Mamas & Papas-
About me- first time older mother to a 2.5 y.o. boy. I was clueless about babies before having one, and had to ask the nurse to teach me how to change a diaper. Not under the mistaken illusion that I am a perfect parent, or that my kid is a perfect kid, in fact I am daily humbled by how difficult a job parenting is. We've got a strongwilled, active boy, who has some food issues, was slow to talk, is independent, slow to warm up, sometimes contrarian, and isn't eager to please by nature. Nonetheless, it's been our experience that certain things, which are considered parenting challenges, we've just lucked out on-
1. bf'ding - our kid took to it, my supply was reasonable.
2. weaning to the bottle (no struggle there, my kid took the first one he was offered).
3. weaning from the bottle (no struggle there either, my kid liked sippies).
4. giving up the pacifier (my kid never took one).
5. out of the parental bed (couldn't sleep well with baby in bed, for fear of crushing him, so he never really got a chance to share our bed).
6. sleeping through the night- it was a tough time when we did the ferber, but we did it early, before DS was pulling up, and we all slept through the night shortly after I returned to work.
7. giving up the crib tent( when it was recalled I was worried I would face a climber and night wanderings, he stayed put in his crib.
8. transition to the toddler bed- after taking a fall otu of the crib this weekend, he is now in the toddler bed. no protest, no night wakings, no wanderings.
Just wondering if you feel like you got to pull out a proverbial plum in certain parenting arenas?
Thanks,
F. B.
Oldest son pretty much potty trained himself at 2 (with daycare influence). I was thrilled! Younger one is taking a little more work!
Potty training. My kids practically taught themselves. I am really REALLY hoping my last one does as well. He is now 19 months and it will be coming up sometime in the next year.
Teaching to ride a bike was no problem also. They decided they were ready and I think I blinked because their were on their own.
And having triplets. I kept hearing about how this family or that family had help from everyone and anyone. We did not have ANY help. My mom would buy us diapers now and then but that was it. The hard part was when they each went in their own direction--1 parent against 3 kids.
None of my kids would take a pacifier either so I had no problem there.
I think nursing was the one that I lucked out on. As my sister remarked "he came out having read the manual" when she saw him just latch on and go for it.
I say luck because it wasn't ME. It was him. I've since known so many wonderful moms who struggled with it, so I have come to A. Keep my mouth shut most of the time how easy it was and B. never to give advice on it unless expressly asked.
I think we're also just lucky to have a kid with the temperament he *does* have. It can pose challenges in some areas, but he's a NICE kid and generally, interesting and fun to be with. He *can* go play on his own, too, and usually entertain himself pretty easily. Those are big blessings!
I teach teenagers, and LOVE them, but figured it would be more challenging with my own children. Surprisingly, so far I have loved having a teen. Our oldest son is 15, and I've enjoyed his teen years even more than his younger years. We haven't had the typical teen struggles - talking back, rebelling, etc.
Also, he started driving (just with his permit), and I thought that would be difficult, but it's been easy, too. He's still learning, but he's taking instruction well, from us and from his driving teachers. It's not a stressful ordeal, and I thought it would be.
My almost 3 yr old DD just potty trained on her own, overnight, this past weekend.
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, as we've been working on it for 2 YEARS with her 5 yr old brother.
We've seriously had 3 accidents since Saturday, AND she's been dry in the morning every night but 1.
I feel like I'm jinxing myself even typing this, honestly....
I can't entirely recall, but the whole thing actually proved to be harder, not easier, than expected when I began the journey. I blithely gave birth, figuring I would be a natural and it would all be a breeze. Ha!
It's been a difficult road with my kiddo. But the one that was the easiest was the transition to the Big Boy bed. He did so well! I really thought we would have so much trouble, but the thing is, he loved it, and for the first time in his 3 years of life, he actually started sleeping through the night.
Yes, I have a 18 week old that has been sleeping 12 hours a night since 10 weeks. I never really believed breastfed babies could go that long without eating!
She refused 5 kinds of pacifiers, but she came out nursing like a champ.
My son transferred to a twin with no problem. My oldest still won't stay in bed :-)
I love this post. Like you, I have a strong-willed one that continually challenges us. That said, we've also had some unintended successes handed to us:
1) Our first essentially potty-trained herself just over the age of 2yo. She just didn't want to go in her diaper anymore (and her body was way ready). One day and that was that. (Nighttime took a bit longer.) Similar with our second, though it happened later and we had tried (but stopped) potty training. We were on a trip when our second decided to start using the toilet pretty much exclusively.
2) Getting them to take their first bottles was really tough, but eventually weaning them from the boob was easy.
3) Transition off the bottle at age 1 was really easy.
4) Used CIO for our first at around 5 or 6 month old, and had around a year of good sleep.
5) Giving up the paci was really difficult for the first. The second never used one, so it was easy!
I remember the above successes when the challenges are being particularly challenging!
Wait...There are easy parts?!? My oldest gives us a run for our money on everything every single day. Thankfully number two is so dang jolly and all around easy (good sleeper, good nurser, happy more than not). I hope the post-twos give us a much needed break with our older son. He needs it as much as us.
Toddler bed transition and potty training were a breeze!
One of mine ate anything and everything (breast, bottle, formula, sippie, etc), one of mine would eat only a certain thing (breast).
One of mine never ever slept more than 40 minutes at a time (not through the night until after 16 months old), and the other slept through the night at about three weeks old.
One was falling out of the crib the soon as their leg could get over the top, and the other had to be forcibly removed from the crib because the pediatrician was upset they were still sleeping in one.
So, for me I have discovered some kids are easy in some areas and some are just hard in some areas...they all just come different...I guess you hear about each thing that should cause "issues" and then you can jump for joy if your kid doesn't have trouble with it...
I personally jump for joy any chance I can get when we sail through a big parenting issue...hugs!!
My son slept through the night at about 2 weeks. He was a big baby so the ped said not to worry about him not nursing at night and to just let him sleep and enjoy it! He's also a good eater, he eats what we eat and I've never had to worry about making him special food or getting him to eat enough at meal times. Now if only potty training was surprisingly easy!
DD has been a fantastic sleeper from day 1, thank God. She slept through the night (meaning 12am to 6am) for the first time at 6 weeks and she's rarely caused a problem since then. She'll be turning 6 in August and she's always been one of those kids that's easy to get into bed and keep in bed - she generally falls asleep quickly and she's out for the whole night.
She was a tough one when it came to the potty training - or at least convincing her that potty training was a good idea. But once we got over that hump, she did great. I know there really isn't "nighttime potty training" but we've never had to deal with a bed wetting issue. She was staying dry through the night consistently even before she was actually potty trained and it was only a month after being daytime potty trained that we ditched the diapers/pull-ups for bedtime for good.
She's also never had an issue with going to school, or child care, or staying with a sitter - she's happy to go and never fusses about separating. Overall, I just consider us lucky.
Bedtime has always been really easy for us. I hear stories all the time from my friends where their bedtime routines are 2+ hours long starting at 7 pm, kids refusing to go to bed, crying all night, etc. Our bedtime routine is less than 10 min and always has been. We do our reading after school. Bedtime goes like this: "Bedtime! Brush your teeth and get on your jammies!" then we kiss the kids in their beds and that's the end of it.
Thank goodness some parts are easy, huh! We all have our share of difficulties, for sure.
Yes - karma will get you on different things with your next child though, if you choose to have more kids ;-)
My oldest was easy about breastfeeding, taking bottles while I was at work, givine up the pacifer (my mom gave it to him one day at about 4 months old and he gave it back, repeatedly), and learning how to walk. Everything else was a challenge.
My second son was a pretty easygoing baby all around, but slow to walk and talk and didn't give up the binky until he was 3.5 and it was a fight. He was also a pretty picky eater as a toddler and pre-schooler and had ear infections all the time.
My third son was (and is) a dream child. He actually had some health issues (RSV and pneumonia) but they're easy to forget because he wasn't at all fussy. Slow to walk and talk but that's about it - everything else? Easy peasy.
Oh yeah none of my kids slept through the night before age 2 and they all slept in my bed for a long time, but that was more a parenting choice than them being difficult.
emmy took to breastfeeding when she was a baby quite easy--downside she didnt stop until i forced her when she turned 2...seriously i bet i had 10 minutes free from her in those 2 years...she never slept either
talking was easy-she was an insane talker-suprising since she is SOOOO shy but she said her first word at 12 week and was doing full on sentences and sign language at 9 months
physical stuff like writing with a pencil she did before 2 years old
but she's had such hard times being so shy and she is stubborn and pouty and then some minor health issues (reflux, glasses) so guess it all evens out
