Toddler Tuesdays: Part Tom Boy, Part Girly Girl

For the most part, I see London being a tom boy growing up, very much like I was.

We don’t even dress London in dresses that often as she is so active and dresses often seem to limit her mobility and ability to play the way she wants. Her best friend is a boy, even with more girls to play with at the new day care.

And if big kids are around, London wants in on that action. The girl can’t get enough of playtime with her cousin Connor when they get together. Grammy actually had to have Carrie come pick up Connor early as London would not wind down with him there.

But then there are moments our little girly girl shines through. London LOVES purses and is so cute holding her arm up in the air to keep her purse on her shoulders.

And while the daycare does have an issue with her keeping her shoes on, and they are the first things she wants off when she gets home, London already has an interest in shoes. She is quick to put shoes on to go outside and hasn’t resisted shoe shopping ever.

Then there was Sunday, late morning. Cameron was already at the Airshow, and I was picking up the kitchen a little. London’s morning movie, Finding Nemo, was over and I felt she needed some true playtime. Problem is, if the TV is on, she wants to watch a movie, not play, and telling her no while we watch something often results in tears.

Given I was already occupied with the kitchen I just turned on one of the music channels. This usually results in London playing by herself quietly. And sure enough, before I knew it, toys were strewn all over the family room floor and London was sitting next to the kitchen door with two of her purses and their contents were spilled out all around her.

I happen to store her play jewelry in these purses. A few minutes later, London was showing me her necklaces and bracelets, so proud of her accessories. Now if that isn’t a sign there is a girly girl in there, I don’t know what is.

It also gives me some ideas for some stocking stuffers this year.

A little while later, still decked out in her jewelry, I caught London and Tulley playing together quietly in the family room. It was beyond cute.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: TV Dinners

This is quality time to me, especially since London is not a big cuddler. By the way, Tulley photo-bombed this picture - she was sleeping on the kitchen tile and ran in as soon as she saw Cameron picking up the Camera!

The biggest pro-parenting tip I keep reading about these days is sitting down as a family for dinner every night with no distractions, including TV, cell phones and other technology gadgets. I know a big reason these articles are showing up right now is because its back-to-school season and with it, the crazy schedules of sports and other after-school activities that can be the cause of meals on the run.

Obviously, we don’t have to worry about back-to-school or after-school activities, yet. A part of me dreads how we are going to handle such when the day comes, as I am sure Cameron and I will both be working full-time as we do now.

But all the hubbub has me evaluating how we eat dinner now and has me thinking back to how I ate dinner as a child. All these articles list the various reasons as to why the family should sit down, distraction-free for dinner. Most of these articles also say you should do this 4-5 times a week versus Sunday dinner.

As a child, I rarely remember sitting down with my parents for dinner unless it was a holiday or company was over. Most weeknights our kitchen table was covered in mail, other paperwork, my mom’s purse, car keys, dad’s wallet, my backpack, my flute case and random items brought in from the cars and garage, not to mention my first cat, Kiddy. That cat loved that table and its chairs and could often be found lounging on the table or under it on one of the cushioned chairs.

I usually ate my dinner at the end of the counter in the kitchen, sitting on a bar stool, facing the TV and watching whatever was on. It was either something I had turned on or something my mom had turned on, which I recall being the evening news most often. In the early years, I know my mom was usually around and I recall my dad usually came home from work while I was sitting there.

In the later years I know dinner was a more solitary or brief affair. Usually I was scarfing something down that my mom had prepared while I was at some sports practice or another before I headed to my room to do homework. I have more family dinner memories from having dinner at friends’ homes than at mine.

The thing is, I don’t think I turned out so bad from not having family meals around a dinner table, distraction-free. I don’t think I missed out on all that much either. And it’s not something Cameron and I are too concerned with in our home. The sit-down-around the dinner table as a family thing happens more when we go out to eat.

Part of this has to do with London being a hungry hippo the second we walk through the door from daycare. This is usually 5-5:30 PM. We usually make her a meal or snack, depending on what we are having for our main meal. And once she is settled down, we usually work on making our own dinner or something else that needs tending to. One of us does sit with her, but I can guarantee, up until recently, the TV has been on with either the news, one of our comedy shows or one of London’s shows.

And the only reason we are now turning the TV off when London eats has more to do with her safety than it does with quality family time. I know we get quality family time, which to me, does include cuddling while watching a movie. The only reason we turn the TV off is because London keeps turning her head, and body around to see the TV while she eats. This wasn’t a problem until she actually slipped out of her booster seat and landed hard on the floor. She actually has a nice bruise on her knee from this fall.

See, the buckle no longer works thanks to Melody. When we still had Melody with us, she would run to London’s chair as soon as London was done eating to clean up after her. One night we caught her eating one of the straps to the buckle as it was covered in spaghetti sauce. London has only now outgrown the setting it was on at that time and Melody ate enough of the strap that we can’t lengthen it.

And that is why the TV is off or paused when London sits down for dinner. Not because we feel it’s that important to sit around as a family, distraction-free for dinner. Maybe when the girls are older and can wait for dinner to be served between 6 and 7 PM will we be better or if we feel we need to achieve the so-called benefits. But for now, those aren’t concerns of mine. More likely, we’ll just be purchasing a new booster chair for London since it will need to survive Sydney.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesday: Disney & Pixar

London & Minnie

Cameron and I have always been fans of Disney Movies as well as Disney Pixar Movies. We’ve been buying the DVDs for years. Each time one has been released or rereleased, we've bought it - long before we were close to kids or even close to getting married. Now that love has been passed down to London, at least when it comes to Disney Pixar movies.

A couple of months ago, Cameron and I couldn’t take watching one more Yo Gabba Gabba episode, so we tried London with one of the Pixar movies, I think Toy Story. Since then she has discovered all the Disney movies stacked up together in our loft and will bring me one when she wants to watch a movie, which we regulate to weekends most of the time.

The movies that grab her attention the best? All the Pixar movies – Toy Story 1, 2 & 3, Monsters, Inc. Cars (although she is not a fan of Cars 2, yet), Finding Nemo and A Bugs Life. She can even ask for Nemo or Cars by name. Ok, so she says “I want Bye Bye” when she wants Cars, but we understand what she wants.
We’ve tried other Disney movies, like the Little Mermaid and Snow White, and while we got through The Little Mermaid fairly well, we only made it 15 minutes into Snow White. At least we have a new way of keeping her entertained when we need some down or quiet time. This came in very handy when I was sick and Cameron was in Tahoe.

Otherwise, the girl needs us as involved as possible or she wants to be involved in what we are doing. This can make loading or unloading the dishes in the dishwasher nearly impossible. The girl needs her sister here ASAP and at an age the two of them can interact and play together.

If we just need a few minutes, we often now turn to a Mickey’s Playhouse episode on On Demand. She is absolutely in love with Minnie Mouse. Vicki happened to pick London up a stuffed 2010 Minnie Mouse at Disneyland which she now adores. London loves Minnie so much that she cannot sleep without her. Guess what I’m thinking London will be for Halloween?

And the way London says Minnie Mouse is adorable. We’re working on Daisy Duck. London still says Ya Ya instead of Duck, which is her way of saying Quack Quack.

London’s actually started piecing together sentences and saying new words quite often now. Most people don’t understand her, but Cameron and I are quickly acclimating to her language. Instead of signing that she wants to eat, we now get “I want to eat” or “ I want moo” for milk. And she is understanding more and more of what we say day by day. She’s growing up so fast!

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: The Power of Onsies

Last week we had a few rough mornings, the kind that have you running late and actually had me getting up earlier than normal to counteract the shenanigans London was up to that was the cause of these late mornings. No small feat for me these days, given sleep is pretty difficult and as interrupted as it is.


London’s shenanigans? The little stinker has been taking her pants and night-time diaper off sometime in the night and waking up in puddles, tacking on an extra 10 minutes to our already tight morning routine.
 In the last month we probably had 1 of these days every week or two. But last week we jumped to 3! By Friday, we were trying to come up with ways to combat this behavior. A friend suggested duct tape as this worked for a friend of hers, but Cameron and I worried about what could happen, coming up with what are probably crazy, irrational consequences and decided against it.

In a brief call with my dad, he jokingly suggested a jumpsuit. But that was enough to get the wheels turning. Cameron and I both thought of footed pajamas.


The biggest problem we could find with footed pajamas was that most are made from Fleece. And London is like us, she doesn’t like to be hot. At Daycare they keep mentioning that she takes her shoes off. What can I say? At home we are barefoot and out and about we prefer flip flops and sandals to closed-toed shoes. Even my work shoes tend to be peep-toed - and are only on when I am walking around. The Daycare doesn’t allow open-toed sandals, we have learned, so London only has sneakers to wear at school and I know this is part if the reason she gets hot and thus takes her shoes and socks off. Maybe next year I will look at some crocks for her, but for now she is stuck with sneakers.


The other problem we could see with footed PJs? The thin, cotton footed PJs could still be a bit warm for our little girl. It has been averaging around 105 degrees this last week and the evenings aren’t much cooler. London’s room gets the morning sun directly, and while her new blackout curtains have cut down on how warm it gets, the vent in her room has never worked great so it’s hard to cool that room off with the AC.


Our only viable solution, or so we thought? Find some cheap, footed PJs made of thin cotton, and cut the feet off and shorten the sleeves to be short. That way, it would be like she is wearing her short sleeved PJ tops and PJ bottoms. And we would be good until she either learned to use zippers successfully or until we could switch to the fleece PJs for winter.


Saturday, we headed out in search of such footed PJs. Instead, we found 24-month-sized onsies. Believe it or not, while London normally wears between 2T and 3T, she can still fit in these onsies, quite comfortably, since there are no legs. And with the buttons the way they are, London can’t get out of them! Plus we got 5 for $14! Plenty to get us through to the coming cooler months. We’ll even be able to use the pants from her old PJs this fall over the onsies. The pants can provide the warmth she may need but the onsies will protect her from getting her diaper off.


And, with three nights under our belts since implementing the onsies, London hasn’t woken up in a puddle and I haven’t had extra laundry on my hands. Last week, I did 3 loads for her alone – usually I just have one load on the weekend!

One other thing we have done to help was eliminate London's glass of milk before bed. We implemented this last Thursday so Thursday and Friday were rough getting London to go down but now she is content without it as long as she gets to rock with her daddy before bed.


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Potty Training!

I have been slacking a little on getting ready to help London with the potty training. I know its coming and it’s definitely something I want to encourage, but at the same time seems like a giant mountain for us to tackle. That and we haven’t really been home on the weekends. But we will be this weekend, which means I have some reading to do this week. Any suggestions on where I should start?


We’re going to be home for a weekend just in time it seems. The daycare daily report yesterday was that London went in the potty twice at school yesterday. And when we got home from Costco last night? She went potty at home after telling me she needed to go! Whoo hoo!

Good thing we at least made the effort to purchase a step stool and inner toilet seat better suited to London’s tiny bottom last week at Target. I have also discovered having the smaller seat on the toilet deters Jake from using the toilet as a water bowl – I caught him actually drinking water from the proper bowl last night!

The one thing I feel I do need to get before this weekend are pull-ups. We have one more package of size 6 diapers to go through before we need more and I would prefer to use those first but I don’t think it’s in the cards. Good thing Sydney is on her way. At least I could store these diapers until she needs them.


Any tricks or tips out there?


On another note, I’ve discovered that London loves nectarines just as much as Cameron and I do. A perfect nectarine to us is one that has plenty of flavor but isn’t mushy. Last night I was eating a perfect one just brought home from Costco while we all watched Aladdin in bed. First Cameron stole a bite which grabbed London’s attention. Next thing I knew she had had half of it! And then this morning she grabbed one from the box on the table as we were leaving for school.


When we put the box in the basket last night, London kept calling them apples. Knowing the nectarine is a bit advanced for her right now, I tried to get her to call them peaches. Last night that did not seem to register and she continued to call them apples. But this morning when she spied them on the table she did call say Pea like she was trying to say peach so something stuck!


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Make Believe

I recently read an email from one of the parenting web sites I subscribe to that said London should be entering the age where she can begin to make believe. Funny part was, when I read the email, London was already make believing for a month or two. And it is only more evident day by day.


One of the first things London started playing make believe with was her tea party set. She will bring you a tea cup and pour “tea” into it from the tea pot. It’s the cutest thing. One of the sets she has (she has 3 now) includes a plate with different shaped desserts, which she pretends to eat and then offers you a bite.

Just last night London was serving both Cameron and I cups of tea. London got really upset when Cameron tried to pour her some tea – London is also going through a phase of wanting to do everything herself! One of her favorite phrases to say is “I did it” even if she didn’t do anything!

London is also very much into baby dolls, and for the most part loves to nurture them. She’ll hold them up and pat them on the back, feed them a bottle, and push them around in her baby doll stroller. But her favorite thing to do is put them to “nite nite”. London will take a blanket and lay it over the baby doll…or Tulley… or me! And now she likes to play pretend nite nite with me where I pretend to put her to bed, back rub and all! It’s a riot.

We’ve also discovered that playing with baby dolls is the key to morning drop offs at daycare. As soon as Miss Jackie or I mention playing with baby dolls, London is out of my arms and into hers or on the ground running for them!


Morning drop offs are going much better – they are actually pretty quick these days, with only a few tears here and there. Miss Jackie also says that mornings with tears don’t last long at all and soon London is into the thick of things with the other kids. And Miss Betty’s report at the end of the day is that London has had a great day. And she looks like she is having fun when I peer through the classroom window before I go in to get her. Of course, she is always quite happy to see me when I do enter and she sees me.


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Monterey Bay Aquarium

For London’s actual 2nd Birthday, we finally took her to the Monterey Bay Aquarium – something we have said we need to do since she was 3 months old! Took us long enough, huh?

Knowing a drive there and back in one day, along with the actual visit would be too much for London, I had booked us a hotel room for Saturday night and we headed to the coast Saturday around 11:30 AM. London decided this would be a good day to first, get up super early that morning (6:30 AM) and two, take a nap for less than an hour. But, for the most part, she tolerated the 3 ½ hour car trip relatively well. We actually made it there in less than 3 ½ hours and that was with a stop in Santa Nella to let this pregnant lady void her bladder. It gets smaller and smaller day by day. We actually arrived at our hotel around 2:30 PM. And that’s where we let London run around for a little while before getting back in the car to head to Cannery Row.

I hadn’t been able to find a hotel room at a decent price within walking distance of the Aquarium and Cannery Row, and I’m so glad that I didn’t. We actually ended up staying in Pleasant Grove, whose City limits start about a block from the Aquarium. We were only 2 miles away to be honest. And we discovered what a cute little town Pleasant Grove is – I only wish we had arrived sooner so we could walk around the cute downtown and all the amazing shops it had. Plus, our hotel was actually just a couple blocks from the ocean and a little lighthouse. We determined that Pleasant Grove is actually much nicer than Monterey itself is.

The hotel wasn’t that bad either. The Sea Breeze Inn & Lodge was more of a motel with little cabins and drive-up rooms. Our room was one of two rooms in an upper story. It was a little on the small side, but clean and comfortable all the same. And we learned that the hotel is dog-friendly. We saw one couple walking their Lab and Rottweiler around the parking lot later that day when we went to the pool and spa.

And because we purchased our aquarium tickets through the hotel reservation, they were good for two days! Which is why we went into Monterrey and Cannery Row in the first place – we decided to take advantage and spend a few hours before dinner in the Aquarium. First stop was the Open Ocean exhibit. Cameron put London on his shoulders and we all watched the tuna, a turtle, a sting ray and sharks swim by. London was definitely amazed by it all and was quite distracted the whole visit.

We also took in the Kelp Forest and Jellys before we headed out to Cannery Row for dinner. Usually we head to The Fishhopper, but we changed course and went to Louie Linguini’s across the plaza instead. Here’s how we made our decision to eat here: We were walking by and a gentleman representing the restaurant offered us a sample of clam chowder. Cameron took one and immediately circled back saying it was really good – it actually reminded him of what good clam chowder was supposed to taste like. So while he dined on a bowl of clam chowder and a seafood medley salad, I feasted on some Dungeness Crab while London ate most of my fries and a few pieces of her cheese pizza. I highly recommend this place for any one visiting the area. Plus, it sits up on top of a building overlooking the ocean. You can’t beat that view.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a quick dip in the spa – for Cameron that is. London and I just stuck our feet in. Unfortunately for Cameron, he woke up Saturday with a major kink in his neck and could barely turn it. Between a few massages from me and some Icy Hot, we were able to loosen it up some, but you could tell he was stiff and in pain. Then, we cruised Pleasant Grove some more on our way to Safeway for some provisions like Milk for London and beer for Cameron. All I wanted was a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks but we were too late and they were closed.

Bedtime proved to be a challenge. London has outgrown her play yard so we didn’t even bother taking it. Except that we also forgot our pillows at home (which we consistently do). We had planned to use all the hotel pillows to create a barrier on London’s bed to keep her from rolling out. And lucky for us, each bed had 4 pillows. We used the 4 on London’s bed to place on either side of her, under the main comforter. Then we used the large, decorative bolster pillows to place at her feet, again under the comforter. And London got one of my pillows to use for her head, on top. The bed had a sheet over the comforter which we used to cover London, but I also packed her flannel PJs.

It took all of us going to bed at 9 to get her to go to sleep. Having the TV on, on low was too much distraction for her and even then, it took some time for her to go down. London did sleep through the night, safely. And it was pretty cute listening to her wake up, babbling. As soon as I moved she rolled over and peaked at me from behind one of the pillows. That was at 7 AM, so at least it was a relatively acceptable weekend time to wake up.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t sleep well thanks to my first middle of the night charley horse from this pregnancy. It struck in my calf and was quite sore all of Sunday and even on Monday! Made for a slow moving Mama. And Cameron woke up every time he rolled over that night due to his neck.

So it was a good thing we went to the Aquarium for a little while the day before, as we only lasted a couple hours on Sunday before London was ready for a nap and we were ready to get home, despite the gorgeous weather Monterrey was experiencing – no fog and a cool 75 degrees or so. I really miss that bay weather right now as our temperatures are edging into the 100s.

We got to the Aquarium just as the opened, and some of the volunteers were walking around with tubes full of Jelly Fish, which London got to see up close. From there, we checked out the new Jelly Fish exhibit that had several interactive features that London enjoyed.

We also spent some time wandering the sea horse exhibit before heading to one of the special kids areas all about whales. London loved coloring the most and for the most part enjoyed anything she could freely run around in or participate in. While standing on one of the outside decks, we spotted several otters and a seal.

The trip worked out rather well. We had wished that we had planned on going on Friday night and had all day Saturday there, but that may be better when London is older, too. She needs her run-free time and we need our down time. Once this baby arrives and gets more established, we are definitely thinking about a family membership to the Aquarium – if we just went 4 times a year (once every 3 months) we would recoup the cost of membership and more. But, we’ll have to hold off on that until at least January – and London is free until she is 3, so it would make more sense to just get two individual memberships until then.

Tulley spent the weekend at PetSmart and didn’t come home until last night. She was pretty tuckered from all the playing she did with other dogs while we were away and is soft as can be after her exit bath.

Although, now that we know the hotel is dog-friendly, we may decide to bring her along in the future depending on the weather.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Sympathy

London has started to progress more developmentally, particularly in terms of understanding when someone else is hurting. And she’s started to show signs of sympathy when someone else is hurt. Basically, she’s is grasping the concept that others have feelings too and maybe the world doesn’t totally revolve around her and her needs.

Example 1: I was sitting at the kitchen table next to her while she ate dinner. While adjusting I bonked my knee on the table leg and cried out in pain. London leaned over and put her arm behind my back and patted it, and nuzzled up to me while I cringed. I have to say it did make me feel better.

Example 2: Last Tuesday, after our busy Memorial Day weekend working on the front office I was feeling the extra activity I had put my body through. I was feeling achy and quite miserable, and wasn’t even sure if I was going to make it to work. Cameron was still in bed and I had brought London in to say goodbye. I was sitting on the bed next to Cameron and he was trying to comfort me. London noticed this and crawled over from where she was cuddling with Tulley to come cuddle me.

Example 3: So maybe it was her fault that I was almost in tears. I was sitting on the stairs for some reason, holding London by my side when something caught her eye and she moved her head quickly. This movement caught me off-guard and she clocked my right on the brow bone with her hard head. My dad was right there and witnessed London trying to comfort me after realizing she had hurt me.

Hopefully understanding that she can hurt others will teach London to not do things that hurt people, like hitting or kicking, and thus we can be a bit more proactive versus reactive to such occurrences and not have so many. I’m sure Cameron would love to teach her to not kick her legs out when she is in the shopping cart seat and he is pushing. All I can say is London has amazing aim and it does seem like she kicks on purpose just for a laugh.


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: First Haircut!

After my post last week, I suddenly was hell bent on getting London’s hair cut, so Wednesday night after work, Cameron, London and I headed for a local salon that specializes in children’s hair cuts in Fair Oaks.

After stopping to let the chickens cross the road, we arrived at EJ’s. It’s located in an older part of the city and the building definitely smelled old and musty, but looked inviting all the same.

We arrived just as another child was being seated to have his hair cut. With only one person working, we were told it would be 15-20 minutes. The little boy did have a lot of hair, but the need for 20 minutes had more to do with his attitude. His mom and her friend could not control this kid, who was crying and whining the entire time!

I feared London would catch on to this, and while she did, she acted more concerned for the little boy than being scared of the haircut.

Finally it was our turn. We opted for the first hair cut package that included a certificate, before and after photos and a lock of London’s hair. I couldn’t resist, what can I say? London was much better than the little boy before her, even if she couldn’t sit still the whole time.

Luckily, the hair stylist is quite used to children moving and bobbing, so she was patient and only cut when she knew she could. And with a basket full of toys, London was kept entertained. The hair stylist did note London’s strong cowlick in the front and said that now is the time to establish a new bang line versus having all the hair on London’s head coming forward from the back. We’re working on it.

At the end, the hair stylist worked to put London’s hair in pig tails, which made her more adorable than normal. I may try to do this for London’s 2nd birthday party too. We’ll see, as it takes patience and time! Not to mention a second person to distract her.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the results, especially now that London can see without having hair in her eyes.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Our Yo Gabba Gabba Monster

We were first introduced to the Nick Jr. children’s program Yo Gabba Gabba on a flight to Tucson at Christmas. A couple had saved a few episodes on their iPad for their 22 month-old son to watch during the flight. They happened to sit in front of us and London saw the show through the cracks between the seats. Before long, she was standing on her seat and looking over the seat.

From there, I would time to time turn the show on, in hopes London could be occupied for a few minutes so I could run upstairs to see to some laundry, run to the bathroom or get some dishes done. It wasn’t until recently that she would sit through an entire episode. And when she did start to sit and be focused on the program for a straight 25 minutes, I have to admit, I loved it – this is especially true when I need to get some dishes completed.

And the 25 minutes of quiet is great for when Cameron and I both need to relax a little after a long day of work before switching into parent and dinner-time more.

The only issue is now if the TV is on, London is asking for “Dabba Dabba” as she calls it. She will literally go get the remote and bring it to you. And she won’t do anything else if the TV is on, unless I turn on music. Which means, even watching the evening news can be a challenge in our house these days. And I’m a little concerned that London isn’t as interested in books as she used to be, particularly when we are downstairs.

I hate that we are using TV as a crutch already but we can’t let her run loose in the yard alone, at least not yet and the stories of neighbors finding snakes in their yards makes me wonder if I ever will feel comfortable with that.

The other problem is, Yo Gabba Gabba is the only show that will keep her attention for this length of time. We’ve tried Mickey’s Clubhouse and Sesame Street, but neither has had the same effect – although she does recognize when she sees Mickey or Minnie on TV by saying Mouse. I wonder what it is about Gabba that keeps her attention that the others lack.

Thankfully, the weather has remained beautiful in the evenings, so to divert London’s attention, we go outside where she throws a few balls around, runs around the patio and plays in her water table. I fear the fall and winter when it gets dark by the time we are home.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Life Outdoors

Swim lessons finished this last Saturday. And while London will miss the pool, Cameron and I are both happy to not have the obligation of being there every Saturday for a while. I also look forward to not having to make sure the towels, swimsuits and swim diaper are clean by Saturday morning. Expect for one week, I think I ran this laundry load Friday night and/or Saturday morning every week!


The weather has, for the most part, remained beautiful, which means London wants to be outside more and more. The last couple of evenings we have gone out and played with Tulley and done yard work. We even have London throwing a rope left over from the puppies for Tulley to go fetch. Both love the extra attention.

London also loves going for walks in the evening. If we leave the stroller set up and she can access it, she will seat herself in it and try to strap herself in! We definitely need to make evening walks more of a routine in our house – especially since I am no longer running. The first trimester wore me out that I couldn’t muster the energy to run, and now I don’t feel I can resume my running routine until after Baby arrives.

I’m thrilled London loves being outside and I hope this love continues. It’s about time to get her water table set up for the season, so she’ll have a little more stimulation when we are out there too. We also intend to purchase her a few outdoor toys for her birthday to aid in her interest out here. If only our park was built already – she loves the slide and swings but we’re not planning on putting in a play structure ourselves. I guess for now, we’ll have to settle on driving to a nearby park for such playtime.

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Home-Made Pedialyte

A while back London had a day of throwing up – which started when she threw up all over me! I should have known something was up after her nap when she was still very cuddly. The rest of the day she couldn’t keep anything down and eventually we were worried about her dehydrating, given that she was throwing up the juice we offered her as well.


After a quick call to my dad, we ended up making Homemade Pedialyte, that I thought I would share:


4 cups water
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon jello powder mix, any flavor

You wait to even give it to your child until they have not thrown up for over an hour. Then you only give them 1 tablespoon every 5 minutes until you are sure they are keeping it down. London wasn’t too fond of it, but I think that had more to do with the fact that it was at room temperature than anything.


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Pajama & Teddy Bear Day Fail

I failed as an attentive mom today. All month I have been looking at the Froggy Room’s March Activities Calendar on the fridge, telling myself that I really needed to fish the April calendar out of the car and put it up instead.



I thought I had most major days covered and in my head – we brought in plastic eggs for the Easter Egg hunt. This Friday is Zoo day and Cameron is London’s appointed parent chaperone.


But when I dropped London off today, I noticed her friend Evan was still in his PJs. And that’s when I realized it was Pajama day. When I checked the calendar next to the classroom door, I realized it wasn’t just Pajama Day – it was also Teddy Bear day! And that’s how I turned Cameron into “mean daddy” as he put it.


As soon as I realized my mistake, I called Cameron for help, since he’s working from home today so he can take Tulley to the vet (we think she has a UTI), and asked him to bring in a pair of London’s PJs and her stuffed Tulley Dog that she sleeps with every night into the day care.


As soon as he could sneak away for a break, he was there with said items. Seeing Dad there, London assumed it was time to go home, so she started waving and saying goodbye. Cameron’s report back to me upon his telling London that she was staying was that she burst into tears, just streaming down her face. I know she loves her time at daycare, but I also get her confusion – when we show up, it does mean time to go (usually) and I know she still lacks the concept of time, so to her she had been there a whole day. Poor baby.

That will teach me to put the calendar up in a timely fashion and study it ahead of time! Ahh mommy lessons learned the hard way.

~Sarah

Toddler Tuesday: First Word Flash Cards

Note: Sorry, meant to get this up last night but ended up going to Kohl's for Spring/Summer clothes shopping for London instead. Glad that its spring but I swear the girl doesn't stop growing - London is in 3T clothing now!

No, Easter did not pass us by this year without any acknowledgement. Cameron’s mom, Joe and his stepbrother James and his family joined us for our now annual tradition of making homemade pizza for Easter. We’ve been doing this since we got married and, thinking we would be stuck at home with more than two puppies, made it clear that if family wanted to spend Easter with us, they’d have to come to us.


Cameron and I are not religious in any way, so in some ways Easter really is just another Sunday to us. But we also want London and our pending arrival to enjoy their childhoods so having the pizza making tradition and observing the Easter Bunny has become a part of our Easter.

Unfortunately, Cameron was already feeling the beginnings of our head colds on Easter morning (actually, Saturday night) so he didn’t get up until I was well into some necessary house cleaning, so London didn’t get her Easter Basket until that evening, after dinner and after every one had left. And ever since the strawberry milk/sugar high disaster from our trip to Disneyland, this basket did not contain a single ounce of sugar.

We also have to be careful with London and candy as we have discovered that she has an intolerance for certain food dyes – but I’ll talk about that some other time.

London’s Easter Basket contained several new coloring books, some new crayons, sunglasses, bubbles and some flash cards. Lately, I’ve been feeling like London may be a little behind in her vocabulary skills and had seen the daycare using flash cards. Basically the kid that says the word of the picture on the flash card gets to hold the card.

London instantly wanted to open the new box of flash cards when she saw them and then proceeded to throw them all over the floor.


But over the last week, after each time I have picked up all the cards and put them back in the box, London has brought me it to play with. I’ll take a few cards out and go through them with her, even if the activity only lasts 5 minutes. The girl definitely has her animal sounds down – now if I could just get her to say the animal name, like horse instead of nay, cat instead of meow, and cow instead of moo. What’s funny is she can say moo but won’t say moon. Instead she says nite nite when I show her the moon card. At least she has association going on. And hopefully soon we’ll start hearing more words and can better communicate with London because of it. It is amazing how much she does comprehend and I am told she will have a spurt around age 2 (which is less than two months away) so I’m crossing my fingers.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that she says more at daycare than at home because she knows she can get away with it.


~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Slacking in the Mother Department

Yes, I’ve been slacking lately when it comes to mothering London lately. I haven’t planned any activities for her when we are home on the weekends and we’ve been home. The puppies kind of require us to be. This will all change starting Saturday and running for the next 6 weeks as London and I are about to embark on Swim Lessons!

Photo Courtesy of Swimstitue.com

For 30 minutes every Saturday through the beginning of May, we will be attending the Swimstitute’s  parent & tot classes for children ages 6 months through 24 months. It’s an indoor, heated pool so weather will not be an issue.

To prepare, London and I purchased some new swimsuits at Target and I ordered a reusable swim diaper on Amazon. Apparently, the Swimstitute’s experience is that the disposable kind don’t hold up to the water for that long and burst. I’ve heard and somewhat seen what happens when a diaper bursts and its not pretty so we decided not to risk it.

London's new swimsuit from Target

I’m so excited for us to spend this time together and to see how London reacts to the water. She loves water currently. We are very blessed that she wants to take baths. We actually have to spell the word around her if we aren’t about to go give her one as she will take off running for the stairs and throw a tantrum if not taken upstairs immediately to take a bath. It’s pretty adorable. Her favorite is when she gets a bubble bath, as bubbles are her favorite whether they are in the bath, being blown from a toy or reading about them in her favorite book.

I chose a plain white reusable swim diaper so as not to detrack from London's new swimsuit - they do come in quite a wide variety of colors and patterns on Amazon. This one was $10.

I just wonder how she will handle the cooler water. It may be heated, but the water is still at a lower temperature than the bath water. I’m also curious to see the ages of the other kids in class and how many there will be. They limit it to 8 “couples” per session. Hopefully, there aren’t that many and that the kids are closer in age to London than a 6 month old.

I’d considered taking these classes last summer with London but eventually decided against due to time restrictions on weekends and London’s age. I just wasn’t sure she would benefit from it as much as at an older age. Only time will tell. Cameron is going to go along as well and I’ll have him take pictures for the blog this weekend.

Toddler Tuesdays: Little Miss Bossy Pants

London developed a cute, though somewhat “demanding” habit while my parents were here – maybe she was doing this at day care already or just loving the attention from her grandparents, but she has gotten into the habit of grabbing your hand or a few fingers and pulling you to where her toys are in the family room and saying “sit”, pointing her finger to the spot she wants you to sit. Sometimes, after you have sat, she goes and gets a book and curls up in your lap, or gets some other toy that she wants to play with, with you. Other times, she sits down first and pats her hand on the floor insistently until you sit next to her, again to read or play with a toy. She even will pat the floor, couch, bed where she wants one of the animals, usually Jake, to come and sit. To her dismay, Jake usually doesn’t oblige her.


It’s completely endearing, but at the same time, there have been times I just need to sit in our comfy sofa chair or lay on the sofa, not on the floor. And I think it’s important London learns to play by herself as much as we play with her. I’d also like her to learn to say please, versus demanding, and to learn that asking please will not always get her what she wants. I know, a lot to ask for from my busy toddler.

She doesn’t need attention 24/7 like she thinks she does. We worked on this on Sunday, which resulted in a lot of tantrums and a lot of time-outs. It was a very trying day on all of us. Luckily, yesterday she was a pleasant dream of a child going along and not protesting all the errands we had to run after work and then going to bed without resistance (albeit an hour past her normal bedtime – thank you Daylight savings). I think the weekend had worn her out just as much as it had us.


BTW – I apologize for the lack of photos. I have a puppy update and pictures for you, but our home computer is on the fritz, which Cameron is working to fix, but makes getting anything done on it incredibly hard until he does. We think some spyware got on it somehow as my email was recently hacked and Norton has been rendered useless.


~Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: A Trip to the Zoo

My parents have been in town for the last week. The main reason for the visit was so my mom could attend a family friend’s baby shower. More on that in another post coming soon (I promise!). But since both of my parents have some time to spare these days, they thought they’d come early and stay a little longer to help us out with London and the puppies. So while Saturday was packed with the to-dos of the baby shower, Sunday was a day for the whole family to relax.

Being that Fairytale Land in the Land Park area of Sacramento was celebrating Dr. Seuss’s 100th Birthday, I’d thought it would be fun to head over there and see what Fairytale Land is all about. Except that we never made it.

We had a late start to the day, with all of us recovering from the previous day’s events. Cameron and I recently talked about getting a Sacramento Zoo membership and with the Zoo next door to Fairytale Land, we thought we would check into it. Plus, we thought we could get a membership that included access to Fairytale Land. Well, the Zoo membership did not include such access and to purchase the membership, we had to head into the zoo so we thought we might as well give it our full effort and make the grand tour first.

We spent the next few hours wandering and checking out the animals. London had a blast and was the most entertained by the Zoo than she ever has been. And this was the first time we’ve been to the zoo since the new Fresh Water Otter exhibit opened. I participated in last year’s Zoo Zoom 5K which raised money for this exhibit so it was fun to see where my money had gone. I’m going to take part in this year’s 10K in April to help the zoo out some more.

But by the time we left, we were all ready for naps, particularly London, and we didn’t want to push it. So we’re saving Fairytale Land for another day, possibly soon, if the beautiful spring weather that we had on Saturday and Sunday returns soon (today is sunny but chilly and VERY windy).

One thing we did work on with London while at the zoo, was wearing a hat and her sunglasses. In the car she kept taking the sunglasses off and putting them on top of her head like I do when I don’t need them to protect my eyes. And at first she kept taking her hat off. But she caught on quick, and even put her hat on yesterday when my dad took her for a walk. I only wish we’d taught her from infancy to wear such protective necessities. She is my little porcelain baby after all (she inherited my complexion).

Sadly, my parents head home tomorrow, and I don’t know what London is going to do. I’m sure she will be happy going back to daycare and seeing all her little friends but she has had a blast with her grandparents as well. My parents got in last Wednesday in time to come with me to pick London up from daycare and see the center. London always gets excited to see me when I arrive but this time she got especially excited when she saw Grandma and Grandpa follow me in and then pushed past me into Grandma’s arms when we reached the door to the toddler room. It’s so heart-warming to see that she now can connect the faces from the computer to the people in person.

~Sarah

Toddler Tuesday: Happy Valentine's Day!

With it being Valentine’s Day I wanted to make sure this Toddler Tuesday post was in line with the holiday. And so London and I set out last week to make Valentine’s Day cards for her Grandparents and Daddy. While the gifts haven’t been received yet (the cards are in the mail) Cameron watched this process unfold so he won’t be too surprised when I get London to hand him his card from her tonight and the grandparents who read this will have something to look forward to in the mail soon.

 I first started out looking for cute sayings online that could be written inside each card. For the Grandparents, I found:

Blowing Kisses Your Way this Valentine’s Day

This saying instantly made me think of Xs and Os and thus the idea behind the card design was born. London loves tearing things up, particularly magazine pages, so I gathered up some spare tissue paper I had lying around that were appropriate in color – pink and purple. I also added in a sheet of yellow as it added a little something extra to the color combination. And then I let London go crazy:


Once we had shredded the tissue paper into small pieces, I sat London down at the table with a piece of printer paper, the tissue, Elmer’s Glue and a painting sponge. I started her off with the glue and showed her how to use the sponge with glue on it to glue down the tissue.

This lasted for about 10 minutes before she decided she wanted to eat the glue off the sponge. Good thing for non-toxic glue!

I finished up for London by getting the tissue paper even more glued down and adding the Xs and Os. I just took the two fridge magnets and traced them onto a few sheets of spare scrapbooking paper.

After cutting each letter out, I glued them to the tissue paper sheet and cut that sheet into 4 card fronts.

Using two sheets of spare blue scrapbook paper, cut in half and folded in half again, I glued a piece of the tissue paper sheet to each. And that made up the card. Then I put in my amended saying:


Blowing Kisses (and Hugs) Your Way this Valentine’s Day. Love, London.

So yes, I did a lot of the work, but London was involved in the fun parts and as she gets older she will be able to do more and more herself. I did try to get her to draw on some white paper in purple, pink and yellow crayons one day to include on the inside, but she wasn’t feeling very artistic at the time and was more interested in re-arranging her Disney DVDs. In the end, London had a blast ripping up the tissue paper and gluing it down and the grandparents (and Daddy) get a little something from her today (or tomorrow).

~Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Using Time Outs as a Form of Discipline

Sorry for the lack of Cocktail Hour Friday and Motherhood Monday posts – you’ll understand after I get my weekend wrap-up posted, soon. But on to Toddler Tuesday.



We didn’t have any Toddler activities planned for this weekend mainly because we knew we were going to be too busy (at least I was) but one not-so-desirable behavior kept rearing its ugly head for us throughout it. Basically, London has suddenly taken up using our pets as targets when practicing her aim when she is so inclined to throw a toy. She tagged Tulley in the head on Saturday with her keyboard and Jake in the head on Sunday with her teapot!


And in our house, we’ve found the best form of discipline to get our message grounded into London’s head that her current behavior is not ok is with a “time out”. We actually had to start using time outs earlier than I ever expected we would need to. I can’t remember exactly how old London was when we started using them, but I know it was soon after she was able to walk around 10 months old, and therefore, more able to test the limits.


Time outs have been particularly helpful in stopping London from climbing, and possibly falling and splitting something open – like her head on our coffee table. We used to give her the 1-2-3 count down to a time out as a warning that she was very close to a time out. This warning system quickly lost its effect. Now we only give one verbal warning of “London don’t..” or “London stop…” and then go straight to the time out. And in reality, the time out is what is effective, not the warning. But at least we’re trying to correct the behavior verbally before a time out is necessary.


Time outs have also helped curb bad behavior at daycare – once they told us about the climbing issue they were having with London there we told them how time outs at home had stopped her from climbing at home for the most part. Yes we deal with it occasionally but not like we were.


Of course then I read an article today about why one lady, who also is a psychotherapist for a group that caters to children and adolescents, does not believe in time outs. She gives 5 reasons why time outs are not an effective form of discipline. You can read the full article here if you’re interested.
Her first reason is because brain connections are formed from repetitive experiences and she doesn’t want her kids repeated experiences to be ones of isolation. Except isn’t that how society functions? You commit a crime and you’re isolated from the public for a specific amount of time if the offense warrants it? Even children will avoid other children who hit or bite them. We only are friends with people we enjoy.


Reason #2: The point of a time out is for the child to calm down and reflect on what they did wrong – except they often just get angrier and think how mean mom or dad is instead. Yes, one reason we use time outs is to get London to calm down. And I don’t expect her to reflect all that much (she’s only 20 months old) – but I do want the cause and effect to be enforced. Treating our pets unkindly has consequences. For London, sitting still and not playing is a consequence. And yes, I do remember getting mad at my mom or dad when they placed me in time out when I was little. But they would then sit down with me after the time out to discuss why I was placed in it in the first place. We do this with London, too.


After the Jake incident Sunday, Cameron got on the ground next to her and explained that what she did was bad, that she needs to be nice and gentle with the animals. Then he gave her a hug to end the time out. And guess what, she was calm when he was speaking to her because we waited for her to throw the tantrum of being in time out. After the time out she went back to playing and we haven’t had another incident since. I know there will be more but hopefully not two in two days.


This doctor listed reason 3 along the lines that the punishment should fit the crime. A time out doesn’t fit the crime in her mind. One of her examples of how they would is if the child hits the TV with the broom, then the broom gets put away. How do you suggest then that I punish my child after she hits the dog with the keyboard – hit her in the head with the keyboard? Yes, the keyboard was taken away, but obviously it wasn’t the keyboard causing the behavior – as noted with the teapot the next day. Yes, if she uses her chalk to color anything other than the chalkboard the chalk goes away for a few days. But she can use any toy to pelt the dog – better to take her away from the toys until she calms down than take all the toys away from her. And yes, we remove the animals if they want to be removed, but we’re also not going to remove them and make them feel isolated from the family after being pelted.


Reason #4 was pretty close to reason #3 – parents use time out to punish, not calm the child and educate the child. She feels parents don’t teach after the time out enough to make it effective at changing the behavior. Our aim for time outs is to punish yes, and also teach. And based on our results, I’d say its working.


Last, the psychotherapist feels that kids need connection and that misbehavior is the result of a child inappropriately expressing a need or a big feeling they cannot express, like not understanding why their favorite juice is not available to them when they want it and not being able to gracefully request that mom add it to her grocery list. Really? Yes, London acts up when she doesn’t get her wish or way exactly when she wants it. We go through this every night at dinner when she wants to eat at that very moment and not understanding that it takes mom and dad a little time to make it. We do what we can to distract her while we prepare her meal and offer her snacks and milk while she waits. But sometimes we just have to let her throw a tantrum on the floor until her dinner is ready. I would never put her in timeout for that.


I know as London grows up time outs will be phased out as she can understand more and more. Punishments will more and more fit in line with the crime, but for now, time outs are working. And I know a day will come when time outs will no longer be effective but by then we’ll have other options and probably not need to use them any way.


What do you think about time outs? How would you discipline a 20-month old? How long do you think time outs should be for a 1 year old?

~ Sarah

Toddler Tuesdays: Discovery Bottles

This weekend’s Toddler Activity I found in one of my books – yes I cracked one open, even if for only a ½ hr. I found some great ideas and went with one that I had the most supplies for around the house already. I actually didn’t buy a thing to make these “Discovery” bottles. Basically, you take plastic bottles and fill them up with various supplies and liquid that your child can then watch interact or not interact with in the bottle as you shake it or tip it upside down.

I only made two, though the book suggested 5 different discovery bottles. I did two because I only had two bottles on hand (aka, pepsi and water bottles in the backseat of Cameron’s car). The first I filled with 3/4ths of the way full of water and dyed the water blue with food coloring. Then I filled the rest of the bottle with cooking oil. The last key is to glue the top on so that your toddler can’t open the bottle when handling.

The second bottle I first filled with some crafting gems I have on hand – I have so many I wasn’t going to miss any. Then I poured in some red and gold glitter I had left over from making our wedding invitations 3 years ago! After filling the bottle up with water, again I glued the cap to the bottle. Can you imagine that mess all over your floor?

Voila, London’s activity made for the weekend. The book suggested this activity for young toddlers. And I figured it might help keep her busy while I cleaned. On Saturday, while I was trying to clean the kitchen, I offered the bottles up to London. What was in the bottles and how they moved around in the water didn’t faze her one inkling! Don’t get me wrong, she loved shaking them but was never once curious about what was on the inside. I think Cameron and I had more fun with the oil and water one than she did. And after sealing it, and playing with it some, I realized it needed more oil in it any way.

So this activity basically bombed big time in the toddler activity department. Oh well. Maybe when she’s older and is able to communicate what she is seeing it will be better.

The weekend wasn’t at a total loss. London loves helping me clean and kept herself occupied for moments at a time covering and covering a dog bowl, as well as helping me arrange DVDs. What can I say, I’m training her young to help clean up.

Case in point - London was given a case of small Disney books for Christmas by Cameron’s grandparents. Besides flipping through the books to look at the pictures, one of her favorite things to do it put them back in their case! The child still makes a mess, but is on her way to being able to pick it up herself as well.

London was also in a dancing mood this weekend so we had several impromptu dance sessions in between all the cleaning. London had fun as did I, all while getting what we needed to accomplish, done.

~Sarah