Tag Archives: toddler behavior

Crafts for Toddlers: Sidewalk Chalk

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I see sidewalk chalk drawings in my neighborhood all the time.  Beautiful pictures filling the sidewalks.  For some reason, though, it never dawned on me to give sidewalk chalk to Bug.  Silly Momma, because apparently drawing outside is awesome.

In reality, what might the be actual awesome part of this activity is that he gets to draw on the ground.  Which may or may not have led to him thinking he can draw on the tile with his crayons.  Whoopsies.  So, now, we’re trying to teach him that it’s ok to draw on the ground with chalk.  Outside.  Crayons & markers & paint only go on paper.  Not on the tile.  Or carpet.  Or table.  We haven’t had to deal with drawing on the walls yet, but I’m sure that day is not too far away.

Also a very fun part of the whole sidewalk chalk activity… putting the chalk in and out of their box.  Because the in & out game is always a hit.  I mean, isn’t that why we buy our kids toys that come in reusable containers?  My first thought is always… he’ll love putting that in and out of the box!  Oh, and he’ll probably like the actual chalk, too.

Social Butterfly. Alternate Title: Hiyee!

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As little as a month ago, Buggy was not super excited about social situations.  When introduced into a new environment, or to new people, he got really quiet and shy and clingy.  It would take him a good hour to warm up to the situation.  Which, in baby time, pretty much meant that by the time he was comfortable enough to start having fun, it was time to go home and take a nap.

Nowadays… the story is a tad different.  It still takes him a few minutes to warm up, but once he’s warm, boy is HOT.  I’m talking on fire.  Life of the party.  Super Ham.

Case in point numero uno: Seafood Fest.  Back story – the day after Thanksgiving all of my In-Laws’ best buddies get together and have Seafood Fest.  Pounds upon pounds of every kind of seafood you can think of… plus beer and wine, obvi.  Why?  Because we all don’t have enough leftovers.  I had to work (sad face), so Hubby & the fam took Buggy to Seafood Fest, where he proceeded to be the life of the party.  For FIVE hours.

Upon entering said party, he “hiyee”d and fist pumped everyone in sight.  Yes, my baby fist pumps.  He also high fives, but fist pumps are so much more fun.

It is obligatory at every group gathering to have a sing along lead by Pops & Scary Uncle Adam (and usually me… stupid work).  Buggy sang along, played harmonica and danced on his guitar case stage.  He shook his little booty and spun in circles until he fell over.  Apparently, he had a smile on his face all day long.  Also apparently, he’s inherited his Pops’ and Uncle Adam’s ability and desire to entertain people.  Maybe one day he’ll get paid to do that and Mommy can live vicariously through him.

Case in point numero dos: Dinner.  Last night, after getting our Christmas trees (YAY!!), Hubby, Bug, Nana, Pops & I all went out to dinner.  Each and every time the waiter came anywhere near our table, Buggy said, “Hiyee!” and waved to him.  After little man was finished not eating, Nana walked him around the restaurant.  Bug greeted every. single. table. with a “hiyee!”  Twice.

Case in point numero tres: School.  This morning, at school (every morning at school, actually), as soon as we walk in the door to his classroom, Bug screams out “HIYEE!!!” and then waves to everyone.  Miss Mallory said he’d be a good greeter.  Like that old Saturday night “Buh-Bye” skit, only with “Hiyee” instead.

The Brushing of the Teeth

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Let me tell you how much Bug likes to brush his teeth.  Oh, wait.  He doesn’t.  He would rather nobody touch his mouth.  Or his toenails, but that’s a whole different post.

When he was big enough to hold a toothbrush and successfully get it into his mouth, I got him a little baby one.  He was cool with using it himself and ok with me brushing his 4 teeth.

Then, Mommy got an electric toothbrush and Bug no longer wanted to use his plain, regular toothbrush.  So, I got him a kid electric one.  He thought it was beyond awesome.  For like, 3 days.  Mostly, he just liked turning it on and off.  This was months ago… so you can imagine that the novelty has only worn off even more by this point.

I realize that the brushing of the teeth is very important for the future hygiene of Bug.  Unfortunately, if I give him his toothbrush (which I do, every single day), he just sucks on it.  No amount of me showing him how to go ‘ahhh’ and ‘eeehhh’ and singing idiotic songs and dancing around like a weirdo will get him to do anything but suck on the toothbrush.  And then, oh and then, if I try to brush his teeth with his brush… no way, Jose.  Not happening.  Freak out, baby.

So, I’ve resorted to doing what I did when he was 7 months old and had only 2 teeth… wiping his toofers down with a washcloth.  Which he still hates, but slightly less, so I can actually accomplish clearing the fuzz out of his mouth without a total tantrum or without him trying to bite me.  For now.

Any tips on brushing a toddler’s teeth????? (Yes, that totally deserved five question marks.)

Independent Streak / Skater Baby

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Bug is a pretty independent kid.  He likes to sit on your lap to read books and he likes some snuggle time now and again, but for the most part he likes to do things on his own.  He is a problem solver, which makes his Momma very proud.  If, after several very concentrated, tongue hanging out attempts, a problem can’t be solved (like opening a Tupperware container… that’s a tough one) he’ll ask for help.  In fact, he gets mad if you try to help him before he is good and ready.  I love that he is so independent… it means that he plays very well by himself while Mommy does the laundry.  Well, that, and independence, motivation and the ability to solve problems are pretty key factors in being successful.  But, mostly, the time for Mommy to do chores thing.

I may have mentioned this before, but Hubby & I used to skate to class in college on longboards and though we don’t really have anywhere to skate to these days, we still like to get them out now and again and goof around.  Bug is a big fan of this.  He loves to watch us zoom around… he claps and squeals for us.  He also loves to stand on a board while we hold his hands and roll him along.  Standing on the board while Daddy sits with him is super awesome, too.  (I promise he is excited in this picture and not crying!)

So, last weekend, we’re playing on the skateboards at my parents house.  Hubby & Bug go down the hill of the driveway a couple of times, and then Bug gets fussy.  We’re having a hard time figuring out what he wants.  He doesn’t want to stand on the board while we hold his hand.  He doesn’t want Daddy to sit with him.  Then, we figure it out.  He wants to do. it. by. himself. darn it.

Cautiously, we let him.  Not cautiously because we’re afraid of him doing things by himself.  Obviously, based on my schpiel above I am cool with him being Mr. All By Self.  We were cautious because things with wheels + toddlers with not-so-awesome balance could easily equal disaster and trips to the ER.  Luckily, there were no ER trips.  Probably because we were cautious.  Also, because we wouldn’t let him stand on the board.  He had a blast sitting on the board and rolling backwards (’cause he hasn’t quite figured out the forward thing) down the driveway.

Next he’s going to want to ride the bike by himself.

How independent are your kids?

Picky Eater Bee

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Bug has entered the “picky eating” stage… despite all of my efforts to have him eat adventurously early on in his little life.  It was like one day, he figured out that he had a choice in what he ate.  One Monday, all veggies were eaten because he thought he had to eat them.  The next day, he figured out that he didn’t have to put anything green in his mouth, and no amount of forcing airplanes or choo choo trains was going to change that.  Therefore, we have resorted to doing that thing I said I would never, ever do: hiding veggies.  And meats.  And everything that isn’t sweet potatoes and applesauce.  In sweet potatoes and applesauce.  Because, inevitably, he’ll eat those two things just about any time.

Let’s get one thing clear here, though… we only do this at dinner.  He’ll eat his breakfast of waffles & fruit & yogurt.  He’ll eat his lunch of peanut butter bread, fruit and cheese.  He just won’t eat his dinner of chicken, broccoli and sweet potatoes unless the chicken and broccoli are mixed up in the sweet potatoes.  Then, he’ll go to town.  I have even gone back to pureeing some veggies (namely zucchini and spinach) to mix them in applesauce just so I can get some green in the boy.

Let’s get one other thing clear, too.  We very much follow the “this is what you get for dinner, and if you don’t like it you don’t eat” rule (unless Nana is the one feeding Bug dinner… boy’s got that Nana wrapped around his finger!).  There is no making of two or three dinners for Bug.  There is one dinner.  That being said, we do try to make his dinner something we know he will eat.  Or, at least, we try to make at least part of his dinner something we know he will eat.  For the most part, he eats leftovers from our dinners from the night before.  Along, of course, with sweet potatoes or applesauce… or mac-n-cheese.  ‘Cause what kid doesn’t love mac-n-cheese?!

Do you have a picky eater?  At what age did that stage begin… and end?

Transitions

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So the other day I was asking Bug’s preschool teacher how he is doing in general at school.  General answer – he’s not napping well (not surprised) but otherwise he’s a pretty happy camper & he eats all of his food (also not surprised).  And then she added on that he doesn’t transition well.  SUPER not surprised.  I mean, come on… going from gluing paper to play on the playground is a totally stressful situation, ya’ll.

You know how there are those things that your kid does when you are around that you hope they only do when you’re around?  I was hoping little mister’s angst when it comes to transitions was something that only happened when I was around.  You know, like the whole I’m only going to misbehave around my Momma?  Apparently, not so much.

Allow me to let you in on a little back story:  when Hubby was an itty bitty guy, he also did not transition well.  He’d be all happy playing in the sandbox and his mom & dad would want to take him to get ice cream and he’d flip his lid.  I’m talking kicking and screaming all the way to get ice cream.  What kid doesn’t want to get ice cream?  The one that doesn’t want to stop playing in the sandbox long enough to do something way cooler.

So, someone is just like his father.  Is this when parents start saying “your child yadda yadda yadda” to each other when their child misbehaves?

As I alluded above, Bug doesn’t transition well at home as well as at school.  He doesn’t throw all out tantrums (yet) but he fusses when you go from one activity to another.  At this point in his little life, he understands a good bit of what I say to him, so it’s not like he doesn’t understand that we are going to stop coloring so that we can go to the pool.  He is well aware of what “we are going to go swimming” means… the pool is pretty much his favorite place on earth, after all.

I feel like this is one of those areas where Hubby & I need to communicate a game plan.  Not that we’ve actually done that yet, but I feel like we probably need to… and then we probably need to communicate that game plan with his teachers.  As of right now, I try to give Bug a few minutes warning when we are going to change activities in any major kind of way.  For example, today we were at the pool and it was nearing time for us to go home for lunch.  About 5 minutes before I was ready to leave, I asked him if he was about ready to go home for lunch… not that he can/will respond at this point, but whatever.  A few minutes later, I gave him a “last call” that we were going to go home in a minute for lunch.  Then, we began to clean up his toys & get dried off to make the trip home.  Giving him warnings like this really seems to help him process that though we may be giving up something fun, something equally as awesome (FOOD!) is coming.  Of course, this is harder to do when a) we’re in a hurry or b) plans change, as they tend to do with children, or c) something happens quickly that needs to be dealt with right now… like a poopy diaper.

I hope this is something that Buggy grows out of, but I don’t expect this part of his personality to be vanishing any time soon.  I am prepared for this to last for years, if he truly is anything like his Daddy.  Unfortunately for us, he also seems to have inherited my stubbornness, so that could add another year or two onto this whole issues with transitions thing.  Yikes.

What not-so-awesome traits have your kids inherited from you?  Okay… you can throw in awesome inherited traits, too.