April 1973 baby, rather than an April 2003 baby!), and Andrew was convinced that cake and presents were for him! "My cake, my presents, I open them"!

Tine: how are things going with you guys? Your DH holding up okay? We were at the book awards yesterday, and I was looking for Kathleen but she wasn't there, which seemed odd! Maybe I just didn't see her, it was pretty crowded!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-That baby shower sounds like a great time. I love it when dd gets to play with a nice gentle group of kids. It is so nice to see them playing peacefully together. When kids are possessive or rough, dd insists that I come with her and she plays while sitting in my lap. I am trying to help her learn to assert herself more but so far that's just not her style. At least she knows how to keep herself safe.

We are doing well. Dd is still getting over the same cold but still no signs of infection! Yay!

How are all your kids napping and sleeping these days? Just recently naptimes have changed for us. She doesn't get tired enough until after 3 and if I let her nap it lasts 3 hours and then she goes to bed around 10 instead of 8. Today I tried (with no luck) to put her down early for her nap so now I am going to try to keep her up for an early bedtime. I'll see how it goes. I don't mind letting the nap go but a late bedtime just doesn't work for me....by then I am grumpy and needing some time alone with dh.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

I think we are the only toddler family with an early nap...
lily wakes around 6am, goes down for her nap between 10-11am, sleeps for usually 2 hrs. and then goes to bed for the night between 6:30-7:30pm, which I need, I am tiered by then and need some down-time...to just be.
I am visualizing naps going on for some time, they are a great mellow time in the day - her dad napped until he was 5 and about to start kindergarten and my mil had to "break" him of the habit - he is still a champion napper if given the chance )
I on the other hand am not - don't sleep that well/deep in general, never have...


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Andrew sleeps for 2hrs a day. He has to, he's at daycare, that's their routine. At home, he will tend to nap earlier( around 10 or 11), while at daycare they keep him occupied and awake until after lunch, and he naps 12:30-2:30 or so. He goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00, but he still wakes once or twice during the night, and he's up and raring to go by six most mornings! I'd like to sleep through the night myself, again, I don't know when that's going to happen.

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

lily doesn't sleep through the night - she doesn't actually wake either ), she rolls towards me and says, while still rather asleep, "mama yum", I roll towards her and she nurses back to sleep - usually 2x a night.
someday Alison, sleep will revisit our lives )


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## Annik (Dec 9, 2003)

My son's nap pattern has really taken a turn recently. In the last few weeks he's started going down about an hour and half to two hours later than normal. Ugh! The worst part...now he goes to bed around midnight and sleeps in until 10 a.m. (if I let him). This pattern is making me nuts









How did I end up with such a night owl? We've spent the last year trying to get him to go to bed a "human" hour and it never works. Anybody else have this problem?


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Annik, we've always been really lucky with Andrew and naps. He's an early napper by nature, and at daycare they have to fight to keep him awake until 12:30, when everyone naps. I'd go insane if he didn't have an early bedtime. Even with the early bedtime, it's just recently that he stopped waking up 3 or 4 times before we went to bed ourselves, and we're really just starting to relax in the evenings, after he's in bed, knowing that he won't wake up, and that we can enjoy a movie or something. Honestly, this is one reason that I can see for having your kids close together, making the length of time you have to go sleepless less. Right now, Andrew is going to be one of those who doesn't sleep through til he's 5, I just know it, I was, so was my dad. Anyway, if we have the gap that DH thinks we should (5 years, and that's on the days when he even agrees we should have a second), and that kid is the same, that means 10 years without sleeping through the night for us! I don't think I can take that!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, everybody-

Alison: DH is holding up OK. Though's he's been "officially" laid off, various people keep telling him not to give up hope...that there's a position open in his school and he's at the top of the list. So we've got all our digits crossed and welcome any good juju you care to send our way!

surf mama: DS is a decent sleeper. He typically goes to bed at 8:00-8:30 and wakes up 6:30-7:00, and takes a nap 1:00-3:00-ish. Lately he's been calling out in his sleep a lot. I think he may be getting uncomfortable during the night b/c he's outgrowing his crib. Time to set up the toddler bed! I do worry about this step, though: He's such an "active" sleeper that I just KNOW he's going to fall out of bed a lot until he gets used to it.

Happy May to all. It's snowing here. That's insane! I want spring back!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

We had snow last week Tine. Yesterday we had 50 mm of rain, thank goodness it was rain and not snow. Today it's shorts and light sweater weather. Living where you have distinct seasons can be crazy sometimes!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd started napping again







She is back to a 1pm-4pm schedule! Yay!!! She is getting over being sick and I think she finally feels well enough to sleep good again.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Stomach flu! Argh! He's been puking on and off since Wednesday. Puked EVERYTHING Wednesday and Thursday, since then he's only puked three times, but usually all curdled and milky! And the last one today was purple, cause we thought he was okay and let him have some blueberries.

I'm sick of being puked on! And he's just a miserable little guy! At least the fever's gone though, and he's managing to keep some things down.

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Aw, Alison...feeling bad for you and Andrew. I hope he starts feeling better VERY soon.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hey, April 03 Mamas-

How's everybody doing? Do your DCs seem to be growing an inch a day lately? (Mine does.) Alison, has Andrew's stomach bug vacated the premises yet? Anyone else, like me, suffering from a cold that will. not. go. away? Gah. Buy stock in facial tissue, everybody. I think I've singlehandedly used up 10 boxes in the past week.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Well, after 4 days of puke followed by 3 days of the runs, Andrew finally seems to have recovered. Of course, after that, I came down with it. Luckily mine just lasted 24 hours, although I have a headache that won't seem to go away as the last lingering effect!

We're in the midst of planning our summer programming. Did I ever tell you guys how much I love being a children's librarian? I







my job!

Alison


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## lovnbnhome (Sep 24, 2004)

Hi everyone! I have DD who was born on April 19th. I haven't read through this entire thread yet...but will!! I thought I'd post and subscribe to the thread. Thanks for putting it together! Anyway, I have to run but I hope to get to know more of you soon!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

lovnbnhome!

So many colds and viruses these days!!! Sounds like a bunch of us have been sick. I think my dd is over all of it now...she has a lingering rash from her virus though. Her cold/virus lasted three and a half weeks but no infections!!! She has never had a cold without it ending with some kind of infection so I am thrilled!

Okay beware toddler poop story coming up....yesterday dd pooped in the potty for the first time. At first she looked at me like what just happened and then she looked in the potty and was so proud she said, "A lot of poop, lot of brown poop" Dh was driving to work so we called and she told him. She was just so proud of herself. She is still talking about it today but she doesn't want to sit on the potty this morning....she tells me "later". I think true potty learning is quite a ways off for us but we are slowly working our way toward that direction. Any other kids showing more interest these days?


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *surf mama*







lovnbnhome!
At first she looked at me like what just happened and then she looked in the potty and was so proud she said, "A lot of poop, lot of brown poop" Dh was driving to work so we called and she told him. She was just so proud of herself.

Andrew didn't poop for a few days when he had the stomach flu, when he finally did poop two two days after he stopped throwing up it was awful and abundant. I opened his diaper and said "whoa, that's humongous" (how do you spell humungus anyway?). Ever since then, every time he poops he comes and tells me "I did a mungus, I did a mungus!". He will occasionally poop or pee in the potty. I think if I was home all day and letting him run around naked, we could probably potty train him quite quickly--he's interested and aware that poop/pee is coming.

Oh well. Maybe I'll take a week off this summer and spend it with Andrew naked (well, I'll keep my clothes on, Andrew will be naked :LOL ) and see if I can get him potty trained.

Alison


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## lovnbnhome (Sep 24, 2004)

Thanks for the welcome Ladies!

We have been sick here too but with just coughs and runny noses that won't go away.

DD is interested in the potty too and we have been encouraging her to use it. We stayed home last week and they (she and DS) ran around naked. She would sit on it for a long time and then get up and then a minute later pee all down her leg. She'd freeze with fear and say "I'm all wet". DS is 3.5 and is still NOT potty trained...I'm hoping to get it going for both of them and well on it's way to be done by the time #3 is born. I think she's getting it...she hasn't had any success into the potty/toilet though







Then they were sick with colds and diarrhea







so all of that work was forgotten. This week we are pretty pusy but I think I'll try to have naked weeks again. Sometimes though she won't use it...she'll say "noooooooo" and if she thinks I'm going to put her on it (I won't) she'll scream and run away...is this normal? I don't know









Anyway, thanks for the welcome...See you soon


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi and welcome, lovnbnhome!

Alison- I thought of your "mungus" story last night when Tony had a "mungus" diaper of his own.









He's not terribly interested in potty learning right now. He hates having his diaper changed (you'd think that'd motivate him to graduate from diapers) and knows when he's peeing/pooping, but just can't be bothered, I think. He almost always resists when we suggest sitting on the potty. We're really hoping that this summer will be a turning point. DH (a teacher) will be home with him all day for 8 weeks, so that'll help.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Hey folks! How's everyone doing? Andrew finally got half of one of his 2 year molars! He was working on them forever, then they seemed to just disappear again. Now, suddenly, on is half through, and it didn't seem to bother him at all--not like they were bothering him a month ago, anyway. And last night he slept from 9 until 4:30 am. That's a long stretch for Andrew! Sadly, after doing that, he decided at 5:30 it was time to get up, and there was no keeping him down, so he played in the living room (right next door to our bedroom), while I went back to bed! I never really go back to sleep though in that situation, so I should probably just try lying down on the couch so that at least I'm in the room with him! He's eating voraciously right now as well--anyone else think their toddler is having a growth spurt? I'm sure that Andrew is!

Other than that, he decided last week that breastmilk tastes like ice cream. Oh, and the funniest thing is that he's learned to whisper! It's so cute, he'll come up and ask for something that he thinks he's not allowed, and he'll ask in a whisper, and we'll carry on the entire conversation that way. It's as if he thinks that we're more likely to let him have it if he asks in a whisper! This boy has NEVER whispered before this week!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Alison-that's cute that Andrew whispers to get what he wants. Smart too, never hurts to try things out to see what works.

Tonight when I brush her teeth I'll check out dd's molars...they have all broken thru but they have also been slow to come in all the way. They haven't been hurting her for at least a month now-thank goodness!

I think my dd is growing as well. She has stopped gaining weight and holding steady at 27lbs but keeps getting taller and loves protein especially chicken and salmon.

Hope you are all doing well. We are staying busy and happy despite some rainy spring weather. I am really hoping for some summer weather. I can't wait to hang out at the beach and my garden all summer and dd loves being outside too. Can't wait


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Protein--Andrew does not eat meat. Not because he's vegetarian or anything. Well, maybe he is, but if so, it's self imposed! He won't touch chicken, beef, or anything except fish. Doesn't matter how I prepare it. He loves his carbohydrates and his dairy products and his fruit and veggies! He will eat eggs too. I'm sure his diet is fine, but he just won't eat meat!

It never ceases to amaze me how smart they are, and how individual. I guess before you have your own, you just don't realise this about kids!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, Mamas. Happy to say we're all doing well here.

Friday was scary, though. Tony had a 103.5°F fever and lots of barfing for about 24 hours. (How on earth did you cope with that for a whole week, Alison?) At first we thought he was coming down w/ strep or something, but when he was all better Sat. morning, I decided it must've been food poisoning. Can't tell you how awful that makes me feel, since I'm the cook at our house!

Tony will whisper if he hears others doing it. But he's more likely to shout. He's a naturally loud kid--even his "quiet voice" isn't that quiet. He came out of me wailing and basically never stopped.

I think he's got all his molars but 1 now.

Yes, I think Tony had a growth spurt over the weekend! DH and I woke up yesterday and said to each other, "Does he look 3 mos. older to you?" And when I dropped him off at daycare this morning, DCP said, "You grew!" And she was right: All of a sudden, he's eye-to-eye w/ his buddy Liam, who's 2 mos. older than him and has always been taller. Weird!

Tony doesn't eat meat either. We're vegetarians--well, "fishetarians," I guess. We're pretty relaxed about it; we just happen to not be fond of meat. We eat a lot of salmon & tuna, as well as dairy and eggs. Tony loves eggs and is generally happy to eat fish, too. He has been offered meat, but so far isn't impressed. I think it's a texture thing--he often rejects chewy foods.

Finally, finally, finally, after 4 weeks of cold and rain, we've got a summery day today. Yay!!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Tine-glad to hear that Tony is okay! What a scary weekend. Glad that is over for all of you!

I'm surprised that my dd likes meat so much. Sounds like it is more common for toddlers to dislike it. And I am even a vegetarian. dh eats meat a couple times a week and that is when she has tried it and loved it! We decided that it will always be her choice to eat veggie or meat protein since both will always be available around our house.

Hope everyone has a great week. The sun is coming out and is supposed to stay for awhile! Yay!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine--Andrew had a fever with his barfing for the first 24 hours as well. Tony might just have had a 24 hour flu bug. We've had so many stomach bugs with Andrew--I'm sure it's being in daycare. Whenever he has one, it seems that other kids do to, the day before or the day after or the day after that. I've had food poisoning, and it was WAAAAAY worse, lasted more than 24 hours, and I don't remember having a fever with it. Is fever normal with food poisong?

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hmm. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that what Tony had wasn't flu.

Docs and nurses are always saying flu is a respiratory illness (like a really bad cold w/ fever and aches that lasts for a couple weeks), not a digestive one. And my friend who's a dietitian says there's no such thing as 24-hour flu; when people say that, what they really probably have is a food-borne illness.

Since we had salmon the evening before Tony got sick, and he hasn't been around anyone else with similar symptoms, that darn fish seems the most likely suspect to me. DH and I felt a little "off" that night, too. Maybe we didn't get super-sick b/c we're bigger, w/ stronger immune systems.

I don't know if fever is common with food poisoning, but I do know fever is a sign that the body is fighting an infection.

So....I blame myself for feeding the poor kid some possibly undercooked, contaminated salmon! Bad mommy!







:


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Yeah, I know what you mean about the flu. We call it that, but I remember hearing a scientist on public radio once talking about what we called the stomach flu, that it is actually a bacterial illness properly called "winter vomiting disease" or something like that. That real flu very rarely was accompanied by vomiting, and that there was no such thing as stomach flu. But that people call it stomach flu just as a generic term, nothing to do with actual flu. Often when I say stomach flu I think about "winter vomiting sickness"! Funny the things that you never forget!

If you and your DH were also feeling off, it sounds like it might have been the fish. Poor Tony!

Alison


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Our latest battle: naps. Andrew doesn't want to take them anymore, and he wakes up screaming when he does go down! He NEEDS the nap but he doesn't WANT the nap! Anyone else been here?

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

My dd NEEDS her nap too! She normally goes to sleep at 1:00 easily after a half hour routine. The last few weeks though she will sometimes stay up fighting the nap until 3:00 and sometimes not at all and then melting down and going to bed at 6:30. I just don't understand what makes those days different. On the late or no nap days we have been active, played outside etc. The only thing that seems to help me is feeding her a protein snack when she is resisting sleep and often that will end the struggle....maybe she is in a growth spurt and just hungrier. I'm just thinking this thru as I type so hope this makes a little sense.

Hope Andrew's napping goes smoother soon. It's no fun to have a napless toddler when they obviously need it!!! Oh and one more thought...is it a new thing for him to wake up screaming. For my dd, if she wakes up unhappy I can often hold her and get her back to sleep and once she wakes up smiling I know she is done sleeping and the rest of the day goes well. I know that might not be the case for you-just our experience.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Waking up crying isn't new. He doesn't do it every time, but he does it often. I wondered about it meaning he wasn't really ready to wake up, but have never managed to get him to go back to sleep! He does it at night sometimes and at naps as well. I often wonder what he's dreaming about. If it was bad dreams, that would keep him from wanting to go back to sleep even though he really needs more sleep, wouldn't it?

He doesn't just do it at home either. If it was just at home I would say it's because I was there when he went to sleep but not there when he woke up. But he does it at daycare too, where he goes to sleep by himself--they all lie down on their own mats spread around the room and the teachers stay in the room reading quietly or something.

Hopefully it's just a phase!

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

dd is a very mellow sleeper, but at our last dct. apt. our Homeopath asked if she had night terrors (which our dd doesn't, but it seemed that there were common at this age), maybe that is what is going on...

an another note, lily went IN the toilet 2x yesterday - I have taken a very passive approach to this "learning process" - she came running to me with her puffy toilet seat that goes on the "big toilet" and said "baby pee" so we went, put on the seat, took off the diaper, she sat there and peed. then later, she said"baby poop", did the same thing and she pooped - she was stoked. I will follow her lead and we'll see where she leads us )


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, women! Just a quick note to check in--I've been out of the loop for a couple of weeks b/c I've been crazy-busy at work. Hope you all are doing well.

We've been fortunate overall with naps. Tony likes to snuggle in his bed (and he just graduated to a toddler bed that he LOVES), so he doesn't fight naptime. He does sometimes wake up crying/screaming, though. For him it usually means he's not ready to get up. We always give him space until we hear him chattering or singing happily to himself. For him, that's the sign that he's had enough sleep and is ready to carry on with his day.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Hey, what's everyone been up to? Not much exciting here, except that Andrew just gets funnier and funnier as he gets older! His latest obsession is Bob the Builder. You know, I was always going to be a no-tv mama, but with Andrew waking at 6 pm (on a late morning!), I don't know what I'd do without my good friends Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder on DVD! Gives DH and I that precious extra half hour of quiet resting time!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Still crazy-busy around here. House guests constantly, nutty workload, planning for a 10-day vacation that starts on Sat. Eeeek!

Alison: Tony's obsessed with a Bob right now, too, but his Bob is a fish who now lives in his bedroom (on loan from my sister's 5th-grade classroom for the summer). It's so cute to hear him saying good morning and good night to Bob and asking Bob if he's hungry.

Hooray for an extra 30 mins. of rest. If it took a little Bob the Builder to get that in the morning, I'd do it, too.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

hi everybody









Lately my dd has become more sensitive. Anyone else experiencing this? She is more cautious around others, cries when we have to leave toys behind that don't belong to us, and just gets her feelings hurt really easily. I don't want to be overprotective of her but I do want to be respectful of her feelings and sense of security. I generally let her be as clingy and close as she needs to feel safe and when she has to share or leave toys behind I acknowledge her feelings a lot and then I try to change the subject to something fun to look forward to next. Any other tips? Hopefully this too will pass and then we'll be back to my easy going dd.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, surf mama. No other tips here. Sounds to me like you're doing just the right thing. Tony's been more sensitive lately, too. Not really more clingy, but definitely more easily upset. DH and I both think he's grappling with a developmental leap of some kind, and it's making him kind of edgy.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

sensitive ehre too - not clingy or upset about toy things - but tears over stuff that never garnered that reaction before and also "chewing" her hands when she is feeling that way, especially around "large crowds" and new folks. I think it is just a developmental stage, just requires patience on our end and I'm happy to give that and a bunch more hugs


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

It is so good to hear that it is normal for dd to be entering a sensitive phase. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. She is better at home and most sensitive when we are visiting people. Thanks for the replies.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

it was nice for me to hear hte same thing


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## scheelimama (Aug 2, 2003)

Hi, can I join? Please..... I have a babe that was born on May 3, 2003. She was suppose to be an April baby







Anyway, I started a May 2003 thread a while back and nobody was really interested in keeping it going. It got maybe a total of 10 posts. So, can I join you all?

My dd is somewhat spirited, but she seems to be calming down a bit. She's starting to get a bit more verbal, so I think that's helping. Though, her enunciation is quite poor still. I know what she's saying, but nobody else does. And also, she was in daycare full time since last summer until a month ago. I've been home with them and I think that's really helping her too. More mommy time is always good, right.


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## Proudmom (May 8, 2003)

Hello! I never joined the April birth group for ds, but I noticed this thread. DS has been a bit sensitive lately, and I thought it was because he has a little sister. It looks like it just might be age-appropriate as well...

Anyway, I thought I would pop in.

Proudmom


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, scheelimama and Proudmom!









Scheelimama, my DS was "supposed" to be a May baby and showed up in April...so maybe I don't really belong here, either.









We're taking off on vacation soon, so you won't be hearing from me for a couple of weeks. I look forward to checking up on this thread when we return, and I hope you're all happy and healthy in the meantime!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Proudmom and scheelimama!

My dd is also very verbal but not always understandable to people who don't know her well. Lately her language is getting clearer. She is now saying bunny as bun-nee instead of bun-now like she used to. It is nice to see her language getting clearer but I will miss her funny little ways of saying things









Another new development around here-my garden is growing and dd loves tasting the veggies...ones she would never eat before...she loves lettuce and basil especially. I'm so glad to see her excited about more healthy foods!

Hope everyone is enjoying summer!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Have a good vacation Tine!

DS was supposed to be a March baby, but we ended up in April. April sounds so much nicer than March anyway! So yes, I think we can definitely welcome May babies that should have been in April!

Alison

DS is also being very sensitive about things right now. Not in a clingy way. Mostly, he gets very upset if things aren't the way he thinks they are supposed to be. For example, he MUST wear socks, and if any of us aren't wearing socks, he will tell us to get socks on, or even, as he did to my mum yesterday, go into her sock drawer and bring her socks to put on. He gets VERY upset if someone drives the wrong car--he still talks about the time my sister took my dad's truck away, and that was two months ago! And if you get your teacups mixed up and drink from the wrong person's, whoa! I think in his case it's about control and just making connections between things! But he also is reading our feelings consciously now, which he wasn't before, so if you get upset he will come and comfort you, and get upset himself if he thinks he upset you.

Language is also getting very clear now too. I LOVE hearing him develop his language skills, but I will miss the cute things he says (eg he says kip-pee truck for pick up truck, I will REALLY miss that one, it's just so cute!).

Alison


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

Hi everybody. I think I'm a little late, but I'll introduce myself anyway. My name is Katie and my little spitfire is Caleb. He was born on April 27, 2003, with a midwife in a hospital. He is full of energy and never slows down! He's becoming more verbal over the past month but is still hard to understand. He wants to talk so badly! I'm looking forward to a summer at home with him. I'm a WOHM who teaches 5th grade. DH and I are thinking about maybe adding to our family and trying to get pregnant again over the summer, but I'm not 100% sure. Things are so perfect now! I actually came to this board to see if there were any other mamas out there who are dealing with the same thing. Or anyone with some advice. Caleb loves babies and tries to hold them if he sees them. If I ask him if he wants mommy to have another baby, he says yes, but I don't think he understands exactly what I'm asking. ;-) His absolute favorite obsession is balls. He loves any type of ball and from the moment he gets up in the morning until he goes to bed at night, he wants to play ball. I'm sure there's a lot that I forgot to add, but just ask.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Welcome katiejon1!








I am also thinking of adding another baby to the family. I have been trying for some time now but it just isn't happening yet. Now that dd is 2 she is just so fun and soooo much easier that it has me wondering why I want to start all over with a newborn.....but I really do, so we are going to have just one more.


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## scheelimama (Aug 2, 2003)

Well, I have a 7.5 month old in addition to my spirited 2 yr. old. It was a ton of work in the beginning (as they were just 18 months apart), but it's so much easier now. My 2 yr. old likes to get the wipes wet for me and help change dd2's diaper and she likes to give her binkies and help out however she can. I kind of wish they would have been at least 2 yrs apart. It seems it would be a lot easier. They grow up a lot between 18 months and 2 yrs.


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

we just have the one dd - are 99.9% sure we are not adding to that - won't be 100% until the "final cut" ) (dh hates that term...) it just feels right for us. there are reasons pro and con, I think it just comes down to a gut feeling and for me dd was YELLING at us from the angel world to come, we listned and it has been the best thing ever ) if we were to have another it would be this fall, that wasy they would be a bit over 3 years apart. I ask dd if she wants a baby, says yes, I mention that she'll have to share the boo (still nurses A LOT) and she sayd NOOOOO, no baby. fairly funn )

welcome to all!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

I know that I want to have another, but I really don't want to do it this year. I'd like a gap of four years between. Andrew keeps getting easier and easier, but I want to know he's really secure before we have another. Also, since I get a year of mat leave here in Canada, it would be nice to take that year off just before he starts school, to spend the time with him while I can. DH, on the other hand, isn't convinced that we need two. Mind you, he seems to think we can manage to have only one without using any artificial birth control, and I'm not completely sure that will work indefinitely!

Alison


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

I totally understand what you mean about starting all over with a newborn. Even though things are so much easier with only Caleb, I really want him to have a sibling that he will be close to. My sis and I are 4 years apart, and we don't have that much in common. Maybe 3 years will be perfect for us. Good luck to you, we haven't started trying yet, but I think we're going to start this month!


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

That's awesome that your 2 year old can change the dipe! I have a hard enough time catching Caleb to change his, of course, if he wasn't the one who had to be changed, maybe he'd be a little more willing to help.

I'm banking on him growing up even more between now and the time the baby would get here. He just seems so little when he's the only one around. Get him around real "babies" and I see just how big he truly is.


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

I think three years will be a good age difference. Who knows though, we're just going to kind of go with it and see what happens.


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

DH and I originally wanted 4 years in between, and I don't know why, but here lately, I'm just missing Caleb's babyness. That's awesome that you get a year off for maternity leave in Canada. If we can time it right, I can get the 12 weeks here in the states, plus all of summer break for the kids, so the baby will be right around 6 months old before I have to go back. I wish I could afford to take a whole year off, but it's just not doable at the moment.

*chuckle* at your husband's bc method, sounds a lot like what goes on around here. ;-) You sound like you have it all planned out, we had originally thought 4 years apart too. dh still prefers that, but is not complaining about ttc earlier though. His biggest hang up is that he doesn't want 2 in college at the same time. To which I reply, "have you not heard of the 5 year plan?" I'm not putting off having babies b/c he's living 20 years down the road! lol


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *katiejon1*
I totally understand what you mean about starting all over with a newborn. Even though things are so much easier with only Caleb, I really want him to have a sibling that he will be close to. My sis and I are 4 years apart, and we don't have that much in common. Maybe 3 years will be perfect for us. Good luck to you, we haven't started trying yet, but I think we're going to start this month!

My DH and his brother are 7 years apart, and actually have more in common than a lot of sibs I know who are closer. I really think it depends on the family. I do know that I'd have another right now if he was in agreement, but I can see the benefits of a four year gap for us. I don't think that DS could cope with a sibling right now either! And maybe by the time he's 4, he'll actually sleep through the night!

Alison


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

That's awesome that your dh and his brother are so close. My best friend and her sister are super close and they are 4 years apart. I've always been kinda jealous that my sis and I weren't. I really do think that it has a lot to do with the parenting. The scary thing is I hope I can do it differently so that whenever Caleb does get a brother or sister, we will be able to foster a close relationship.


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## dillonandmarasmom (May 30, 2005)

I hope I can join in as well. My DS was born 4-12-03, but was due 5-2-03, so I, too am feeling inbetween threads.

Dillon is a spirited and fun kiddo who loves to have "Cars and trucks time!" in his room. He also loves to play inthe sand at the park and "trade" toys with other kids. He's very verbal and seems to love repeating the biggest words he hears...

This week he's having a new interest in his poop. It began when he had a rash on his bum and went to scratch as I changed his diaper. I talked to him about why we shouldn't touch our poop, etc., which may have been naive on my part. Now he wants to touch it e4very time. Though he doesn't usually touch it and says ,"No, it's yucky," I'm starting to worry that a poop on the wall or floor experience is lurking around the corner...

Oh, let me mention that almost 10 weeks ago we had Mara, our beautiful and now 15 pound little goddess. Dillon is, shall we say, adjusting. He loves to 'tickle' her and hold her. But usually caps these off with a pinch, scratch or swat. It's hard not to let him be around her because he seems so innocent at first, but then his little emotions take holdd and he acts on them...anyone relate? I love them both so much that it is hard to see his conflicting emotions take place.

I can't wait to hear how things are going with all those other little Aries' out there!


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

Oh this is too funny! After months of not checking in here, I wanted to come see if anyone else was trying to decide about ttc! We're going to start either this month or next month, so ds will (hopefully) be just over 3. His grandma asked him if he wanted a baby brother or sister, and he said "Not yet." :LOL This was a few months ago.
I also feel that everything is perfect now, and I'm scared of all the unforseen changes that come along with a new baby. but at the same time, dh and I both are feeling the call. Like there's a baby whispering in our ears that it's time. Or maybe it's just hormones


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Welcome dillonandmarasmom!

It is fun to check in and see how much we have in common.

Tomorrow dd is going swimming in a pool for the first time. We live at the beach so she enjoys getting her legs wet splashing at the edge of the ocean but this will be her first time in an actual swimming pool. I hope she likes it. Does anyone else take their 2 yr old to pools? I have been hesistant because of the chlorine and germs from little ones peeing







in the pool but tomorrow I'm going to not think about that and just have fun. Hope you are all having a fun 4th weekend...oh, one more question-anyone taking kiddos to see fireworks? We've never taken dd and I haven't decided if I will keep her up this year or not.


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

oh lucky you! I would love to live by the beach! We've been taking ds to the pool since he was like 2 months old, but that's just because there was nothing else to do where we used to live. I remember the loooong showers afterwards, washing all the chlorine off and then lotioning him up. He still loves to swim, although we'd take a lake (or ocean) over the pool any day. The first year, when he was just a few months old, we took him to "see" the fireworks, because we could see them from a couple blocks away from our house. Last year we didn't take him, and I'm not sure if I'll end up taking him this year because dh is working the overnight shift... it would be fun though!


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## katiejon1 (Aug 18, 2004)

We took Caleb to see the fireworks last night. We were up on a hill away from the noise. It wasn't crowded at all. In fact it was pretty perfect. Caleb and I were sitting on a towel waiting. When the first one went off I pointed it out and asked him if he liked it. He got this scared look on his face and said, nu-uh, mom-mom, bye-bye. Then tried to climb over me to go back to the car. So, needless to say, I went ahead and took him back to the car. DH and his brother came back after they were over and we went home. I don't know if maybe Caleb was just tired, but he certainly didn't like them.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

We've been taking Andrew to the pool since he was tiny, and he loves it. I never really worried about the chlorine, to be honest, although we would shower afterwards to try and rinse some of it away. Of course, we take him to the lake as well, and he loves that too! We had him in a canoe for the second time on the weekend. The first time was not successful, last summer, but this year he seems to be ready for it, and seemed to be having fun!

Alison


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Well I took dd to the pool for the 1st time and she loved it-the next morning she asked to swim like a sea horse again







Looks like we will be visiting our local pool more often now!

We ended up not going to the fireworks though. dd and I were both tired so we went to bed early and enjoyed sleep instead!


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi, everyone, and welcome, dillonandmarasmom!

Just returning from vacation at my sister and BIL's house in the mountains of CO. A good time was had by all, and my two big fears (DS being eaten by a bear or falling off the mountainside) turned out to be just bad dreams, thank heavens. DS did great on the plane and REALLY enjoyed getting to know his faraway auntie and uncle better.

We're TTC#2 right now, too. But we have various infertility issues (it took 2 years, 2 surgeries, 1 miscarriage, lots of drugs, and ART to get DS) and don't want to run the gauntlet of assisted reproduction again, so we're in "whatever happens happens" mode.

FWIW, I have much more in common with and am much closer to my younger sister (4.5 years apart) than my older sister (13 mos. apart).

We live within walking distance of both a lake with a big beach and a swimming pool with an awesome kids' area. DS definitely prefers the lake. It's warmer and gentler, and tends to be less crowded. Also, he can throw rocks into the lake (one of his favorite activities). Can't do that at the pool! I try to override my worry about chemicals and germs when we go swimming. They're abundant in both lakes and pools, I fear. But I think (hope) the water experience is worth it--as long as it's followed by a good scrubbing.


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

I must be strange, I'm not usually worried about germs. Except when we fly, then I'm nuts! For some reason I just don't like being stuck in the same air with a bunch of people for so long. I carry hand sanitizer and I'm merciless (to those germs, of course) :LOL


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## AveryLauren's_mama (Jul 28, 2004)

Hi everyone-
Just ran across this post and thought I'd jump in. My dd, Avery, was born April 9th. She is an amazing little red-headed girl. She is very verbal and cracks me up every single day. She is also so sweet and sensitve. My dh tripped over her scooter yesterday and she said, "Sorry, Daddy... I didn't mean to!" and went and gave him a hug and a kiss!!! Avery welcomed a new baby brother, Drew, on March 4th. She was there for my entire labor and birth, which took place at home!







She even swam with me in the birth pool! She loves to sing and recently learned the entire ABC's! She is also about 99% potty trained. We just started wearing underwear on outings yesterday, but she had an accident when we were out today. She is excellent about not going in her pull-ups, but as soon as I put underwear on her, she has accidents... Wierd! Avery weaned at 20 months on her own (milk dried up due to preg.).

Anyway, looking forward to hearing more about your toddlers. I still need to go back and read all the previous posts, but don't have a whole lot of time with two little ones!

BTW, I LOVE this age!!!









Kim


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, AveryLauren's_mama!

I love this age, too.


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tine*
I love this age, too.









I wish I could say that, but I feel like in the last few months someone switched out my DD with a duplicate designed to make my life miserable and drive me crazy! I keep telling myself that its just that she inherited such a strong willed personality from me, and that later on that will be a really good thing, but I'm having a hard time believing I can make it through the next 18 years or so.

I thought it was just the age, but after spending a week with my niece and nephew, who while they throw their shares of fits and have conflicts are nowhere near as sensitive or loud or violent as my daughter - they actually listen to me and to their parents some of the time. Anyone else with a VERY spirited April 03 babe who is running them ragged?


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Hi Mightymoo. I think DS really isn't a bad as I sometimes feel he is. I was told by an older woman I met, one who had a very spirited grandson, that she liked to refer to many of the things that drove her nuts about her grandson (whom she babysat daily) as his "leadership qualities"! And the more I think about this, the more it seems true. The qualities that we admire most in adults--courage, conviction, determination etc--are those qualities that annoy us the most in our children, the things that have us tearing our hair out. I try to remember this when DS is in a complete tantrum because he wants to do something himself, and I won't let him because its dangerous. He's showing determination and intelligence and ambition, and those things will serve him well as an adult. I do love this age, he's a lot of fun, but he's also learning how to push buttons, and to assert himself, and yes, it drives me nuts sometimes!

Alison


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## sprout 1 (Oct 18, 2003)

Oh I agree. I do love this age, for me it seems to just keep getting better as he gets older. I'm almost worried that it's going to stop getting better and someday I'll think, hmmm, where'd that 26 month-old fun go?
There are times, like when we're trying to cross the street, that I'm totally unappreciative of ds's courage! Or his determination, like when he looks over or under his glasses ALL DAY because he doesn't want to wear them. But I'm very proud of how sensitive he is, and I'm *usually* happy for his other qualities that can sometimes make him a handfull. I'd say he is very spirited. Now that it's summer, I'm LOVING the reduced conflicts from- not needing to struggle with tons of clothes, being able to ruuuuuuun outside, lots of fun activities to keep him busy, and just that laid-back feeling that summer brings.
Sorry to hear that you're going through a rough patch, mightymoo. Does your dd talk much? Maybe things will get better when she can communicate her feelings better?
I think it's crazy that there are so many transitions that all children make- from not even knowing they are a separate person, to being completely in charge of their own person! When I'm having a hard time with ds, I try to remember that he's discovering a lot about himself, me, and how we all "fit". Of course I remember this when he's fast asleep for the night, during the day it's a different story!


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## MamaFae (Sep 24, 2004)

HI! While I wasn't on the MDC boards much when I was preggo with Colton he is a Apr 2003 baby and would love to join your discussions.

For some reason I am having a lot harder time dealing with his "toddlerness" than I did with DS#1 (Austin who will be 4 on Friday).

I am hoping some of your little beans are 2nd/middle kiddos and perhaps going through some of the same behavior issues.

I will post more later. Gotta start the bedtime routine.

Blessings,
N~


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, MamaFae!









morgansmom, I just noticed that you're the same mama I replied to over in the MN/WI forum. Nice to see you over here, too!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

I just recently noticed that my dd's behavior is sometimes linked to what she eats. I fed her organic red grapes and she was a wild mischievious little thing...I figured it was just a coincidence but it happened the next time I fed her red grapes too. It's a bummer because she loves them. My dd is usually a pretty calm kid so the difference was really noticeable. Anyone else notice things that trigger behavior problems? Sure is nice to be able to control some of the toddler challenges.


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## MamaFae (Sep 24, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *surf mama*
I just recently noticed that my dd's behavior is sometimes linked to what she eats. I fed her organic red grapes and she was a wild mischievious little thing...I figured it was just a coincidence but it happened the next time I fed her red grapes too. It's a bummer because she loves them. My dd is usually a pretty calm kid so the difference was really noticeable. Anyone else notice things that trigger behavior problems? Sure is nice to be able to control some of the toddler challenges.


I wish I could link DS's "wildness" to something he eats, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern. He has one switch ON or OFF. Period. Loud or asleep. That is it. With a new baby and a colicky one at that the noise level in our home is over the top. The poor downstairs neighbors!

N~


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MamaFae*
He has one switch ON or OFF. Period. Loud or asleep. That is it.

Same here! DS was born yelling and basically has never stopped. Ah well. Gotta love a kid who goes at life with gusto. :LOL


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *surf mama*
I just recently noticed that my dd's behavior is sometimes linked to what she eats. I fed her organic red grapes and she was a wild mischievious little thing...I figured it was just a coincidence but it happened the next time I fed her red grapes too. It's a bummer because she loves them. My dd is usually a pretty calm kid so the difference was really noticeable. Anyone else notice things that trigger behavior problems? Sure is nice to be able to control some of the toddler challenges.

I definitely think this is true. We recently went on vacation with family and as a result my toddler got a lot more sugary foods & juice than she normally does. She was unbearable - we get back home though and cut that back to normal and she was bearable again, though I do wonder if something she eats on a regular basis doesn't trigger some of these irrational fits she throws. I can understand a 'I want something you won't give me' tantrum, but she will often have a tantrum where we are trying to give her what she wants and she alternately demands it and then throws it, etc. These are quite a challenge to calm down. I was thinking of checking out the feingold diet.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo*
I can understand a 'I want something you won't give me' tantrum, but she will often have a tantrum where we are trying to give her what she wants and she alternately demands it and then throws it, etc. .

We get these tantrums too. I've always put it down to that he just doesn't know how to cope with his strong emotions, and so you end up with conflicting emotions. I've noticed with DS that we get these sorts of tantrums when he's very tired, or when he's had a very stimulating day. It's almost like emotional overload.

Alison


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

morning mamas,
3 questions...

1. are all the 4/03 & etc. still taking at least one nap? my dd is, usually about 2 hrs, just seeing if anyone has a dc that has cutit out already.

2. waht about night weaning... my adrenal system is WAY taxed, have a bunch of symptoms of a tiered body but I'm not sure if I am emotionally ready to tackel this - so instead yesterday talked to dd abouthow Mama and Papa don't eat at night, etc. fed her more closer to bed time and more protein and she slept from 8pm to 4am, nursed while still "out" and is not still asleep - that is the longest stretch EVER and something my body could deal with. BUT if I do decide to night wean, wondering if anyone else has done it, when, how, etc.

3. taking a long flight (HI to CO) with dd soon, by myself one way and with dh one way - what do these crazy 27mn olds do on flights? what type of entertainment have you brought with you that works. solo flight is a red-eye, figured she'll sleep most of that one, but the way back is not - she'll nap during some of it, but what else do you do? any cool tircks ?

thanks all, have a great Sunday - we are going to the beach and I'm really looking forward to it!


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *konamama*
morning mamas,

1. are all the 4/03 & etc. still taking at least one nap? my dd is, usually about 2 hrs, just seeing if anyone has a dc that has cutit out already.

Andrew still naps about 2 hours a day. He's in daycare, and that's just their routine. On days when he's at home, he will often nap earlier for less time, but then he's tired WAAAAY too early in the evening, often by 5:30 or so, before we've even managed to feed him dinner!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *konamama*
2. waht about night weaning... my adrenal system is WAY taxed, have a bunch of symptoms of a tiered body but I'm not sure if I am emotionally ready to tackel this - so instead yesterday talked to dd abouthow Mama and Papa don't eat at night, etc. fed her more closer to bed time and more protein and she slept from 8pm to 4am, nursed while still "out" and is not still asleep - that is the longest stretch EVER and something my body could deal with. BUT if I do decide to night wean, wondering if anyone else has done it, when, how, etc.

We talked about night weaning, but I just couldn't manage it. He's pretty determined, and I believe you need to pick your battles, and I'd rather pick daytime battles, I don't have the energy to battle in the middle of the night, so he'd win anyway! What we did do is insist that he sleep in his own bed (it's a toddler bed, in our room), and he has finally started sleeping through. Well, from 8:00-5:00am, which I consider sleeping through. Cutting out the 3 am waking certainly made all the difference for me. We're into our third week of sleeping through now, and it's wonderful! I do also make sure he eats before bed, usually he has some toast or cereal or something, and that seems to help too. He will often toss and turn during the night, and cry out, and I used to always pick him up when he did that. But I also recently noticed that he's not actually waking up when he does this, and that if I leave him alone, he will usually quiet down and go back into a deeper sleep. Anyway,I sympathize with your night weaning issues, I've been there. It does get better. I just hope it STAYS better for us now that it's finally there







:

Quote:


Originally Posted by *konamama*
3. taking a long flight (HI to CO) with dd soon, by myself one way and with dh one way - what do these crazy 27mn olds do on flights? what type of entertainment have you brought with you that works. solo flight is a red-eye, figured she'll sleep most of that one, but the way back is not - she'll nap during some of it, but what else do you do? any cool tircks ?

I flew with DS in March, just before he turned two. Not as long as flight as you. I've found that he still sleeps a lot when flying (he slept for an entire transatlantic flight once as an infant, and also slept the entire way from Halifax to Edmonton,about 6 or 7 hours, plus a touchdown halfway, when he was 18 months old.). I think it's something about the ambient noise on a plane. I did also nurse him on all flights, and I think that helped too. I brought along catalogues from his favourite toys (the Thomas the Tank Engine catalouge, and another catalogue of little cars) that he hadn't seen before, and each of those kept him busy for a while. I also got some new books he hadn't seem before, and some new toys he hadn't seen either, and I wrapped them up. I brought finger foods that keep him busy--in our case, raisins and grapes and cheerios, he insists on eating them one at a time, so they work for ages! He also really liked the little plane sized foods that they serve you, loved opening those, and actually did eat most of his own meal!

Good luck!

Alison


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## MamaFae (Sep 24, 2004)

Naps yes and if he doesn't he falls alseep in his dinner.

My DS weaned back in December







when I was so dehydrated from morning sickness that my milk dried up. But his big brother I night weaned. It was a couple of nights of up rocking and holding and such offering a sippy of water when he asked to nurse and explaining that we only nursing when the sun is up. It was rough but worth it for me.

Now flying... I have been crazy enough to fly a lot with my kids. For your DC's age one of the most fun things is tearing the free magazines they have in your seat back to shredds! Take a plastic grocery sak to put the trash in (a good idea when you travel anyway!) and let him go at it! A lot of airlines also have kid packs. Ask about them when you board. If you are well stocked with snacks that is a good thing. Also get some "new" small toys and wrap them up. Put them in a special treasure box and let him choose one every so often. I used a bunch of McDonalds toys I got at Goodwill for this. Other items that were handy were magnadoodles, playdough, and lift a flap books.

HTH!

N~


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

thanks for the great feedback, hope others have some ideas as well - keep them coming!

the night weaning thing is just rough - I can't see taking the battle on during the night, she LOVES her "boo-boo" and I don't think I could "hold-out", especially since I'm not totally ready for it - we'll see. but it is nice hearing other long-term nursing mamas stories.

what about coloring on flights - are crayons rolling away just WAY too much of a problem?


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## MamaFae (Sep 24, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *konamama*
what about coloring on flights - are crayons rolling away just WAY too much of a problem?

Yes it they are! They keep falling on the floor, rolling behind you and if the seat belt sign is on you can't get up to get them, then you have a screaming upset toddler who wants his crayons NOW! UGH yes that was a bad memory :LOL

I would suggest Color Wonder markers and the coloring book they come with. I tied ribbons to the markers and then tied the other end to one of those clip rings (like the discovery toys rings or I think Sassy makes some) and cliped it to the tray. That worked much better.

N~


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

It is interesting to read about how all the kids are napping. My dd naps most days and sleeps at least 2 hrs when she does. She is also likely to fall asleep at dinner if she misses a nap. My problem is that it is getting harder to get her to fall asleep for her nap for some reason. Once she's asleep she sleeps really well and wakes up so happy. I really think she still needs it and I certainly need it some days too









For bedtime we have a routine that works well and gets her to sleep but she won't go to sleep at naptime when I use that routine. Lately the only way she'll nap is if I drive her to sleep and then lay her down. I wish I could find an at home routine that would work. Any ideas? What works best for all of you when your child is reluctant to go to sleep?

(mightymoo-I just noticed in your sig that you had your baby back in June-a very belated congrats to you







)


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## Annik (Dec 9, 2003)

Surf Mama,

I have the same nap issue with DS. I have to take him for a drive or for a walk in the stroller in order to get him to sleep ever since we weaned at 2. I don't mind this routine so much EXCEPT for the fact that we have a new baby due any day now. Will I be able to keep this up when the new babe arrives??

I've tried multiple times to get him to sleep on his own in the bedroom, but he gets worked up instead of sleepy. Please, any suggestions would be lovely!


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## konamama (Jun 1, 2004)

wish I had some nap suggestinos - my dd still nurses to sleep for her nap, which she takes every day with no problems and for bedtime - am interested to see what people say since I think about this a lot - when the time comes, what will I do?


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## WildChildWeaver (Feb 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo*
I was thinking of checking out the feingold diet.

It is sooooooo good. DD1 was doing all sorts of odd things. Then we got some of the information from the feingold website. We cut out the foods suggested and she changed overnight. (Grapes of any kind are on the NO NO list, as are apples, and a lot of other most common toddler food.) I can't recommend it enough.

NOW
Hi








DD2 was born April 7, 2003 (though she was due March 27) I have been thinking of jumping into this chat. So many of the posts seem to talk about things she is doing. She is amazing and challenging. She is only 16 months younger than DD1 and HAS to keep up with her. Drives me nuts sometimes trying to keep her safe when she has to do what DD1 does but isn't able to physically yet.

Funny thing DD2 did this morning. We were eating cold cereal for breakfast and she loves this. I looked over at her to see that she is spooning her cereal from her bowl into her glass of milk. Amused I said, "Silly, why are you doing that?" She looked up at me briefly, went back to her spooning and said, "Cuz!"

I knew I had a smartypants here but this is a bit early isn't it??









I am hoping to read more of the past posts when I can.

Later


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Welcome, WildChildWeaver!









I have a smartypants, too. DS is the sort of kid who'll fart, then smile mischievously (or giggle hysterically). Then when I remind him to excuse himself by asking "What do you say?" he'll shout "DADDY!" Such a goofy kid.

Just checking in to see how all you mamas and your DCs are doing. Any exciting developments/funny stories to share?

DS is making good potty learning progress. He'll now pee or poop almost every time we put him on the toilet. He's not at the point where he'll tell us BEFORE he needs to go, though. If he remembers to say anything at all, it's usually while he's peeing or pooping in his diaper.

And in other news.... It would appear that I am (shockingly, miraculously, happily) pregnant!







: By my calculations, I'm 6 weeks along (due 3-28-06). I'd be very grateful for any good juju/prayers/sticky vibes you might be willing to send my way.


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine, lots of sticky vibes coming your way!


































































































































That's awesome! I'm jealous!

No real potty progress with Andrew! Like yours, he will pee and poop on the toilet, but can't seem to let us know when it's coming with enough time. He's spending a lot of time naked right now, cause that increases our chances!

I've just noticed that none of the little smilies move or dance on my PC here at work! I wonder if that's something I need to change settings somewhere to fix? Hmm, off to solve the mystery of the unmoving smilies! Well, I just figured out that they work in explorer but not with mozilla. Wierd. Anyway, Tine, I hope that your smilies work, and you can see the fairy dust I'm sending along!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Yes, Alison, I can see all the fairy dust you're tossing my way. Thank you!

Naked time has proven to be disastrous with Tony. He has no qualms at all about pooping and peeing on the floor. Sigh. Here's wishing us both good luck with the potty thing.


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Tine- Congratulations! Sending lots of







:s and







vibes your way! I'd be interested to hear what it is like being pregnant with a 2 yr old too.

I am hoping to be pregnant one of these days, too. But I found out last month that I am hypothyroid so it might take awhile to get everything regulated and ready for pg. I am grateful to at least know why it hasn't happened and now I have hope that it will happen eventually.

I haven't been working on the potty but after reading your posts I just might give it a try and see if dd is ready.

Just last week dd decided to start testing us more. It's a bummer because she was such an easy kid before that and I was spoiled. Well now I am having to deal with her not doing what I ask....fun fun







! I know this is normal and she is still such a sweet little thing.

Well I think that's enough







from me for now


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## Iriemama96 (Jun 24, 2005)

Hello all!!!
Just saw this thread and thought I would jump right in! I have an amazing boy born April 19, 2003. I have been extremley blessed wit a very thoughtfull, emotional, loving, and caring little boy. Though it is tough right now with the new found independance.. i hear " I don't want to" more than I would like.
I am also nine months pregnant due on 8/30 with another boy!








And that is my life...to be spent with three men ..wow. I am only having two kids as I don't feel I have the patience for more. I am 24 and ready to be done havin' babies, lookin forward to the next phase of my life with my little bro's.
I gotta say, I LOVE TODDLERHOOD! I think it's just awesome. We have started to do yoga together recently...love it. And my little boy has weaned himself and is now wanting to use the potty more and more...hurray.
Anyways....lovely to see so many other april '03 momas!!


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## Iriemama96 (Jun 24, 2005)

Kona Momma....
I went through this with my boy, and what worked for us was instead of having "nap time" we have "quiet time" where every nite (or nap) time he does not have to "go to sleep". Quiet time means that he has to be in bed, but may read or play with one of his stuffed animals (usually both) So he sits in bed, proped up with pillows, with his little stack of favorite bedtime books and passes out all by himself when he is ready. Dad and I are not in the room either, as we tend to distract him. And he is learning to go to sleep all by himself, although we all sleep in the same bed...I just love the snuggles!!


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## surf mama (Jan 8, 2005)

Iriemama96-My dd loves yoga too. She is better at it than me. When I turn off the dvd she asks to play again. I have some kids yoga dvd's on hold at the library so those will be fun to try!


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## AveryLauren's_mama (Jul 28, 2004)

Hi ladies-
I just wanted you to know that it is possible for a 2 year old to learn to use the potty! My dd is completely potty trained (or learned, whichever you prefer)! She has been in full-time underwear, including nights, for about a month now. Dd was a VERY early learner, though. We introduced the potty around 15 months and she immediately took to it. She hasn't pooped on the potty since 15 months. She was really good about going potty on the toilet, too, but if she was wearing a diaper, she would often not tell me and go in her diaper.... or tell me too late. She never really liked the potty chair and has always prefered going on the regular toilet, without the attached kid's potty seat. We just held onto her and now she just holds on herself. She spent A LOT of time naked, mostly by her choice. We couldn't keep clothes on her! So, that really helped. We switched to pull-ups/training pants around her 2nd b-day. Finally, about a month ago, I realized that she RARELY went in her pull-up and woke up dry in the a.m. So, we made the jump to full-time underwear. She had a couple accidents in the first week, but has done great since then. I think making the jump to underwear on outings was the biggest part. I was nervous about doing it, but I figured, how will she ever learn unless we just do it? If she has an accident, oh well... we'll change her clothes! We always make sure she goes potty before we leave the house and before naps and bedtime. If she's pretty preoccupied while we're out, I offer her reminders about going.
Anyway, just wanted to share our success story! It's really great when they are out of diapers!!









She still takes 1 nap during the day.... usually around 2 hours. But, the past week, she's been napping for 3 sometimes 4 hours!! I've started to wake her up after 2 1/2 hours because she's been having a hard time going to bed at a reasonable hour. She's usually excellent about going down for naps and bedtime. She weaned







at 20 months when I was 6 months pregnant with my son. I really wanted to get her to sleep on her own (without us laying with her) before my son was born. I found that it was really a weaning process! I would lay with her and then I started to sit at the end of her bed and then eventually would go in my room "to fold laundry" or something. If she cried and REALLY wanted me to lay with her, I would, and then I would just try again the next night. We're finally to the point where we just read books, tuck her in, turn on her lullaby CD, give kisses/hugs, and then she goes to sleep on her own. If she's having a hard time relaxing and going to sleep, we talk a little about the things she did that day in a very soft, calming tone and what we're going to do the next day. I will also sing her a lullaby. I also find that a lot of foreshadowing helps her know that naptime/bedtime is coming.

I would also be interested in learning more about the Feingold diet. What's the website? I've heard great things about it and have been meaning to track down my old Mothering to find the article.

Kim


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## AveryLauren's_mama (Jul 28, 2004)

[/QUOTE] She hasn't pooped on the potty since 15 months. [/QUOTE]

Oops.. I meant she hasn't pooped in her DIAPER since 15 months and has been going on the toilet since then!

Kim


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## scheelimama (Aug 2, 2003)

Congrats Tine!!! Sending sticky vibes your way...

My dd can tell us when she needs to use the potty and has no accidents if she is naked. She's usually good in underwear, but for some reason, it's not the same as being naked to her and she will often have accidents. I'm considering just making the jump to underwear, since I know she is fully capable of going on the potty whenever she needs to. But, we would have to keep diapers around for naps and nighttime and I'm afraid she will insist on a diaper at other times. So, she's probably not quite ready.

Congrats Kim on no more diapers!!! That's awesome. Your dd sounds a lot more verbal than mine. She can't really talk to us a whole lot yet. She can communicate her basic needs and knows the names of important family members. That's about it right now.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Thanks, everybody, for the sticky vibes and prayers. They are much appreciated! And welcome, Iriemama!

I'm seeing a little bit of a pattern with the potty learning stories...seems like the girls are progressing faster than the boys. That matches up with most of the research I've read, too. I guess boys just tend to take longer.

That's certainly been the case with us. We introduced the potty to DS a looooooong time ago (18 mos.), but it didn't really click with him until a few weeks ago. I expect it'll be a similarly long time until he's fully "trained."


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Tine, looking at your due date, I think maybe you're going to have another April baby!

Alison


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Well, nobody has posted in a while. Thought I'd drop by and ask how all the April 03 babes are doing? My DS is hilarious right now! His vocabulary seems to have taken a big jump in the last few weeks, and now that he has a choice for words, all of a sudden, he seems to be having trouble getting them out! He flaps his little arms like chicken wings and dances around, and starts and stops different words until he finds the one he wants to use! It's so funny, and cute too.

And, he's FINALLY sleeping through the night. By sleeping through, he's actually reliably going to bed at 8 pm and not waking until sometime after 5 am. Compared to what we had been doing, that's through the night by my standards!

Alison


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Hello there! Tony is cracking me up these days, too. (Well, I guess he's always been cracking me up for a neverending progression of reasons.) Today, he's asked me "How is your nice day?" about 5 times. I have no idea where that came from, but his solicitude is charming.

Tony starts Montessori preschool on Tuesday. We're excited and nervous!


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

I haven't checked in here in quite awhile. My dd has had quite an emotional and physical growth spurt this past months. She used to be scared of the bike trailer and the big slide at school, but now LOVES







it.







After months of potty learning, she is now in big girl undies all the time, even at naps. She also adores her big girl bed. We co-slept, but now she insists on sleeping in her bed. But the past few days, she has been waking like a newborn at night. She wants to stay in her bed, but is wearing me out







. I wonder if its due to her growth spurt???

She loves to sing and dance and so we are going to try a Kindermusik class next week. I just love having a toddler again!!!









Warmly~

Lisa


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lisamarie*
I just love having a toddler again!!!









:

Well, it's not "again" for me, but I do love having a toddler. It's so fun! Lisamarie, it sure DOES sound like your DD has been growing in many ways. It must be a joy to watch! (Except in the middle of the night, of course.)


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## lisamarie (Nov 19, 2001)

Tine~

Thanks for the feedback!







Its been quite awhile since my oldest was a toddler, so I didn't remember him going through this stage. Thanks for the input though, makes me feel like I can get through some more rough nights.

Warmly~

Lisa


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