March 2007 Toddlers

[MinEaston]

I'll get us started off this month.

DD: Anna, turned 2 this past Sunday (2/25)
DH: 39
me: 35

We had a good second birthday with Anna. Someone taught her to say "I'll be two on Sunday!" last week, and she was saying that all weekend and is still saying it! I made a yellow cake with lots of chocolate frosting. She enjoyed the cake mostly, but actually spit out a gob of frosting. If chocoholism is a trait she does not inherit from me, that's just fine.:rolleyes:

She had her well-child visit on Tuesday, and is officially a peanut. 23lbs, 31" tall. As always the Dr wasn't concerned since she's progressing along an appropriate curve, even if it's lower than all the others. She is doing everything she is supposed to be doing, and more.

Anna moved into the 2-3 yr old room at daycare this past week, too, and is having a ball. It's a much bigger room with lots more activities. They sleep on low cots and apparently she is having no problems with that, either!

So, I'm happy to report that there aren't any current big challenges. This week, anyway.

Here's a picture from Sunday. She put all the numbers in the shape-sorter clock, right-side up and in the correct places, in about 60 seconds.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pb6f215be51bc13122244fb0a6f8d2358/ea7a0d7f.jpg

[Couperine]

Wow the months just keep flying by-

Me: Nancy 33
DH: Mark 35
DS: Ethan 22 months

Last month we have heard so many more words, and much clearer as well. Ethan can identify pretty much all the fruits and vegetables at the store, and he's saying colors appropriately as well. I used to think he chattered alot in the car, but now I know he can talk incessantly while we drive. :)

We enrolled at the Y in parent/child swim lessons, which are really water games and getting your child comfortable in water. My usually fearless boy turns out to dislike the chill of pool water, but we've had good success with having him kick towards ducks in the water.

Potty training is moving along, slowly but definitely with progress. He asks to go potty 3-4 times a day, and he usually has positive results. He has recently started getting really annoyed by dirty diapers, so I'm hoping he continues the trend of going potty. I just have to remember not to ask him if he wants to potty, and just say we're going; I get caught far too often asking him a question that is rhetorical in nature, and when he replies no, it always creates problems if I ignore his answer.

MinEaston, that's pretty great that Anna sorted the shapes so fast. Ethan is hanging out in the same weight class as well; it's gotten warmer here, so I pulled out some of his 12 month summer clothes, and the bigger clothes all fit fine. I'll probably buy more summer clothes just because I want to see new things, but it feels strange putting my toddler in 12 mo clothing. :)

[MinEaston]

Hi Nancy! I'm glad to hear swim lessons are going well, we doing "Mommy & me" at the local Y beginning in late March. It may be "Daddy & me" as well as "grandparent & me" but I hope to get there. Of course, I'm still not happy with my bathing suit "look" but oh well.

I think between Ethan, Anna, and EmilyK's Gavin, we have the three little peanut musketeers!

[buffygirl]

Me: Kim 40
DH: Greg 38
DS: Rex 19 months

I'm not sure where I belong so I'm popping in here. Make that 4 peanuts, Rex is a little fella too. 10%. He does seem like he's grown a bit lately, but he's been hanging out at 21 pounds for quite some time.

Nancy, Ethan sounds really advanced. I can't imagine Rex naming the fruits and veggies in just 3 months time. Wow! And potty training too. How did you decide to start? I'm confused about this issue.

No issues for us. Eating is going better and I'm chilling out about it.

Kim

[RebeccaT]

Me: Rebecca, 32
DH: Charles, 32
DD: Julia, 20 months

Kim, I am so glad that eating is going better! I wish that I could say the same. My child, who has always been opinionated about food but had a generally good repitoire, is quickly shrinking the list of foods that she will eat. She used to love any and all pasta - now, literally, if it's the wrong shape (say, fusilli instead of penne) she will turn her nose up at it and say "All done!" She loved broccoli for the longest time; now the only veggies she will put in her mouth are carrots and corn and the occasional pea (oh, and she will eat sweet potato fries, but I don't count fries as veggies even though sweet potatoes are good for you. Besides, she likes anything that's fried - she ate calamari at a restaurant last weekend). She still loves guacamole, but refuses to eat plain diced avocado. Still absolutely no meat or chicken of any kind (except chicken nuggets! :rolleyes:). I just don't know what to do to reverse this trend - I know that she is just exercising what little control she has over her life, but I am so afraid that both she and I will fall into patterns that we will have a hard time reversing when she's three or four. Any suggestions? Anyone else have a child that was a good eater revert to being picky?

Other than that, we are having a good time with her. She's gotten very lovey and cuddly, and is obsessed with naming things. Sentences are rare, unless she's mimicking us, but I am just glad that she's adding to her vocabulary.

ETA: we are moving this month, though, and I am starting to really get worried about keeping her stable in all the chaos. We move out on the 14th, live with my inlaws for 2.5 weeks, then move into our new house on/around the 30th. Any suggestions from those who've moved with a toddler?

[LaraW]

Delurking...

Rebecca, my DD was very similar when it came to eating meat. She refused pretty much all meat that we gave her from the time she started eating solid food until she was about 2 1/2. We just kept offering it, and she did eventually come around and will usually eat most things we give her. Even now, I can almost predict what she will or won't eat. There are certain times when I will let her have something different but its definitely the exception to the rule.

Its funny that Julia likes guacamole but not diced avocado because Natalie is the exact opposite. She'll eat diced avocado but won't go to within 10 feet of guacamole. ;)

Wait until you have #2, and you have 1 kid who will eat what's for dinner and 1 who won't. That's what we're dealing with now. :rolleyes: ;)

[EmilyK]

Me: Emily, 28
DH: 28
DS: Gavin, turns 2 on 3/9!!

Let's see... it's absolutely incredible how much he talks and comprehends now! I just never could imagine by this point, it would be to this level. 18-24 months amazing... :)

He's throwing fits, but nothing as bad as when he was closer to 18 months. Not sure what changed or if he realized he wasn't getting attention that way? Who knows... he's eating like a champ, though if food is a little too spicy, he'll complain and try to wipe off his tongue with a paper towel. :p I weighed him the other day and he's up around 24 pounds and 31-32 inches. We go to our 2-year appointment on 3/12, so I'll have some more definitive numbers at that point.

I haven't taken any pictures/video lately, but can try to take some later and put on youtube (my new favorite place to share videos with friends/family).

We have some new neighbors (well, new as in a few months ago) who have kids ages 18 months and 3 years, so they all play really well together! Now we have this great coffee shop around the corner that is locally owned and they WANT you to bring your kids in there! There's a play area and everything... Gavin just loves it there (he'll say "See Bus? Steve?"). (Steve's the owner)

We're not to the potty training portion of things yet, but I imagine it will start to become something we focus on once he moves to the 24-30 month room. We'll just play it by ear, I think.

Rebecca, be prepared to go for walks, etc. to get her away from the noise and commotion! Also I would try to mimic her room in each place so she has something kind of familiar around her. Good luck!!

Nancy, Gavin has a pair of 6-9 month pants he's wearing regularly... great progress on the potty and fruit/veggie identification!

MinEaston, Anna is getting so big (and she's so darn cute!)... can't believe our little ones are growing up so quick!

[Chelle D]

Me: Michelle, 31
DH: Jesper, 33
DS: Maxwell 22 months

I too am amazed at the rapid increase in vocabulary and the instantaneous learning that starts to happen as we approach age 2. It's really incredible.

We have not done anything on the potty training yet. Maxwell sometimes will say "poo" but I never know if he thinks he has to go or he just went or he's saying it just because he thinks it's funny for me to have to check his diaper :rolleyes:

He's doing really well on colors and will repeat almost anything we say. He still loves anything with wheels, cars, trucks, trains, planes... and he LOVES to slide. Tonight we went and bought him a Little Tikes slide and we did not get home until bedtime with it and he still slid down probably 25 times before we forced him to stop and get pajamas on. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow. He just loves it. I always feel so good when we get something that he likes that doesn't end up collecting dust with the other stuff we thought he had to have! :o

[food girl]

Me: Lisa 38
DH: JC 39
DD #1:Anna 22 months
DD #2: Lucy 3 months... actually adjusted age is a newborn.

Things are going well here. We brought Lucy home 12 days ago and it is actually fairly easy. Anna likes "Oocy" and enjoys showing her toys and books, but Anna makes it clear that she has rightful ownership of said toys :D

Anna is HUGE. 29 lbs, wears a 3T for heaven's sake! We have had off and on success with potty training. She just learned her colors, but can identify 7 different breeds of dogs! (we have a dog book) She can count to 10 but that's it. She also likes to name the fruits and veggies in the store. It is amazing the changes just a couple of months has made Kim. I am so surprised at how she puts words together now.

I can't believe how grown up the other Anna looks! My Anna still looks like a very large 6 month old. One day we will have hair!

Lisa

[TerriS]

ME: Terri, 32
DD: Caroline, 20 months!

Still the world's pickiest eater here. I think we're down to just applesauce and crackers. :( What I want to know is if anyone has had a crazy picky child eventually snap out of it. Oy.

She's huge too. 30 pounds and 34 inches tall.

Her latest is that she has started repeating letters after us and tries to sing the ABC song, and if we count "1 2 3" she'll say something like "6 7 8." So cute!

Still in a language explosion otherwise. Seems like every day we get a new word or sign. It's fun!

[Couperine]

You can tell our toddlers are at a nice stage in development when we all post yup they're good, and wait for a problem to pop up! :)

I don't have a problem per se, and even so it's of my own making. We're flying to Chicago for a combined family vacation and business trip in two weeks. I'm looking for ideas to make the trip more enjoyable for all of us - what toys you've used for travel success etc. Anything to make this a fun time for everyone.

We went ahead and bought Ethan his own seat since he's so close to age 2 anyway. We thought he would be easier to manage in his own seat. We chose a Residence Inn to stay at since he's done well in their suite set-up before and I love having a small kitchen while travelling.

Any hints and magic tricks would be much appreciated!

[gymbrat75]

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice... Does anyone use a sit n'stand stroller for their kids? Or know of anyone that uses one?
I'm expecting my 2nd baby in September and DS will be almost 2 so I'm thinking of getting a sit n'stand stroller rather than one of the other double strollers. I've noticed that there are a few different brands out there and was wondering if anyone knew the difference btwn them.
I'd even like some fdbk on what they're like to use compared with other double strollers.

any feedback would be great!!!!

thanks so much.

[MinEaston]

We're flying to Chicago for a combined family vacation and business trip in two weeks. I'm looking for ideas to make the trip more enjoyable for all of us - what toys you've used for travel success etc. Anything to make this a fun time for everyone.
...
Any hints and magic tricks would be much appreciated!

Good call on his own seat. We did the same thing when we went to visit family just after Christmas (Anna was 22M at that time). I presume you are taking his carseat, then?

I took lots of finger snacks - goldfish/cheddar bunnies, cheerios, raisins, SW airlines airplane crackers, TJ's breakfast bars - as well as a sandwich. We took some familiar books as well as a couple of new ones. I had a Mr Potato head and a puppet too. She enjoyed leafing through the inflight magazines. We made sure that her "lovey" (a bunny head w/blankie bottom that she calls Mimi) was with us on the airplane and not in the hold. She did fine provided we were paying attention to her pretty much at all times.

You have to put kids in carseats in the window seat, so DH and I switched off being in the middle and talking to her, drawing with her, singing. We did allow her out of her seat when the fasten seatbelt sign was off - but tried to keep her out of the aisle. You might search threads for a post from gertdog about some kind of flashcards that kept her son entertained for a long time.

We're going to Hilton Head SC this weekend, a total of 12 hours of driving time, so I am trying to come up with plenty of tricks to keep her going! We aren't TV watchers at all, but I have heard that for trips sometimes a personal DVD player can save the day. Don't know if you have one or can beg, borrow, or steal one.

Good luck!

PS - I guess I didn't post back w/Anna's 2-yr-old visit stats: she's still 31" and 23lbs. A little peanut, below 5th percentile. But the dr showed me the growth curve she's been following, and said "whatever you are doing, keep it up!" She's such a delight in general. We went through about 2 weeks of stubborn behavior a while back but now I can say she's happy 95% of the time and reasonable even when she's mad. We have new sentences each day; our current favorite is "howza day?" when she sees DH or me for the first time at the end of a day. She has DH totally and completely wrapped around her little finger - it's so much fun to watch.

OMG, I've written far more than a novel. Sorry!

[Couperine]

MinEaston - Anna sounds like such fun right now! Ethan is starting to put words together more often - we get a definite "want down!" when he's finished with dinner. Ethan has maintained his weight for a long while - he's 75% height 25% weight, but he's still following his own curve just fine as well.

As for flying, I've actually puchased the CARES restraint system I saw reviewed a few months ago in Cookie magazine. It's a harness that fits over the seat without blocking the rear passenger's ability to use their tray table. It's been FAA approved for a few years now, and hopefully we don't encounter any resistance to using it. We've also confirmed a car seat rental with our vehicle both by e-mail and by phone, and next week I'll call again to be sure it's waiting for us. I'm hoping that part works out with no complications, but if not, you can buy a perfectly decent carseat for about what we'll be renting one. :rolleyes:

The Mr. Potato Head sounds neat - Ethan's group of friends doesn't have that toy, so it could be a nice distraction. I think he'll be excited - he's completely in love with planes, trains, and automobiles.

My munchkin needs to wake up soon (thanks for really messing up our sleep schedule DST), so thanks for your tips!

Ah yes, I have no answers of use to you on a Sit and Stand stroller, Gymbrat. The only double stroller thing I've heard is get the stadium seating version because most double wides won't fit through doors.

[gertdog]

Nancy- we took a cross-country trip with Ryan (17 months) a few weeks ago. I pretty much echo all of Mariana's suggestions! We had Ryan in his carseat next to the window, and DH and I took turns sitting next to him. We brought a snack trap (cup with lid that has soft flaps to keep cheerios etc. from spilling) and just added new treats periodically, which kept him happy. We had his blankie and pacifier handy so he could nap, and the flight attendants were nice about bringing us milk when we needed it. One thing I hadn't anticipated- with the carseat installed, it wasn't possible to lower the tray table in front of Ryan, which made eating a little difficult and also made it impossible for him to use the crayons and paper I'd brought. That might not be a problem on all flights, depending on the spacing of the seats, I guess.

The flight we were on had meals, so we pre-ordered a children's meal for him, which turned out to be french toast, sausage, and tater tots (???). Since we couldn't put his tray table down, I cut up the french toast (sans syrup) and put the pieces in the snack trap- worked perfectly. He had zero interest in the other items so DH ate them, as they were better than the horrible egg-thing on the adult meals!

We kept him in his carseat as long as we could- I was afraid that once he was allowed out, he'd fuss about going back in. As it turned out, he was pretty happy in the carseat and had little interest in walking the aisles.

The flashcards I have are Baby Einstein Animal Discovery cards and they were a huge hit- but he was already familiar with them from daycare. He likes to look at each one and say the name or make the sign or sound for that animal. In fact he is sitting on the floor right now saying "oo oo oo!" while looking at the monkey ("mut-mey") card. :) In addition to the flashcards and lots of books, he also really liked a small flashlight. I packed the toys and books into one of those small zippered packing cubes and stuck in the seatback pocket in front of him so it would be easy to switch them out during the flight.

It's nice that you will have a kitchen- we did the same thing in California. I packed a sponge and a small leakproof bottle of dish soap so that I could easily clean sippy cups and the snack trap as needed.

We're going to CA again in April and I really hope the same tricks work again!

[LaraW]

One thing I hadn't anticipated- with the carseat installed, it wasn't possible to lower the tray table in front of Ryan, which made eating a little difficult and also made it impossible for him to use the crayons and paper I'd brought. That might not be a problem on all flights, depending on the spacing of the seats, I guess.


Colin got something for his birthday that is a tray-surface that hooks directly onto his carseat. We have not used it yet, but I can see how it would be useful in this situation.

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/babyabby/stt01.jpg

It came from this site (http://www.babyabby.com/).

[gertdog]

Lara, what a neat idea- thanks for posting it! I think I might try that out for our next trip to CA, in April- I already know that we're on the same airline w/ same seat configuration, so the tray table will almost certainly be a problem again.

[MinEaston]

That's a great idea. Alas, we are too close to our departure date to find something that useful in my neck of the woods (Stephanie knows, she was here last summer...). But my mother found a small, metal tray at Walmart that should fit over the carseat well enough, and she can play with magnets on it as well.

[EmilyK]

We've had the week from h*ll around here... last friday, when I picked Gavin up from daycare, I found out there had been 2 little guys in there vomitting, etc. all day... <sigh> We made it through a party on Saturday and then his birthday party on Sunday, so naive me thinks we escaped. Humph. Monday after lunch I get a call from daycare saying that he was throwing up all over the place. Poor little guy threw up about every half hour all afternoon/evening and was finally over that portion by Tuesday. Then, the fever hit... I had to take him to urgent care (see tangent below) to find out it's just the "second phase" of this virus. He also ended up with "water-poo" that's still kind of hanging around still today. He went back to daycare today, and then I get a call at 9:30 that they think he has pink eye. :mad: Since I had him on his eye-drops Sunday and Monday, then abandoned that ship when the vomitting stopped and didn't continue them, they let me pick them up and drop them off with him and see how he does. When I picked him up tonight, they said his eyes are crystal clear and it must have just been a fluke. Whatever.

When I was all by myself with a baby who is screaming, clutching me like a desperate little monkey calling "Moommmmy... mommmmyyy" I was calling his pediatrician. We had his first visit with them since we moved on Monday afteroon, but they made us cancel since he was vomitting. I told her he was vomitting and then got this bad fever and I didn't know what to do. She said that since we hadn't actually been there, she couldn't help me and I needed to call our old office. :mad: :mad: I called the old office and they looked high and low and discovered that since he was already trasferred out of there, the paperwork was already in storage and they couldn't do anything for me. ARRRGH! I was SO angry! (not at the old place, not their fault... why on earth wouldn't the new place suggest that I come in for a sick visit!?!?!) Anyway, there's an urgent care around the corner and I took him there.

We're having a grande ol' time around here. <sigh> I did get his weight when we were at UC - 24lb15oz!! Boy did he put on weight! And that was after a day of not keeping anything down! He's talking up a storm! He'll slouch down in his chair, look at us and say "Sit up!" and when we repeat, he'll sit up. I can't believe how much of a change he's made just in the last few months.

When we got back from UC, we were watching "It's a Big Big World" and at the end, he just HAS to give Snook "five" when he puts his paw up to the screen. I caught it with my camera phone (to explain the not-so-great quality)... it was very cute.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p9070d2cecd0bd65cdf68d43724ebc319/ea4cfe31.jpg

Lara, I HAVE to get one of those trays!! Thank you SO much for posting that link!

[Couperine]

EmilyK - I am so sorry your week has been awful. I hope Gavin is on the mend.

Just in case you wanted to know someone else is sharing your misery, Ethan has been sick with vomiting and diarrhea since Tuesday. Tuesday was by far the worst - by evening each day, he's felt better, the diarrhea abated, but sometime during the night (and why does my poor baby just go back to sleep in it) he's vomited overnight. I thought it was bad when he did it Tuesday night, but Wednesday night, he puked and pooped all over himself, his bed, and around the sides of the waterproof pad I had placed after cleaning up Tuesday's mess. It was truly awful - I think he hadn't slept long that way, but all day yesterday he wanted "medicine" put on him when changing diapers. His poor little pen*s was getting raw from all the icky diapers.

He really seems to appreciate the mental benefit of taking medicine to feel better; Desitin on his bottom has helped, but just getting out the jar calms him down when he's a bit raw. Works the same with the magic Advil and Tylenol for other pains he has had.

Yesterday morning I was getting worried about how long this has been going on, and apparently this can happen for up to two weeks! I sure as heck hope not, but I'm thankful that he really likes Pedialyte. It's about time to see if disaster has occured again; I hope he's feeling better today.

[MinEaston]

((Nancy & Ethan)) and ((Emily & Gavin))

How are the boys doing this morning?

We had that sickness thing back in late January - the entire family in succession, Anna first. Mercifully the vomiting wasn't too bad. Then, we had an unexplained 5 days of watery p**p with no other symptoms. We're leaving on vacation tomorrow so there had better not be anything going around daycare other than the usual stuffy nose!

[Couperine]

Thanks for the hugs - Ethan woke up perky and happy this morning. He's on a white food diet until I feel more comfortable with how he's doing. Actually I had what he has on Sunday and Monday - I think we picked it up from a birthday party we went to on Saturday. I traced back two different kids with that problem prior to the party. :(

I hope Gavin is doing well - Ethan is just a hoot lately. I'm amazed constantly by how fast they learn - we just started working on colors almost two weeks ago, and Ethan was spontaneously pointing out colors this morning. He's in love with the book "Counting Colors" by Roger Priddy that we found at Half Price Books. It has two page layouts of each color with objects numbering 1-10 to find on the two pages. He loves finding and naming everything, and it is a welcome alternative to his love affair with all things truck.

[TerriS]

There's been many a post and responses regarding flying with these little ones, so search back through the Wobbler threads maybe? I've got a 14 hour flight to deal with later this summer. Ugh.

I love that tray table thing. Totally getting that. Assuming Caroline's still in her Sit-n-Stroll which she may not be.

Speaking of 14 hour flights, I guess I haven't mentioned our big news....
we're moving to Hong Kong.
:eek:
DH has accepted a job with the US State Department (he's been a China analyst for some time) and we're headed off for a 2 (maybe 3) year rotation in Hong Kong starting in late July.

So there's the issue of packing up my house, figuring out if Caroline will still be in a crib, if we will have access to a crib there right away (Govt provided housing), figuring out how to explain to a 2 year old that we are moving halfway around the world, and figuring out how to use our webcam to talk to grandma and grandpa.

I work full time right now but am working with my job to contract back a few of my deliverables via telecommuting (I do a lot of writing).

We are renting out our house while we are gone. More work to do there.

It's a little bit CRAZY! But we are very excited. And with luck I will do work 15-20 hours a week, so I'll have more time to spend with Caroline. We'll put her in a 'regular' preschool - couple of hours 2 to 3 days a week - and hopefully one where she can learn Chinese. (something I need to work on). And families in HK tend to have full time 'helpers' - nanny/cook/cleaner to help around the house. And it's a fascinating, beautiful city in a beautiful, fascinating part of the world. :)

[EmilyK]

We're doing better here... the morning was rough (crying and fits from the time he woke up until DH went out the door with him - one of those days I'm glad he's off to daycare :o ). He still has VERY watery poo, but since it wasn't 3 in a row at school, he wasn't sent home. It sounds like it's probably about the same thing you guys went through, MinEaston. Yuck.

On a positive note, the lady who rec'd the ped office that blew me off when I needed them called the office to read them the riot act for treating me the way they did. The manager called me and apologized profusely for the situation and assured me that's not their normal way of things... it was a rough day (short staffed) and it should never have happened. We're still giving them a try with our 2-year visit next Fri... we'll see.

Terri, that really is huge news!! Make sure you share pictures when you get there!! It'll be great experience for all of you, I'm sure!

Nancy, not that I want anybody sharing in my misery, it does help to hear that I'm not alone.

[buffygirl]

I'm just popping in to say hi. It's been a crazy month. I spent the 1st week of in in California for a leadership conference for work. WOW, very enlightening and a benefit to my entire life and all of my relationships. Very cool.

Hugs to Nancy and Emily for the tummy virus. That is going around and so far we've avoided it. I hope it stays that way.

Rebecca, are you all getting ready for your move??? Will you be moving close to your old house? I hope that is going well.

Wow, Terri, you all are brave. That sounds like a great move, how educational and cool to experience another culture. I can't wait to hear about it!

Stephanie, where did you find the Einstein card set? Rex absolutely loves cards and probably the only store I haven't checked for those is Target. Maybe I could find them on line.

Kim

[gertdog]

Kim, I got them at Babies R Us- they were shelved with the board books. The packaging makes it look like a videotape- the cards are about 4x8". I've also seen them at Borders. Ryan's daycare teacher got her set on eBay, I believe, so you might have some luck there.

[jphilg]

Terri, that's amazing news! Peter and I are talking seriously about doing the ex-pat thing ourselves for 6 months or a year, so I look forward to checking in with you and seeing how it all goes. What a wonderful formative experience for Caroline!

[DanaSD]

We have the baby einstein cards too - Brendan loves to play with them. He points at the pictures and loves to sort them. We got them at Babies R Us but I just saw them at Stein Mart for $3.99 so I picked up another set because it seems like a great toy to leave in the diaper bag. I like the animal ones because they are photos of real animals. We also got another site that is first words I think and I don't care for them - most of the pictures are of toys and not the real thing.

Stein Mart also has lots of Melissa and Doug toys. I picked up a few to have around for gifts when needed.

[gertdog]

We have the baby einstein cards too - Brendan loves to play with them. He points at the pictures and loves to sort them. We got them at Babies R Us but I just saw them at Stein Mart for $3.99 so I picked up another set because it seems like a great toy to leave in the diaper bag. I like the animal ones because they are photos of real animals. We also got another site that is first words I think and I don't care for them - most of the pictures are of toys and not the real thing.


Funny- I was just coming to post that our Borders had the Nature set on clearance for 3.99 (I bought one for Ryan and one for his daycare teacher), and that I looked at the First Words set and didn't like them because they are all images of Baby Einstein toys. The Nature set is photos of things like trees, rain, sun etc. There is also a Seasons(?) set which has photos but the concepts are a little more abstract.

An idea for the set you got to take along- a mom I know punched a hole in the corner of each card and put a ring through them to keep the cards together. You can always remove the ring to let him sort the cards, but the ring would keep them together in situations where spreading them out isn't desirable/possible. I'm planning to do this before our next plane trip.

Terri- wow! You will have an amazing adventure, I'm sure, and I'm envious that Caroline will have the chance to learn Chinese.

[RebeccaT]

WOW! Terri, that is huge news! HOw amazing! I have told DH numerous times that if we ever have the chance to live and work abroad for a few years, we should jump on it. Much more likely back when he was doing finance for an international software company (he was offered a job w/ his former company in Galway, Ireland, where I lived for 6 months in college. It was a lateral move and Julia was just a couple of months old, so he didn't take it, but I kind of wish he had!). Now that he is doing finance for a mostly local real estate firm, it's not really a possibility for us. I am so excited for you!

Hope ya'll don't think I'm lame - but I am copying/pasting my report on the move from the pregnancy thread...

I have been off the BB for a while now - we moved out of our home last week, but aren't in our new one yet b/c the closing dates didn't line up (well, now they do line up, but that's only because of a week's delay in closing on the house we're selling... a huge long story I won't bore you with). So we're shacking up with my inlaws. Remarkably, it has gone pretty well so far (1 week and counting) and it's been great to have two extra sets of hands to help with Julia while we work on house stuff. We might have to stay here longer than we thought (we had planned to stay an another 1-2 weeks) depending on kitchen and bath renovations in the new place... our current thinking is that living in a house with no kitchen or master bath would be worse for us and Julia than living with inlaws. But we still aren't sure on that.

I survived the move but I definitely did more than I should have as far as lifting boxes, bending over, etc. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck for three days after they carted our stuff off to storage. DH and I did get a nice little break, though, this past weekend when we went to San Antonio for a friend's wedding. Julia stayed here with her grandparents, and we got to sleep in, have leisurely lunches, and stay out late with our friends. But again... pregnancy makes the staying out late a little harder to recover from, I'm noticing. So no more of that for me!

In other non-toddler news, we found out that Julia is getting a little brother! We couldn't be more excited!

She is handling everything remarkably well. It helps that she is already so familiar with her grandparents' house, and they have had a crib set up for her here to nap in since she was born. So that was comforting to her, I'm sure. We moved all of her "crib friends" from her bed to this one, so she still has her menagerie in bed with her. We also moved a huge bin of her toys. Since most of the rest of our stuff is in storage for the near future, we figured that having some of "her things" would help, and it has. Aside from some anxiety about the boxes piling up, and things disappearing from shelves and walls, she has recovered remarkably well. Kids are way more resilient than we give them credit for!

Oh, and last thing. Julia has to have her tubes replaced (they've apparently developed some sort of bacteria which is rendering them ineffective), and they are also going to remove her adenoids. :( Here's hoping it gives her some relief from the constant drainage. Surgery is Tuesday; we'd appreciate your positive thoughts. :(

[TerriS]

Thanks for the well wishes everyone! We are really excited. Mike's wanted to do the overseas thing for a long time and the right opportunity came along...so here we are! It's truly crazy. I am glad I can "take" my online life with me...that's one thing that will be the same...thank goodness! Still have 4 months to go, and it is just crazy busy until then.

Jen, how fun that you and Peter have talked about doing the expat thing! Friends of ours are spending a year in Paris, just because. It sounds awfully fun.

Rebecca, Caroline and Julia really are on the same schedule, because she's scheduled for her second eye surgery in two weeks. :( Her eyes are starting to cross again, so her eye doc wants to get in there and tighten the muscles back up before we move. I know it's what she needs, but of course I'm still nervous about the whole thing. Good luck to you on Tuesday.

We've had a few fun developments...starting to call things "my" or "mine", using more 2 and 3 word phrases, saying new words ALL the time, really "singing" along with her favorite songs (and sometimes signing too), and today she was actually mad at me when I was late picking her up from daycare (stuck in horrible Beltway traffic). And stayed mad at me all night. It was so sad.

But, she's just a delight most of the time. We've both had a head cold for about 2 weeks and I hope it goes away soon.

Great idea about putting the flashcards on a ring.

[buffygirl]

Terri, Rex has started saying "mine" too. It is so funny. I've tried to make it a fun thing so he doesn't get too possessive of his stuff.:p

We had a fun weekend. We went up to Brenham to take pics of Rex in the bluebonnets. It is a Texas "must" every year. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post one this week.

Kim

[MinEaston]

Terri, Rex has started saying "mine" too. It is so funny. I've tried to make it a fun thing so he doesn't get too possessive of his stuff.:p Kim

Ah yes, the word "mine." And "my <insert object name here>" A big part of Anna's world. She's also perfected "no touch me!" when we are trying to help her do something, and, of course, "No."

But on the whole, she's a delight. We spent last week in SC and found that she loves the beach. I'll post pictures at some point (probably not until the April thread the way things are going)

[EmilyK]

Ah... my favorite phrases:

"No, no, no (while shaking his finger at me) kickle Sah-Zah [how he says Gavin]"
"Go away!"
"No <insert anything here>!"
"Where Steve? Cookies? Muffins? See bus???" (when he wants to go to the coffee shop to see the owner Steve - they have muffins and cookies he rather enjoys :rolleyes: )

We had our 2-year appointment on Monday. My little man weighed in at 24.5 pounds (9th percentile - moving up a little) and was 33 inches (13%). Everything was good and the doc was impressed with his motor skills. Nothing crazy came out of it.

We're moving up to the 24-30 month room right now. He did fine yesterday, but today when I went to get him, he was bawling his little eyes out. :( He was happy to see me (they were playing outside) and the teacher said he wouldn't tell her what was wrong. I asked if he was hurt... "Nooo...." then I asked if he was scared... "Yyyeaahhhh" He never answers yes to anything. Poor little guy.

Everybody is healthy (for the most part) finally. I got the dreaded stomach virus last Monday that the boy had the previous week. Great. I'm kind of an emotional wreck right now, not really sure what's going on or what my problem is... just down in the dumps.

Happy warm weather everybody...

[JenZen]

Wow! I haven't checked in here in a while!

I'll just give you all a quick update on us as I haven't read through the entire thread ...

Gabe is potty training, and he's wearing underwear during the day. :eek: We've had quite a few accidents, but it's getting better. I just started him on underwear this weekend, and his sitter is very willing to clean up if needed, so we decided to go for it. I will say this, the first time he wet his pants while wearing underwear was sort of funny. He was so shocked and confused, but it made him understand that going in his pants in uncomfortable ...

And, boy, is he a chatterbox! We have full conversatios now and he is using his imagination more and more. It's a hoot most of the time. And then there are the toddler meltdowns. We talk about using words, and I've just started having him look me in the eyes when he's talking. I'm also trying very hard to get him to say "please" and ask nicely. He has a tendency to demand things like he's the king of the palace.

I've really noticed the need for more discipline and direction at this age. Most days, I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or being consistent enough, but I'm learning ... it helps that Gabe's sitter is teaching him good behavior as well. I'm sometimes surprised with how adament he is about doing things that he learns from her ... like pulling up his own pants or whatever.

Gabe is doing so well with Ada. He kisses her on the head ALL THE TIME and always has to keep track of her. When she cries, he says, "It's OK, Ada. It's OK." I can't wait till they can play together!

We hear the phrase, "I do it myself," ALL THE TIME! Toddlers can be so stubborn. :)

So, that's the big stuff. Each day is truly a miracle ...

Jen