The older kid thread

[shanendoah]

verbal, mobile, potty trained - those were my three requirements for a kid, so I don't have any personal parenting experience potty training.

Apparently, though, my parents had a method that worked fabulously on me- a road trip from MT to NC. They just stopped at roughly every other rest stop and made me use the toilet. Per them, I was potty trained by the time we made it to my grandparents' house. (Which means 3 days, maybe 4 of stopping at rest stops.)


On bed time- we switched to C or I sitting in a chair in her room on Friday night. Pop Tart has actually told us she likes that better. She has, in fact, been sound asleep by 9pm all three nights we've done it, and we're not disturbing her getting up. Next up on her fear ladder for bed time is to start thinking about going to sleep without one of us there. 

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2014 13:15:42 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Mar 3, 2014 12:47:14 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

I was 7 months pregnant when DD turned 1, so we brought the potty chair out on her Birthday and then didn't get serious about training until she turned 2 (which is about the time I got 6 hours of sleep in a row  ).

wait, what?

so you got pregnant when she was 5 mo old?

holy crap

DD and DS are 14 months apart. I started having kids at 35 and I finished at 36. 

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 3, 2014 13:18:08 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

Mar 3, 2014 13:15:42 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

wait, what?

so you got pregnant when she was 5 mo old?

holy crap

DD and DS are 14 months apart. I started having kids at 35 and I finished at 36. 

I want to be just like you when I grow up  

Mine are 20 mo apart and 16 mo apart. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Mar 3, 2014 13:24:16 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Mar 3, 2014 13:18:08 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

DD and DS are 14 months apart. I started having kids at 35 and I finished at 36. 

I want to be just like you when I grow up  

Mine are 20 mo apart and 16 mo apart. 

Mine are 17 months apart.  For a while, I didn't think I'd make it to this point.    Every time I thought I saw light in the tunnel, it was a freaking train and not the end.  But I'm just about out of that damn tunnel.  And to be bluntly honest, there's no way in hell I'd go back in there with another baby. 

[Deleted]

I commend you for having 3!

Although, the next younger sister and I are 13 months apart. And I have 2 older sisters so I don't know how my Mom survived all 4 of us when I could barely function with just the two! And then she went on to have 2 more kids after that!!   


I will concede that if we had 2 girls I probably would have gone for #3 trying for the boy. Thankfully for my sanity I didn't have to. I signed up for my spaying at my 6 week follow up appointment after I had DS. 

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 3, 2014 13:31:15 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

I commend you for having 3!

Although, the next younger sister and I are 13 months apart. And I have 2 older sisters so I don't know how my Mom survived all 4 of us when I could barely function with just the two! And then she went on to have 2 more kids after that!!   


I will concede that if we had 2 girls I probably would have gone for #3 trying for the boy. Thankfully for my sanity I didn't have to. I signed up for my spaying at my 6 week follow up appointment after I had DS. 

we knew we wanted 3, so after #1 when my obgyn asked if I waned BC - I said "no, thank you".  Same conversation happened after #2.  After #3 it was like "hey, Lena, would you li.."    me - "yes, NOW!!!!"

[Deleted]

  

History already showed that I am weak-willed so I had to take measures as soon as possible. 

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 3, 2014 13:39:15 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

  

History already showed that I am weak-willed so I had to take measures as soon as possible. 

OMG, I literally laughed out loud

[Wisconsin Beth]

She does have a nice turn of phrase...

[Deleted]

Awww....thanks for noticing! 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I bet you have nice ankles too. 

Cabe didn't fall asleep until after 930 last night but did spend the entire night in his own bed, dry.  Woohoo!  I figured I'd jinxed us by posting yesterday. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

And last night Cabe crawled in with me 4 times - 3 of them I didn't even wake up for!  And I got to give Keira cough meds just after midnight. 

[Deleted]

I hope she's feeling better today!

I knew that I wouldn't get much sleep when the kids were infants but I am surprised how little I get now that they're older!  

Some nights I have to comfort both of them after a nightmare and DH sleeps right through it all. 

And don't get me started on the animals waking me up too. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

She and I are going to the doctor later on today.  She was coughing pretty much non-stop over the weekend and that's down considerably but she was coughing every 10 minutes or so last night. 

[shanendoah]

Why does punishing the kid feel like it's also punishing me? (Probably because my kid is AWFUL at self amusement without a screen involved, and the only punishment that really means anything is to remove screen time.)

So last night she was told she could go out and play. She KNOWS she has to tell us where she's going. We make her tell us before she leaves the house. So, she says where she's going and at one point, I see her out front with the person who she said she was going to see. We're all good.

But then, the time she's supposed to be home by comes....and goes. 

As another note, she complained in the past that she didn't like asking her friends what time it was and they complained about it. So, we haven't let her leave the house without her watch for the last week or so, reminding her that she does not need to ask anyone, and that she is now solely responsible for being home on time.

15 minutes after she was supposed to be home, we leash up the dogs to walk to where she is supposed to be. (They hadn't gotten a dog park yesterday and really needed the walk.) As we get out into our front yard, she comes running up- NOT from the direction she had said she would be, but from another friend's house.
The worst part is, she has to come right back past our house to get from the one friend's to the other's. It would take 30 seconds to pop her head in the door and tell us she's going elsewhere.

So now, she's actually in trouble.
We explained that being late was only a little bit of trouble (but also explained that whining how she was just playing with her friends, yada yada, shouldn't get her in trouble was not the case given that she has always had a time she was supposed to be home by AND she was wearing her watch), but that not being where she told us she would be was a big deal.

So, punishment for being late- no screen time today.
Punishment for not telling us where she was going- grounded all next week (M-F), no going out to play AND no screen time. Which means she's going to want me to amuse her, and I'm going to have to explain that this is punishment for her, not me, and she needs to amuse herself. And I hope we can do this without too many temper tantrums/breakdowns, because it's C's finals week.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Hugs Shanendoah. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Well, Cabe didn't get me up at 4am.  But he did get me up at midnight and 2am, roughly.  And he didn't fall asleep until around 10pm (I'd turned him over to DH at that point)

[Wisconsin Beth]

Cabe slept in his bed all night!  Woohoo! 

Keira, however, had a bad dream and crawled in with me at odark hundred.  I hauled her back to her bed around 5am. 

I've got driver's court tonight.  Wish me luck.  I'm hoping to get my ticket reduced.  4 points is painful. 

[raeoflyte]

Yay cabe!

I can't even imagine what it will be like to sleep through the night on a consistent basis.

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[Wisconsin Beth]

Mar 12, 2014 8:30:50 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Yay cabe!

I can't even imagine what it will be like to sleep through the night on a consistent basis.

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The world is a much better place.  The sun is shinier, the sky is bluer, grass is greener less brown, and there's time for a nice cup of tea. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I hope I'm not having to deal with this anytime soon. Cabe likes My Little Pony too. And I tell people that he gets to like what he likes.

www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/03/grayson_bruce_was_bullied_for_his_my_little_pony_backpack_no_wonder_my_son.html

My Son Loves My Little Pony
At 7, he already knows that’s not OK.
By Sean Williams
Barnaby Barnaby, 7, in his Rainbow Dash sweatshirt.

Courtesy of Sean Williams

For Christmas, I gave my 7-year-old son, Barnaby, a Rainbow Dash sweatshirt. Rainbow Dash is a character in My Little Pony, and Barnaby loves her. But when he put the sweatshirt on, his face did a complicated dance. He was thrilled to be inside the skin of a character that he thinks is really cool, but there was more. A kind of confusion. And when I suggested he could wear the sweatshirt to school after winter break, he said, “I think it will make the other kids uncomfortable.”

[raeoflyte]

Those stories make me sad too Beth.  Connor cut his hair (which even I'm rejoicing over), but anyone who tries to associate gender with it pisses me off.  Connor likes My Little Pony too, although dh thinks they have a bad attitude that rubs off on Connor, so he doesn't get to watch it very often.     

[Wisconsin Beth]

Yep, I force haircuts a few times a year.  I bribe with donuts as necessary.   

We DVR new episodes.  I'm not a big fan but it beats the crap out of Littlest Pet Shop that's for sure. 

[shanendoah]

I have not wanted to say anything, for fear of jinxing it, but Pop Tart is going to sleep on her own, has been for about 2 weeks. 
We still do bed time- go in and read to her for 15-20 minutes, talk about anything that's been bothering her, but then, we get to get up and leave. 
We leave her door open, she has a light on and music. Some nights it does take her a little longer to fall asleep, but she is falling asleep. On her own. Without one of us sitting where she can see us.
Yay for progress!

[Wisconsin Beth]

Woohoo!  Way to go Pop Tart!  And you and mr. shane too! 

[raeoflyte]

That's awesome Shane!

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[raeoflyte]

So...the boy *needs* a new bike. His is way too small. Not that we really have enough to spoil him that much but do we just give him a new one? I don't want to set the precedent of big easter gifts and his birthday is too far away.


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[shanendoah]

Can you give him a few chores or goals to meet, so that he can "earn" the bike?

[Deleted]

Kids outgrowing bikes was like outgrowing shoes and jackets to me... I replaced them. 

Now if it got wrecked or ruined through some negligence on their part before they outgrew it or it was worn out, the. they either made due or paid at least half...

[whoisjohngalt]

Mar 27, 2014 21:13:14 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

So...the boy *needs* a new bike. His is way too small. Not that we really have enough to spoil him that much but do we just give him a new one? I don't want to set the precedent of big easter gifts and his birthday is too far away.


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Look at the bright side, at least he didn't ask for motorcycle.

My kid who just turned 4 informed me that he is no longer interested in bikes bc they don't go fast enough and he can't win when he races his older brother.  So, he will  be needing a motorcycle.

and yes, I found one for kids, but the jury is still out if we are getting it for him