High Maintenance Mom - Toddlers

Dr Richard Ferber-a lecture on solving your child's sleep problems

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:14:41 -0700

I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Dr Richard Ferber, Director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital in Boston and author of Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, recently and brushed up on my knowledge (via Dr Ferber and other's books) on sleep and how to achieve it in babies and toddlers. I have been blessed with two good sleepers but that doesnt mean we havent had our late nights and frustrating moments. In our family sleep and nutrition rank highest on the "must get right" scale. While Dr Ferber is clearly a well respected doctor and author, he is not an excellent public speaker. If you had not read his book, the lecture would have been too broad and short for you to gain much insight. Having said that, I am glad I went because just by the amount of parents who brought their kids to the 7:30pm lecture, I could tell we had it good!

DHA/ARA in Formula.....is it all that it claims to be?

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:01:46 -0800

I am blessed to be able to breastfeed my 3 month old son and hope to continue to my 6 month goal (I nursed my daughter for 7 months) but understand that there are many mothers who do not have that option and need to feed their child formula from day 1. I reached for a popular formula brand when my daughter was 7 months old and felt OK with my decision. Now, it seems that between the new choice of organic formula and formulas with added DHD/ARA, they are new questions.

Pre Pre School-an update

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:10:39 -0700

An update to my previous article on my 2 year old starting "pre" pre school at a private school in the next town over from ours...it is going so well! Everything I wanted to happen for her has. She asks for her teachers every morning even though she only goes 3 mornings a week, she talks about the things she does at school and she has become more confident and talkative. The confidence factor was my biggest reason for sending her to school.

Tooth brushing challenges and successes!

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:03:52 -0700

When I first became pregnant I wondered about logistics non stop. I think that was because I was an event planner and that is what I did best. Now I realize, looking back, that those logistics have helped me and my 2 year old daughter tackle some otherwise difficult events like tooth brushing. From the day she was born, A always came in the bathroom with me when I was showering and getting ready for my day. She saw me do all of the little things that need to be done particularly brushing my teeth. So when it became time for A's teeth to be brushed (I wasn't one of the Mom's who brushed their gums before teeth...maybe next time), she understood why my hand was in her mouth and wanted to try it herself.

White noise machine-a review

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:22:03 -0700

I had been using my humidifier to soothe my baby when a friend showed me their white noise machine (Marpac White Noise Machine Sleep Mate Sound Screen 980 Dual Speed Sound Conditioner) which can be purchased via amazon.com.

the binky fairy

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:43:05 -0700

My daughter was 2.5 when we decided she needed to stop using the binky. I told her we needed to send it to the binky fairy so she could give it to new babies who needed it. I found a company http://thebinkylandfairy.com/ that takes old binkies and in return your child gets a certificate from a fairy thanking your child. (you don't even have to send in the binky if you don't want to). the letter was really impressive, I almost believed it came from a fairy.

Toy Recall

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:48:06 -0700

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys - including the
popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters - because their paint
contains excessive amounts of lead.

GET A COMPLETE LIST OF THE TOYS RECALLED:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=alerts_recalls&id=5532182

Schedule-not a four letter word

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:19:18 -0700

Ever since I found out I was having a baby a while back, it seems that the schedule debate has been looming as if it was a nasty four letter word. It was very clear to me that having a schedule for my new family would be a blessing and something that I would hold to come hell or high water. Let me make myself very clear, however. I do not believe that newborns should be on any schedule except for their own! I am talking about babies old enough to self soothe and those who understand the rhythm of the day. I found an interesting question and answer series on www.aplaceofourown.org in the Topics, Child Care Management, Schedules and Routines.

Urban Nurture: British-style childcare services and parenting support in NYC

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:28:35 -0700

Urban Nurture is reinventing the childcare market in New York City. With three groundbreaking services, Urban Nurture will deliver the core values and experience of traditional British Nanny care.
• Nanny Fix-it: Problem-solving for children in the family setting, guided by veteran British nannies.
• Nanny Know-How: Advisory service for finding and keeping the best nannies.
• Nanny Night: At-home, fully secured, overnight childcare; occasional or long-term.

Giving up the crib

Mon, 01 May 2006 21:14:01 -0700

N gave up his crib on Friday night and has been sleeping on his mattress on the floor for the past few nights. It was exciting and strange to take apart the crib we've used for the past four years (it was a storage bin for a few months between the kids). B moved out of the crib at about 18 months. He had a stomach flu, threw up, and didn't want to go back into it...

Conflict resolution - another great GeoKids seminar

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 21:34:48 -0800

Yesterday evening I attended another great seminar at GeoKids on conflict resolution. It's always conforting to hear that others have similar feelings and frustrations. The seminar begin with us listing our feelings about conflicts - anger, frustration, embarrassment, helplessness, challenged to communicate effectively, being judged by others, and a bad sense of deja vu when we watch our kids struggle with it. We then learned the first of the two big ideas I took away from the evening. Conflict resolution is social problem solving and needs to be approached in a similar way to learning how to do other tasks like putting together a jigsaw puzzle...

Games and toys for 18 month olds

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 22:30:48 -0800

As I was trying to watch the SuperBowl, we were bringing out all the favorite toys so I thought I'd answer the post about games for different ages by listing some of Scavenger's favorites. S, 19 months, loves books with flaps, cars and anything he can push, magnetic puzzles, and a magnetic fishing set. Below are a few examples...

February Giveaway - Adorable baby/toddler toys from CuteLittleMe

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:34:34 -0800

Looking for the perfect toy for your baby/toddler or a gift for a friend's? High Maintenance Mom and CuteLittleMe want to give two lucky High Maintenance Mom members a fabulous baby/toddler toy in the February giveaway. One Manuella elephant or one Pastel Toys wooden rabbit could be yours at the end of February...

Getting rid of the bottle

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 21:48:47 -0700

We weaned B from a bottle around 14 or 15 months to help him get ready for his new room at daycare. Baby Entropy just gave up his bottle at about 15.5 months. In both cases it was exciting to move all the bottles out of the kitchen and in both cases I was scared about the kids continuing to sleep through the night. Luckily, like everything else, kids adapt and it was probably harder for me than it was for them...

Book review: Baby Flamingo (San Diego Zoo Animal Library)

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 21:51:40 -0700

We started visiting zoos when our oldest turned one. It's a great way to learn about animals and a good walk. During B's second year, the flamingos at the SF Zoo built nests and laid eggs. We were all captivated and returned often to watch the new chicks grow. I tried to document it but missed some of the early stages. Last month we went to the San Diego zoo and saw flamingos and their chicks. We also found the San Diego Zoo Animal Library board book about baby flamingos that is perfect for talking about animal growth and families...