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[Kids] are the best of times, the worst of times
lonelyahava
Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
Talk about your kids! Talk about parenting!
Lament your parents and in-laws and their TERRIBLE parenting skills, seriously, how did any of us survive?
Bring us your stories of success, your stories of frustration, your stories of gross (but spoiler them if they're too bad. We might be parents, but we're still able to be squeamish).
We've been doing this for a while now, and we're still going strong.
We're here for each other. All of us for all of you. There is no judgement here, nothing you post will be too much. We support you and yours fully.
Love, laughter, tears, frustration, let it all come here. This is your safe space.
Lament your parents and in-laws and their TERRIBLE parenting skills, seriously, how did any of us survive?
Bring us your stories of success, your stories of frustration, your stories of gross (but spoiler them if they're too bad. We might be parents, but we're still able to be squeamish).
We've been doing this for a while now, and we're still going strong.
We're here for each other. All of us for all of you. There is no judgement here, nothing you post will be too much. We support you and yours fully.
Love, laughter, tears, frustration, let it all come here. This is your safe space.
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@mxmarks I don't know the US process, but will the dr's office do blood tests to determine the hormone levels? that might help keep her mind at ease if available and not ridiculously expensive. You guys are in my thoughts and I'm hoping for good news.
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...I wish leisure centers were a thing in the US the way they are in the U.K. In the UK you can typically pay $5 to visit an awesome indoor swimming pool, often with some cool water slides and a kiddy pool. In the US, at least where I’ve lived, you can either pay a lot for a visit to a water park (not really great for plain swimming) or get a gym membership...
Think about how swole the kids would be though.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
our local has a large pool with at least 4 separate lanes for lap swimming, and then 2 larger lanes for fun play. We've also got a big water slide that goes into a deep scuba training pool (that's also used for water polo and I even saw some synchronised swimming practice the other day). Plus a kiddie pool in another area that is much warmer and deep enough for most 3 year olds to be able to stand up. Plus a hot tub, a sauna, a steam room, and family changing rooms. Complete with changing tables! There's a gym upstairs with studio space for classes as well. They have a daycare, and then in the facility around the back is a skating rink.
All run by the council. Kids under 10? are free with a $1 charge for the accompanying parent.
So amazing.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Edit: This is how my neighbor learned to swim, and he's never drowned.
Edit edit: I'm pretty sure he's also never gone swimming since.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
On "my kid" news, he rarely says actual words still, even at two and a half, so when he walked right up to me and said, "hey, dadt . . ." I was all ears and said, "yeah, buddy?". Then he mouthed something with no noise, looked at me with squinted eyes, and walked off. Not exactly helpful, but hey, getting there one day at a time. Hiding his pacifiers from him unless it's sleep time seems to help a bit.
Also funny, he came back about 20 minutes later, I asked him what he needed again, and he placed his forehead on mine. I told him I can't hear what he's thinking, and he made a distressed, disappointed noise, got down, and ran off again. Look, kid, I'm many awesome things, but a telepath isn't one of them.
Huh. Everywhere I've lived around Chicago has had public pools available that you can access for a fairly low per-day fee, or by purchasing a seasonal membership (less expensive if you're a local resident). Quite a few private swim and tennis clubs around the burbs where we live now too, but those are a lot more expensive than the public pools I grew up with.
And then of course plenty of gyms with pools too.
A little afterwards we enrolled him in gold fish swim school
He knew how to “swim” before he could crawl.
(Actually when he started his attempts at crawling he had the most adorable land swimming movements)
I feel like we should have tried to do more of this sort of stuff when Sapling was a little younger (she's still only 22 months old), but we just felt so bad with her constantly spitting up in the car seat that we never really went anywhere.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
But after that he (and both of us) slept for 6 hours.
So tonight we felt confident that we sort of knew what to expect.
But he's decided not to play ball so I'm sat up with him in my arms. My wife needs her sleep and has been getting very upset/stressed due to lack of sleep.
He's having one of those nights where he will only sleep in the arms of one of us so it's best for it to be so my wife can rest.
It's very stressful but it's hard to be too mad at him as he's curt making cute squeaking noises whilst he sleeps and is grinning (farting).
It will get better. And easier.
Swimming in pools from a young age is just so ingrained in my Australian mind. You learn to swim young because it's so hot that you NEED to swim.
In other news my in-laws get home in 2 days from a 2 year round the world cycling trip. They've never met their grandson. They pretty much told us to expect them over every day for a couple weeks.
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
But then she'll also ask for cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber. This child will take a full third of a telegraph cucumber in hand and just sit on the sofa and take giant bites out of it like it's a lollipop.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
We had 2 miscarriages before we had our first kid. it's extremely normal and people should talk about it more. Because nobody ever talks about it it creates a huge stigma around it which is a real big problem for people facing them. Miscarriages, in general, are good. The body has noticed something is not right and is stopping what is going on on purpose.
This doesn't help anybody going through it, it's very hard, but there can be a positive to it and it's worth thinking about.
This is my life now
Oh she is just the sweetest thing, look we're cuddling together and she gave me a kiss and says she lived me and what oh now she's lying to her father saying that I got soap in her eyes and they she didn't like me and I'm the worst well ok then.
Nope. I don't need to be emotionally stable like ever.
Sigh. I love her so much but man sometimes I really don't like her. And my friends with two year old are like, "oh mine did that too" and it's like, oh honey. You don't actually know. There's a whole year there for them to find new ways to make you cry.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
This behaviour implies that he is, however, so watch your thoughts.
Trust me, there's more than a few things he does that make me suspicious at times as to how far he can tell what I'm thinking.
I remember it being a little anxiety inducing that he got all the nutrients he needed, but my wife was so chill about it and the baby ended up just eating what he wanted. If he wasn't interested in what we were having for dinner, there were always easy things we could give him to make sure he didn't go hungry.
Babies are individuals, they have preferences, and if they're not interested in doing it the way the baby books say you should, that's just fine. If they're happy and nourished, it's ok.
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
Baby led weaning has some nice ideas, feel free to go with it, but it shouldn't actually involve any "weaning." As in, milk is still where they should be getting all their nutrients and stuff from, don't lessen the milk just because you're starting solids. I think that shouldn't really even start until... 12 months? I forget exactly.
In general, even from when they're starting all through when they are growing up, I really like (and have heard recommended in various places) the philosophy of "you choose what is in the meal, they chose what specifically and how much they want to eat."
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Don't get your expectations too high, like others here have said. I was super excited to be able to cook and share food experiences with my kids, and they're both Philistines who could just subsist on peanut butter and hot dogs and popsicles, and that's fine I guess (Little Man is slowly slowly coming around and trying new things now that's he's learning to cook)
Meanwhile, now that I've given up hope in anyone else ever ordering with me at the Mexican restaurant, just past thirteen months old Tiny Wonder is emerging as my, maybe? eater. And he hates puured food of all kinds, and the texture of bananas, but he will take scraps from the table like the best, most eager little puppy, and cleans up after my other two to an almost full degree so umm, yay for scavengers?
edit- also, no honey! According to the pediatrician, that's *literally* the only food one year olds aren't allowed (forget why)
We started giving solids at 6 months, skipping purees completely. Started with mushy foods like bananas and then working the way up to more solid foods. Stopped breastfeeding both kids at 15 months.
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Sweet Potatoes were the first big hit with us.
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It's good that he can do this, and I broadly agree with any decisions he may make regarding the cornfield/who ought to reside there.
Our pediatrician said latest AAP guidelines are to introduce whatever you want (mrpaku: yeah except honey and it's because of botulism spores) slowly, one new food every 5 days, and just monitor for reactions. She specifically mentioned peanut butter being a good early food because it is calorically dense, tastes good and there is evidence to support that early introduction will reduce incidents of allergic reactions.
I was planning to do first foods with sweet potatoes (going to boil then whip through the food processor) and probably oatmeal. Definitely going to keep giving her breastmilk and formula though. This is more of a "learn how to eat" thing and hopefully get her to try lots of foods and develop healthy eating habits. I was an awful picky eater as a child and I've broken most of my aversions and will eat most anything but I still hate bananas and cauliflower.
Don't worry, if she's anything like my kids she'll be back to hating it in a couple days
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
Also, honey is a no-no because it can contain Botulinum Toxin.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Feeding my kids, I just did a mix-up of BLW and purees. Had a baby-food steamer/blender that I used a lot for my daughter and not so much for my son to make foods. My youngest son got a lot of baby food from the store due to time constraints. But we also gave our kids bits of food from our plates as they grew up. Got lucky that my kids never were very particular.