Category Archives: toddler

To the Theater!

I recently saw tickets for Sesame Street Live! on Groupon and decided we should take the kids, knowing it could be hit or miss since the show was on a Friday evening. The kids usually have a busy/fun day at day care, but that can also mean they might be worn out by the time the evening does roll around.

We told Enzo what the plan was, and he was definitely excited. We got there a tad earlier than we needed to, however, so the kids started to get a little squirmy as seats filled up and we tried to keep them occupied with souvenirs while we waited.

I wish I could have captured the look on both of their faces when the show started. All of the sudden the main lights went off and spotlights turned on and there were different colored lights and music. They were in complete awe. I don’t either of them really knew what to think at first.

Overall, the kids had a good time. We had a few moments where there was some crankiness because Enzo wanted to go talk to Elmo and he couldn’t or when they both wanted to wiggle around in front of the seats but there wasn’t enough room (not a lot of leg room in this theater) and they couldn’t see what was happening due to their unfortunate heights.

To me it seemed like intermission came quick and then Enzo wanted to walk around, or rather he wanted to go get one of the big balloons they were selling, so we all got up and went to procure one. He had about 5 minutes to enjoy it before I had to find a way to keep it on the ground and out of the way because the show was starting back up.

The kids were happy to dance for a while, but they were quickly becoming cranky and squirmy and we noticed several other parents leaving early. When Enzo got mad because he couldn’t have his balloon, we decided it was probably time to sneak away as well. We had one more BIG meltdown on the way to the car, but made it to the car and got everyone home and then got two very tired kids to bed. I think next time, we’ll try for a daytime show, but we had to give it a try. Overall, it was a fun time, though and there were a lot of happy kids and parents (we’ll ignore the unfortunate number of really unhappy parents who didn’t want to be there). It was fun watching both kids dance and hop around to the music, especially since Enzo is often really shy about doing so around people he doesn’t know.

I’m looking forward to more experiences like this with the kids as they get older.

14 Months

I just realized that yesterday Phoebe turned 14 months old! You wouldn’t think much could change in a month, but when kids are this little, you’d be surprised. One minute it seemed like she was barely taking steps and then the next day she was walking across a room. She’s still a little unsteady, but my guess is that by this time next month, she’ll be easily walking towards the ocean all by herself.

She is definitely keeping us on our toes lately with all of this walking business, plus her need to pull everything off of tables/bookshelves/etc. within reach. On the plus side, she’s never felt the need to pull my books off the shelves like Enzo used to. One of her latest joys is coloring with crayons, however, it doesn’t last long because we can’t keep her from chewing on them and she just gives you a green/purple/orange grin before attempting to run away so you can’t take the crayon away.

Her personality shines brighter and brighter each day. She’s often a mama’s girl, which on the one hand is kind of nice, but on the other hand can be difficult when I really need her to just hang out with the boys. She’s sassy and stubborn, but also so very sweet. Her brother is still the one to get the most laughs out of her on a daily basis.

I almost forgot how much I loved this age, but it’s really one of the best. She’s trying to communicate so much and is on the verge of saying so many things. Already she’s added new words (even though some only us can probably understand), but her favorite is “Kitty.” She has also reached the age of wanting to help and loves to help empty the dishwasher, or at least pull stuff out and then close the door whether I’m done or not.

She’s exploring the world around her and discovering new things on a daily basis. We can’t get over our little Phoebe, or as Enzo calls her, Phoebe Squishy!

Seriously, though, whoever thought light switches this low were a good idea never had children.

What a difference small changes can make

Our nightly bedtime struggles may actually be over! I can’t even tell you what an exciting prospect that is. Not only will Enzo get more sleep, but that means we can finally have time again for ourselves. Everybody wins!

After last week’s post, we decided that (despite what many parenting websites say) Enzo is done with daytime naps. We weren’t entirely sure because on weekends he’d often say he was ready for his nap and sleep for several hours, but he was definitely not tired in the evening when he needed to be. From around 7:45-9:30 (some nights) we would be going back and forth with him trying to get him to settle down and stay in his room and go to bed. He’d stall and beg each of us to sleep with him and it went on and on. Then he’d be up at 6:00am and he was often cranky and tantrumy. So, this weekend we decided to take a chance and see how it went.

He skipped naps just fine and we noticed no extra crankiness whatsoever as we rolled closer to bedtime. He was asleep by 8:20 Saturday night (though it would have been sooner had we not been trying too new things at once – more on this later in the post) and last night he was asleep before 8:00. It was blissful to have a few hours to ourselves again. This morning he wasn’t too keen on waking up, but he left the house without having a single tantrum. We also learned from day care this morning that he has been the last to fall asleep at nap time every day and only sleeps for about 45 minutes to an hour (which is apparently enough to completely ruin bedtime). They said they’d try and work with us, though, so hopefully they are able to get him to play quietly today and he doesn’t end up falling asleep from sheer boredom like he’s been doing.

The other thing we started is the 1-2-3 Magic method of “discipline.” It was from this book that we decided we’d sit in a chair outside his room to keep him from leaving. He didn’t mind the first time, but this was because he had napped that day and was bored in his room and liked the company of someone right there. The next night he didn’t have a nap and kind of flipped out that one of us would be keeping an eye on him. He threw clothes around and eventually fell asleep in his chair in his room. Sunday night when Josh pulled the chair out again, Enzo started getting mad, so I suggested that Josh close the door so Enzo couldn’t see him in the chair, and sure enough he fell asleep in 5-10 minutes, and in bed no less! (He’s been sleeping on the floor lately).

SillyGames

Anyhoo, the 1-2-3 Magic has to do with counting and showing no emotion and not being overly talkative. It can take a week or two for kids to really start responding, but Enzo already began to respond this weekend. I asked him to do something, he refused, so I simply said, “That’s 1,” and he got down. (When you get to 3, they go on time out). We did have a lot of time-outs this weekend, but I think this method is really going to work.

For anyone out there without kids this is probably horrifically boring, so I apologize, but I want to savor and remember this turning point. 😉

All of the Books

In an effort to read more this year, I thought a Book Challenge could be fun. Granted, I only ready maybe 12-15 books this past year, so 26 is a lofty goal for me. That saddens me on so many levels… pre-children I read ALL THE TIME. On the plus side, both of our kiddos also love to read, so yay!

Anyhoo, I came across the 26 Books in 2015 challenge and thought it would be fun. I might “cheat” a tad to fit in books I was already planning on reading this year, but it’s still a fun idea.

I’m still finishing up the Harry Potter series and had plans to re-read The Hobbit and LOTR series, as well as a handful of other books, so we’ll see how they fit in and what else I’m inspired to read. We’re starting something new with Enzo when it comes to getting him to stay in bed at night, so I should have a little extra time to read for at least a week or two. The idea is that you sit in a chair in their doorway silently and just read. Every time they get up, you put them back and so on. We’ll see how it goes. We’ve discussed the possibility that he may just not need naps anymore, but I have to talk to preschool about that and see if that’s an option.

In the meantime, I just wish he’d be happy sitting in his room happily looking at books in the evening until he fell asleep. That is not the case, though. While I may often find that Phoebe has wandered into her room to look at books, our high energy boy just doesn’t can’t seem to stop wiggling. Hopefully we’ll get it all worked out soon.

Have a wonderful end of the year!

I am officially off for 5 days. Hooray! I’m looking forward to some extra time with my kiddos who have needed some extra Mama time the past few days.

It’s nice, though, after a rough week or so. I think things are slowly mellowing a bit and I’m really keeping an eye on how I handle Enzo and his tantrums. It’s been more about trying to head them off really, and while it can take more time, I’ve already talked him out of a couple of tantrums. I really do think he’s appreciated it too because after it happened is when he started being super Mama needy. This morning his dad brought him in and he was wriggly with the happiness and practically leapt into my arms. Maybe both of them can sense that I’m really trying to work on keeping my anger in check and trying to just be more at ease.

I’m not perfect and got snappy this morning because he was pushing my buttons, but I noticed it, and stopped myself from falling into that back-and-forth with him and he did cooperate. I’m figuring him out, though, so now I just need to show Josh how to do the same and our mornings/evenings should go easier. I know we’re still going to have those moments where nothing will stop a tantrum, but that’s fairly normal for this age. As for why Miss Phoebe has been super clingy… I couldn’t tell you, but I think it might be teething and just this age as well.

One of things we both need to work on is that sometimes I have to be okay with her just crying, and she in turn also has to learn that sometimes she has to wait. She gets rather impatient very quickly and then suddenly she’s got crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks. I, of course, get stressed because my immediate reaction is to stop all the crying. ALL the crying. I always knew this would be hard for me… ever since middle school when we had to take those fake babies home for the weekend and mine was colicky and cried all the time. I was so stressed out because I felt I was failing as a fake mom to my fake baby because I couldn’t make it stop crying. So, yeah, going into real parenthood, I knew that crying babies stressed me out. Boy were we lucky with two calm babies!

All that being said, knowing that Winter is the hardest time of the year for me, I’m doing what I can to be more diligent when it comes to taking care of my mental and physical health. They obviously respond better to me when I can remain calm, so my goal is to continue to be mindful in everything I do. I can’t tell you how good it felt when I was able to talk Enzo out of a tantrum that normally would have led to 10 minutes of screaming and yelling. It only took a minute or two and it actually gained us time by just stopping everything and calmly helping him take a breath and figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. I shall be Whisperer of Toddlers!

Anyhoo, here’s to a wonderful last week of 2014 and a mindful, peaceful 2015!

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures