Life is sure a strange experience, isn’t it? At first I didn’t have a child and when my son was born, it took me some time to get used to the fact that his little person is going to be attached to me for quite some time now. It took me a complete change of mindset to become a Mom, a person responsible for a child every second of every minute of every day.

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1. Heck! My mother is still learning and I’m almost 26 with two kids of my own. I don’t think it’s something you really ever master. My oldest is very independent most of the time and I just make sure that he’s not going to draw blood or kill himself or anyone else and give him the space to do what he wants (within reason of course). I usually spend that time praying and/or holding my breath. I’m hoping to do better with #2.

   Comment by LaToya — March 1, 2009 @ 11:48 pm

2. Gosh, some moments are really scary. When he stood near the edge of a platform on a playground and took a step back, I almost had a heart attack. What do you do differently with the second child?

   Comment by Emma — March 2, 2009 @ 4:40 am
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If you were to ask me when I was single: “What makes a good present for a 16 months old boy”, I’d say “Beats me!”. But now, living with a baby for that long and having spent every day of his life with him, I have a very good idea what toys stand a chance.

It is true that every kid is different and they all are unique, but there are activities that most of kids like at 15 - 18 months and there are toys that almost always will be a success with toddlers of that age.

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1. PUZZLES!!! My son loves puzzles. Art supplies are a hit too: crayons, chalk, paints, markers.

   Comment by LaToya — February 23, 2009 @ 11:20 pm

2. Cool! Great addition to the list. My kid can’t draw yet, but he enjoys taking the markers out of the box and putting them back :)

   Comment by Emma — February 24, 2009 @ 5:27 am

3. Have you tried melting down some crayons to make really large ones. They are easier for the toddlers to handle.

   You take crayons, break them up and put them in a muffin pan. You can keep the colors the same or mix them up a bit. Bake at 350 until they melt and then put the pan in the freezer until they get hard and they should pop right out. They are almost impossible to break and last a long time. And even just banging on the paper makes a nice mark.

   Comment by LaToya — March 1, 2009 @ 11:50 pm

4. Wow, that’s a great tip, very creative? Where did you learn that? Seriously, I would have never thought of it.

   Comment by Emma — March 2, 2009 @ 4:38 am

5. My consideration in buying our toddlers toys are, toys that are designed for babies to stimulate their senses as they begin to interact with the world around them, these toys are colorful with texture and can contribute in there learning with out bringing boredom to them most toys I got them here at http://www.simplykidstoys.com/creative-play-learning-toys.html I had the space coaster, and the pig set.

   Comment by Claire- Kids Toy Guru — March 22, 2009 @ 1:12 am
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How do I stop hosing down his high chair covered with food?
I teach him not to use his hands when eating soup or porridge. We have this agreement where I help him to get a spoon full of soup from the bowl safely to his mouth. To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t always work and sometimes he fights my attempts to help. Then I leave him to try, but follow the dripping spoon with a bowl, holding it right under, so that the food would fall back in.

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1. I have found pelican bibs that do fit perfectly well. They are not plastic but rubber and have an adjustable neck strap. Check out the ones from Baby Bjorn.
   As for flying food, I totally agree: once it flies, the kids is not hungry anymore.
   Also, a big lesson I learned was that you should not force a kid to eat. Sometimes they are just not hungry. They will eat when they feel like it. And yes, that sometimes makes scheduling complicated, but after a while, they adapt.
   Oh and making them eat vegetables is just easy if you do not make a fuss about how good they are for them and trying to force them to eat them. If you’re stuck you can always simply turn them into puree with potatoes. That always goes down :-)

   Comment by Mindful Mimi — February 22, 2009 @ 3:58 am

2. Thanks for the tip - I will try the Baby Bjorn ones. Funny thing, out of all the vegies Eric only hates the potatoes :) Won’t touch them, no matter in what form.

   Comment by Emma — February 22, 2009 @ 4:29 am

3. [...] about 2 months into it and still a lot of food misses Eric’s mouth. Remember how I complained about pelican bib being a huge [...]

   Pingback by Self feeding: a bib that can make all the difference @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family — March 11, 2009 @ 7:15 am
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When your baby starts trying to feed himself, you quickly realize how easy, even boring, you life was before. No fighting over the spoon, no washing food off the walls and the floor 5 times a day, no bathing the baby after every meal. No hosing down his covered with porridge high chair, no washing sticky fingerprints of your clothes, no undressing in the kitchen because he just spilled a glass of milk on you, no finding pieces of toast 5 meters away from the table. It turns out that you were missing on a lot of fun before this self-feeding thing began.

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1. Hi there,
   Very good advice indeed. I have learned this myself having two small boys (number two just starting to eat himself). I also have special plastic bibs with a ‘gutter’ which are good for eating soup.
   http://mindfullittlemen.blogspot.com/
   Thanks for sharing
   Mimi

   Comment by Mindful Mimi — February 18, 2009 @ 3:29 am

2. [...] to Baby-Log via RSS feed or via email. Thanks for visiting!If you’ve just landed on Part 2, Part one was suggesting solutions to fighting over the spoon, washing the food off the walls, the floor and [...]

   Pingback by What it takes to teach a toddler feed himself, part 2 @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family — February 19, 2009 @ 6:09 am

3. Hi Mimi, I tried the plastic bib with a gutter, but it has a large gap around the kid’s neck, so all the dripping soup gets on his clothes. Is yours the same or I’ve bought a no-good-brand-kind-of-bib?

   Comment by Emma — February 21, 2009 @ 3:54 am
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If you were to ask me last week: “How can I find a hairdresser that will cut my child’s hair without him making a scene”, I would have said “Don’t hold your breath, they don’t exist”.

But that was before I learned that some hairdressers can handle the most impatient toddler like nobody’s business.

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1. My son gets his haircut at the “family barber”. He’s cut my brother’s hair, my dad’s, and my nephew so it was a no brainer. He does a great job with all the kids that come in for their cuts. My son sat in my lap for his first cut but has been on his own ever since. One day the barber even treated my son to a popsicle for being such a nice customer that afternoon.

   Comment by LaToya — February 12, 2009 @ 8:11 pm

2. Wow, that’s really good! How old is your little boy?

   Comment by Emma — February 12, 2009 @ 10:41 pm

3. He’s almost 3 (birthday’s in April) he got his first cut at 17 months old.

   Comment by LaToya — February 15, 2009 @ 11:53 pm

4. My son usually goes when my husband has to get a cut too. So the boys are out together and that’s fun. THe hairdresser also has a special chair with big tractor wheels and a steering wheel. And books and toys etc. Though these are never really used as my son is so impressed to watch his dad’s hair getting cut that he sits very still.

   Comment by Mindful Mimi — February 22, 2009 @ 4:01 am
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Everything happens too fast. It seems like only yesterday we were taking our little treasure home from the hospital, and now he looks like a preschooler. I know, I know, he’s only 15 months, but somehow he looks so much older. And he seems to be well-developed for his age - eating on his own, drinking from a cup, trying to talk and in general understanding everything we tell him.

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1. [...] Nicole @ Grudge Mom: A Lighter Side of the Recession: Having a Baby in 2009 03. Emma @ Baby Log: 12 Little Things I Want to Remember About My Baby 04. Mamie @ The Life I Now Live: I Can Wait 05. Inconvenient Body: L’art Pour L’art: [...]

   Pingback by Babies of 2009 Blog Carnival — July 1, 2009 @ 8:10 am

2. [...] Emma @ Baby Log: 12 Little Things I Want to Remember About My Baby [...]

   Pingback by A Lighter Side of the Recession: Having a Baby in 2009 « GrudgeMom — July 1, 2009 @ 12:14 pm

3. I want to remember her “angry old man face” she’d make when she was first learning to nurse. She’d scrunch up her entire face, open her mouth wide, and like head-bang against my nipple a few times until she finally realized to close her lips a bit.

   I want to remember the way she smiles at me when she first sees me after waking up.

   I want to remember the way she looks at her Daddy, smiles, and then ducks her head and looks away as if she’s being shy.

   Lovely post! I look forward to all of those moments too.

   Comment by Tatiana — July 1, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

4. There’s so much I want to remember. My boys are just over 5 months old and I keep saying, I’ve got to write this down, because every day there’s something new. Today it was Doot giggling with his Nana, looking right at her, smiling and giving belly laughs. Yesterday it was Bing grabbing for my shirt and pulling himself into me as we lay cuddling. I love watching them grow up and discovering the world, but yes, I want to hold onto this time when they are so cuddly and I am still the best thing EVER to them.

   Comment by Myg — July 1, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
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My second step was the plan. I am not good at getting (or even accepting) help, which is why I was going to do it myself. No classes, no doctors, no tablets, no patches.

I started to smoke fewer cigarettes a day, from 10 down to 7, then to 5, then to 3. I cut down

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1. Quitting Smoking Blog Carnival 3rd edition…

   Welcome to the July 19, 2009 3rd edition of Quitting Smoking Blog Carnival.
   ……

   Trackback by Quit Smoking Guide — July 20, 2009 @ 4:01 am
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Quitting smoking was the greatest sacrifice I’ve made for my baby. If you’re a smoker or an ex-smoker, you know what I’m talking about. I have been smoking ever since I was 18, for over 12 years and really enjoyed it. Cigarettes were a part of who I was and I had no desire to quit during my smoking years, not even once. What is more, I considered smoking to be one of the pleasures of life, and giving up the cigarettes would make me feel deprived of that pleasure, like I was giving up something important that nothing else can replace.

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1. [...] This is the rest of my story about giving up smoking, you can read the first part here. [...]

   Pingback by How I quit smoking for my baby’s sake, part 2 @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family — February 5, 2009 @ 10:02 pm

2. [...] presents How I quit smoking for my baby’s sake, part 1 posted at Baby-Log, saying, “A story about my biggest sacrifice - for the sake of my [...]

   Pingback by Advice for Women from Women - Mid-February 2009 « Advice for Women from Women — February 15, 2009 @ 10:03 pm
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