[marieangela]

Hello all.
It seems it's been a while since we had a Jan 2003 thread going, so I thought I'd start one.

Desmond will be two on Friday and has got quite the little personality. He is starting to put words together for sentences and is rather demanding (but in a very cute way). Lights on/off, radio on/off, phone back, door close, lid on and such are common phrases that I hear. He doesn't like things to be out of place and often either hands things to me to put away or asks if he can throw things in the garbage (i.e. pieces on lint from his shirt and such). I'm thinking I really ought to get more organized so I don't drive him crazy. His "please" and "thank you" just melt my heart. He's just got the cutest way of saying them. It really is nice to see him communicating better. We've been lucky with not having tantrums yet (crossing my fingers). He does still bite, though.

He loves to dance, which usually involves running in circles. Still loves trains, trucks, cars, balls and books. We got him a train table and set for Christmas and he just loves it. He's funny, though. We got him on video just walking into the dining room, going right up to the train and saying "train". He just started playing with it and said "choo choo". No real surprise or big excitement. Kind of hard to explain. He opened gifts very methodically, tearing off little bits of paper and handing them to someone or putting them in a bag-nothing could touch the floor and then just started playing with or reading his gifts. Got me wondering- were other two-year-olds running around and yelling and brimming with excitement? He kind of reminds me of myself, I just take things as they come and am not overly emotional (okay, I often don't show much emotion at all), but that doesn't mean that I don't often really enjoy things or get happy.

I could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up. Ds is still nursing. He calls it "meh!" always with that exclamation point. When he nurses to sleep he can be pretty well out of it but always pops up and says "ah side". Can't go to sleep without that other side.

I'm interested to hear what all the other Jan. toddlers have been up to...

 

[Evergreen]

Hi, marie!

I can't beleive the second birthdays are upon us! Dylan will be two on the twentieth.

She is speaking in paragraphs and she really loves to sing songs. Old Mc Donald Had a farm is her favorite. In her version Old MCDOnald has gorillas, witches, lawnmowers and mommies on his farm along with the usual cows, ducks and pigs! Seh also really loves Jingle Bells.

We have been playing with a wooden memory game set. I swear she has a photographic memory! She will find at least three matches to every one that I find. The only problem is she hates it when her turn is over.

Unless we are active all day- going to the park and running around outside she has given up her nap. That just started this week and I was not at all prepared. If she burns up lots of energy during the day though, liek today, she will sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon.

She only wears diapers at night now, but is nursing more and more. I am thinking about night weaning her. I don't really know how though, so I might not. I want to get pregnant in about 9 months, and so I would like to go ahead and ovulate again plus have a short time of no night nursing.

She likes counting to twenty, but has no desire to learn what numbers look like, however seh recently has taken an interest in identifying letters. She can also spell her name.

Seh is still pretty petite at 25.5 pounds with skinny little legs and chubby cheeks! Check out the link in my sig for some pix of my pixie!

 

[Daffodil]

Good idea! Thanks for starting the thread.

Lindy is also big on putting things away in their places. We had a mini-Christmas with MIL and BIL a few days before the real one, and Lindy was quite excited about opening presents then - she squealed with delight over every one. On the real Christmas, she was interested, but not nearly as excited.

She's still nursing, but not during the night. She's been nightweaned for maybe three weeks now, and it was the easiest thing in the world! I just tried not nursing her when she woke up, thinking I'd see how it went and maybe let her cry on and off for ten minutes or so, but then if I couldn't calm her down in that time, I wouldn't push it. And as it turned out, she didn't cry at all! So far, she still wakes up two or three times most nights, but she goes back to sleep quickly.

She knows how to do somersaults and catch a ball (sometimes.) And here's the coolest thing she can do: one of her Christmas presents was a set of rhyming game cards - they have pictures labelled with words, and you're supposed to match up the rhyming ones, like "goose" and "moose." Lindy understood the idea right away, and she can actually do it! (By looking at the pictures, of course - she's not reading yet!) It's especially impressive to see her do this, because she can't pronounce any of the words. The way she says them, "bee" and "bed" sound the same, and so do "tree" and "truck," but she knows "tree" rhymes with "bee" and "truck" rhymes with "duck" and "bed" rhymes with "sled." I don't even have to say the words out loud - she must say them to herself and hear them correctly in her head, even if she can't come close to pronouncing them correctly.

Speech still seems to be a struggle for her, so we decided to give early intervention a call and see if there was anything we should be doing to help her. We're waiting for the speech pathologist to call and schedule an appointment.

 

[Evergreen]

Very cool!

I have noticed that when we are listening to a song that D has never heard before but wants to pretend like she knows she will sing the last word of everyline, and the rhymes help her to hazzard guesses to what the song may actually be going to say.

It is very funny.

 

[Island Mommy]

Well, have not been on mothering.com in ages but do miss this thread most of all so here's my attempt at getting it up and going again.

DD is so much fun and so much work all at the same time! Actually, compared to the other kids we see I think I'm having an easy time of it. She's usually pretty even-tempered but there can be times....like when my dh put 3 pieces of pasta on her fork when she only wanted one, then refused to take the extra pieces off. She started yelling, then wanted out of her chair, then wanted to climb on my lap, then wanted on dh's lap, then ran into the bathroom and wanted to brush her teeth (?), all the while crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. We couldn't understand a word she was saying. She did eventually she came back to the table and get into her chair, though.

She talks a blue streak now...never stops. Loved her gymnastics class (I thought she wouldn't) hated her music/crafts class (I thought she would love it). Is an incredibly picky eater (I should never have said "I'll never have a picky eater". Hah! As if I have any say in the matter).

Still nursing LOTS during the day and I'm feeling like weaning might be part of our near(?) future. I don't know how I'm going to deprive her of something she loves so much though. Also, there are times when I do still enjoy it, but when we're out in public and she's screaming "nursey, nursey" and tearing at my shirt is not one of them.

She recognizes about 8 letters now and picks them out all over the place...in books, on license plates, on billboards, etc. She's started reciting numbers up to about 12 but has not really grasped the concept of counting yet. We also have a rhyming book with about 4 words on each page (e.g. fish on a dish, mole in a hole, moose on the loose, etc.) and she can go through and recite almost the entire book. But never when anyone else is around of course.

Potty training is going nowhere. She refuses to use the potty and has pooped in the bath about 5 times!! She had never done that before. Last night she got out of the tub and asked me to put her diaper on. I asked if she would use the potty but she refused so I put her diaper on. She pooped, we took it off and back into the tub she got. I guess I should be glad she didn't go in the tub but I can't figure out why she is so adamant about not using the potty. We did EC with her until she was 8 months old and I rarely changed a poopy diaper. Then at 8 months she cried so much when we held her over the pot that we just gave up on EC. I had hoped that the early EC might lead to early potty training but that is obviously not the case.

Enough from me for now. News from others?

 

[Daffodil]

Thanks for reviving the thread, Island Mommy!

Lindy is lots of fun these days, too, even though she's also less cooperative. Right around the time she turned two, she got a lot less willing to do what we wanted, and a lot more likely to get really upset when things don't go exactly the way she wants. But she's finally beginning to talk pretty well, which is cool.

Just before she turned two, she was diagnosed with dyspraxia (motor planning problems that make it hard to string sounds together.) But then she suddenly started making such fast progress with speech that we stopped seeing the speech therapist almost as soon as we started. Her speech still isn't what you'd call fluent, but in just a couple of months, she's gone from rarely putting two words together to saying whole sentences using past tense and pronouns and words like "because," "while," "instead of," or "used to be." She can use he/she/they and her/him/their correctly, but she mostly uses "you" to mean herself and "me" to mean me. My niece did the same thing, so I guess it must be a common toddler mistake.

We've been doing EC since she was a baby, and in the last month she's finally gotten to the point where she'll consistently let us know when she needs to go and we don't have to worry about accidents any more.

These days she loves playing in the bath, playing with coins, and pretending to be various things. And being read to, of course. I discovered the other day that she has about a zillion nursery rhymes memorized. She never recites them herself, but if I say one and pause to let her fill in a word or phrase, she can almost always do it.

So, anyone else out there?

 

[Mama2Chloe]

Hi! I just stumbled upon this thread. I've been spending most of my time at LWAB with my Feb 05 mamas. Juggling two has been a real challenge. I've been trying to make a point to do fun things with Chloe every morning. We go to the playgrounds around our neighborhood, blow bubbles in the backyard, color with crayons or sidewalk chalk, etc. Recently, she loves to use safety scissors and cut paper. I usually draw some shapes and we go over them and she cuts around them. She knows circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, heart, and sometimes diamond. I need to get some paint. She was over at a friend's house and had a ball painting.

Potty training was going really good. She really got interested in Jan. She got to the point that if she was naked from the waist down, she would have very few accidents. Then in the past few days, she has gone to having more accidents than successes, so we're taking a break. We've had a lot of changes around here lately with the new baby and company coming and going.

Don't have much time to write more. Chloe is nursing on my lap and Sofia is getting fussy. Take care!

Tricia

 

[Arien]

I'm a Jan. 2003 Mama!
My son was born Jan. 4th, 2003! What a happy new year that was!

He's a lovely toddler now, so sweet and loving. Seems like yesterday he was a just a little newborn, it's so weird but I seem to think that his personality was evident to me as much back then as it is now!

 

[Island Mommy]

Annelise has to do everything herself now. Getting dressed is a nightmare. I really believe in the theory of not forcing your children to do things, but the reality can be quite challenging!

She loves to put on her big girl underpants and pull them down, sit on the toilet, wipe her bum with toilet paper and flush the toilet....again and again and again. Note that she never actually pees though.

When she does pee in her underpants she pulls them down and squats down when she's outside...now if I could just figure out how to get her to do that before she pees!

She's trying to use her scissors. She's got the hang of it but she usually starts with them upside down. What an amazing amount of coordination is required though. It's quite something to watch the concentration in her face.

Thought I'd try her with a video on animal babies from the library. She watched for about 5 minutes but then lost interest. She was much more interested in turning the tv on and off. (She doesn't, as yet, watch any tv).

It's Mom's Group tomorrow. I really enjoy our gatherings but the girls (4 between 18 and 27 months) are all doll-crazy and there are constant scraps over who's using which doll. Annelise loves seeing the other girls but is usually in tears within 1/2 hour of getting there. Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

 

[Evergreen]

April 29

Hi everyone! I was thinking that maybe if we changed the title of this thread and included the Feb. mommas it would be more active.

Annelise has to do everything herself now. Getting dressed is a nightmare. I really believe in the theory of not forcing your children to do things, but the reality can be quite challenging!

I know! It is so cute though, when Dylan goes into her room and comes out fully dressed with everything on backwards, inside out, and not matching whatsoever!

She loves to put on her big girl underpants and pull them down, sit on the toilet, wipe her bum with toilet paper and flush the toilet....again and again and again.

Dylan has to have her square to toilet paper the perfect size. She gets very upset if it isn't a 'baby peice.'

Unfortunately, now that I am back in school - nak- she has become obsessed with movies, She melts down frequently when she is with her dad, and that is how she likes to be comforted.

 

[Daffodil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evergreen Hi everyone! I was thinking that maybe if we changed the title of this thread and included the Feb. mommas it would be more active.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I think I've seen some pretty long Feb 2003 threads in the past.

Lindy is also starting to insist on doing things for herself, but mainly just things she already knows she can do. She's not too interested in trying new things, like putting her clothes on. She did just learn to put her own jacket on, using the method where we lay it on the floor and she puts her arms in the sleeves and flips it up over her head, and she's very proud of that. Other than that, she can take her socks off, and that's about it as far as dressing and undressing herself. But I'm going to start trying to encourage her to work on some other stuff, like pulling her pants up and down.

Lindy likes going to playgroup, and story time at the library, but she doesn't interact too much with the other kids. She's often pretty intimidated by them, and if another kid grabs something from her, she's likely to just let them do it and not even complain.

 

[Evergreen]

Dylan likes story time. We stopped doing play groups in November becasue she was too on edge at them, but I think she is ready again. She used to be a toy snatcher, but doesn't do it anymore unless someone takes it from her.

She could stay outside forever if I let her.

 

[jogirl]

Anna is doing so much better in the eating department - it took us so long to get past her food aversion. She's still hooked to her bottle though and since it took us so long to get her to willingly drink anything - I am hesitant to push it away just yet. We had a new arrival in March - a homebirth of our little boy - and Anna adjusted beautifully, which I totally didn't expect! She's accepted her little brother and likes to take baths with him. Otherwise, she's counting to twenty or thirty (thirty with daddy) in english and to 10 in spanish. She's got her shapes and colors down great. She graduated a while back from board books to full out story books (golden books, curious george, clifford, and other classics). She can sing her alphabet and knows most of the phonics sounds. She loves letters and to have us spell things - especially with her foam letters in the bathtub. She's just started to draw things and tell me what they are (good thing! cuz there's no way I would guess what she says they are!! - although her spider was pretty good once I knew that's what it was!

). She's finally figured out doorknobs and is gettting better at undressing herself (finally figured out socks and pants). She talks ALL THE TIME - nonstop. Even when falling asleep. She's non-stop motion and mouth. Full sentences - but her annunciation isn't so good, so only me, dh and my sister really understand her. She was a major separation anxiety case as a baby and is now really coming out of her bubble and being friendly to people. She's a true intravert though and needs to home and alone with her toys to recharge.

Potty training is going. I'm not pushing it, but I let her go if she wants. She likes to go before nap once and before bed twice. That's pretty much all she's interested in. She's pretty quick about it now. She stills drentches her diaper at nap and overnight.

Her favorite things are reading books, watching Dora the Explorer

, playing with her small toy figures (she has an amazing imagination), running outside, going to parks, and jumping. Her favorite foods are green beans, pasta, eggs, toast (jelly), pancakes with syrup, ice cream sandwiches, and chicken nuggets.

It's so neat to watch her grow into a small child and leave the baby things behind. I can't believe she's two years old and a big sister! It's even more sad to realize that she'll never remember life as it was with just her and me. She's always remember life with her brother around and not those special 2 years just me and her shared.

 

[Mama2Chloe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jogirl It's so neat to watch her grow into a small child and leave the baby things behind. I can't believe she's two years old and a big sister! It's even more sad to realize that she'll never remember life as it was with just her and me. She's always remember life with her brother around and not those special 2 years just me and her shared.

I totally agree. It is sad to think that she won't remember those precious first two years.

We are on day 4 with no dipes (except at night) She has done great! If we go more than 15 min down the road, we bring her potty chair with us just in case she needs us to stop. Needless to say, this milestone was a great Mother's Day present from her. Not having two in diapers is wonderful. There is still a mountain of dipe laundry, but at least it's pretty much only from Sofia.

We started Gymnastic today and Chloe LOVED it!!!! The only hard part for her was leaving. It was cool seeing her in a group instructional setting. I was surprised at how well she followed direction. We don't do many play groups...mostly just a couple or so play dates a week.

Take care!

Tricia

 

[marieangela]

I haven't contributed to this thread in a while. I'm definitely noticing that most of the Jan '03 toddlers are girls. Ds is not into potty training. He tends to like to pee standing up before his bath, but can take it or leave it any other time. I'm not pushing it. I hear there is often regression after a new baby comes, so I'm not in a big hurry to train him now and have things slide in a few months.
Ds is excited about baby brother, but I'm not sure how he'll react when baby brother is actually here. He seems pretty lazy compared to all of your girls. He can eat on his own but figures "why bother" if someone else will do it for him. I would just put food in front of him and let him eat what he will, but he is on the small side and I know that he'll eat more if I help him, so I do. He's not big on taking off or putting on clothes yet, but he can open doors, locks included. I guess that's more of a means to an end for him. He could care less whether he switches to pajamas before bed, but when he wants to go outside, he wants to go outside. Anyway, I'm hoping he'll be a bit more independent by the time the new baby arrives.
Basically, he loves to read and to be outside. He likes to actually walk on walks now instead of riding on my back or in a stroller. He loves to kick balls around, go to the park, play with water and just run around outside.
I won't ramble on forever. One last things, though, is that he is shy. I'm not surprised because I was a shy child and am a shy adult. When strangers talk to him he turns and licks me. When there are a lot of kids at the park, he hangs back and watches rather than joining in and playing. He also takes a while to warm up in situations that are new to him. I don't think these things are bad, but I don't seem to run into to many children his age that act in similar ways.

 

[Daffodil]

One of Lindy's favorite activities these days is wrapping loops of string or rope around various toys and other objects, and then using the string to lift or drag them. She'll spend an amazingly long time patiently trying over and over again to pick something up without the string slipping off. I asked my sister whether all 2-year-olds were equally fascinated by that kind of thing, and she said she didn't think most parents of 2-year-olds let them play with strings and pieces of rope. I guess it's not really the safest toy, but she's pretty much never alone, so I think it's okay. She's gotten better about entertaining herself, but she still always wants one of us in the same room with her.

She's really into having us tell her stories these days, too. She's starting to demand them so often it's getting a little annoying. But when I haven't already told several in a row and run out of ideas, it's pretty fun to make one up and see how much she enjoys hearing it.

 

[marieangela]

Ah, I had forgotten about storytelling. I tell Desmond about past trips that we've been on, my brother's upcoming wedding, the farmer's market and such before he goes to sleep now that he is weaned. He says "keep talking" anytime I fade away or run out of things to say. I'm not much of a talker, so this is a bit of challenge for me!

 

[Evergreen]

I love it!

 

[hottmama]

I've never seen this thread before! Yay for January 2003 babies. I'm having a rough time right now, with Julian being so needy. He is fully potty trained, runs and talks like crazy, and seems like such a big kid, but he still cries a lot and nurses multiple times an hour. It's hard to deal when he's being babyish, and I'm so irritable (especially because pregnancy is killing my nipples!). Do other 27 mo. olds still cry and throw tantrums a lot? It's diving me nuts!

 

[jogirl]

crying? tantrums? -- oh yeah.
Anna loves to scream and throw little fits if I don't respond the way she wants or if something catches her off guard. Most of the time I try to give her words to express herself to take away the screaching, but sometimes she just likes to push buttons. Whining's pretty popular too.