Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Charlotte was diagnosed with an ear infection last week.  Although her doctor gave us the option of waiting it out and holding off on antibiotics for a few days to see if it cleared on its own, we ultimately decided that her demeanor had been a little too much for a little too long and decided to fill her prescription.

We regretted that decision the moment we loaded the first medicine dropper of the liquid suspension.  She. HATED. It.

Rory hated medicine when he was Charlotte’s age, so we weren’t shocked.  What we did find shocking, however, was that none of our surefire deception techniques were working for her.  Hiding it in yogurt– nope.  Hiding it in pudding– nope.  Blowing on her face to distract her– most certainly not.  We averaged somewhere a consumption rate of approximately 50-percent for the first few days and were close to giving up.

Like any good parent, I called in reinforcements.  At my mom’s suggestion, we handed Charlotte the medicine loaded dropper to see if she’d feed it to herself.  That failed.  But, she did seem interested enough that I tried putting it into a spoon and letting her feed herself.  Finally, she seemed receptive.  For the past few days, we’ve been hiding it in things that she is happy to feed herself.  And she’s been quite receptive.

Guess we’ve got an independent one on our hands.  This is going to be a wild ride.

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
It’s so funny when Daylight Savings Time comes around and you hear the famous refrain from parents of young kids: “No extra hour for me!” Springing forward is no picnic either. If you think it’s hard for an adult to adjust to a new time schedule, wait until you see toddlers in action. They just cannot be convinced to go with a new flow. It takes days—sometimes weeks—to get their bodies regulated! I know by now to have low expectations when it comes to adjusting sleep schedules. My biggest headache this time around was dealing with meals.

My kids are grazers to begin with, and they sure love their treats. Throw in a little sleep deprivation and food coming to them when they’re not quite in the mood? They turn into little monsters! They’ve been rejecting any meals of nutritional value. I know it will pass in a few days, but good gracious- it is annoying! I hate “short order” cooking but if I didn’t do it right now, the two of them would be subsisting on mini-muffins and navel oranges. Okay, so it could be worst. And luckily they won’t get scurvy any time soon.

Children are weird little experiments. You learn so much about human nature and in this case, behavioral science, by observing how they handle life. Whereas adults are influenced by societal pressures and tend to operate with (some level of) decorum, kids just do what they’re going to do. And you better keep up.

From Mondaya Mom – Neetika:
We are on our highly anticipated summer vacation. Our first adventure was a weekend at our friends’ new house. It is the home of my husband’s childhood best friend. Luckily I get along great with his wife, too. Our eldest kids are the same age and hadn’t seen each other since they were each months old. Within hours, they were holding hands and creating elaborate pretend play. Our families have added three more children since our last get-together; it was so fun to have little ones of all ages running (and crawling) around.

Haley loved experiencing staying at a big house with a pool and a backyard—a far cry from her city living. I think often kids don’t worry if a new situation is different—they just appreciate it being new. Going to a zoo, a playground, and a Mexican joint—it wasn’t particularly fancy, but it was family fun with nice people. Haley was adorably enthusiastic about the simplest moments.

Spending intimate time with other families also adds much needed perspective to how you view your own kids. For example, I always thought of Hudson as a happy, laidback baby. But being around other children with varying temperaments, I finally realized—he is phenomenally easy. He only gets upset if you really push the limits of his tiredness or hunger—but don’t we all? Our friends were stunned by how “chill” he was. Haley, too, is a pretty well behaved kid. She has her moments, but she definitely tries her best to listen and respect what her parents ask of her. I’m pretty proud of them.

I look forward to what else our first family vacation as a foursome teaches us about ourselves! Stay tuned.

From Friday Mom – Erin:

I cannot wait to see how Charlotte’s personality evolves over time.

At just under seven months old (how time flies!), she is happy, wiggly, and seemingly in perpetual motion. When I walk into her room each morning, she presses herself up to see me and then flops down on her belly, squirming with anticipation of my picking her up. Similarly, when her father picks her up from school at the end of the day, she is typically waving her arms and legs joyfully and cooing with delight. Her whole body gyrates with glee when she sees one or both of us. I know I am partial, but I think it is one of the cutest things ever.

I know I should not indulge comparisons between Rory and Charlotte, but I keep trying to remember if her overall demeanor is new or much of the same as her brother. Truth be told, I cannot honestly remember if her brother acted the same way. My foggy recollection is that he was equally happy, but perhaps not as ebullient in his demeanor. He had his fair share of infant arm-flailing, but I just don’t remember him being quite as. . . active. To the contrary, I have very vivid recollections of his sitting quietly with his toys and being quite content.

Charlotte, by contrast, seems to want to engage with the world around her. When her brother is playing in the playroom, she will roll and squirm her way off of her play mat and as close as possible to the playroom door. When we put her down in her rocker, she makes certain to coo and babble at us, as if to remind her that she is still there and ready to play. She is dangerously close to being able to push up on to her hands and knees, and I give her a month, max, before her backwards squirming evolves into a more purposeful crawl.

All of this energy makes me wish I could get inside her tiny little head to know what she is thinking as she smiles from ear to ear. Part of the difficulty with second children is knowing the excitement that will come in a year or two as she starts to be able to verbalize her thoughts. I often find myself impatient, wanting to speed up the clock. But then I remind myself to enjoy these fleeting baby days while they last.

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Rory is a somewhat soft-spoken toddler. He all but shuts down when confronted with his family on FaceTime, and it takes him quite a while to warm up to them. Although some might find this annoying, I have come to treasure his quiet nature. He has taught me the importance of slowing down and really listening to my child in order to truly understand him. I know that developing this skill early will stand me in good stead when he is a mumbling middle-schooler and/or teen, so I try not to lose my patience and have, instead, worked hard to train my ear to understand his whispered musings.

For example, we spent this past weekend on a fairly lengthy car trip. During the course of the over seven hours each way, I found myself craning my next to hear Rory’s tiny voice from the back seat. On occasion I had to ask him to repeat himself, but, on the whole, I was able to keep the “conversation” going for as long as he was willing to engage me.

Luckily, his teachers are equally attentive to his quiet voice. In chatting with his teacher earlier this week, his father learned that he has gotten much better at requesting that his classmates give him a turn with particular toys, and he similarly has learned to speak his desires around the classroom. I’d been somewhat concerned that his quiet voice might go unheard in the organized chaos of a group of two-year-olds. Thankfully, that has not been the case.

Sure, like any two-year-old, Rory has raucous spells in which he belts out his words with volume and conviction. But, for the remainder of the time, I am glad to continuing honing my listening skills and am thankful for yet another reminder that raising well-balanced children requires easing off the gas pedal and savoring the moment.