GD enjoying her scratch and smell new book while sitting on her potty. She is almost potty trained. I went to see her today for few hours today. She knew to run to her potty when she had to go. She only missed it once by a bit (some didn’t make it to the potty). She is so proud of herself when it happens. She claps for herself.
I am Asian. It is weird for me to have a GD who is a blondie.
15 Likes
SIL is middle eastern. His family has never had a member of European descent until he married D. His mom seriously thought there was something wrong with GD because she didn’t have a full head of hair when she was born!
I have a friend whose H is Indian-American. All three of their kids definitely got their hair from his side of the family–fabulously thick at birth and as long at one as my GD has at almost four.
2 Likes
I’m jealous that your GD is so proud of using the potty. Ours (nearly three years old) has no interest whatsoever. New sibling arrives soon and it would have been nice if GD had gotten out of diapers first.
My MiL thought our kids were late getting out of diapers, but both were pretty reliably potty trained in time to attend a twice a week morning program for two year olds. I haven’t criticized, as she did, but every so often will ask if there’s anything GD’s parents want us to do when we babysit three times a week. When we first bought a potty chair that looks like the real thing and makes a flushing sound she was happy to sit and “flush” but now won’t even sit when we ask/suggest.
2 Likes
Nothing wrong with bribes for potty training.
I babysat for a guy who was very very smart but stubborn. At 3.5 (with twin siblings having been born right before he turned 3) he wasn’t interested. His father got a large jar of M&Ms for father’s day and he asked for some. In his most mature way, the dad said “No, these are for boys who use the potty.” So much for modern parenting methods. Immediately potty trained. Like within an hour.
He’d then come up to me and say “I earned 5 M&Ms”, so he was smart enough to keep track and ask for his reward for the whole day.
8 Likes
For those of you who babysit grandchildren regularly in your home, what have you done to accommodate the little one(s)?
When our kids were little, we lived in an old house with a large family room at the back. That family room looked like a daycare with a Little Tikes house, LT elephant slide, LT car, LT wagon,(etc.) and a big play table that H built for all of their Fisher-Price little people sets. I didn’t expect that three decades later our retirement house would resemble that one, except here we don’t have a separate living room. 
3 Likes
Had a great day watching GS1 while sister was at preschool so mom could work. She doubled her freelance hours this week and has no other childcare besides her and her H.
We talked some about ways to make it more doable for me since my post above. We decided when I take GS to park, D will bring him and stroller down and get everything set (steep, tricky staircases). We also went through strategies of how to keep him safe on various play structures without being two people at the same time (one at top and one at bottom). Basically she listened to all my hesitations and worked through issues. We ended up having a great morning outside! Then I stayed to give him lunch while D picked up GD. Worked out well!
@Silpat – I’d love to have him over here and would be glad to donate the dining room to the cause–though it will take a lot of decluttering and clearing and cleaning. But D prefers him/them to be at their own home for babysitting. I think this might be a moving target as she figures out what might make her own life easier.
5 Likes
Congratulations, @daylily1 and welcome to your new grandchild!
I take care of GS and GD almost always at their home. They have great indoor play spaces, a big flat driveway for bikes and scooters, and a fabulous back yard with a playset and large lawn for soccer, golf, etc. D also has all the favorite foods available.
3 Likes
We have baskets of toys, stuffed animals, Playskool farm animals and a barn lining our raised fireplace hearth. A couple larger push toys are stored in a corner in the dining room. A Little Tykes rocking horse is on our enclosed back porch. We have three cupboards and two kitchen drawers that GD is free to open & play with the contents. Outside, we put new sand in our sandbox, and we have a small collection of outdoor toys collected from a local resale shop & garage sales … along with sidewalk chalk & a bubble blower. Upstairs, her mom’s old bedroom has a portacrib, assorted toys and lots of books for D. It’s definitely scaled back from what we had when our kids were young, but it’s a whole lot different than things looked pre-grand baby!
5 Likes
Before my grandkids could walk I was petrified of dropping them walking down the stairs. I ended up putting the baby into a carrier to walk from upstairs to downstairs to finished basement. That way, the baby couldn’t wiggle out of my grasp. It was quite an operation to go outside. Carry baby down the stairs to the basement. Take baby out of carrier over bed. Put baby in stroller to go out the back door, which had no steps to the outside.
If you’re in a situation where you have to go down stairs, I really recommend putting the baby in a carrier so (s)he can’t squirm out of your grasp and you have at least one hand free to hold onto the bannister.
8 Likes
Possibly. But he’s a strapping 16 month old, only just starting to walk because of some muscle/nerve issues. I am not sure I could get him in and out of the carrier. He could probably back down the stairs crawling, as he does that on climbing things at the park (with me one step down to block if necessary,) but as long as D can transport him, I’ll probably stick to that. It’s hard to describe how twisted and steep these stairs are–very old two family house with staircases at each end shoehorned into very narrow, twisting spaces.
I’m envious of all of you with large, open spaces. D’s apartment is so, so cramped. (They own the house, but rent out the bottom half to her BIL). Even if they had the whole space, all the rooms are tiny–smaller than you can imagine. It’s definitely a challenge.
Ideas for soon to be -one year old GD and three year old GD birthday gifts? One year old likes to dance and loves electronics like phones and computers and the three year old likes dresses and pretty much any outdoor thing. They have a lot of books and toys. Open to any other ideas.
How about an outdoor/indoor wooden climbing piece? I believe you can pick and choose pieces and do different arrangements. I know someone who has this product and her D started using it at age one and still uses it regularly at age nearly 4.
2 Likes
Sorry…didn’t realize these extra issues and thought I’d share a solution that worked for me.
@rockymtnhigh2 ~ My GS and GD received these for Christmas when they were 18 months and 3-1/2. Two years later, they have been played with in some way almost daily. They have two sets. We make forts, runways, obstacle courses, jumping and landing spots, play lands, ramps, and more. As an added bonus, the triangles are good support for grandparents when playing on the floor with toddlers.
6 Likes
That’s sort of how we evolved to our current situation. Partly it was us - H told D and SiL that one or the other of us often needed to rest when GD napped and that we could babysit more often in our home where we could nap, too (with a baby monitor by the bed.)
5 Likes
That’s very cool!
When my kids were young my mom bought them a set of cardboard “bricks” similar to this. My kids played with them for hours. They made forts, houses for dolls and even turned them on the side and “bowled” using a small ball.
2 Likes
Boden is an independent company. You can buy their clothes online directly from the company. You’ll get 15 per cent off your first order.
I’m well aware of that. However, Nordstrom’s return policy can’t be beat. I can drop returns off at the Rack that is conveniently located next to my usual grocery shopping spot. No need to wait for weeks for refund after shipping stuff back.
2 Likes