We are on day 3 of “Oh Crap” method with a 20 months old. First day was hell. I almost gave up twice. But then by the end of the day something clicked for him and he said “pee”, approached the potty and peed in it. We are now about 50/50 between him initiating and us catching. Thinking about moving to “block 2” soon.
Curious to hear how others progressed at similar age?
I am a single mom to a 20 mo old in the USA. I am fluent in English and my native language (don’t like doxxing myself so call it X, and it’s a european language). I only speak X to the child, his grandparents who stay with me on the rotating basis also only speak X to him. His nanny speaks English to him. Nanny works 40 hrs a week that’s it. The rest of his exposure is X. This stinker is yet to say a single word in X 🤦♀️ He has mastered probably close to 50 words in English and is starting to form sentences. Not a peep in X.
It definitely doesn’t help that X is a much more complex language compared to English (longer, harsher sounding words etc).
The silver lining is he understands both perfectly and equally and will respond to instructions in either language.
Am i doing it wrong? I sort of thought that nanny in English plus me in X would be same as OPOL setup. Should I course correct now and find a nanny who can also speak X?
I moved into my current house a year ago. It’s an awesome house - not a soulless newbuild. It has an absolutely whimsical backyard with mature vegetation, flower beds, lights, garden features and different areas (like firepits, deck, etc). The inside was gut renovated by the previous owners with very high end appliances and fixtures. Basically I bought this house because it looked to me EXACTLY like what I would have done myself - down the shade of the paint in the master bedroom (almost exactly the same as in my previous house). I was like wow this was purpose made for me i like everything about it here’s the offer.
But somehow i still don’t feel “at home” here?? All of the furniture is mine from the previous place, i changed the paint in one room and added a library which i love. But it still feels like i am living in their house.
This feeling really felt intense when I went to my old house (which is rented out) over the weekend for some maintenance. Immediately i was like “this is home i miss being here”. The old one is a townhouse, much smaller, not as nice, and the area around it is not that nice (which was the main driver of the move). WTF? I should love the new house but i miss the old one for no reason.
Anybody else?? how do you make the house your own? I have moved many times in my life and never quite felt like this. I always tend to feel instantly at home wherever I am.
Subj. I have a donor conceived toddler and a second (his full bio brother) on the way. They were by a known donor who is a semi-public figure with notable online / social media presence, a wikipedia article in his name, the works. This is someone I know but we are not friends nor do we live in the same state. He receives monthly-ish updates with photos and that’s the extent of the involvement for now. There’s also 12 half-siblings out there whose moms I could get in touch with but currently don’t bother.
Given this setup, what is the best message to the child when the time comes to talk about it? I really dislike the standard advise and am not inclined to tell my sons that they “have a donor”. They have a biological father. Who’s pretty awesome and smart and accomplished. The reason i went known donor route instead of a sperm bank is because I wanted them to actually KNOW who their father is, instead of having that void. And to be proud of their heritage and where they come from.
I have been thinking about honing this into an age appropriate message. Thoughts?