March/April Thread #3

[Little Bear's Mum]

Judy -  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: I love it! Luckily when daddy came into the house we had a totally different response. HUGE SMILES    

Nikki - I've started reading that post you linked up. Very interesting, haven't got time to finish it though so will go back to it. Isn't it funny how one question can cause so much healthy debate. I've often wondered about the dropping and picking up game. At what age do they 'learn' that it's a game, not just 'if I drop this mummy picks it up'. If I keep reading maybe they'll answer the question.

Along these lines, what sort of age does NO mean something? Now that Daniel's nearly mobile I guess there's going to be things that require NO, although I want to try to eliminate most things like that from the lounge. My thoughts on how to teach him what he's not to do is if I say no and remove his hand/him from the situation. Would this be right? At what age range can we expect them to actually understand no and then learn from that? For all I know it might not be until they're 2 or 3?  :oops:

[Carter'sMama]

I am very glad to hear that some of you are having better nights (Hayley/Traci/Ankie)!!  I now how frustrating it can be.  My problem is that I always want to figure out the cause  ... everything has a cause and I will make myself nuts trying to figure out what I did different that might have woken him up, or what might be bothering him so that he won't nap well etc.  DH eventually gets upset with me and tells me sometimes things just happen and it's no ones fault and there is no reason behind it ... just deal with it!!!  Anyway, here's hoping that your nights only get better!!

Ankie:  I am sorry to hear about poor Arwin.  I hope she feels better soon.  I too had a fissure after delivery and it took a long time to go away.  Did the Dr recommend a stool softener for her?  Are you giving her more fibre foods (prunes, apples, pears) and staying away from the foods that "bung" you up (bananas, rice)??  When Carter wasn't pooping we gave him lots of oatmeal!!!

Anyway, I am off to watch Will & Grace and ER and then bed for me so I will talk to all you mommas tomorrow!  Have a good night everyone!  :lol:

Oh ya, almost forgot ... not sure if I should say anything, don't want to jinx myself or seem like I am rubbing it in but Carter had his first EVER afternoon nap that lasted longer than 1.5 hours yesterday and then another one today!!!  I hope it lasts!  His afternoon naps are always short (20 mins - 1.5 hrs occasionally) so I was very surprised and happy!!
Ok, that's it - good night!

[albertasweetpea]

Nikki - just wanted to say thanks for the link to the other forum regarding independant play. Very interesting to read the different/same opinions on "teaching" your child to learn to play independently.

My brain hurts now though.  :shock:

[Colesmom]

well, went to put him down at 6:10 and it took an hour.  took him out a couple of times, left the room to have him cry a minute (usually he'll settle after this-nope), gave tylenol, changed a poopy diaper and ended up holding him to sleep.  Not sure what was going on.  Did full and proper windown tonight (last night was rushed).  hmmmph.  maybe he's just switching his clock to sleep at a different hour?  7-7 instead of 6-6 or something.  I could kill myself analyzing this.  We'll just see how the night goes.  Not a peep out of him yet

great post Judy- I love your parenting style.  And your MIL seems pretty cool although I think I'm more like your mom :oops: okay, not THAT bad...but the pee may have gotten to me.

[Arwyn's mom]

Hayley... about saying "no". Arwyn already understands the concept. I usually say, "no, no" then an explanation. For example, "No, no... that's dirty." and then remove it or her. I repeat this for most everything I want her to learn. I agree with Judy that this too, is her house but it isn't usually about stuff I don't want her to touch. It is stuff like, chewing on the fringe of the area rug (yuck!), pulling up on the bouncy chair at a funny angle (dangerous), pulling up on the torchiere lamp (dangerous), etc. I know she understands what she is allowed and not allowed to do because she will look at me as she tries to do it. So... she will have the fringe of the carpet in her hand, her head cocked at a funny angle so she can see me and pull the fringe into her mouth, then wait for the "no, no" before she lets go of the fringe. I don't know if she truly understands but she stops. You are right... I don't think they actually understand what "no" means until they are 2 or 3.

Traci... good luck tonight. Perhaps go with the flow for Cole's bedtime if it is within an hour's time? I don't know if you are comfortable with that. You probably log this info... do you see a pattern or a common time emerging?

Arwyn used to go to bed at 7 and wake at 6:30 but now, I know Arwyn's internal clock tells her to go to bed at 6 pm, no matter what time she got up in the morning or what time she got up from her last nap. Doesn't matter what I do (with the exception of completely messing up her day), she will start to get cranky at 5:30 and want her bath, book, BF and bed.

Okay... tonight, after I get 2 tbsp of carrot, 25 Cheerios, and 2 oz of EBM into her tonight, I ask DH to cut some cheese to give to Arwyn. I tell him to cut them into long thin strips but he feels he wants to cube it very small. I protest but I let him do it. He gives them to Arwyn who manages one quite well. I was still worried... my worries come to fruition when she chokes, coughs and THROWS UP all of her dinner! And this is the first solid food she has had in 3 days!!! :roll: Jeez Louise!

Kate, Traci, Jo... anybody else out there having difficult nights... fingers crossed!

[Olivia's Mommy]

Nikki--thanks for the link to the discussion on independent play...very interesting.

Judy--I read your post and almost said out loud, "Right on, sister...you go!" In other words, I totally agree with your comments...wholeheartedly. And your story was HILARIOUS!!! Thanks so much for sharing.

Well, we have more teeth coming in. I thought something was up. She's been a little "off" yesterday and today. Not fussy or anything (didn't have problems with the first two either), but she's been really restless and tugging at her ears and slobbering on EVERYTHING!!! It took 45 min to settle her for bed tonight. She usually goes right down. At least she's not cranky...just won't settle. What a little crazy girl!!!

Hope everyone has better nights!

[hayes]

HI Ladies!  Hope everyone is doing well.
Strange things happening around here... screaming the last two nights when put to bed, Ben gets settled quickly but when DH walks out of the room the screams resume.  Lots of ear pulling and drooling and some crying when eating solids.  I know you may say teeth does anyone think he should be checked for an ear infection?
Judy-How are things going with your MIL any more funny situations?  My MIL only makes me cringe.  I usually need to leave the room when she has an extended amount of interaction with Ben.  It is usually very limited.  Thank goodness she lives a plane ride away.
Nancy-Ben is going through the same thing with SA.  He does okay at the nursery at Church but unfortunaly Church is at the beginning of his nap time so we have some very interesting Sundays.  I also have a very "dear" :evil: friend of mind who works in the nursery who is constantly making comments about my overtired son and my overpacked diaper bag.  I almost apologized to her in a very sarcastic way for not cleaning the bag out for her.  i just leave all of the toys he takes with him when he goes to a sitters house once a week.  ARRRGGG
Traci-Got the list, thank you thank you.  Sorry for all of the emails. :shock:
Erin-Your thank you to the ped. sounded great, I always go with over thanking and straight from the heart.
Ankie-Ben was playing with the fireplace tools today (bad mommie)and he looked over at me when he first got there with questioning eyes.  I let him experiment for 2 minutes then took him away from the area.
Nikki-Thanks for the link to Seperation anxiety.  DId anyone else feel a bit of heat coming off of that conversation?
OFf to bed.  Once again won't be making the chat, we have company coming into town.  Hope everyone has a relaxing and sleep filled weekend.  Lots of rain here so maybe everyone will stay in their jammies.
macaire

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Ankie, I loved reading what you were writing about "no" and then at the end, yep they don't really get it until 2-3. LOL.  I think you're right that they know you're saying "no", but they just don't have the impulse control to follow through with that for a while yet.  It's funny, Nathan was right into things at this age, but Danielle just sits there and quietly plays with her toys still, I guess cause she's not moving around it's not a problem.  Nathan at 2.5 definitely know's "no", but still doesn't necessarily stop doing whatever.  I honestly just don't pick battles on most things anymore, not because I'm being slack, but it's about letting go of control on my part.  The only things I really enforce are safety (which is like standing in the bath, eating food upside down or like you describe about the fringe) and respect for others/or things.

Judy, I now know all about "broken food" - what the heck is that all about???  :roll:  Fortunately I managed to "fix" Nathan's piece of cheese today when it split.   :lol:  OMG, I thought the world was going to cave in when his cheese was broken!  BTW, how's your Unconditional Parenting book going?

For anyone interested, I never went into parenting with any real preconceived ideas about a lot - smacking (spanking) was something I thought everyone does if needed (even a tap on the hand), leaving to cry was normal and expected, not letting babies get "spoilt" was a necessity.  I'm so glad I found BW in time to and to learn otherwise from the wise women on this site before the need arose.

[james030405]

HI Everyone,  well our nights have gone back to normal  sleeping through from 7pm till 5:30-6am.  I think having set nap times during the day at 9am and 2pm have really made a difference.  I use this time even if he wakes at 5:30am I keep him up till 9am.  today he slept for 2.15hrs in the morning I have also put his dinner time back to 5:30pm with his bottle at 6:30pm and I am finding this has worked for the last two days of making his awake time later.  I know they say if you keep them up at night doesn't mean they will sleep longer in the morning, but what about food intake?  does later food mean later sleep?

Ankie, I give James slices of cheese and he copes really well with this. I don't think I would be comfortable giving cubes of cheese just yet.  James is also starting separation anxiety.  He is doing great when it is just him and me, but someone else comes he get very cuddily (which I like )

Anyway, we are down to using cups for every milk feed except for his one before bed and it is going great.  No more bottles (almost).

Hope everyones nights are getting easier.  My heart goes out to you who are having sleepless nights.   :oops:

Have a lovely weekend, I have written my cards but no photos I am afraid.  Will send next week.

Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala

[james030405]

**POO WARNING**

Reading Judys story reminded me about the other night with james.  we always let him have a crawl around after his bath with no clothes on.  He loves this and we have had a couple of wees until last night.  He was standing holding onto his cot, when I heard him grunt and out it came :lol: Now, we have hardwood floors and a rug in his bedroom and can you guess where where he did it?  Yes, on the rug.  I was concerned about getting it off James and DH was asking me (through dry retches  ) "how do I pick it up?"       :shock: I said to get some paper towel, he did this and then I found him taking the rug out sides and hosing it off.     :lol:  :lol: Hence, the rug is still wet and James got his nappy on very quickly tonight after his bath. 

This situation led me to wonder about toilet training at 9mths.  Is anyone game enought to try?  Do you know anyone who has tried it?

Hope there was not TMI, but I thought it was funny. 

Chat soon

Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear

[Colesmom]

just wanted to say WOW Lisa on the whole cup thing.  That is soooo great.  What kind of cup do you use?  One with a valve or just an open cup and you help?  Just curious.  I'm not such a big fan of the Nuby cup anymore.  Cole is more interested in just chewing on it than drinking.  I'm thinking I may have to go straight to the cup since the bottle is just not happening. 

As for TT at 9 months.  I'm going to give it a whirl I think.  Maybe we'll see what my energy level is like in a month

As for us, good sleep from 7:15-10:05pm, fed, back down and then waking every hour from 1-5:20.  Settled well each time thankfully.  Held to sleep once actually now that I think about it and I fell asleep in the glider. hmmmm, maybe that's the reason for my sore neck. :?  fed at 5:20, back down and I thought he'd sleep til 6:30 but nope up at 5:50.  Thankfully he just took a 1.5 hour nap.  Yay!  Really needed a long one since he went down early due to early waking.  Like your idea of set nap times Lisa, but I don't think Cole is ready for that.  I find he gets too tired and can't get past the 45 min. mark.  Oh well, in time.

Anyone else find themselves looking at their lo thinking they've grown up too fast?  He's sitting playing contentedly with his macaroni shaker and just looks like such a big boy :cry: 

Thankfully runny nose didn't hinder sleep too much.  I don't think that caused the wakings anyway.

oH yes, a Q-does anyone else stay with their LO all the way to sleep?  I still have to stay...as he screams when I leave.(so yes macaire, i know what you mean)  This is going over a week now.  Do you think it will get better when his teeth come through?  Sure hope so!

off to get coffee.  got a touch of Cole's cold and a kink in my neck. There is snow on the ground.  Can you say jammie day!

OH-for those that may be wondering-Holly is up north at her parents.  She left me a message yesterday.  just wanted to let you know she didn't ditch us!

and one more thing...last list going out today. Final addition is albertasweetpea (Michelle)

[Judy]

Ok who recommended those baby mum mum things.  OMG there's sugar in there!!  I'm so freakin' anal eh... I bought them and the babes were chewing on them and I'm bored so I read the ingredients and item #2 is sugar. 

Ok so you want more funny stories eh?  Well here's how our morning started...  4.45AM Kaia woke up. I managed to get her to quiet down and go back to sleep in about 15min but not before she woke up Hannah.  I was in and out, she would fuss then lie quiet and finally at 6.15am I went in and they were both chatting and had pooped.  Ok so then I hear Sarah crying.  She never wakes that early so I was worried she'd peed the bed.  Nope   But likely needed to go.  I asked she only wanted daddy and I got screamed at "noooooooo mommy!!! Go!! Want Daaaadyyyyy"  So she got up and I said that Daddy was now in Germany and got a stern "NO!! Not Germany.  No more Germany!!". Finally calmed down and was willing to hug me.  I asked, suggested, pleaded, reminded her to pee before I started to feed. "NOOOOO not pee!!!"  ok ...  so no sooner do I latch on the girls and she runs down the hall.  I hear the pee but it doesn't sound so much like it's going in the toilet.  Then I hear the feet splashing and dancing in the puddle of pee :roll:.  This goes on for awhile and I keep saying to myself 'oh well doesn't matter now if I wash the bathroom floor and the hall floor it's really all the same'.   So she comes traipsing out to where I am but I stop her at the edge of the kitchen 'keep your wet feet off the carpet' so she touches the carpet with her toes "just with my toes mommy"  

So I bathed her, then washed the floors and sat back down to finish nursing all before 7am.  MIL sat down and laughed "off to a good start eh?"

We're getting a big snow storm today - Traci you getting this?  Guess we're housebound today (she says as if she actually gets out on a good day LOL)

Gotta scoot - Sarah's having a rough day, overtired.  Trying to get socks and shoes on both feet and both hands!!

[Olivia's Mommy]

Macaire--we also have interesting and LONG Sundays as our church starts right at Liv's naptime as well. But of course, there's so much stimulation she rarely goes to sleep, and when she does it's usually out of sheer exhaustion about 10 minutes before we pick her up. They always tell me, "She was fine until about 20 minutes ago, then she just started crying and she wouldn't take her bottle." I want to tell them when I drop her off, "OK, she's ready for a nap, but she won't sleep with all this activity going on. And that means that when it's time for her bottle, she'll be too tired to eat. So by the time service is over, she'll be in full-blown meltdown and you'll just have to try to comfort her until she finally wears herself out." But I know they don't want that much information. I feel bad puttting her through that every week (well, OK we don't exactly make it every week anymore), but it's something I feel is really important, not only for her, but also for DH and me. At least she gets a good nap in the car on the way home (it's a 30-minute drive)

I think Liv has just started to pick up on "no" the last week or so. For awhile now, I've been saying "no ma'am" (not in a scolding way, but firm and loving) when she does something she's not supposed to (usually dangerous). Then I'll follow it with what she SHOULD do. For example, "No ma'am. We don't touch the Christmas tree, we just look at it." (She loves to roll toward the tree and try to pull on it.) (I add the "ma'am" because my family is from the South and 'yes ma'am/sir' 'no ma'am/sir' is big down there. I like that it is respectful and want to pass that on to Liv) Anyway, last night I was making dinner and she was playing in the floor in the living room (a few feet away). I had just moved her back to the middle of the floor, because she had rolled up against the couch and got mad that she couldn't go any farther. (She's not crawling yet, but she's made rolling a new art form.) I went back into the kitchen to stir something on the stove. When I turned back around, she was lying under the Christmas tree, holding on to one of the branches, just looking at me, waiting for me to say something. What a stinker!!!

[Richelle]

Hello Everyone!!

Warning - LOOOONG Post!  I need a fix it has been a few days!

Phewwwww I finally caught up, I missed alot!!  I also read the thread Nikki posted re. independent play - thanks for that Nikki, it totally reinforces my desision to stay at home with Sophie to nuture our relationship and her development.  I also have only now had the benefit of reading some of Teddy's posts and am bummed that she is no longer a part of this site !

I love love hearing everyone's birth stories funny enough!!  You couldn't pay me when I was pregnant to listen to/watch or go to birthing classes (mind you when I was pregnant I worked 60 to 70 hours a week :shock:  :oops: )  I wouldn't even watch 'A Baby Story'!!  Not to leave anyone out but Bec I was creased up reading your story - how in the heck can you make that experience sound funny?!!  Also, what is this about gas?  I have never heard or seen that?  Is it to relax??

Another question for everyone:  Who found out the sex of their lo and why or why not?

I found out as soon as possible (I think at 16 weeks).  I am one of those nosy people though that has to know everything, KWIM?  I knew that my OB would know and I couldn't stand the thought of him knowing and me not :wink:  !  If I know where I have presents hiding I will peek ect...Next one I think I may try to leave it as a surprise.

Anywho - first off, the packing went OK and DH tells me we are all moved and he didn't forget anything (we'll see!!) and Sophie was a superstar traveler!  Everyone sitting next to us on both 4+ hour flights said they have never seen a better baby    !!  We got to Saskatoon (-18 degrees by the way) at midnight, went to a hotel and put Sophie in the hotel pack n play and she went straight to sleep, although her first walk outside here woke her up and she really did not appreciate being put into a stay puft marshmallow suit while 1/2 asleep! 

I am so sorry to those living with winter for the next months but how in the heck do you stay sane dressing these babies up everyday, I hope Sophie gets used to it!

I also thought Sophie would really need some adjustment time here for the climate/different house/bed, travel mararthon ect.. but nope.  She is in a pack n play here as well and goes straight down for her naps and last night went to bed at 7PM and I had to wake her this AM at 630  :shock:  !

My mom was so surprised (did I mention that this was her surprise b'day present from me?) - started crying which I have seen her do only once before at a funeral and it is great to be here.  We are headed to the lake tonight for the weekend to celebrate my mom's b'day so and I'm not sure if I will bring the laptop, so may miss the chat tonight.  It is always great when we 'get together' i hate to miss it.  I also wanted to mention that with all this craziness my cards will be late :oops: !  I can't decide on a picture.  I may try and get them done here as they will post faster from Canada than the Caribbean.

Geez, such a long post and I haven't even got to anyone yet!!

Judy`-`LOL and your MIL, another house that I would love to be a fly on the wall in.

Ankie - I hope Arwyn is feeling better!  An ear infection and a fissure for the love of Pete...the poor thing!

Traci - I play the 'analyze everything' game as well!  All you can do is try different things until you are both comfortable, I sounds like everything is settling down and well done DH for the settling!

Naomi - Well done Riley and still waiting on the hot mama pic of your new do/wardrobe!

Kate - How are things over there?  Any better?

Hayley - Hope you and DH are doing  :wink:  well!!

Nancy - Sophie takes a few minutes now to really regard who is aproaching her and/or holding her and I think that the anxiety is not far behind.  I say sod it to whomever thinks that you need their inoput, I believe it is impossible to spoil a baby!!

That is it for now - I am sure I will be back today before we go AGAIN!  Hope everyone is good good good!

[Colesmom]

Judy-LOL your girls are priceless.  all that by 7am-phew, i am tired just thinking about it.  remind me to get all hardwood in our next house :wink:  yes, a touch of snow here.  haven't looked at the news, didn't realize we were getting a storm.  i'm ashamed to say Big Bird is babysitting Cole right now.  I feel like poop and can barely carry him with my neck :oops: 

DH has his company Christmas dinner tonight too so I should be at chat ladies.