So before I fill you all in on Imaging I was hoping you could help me with something..

Jasper used to nap from about 1-3:30, so a good 2.5 hours. Now, I’m LUCKY if we get 1.5 hours. Is this normal for toddlers that naptime shortens like this?  And if so, should bedtime be earlier?

Up until now we have been starting bedtime at 8 but by the time he’s ACTUALLY asleep it’s 9pm or so.  But now with those short naps I feel like he’s constantly tired and cranky!  Last night I started bedtime at 7pm and he was asleep sometime just after 8pm, but he really WAS NOT tired and it took a lot of -well, threats to get him to lay still and let himself fall asleep!

I would love to hear if you all are going through/have gone through the same thing and what worked for you!

Also – semi-related tangent:  Does your child toss and turn like a MANIAC in his/her sleep? I’m seriously starting to suspect Jasper has a sleep disorder!  He’s moving around I’d say about 75% of the night (yeah, it makes it SUPER fun when he’s in bed with us – last night he head butted me in the lip!)  Can he possibly be getting restful sleep flopping around like a fish out of water all night?

So those of you who have been reading for a while know that Jasper has never been a fan of car rides..and that’s a huge understatement. For the first, oh, 8 months of his life he would scream bloody murder from the second you strapped him into the car seat to the second you took him out. No long, blissful, car engine induced naps here. Even now he chants a steady stream of “up, up, up, up” while even on the shortest rides.

For that reason, the farthest we’ve ever taken Jasper is Brooklyn, which is only an hour and a half at most, and that is WITH traffic.  And that hour and a half is usually enough to swear off car rides for at least another month.  So it was with great excitement, but also a certain amount of trepidation that we accepted my friend’s invitation to take a room in the house they rented up in cape cod over Memorial Day weekend.

Cape cod is a 6 hour drive from here WITHOUT holiday weekend traffic.  Yes, this is a trial by fire..and the driving is isn’t the only challenge! The other obstacle is the sleeping situation.

Jasper is apparently physically incapable of falling asleep while other people are in the room. Case in point last night at midnight or this morning at 5 am when he woke up screaming and wanted to go in “mommy’s bed.”   OK, fine, I’m so tired that I overlook the potential minefield that is letting him get used to wanting to come into my bed every night so long as he actually SLEEPS and in turn lets me get some sleep.. but no. He lies there, tossing, turning, digging his toenails into me, smiling, kissing me to get my attention.. basically everything but fall asleep until I put him back in his own room, no matter HOW tired he is.  (By the way, this is the second night in a row of the 5:30am wakeup call – SO not happy!)

So the idea of sleeping in the same room as him is already a dubious proposition, but add into that equation that he will be sleeping in a little travel cot and I’m thinking we will need at least a week off to recover from our “vacation!”   For the past two or three weeks he has gone down for every nap and bedtime bawling. He used to just look up at me and say “byeeeee” and wave as I left his room and said goodnight. Now, it’s all out screaming. I have NO idea how this will go down if he’s lying in a little cot that he can easily get up from.

The travel gear I know we will be bringing is the regalo travel cot and the fisher price portable high chair. For car ride I’m thinking of renting a portable DVD player from Blockbuster and a bunch of kids DVDs.  My reasoning is that my laptop is too hot and heavy for him to use on his car seat, plus, he’s not really allowed to watch tv at home so it’s good for him to watch the cartoons on a device that is going back to blockbuster rather than him demanding Yo Gabba Gabba every time he sees my iphone or laptop!

So give me the best you’ve got… distractions for the long car ride, best travel gear,  best toys for the beach (too cold to swim, but playing in the sand should be fun!) and anything else you seasoned travelers think I should know  before we go!

I'm so cute I think I can get away with anything..

This is a disturbing new development.. whenever I tell Jasper “No” or not to do something, or pretty much anything he doesn’t like he hits me. It’s almost instinctual, I don’t see him sit there and think about it and then do it anyway, it’s like his hand darts out to kind of swipe you quickly if he doesn’t like what he’s hearing.   Because we’ve emphasized how he should be nice and hug us and say he’s sorry if he’s done something wrong he immediatlely runs over and tries to hug you after he’s hit you, as if he can get away with anything so long as he hugs you afterwards (truth be told, it’s pretty hard to resist that hug/apology!)

When I dropped him off at daycare this morning, the class bully was exiting the bathroom and ran by Jasper and Jasper gently swiped him and the bully swiped back harder.. it was then that I realized EXACTLY where Jasper learned this behavior!  It’s funny because I had worried about the bully BULLYING Jasper, but hadn’t even thought of the fact that Jasper might also start to learn and emulate this type of behavior himself.  Obviously it’s nothing serious (though I did see the bully trying to push another toddler backwards down the little steps up to the indoor slide!) but it IS an annoyance because it happens so often that putting him in time out every time he does it gets exhausting and doesn’t seem to be having any effect.  Lately I’ve been trying to just escape him and tell him that “no one wants to play with someone who hits” but if you can’t physically keep him from you he comes running over and tries to give you a hug!  What do you say to that??

I’m all ears!

If you look really close you can see my eye boogies!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have found a pediatrician who’s philosophies are so in synch with my own.. delayed vax? No problem.. stomach virus? Take probiotics.  Ear infection? Wait and see, most clear up on their own..and we’ve been really lucky so far.  Though Jasper is sick more often than not (thank you daycare!) he’s never had to take antibiotics.

A few weeks ago Jasper’s eyes started watering intensely and he has permanent eye goo and crusties. Thinking perhaps seasonal allergies, I brought him in to be checked out. The pedi looked in his ears and says he has a double EI, and with the tubes and sinuses all stuffed it was sort of draining out of his eyes.  He recommended waiting as most of these things clear up on their own, and as Jasper’s behavior wasn’t unusual (except for maybe the occasional night waking) this made sense to me.

Fast forward 2 weeks to Easter Sunday and I was chatting with one of Jasper’s cousin’s mom who’s son has been plagued with ear infections his whole life (had tubes in and removed and may need them again) and was asking her how she knows he has an EI and the first thing she said was that he gets extra clingy.

Ding ding ding!

Today and for the last few days Jasper won’t let me put him down for two seconds… to the point where it’s almost impossible to get ready for work/daycare.  So I’ve been pondering bringing him back to the Dr for another look in his ears to see if things have gotten worse. But then again, he hasn’t been pulling, pointing or otherwise complaining about his ears at all!  He’s been sleeping fairly well, no more night waking, so I’m not sure if this cliginess is cause for concern. If his ears were really bothering him, wouldn’t he tell me? He certainly knows the word for ear!

When your babe gets an EI (or double EI) how do you know when it’s time to visit (or revisit) the pedi? What behavioral changes do you  notice in your little one?

That was the plan anyway.. but I struck out completely everywhere.  I don’t know WHAT is going on at the moment, but H&M’s early spring toddler line was surprisingly disappointing, and the racks at Old Navy looked like they’d recently had a fire sale (for all I know they DID and I missed it!).   Even Target where I like their super soft vintagey tees were completely out of anything in Jasper’s size.  So now I’m sort of out of ideas.. where have you found some good deals on cute spring toddler clothes?

I also need a pair of boys toddler shoes that can get dirty in daycare’s often muddy yard. Jasper’s only pair of shoes that currently fit him are the adorable nike’s he’s wearing here:

They are totally adorable, but are also largely white and I’d like to keep them that way at least for a little while!  I didn’t see anything I liked in BRU’s shoe area, (unlike last fall when I scored those awesome brown puma’s for a steal!) and don’t really know where else to look.

Despite our shopping fail, we still managed to have some fun trying.  Jasper was absolutely CAPTIVATED by the Easter Bunny at the Easter photo set up… so long as he didn’t get too close that is.   I wish I had gotten some pictures of it, but I wasn’t quick enough with the iPhone.

I did manage to get some iPhone pics of Jasper and the Old Navy Modelquin Dog with which he was quite enamoured.. only after approaching him very cautiously of course!

So please, help me out with some tips!  Where have you had the best luck with clothes for the little one this spring?

Jasper demonstrating bad behavior!

We’ve spoken about discipline before, but Jasper was a bit younger and less able to understand consequences.  Redirection is fine, but what if he repeats the behavior over and over again?

Every morning when I go into the bathroom to put on my makeup Jasper runs to this ledge infront of the bath and climbs on it. I wouldn’t mind so much if he just sat there like is doing in these pictures, but most of the time he’s crawling around, leaning over the bath, turning on the hot water etc.  The tile is hard and would not be a very forgiving place to fall, not to mention that he shouldn’t be turning on hot water faucets!

No matter how many times I tell him sternly “NO!” or even forcibly remove him from the bathroom and close the door (leaving him crying on the other side) as soon as I open the door again he runs right back up.

He is also in the habit of constantly turning the burners up or down on the stove when something is cooking on the stove top.. my “No” elicits fits of laughter, even though I carry him away and sit him down somewhere else.  Clearly he thinks it is some sort of game.   Redirecting him works in the moment, but it isn’t teaching him not to repeat the behavior.

Even worse, he very recently started biting me! Clearly this is a behavior that he must learn is completely unacceptable, but I’m at a loss on how to instill this in him.

I am anti corporal punishment, if only because I know that even my mild “roughness” with him when I pick him up and move him away elicits a sort of aggressive response in him – he starts to hit in the air, etc. I don’t want him learning agressive behavior from his parents.

Please share what, if anything, has worked for you to end undesirable behaviors (or at least curb them!)..

And on a completely unrelated note, I have to post this because it’s too cute not to share: I present to you “Jasper Potter!”

Thank you to everyone who shared their eczema experiences yesterday- if nothing else, I know we are in good company!

Now I am asking for your help yet again in my search for a good toddler vitamin.

I used to use a natural product called “babyplex” which were liquid drops that I could easily sneak into Jasper’s yogurt. Unfortunately, though Jasper has expanded his menu to include many new foods, he has decided he doesn’t like yogurt anymore.  Since he doesn’t eat anything else mushy where a liquid vitamin could be incorporated, I need something chewable.. but chewable by the world’s slowest teething toddler!

Jasper only has four middle top front teeth, three middle bottom teeth and two molars (on opposite sides, so no real chewing as of yet).  So it cant be anything too hard or that is a choking hazard.  It seems like most vitamins are made either in liquid form for babies or hard chewables for the over two set.

I’d prefer it be something natural..speaking of which, I have to put a good word in for Vemma NEXT, sort of a juice like vitamin drink (tastes like orange juice!). They sent me a sample to review and I love the natural ingredients and spectrum of nutrients they pack in there .  The only problem for us is that, as I’ve mentioned before, Jasper has an aversion to drinking anything that isn’t water -  so anything juice like is out for us!

Any ideas?

Cockadoodle doo!

Today’s mommy SOS comes from JBhat’s friend Shannon:

A. has decided that she is getting up at 5.  That means leaving the room, running around trying to find me – which most days I am in bed – or up exercising.  I calmly but sternly tell her it is not time to get up, put her back into her bed and leave the room.  That is not good enough.  She continues to get out.  Or she will climb into S’s bed and wake her up, thinking it is really funny.  Poor S!

Other relevant info:

A. currently shares a room with S. – which will change after we sell our house and buy a new one.  She is not potty trained – that process is starting in March.  I have not tried letting her entertain herself yet…in another room.  I have tried giving her books in bed but that doesn’t seem to work.  I worry about her being alone in the living room while I shower – as she tends to be on the naughty side and I worry she will get into something and hurt herself.

This SOS is actually quite timely coming hot on the heals of our  transition to big kid bed dicussion last week  – it’s just the sort of thing that I fear when we transition Jasper who like clockwork wakes crying at 5:30am every morning. Currently I go in and comfort him and he usually falls back asleep for an hour and a half, but I don’t know how this would all play out should he have the independence to get out and roam about on his own upon waking!

But more than just the issue of a toddler roaming free, is there hope to solve the root of the problem i.e. getting the little one to sleep later in the first place?  Later bedtime, shorter (or no?) nap? Any other ideas? If anyone has had any success, please share your methods!

strap me in and feed me mommy!

Two nights ago Jasper woke up at 3:30am demanding milk.. and then proceeded to wake up every 30-60 minutes after that, either crying for milk or needing to be rocked back to sleep. I chalked it up to teething, or maybe the tail end of the second stomach virus he got recently.  Unfortunately for us, last night was a repeat performance only worse – he started at midnight and woke up every two hours screaming for milk.. WTF??

I realized that he’s not drooling at all, so he can’t be actively cutting a tooth I started thinking that possibly this is some crazy growth spurt.. but why would he not be eating a ton more during the day (which he is most definitely not) instead of all night long?

Has anyone experienced anything like this at around the 18 month mark?? Please tell me I’m not alone in my sleep deprivation.. better yet, tell me it only lasted a few days because I can’t operate like this anymore, I thought the days of sleepless nights were looooong behind me!

Update: three days later and I take back everything I said about him not eating a ton more during the day! The day after this second sleepless night he’s about tripled his normal food consumption. So long as I keep feeding him copiously throughout the day the night wakings for food have subsided… it’s a welcome change to see Jasper hungry for food!

I’d love to hear other real Mom experiences and recommendations with eliminating the use of a pacifier. Jonah uses his at nap and bed time and occasionally in the car. At some point I want to ditch them but he’s pretty attached!

Maria’s question kind of made me stop and think because this is an issue I’ve been really remiss in handling properly…

See, there was a time back many months ago when Jasper ONLY used the paci for nap and bedtime because it had just naturally evolved that way. Then,  right around the same time when Jasper started getting SUPER attached to bear, he also started getting attached to paci.

Fast forward to now and they are part of what I call the “holy trinity” (Jasper Bear & Paci) because if he has one, he IMMEDIATELY needs the other. Like if he finds bear or paci on the floor somewhere he goes running around the house looking for the other chanting “Bear, Bear, Bear” or “Paci, Paci, Paci” until he finds it and won’t be appeased until he has both.

In his little mind they almost can’t be separated and honestly,  I’m loathe to even try, because  bear and Paci are the only things that keep him quiet in the carseat, at naptime, storytime etc.  This  quiet was so hard won that the thought of tampering with our winning formula terrifies me (if you’ve been reading for a while you know that Jasper screamed the entire time in the carseat up until about 10 months old!)

So, I would add to Maria’s question:  If you haven’t yet thought/worried about pacifier use, at what age do you think you will?  Am I way behind the curve here in that at almost 17 months I haven’t ever really worried too much about Paci weaning?

And now, to further illustrate the point a video of Jasper sledding with Paci in his mouth (which my mom thought was hysterical). Also, notice that he asks for Bear while on the sled!

And here’s an image (sans Paci) taken the same day that I’m including just because I’m so excited that Jasper is FINALLY agreeing to wear a hat outside!

Ok, enough about us, I want to know where you are with the Binky/Paci issue? If you’ve weaned already, what worked for you? If you haven’t, when do you plan on it?