Toddler Moms - Week of Jan 21, 2007

[Sarah428]

I’ll get us started this Monday!

Kim – I’ve had a pretty short fuse lately too, don’t beat yourself up (I also need to take my own advice).

Joanne – That’s so sweet about Jameson’s book dedication.

Ella started her antibiotic for her ear infection on Friday. I was hoping the infection was why she was being so cranky but now I’m not sure. Yesterday was just awful. She was whiny, argumentative, and just plain naughty. I thought maybe it was cabin fever so got her out of the house for a while but it didn’t help. Last night I was reading to her and she got very snotty with me so I calmly put her book down and told her I was done reading. Well that turned into an hour long tantrum. DH told her that everytime she creamed, kicked, etc that he was going to take a toy. Well within 20 minutes her room was completely empty, nothing but her bed!:eek: She finally cried herself to sleep but it was awful, both DH & I yelled and I felt terrible but we were at the end of our rope.

This morning I woke her up with lots of hugs and she was a little quiet but not whiny…that was until it was time for her medicine. She “sipped” her Rx for 45 minutes while I’m repeatedly telling her we have to go, etc. and I finally got so furious that I threw the medicine cup. I calmed down and told her that I was sorry and that I should have taken a deep breath and counted to 10. We sat and cuddled for a few minutes and I told her again that I was sorry but that we needed her to be a good listener and do what we ask. She was a little weepy when I dropped her off.

The Rx is bubblegum flavored and sometimes it’s not an issues and other times it’s a huge ordeal. I bought some tic tacs as a reward but now she just says “I don’t want any” – ugh! I asked her if she was mad/sad about something, if something hurt (ie. throat), if she wanted to go to daycare, but there's nothing out of the ordinary to explain her awful behavior.

Well, there's my book:o

Sarah

[LaraW]

Hi Sarah!

How is Owen doing? Hopefully he is feeling better.

Count me in as someone else who has recently had a short fuse. I don't know if its all the cold weather that makes it really hard to play outside (or go anywhere, for that matter) but I can just feel myself tensing up in my stomach when the screaming and crying start. :( I have to take a deep breath and count to 10. And sometimes I have to do it again. I try to remember that I'm human.

Sarah, do you have a fun medicine spoon you could put her RX in? We have this medicine spoon that looks like an alligator that Natalie really likes. I think I bought it at Walgreens for $1. Is she on amoxicillin? I know that you can mix that with formula for a baby - you could ask the pharmacist if you can mix it in some juice or something for Ella to drink.

We're doing OK here. Colin was finally better by the weekend and so I made his birthday cake on Saturday. It turned out cute, if I do say so myself (not as cute as Martha Stewart's, but who's does?)

We had a new playgroup that we went to this morning. It was nice, but Natalie just threw a fit when it was time to go, and the mom who was hosting had to carry Colin out to the car b/c I was carrying Natalie. She was very nice, and I know that I would have been sympathetic and totally understanding to someone who was in my position, but I was mortified. :o

While she was eating lunch, Natalie told me that her bottom hurt. I said, as I have said at least 1,000 times ( ;) ) that one of these days she would realize it was b/c she was wearing a diaper and that when she decided to wear underwear and use the potty that her rash would go away. In the past, she's always just kind of blown it off, but today she said that she wanted to wear underwear. I told her when she was done eating lunch that she could put some on. I didn't say any more about it, and took Colin up to get him changed before his nap. She came into his room and asked me if she could wear underwear, and I said that she needed to take her diaper off and throw it away and put her underwear on.

So, who knows if that means anything :o It did seem like she thought it was her idea, so maybe it will "take". I'm to the stage of I'll believe it when I see it.

I am kind of wondering if I need to take Natalie in today. She had this horrible tantrum today when it was time to leave playgroup, and she had one yesterday too. I don't know. We were just there for her 3yo checkup, and her ears were fine.

[JoanneOR]

Sarah, I'm sorry, but I had to laugh a little at Ella's room being empty except for her bed. :o What did you do with the toys? Will you put them back? Count me as another with a short fuse. Last night I thought I was about to just lose it, seriously. Like have a total breakdown. Just kidding, a little! The kids were just so loud - the boys were being obnoxious, I don't know how else to say it! Just fighting, yelling, screaming, running around. Caitlyn was extra needy. It doesn't help that I just haven't felt well at all. And, DH works nights, so in the evenings he's usually taking a nap and it's just me and the kids. I screamed at them a few times. It's like they don't even hear me. Then I wonder, are they just being normal kids? Am I being a bad mom for yelling at them? Lately they've got this thing for playing soccer in the house. Something is going to break - I just know it. We tell them constantly - no ball in the house. But, they do it anyway until we tell them to stop. They were all roughhousing in Jameson's room last night - knocked the curtains off the wall. No big deal, but in my state of mind it almost put me over the edge. then, Jameson pulls a pitcher of pineapple juice - not paying any attention that he's holding it almost horizontal and it's pouring out all over the fridge, on the floor and under the fridge! :eek: So, that was quite a clean-up! Then, after I yelled at Colin for something he's tells me "you're a bad mother." OK, guilt sets in. But, what do I say? Not the right thing. I said "do you want a new mother?" I know, terrible. But I was just so close to losing it at that point. He goes over and snuggles with Tully and I can see him fighting back tears. I called him over and we snuggled on the couch and made up and both cried.

I know the kids are just stir crazy. They need to get out and run off some energy outside. But, the weather is not cooperating.

Sarah, I've gone through the same thing with medicine. Caitlyn's actually been OK with the few times she's had it, but Ian is the one who would stall. Drive me crazy! Is there something she really likes? Like a certain juice or something. Maybe tell her she can have it when she finishes her medicine.

Lara, I hope Natalie's asking for underwear is a good sign! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Well, our weekend wasn't quite as bad as it sounds! Saturday Colin and Jameson had soccer games. I swear, these games can be excruciating! Colin is really playing well. He just loves it and he takes it in stride if his team doesn't win. He didn't score any goals this time, but he blocked alot of shots and was all over the field. Two parents came up to him afterward and told him how great he played. I think they tied, they don't show the scores for the younger kids. Well, then we had Jameson's game later in the day. Jameson is pretty good, but most of the kids are bigger than him on his team and the other teams. His team lost pretty badly again, I think 7-2. He was so frustrated on the court - you could see it. He takes it so seriously. After the game, he comes over, all stressed out and crying his eyes out. I hate that it upsets him so much! There's nothing you can do except tell him it's just a game, he did his best, etc... It doesn't help that his younger brother who doesn't seem to care if he wins or loses and is really good gets all the attention early in the day. I don't want it to be stressful for him...I just want him to have fun doing it. Oh, well, another parenting challenge!

[LA98]

Lara, happy belated birthday to Colin! Glad he got to enjoy some cake since he had such a memorable :rolleyes: first birthday. We spent the evening of Brian's first birthday at the ER -- there's a memory for the baby book, right?! And personally, I think Natalie's request for underwear is a good sign, I'll cross my fingers for you!

Sarah, hope Owen's doing better? I can commiserate on the short fuse thing -- I had mine on Friday morning. We were running extra late thanks to Brian's stalling and dawdling, then my phone rang and it was work asking me why I wasn't at this 8:30 meeting (that I had been told it wouldn't matter if I missed! :mad: ). It was a big to-do, then I hung up, grabbed our stuff, and yelled at Brian that we had to get going right now! Well, his eyes just filled up with tears and his lip started quivering. Of course I put everything down, went over to him and apologized for yelling. He took it really well and got moving for me, but oh did I feel horrible all day about it..... :( :(

Today at lunchtime I went to look at a preschool for Brian. (I hate to even type this for fear of jinxing something, but there's a chance I will not be returning to work after baby arrives in April, but I would keep doing my freelance work for some income :eek: ) Anyway, after seeing one last week that was just short of horrifying (and that was the one with the "great" reputation in my town! :rolleyes: ), I was very pleasantly surprised by how good this one seemed. They're registering now for September, which caught me by surprise, I had just started calling around for info once DH and I had the staying home conversation. So, if things don't work out, I would just lose a registration fee, but if things do work out I really need to secure a spot for him now.

I need to read last week's thread to see what's been going on with everyone!

Lori

[RunnerKim]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who loses it. sigh. Lainey's really getting on to this thing about focusing her attention on whatever horrible thing DH and I did rather than why we had to do it in the first place. So she wouldn't share trains at a public train table on Saturday and then when I told her she'd have to leave b/c of it she threw them (down mostly but still). So I grab her and take off with her to the car (leaving DH and othe other kids to continue playing). She decides to focus on me pinching her and how wrong that is. Ummm, no let's talk about you having 3 cars and Corbin none and then you throwing. :rolleyes: But part of me does wonder - she can't Jamie like that if he does something wrong. I guess it's all part of life not being fair and the adult-kid double-standard. That particular situation was pretty unusual for her - most of the stuff she's upset about these days is us not asking her to do things nicely (of course we're generally frustrated because we've already asked her or she should have been doing it without nagging).

Jamie's officially in underwear now. We switched on Saturday and although he's not perfect by any means, we felt he should be in underwear. He actually was perfect when we were out and about - it's when we were home and not nearly so on top of potty usage that he had accidents. I don't know yet how he's done at school today. We did have him ride in on the bus in underwear and that went fine (that's always my biggest concern because we're basically trapped if he says he needs to use the potty or has an accident).

We were in the grocery store on Saturday and I'd taken him to the potty (Lainey tagged along of course) and someone was in the bigger stall so all 3 of us crammed in a regular stall. Have to take off Jamies shoe, underwear and pants on one leg so he can sit on a big potty. He peed and I gave him a good job and Lainey her exhurbant support. We exit the stall to get more room to redress and a Mom with a 2 year old dd was finishing up. Lainey's in to hold people are - "I"m 4, hold old is she?" Mom says 2 and then Lainey says, my brother is 1. I felt like saying - He's almost 2 really. And he just wanted to potty train, he's a freak I know. I'm not one of those pushy parents, I swear. Okay, so I'm a little too hung up on what strangers think (or even what they might be thinking)!!

Ya know - diapers are really actually pretty darn convenienty. I'd sort of forgotten about all this rushing around to bathrooms and needing to know where they were all the time.

I got to thinking over the weekend about the whole kindergarten decision and one of the things DH and i would like to do when she starts K is for each of us to take an afternoon off work for her (and eventually Jamie) to be able to come straight home from school. Flex schedules are part of the benefit options where DH works (so he'd take 30 minute lunch so he could leave at 2 one day) and I think I could swing it at my office. But that got me to thinking - what if we didn't make it home on time. Lainey would have to be able to let herself in the house and not freak out about being alone. Also how to use the phone to call me and/or listen to messages on the answering machine. Lainey already unlocks the door with a key (when we're coming home from errands) but she has trouble sometimes and sometimes opening the door too. I talked to her about it generally and she said it would be fine with her if she had her own special key. I seriously doubt DH or I would ever be late but it could happen (car accident, car won't start whatever). I'm going to have Lainey practice calling my sister too. I know she needs to learn our phone number anyway.

Anybody doing any practicing/training for things like this?

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim - I would have Lainey go to after care every day and I would pick her up from there on the days that you and your husband take off early. The risk of a 5 year old home alone would scare me too much (and I don't scare easily).

Short fuses never go away...I'm ashamed to admit. Michael occasionally gets irresponsible and he will tell you that I lose it. Even worse, he knows that I'm blowing off steam so he doesn't even take my threats seriously ;)

[cchhbb]

Kim, Garrett's school bus will not let him off unless an adult is there. They won't even let him off if I'm standing on the front porch. I actually have to walk down to the end of the driveway. You may want to check your school districts rules.

I'd also check out my neighbors and see if there is someone who could keep Lainey in the event of an emergency. Perhaps there is another arent who will be your back-up that you could call if you were stuck. I got stuck in behind an accident once and I called the bus drivers cell phone and told him I was late and he kept Garrett on the bus until I got there.

I don't think I'd let a 5 year old stay at home alone. That really would scare me and in some areas that would be against the law.

Okay. Short fuses are going around. I've gotten really frustrated with my kids the last week. Griffin is constantly getting into Garrett's stuff, just for the attention. It's driving me crazy. Poor Garrett can't even do a puzzle without Griffin taking the pieces. But what is driving me more crazy is stalling and ignoring. I'll say put on your coat please so we can meet the bus. He just ignores me and continues doing what he was doing. I end up asking again louder. I'm working on going over to him and touching him to make sure he hears/listens to me.

I have signed up for a 6 week boot camp exercise. Today is the first day. Griffin is going to nursery at church while I exercise there. I really need a kick in the butt so hopefully this will help me. I feel guilty about leaving him in nursery 2 days a week since those are supposed to be our mornings together, but I think I really need some Me time.

Lori, preschool registration at least here in the south is January for the following September. I ended up signing up Griffin where he is now and will try to get into another one next Monday. There will be some camping out required to get into that school. Not as bad as his current school is for new people, but it will be probably about a 2 - 3 hour wait.

Need to run.
Cheryl

[RunnerKim]

I think you all are right - it's been freaking me out to think about her having to get in to the house on her own. I would probably be one of those situations that never happens but the possibility is enough to worry me. (it must be there for other parents that are home/use the bus - simply running and errand and getting stuck or something) That's obviously a situation we're not even really having to deal with yet but I started thinking about all the changes K would bring. My sister's kids go to a different district (we're right across the "border") but I wouldn't expect the rules to be any different and she told me that a parent was not required to be at the bus stop and her son would walk about 4 houses down a dead-end street to her house (once he was comfortable doing it). Seems like such a huge step from where we are now which is an adult always knows exactly where Lainey is at all times. Lainey really wants to ride the school bus, which is why I'm thinking of letting her do it those 2 days we're hoping to be home (but we'll work something out).

Cheryl - you describe the situation in our house! Jamie does the exact same things of grabbing whatever Lainey's working on - a puzzle piece, lego, dinosaur etc. And also the procrastination or lack of focus or whatever (and then she complains when were "not nice"!).

Jamie had an accident free day yesterday. Yeah! (he pooped during nap). I'm planning to take some muffins and such in for all the teachers/staff on Thursday to say thank you - they're really putting their actions where their philosophy is (doing what's developmentally right for the individual child). I think it's going to get increasingly difficult for Jamie to go back and forth between the rooms too. I can only hope a spot opens up for him soon but I really can't expect anything before June I don't think.

Does anyone have recommendations for picture books they really like that deal with historical figures? I would like to find one in particular about MLK Jr. I'd picked up a copy of The Story of Ruby Bridges which I saw recommended somewhere and we read it over MLK weekend and had some good discussions. My nephews are of course old enough to know about MLK and we had some basic conversation but I'd really like a good book which made me think about what other people I'd really like to read books about. Any ideas? It's nice when there's a holiday or event associatied with the person to trigger the discussion too. Lainey randomly grabbed a really interesting book from the library about Jim Thorpe that I learned a lot from.

Kim

[LaraW]

Kim, I was at Barnes and Noble (or Borders?) a few weeks ago and I think they had a display in their Children's section of a book about MLK by Patricia A. Pingry . I have bought a couple of her books, one is called "The Story of Christmas" and "The Story of Easter". I just looked through Amazon's list of her books and I didn't see the MLK one, but I did see ones about Rosa Parks, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas Jefferson. I don't see the MLK one on B&N or Borders websites either but I am pretty sure I saw it. She also has books on a lot of biblical figures as well as various holidays (America's Birthday, St. Patricks Day)

Might be something to look into.

Well, Natalie did well in underwear yesterday and wanted to sleep in it last night :eek: But, we let her. I don't know if she was asleep or not but she came out of her room at about 8:45 after having wet her pants. DH was studying in the dining room (right under her room) and said he thought he heard her run across her room toward the bathroom right before she came out, so maybe she was trying to get there? Who knows. We put a pullup on her for the rest of the night and then this AM she wanted underwear again for school.

So, I sent along a bunch of extra clothes. We'll see how today goes. She kept saying that she was going to keep her pants dry, no accidents today. I talked a bit to her teacher and suggested giving Natalie some choices about when to use the potty, i.e., do you want to go before or after Rachel; do you want to go now or in 1 minute, etc. She thought that sounded like a good idea.

Kim, you reminded me that I wanted to take some treats in to Colin's room for his birthday last week. Since he was out of daycare last week I was going to try and do it this week.

We have some of the same issues of stalling/ignoring. I've had decent luck saying "you may come with shoes (or coat or whatever) or without". This has resulted in her walking through the garage a few times in bare or stocking feet and getting cold and dirty. But, she does get her shoes on most of the time.

[zippy478]

I guess it's time for me to join this thread instead of the wobblers thread now.

Me: 30
DH: 31
DS #1: Zachary - turned 2 in Nov.
DS #2: Anthony - one month.

Zachary is way more a toddler now than he was even a month ago. Complete with tantrums, fighting bedtimes/naps, picky eating, etc. You name it and we have some manifestation of it. He is very laid back and is still a wonderful little boy but it's been weird to get used to him as a "little man" instead of an infant/baby. The biggest thing that we are having an issue with is bedtime. He will fight us tooth and nail on going to bed and we spend upwards of an hour some nights trying to get him to sleep. He's got a toddler bed and will climb out of it before we are even out of the room. This is the typical night: bedtime routine of changing into PJs, snack, brushing teeth, giving kisses. Then, we go into his room, read 2 stories and turn out the lights. That's when the fun begins! He wants to play, he wants this animal or that one, he wants to get down, he wants us to lay down with him, etc. So, one night we decided that we would read the stories, turn out the lights and sit with him for 5 minutes then leave whether he was asleep or not. He immediately got out of bed. We picked him up, put him back down and left again. Again, up like a rocket. We've begun tag-teaming it. I'll do the bedtime routine and put him down and then when he gets up, we switch off who will put him back down. I don't talk to him or try to bargain with him at all. DH sometimes will. He will eventually fall asleep but it usually takes at least 30-60 minutes. We thought maybe he was going to bed too late but when we moved his bedtime up or back, it was the same thing. So, this has become our new routine. The last couple nights, I would stay in his room with him until he falls asleep. Last night, he wanted to sleep in our bed. So, I got him all set up in our bed and figured we could move him after he fell asleep. Checked on him a few minutes later and he was playing so I moved him back to his bed.

Any suggestions? I know part of it is toddler-ness and part of it is the new addition and wanting that extra attention. He gets lots of one-on-one time with both of us and it's just nighttime and naptimes on the weekends that are tough. He naps like a champ at daycare so I'm not willing to say he's ready to drop his nap just yet but we don't even fight him on the weekends now - it's just too much. But, anyone have any clue as to how much sleep they should be getting at this point?

I appreciate any help you can give me.
Maura :)

[cchhbb]

Kim, Hooray for Jamie! Can I send Griffin out for a weekend of potty training bootcamp? I've always wanted to go to Oregon. It's one of three states that I haven't been to.

I actually had to sign something if I wanted Garrett to be able to get off the bus without an adult. Garrett loves riding the bus. He thinks it is really fun. I don't know what a magic age is, but it would be a really long time before I would let Garrett be somewhere that an adult didn't know where he was.

Lara, Yea for Natalie. Fingers crossed on how today went. When I went cold turkey on diapers for Garrett during the daytime and he was still kinda napping, I changed a lot of sheets for awhile. He generally accepted that he needed to wear a diaper at night. Occassionally, I used training pants for the beginning of the night and then put a diaper on him after he fell asleep. Choices are how I get Garrett to do most everything so hopefully that will work for Natalie with potty training.

I just went to Garrett's annual review. It went really well. I really like his teacher a lot. She and I had to do a sensory questionaire on him and we were only 1 point apart out of 150. I really think she knows my child. I did give her some strategies and she was really receptive about them. She is going to work on something to help me work with Garrett on understanding you vs I. He has really struggled with this. All his goals for the next year I agree with except one and we reached a great compromise.

Today was my first day of boot camp and I am already sore. Wow, what a great workout. I did get lightheaded since I haven't worked out in a really long time. Hopefully, my body will look differently in 6 weeks at the end of the session. I really hope to drop the 20 pounds that I lost after I had Garrett and before I got pregnant with Griffin.

Thomas is coming to town again in April. I have to buy some tickets. We are going the day before Griffin turns two. The good news is that I won't have to buy him a ticket then.
Cheryl

[LaraW]

Oh, Maura I can relate! What you describe sounds a lot like Natalie shortly after Colin was born. She had turned 2 in December, and Colin was born in January last year.

It happened when we moved her out of the crib and into the big girl bed, when Colin was probably about 3 months old. I don't know if this is the right answer or not, but we ended up putting a lock on her door to keep her in her room at night. We were spending hours putting her to bed, nobody was sleeping (except Colin!). She was refusing to nap during this time as well (though she was sleeping at daycare).

Here (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=89045&highlight=sleep+issues) is a thread I started on the subject at the time. I can now offer the comfort of hindsight, that things got much, much better after she got more used to being in there and we were consistent with her bedtime and naptimes.

[P1eacock]

I am not quite sure if I belong in the Wobblers or the Toddlers, my DD is 20 months, almost 21, and she is REALLY athletically inclined, and there is not a bit of wobble in her (she gets the athletics from her Dad).

Interesting dialogue on bedtime, over the last month, Ainsley has opted for taking off her diaper, every, single time she is in her crib. It's get in the crib, then strip, no nap or bedtime to be missed. It is now at the point where I go ahead and set out an extra diaper at night knowing after she falls asleep I will need to go in and put on a new diaper. Interestingly, she never uses the bathroom during these times, so my question....is she trying to tell me something, that she is ready for potty training? Or is she just finicky that she does not like having on a diaper?

Any advise would be helpful.
Thanks

[hrk]

HI everyone-
I am sorry I have been MIA lately, but things have been crazy busy here.

Lara- Happy Birthday to Colin. I can't believe it has been a year. And I hope things continue to progress with Natalie and potty training.

Sarah- I don't know if this is any help with the medicine, but our doctor told us to give Logan a glass of juice or milk right after the medicine cause no matter how much they flavor it, it still tastes bad. As for the tantrums, my only thoughts would be that they are for attention and taking the toys away was just as much attention as she needed. When Logan starts acting out recently I ahve actually said to him" What do you want attention for, do you need to tell me something?" That has stopped him in his tracks recently.

Lori- Sounds like you have some exciting prospects ahead. As for the preschool, registrations around here are certainly that crazy, so I can relate.

Cheryl- Glad to hear that you and Garrett's teacher are in agreement over his progress. Things go so much easier when the teachers and parents work together. Good luck with the boot camp, that sounds like quite the workout.

Maura- I don't know if it will work for you or not, but this is how we deal with bed time- We have Logan (3 1/2 yo) play quietly in his room for 10-15 minutes while we get Ari (10 mo) ready for bed. Then we do PJ's, potty, brush his teeth and 1-2 books. We then turn out the lights and talk for a few minutes with him laying in his bed. We remind him that he can talk sing, whatever, but he cannot get out of bed or turn on the lights or he loses watching his half hour of TV the next morning. It took some reinforcing, but we stayed consistent from the time he was 2 1/2 yo. There were plenty of night in the beginning that he needed to be put back and like you and DH we just took turns, but after a few mornings of no TV he connected it pretty quickly.

Kim- Congrats on the potty training with Jaimie. I don't have any suggestions on the books but I would tend to agree with Lara that Barnes and Noble would be a good place to look.

Well we have been very busy here since we got back from out trip. We had a wonderful time and Logan really enjoyed spending his days by the pool or on the beach and eating out all the time. And Ari was quite the trooper having his whole routine disrupted, but he loved the pool and did really well with taking naps everywhere but in his crib.
We narrowed down our search for private schools to three, so we have been submitting applications, getting teacher recs etc. This is like applying to college:eek: And Logan has gone through two school visits so far and has one left to go and then we just wait until March. He has been a real trooper, but I think he has also enjoyed playing with new toys and on new playgrounds etc. I hope he gets into one of them cause I think it will be so good for him. He really has outgrown Goddard.
I have been writing a book chapter for work for close to three months now and it was finaly due on January 15th so it is a reflief to have that done. Now I am looking forward to seeing it published.
We are back into swimming lessons and a big step for Logan- he is taking his first lessons without a parent. We had him evaluated by the lessons coordinator through the county and he agreed that even though Logan wasn't 4 yet, he could start in non parent assisted classes and even start at level 2 cause he can swim a fair distance on his own, lift his head take a breath and keep going. The first day he was very unsure about it, but by the end he was listening and doing great and last week, he just said bye- and did great. And we started Ari in a waterbabies class so DH gets to do that with him on Saturdays as well.
I hope everyone else is well.
Heather

[Sarah428]

Heather - I think you may be right on with Ella & getting attention. She's slowly getting her toys back but I've noticed it's wasn't much of a punishment for her. Wow, you've been busy! The writing, school selection, swim classes, yikes!:eek:

Cheryl - Hope you're "enjoying" that bootcamp class!;)

Kim - I agree with everyone else, it does some like a huge jump for Lainey to come home herself but I also see your point of wanting to prepare her for it just in case, god forbid, it should happen.

Joanne - All of her toys were/are in our room, it's extremly cramped and I can't wait to get them out of there!

I really can't put my finger on what's going on with Ella:(. She's still whining a little bit and there are times that she just seems sad. I've tried talking to her and when I ask her why she's said or what's wrong she'll say "nothing" or "I don't know". I really don't expect her to give me a definite answer so I ask specific questions about her day and nothing seems out of the ordinary. As Heather mentioned is may be an attention issue but when I tried setting aside special time w/ her over the weekend she backed off:confused:. I have noticed that she's better around me than DH and maybe it's the bickering b/w the 2 of them that's bothering her.

I was upset with DH last night. Ella whined a little bit during dinner and that really irritates DH. But after dinner she took her medicine, took her bath with no problem, helped me bath Owen, picked up her toys, etc. So when it was time for bed he says "well you whined at dinner so you only get one of your toys back from our room". My feeling was he should have focused on the positive as in "you whined a little at dinner and that's unacceptable but you did a,b,c, and d which was very helpful so you can have 3 toys back".
What do you all think?

Moving onto punishments, I need some suggestions because time outs and taking away toys seem to be unaffective.

I've been reading Positive Discipline for Toddlers (http://www.amazon.com/Positive-Discipline-Preschoolers-Revised-Second/dp/0761515151/sr=8-1/qid=1169653425/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4552240-2485612?ie=UTF8&s=books) that has been somewhat helpful but we've tried much of what is mentioned with little success.

Sarah

[zippy478]

Lara - thanks for the input on Zachary's sleep. I read through that thread and got some ideas from it that I may use. DH put him down for bed last night and stayed in his room for about 20 minutes and then came back out. Within five minutes, we could hear him playing in his room. DH went in and found him in his changing table cupboard. Sigh. At least he's getting the point that he's gotta stay in his room. Then DH put him down and we think he fell asleep. It still took close to an hour but we'll keep working on it. He's been in a toddler bed since November so he was in it for almost 6 weeks before Anthony was born but I know this is just his way of acting out and wanting that extra bit of attention.

Heather - we may try something like that, too. He's really understanding a lot more of what we tell him now so that may work, too.

Thanks!
Maura :)

[JoanneOR]

Things have calmed down a bit at my house, I think! I'm trying to put a different spin on things. Instead of yelling at the kids for being loud, I'm trying to "join in" more and have fun with them. Just trying to be more relaxed, I guess, even if I'm not feeling it inside! We had Teletubbies on the other day (hate that show, but the kids were scrolling through and stopped on it). Well, we all got up and started dancing like they were. It was pretty funny. The other night they were all going wild. I put on "Crazy Frogs" and we all danced around the living room.

Lori, keeping my fingers crossed for you that you can stay home in April. That would be great!

Kim, yea, I'd be real nervous, too, about the possibility of Lainey having to let herself in. Hopefully you would know far enough in advance that you wouldn't make it home in time and someone else like your sister could be there. I'm just getting used the idea that in the fall Jameson will be walking a couple blocks to the bus stop and taking the bus to the middle school by himself. I'll give him a key just in case, but it's doubtful he'd ever need to let himself in, since DH would be home. I'm also thinking of getting him a cell phone, just in case something happened with the bus, or whatever. He'd be fine with only using it in emergencies.

Cheryl, I wouldn't feel guilty about doing the bootcamp. Think of it as doing something for yourself, that also benefits the kids since you'll be healthier and it'll help relieve stress, too. Glad to hear that Garrett's review went so well. It must be nice to have such a good teacher after all you went through last year.

Wow, we really don't have any of the issues that some of you have with registering for preschool. No lines or anything. But, I know that there are those issues in other parts of the city, but not where we live. Just think, many of us probably didn't even go to preschool, at least I went straight to kindergarten. Picking a high school is what will be tough for us. I'm not crazy about the public high school, but I've heard mixed things about it. Both good and bad. There are several private high schools that are possibilities, but really expensive. Have a couple years to think about that, though.

Kim, do you have a good public library near you? You might want to try that for picture books on historical figures. I thought about that because we were at the library last night looking for books for a project Jameson is doing. There were lots of history books for younger kids, too.

Lara, how did Natalie do with underwear at school yesterday? Hope it went well!

Maura, welcome! You already got alot of advice on the sleeping. Just want to say I can relate!! Caitlyn was a horrible sleeper - still not that great. Although it wasn't really putting her to bed that was the problem - it was more waking up at night. Maybe telling Zachary that he doesn't have to go to sleep if he's not tired, but he has to stay in his room?

Hi P1eacock! I think your daughter's name is so cute! I'm not sure about the diaper situation. Maybe it's just uncomfortable? I don't think it's really a sign of potty training readiness if she's not using the bathroom. Have you tried putting her on the potty right before bed?

Heather, sounds like a great vacation. Congrats on getting your chapter done. Wow, Logan sounds like a great swimmer!

Sarah, don't you hate it when they are sad and you don't know why? Ian has been like that quite a bit. He's doesn't accept affection readily and can be really moody. Worries me a bit. He's alot older than Ella, so it's a totally different situation, but your comment just made me think about it. Although I've really made a conscious effort to give him positive reinforcement and to pay more attention to him and I can see it's made a difference. I agree with you about stressing the positive with Ella. If she sees that doing those good things gives her positive attention, then she'll start to do them more often. But, if the one bad thing outweighs all the good ones, she might think, why bother cooperating on the other issues? DH and I have the same "discussions" quite often. We've found the best discipline is taking away computer time or video games. If we take away an object, like a toy, they'll forget about it or find something else to do. That's for the boys. Caitlyn is tougher because she doesn't care about the computer or video games. With her it's more time outs or making her apologize, things like that. Which aren't all that effective sometimes! She is funny, though. I wouldn't do something she wanted the other day and she told me I was banned from TV for two days!

I made the mistake of telling Caitlyn we were going to see Disney Princesses on Ice. She asks me every day if this is the day we are going and then crying when I tell her no. I keep showing her the squares on the calendar that represent days and how many are left, but she still gets upset. I knew I should have waited till the same day to tell her! But, it's fun how excited she is. It'll be just me and her.