Adventure, baby!

Toddler

The Edge of Three

/ Family, Kids / 10 Comments

The Edge of Three via akissgoodnight.co

Age two started out sweet. Big smiles, mispronounced first words and learning to run. But somewhere over the past ten months, sweet two turned into challenging-almost-three. It’s truly an age of split personalities—easy going, joyful and happy one minute, then devastated, howling, and limp noodle on the floor the next. This age is hair-pullingly frustrating, and heart-meltingly beautiful, all bundled together. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of this challenging age:

Meltdowns over nothing
You didn’t cut the crusts off the sandwich—cue meltdown. You DO cut the crusts off—cue another meltdown. The thrashing tantrums come hard and fast with no warning.

Toilet training
This isn’t fun, and it takes a lot longer than three days for most children. It’s frustrating and hard for the whole family, and something best avoided until you feel it’s absolutely time to be done with diapers.

Food wars
Suddenly your “I’ll eat anything” kid, who shoveled down broccoli, green beans and begged for carrots, will now only gingerly pick at a piece of plain herb or vegetable—after carefully removing any sign of offending sauce. Your toddler is surviving on air and crackers.

“I’m a big girl”
Or boy, of course. Your toddler now wants to do EVERYTHING by themselves, and will actually repeat actions like walking down stairs or climbing up on a chair if they’re assisted or carried the first time. Frustratingly. the “I’m a big (girl/boy)” often occurs mid-meltdown, when said toddler is in a puddle on the floor and refusing to walk/put their pants on/have their hair brushed/go to the potty.

The bedtime routine
At some stage, your toddler will climb or fall out of their crib and need a toddler bed. At this point, your evenings as you know them will be over, and you’ll need to retrain the kid to stay in their room. Yes, easier said than done. Prepare for several nights (dare we say it, even weeks?) of a certain little person discovering they can actually leave their room during the night to come and disturb your precious Scandal watching time—or, God forbid, wake you during the night seeking milk, water or a hug.

The Edge of Three via akissgoodnight.co

Big words
Basic words and short sentences turn into complicated words and phrases almost overnight: “I hear my echo!,” “We’re sharing, mommy!,” “Daddy said I could watch the iPad!.” Your baby has turned into a big kid—which means it’s officially tIme to start spelling out F.R.O.Z.E.N. unless you want to be watching it on repeat from dawn till dusk.

Song and dance
Little kid breaks into “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, with all the words absolutely perfect. (Wait, when did they even see Aladdin?, you might ask yourself!) This is the age of making up songs (“I have a little dog, I have a little dog!”) and dancing with joy on the sidewalk when a car drives past with “Happy” pumping out the windows.

Frozen
The Disney movie is so crazy popular with toddlers, it deserves it’s own section. One of the most entertaining ways to start the day is when you hear the knock, knock, knock on the bathroom door while you’re trying to shower—followed by “Do you want to build a snowman?”.

Being schooled on technology
Your toddler probably is now able to use the iPad better than you can. So next time you can’t figure out how to play a game or watch a video or turn it on, just ask your child …

Hugs and kisses
Right after those meltdowns come the hugs so vigorous they almost take your head off. “I love you Mommy, you’re my best friend!” is exclaimed as frequently as the wet noodle maneuver occurs, and is literally the best thing about having a toddler. That, and the exuberant kisses that cover your face from morning to night. More of this unexpected affection, please!

This article was first published on Mommynearest.com

A Day In The Life Of A Sleep-Despising Toddler

/ Kids / 2 Comments

A Day In The Life Of A Sleep Despising Toddler via akissgoodnight.co

We had a rocky start to sleep with our newborn, thanks to silent reflux, which plagued our family’s first year together. At 10 months we sleep trained, desperate to stop getting up three times a night with the baby. And for a few, sweet months, we had our first full nights of sleep in almost a year. Sadly, however, it didn’t last. Teeth came in. Sickness took over. Our toddler learned to climb out of her crib, and then developed a fear of the door being closed.

And so, here we are, with a 2.5 year old toddler who still wakes up several times a night. To say we are sleep deprived is an understatement. I’d use words like “zombie” and “brain dead”.

Most people we know have babies and kids who sleep in their beds for the whole night, maybe occasionally waking up here and there. I just don’t understand how we ended up with a child who just despises sleep so much (sleep is so wonderful! why don’t she do more of it?!).

So here is a day in our lives, with the worst sleeping kid of all time.

6:30am: E wakes up, still tired but chirping “it’s not night any more!”. If I don’t hear her calling she will walk into the bedroom, grab my face in her hands and yell “mummy wake up!”.

6:45am – 8am: Drink copious amounts of caffeine to wake up while sticking the child in front of the iPad and a huge bowl of Cheerios and milk. I take morning duty so my husband can get a few hours sleep after being up all night with her.

8am – 12pm: Run errands or work while Eloise is at school two days a week. The days she is at school I really want to nap and have to force myself to write the articles I’ve been assigned.

12pm – 2pm: Nap time. I know this, but apparently my toddler does not agree. I either lie down next to her on the floor and beg her to sleep until one of us gives up, or put her in the stroller and walk around the neighborhood for two hours while she naps.

2pm – 7:30pm: Afternoon fun. Playdates, followed by dinner, bath and an attempt to put the child to bed.

8:30pm: It’s clear that the child is still awake, either singing in her bed (preferable), or coming out to the living room to request “more milk” even though her milk bottle is full.

9pm-9:30pm. The visits and talking finally stop and she’s drifted off into peaceful slumber.

10:30pm-12am: She wakes up at least once – I prefer it when I’m awake as it’s hard to go back to sleep when I’ve just fallen into a coma. Either my husband or I cajole/beg/threaten her until she goes back to sleep, which might take anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours.

12am – 6:30am: My husband is on night waking duty. On an average night, she will wake up hopefully only one more time. Several nights a week she will be up at least two more times and takes forever to go back to sleep again. My husband is destroyed. I wake every time he does but thankfully get to stay in bed and go back to sleep.

6:30am: Aaaaaaand she’s up! And it all starts all over again.

Friends with kids who also hate to sleep – it does get better, right? Surely there will come the day where I have to force her to get out of bed? I’m picturing immense payback in her teens – cheerily waking her every morning at 5am, and then dropping her off at school in my pjs with bed hair.

A Day Alone With My 2-Year-Old

/ Cheese, Family, Kids / 2 Comments


I’ve really enjoyed my toddler being at her 2s programs since September. Four days a week, she goes to one of two schools, where she is in either a 2 or 3 hour drop-off program. Add in the 2 hour nap, and I get several solid hours of time to myself four days a week to work on freelance assignments and my websites. Yesterday, however, was a reminder of life without school – and it was scary.

Now that school is closed for two weeks (TWO WEEKS!!!) and my babysitter is on holiday (an actual holiday, minus children – jealous), it’s just all me, all day. We usually have every Friday completely together, so I didn’t think much of our “holiday” time until yesterday happened.

6:30am: She wakes up. I go to get her out of her room only to be told “No Mummy, want DADDY” and have the door slammed in my face.
6:45: She stops whining for Daddy and comes out into the living room, where I am already on my 2nd glass of Coke Zero. We play with the iPad, Playdoh, tiaras and stuffed animals until my husband wakes up.
9:15: My husband gets up. He needed extra sleep after getting up with Cheese during the night. I steal a quick shower while he tries to convince our toddler to eat some form of breakfast that doesn’t come in a pouch, and then heads off to work.
9:45: Cheese realises Daddy isn’t coming back. Everything goes downhill and no amount of Play Doh will fix it.
11am: I try and put her down for a nap. She’s so exhausted she’s almost rubbing the eyes out of her head. She insists “No nap!” even as her eyes are rolling back.
11:10: 10 minutes of screaming for milk and “bubbies” (strawberries). I comply with both.
11:30pm: Loud banging from her room tells me she is still awake and possibly abseiling from the ceiling.
11:33: “BOO BOO KITTY!” and more crying (she wants a hello Kitty bandaid for her abseiling injury).
12:15: The muttering and crying stops and I think she’s gone to sleep.
12:17: The voice at the door “MUMMYYYYY where aaaaare you?!”. Argh. I go in and notice she has pooed. Change diaper and put her back down to even more protesting and whining.
12:50: She has now been screaming for 20 minutes. I can’t find the noise cancelling headphones and am going out of my mind. I offer milk and try and put her back to bed.
1pm: I give up and let her out of her room. I make her a grilled cheese sandwich that she won’t touch. She eats an entire punnet of strawberries and demands chocolate milk. Nice try.
3pm: We play with all her toys while I beg her to eat something with protein or even carbs in it. Building block houses for her princesses, Play Doh again with the talking Elmo Shape & Spin that I always tread on during the night, and sing Twinkle Twinkle and Wheels on the Bus along with the iPad.
4pm: It’s time to leave the house. We are meant to be going to a Christmas party in Williamsburg but I’m too exhausted to take her on the subway. Instead we stroll towards Kids Club for an open play session. We don’t reach the end of the block before she falls asleep in the stroller. Of course. I now have about an hour of walking the streets to do to give her the nap she needs.
4:45: I find myself in Red Hook. I have walked a long way.
5pm: I walk to the new Whole Foods in Gowanus and relish shopping without someone whining and grabbing everything in her reach. I slowly browse shelves, checking out brands I usually whizz past. I find a gingerbread house already baked and assembled, ready for decorating – the day is looking up!
5:45pm: She wakes up when I’m at the cash register – somewhat surprised to find herself in Whole Foods. We stroll home.
6pm: We stop outside a church to listen to the bells. Cheese asks for “more bells!” very insistently. Sadly I can’t deliver on more bells, so we head home.
6:15pm: Home, and I’m so tired I can barely stand. I throw pasta leftovers in the microwave and serve them to Cheese for dinner, along with her beloved “bubbies”. She won’t touch a thing and demands to watch BOTH the iPad AND the TV at once. I’m too tired to put up a fight, so put Barney on the TV and her favourite video, Feist’s “1234”, on the iPad. I collapse on the couch next to her high chair and beg her to eat.
7pm: My husband gets home. I nearly cry with relief.

Only two weeks left until school starts again. Not that I’m counting down or anything.