I just spent a couple days with my 4yo GD. She can also be very sassy! She also can be a little tyrant at times. She went from three days a week half-day preschool to all-day five days a week TK. So I am chalking some of it up to getting used to the transition. And some of it may be genetics. She reminds me a lot of my daughter (her aunt). Who was challenging to raise but turned out great.
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They say, Don’t call it stubbornness but persistence!
Not bossy but leadership abilities.
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“And still, she persisted.” LOL.
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GD1 (age 5) and the oldest - I often explain things to her. Maybe over her head some, but I look at it as she may not understand why a situation is different or why one handles things differently, but that I took the time to give her thoughts on why we need to do this or that (which may be out of her routine, or what she thought we should be doing). DD1 has 4 children, two boys and two girls, while we had two DDs 25 months apart.
GS1 and GS2 are 4 1/2 and 2; they are in some ways ‘all boy’ but they also like to play with play kitchen like the rest of the toys. Both boys have Batman figurine, in part because their dad was a Batman fan and talked some of Batman. Once I gave the Batman figurine to older boy, I knew I had to give one to GS2. That is a play staple, and what they often grab to hold in the car. One Batman is all black attire, and the other has gray and black - but both same size and same Batman look.
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We will have 19 month old soon when his Mom goes to the hospital to have baby #2. Any suggestions for activities to keep him busy. He will go to preschool half day. He knows us well but hasn’t ever spent the night at our house.
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At about that age, our older GD’s favorite activities involved either action or noise. Little Tikes has a (sit on) scooter available on Amzn for about $25 that’s good for <3 yrs. LT also makes a car shape swing that we hung on our back patio. The Plan Toys wooden pounding bench and wooden xylophone were used a lot.
We used to take walks to look for leaves when our kids were young. Just 10 or 15 minutes of collecting was enough then we’d stick them to construction paper to hang up. This time of year, your GS might enjoy jumping in a pile of leaves with you although you might want to do that shortly before bath time.
When second GD was expected, we read several books about a new baby in the house, including a Daniel Tiger book. Gyo Fujikawa’s “Babies” is lovely for very young children as well as preschoolers. I first read it to my kids, and our GDs love it, too.
We were a little looser about TV time when we cared for older GD while her mom was in the hospital with baby sister. Although she loves to be read to, sometimes I needed a break so we’d watch Disney Jr. shows or Sesame St.
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All else fails, put on a video. That’s my last resort when I am super tired.
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My daughter and SIL call letting their daughter watch more tv than normally allowed “lazy parenting.” It happens to be their favorite weekend activity!
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He has had no TV time. I have a feeling that will change with the new baby.
Thanks for the ideas. I am going to clean out the old mailbox I’ve got sitting on my driveway and will think of treats to put inside.
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I was visiting my daughter and she was carrying her newborn and 2 year old down the stairs. I looked at her and she said oh yeah I’m mother of the year like it was a bad thing. Oh honey, if you only knew. I’m afraid to carry one baby down the stairs if I don’t have a good grip on the railing!
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Books! Shape sorter. Blocks. Simple puzzles. Sing songs. Stacking cups that reverse to be nesting cups.
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I find the best thing are things you already have, mostly in the kitchen. Plastic mixing bowls, spatulas, measuring cups. Muffin tins to put things in such as blueberries and use as a counting tool. Of course empty boxes and blanket forts.
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Older s and dil allow very, very limited screen time (usually as a reward for something or on the airplane or very long drives). Youngest gs (child of younger s and dil) watched football with DS#2 but is too young to appreciate it ;). (PM me for adorable photo of it)
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We have books, blocks, shape sorter and other toys. I hadn’t thought of muffin tins and kitchen utensils. I ordered some kid safe knives but I’ll see if they are age appropriate for him. I want some ideas of things that are new to him and us.
He is allowed FaceTime with us and his cousin. He loves the IPhone and tv remotes. He does like looking at videos and pictures of family.
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My GD has always enjoyed seeing pictures of herself and family members. We have an Aura frame, and she likes watching it. She also likes short video clips of family she doesn’t see often. Her latest favorite is a clip of my S playing drums with his band at a show. She tells us that she plays drums, too, and bangs like he does.
She’s always been into make believe play, and I have a few cupboards she can play in - real kitchen things that are not dangerous. She loves making soup in the big orange bowl, stirring it with measuring spoons & serving it in measuring cups.
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Cardboard egg containers to house anything. A book of stickers and a notebook to stick them in. Bubbles for outside. And if desperate, Miss Rachel.
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A “bucket” and small blocks or similar to put in, dump out. They love to fill up a container at that age.
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I call that the rain man stage. Over, over, over…………
Puffy stickers (the kind that are easy to remove) have been a huge hit for our GD for a long time. She puts them on our sliding glass door. Every so often, we “thin the herd” - I put them on wax paper & she reuses them.
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