Sept 2004 Mamas - Welcome to Toddlerhood! - Page 3

[Subhuti]

Welcome Alia, you'll love this group of moms. Are you the youngest mama here?

Holli- I can't believe Mari's vocab!! Fifty words!! And she's bilingual. You gotta smartie.

Lulu's really loving "na" these days. It's her delicate version of "no" -- always said in a soft gentle tone, with perfect expectation of my crumbling to whatever she wants or doesn't want...

Liz

[maylea_moon]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the welcomes. I noticed earlier people were talking about their toddlers talking. Rowan says a few things, mama, dada, no, bite, ni ni (night night) and dog. This morning was really funny because he said something new. I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he replied with, "No way". Hehehe.

Does anyone have pets? Cats specifically? My husband and I got 2 kittens a week ago, they're really mellow but I don't think Rowan really understands that they're living creatures. Today he picked one up my it's fur. The cat didn't seem to care but I'm trying to teach him how to be gentle with them. Any suggestions?

Jen - Being a mom at 21 has been good so far. In ways it's hard because most of my friends aren't even married yet let alone thinking about kids. But that's the only thing hard about it, that I can't really relate completely to my friends from highschool when it comes to being a mom. I do have my sister though, she's 18 and has a 21 month old. We talk on the phone every single day for at least an hour. Rowan was planned, I just knew I was ready. I didn't feel "absolutely ready" but I'm not sure if anyone ever does I felt confident.

Becca - We're planning on TTC #2 around Feb. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is being bit by the baby bug!

[veganbaby]

Welcome Ali! I love the name Rowan. Most of our friends aren't married either. I'm 26 though and most of them are older than me. They're still in the party and barhopping scene.

Jen, Here is an exceprt
From: INFACT Canada
Subject: ACTION ALERT - UNICEF Withdrawing Support for the
International
Code!

Anne Veneman recently took over the post of the Executive Director of
the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), but has already
made some startling changes to the organization. Veneman, who was picked by President Bush for the position, has announced that UNICEF will no longer provide legal assistance for governments in order to enact the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into national
legislation. Since the International Code was passed in 1981, UNICEF
has helped 64 countries legislate some form of the Code, and 23 additional countries now have similar laws pending. The withdrawal of UNICEF's support in this process seriously damages the ability of any further nations to pass the International Code into law.

A lack of strong legal measures controlling the marketing of breastmilk
substitutes puts infants and young children at risk and will surely
impede the achievement of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of reducing global infant mortality by two thirds by 2015. This decision by Veneman clearly runs counter to UNICEF's mandate of protecting the health of infants and young children the world over.
Veneman's action is all the more disheartening because of her links to
major food companies. Before becoming Secretary of Agriculture under George W. Bush, she served on the International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food and Trade, a group funded in part by Nestle, the world's largest baby food manufacturer and the greatest single violator of the
International Code.

While many doubt that Veneman's experience as a corporate lawyer for
major food companies qualified her to head UNICEF, unfortunately she has already been appointed and the international community will have to do its best to cooperate. This is a drastically important issue and urgent action is needed.

Sorry its long. We don't know when we want to start TTC. I hear you too on getting them to sleep.

Savannah, sorry about your unsupportive family. I just plug my ears when I go see my family. My inlaws are suportive with whatever I do fortunately. Although sometimes MIL can be annoying. She tells me tomorrow is going to be cold so make sure that Desi wears a jacket. Okay...its going to be 60. That's not exactly cold. Desi will sweat in a jacket.

Desi has taken to shake her head or nodding her head. Its so cute. I have no clue where she picked it up from, but I guess we did it without thinking. She does it when she is eating usually so we know if she wants to take a drink or take a bite. She also started saying bite too. Today though I told her to put away her crayons and she shook her head no. Her first protest.

[HeatherB]

Welcome, Alia! I also know what you mean about being so different from your peers now. I married my DH when I was 18 (yes, I admit it! and he was a week past 27! ), and we found out we were expecting our first DS on our 2 year anniversary. So he was born when I was 21, and Iain was born when I was 23. (What I really can't believe is that I'll be *25* in just a couple of months!) Thankfully we were able to connect with a group of other young marrieds at our church - the "Young Marrieds" group quickly became the "Young Marrieds with Babies!" group. :LOL So we actually have friends with children from a year older than our DS down to a few months younger than Iain. But friends from school? Eek. No commonality now at all!! Anyhow, welcome!! I hope you enjoy this friendly group.

Savannah, I was once again telling someone today about what an awesome mom you are. This was with a girl who's just found out she's pg and her DH tells her she's having twins! You're most definitely a role model for me and many others, I know! I know it must be very tough having family be so unsupportive, but you are definitely doing the right stuff - what YOU believe is best for your family!

I can't believe how many words these babies (toddlers!) are saying! And, Holli, Mari is just one amazing kid!! Wow!!

Iain signs milk, more, and eat, and understands "more" in multiple contexts. He says "mama," (mommy and/or milk) "dada," "papa," "duh" (duck)... not sure if there are more. He waves "hi" and will wave at the phone and say "papa," meaning he wants to say hi to Papa on the phone! Very cute. We gave him an old cell phone to play with so he'd stop trying to steal ours! :LOL

My mom is headed to Cincinnati tomorrow to be with my grandmother for what may be open heart surgery - an aortic bypass. Hopefully this will be very helpful and she'll be able to continue on with only mild problems. I certainly appreciate any prayers for her surgery on Friday!

Oh, and I don't know if I'd mentioned it here, but I'm having an Open House for Stampin' Up! on Saturday. I'm offering 10% off orders, so if anyone needs anything, let me know!

[Marimami]

:LOL Liz, she's only up to about 30 words, not quite 50 yet, but she has added some new ones this week.

Ali, we have 4 cats and Mari is just now at the point that she understands "gentle". We have spent a lot of time holding her hand and showing her how to gently pet the kitties. Every time she goes near them we say "be gentle with the kitties." She sometimes gets so excited and bangs on them too hard, and has had a few scratches for it! But, in the past couple of weeks she has really gotten better, and one of our cats and she are really starting to bond. Mari was giving her kisses the other day. So cute.

UNICEF is officially opposed to international adoption so although I respect many of their efforts for children. I cannot support an organization that is so politically organized against international adoption. Their official stance is that children should remain in their home countries. That is simply not a realistic solution for many of these children, and it also implies a rather narrow-minded viewpoint of what it means to be a citizen of the "world". I'll refrain from going too much off the deep end on this issue, but it is causing significant issues with Guatemalan adoptions right now.

Holli

[leomom]

Alia, I have been working with Kate on being gentle with our dogs. When she goes to pet them (or Grab them!) I model for her by gently petting them or stroking them and saying, "gentle." I think I learned that from someone else in our group...anyway, it's working pretty well. Now when she goes to touch them, I can say gentle and she does her version of gentle.

Savannah, I'm so sorry you're having a hard time with ILs. I can relate, but for different reasons. It's hard to go against the grain, but you have us!

[PaytonsMom]

I had geckos before Payton came but got rid of them when he was about a month. Just too much to care for with a baby too. They were getting neglected *blush* But my brother has a dog (a boxer mutt) and she and Payton play very nice together. Payton is a very calm baby and easy going just like me. So that probably helps.

And we too are bit by the bug again. After our m/c we determined it was probably too soon to try again, so we're waiting (impatiently) for January.

[jilly]

Hello! Well, I am typing quickly on my friend's ibook, and totally envying it. we're doing well here and having fun. my friend Sharon also has a one year old and they were fine for the first day or so, but now they're fighting over toys and hitting and its a bit crazy. I don't know how you do it Savannah! '

Well, just thought l'd stop in and say hi. Jill

\\

[banana girl]

Here's the photos from the apple orchard trip. picturesI finally got the computer to behave!

So, i'm going out of town for the weekend. My grandmother is having her 90th birthday party on sunday. My mother, (my sister and my nephew) and (Mielle and I) are going up on Friday and will spend the weekend with some of my cousins who also have babies / toddlers. It should be a intimate time spent with women and children, I'm looking forward to it. The rest of the family will arrive on sunday for the "official" festivities.

someone was asking about Mielle's Yoda onesie... it was through Hot Topic They have a bunch of unusual baby clothes. It was sooo hard choosing which one to get!

Welcome Alia! I too have cats and recently had a kitten (we found a home for Bosco the kitten) and Mielle was very excited about the kitten. She was and is pretty used to our adult cats, they generally give her a wide berth but snuggle up to her when she sleeps. But the Kitten! Oh my! He was so energetic and they played together awfully rough! I found a home for him, because I wanted him to get more attention than I can currently spare. so, we found a young college student who has one cat and wants to try another. We told her we would take him back if there was any problems... anyway, i digress. We tell her to be gentle and pet the cats in front of her. Lately she has been hitting a lot and I've taken to removing her from arm's reach of whatever she's hitting... abrubtly and saying "no hit". It wouldn't have worked with Bosco though, he just Chased her around!

Hang in there Savannah, I'm so sorry you aren't getting the support you deserve. Keep up your faith, you know you are doing the right thing.

I must say Mielle seems to have VERY developed language skills. She uses 3 word sentences such as "I see dogee" and "take a bath". I recently wrote in my blog about her favorite words... o.k. so I was bragging about her, but it's true! She probably has about 50 words in her vocabulary and about 10 are in spanish! In addition, she makes about 15 sound effects, such as animal noises, and mimics many sounds. It's really cool when she does it around other people. I call it "dropping a language bomb" it makes people stop in their tracks and ask me, "Did she just say____?" I'm so proud of her!

Jen, tell sistermama Sarah Hi from us! sorry I can't join in on the fun this weekend, seeing as how I've got the Grandma thing to do!

Well, i need to go home and pack for our trip, better skeedaddle!

Love to all

[Mama Bear]

Heather - I got married to my dh when I was 18 also.
My ds was born when I was 23. I guess I am one of the younger one's around here?!?!

Anna - your dd has such a beautiful smile!

[FeministFatale]

Seems like we might have our fair share of younguns' around here. I'm 27, had my older dd at 22, and had LaRue at 26. I got married at 22, when Chloë was 3 mo. old which was quite a different experience than most. Right before the wedding I sprayed about a gallon of milk into the sink in the bathroom. Chloë wouldn't nurse and I was really nervous and both of those together equaled a whole LOT of milk being hand expressed out of my boobs about 5 minutes before I walked down the aisle. I barely even had to do anything with my hands, milk was literally shooting out of my breasts on it's own. At the end of this month we will be celebrating our eight year anniversary, and 5 year wedding anniversary.

Umm, I forgot everything else I had wanted to write about....

[Yo Becca]

Anna - love the pix - especially the happy family shots. They'd make great holiday cards!

We showed Robin to pat the kitty/dog and said to be "gentle and sweet" - she's still pretty good at being genlte except her 2 bad habits - fisting her hands in the cat's hair and trying to grab the dog's tail (in her defense, it's so tempting when he wags it). Of course, I always warn the dog when she's heading his way so she won't surprise him.

Had another community meeting with the evil WalMart people tonight - and now there's another city council meeting on the issue on Tuesday. I was just on the news. This stupid old man was also onthe news calling all of us who came out in opposition "a handful of environmentalists" : And now the next story is on a local job fair where jobseekers can't find jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Gosh, obviously WalMart would solve that problem, right? Grrrrr....

Heather: hope your grandmother's medical procedures go well!

On the toddler note, I took Robin to the grocery store today and she insisted on riding int he giant truck cart - the kind that look like a big truck and have seats with steering wheels. Boy, I was running into everything in that behemoth, but she was entertained andhappy for the whole trip! And today we were nursing, and she popped off, looked me int he eye, pointed to my nipple and said "Robin Juice" - then latched back on. She did it agian later. I tried to teach her that it's mame juice, but she thinks that's hilarious. It was very sweet and cute.

Alright, gotta get to bed.

Oh yeah, DH and I started dating 3 weeks before I turned 17 . But we didn't get married until we were 24, and I had RObin when I was 26 (turning 27) - 2 weeks after our 10 year anniversary. I don't think I would have been comfortable getting married any younger. In fact, DH asked me if I would marry him when we were 19, but it was theoretical. I told him I wouldn't answer theoretial questions like that so he said, okay will you marry me. I said no. He told me I was mean and that he'd never ask me again. So, 4 years later he set up this incredibly romantic picnic in the park for an outdoor showing of North By Northwest, and during hte movie he slipped an engagement ring on my finger (which took me over and hour to notice and was a complete surprise) - but he never asked me to marry him and I had to pop the question later than night. I think we are so much stronger for having matured together, and we had the luxury of taking things slowly. My single friends feel like relationships have to progress much quicker when you start them post-25.

[veganbaby]

Anna~ Those are great pictures! You two look alot alike! Look at all those teeth. Looks like her and Desi have the same amount of hari though. wow about the vocab.

We too are teaching Desi to do "gentle touches" She loves petting Wasabi.

Heather, I hope your grandfather's surgery goes well. Keep us posted.

I was unaware of UNICEF's views on international adoption. I'm beginning to wonder if we should just collect for some other organization now.

[maylea_moon]

Hi everyone. Not doing so good today. I found out that my only living grandfather passed away this morning. It's especially hard because it wasn't expected. To make a long story short, he was having a lot of pain and was very malnourished because he never had an appetite. (weighed 73 lbs). The doctors gave him some pain meds and told him he really needs to start eating so he tried to eat but was too loopy from the medication and choked at home in his bed. I don't know if it's really sunk in yet.

Heather - I'm glad I have another person on this board who was a young mom and knows what it's like to have highschool friends who can't relate. I love my friends but sometimes I feel like the outcast.

Veganbaby - I think my son has a great name too It was the only one DH and I would agree on.

Holli - Aw, I think Rowan is starting to bond with Sebastian or maybe it's the other way around. Our girl kitty Belle stays away from him but Sebastian follows him everywhere, even though Rowan's harassing him all the time.

Leomom - That's what I've been trying to do, telling him to be gentle and show him how to pet. I think he'll catch on soon.

Amber - Looks like we'll be TTC around the same time We're planning on February to start again. I know how you feel about impatiently waiting. I feel the same way. The only thing that keeps me from trying right now is reminding myself how miserable it was being in my 3rd trimester in the sweltering heat while I was pregnant with Rowan. We're hoping our next child is born between November and March.

Becca - Wal-Mart...oh what a terrible place! Believe it or not I actually worked at that hell on earth for a few months while I was pg.

[lucysmom]

missed you all!!

We've been traveling the past few weeks and it has been hard to get online. So fun to read about all the toddler accomplishments, though I missed the last few pages in Sept. and I didn't hear about Thor's troubles, for instance -- so sorry he was poorly ...

Lucy is walking independently as of this trip (hotels and in-laws' houses with carpets are always good for milestones like that) and learning lots of words. She can say eyes, ice (loves ice), 'orse (for horse -- MIL has horses so she got to visit them every day), dog, dad, mom, up, down, this, that, wawa (water), and a new favorite, "boop," which means poop, and is said with a grin & usually when one has been taken.

Off to catch our plane; it will be good to be home & see the doggies (L calls all dogs "As" now -- one of our dogs is named Astro). I'll be back here this weekend. Warm greetings to all!

[jilly]

Wow, you guys have chatty babies! Andrew was saying about 15 words (including "boob" and "orange"), but he has now stopped and will only say "oh" and "ah". I don't know what that's all about, but he was the same with rolling over and crawling and clapping . .. he does something for a week or so, then we don't see it for another 2 or 3 months. Crazy child.

Our cat is very shy of everyone but me and, strangely enough, Andrew. She likes to come and cuddle when we're nursing. And for a while when andrew was younger I had him trained to pat her nicely on the side. But right now he's obsessed with eyes and noses. Let's just say Beckett is not too pleased with being poked inthe eyes many times a day, so now she runs away from him.

Dave and I also got married at 18 after a 10 months courtship. But we waited 10 years to have Andrew becuase we were both in school, and he took forever to decide what he wanted to do with his life, and someone had to make a wage while he kept going back to school. I am 30 in 15 days. Yikes, where did the time go!

Well, Andrew is ready for bed, I think. We're back home, by the way. It was fun to be away and share childcare and housework and cooking with someone else, but its nice to be home, too. Although Andrew has been more screamy at home than he was at Sharon's house. I think its because he's more comfortable. Sigh. night, night all.

[Yo Becca]

Originally Posted by jilly

I am 30 in 15 days. Yikes, where did the time go!

I feel the same! Today i was at a new high school and a student said "are you out of college" and I laughed and said "yep, grad school too." and he said I looked like a college student. I was like "oh, bless you!" I have been feeling so old and fuddy-duddy since robin was born. I think mostly b/c we don't go out anymore, it's so hard to be spontaneous, and of course I'm a mom now. Between moving and mommihood, I really miss hanging out with friends. And I'm trying to put together a playgroup, but the challenge will be finding time when we can get together, considering that we all put our families' need first, and they vary. But it's getting easier now that robin's older - and of course we're planning another one

We went out to eat tonight - only to spend the whole time chasing RObin. ANybody else with a toddler who won't sit down for meals, even with toys, books, etc? She's a little better at home, b/c we sit, eat, then she's up. But at restaurants she's a wild child. We mostly don't bother, but it would be nice to have options. :LOL

[FeministFatale]

Leomom ~ I got the beautiful keepsake today!! I'm over the moon about it, it's just simple beautiful And I didn't even imagine that you could make it so that I can just hang it right up, I was thinking that it would be a scrapbooked type page that I would frame and hang up. I love how you did that. You should definitely put that service in your site for those of us who don't scrapbook, but would like something so pretty and meaningful hanging up in the house. And the colors and everything are perfect. I can think of no better background than lime green with white polkadots and then with the pink, it's just perfect. Thanks again, I'm already thinking of other keepsakes I want you to do for me. You've got yourself a new regular customer :LOL And no, I don't mind if you put it on your site. Thanks again, this is going to be a very treasured keepsake

[AugustineM]

Hi All,

Well, I'm pregnant. Just took a test. Can't really believe it yet... it's quite a bit earlier than we were planning. I feel really nervous, especially considering that Thor slept like 4 hours last night and spent the rest of the night crying and wanting to nurse CONSTANTLY (OUCH).

Still needs to sink in a bit. EDD June 3... DH's Bday.

[veganbaby]

Congrats Augustine! How exciting!

Stacey, I didn't know that you made keepsakes stuff. Do you have a website?

I still hate looking young for my age. When I was pregnant with Desi (I was very big) one guy asked me if I wanted a kid's menu. So even in pregnancy I look young.

Desi is the same way about learning skills. She is very tenative about doing something. She took her first step the day before her bday and then waited a week later to take some more. She is still very slow on walking. She will take a few steps and sit down.
She did say, "No" today. She thinks its a game though because I said it to Wasabi and Wasabi would look and me and bark. So Desi got a kick of saying No and making Wasabi run around the room.

Sorry about your lost of your grandfather, Alia. Hugs.