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Yeah, we also had no choice but to put ours in daycare cause we couldn’t afford to have only one income for a year+. He’s been in for a year now and actually there have only been 3-4 total cases across the whole daycare. All were just one isolated case, never spread within the school. Delta makes that streak unlikely to continue though. I attribute it to luck more than any of their protocols since he stills comes down with a non-COVID cold about every other month. I don’t sweat the risk too much as the odds for children to come out healthy are good enough and I don’t have any other choice, so what would stressing about it accomplish. But if I could afford a leave of absence I’d probably just keep him home.
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Aug 17, 2021 21:00
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Awkward question for parents of older kids (like elementary + age) - is hanging out with that age of kid more, uh, mentally stimulating than hanging out with a toddler? I love my child but long stretches with just us are absolutely dull as rocks and usually leave me feeling like a bad parent. I am really looking forward to the time when she will gently caress off and read a YA novel for hours at a time like I did as a kid. Or like, any kind of interesting conversation / activity where a good 45% of my brain isn't occupied by making sure she's not going to fall off something and break her face.
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Aug 17, 2021 21:05
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Good-Natured Filth posted:My kids need to learn how to eat crackers. Just put them in your mouth and chew. You don't need to nibble on them like a chipmunk and get crumbs all over the goddamn place!!! My 3 year old loves to eat anything semi cookie-like like cookie monster. He says in his best cookie monster expressions "Cookie!" and shoves/crumbles it in his mouth as he eats it. This can be actual cookies, crackers, eggs, roasted seaweed, cereal....
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Aug 17, 2021 21:06
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:Ah that makes sense. Great that you found a map routine that works! I guess the late nap (2pm) would contribute to late bedtime but whatever gets her (and you) through the day without meltdowns. Yah I would prefer she does a shorter nap but it’s pretty quiet at the grandparents and they like it when she naps (they are always saying “it’s good! It helps her grow!” Which, probably true) so I don’t fuss about it. She comes home and plays with siblings til about 7:30 when it is shower and bedtime for all then 8-10 is her “quiet time” but not sleeping usually, but in bed just “laxing” as she puts it. She’s pretty good and just chills out either reading or quietly talking to my wife or myself as we fold laundry. Sometimes she will just drop off too it depends on how active the preschool/daycare was that day or if we went to the park after dinner etc. She has an amazing battery reserve compared to the other kids it is a massive difference and we’re going to sign her up for all the sports and see what sticks 
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Aug 17, 2021 21:11
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External Organs posted:Awkward question for parents of older kids (like elementary + age) - is hanging out with that age of kid more, uh, mentally stimulating than hanging out with a toddler? I love my child but long stretches with just us are absolutely dull as rocks and usually leave me feeling like a bad parent. Got a kid who is 6 and I'd generally say yes. We can play board games or card games, and actually hold a reasonable conversation.
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Aug 17, 2021 22:07
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External Organs posted:Awkward question for parents of older kids (like elementary + age) - is hanging out with that age of kid more, uh, mentally stimulating than hanging out with a toddler? I love my child but long stretches with just us are absolutely dull as rocks and usually leave me feeling like a bad parent. Hope you like conversations about Minecraft / Roblox.
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Aug 17, 2021 22:24
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The baby Tylenol was a good call, thanks everyone  I don’t know why the internet at large is so anti-medication when it’s such a simple and proven solution.
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Aug 17, 2021 23:06
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Alterian posted:Hope you like conversations about Minecraft / Roblox.
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Aug 17, 2021 23:29
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I had to ban my 9yo from Roblox, both because I am concerned with what is on there, content wise, and also because when he wasn't playing it he would never stop asking if he could play it. It was like dealing with a crack fiend. There was about a week or two of withdrawl for him where he was REALLY mad about it but seems fine now. Not being in school and talking about it with his friends help, now when he has play dates with his friends at the park they are too busy playing on the playground to get into much video game chitchat.
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Aug 17, 2021 23:42
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Tom Smykowski posted:My summer feels like it's either been Minecraft chat with older nephews or stacking blocks with my baby. Just blocks everywhere I turn I love reminding my 8 year old that I've been playing Minecraft since before he was born. priznat posted:I had to ban my 9yo from Roblox, both because I am concerned with what is on there, content wise, and also because when he wasn't playing it he would never stop asking if he could play it. It was like dealing with a crack fiend. There was about a week or two of withdrawl for him where he was REALLY mad about it but seems fine now. Not being in school and talking about it with his friends help, now when he has play dates with his friends at the park they are too busy playing on the playground to get into much video game chitchat. We severely limit our kid's Roblox time. He has to earn playing it for a little bit on the weekend. There's a lot of weird stuff on there. He got a good lesson in online security when he was playing a game that asked him for his password to give him free robux.
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Aug 17, 2021 23:52
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You're reminding me of when I was a kid and we were on a camping trip and I noticed that some boats had the word STARCRAFT written on them. I didn't stop talking to my dad for hours. Huh. Well. Sounds like it's half encouraging and half just frustrating in new and exciting ways.
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Aug 17, 2021 23:52
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remigious posted:The baby Tylenol was a good call, thanks everyone I wish we lived in a world where people accepting proven medication could be taken for granted but alas…
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Aug 18, 2021 00:25
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So we’ve made up a sticker chart and told him if he gets five stickers in a row (by having no accidents in that five-day span) he gets to go to the water park. This has been a disaster thus far. In fact I think he’s gotten worse about using the potty. He’s been an rear end in a top hat the past week and a half, and today he’s poo poo his pants twice, peed them three times. This is a potty-trained kid, mind you, and he certainly knows when he has to go and what it feels like. We’ve begun to prompt him every 30-45 minutes to avoid accidents and he gives us a gently caress ton of grief over it—it takes us ten minutes to even get him to go to the potty and I poo poo you not, half the goddamn time, by the time we get him to go to the potty he’s already shat himself. Poop and pee go in the potty, we tell him. It apparently goes in one ear and out the other. I can be totally calm when dealing with this and it doesn’t help at all. The second time he shat himself today? My wife had a work call going over in time in the office, and I was cooking dinner while the baby was crying because he woke her up, and then he insisted on being in the office with my wife. Five minutes later she’s still on her call and asking me to take care of his poo poo pants. I get it, she’s got something going on—which is why his timing is the worst motherfucking timing on the planet. I made him go sit on the potty so the chicken didn’t get over cooked and then said he wasn’t to go into the office to bother Mommy. He said no, and went in anyway. I’m about at my wit’s end. I could loving scream I’m so angry. He’s been doing this type of poo poo for days and does literally not a single goddamn thing I ask him to without a pointless battle or negotiation that goes in his favor before he still refuses to do anything I ask. If it doesn’t go in his favor he just cries and screams to delay doing whatever and if I try to speak he cries louder. gently caress this poo poo today.
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Aug 18, 2021 00:30
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Tylenol is a loving miracle drug. And somehow Motrin is even better.
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Aug 18, 2021 00:37
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Renegret posted:Tylenol is a loving miracle drug. Oh yeah pro tip Children's and Infant Tylenol are the same exact thing in the same concentrations so they're interchangeable. Children's don't come with those super cool plungers but otherwise it's significantly cheaper to just buy the children's version and the dosage will be the same. Really useful once your kid is taking 5mL doses and you get only a handful of doses out of a tiny $15 bottle. However, the same does NOT apply to Motrin. (as always, check the packaging)
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Aug 18, 2021 00:47
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life is killing me posted:So we’ve made up a sticker chart and told him if he gets five stickers in a row (by having no accidents in that five-day span) he gets to go to the water park. This has been a disaster thus far. In fact I think he’s gotten worse about using the potty. He’s been an rear end in a top hat the past week and a half, and today he’s poo poo his pants twice, peed them three times. This is a potty-trained kid, mind you, and he certainly knows when he has to go and what it feels like. We’ve begun to prompt him every 30-45 minutes to avoid accidents and he gives us a gently caress ton of grief over it—it takes us ten minutes to even get him to go to the potty and I poo poo you not, half the goddamn time, by the time we get him to go to the potty he’s already shat himself. Poop and pee go in the potty, we tell him. It apparently goes in one ear and out the other. I can be totally calm when dealing with this and it doesn’t help at all. The second time he shat himself today? My wife had a work call going over in time in the office, and I was cooking dinner while the baby was crying because he woke her up, and then he insisted on being in the office with my wife. Five minutes later she’s still on her call and asking me to take care of his poo poo pants. I get it, she’s got something going on—which is why his timing is the worst motherfucking timing on the planet. I made him go sit on the potty so the chicken didn’t get over cooked and then said he wasn’t to go into the office to bother Mommy. He said no, and went in anyway. I've been there man trust me. My daughter goes on random poopstrikes and still occasionally does the death metal gutteral "nooooo" yell when I try to talk. At times the legit best thing to do is just leave the room and focus on other things. We have a baby gate on the office door to keep her from trying to barge in there while working and when she flips her wig i'll just get up and leave the room with her toddler brother. Her therapist suggested changing the environment when she gets like that and it seems to work for the most part. Trying to explain things to kids is a recipe for disaster as well since they don't process crap that way, which plays holy hell with my neurodivergence. My own therapist suggested the Kazdin method and i grabbed that book off the internet - maybe give that a shot? It worked decently for us when fuckface doesn't mess up her head during a visit.
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Aug 18, 2021 01:03
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citybeatnik posted:I've been there man trust me. My daughter goes on random poopstrikes and still occasionally does the death metal gutteral "nooooo" yell when I try to talk. We’ve been kind of doing Kazdin but not full-force. We have a reward chart with stickers where he gets three and gets a prize, and that’s for staying in bed all night. It’s pretty hit or miss with that but it has reduced how many nights he comes into our room. I’m ND as well and it’s tough. I just don’t even know with this kid. Today was the first time I’ve been legit angry with him, and it just built and built. When I thought it was over, he pooped his pants a third time. Tough to use positive reinforcement when you offer him this for that and he’s mad you’re making him do something so he says he doesn’t wanna do this thing he normally pesters me to no end to get to do. I could offer him anything and if he’s mad at me, he will just sit there and shake his head saying, “No! I don’t wanna do dat!” or ignore me completely. It’s gotten me nowhere.
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Aug 18, 2021 01:57
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Baby turns 3 months old tomorrow. Sleep feels impossible... Every time I think I have a grasp on her sleep and how to deal with it it changes. I've been trying to be consistent nightly and she just is not. I know this is all like babies.txt but it's so frustrating feeling like her sleep is actually getting worse and not better. Anyway I'm finishing up hour 3 of rocking her on my chest in hopes she'll fall deep asleep enough to put down which hasn't happened yet, we have had 5 or so false starts so far.
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Aug 18, 2021 03:42
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I follow a couple toddler parenting things on Instagram, and always see posts like “there is no good* or bad behavior, it’s all just communication” or something along those lines. Sometimes I wonder if they’ve ever met a toddler. *accidentally wrote THERE IS NO GOD and had a sad chuckle, if there’s a word for that, it’s probably in German.
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Aug 18, 2021 03:46
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Koivunen posted:I follow a couple toddler parenting things on Instagram, and always see posts like “there is no good* or bad behavior, it’s all just communication” or something along those lines. Sometimes I wonder if they’ve ever met a toddler. Toddlers are terrorists and anybody who says otherwise either never had one of their own or is too drunk to remember. Today my toddler bit his friend at school. No reason. Just walked up, bit his shoulder, then gave him a big hug.
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Aug 18, 2021 04:20
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Renegret posted:Oh yeah pro tip I have heard that this is the case in the US, but in Canada, infant and children's Tylenol are definitely two different concentrations. They're also different viscosities, with the infant stuff being thicker. We tried using the children's when our kid was 5-6 months. It was a pain to have to calculate the dose (thanks biochemistry degree), and he also tended to choke on it a bit because it was too runny.
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Aug 18, 2021 04:50
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hallo spacedog posted:Baby turns 3 months old tomorrow. Sleep feels impossible... Every time I think I have a grasp on her sleep and how to deal with it it changes. I've been trying to be consistent nightly and she just is not. I know this is all like babies.txt but it's so frustrating feeling like her sleep is actually getting worse and not better. It definitely gets better. Baby's sleep improves and your bar for Good Sleep drops a lot so it feels better at least.
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Aug 18, 2021 14:47
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Renegret posted:handful of doses out of a tiny $15 bottle. Now I take that and I multiply it to 4 kids. I don't dose by the bottle, I dose by weight for both Tylenol and Motrin (urgent care gave us a chart) and when all 4 are sick at once and running 100°+ fevers and switching off Motrin and Tylenol every 3 hours...yeah. We can go through a bottle and change in a day.
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Aug 18, 2021 16:21
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External Organs posted:You're reminding me of when I was a kid and we were on a camping trip and I noticed that some boats had the word STARCRAFT written on them. I didn't stop talking to my dad for hours. Don't worry, you'll get through the elementary school talk talk talk phase and eventually be where I am with a teenager who says two sentences to you over the course of a day!
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Aug 18, 2021 16:45
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Any suggestions on a wagon? Preferably one that you can take down and put up when needed? Do I really need a child seat strap thing in the wagon? I envision myself going to the grocery store with my kid in it, then dropping all the groceries in it while they're in it as well.
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Aug 18, 2021 18:28
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obi_ant posted:Any suggestions on a wagon? Preferably one that you can take down and put up when needed? Do I really need a child seat strap thing in the wagon? I envision myself going to the grocery store with my kid in it, then dropping all the groceries in it while they're in it as well. There are wagons specifically for kids but they are a lot more expensive than the foldable ones you get from Costco. My kids love riding in the Costco one but I am always super paranoid they are going to jam their fingers in the wheel or something so I’m always watching them while I’m dragging it around. Wirecutter has a roundup of wagons too: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-folding-wagons/
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Aug 18, 2021 18:35
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Tom Smykowski posted:It definitely gets better. Baby's sleep improves and your bar for Good Sleep drops a lot so it feels better at least. Thanks. It just seems so weird to me that she was better at sleeping for a stretch at one and two months than she is now, as she's been waking up every 2hr45 min to eat recently where she was previously sleeping 4-6 hour stretches no problem. I even had a few nights where we slept 8-10 hrs straight but not anymore.
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Aug 18, 2021 19:15
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Some happy tell: After 15 months as a father now I couldn't be more lucky and happy about it. Of course also because I have the most fantastic wife taking care of so much as I still had to fill the capitalistic trap of having to work since he was 2 months old and she had to take care of him fulltime until now (with work split whenever possible, also due to corona Ive been in home office so I could ease some poo poo out) Our kid had barely anything of the commong child.txt. Slept till 9, 10am early on, now it can be from 5:30 (nay!) to 9 (yay!), always changing depending on his phase or what he has to deal with at the momen t(so everything) but usually it's not before 7. Never had a severly intense night, never a severe sickness (well that will come thats for sure), pushed out most of his teeth without any severe complaints or sleepless nights, almost constantly happy, started forming words at 6 months, constantly babbling now, commenting on basically everything he does or sees (can be annoying, but is also pretty great and impressive), very expressive and communicative, so its most of the time extremely clear what he wants. Very nice motorics too, absolutely nothing to worry about. Eats almost everything, drinks from an actual cup now with spilling only 20% of the content  Now only 2 weeks into daycare (acclimatisation phase is usually 4-6 weeks here) already took no issues with eating and sleeping there which we thought would be the most difficult parts, but went both comparibly well on the first tries. Had no problems letting go and is very happy with his childcare worker. so many challenges ahead but given how it went for us so far and what I hear and read from others, we're so very lucky. I also think mandatory home office poo poo helped a lot with the bonding to both parents instead of the usual strong mother bias. Of course its still very exhausting but extremly great too and I'd never expected parenthood to be like this. I had no real expectations, I just let it come. After all, they're just little humans who need love, food and sleep. I knew from friends and family (have 4 nephews) how it can be intense and of course the world revolves around the kid now most of the time, but I didn't expect it to be either this chill nor this cool. My approach to him was from the start to listen to him and check the context, especially when he was very little. And it worked very well. In the first 2 months I ended up giving my wife tips from my own intuition as she was being made crazy by (terrible terrible bad) tips from one of her friends regarding breast feeding when he entered a apparently common clusterfeeding phase. The little struggles and common issues of course are all there, but our approach to let him do as much as possible while providing certain rituals (bed time etc.) kinda works most of the time. We have issues due to apparment constraints putting up too many physical barries so he can get around a lot. It's a lot of work, but he really shows progress on poo poo he shouldnt do or using a provided alternative instead.
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Aug 18, 2021 19:39
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Daycare is pushing us away from mashed up baby food that needs to be spoon fed, towards finger foods. Baby is 9 months, has 4 front teeth now, is pretty capable of getting food past her lips > 40% of the time We both recently returned to work and it's been pretty hectic. This has resulted in giving the kid an alarming number of carbs etc; Cheerios, Ritz crackers etc, plus usually one baby food of mashed fruit/veggies What do you guys send your kid to daycare with for lunch or whatever, that isn't basically fancy bread sprinkled with salt
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Aug 18, 2021 20:04
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How about some of those freeze dried yogurt dots?
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Aug 18, 2021 20:09
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My daycare does its own food (we are in a crazy free lunch / low income area) and it's honestly wonderful to not have to plan meals out like we did last time. At 9 months, hmm. Cut up strawberries real thin, grated cheese, tofu cubes, smooshed raspberries, oatmeal, egg noodles, scrambled eggs with pureed baby food in it to get some more veggies, occasionally like refried beans but watch out for super poops. That's the kind of stuff I used to send. Anything is a finger food if you clean up afterwards! 
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Aug 18, 2021 20:09
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Our 9mo old kid likes any cut up fruit, bananas are a hit, avocados are very good but very messy. The yogurt drops that were mentioned previously. We’ve been trying to get him to eat solids for about 2 months now with a slightly less crazy “baby led weaning” plan. Also seconding oatmeal, tofu, scrambled eggs. I got the “crunchers” snacks but his teeth aren’t in enough for him to actually crunch them so he pops the whole thing in his mouth and then let’s it dissolve. Probably going to hold off on those until there’s more crunching and less threatening to swallow it whole and choke.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:04
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I’m doing baby-led weaning (which basically means no purées, just set food in front of him and let him feed himself) with my 7 month old and he loves banana, steamed sweet potato, watermelon, and toast. Basically just try food in strips so he can grab it.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:05
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c355n4 posted:Not sure where I'm going with this "vent". How have you all handled/coped with this? We did a nanny share with two friends of mine who are WFH programmers. Comes out to be only about 100 bucks more a month over daycare and the kids have a friend to play with. Luckily my kid so far has loved everyone and everything he has met, so the only problem so far is that he is a little clingy towards his "big brother". It'll be great when he starts walking, they'll run around and entertain each other.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:17
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Great that we have gone this whole time in daycare with no COVID. Less great that this luck did not extend to HFM. That poo poo swept through and destroyed me. Over it now, but now all the skin on my hands and feet is doing a deep peel, and my face looks like I had leprosy. I dropped five pounds in three days because my hands hurt too bad to put food in my mouth. Fuckin sucks y'all Toddler? Two days of fever, sore throat, like two red spots on his leg. Baby? Ran a little warm for a day. Husband? One bad sore in his mouth and that was it. I'm glad as gently caress that I was the only one to get a bad case because I can't even imagine having to deal with a little kid who is as miserable as I was.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:35
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My toddler had a high fever for about half a day and it went back down to normal over the next day. His break out isn't that bad. The most pronounced is around his mouth, but it isn't too bad. he also has some that I can see in his throat. He doesn't have any crazy blisters on his feet. Nothing that's erupted, but it looks like little red dots right below the surface in some areas. He'll point to his feet and say "Ants!" He hasn't complained that his throat is spicy at all today. It's been 4 days since his fever started. Nobody else has come down with it. I'll feel better if we get to the weekend with everyone else still good. Neither I or my husband got it when my older one got HFM as a toddler.
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Aug 18, 2021 21:51
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Alterian posted:"Ants!" Adorable :3
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Aug 18, 2021 21:55
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I’m getting caregiver burnout hard right now. I’m on week 10 of my paternity leave and I’m just so deeply exhausted. The kids are fine. Toddler is a blast, eats well, sleeps well and shits where she should. The baby is a bundle of joy, always smiling and giggling. He sleeps through the night fairly frequently. I’m just… done. I need more mental stimulation. I’m used to managing projects and doing science work. I’m just so done with cuddling and feeding and negotiating constantly. I just want to be by myself.
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Aug 18, 2021 22:15
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Could you get a long weekend to yourself with the help of grandparents? Idk, go do some science poo poo in the woods! You could also maybe do a little fall gardening project with the toddler, keeping the baby nearby in a chair or on a blanket. Might be stimulating and I poo poo you not, having your hands in the dirt feels real good.
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Aug 18, 2021 22:34
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I’ve taken the toddler out sailing and done some gardening. Weekends are hard because we have limited childcare support. I’m just trying to hold on for two weeks until I can go back to work. 14 days left.
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Aug 18, 2021 22:57
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