Yep, we're still here~Nov/Dec '02 mommas&babies~

[majazama]

Here's our new thread. Ahhh, all fresh and new.

What is *your* little 19-20 month old doin these days? My DD is adjusting to having a baby sister taking mommy and the meemee. She is a good big sister though, and trys to help in her own little ways.

Very cute times.

[Brayg]

I'm here! Yay!

Owen is talking up a storm. Climbing, throwing, anything physical--he certainly will be an avid sportsman of some sort. This age is just too darned fun!

[tea olive]

aack! i didn't get a new notification and here you are.

my ruby is everything i always wanted in a child. she is like a mini me. that may sound terrible in ways but i assure you she is her own strong personality and i'm not in any danger of dominating my children, more likely the opposite. we just understand each other so well. and i don't know how much of that is the girl thing. for awhile i thought wow, i need more girls in my life and i need to make more and today i was wondering if any girl could compare. (of course they would be wonderful, but ruby is just so darned sweet). i completely relish her presence, even though she already shows her hen qualities and gets into everything. yesterday i got out of bed and she was brandishing a butter knife and my couch was painted with a block of cream cheese. a new bag of bagels was broken into pieces decorating it as well.
i know it is my own fault for not being able to get up. reed has been waking before dawn and rousing the others. it is some kind of blessing that they can even be alone and that i can sleep in but it does not feel good and then we are out of sync. but it's been almost six years that reed has been kicking me in the head and yabbering for me to get up and he finally quit it about a month ago. so i'm a little shocked when i get up now, that they are busy and helping each other and safe.

she wants to pee with the guys and leans in standing. she can aim somewhat. she's also been showing her clitoris to us, triumphantly i might add. the other day she was pressing a piece of neon colored playdoh on her vulva and i had to laugh quietly.

[lilmiss'mama]

Okay, I don't want to make the same mistake as last time and forget to post on the new thread!

Scarlett is into a lot of 'I can do it myself stuff' lately. She wants to get her own water and shut the door etc... She has also been screeching lately either for fun or frustration. I really didn't think she could match Revina's ear piercing screams, but she can. She is also putting together small sentences and knows how to use I and me correctly. And to every response "why, why, why"!

Tonight Revina was with their dad for awhile and it was just me and Scarlett. Those times are few and far between. I put on some Dead and she just laid her head on my shoulder and we danced and danced. So lovely To quote Jerry... "I love you more than words can tell..."

[eilonwy]

Good morning!

My EliBean is really doing amazingly well. I feel horrible these days, because my temper is so short with him sometimes (I'm still having hormone fluctuations) but he's such a sweet boy. His favorite thing to do is climb; he likes to get to things that we have tried to put out of reach. He's actually very good at it, and likes to talk about it afterwards. He also loves to pour.

Eli is also getting used to his sister. He likes to nurse with her, and often helps burp her. He tries to help her sleep which is very sweet but kinda scary, so I have to watch him like a hawk when she's sleeping. See, Eli likes to sleep with something heavy and light-blocking near him. At night, it's dadda or mamma, but during the day it's a pillow. If I put Rivkah down to sleep, Eli tries to put a pillow on top of her! I know it's an act of love, but it can be scary. I have learned that the point of a pack-n-play is to protect babies from their loving older siblings.

Every morning, Eli wakes up, uses the potty, and kisses his sister; sometimes he kisses me too but more often than not he says "I just have kisses for SisterBaby," :LOL It's really very sweet. I think he's really enjoying being an older brother, except for when it means he has to be patient and wait for something from me. (This usually comes up when he's very tired.)

[punkprincessmama]

mamas, thinking of you all

[hjohnson]

What can I say about Christopher? Well he has been a downright grump lately. I don't blame him though. I would too if I was cutting 3 eye teeth at the same time. I am suspecting that some 2 year old molars are showing too. He is quite the climber these days. He loves climbing on swing sets but he is afraid to go down the slide. He is picking up more and more words every day and starting to put two words together to get his point across. Nowadays I am hearing "all done", "all gone", and "more milk". I am trying to sign more with him since he is interested in learning the sign for the word. On Aug 16th he will start attending a Mom's Morning Out/preschool program. It will be nice to have some time to myself before David shows up but at the same time I am going to miss him.

[*solsticemama*]

Right now little Mukti is covered with chicken pox and is with baba having some berries. Oh he's so beautiful. The illness is softening us all. He looks up at me with his deeply blue eyes, big cheeks, soft curls and generous mouth all drooly and covered in big red spots and he smiles with his whole body and I think, oh how can one little being be so beautiful. Yesterday we spent the day comfort nursing and at one point he looked up and said, 'bess you mama' That he can be and feel so magnanimous in the midst of his itchy misery awes me. Last night we spent a good part of it simply nursing and singing quietly. Today the hours continue to unfold their story.

Thanks Mona for the s

[abranger]

i wondered where you guys went. I posted this in GD but Haven't had any responses I hope you momma's can help me.

I need your help GD momma's and dad's! My dd is 18 months old. She co-sleeps, is still nursing (although we did night wean about 2 months ago) slings occasionally (lots before she became mobile). I am at my whits end right now. She is very agressive with other kids. She goes to a family day care 3 days a week and she is mostly fine there. Doesn't share but that is the age I guess. Anyway our DC provider doesn't have this problem with her except in rare instances. We have a playgroup with about 10 kids that we have been with since they were all about 2 months old. They range in age from about 17-20 months. I have a very hard time at this group b/c I have to watch her like a hawk. She grabs kids faces, pushes and hits. I don't know what to do expect stop going but I would like to correct this not just avoid the situation. (plus I really like these moms and kids) I notice at home she hits and bites us when she get's to excited so that may be the case here as well. This is particularly hard b/c there is only one other AP mom in the group and all except me are home full time with their kids. They suggest time outs etc and I am not sure I want to go that route. I hope there are some other ways.......Any suggestions?

Otherwise we are doing great..... getting ready for the convention next week (we live in boston less than a mile from the fleet center)

Amy

[eilonwy]

nak

amy, i'm sorry i don't have any advice for you.

eli is purple spotted right now; he opened a bottle of gentian violet and started to paint.

[Brayg]

he smiles with his whole body and I think, oh how can one little being be so beautiful.

Rose--this is how I look at Owen as well. (although I feel sadness in a way because I don't look at my 8 1/2 yo like that anymore and I should...I mean, he IS beautiful and he IS full of wonder and amazement but in a different way than Owen is right now) Owen is going through a phase of empathy and appreciation. We'll be sitting and reading and he will gaze up at me and kiss me and hug me like he's saying "thanks mom". It makes me melt. He also hugs/kisses one of us if we've been hurt. It's just so awesome.

[Brayg]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

eli is purple spotted right now; he opened a bottle of gentian violet and started to paint.

Whoops! :LOL Can you take a picture?

[eilonwy]

:LOL You know, I think I will take a picture. I won't be able to post it until the weekend, though. :LOL

[*solsticemama*]

Originally Posted by Brayg

Owen is going through a phase of empathy and appreciation. We'll be sitting and reading and he will gaze up at me and kiss me and hug me like he's saying "thanks mom".

[kerc]

Originally Posted by abranger

They suggest time outs etc and I am not sure I want to go that route. I hope there are some other ways.......Any suggestions?

i think that our dcs are too little to "get" time outs. especially for this kinda thing. impulse control is just so hard with this age. I think even if she knew what she were doing she'd have a hard time with telling herself to stop (does that make sense?).

smaller playdates? that'd be less sharing mama, fewer kiddos and easier for you to interject.


erin is a dream these days. We are just back from lake superior (1.5 miles from home). She was walking on the beach and then we put her feet in and she was screaming "i do it". She thinks she can swim. This can be problematic but fun.

Um she's also a talking machine.I'm loving it all except....she's nursing like a newborn. What's the deal? she had me used to 2-3 times per day and now we're looking at 8-10 times per day. Sigh. Developmental milestones come with the need for nursing right?

[eilonwy]

eli is also nursing like a newborn; in fact, he's doing it right now! :LOL i'm not sure if it's the age or the personality or the fact that he's got a new sister; with eli, i suspsect it's some combination of the three. what i do know is that around 10 months, when most other children were cutting back, eli still nursed like he was just getting started. when i lost my milk during the pregnancy, eli was still getting at least 70% of his calories from breastmilk.

which leads me to a question: is it reasonable for a child this age to live on breastmilk alone? i have a hard time getting eli to eat any but his favorite foods (fish, yogurt, and pediasure) and even when he will eat them, it's in very small quantities-- it's like he's saving room in his belly for the nursies. i'm fairly certain that if i didn't bother going through the agony of offering him food, he'd happily nurse all day long. i wouldn't even ask, except that it seems like he's losing some of the nice pediasure weight that he gained, and eli's never been a big guy. he was nearly 25 pounds and 33 inches tall, but I think he may have gotten taller and lost a little weight, because I can see his little ribs again.

[tea olive]

i have no helpful advice for the queries. my 3.5 lives almost completely on breastmilk. my kids hit - ruby too. it helps when they can talk more about what they want. prevention and intervention can help make an aggressive person into an assertive person. i just comfort myself that they won't be stepped on as adults and will have less psychological or physical problems since they can let it out.

[majazama]

casina... I'm assuming that you've been tandem nursing since Ruby was born? How was it for you when you first started? I'm so paranoid that my NB is getting enough, even though I have plenty of milk. I just wonder about the nutrient quantaties. Haeven would nurse like the NB if I let her.

[eilonwy]

Jas, I worried about that at first too.. for about five minutes, before I realized that Rivkah is gaining weight much faster than Eli did. I think Eli's incessant nursing has actually been very good for her; she's never had to work hard to get milk, it's always right there for her because Eli does all the hard work of bringing more milk in (he's much more efficient at it than she is). Rivkah can just sit back, relax, and drink, stopping whenever she feels like it. I don't have to worry about her not "emptying" a breast, because Eli will nurse on the side she was on after she's finished. It's almost like Eli's playing "clean up." :LOL

[tea olive]

yep, that beautifully sums it up! i also have designated each of them a certain breast and it stuck after awhile, about a month in? occasionally they will try the other one. but the breasts seem to accomodate them and now they prefer their side. clay's did seem richer at some point when i did check but now they are at about the same amount. i did the left and right thing actually more for the ease of slinging one side and just so that my arms knew where to go everytime. i also started something awhile back which was calling their set sleeping and my favorite position "first position" i got tired of tweaking at clay everytime how to lay. i often have to tickle and nudge them some and stand up if they are getting crazy, but when i tell them to get in first position generally they get right to it.. i just wish i had thought of a cleverer or sweeter name at the time.

i remember wondering about the nutritive qualities and realized that if anything, my milk was richer because of the older baby. my babies also get fat so fast and eat all the time and i have plenty of output to tend to to prove to me that they are fine....on the other side, i've finally lost alot of weight with tandem nursing for some reason. of course i'm mostly glad i'm skinnier. i have eaten all i want, all the richest stuff and then some for years now. it seems i cannot stop eating in general nursing two. i mean now that i'm not twice this size i know that these two are easily taking 1000 calories a day.

i also seem to recall that for my kids that the change in growth is the least from this age to three. just getting a little longer.