What do you do when your fifteen month old refuses to walk? Like, refuses to even try and gets all pouty and indignant when we clap our hands and call to her, before scooting away on her little diapered bottom? I checked with Dr. Google, and while lots of babies take those first wobbly steps around their first birthday, she’s still in the “perfectly normal” range, so phew. But what is the hold up here? Not one of our kids walked early – none of this before-the-first-birthday stuff at our … [Read more...]
Parenting: The Gifted, the Talented, and the Hard Workers
Image Credit: © Suzette - www.suzette.nu | found here | CC by 2.0 Jessica is with us today discussing, once again, how do we really give our kids the kind of childhood we want for them? I really love what she has to say, it reminds me of a great chapter from one of my favorite books, Nuture Shock: New Thinking About Children. Like nearly every parenting issue, there's a lot of gray area here and not a whole lot of black and white- I'd love to hear your thoughts! Here's Jessica with … [Read more...]
Responsibility & Logical Consequences: One Mom’s Conundrum
So technically I'm taking suggestions here. I mean, I think we're doing it mostly right, if level of difficulty is any indication. Because so far, teaching our kids to be responsible little people seems to involve an awful lot of biting my tongue, sitting on my hands so I don't rush to do something the "right" way, and letting them fall flat on their own little faces sometimes. I’m all about modeling good behavior. I say please and thank you to my kiddos, and I expect to hear it back. I … [Read more...]
Technology Makes Me a Hypocrite, and How I’m Changing That
Image Credit: © Tricia | found here | CC by 2.0 (edited) Every single time I stumble across an article or a post relating to “screen time” and kids, I devour it. First off, I want confirmation (that I rarely get, because everyone must be lying) that I’m not the only parent whose kids get waaaay more than the token thirty-minutes of approved screen time on any given day. It’s not constant, but yeah, I’ve been known to hand over my phone or a tablet so I can focus for an entire 45 minutes. … [Read more...]
Kids’ Birthdays – How to Get Back to Simple
In the seven years since we’ve been throwing kids’ birthday parties, the party landscape has lost its mind. I blame Pinterest. Last week was the big first birthday for our youngest, and let’s just say the theme was “simplicity.” It’s a good thing love isn’t measured in mix-your-own trail mix stands or chalkboard signs or carnival themes, because Em had none of that last Thursday. And spoiler – she didn’t care. She didn’t even care about the age-appropriate first birthday gift we gave her … [Read more...]
YES – Four Kids is Crazy
Jessica is back today with her unique take on parenting as a mother of four and I'm so happy - I always connect with her posts. And, really, I feel like the name of this one could easily be "YES - Three Kids is Crazy" or "YES - {Fill-in-the-Blank} Kids is Crazy" because life as a parent is just general craziness. But I always love to hear about other parents' perspectives, and I find the experiences of parents who have more kids than the three I have to be especially fascinating. Before … [Read more...]
How Long Did You Wait to Take a Date Night Away From Baby?
Image Credit: © Christopher Michel | Date Night | cropped | CC by 2.0 Jessica is back today for another humorous glimpse into her life as a mom of four. This time she's tackling date-night with her signature wit (read to the end and you'll smile - I promise). I'm curious - how long did it take all of you to finally take a night away from baby? I think it was somewhere around 9 months with M, once he no longer breastfed right before bed maybe? It depends less on the parents and more on … [Read more...]
{Parenting} I Lied to the Pediatrician
Image Credit: © Eden, Janine and Jim| Doctor Aunt | CC by 2.0 We've all been there - cruising along, well into yet another well-check appointment for your child when your ped asks about "it". That child-rearing topic (sleep, discipline, vitamins, etc.) that you know you've either been slacking on a little or you just don't completely see eye-to-eye with doc on. So what do you do? Proudly come clean with a "you wanna tussle?" glint in your eye , fudge the truth a bit knowing you've got … [Read more...]
Co-Sleeping: Confessions from the Family Bed
I don't know about you guys, but sleep (or the lack thereof) is a repeated topic of conversation amongst my mom friends and I. Thankfully, I have been blessed with very good sleepers in all three of my kids (Aside from the first 5 or 6 months for each of them and for all naps with baby M. I love him but he totally sucks at naps.) So while we dabbled in all sorts of sleeping arrangements and practices when the kids were babies - co-sleeping, sleep training, pseudo co-sleeping - it's not … [Read more...]
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