I’ve found my perfect casual pant.
I have owned these pants for maybe 2 weeks, and I’m in love with them. I love how they fit, I love how soft they are, and how effortless they are. They are comfy and high rise enough to wrangle Olive in, but are fitting enough to not make me look like a shapeless blob.
The other day, while Olive and I were at the playground, an older toddler (is a 5 year old still considered a toddler?) came up to her and deliberately threw a ball in her face. Olive, of course, started crying. The other kid’s parent was nowhere to be seen. I picked Olive up, comforted her, and watched the other kid run away, laughing.
More and more often, we are running into the situation where Olive gets ‘bullied’ at the playground. I use this term loosely, of course – a lot of kids play rough with no ill intent; this is normal, and expected. They are kids, after all! But once in a while, you will meet another child who is deliberately trying to be mean, and to hurt others.
I find myself leaving these situations concerned, and stumped. Am I supposed to let Olive learn how to stand up for herself? Because my instinct is to protect her, and tell the other child to behave. However, as a parent myself, I know that if someone decided to discipline Olive on my behalf, I wouldn’t take to it kindly.
Have you ever told another child to play nicely? How do you teach your own children to defend themselves against bullies? What are your rules of the playground?
Have a great Wednesday, you guys.
You guys, this past weekend, Olive had her very first, out of control, hold no prisoners, epic toddler tantrum. The first, ever.
It completely came out of nowhere – I mean, I thought the day was going pretty well. But what do I know?
We had just finished lunch, and were cleaning up and playing a bit, when I told her that I had to change her diaper and it was time for nap. By the way, in case you don’t know, we do the same thing every day. Every damn day. Meal, Clean, Play, Diaper, Nap. So she knew what to expect, she knows the drill. But that day, she wanted nothing to do with it.
She started to make me chase her to get her to the changing table.
She decided that diapers are the devil. She did not want one on at all.
She then decided that she was going to act like the devil and scream and cry SO loud, that she gave herself inconsolable hiccups. Which made her even angrier, so she cried harder.
There was planking, there was back arching, there was clawing; oh she did it all.
This entire episode lasted about 15-20 minutes. I eventually was able to calm her down and get her into bed for her nap.
Olive is usually a pretty mellow child; so this tantrum really caught me off guard. Is this a preview for what the “Terrible Twos” are going to be like? I’M NOT READY, WORLD, I AM NOT READY.
On a related note – I downloaded 3 parenting books to my Kindle last night. Needing all the help I can get, obviously.
Calling all veteran moms – what do you guys do when your child loses her mind? Have you found a particular method or tactic that stops the crazy, fast?
Hope your weekend was as eventful as mine!
You guys, I miss traveling.
It’s been about 16 months since Olive was born, and I’m now regretting that we didn’t travel more when she was an infant. You know, before she was mobile and before she ate solid food….when all she needed was a snuggle and a boob.
When you have an infant and are so new to motherhood, you never really believe them when other moms tell you that you have it easy.
“Do it now,” they warn, “because it becomes such a pain later!”
Obviously, like most things, I didn’t listen.
All I used to think was “HOW CAN THIS GET ANY MORE DIFFICULT?” I wish I had taken their advice, because now that Olive is running, has ‘real-people-poop’ and has opinions about everything…..I fear that I might have to wait until she turns 10 before I even dare take her on a flight anywhere.
My husband really wants us to go to Boston with him in a few months; he will be staying there for 2 weeks for work. However, Olive and I will have to fly back to LA alone after one weekend. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this without Olive or I going completely insane! (Or driving the other passengers crazy, either.) The last time we traveled together as a family, Olive tired both my husband and I out with her crying…and it was only a 3 hour flight to Dallas. How am I going to survive a cross country one alone?
Have you ever traveled alone with your (very vocal) toddler? Are you as hesitant as I am? Does anyone have any tips?
Happy Wednesday!
The beautiful image above was found here.
…..but I think Olive is mad at me.
Is that even possible? For a 16 month old to know how to hold a grudge against me for being away for the weekend?
When I came home last night, I was expecting her to be overcome with glee to see me. I was so excited to see her….I am not going to lie, I was expecting some running, some kissing, some hugging….but there was none of that. There was whining, there was crying, and there was….a lot of nothing.
This morning, she also threw the hugest tantrum at the park, and decided that she’s going to start “limp noodling” me (This is my new fancy name for when she just goes limp when I try to carry her… therefore making said act impossible to do). She whined in the stroller. She whined out of the stroller. She didn’t want to be carried, but she didn’t want to walk either.
I’M SORRY MOMMY WENT AWAY OLIVE I WILL NEVER GO AWAY AGAIN.
Has this happened to you?
I hope your Monday is going better than mine.
I am in love with little hints of gold. I just love the color, it just feels so….decadent. Do you have a color that you just gravitate to?
HAPPY FRIDAY, and Viva Las Vegas to me!
All the books say that somewhere between 13-15 months, your child will become a monster at naptime. One day, your child will just refuse to take either nap well. She will either just stay awake the entire nap, talk to herself, OR, if you have my child, SHOUT “MAMA” FROM HER CRIB UNTIL THE HOUR IS UP.
A MONSTER.
Anyway, these are the signs that it is about the time that your child is ready for only one nap a day.
Typically, Olive has always been a pretty good sleeper – she is able to soothe herself to sleep, she (knock on wood) doesn’t really wake up in the middle of the night, and her naps are pretty solid chunks of sleep. So when, like clockwork, she refused to take her naps…I knew it was time to go from two naps a day, to one. I totally didn’t want to give up her second nap though – selfishly, I needed that time to pass out for 30 minutes because by 3pm, lets be honest… I’m pretty freaking tired.
So. Dropping a nap. Sounds pretty simple right? WRONG. Because even though your child might not need (or want) two naps a day anymore, she will be totally confused (and upset) if you just suddenly switch to one. So, you have to go through the really drawn out process of pushing Nap One back, 30 minutes at a time, while simultaneously making Nap Two shorter.
This entire process took me about 2.5 to 3 weeks, and people, I am happy to report that we are finally on one solid mid-day nap.
We’ve been on this One Nap Schedule for about a week now, and I’m surprised how much I’m loving it. Our mornings have completely opened up, and now we can go out and actually do more things, versus having to run a single errand and scrambling back home so she can get back in bed.
I am interested to hear your experiences with nap transitions – did you do it the same way I did?
Happy Wednesday!
My Baby Olive Juice 