October toddlers

[gertdog]

Wow, October already!! And my baby boy is going to be two years old in less than two weeks! Where does the time go??

Me: Stephanie, 36
DH: Jason, 34
DS: Ryan, 2 yrs. on 10/11

Not a lot new here. Ryan is talking our ears off and singing a lot. He even recognizes and sings parts of songs we hear on the radio in the car! He often insists that we sing songs that he's learned at school- unfortunately we don't always know the words and he gets mad at us.

We're taking two weekend trips this month- one to Atlanta for a wedding, and one to North Carolina to visit FIL. We bought the CARES harness for the plane rides- I'm looking forward to using that instead of lugging a carseat on board! We are using a babysitting service in Atlanta while we attend the wedding- I am a little nervous about that, but I followed a friend's advice to call the nicest hotels in town and see what/who they recommended. She's a freelance consultant who brings her now 10-month-old on all of her business trips, and thus has a lot of experience lining up child care in different cities! I called two ritzy hotels and got the same recommendation from very helpful concierges at both, and the agency has been incredibly easy to work with and responsive so far. So, we'll see.

How's everyone else doing?

[Couperine]

Hi Stephanie! I'll stop lurking and say hi too. :)

Me: Nancy 34
DH: Mark 36
DS1: Ethan 2 years 5 months
D?2: edd 5/5/08

I had an ultrasound this morning and everything looks good, so I'm ready to stop worrying about another miscarriage and plan for a new baby!

I really would like to get Ethan out of diapers well before the new baby - maybe by the new year so he has quite a few months before any regression around the baby's birth. He spent a good week pooping on the potty for Matchbox cars - we had a stash on a shelf right above his preferred toilet, and he'd tell us and then go once he made it to the potty. This even continued through part of our vacation, but halfway through, he just decided going in the diaper was better. He loves to pee on the potty, but he's only had a few times where he mentioned he needed to pee and then waited for the potty. I know this is part of the ebb and flow of the matter, but he's getting really close. Some of his playmates are potty trained, so there was a flurry of potty times at the last playgroup, and he wound up doing his business there.

Stephanie, I love the CARES harness - we've just rented a carseat with the car we've reserved and it all works out fine. I hope the babysitting service turns out well; I've been tempted to travel to one of the all-inclusive resorts that cater to parents with young children with extensive childcare options. I'd love to hear how the babysitting experience goes.

[MinEaston]

Hi guys...

Me: 36
DH: 39 (but only for 3 more weeks :eek: )
DD: Anna, 2yrs, 7 months

Not to much new to report here, but you might remember my rants last month about nighttimes, meltdowns, and DH. I'm happy to report that it has all gotten a lot better in the last 2 weeks! We've also managed to wean the before-bed nursing session. We still have a first-thing-in-the-morning session with cuddling, since this mama doesn't generally get out of bed before her daughter does.:rolleyes:

We're making some progress on family meals, too, and having Anna eat more of what we eat. We probably manage dinner with all 3 of us 2-3 nights a week. She eats breakfast with DH every morning, and on most weekends the three of us manage breakfast and lunch together.

We are heading to San Diego next Tues for a week - DH has a conference and we are staying with his sister there. I'm not making too many plans in advance, but I do know we want to go to the zoo and maybe Legoland (for DH's benefit, probably, more than Anna's!). We have a nonstop flight from Baltimore to San Diego but I'm still dreading it. Anna has been telling her daycare buddies that she's "going on an airplane in October" and is looking forward to using her special seat belt - the CARES harness. And taking her "labybug pack-pack," that we reserve for special trips:
http://common.csnstores.com/common/products/FE/FE1194_m.jpg

[Couperine]

MinEaston - That backpack is adorable! We filled a small one for Ethan on this last trip, and he looked adorable wearing it everywhere. Anna will look priceless!

[DanaSD]

me, Dana 36
dh, 36
DS, Brendan, 21 months

not too much going on. Brendan's nose is still healing though the swelling is going down and the buising is getting better but much of his face is still purple. HIs nose wasn't broken, we did end up taking him for x-rays which he hated.

more temper tantrums, screaming and that annoying "egh" sound when they want something and don't want to use words. Most of the time he's a happy active kid but when he's hungry or tired the toddler comes out especially when he's with me.

Have a great time in San Diego - I miss that city. Brendan did great on his trip from Phoenix to Philadelphia and I had been dreading it for weeks. He did better on the day flight than the evening one and I also think on the flight back he knew right away he didn't need to sit in his seat like when he's in a car so he wanted to up. DoodlePro and snacks saved us.

I'm off on my first trip without DS. I've only spent one night away from him and that was for our anniversary last year when we went all the way to Scottsdale, :) (the resort was about 20 minutes from our house). I"m going to Kansas for 3 days for a cake decorating class.

my mom works for a babysitting agency in LA that a lot of hotels use. The agencies pay their people relatively well and use the same employees so I would feel comfortable with it.

[mst]

Me: 33
DH:37
DD: Ilyssa, 20 months


Stephanie- I can't believe our babies are so old! I love that Ryan gets annoyed that you don't know the words to songs. How funny.

Nancy- good luck with the potty training. Ilyssa is no where near ready. She could walk around in a dirty diaper all day.

Mariana- Glad to hear that things are settling down.

Dana- Glad to hear that Brendan's nose was not broken. Poor guy that it is so swollen though. Does it bother him? I hope you will post pictures of your cakes from the class. Also- do you think I could use my Elmo cake pan, and make Zoey- just by using orange and putting bows in her hair? Or, would it look lame? I am not an artist...

As for us- lots of chatting. I am shocked by how much she can say and understand. The other day, she said, "I want all done daddy sit down" (meaning that she did not want Daddy to sit next to her any longer.) I thought that was a pretty long sentence! We went to My Gym, which she loved, but was the Queen of No:
"What's your name?"
"NO!"

"What sound does a cow make?"
"No!" etc, etc.

[ggs830]

Me: Gouri, 31
DH: 31
DD: Shaelyn, 21 months
DS: Jahan, 6 months

I've been MIA of late, but thought I'd check in and say "hi."

Life is pretty crazy around here, as Shaelyn has become more active and adventurous. It's seriously hard to keep up with her sometimes! She's full of curiosity, extremely playful and funny, and she's turned into a real chatterbox. It's truly a joy to see the world through her eyes.

Occasionally, she has a meltdown, but tantrums are (knock on wood) few and far between. She's great with the baby, always giving kisses on his head and hands, and teaching him shapes and body parts-- very cute. She's taken to calling herself "Shaynie", which is what we call her now as well. I'm "mama", DH is "dada" and Jahan is "brudder." :p

I think our biggest challenge with her is sleep. Around 18 months, Shaelyn developed all sorts of crazy sleep issues: she won't fall asleep at night unless DH or I sit with her and rub her back; she has started waking up in the middle of the night, asking for milk; if she wakes up at night, there's a 50/50 chance she'll want to play, in which case, it can take 2-3 hours to go back to sleep(!); on the nights she sleeps through, she wakes up really early (like 5:30-6 a.m.), and will rarely go back to sleep.

I don't know what happened here, other than these sleep issues seemed to coincide with her language development. Maybe her increased sociability has caused these problems? I don't know, but between her and my 6 month old (who is a TERRIBLE sleeper), DH and I are operating in about 4 hours of sleep a night. :(

Meredith: so cute about Ilyssa's talking. Shaelyn has started saying "got it" whenever we say something and she agrees. The other day, DH was leaving work and he said, "I love you" to Shaelyn. She said "dada, I love you got it." Meaning, "I love you too, Daddy." :)

[buffygirl]

Just flying by for a quick check in. I love hearing all of the updates on our not so little ones!

Rex is 26 months and I've nicknamed him jabber jaws. He talks constantly! Most of it we understand, a little of it, not so much which is fun.:rolleyes:

He seems to have hit a really emotional stage again, to put it delicately.:( If he does not get exactly his way, he melts down. We went through this from 18-22 months and I mistakenly thought we were in the clear.

We are also struggling with hitting. I am the main target and it infuriates me. The hitting usually starts at the end of one of the meltdowns. I started taking things away from him as discipline and that seems to be working. But it pretty much sucks and of course makes me question absolutely EVERYTHING! Ugh!

Dana, I missed what happened to Brendan, but hope that he is ok.

Stephanie, any big plans for Ryan's b-day?

Nancy, congrats on baby #2!

Kim

[food girl]

Me:Lisa 39
DH: JC 40
DD: Anna 2. 5
DD: Lucy 10 mos.

We are enjoying todderdom right now. Anna is fully potty trained, we just put away the little potty and she uses just the big potty. She has become so helpful. It's weird. Yesterday she helped me put away groceries, really, she helpednot just "pretend" help. She also "helped" me tonight by taking Lucy's diaper off, not so much the help I wanted but pretty impressive. She had already thrown the diaper away by the time I noticed the bare bottomed baby.

About Lucy, she's 10 mos, but was 2 1/2 months premature. I'm getting a little worried about her development. She's not crawling yet or doing any sounds like: ba ba or da da. I see the pediatric rehab doc this week, maybe that's why I'm noticing all of this. Do you all remember when your kids did these things? Oh, and she can't sit up unassisted either.

We took a trip to the beach a few weeks ago. It was a 10 hour trip. We took so much stuff we had to borrow my parent's mini van. I promise, I did not take this much stuff when I moved away to college. The trip went well thanks to the portable DVD player! Anna loved the beach and the big pool. Both kids slept great there. I guess all that sun and fun wears you out.

I would love to see some photos of everyone's little ones!
Lisa

[mst]

Lisa- Ilyssa was slow with gross motor. (Nothing was wrong with her, it just was not/is not her strength.) Anyway, she was sitting by 10 months, but definitely not crawling (and no where close to it!) She spoke early.

Congrats on the potty training! Ilyssa's dolls are constantly making doodies, and going potty- but Ilyssa could sit in a dirty diaper all day.

Kim- We struggled with hitting when Ilyssa was less than a year. It was really tough. My SIL lent us a book called, "hands are not for hitting". I don't know if he would like that- or if it is even such a fabulous book, but she found it to be a way to reinforce not hitting in a more casual way.

Gouri- I love the name Shaynie! I think you should definitely let that one stick! Sleep has been an issue with us lately too. I think that some issues that we thought were gone (like hitting or sleep) come back at different stages in life. So, even though we thought we were done...we're not! I remember when I did therapy with children who were sexually abused. We would tell the parents that we worked on the problem up to their current level of development, but that at their next stage, they would need to address it again, and the new issues that would come up. I guess it is probably true of a lot with parenting.

[gertdog]

Kim- We struggled with hitting when Ilyssa was less than a year. It was really tough. My SIL lent us a book called, "hands are not for hitting".


This book title made me laugh- there is another in the series called "teeth are not for biting." Um, what are they for then? I know what message they're trying to send but the title makes me laugh every time I see it. At daycare, they tell the kids "We don't hit friends!" which also makes me laugh... we don't hit friends, but we hit enemies and strangers?

We're dealing with hitting again too, and I've been doing an immediate time-out. Our "time-out" involves removing him immediately to the family room (which has a baby gate again- we took it down but decided to put it back up to help w/ the time out since there are no doors between our downstairs rooms). We then walk away and (pretend to) ignore him for a few minutes, then return and reiterate the "no hitting" message.

Kim, no big plans for Ryan's birthday. We're leaving for Atlanta the next morning, so I'm going to take cupcakes to school and we'll have a special dinner at home with pizza (his favorite) and cake. But no party- luckily he's young enough that I can get away with that. :o

Here are a few photos, including his first haircut and that Learning Tower I mentioned a few months ago.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce26b3127ccebe561c3c106400000026108AZOGjRs3bNM

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce26b3127ccebe561c21914900000025118AZOGjRs3bNM

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce26b3127ccebe561c1f917700000025118AZOGjRs3bNM

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce26b3127ccebe5630f3918d00000015118AZOGjRs3bNM

[ggs830]

Cute pictures, Stephanie!

Shaelyn went through a bad hitting phase about 2 months ago. What we did was, as soon as she hit, I'd get down so I could look her in the eye, grab her hands, and say firmly "Do not hit. Hitting hurts mama. We do not hit." If she did it again, I would say the same thing, and then remove myself (or whoever she was hitting, like the dog) from her presence for a few minutes. I was doing this several times a day for a while, but eventually it worked. Last week, she got upset because Jahan was playing with a toy she wanted. I could see her stop herself from hitting him, and she turned to me and said "no hit." :) Of course, she doesn't always stop herself, but she's much better then she was a few months ago.

We've had no luck with potty training either, Meredith. About 2 months ago, Shaelyn started telling us when she'd pooped, so DH got excited and bought a potty for her. It's collecting dust in our bathroom right now!:rolleyes: She talks about the potty all the time, and tells us when she needs a diaper change, but doesn't seem at all interested in taking the next step. Oh well. ;)

[MinEaston]

A quick note as I'm home frantically getting ready for our trip to San Diego - we leave this evening to stay w/my brother who lives much closer to the airport than we do, then we are on an 8:45am nonstop flight tomorrow morning. I will have no internet access or email access while I'm out there, which I think I am going to appreciate (with regards to the work stuff, anyway).

Anna's a bit older than most of the toddlers here, and we have made no progress on potty training either. She certainly knows when she's dirty and wet, but she'd stay in her icky diaper all day if we let her. Last night she'd taken all her clothes and her diaper off and was running around. Then, all of a sudden she stopped, looked like she was thinking about it, and said "Mama, I need a diaper!" We put her on the potty (we have 2 little potties and then one insert for ours), but no luck. Eventually I put a diaper on her and within 10 minutes it was full. :rolleyes:

While we're out in San Diego I may take her to buy panties to see if that will entice her to use the potty. She likes to get my panties out of the laundry basket and put them on (very cute photos but NOT postable!).

Her best daycare buddy, who's a month older (end of Jan bday), isn't trained either. Her mother and I figure it will happen for both of them at the same time.

[buffygirl]

Meredith, great idea on the book, I hadn't thoguth about that. Books are his favorite, in fact, that's what I took away from him to discipline him the one time I was "successful".

The thing that chaps me is that he KNOWS it is wrong. In fact, the time it happened on Saturday, we told him no books and he immediately said "I'm sorry Mommy for hitting." Grrrrrr... No prompting from us to say sorry at all, he said it entirely on his own.

We have tried time outs for hitting and they absolutely do not work for Rex. As soon as he is out of time out, he comes back and immediately hits me.:mad: One night we did this for probably 45 mintues, Hit, Time out, out of Time out, Hit. Round and round.

I will find the book....

Kim

[Couperine]

Kim-

I doubt you are doing this with Rex, but I have to mention it just in case. A playgroup mom has big problems with her boy biting her - I watched him bite her, she tells him no biting, and then (I still cannot believe it) she starts kissing and tickling him all over immediately after he bit her. Just make sure you aren't doing anything that inadvertently is reinforcing the hitting. In Ethan's worst hitting phase, I got some good shock and surprise out of him after he hit me (especially if I was holding him) by abruptly putting him down, telling him that was bad, and walking away from him. Another memorable quick stop was having his dad use a deep, stern voice to correct him while moving him away from me. It's possible he's doing it for attention so you might try giving him a preferred behavior for getting your attention i.e. if you want mommy to pay attention to you, give me a hug, and keep reinforcing that. It's so hard to keep coming up with different approaches for correcting a bad behavior, but they understand a lot at 2 years old.

Ethan comes and goes with time-outs; we've had success with hitting (especially hitting with objects) by sticking what he hits with in time-out for the rest of the day. It really chaps his hide to lose his dump truck for the day - I haven't had problems with that in a long time.

We haven't tried this idea yet, but it works really well for a family we know: they reward good behaviors with those cheap rolls of tickets, and punish for bad behaviors with removal of tickets. It works in that family even with a 2 year old, but I think part of it is from the modeling of the older children. A certain number of tickets gets a tangible reward etc; you get the theory. :)

Our killer punishment in Ethan's mind is removal of his dumptruck - his absolute favorite toy. We don't do it often, but for escalating limit pushing, that consequence is something he understands and generally he shapes up to avoid it.

I hope that something can help you Kim - it's so miserable when they keep doing something and your solutions don't seem to be working.

[buffygirl]

Thanks everyone on your insight into the hitting. I *think* putting his books on lockdown got the point across. He hasn't had one of the hitting tantrums since last weekend.

I will try to post some pics later. He's turning into such a young man!

Kim

[gertdog]

Kim, that's good news on the hitting front.

We're back from our trip to Atlanta and it was a looooong weekend. The wedding events were fun, and we also got to spend an afternoon with old friends. The sitter sent by the agency was *excellent*- if anyone ever needs childcare in Atlanta, I can give you a recommendation! Ryan had a lot of fun with her. He was exhausted by the second night, and fell asleep at 5:00 PM. The sitter called and asked if she should let him sleep, or wake him. We said let him sleep... so he slept until 9:00, woke and ate dinner... and stayed awake until 1:30 AM! Ugh. We sent the sitter home after the reception ended around 10:30, so it was my mom who stayed up with Ryan while we went to the nightcap reception. I was prepared for a cranky kid on the flight home the next day, but he was amazingly mellow. Fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport, though, woke long enough to eat a sandwich, and then went to bed and slept for 12 hours! He's a trooper.

He had a nice birthday- he loved hearing people sing Happy Birthday to Ryan more than the presents and cupcakes, I think! :)

[buffygirl]

Still doing ok on the hitting front, but is anyone else just mystified by the Terrible Two's??? We've been going through a particularly rough patch with Rex. Typically what happens is if we are not doing exactly what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, he cries and gets upset. He throws tantrums in the evenings so bad over almost nothing. (For example, last night we had pasta for dinner and he really wanted pizza, I said no. He melted down for about 20 minutes. It ended with him asking to go to bed.:confused: ) Perhaps he's tired, but he goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps for 12 hours and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day.

I seriously wonder if he might have emotional problems.:confused: My DH says that's why they call it the Terrible Two's, but I'm at wits end. I try to be a good mom, but I find I am really tested each day. I work, but when we are home, it is all about him. Generally we really concentrate on quality time with him, no errands, no TV, just reading and playing with him. Maybe we've done too much??? Help!

[gertdog]

Kim, I'm so sorry you're feeling so frustrated!

We are actually having some luck with a few of the Happiest Toddler techniques- the ones he calls the Fast Food Rule and gossiping. The Fast Food Rule is the one where you echo their demands/concerns before saying no or re-directing, and gossiping is letting your child overhear you talking about their good behavior- or the behavior you wish they'd engage in- to other people. Both of these have helped me with resistance to diaper changes, tooth-brushing, and demands to play or go outside RIGHT NOW. DH thinks these approaches are silly and has yet to try them... and I can hear a contentious diaper change occurring right now downstairs.

We just had Ryan's 2-year well visit yesterday, and the ped asked about his language skills. I said that he talks non-stop and quite well, and that most of the time he is trying to boss us around. She said that's typical of the age- 2-year-olds will rule the household if you let them, but that parents need to NOT let them.

I'm not sure I'm offering any real help, but did want to say that from your description Rex's behavior doesn't sound that unusual for the age- which may not make the behavior less frustrating- but maybe less worrisome? Hope some other toddler moms can pop in to provide some reassurance and advice!

[mst]

(((Kim))) I hear you sister! And, if it makes you feel better, you are in great company. Ilyssa is very tough, and as a SAHM, it can make me a little loopy. And, considering she does not nap- well, I am very proud that I am staying patient.

I have been leaning on my husband more than I did at any other stage. This stage is hard for me. Although, most of the time, he still needs help. Like, if he changes her diaper, he calls me over to help when she is being difficult. As stupid as this sounds, we try to give her some choices. Currently, she gets to choose if she gets her diaper changed on the floor, or on the dresser. Also, we try to offer her choices that don't really matter. Like, which book would you like to take into your crib for your non-existent nap? She rarely falls for it, but once in a great while, it will help.

Steph- thanks for explaining those techniques. We already do the "gossiping" one, and I will try to do the Fast Food rule.

So, does it bother anyone else that Suri Cruise still drinks exclusively from a bottle?

[ggs830]

We are also hitting the "terrible twos" stage, although I think a large part of it would be mitigated if DH didn't engage in power struggles with Shaelyn. He's always trying to get her to say please or sorry, or share toys with her brother, or clean up-- Shaelyn will usually do these things with some prompting, but if you force the issue, she refuses to listen, and either runs away from the situation, or continues with the bad behavior. I've learned to model appropriate behavior for her (saying "please" with every request, or pointing out good sharing), rather than forcing her to act appropriately (of course, if there is another child involved, I will step in and remove her from the situation if she's acting up). But, for example, with cleaning up toys, I make a game out of it, and 9 times out of 10, she'll join in and help me pick up her toys. DH is more authoritarian, i.e. "Shaelyn, its time to clean up now." That doesn't really work at this age, I think.

I like Meredith's suggestion of choices, and it's what I try to do as well. Like she said, however, it doesn't always work. The other thing I've found to help is to "warn" Shaelyn of what's occuring next. Like, I'll give her a ten minute warning before dinner (and tell her that we'll be cleaning up soon), and then a 5 minute warning. I read somewhere that toddler don't understand the concept of time, so I usually say something like, we can read your book 2 more times, or you can build 2 more towers out of your blocks, and then its time to clean up and eat dinner. I'm not sure if she gets it, but she seems to transition better then if I don't warn her.

I agree that this is a really rough age. They are REALLY testing and pushing to see what your limits are, and it's hard to remember that this is normal and expected when most of the time you just want to scream at them to LISTEN!!

We attended a wedding this weekend, so thought I'd post a pic of my kiddos all dressed up (well, Shaelyn's dressed up anyways!)

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k143/gsashital/shaelyn.jpg


http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k143/gsashital/sandj.jpg

[buffygirl]

Thanks toddler mommies. That gives me some reassurance that he isn't "off". I did talk to his teacher this morning and they said he rarely cries at school and never has tantrums.:mad: I'm so honored that he saves them for me:p

I will pull out my Happiest Toddler book. I'd forgotten about the "gossiping". That may work with him.

My DH complicates matters IMHO. Example, Rex will say "I want applesauce", DH says, " how about some sweet potatoes?" I say "Are you frigging nuts, just give him what he asks for especially if it is healthy?" I don't want Rex growing up thinking he has to bargain for everything he's getting. Does this make sense?

Thanks for chiming in, it sounds like I'm not alone...

[Megan James]

Shaelyn is so pretty! She looks like a doll.

Rebecca will be 2 on Thursday (gasp). We had a run with Terrible 2 behavior a few weeks back probably for a month or so. Lately it's diminished quite a bit. I can't say there was any great parenting that went on but we certainly didn't let her get her way when she was behaving poorly. We also started time-outs and that has helped some. I do remember one night her throwing a screaming fit in her high chair over something insane and DH and I just busted out laughing at her. Then we felt bad for laughing when she was upset but she actually stopped screaming.

I am in full swing birthday mode here. 5 2 year old girls and 3 of their brothers are coming over Saturday for her birthday party. I am making a ladybug cake and experimenting with Fondant. I'm a little concerned about the red food coloring but my sample cake is so cute!

Good luck to all the 2 year old parents who are struggling I am sure we will be back in a difficult stage soon!

[MinEaston]

Thanks toddler mommies. That gives me some reassurance that he isn't "off". I did talk to his teacher this morning and they said he rarely cries at school and never has tantrums.:mad: I'm so honored that he saves them for me:p

I've read in more than one place that toddlers often act the worst with their parents, because they are the ones they feel the most comfortable with.

I repeat this to myself at least once, if not more times, each day!

[lisas3575]

Doing a fly by check in. Things have been beyond crazy for us this month-- lots of travel, moving my office, and my inlaws were here for two weeks house hunting. They bought a house about 1/4 mile from us. :eek:

Anyway, wanted to post the results of our recent portrait session. Owen was a crazy child the entire time and wouldn't sit still, so I was pretty happy to have a few decent pix for Christmas gifts. www.focuspocusportraits.com, click see it, we're on page 2 (Smith) and pw is focus04. :)

Happy Halloween! Can't wait for all the photos on Thurs. :p

[gertdog]

They bought a house about 1/4 mile from us. :eek:


Oh my! You are a brave chiquita. :D But how lucky for Owen (and for all of you- I was teasing about being brave).

Great photos of Owen- I liked the ones of him in the wagon.

We are done traveling for the month- woo hoo! The CARES harness worked out great and I think Ryan was more comfortable on the plane, too. Funny thing happened on the way home- I was talking to him, he was looking right at me, and all of a sudden he just closed his eyes and slumped over! I thought he'd fainted but no... he'd just fallen asleep very, very suddenly.

Our visit with DH's dad and stepmom was good overall, but I have to vent about this... it drives me batty when someone compliments Ryan's good nature and behavior, and then criticizes us in the next breath because his meal/nap/sleep schedule encroaches on their "fun" (e.g. waiting for an hour to be seated at Outback- argh!- or wanting Ryan to stay up two hours past his bedtime so some friends of theirs could meet him after they got off work). Do they really think it's purely coincidence that he's good-natured and that we feed him and put him down for naps and bedtime on a reliable schedule??? Grrrrr.

Ryan's class is having a Halloween parade this afternoon- can't wait to see all the costumes!

[DanaSD]

We are done traveling for the month- woo hoo! The CARES harness worked out great and I think Ryan was more comfortable on the plane, too. Funny thing happened on the way home- I was talking to him, he was looking right at me, and all of a sudden he just closed his eyes and slumped over! I thought he'd fainted but no... he'd just fallen asleep very, very suddenly.



just quickly popping in, I'll write more on Thursday in the Nov post. This happened to Brendan on his flight - its scared me and I even started shaking him to wake him up. I had given him bendryl, it was nap time and the plane was taking off. What freaked me out is he did it just as the plane lifted off which pushed his head back and he was out.

[LaraW]

Wow, what a busy month this has been! I started a new job Oct 2, and my posting time has gone waaaay down ;)

Colin has been doing speech therapy this month. He has had 4 sessions so far. His therapist is sick this week and we are probably not going to be able to reschedule so we will pick it up again next week. I have seen such a big difference in him just in a month. He is starting to say some new words but he is using words to communicate what he wants more than just pointing and whining or grunting. He really seems to like the therapist too, so that is good.

Probably our biggest challenge these days is that he wants to be doing *everything* that Natalie is doing...meaning, climbing up to the high slide at the park, doing the monkey bars, going down head-first on the slide :eek: I can accommodate most of the things he wants to do so its usually not a huge issue. But yikes!!

Stephanie, I can relate to your comment about Ryan being good-natured, and keeping him on his schedule. My IL's do that too. Once, I let Natalie stay up past her bedtime so they could see what happened when she stayed up too late (luckily for all of us it only took about 15 minutes for her to start freaking out so it was a lesson that was not too detrimental to her but still got the point across to them).

Hi Lisa - sounds like you've had a busy month too. Great pictures of Owen. I dare say that he may have more hair than Colin :o :p