Teething is Weird

My son is almost three and is currently getting his last (I hope) molar in, which is such a joy as any parent can tell you. I've been thinking about teething a lot lately because of this and I've decided that teething is kind of weird. Have you ever seen an x-ray of a child'd mouth? They have all these teeth hiding in their jaw or cheek bone just waiting to come out, it is the weirdest thing to look at. Obviously I understand why we don't want newborns to be born with teeth (I nursed my son and I still cringe when I think back to his very first tooth), but the whole process is just weird. We spent almost 3 years pushing sharp teeth out through our flesh only to have them fall out a few years later so another set can get pushed out. And then as a teenager you get extra molars that you apparently didn't need until then? How does that even make sense? Now I got lucky and I had all of my wisdom teeth by time I was 16, but I've known people in their twenties still getting them in.
I was discussing the current case of "owie mouth" with my son while on the way to an activity and he's actually pretty aware of what's going on, which I found curious. I guess he can feel the molar (top right for anyone interested) with his tongue or the finger he's been chewing on non-stop lately. I often wonder just how aware children are of the things that are happening to their body at this early age, or how it feels to grow at such a fast rate. So much happens in such a short amount of time, it really blows my mind. And teeth are weird.

Product Review: Crayola Twistable Crayons

My son is now two and a half and LOVES to do art projects. Color, glue, paint, bead, make stuff with play-doh, the whole nine yards. But since he's two and a half he's not always the most careful with certain items, which is why I have a large box full of broken crayons (which will eventually get melted down into crayon pucks to color with). This Christmas we decided Santa was going to get him a huge collection of various art things and while shopping for crayons I discovered that Crayola makes crayons that come in a plastic container that you twist up like a tub of lipstick. They obviously cost more than a regular box of crayons, but were only about $2.50 for the box we picked up. And honestly I'd pay twice that to not have broken pieces of crayons ground into my carpets.

These are all of the fun and high quality of Crayola brand crayons with none of the breakability, a huge win in my household. And because they're longer than your average crayon they give my son more room to hold onto and fit nicer in the pencil holder built into his craft table. And no more guessing what color it is once the paper comes off (black, blue, green? Nobody knows till you ruin a picture because you grabbed the wrong color) since the plastic tubes are colored to match what color the crayon is. Overall I give these a resounding two thumbs up!

Essential vs Non-Essential Baby Gear

While pregnant we did what most parents to be (the first time around) do, we collected and stockpiled baby gear. Between baby shower gifts, friends who had kids, and garage sales we accrued enough stuff to open our own baby gear store. After two years of being a parent I can tell you what we needed and didn't need at all, plus what I wish I had more of. There are even some purchases that I can look back on and go why on earth did we buy that?!? Don't panic if you bought something on my Don't Need list, every child is different so yours may be the one to like the "fruit mesh pouch".

First up is my Need List, these are items that I could not have gotten through the last two years without. Obviously I'm going to skip the duh's, like clothes and diapers, you need those (although the type of diapers is up to the parents/baby).

-A baby carrier. We got one that converts from a forward facing to outwards facing to backpack style and I swear this was the only way I got anything done when the bug was little. There are lots and lots of different styles, so take a few for a test spin if you have the chance to. While I liked ours (the brand name escapes me right now) just fine, once the bug got big it became to uncomfortable to carry him around that way. If I had to do it again I'd get one with more back support.
-A travel bed. We actually had two varieties, one was the travel bed by Eddie Bauer which was perfect for the under 6 month baby, and the Kidco PeaPod which I HIGHLY recommend. The PeaPod is big enough he can use it until he's at least 4 and it zips up which is a huge plus for a wiggly baby. The PeaPod looks like a little tent, pretty cute. Kind of expensive but well worth the price.
-One of those bouncy recliner seats. This was a life saver for when I wanted to shower or get something done and couldn't (or didn't want to) hold him. We got one that had an activity bar so there was something for him to play with.
-A bath seat. I'm not talking about an infant tub, I'm talking about a seat for the baby that hooks up to the side of the tub so they can safely sit in it with you while you shower. Mine was by Safety First and this was essential. We used it up until he was big enough to sit up in the tub by himself and I wouldn't have a heart attack every two seconds.
-Sunscreen STICK. Sunscreen is a duh for obvious reasons, but I cannot stress this enough, GET A SOLID SUNSCREEN STICK. You can apply it one handed on a wiggly screaming baby with no mess. I even taught the bug to apply it himself, he LOVES the stick. Yes they are more expensive and yes they don't last as long as a regular bottle but the fights and time it saved me was well worth it.

I'll make my Don't Need list a second post, look for it next week. What items could you not live without or would cry if you had to live without it?

My first parent related heart attack

We live in a place that has several small duck ponds nearby, and I often take my son to go feed the ducks and play in the grassy areas. The bug loves water, and if he can find even a puddle he will be in it before you can blink. Because of this my husband and I often joke that we are counting down the days till we have to fish him out of the pond.

Well that day finally arrived. We were having a picnic with some friends by one of the ponds and guess who supermaned right into the water. I dove right in after him,   and I have never been so thankful for the swimming lessons he took last summer, which helped keep him afloat till I grabbed him. Luckly nothing bad happened, just a few scrapes and a bruise on his back, but it was a very scary moment for us. Once the adrenaline faded I juat sat down and cried for a while, I never want to go through that again.

What scary moments have you had to deal with as a parent?

Product Review: Munchkin Brand Bath Crayons

Bath time is one of my sons favorite activities of the day, which may have something to do with the various toys that never leave the tub. But one of his favorite things to do ever is to color so for Christmas this year we bought Munchkin brand bath crayons to put in his stocking. They were an instant hit, so we bought him another pack for his birthday earleir this month.

Each pack comes with five crayons (red, blue, orange, yellow, and green) and they seem to last a decent amount of time for as much as he colors with them. And I get them at my local Target for only $4 so the price is perfect to. They don't seem to stain my tub or shower walls unless I forget to wipe the doodles off and they sit there for a week. They will however stain the caulking so keep that in mind, haven't tried to destain them yet so no suggestions on what to do.

All of the colors show up very well, even the yellow which was a surprise. They color on skin ok, though the green will sometimes leave a stain if you leave it on for to long. But they wash off well with just a splash or two of water so no deep scrubbing of the baby was needed. Overall I love them and highly recommend them to everyone.

Non-cooperative Toddler

Today was picture day at the Taekwondo school I teach at, and since my son turns 2 tomorrow we thought we'd do some nice pictures of him to give to people. We had done the same thing last year and got some of my favorite pictures from it, so I was excited for this batch of photos. I forgot to factor one very important thing though, that my son is a toddler. I should have known he wasn't going to cooperate, our Santa pictures from this year are of a screaming child so why should these be any different.

He was just fine for the family photo and ones with Daddy, but absolutely refused to sit still for photos with me and the solo pictures quickly desolved into tears. We'll be lucky to get a few good pictures out of the lot, no repeat of last year's bounty that's for sure.

Have you had a well planned event go down in flames and tears because of an uncooperative child? What tricks do you use to milk one more smile out?

The Daily Animal

Pretend play is an important part of early child developement, and can take many different forms. My Bug's favorite version has to be pretending to be different animals. Typically each day is a different animal, such as today was a snake (which made getting up the stairs a slooooow process), yesterday was a frog, and so on. I try to encourage his mimicry by reading him animal stories then asking him questions about each animal. Following along with a movie or tv show can be fun too, but there is only so much Curious George I can handle in a day. Trying to find some fun animal songs, haven't done nearly enough on that end I think.

Encouraging your child to use their imagination should be an important part of your daily routine both for your benefit and theirs. How do you get your little one to participate in pretend play? What tricks do you use to teachnew skills?