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@Adira: J will act out sometimes after time outs too. Sometimes I think it's an age thing... I don't think Noelle fully got the concept of time outs until after age 2. J seems to get it, but sometimes even after 2 minutes it doesn't calm him down, and then he actually gets mad at us and gives us the silent treatment! As in, he will look away and refuse to look us in the eye!! It's crazy... they're like teenagers already haaha! Anyway, you're not alone! The 2's are a handful...
And that's so sweet what Xander did!!
@Pumuckl: Glad you guys are all getting better! It was rough the last few days here too. My husband caught the flu last Tue, then the kids caught whatever he had so they both got fevers last Wed, and we kept them home from school Thur and Fri. They still have lingering coughs, and I was going to send them both to school today... but Noelle woke up at 3 am coughing and complained that her ear hurts whenever she coughs.. so now I'm thinking I'll need to take her to the pediatrician to see if she has an ear infection or something. This is our busy season at work too, so it's been exhausting trying to entertain both kids at home while trying to get things done for work. Can't wait to get back to normal around here too.
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@Pumuckl: I'm definitely curious what happens when the rest of you pregnant ladies give birth! Although I hope everyone has a little more luck with their older children than I'm currently having with mine!
Glad to hear everyone is getting better! Stomach bugs and pink eye are no fun!!
@Mrs. High Heels: Thanks!! Sometimes it's just helpful to hear that other's are experiencing similar things. I was hoping the "Terrible Twos" weren't really going to start yet, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised!! Noelle must be four (or almost four) now? How is she now, behavior-wise?
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@Adira: That's great to hear! i'm nervous about handling two, but a lot of moms I know said that the second one was such an easy transition
Ugh with the throwing. I've been doing the Love and Logic thing of "oh bummer. You threw your cup, now I'm taking it away". Mostly she does it when she's done, but damn, that metal sippy cup is heavy! She almost nailed me yesterday. And she just FLINGS cups and her food across the table. Sometimes faster than we can grab her little hands to intervene! Drives me insane.
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@blackbird: Ugh, we're dealing with throwing too! Mostly food, but also his sippy. I'm not sure if he's throwing when he's done or if he's angry or both! It's so frustrating though and such a mess!!
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@blackbird: @Adira: we're dealing with throwing here too! we'll tell him not to do it again, and he'll look us straight in the eye and drop it on the floor! grrr..
@Adira: Noelle is turning 4 in early January! She is so much better now behavior-wise. I'd say after 3.5 has been really enjoyable for us, more highs than lows. The 2's were actually her hardest age, and I thought her 3's were easier though others might say otherwise. I don't mind negotiating and by then we found tactics that worked well with her, but I felt like she was still hard to reason with at 2.
I have no idea what to expect with J since every kid is so different. He is already sooo different than Noelle! They're like total opposites. He had a word explosion in recent months, but I'm hoping that as he starts getting more and more verbal, it'll get easier to communicate with him.
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@Mrs. High Heels: Thanks! It's so helpful to hear from parents of older children about how it's going and what we have to look forward to! I think Xander is just entering that frustrating age, but it's nice to know they grow out of it! I'm curious if the 2s or the 3s will be worse for us with Xander...
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@Adira: sometimes hearing from parents of older kids scare me though bc i've heard stories where the 4's, 5's, and even 6's are hard in their own way! i started a thread once on what the 4's and 5's were like... and the answers were... not pretty.
for the most part, i'm still looking forward to those ages though! i'm just really excited to do more family things with the kids, knowing they'll actually remember them now! like this year, noelle helped us decorate the house and tree, and we're going to bake cookies and write/draw a letter to santa... and she's actually excited by these things. in previous years, she could've cared less.
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@Mrs. High Heels: my niece and nephew are 5 and 7 and seem much more manageable from what I see and hear! I think the fact that they can communicate would help so much
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@Mrs. High Heels: It probably all depends on the kid!! Hopefully the 4+s aren't as bad with Noelle as they are for other people! And that's so fun about her remembering things and being excited to do things!! I'm looking forward to stuff like that!
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@Adira: Awe, those big hugs are the best!
How did today go for you guys?@Mrs. High Heels: Love hearing about the different ages and your experience with each them! How is Noelle feeling today? Did it turn out to be an ear infection?
@blackbird: We went through a sippy cup throwing phase this summer and used the same strategy. It didn't help for a long time but then miraculously, one day, Pete started saying, "all done" and gently passing me his plate and cup. I hope that day comes soon for you!
I know this could be its own thread but I just want to take a minute to vent about daycare gifts. I LOVE our daycare. I love the teachers, and I love the director. We are so happy there. However, the director emailed parents today asking us to contribute $160 next week to give all teachers a Christmas bonus and then another $160 in the spring for a teacher appreciation bonus. That feels like a lot to me! We already pay over 2k each month. Plus, I had already bought the teachers holiday gift cards so now I don't know what to do. I hate to be the one family who doesn't contribute, but it's going to be a genuine strain on our budget this month and I can't return the gift cards.
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@QueensBee: that is a lot!!!! I would just say that you already bought them a little something. R has two teachers and right now 6 kids, so we all gave $100. But that means each teacher gets a $100 gift card for Bday, Christmas, and teacher appreciation. I can't believe they expect that much. Could you use the gift cards for other gifts?
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Sesame Street this weekend was fun and Isaac had a good time. He was so mesmerized by the show. He mostly stared wide eyed and did a tiny bit of dancing in my lap. DH bought him a balloon and he loves that. The show was ust under 1.5 hours which I think was the perfect amount of time.
Then Saturday we had friends stay over and they have a 2 year old girl. The kids had so much fun together. I think Isaac really liked having someone in his house to play with.
@QueensBee: The zoo sounds fun. I can't wait to go again in the spring.
@Adira: I'm glad he's giving you some big hugs. Those are the best.
@Pumuckl: Glad you guys are on the mend. Eating and sleeping are ok. The last two mornings he has woken up between 3-4am and demanded milk. After giving him some he has cuddled with me on the couch and slept for up to 2 hours more. We kind of messed him up by getting him to bed an hour late this weekend with company. Tonight he was so tired and screamed on and off for about an hour.
@Mrs. High Heels: Hope she is feeling better soon. Ear infections are just no fun.
@blackbird: We are lucky that Isaac will only throw his plate or cup if after he says all done you don't take it away.
@QueensBee: That seems like a lot of money. I would just respond that you've already got them something. They should be letting you know more in advance if they expect you to do something like that.
@Smurfette: I like that you guys all got together for a gift. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for daycare.
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@QueensBee: Noelle slept all day. She was running a fever all day. The ped said her left ear is slightly infected, and prescribed amoxicillin. I'll keep her home again tomorrow. Thankfully she's pretty chill or else my work would seriously suffer. It is already, but I guess it could be worse!
About daycare - I think that's asking a lot per family! If you add up all the families that contribute that seems like a lot of money combined! How many teachers will this cover? I would email the director and explain that you already got the teachers gifts. This feels kind of like a last minute announcement! I would not be pleased.
@ALV91711: Aww I'm so glad he enjoyed the show! Sounds like it was a lot of fun and a good experience for all! N is still not doing great and has been running a fever all day. This is her 4th day of fevers, so kinda worried and hoping she'll recover by tomorrow. She's never had an ear infection so this is her first one.
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@Smurfette: @ALV91711: @Mrs. High Heels: Thanks for the tips and letting me vent! I think I'm going to let her know that I've already purchased the gift cards and use them, but that we'll give the cash for the spring bonuses. And then I have some time to save the money. I'm just a little bummed because now I feel guilty giving them the gift cards instead of the cash, even though they are really nice gift cards! Oh well!
@ALV91711: Awwe, I'm so happy he loved the show! It must have been so cute to watch him dance on your lap! Now I want to check and see when the Sesame Street gang will be coming through NYC. Or, there's a Thomas the Train show in January. Maybe we'll try taking Pete to that one.
Sounds like you guys had a great weekend!
@Mrs. High Heels: I hope the fever breaks today! So lucky that she's a chill kid when sick but yes, I can't imagine getting much work done in the house. Good luck!
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@QueensBee: Yesterday definitely went better than Sunday! It probably helps that he was back at daycare so he got lots of his energy out during the day. He did try to hit Hubs a few times in the evening when he wouldn't let Xander play with something, but Hubs distracted him with hugs and that seemed to stop the hitting!
Totally agree with the others! Asking you to contribute that amount of money for a gift seems crazy and expensive! AND last minute!! I already have gifts for my daycare provider too, so I'd be pretty put out if they suddenly asked me to give money.
@ALV91711: So glad to hear the Sesame Street show was a hit!! What a great idea to do that with Isaac!
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@QueensBee: Ah that would be nice! I keep trying to ask her "are you done?" but nothing on her yet. Also $160 is a HUGE amount of money! WTF. I think letting the director know you already have Christmas gifts is appropriate...
E's in an in-home daycare with only one teacher mon-thurs and another on Fri and we aren't gifting that much.... (and i think we gift quite a lot because there is only one person to really buy a nice gift for)
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@QueensBee: @blackbird: @Adira: @Smurfette: I'm jealous you ladies have daycare gifts figured out. I can't decide what to do. Mainly because he just moved rooms, so I figure I should do something for the baby room and the toddler room teachers. I'm thinking a nice big gift basket full of goodies.
@Mrs. High Heels: How is N feeling? Hope she is better.
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@ALV91711: I'm just doing a gift card to Target, nothing special!
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@Adira: How many teachers are you buying for?
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@ALV91711: I haven't decided what we're going to do for our in home daycare. There's one main woman, two part time and next week they will have a sub for the main woman.
Last year we did nothing because LO had only attended two weeks but had to pay for all of December. I thought that was gift enough.
@QueensBee: $160 seems nuts to me. Don't feel bad for doing what you're doing.
LO refused dinner tonight and insisted on cuddling in my lap instead. She only had a fever of 99.1 but she was acting drunk. I'm not looking forward to tonight.
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@Corduroy: Hope your night isn't too bad and that she feels better quickly.
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@ALV91711: Just one! I thought about gifting to the teachers in the infant room too since Xander was in there until September, but that room has seen some turnover since Xander moved to the toddler room, so it's not the same teachers that watched him. So I'm just gifting to his main teacher.
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@Adira: That's not bad to only buy for one.
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@QueensBee: that sounds like a good plan! Did you get a chance to talk to the director yet?
@ALV91711: yes she's feeling better! thanks for asking
we kept her home one more day today, but she'll be back to school tomorrow.@ALV91711: i need to gift for both noelle and jaren's teachers. there are a ton of floater teachers, but they each have two main teachers that i know by name and regularly interact with. i'm gifting those 4 main teachers $30 giftcards to target that I already bought, then smaller giftcards for the floaters... maybe $10 giftcards to starbucks. for the front office staff, i'm doing one of those prepackaged baskets of chocolate that i picked up from costco. i don't even know if this is standard, too little, or too much, but it's the best we can do without leaving anyone out.
@adira: I wish I only had one teacher to buy for!
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@ALV91711: @Mrs. High Heels: Yes, only having to buy for obey is nice! There would've been three I had to buy foe if he was still in the infant room.
Also, I know why I'm up in the middle of the night. Why are you ladies? Hope everyone is getting some sleep!
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@Adira: it's not even midnight yet on the west coast! i need my downtime before bed, so catching up on some tv and browsing hellobee. hope you get some sleep tonight too!
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@Mrs. High Heels: Oh, haha, okay! I went to bed at 9:00 here, so it feels late! Of course it's also after 2:00 in the morning
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@Adira: i'm a total night owl... the only time i've ever been able to sleep before 10 is if i'm sick or pregnant! how's logan doing?
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@Mrs. High Heels: I used to be more of a night owl, but then I had to start getting up at 4:30 for work, so now I go to bed early! Logan is doing well. I'm currently trying to convince him to go back to sleep!
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@Adira: go back to sleep, logan!! (i hope he listens)
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@Mrs. High Heels: I'll tell him you said that!
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@Adira: It was early still for me, not the middle of the night. I usually get on HB before I head to bed. I'm on mountain time.
4:30 wake up today. He quietly called mommy for about 10 min off and on, so I was hoping he would just go back to sleep. He started to get mad so I went in there and he had a poopy diaper. Then he wanted to eat. I'm hoping when he is finished eating he will just lay down with me for a while, but that isn't looking so good.
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@ALV91711: I forget people are in different time zones than me! That sucks about the early wake up.
He needs to get the memo that he should sleep until at least 6:00!
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@ALV91711: the milk before bed isn't helping? Have you tried pushing bedtime back, so he isn't waking up so early?
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@ALV91711: oh no, bummer about the early wakeup
hope he went down for you again.@Mrs. High Heels: hope N will be happy in school today and keeping my fingers crossed the fever will not flare up again.
@Corduroy: how did the night go? Did she sleep for you?
We had another night of more of the same. I went to bed a little before midnight, had just fallen asleep when B woke up at 0:30 am.
I didn't bother to get him back to sleep in his bed this time. I physically cannot and should not sit in his room for hours at night so off to bed with me he went.
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@ALV91711: Oh i wouldn't say i have it figured out yet! I'm thinking gift card and treats but I don't know where to gift them to! I might do an Edible Arrangements, I feel like those are well liked....
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@Corduroy: Hope last night wasn't as bad as you anticipated! How is she feeling today?
@Mrs. High Heels: I haven't emailed back yet. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to say. I'm actually waiting for my mom to come over the babysit tomorrow so she can help me draft the email!
@ALV91711: Oh no, 4:30am is way too early to be up and eating for the day! Were you able to get any more sleep?
@Pumuckl: Pete was in bed with us before midnight last night. Ahhhhh, why can't these babies sleep in their own cribs?!
Sleep has been extra bad this week. Pete falls asleep in his crib without issue around 7pm. On some nights, he sleeps until 2-3am and then cries to come into bed with us. This isn't ideal but it's not terrible either. However, on the other nights, he wakes up when my husband is coming up to bed around 11 or 11:30pm. And then there is no putting him back to sleep in his crib! We tried having him cry it out on Saturday night but he just wailed and wailed for over an hour. He gets SO upset and points to our room from his crib saying, "bed! bed!"
Other than having him co-sleep with us until he grows out of it (which could be a while), I have no idea how to fix the problem. Plus, I get annoyed with my husband for "waking him up" even though I know he does try his best to come upstairs quietly. It's just that our old wooden stairs creak a tiny bit and that manages to wake Pete up, despite having a fan and humidifier on in his room as white noise.
I'm thinking about trying a toddler bed. I'm not sure why that would help but maybe? I am also considering to keep him awake for one night on the weekend. Like, if he can't sleep, he can be awake in his room with us but not come into bed. Of course that sounds miserable for everyone and I'm not sure that will work either. Ack, I am all out of ideas! Help!
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@QueensBee: I think at this point he just expects you to take him to your bed when he wakes up. What if you try and lay down on his floor, that way he can see you. Then you can slowly move further and further away. Or I would just let him cry, no matter how long. He needs to learn that waking up in the middle of the night, doesn't mean it is time to sleep with Mom and Dad. Unless you want to keep it up. Hugs!
Also can you put a white noise machine in the hallway, so he doesn't hear DH going to bed?
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@QueensBee: Your nights sound 100% like our nights. I still haven't figured out what causes early vs. decent timed wakeups. Since I still hate hearing him cry for prolonged amounts of time and he really does sound panicked and cries big crocodile tears so... he comes to bed with us and sleeps peacefully. I do tell him every evening at bedtime though that he's supposed to sleep in his bed
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@Smurfette: Thanks for the hugs! We may try the sleeping on the floor routine this weekend, although I know it will still mean lots and lots of tears. We've created a monster! There's already a lot of white noise in his room, although we leave the door partially open (just a bit!) because that's how he falls asleep best. I'm going to try to click the door shut before my husband comes up to bed tonight.
@Pumuckl: Glad I'm not alone! And yes, haha I give him a pep talk every night too! "Tonight you are going to be a big boy and sleep in YOUR CRIB. The whole night. No crying! Big boy!" Never works! When I google search the problem, most responses are, "Our toddler is like that too! We just let him sleep with us and enjoy it!" I know it's not the worst thing in the whole world but I really wish he could spend a little more time in his own space. We have a queen size bed and it's uncomfortably crowded with toddler plus dog!
for the most part, i'm still looking forward to those ages though! i'm just really excited to do more family things with the kids, knowing they'll actually remember them now! like this year, noelle helped us decorate the house and tree, and we're going to bake cookies and write/draw a letter to santa... and she's actually excited by these things. in previous years, she could've cared less.
How did today go for you guys?
He needs to get the memo that he should sleep until at least 6:00!
I didn't bother to get him back to sleep in his bed this time. I physically cannot and should not sit in his room for hours at night so off to bed with me he went.
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