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we just wrapped up marching band camp for my kid's second year in it. the camp is always tough for the kids, but once they all start taking the stretching and the hydrating and the eating a decent breakfast seriously (always takes a few days for the newbies to want to listen but after feeling woozy and having to visit the first aid tent once or twice they figure it out) it turns into a good time. even the too-coolest-for-schoolest kids end up with huge smiles and enjoying some of the dorky routines they go through. at family day, a demo day at the end of it, parents get their first real preview of it all and get press-ganged into going onto the field to learn a few marching basics. The parents of all the rookies can find out how hard their kid has really been working, and the kids get to yell at them to KEEP YOUR LEGS STRAIGHT and ELBOW OUT and I CAN'T HEAR YOU. Fun stuff. Detail, atten-hut HUT! Band horn's ready SQUEEZE POP! I have no idea why it's squeeze pop but whatever. some of the changes in my kid were pretty evident midway through the season last year, but it's shining through now for a lot of them. First off everyone makes a hell of a lot of friends: the band is more than a tenth of the whole school (if you include the color guard) and although there's always a few shitheads, it's largely one huge happy musical gang. That's especially big coming off the of the remote learning covid year. But there's also a big sense of responsibility and determination. Doing better, sticking with it, encouraging each other to do the same. They don't just put in the time for themselves, they're doing it for the band. Learning that solidarity. The band director has been doing this for nearly 30 years, at this school for 20. I don't know how old she is... she seems mid-50s at most which would be about right... but I hope she can keep it going for another 20. She's built the culture around all of this at the school and it's sort of amazing to see it in action: runs student leadership programs for this stuff, won a nationwide award for it a few years back even. Outside of family life this whole thing has likely been the biggest positive influence my kid has ever seen. So much so that, not having done anything like this, I feel a wistful sense of having missed out, now. Oh well. 
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Jul 30, 2022 21:13
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Mustached Demon posted:we got to do the genetic testing at 12 weeks since Mrs demon is >35 years old wow congrats!
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Jul 30, 2022 21:14
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Mustached Demon posted:we got to do the genetic testing at 12 weeks since Mrs demon is >35 years old congrats! twins too. Good luck!
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Jul 30, 2022 21:19
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Tbh I'm kind of terrified of twins with a 3 year old
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Jul 30, 2022 21:20
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yeah it’s a condolegrats. one at a time is hard enough.
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Jul 30, 2022 21:21
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Mustached Demon posted:Tbh I'm kind of terrified of twins with a 3 year old schnorkwife had an unfertilized egg in addition to the actual pregnancy (she's 7 months pregnant right now) and the nurse was like "yeah you were really close to twins" and the concept of twins plus our 2 year old demon at the same time is....
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Jul 30, 2022 21:22
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Schnorkles posted:schnorkwife had an unfertilized egg in addition to the actual pregnancy (she's 7 months pregnant right now) and the nurse was like "yeah you were really close to twins" and the concept of twins plus our 2 year old demon at the same time is.... you should take credit for that
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Jul 30, 2022 21:24
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also congrats friend
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Jul 30, 2022 21:34
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Mustached Demon posted:we got to do the genetic testing at 12 weeks since Mrs demon is >35 years old rip. i mean congrats.
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Jul 30, 2022 23:27
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appropriate responses thank you fellow cspam parents
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Jul 30, 2022 23:43
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it's sweet when my son wants me to read to him but reading penguin says please ten times in a row is a little tiring
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Jul 30, 2022 23:48
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lobster shirt posted:it's sweet when my son wants me to read to him but reading penguin says please ten times in a row is a little tiring I have two tools in my toolbox for that. One is setting up a stack of books(that my son can contribute to) to read in order. Has surely saved me reading the phrase "busy cicadas make a loud humming noise, some can be heard a mile away" at least 250 times by now
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Jul 30, 2022 23:55
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The Nastier Nate posted:rip.
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Jul 30, 2022 23:56
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lobster shirt posted:it's sweet when my son wants me to read to him but reading penguin says please ten times in a row is a little tiring My kid does this but at least switches up which book she's fixated on every few days to a week or so. Right now it's "Are you my mother," before that it was "I love you stinky face" I think with mine at least she's trying to figure out how to read them on her own because when I'm done reading (or when she decides she wants to take over) she'll take the book and start trying to read it out loud herself. Sometimes she wants me to stay and help, sometimes she's done for the night and she'll push me and say "ready" or, hilariously, "door"
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Jul 31, 2022 00:10
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Mustached Demon posted:Tbh I'm kind of terrified of twins with a 3 year old Twins run in my wife's family and I have this same kind of fear
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Jul 31, 2022 00:31
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Mustached Demon posted:we got to do the genetic testing at 12 weeks since Mrs demon is >35 years old twins is terrifying but congrats on the low risk, that was a relief for us too also just got the little girl her first covid shot. she didn't even react, just looked at me like "what? did something happen?"
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Jul 31, 2022 01:01
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Iridium posted:we just wrapped up marching band camp for my kid's second year in it. Sounds awesome op, good stuff all around
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Jul 31, 2022 04:53
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Relatable https://twitter.com/sansvoir/status/1506492870059913218
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Jul 31, 2022 19:09
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Extremely relatable. 
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Jul 31, 2022 19:11
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spent many nights with that seahorse
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Jul 31, 2022 19:13
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Kind of glad we just got a white noise machine and that seems to be Enough.
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Jul 31, 2022 19:15
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We had this combination mobile/nightlight/music player kind of thing that you could attach to one crib wall, and it had six colored buttons with three songs each, and it helped ours a lot for bedtime, especially after she started sleeping through the night but still frequently waking up in the middle of three night. It was pretty great and i want something like that for her room now, but haven't found anything that just lets me list up some songs and leave her to pick which ones she wants to hear, at least not for under a couple hundred bucks, at which point I might as well set her up with an mp3 player and Bluetooth speaker or something
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Jul 31, 2022 19:20
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Having one of those cushions all around the crip and a phone with the light turned way down was really great at that age. Luckily my breathing/visible head was enough for the little bugger, no inane noise needed, and I was allowed to move a bit. The pacifier was not allowed to fall out though, especially when he just dozed off with open mouth.
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Jul 31, 2022 19:20
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BonHair posted:Having one of those cushions all around the crip Baby takes their first steps and starts c walking across the house
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Jul 31, 2022 19:21
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Dreylad posted:Kind of glad we just got a white noise machine and that seems to be Enough. We have a white noise machine in every single bedroom and will never not.
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Jul 31, 2022 19:35
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I never understood that. Sometimes the little one will be sleeping just fine while I'm standing holding him, but as soon as I sit down he yells. Anyway the youngest is FINALLY eating solid food regularly. I gave up on the baby led weaning and just started shoving cut up strawberries, hot dog, and rice in his mouth and now he's an eating machine! edit: Dreylad posted:Kind of glad we just got a white noise machine and that seems to be Enough. When our older one was born we lived in the city next to an auto repair shop. Everyone told me he'll get used to it but they were lying! Greg Legg has issued a correction as of 01:12 on Aug 1, 2022 |
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Jul 31, 2022 19:41
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e: double post
Greg Legg has issued a correction as of 01:13 on Aug 1, 2022 |
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Jul 31, 2022 19:44
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Greg Legg posted:I never understood that. Sometimes the little one will be sleeping just fine while I'm standing holding him, but as soon as I sit down he yells. Our youngest was like that. Somehow the exact same rocking and jiggling motions DRAMATICALLY ENDED THE UNIVERSE AND NOW I'M UPSET as I went from standing to sitting. Now he's 16 mths, he naps really easily with the assistance of Brian Eno and his Music for Airports.
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Aug 1, 2022 00:33
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Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits is still the GOAT baby sleeping album with every baby I've had to look after.
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Aug 1, 2022 00:38
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Dreylad posted:Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits is still the GOAT baby sleeping album with every baby I've had to look after. This one?  I'd say that it slaps, but that feels an inappropriate adjective for a Cohen album. I sang a lot of Cohen to our first two before streaming music was really a thing. Our 6yo occasionally asks me to sing One of Us Cannot Be Wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7lDw-FKi0 Except she calls it "Thin Green Candle".
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Aug 1, 2022 00:50
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Dreylad posted:Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits is still the GOAT baby sleeping album with every baby I've had to look after. Lead Belly version of Birmingham Jail was our goto.
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Aug 1, 2022 03:41
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Elissimpark posted:Our youngest was like that. Somehow the exact same rocking and jiggling motions DRAMATICALLY ENDED THE UNIVERSE AND NOW I'M UPSET as I went from standing to sitting. Oh my god I get this too. I try my very best to make sure he can't possibly notice that my legs are bent but somehow he just knows and hates it. Let me sit down you absolute fucker.
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Aug 1, 2022 07:10
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Microplastics posted:Oh my god I get this too. I try my very best to make sure he can't possibly notice that my legs are bent but somehow he just knows and hates it. Let me sit down you absolute fucker. "My rest is fuelled by your discomfort, parent."
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Aug 1, 2022 07:29
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It gets better I've heard
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Aug 1, 2022 08:19
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Struensee posted:It gets better I've heard Nah, just different. *takes double-handed Star Trek punch to face from toddler sitting on throat*
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Aug 1, 2022 08:42
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We've done well sticking with the scout bedtime music the whole time. I think we'd consider toddler demon a good sleeper though. Nothing much outside of regressions that lined up well with leaps. We know he's in a growth spurt too since he sleeps even harder and devours all the food.
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Aug 1, 2022 09:05
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preparing for kindergarten which basically means processing my MPOX anxiety constantly
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Aug 1, 2022 13:30
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feeling a lot more nervous about getting these anatomy ultrasound results today than i was over the weekend. really hope everything is good news! i'm sure it will be. but we do live in texas so a bad result could be pretty difficult to deal with. keeping those fingers crossed.
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Aug 1, 2022 13:32
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hey CSPAM parents, advice desperately needed about an increasingly aggressively obstinate 5.5 year old. Have been told by pediatrics that our concerns are valid and while this doesn't seem "super bad", a behavioral evaluation is encouraged. Also the waitlist for that is over a year, so, here we are. Background: two kids, 5.5 and 1.25 years old. Older kid has been somewhat impulsive/loose cannon since she was walking, very high energy, distractable, defiant, etc. None of that fazes me, I have all the same poo poo and I was a hellion. For a long time, basic reward based strategies worked well enough: happy or sad faces on a chart along various axis ("nice to mom and dad", "did bedtime well", etc), TV/video game time (PBS stuff, all) awarded based on how many good marks she gets. (So no "punishment" for bad, just no reward). As her sister has gotten bigger, more mobile, and of course more destructive, we've seen a lot of changes in the older kid. Some might be jealousy, also, she has been in preschool and summer preschool and while the behavioral reports from there are all fine, and when I pick her up I hear all the other kids happily wish her goodbye or hello when I drop her off, I can't discount that social interaction with peers is a factor in some of this. So, bascially: she won't do what we say, she will in fact try to see how close she can come to doing the exact opposite, she no longer seems to care about being deprived TV & games for LONG periods of time, and she has taken to kicking, hitting and throwing stuff at her mom and me when she's upset. To be very clear we are NEVER physical with her, we do not spank her, we do not have any indication that other kids have hit her.... except her 1 year old sister, who, you know, is a 1 year old who also hit me in the face with a plastic firetruck 2 weeks ago, hard enough to substantially reinjure a long dormant neck injury I had. We try to remind kig kiddo, she is bigger, she is more mobile, she has a room she can go to. She very rarely actually hits her sister, but we have seen her do it at least once which is enough for "well those two can't be together unsupervised for even 5 seconds anymore" which is not the most convenient situation. Prior to things going downhill lately, I had made some progress paying the older kid 25 cents per 15 minutes to "babysit" -- this was with me very close by keeping an eye, but she was doing a fine job. So -- I am stressed as gently caress. My job is stressful, if I lose it we're kinda super hosed until I find another one, my wife is behind in her professional certification desires because of kids and COVID, we're both in independent therapy, etc We love the hell out of both kids, and, when she's not being a tyrant she's great! This is a kid who will happily do 15 mins of meditation and yoga with me most mornings! I try to encourage her to channel to that energy when she's spinning out of control, but she's just too young to connect the dots like that and all I can hope is that I am giving her a foundation of mindfulness and calm that may eventually serve her some purpose in the deserts of the future. For now, we're just trying to find ways to navigate this more happily, and coming up blank. Also, I am anxious as hell about the general state of the world, so is my wife, and while we try to not say doomer poo poo and answer our kids' questions in non-doomer terms they can understand, it would be illogical to not assume that 2 years of COVID stress, combined with MPX, combined with general collapse anxieties, is impacting mine and my wife's behaviors in ways the kids are picking up on. Not sure what to do about that. We almost aborted a trip to go get ice cream yesterday because older kid was so completely out of control in the leadup, but, my view is: poo poo like nice summers where you can just go get ice cream may well be a limited loving commodity. I don't mind depriving my kid screen time, who gives a gently caress, and actually she seems to have figured out she can have as much fun playing outside, which is great from an addiction perspective and not helpful from a behavior modification one. Anyway, point is, even if she's being a tyrant and even if it kind of rubs me wrong to "reward" tyrannical behavior, I think "family trips for ice cream" are a benefit to the whole family and I'm not going to let her gently caress that up for me and the rest of us if I can avoid it. FWIW we had a good time getting ice cream once my wife got through her tears in the car from the insane trauma of the whole lead up ("I hate you" was used as weaponized speech a couple times, of course followed shortly by "I WANT A HUG!") Any advice at all is loving appreciated, we're just dealing with this incident by incident at this point. Also she tends to obey me much more readily than her mom, but I am not sure if that's good or not; I am quicker to raise my voice, and also quicker to simply pick her up and remove her from a situation physically if she is being completely noncompliant. edit: the violence she displays seems solely geared at her mom and I. She has bopped her sister once or twice but not at all with the same vitriol and usually in the context of "play", or "younger kid pulled a toy away and older kid got upset and pulled it back too hard". In terms of her mom and me, she will just look us straight in the eye and then punch us. She threw a playskool chair at my leg hard enough to give me a huge bruise and a small hematoma that persisted for a few days. Beyond her obvious unhappiness about some things, a big concern is that the first time she DOES do any of this poo poo to another kid, it's going to cause her a MASSIVE world of problems she has no idea about which can lead to state interventions, lists, etc. gently caress that noise, need to get this under control. lobster shirt posted:feeling a lot more nervous about getting these anatomy ultrasound results today than i was over the weekend. really hope everything is good news! i'm sure it will be. but we do live in texas so a bad result could be pretty difficult to deal with. keeping those fingers crossed. Good luck, and condolences on your cartoonishly evil and chistofascisct patriarchal state leadership. Cabbages and VHS has issued a correction as of 13:50 on Aug 1, 2022 |
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Aug 1, 2022 13:46
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and to be clear I am trying to navigate all this in the most compassionate way possible for everyone involved and it's hard this is taking a huge emotional toll on my spouse at the same time I suspect my kids' adulthood is going to coincide with Lots Of Bad poo poo and I'd like them to have as happy a childhood as possible and I am not exactly concerned with raising the perfect Eagle Scout citizens in 2022, I also just need to not have kids that are getting isolated from the general population because they throw things at people
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Aug 1, 2022 13:54
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