I've been just reading along for the past couple of weeks. It's just been busy busy busy around here. And between DH, DS and me we were sick for a week and a half. That was rough. It started with stomach bug for all of us, and DH had two migraines, and then DS got a cold after all of that. We were all exhausted and grouchy for far too long.
Anyway, regarding MILs. Oh boy... I'm pretty sure every other post I wrote from my first DDC had some complaint or another about my MIL. She's really not that bad but definitely has some quirks that make me crazy. My biggest frustration currently is that she thinks that however she raised her boys will be just fine for DS even if I specifically ask her to do something differently. The smaller things I just have to learn to let go because they're providing free childcare for us three days a week and she's not putting DS in danger or neglectful or abusive. But I get frustrated that she's so laid back about whether or not DS naps. Or, the time they took DS on a four hour outing and didn't bring any snacks and then she's complaining that he had a meltdown. Um yeah, he's two, he needs food! Advice... be as direct as possible. Mostly I make DS handle dealing with her. He's very good at being direct. And my MIL responds well to documented evidence so when I didn't want DS to be watching tv I brought her the guidelines that recommended no screen time for children under two.
At 2.5 I feel like we are just starting to get DS' sleep habits under control. He does sleep in a crib in his own room all night (8:00pm-7:00am). It took us a long time to get to that point. There were many months where DH or I would have to lie on the floor next to the crib for up to an hour while DS fell asleep. Then he would wake up several times at night since we weren't still there. I need sleep. In fact, for me to actually be well rested I need 9-10 solid hours with no interruptions. That almost never happens, but I do not do well on interrupted sleep so the first 2 years of DS' life were awful for me. My family lives in California so we go to visit at least once a year. We have made all major sleep transitions upon returning home from California trips. Since we are all usually messed up from jet lag I use that opportunity to reset DS' sleep schedule as needed. This has worked well for us. Naps have just started to get under control as well. What makes naptime hard is that DS is home with me for naps on Mondays and Sundays, at a baby-sitter's on Fridays, at my IL's for naps Tue, Wed, Thurs, and home with DH for nap on Saturday. Getting everyone to be consistent about process and time is very hard. I know some kids that are go with the flow, but DS handles everything better with a consistent routine and expectations. He's a lot like me in that way. :grin:
Potty training - well, we did that for the most part in September. DS has not had a poop accident since then, but I'm still struggling with him not peeing in his underwear. I wholeheartedly recommend going naked on bottom. What is happening now is that he doesn't recognize he needs to go, will pee just a bit in his underwear, tell me he's wet, then I take him to the bathroom and he'll go the rest of the way on his little potty. If he's naked on the bottom then he'll just go right to his potty. He's never peed on the floor. I think that I should have done the naked bottom thing for much longer at home, but the weather got cold and I worry about his poor little legs freezing. Except that when I get frustrated after so many months with him peeing in his underpants I make him take his pants off anyway. He is not night trained but refuses to wear a diaper so most mornings we're changing the sheets. I'm uncomfortable withholding liquids in the evenings because we're really big on staying well hydrated. One day I did put him down for nap with a naked bottom and he woke up during nap, told me he needed to pee, so I took him to the potty, he went pee, and then went back down for the rest of his nap. So that gives me hope. When it's not so cold out I'm going to have him go naked bottom all the time for nap and nighttime and see if we can't get this taken care of.
I finished watching Call the Midwife this weekend. I remember there was chat about it early on. I had a hard time watching it in the beginning because I actually found it depressing, but the series grew on me and I was sad when I got to the end.
I read Diary of a Midwife which was actually written by one of my midwife's professors. Her writing style was a bit abrupt, but I really enjoyed the stories in it. Then I started reading another natural birthing book but it was way too out there for me. I don't even remember what it was called but I was rolling my eyes constantly while reading it so I gave up.
Last Thursday DS' pre-school teacher told me she was concerned that one of his eyes wasn't aligning properly. DH and I have been watching closely and it does look like there may be something going on. So, we have an appointment with a pediatric opthalmologist on Thursday. Now that I'm aware of an issue Thursday seems so far away...
Other than that it's going to be a fun week. Tomorrow we're taking a group of 20 students to the Kennedy Center to see the Mariinksy Ballet and this weekend I'm taking a small group to the Finger Lakes region of NY to rehearse at a theater that has a raked stage. All dance all the time!