Comments on: The Bizarro Lucy

By: Grandpa

Grandpa — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:18:09 +0000

My dear Ann,
You are one fortunate person to have so many friends telling you not to worry about these twists and turns, telling you to relax and go with the flow, telling you to trust your instincts because you are a wonderful loving Mama, telling you that you are not going to make a mistake – but when you do, just keep adjusting and tweaking and smiling because your love for your daughter will carry you through with flying colors.

Indeed, you are one fortunate person to have such caring friends. And I am one fortunate person to have you for a daughter. I send you and Jon and Lucia my love…

By: grace

grace — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:29:49 +0000

Lucy looks so cute in her swimsuit! She is going to be a swimmer like her mama.

I am planning to take Christine to the pool this summer. Any tips?

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:08:47 +0000

Benjamin has several times gone through a sleep protest stage. He was very good about going to bed for such a long time, that when he started protesting it, we thought that maybe his bedtime was too early. Obviously, as they get older they need less sleep, so it seemed logical to us that perhaps the bedtime was a bit too early. So we moved it later and that fixed the problem at first. However, he soon learned that by protesting going to bed, we would question the bedtime and sometimes get him back up, so then he would always protest in the hopes of being gotten back up. So at that point we just had to say, this is the bedtime, correct or not, we aren’t getting him back up and that fixed the protesting.

Benjamin dropped his morning nap cold-turkey (he took it every day for forever and then one day didn’t want to take it and never took it again after that) at about 14 months of age. I think about half of babies drop it by 15 months, most of the rest by 18 months. Before dropping the morning nap, his bedtime did move quite a bit later (like an hour later) because he was getting so much daytime sleep that he just didn’t need as much nighttime sleep at that age. So, I would say if she’s fighting bedtime, try moving it a little later (like 20 min) and see if that helps. If that doesn’t help, you could try moving it later again after a few days just to see if she goes to sleep more easily. Then, once she drops the morning nap, you will probably need to move the bedtime earlier again. If most of her protesting is at night, not at the morning nap time, I would think she’s not quite ready to lose the morning nap, but maybe needs a later bedtime. It doesn’t hurt to try – if moving the bedtime later backfires, move it back!

If she is protesting the morning nap, try skipping it one or two days and see what happens. You will probably need to move the afternoon nap earlier and the bedtime earlier to help her make the transition.

If you think it’s teething, I found with Benjamin that Tylenol never really seemed to help – Motrin did a much better job. Probably because motrin helps reduce swelling and those gums can get pretty swollen, especially with molars coming in.

Good luck! The toddler years can be pretty trying – Benjamin is now officially two years old and his answer to any question (with the possible exception of ‘do you want a cookie?’) is always “no”.

By: Kindra

Kindra — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:16:48 +0000

Ben definitely did the crying before bed thing around Lucy’s age. I did everything I could, but finally I just had to leave the room, he’d cry for about a minute and then go to sleep. I think some of his issues stemmed from teething and probably some developmental growth spurt (becoming much more aware of his surroundings).

He dropped his 1st nap for good around 15 months. It was a loooooong process though that took about 2-3 months before dropped it for good.

I think that it’s probably a combination of many of the things you listed up there. Toddlerhood is such a fun age, but it’s very similar to babyhood in that there are so many phases and they go in and out of them pretty quickly.

By: Tysa

Tysa — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:51:31 +0000

Sounds like Lucy is officially a toddler! Teething does seem to make the normal (Bizzaro) toddler into an even worse toddler. It’s the whole independence issue. They want it, but they don’t. Mo will beg to be picked up, but within a minute attempt to squirm out of my arms. I’ll set him down before he head dives onto the floor, and he’ll cry and raise his arms! It’s frustrating, but does pass.

On the peanut butter: good plan to wait, but don’t give up the idea in the future. Sometimes they just aren’t ready for a food yet. Mo eats PB all the time. But a tuna sandwich caused hives on his face (but crab doesn’t). Then he had a mini-chips ahoy cookie and same thing. So I banned chocolate for a bit, but he’s had chocoalte milk and a bite of a chocolate bar since then and has been fine.

This is the time when I often have to remind myself “This too shall pass”.

By: LaShawn

LaShawn — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:13:48 +0000

Hmmm…could be teething issues. The going to one nap thing usually doesn’t happen until 15 months? Actually, I think it’s a lot later. I think at 1 and a half, Daniel had pretty much gone to 1 nap. But ah, the joy of toddlers! I think, actually, this is the best stage. They become so much fun!

By: katrina

katrina — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:52:19 +0000

ahh, the joys of toddlers! Good luck (by the way she is just being normal!) We are back from Colorado and spent over 40 hours in the car with Maddy. I strongly suggest a portable DVD player or your laptop. We watched baby signing time and little einstines (sp?). We also read a ton of books, played dolls and just watched out the window for cows (we saw much more…bears, raindeer, lammas, eagels, hawks, harrins, black swans….and a ton of farm animals). The biggest lesson was for me to chill about it all and just let it all happen. I also discovered that she would cry before she slept because she didn’t want to sleep. but over all she did better than mom and dad who were tired of driving. Enjoy it.