Left Coast Mama » Toddlers

Some Things Aren’t Any Easier the Second Time

Gwen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:21:10 +0000

I am well aware that Quinlan is his own little man and in a lot of ways totally different than his brother. I love that Quinlan share his brother’s sense of curiosity. I am a little less enthused that he shares Aidan’s and let’s face it, mine and Anthony’s, stubbornness and inability to do things on anyone else’s timetable.

His attachement to the soother is another blog post altogether.

With Aidan the big issues were sleep in the beginning, and toilet training. Of course Quinlan came along and there was a regression in any progress we made and I was sure that he would never be trained. One thing that was never a problem, or even a real worry with Aidan was transitioning from the crib to a bed. It happened because we needed to turn the crib into a toddler bed after part or the crib rail broke. He didn’t get out of his bed at all. He went happily to sleep and in the morning he slept late and called for one of us when he wanted to get up. It got to the point that we WANTED him to get out of bed on his own.

Quinlan is being as stubborn about the toilet training as Aidan ever was. I thought in the beginning that he would be a breeze compared to Aidan. Not so, if anything he is more stubborn. Quinlan has a sense of when he goes and he tells us right after or while he is doing his business that he wants a diaper change. He can hold for long periods of time and there are a number of nights when he wakes up dry and then REFUSES to go on the toilet. Anthony had him on the toilet one morning for almost 15 minutes before he let go. I am not sure how to proceed at this point. He doesn’t want big boy underwear and our rental carpets are bad enough without adding a toddler running around naked.

Me Play Drums By Myself!

I am not sure about transitioning Quinlan from the crib to a bed. I think Anthony and I are scared about what may happen, rather than what will happen. Will Quinlan be a monster to put down for a nap or to bed at night? Anthony and I are afraid to try at this point, though we really need to get a move on if we want him in a bed by the time we move, whenever that might actually be. So we are conflicted, do we change the crib to the toddler bed and go for it? Do we keep the crib as an alternative and use the bed under Aidan’s? I have no idea.

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Related: Bed Time, children, milestones, Quinlan, sleep, Toddlers, Toilet Training.

Guilty and Sleep Deprived . . . Again

Gwen — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:08:06 +0000

I sometimes wonder if I have offended the sleep gods/goddesses somehow. I love both my children but the night wakings and early morning wakings are starting to really take their toll.

I envy my husband his ability to go back to sleep in an instant, but I think if we actually had the room he would be sleeping in a different room until the sleep train comes back into our house. Then I might not feel so guilty about having him take the boys from about 5:30 am until he leaves for work. The last couple of nights/days there was no way I was going to be able to cope with the day if I didn’t get that small window of sleep time from 6 to 8.

Last night was a horrible night. I am not sure why, but Quinlan had a bad night and to make matters worse, when I finally got to sleep after the 1:30 ish wake up, I woke with sinus problems folled by a horrific case of insomnia. There is nothing like not being able to get to sleep when you know at least one of your children will be waking soon. I figure I got about around 3 and a half hours sleep all told last night. Let me just say it is not enough.

At least I know I am not the only one who is the walking dead lately.

Whine, Flu and Toilet Training

Gwen — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:49:27 +0000

He has officially entered the whiney stage. Aidan can not ask for anything now without using that whiney voice that drives me nuts. He still usually says “Please Mommy” but it is still a whine. So I am starting to be hard core. He has to ask politely and without the whine before he gets what he wants. Anthony is on board and has decided that we should stop the prompting for pleases. Apparently he was waiting for five minutes after he finished dinner to get out of his chair while Anthony waited for a please. He is still unfailingly polite when he doesn’t want something. If you want him to try something he doesn’t want he says “No Thanks.”

As an aside, when Aidan was so sick with the stomach flu we were really worried about dehydration. If you clicked the link you will remember how bad it was. Well while we were forcing liquids down him and trying to get the medicine down so we could get his temperature down he kept saying, “No thanks, no thanks.” I think the nurses were amused that he was so sick and being so polite about not wanting anything to go in his mouth.

We are still trying to encourage Aidan to toilet train. We use bribes (which he ignores), we talk about going to the bathroom ourselves, we talk about how much more comfortable underwear are than diapers. We have tried stickers, everything. This morning I was talking to him about little boy underwear (he doesn’t want to be a big boy) and he told me he didn’t want underwear. “I just wear diapers. I don’t want underwear.” Sigh, I only have six months before he needs to be at least using the toilet a little bit. I am totally ready to have him finished with diapers. My least favourite parts of the day are changing the dirty diapers. They are making me almost puke with the smell.

Should I go hardcore and put underwear on him every day and try to get him so uncomfortable that he trains? Do I actually buy one of those damn potties? (We use a stool and a toilet insert now.) Do the books help? I need some advice people.

Toddlers, Sigh

Gwen — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:39:11 +0000

Aidan was in a mood today. I signed him up for swimming lessons in a Waterbabies class that finally started today. He loves the water and is quite happy to spend an eternity in the bathtub playing with his toys and pretending to swim. This morning when I told him we were going swimming he burst out “No, Mommy, I don’t like it.” I was really confused because he is always asking to go swimming and I was under the impression that he missed it.

Getting Aidan dressed to go this morning was a hassle. When he finally got dressed getting him into his shoes was also a fight. Getting him into the car-seat was even worse. When we got to the community centre with the pool and turned into the parking lot he got even more vocal. I got him out of the caqr and pulling his Thomas bag along behind him. I started sining the Wheels on the Bus and he finally got excited about the lessons.

Aidan was a little stubborn during the lessons, wanting to do what he wanted, when he wanted. He was also the oldest child there. I know that he is on the cusp of needing the next level of lessons, but I like the time of these. Anyway, he had a good time and then didn’t want to get out of the water. Sigh, I was hoping he would be excited to go swimming and easy to get out of the pool. Wishful thinking I guess.

I think next week will be better because we will be getting back into the routine of lessons. Now I just hope he falls asleep so I can take a nap.

The Cat Came Back, and Back, and Back

Gwen — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:24:59 +0000

A while ago we acquired The Cat Came Back from the NFB animation series. Aidan has probably seen and heard this song/video about 10-20 times in the last three days. Sigh, I am starting to hate it.

If you would like to see what I am talking about click the link. The Cat Came Back.

The New Bunny

Gwen — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:15:11 +0000

Aidan had a complete meltdown this afternoon just like when we first introduced the bunny. It sounded as if we were torturing him. What was it that we did to scare the shit out of him? We put batteries in the Operation game I just got. We can’t even open the box now without him melting down.

I am just glad he didn’t take it out on his nose again.

Who knew butt cheeks could be so strong?

Gwen — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:30:21 +0000

F*&^% Word Press lost my post. I am so tired I don’t think I can rewrite it. At least Anthony is making chocolate chip cookies.

Sigh. Ok I will try.

Aidan has not been feeling the best for over a week now. It isn’t slowing him down any, just making him very irregular and very sore. So sore in fact that he wants nothing to do with anything resembling a diaper change. I have tried to get him to use the toilet instead, avoiding therefore the need to clean up much more of the butt but he is having none of it. That is not to say that he hasn’t been improving on the toilet training scene. He is. He just isn’t regular right now so it is difficult to predict when he might need to go. That being said he has three times over the past four days almost made it to the toilet and almost peed a lot in the toilet. This is a big deal. Now if he would just give me a little bit more notice we would have it in the bag or the toilet so to speak.

Now onto the toddler memory and the butt cheeks. As Aidan is now older his memory is getting better and better. He knows that it will hurt when you clean him up, especially if he wakes up with a dirty diaper that has been there a while. This has lead to a very determined toddler; he will not let you clean him up without a fight. He uses superhuman strength to keep his legs closed. Kinda like the nuns told girls to do in old catholic schools (or so I assume). When I finally pry the legs open he then clenches those butt cheeks like there is no tomorrow. Needless to say you have a hard time getting him clean quickly and getting the cream on is almost as bad. The only helpful thing is that as soon as you start putting the cram on he relaxes and says “the cream feels better.” Now if only he would remember that is he lets go I can get everything cleaned right some quick.

As soon as he is regular again we are going on a toilet training marathon. M&M’s anyone?

Sometimes He Breaks My Heart

Gwen — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:28:54 +0000

I love my son so much even when he does something that he knows he is not supposed to. I know that is a given with most parents, but I thought it might need to be said, at least for myself.

One rule he knows and continues to push is the “We only draw on paper.” (Thank god for washable crayons.) Aidan loves to draw and sometimes he will not wait until we get the paper out for him and he draws on whatever takes his fancy. The TV for example. (Yes we are very happy that we do not have an LCD TV right at the moment.) I did get it all off the TV screen but there still is a bit on the side speaker. This leads me to today.

Now most of the time Aidan will decide to draw and he brings the paper and whatever drawing accessory he want to the coffee table and his little chair. Today was no exception. Aidan told me he was going to use the Alphabet (stencil) and draw on the paper. And he did.

I was trying to put the cover back on the sofa and it was taking too long in this little boy’s estimation. I actually agree that it was taking too long but I had just washed it so it needed to stretch a bit and be smoothed over the couch. I was moving the fabric over the arm and Aidan came by with an open purple marker and drew a half circle on the side of the arm. I looked at him said “No,” very sharply “I just washed it! You know we don’t draw on anything but paper.” Aidan burst into tears and threw himself in my arms. After about 5 minutes of full out crying he says very tearfully “Not bad anymore. Not bad anymore.” This shot me right through the heart because he was so upset. I told him that I wasn’t angry, we just needed to remember that we only draw on paper. He then said, while still crying “Mommy not angry anymore.”

It is so hard to discipline Aidan when he is so volatile and gets upset when you tell him no. I am just so glad that for the most part he is a very well behaved boy. I don’t think my heart could take the strain of breaking so many time a day as I tell him not to do something and he cries like his heart is broken.

Kids and Crusts

Gwen — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:04:16 +0000

Why is it that little kids decide that they don’t like crusts? Aidan used to eat all of his bread but he is now leaving the perimeter of the bread uneaten. It is funny he will leave a perimeter even if I cut off the crusts. I have no idea where this behaviour came from. Toddlers are definitely their own people aren’t they?