u/JaggedLittlePiII

Mine does, clearly.

She suggest clothes.
I clearly say no.

She suggest sitting down for food.
Again, a clear no.

She suggest drinking something in the heat.
No.

And again and again she pushes my boundaries, trying to turn these clear nos into yesses. Meanwhile she always says boundaries are important. m

Am I the only one living with a hypocrite? She is cuddly though.

Edit: and do not get me started on brushing my teeth!

Mine does, clearly.

She suggest clothes.
I clearly say no.

She suggest sitting down for food.
Again, a clear no.

She suggest drinking something in the heat.
No.

And again and again she pushes my boundaries, trying to turn these clear nos into yesses. Meanwhile she always says boundaries are important. m

Am I the only one living with a hypocrite? She is cuddly though.

I know the theory, and I never dared using retinol cream (I haven’t even dared to drink alcoholic, drink camomile tea, etc).

With the cream I’m starting to wonder: how bad would fighting some small wrinkles be?

Anybody dared it?

Just saw some posts on sleep training small infants. In this weather that is not only cruel, but outright dangerous.

Dehydration happens very quickly to somebody whose stomach is tiny. 12 hours no liquid is not feasible in heat for a baby, and neither is 6.

Edit: thank you, all for your advice. It forced me to take a long hard look, and wrap my head around the boundaries I need to set, and the plan I need to make.

Toddler age (2.5 year old), and while we have good , sometimes we suddenly go through weeks of a rubbish period and life goes upside down until my one wish in life is to just get decent sleep back.

Decent sleep in our case meaning: cosleeping, still nursing at night for a couple of minutes and in morning while toddler sleeps. No nap.

Bad sleep includes: signing songs in the middle of the night, stacking pillows at 3 am and trying to balance on them, doing break dance routines, and waking up at 5 am for no reason.

When do the bad periods finally end?

Up to June 15, my little angel slept a solid 12 hours each night. Naps have been dropped ages ago, but this system worked.

Somehow, since June 15, sleep is a mess. Sudden nights of 9h 50 min. If we do a nap, night sleep can be as short as 8h 50 min. While she previously enjoyed dozing for the final hour of sleep on the breast (we cosleep, I still nurse at night), now she seems to wake up and start telling stories while the mommies in the bed go shh shhh shhhh.

She is 2.5 years old, the room is completely dark, and we have white noise. I’m not sure why we were cursed on the 15th of June with bad sleep, but please tell me how I can undo it. Ready to hop around in my garden on one leg while scattering wild flowers in the air if that does the trick.

(And we do not sleep train, I don’t believe in not attending to her needs and that worked well for a very long time)

It is not even July, and we are in our second heatwave. As things stand, these type of summers will become increasingly normal. Heat is dangerous.

A decent portable AC costs ~£500, and is truly magic. You don’t need special windows or anything. Just hang the house out of an open window, the amount of heat that flows back in through the window is negligible compared to the cold air these units produce.

I know £500 is quite an investment for some people, but it’s worth it it, for your and your child’s health.

Edit: Yes I made a typo. You hang the hose outside, not the house. Whoops.

Edit2: while I wrote 500 initially, I’m reading that there are decent ones at 250. In addition, shops offer payment plans. I hope this information will help somebody.

Edit3: Brands wise, our DeLonghi Pinguino are great, but I’m reading AEG is good, too. Happy to crowdsource info on the best options currently out there.

My husband is a great toddler dad.

He works hard during the week, but in the weekend he is all about his little girl. She is the light of his life.

Last year I got both of them bicycles, and matching bicycle sweaters. Her bicycle we had at home, we were supposed to design and pick up his at the shop… but never found time.

This year, I’m a bit at a loss. He definitely would not want a day of me-time, weekends with her are his favorite. He does not drink, and time for hobbies is limited as he either works or wants to be with the little one and me.

He has asked for time for us both to clean out the annex this summer, when my parents are over, but that doesn’t really feel like a gift. I’m considering a necklace with a pendant with a picture of the little one engraved, but that might be tacky? I know I could do it on a watch that has a single face (Jaeger does it), but he already wears a watch every day I got him ages ago.

What do you think, dear dads of HenryUK?

EDIT: consensus is that most of you deep down just want time. Family time, couple time, alone time, maybe some special experience. Gifts don’t matter (although a mug and a drawing is great). And shoutout to the person who suggested a father-daughter tree to take care of, I love that.

As for time: I wish I could buy it. Last year we already gifted ourselves time: a meal service and a daily cleaner so every evening can be spend together (ideally without laptops, which succeeds 50% of the time).
I wish I could buy him time, but I can’t.

My husband is a great toddler dad.

He works hard during the week, but in the weekend he is all about his little girl. She is the light of his life.

Last year I got both of them bicycles, and matching bicycle sweaters. Her bicycle we had at home, we were supposed to design and pick up his at the shop… but never found time.

This year, I’m a bit at a loss. He definitely would not want a day of me-time, weekends with her are his favorite. He does not drink, and time for hobbies is limited as he either works or wants to be with the little one and me.

He has asked for time for us both to clean out the annex this summer, when my parents are over, but that doesn’t really feel like a gift. I’m considering a necklace with a pendant with a picture of the little one engraved, but that might be tacky? I know I could do it on a watch that has a single face (Jaeger does it), but he already wears a watch every day I got him ages ago.

What do you think, dear dads of Daddit?

EDIT: seems dads of Daddit want two things. A BJ, and some special time (with some of you wanting family, couple, solo). Those that want gifts want maybe a drawing, or food, or Warhammer.

Lot of people also point out to give the man what he wants, and I most certainly will, but I am still thinking of something to remind him of his angel when he is at work (which is a lot). Keyrings and bracelets came up, so I’ll have a look at those.

EDIT2: what I would recommend (but can’t give anymore, as I think we’ve done it all), but came up on a lot on another Reddit is the gift of time (through outsourcing). And I know sadly not everybody can We don’t cook, we have a meal service. Gardening? We have a gardener. Odd jobs around the house? Handyman. Cleaning up in the evening, dishwasher, packages, tidying? We have a girl who comes by daily.

On that last bit you can call us crazy, but the amount of stuff piling up in the evening was the dynamo of a rough first year with the kid, and we tried therapy but calculated that a daily cleaner is cheaper, and works much more efficiently.

Although desperately trying not to be late, we arrived some minutes late and needed to ask reception for directions. My 2.5 year old angel thought this reception looked very similar to the gates of hell (aka the GP reception room), started screaming “outside, outside”, and was already at the door when it turned out we luckily needed to go outside. During the subsequent walk (with toddler firmly clutched to me like a koala baby) to the nursery building, she was still coming down from her trip to hell mouth and panickly puked. I tried to calm her down by pointing out the lovely playground -koala firmly held on - until we came across a tunnel you could crawl through. The tunnel looked safe enough so she crawled in and firmly barricaded herself. It was of course at this moment the assessor walked by.

After quite some coaching baby koala vacated her tunnel and walked into the nursery building, which per her first assessment was almost as bad as Hell Mouth. Luckily mommy found some toys (letters with glitters). BK started spelling her favorite words - cat, tiger, house - and all was good again.

Yes, I know how odd it is for a child to write at 2.5 years old but by all accounts she seems hyperlexical, knew the alphabet at 20 months, read her first words at 2 years and is now genuinely reading words she has never seen. It’s amazing! Also slightly scary.

Anyway, as the assessor at that moment was handling the question of another Ambitious Parent, we decided to play with all we could find. Tigers, mud table, fake dough for baking, more letters, toy kitchen, shapes, colors, numbers, outside blocks. And within no time she was having a blast, smiling her biggest smile, and being an all round delight. And as luck would have it, head of admissions walked in, Baby Koala gave her the biggest smile and showed of her reading skills, so the HoA was already discussing when we would actually start.

All’s well that ends well, or so you think. We had reached the end of assessment hour and now it was time for story time. As the other children proceeded to calmly sit in the story time corner, my little rascal decided this was the time to go find a tea set (in her defense, the teacher was reading The Tiger Who Came for Tea). And while everybody listened breathlessly to the teacher and I tried to have her calmly sit on me she loudly narrated “Lid off Teapot. Lid on! Lid off!” I tried smiling that I-know-my-toddler-is-being-unruly-but-we-practice-gentle-parenting-smile while I softly tried to take the teapot away. No problem for Baby Koala, who jumped up and found herself a big jar of tiny plastic teddy bears who she loudly turned around on the floor. She started sorting the teddy bears, and two other toddlers joined in with equal noise. Meanwhile mommies were trying to calmly take bears away - to no avail.

Story time finished, and everybody left the room easily except for Baby Koala who had fallen in love with school. I coached her out of the room, and on the parking ground she had a teary meltdown while saying “No No No! Baby koala wants to go back to school! Back to Schooool!”

——-

All in all, I think this can best be described as “mixed bag”. Put your bets in; are we in? Or rejected due to excessive teapot operation?

Papa Koala found the whole account hilarious

All recommendations welcome!

Looking for an efficient, clean place with decent PTs and showers. Cost should make sense from a use it ~2 a week for an hour pov.

Trigger warning: hatred of husband’s snoring, humor.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford both (although it will be a stretch). Traveling with my 3 year old daughter and immensely snoring (this is important) husband.

Last year we stayed in a deluxe family room, with my daughter and me in one bed, and husband in the other. Unfortunately, as the man has the bladder the size of Chip (or Dale), and snores like Donald Duck he kept waking my daughter and I considered Looney Tunes levels of violence.

In addition, as I did not get to see the fire works as my little girl will only fall asleep with mommy.

So for the next year, I decided that I would consider a castle club room with a terrace (which I think have fireworks views), and getting husband a second room somewhere in far, far away land (or the cars hotel, or the middle of the Disney lake).

So Q1: do these rooms indeed have this view? Is it worth it?

While looking at the hotel prizes it seems that in the Frozen & other signature suites the sofa bed is another room.

Q2: is this bed indeed in another room? And do these rooms have firework views?

Sincerely,

A mother who wants to stay married

Just watched the episode and I can see it getting a ton of hate, but I disagree. Yes, it is bitter. Monica deserved better; Tony - much worse. But sadly, that is not how life works out.

Rivals is about people (mostly) enjoying themselves, taking risks, being passionate, not hiding themselves. It is probably also why we love watching it, for many of us do hide ourselves away, and, moreover, this is an age of hiding in your phone rather than living.

I would have loved to see how it worked out for Monica, but the cruelty took her away, and it does make for beautiful television.

And perhaps, for many of us, there is a story in there.

Ps: and yes, it is a plot device that will allow another main couple to come together. How can you not root for Lizzie now?

Hi!

I’m a mother to a wonderful 2.5 year old daughter who has a penchant for reading and writing. By \~20 months, she could count to 20, and a bit later, knew all alphabet letters. By 2 years old, she was reading short words - not just from books she knew but when you wrote them down. Now, at 2.5, you can ask her to write words with wooden letters (cat, mama, frog, lion, tiger), she plays around writing words & non-words (puk, dop), and when you write term she reads complicated words such as journey, triceratops, dinosaur, helicopter etc. Recognizing all numbers to 100, and she likes to put 8 before 3 and say “83”, turn them around and say “38”. She can also read board books & early reading books.

So, all in all, convinced she’s (quite) a bit ahead in this respect.

Now my question: she’ll start nursery in September, only 3 half days, and in a well funded private one. Still, I would want her to get education that fits her and not be stuck slowly learning the letters until she is 5 years old. Would it be easier to make my case if I get her IQ tested? And if so, now, or next year? Or would that just label my darling at this age when she should still just be having fun?

Hi!

I’m a mother to a wonderful 2.5 year old daughter who has a penchant for reading and writing. By ~20 months, she could count to 20, and a bit later, knew all alphabet letters. By 2 years old, she was reading short words - not just from books she knew but when you wrote them down. Now, at 2.5, you can ask her to write words with wooden letters (cat, mama, frog, lion, tiger), she plays around writing words & non-words (puk, dop), and when you write term she reads complicated words such as journey, triceratops, dinosaur, helicopter etc. Recognizing all numbers to 100, and she likes to put 8 before 3 and say “83”, turn them around and say “38”. She can also read board books & early reading books.

So, all in all, convinced she’s (quite) a bit ahead in this respect.

Now my question: she’ll start nursery in September, only 3 half days, and in a well funded private one. Still, I would want her to get education that fits her and not be stuck slowly learning the letters until she is 5 years old. Would it be easier to make my case if I get her IQ tested? And if so, now, or next year? Or would that just label my darling at this age when she should still just be having fun?

Ps: not a Mensa member myself, but I did test an approx 147-149 IQ on multiple equations, and read Math at Cambridge.

I’m a decades long fan, and mother. And to be honest, I just cannot imagine what parents would be ok to wave goodbye to their little kids - often toddlers, or even babies - even when good meaning space wizards would come to take them.

It’s shit for attachment. That kind of abandonment hurts deep, for parents and children. Who will cuddle them? Little kids like to still sleep with their parents. Is Yoda going to cosleep in early mornings? And under 2, the recommendation is breastfeeding for good reason: it is tons healthier. Under 6 months it is quite necessary. Who will nurse them properly?

Plus, we all know that in institutions run without parents close, abuse can happen. Would you trust the space wizards? Older kids with abandonment issues can be dangerous, too (*cough, Anakin*)Or would you rather keep your children where you can still keep an eye on them?

So in reality, I think a ton of Jedi-inspired schools would pop up, coming the best of worlds. Some teachings about the force, combined with the nurturing home environment, to make the most rounded space citizens.

(And yes, I know this is controversial, probably. But if you aren’t a parent yet, know that you’ll likely think different some years into the future)

Edit: I see a ton of downvotes, with a fair amount sticking to the idea that parents can easily give away their children. While this did happen in the past, and even in some place in our present - do note, those kids are older. A toddler or baby is still incredibly young.

Also sad to see that apparently “breeder” is a a slur you can throw at people. Won’t be posting here again.

Our new heroine has arrived! I do wonder whether they aged her up or if this is supposed to be one of the parties where she is still 15/16.

He’s Northern European and happily wears regular short sleeves in 17 degrees C. Next week it will be around 30, and he’s miserable and sweaty.

Pre-kids the solution was to stay inside with curtains closed and game. With a toddler to run after, he wants to go outside. What shirts & other clothes can you recommend that help making one feel cooler? There are tons that claim they can, but I would rather hear from lived experience.

My daughter is usually terrified of sound producing devices: vacuums, hair dryers, Vtech toys. But as it is currently nearing 30 degree Celsius in the UK (for local standards: unbearably hot), we need to use big portable AC units to keep this old house a bit cold. I was fearing a huge panic attack, with a wailing toddler screaming:”Turn it off! off! outside, outside!”

So as she approached the Doom Machine, I had a thought, and said:”Look! It is our new friend! Robot pinguïn! Robot pinguïn works very hard to give us cold air. He takes care of us. He is our friend.”, and I approached him to give him a hug.

Then I saw her shaking lower lip turn into a smile, as she said “Robot pinguïn!” She then stood before him; and delighted screamed “cold air! Pinguïn cold air!” And she proceeded to do a happy cold air dance for the next 7 minutes.

And while I did not get much done the rest of the day, this makes me feel that I still won a bit today.