Well, just for giggles, at dinner tonight I gave my twins a bit of spaghetti I found in the fridge along with their mixed vegetables. Since I’d broken it up with the fork I went ahead and fed it to them - my daughter loved it! Tomorrow I’ll shop for some self-feedable items.
Now I have a new dilemma - Baby on Baby Violence! My son loves to ::pause to intercept baby:: crawl up behind my daughter ::pause to intercept baby:: and grab her by the hair, pulling her over backwards! Earlier today, while I was locating socks & shoes for our outing, I returned to find him seated on her back, with her hair in his hands, shoving her face into the carpet! He’s much stronger and more mobile than she is. My sister the psychologist insists that a stern “No!”, separation and diversion is the only way to go; my Mom’s in favor of brief timeouts for him. So far he just laughs when I “No!” him. Any other opinions?
fessie, I’ve never encountered exactly this kind of situation, but here’s a tip that I’ve read in some magazines that might help: when the boy does this, don’t say anything to him at all, just remove him from his sister. Then, pick up your girl, love her, hug her, soothe her, fuss over her. This way, she’s getting positive attention, and he’s not getting any attention at all. Might be worth a try.
I agree with norinew’s idea, or some version thereof. Just saying ‘no’ is not going to do it; I think you should remove him from the fun and make sure that he sees he is missing out on something. Eventually he’ll see that it isn’t getting him anything but grief.
We’re still coldy and hanging out at home. I went and did errands after the kids were in bed last night, and was amazed at how fast I got it all done! I don’t really like running errands at night though, since that’s my only time to relax with DangerDad. There was a lightning storm at the same time; quite spectacular.
This was the last year that Laura would be able to dress Sophie in a costume of Mommies choice, with no input from Sophie. So the child went as Athena. As in the Greek Goddess. Pictures here
Again, in violation of That Which We Knew When We Were Younger And Smarter (i.e., our childless 20’s), we didn’t haul Sophie through the neighborhood, rather taking her to the mall. And, as an added bonus, she went with her best friend Maeve (pronounced “Mayve”), the 3 year-old daughter of an Irish couple a few doors down.
A good time was had by all. I asked Sandra (Maeve’s mother) if they do this in Ireland… actually, what I asked was
She laughed so hard she had to sit down. And yes, they do trick-or-treating in Ireland, in case y’all wondered.
I was very much looking forward to seeing a photo or two, but only got a page that said I’m not registered, so I can’t go there. Can you put the pictures somewhere else, by any chance? That’d be great!
Recently, in Casa de New, the following soap opera is taking place: Amanda (our oldest) is once again hospitalized for suicidal ideations (don’t worry, she’s not serious about it; trust me on this. She’s hospitalized because everyone’s afraid that she’ll try something one of these days that will turn out to be more dangerous than she anticipated, and she’ll accidentally really hurt herself).
Arielle, the 13-year-old, is always complaining that grown me flirt with her. It’s no wornder they flirt; surely they don’t know she’s 13! She’s 5’6" for Og’s sake! Mariah has been displaying great wisdom. For one thing, she frequently tells me these days that I’m “the best mommy in the whole world”; also, about a week ago, when I mentioned to my husband that I was pissed off at Amanda, Mariah said “Don’t worry Mommy; that happens with Amanda sometimes; just take a deep breat in (she demonstrates) and a deep breath out (more demonstration) and that’s how you will not be so mad at Amanda”.
Well, there’s lots going on here, but Mariah needs to get dressed for Pre-K now, so I’d best run!
That’s bizarre. I started a thread in the “Community” forum at Apolyton… I’ve never heard of this before.
It’s our first digital camera (a Kodak) and I’m pretty sure that they give some webspace for their camera users… I’ll check it out and upload them tonight.
We’re in Reno! (If I were home, I’d post my own Halloween pictures; both girls were butterflies). We took the train out here to visit some friends and have an adventure. Sadly, their kids have come down with serious colds and are running fevers, but we’re managing to have a good time anyway. Going home on the train tomorrow. Boy, a train is the way to go with a 4-yo kid; relaxing and exciting.
Just found this thread and have spent the last hour reading with much interest! This is possibly the most entertaining and informative baby/toddler/child related thread I have read to date. I frequent a number of parenting message boards but usually end up put off by the bickering and silly drama and end up leaving.
I’m Jen, 33, married to Drew and we are proud parents to Amanda Marie, 17 months old and the light of our lives.
Would you good folks be interested in starting a message board of our own to discuss the wonderful world of parenting. I can’t think of a better group of like minded folks that I’d like to get to know more.
You’re so right about other parenting boards - there’s some good information, but an awful lot of junk & ignorance & just plain annoying stuff. I’d much rather discuss my dilemmas with Dopers!
The only problem with starting a new board is there’d be no way to include everyone from here. It seems like about 40% of Dopers are also parents or have really interesting things to contribute on parenting issues. Lilly started the most fascinating thread on gender issues in Halloween costumes & some of the best contributions (IMHO) came from a non-parent. A few months ago I started a thread on PPD & the responses were phenomenal. There’s a Pit thread right now about feeding kids chocolate & it’s turned into a really good discussion of nutrition
I wish there was a way to “red-flag” parenting threads so they’d be easier to find, no matter what forum they’re in. Maybe we could start a linky-link thread to help each other find stuff & stay connected?
Geez, why did I not REMEMBER about this thread?? Thanks for the linking thread, Fessie.
I am also taking a car trip from SC to FL with my nine month old next week and have been worried about the car trip. And I also am being a weenie about self-feeding -so far only cheerios. And here both issues are being discussed right now. Man, I love the SDMB.
I Will bring plenty of cheerios on the car trip as well as some new toys. For those of you who’ve done this, did you sit in the back seat with the baby or stay in the front seat or both? I don’t know why I’m so worried about this. Any other tips or stories?
And about the self-feeding - I will try again, but right now the whole feeding thing just confuses the heck out of me. Mr. Cricket is a very picky eater so I don’t cook so much and for me, sometimes I eat odd things - artichokes or popcorn for dinner (and nothing else), roasted veggies - I don’t usually cook your stereotypical meal, so that makes it harder to figure out what to give the little one. I know I gotta stop with the jarred baby food. I’m afraid she’ll get too used to the blandness and not want to try other things. Plus, Mr. Cricket is quitting his job to finish his dissertation and we won’t be able to afford lots of jars - I just bought a food processor so I can make stuff. So now, whenever I do actually cook a real meal, I can mush some up for her (just made a chicken, pasta and vegetable dish last night that I am going to process and give her tonight).
Love the halloween pics.! We got confused about which night was trick-or-treat night in our neighborhood and got it wrong. But we did put her in a hand-me-down pumpkin outfit from Target and she looked very cute - but she wasn’t happy that that the hood kept falling down into her eyes!
Good idea. I miss a lot of those threads too, and often see them after they’re too big for me to say anything. I don’t know how to start a message board either (maybe we should ask for a new forum about family stuff and personal relationships?).
What is everyone having for dinner? I must say I’m stumped today.
I don’t really like running errands at night though, since that’s my only time to relax with DangerDad. There was a lightning storm at the same time; quite spectacular.