PS Mommy thread with toddlers 12-36 months

[fieryred33143]

The LOs are adorable!! And congrats to those pregnant! Hope everyone is enjoying toddlerhood

 

[Loves Vintage]

Allie - Adorable pictures as always! Nice use of props too!!

Fiery - Post more, Post more!! How old is your S now?

Just posting some photos. Really need to read the manual for my camera!!! Grrr!

 

[Skippy123]

LV, she is such a doll; I just love her!!! She looks like such a sweetheart, such a beauty!

 

[canuk-gal]

LV, she is such a doll; I just love her!!! She looks like such a sweetheart, such a beauty!

Ain't that the truth!

I love this thread--such gorgeous little folks!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Newjewels]

Hi ladies,

Mind if another mommy joins the thread? I have enjoyed reading through the posts and seeing the photos of your adorable kiddos!

I am the lucky mom of a 2.5 year old daughter (actually turning 3 in June), and my son just turned one! Wow how the time flies. It is amazing how fast they learn, just wish my daughter was more interested in potty training! Most of her playgroup friends (all boys) are already trained. She had shown interest a while back when we bought her a little potty seat, but now when we ask she really resists. Something we will have to work on again soon.

Son didn't start crawling til 11 mos old, but he's pulling up like crazy and I'm sure he will be walking in no time. He is the sweetest thing and always so happy.

Well, just wanted to say hello. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

 

[Kunzite]

noel - So exciting about your move! I hope you're doing well with your trip (and little S and dh!!). That is quite the long flight for the little lady. Please share all about your trip when you get back and how you managed to keep her entertained on the flight! I'm already dreading my flight this fall with three LOs! I have no idea how I'm going to keep O occupied. I have a feeling I'll be getting plenty of glares when I get on the plane (probably all justified, haha)!!

LV - We give Oliver ibuprofen like it's going out of style! He doesn't handle fevers well so we always give him something even though they say not to. It's really ironic because we're so careful about what he eats, etc, but then he might as well be on an ibuprofen drip! DH and I don't like to take medicine usually so we thought we'd be really conservative with O too, but there's just something about not knowing if he's in pain that sent that out the window. And sleep.... O moves up and down his crib about 100 times a night. It's the reason he's still in a sleep sack! I think all of the movement is pretty normal.

Tornadoes!! Yes, I would like to know why any house is built in the midwest without a basement! It seems that there was about a 10 year period that all of the houses in a certain part of town were built without basements. My theory is that they were all built by the same builder and they were just being cheap! No way to know for sure I guess. What's even scarier is that one of the tornadoes that went through town a few days ago was within miles of the house! DH is already researching storm shelters It's my grandma's house, she recently moved to an assisted living home, so the good thing is that we can do what we need to.

Love the pictures of S!!! Her hair cut is really cute. She has so much hair! Do you go to activities at the library? When MIL is here in May I know she'll want to take O out of dc part of the time and I was trying to think of things they could go do together. I wanted them to do swim lessons, but it turns out our rec center doesn't do them! I guess they could just splash around in the water.

Allie - Super cute pictures!! I'm sorry to hear that C isn't feeling well either. O's fever lasted for over a week and we're still battling the cough! Poor sick kids!

newjewels - Welcome!! I saw your nursery pictures in the other thread and I just love them! The modern prints are so cute and blue/orange is easily my favorite color combination. I always thought that boys were the ones that resisted potty training! My family always gave my sister a hard time because my niece potty trained late, so I make sure to tell them every chance I get that O will likely not potty train until he's five or so!! The kid just doesn't mind a dirty diaper in the least! How was having two under two? Any advice for staying sane in the first few months??

pupp - Come back! I want to hear about N! Have you had any more luck with veggies? We're struggling to get O to eat veggies at the moment. He'll still eat the pouches so we give those to him to get veggies in him, so it's not a total fail, but still! Happy Baby makes these little veggie bites that we give him sometimes too. We don't give him many because they're pretty high in calories, but I like that they have actual veggie chunks in them so hopefully they'll be a good transition food. It's frustrating because I really don't want him to be a picky eater, but they also say not to force the issue. So we feel a little stuck. Pouches it is for now!!

AFU - Nothing much that I didn't cover above! Last night O pooped in the bathtub for the first time ever!! I was literally telling someone last week that it's never happened to us, and then bam!! Huge poo!! Of course poo still makes me gag so poor DH had to clean it all up while I took O to read bedtime stories. Poor DH!! Oh, and bedtime! We got rid of the bedtime bottle about a week ago!! It was a pretty drawn out transition, but we made it! Next up, night bottle!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Newjewels, Hello and Welcome! If you feel comfortable doing so, please post a pic of your kiddos. We love pictures here! May I ask at what age did you introduce the potty for each of your kids? Not sure when to start that.

Kunzite, Oh, I hope you didn't misinterpret why I was asking about the ibuprofen. I think you may have mentioned that O doesn't sleep well when sick. We ALWAYS give S tylenol or ibuprofen if she has a temp or even for teething, and she sleeps so well after it, so that's why I wondered. I've read on-line that some moms say not to give ibuprofen because it prevents the body from fighting the infection or whatever is causing the fever. Huh? Is that substantiated any where? I talked to my dr about it, and she says if the meds will help her feel better, then by all means, give them to her. I agree, wholeheartedly!!

Yeah, my friend lived in Missouri for a while, and they had no basement. It seemed really common to me, but I never understood why. Yay for storm shelters though, right? I couldn't even imagine what one is or what it looks like.

Yes, I've brought her to a few different libraries for sing-a-long or story time. Check out all of the local libraries near you. Almost all of them here have at least one program a week, but some have quite a few on several days each week. I know a SAHM who fills her whole week going to libraries with her baby! I'd suggest an aquarium visit (assuming you have one close enough) for O and his GM. Oh, and do you have a YMCA nearby? They should have swim lessons, but I think classes are like 6 or 8 weeks, and depending on when the classes start, they may have to join in the middle.

How long is the drive from where you are now to where you'll move to? It sounds like driving isn't a possibility? I'm sure you'll be fine on the plane, but it will be stressful for sure!!

Last photo is so funny! O is such a busy guy! And, he looks so BIG!!!

 

[Newjewels]

Thank you Kunzite and LV! Of course I would love to share photos...have sooo many it will be hard for me to choose!

It seems like so long ago when I had 2 under two! Luckily I have lots of help with my wonderful DH, and my mom who lives in the same town. DH's parents live 8 hours away but still manage to visit very frequently, and they help a lot too. It is a LOT of diaper changing in the beginning though!

Biggest challenge for us has been sleep. Our daughter sleeps well but our son only just started STTN after he turned one. (I was EBF, so that may have been part of the reason.) So we are always (and still) exhausted with the two kids, not so restful nights, and both of us working full time jobs.

So....I have not pushed the potty training too much. Need to get serious about it soon, though. I think my DD should be PT by the time she's 3, right? That means I have til June! We probably started putting her on the big toilet when she was 1.75 years old, because she showed interest especially when she'd spent time with her older cousin. Finally bought her her own little potty when she was 2, and she did use it periodically, but then for some reason decided she was no longer interested. We didn't push it. She used it last night at bath time, though, so I'll probably try the reward system. That kid barely eats food, but she sure loves candy and dessert! (Hmmm, sounds a little like her momma )

Let me go pick out some pics and I will be back. Nice to "meet" you guys!

 

[Newjewels]

Here's one of my favs

 

[Loves Vintage]

Newjewels, That photo is BEYOND precious!! Oh, my goodness!!

 

[Skippy123]

Newjewels, awwww what a beautiful pic of your kids!!!

Kunzite, O is so adorable!!! He is going to be an awesome big brother!!! I love your belly shot!!!

 

[Kunzite]

LV - Don't worry, I didn't think you meant anything about the medicine! Sometimes I'm just amazed by how much we give the kid. Our dr. office says the same thing about fevers, they'd rather you didn't treat them since they serve a purpose but obviously not at the expense of your baby being miserable! And since O is easily miserable.... Speaking of, the kid has woken up before 6am the last two days! He's so tired! It looks like he's now cutting three molars at once, so we've already decided ibuprofen at bedtime tonight! How has teething gone for S? You can tell O is teething because he's biting everything, last night he picked up the book we were reading and bit a hole in it

Our move is 1900 miles. Our plans aren't set yet, but I'm leaning towards flying with the kids because that seems like an awful long drive for them. Plus staying in hotels.... I don't know. The whole thing is going to be a logistical nightmare that we haven't quite pieced together yet. It reminds me of those logic puzzles where you have to move the stuff over the river, you know? Even trying to figure out seating on the planes is a puzzle since one of the flights will likely be a small regional jet. And then there are the cats.... Yep, it's best to not think about it and just assume we'll get there some way!

How big is S now? O probably looks big because he's tall (99%) and all of his clothes are getting too short! Must buy new pajamas...

newjewels - Such a precious picture I can't even picture O holding the new babies. I envision him looking at them and walking away uninterested! I swear that's what is going to happen!

Skippy - You have toddlers now!!! I understand if you don't feel like it yet, it took until around O's due date for me to start feeling like he was less of a baby. Tell us more about your boys! I think you said M was working on walking some?! Are they feeding themselves?

 

[Kunzite]

I forgot to mention, we noticed O has a birthmark last night! Who doesn't notice their kid has a birthmark until he's 17 months old!? The top of his left leg had a pink patch when he's in warm water. He used to get baths every three days or so and we thought he'd hit his leg on something crawling around in the tub, we never put two and two together! Lately he's been getting a bath every night because it really seems to help him have a better bedtime and we noticed the mark was always the same!

 

[Newjewels]

Thanks, Skippy, LV and Kunzite! Back at you

Skippy, looks like your boys are very close in age to my son...happy birthday to them!!! And that's a super cute belly shot, Kunzite!

LV, any plans for a second...?? (Unless you've said somewhere else and I've missed it! I've been reading so many posts on so many threads, it's getting hard to keep track of it all.)

Here's a recent pic of my angels

 

[Loves Vintage]

Kunzite, Wow, I forgot about the cats!! Too funny about the getting everyone over the river problem!! That's so . . . appropriate! Any chance MIL will come out to help you move everyone? Or, perhaps sending the cats first would reduce some of the logistical issues. Eeesh!! The good thing is that it's only something you have to do once! Oh, how will you get your cars out there? Maybe whoever is driving them could drive the cats too!?!?

You asked how big S is. I have to admit. I have no idea! I think her 15 month visit is this week. I feel like I have so much information to keep track of . . . that detail never registered at our last visit. Ohhh, I'll ask my husband to measure her again up against the closet door. It's funny because the prior owners had four kids, and they are all tracked on that door. There are so many markings! We really need to get to painting that, and well, a lot of other things around here too, TBH!

O just looked remarkably bigger in that last photo! And, wow, he is tall? When did he get so tall????

Teething has been mostly ok. Some nights she needs ibuprofen, but just a handful of times for her molars that are coming in. I found this baby center slideshow the other day. Useful to see what's going to happen next! http://www.babycenter.com/101_baby-teeth-order-of-appearance_10355502.bc

Newjewels, We haven't officially decided yet on a second. Time will tell! How about you? You have some incredibly cute kids! Ready for a third?? Oh, does your daughter try to help take care of your son? I bet that is supercute!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Two things I would like to say about now 15 month old S:

1. She wants me to pick her up all.the.time. Even dada is unacceptable at times. It's cute, but just a phase, right?

2. She is so loving! She gives me hugs and kisses all.the.time. She even tries to hug the cats, who always run away from her, so she now puts her head down as close as she can to them, like on a blanket, even if she is not physically hugging them. And, she hugs her stuffies! Soooooooooooooooooo sweet!

That is all.

 

[Puppmom]

LV, N likes to be held when we're out. The other day, I took him grocery shopping and had to carry his 28lb butt THE.ENTIRE.TIME. I seriously have to work on my upper body strength! He did go through a *pick me up* phase at home but that has since passed.

Kunzite, we have those robot jammies! I just passed them along because N outgrew them. Those are great pics - I love the *trying not to smile* face. We haven't had any bath tub poops yet. Thank goodness! We have had situations though where we tear off the diaper thinking we'll throw in the tub and a poop falls out! I find the cloth diapers hide the poo stink pretty good sometimes.

Allie, I'm late on this but those are fantastic pics! Charlie is starting to look like a little kid! I hope you're having better luck in your house hunt. Something will come up soon...then the real headaches begin.

Newjewels, welcome! Your kids are gorgeous. Does one look like you and the other like your husband? I love the contrast of the blonde/blue eyes and the dark hair brown eyes. When we were kids, my sister had jet black hair and dark brown eyes and my other siblings were blonde/blue. Me, I was the *morph* - brown hair and hazel eyes. It's amazing how many combinations can come from one set of parents!

AFU - N is good. He moved up to a new classroom at daycare and he's doing really well. They're still surprised when he talks because he's pretty quiet there but he jabbers pretty much constantly at home. I ask him yes/no questions all of the time just to hear him say "Yeah" or "Nah" in his little baby voice. He's very partial to Daddy these days and starts asking for him the minute he wakes up in the morning. He loves playing on the floor with DH. DH has literally worn holes in the knees of his jeans from playing on all fours all the time.

He's still has a pretty limited selection of foods he'll eat but it's getting better. He still won't eat any veggies but I notice he's eating fruit here and there at daycare. He loves Grover and Elmo so we put healthy snacks in a Grover or Elmo cup and refer to them as Elmo snacks and he'll eat them.

Oh, and the other day he did the cutest thing. He was making his toys kiss. He would hold two trucks or trains or people together and making kissing noises.

His favorite things at the moment are playing outside. He begs to go out all the time. We pulled out the water table a few weeks ago when the warm weather hit and he has a blast playing with it. He mostly dumps water on himself and splashes it on us but it keeps him happy for about 30 minutes at a time.

Alright, off to pick the kid up at daycare...here are some pics.

 

[Newjewels]

Hi Pupp! N is so cute! How old is he?

It is funny to us, too, that our kids have different hair/ eye color. Their baby pics look a lot alike. DD looks just like my DH everyone says, although we both have brown hair. She has his eye color, DS has my eye color

Hope everyone else is doing well...Kunzute, how is your pregnancy going??

 

[Loves Vintage]

Oh, Puppmom, I just love N! Everything you wrote sounds so cute!! Your DH's jeans getting worn at the knees, elmo snacks and making his toys kiss! How cute is that? We have a water table too (friend dropped off her kids' water table and a bunch of other stuff), and she loves it! She loves water!! She's so facinated by it.

*******
15 month apptmt was yesterday. Kunzite - Shes 32.7 inches long! That's 97th percentile. And, she weighs a little more than 24 pounds (71%ile). I don't recall her always being in such a high percentile for length, except when she was born, but I will have to check her old charts from the pedi. She's been in 18-24 month clothing for a while now. How about O?

She was great after her vaccines. I worried she might be cranky, but not at all.

 

[Kunzite]

LV - Yes, currently we think MIL will help with everything (I hope so because otherwise my mom offered to help ), so she'll likely fly with me and the kids. Then we'll try to find someone to drive with DH and the cats so we don't have to ship one of the cars. I just cannot figure out the seats on the plane. Technically all three kids could be lap babies, but you can't have more than one lap baby per row. And then the regional jet with a 2-1 configuration. Plus if O is in a different row but can see me he'll want out of his seat...... Oy! But like you said, it's only once!!

I can't believe that S is just starting with needing to be picked up. It's always been a struggle with us. I should say a struggle with DH! He just can't tell the kid no. I, on the other hand, will just tell him that mama can't hold you now, then I'll sit down with him and he'll get bored and get off my lap pretty fast There was a little bit of time where it would make him mad that I wouldn't cart him around the room, but he learned really fast I wasn't going to give in. Hence, he goes straight to DH now!! Umm, and O doesn't try to hug the cats, he tries to pull their whiskers off! I wonder if I have a demonic baby or if it's just one of those girl/boy things. He loves to pull things apart (food, paper, etc) and I think he learned that the cat's hair is another thing he can pull apart!

Awww, S is a tall one too! O should have his next WB in a few weeks so we'll see how tall he is. He's still firmly in 12-18 month clothes though. I need him to stay that way through the summer too because I don't want to buy him new clothes! The kid always changes sizes mid-season. Right now everything fits him really well but he does have a few shirts that are getting a little short. They are so loose I don't want to go up a size. I'm glad to hear S did well with her shots.

pupp - Oh my gosh, we had the same thing happen the other day before bath!! DH took O's diaper off and an unknow poo fell on the floor!! He was like, quick get me some wipes (like I do anything quick these days!!!). Such cute pictures of N His hair is so light. O is just getting to the point that he likes to be outside. I think I wrote a few weeks ago that he'd just people watch on the bench, but last weekend he actually played on some of the equipment and let DH take him down the slide! And he discovered that there is dirt under the wood chips if he digs enough

newjewels - Things are good for now. I'm on modified bed rest and just trying to keep the little guys in my belly. My water broke with O when I was 28w6d and I'm currently 28w4d with these guys, so the paranoid side of me is getting a little anxious. We'll see!! Every pregnancy is different, right?

AFU - A la LV's daycare thread.... O came home with two bright red sets of teeth marks on his arm yesterday!! At first we just assumed he did it to himself because he likes to bite right now, but then we realized he didn't have enough teeth to make all of the marks!! His DC teacher didn't see it happen either. My first thought was that he surely screamed his head off when it happened so how did they not see it? But then I realized that he thinks biting is hilarious and loves when the cats bite him, so I can totally see him just standing there smiling when it happened. I have a crazy kid!

Oh and he discovered a new game over the weekend. He likes to bring me a blanket, will pout until I put it over his head, and then he walks around while he can't see!! At first it was hilarious, my baby walking around like a ghost at halloween, but then he started running into things. The kids needs a little dose of caution!

 

[Kunzite]

Boooooooo! Oliver came home with three more bite marks yesterday. I consider myself pretty laid back, but five in three days!? This time they actually saw one of them happen but couldn't tell us what kid did it, just that it's the biter in the room and that they try to watch him really closely. Ugh.

 

[Puppmom]

Aw, Kunzite. I'm sorry! That would make me sad too. We've only had one incident at school and it was that another child pushed N down. I think the only reason there haven't been more is that N is sort of anti-social so the other kids can barely get near him!

 

[Kunzite]

pupp - O is the same way, he likes to play by himself. I wonder if "the biter" is just offended that O doesn't want to play with him!!

 

[Skippy123]

Pupp, your little guy is so adorable!!! I remember you saying he had eczema? did he ever have it in his hair? I notice Miles has a touch on his scalp. Did you just use cortisone? thanks.

Newjewels, they are so adorable!!!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Kunzite, Poor O! Makes me sad too. So they can't tell you who did it?

Kunzite and Puppmom, Re: not playing with other kids, don't most kids this age play on their own anyway?

 

[Puppmom]

Skippy, N had eczema (still does have a few patches) and we use(d) cortisone on that. He had TERRIBLE cradle cap on his scalp but I don't know if that was related at all to the eczema and we used a prescription strength shampoo (nizoral) to kick it. Are you sure it's eczema?

LV, I think you're right. Most kids this age parallel play but N doesn't do a lot of that. If he's playing with something that has plenty of room for multiple kids to play (like a kitchen set or a climber), he'll sometimes leave if other kids come over. He does really well with big kids but not as well with kids his own age.

Noel, where are you? I would love a Skye update! I hope you're all well.

ETA - Newjewels, he's 21 months. I can't believe he's going to be 2 so soon! He's such a little person now. The other day, he was watching TV and they were pretending to be cats. He got on all fours and crawled around and meowed. It was so cute and just one of those moments that make us realize he's a KID not a baby. You know?

 

[Newjewels]

Totally know, Pup! It's crazy. Wait til almost 3, my daughter cracks me up all the time. I can't believe some of the things she says. Yesterday she said, "mom, can u give me a hand with this?" and I just couldn't help but laugh for some reason. Maybe cause I don't recall DH or myself usually saying that.

Also, I have had A in the same playgroup since she was 6 months old. She still pretty much just plays by herself (or with me: "c'mon, mom!") They say at school she is playing more with other kids than she used to. Will be 3 end of June. I guess it's normal.

Skippy, thank you! My son had really bad eczema. At first we thought it was just baby acne, but the pedi said it was eczema. Poor thing always was red cheeked and had severe irritation of the flexor surfaces of his limbs (elbows, behind the knees). We would massage Vaseline into his scalp at the start of the bath, then shampoo it out at the end (using Cetaphil) and that helped some. Our pedi had me try soy formula (even though I was EBF) which we did, but he didn't like it and after a week with no change we stopped (plus he got a cold and wouldn't take formula). She said to use 0.5% cortisone on the red spots, but we couldn't find it at the pharmacy. We used 1% cortisone topically but it wasn't helping. I found some stuff called Triderma MD baby eczema cream and of everything else I thought it worked the best, but it might have burned because he used to scream when we applied it. So sad.

Eventually I was fed up enough I found a pediatric dermatologist online and made an appointment. She said she didn't know why pedis recommend cortisone because it usually isn't strong enough. G was about 9 months at the time, and she prescribed triamcinolone ointment and said to apply it to face and body after bath, followed by aquaphor. Also used it in the morning, for only 5 days straight on the face and 14 days straight on the body. Worked so well and really quickly! Now we still use aquaphor to moisturize but only go back to the steroid ointment when he flares up (which is not often). I was reluctant to use steroids but since only topically and I felt he was suffering so long without it, we went for it. Now he has soft, smooth baby skin like he should!

Sorry for rambling on so long!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and Kunzite hope you are feeling well! My second pregnancy was so much harder than thefirst (way more aches and pains, and more TIRED)... I can't imagine carrying twins AND chasing around a toddler! Good thing he's so cute

 

[Skippy123]

Pupp, the ped said it was eczema; I was nervous it was fungus related but he said no. I started using cortisone and wow, it cleared it up so much better than it was! I was just curious if you used cortisone but in a few days his hair started growing in and he didn't scratch as much. I did buy Nizoral off of amazon but it made things worse; I think baby rashes are so weird to know what is going on??

Newjewels, thank you for your info. aww your poor little guy!!! I am glad he is lots better!

Kunzite how are you lady? I was so happy to see your 28 week preggo pic in the preggo thread!

LV, I can't wait to see your door painted!

Miles is now throwing himself back when he has a fit; I just ignore him but it is kind of funny! Evan just cries when he is annoyed. I never thought I would have a kid who has a fit! hahaha The ped said it was good I ignore him. They are lots of fun though and they don't have many tantrums to be honest!!!

Oh before I forget, our boys eat 5 times a day; when does that stop???

 

[Puppmom]

Skippy, I had the same problem with products varying. Other moms would swear by something then I would buy it and it wouldn't work or would make things worse. It really does vary from kid to kid I guess.

What do you mean by eat 5x per day? Bottles? N eats 5 or 6x per day. So do I so I'm not sure if it ever ends!

Right now he eats:

7am - small "breakfast"
9am - breakfast - that's breakfast time at school. MIL feeds him a snack at this time as well
11:30 or so - lunch
3pm - snack
5:30 or 6 - dinner

We give him milk with breakfast and lunch and water with everything else.

PS- I can't believe your kids are TODDLERS!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Oh, and bedtime! We got rid of the bedtime bottle about a week ago!! It was a pretty drawn out transition, but we made it! Next up, night bottle!

Kunzite - You said this a while back. I meant to ask about it, but forgot. Tell me, how did you stop with the bedtime bottle? We noticed that if S does not have her bedtime bottle, she wakes up at like 4 and won't settle until we give her milk. At what time at night is O taking a bottle?

Skippy - I'm soooo motivated to get that door painted now that I have a thread for it. Hee-hee! S eats all day long. I have no idea when it stops!

Puppmom - What kind of cup does N use now? Did you ever try the straw cups? Wondering how long we use sippy cups for . . .