Great video and song, but I can tell you it confused my toddler to no end! Check out this video…

Trying to get the toddler to use the potty now is frustrating. But experts say if you get them to identify with the whole potty experience, it could make it easier. So here’s one of those ways to help them identify.

(I didn’t know Elmo had a dad…)

Spring break has arrived for many school agers, my daughters starts today actually. With the economy the way it is and money tight all around, I thought I’d give some thought on some cheap Spring Break activities for school agers. These are if you plan to stay home and not have a destination vacation in mind. Read the rest of this entry »

We were stuck in the house again, as it just wasn’t warm enough to take the baby out. So sitting at my laptop with my 2 year old running wild, I thought I’d look up some activities to do with him while we waited for lunch time. He’d already colored (or broke all the crayons he needed to for the day), he’d also played with his Play-doh, we needed something else.

So that’s when I came across a virtual zoo. This is kind of a cool concept, it’s just peoples posted videos of farm animals (or they have a virtual aquarium to) that you can watch with your child. My son hasn’t seen any zoo animals, as he was to little to care last summer. I’m quite excited to see his reaction to the real thing, but in the meantime, this virtual farm kept his attention for a while. Check it out.

So with a 22 month old in the house, you always have to be diligent. Our son is very, how can I say it wisely, rambunctuious. Now with a newborn added to our family dynamic, we have to be especially careful. So what have we dealt with in the first week we’ve been home…

First of all, our son didn’t think he was real. He would just point and say baby. But when he decided to start grabbing the baby, we knew we had to work with him on his gentle nature. Our son has no gentle nature so we have been working with him constantly on being gentle and not trying to rip his toes off.

In addition, we think our son has become somewhat protective of his brother. He is very worried about where his baby is, and always trys to share. This has led to numerous attempts to throw cars at his brother while he snoozes in his bassinnet. We’ve definiely had to become more diligent on that front.

The kicker came today when the kids and I returned home from breakfast. We came in the door, my seven year old went and sat down at the kitchen table, arguing as usual with me. The 22 month old started playing with his cars and my sleeping newborn was happily in dreamland, still strapped in his car seat on the floor. As I argued with my daughter I walked over to the couch to pick up some laundry that had to be washed for the baby. When I walked back, my toddler was pointing at the baby’s car seat, saying baby. He had flipped the baby’s carseat upside down, the poor sleeping baby was upside down, dangling from his secure harness. No harm was done to the baby, just my heart as I almost had a heart attack.

The lesson? Never turn your back, even for one second. From that point on, the newborn was in a sling on my side or the toddler was no where to be found. Ugh!

My son came down with a runny nose just this morning and in talking about with my mother she told me not to use Vicks VapoRub on him. With the fact that you can no longer give kids any medicine, we have been using Vicks BabyRub on our son when he gets a cold. So what’s the difference and is there a risk? Read the rest of this entry »

I was reading through a magazine the other day and came across an article on how to get your kids to eat vegetables. It didn’t go into tricks on how to get them to eat veggies, instead it had these recipes to try on your kids to get them to eat veggies.

I’m all for new recipes, but there’s this new trend on the “trendy” food. It made me laugh, as the following recipes were included: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been very lucky to have my husband home for a few weeks during Christmas. It’s been great. This morning he made breakfast for the kids, french toast. But while I was happy to have him make breakfast for the kids, he had the TV on for them during breakfast. I’m a strong opponent to that, as it just slows the entire process down, not only that but it breaks my morning routine that I have set with the kids. So as I sat and watched my 7 year old and my 20 month old stare open mouthed at the stupid TV during breakfast, I wondered how much they should really watch it. Read the rest of this entry »

I honestly haven’t even thought about potty training my son, now 19 months. I always hear that boys are harder and I have a nephew that is 4 and still doesn’t fully get it. I just figured it would occur sometime in the future.

Well my son has started to do some odd things, namely he’ll tell me when he’s ready to go poop. He’ll grab at his crotch and do a little dance, next thing you know there’s that all to familiar aroma. So now that he’s telling me, should I start training? Here’s what the experts say:

Read the rest of this entry »

My son got teeth pretty much on time. When he did, he started biting. He bit me even when I was breastfeeding, ya, that was no fun! Now that he’s older, he’s still biting, just WAY harder. So how do you stop a biting toddler? Read the rest of this entry »