Thanks for the input! We have thought about switching her to a toddler or twin bed--she's in a mini crib and has almost outgrown it. It would be soo nice to lie down next to her for bed, and then go back to our own bed when she was asleep...but she moves around so much in her sleep, it's hard for me to imagine her NOT climbing or falling out of a bigger bed. Something to think about, though.
Minkajane, I love Abby's spider costume! So cute! Wyatt only has a few made up words, but he likes to use them frequently. His favorite is pah for animal.
So neat that everyone is talking! How many words do you think your LOs know? I'm always surprised when I look at milestone charts and see that it's normal to know just a few.
Hi everyone!
I'm so glad this thread is revived.Yes, that spider costume is super cute! E was Prince Valiant, mostly because I cut her bangs really short by accident and so now she has a little medieval boy haircut. I just painted a pillowcase smock and made her a cardboard sword.
I am so relieved to report that the sleep craziness of the last few weeks seems to be passing. She celebrated election night by sleeping through, and then the last two nights have been good as well. Every time sleep gets messed up I freak out and worry I'll never be rested again, but then she always goes back to more peaceful nights.
She has tons of words, but we don't understand a lot of them. She is obsessed with shoes ("shuss") and socks ("cock") and her jacket, which she associates with going on walks--she goes up to the door and points outside and says "dacket! dacket!" and carries it around like a lovey. She is just starting to put two words together on a regular basis. "Bye bye Daddy!" and "More please" are some recent ones. Her daycare provider says that yesterday she said "Eliza's shoes" ("Yiza shuss"). Exciting times.
What games/activities are your babies into lately? Eliza really likes coloring. We have a giant pad of paper that she can lie down on and color. It's funny--she's very territorial. If I start drawing something, she pushes me away and says "no no" and starts coloring ON my drawing.
Anyone seeing signs of handedness? I know it's supposed to be early, but my husband and I--both lefties--are somewhat dismayed to realize Eliza is showing a very strong inclination toward right dominance. She eats and draws exclusively with her right hand.
I forget which baby is into "helping play"--was that Wyatt? But Eliza is starting to be into that, too. She really likes imitating grownup behavior. She will often only eat with a fork or spoon, no longer with her hands, and likes putting toys away.
Exciting times.
Anyone seeing signs of handedness? I know it's supposed to be early, but my husband and I--both lefties--are somewhat dismayed to realize Eliza is showing a very strong inclination toward right dominance. She eats and draws exclusively with her right hand.
Now don't go hating on righties 
My husband is a leftie, I am a rightie. Abbey is a rightie but my 5 year old is a leftie. I could always tell my children's handness really early. Abbey loves to write and she asks for a pen and paper all the time. She also loves books.
Is anybody doing anything with a potty? We have one in the bathroom and Abbey uses it for both pee and poo but it's not consistent. Some days she uses it all day and some days not at all. We aren't really training, we just have it out as an option at this point.
We still cosleep but she is completely weaned from the breast. I would like to get her into her own bed but she snuggles all night so I wonder if she would wake up more frequently if she were alone.
I am playing around with the idea of TTC come Abbey second birthday. Anyone else?
No TTC here for another year or so. It took a LOOOOTTTT of fertility treatments to get Abby and I don't know if I can handle doing it again, physically or emotionally. Plus Abby's still on the boob so who knows if it would do any good anyway.
I'm pretty sure she's right handed. She colors with her right hand and most of the time uses her right for silverware. Today she was scooping mashed potatoes with her left so who knows.
We are just starting to think about potty stuff--she has only recently begun showing a little more awareness--when she poops she looks confused and pulls at her diaper, she likes flushing the toilet, and this morning she was naked and peed on the floor and looked confused--I said "you went pee pee" and she said "pee pee" and then kept looking at it and saying "water"--it was super cute. As only a parent would think it was, I'm sure! So my tactic is to talk to her more about what's happening when I change her diaper, let her come into the bathroom with me, etc.--just laying the groundwork.
We are thinking about TTC early next year. I'm trying to figure out some job stuff first. But lately I have been starting to feel that "I WANT A BABY NOW!" urge that I remember taking over when we decided to TTC Eliza. At the same time, the idea of doing it all over again, from pregnancy to having a newborn, is overwhelming. I like the toddler phase so much more than younger infancy.
Whew, we've had some tough times here lately. Wyatt seems to be "spirited" or "high needs".... DH is almost done with school and is gone about 6 days a week for 12+ hours. I get a bit exhausted and grouchy. Oh well, life will be so much better in a few months when school stuff is done.
Wyatt is also interested in coloring, both his own creations and coloring pictures or in coloring books. We have also had some festive wall decorations added recently... 
He's still interested in helping in the kitchen with sweeping. I've also shown him how to use a paper towel to clean up messes, and he's good at picking things up and throwing them away!
I think Wyatt is right handed, but he still uses his left hand sometimes for eating and coloring.
We are still cosleeping and nursing throughout the night (and day). I have plans to nightwean over winter break, though. Are your LOs drinking cow's milk/other yet? Wyatt spits it out every time we give it to him.
No real potty stuff going on here. Wyatt talks about peepee and likes to go in the bathroom with DH and I, but has been resistant to using his little potty and HATES to have his diaper changed... more to work on over break, I guess.
I really want to TTC, but I'm not sure if it's the right time... Probably in the next 6 months though. Time for vitamins, exercise, and eating better. 
Do any of the littles do pretend play? Wyatt has been very interested in that lately, including building "towers" out of food and using things like green beans for cars.
We've started a bit of pottying - she sits on it about once a day and she is able to tell us when she pees or poops, but she hasn't gone on the potty yet. I don't think she quite gets what we want her to do there.
She's still nursing at night, a lot more lately since she's getting molars (four at once - kill me now!) but drinking cow's milk too. Still not much of an eater, but she's finally chunking up. She's up to the 25th percentile now and actually wearing age-appropriate clothes. Yay!
Here's Abby and her "princess skirt." It lasted about 36 hours before the dogs ripped it to shreds and she was so upset that we went to the Dollar Tree and picked up their cheapy sparkly dress-up skirts in five different colors. Now she has lots of princess skirts and she insists on wearing one every day.
This is her crazy face. She does it all the time because it makes us laugh. I have looked at this picture a hundred times and it still cracks me up. Nutty baby!
Abby is really cute! I love her crazy face!
Anyone doing fun stuff with the toddlers for the holidays? I'm torn about a tree. I think we may just do lights and a few safe ornaments. I'm hoping Wyatt can help with some cookies... maybe color on cards...
Abbey does a lot of pretend play.
Our Abbey is still in the 10th percentile for height and the 5th for weight.
We have our tree up and she loves it. Safe ornaments near the bottom so she can take then off and put them back on over and over. If the tree lights are not on she says "tree lights on" to get us to turn them on. She loves the tree. It's going to be awful when we have to take it down.
We are thinking about TTC early next year. I'm trying to figure out some job stuff first. But lately I have been starting to feel that "I WANT A BABY NOW!" urge that I remember taking over when we decided to TTC Eliza. At the same time, the idea of doing it all over again, from pregnancy to having a newborn, is overwhelming. I like the toddler phase so much more than younger infancy.
I really want to TTC, but I'm not sure if it's the right time... Probably in the next 6 months though. Time for vitamins, exercise, and eating better.
I am thinking that we will start TTC April 2013, right around birthday number 2! Can you believe our babies are going to be 2 in just 4 months!
How is everyone doing?
I think I am going to try this "follow member" thing to keep up with all of you.
Yes, it's crazy--all of a sudden I'm thinking of her as "almost 2" rather than "just over 1."
Verbal explosions here continue apace--she's parroting back new words every day. Her comic nerd dad's nefarious plans have panned out--this morning she spent about 10 minutes chanting "Donald Duck! Donald Duck!" and trying to pull a big Donald Duck comic anthology off the bedside table. She has also started referring to herself in the third person constantly--"Eliza chair. Eliza car. Eliza boom. Eliza shoes." etc. So cute!
I'm still feeling on the fence about #2. I'm definitely leaning more toward yes, but I am still so tired--it's hard to imaging having my sleep this interrupted for X many more years. She sleeps through the night most nights, but still wakes a couple times a week, and then I also have insomnia so it's rare that I ever get more than 6 hours at a stretch. I long for a day when I don't spend half my free time dormant, just trying to feel energized and functional. Is anyone else still struggling with sleep?
I think it's also time to start potty learning. She's been telling us whenever she goes poo. The other day she actually said "Pooh. Potty. Diaper off." Any tips from those who have BTDT?
Happy New Year!
Abby is completely disinterested in the potty. She knows what happens there, tells us when she pees or poops, and will even sit on it and watch the Elmo potty video, but the only time she's peed on it is when DH caught her peeing during a diaper change and plopped her onto it. I think once it happens once that will be it and she'll be done with diapers forever, but she's going to take her sweet time doing it.
Her language skills have exploded recently. She is speaking in 3 or 4 word sentences, can count to 9 (though not always in the right order and I have her talking teddy bear to thank for it) and is working on the alphabet. She named her teddy bear herself - his name is ABCD because he sings the alphabet. The past few weeks she's been absolutely OBSESSED with "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She keeps demanding "How-ween song!" and will sing along with it. Last night at dinner the only way I could keep her in her high chair was to promise the song when we got to the car. I forgot about it and a few minutes into the drive she started freaking out and I didn't know what was wrong until DS reminded me of my promise. So I played the song, she was happy, and she conked right out for the rest of the trip. It was hilarious.
How was Christmas for everybody?
Yes, it's crazy--all of a sudden I'm thinking of her as "almost 2" rather than "just over 1."
Verbal explosions here continue apace--she's parroting back new words every day. Her comic nerd dad's nefarious plans have panned out--this morning she spent about 10 minutes chanting "Donald Duck! Donald Duck!" and trying to pull a big Donald Duck comic anthology off the bedside table. She has also started referring to herself in the third person constantly--"Eliza chair. Eliza car. Eliza boom. Eliza shoes." etc. So cute!
I'm still feeling on the fence about #2. I'm definitely leaning more toward yes, but I am still so tired--it's hard to imaging having my sleep this interrupted for X many more years. She sleeps through the night most nights, but still wakes a couple times a week, and then I also have insomnia so it's rare that I ever get more than 6 hours at a stretch. I long for a day when I don't spend half my free time dormant, just trying to feel energized and functional. Is anyone else still struggling with sleep?
I think it's also time to start potty learning. She's been telling us whenever she goes poo. The other day she actually said "Pooh. Potty. Diaper off." Any tips from those who have BTDT?
Happy New Year!
Abbey was awake last night from 3:30am-5:30am. She still sleeps with us and she wakes up a lot. This does give me pause about adding another one. I go back and forth between wanting to wait until she is older and wanting to do it sooner so that when the baby years are over, they are over. Adding one more would be number six for me and number two for DH.
We were having a lot of potty success but recently she has stopped being interested. I don't really push it until 2.5 yrs old. At that point I just get out the big kid underwear and say we are done with diapers. It takes about a week of going to the potty every hour to hour and a half and then they just take off with it. Oh and stickers
Abby is completely disinterested in the potty. She knows what happens there, tells us when she pees or poops, and will even sit on it and watch the Elmo potty video, but the only time she's peed on it is when DH caught her peeing during a diaper change and plopped her onto it. I think once it happens once that will be it and she'll be done with diapers forever, but she's going to take her sweet time doing it.
Her language skills have exploded recently. She is speaking in 3 or 4 word sentences, can count to 9 (though not always in the right order and I have her talking teddy bear to thank for it) and is working on the alphabet. She named her teddy bear herself - his name is ABCD because he sings the alphabet. The past few weeks she's been absolutely OBSESSED with "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She keeps demanding "How-ween song!" and will sing along with it. Last night at dinner the only way I could keep her in her high chair was to promise the song when we got to the car. I forgot about it and a few minutes into the drive she started freaking out and I didn't know what was wrong until DS reminded me of my promise. So I played the song, she was happy, and she conked right out for the rest of the trip. It was hilarious.
How was Christmas for everybody?
A lot of talking here too! Christmas was nice. Abbey was disappointed when we took the tree down. In a very concerned voice she said "tree outside".
A lot of talking here too! Christmas was nice. Abbey was disappointed when we took the tree down. In a very concerned voice she said "tree outside".
We're doing ours tomorrow and Abby's going to be devastated. She is in love with all things Christmas. Sometimes she just toddles up to the tree, looks at it in wonder, and says, "Timas Tee..." in this awed voice. It's the most adorable thing ever. I think I'm going to do it after she goes to sleep and hope she doesn't get too upset when she wakes up.
Here is Abbey right before Christmas. Let's see some more pics of our toddlers!
Hi Crazyms and welcome! Abbey is my 5th child and third girl.
Some of us are new moms!
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