milk factory blog

Calling All Sleep-Deprived Parents

With the way things are going with our begging/screaming/jumping toddlers, Penny and I should volunteer to be interviewed by Ann Douglas for her Sleep book.

If you're interested in telling your tales of woe, and getting a free book in the process, check out Parents: Share Your Survival Stories on the Milk Factory business blog.

Afraid of the Dark?

We just got a whopping hydro bill--over $200 for two months of electricity and hot water. Could it be because E. insists that we leave the lights burning all night so that she can sleep?

For the last couple of months, she has been SCREAMING and jumping up and down in her crib whenever the light is turned off. We tried a night light, but that didn't create enough light for her. So we bought energy-saving bulbs for the hallway, but she hated them because they were too bright. We've now settled on leaving the bathroom light on from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am. Yikes.

Is she afraid of the dark? I have a feeling that seeing that light on assures her that we're close by, and personally, I have no problem paying the cost of nightly electricity for a good night's sleep.   

However, now she's progressed from begging me to leave the light on to begging me to "SIT DOWN MOMMY!!! SIT DOWN!" I can handle the tears of frustration and the screaming for a certain period of time, but sometimes she will not give up. I feel like we need to let her cry it out, or I'm going to end up sitting in her room for an hour every night.

I expected this when she was a baby. But no one ever told us that we'd be doing this at 2 years old--at an age when she can string enough words together to make me feel REALLY, REALLY guilty if I don't go in and comfort her.

Payback is...

a dinosaur roaring at the top of his voice...while your newborn is sleeping.

a tiger pulling at your pj pant leg...when your hands are full and drawstring is undone.

a milk-spewing beluga...the day after you washed the floor.

a cereal-flinging spoon-bender...who looks at the ceiling anyway?

Ok, Mom and Dad, you can have your laughs now.

Everyone Poops

But not every toddler poops in a potty!

Ella hit a major milestone the other day...she pooped in her potty for the FIRST time. We've had our Graco potty for months now, but E. has mostly been interested in getting her hands on the squares of toilet paper that she can throw into it.

Continue reading only if you want the poopy details...

So I'm getting her changed for bedtime, and she tells me that she wants to pee in her potty. It's the usual routine. She opens the lid and asks for some toilet paper, but this time, she asks me to take off her diaper. And her pants. And then her shirt. Hmmmm. I should have known that something was up.

She sits down.

Ella: "I hear something!" She looks in the potty. "No pee."

Mommy: "Good try. Maybe next time."

Ella: "I hear something!" She looks in the potty. "No poop."

Mommy: "Let's try another time then."

Ella: "I hear something!"

Mommy: "Oh...I hear something too!"

And much to my surprise, there it was. Much cheering and clapping ensued. Sorry we didn't take any pictures, but to me it was the best-looking poop ever. :-)

Is it in the Genes?

Oliver...

Theodore...

Do you see why we get their names mixed up?!

Everyday is a flashback to 2 years ago...in looks only though.  The two couldn't be more different!  Theodore is so content to eat, sleep and poop.  Oliver..."I go play!  I GO PLAY!!  IIII GOOOOO PLAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!"

Mommy's Not-So-Little Helper

Where does the time go?!  We've been home for 11 days and have settled into somewhat of a "routine".  For those of you that are already laughing at that statement (you know who you are!)...ppplllllllllllllllllbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtttttttttthhhh!

As you can see, I have all the help I need!  Oliver turned into a big brother overnight.  It cracks us up that he's gone from "No like it the baby" before Theodore to "I'M COMING FEE-DA-DORE!!" at the tiniest of his whimpers.  Oliver loves to "hold, feed and help change" Theo, even if it means leaving his obsession of the moment.  Overnight, Oliver has turned into a good eater and sound sleeper.  As far as two-year olds go, he gets a big shiny gold star in our books.

Theo's working hard at getting back to his birth weight, a difficult task when there's so much sleeping and pooping to be done!  He's a bit of a dream these days but not to worry, two years isn't long enough to forget that stuff like that doesn't last.

Baby-Friendly Brunch

I've been waiting for go-Daddy-O to post something, but since he's in the middle of marking hell, I'll jump in with a story.

Seems like everyone these days is having a baby and/or buying a house. Last week, we were invited to our friends' place for a celebratory brunch. They have just bought and refurbished a beautiful post-and-beam in Horseshoe Bay. Beautiful, but not exactly baby-friendly. In addition, they just adopted a 220 lb English mastiff "puppy" named Baily.

In order to convince go-Daddy-O that this puppy doesn't pose a danger to anyone--including our plump, sweet-smelling toddler--our friends invited us over, along with another couple with a newborn.

Everything was perfect: we had organic coffee, fresh pineapple and strawberries, bagels, muffins, breakfast bratwurst, and crab casserole. I was sitting on a loungechair holding the newborn, and go-Daddy-O was playing ball with Ella in another room.    

Then I heard it. WOOF!!!

Baily saw the ball, and thinking that it was playtime, wanted to express her pleasure. Startled by the deep bark, Ella first started wailing, then she started coughing, and then suddenly, there were bits of muffin and strawberry and crab all over Ella's dress and all down go-Daddy-O's favourite wool sweater.

Poor kid. Poor dog. I don't know who was more scared! Fortunately, the only person who was left scarred by the incident was go-Daddy-O. He just tried on his sweater, only to discover that it no longer fits...he shrunk it in the dryer. Poor Daddy!

A New Baby for Oliver

Penny is doing well, but she didn't really want her photo up so soon after giving birth to her 7.1 lb baby boy. She says that Baby #2 let out the BIGGEST yell to announce his arrival...he's got quite the set of lungs on him. Now, he seems much more interested in expending his energy in other ways: he's quite happy just eating and sleeping. He is super cute! 

As you can see from the picture, Oliver is VERY pleased with his new baby brother. A name has been decided upon, but I won't reveal it quite yet. We're having a baby name "contest" over at the Milk Factory business blog--leave a comment and enter to win a prize. The odds are looking pretty good right now, so I'm going to keep everyone guessing...for at least another day!