Parenting Toddlers

What fun! Today we attended a get together picnic and easter egg hunt with other members of the Greenville Moms Group. Alex met tons of new friends, and had an absolute blast. He didn’t get much out the whole easter egg hunt idea, but I didn’t really expect him to at this age. Next year though, those easter eggs better watch out!!

This go round, Alex was much more interested in eating every rock, stick, and blade of grass he could find at the park. And trust me, there were plenty to go around. I am so mad our camera is broken, because he was absolutely filthy and absolutely adorable at the same time! This was easily the dirtiest he’s been to date, so much so that as soon as we got home we went straight for the bathtub.

Easter, picnic, Easter Egg Hunt

I promised myself I would never watch American Idol. I swore that I would not become part of the addicted masses that forego necesseties like going to the bathroom for the entire hour this show is on. And I did really well for a couple of years before I made my first big mistake. I stopped switching channels for a couple seconds too long. A couple seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours, and occasionally even two or three hours as American Idol is apparently the prime time TV dictator, and can play as many times a week as it wants, for as long as it wants. It’s worse than a presidental address for clogging up tv time.

In any case, I’ve been watching for basically the last two seasons religiously. Last season I watched because Chris Daughtry could straight belt it, and he was simply awesome to watch. I now have his CD, and I STILL think he should have won last year. I think the fact that he has the number one album in America right now only serves to drive my opinion firmly into the “Yes Jennifer, you are right” category. (I love that category. I want to LIVE there I love it so much.) I watched last year because I enjoyed the talent. This year I swear I’m watching just to see how far NO talent can take you. You all know who I’m talking about. Sanjaya Malakar, while probably a very nice and very sweet kid in real life, can still not sing a note. He is proof that Americans love to buck the system, love to root for the underdog, and no matter what, love to screw with corporate bigwigs’ ideas of what should be. And while I have to respect Sanjaya for his blatant defiance of everything sane in the universe with his random scary hairstyles, I don’t have to enjoy listening to him.

I’d much rather listen to Alex bang on the pots and pans and screech in random tones. Even if it’s not being televised by the American Idol TV monopoly, it’s still so much easier on my ears. He howls right along with Diesel. He makes thousands of musical sounding noises that I think are quite possibly full sentences on some alien planet yet to be discovered. He bangs on pots and pans with a wooden spoon, knocks tupperware together, even bangs the coffee table with his hands to get the rhythm going. I’m thinking he’d probably even help Sanjaya with his timing if he asked nice.

American Idol, Sanjaya Malakar, Chris Daughtry

Toddler fevers scare me half to death. As most of you know by now, my son Alex has been struggling these past few months with repeated fevers and ear infections. Over this wonderfully long and tedious cold and flu season, I’ve figured out some simple ways to bring his fever down. Now obviously, I’m not a doctor, and these ideas shouldn’t be taken as medical advice. They are simply what’s worked for Alex along the way. I have confirmed all these suggestions as okay through my pediatrician (and some of them he suggested), but it might not hurt to run them by your doctor as well.

Here’s what worked for us:

1) Light clothing. I have gone all the way down to just letting Alex wear only his diaper before as well, though if the fever is that bad I always cover him with a light blanket to prevent chills.

2) Cool cloth. If Alex will tolerate it, I use a cool washrag on his forehead. His “baby sized” washcloths work well for this. The key is not to make it cold, you don’t want to give your already upset and uncomfortable toddler a headache on top of everything else.

3) This one actually should be number one. Once you notice your toddler is running a fever, and especially if it seems to be affecting their normal playing and eating habits, give them a dose of Tylenol. Make sure to follow dosage instructions on the medication itself, and if your toddler is younger than the instructions offer, put in a call to your doctor’s office. Any nurse at your pediatrician’s office can give you quick dosage instructions over the phone.

4) To keep down a particularly high fever, alternate between giving Tylenol and Children’s Motrin. Switching between the two allows you to give a dose every three hours rather than every four. Be aware however, that your toddler may react differently to different medications. The Tylenol may knock them out, and the Motrin might jazz them up. Or vice versa. Just watch your toddler and go with what works.

5) To quickly bring down an already raging toddler fever, we give Alex a bath. We make sure the water is leukwarm, (close to room temperature without being cold) and give Alex a quick rubdown. I avoid washing his head or hair though, as it could aggravate a cold or ear infection, and I make sure to dry him off quickly afterwards.

6) As a general rule, I contact my pediatrician anytime Alex has a fever of 101 or above. I don’t automatically schedule an appointment, but I let the nurses know, so they can notate Alex’s file. That way if an appointment does become necessary, or if his fever rises despite my best efforts, his doctor already knows something is going on.

Now again, I AM NOT A DOCTOR. I have no medical training whatsoever. So please don’t use any of these ideas UNLESS you have checked with your doctor or pediatric nurse beforehand. In any situation, if your little one has a fever of 104 or above, they need to see as doctor as soon as possible. Anything higher could cause febrile seizures, and though I’ve never actually seen these, I’m fairly certain they aren’t something any of us wants to have to experience.

I hope these few tips can help the next time your toddler has a fever, and until then, we’re wishing you a long, and HEALTHY spring!

toddler fevers, pediatrician, kids health

I’m going to have to put the dog in rehab. I’m afraid he really does have an addiction problem, and I simply don’t know how to help him at this point. Every time he sees it he just can’t resist. It’s like kryptonite. What is it? Diaper Cream. More specifically, Aquaphor. To date he has chewed up/eaten one big tub, and two medium size tubes of the stuff. It’s a wonder he hasn’t somehow greased his intestines to the point that the end result would shoot out of his rear like some sort of pitching machine. But so far, knock on wood, no projectile … well, you know.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the animal dynamic in our house, let me explain how things work. First, there’s Miss Abby the lab. I call her Miss Abby because at her age, she’s entitled to a little respect. She’s sweet, laid back, gentle, and all around the best dog ever. Abby is very accepting of Alex, and very good about simpy leaving the room if he’s getting too pushy or excited for her. In fact, her only bad habit is a desperate desire to nap right on top of Nick’s pillow during the day.

Then there’s Pandora, the regal, stubborn, and occasionally obnoxious cat. Pandora is a one of a kind in that she has actually become something of a “guard cat” since we got her as a kitten. She adores my husband, mothers me (she tries to clean my hair on a regular basis), and is very lenient with Alex. That’s where her good nature ends though. She actually growls at strange people who come too close, ie, within a five foot circumference of wherever she might be laying at the time.

And last, and certainly pulling up the hind end in the brains category, is Diesel the Great Dane. He’s the addict. He sheds like crazy, lays around everywhere, and begs for food like he’s starving in some third world country. For all his faults though, he absolutely adores Alex. He lets Alex climb all over him, poke him in the eye (I’ve actually seen this, though we obviously try to prevent it), and swat him affectionately with random toys. He is also supremely protective of my son. He shoulders up on any stranger who might be holding or playing with Alex, just to keep an eye on things. He puts his big frame in between us if we’re playing with Alex and he thinks Alex might need a break (ie, whenever Alex screeches, Diesel leaps to attention). In fact, when Alex was tiny and had to be in the hospital, Diesel took up patrolling the entire perimeter of the house from the inside, always ending by Alex’s crib where he would stick his big head over the rails and try to find his little buddy.

So you can see my quandry. Though I have absolutely no idea what could be so irresistable about a tub of Aquaphor (which to me looks and smells just like Vaseline), this is a problem which we are going to have to handle regardless. Looks like it’s time for an intervention. Anyone know a good 28 day program for Danes?

Not to gloat but ….

I WON, I WON, I WON, I WON, I WON!! *Doing the happy dance around the living room*. I am so excited because I actually won a Guest Blogger Contest over at Pinks & Blues Blog. The topic for this contest was What Makes You Lucky, and since you come here because you obviously LOOOVE my ever sarcastic wit, hop on over to Pinks & Blues Blog and check it out!! Plus you can find out more about their ongoing Guest Blogger contests and maybe win one yourself!! Did I mention that I get a Gap gift certificate in addition to the added “net exposure” for winning? The certificate will come in very handy, as Alex’s skinny little butt is in desperate need of some of the Gap’s neat adjustable pants for little ones (they button inside the waistband to fit skinnier guys and gals like Alex), and I just HAPPEN to have a Gap in my local mall, how convenient is that?

Also wanted to share this adorable picture with you of Alex’s friend Eli enjoying the beach a few weekends ago. Man how I wish I was there this week!!

Pinks & Blues Blog, guest blogging, The Gap

First and foremost, we need to send a GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY out to Alex’s Grams!! Happy Birthday Grams!

NIGHT WAKING

Last night, we were awake multiple times. Alex is still taking antibiotics, so I’m concerned that he’s got some residual ear pain from his ear infection that might be disrupting his sleep. He’s no longer running a fever, thank goodness, but the night waking continues. The strange thing is, most of the time I actually wonder if he’s awake or not! His eyes are still closed, but he cries incessantly until Nick or I pick him up and rock him. The rocking only takes five minutes or so, and he’s calmed back down and then can be laid back down in his crib. The frustrating part in all this is making sure that we’re not starting and/or reinforcing a bad habit. So you know me. I went looking for answers. When it comes to Alex’s welfare, I’m like badger in rooting out what information I need.

What I found suprised me. Toddlers, up until the age of 2, still need about 14 hours of sleep A DAY!! That means about 11 hours of sleep a night, and one or two naps that total about three hours. Toddlers over two still need at least 12 hours of sleep a day. You can read the rest of this really interesting info at Babycenter’s Toddler Sleep Center. I highly suggest checking out, if even just for informative purposes.

I also found out that if your toddler wakes up recurrently at night, it MAY be because they aren’t getting enough sleep during the day. Being overtired, or, over time, sleep deprivation, can actually make it harder for toddlers to sleep soundly through the night. This fact blew my mind. I always thought, if we’ve had a busy day, played hard, then Alex will sleep like a rock, but not so. I also discovered this VERY interesting tidbit over on Dr. Greene’s site: “ADD is an important problem in its own right, but research in sleep laboratories has shown that some (and perhaps a great many) kids are mislabeled with ADD when the real problem is chronic, partial sleep deprivation.” You can find out even more about the correlation between sleep deprivation and ADD at www.drgreene.com

In all these travels throughout the information superhighway, I have discovered something very important. Alex, though asserting his independence right now and occasionally fighting his naptimes, needs consistency. He needs his Mom to be reliable in putting him down for his naps every day. He needs Mom to be strong enough to let him fuss for a bit if that’s what it takes before he learns that naptime is not something to fear or to fight. He also needs his Mom and Dad to be very, VERY predictable when it comes to bedtime. We always counted ourselves lucky because Alex has always been one to simply lay down when it was time to go to bed. We established his routine early, and it has worked wonders. Until now. Until he discovered that he is his own person, and that he wants to push the limits on certain things and learn where his boundaries are. It’s up to Mommy and Daddy to help him learn that naptimes and bedtimes are unbendable rules.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s only 10 am, but Alex is already sound asleep for his first nap of the day, and I think I’ll follow his example.

toddler sleep habits, night waking, Dr. Greene, toddler illness

The Sunday Sixteen. Sixteen new and interesting things Alex has done this week, things I have learned this week, or fun filled facts involving whatever might be going on in our little corner of the world.

Diesel, get OFF my blanket!!

Sunday Sixteen

1) Alex has ANOTHER ear infection. At one point his temperature got up to 103.9. I’ll be posting on all the ways to bring a toddler’s fever down shortly. Trust me, at this point, I’ve tried them ALL.

2) Alex was kind enough to give Mommy his ear infection too. Even the same ear. At least he likes to share things.

3) It was 90 degrees in Greenville today! Thank you warm weather, I love you! Time to break out the sunscreen for the little man though.

4) We are however, finally healthy enough to start going back to playdates. Alex LOVES playdates, and Mommy is always a fan of getting to chat with other moms.

5) Alex seems to be entering a separation anxiety/fearful phase. He’s suddenly afraid of things like the changing table at a restaurant, and strangers laughing. He is also starting to throw fits whenever Mommy leaves the room, and often tries to climb away from friends and family members who might be holding him to get back to Mommy.

6) Next week Alex and I will be shopping for a kiddie pool. We’ll keep you updated on which one we choose and why we choose it.
We’ll also add in some great ’safe fun in the sun’ tips for parents everywhere.

7) Irritating comments. Alex and I got plenty of irritating comments this week. Most of them the obvious “What a pretty little girl!” and my favorite from a lady at the grocery store “Where are his shoes?” (never mind that it was 80 outside and Alex had taken them off gleefully in the car. The point was, I really wanted to say “Nunya d*mn business, this is my child, not yours!). Needless to say, ignorant comments pluck my nerves.

The house is not clean. It’s clean in the hygenic way of clean bathrooms, clean laundry, but the rest leaves much to be desired. And though I will attempt to clean things up this week, I make no promises.

9) Easter egg hunt and picnic next weekend for my mom’s group. Should be tons of fun and a blast for the kids!

10) The screeching continues, especially when Alex gets frustrated and wants something he cannot have. This is getting especially bad sometimes at restaurants, but I think that is partly my fault. We haven’t been as good lately about making sure Alex has eaten before we go out to lunch or dinner. I need to make a point to plan ahead for these types of things.

11) We have a zoo day planned for Wednesday this week, another meetup with other kids and moms in the area. If you have the chance, I highly recommend tracking down a mom’s group in your area so you can enjoy these types of activities with your little one. I can’t wait to see how much Alex understands at the zoo (ie, monkey, lion, etc).

12) Talking, talking, talking. Alex is making more random sounds, all of which sound like something, I’m just not sure what. I fully expect him to start talking in full sentences any day!

13) Favorite foods this week: Avacado (thanks for the tip Katie!), egg noodles, any kind of chicken, scrambled eggs with sour cream for extra calories (thanks again to Katie on this one!) as we are still a skinny little man and our pediatrician says give him anything fattening he wants (within reason of course).

14) Made Alex’s 15 month doctor’s appointment for April 10th. Super excited as, if all goes well, Alex will go OFF ALL MEDICINES(asthma and allergy) at this time as they haven’t been needed in quite a while.

15) Mommy (and Daddy!) have already started praying that things will stay good after we go off meds so we don’t have to turn around and start them again.

16) Alex is a water fanatic. He’s always drank water well, but now is even starting to choose the water over milk when presented with the choice. It’s now becoming more of a task to make sure he gets his daily milk intake like he should.

That’s our 16 in a nutshell. What are yours?

Typical morning in the Remeta house:

“Good Morning Sunshine! Did you sleep good?”

“Da..ga.. bweea.” (which means “I was a little restless early on, but I dropped off pretty good after midnight.”)

“How are we feeling this morning?”

“A bwa. Goo loo, hey yay.” (which means “Actually, I could seriously use a clean diaper, think you could help a guy out Mom?”)

After a good change, lots of giggles and a couple good morning snuggles, we make our way into the kitchen.

“Let’s have some breakfast! Do we want eggs this morning or oatmeal?”

“Hee ma ma. Geya. La ya .. kee cat!” (which means “Sweet! I’m starved! Either is fine, as I can smear both on my head when you turn around. Love some apple juice too though …. hey cool, there’s the kitty cat!”) This last bit of course is accompanied with pointing, laughing, and a great increase in volume.

“Okay, eggs it is. How about some banana while you wait?”

“Yayayaya!” (which means, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, bring on the bananas already!”)

A few minutes later:

“Alex don’t feed the bananas to the dog.”

To which I get the “O” face from Alex, which means. “Who me? I would never do such a thing! The very idea!”, and the sheepish face from the dog which means “Can I have another one, PLEASE?”

These are the mornings that bring a smile to my face, even when I have to clean up mashed banana from two seperately sheepish faces. So good morning to all you families out there, and have a wonderful day!

Oh, and Alex wanted me to tell you, “Itdwaa, deeyaa! Buwuu, teeyou a foo!”

toddler talk, speech, language

So Alicia over at Parenting Sites 411 tagged me for this nifty blogroll idea, and after I woke up from my medically enduced haze (that’s cold medicine induced, nothing else), which is currently made necessary by the fact that I cannot, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, fall asleep without coughing and hacking for at least two hours every night. Anyway, after staring mutely at the screen for about an hour, I think I finally figured out how to keep this going! And don’t worry, it shouldn’t be hard at all for anyone who’s had a solid night’s sleep in the past week or so! So check out the great sites below, and tell them Parenting Toddlers sent ya!

Alex and I just love these sites!

Here are the rules:

1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content string. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra linkback.
2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.
3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the “Originals� list.
4. Add up to 5 new parenting or (Mommy/Daddy) blogs to the list in the “My Adds� section.

My add ons:
A Work of Art: Raising Our Exceptional Son
Ever After … My Way
Adventures In The 100 Acre Wood
An Island Life
Adoption and Fire

The originals:

Lala Girl
The Bookworm Broadcast
Parenting Sites 411

Cass Knits
Geni Desu Yo

No Average Mom
Notes From The Trenches
Busy Mom.net

Groovy Mom
Coffee Time
My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings
Toil

My Single Mom Life
Tips From The Money Goddess
Army Mom: New Jersey

Melissa’s Place

Three Sons and a Princess
Moot Thoughts and Musings
A family runs through it
Uglyhead
Parenting Toddlers

I need tips from you other toddler parents out there. Alex isn’t walking yet. Well, actually, according to his pediatrician, he’s “walking just fine, he just hasn’t remembered to let go yet.” Meaning he’ll walk anywhere as long as he has someone or something to hold on to. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve never really been concerned about the “regular” milestones that most people are obsessed with. I’m a firm believer that Alex will develop at the pace he’s supposed to, and though I certainly do things to help him out (including playing, climbing at the park, reading, naming things, etc.), I am not the type that is going to push him into doing anything. His walking is no different. I don’t want to push him into it, because I honestly don’t need to, he’s already doing it. He uses push toys and goes all around the living room. I just need some ideas on how to get him so interested in something that he just forgets he must be holding on to a toy or a table.

Once he does, I think he’ll realize “hey, this walking thing is no big deal!”

I hereby banish ye, Sir Cold and Flu Season, from these parts for all eternity. Or at least until next year.

There is nothing I love more than warm weather (with the possible exception of my husband and my son, but you already knew that). On that same path, there is nothing I HATE more (and by hate I mean despise with every ounce of my mind and soul, hate with the fire of a thousand hells, aka, I really, REALLY don’t like) than a flash of warm weather followed by cold weather again, followed by warm weather, and so on. Now I’m not sure if Mother Nature is suffering from PMS during all this, (or possibly menopause, thus the hot flashes) but if so I’m all for buying her some of that new PMDD medicine that has every husband out there convinced that their wife will suddenly turn into a perfect little angel at least once a month. All these changes in weather tend to make me sick. And I mean that literally. Right now everything hurts. It even hurts to type, but luckily, I am dedicated to all you wonderful people who stop by and read my blog, so I’m fighting valiantly through the pain (And Sir Tylenol of Ye Olde Medicine Cabinet is helping).

This past weekend was a blast, we went to Myrtle Beach and spent time with Grams and Poppy, and some other family friends that we hadn’t seen in quite a while. We went to the St. Patrick’s Day festival on Main Street, and laughed ourselves silly talking about old times. Alex got tons of attention, which of course, he completely expected, and he even had his very first shag lesson with his Grams (Which basically consisted of him stomping his feet gleefully while every woman in the entire place applauded raucously). We did not have nearly so much fun on the way back, when Alex decided halfway through the trip that he was sick and tired of being in the car seat, and it was time that we heard about it. In helping us to understand, he was also kind enough to offer this opinion at the top of his lungs.

It is these little episodes that convince me how much of a toddler my son really is. He is becoming such a little individual, it’s absolutely amazing. Luckily, every so often he still just wants to be a little cuddle monster and comes to me for assistance.

For those of you who have a cat at home, AND an inquisitive toddler, I have a solution for you. After struggling with a dog who’s sole reason for living was to manuever a way to get into the cat box, my husband and I finally found something that works. We bought a large rubbermaid container (which you can get in Wal-Mart pretty much everywhere). We then took a litterbox from the cat section with us to make sure it would fit once we got it home. Once at home, my husband cut a doorway into the side of the container and smoothed the edges with a dremel tool. If you don’t have a dremel, a high grade sandpaper should also work. Once the doorway was big enough for our cat, and smoothed down, we put the uncovered litter pan inside the container, up against the opposite end. Then added the cover (for privacy of course), and just laid a piece of fabric over the whole thing that matched the colors of the room. We placed the container long ways against a wall, with the doorway facing the adjoining wall. We left enough room for the cat to get around and into the container, but not enough room for Alex, or our dog to get back there. It works out great, especially since Alex doesn’t even realize it’s there, and the dog can’t gain access.

Hope this helps all you cat lovers out there!

Since we are apparently simply cruising through a slight cold will none of the usually severe effects, Alex and began thinking about what we’ll be doing on St. Patrick’s Day this morning. Alex voted for drinking green beer, but I think I finally convinced him that that’s not such a good idea just yet. I don’t want to go to jail, and he doesn’t really want to end up in a foster home, so we agreed to pass on that thought for about twenty more years. Instead, we came up the following neat ideas to try out this coming Saturday:

1) Let your toddler pick out green clothes to wear. Doesn’t matter if you end up with dark green pajama bottoms and a lime green button down shirt. The idea is to work on color recognition and have fun while you’re doing it. (If you do plan on going out in public though, mom or dad might want to offer some advice in this area).

2) Add green food coloring to milk or cereal in the morning. Just remember, what goes in green may very well come out the same way later, so don’t call your pediatrician in a panic.

3) Go looking for four leaf clovers in a nearby field or your closest park.

4) Make green popsicles using green kool-aid for playtime fun.

5) Help your toddler pick out all their green toys to play with today.

6) Eat green veggies with lunch and dinner today. This may be the only day you can get your little one to eat them this month!

and last but not least,

7) Hide a “pot of gold” (any pot will do, though if you’re really crafty you might want to cover it with with gold foil wrapping paper the night before) somewhere in your house. Your pot of gold can be filled with any treats you like, be it candy, new toys, or even a “get out of bath free” card!

Have fun with these ideas, and throw some of your own in there as well. Make St. Patrick’s Day a fun, AND LEARNING experience for your little one!!

St. Patrick’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day, toddler activities

Well, we’re sick again. We only have a slight fever this time, much better than the temperatures of 103 from previous sicknesses, but still not fun. I’m beyond tired of this. I hate this for him. I’m tired of talking myself blue to various pediatricians and doctors about something not being right. He was NEVER sick until we moved here. NEVER. I realize he’s a toddler now, and more susceptible to things, picking up more germs, etc. But he’s been sick once a month for the past five months like clockwork. And regardless of what the pediatricians decide is causing the problem, it always starts the same way. Runny nose, then fever, followed by a lovely visit to the doctor, and occasionally a visit to the hospital. Why can’t anyone figure out what is going on? Sorry for the frustration guys, but it’s so thick around here I could grab it and chew on it.

toddler health, sickness, hospitilization

As far as naptime scheduling, I suddenly find myself at an impasse. That’s not to say Alex is fighting his naptime, on the contrary, as long as I get him quieted down about five or ten minutes before putting him in his crib, he’s great about naptime. He also sleeps for at LEAST two hours at a time, for which I am eternally and EXTREMELY grateful.

Our problem is, we are trying to determine (and by we I really mean Alex is trying, and will apparently let me know when he decides) if he still needs two naps a day, or if he should drop down to just one. So for right now, we are playing naptime by ear. We’ve kept our morning nap, and usually move it back a half hour or more to see how we do. We take our morning nap (and again, by WE nap I mean Alex naps and I get to do laundry, oh joy!), and late in the afternoon we see if the eye rubbing begins. If it does, we take another nap. If it doesn’t we skim through and try keep busy. We also usually go for a walk using the stroller and occasional catnaps have been known to take place. The neighbors are starting to complain though, when they find me sleeping on the sidewalk.