November Chit Chat - Page 6 « Back to Group Discussions

[Jaimee]

We travel, but it's not nearly as enjoyable as when the kids are older and more self sufficient. 

[seraf]

Lol, Jaimee, your oldest is in a kind of golden age. 8 year olds are self sufficient but not very fun to travel with in a lot of circumstances. Tweens are twerps at times. I would take a baby over a 9 year old many places.

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by seraf 

Lol, Jaimee, your oldest is in a kind of golden age. 8 year olds are self sufficient but not very fun to travel with in a lot of circumstances. Tweens are twerps at times. I would take a baby over a 9 year old many places.

Agreed. The younger ones enjoy and appreciate being new places. The older ones say things like, "Ugh! I hate the beach! There's sand everywhere!!!" Not so sweet. Oh, and my favorite, "I'm bored!" My sweetest, best vacation memories are when dd1 and dd2 were 6 and under. Last year was the vacation from hell. 

Re: 5 is the new 3. I know, right? Why is that!? Growing up, I remember everyone had two kids. The occasional three kid family was odd. I only remember one family who had 4 kids. 

[dashley111]

I must have an awesomely tempered 9 year old! He doesn't complain about much, but I have noticed him asking to stay home more often when we go places. He loves to travel and do new things.

Bettie however does not. There are no long car rides in our future.

[Jaimee]

Maybe I'll be in for a rude awakening, but right now it seems like vacations will be much more awesome when everyone is over the age of 3.  It's just not much of a vacation in my opinion when your kids are still sleeping in your bed and/or still waking up at night.  It's also not great to have to deal with diapers or naps.  But I guess we'll see!

[Mal85]

I'm with you Jaimee! We do still travel, but not as much and not to the same places we would travel if the kids were older. I guess for me, it isn't just that it's more enjoyable or easier when they're older, but they'll also remember more. My family went to Disney when I was 8 or 9 and there are still so many things I don't remember from the trip. My cousin was 6 and he doesn't remember much at all. I want them to old enough to remember it and appreciate it when they are older... even if they did complain the whole time, I hope it'll be a pleasant memory for them.

[seraf]

Lol, honestly, I've had mostly easy babies. I love to travel. I don't vacation to sleep (I'm just not a sleeper), my babies (and toddlers) have napped on my lap or at the breast at the beach, on a plane, in restaurants. I never much had to cater to babies beyond slowing down, which is kind of what a vacation is all about to me.

My 9 year old doesn't complain as much as he likes to stay home. Getting him geared up to be away from home is the hard part (partly this is because his mama might take them on a trip the week before or after because we don't consult each other when we plan travel and we both travel a lot). My 7 year old is the whiner. They both get bored all the time. Bored 9 year olds are so much more annoying than bored babies.

Man, now I wish we weren't heading into the holidays and I could plan a trip someplace other than to family.

What is everyone doing for thanksgiving?

[Abraisme]

)We are staying here in Chattanooga and making GAPS friendly foods..  My sister is having her wood floors refinished this week, so we'll be confined to a very small space.  We will make a meal though.

[dashley111]

We usuaLly split the holiday between our 2 families, but this year we are only going to one place so that we can help in food prep and make sure we know which foods are safe for B to eat. It's actually great, because I hate not being able to relax and having to drive around on holidays.

We saw an allergist today who have us more Epi pens and some med-alert bracelets. Poor B has to go in and have skin scratch tests on he 27th

[MrsKatie]

We decided to stay in town instead of traveling home for thanksgiving, and I feel so relieved. We'll be having a big vegan thanksgiving with our dearest friends, then we will travel back home (well, our old home, where we grew up - Bay Area, CA) for Christmas.

[MrsKatie]

Oh and Ash - I am so sorry! Let us know how it goes.

[KayPea]

Happy birthday to Oren! We didn't do anything for his birthday, just more unpacking, and errand running. Intended to make a cake, but that didn't happen either. Oh well. When we were at the store, DD insisted we buy him a present, which I hadn't done, or planned to do, since, really, 1-year-olds don't care. But 3-year-olds DO care, and so we picked out a pair of warm, fuzzy pajamas for him since our new bedroom at the farmhouse is chilly. They're red and black plaid, like those flannel bush jackets. Canadian kid. 

It's amazing here. Neighbours left us food in the refrigerator and on the counter, and more has been coming in since then, too. People keep dropping by and offering to watch the kids while we unpack, or actually unpacking boxes with us. Our neighbour Tam, who is one of the farmers here, brought by a box full of the most beautiful farm produce, grown right here. Camille and I both cried when we unpacked it, it was just there, in that box, the reason we moved here. 

And as for more kids, oh man, I can't even begin to think about it. Oren is still a crap sleeper, even though he's such an easygoing kid otherwise. And DD is also still, STILL not a great sleeper either. And now there are two 3-year-olds and three 1-year-olds in this house, and 5 may be the new 3 but, golly, it's crazy sometimes. I suppose when people talk 5 kids they don't really mean (pseudo) twin preschoolers and (pseudo) triplet baby-toddlers. The Biggers, they fight all the time, and the Littles, well, they poop all the time. And fall and hit their heads on stuff. But I guess the 5-kid families don't have 2 stay-at-home Mamas either, and really, I think it will be easier than just me alone with my 2. But never quieter.

Off to post in the birthday thread!

[seraf]

Originally Posted by KayPea 

And as for more kids, oh man, I can't even begin to think about it. Oren is still a crap sleeper, even though he's such an easygoing kid otherwise. And DD is also still, STILL not a great sleeper either. And now there are two 3-year-olds and three 1-year-olds in this house, and 5 may be the new 3 but, golly, it's crazy sometimes. I suppose when people talk 5 kids they don't really mean (pseudo) twin preschoolers and (pseudo) triplet baby-toddlers. The Biggers, they fight all the time, and the Littles, well, they poop all the time. And fall and hit their heads on stuff. But I guess the 5-kid families don't have 2 stay-at-home Mamas either, and really, I think it will be easier than just me alone with my 2. But never quieter.

LOL, 5 under 4 is intense any way you cut it!  I hope things calm down a bit once the newness wears off.  Congratulations on the move.

[Abraisme]

We are living with my 3yo nephew right now and in some ways its easier to have 2 moms, but in other ways it's harder than just watching my own kids.  I try to not take advantage of making my sister watch all of my kids, since she has 1 and I have 3.    It's my nephews #1 goal in life to torment Olivine and she's a princess so she doesn't handle it well.  She spends half of each day running away from Francis yelling at him to stop.  However, when she's on her own she gets bored and wants me to play with her.  I really wonder what it's going to be like when Coralie starts to interact with them more.  For now Olivine just mostly ignores her or treats her nicely, only time will tell.

[CDsMom1031]

Posting from my phone, heehee.

Anyways, I have never had a needier kid in my life. I can feel all 3 of his molars popping through. Shoot me.

Can I ask you ladies another question? How do you know the difference between "normal baby behavior" and behavior that should be corrected? The majority of my childhood memories are of my parents yelling at me for doing something wrong and I refuse to be that mom, so I hate telling Conner NO! I usually just redirect him, but sometimes he just doesn't get it... And then sometimes, I don't know if I should correct him because I'm not sure that he's doing something wrong. Very little annoys me, but I know that's not the case with everyone, so I try to teach him the "proper" ways, obviously.
Edited by CDsMom1031 - 11/14/12 at 9:44pm

[Jaimee]

Wow, Kirsten, that would be intense!  I had my SIL and nephew here for 2 weeks last Feb/March and it was crazy.  She only has one and I have three, so it was 4 kids five years and younger and it was crazy town for sure.  But we also started to get into a rhythm, so I'm sure things will settle in soon.

Ash, Avalon had the RAST, prick (two times), patch, and ELISA testing done when she was about 10-11 months old.  It really wasn't that bad.  Honestly, the blood draw for the RAST was the hardest b/c the phlebotomist wasn't great with little kid veins.  Here's a pic of her after her first prick test:

 

And here she is with her patches and what they looked like 48 hours later and 24 hours after that.

She was a total trooper- barely fussing or crying.  I hated putting her through it, but B will be fine. 

Originally Posted by CDsMom1031 

Can I ask you ladies another question? How do you know the difference between "normal baby behavior" and behavior that should be corrected? The majority of my childhood memories are of my parents yelling at me for doing something wrong and I refuse to be that mom, so I hate telling Conner NO! I usually just redirect him, but sometimes he just doesn't get it... And then sometimes, I don't know if I should correct him because I'm not sure that he's doing something wrong. Very little annoys me, but I know that's not the case with everyone, so I try to teach him the "proper" ways, obviously.

Nicole, I personally believe that hardly anything needs to be corrected via any sort of consequence/punishment at this age.  Redirecting will be the most effective technique by far.  Creating a "yes" environment where you don't have to worry about what he's getting into will make your life much easier and reduce the need to redirect or the feeling of needing to say no.  Honestly, the only behavior that I try and stop is biting at the breast.  When it comes to dangerous things, I will raise my voice and say something descriptive like "Hot!" or "Sharp!" instead of no, and then redirect.  As he gets older and can talk, then you can have more of a conversation about certain behaviors and why we don't do them, but honestly most undesireable behaviors that you're experiencing now he will outgrow naturally in time without you needing to "correct" or punish in any way.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with showing him how to use gentle hands instead of hitting or kissing instead of biting if that's what you mean by correcting.  He may not catch on until he's quite a bit older, but there's no harm in trying!

[dashley111]

Thank you for sharing that Jaimee. I really had no idea what to expect. I was surprised that they would do it to her while she is so young.

[seraf]

Nicole, I agree with everything Jaimee said. With addition of "ouch!" And "yuck!" Because Shay spends too much time in a no environment. My general rule is that I try to tell him what I would like him to do, rather than what I wouldn't like him to do. So I say, "Stay on the sidewalk" instead of "stay out of the road." Or "roll the ball" instead of "no throwing."

I really think most infant behavior is totally normal. They all do the same things, so the only things I put much energy into are health and safety issues, because normal behavior can get him in a lot of trouble in the wrong environment.

About what behavior other people expect, I mostly try to model polite behavior and expect them to follow. Sometimes the older kids forget please and thank you, when reminded kindly they are quick with it. When corrected less kindly, they are less pleasant with it. My older kids, like most APd kids I know, are very well behaved. Like very frequent comments/compliments about it. I never even used the word no with Osha (lost some creativity with Ari and resorted to it a lot more often with her and I think that's part of the reason she went through a lot more unkind behavior, but it could also just be the girl thing) and he never went through a no phase.

My last though on it, I use a lot of baby talk but I often try to consider how I would address an adult (I work in geriatrics, if a confused 90 year old is painting with body fluids, I can't say "no, bad!"). I use shorter phrases with babies but I try to keep the message and tone something I would say to any other human and I wouldn't mind hearing myself.

[ZippyGirl]

I am always so behind in reading these threads!  This is the only one I seem to be able to check, and I am itching to get to the other threads.  UGH!

Bobo is always wanting to eat.  Always.  It's all he ever asks to do, and I feel like I cannot keep up with it.  What is going on?  DD wasn't like this.  I never gave DD milk, but I'm wondering if I should start Bode on milk?  I have a good breastmilk supply, but he acts like he is always starving.  What should I do? 

Okay, gotta catch up now on all the discussions here...
 

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by dashley111 

Thank you for sharing that Jaimee. I really had no idea what to expect. I was surprised that they would do it to her while she is so young.

Some allergists feel that testing at this age is pointless, but since it's clear she has some serious allergies, I imagine they are more willing to try.  Now, according to my knowledge the prick is better for environmental/inhaled allergens like molds, dusts, cat, dog, pollen, etc.  The RAST is supposedly better for ingested allergens.  Either way, both tests test for IgE mediated reactions.  It does sound like she has some of these types of allergies.  But if she also has IgG mediated (delayed) reactions they will not show up in these tests.  Not mention the high rates of false positives AND negatives with these tests.  ELISA testing and patch testing looks for the delayed reactions.  We were able to get the ELISA testing covered by insurance by going through a DO willing to administer it.  He also did same NAET testing, which is a whole other topic.