The Troublesome Two

Every Thursday afternoon, I babysit my niece Gabriella (age 2). It's great to spend time with her and for Christian to be able to interact with his best friend and cousin. Their eyes light up when they see each other.

Gabriella often greets Christian as if she is so much older, putting on a sweet voice, patting him on the head, and saying, "Hi CJ!" It really is so precious.. that is until the fun really begins.

They are now both at the age of sharing (or lack thereof). Constantly tugging on the same toy, until one falls or the other cries. Feeding off each other's every move. They learn so much from one another (like how to push Christian's table-top toy over to the bookcase, only to climb on top & pull books down - giving me a heart attack).

Last week they were playing, while I was washing dishes and suddenly I hear my niece yelling, "Aunty, Aunty, hurry, hurry!" I rush over and low and behold, Christian has an egg on his forehead. They were playing, he tripped on a book and smashed his head on... well I have still yet to figure out what he hit his head on, but luckily, a week later, the bump is gone and all is well.

So you may ask, what do I do to calm them down from all the excitement? Cheerios and books. The three of us sit on the couch, they snack on cheerios and I read to them, until they are ready for nap time - a very relieving time of day when the two of them are together.

Enjoy the photos!

Battle of the Binky: Take Two

We had it all mapped out. When Christian turned 10 months old we did away with the bottle. At 11 months we began the slow transition to milk. And at a year old we ditched the binky.

Take One: The week after Christian’s first birthday we decided that it was time to say bye-bye to the binky. Since I am addicted to reading books on development and websites on parenting, we tried the “trick” of cutting holes in the binkies. The presence of the whole prevents the suction effect of the binky. As soon as we gave Christian his binky he took it out of his mouth and threw it. We knew that we would be faced with a few days of extra fuss, but it was well worth it in the end. Until..

Take Two: Over the past month we noticed that Christian would walk around with his sippy cup hanging from his mouth. At first I blamed it on teething, thinking he was just biting it for the sensation. We slowly noticed that it was becoming the new binky. Two nights ago, Michael went into Christian’s room to take the bedtime sippy of milk out of his crib, what he saw, was quite upsetting. Christian had the spout of the sippy cup in his mouth, using as his self-proclaimed pacifier. We immediately decided that it was time to transition to a different type of drinking cup.

When searching for a sippy-cup, we found that one with a soft-spout was best. It was the easiest transition for Christian from the bottle, but now this soft-silicone has become a problem. I spent twenty minutes in the store today, searching for a new sippy-cup, but could not decide on one. I know that this will be a process, of some sleepless nights and excessive fussiness until Christian realizes that he will not be getting his former sippy cup/binky source, but we have done it before and we WILL do it again.

So parents – do you have any suggestions for sippies that you approve of and your child likes?