My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

That is so fucking cute.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

You bet yor fucking ass it's cute. Don't worry. I'll send the baltspawn over to properly educate the littlest puppy in a couple of years.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

That won't be necessary. I have the cutest motherfucking kid in history, cocksucker, and we don't need your spawn to teach her shit.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

Fuckin' A.

Random Holiday Thoughts
 

* I vaguely remember some Xmases during my childhood when everyone in the house was passing nasty colds back and forth, and the breakfast beverage was Sprite, all to keep the stomachs calm. I remember looking over at my parents on the sofa, who looked happy for my undiluted joy at Santa's bounty, but also remember that their faces still bore some degree of discomfort and pain.

I also remember one or two Xmases from my youth where I simply could not fall back asleep. I awoke at, say, 12 or 1am, and it was o-vah. The night became a series of increasingly tense negotiations with Dad to see when "morning" actually began, and I could go downstairs.

Friends, let me just say that cosmic payback -- combined cosmic payback, for that matter -- is a bitch.

* Given the circumstances, I've had the opportunity to watch Finding Nemo a good number of times over the weekend together with my boys as we recuperate together. I liked it when I first saw it, and am impressed with it the more that I think about it. Nemo* is tightly written, clever, funny, and plays to universal themes of fear, loss, and love. And the room keeps getting dusty near the final scenes.

Carry on.

Gattigap




* As are most Pixar pictures, but that's for another day.

#1 made out like a bandit. #2 got a set of baby bath books and a couple teethers (and his first tooth!). For those of you with kids close in age, what do you do for the 2nd kid who wants for nothing due to copious hand-me-downs? Next year should we just re-wrap the stuff #1 has grown out of and that #2 hasn't seen yet? I assume that we'll be buying a lot of the same toys in two different colors down the road.

#1 can't figure out quite how to work his new tricycle, but he likes to sit on it and yell, "Go, Go, Go!!!"

Gatti, we're all sick too. Given that I seldon take the boys to public places, I can pretty reliably trace our colds to going to see Santa at Dada's workplace on the 20th. Thanks, Santa. Also, my parent's definition of "morning" was "after the sun comes up...all the way" which buys you until at least 6-6:30am - this wouldn't be my preference, but it's certainly better than 4 or 5am.

Random Holiday Thoughts
 

My mother and I go to a spa each year and there is this guy Ed that tends to go the same week we go. At the spa you generally eat dinner with different people each night if you want, to meet people and be social. My mother was seated beside Ed one night and he asked her what she did and she said she is a semi-retired teacher. She asked Ed what he did and he said that he worked at an animation company. My mother said "oh", dismissing this boring statement out of hand and proceeded to regale Ed with tales of her second-graders. Which was probably what Ed wanted, being a low-key guy, but I found it quite amusing seeing as the "animation company" is Pixar and Ed is co-founder and president. I have never told my mother this fact.

This post has nothing to do with kids - I'm just bored. Happy Holidays!

Razormouth
 

Sorry for being so slow to respond, but yes, the pumping at work is feasible, so long as you have a lock on your office door and get access to a fridge. I went back to work after 3 months, full time, and breastfed the trepidation tyke for about 13 months. Just alert your office manager/HR person/ranking female administrative type that you will be breastfeeding and therefore require a lock, and then just do it when you need to. Hell, I even used the thing during conference calls. (I also used the nearby coffee-room freezer, and no one seemed freaked out so that was OK.)

Whatever you get (I had a Pump in Style, it was great), get it now, because it is also going to come in handy while you are still at home. Having it around can actually be helpful with getting the hang of breastfeeding (and keep you lactating if you get so f-ed up that you can't let the little Razormouth near you at all - my kiddo damaged me up so badly that the hospital lactation consultant told me to pump only, so he was on bottled breastmilk more than he was on the teat for the first 3 months). Also, if the little bastard doesn't always eat on schedule, it can be really, REALLY uncomfortable.

And, you will want to stock up - and start early, 'cause you'll dip into it while you're still at home, to manage a dinner out, or an extra-hungry kid, etc. I'd recommend having at least a 3-4 day supply in the freezer by the time you start work again. If you have to travel, or work so late that the kid is asleep before you get home, you will need at least that on hand and probably more. (I was sent suddenly out of town for a week within my first week back, and it sucked but I was prepared. Except for the hotel fridge - check with any hotels that when they say they have an "in room fridge/mini-bar", they don't mean a box with a block of ice it in but a real, actual fridge, 'cause a weeks worth of breast milk in a sub-par fridge is, um, not good.)

Re: breastfeeding generally, don't let nurses sneak in formula when you've told them not to (actually, don't listen to the nurses at all, by my and everyone else's experience, insist on seeing the lactation consultant immediately), and don't let the lactation nazis convince you that one little bottle (of formula or breastmilk) is going to end it all, or cause nipple confusion, or whatever. The whole process is a lot more flexible that anyone would have you believe, so you can make it work around whatever problems (be they sandpapered-off nipples or messengers who don't knock) arise.

If you want it to - don't let yourself get guilt-tripped or whatever into feeling like you HAVE to breastfeed if it is just so unpleasant that you want to jump out the window. In all honesty, the first 3 months for us were sheer constant misery, and, frankly, it wasn't worth it in retrospect, but the last 9 months were nice so there you go. Of course, Trepidation Tyke still tends to reach down the front of my shirt to grab at my nipples, but maybe he's just being a guy. I'm alarmed that he's learned to distract me by pointing over my shoulder and saying "uh oh!" and then grabbing at them when I look. I guess need to teach him to say "Look, Elvis!"

Nighttime Potty Training
 

So my older kid is 4, almost 4.5, and she's still wearing pull-ups to bed. She claims she is trying and occasionally will make it through the night dry, but she doesn't get up in the night, ever. She seems content to keep doing this. Do I need to get tough and get rid of the pullups and let her wet the bed, or is this still acceptable?

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Thoughts....

Is she afraid to get up in the night? I remember being very small and afraid to leave my room at night. Maybe a nightlight in her room and the hall and the bathroom or even a flashlight by her door she can use to go down the hall, even if she claims not to be afraid.

I would think wet sheets will just add more trouble for you, not her. What about a positive incentive program? Stars/stickers on a chart with so many stars in a week or a row or whatever adding up to an outing/treat/movie. I had a friend who agreed to give her 5.5yo the money she would have spent on diapers each night (like $.50) and the child was old enough to understand it and greedy enough to agree to it - it worked. Is she motivated by new clothes, new hair clippies, new goldfish, trip to the zoo? Whatever. I've got no problem with bribery if it keeps the pee in the pot!

Nighttime Potty Training
 

When she's ready to stopr wearing the pull-ups, then she will either get up and do her thing or she'll slep through the night. Where did you get the insane notion that a child is supposed to potty train on your schedule instead of hers?

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Yes, sometimes. Idid just get her a flashlight (for the occasional bad dreams and having to walk quite aways to my room), but there is a nightlight in her room and the bathroom (next door to her room). I'll maybe try to spin it as useful for a potty trip as well.

Tried the new clothes bribe, but nothing seems quite important enough to her. Also tried the "big girl" talk, to which she replied she wanted to stay little.

I agree about the wet sheets, though I know some who have found success with it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Getting really tired of yucky pullups in the a.m.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Thanks, helpful.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Maybe a chart would work better so she can see her progress and have some pride in the accomplishment? Little kids live in the now and maybe it would be better if she could see the big picture? Target has packs of 1800 stickers for $.78 in the Crayola aisle.

Also, if she is a really deep sleeper, she may just not wake up and I'm not sure what you would do about that.

BTW, since the Lexling (25mos) replies "noooo" (rhymes with Moo) when I ask if he wants to do pee-pee in the potty, I'm not sure I should be giving any advice on the subject. I am potty trained myself, so perhaps that counts for something?

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Because we're the parents that's why.

My 11 year old thinks he's old enough to drive but he'll learn to drive on my schedule: when he's 35.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Being little rules. I want to be little again. Not for the sake of having wet pants, though.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Ultimately, more so than you think. But that's the beauty of parenthood. We all approach it in our own way.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

I found that with the Wonk princess taking her to an arcade, letting her get in one of the road racing games, and noting "oops, you're dead" every time she hit the wall or "hey, you just killed someone" every time she hit another car gave her the patience to wait until she was sixteen.

It also taught her to always carry a shovel and plenty of lime in the trunk.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

It's sort of almost but not quite cute that you appear to think this is a revolutionary concept to me.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

I never said that I thought the concept was revolutionary to you. On the other hand, it was clear from your post that you are fighting against it.

I was simply offering my experience having gone through the process twice.With the first one, we tried all knids of things, without success, until one day, the Princess announced that she was a big girl and didn't need pull-ups any more. And she didn't.

With the Monster, we put him in pull-ups and let him know that it was time to start going to the potty instead of relying on a diaper. We got him the Everybody Poops book, and we offered encouragement. He took a little longer than his sister, but he evevtually got the hang of it.

The point is, the second time we didn't get frustrated and didn't try to force the issue. He got to the point where he was ready and that was that.

If it makes you feel better to be a bit smug about things, then mazel tov, but I wasn't being condescending, just a bit facetious.

Christmas means claret.
 

Indeed.

Wait a second -- this is a board for parents? You people actually have been breeding?

Egad. No wonder the Cup is no longer in Newport.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

No, no, sorry if I misread. The thing is, I haven't pushed at all - I'm sort of about that, and my older doesn't generally budge for anyone or fall for tricks, anyway - has always gone her own way, and she usually knows quite best for herself, so I tend to go with it. But she really is getting on what seems like the high side to me of not getting through the night. So I've just been wondering if I've missed something and taken the easy way out for me when there may be something to move her along.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Maybe SHE'S really a boy and you got her the wrong kind of underpants?

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Like mother, like daughter. We like to call them panties, btw.

And I encourage gender confusion in underwear. I wear an excellent pair of boxer briefs to sleep in, and I often make my lovers wear my panties. No one seems to mind, and I intend to bring up my girls in the same way, so that maybe one day they, too, can meet their virtual Hank and have this very same conversation, over and over.

I believe that Henny Youngman told the first "nono is a dude" joke in the Catskills.
 

Meh. I'd give it a 6. Hank-in-his-prime would have tied it in with a dtb-adjusting-her-son's-underpants reference.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

My 4 year old is night trained and we basically just bit the bullet and prepared for somemessy nights. we hit target or walmart and stocked up on sheets, put the mattress cover on and made sure we took him before he went to bed and also went in and woke him and took him straight to the bathroom when he woke up. We found that he mostly stayed dry during the night. after about 2 weeks, he was fine... I´d say in the last year he has had may 2 or 3 accidents.

ml

Nighttime Potty Training
 

If it's any comfort, with the Monster, he didn't get all the way off the pull-ups until he was five. What finally did it for him was going to day camp. They went swimming every day, and he didn't want all his peers to see him not wearing underwear. Thank God for peer pressure.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

See, I see 5 lurking around the corner - never thought it would go this long. And she's fairly independent, peer-pressure-wise (though maybe a sleepover would do it). I think I made the mistake once of saying you can't go to kindergarten if you're not night-trained, which she then quickly turned into her position that she will do it when it is time to go to kindergarten. Of course, I thought that was going to happen at 4....

Nighttime Potty Training
 

She'll do it when she's ready. And you can get your revenge by not letting her get her ears pierced until she goes to college.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Plotting revenge, good idea. That will give me something to occupy my mind when I take off that nasty wet pullup every morning.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

If she's almost 5, why can't she take off and dispose of her own pull-up? Seems like that would be easier on you and kind of an incentive, maybe.

Reportedly I was so insistent that I wasn't ready that I put on my own diapers at night (I don't think pull-ups existed when I was under 5) which seems more complex than taking off a pull-up. I do pee in the toilet now, so at some point I learned. Not sure what age I was when I was doing the my-own-diaper thing.

I guess if she's not a morning kid that might not be feasible.

Nighttime Potty Training
 

Ha, yes, and that is sort of the point of these things (pullups)...but she's long past the novelty and in the a.m. it's a matter of getting her out of bed and dressed. On weekends she does do that and gets herself dressed, but the week days just start too early for her. I think she probably is just not ready to let go of that mommy-focus time, which is fair enough - to a point! Ah, well, short of a magic bullet or my taking a couple of weeks to deal with the crankiness of getting her up at night and in the early a.m. and take her to the bathroom, I suppose I'll just have to keep living with it. They really are gross, though.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

Yes. She's beautiful!!

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

Translation: I'm fawningly seeking the public approval of one of the cool kids so people won't have contempt for me and DtB has taken pity upon me.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

Wait a second... I'm a cool kid?

That is possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me! I am beyond verklempt.

Gulp.

My proud parenting moment is better than yours, dtb.
 

dtb- you've been gone too long. Most people have that sock on ignore, and when you respond to it we all are forced to read it. Please do not respond to that sock w/o a very good reason.

Mobiles
 

SEC chick, Mrs. AdL, and Mrs. SD, take note and buy this mobile:

http://www.geniusbabies.com/newtinlovsym.html

Today I heard my kid's first full-blown squeal of delight. She absolutely loves this thing.


I don't know how much validity there is to the classical music theory, but it beats the heck out of twinkle twinkle little star, and the motion and shapes colors of this mobile fascinate the baby.

Don't waste your cash on any twinkle twinkle pastel bullshit.

The only downside to this thing is that I can't attach it to my bed, but at least I feel better about having spent money on a crib that would otherwise go unused.

Mobile
 

We have that one. #1 LOVED it. I could leave him in the crib for hours* while I worked coming in every 20 min to turn it back on. Sadly, #2 is not nearly as impressed - 10 min. of crib time and he's over it.

-TL

*I did not make a practice of leaving him for hours, but working on a deadline, you do what you gotta do.

Allergies
 

Hello Mums and Dads. I got an email from someone who also adopted from Viet Nam and her daughter, now 4, has severe allergies to many different foods, the worst being nuts and eggs. I have no idea what the law is in this area, so thought I'd see if anyone does here.

They live in Michigan. The 4 year old went to preschool at a private school. Before enrolling, parents explained the allergies and that it would not be enough to have a separate table for peanut butter eaters because daughter can't even inhale/smell the stuff. Parents asked if it would be okay if, in the small class, nuts and egg products were prohibite. School said write to parents of classmates to see if it is okay with them. Parents did, nobody objected and parents enrolled daughter in class, along with written instructions about the allergies. During time she was at school, parents constantly had to take her to the allergist and deal with asthma bouts. Then they found out that school was ignoring instructions and kid were eating egg and nut products and daughter was simply put at a nearby table. Apparently, just touching a kid who has leftover peanut butter on them is dangerous.

Parents are outraged and don't want to sue, but are thinking about asking for a refund of the tuition they paid during this time. Seems to me it would be more reasonable to ask the school to share the costs of medical bills. Anyhow, parents are wondering what their legal rights are in terms of public schools, whether the allergy is a "disability" and what they can do about having their daughter safely attend school with other kids.

Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks.

Allergies
 

My kids have been in 4 different schools (3 preschools and an ongoing school) and at every single one, no nuts are allowed AT ALL. I was led to believe this is standard everywhere. What liars!