Parenting. Seriously, one of the most daunting words in the English language. It still makes me shudder. I mean seriously, where is the manual? Where are the directions on these little people? And for heaven sakes, why has no one figured out how to install a mute button on these things? All that said, it is one of the hardest things, ever, yet there are these little glimmers. These little experiences where you have an "Ah ha" moment. They are few and far between, and usually you have these moments after something dreadful has happened. Most of the learning is done "the hard way." So I thought I would share just a few of things, either me or someone I know has had to learn the hard way. Hopefully sparing you of this trial...although trust me, there will be more.
Last night I learned a fairly important lesson. Never, ever, let your little one go to sleep with their thumbs through those holes they put in the sleeves of shirts. Ever. And no, these are not holes that have grown into old nasty pajamas, but in fact, some pajamas actually have purposeful thumb holes put into them. Call me crazy, but my thumbs seem to manage just fine through the night without thumb holes. Anyway, poor Abbi was up most of the night moaning and groaning, and we could not, for the life of us, figure out what her problem was. And that coupled with her ability to sleep so deeply, she couldn't tell us. I walked into her room at 6:30am this morning, and she was still at it (moaning and groaning). She finally had the sense to tell me her thumbs hurt. Well boy, did they ever! They were GIANT! Like you couldn't see her knuckles anymore, and they were purple! Poor thing. Note to self...
Another one I heard from a friend, whom I love dearly, but I'm certainly glad it was her and not me. She taught me to never sleep beside your ill child. He was up most of the night sick to his stomach. So she pulled up a little cot so she could be beside his bed when he woke up. Well, at 3:00am when he sat up and needed to vomit, all over Mommy's face it went. Ugh. Note to self...
I've always remembered a story my Mom told me about how my sister was fussy one night and she could not settle her. She was at her wits end, and finally took off her sleeper and found a hair wrapped around her toe, cutting off circulation, hence the upset child (similar to Abbi's thumb story). So when my kids were little and they were just inconsolable, I would always take off their sleepers and do a check of all the fingers and toes (and in Gabe's case, certain other parts as well).
Another classic we learned the hard way last week was the trauma that automated toilets can induce. Gabe was 3 days into potty training and we were out and about and sat him on the toilet. All of a sudden, it flushed, my son's face turned red, and he began shaking and shrieking out of sheer terror. As a result, he will have nothing to do with any toilet that flushes. So I'm grateful that we didn't fall off the wagon entirely, as he will use his mini potty, but this means we have to tote the darned thing everywhere. When I went online to look into this fear of flushing toilets phenomenon, its apparently quite common. As a result, many Moms carry around a package of sticky notes to put over the flush sensor. Brilliant...but you only know that once you learn the hard way.
*Potty training update, last week we were out shopping and Abbi had to go, so she used a flush toilet in a store, Gabe saw this and did it too. Hooray! Since then, we have been able to use flush toilets, but he still refuses to use the toilets at the scene of the incident.
Does anyone else have parenting life lessons to share? Help us to learn the not-so-hard way?
Last night I learned a fairly important lesson. Never, ever, let your little one go to sleep with their thumbs through those holes they put in the sleeves of shirts. Ever. And no, these are not holes that have grown into old nasty pajamas, but in fact, some pajamas actually have purposeful thumb holes put into them. Call me crazy, but my thumbs seem to manage just fine through the night without thumb holes. Anyway, poor Abbi was up most of the night moaning and groaning, and we could not, for the life of us, figure out what her problem was. And that coupled with her ability to sleep so deeply, she couldn't tell us. I walked into her room at 6:30am this morning, and she was still at it (moaning and groaning). She finally had the sense to tell me her thumbs hurt. Well boy, did they ever! They were GIANT! Like you couldn't see her knuckles anymore, and they were purple! Poor thing. Note to self...
Another one I heard from a friend, whom I love dearly, but I'm certainly glad it was her and not me. She taught me to never sleep beside your ill child. He was up most of the night sick to his stomach. So she pulled up a little cot so she could be beside his bed when he woke up. Well, at 3:00am when he sat up and needed to vomit, all over Mommy's face it went. Ugh. Note to self...
I've always remembered a story my Mom told me about how my sister was fussy one night and she could not settle her. She was at her wits end, and finally took off her sleeper and found a hair wrapped around her toe, cutting off circulation, hence the upset child (similar to Abbi's thumb story). So when my kids were little and they were just inconsolable, I would always take off their sleepers and do a check of all the fingers and toes (and in Gabe's case, certain other parts as well).
Another classic we learned the hard way last week was the trauma that automated toilets can induce. Gabe was 3 days into potty training and we were out and about and sat him on the toilet. All of a sudden, it flushed, my son's face turned red, and he began shaking and shrieking out of sheer terror. As a result, he will have nothing to do with any toilet that flushes. So I'm grateful that we didn't fall off the wagon entirely, as he will use his mini potty, but this means we have to tote the darned thing everywhere. When I went online to look into this fear of flushing toilets phenomenon, its apparently quite common. As a result, many Moms carry around a package of sticky notes to put over the flush sensor. Brilliant...but you only know that once you learn the hard way.
*Potty training update, last week we were out shopping and Abbi had to go, so she used a flush toilet in a store, Gabe saw this and did it too. Hooray! Since then, we have been able to use flush toilets, but he still refuses to use the toilets at the scene of the incident.
Does anyone else have parenting life lessons to share? Help us to learn the not-so-hard way?
Yeah I have one. I was told that if you blow in your baby's face, they instinctually hold their breath and then you can dunk them underwater. To get them used to swimming and such. Well I tried it and all I got was a coughing, wheezing, screaming, half-drowning baby. Never again will I do that!
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