February 2013 Chit Chat - Page 8 « Back to Group Discussions

[Abraisme]

I'm with Jaimee, I just don't have the emotional energy to interact with my kids all day.  It's been even worse in the last few weeks since we've been trapped in a 320 sq ft bus.  Now that we are in my IL's huge house, it's boring because there isn't much going on here.  We did get outside to the park today though!  I agree with Ash though, I would never buy my kids their own iPad or cell phone at this age.  I suspect that my DS will get a cell phone when he starts doing more things on his own, maybe 13-14?  So far he's never even asked to make a call, so I don't see why he would want a phone.  He will play Minecraft ALL day though if he isn't monitored..

Nicole, way to go on the life insurance!  We totally need to get some too.  We had a great plan when my DH has a regular job, but now we've been without since last year.  

[LunaLady]

Sara, Shay looks so much like Osha, now!

[birdhappy85]

My eye seems back to normal. Whew, huge relief. Thanks for asking, Sara!

As for kids and iPads... My nephew got an iPad from his grandparents when he was 4 years old. I thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever. BUT -- I no longer judge the move because the iPad has been pretty good for him. He has delayed speech with his autism, and he learned a lot from repeating and spelling words with iPad games. He is a whiz with touch screens. Way more advanced than me! My parents and sister limit the iPad use and tell him it's "sleeping" when it's plugged in to charge. It's cute.  Would I get my own young child an iPad? Nah. LeapPads do look pretty neat, though.

As long as I can minimize the electronic use by our children (including TV), I'm happy. I was freaking out about it when Sora was an infant, and then I had to learn to relax. DH is an electronic nut. He is an introvert and loves his computers, TV, cell phone, etc. I don't fight it anymore. He's an awesome dad and gets super involved with Sora. We have a lot of family time and go out together regularly. We are always laughing and interacting with each other. We're just going to set boundaries around electronic use by our children as we go along. Luckily Sora doesn't care to watch TV for anything other than music videos.

[seraf]

Christina, I think Shay and Ari look most alike, but yeah, they certainly resemble each other.

Joanie, I had or gotten about iPads for communication difficulties. There are some really amazing apps for people who can't talk. Kids with autism and adults with aphasia. They got an iPad at work for that. So yeah, if one of my boys had a communication disorder, I would get them something in a heartbeat f I thought it would help.

[Mal85]

Electronics... We have one iPad as a family. Well, really it's mine, but I'm nice enough to share with everyone. ;) DD1 has some apps on it that I downloaded for her, but she knows the only time she gets to use it is while Greta is napping. That's the big rule around here. So, when she gets home from school the first thing she says is "Mommy, Greta's tired. Lay her down now, please." Only because she wants the iPad, lol! A 4 year old having one to help with speech issues caused by autism? I'm totally on board with that. In fact, I've heard of a lot parents with kids on the spectrum have been able to get free iPads for their kids to use... either insurance will pay for it or often the school districts will purchase one for them to use. It's really common and very effective to help them communicate. My niece got a laptop and iPad when she was around 10 and 11. That was pure Daddy-guilt buying her things to make up for the fact that he moved across the country and hasn't spent a Christmas with her in 6 years. And iPad totally makes up for those things, right? Okay, off my soap box about that one...

DD1 is getting a LeapPad for her birthday in a few weeks, and I feel no guilt saying I cannot wait until she has it!! She had an iXL when she was younger, but it broke. We were going to do it for Christmas, but then I got the iPad and thought she could just use apps on that instead. Nope, my iPad is all she wants and it can be a struggle with her, plus the fact that all she really wants to do on the iPad is watch Netflix shows. Too hard for me to control what she's watching unless I look over her shoulder the whole time. So, she's getting the LeapPad for games and the iPad will be off limits unless we have a long road trip, then she can use it for tv watching in the car. The LeapPad will come with the same restrictions she's had so far with the iPad.

As far as tv watching... Greta doesn't even glance at the tv right now. DD1 is strictly limited. There is a tv in the play room and she gets to watch one movie a day in there. She often forgets about it though and if she doesn't ask for it, I don't offer. The nice thing about having it in her playroom is that I'll often start a movie for her and she'll get distracted playing with her toys and ends up not even watching the movie. Whatever works to get her to play on her own for a little while!

[Abraisme]

Oh, and our iPad has a super industrial water proof, drop proof Otter Box case on it. It makes the thing triple the size and weight, but it's sturdy and I don't have to worry about it.

Coralie woke up today with a language explosion. She said 4 new words before we got out if bed. I think she will be communicating well pretty soon. She is already starting 3 (slurred) word sentences, like, "I want down". This is such a fun age when they learn new things so fast.

[KaliShanti]

On electronics: we are a tech family, that's how we make our income. My husband and I run video & photography companies, So we have a lot of gear. We have two imacs, an ipad, one iphone, and a tv (new in our studio). The TV isnt hooked up to channels- it's to watch DVDs on and use as a client monitor when hooked up to our imacs. The kids earn ipad time and all the apps are educational and really great. My son does about 1/4s of his homeschooling on the computer too. And he's teaching himself computer programming and Spansh on it too. I think it's all in how you use it! :)

Enoch is starting to finally imitate a few words. He is also our only baby to sign words before e says them (so far he has "more" down, and tries "nurse" and "diaper"). He says "Tor" and "shoe".

[CDsMom1031]

Vent session: DH and I don't really exchange gifts, so today, I just wanted to go to lunch before we both had to go to work. He has to leave for work at 115... He woke up at noon. And these stupid hormones don't help. I cried like a baby because things didn't go as planned. I'm so frustrated that he couldn't even find it in him one day to get up early so we could have some grown up time.

[Jaimee]

I'm sorry Nicole!  Wow, you're 10 weeks already!  How have you been feeling?

[Abraisme]

I'm sorry Nicole.

[CDsMom1031]

I'm fine. Tired, emotional... But, fine. Haha. I think the difference between this pregnancy and last is that I didn't have Conner last time (...Obviously, haha.), so I slept as I pleased. I think that's why I'm so much more tired this time.

[Abraisme]

Dp

[Abraisme]

Yeah, second pregnancies are always way more tiring... Wait until its your third, heh.

[birdhappy85]

Just when I was thanking my lucky stars that we had an illness-free week over here, Sora came down with a 104 fever.  She just threw up all over both of us. I'm having serious mommy guilt about having her in daycare. This sickness thing is just getting too excessive. If she had a minor cold here and there, I wouldn't feel so bad. She seems to always get the high fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Only once has she had a minor cold and runny nose. I don't know what to do... My boss just increased my hours at work to 28/week (which I was excited about) and I agreed to come into the office during daytime hours for half of that. The rest of my work is second shift or at home. She said she's going to appoint me as a lead in my department soon. I've been feeling so good about it all. I just haven't felt good about Sora being in daycare. Even without the job or my schoolwork, I still don't see myself able to be a full time stay-at-home mom again... My mood is still all over the place and I'm barely taking care of my own health as is. I want to be the parent I want for my daughter! It's so frustrating! 

We are finally finishing our basement over the next few weeks, so that will add 700 sq ft of living space to our house. I hope it lowers my stress level to finally have reached this goal we've been working years for. We desperately need to de-clutter and move furniture back into the basement.

Did I mention we're having a complete plumbing overhaul done between today and tomorrow, and I just noticed our washer and dryer aren't available to use tonight? Great, what am I going to do with all of this pukey clothing?! Ughhhhh.

Uh oh, I think I just heard Sora throw up again... It's going to be a long night...

[seraf]

Joanie, I think those high fever illnesses are just going around this year. Soren has had so many. He is anemic and we're still trying to work out his allergy stuff which is probably contributing in our case. I think he's sick so often, it's not just kids in daycare.

[Abraisme]

Maybe you could find an in home daycare where there is only 1 or 2 other kids? I know there are a lot of SAHMs that are looking to take on 1 extra kid. That way she would be exposed to less kids. We were having this issue this year with the gym daycare in Chattanooga. Our kids were sick 3 times in a month, eventually we decided it wasn't fair to them and honestly they haven't been sick since we stopped. It does seem like an extra sick year though.

[TalkToMeNow]

Sorry Sora is sick, Joanie. I hope she feels better soon. Jasper has been sick a lot since starting daycare. Dh is probably going to be laid off at the end of next month (which is a whole other story) and he is thinking of taking J out of daycare for a while when that happens. Then, he will work at his business in the afternoons and evenings. I cannot roll my eyes far enough back in my head at this plan for a million reasons... he will use this as an excuse to make the rest of the time my job to do 100% of the childcare, he won't take J out to do stuff, he will still try to work during that time and get frustrated, I'm the one that wants to stay home with my baby and teach him stuff, and he claims that the house will be SO CLEAN all the time. I am rolling my eyes times eleventy million right now. Anywho...

Did I mention that he stayed home with J twice when he was sick? And he was so frustrated by the time I got home from work both days. But yeah, doing that full time will be totes cool.  

I'm a hardcore beeotch this morning. I didn't get any sleep. And at one point when J was crying, dh said, "Just nurse him!" Then, "I'm going to go in another room... I have to get some sleep!" (He didn't actually go.) Cause yanno I can just do my job without any sleep. Dh is a great husband and dad, but right now I want to punch him.

Sara, what's up with your job??

Nicole, being pregnant with a toddler is tough. You deserve ALL the naps. Tell your dh. Naps, all the time. No cleaning, just naps.

Umm.... what do you do with runners? Jaimee, I'm thinking of you here! J is a runner. He takes off anytime his feet touch the ground. Like, he will run out the front door of a business and into the street. I can't put him down anywhere; he has to be in a carrier. Even in arms only, he will fight and wiggle to get down. Am I just doomed to wear him in public until he is 5? My girls never left my side... they were like glue. Dh wants to get him a leash. I just gave him *the look* at that one. Thoughts?

[Autumnshades]

Sick here too. Eli has had a fever for 4 days. He is congested and now has a cough that makes him sound like a seal. Joel had the Norwalk virus that he picked up in the care home where he works. Luckily he didn't pass it on to Eli or me. I seem to have been run over by a bus. My body is incredibly achy and I had a very high temp the night before. Sore throat today. Ick. We have been pretty lucky all winter with not getting sick, so I guess it was going to happen eventually. Bring on spring already, I could use some sunshine.

I think a home daycare is good too. If we had a bigger living space I would take in an extra kid too, but it is pretty cramped in our 1 bedroom apartment already. I worked in a daycare of almost 2 years, and I was sick ALL THE TIME. So I can see why Sora is sick so much sucky situation, sorry about that Joanie...

[ZippyGirl]

We all just got over the flu.  Horrible.  Now DD is sick again vomiting all night -- after I thought we were finally in the clear.  DD was rarely sick as a baby, but Bode is sick a lot in comparison because his sister brings home all sorts of nasty bugs from school.  I blame it on the kids at her school. 

I am so sorry for everyone's illnesses, poorly behaved husbands(! -- it was just Valentine's Day!  what's up with that?), and tough job situations.  2013 is shaping up to be a real winner, isn't it!?!?
 

[birdhappy85]

Sora is in an at-home daycare with only 4-5 other kids, and one of those kids is the daycare provider's daughter. Even with that few, they're still always passing illness along from one to the other. Our next step would be finding a SAHM with just 1-2 kids, like Abra suggested, but our current situation is too ideal to give up on a whim... It'll take some thought.