PS Mommy thread with toddlers 12-36 months

[Loves Vintage]

Noel - Those are beautiful photos. Skye is stunning in that last photo! I am glad to hear your transition has gone so well. I'm envious of all of the traveling you get to do!

 

[noelwr]

thanks LV! what are your plans for Thanksgiving? if I remember correctly from previous photos, you live near woods (I remember there was a photo of S by the window). must be beautiful this time of year.

 

[Puppmom]

Noel, what a beautiful and sassy young lady you have!

 

[Skippy123]

Great pics NOEL and KUNZITE, love them!!!

GERI, LV and NOEL, thank you for your post about tantrums!

 

[noelwr]

What's going on with your kid's eye colour?

S's are still dark green-gray with a brown center. I thought they would have turned brown by now.

 

[Skippy123]

Miles had blue eyes, but now they are hazel/maybe green/ slight blue with some brown. weird color. lol

Evans are deep Brown.

I have a nephew with super blue eyes and a little before 2, his turned green.

That is cool that they are that color Noel!

 

[Loves Vintage]

thanks LV! what are your plans for Thanksgiving? if I remember correctly from previous photos, you live near woods (I remember there was a photo of S by the window). must be beautiful this time of year.

Noel - I started a response to this earlier, but then lost my post. We had a small Thanksgiving here. It was really nice. The trees are beautiful. Mostly only yellow leaves are left on the trees right now. We were outside all morning cleaning up leaves and stacking wood. Fun stuff. S was playing alongside us. She loves being outside. I've got her winter gear ready. I don't think she cares what the weather is like. She wants to be outside!

Tell us more about your helper. Is she from Singapore? Maybe Malyasia, I would guess. Does she cook mostly Asian food? Will she be with you for a set period of time, like a year, or is it assumed to be on-going. It must be soooo nice to have the help. We broke down and hired someone to help us with cleaning because I just couldn't keep up, and honestly, it's never been a strong point of mine! Anyway, I've talked to some of my co-workers in HK about how it works there (with live-in help) and so curious if it's the same in Singapore.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Samantha put her own shoes on yesterday! I was outside doing more yard work. DH was inside with her. She went to the door, put her shoes on and walked right out. Yes, she can open the screen door too!

Oh, and then she proceeded to not take a nap! Never happened before. What is up with that? She seemed really ready for sleep at 5:30. We hoped for the best, but knew she would be up. And, she was at 7 or so. I really feel like the time change has messed her up, but she was up at 7 this morning, so hopefully she is back on track!

 

[Kunzite]

Samantha put her own shoes on yesterday! I was outside doing more yard work. DH was inside with her. She went to the door, put her shoes on and walked right out. Yes, she can open the screen door too!

Oh, and then she proceeded to not take a nap! Never happened before. What is up with that? She seemed really ready for sleep at 5:30. We hoped for the best, but knew she would be up. And, she was at 7 or so. I really feel like the time change has messed her up, but she was up at 7 this morning, so hopefully she is back on track!

We're going through the same thing! I read that it's really common at this age and usually resolves at some point. We currently have a two hour rule, he stays in his crib for two hours and if he doesn't fall asleep I'll take him out. He's been falling asleep right at the two hours the last week or so (2:30!!) and then is so tired he takes nearly a two hour nap. That makes bedtime unsuccessful as well because he slept so late. Ugh! Of course he still wakes up around six in the morning regardless I think I'm going to designate a nap wake up time and not let him sleep so late anymore to see if it helps bedtime. Night sleep is so superior to nap sleep that I need to fix the bedtime problem first. Although I do admit that my day is MUCH easier when he's in bed for four hours and I only have the babies

 

[Loves Vintage]

Samantha put her own shoes on yesterday! I was outside doing more yard work. DH was inside with her. She went to the door, put her shoes on and walked right out. Yes, she can open the screen door too!

Oh, and then she proceeded to not take a nap! Never happened before. What is up with that? She seemed really ready for sleep at 5:30. We hoped for the best, but knew she would be up. And, she was at 7 or so. I really feel like the time change has messed her up, but she was up at 7 this morning, so hopefully she is back on track!

We're going through the same thing! I read that it's really common at this age and usually resolves at some point. We currently have a two hour rule, he stays in his crib for two hours and if he doesn't fall asleep I'll take him out. He's been falling asleep right at the two hours the last week or so (2:30!!) and then is so tired he takes nearly a two hour nap. That makes bedtime unsuccessful as well because he slept so late. Ugh! Of course he still wakes up around six in the morning regardless I think I'm going to designate a nap wake up time and not let him sleep so late anymore to see if it helps bedtime. Night sleep is so superior to nap sleep that I need to fix the bedtime problem first. Although I do admit that my day is MUCH easier when he's in bed for four hours and I only have the babies

Interesting! Glad to know it's common. I should really read more about kids and what to expect! Lol. So, what does O do in the crib? Does he have toys in there?

The first day this happened, she stayed up til 5, then started getting cranky. I think we gave in to a nap at like 5:30, then she was up around 7 and ready to party! She needs to be up for like 4-5 hrs before she'll go to sleep again. So, naps have been sketchy and a struggle.

Oh, here's the secret to a good nap! Swimming. She will nap for a good 3-3.5 hours of sound sleep after swimming. It's amazing. She totally tried to fight her nap too, but I encouraged her to stay in bed, and she.could.not.resist sleep. It is so perfect. She's doing really well as swimming too, btw! She may be ready to just have the foam belt thing around her soon (with me right there of course.) But, it seems like she's a natural in the water! Ahhhhhh, suuuuuuuuuuuchh a good swimmer! Ok, I'll stop now. Hee-hee.

 

[Kunzite]

And here we are 2:15 and he finally fell asleep! What a stinker! If only he knew how close he was to getting out He normally doesn't have toys but every now and then he wants to take something to bed with him. He runs back and forth for a bit, does his yoga poses, plays under the blanket, repeats all of the words he knows, and kicks the wall. The wall kicking usually results in a visit from mommy because Elliot is asleep on the other side!! The funny thing is that the days he falls asleep the latest are the ones that he runs around ALL day like a maniac! I always think he's going to be so worn out and fall right to sleep but he has other ideas.

 

[Loves Vintage]

That's so awesome that he will just do his own thing and not freak out for that long, well except for the wall-kicking part. On crazy run-around days, she doesn't necessarily sleep well either, but there's something about swimming. It's been fool-proof for us. I love it because I can get a lot done. Err, must stop posting on PS now. Back to work for me!

 

[Skippy123]

And here we are 2:15 and he finally fell asleep! What a stinker! If only he knew how close he was to getting out He normally doesn't have toys but every now and then he wants to take something to bed with him. He runs back and forth for a bit, does his yoga poses, plays under the blanket, repeats all of the words he knows, and kicks the wall. The wall kicking usually results in a visit from mommy because Elliot is asleep on the other side!! The funny thing is that the days he falls asleep the latest are the ones that he runs around ALL day like a maniac! I always think he's going to be so worn out and fall right to sleep but he has other ideas.

Evan got out of his crib this weekend; we hard a plop and then a bunch of crying!!! We weren't at the lowest position on the crib so hubby lowered it! Agh, I kept telling him to lower it, but my friend who has twin girls, one of the girls fell out and she was at the lowest position. I know they don't have crib tents anymore so what do people do????


My boys are napping once a day at around noon and sleep a from 7 pm to 6:30 am. They have colds right now so sometimes they wake at night but not too often.

 

[Kunzite]

And here we are 2:15 and he finally fell asleep! What a stinker! If only he knew how close he was to getting out He normally doesn't have toys but every now and then he wants to take something to bed with him. He runs back and forth for a bit, does his yoga poses, plays under the blanket, repeats all of the words he knows, and kicks the wall. The wall kicking usually results in a visit from mommy because Elliot is asleep on the other side!! The funny thing is that the days he falls asleep the latest are the ones that he runs around ALL day like a maniac! I always think he's going to be so worn out and fall right to sleep but he has other ideas.

Evan got out of his crib this weekend; we hard a plop and then a bunch of crying!!! We weren't at the lowest position on the crib so hubby lowered it! Agh, I kept telling him to lower it, but my friend who has twin girls, one of the girls fell out and she was at the lowest position. I know they don't have crib tents anymore so what do people do????


My boys are napping once a day at around noon and sleep a from 7 pm to 6:30 am. They have colds right now so sometimes they wake at night but not too often.

How scary Skippy!! When O is being crazy in his crib I watch him on the monitor like a hawk! He could *easily* get out if he tried, but for some reason it's never occurred to him!! I know one day soon we're going to be in trouble though!! Really all you can do is find a way to cushion the fall or change him to a bed. I dread the day!!

 

[Skippy123]

We don't have a monitor; I am so close to their room I never thought I would need one. I just hope mine stay put too! I want to keep them in their cribs as long as possible. If they were in little beds, I know they would be getting up every few mins. I hope O doesn't figure it out anytime soon. I did google and saw this?? I wonder if it works???

http://www.diapers.com/p/jeep-crib-netting-142561?site=CA&utm_source=cse&utm_medium=cpc_D&utm_term=HIS-050&utm_campaign=Google&CAWELAID=1338651423&utm_content=pla&cagpspn=pla&ci_kw={keyword}


Oh boy, look at what we are in for Kunzite; here is a blog where some twins get out of their cribs! lol
http://www.mamabirddiaries.com/the-mamabird-diaries/crib-tents-are-recalled-and-were-emotionally-unstable/


LV, I hope S naps for you!!!

 

[pavelover]

Skippy Gulp!!!!! Oh the fun I have to look forward to . Tyler never climbed out of the crib (he's just starting to get into climbing actually) and we finally transitioned to a toddler bed because it seemed like he was old enough (like over 2). He would not sleep in that toddler bed (his crib with the front rail taken off). He slept on a mattress on the floor. Maybe try that and a baby gate. That's what I did for one.

 

[noelwr]

LV - Before we could look for a helper, I had to take a small course and exam on how I should treat her. Apparently, it is quite common that helpers get verbally/physically abused or are asked to do things (like go to other family members' houses to clean) which are not within the contract (which is for 2 years). There have even been cases where they were asked to hang over a balcony to clean windows and fell to their death. Anyway, our helper is from the Philippines, which is where the ones who speak the best English come from. Otherwise, they are from Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. We only have a very tiny room for her, adjacent to the kitchen, but this is quite common here and we told her before she accepted the job. In a lot of homes, they have to share the room with the children. She also doesn't have air conditioning in her room, but we got her a fan and she has a window. During the day when no one is home, she turns off the air conditioning at home because she says she doesn't want it. She also has her own toilet and a little shower head with cold water. I told her she can use the guest bathroom to have a hot shower, but this she also doesn't want. Lucky for us, she is smart and proactive. Everyone told us that we would probably go through 3 maids before we found one that stuck, and that they are lazy and stupid and you have to be very strict with them. Basically, most people treat their maids like crap. I wanted to believe that if we found the right person and treated her with respect, she would work hard. I think that has worked so far (okay, it's been only a month since we've had live-in help). We have to buy her a ticket home once every 2 years, but since we will be in South Africa for Christmas, we are sending her home for 2 weeks on the 24th. She was really happy and thankful. She is quite religious and goes to church every Sunday (her day off) and does a lot of charity work there, so I know Christmas is very important to her. Also, I can't keep her away from her husband and 5 kids (3 are in college) during the holidays. Otherwise, she is a fantastic cook and makes all sorts of food: Chinese, Thai, Indian and Italian. She even makes pizza from scratch! We could tell her what we want to eat for dinner, but I let her choose as we aren't such fussy eaters. Plus, she is much better at grocery shopping than I am. She spends 1/3 of what I would spend because she knows which local food to buy instead of the stuff imported from Australia or the States. She is also very neat and clean, and any clothes we throw in the hamper in the morning, are washed, ironed and hanging in the closet that afternoon. But most importantly, she is great with Skye and after 3 weeks, Skye can finally say her name. In closing, having a live-in helper is the best thing about moving to Singapore! I thought it would be really weird having another adult hanging around the house, but when you've got someone to cook, clean and play with your kid when you want peace & quiet, you get used to it very quickly.

in other news... Skye turns 2 on Saturday!

Skye is also having trouble napping! So we just take her out of bed if she isn't sleeping. Usually she just sits there and sings to her toys. She goes to bed with a lot toys: a doll, Bambi, a dog, a back-pack dog, a mouse, a bear and some books. For the past week, she has not been waking up in the middle of the night anymore. Now she sleeps til 6-7 am. So we all sleep better now, too. I agree with LV that swimming leads to a good sleep.

Yesterday we went for dinner at my aunt & uncle's club, and of course Skye wanted to go swimming because there was a pool there. Never mind that it was raining. Anyway, we usually distract her with coloring, but she was not happy. She threw chicken at my mother, she threw crayons on the floor and across the table, my glass of water ended up on my lap, and then she proceeded to unbutton her dress and sit there in the nude.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Noel - Happy Birthday Skye!!!

Thanks for answering so throroughly about your helper. I just find it so interesting! I am glad you are really enjoying having the help, and your helper sounds glad to have found such a nice family as yours. She sounds really impressive too! Having the clothes done so quickly and the nice home-cooked meals. It's a real luxury, even though I know it is not seen as such there. I had heard (through my HK friend) how poorly some of these women are treated there. I would suspect it is less common in Singapore, but what do I know? Nothing, really! So, you have family in Singapore too? You mentioned your aunt and uncle. Was your mom visiting? What an exciting international life Miss Skye has -- going to SA for Christmas! Wow, she is more world-traveled at age 2 than many people in the world! That's so cool!

How are you liking your job? Are you doing the same thing you did in Holland?

Geri - If you're around, I could use some help with these grobags. Can you please explain to me why the 18-36 month is soooooooooo long? I was sure the one we got from Amazon was the wrong size, so ordered one from ebay UK. Wow, it's the same length. Is there some logic to this that I'm missing? Thanks! And, how is little Miss C doing? What's she saying these days? I'm impressed by how chatty she is!

 

[Skippy123]

Skippy Gulp!!!!! Oh the fun I have to look forward to . Tyler never climbed out of the crib (he's just starting to get into climbing actually) and we finally transitioned to a toddler bed because it seemed like he was old enough (like over 2). He would not sleep in that toddler bed (his crib with the front rail taken off). He slept on a mattress on the floor. Maybe try that and a baby gate. That's what I did for one.

PAVE, The only thing is the boys share a room so there would be way more playing if we put them in toddler bed. lol We are debating on whether to start house shopping. I am glad Tyler transitioned well! I would love to see a pic of him! how are you doing Twin momma??? how far along are you now?


NOEL, happy birthday to Skye!

 

[noelwr]

Yesterday, Skye turned 2! On Friday, she had a small celebration at school. Was fun to see how she acts at school amongst the Asian kids. She is much better behaved because she copies them. Yesterday we went to the zoo in the morning and then had her party in the afternoon. Her favorite gift was a baby doll and a stroller which she pushed around the coffee table all evening.

 

[noelwr]

LV - yes, I have an aunt & uncle who have lived in Singapore almost 40 years. my mom and brother are visiting for 3 weeks and then head off to Jakarta & Bali. I am liking my job but it's been really busy the past few weeks. It isn't exactly the same job I had in Holland as I was part of deployment of an SAP project and now I'm on the design team of the same project, so it's pretty similar. I get to use/develop my technical skills more now. how's S's swimming coming along? share some pics! I bet you'll be able to get rid of all the floatation devices soon. what are grobags?

on another note, looking at all these cute lil Chinese kids makes me want to adopt another girl. I'm just afraid to look into it too seriously as I think I might be rejected due to my medical history. I think Skye would be a great sister as she always finds other families with kids and pretends she's part of them, talking to them and walking after them.

 

[Puppmom]

Happy 2nd Birthday, Skye!

Quick N update - he's seriously the most adorable thing ever! DH jokes that we're in business if this kid in utero is even half as cute. Most of his cuteness these days involves the things that come out of his mouth. His latest are:

"What that says?" Says is pronounced saze.
"What's happening over there?"
"What are you doing over there?"
"Just a couple of dudes..." this is what he says when he and daddy are going on an *adventure*. This is usually just a trip to Lowes and sometimes includes a bonus stop at Sonic to eat french fries and watch trucks get on and off the highway.
"Fix this, it's broken." Broken is pronounced borken.
He also really likes to imitate people. He'll say, "Mommy says..." and then shake his head back and forth speaking nonsense.
DH does most of the diaper changing. When N poops, he'll walk around the house calling for DH. He says, "Dad, I have a poop and it's all the way up my back!" It never is all the way up his back.
One of his recents is he'll pull his diaper down until his butt is peeking out of the top and say, "Mommy, wook at my butt!"
And last, when you ask him what his baby brother's name is he confidently says, "Grandmom!"

 

[Kunzite]

Happy birthday Skye

Pupp, I just love your N posts! Does he enunciate his phrases well? I only ask because Oliver has some parroted phrases but mostly DH and I are the only ones who know what he's trying to say (a mighty big poo poo!!). Other than that his only understandable phrases so far are negatives (no dada, no poo poo, etc). When I count his words for his next doctors appointment I try to keep it to words only a third party would understand, lol! When anyone leaves the house and goes to their car now he says they're going to "a doctor" because the babies just went to the doctor last week!

 

[Loves Vintage]

LV - yes, I have an aunt & uncle who have lived in Singapore almost 40 years. my mom and brother are visiting for 3 weeks and then head off to Jakarta & Bali. I am liking my job but it's been really busy the past few weeks. It isn't exactly the same job I had in Holland as I was part of deployment of an SAP project and now I'm on the design team of the same project, so it's pretty similar. I get to use/develop my technical skills more now. how's S's swimming coming along? share some pics! I bet you'll be able to get rid of all the floatation devices soon. what are grobags?

on another note, looking at all these cute lil Chinese kids makes me want to adopt another girl. I'm just afraid to look into it too seriously as I think I might be rejected due to my medical history. I think Skye would be a great sister as she always finds other families with kids and pretends she's part of them, talking to them and walking after them.

Wow, must be great to have family there already to help you through the adjustments, though it sounds like you haven't had any troubles to speak of. How fun for your mom and brother! Glad to hear you like the work you're doing.

She is doing really well with the swimming. Each time we go, she does better and better. It's only once per week, but I may start bringing her on my own too. We just officially joined as members, so now we can go whenever we want. The teacher keeps encouraging her to jump into the pool, but she's not ready to do it on her own yet. I thought she might because DH has been putting all of the sofa cushions on the floor and having her jump into them, which she thinks is the best thing ever. He comes up with lots of fun things for her to do. Meanwhile, I'm like, oh, let's read a book, oh, let's brush your teeth, oh, let's trim your nails. All the fun momma stuff. Oh, I wish I had photos from swimming. There was a mom who took a bunch of pictures one day, and took my email address, but never sent them and hasn't been in class in a while. One of the lifeguards is taking a photography class, and SHE took her picture, developed it in black and white, and brought me an 8.5X11. I LOVVVVVVVEEEEE that lady!! Oh, a grobag is like a sleeping bag that zips up and also goes over the shoulders so baby can't kick it off at night. They sell something similar here, but it is not padded, so the winter grobags are a lot warmer. We observed that she is sleeping better with it. She's actually been sleeping in her own bed some. Miracles!! But, she gets very upset now when I start putting her in the grobag because she knows it means bedtime, and that's the last thing she wants to get ready for!

Re: adoption, I think you should look into it if that's what your heart is telling you to do! Where there's a will, there's a way!! Different countries have different requirements. Not something I've ever looked into too thoroughly myself, but I would hope you could find a way to make it work.

 

[Puppmom]

Kunzite, N does enunciate well...now. If I think back 3 or so months, when he was O's age, not so much. His sentences built gradually...all subjects or verbs, then combined, then add in the object and last the preposition. So, over the course of a few months a sample sentence went like this:

"Play"
"Mommy, play"
"Mommy, play me."
"Mommy, play with me."
"Mommy, play trains with me."

The above transition happened from 2 until now. One thing he still struggles with are consonant blends. So, play sounds more like pay a lot of the time.

You know what else I noticed about him? Maybe it's a toddler thing but he answers the question he's asked. So, today for example, the doctor asked him if he knew what was on his backpack. He just said, "Yes." Then, of course, the doctor had to say, "Well, what is it?" N was probably thinking, "Well, you just asked if I knew what it was!"

LV, N goes to swim lessons too. He really enjoys them but MIL is in charge of them (except for payment!) and she still signs him up for the 13-18 month class. I finally had to tell her that next go around he's moving up. She keeps making excuses why he should stay in that group. He's never going to learn to swim if he doesn't move up!

 

[Loves Vintage]

That's so funny, Puppmom! I wonder why she's trying to hold him back? Haha. Maybe she really like the teacher? I think we are all in the same class for a while. Maybe til age 3, so not sure how that works with the different levels. They do the same routine each time, so I think kids just progress when they do. There are some little (not yet 1) babies in the class too. I want to take her to some tumbling classes too, but DH has convinced me to wait til she's a little older. She really likes doing little forward rolls, which is again, something DH came up with and which I watched with a clenched jaw!!

Oh, and thanks for the heads-up on the language development. It's amazing how things change in just a few months time!!

 

[Puppmom]

LV, I think MIL is just super cautious and she does not like to rock the boat with DS at all. It's the same teacher and a lot of the kids in the current group have moved up. I think a little bit has to do with the fact that it's fun for him and she's afraid the next level will be more serious.

All of this language development is so interesting, isn't it? I'm watching my friend's 20 month develop language too and it's so amazing. He seems a little advanced to me but he's piecing together things now and it's very cute. The other day he was playing with a farm house with N and he shut the barn door and said, "Close door, all gone, bye-bye." So frickin' cute!

Funny story - DH has been sleeping with N in his room for a few nights because he has bronchitis and just can't STTN thanks to all of the coughing. This morning, DH snuck out to take a shower and N got up, walked to the door and said, "Hello? Where's all the people?"

 

[Loves Vintage]

LV, I think MIL is just super cautious and she does not like to rock the boat with DS at all. It's the same teacher and a lot of the kids in the current group have moved up. I think a little bit has to do with the fact that it's fun for him and she's afraid the next level will be more serious.

All of this language development is so interesting, isn't it? I'm watching my friend's 20 month develop language too and it's so amazing. He seems a little advanced to me but he's piecing together things now and it's very cute. The other day he was playing with a farm house with N and he shut the barn door and said, "Close door, all gone, bye-bye." So frickin' cute!

Funny story - DH has been sleeping with N in his room for a few nights because he has bronchitis and just can't STTN thanks to all of the coughing. This morning, DH snuck out to take a shower and N got up, walked to the door and said, "Hello? Where's all the people?"

Awww, that is toooooo adorable!! Hahaha!! Can't wait til S starts making up her own sentences.

That's sweet about your MIL! I am sure he will love the next group too. I think as long as he's happy in the water, whatever it is, it's going to be fun!

Sorry to hear about the bronchitis! How do they diagnose? Just by listening to his breathing? Anything available for treatment, or you just have to wait it out?

 

[Kunzite]

I don't want to keep spamming the NB thread so I thought I'd put this here. Besides, you ladies likely remember my sweater romper obsession!!

Ummm, didn't Oliver just wear these?!?!

 

[Puppmom]

Kunzite, yes! I can't wait to see them wear the rest. I think you had one with a car or a motorcycle? I tried to duplicate your ebay finds and never had any luck.

LV, bronchitis diagnosis is from the cough/chest congestion combo. N is already on the up and up...and is enjoying all the choc-wit chips he's getting as a bribe for being a good boy during his nebulizer. I even sent the treats to school today for them to give him. They probably think I'm nuts!