Parenting Toddlers

Summertime is here! Over the Memorial Day weekend, Peanut and I stayed at a cabin on a lake near our home (an almost free vacation!). It was too cold to swim, but she had fun dipping her feet in the water and shoveling dirt. Summer is a fun time, and Peanut loves to be outside, so I was trying to think of special things we could do together. If you can’t make it to the beach, you can bring the beach to you with this fun craft. (I found it at about.com, where they have a bunch more fun things you can do with your toddler).

Sand Picture

Material

Remove the glass from the picture frame and clean.
Pick out a favorite picture or drawing.
Lay the piece of frame glass on the top of the picture.
Use a black permanent marker to trace the picture onto the glass.
Have the kids place clear drying glue on the glass where they want the same color. (One colour at a time) For instance, blue - Fill in all the areas of the picture on glass that they want to be blue with glue.
Sprinkle the coloured sand onto the wet glue.
Tap the glass to settle the sand and to loosen any that is not glued down.
Pour off excess sand back into bowl.
Repeat for next color next color until the picture is all filled in.
Allow the glue to dry overnight. Place the picture back into the frame with black marker showing forward. BEAUTIFUL !

This looked fun - I didn’t know you could color sand. I loved this because it is a pretty cheap activity. I’m going to try it with Peanut and I’ll post the results so you can see if it’s something you’d be interested in. Even just playing in the sand is nice, if you have a playground nearby. You can also make your own sandbox at home. My mom is doing this for Peanut. She’s using an old wading pool (perfect if you have one with a leak or something) and filling it with sand. Peanut loves to dig, pile, move, and get dirty. I love little kids because they don’t need beaches or vacations to have fun.

I wrote a while ago about my daugther’s grandparents wanting to take her to Florida for a week in a few months. I think I have decided not to take them up on their offer, although I appreciate it and will definately let her go when she’s older. Anyway, we let Peanut go on an overnight last week to see how she’d be without us. I thought she might need her mommy at some point and was prepared to pick her up in the middle of the night.

Nope. I don’t think she missed me one bit! She usually spends Fridays with her grandmother and aunt (I am VERY lucky!), so they just kept her for the night too. I stopped by at around seven to say goodnight. Now, if I really thought she’d get sad seeing me and then having me leave, I wouldn’t have done that. I knew she’d be ok with it and I missed her! I had to give her a hug and a kiss for the night. Anyway, I went there, and she was just as happy as could be. Running around and having fun. She barely noticed when I left.

I’m glad she was fine with it, really I am. It’s good to know so we can drop her there and not have to worry when we go to the hospital for the new baby. She can just stay with them as long as she needs to. And she can go on littler trips with them and be fine.

That’s great. She’s so secure. That’s what people try to tell me anyway. A little sadness would have been good for my ego - she’s two. She should miss me! She had a great time with her grandparents, slept great all night, and didn’t want to come home the next day. It’s a little sad for me that she’s so independent! I know that’s the goal, and I know it makes my life easier to have an independent kid, but I guess I equate clinginess with love sometimes. Not good! I know she loves us. I feel like I’m trying to convince myself here. It does make me feel good when she gives me a random hug and says, “I need you, Mommy.” She does this when she’s tired or feeling a little lonely. I’m trying to learn how to enjoy these little things before she stops doing them altogether.

For now, I can be assured that she feels secure with her father and me. She’s not afraid to try new things or go to new places, which is something I can learn from her. But she’s not going to Florida. I’m not ready for that yet.

I know why some ancient cultures (and still some today) see a baby and say things like “Oh, that’s such an ugly baby,” to the mother. They do that so the gods won’t take notice of the baby and cause something to happen to it. Whenever I brag about one thing about Peanut, she starts doing the opposite. And vice versa.

I talked about naptime and sleeping and how good she was, and after that, boy, did we have trouble getting her to bed at night. She started freaking out on a regular basis at bedtime right after that. (I swear she can read and does this to irritate me!) On the other hand, I talked about how hard it was to potty train her, and right after that, her new favorite phrase is, “I have to go potty.” She goes and opens the door, turns on the light, and takes off her diaper by herself.

Everything does happen in its own time. She’s ready now. Everything is a stage. As soon as you get done complaining about one thing, it’s over. And a new thing usually pops up to take its place. I still helps to complain and get advice, but it does pass, which is comforting. It also means you’re never done parenting. It’s quite a job, isn’t it??

Happy Mothers’ Day to all the moms out there. I hope you have a great day with your families. My partner has to work on Sunday, so he gave me beautiful flowers and a candle today. My favorite part, though, was when my daughter went outside and came back with a fistful of dandilions, which she calls dandiflowers. She gave them to me and said “Happy Mother’s Day.” It was so cute! She then told her father “Happy Mother’s Day,” but it was still cute! That saved her because she has been being a beast lately! More about that later…I’ve had an attack of laziness for the past few days. I promise I will post something new on Monday. It’s hard to get going sometimes. I’m sure I’m not the only one with that problem! Anyway, Happy Mothers’ Day! See you Monday.

I’m having a dilemma. My little Peanut is not a baby anymore. Today, her grandmother asked if we would think about letting Peanut go with her and Peanut’s grandfather to Disney World…this isn’t next door for us…it’s like 1200 miles away. Anyway, they would be gone for a week. They’d take a three hour flight (yes, it would be her first time on an airplane). They are planning to go in January, so I would have a three month old on my hands too. While it’d be nice to have a little break, I don’t think I could go a week without seeing Peanut.

These are her paternal grandparents, and I trust them with her life. She goes with them every Friday for the day to play and loves it. She LOVES her Grandma. She can’t wait to get out the door when Grandma comes to pick her up (I’ve been told that that means she’s very secure, not that she doesn’t like me!). Anyway, I know she’d have fun experiencing all the new things she’d see. But I’m not so sure she could go a week without me either. My fiance thinks that she’d be fine and it’s just me who would be a wreck.

I think she’d miss me after the first day. Grandma suggested trying overnights at their house first to see how she reacted to me not being there. The only time we’ve ever spent the night apart was when I was in the hospital for a week…she was about three months old, so I’m sure she doesn’t remember. She’d be three when they went to Florida, so I’m sure she’d miss me…right??

So, I’m looking for advice. My first reaction was “NO!! She can’t go. She’s my baby!” Maybe if I refuse, they’ll take me!! Just kidding. But I don’t want to deprive her of experiences that she’s not going to get from me. I hate amusement parks, and we dont’ have the money to fly there for a week. So, what would you do? Would you let your three year old go?