Happy May everyone!

Things are fine at the Lily household. Spring is here and we're having a blast playing outside. I realized yesterday how much more comfortable I am letting them play and not hovering than I was last year. DS is certainly getting better about following instructions - especially in the front yard - he stops at the sidewalk and stays out of the street. Of course they are almost four so it's about time.

DS has been dry at night for ages. DD still gets wet a night sometimes. Of course he doesn't want to give up his pullup and she does! I told her if she stays dry for 7 nights, she can wear undies to bed. And I didn't give him a choice - time for undies. I'd be so happy to be TOTALLY done with pullups. Of course, they are miles better than wet beds in the middle of the night. :)

We all went to CPK for dinner last night. Sat at a table since my father came too and we had 5 people. Usually we sit in a booth. I actually found they behaved much better in chairs than in a booth - maybe I should rethink my restaurant strategy. :)

So...how is everyone?

I bet the chairs don't make as fun of a play area as a booth, making it harder to cause a ruckus? :o)

AFM, DD is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up to her knees sometimes. We're currently having a food fight...pun intended. Girl WILL. NOT. EAT. (solids that is). Last week she started to refuse us feeding her oatmeal or purees, so I started giving her more finger food type things. She did ok for a couple days, now this week won't eat anything! Though apparently at daycare she still eats fine (go figure). She's been subsisting on puffs, cheerios, yogurt melts, and sometimes shredded cheese at home. Any fruit or veggie- she'll touch it, realize it's wet/sticky/slimy and it gets stuck on her finger, and she flings it away. Our dog is having a field day.

Any tips? I'm thinking it may be more teeth making their way in; she's been chewing on things more recently and drooling more.

misslily,

DD hates seams and we used sleeping naked as the incentive to get out of pullups -- worked like a charm!  She still is wet once in a while (well, not for over a month now, but still, it seems like once in a while), usually after a particularly rough night for the baby screaming and being up.  My theory is the baby's crying somehow messes up DD's sleep patterns or something.  Other than that, getting out of the pullups has been glorious. 

We're all good.  We had a family wedding last weekend and the kids were great, especially considering how long the ceremony was.  Plus there was a kid there who was practically feral and made my kids look even MORE well-behaved (it's probably bad karma to feel as good about it as I did but oh well, I guess I"m not a good person). 

I'm loving the lighter, warmer evenings because it means we can go in the yard during or after dinner.  Happy Spring!

Summer - you can try "dusting" the slimy stuff with the fine crumbs at the bottom of the cheerio box. And be grateful you have a dog. My DS ate nothing but american cheese pieces and cheerios for months - maybe until he was 12 months old. But I didn't have a dog to eat the stuff on the floor.

Just keep repeating - I'm offering - it's her job to eat it...or not. :)

Summer, no tips but some reassurance that your DD is totally normal with her eating. My DD1 who is 3 now had very erratic eating from about 10 months to 2 years...and it only recently has greatly improved. like your dd, mine ate much better at daycare than at home. Some advice I gor that helped me is that babies/toddlers need to eat one good meal a day and often don't eat their best meal at dinner time bc they are tired and its best to look at food consumption over the course of a week rather than by day. Also keep in mind that babies need to see/explore foods many times before they will form an opinion as to whether they like it. So, as Lily said, keep offering the good foods and let your dog eat them if neEd be!

Happy May Everyone! 

Summer - My sisters baby doesnt like to eat food either and struggles with it too although her baby is 6.5 months old.  She just keeps trying and sometimes he will eat and sometimes not.  Could she be teething?  Ive learned from the girls here sometimes they dont eat because they are teething? 

DS is going to be 10 months old on Sunday!  I cant believe it.  Still no teeth!  The other night he took a step, he is cruising the furniture and crawling FAST!  Ofcoarse he always goes straight for the dogs water bowl.  He is also claping and waving bye.  I swear he is saying bye too while waving.  Can that be true already at this age?  And the BEST thing that he does now is gives HUGS!!! 

Lissa, I am laughing out loud of the image of the "practically feral" child at the wedding!  I was just emailing with my SIL and we agreed that as long as our kids are good in public... we'll take whatever abuse we get at home :-)  Apparently she got quite a bit last night from her 8-going-on- 35 daughter.  DS and I went out to dinner last night (DH was away) and I had an elderly couple stop on their way out saying DS was so well behaved and they'd take him anywhere.  I beamed!

I also agree about eating... they really seem to know when and how much they want to eat, as frustrating as it can be to us.  DS eats so well at daycare... and will actually eat a vegetable now and then. Its totally monkey-see, monkey-do as he won't even let a veggie be on his plate much less eat it at home.  I knew he had a good lunch yesterday so at the restaurant when he drank his entire glass of milk, 3/4ths of his applesauce and only one small bite of sandwich... I just shrugged (and ate the grilled cheese myself!).

Love, love, love the warmer weather, especially since I have a child that does not want to come inside!  We need a swing set asap!

pugs, it's not too early!  It's not late and there's no reason to worry if the kid isn't saying words like bye yet but it's a totally appropriate time for them to start.  My 10.5 month old has been waving for a couple months now and is definitely saying "bye" when she waves, as of the last few weeks.  She also answers yes/no questions with nodding, which is absolutely marvelous.  Suddenly parenting is so much easier!  I just have to figure out the right question to ask.

Also, my first didn't get her first tooth until 11 months.  I spent all Christmas that year having EVERY single female relative of mine make concerned brow-furrowing faces and saying things like "really? no teeth?  Have to told her doctor?" She was fine. 

As if taking her to the doctor would make her teeth grow in any faster? 

I was feeding the 10 month old triplets yesterday when one previously thrilled baby suddenly (half way through the bowl) decided he wasn't thrilled anymore with the rice and kidney beans they were eating for lunch.  He started pushing it out and screaming when the spoon came near. The other two were unphased and still happy and hungry so I offered the unhappy one his turn each time and if he didn't take it the other two got theirs.  Mom came downstairs from putting the 3 yo down for a nap, and I, feeling like a total feeding failure, told her Boy1 ate half as much as 2 and 3.  She laughed and said that happens and that he'd probably eat more the next meal.

they have 3 babies at every meal...sometimes they all eat everything put in front of them other times they don't, and since they are thriving, mom doesn't seem to stress about it or give them alternatives just to get a certain volume of food into them at every sitting.