December 2008 Preschoolers/Older Toddlers

[MinEaston]

I think it's a sign of how busy we are that we don't start this thread until the 6th of the month!

We are doing well here. Anna's daycare/preschool did its holiday 'pogram' (as she calls it) yesterday evening, which was really cute. All the kids wore reindeer antlers and a Rudolph nose. She has a talent for memorizing words to songs and I could see her concentrating and singing every.single.word at her teacher's direction. Sometimes I wish she paid that much attention to me!

As far as preparation for the holidays, I've done some online shopping so far but can't get motivated to do much else. Our house is still a disaster because our kitchen/family room renovation isn't complete (we started July 7!), and we can't even consider getting a tree yet because I wouldn't know where to stash it. So I've been more bah humbug lately than happy holidays. There's hope that I can be cooking on my new appliances for Christmas.

Here's Anna Virginia Rudolph :D. Sorry it's so dark.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/sailinggal71/anna_reindeer.jpg

[gertdog]

Mariana, thanks for starting the thread! Cute pic of Anna. Ryan's school is doing its first-ever holiday concert next week and I can't wait.

I am about done shopping but now I have to wrap stuff- am hoping to get most of it done this week so I can avoid a repeat of xmas eve 2007 when I was up til all hours.

We're doing pretty well here. I'm tired between insomnia most nights and and energetic Ryan most days, and also trying to wrap up details for my job, which ends in a few weeks! :eek:

Took Ryan to a "sibling preparation" class at the hospital this weekend- he got to visit the maternity ward, view babies in the nursery, and learn about newborns. The class is for ages 3-8, but there were only 4 kids there and all were 3 y.o. so it worked out well- the nurse who led the class was great with the kids, and also had some useful tips for parents on teaching the older kids about their new babies.

On Friday Ryan had a fit when I wanted to change his diaper- yelling, running away, etc. So I told him that if he didn't want to wear a diaper and have it changed, he'd need to start using the potty. He wore underpants from lunch through dinner w/ no accidents. We tried the same on Saturday and he had one accident, as well as several successes. Ditto Sunday. So I think we'll keep going with that for a while- diapers for the morning/at school, underpants while home with me, then diaper again at night. He's game and excited about his successes so far... I'm secretly excited but trying to be supportive yet relaxed about it!

[Megan James]

StephanieWe went through that whole thing with flipping out for diaper changes about 2 months before we potty trained Rebecca. My best advice for potty training is being laid back and take it in steps. If he starts resenting it stop and try again a few days or weeks later.

Things are going pretty well here. It's interesting how being the older sibling is playing out. Much more subtle than I thought. Right now Rebecca wants to be 100% attached to me especially in the afternoons after daycare. She gets very worried that we are going to leave her, even for simple things like running down to the basement to check the laundry. I'm just trying to be there for her as much as reasonably possible with a 3month old in tow. She's also started having accidents. We've been almost totally in underwear the day after Halloween (umm I guess Dec 1:)). And she's been almost accident free since the second week. Now all of the sudden she's having very frequent accident. Like 3 on Sunday. When I thought about it all of them were at times where she was not getting as much attention as she would like, mostly when I was having a little alone time with Will or nursing Will etc. I haven't decided if these are conscious or subconscious. I'm trying to not make a big deal out of it but it's hard not to get made when she pees on the carpet 3 feet from the bathroom and then I have to clean it all up.

We tried xc skiing today. Rebecca lasted about 10 minutes, she seemed to enjoy it on the flats but both up and down "hills" were an issue. She kept telling me "it's slippery!". Yep that happens on snow!

She's also so cute getting excited for Christmas. She loves to sing Jingle bells. We sang it all the way home from swimming last week and she said she was going to tell her preschool teacher that "we sang a whole lot of jingle bells"

[DanaSD]

I'll give this thread a bump - how's everyone doing? We've just been busy. Brendan is doing great with his new class at school and just continues to be an almost 3 year old - some temper tantrums, very very slow during meals, and so full of energy that he never stops. Mostly potty trained so we only use a pullup at night but still doesn't like to poop in the potty.

We moved him from his toddler bed to a full size bed and finally broke away from the sleep sacs (his sleep sacs became his security blanket and he's been wearing since he was about 4 months old though he was up to the XL size).

This weekend was a busy one. Saturday was his holiday program - it was entertaining just to watch how the kids all dealt with it. Then Sunday we hosted a kid's cookie decorating party - luckily we have tile floors and a big back yard. There were kids everywhere but everyone had fun. We had about 25 kids and their parents.

Brendan is haivng a hard time under standing that the presents have to wait until Christmas to be opened. He also got into the closet where I hide his presents - I told him they weren't for him (he only saw 2 smaller toys) but he threw a fit. Next year, we need a lock on the door.

[Couperine]

We're all super busy this holiday season it seems!

The adventures in writing implements continues in our household; we've had crayon on the easel and play table, then blue crayon on our new sofa and flat screen TV, followed by pink chalk from my sewing box all over the cabinet where I sew, followed soon after by black ink pen on the new sofa (thank goodness for Pottery Barn easy care fabric).

So to add to the fun and excitement, Ethan found a growth chart kit that I'd never used, high up in his closet. As far as I remembered, it just used pictures at various ages to mark the height. Well I was wrong - red and black marker kind of wrong. I heard him happily singing in his room during nap time aka rest time, so I thought great he's happy! He comes out when his alarm rings, cheerfully saying "It's four-zero-zero!", and then I notice a black smudge on his cheek. I look closer at him, and then I see the red and black marker lines going up and down his legs. I was already numb with horror at this point, so I went with him into his room to find the source.

Enter the room; every door is covered in red and black marker - his bedroom door inside, his closet door, both sides of the door into his bathroom and also into the toilet, and all of the back side of the door into David's room. There's marker on the tile floor and walls in the bathroom, marker on the bathtub and toilet, marker on the granite surround to the sinks, marker on his stepstool, marker on the walls and cabinets throughout the bathroom. There's also marker at ground zero - the built-in toybox under his bay window. More marker on the books and toys there, as well as his favorite batman sheets. All in all, yes there was marker EVERYWHERE.

I was in shock for a good while; I didn't finally make it to angry until he was cleaning up the floor with me and started pointing out places I had missed. Tsk tsk - do not tell your pregnant mother she needs to clean better.

Ethan discovered the joy of going to bed without his supper; there are times when I wonder how children make it out of childhood. Then you listen to your parents cackle and howl with glee when you tell them, and then you know - it's payback for all you did as a child. :)

[lisas3575]

Oh noooooooooooo, Nancy!! :eek: I would have flipped my lid, I'm sure, and I'm not even pg!

Glad everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season with their kiddos. It's been so much fun with Owen this year-- he's so excited about the snow, the lights, the songs, the Christmas specials we've been watching.

We went to Kauai a couple weeks ago, and he did awesome on the flight etc. It was our first enjoyable family trip, yay. :) Some things that were entertaining for him on our flight: A tiny container of playdough with a stamper, a half-dozen or so new-to-him used paperback books (Curious George was the bomb), a magnetic travel fishing game, a viewmaster, Bob the Builder videos, cars/trains and novelty snacks-- yogurt raisins, fruit leather, cheese sticks, M&Ms :eek:, banana chips. Things we don't eat at home. Overall, novelty was key. Everything we brought was new to him and kept him interested.

Here's a few recent pix. I don't think the Kodak site previews here, but you can copy and paste the links into new windows to see them. Check out his afro in all the humidity. :D

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4560/6/17/98/13/3/1/103139817603_0_ALB.jpg

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4560/6/17/98/92/34/8/834929817603_0_ALB.jpg

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4721/6/17/98/41/66/2/266419817603_0_ALB.jpg

[Couperine]

Wow that's some cool curly hair on Owen!! I think your list of what worked is great - if it made the flight go by faster, M&M's are mental health food. :)

What are some fun things you did in Kauai? I've been tempted to haul us all there instead of taking a Mommy and Daddy trip - just haven't been sure on the young scene.

[LaraW]

oooh Nancy! I remember once Natalie at about 2 years old getting into a 15 oz jar of Eucerin lotion during nap. I set her in the bathtub and went to the kitchen to try and find a spatula to scrape it off of her. When I got back she kept saying "oh my God, oh my God". :o Yikes! Later the SAME DAY I found her playing with a tube of Desitin - she had it all over her face :eek:

We have been doing well here, just getting ready for Christmas. I actually need to go up and check - I think both kids are still asleep and its after 3:00 pm.

Lisa, glad you had a nice vacation. I was just thinking about you this AM and wondering where you were.

Need to run, talk to you all later.

[lisas3575]

Nancy, we kept the trip low-key and only did toddler-friendly stuff. We spent most of the time on the beach or in the pool, with a couple of short car trips. No hiking or anything this time. The one drawback is that Owen was up for the day about 3:30am, with the time change. :eek: So we were all going to bed pretty early. Keep that in mind. That internal toddler clock is strong with Owen!

[Couperine]

Wow Lara - I cannot imagine how much fun it was to get Desitin off Natalie's face.

Thanks for the heads up on the time change, Lisa. I completely forgot about that little minor detail. I'm looking at something two spring/summers from now - now I'm thinking it might be the yea I'm done being pregnant let's be adults trip. :)