Knocked Up - All Comments

re: Practice Practice Practice

Melissa — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:18:22 GMT

It's an incredibly cute age. Every word is adorable. I love hearing these brother stories!

re: Practice Practice Practice

Michelle — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:28:00 GMT

That's so sweet of Axel to rock his baby brother. I love it.

It is amazing how quickly they pick up language. It seems every word I say lately, Peanut repeats back to me. Which has also caused me to clean up my language quite a bit.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Cara — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:02:27 GMT

I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one suffering in Tantrumland. I have tried everything, EVERYTHING, to combat them with no success. As cute as they are at this age is how insane and irascible they are. It's maddening.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Kayt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:11:00 GMT

Oh gosh, James is eleven months old and starting to discover the joy (ahem) of the tantrum. He also enjoys freaking me out by bumping his head into the wall as he screams, or tangles himself with the decorative wood crossbar under the coffee table, or, weirdest of all, humps the floor, as he screams and screams and chokes himself on his own boogers and tears. I'm dreading two if this is what not-even-one looks like!

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

emily bilbrey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:12:11 GMT

love it! i think that the "what the heck it with you, kid?" reaction is very natural. i can't tell you how many times i've held poppy out in front of me and asked her with my eyebrows raised, "seriously?!" and she's only seven months old!

re: 4 Winks

emily bilbrey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:07:56 GMT

holla back, bloggy friend! i sooooo get it. when poppy was 2 through 5 months old, she was a fantastic sleeper - snoozing from 10pm till 9am and dream-eating about 4 times per night. she even weaned herself from co sleeping - wiggling away at night until i wised up and put her in a crib, which she responded to by sleeping even better than she had been! then something changed. right at the 6-month mark she suddenly reverted back to newborn sleeping habits - protesting the crib, waking up every 1-2 hours to eat and most recently waking up for good at 6am (even though she goes to bed at 9). i am unbelievably exhausted, and am barely managing to hold it together most days. i try to nap when she does, but it's hard because the ONLY coping technique that works for me is a morning cup of coffee, so when she naps at noon i'm wired but still freaking TIRED.

anyhoo, i have like, NO advice on this. but i figured why not commiserate with a fellow blurry-eyed, decidedly un-bushy-tailed mama! best of luck to you on catching a few more winks in the future! cheers! (-;

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Amber's Crazy Bloggin' Canuck — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:11:18 GMT

LOL! I think you need to expound upon these points and make them into a book. Believe me, with as many tantrums as my daughter had when she was 3, we could have written one!

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Claudia — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:10:32 GMT

Thanks!, I really needed to read this.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

6512 and growing — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:28:12 GMT

Laughing at the hilarity of it definitely helps me, not so much her.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

erin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:42:34 GMT

hee, hee. i don't get tantrums either. sometimes i just say "nice tantrum, but seriously you can do better" and petunia will give me a confused look and usually stop.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

diera — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:28:06 GMT

Honestly, nothing 'works', in the sense that it's going to make a toddler anything other than a lunatic. Well, except time, and a LOT of it. The coping strategies I employ mostly revolve around a) not accidentally rewarding the tantrum, thus potentially making the process of getting rid of them take longer and b) not losing my own fragile hold on sanity. Thus, when we're not in public, I mostly use the ignoring option, not because I think it necessarily helps, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt, and really there is a limited amount of attention I'm willing to give someone who is reduced to tears and screaming by the fact I closed the fridge door instead of letting her do it, no matter how old that person may be.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Hillary — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:23:18 GMT

There is nothing more futile than negotiating with a toddler ... something I have to remind myself of daily.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Christine Z. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:06:49 GMT

I so needed this article after the weekend I have just had with my child.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

melospiza — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:35:49 GMT

This list cracked me up. Esp. #s 2, 5, and 9. "Providing a choice" is a consistent fail in my household, too. Also the timer (although it IS effective is postponing the tantrum/ frantic plea bargaining until the timer goes off).

Also ineffective: uncontrollable laughing. "Don't LAUGH!!!" shrieks my daughter. She has a point, although I don't know what else I'm supposed to do when neither eating nor not eating at breakfast fails to stop the weeping (weeping, she puts the offending breakfast food in her mouth. Weeping, she pushes the plate away. Weeping, she pulls it back when I try to clear it away.)

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Ashley — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:34:50 GMT

I'm so glad to hear I am not the only one dealing with this craziness.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

Melissa — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:10:32 GMT

Michael's tantrums were worst when he was a year old. Of course, he still had them at two. I am so glad to see someone else has my experience with those parenting tips. If I tell Michael to take a breath it just pisses him off more.

There's no silver bullet, what works one day will not work on another day. Or even later on the same day. As he gets older and understands more, the tantrums decrease, but it's more like an ebb and flow. We have some really great days, even weeks, which convince me that the days of tantrums are over, only to come back with a vengeance!

This is why God made toddlers so cute as a counterbalance.

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

kris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:39:52 GMT

This is hilarious. My son is going to be three and thankfully he is over this stage( most of the time). but I have a 10 month old so i will have to keep this list on hand because she is already a screamer over any little random thing!

re: Ten Ineffective Tantrum Strategies

MidLifeMama — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:26:52 GMT

Oh I feel your pain. The whimsical nature of toddlers is baffling and VERY frustrating. This weekend was all about control - Cooper's over his world and rejecting our attempts at providing any sort of structure regardless of the safety features that come with that structure, or the benefits that come with it, like regular food delivery or access to watching a favorite show. It is exhausting.

re: The Discerning Toddler Palate

LouLousMom — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:07:55 GMT

That funny my daughter is the same way, she loves salmon and pasta with pesto and mushrooms as well as just about everything in between. I have the same concerns as we are approaching two, lets hope our little foodies are here to stay.

re: 4 Winks

knockedup — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:56:09 GMT

Molly, Jonas does have a mild case of diaper rash. Perhaps that's part of it. I hope that your second one keeps being a sleep champ!

Sarah, I love your suggestion. I'm going to try to get Sean to do that sometime soon, when he's not on shift.

Ableponder, I was (maybe still am) in denial about the 4 month regression. Axel had it bigtime, and I basically have been refusing to identify this as the 4 month regression. But that's what it is. Jonas did have a good night (a better one at least) on Friday, but Saturday was crappy again.

Thanks, all for your comments. I know I'll sleep again, eventually.

re: 4 Winks

Molly — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:33:45 GMT

Yikes! This reads as a cautionary tale to me. I have a 22-month-old who didn't sleep through the night till he was 10 months and a 2 month old who is a sleep champ and I am horrified by the prospect of my happy household being disturbed by a sudden change of habit (!!!). I've been thinking God has rewarded me for all my patience with 4-5 wakings with boy no. 1, but maybe I am jinxing it, too (nooooo!).

Here's a thought: examine Jonas from head-to-toe, look for dots, spots, rashes, dry skin, athlete's feet, even the slightest hint of diaper rash, anything of any kind that might bother him in the least, and get rid of it. My bub had what looked like a pretty insignificant skin issue--the creases behind his knees were pink and had been for a while but I didn't think much of it and had been treating it with some Hippy salves from Whole Food as is my custom. Apparently, however, it was really itchy and horrible, because as soon as I treated it with a double whammy of cortisone and anti-fungal cream, it cleared up and he started sleeping within a few days. Oops. What is a first child if not an experiment?

re: 4 Winks

hollyever — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:10:41 GMT

Oooooh have I been there. We had 15 months of no more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a time (and often no more than that for the night, total). It's hard to see anything hopeful from the bottom of the sleep-deprivation pit, but hang on tight. Whatever you have to do to get some sleep, do it. It's amazing how much simpler and better things appear when you've strung together at least 5 or 6 hours in a row.

re: 4 Winks

eringremlin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:18:02 GMT

Well, its just completely ridiculous that people would expect you to tie your shoelaces and avoid oncoming trucks when you're never sleeping. And come on- I have a hard time buttoning a cardigan correctly when fully rested.

re: 4 Winks

erin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:40:37 GMT

oh dear, I'm hoping you get your 40 winks in very very soon!

re: 4 Winks

ldoo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:35:24 GMT

A quick primer on 4-month-old sleep that I wish someone had told me. My daughter did the same thing Jonas is doing.

At 4 months, their brains start waking them up on a different cycle than previously. When they wake up, they need to learn to soothe themselves back to sleep.

If Jonas is falling asleep with a paci but is waking up without it in his mouth, he's going to be pissed because the only way he knows how to fall asleep is with a paci. Same with if you're rocking or feeding him to sleep. Once he wakes up, if he's not in your arms or with a bottle/boob, he'll be totally confused.

It's like us falling asleep with a pillow then waking without it. We'd have a hard time falling back asleep.

Long story short: When my daughter did this at 4 months, I took her paci away, therefore allowing her to learn how to fall BACK asleep the same way she fell asleep initially.

If you take away whatever crutch Jonas might have, he hopefully will learn to fall back asleep without you ever knowing he was awake (or quickly enough that you won't feel the need to intervene).

I hope this helps!!! Good luck.