Preschool/Toddler Moms Week of March 20

[JoanneOR]

Hi everyone. Cheryl, sorry to hear Griffin's test was so rough. Poor guy! Hope you get some results soon.

Amy, hope everyone is feeling better soon!

Our weekend was pretty quiet. Well, relatively speaking, I guess. ;) The kids were going crazy inside. Ian wanted to ride his bike. It was only about 40 degrees out, but I made them all go outside and they wound up having a blast running around. Some of the neighbors came out, too. I was freezing, but the kids all seemed fine. Caitlyn is now really good a riding a 3-wheeler and our neighbors gave her a new pink tricycle that their daughter used, which she loves.

Well, we've really backtracked with Caitlyn's sleeping again. :( :mad: The last two nights she's been horrible. I just don't get it. Last night she was screaming something; for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. Finally I figured out that she wanted me to brush her hair. :confused: I go get the brush (this is at one in the morning :( ) and it's the wrong brush. She screams at me that she wants the "pink one." I go get it, brush her hair, and she's fine. :confused: :confused: I don't know what is going on with her, but I feel like I'm going to lose my mind sometimes in the middle of the night while this is happening. In the morning after a bad night I try to explain to her that she shouldn't wake up mommy unless she doesn't feel well or needs to go potty; that mommy needs to sleep. She says she understands, but does it again. I'm at the point of wondering should I just close her door and let her cry it out when this happens?

Ian got his braces on the bottom Saturday. It's amazing; his teeth were really a mess; now they are all in line. It was a bad experience, though. They have to put this expander thing on him to keep his mouth open while they put them on. Well, there are two dental hygienists putting this thing on him - one must of been in training and the other didn't really seem to know what she was doing. Well, Ian can't talk, but you can see he's upset. I'm losing my patience because it's obvious they are hurting him. At one point he had tears rolling down his face. They finally get the thing on him and blood is coming out of the suction tube. I lost it then - I told them something's wrong, take that thing off him and get the dentist in here. I was livid. The dentist comes in - takes one look at him, says he needs the adult size one and gets it on him in about 20 seconds. The first one had pinched his tongue which is why he was bleeding and why it hurt. UGGHH. After that everything went fine.

Oh, and this weekend, Jameson informed us that he wants to go to Harvard. :eek: I guess we really should up his 529 contributions!

[tbb113]

Joanne - I think I would let Caitlyn cry it out. I would explain to her that while you love her very much and that you will help in during the day with things, at night she needs to sleep and so do you. And that whatever she wanted in the middle of the night, you will try and do for her in the morning. Of course, this is much easier for me to type then it will be for you to actually do ;)

Good for Jameson for setting his goal high! I told my kids, first get accepted, then we'll worry about how to pay for it :) Most of those schools have good loan money available anyways.

Sorry that Ian had such a tough time at the orthodontist. You would have thought that the hygenists would have noticed before he was bleeding :eek:

[nori]

Hi Joanne, sorry to hear that Caitlyn's having sleeping issues again...what a pain! I was going to suggest what Tyra said...reassure her that you love her, and you'd do whatever she needs if it's really important (potty, not feeling well etc.), but tell her that you're not coming in, if she just wants you to do some "stuff". I know this is going to be hard, but at this point she's probably thinking that you'd come no matter what. And she is old enough to understand that you can't just come and comb her hair in the middle of the night!!! Does she ever get out of her room or bed? If she stays in bed pretty well, I'd ignore her calling for a few nights and see what she'd do. I am sure it'll be hard when she cries, though...do you think boys will wake up, too? And I don't think you can sleep well on first few nights anyway..sorry I can't offer you better advice, but I think you have to let her know the boundaries.

Poor Ian!! How awful. :mad: I can understand how upset you must have felt, watching him suffer like that. It does sound like pretty basic thing....can't they even tell the accurate size of equipment to use?

Wow Jameson is impressive! Does he know what he wants to pursue, too? Good luck on your 529 contribution. :D

Our weekend was okay. We had a wet weekend..rain almost all day yesterday so we didn't go out, except for the church. Saturday we went to pick our floor tiles together, and DH worked on kitchen. Kids played in the backyard for the first time in a week and I felt like they're finally back to themselves....well, today Mary Ann got fever. :( She also threw up twice but both times I managed to catch it with my hands :eek: , didn't make too much mess. My kids absolutely hate to throw up on the bag/trash can...Noah at least tries, but until that final point he refuses to even hold it, thus it's too late when he really wants to do it. Mary Ann...she refuses to do that in sink etc. Good thing she hadn't eaten much and didn't throw up much. We gave her tyrenol and she's sleeping now. We had a plan to go out tomorrow and looks like we have to cancel it. This thing has been lingering too long in this house....Yikes!!

[LaraW]

Joanne, ouch for Ian's mouth. :( Glad he got his braces on, but sorry it was such an ordeal!

I agree with Tyra that you might want to let Caitlyn cry it out. I bet she is old enough to understand that you and she both need your sleep. Crying it out is so, so hard but in the end it was worth it for us.

Nori, sorry to hear that people at your house are still sick. That is the worst when things ping-pong around. Hopefully whatever Mary Ann has will be gone soon and nobody else will get it.

We had a nice weekend here, mostly. We have had an ongoing chapter in our nap saga. Natalie didn't want to nap either Saturday or Sunday. Ugh. These days are so, so hard but I was kind of glad that she did it on a weekend so that DH could see what it is like.

I consulted our "sleep bible" over the weekend to see what it had to say about refusal to nap, and he said that over 90% of kids who are 2 years old still need a nap during the day, and if your child is far away from their 3rd birthday to try to re-establish the nap. He had some suggestions which had to do with intense physical exercise in the morning, and adjusting the bedtime at night. So, I tried that today and lo and behold I got a nearly 2 hour nap out of her.

Daycare says that she has been crashing there as well, and given that she *will* nap if she just settles down, and how much of a bear she is when she has not napped (and it gets worse on the 2nd day) I just don't think she is ready to give it up yet. So, I'm hopeful that we will get some momentum going.

When she got up today, I just laid the praise on thick and Colin was sleeping and so Natalie and I got some time together, just us. That was nice.

I went to a sale over the weekend that was put on by a Moms of Twins Club. THey do a sale 2 times a year, in March and in Sept where you can buy kids clothes and other baby gear that is gently used. I bought a ton of stuff for both kids, mostly Colin and I think that both of them are pretty well set for the summer, and I spent less than $60. I thought that was pretty good.

Colin is doing well too. We have his 2 month check up on Thursday. I'm anxious to see how much he weighs. He is getting heavy, I can tell. :)

Has anyone heard from Helene? She hasn't posted in a couple of weeks. I hope everything with her is OK.

[Sarah428]

Last week flew by, I don't think I ever got around to posting!

We had a nice weekend. Friday DH & I went out for a few hours, just to a friends house for snacks & games. Saturday we had 2 couples over for a "taco bar" and all the kids played. Ella was accident free on Saturday but Sunday was a different story :confused:.

I starting tearing down the wallpaper in our bedroom. The 1st wall was so easy I was excited! Then the next wall had another layer of heavy, thick wallpaper underneath what I was tearing off. Come to find out there is more paneling under that wallpaper...I hate paneling! :mad:

Finally talked DH into hiring out the floors to be done. We have it scheduled for the week of April 10th, now just need to find a place to live for 5 days. There are no hotels in our town so that's not an option. I'm hoping to get all the painting done before the floors, but we'll see.

Lara - What's your "sleep bible"?!? I'm pretty sure I'll need one in a few weeks ;)

Nori - Hope everyone is starting to feel healthy again in your house soon.

Joanne - I seriously think Ella & Caitlyn are 2 peas in a pod!!! Last night Ella woke up 4 times. Mostly just for water or a tissue but once she asked for me to get her socks out & ready for the morning! Ella is still in a crib so I sometimes feel I need to go in, but I let her cry it out for awhile (15 minutes) and don't go in if she's just crying but once she starts asking for me I will.

So sorry to hear about poor Ian! Those expanders aren't very comfortable to begin with much less have the wrong size, yikes :eek:!

Sarah

[LaraW]

Sarah, our book is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. We were/are big followers of his methods, and they have worked pretty well for us. We don't follow them to a T, but we do look there for ideas as some of his other ideas have worked for us.

Sarah, maybe you could go on vacation for a week while your floors are being done? :D My parents had their hardwood floors done a couple of years ago and needed to be out of the house for a few days, so they came here to visit us. Yikes on the wallpaper. We had a small amount of wallpaper in this house but it is mostly taken down. There is a wallpaper border around the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom but its one of those projects that is not ever important enough to get onto the list, much less ever actually get done.

We had a conference with Natalie's teachers at daycare last week. It was interesting to hear someone else's impressions of her for when we are not around. I guess there are a lot of kids in her room who are potty training, and the head teacher said that he spends about 50% of his day in the bathroom :eek:

Natalie doesn't want to sit on the potty at daycare. Is that normal for a kid to not want to sit on a potty that's not at home? Any suggestions on gently getting her to do it? I bought her a little insert for the seat on the big potty over the weekend so she can get used to being up on the big potty and she enjoyed doing that but I just have a feeling that it is that the potty is at school and not at home. I'm not interested in pushing it too hard right now, since we're still in the "transition phase" to the bed, but I'm just tryign to think ahead.

[LA98]

Hi everyone. I haven’t had a chance to post lately. I’ve been enjoying pretending to be a SAHM with Brian most days, and doing freelance work other days. Last week I lost out on a job I interviewed for, and that had me pretty depressed for a couple of days. I’m still in the running for a position at my old company though, and I have some resumes out for some others. Starting to get a bit nervous though. DH is also waiting to hear back about a job too, which would be good if he gets it.

Happy belated birthday to Helene! (Saw it on the birthday thread on the other stuff board.)

Cheryl, sorry to hear about Griffin’s test. Did they call it a barium swallow test? Brian had that done around 16 or 17 months. It was definitely rough. They were trying to diagnose a different problem, but you could actually see the reflux happening after he drank. Hope you get some answers from it.

Joanne, poor Ian! I wonder what those hygienists could have been thinking? And I feel for you on Caitlyn’s night waking. Is she definitely awake when she’s screaming like that? I have no advice for you, of course. Brian’s thing now is that he goes to sleep fairly well in his bed, but wakes up and comes into ours at some point in the night. Sometimes I’m so tired I don’t even feel him crawl over me (I’m still not sure how that’s even possible, but it happens!). I’m definitely *not* happy with the situation as it is, but we’re all getting some much needed sleep.

Nori, hope the kids are better soon. That sounds like one tough virus to be hanging around so long. :(

Lara, glad to hear things are going well with both kids. I’m not sure about the home vs school potty issue, maybe she just has to get used to the idea? I know Brian was watching the other kids at school going to the potty before he started and then he just wanted to do it too.

Sarah, last week Brian had about 6 accidents in one day. I’m not sure what was going on, but I put pull-ups on him and gave up for the day. The next day he did better. I don’t know, is there such as thing as potty amnesia??

Was it Kim who mentioned buying Thomas tickets? I bought our 5 tickets online (my parents are going to meet us at the railroad), and last week they came in the mail: 2 separate envelopes containing 5 tickets each! I checked with my credit card company and I was only charged once, so I emailed them to let them know and they said I could either destroy the extras or mail them back. Okay, no problem. Two days later, *another* envelope shows up containing, yep, 5 more tickets! Anyone need 10 tickets to Day Out with Thomas? LOL

Lori

[Sarah428]

Lara - Ella seems to do better going potty at daycare than at home. At daycare they have "bathroom buddies". There is a potty trained 4 y.o., Megan, that goes w/ Ella and her teacher to the potty. Maybe suggest something like that. Our provider also said if we wanted to bring a sticker chart, etc that they'd be more than happy to do it.

I'd love to take a weeks vacation during the floor fiasco...too bad I need all my vacation time for maternity leave :p.

Lori - Wow, you could make a killing on those tickets! Sorry to hear about the job but I'm sure things will pan out for you and DH soon, enjoy your time home w/ Brian while you can.

[cchhbb]

Well, Griffin's upper GI test was normal. That's good that he has normal anatomy. We didn't refluxing during the test that I know of.

Today he saw the eye doctor and we scheduled surgery for April 20 to clear his blocked tear duct. The doctor said that the surgery will be harder on me than him and don't let the father come alone since they are usually big wimps. I thought that was funny.

Joanne, I'm so sorry that Caitlyn is being so difficult at night. I know I couldn't handle getting up at night for trivial matters. Is it okay to let her cry at night due to her heart condition? You also might want to try making a book with her where you tell the story about what is supposed to happen at night. I've started making these little story books with Garrett that describe what you are supposed to do at certain times and it seems to be helping.

Griffin is offically walking I think. Yesterday, he took 5 or 6 steps in a row before he realized it. He was trying to get a balloon that his brother was dragging through the room. It was funny watching his face once he realized it.

Today, I watched my friend's 4 year old boy for about 6 hours while she took her mother to chemo. Garrett and Cole played so well together. Frankly, I think it was easier than watching Garrett by himself.

I do think kids can get potty amnesia. Garrett tends to have it happen when he's tired or really distracted. We had a really tough time with going potty some place other than home with him. I finally bribed him at Home Depot that if he went potty then he could ride on the tractors. It worked fairly well. He wouldn't go potty at school until January. He would hold it for 3 hours or have an accident. I would take him as soon as I picked him up each day and he would go, but he wouldn't go for anyone else.

Cheryl

[nori]

Cheryl, that's good that they didn't find anything wrong with Griffin, but I didn't know he needed surgery for his eye....hope everything will go well. I hear those are pretty much routine for doctors? LOL about not bringing the fater. That does make sense. :D I agree with you about watching more than several kids vs only one child. It is easier, when they're playing nicely.

Sarah, looks like a big renovation going on in your house..is it due to the new baby? Do you have any family members you can stay for 5 days in town? Too bad that you can't take vacation-days off.

Lori, I didn't realize that you're looking for a job...good luck! And to DH, too. But it's nice that you can take this time positive thinking "pretending SAHM" experience. How strange about Thomas tickets...as someone said you can sell them at the entrance or even to your friends!! I was surprised that they didn't ask or required you to send back.....well but that's their mistake so I guess sending them back is a hassle for you. Maybe you can find some of friends to give away them!

Lara, sounds like as long as Natalie's tired enough she'd take a nap....that's great because I'd hate to think that she's outgrown nap already at that age! About potty training....Noah didn't get even started until he was close to 3 so not much advice on my side....but I wouldn't push the issue either. She'll get it, when she's ready. But it is frustrating, I know.

Happy belated birthday to Helene!!!! Hope everything is going okay.

We only have 2 pullups in the house and I was trying to stretch it, by using girl's pulllups we got from our friends (for Mary Ann). Well, I didn't want him to wear that when he's out somewhere, but I thought he wouldn't mind if he's wearing when he's sleeping. Last night I showed him the pink one and asked him if he could wear that. He said, "No, I don't want pink, I need blue one!!!" Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised but it was kind of funny that he totally refused to wear pink...so of course I didn't push it. I used one of the remaining pullups. I need to go shopping tomorrow.

Mary Ann was just fine today, but I stayed home anyway. But really, I kind of regret that I cancelled it...she was not sick at all, except some coughs. Seems like coughs just linger on.....she threw up a little after dinner, while coughing but I am pretty sure it's notfrom stomach, it's cough-induced. Anyway, I caught twice with my hand and DH was amazed. :p I mean, it is much easier to clean up that way! I can't do that trick with Noah, or when it's a lot, but she wasn't throwing up that much anyway. Okay, TMI. Sorry.

[RunnerKim]

Hi everyone,

Joanne - that's pretty rough at night. At this age there is no way *I* would tolerate getting up for those things and would let Lainey cry it out. I did it one night when she was about 2.5 years when putting her to bed and it was rough. But after that a million times better. We were able to handle the night wakings easier forutnately - DH doesn't mind getting up at night nearly as much as I do (I need my sleep!) so they went on for quite a while (it was rather telling that Jamie as a young baby was a better sleeper than Lainey had become!) We were able to use a clock to let her know when she could get up in the morning. Would that work for Caitlyn? We use a digital clock and covered up the minutes and wrote the number 5 next to the hour slot to help her compare/remember. If I had your situation I'd pick a time that you all could have a rough night or two and not be too devasted during the day. I'd talk to Caitlyn about it, what you expect, what's going to happen etc. I love the book idea of Cheryl's - that's great. I'd prepare the boys for it too if you think they might wake up. Good luck.

Poor Ian is right. Ouch! :(

Lori, I'm sorry that job didn't work out for you. Do you want the job with your old company? Wasn't sure what kind of feelings you'd have, how it would be to go back to working there etc.

Go Griffin Go!!! Jamie is really cruising around - walking the length of the couch and trying to go from one piece of furniture to another. He can walk behind a cart thingy at daycare too. I don't think walking is too far away. We were at the beach on Sunday and he had a wonderful time crawling around on the sand. He crawled right off towards the waves too, not intimidated by them at all. I let him get pretty close and picked him up just before he'd get wet and let his toes dangle in the water. I couldn't see his face, but not a peep out of him and the water is chilly! He's such a water baby, I think he was a fish in a previous life. He headed off and was crawling across the rocky part of the beach (where all the rocks have been pushed by the waves/up against the cliff side) and I thought it was rather strange and impressed that he was crawling across them. Then I look over and several yards away is Lainey sitting on the rocks. He was following her. Lainey decided she wasn't going to be afraid of the waves this time (haven't been to the coast since last Fall) and she did a pretty good job. She's still a little anxious about them but volunatarily went in to the edge of the waves. All last year she was very scared of them and would want to play in the sand behind a big log if she could.

Lara, I think you're right to wait and see how Natalie feels about the potty in a few weeks etc. It wouldn't surprise me if she becomes more comfortable with it there as she sees other kids use it. Do you have her sit on it when you arrive?

Happy Belated Birthday Helene!

My best friend was in town over the (extended) weekend and we had a lot of fun. We did a lot of scrapbooking but fit in some other activities as well. It was a little rough though because she found out a couple of weeks before coming that her dad has cancer and then while she was hear heard how severe it was (got test results back). Lainey wouldn't believe that she had gone to school with DH and I. No way, no how do mommy and daddy go to school (or ever been apparently).

Kim

[JoanneOR]

You are all right about Caitlyn - I need to be firm with her and let her cry. I decided that last night things would be different. The night before was miserable. I was basically awake from 1:00-4:00am and was a zombie all day. I tried to talk to her a few times during the day and told her that mommy needs to sleep and I will help her if something is really wrong but she needs to stop waking me up all night. She was funny - she kept changing the subject and wouldn't acknowledge what I was talking about. So, I put her to bed last night and reminded her what we talked about and asked if she understood. She meekly shook her head yes. I said if she had to go potty I would help her. So, right on schedule at 1:00am she starts crying for me. Our room is a flight of stairs up from her, but you can hear each other perfectly. I called down to her that it was night time and she needed to go back to sleep. Sure enough she kept crying, became hysterical and eventually made it up the stairs. Said she had to go potty. So, I went with her and she didn't go at all. I think she knew that was the one thing that would get me up. A half hour later the same thing, but she did go potty. About an hour later she's crying that she's hungry and wants yogurt. I called down to her that it was nighttime and we would eat in the morning. She got hysterical and came up to the room again. I quietly brought her back down, told her I loved her and that I would see her in the morning. That's the last I heard from her. So, I don't know if it's progress or not, but we'll see how it goes tonight. I know what I need to do, but it's hard. Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I think it was the push I needed to actually implement what I need to do!

Nori, Jameson says he wants to be a scientist so he can find a cure for Caitlyn's heart. The first time he told us that I was so touched. It does seem like there are lots of options for financial aid and loans/scholarships for college. Probably having four kids will help us with qualifying, too. Glad to hear Mary Ann is feeling better. I don't think I could do the catching with my hand thing! It's amazing the skills we learn, isn't it? :)

Lara, good job with the 2-hour nap! Hopefully you can get it reestablished regularly! We have a Moms of Multiples club in the area that has sales twice a year, too. We actually got one of our cribs there.

I was wondering about Helene, too. Happy Birthday, if you're around! And Becky, too, she has posted for awhile.

Kim, I do remember you posting about dealing with Lainey's sleep awhile back. You're right, she's way too old for us to tolerate it. I'm cranky during the day from lack of sleep and take it out on the boys and that's not right. It's funny, but they never wake up during all of this and their rooms are right next to hers. I guess they've learned to tune it out. I don't think the clock would work for Caitlyn. Luckily she does sleep till a reasonable hour, sometimes even 8:00. It's the middle of the night stuff that's the problem. Sounds like a great time at the beach!

Poor Ian got a horrible case of stomach flu yesterday. He was fine all day; ate alot, but got sick about 3:00 and at least 10 times after that. I was almost ready to take him to the ER - I was worried he was getting dehydrated. Finally he fell asleep though and didn't get sick all night and DH said he is fine today. Yesterday afternoon we were making things with his Dr. Dreadful Food Lab (stay far, far away from those :( ) and he ate some of the stuff. It's basically just candy, but I was thinking maybe that's what made him sick. Although Jameson and Colin tried a couple things (brains, slime, etc. :eek: ) and were fine. Ian also had a fever, so I think it was stomach flu. Now we just pray it doesn't hit anyone else in the house.



Sarah, I had to laugh a little at Ella's asking you to get her socks out for the next day! Mostly because it sounds so much like Caitlyn. Yea!! on convincing your DH to hire out the floor refinishing! That must be a relief! I hate wallpaper and paneling too. We've gotten rid of the last of the paneling in the basement, but there is still wallpaper I need to strip in the house. I've vowed never to put any up in any house I ever own!

Lara, I think it's pretty normal for Natalie not to want to sit on a potty somewhere else. When Caitlyn was first potty trained, she didn't like to sit on the potty anywhere else. It was difficult at first because you had to make sure you weren't going to be out for too long because she'd refuse to sit on a different potty. Part of it was that they were too big. We have an insert at home that she uses. We started bringing an extra one with us and she eventually would use the potty if we put that on it. A pain to have to bring out with you, though. Now she's at the point where she'll pretty much go on any toilet; you just have to hold on to her. I think when they get to the point of being totally potty trained, they are more willing to use a strange potty because they don't want to have an accident.

Lori, sorry to hear about the job. Keeping my fingers crossed that your other option comes through. And that your DH gets the new job.

Cheryl, the doctor has said it's OK to let Caitlyn cry, but we've always been easier on her because of her heart and what she's gone through. Go Griffin! I can't believe he's walking - seems like he was just born not that long ago! That's good news that they didn't find any problems after Griffin's test. I didn't realize he needed eye surgery, either. Didn't someone on this thread have that surgery? Caitlyn was scheduled for it, but got sick and it was canceled. It did wind up opening up on its own, but I think she was only about six months old then. If I remember right, the surgery itself only lasts a minute or two.

[LaraW]

Joanne, it sounds like you're making progress in the right direction. These kids are just so strong-willed, aren't they? ;) I guess it is a good thing in general, though they might drive their parents nuts in the meantime!

That makes a lot of sense about not wanting to use the potty away from home, and why kids become more comfortable with it as they become more potty trained. DH has been taking her to daycare since I've been on maternity leave, but I'm normally the one who takes her in the morning. I can almost assure you that he hasn't been doing anything except dropping her off in the mornings. :rolleyes:

We had a good morning here. We met a friend over at the indoor play area at our rec center, and ran Natalie around for almost 2 hours. She crashed about 45 minutes ago. I'm OK with doing that if that is what it takes. It gets us out of the house and her doing some physical activity. Plus, I got to visit with my friend who is expecting her 2nd baby in June.

I told her that if she could take a good rest that we could go to the library when she woke up, so hopefully we'll be able to plan to do that. My book club book is in, so I need to go over and pick it up anyway.

Kim, glad to hear that you had a nice visit with your friend. Sorry to hear about her dad, though. That is hard.

Colin is fussing, so I better run. Will try to come back later

[nori]

I ended up taking both kids to the doctor's office today. Last night Mary Ann coughed a lot, and woke up each time she coughed. I had to hold her in certain position so that she could sleep. And I was thinking her cough sounded kind of bad, like wheezing a little bit. Then this morning, Noah woke up but had a slight fever (99.6), and had no appetite, and looked so tired. So I called them up and the nurse (whom I've been talking to more than 5 times in past 2 weeks) took us right in, scheduled us for afternoon visit. It was right around Mary Ann's nap time and I was a bit concerned, but I had no choice. When we got in the examination room and waiting for the doctor to come in, Mary Ann fell asleep and Noah also fell asleep. So when dr. came in both of them were sleeping! Anyway, it turned out Mary Ann has a mild ear infection and virus in her lung. Noah, although the doctor had to run strep test, it came back negative and his ear and lungs were clear. So poor Mary ann had her first nebulizer there..first she refused but the nurse got her a lollipop and as soon as she had it in her hand (she didn't lick it then), she stopped refusing the inhaler in her mouth. (We used the mouthpiece thing) She did very well...no fuss at all. They arranged to have nebulizer delivered to our house by the evening, and he prescribed her for Albuterol and Amoxicillin for her ear infection. We tried another treatment before her bedtime tonight and oh what a nightmare!!! I don't know why she was so good at the doctor's office....it's basicaly the same thing. :confused: Anyway DH had to hold her down and I helt the inhaler very close to her face or sticking in her mouth, forcefully. :( It wasn't pretty. All of this Noah was watching, even talking to her ("Mary Ann, you have to do this. You'll feel better after this.") but after for a whilel he started to look away from this chaos. We'll see how she sleeps tonight. This afternoon after the first treatment the doctor checked on her again and said that she sounded much better so it had to be working.

I am glad I decided to go today, but at the same time I felt bad that I didn't go sooner. But again, if it was sooner, she wasn't probabaly developed infection yet, and probably I wasn't taking her in to be cheked out, it'd had been only for Noah. I was talking to the doctor about this (I probabay should have brought them earlier), but he said that probably didn't matter. I just thought this has been going on way too long, and I needed to know what's going on exactly.

Lara, that's great that Natalie had a nice nap. Hope you made it to the library. I had a problem telling Noah what we might do when he wakes up after the nap...say, I told him we're going somewhere, then if he sleeps too long, we really can't go out anymore. I was afraid of not be able to keep my words. So I used to use something else (like playing some his favorite toys, reading books, or eating snack).

Joanne, that sounds like a progress. I am glad you didn't give her yogurt right then. :p You just have to stand firm...I know how hard it is, though. Especially considering her health situation and all. Even with the doctor's permission, I'd be very cautious to make her upset in anyway, I think. But you're doing a great job keeping your ground. Hope tonight will go better for you all. That's great boys aren't disturbed by this.

I think I remember you telling us about Jameson wanting to be a doctor to find a cure for Caitlyn's heart...(didn't you mention it here?) How touching. What a great big brother he is!!!

Kim, sounds like you had a great time with your friend. Sorry to hear about your friend's dad, though.

I pictured Lainey kind of following Jamie on the beach and it made me smile. :) Was Lainey afraid of waves? I thought she was great with water. (In pool anyway?) But sounds like she's getting used to it..I bet she'd love it, next year or as she gets older. playing around the waves is such fun!

I was wondering about Becky, too....hope everything is okay.

[paula]

Nori, What an awful experience with the inhaler. We have always used a mask with Rachel, and at first, she absolutely hated it. Just as you described, DH and I would have to physically hold her to get it anywhere near her. In time, the experience improved, and when she developed an interest in the TV, it helped to let her pick a favorite video to watch during the treatment. Now, she is sufficiently self-aware to ask for her "mask medicine" when she is having trouble.

I am more and more convinced that viruses are contagious through this internet site. I had one of my worst moments as a parent yesterday. About 15 minutes into our hourlong commute, Alex told me that his tummy hurt and that he felt like throwing up. I wasn't sure whether or not to believe him, and if I did believe him, I had no idea what to do. We were traveling along a very busy interstate highway with miles to go to find even the most disgusting of bathrooms. With no obvious containment devices in the car, I quickly improvised and handed him an empy kleenex box. However, he was not interested and looking at the angle at which he was strapped into his car seat, it was obvious that containment was a lost cause. When you sit slightly reclined with only movement from the neck up, it is impossible to even image bending over to "aim" any mess.

And almost immediate the mess occurred. Oh did it ever occur. We were still over 1/2 hour from home when he lost everything that he had stuffed into his stomach at a birthday party - including the 1/2 package of red, gummy fish that he had eaten in the car... It was one of the saddest sights I had ever seen. The poor boy was covered, and there was little I could do other than offer him a couple of kleenex. I had no mechanism by which to clean up the mess or even to offer him comfort. It was in every crevice of his car seat, his clothes were soaked through, and I didn't even have any water for him to rinse his mouth. Stopping would prolong the time to get home, and yesterday was so bitterly cold that I didn't want him to be outside while I cleaned the car. So in shared, sheer misery, we continued home. (Rachel, in complete contrast, was in a great mood and chatted/sang all the way home. I was ready to rip out her tongue long before we reached our home.)

Needless to say, that carseat landed in the dumpster before the night was through. I diligently tried to clean it, but there is no way to remove the straps from an EvenFlo Triumph, and smelly, stomach contents had leached into the hard case around the straps. Fortunately, we have a spare pair of car seats that were purchased for airline travel, and I will install one of the them this afternoon. And, I will be stopping at Babies-R-Us to shop for two hybrid seats/boosters after work. We had about two inches to go before outgrowing our Triumphs, but I am going to replace them early.

So, any recommendations for reasonably priced carseat/boosters? (We can not afford two Britax's and my kids have always been tall anyways...) According to a friend at work, Consumer Reports favorite in this catagory this year was the EvenFlo Chase DLX - with the caveat that EvenFlo buckle system takes some time to get used to. However, we have used EvenFlo seats for over two years, and while DH still has issues with the buckles, they work fine for me. I'll search around later because I know that has been discussed previously.

The more pressing question is was this a virus or did he eat too much junk at the birthday party... and if it was a virus, who will catch it next?

Paula

[cchhbb]

Oh Paula, How horrible. Poor Alex. I can definitely see how you wanted to quiet down Rachael. Garrett threw up on a plane a few times and it was the worst. Nothing like feeling helpless. He had gone through 2 different changes of clothing. Finally, I ended up taking all his clothes off, changing his diaper and putting on his winter coat. I thought that was better than sitting in wet puke.

I can recommend the Graco Car Go Premier or Platinum. I can't remember what the ending was. It has the 5 point harness that can be used until your child reaches 40 pounds. We've installed it in DH's car and it works great. After 40 pounds then it becomes a belt positioning booster. I think it was about $99. I know I had a coupon from BRU and got it for about $80.

Nori, sorry to hear about Mary Ann's illness. She was probably feeling better in the evening which made it harder to give the treatment. I know when Garrett had to have it at the hospital, it was pretty easy since he was really pretty sick. When I had to give it to him at home, it was much harder since he was already feeling better.

Kim, Sounds like a great trip to the beach. My boys love the water. We took Garrett to the beach at about 10 months and he loved to crawl right into an oncoming wave. He thought it was funny if it hit him. Griffin gets so excited when he hears the bath water running that he jumps up and down in front of the tub. I've learned to undress him before turning on the water or it's too difficult.

Joanne, Good Job! I know it is tough, but you are teaching her a very valuable skill. I hope she learns quickly and you are on a way to a better nights sleep.

Lara, terrific on reestablishing Natalie's nap. Garrett napped much of the summer due to swimming daily. I think it would wear him out. He pretty much gave up his nap at 3. I can get him to fall asleep in the car sometimes.

This has been a crazy week. My friend who's mom is having chemo dropped her 4 year old off for 7 hours Tuesday. He and Garrett had a ball. And yesterday another friend called me at 7 am and said she had an emergency and could I watch her kids until they went to school at 9. She dropped them off 10 minutes later still in their jammies. I couldn't take them to school since my car doesn't fit 4 carseats. Another friend of hers came by and picked up the kids after she dropped off her own about 9:15. Then Garrett and Griffin had a playdate with two boys from his class that had little siblings Griffin's age. My house is a complete wreak. And my friends with the twins might need me to watch them since she has a family member that is ill. I'm exhausted.

Griffin has to have tear duct surgery. His didn't close until he was about 7 months. We treated it with drops and it didn't improve so we are having the surgery next month. They told me that it takes longer to put the child under than to do the surgery.

Griffin is walking now only if he doesn't know it. Yesterday, he was holding onto a ball and walked about 4 feet. When he realized it he sat down. He can get to a standing position without pulling up now. He seems to have great balance and can stand for about 3 minutes. He also is starting to talk a little bit. He says bye, hi, ball, and moos like a cow.

Today is western day at school. Garrett is wearing a denim shirt, jeans, a bandana, and a pretty terrible looking cowboy hat.


Cheryl

[JanetB]

Hi all -

I need a little advice from some Moms of slightly older kids. My DS is 20 months old - and usually very sweet - but this week we have been on NAP STRIKE. What age did your kids give up their afternoon naps? 12-14 hours straight with a CRANKY bold toddler has me on my last nerve. He isn't sleeping more at night to make up for it. He will only sleep about 9-10 hours at night. Some people have told me because he is a 'Big" toddler he will give up his nap sooner. Is this true? He is off the charts in height of his age range - and in the 95% for weight. Does that have an impact on it?

He is in the "No" stage - and will throw what I refer to as minute fits when told no - but this week with the sleep deprevation - it has been HORRID.
In fact, on Tuesday - day two of the strike - I went to get him a cup of milk - and he climbed up on the dining room table - he has NEVER done this before. I said "NO - get down!" The temper tantrum started immediately - I grabbed him to put him on the floor - and I caught his flailing head on my eye - so I have a very attractive black and blue shiner. My DH is horrified. There is also a huge size difference b/w my DH and I - so he thinks everyone will think he was beating on his little pregnant wife. (Of course, we never have plans with people we don't really know - but this week we do!!)

I'm more concerned with getting DS back on track with his naps - I expect we will have some behavior problems when the baby arrives - but I don't know how well I can handle him in this state - and a newborn who needs constant attention. Any advice is welcome.

TIA,
Janet

[LaraW]

Janet, I've been going through this with my DD the last couple of weeks. I don't have time to post right now but I will try to get back here either this afternoon or tonight.

Lara

[JoanneOR]

Paula, poor Alex. How is he feeling now? That reminds me of a vacation we took when Jameson was about 10 months old and I was pregnant with Ian. We were just going to a cottage in Michigan. Jameson had been throwing up, but we decided to go anyway. Well, DH decided :( ; I thought it was a bad idea. I'll spare the details, but it was an extremely long and messy car ride there and back. I wound up getting sick while we were there. Not at all pleasant!

Nori, I don't think there's much you can do to get Mary Ann to take her treatments with less of a fight at her age. She's too young to understand why she's doing it, so you can't really reason with her. That's good that she seems better, though. Like the doctor said, it wouldn't have mattered if you brought her in sooner; if it's a virus there's nothing they would have done anyway.

Cheryl, sounds like you're a good friend to help everyone out, but I'm sure it's exhausting! :) Maybe they can return the favor when things settle down and give you some free time.

Lara, hope your napping strategy continues to work!

OK, the latest in the Caitlyn nighttime battle saga :rolleyes: . DH was off work last night. I told him what I'm trying to do. She goes to bed with a little fussy, not much. Right on schedule at 1:15am, she starts crying for me. I stay in bed, but ask her what she needs. She had to go potty, so DH took her. A half hour later she's crying again. I ask her what she needs and she yells "I DON'T WANT MY GREEN DOG ON MY BED!!" I tell her to take it off the bed herself. She yells, no, you do it. I tell her "mommy's sleeping, you can take the dog off the bed." 10 more minutes of crying and yelling about the dog, getting increasingly louder and desperate. She realizes no one is coming down, so she gets out of the bed, stomps up the stairs and yells to get the dog off her bed. :mad: I'm sure this will be comical one day. :o DH calmly carries her back down and puts her to bed. She came out about five more times and DH did the same thing. Then he started closing her door. That caused more hysterics. He left the door open the last time; she cried for another half hour or so, then finally quieted down. I don't know if she ever took the dog off the bed. :rolleyes: She slept till I left for work this morning. I'm curious to see how tonight goes since we've done two nights now.

Gotta run to a meeting I'm dreading...be back later.

[tbb113]

Joanne - I'm proud of you and your husband. :) Caitlyn needs to realize that night-time is for sleeping and she is capable of doing things for herself. I'm sure you only have a few more nights of this and then you will have mostly un-interrupted sleep (and let me tell you...that is a WONDERFUL thing :) )

[Sarah428]

Joanne - Althought I feel so sorry for you not being able to have a full nights sleep its very comforting to know that Ella isn't the only one that does it. I'm just beside myself on how Ella & Caitlyn are behaving the exact same way at night, it's uncanning! Ella will be inches from the tissue box yet scream & cry for an hour that I get her a tissue. Here's hoping the sleep fairy visits our houses tonight! ;) (yet another reason I dread Ella moving out of her crib....I imagine she's going to be coming into our room alot)

(((Janet))) - Sorry to hear about the shiner :(! I've never heard the theory about a "big" toddler breaking from naps earlier so I can't help you there. My DD is 31 months and still naps at least an hour, sometimes 3! Is there anything in the normal routine that has changed? If he is breaking from naps I've heard that still establishing a "quiet time" is important...listening to a soft CD, reading books, etc. Lara has a "sleep bible" ("Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth) so I'm sure she'll be able to help you more than I can....good luck!

Cheryl - You have had a crazy week, yikes! How old is Griffin again? I saw a 13 month old yesterday and I can't wait to have one that age again!

Paula - I would have thown the carseat away as well! And I agree, there is such a thing a cyber colds/viruses ;).

(((Nori))) - How sweet of Noah to coach Mary Ann through her treatment, what a great big brother. Hang in there. Regarding our floors, we decided to ripe out the carpet and refinish the hardfloors in our house so that's why we have to move out for a week. I can't wait to have that carpet out, hopefully that will help w/ Ella's allergies.

Kim - Glad to hear you had such an enjoyable and productive weekend! I was showing Ella baby pics of me & DH and she was just like Lainey, there is no way that her parents were ever babies! :p

Well, like Joanne I was up w/ Ella last night, but only once. She was crying for about 20 minutes before I went in to offer some water and try to calm her down. She seemed to be crying in her sleep because she never responded to me and didn't seem to know I was in the room. We're basically letting her cry it out most of the time but since she is in her crib I still feel like I need to check on her, not sure why?!? :confused: I hope this passes before the baby and her big girl bed!

Happy Thursday!
Sarah

[JoanneOR]

Joanne - I'm proud of you and your husband. :) Caitlyn needs to realize that night-time is for sleeping and she is capable of doing things for herself. I'm sure you only have a few more nights of this and then you will have mostly un-interrupted sleep (and let me tell you...that is a WONDERFUL thing :) )

Thanks Tyra, I needed to hear that! I hope we're doing the right thing. Well, I know we are, but it breaks my heart to not respond to her. But DH says she woke up in the morning today and yesterday happy as a clam. So, I guess she's not holding it against us!

Sarah, yes, Ella and Caitlyn do sound alot alike! Good thing they don't know each other in "real" life; they might try to teach each other things to drive us even more crazy!

[paula]

Checking in to say that Alex is completely recovered. He spent the day eating everything in site. He has never previously shown a sensitivity to any foods, but he must have found something at the party that did not agree with him. However, I still have my fingers crossed that no one else gets sick. He just barely fits in the travel car seat (a Cosco Touriva), so I'll have to make a decision about new seat(s) soon.

Paula

[HRJ]

Hi everyone. I *finally* have a chance to catch up -- I've read everything from this week, but completely missed last week. Thanks so much for asking about me, and for the birthday wishes!!! :)

We had another round of sickness over here last week -- Victor got some sort of virus again, and then DH was sick (and miserable about it), and then I think I got it worst of all. (This is the second time within a month that we've all gotten zonked with something. And I'd been feeling so smug, because we'd been pretty healthy through most of the winter. :rolleyes: ). Anyway, I dragged myself to work when I shouldn't have, because I'd missed so much time when Victor was ill -- until I finally went to the doctor. (I think my co-workers were getting really annoyed at me for spreading germs all over the office, anyway.)

Like Mary Ann, I'm now taking amoxicillan and albuterol -- boy, that inhaler was a godsend! Nori, I'm sorry to hear that you had so much trouble using it on Mary Ann. How cute that Noah was trying to help.

Hope all the kids who are feeling badly are doing better. Paula, that was awful about Alex in the car!! I'd also recommend the Graco Car Go Platinum convertible booster.

My birthday was nice -- even though I wasn't feeling 100% great, DH and I went out for a couple of hours, for dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants.

Joanne, hope you have a better night tonight -- can't offer any good advice, because we're still dealing with sleep problems, but, do I feel for you, with the interrupted sleep!!!

Sarah, hope you have a better night with Ella, too!

Lara, sounds like you've got a good approach for the nap issue.

Cheryl, glad to hear Griffin's test came out OK, and, yay for Griffin becoming a walker!! How funny that he doesn't realize it yet!

Kim, can't believe that you guys are out on the beach already -- they're still talking about the possibility of snow here. Sounds like you had a nice time -- Jamie is quite the adventurer.

I was at Barnes &B Noble over the weekend, and saw that the woman who wrote "Raising your Spirited Child" (my favorite child-rearing book) has a new book out, about kids' sleep problems, called "Sleepless in America." I bought it -- I'm eager to see what she has to say.

This weekend we're going on an outing with my parents group to a farm that has baby animals -- newborn piglets and lambs. That should be so cute. And right after that, Victor has a birthday party at a gymnastics place, so Saturday should be a pretty busy day.

Take care everyone!

Helene

[LA98]

Helene, glad you're all on the mend -- now get to that book because we're all waiting for the answers to our sleep problems! LOL :D

[nori]

Oh Paula, how horrible !!! :eek: It is the worst feeling when you are so helpless. But considering situation, you did you could do the best..not stopping and just made the way to home. Glad to hear that Alex is feeling better now. When I got sick 2 weeks ago, I was sick almost exactly 24 hours. I was throwing up, having chill, a little coughs. But after that I was totally fine. Not sure what it was, though. If you're right about virus spreading thru this thread, we should stop talking about it! :p

Cheryl, wow what a busy day!! I bet each of your friend was so grateful for waht you'd done for them.

Janet...I think when the child gets cranky in the evening or afternoon because he didn't nap, he's not ready to give up his naps. Like Sarah suggested, I'd still give him a quiet time. Is he in the crib yet? Then put him in there, with books or quiet toys, and tell him that he needs to be there for certain time. Or, when I was pregnant with my second and wanted Noah to take a nap, I'd lay down with him in our big bed together. Tell him that "After we do this quiet time, let's have some snack" or something for him to expect. Noah pretty much stayed in his bed for this quiet time and would fall asleep when he was very tired. Hope this works...good luck!

Joanne, that's great that you and DH are on the same page. Keep up the good work! I know it's hard, but I am sure that she'll understand that you can't be available for subtle things in the middle of the night, when you don't really respond to hear request. Mommy needs sleep!! Tell her that you can't be a happy mommy unless you sleep well at night. :D Hope tongiht will be even better than previous night!

Sarah...do you think Ella was having a nightmare? Noah used to cry in the middle of the night, and most of the time his eyes closed. DH told me to wake him up in that case. He used to have those nightmares and it helps to wake up and realize that it was just a dream.

Helene, sorry that you all had been sick, too. We felt like we've been sick all this month, too...it's been pretty chilly around here, and it seems like the end of winter is always a season for virus to go around. Your farm trip sounds like fun! Noah and mary Ann both would enjoy seeing those baby animals....Have fun!

That Albuterol really works! Last night Mary Ann didn't wake up at all. This morning, we gave her another dose and she made a fuss but not as bad as last night. We have this Petz candy dispense we call "Duckie candy". I started to use it as a bribe when Noah didn't want to take a medicine, or refused to clip his nails. Duckie candy will come to visit him and give him a candy, if he did a good job. So this morning I used it for Mary Ann...she knew what it was, because she's seen it when I was giving it to Noah, but she couldn't have it because she wasn't the one taking medication. So I showed it to her, let her hold it, and she took the inhaler much better. This afternoon, she woke up from her nap after 20 min. (not long enough!) because of coughing. I should have given her another dose before the nap time I guess...so before bedtime, I gave her another. Noah was funny. He was in the tub, playing and really didn't want to come out. So I said that I am going to give Mary Ann the medicine whille he's playing and he wanted to come out and help! He helped me to hold the inhaler while I catched Mary Ann (who again tried to run away), and he also turned the machine for us. Oh, and tonight was great....I read to both of them while doing the treatment and Mary Ann did great on keeping it in her mouth! I can't really tell, but I am not sure how far those medicated mist is going in her throat...sometimes she'd bite down her teeth so the inhaler was hitting on her teeth. I didn't see steam coming out from her mouth, so hopefully all were going in her body. It looks like it worked last night so hopefully I'm doing it right.

DH is taking days off today and tomorrow to get some of tiling in the kitchen done. In attempt to keep the kids away from the work area, I was in our bedroom with them and playing on the bed. I got sleepy so I told them that I'm going to take a nap and Noah lay down quiet, too. Mary Ann slept, too, and eventually we spent almost entire afternoon there!! I don't know if it's because of illness he had, but Noah started to take a nap pretty much regulary (if we let him) with no difficulty. Maybe he's still recovering from wahtever he had.

[JoanneOR]

Nori, that's great that the medication is working so well for Mary Ann and that she's a bit more tolerant of the treatment. Hopefully you can all get some more rest now! That's so cute that Noah likes to help. It probably calms Mary Ann to see him interested in it.

Helene, sorry to hear about all the illnesses going on with all of you. I echo what Lori said, read the book and write a review for all of us! :) Hopefully we can get some good tips. I may check out Borders during my lunch to see if they have it. What's the author's name again?

OK, I'm typing with my fingers crossed and don't want to jinx myself, so I'm not going to report on our night with Caitlyn. She's had good nights before, I talk about it and she reverts back. :mad: So, let's just say we had a good night's sleep and hope it's not a fluke!! :)

Our neighbor had a baby girl yesterday. I'm so excited to see her! She was tiny, though, only 5 pounds and full term. This is their first - we've been joking with them that life as they know it will never be the same! They haven't decided on a name yet.

[RunnerKim]

Paula - that's horrible and I can only envision it all too well. Lainey's puked a couple of times in her car seat but fortunately we've been close to arriving somewhere. We now keep in the car one of those pink "u-shaped" (maybe more kidney/bean shaped) containers that hospitals use for vomitting. Lainey's never had to use it when she has a lot to vomit so it's worked okay.

We also use some variety of the Graco Car Go. We're still in 5pt. as Lainey's been holding out at 36/37 lbs. for quite a while. She's recently figured out how to do the bottom buckle by herself and is quite proud of herself.

And I'll agree to viruses passing through the internet because I was home with Lainey yesterday. Wednesday late afternoon she got sick at school but seemed fine. She vomited again while we were waiting for DH to go home with us (fortunately making it to a nearby trash can). The bus ride home was nerve wracking *for me* but we made it without incident (we did have a grocery bag just in case). Then I served her some plain pasta for dinner b/c she wanted to eat. Several mouthfuls in she puked (and wanted to continue to finish her dinner). Next morning she puked after eating only 1 saltine cracker. So I took her to the store to get some apple juice and she could keep that down fine. (although I owe a big contribution to her "therapy fund" for taking a starving child to a grocery store - why can't her hunger level turn off like normal people when they have an upset stomach!). I let her eat a couple more crackers mid-afternoon and those stayed down so she had more plain pasta for dinner and then she was begging for food during her bath so I let her have a piece of toast afterwards. She did puke during the night but that seemed to be asthma/cough related. Her spirits were 110% this morning so I sent her to school today. She missed a class trip to the science museum yesterday but I was pleasantly surprised that she was okay about it (I promised we'd go soon).

Nori, glad to hear that Mary Ann is handling the treatment better. My advice was going to be to just do it and get it over with as fast as possible. It was horrible getting Lainey to use the spacer mask in the beginning - no bribe or trickery worked (how it got the name "elephant mask" because we tried to play that she was going to be an elephant - DH even used a toilet paper tube). We had several days of horrible struggles and finally just quit talking about it and got it over as fast as possible and within a couple of times of that it became no big deal.

One word of caution about albuterol - it can make kids (adults too maybe) hyper. It seems to have that affect on Lainey some times but not others. So if Mary Ann all of a sudden becomes a horrendous terrible two like she normally isn't, keep in mind that it could very likely be the medication.

Joanne - I too am proud of you! I'll keep my fingers crossed that the worst is behind you. It is really rough but at this age she can understand. And keep in mind (this was what helped me the most) that Caitlyn needs her sleep too - her waking up so much at night or needing this or that dealt with doesn't help her any either. Getting her to sleep through (or be able to put herself back to sleep) is a good thing for her too (and a great big bonus for you). Glad DH was there and able to help you too.

Helene - sorry that you're family was wiped out yet again. The nice thing about going to the beach this time of year is that the water doesn't feel so cold (comparative temperature - it was 55 when we went on Sunday). Our beaches aren't what people typically think of when they think of beaches - yes they're sandy etc. but you don't lay out and get a tan. The water is always cold - anyone that seriously ventures in to the water (the surfers) have on wet suits to keep warm (all year around pretty much).

Lainey loves the water, but waves are entirely a different matter. That and i think the sand shifting under your feat make it pretty intimidating. All the kids I've known who've been to the coast at a pre-school age have feared them (at least at first). I expect Jamie will when he's a bit older. (it's been a long time since I've been to a non-NW coast; so maybe waves are different at other beaches, here they're rather big and unpredictable).

Janet - I've also never heard the thing about size and naps (only about big newborns sleeping longer because they're stomachs are big enough to hold more or whatever). I've read that toddlers/pre-schoolers need 12 hours of sleep per day. So if he's not getting that at night then he still needs a nap. But I think you answer your own question when talking about his behavior because he hasn't had naps. How is he refusing nap? Does he stay in his bed the normal amount of time but doesn't fall asleep? If he's getting out of bed I'd treat it the same way as we've talked about on this thread with various kids (most recently Joanne's Caitlyn) with nighttime issues. I would minimize talking and simply keep putting him back in bed. If he's more compliant you could try setting a timer -- when Lainey is most adamant about refusing to take her nap we'll resort to saying we'll set a timer and we'll do it for 30 minutes. We tell her if the timer goes off before she falls asleep she can get up but she has to stay in bed (lights off) until then. She always has fallen asleep (and we remove the timer so it doesn't wake her when it goes off). But she's cooperative enough to stay in her bed.
I can understand how embarrasing the black eye is!! Just make sure to bring up what happened early in your conversation.

We're going to have a busy weekend since I promised Lainey we could make cookies when her tummy was better. We might try to squeeze in a quick trip to the zoo on Saturday because the Warty Pigs should have finally arrived (they were suppose to be there last Saturday when DH took the kids). Sunday we have a Ralph's World concert (anyone else listen to his music? - kids music) and then my grandmother, aunt and uncle and cousin are coming for dinner along with my sister and her boys. It's my (recently deceased) Granddad's birthday so I'm glad we're having a little family get together. But it means I'm going to have a lot of people in our little house and I have to clean my overflowing scrapbooking supplies out of the craft err....dining room.

Happy Friday,
Kim

[Sarah428]

Joanne - Keeping my fingers crossed for you since I'm in your shoes! Ella was up alot last night, but more on that later.

Nori - That's wonderful that the treatments are getting easier on her. How cute of you all to take a "group nap"!

Helene - I'm w/ Lori, lets hear about this book! ;) I'm probably going to check it out too, thanks for bringing it to our attention. Sorry you've been under the weather lately but enjoy your busy weekend.

Paula - Good to hear that Alex is feeling better and if it was just something that didn't agree w/ him that he can't pass it around.

Kim - Glad to hear that Lainey is feeling better, that's too bad she missed the class trip. Wow, you do have a busy weekend, try to enjoy it!

So last night I put Ella to bed at 7:30 and 10 minutes later she's crying and calling out for me. I go in and she demands that I scratch her back, when I say no she shows me her finger and says she needs a band-aid. I kiss her finger, tell her it's time to sleep, we'll get a band-aid in the a.m. and I'm not coming in there anymore. An hour later she's still crying and DH insists on going in there which only gets her more mad because she's call for me. She finally fell asleep but then started up again from 10pm until midnight. I just turned up the TV a little and laid on the couch but DH went in around 11pm. I tried to tell him to just let her go but he went in anyway and I didn't feel like fighting w/ him (we haven't been seeing eye to eye lately when it comes to Ella). She woke up briefly again around 1:30am and DH went in but just for a minute.

So, I guess its time to work w/ DH & Ella about what's expected after she's in bed. Like Caitlyn, when I try to talk to her about she sort of looks away and will respond with something like "look mom, I have red socks on today" :p

Not much planned for the weekend; errands, wallpaper removal, and working on Sunday. Time to get back to work!

Sarah

[nori]

Sarah, I hope you can talk to your DH and come up with consensus about how to deal with Ella. I think it is important to be on the same page with your DH, when it comes to child rearing and something important (I'd let small issue go, though...to avoid unnessesary conflict..more on later). I think you're doing the right thing not going in to her bedroom but you DH needs to do the same, to make it work. Good luck!!

Kim, sorry to hear that Lainey was sick, too. Really, we probably should stop talking about being sick here. :D Glad to hear that she's feeling better now, though. It's amazing she had an appetite as she was vomiting....Noah never had apptetite when he was vomiting.

Joanne, congrats on making a good progress! But I stop here to talk about it. Good luck on weekend nights!!

I thought about posting regarding Albuterol.....the first time she got it (in doctor's office), we came home, and in the afternoon she was dancing and going round and round and rolling around the floor and being so funny. I remember reading somewehre (probably here in BB...Kim, did you post about it? I think so) that Albuterol makes kids hyper. It certainly did for Mary Ann for the first time, but she's been not acting like that since then. She's taking the med as I type..watching movie this time. I gave her before nap time today and she didn't wake up from coughing.

DH was home again today to do some tiling work. In the afternoon his work was done for today so I went out to have me time. I ran some errands, had a cup of coffee, and spent about 2 hours alone. Then I came home and first thing I heard was Noah crying in the bathroom. DH was holding Mary Ann, who just woke up from her nap. I asked him what's going on and he said Noah went to poop and then he started to cry. :confused: It turned out, he helped him to wipe probably once, but didn't do anymore and Noah wanted to be wiped clean. When I went in, he was standing up on the stool, with toilet paper piece in his hand, crying so hard. I comforted him and wiped him clean. His butt was NOT clean.....I was upset that DH didn't take good care of it, but he said Noah is old enough to wipe by himself. I don't agree....what do you think? When do they start to wipe by themselves after pooping? I have no idea how long he was standing there. I felt so bad, but then, I've learned that some things I have to let it go. it's not that DH is doing this everyday....Noah'll be fine, although today I just felt awful for him. If I let this feeling toward DH hang around, it'd cause a damage in our relationship. We do still have issues to work on, but I've learned that let things go, except for something VERy important that I can't ignore.

This weekend, no particular plan. Maybe we can do something as a family, since we've been cooped up being sick past few weekends.

[MrsReber]

Nori, I don't think Noah is old enough. I'm the one who ALWAYS wipes the kids. They don't want DH. I've been doing everything for the kids for so long that they don't want him to help them ever. He can't give them baths or showers either. They cry. Has to be me.

Casey is at an age where she wants to do it all herself. She does a pretty decent job in the bathroom, but I still like to check. There have been times that she didn't do such a great job and wound up with a rash. She's in a class at daycare that has no bathroom. They have to go into other classrooms to use the bathroom. Casey is a bit shy so she won't ask the teachers in the other rooms to help her.

Brenden will be 4 in July and I still help him every single time.

Nothing much going on here. I've been lurking, but not posting. DH just left for VA with a truck full of stuff. My trip with my mom was great. Neither of us wanted to come home. Got the kids rooms painted. My mom and I work so well together as far as cooking, cleaning up and taking care of the kids. She's awesome. We were thinking the same things all the time so there was no discussion over who should cook, clean up or take care of the kids. I think I even lost a couple pounds while we were there because we were so busy! My mom loves the city and is excited about helping me with the rest of the house.

I'm waiting for DH to finish 3 projects before we can list our house. I'm getting very impatient!!!!! Good news is that existing home sales went up 19% in our area in the past month. We should be able to sell pretty easily. We've been looking at the other houses for sale in our development. Ours is definitely nicer than all of them that we've gone by.

We were supposed to have a playdate with Casey's friend today. I called and left 2 messages. I told the mom that I'd be home at 11:30 and to give us a call to let us know if she was still free. I gave up waiting for her at 4:00. The kids don't seem to care much, though. They had 2 gymnastics classes this morning since we missed last week's class. They're a little tired. I'm trying to think of something fun for us to do while DH is gone. He says he's driving back tomorrow night. Ugh! His friend went with him and they both have to be back for work on Monday. I hope DH is okay. He hurt his back loading the truck last night.

I have read all the posts for this week! Paula, you'll probably look back and laugh at your car ride. I actually laughed at your comment about Rachel being so happy! Poor Alex.

Joanne, I can't believe that about the dentist! I'd be so angry!

Kim, I'm STILL afraid of the waves at the beach :o - I was never much for swimming in the ocean unless it was the clear, calm, Caribbean :D ! We took the kids to the beach about four times. The first time they both screamed and wouldn't get off the blanket. The second time, they put their feet in and liked it. The last time we went, Brenden refused to go near the water, but liked playing in the sand. Casey liked the water, but then got knocked over by a big wave and that was the end of that. People can't believe we want to move away from the ocean, but we don't go all that much, except for DH's surf fishing.

Sorry to hear of all the sick little ones! Brenden seems to have an ear infection. Happens every time I make an appointment with the ear specialist. He's going back on Thursday for a follow up for his ear tubes. However, he's got some discharge from his one ear. It's the ear that the tube fell out of. The hole was still open. I'm wondering if the hole closed up and he got an infection. I wonder if he'll need another set of tubes now? It's been almost 2 years. The other tube is still in. I have drops from his last infection so I've been using those rather than going to the pediatrician and then to the ear specialist. He says it feels better. No fever, no complaints. I just noticed fluid one day.

Well, I'll get going now. I'm rambling! I'm going to try to load the pictures from our trip. Maybe I can post a couple.