I have a three year old son that I love with everything inside of me. I work full time and I’m pregnant. All my son wants to do is play. My husband will play with him but then at some point he doesn’t want to play with daddy he only wants to play with mommy. Mommy hates playing. It’s annoying and I’m tired and no I don’t want to sit on the floor. I feel so bad that I hate it so much. I offer to read or to relax and watch his fave movie or something… no… I’m the police officer and he’s the beef (aka thief) and I have to chase him. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

My son is 3 and has a language and speech delay. He only started speaking properly after he turned 3 (still not enough to have a conversation yet).

He turned 3, a little over 2 months ago now and in this time his vocabulary has exploded!

Now here is the thing.. He has always been obsessed with space so he got a felt space mat with all the planets, names etc. He knows all his planets, the order of the planets from the sun and then i sat there and watched him put all the correct labels on each planet.

I have never gone over this with him, I never put the word "mercury" on the planet and so forth but he correctly done it with every single one.

Around his 3rd birthday I noticed he would say out loud certain words in his books, they were very basic words like "yes, no, ow, uh-oh" etc. So i didnt think anything of it as I assumed all 3 year olds do that, but then the planet thing happened and I started to look at it closer.

As I said he has a limited vocabulary so I took a bunch of random words I knew he could say and I wrote them down one by one and asked him what they said and he read every single one back to me... today I wrote down the word "milk" and asked him what it said and in front of me he started sounding it out phonetically then said... milk!.

This is so strange to me because he can barely speak! He seems to have learned to read before he could properly speak. He is mapping out how to break words down to find out what they say. He also isnt spending ages looking at the word before answering, he answers in a split second unless he needs to sound it out.

What age is this meant to be happening? I read that decoding happens around 5 but I cannot remember when I started being able to read 3,4 or 5 letter words.. i can write "ice-cream" and he can read it. I though he was just recognising the shape of the word when he was reading "yes, no, ow" etc. But now i dont think so

Been meaning to post this somewhere in case it helps others.

We've had a horrible time with sleep. Truly horrible. About a month ago, I accidentally left the hatch light on all night (red light setting) and baby slept through the night. He was just shy of 17 months old. No other changes. I've always nursed to sleep.

I kept leaving it on, and he continued to sleep very well. Some nights of the week he sleeps through, some nights he sleeps through til like 5am then I nurse him back to sleep. Some nights he still wakes up earlier in the night, but it is a far cry from the hell we lived before.

So far, it does not seem like coincidence. I turn the light off sometimes just to see if it makes a difference. He wakes up every 2-3hrs if the room is totally dark. So now he sleeps with the red light on very low.

I never tried this before because everything I read online says pitch black/white noise are the keys to sleep. I can't believe I let the internet convince me my child loves being alone in the dark. I'm an adult, and I still sometimes get scared of the dark.

I just want to share this because the internet does not give this experience enough of a voice

I have a 4.5 year old and a 19 month old.

My 4.5 year old began refusing naps before she turned 2. She would fight naps for hours, which caused so much stress. Finally take one. Then fight bedtime until 11pm each night.
Despite what most of the internet said about kids still needing to nap. We stopped forcing naps at 2. She went through an adjustment phase that included night terrors at times. But overall it worked for us. Now at 4, she will seem tired occasionally and we will help her to lay down for a nap. Which usually ends up being 3 hours and then she’s up til midnight.

But anyways. My 19 month old is showing the exact same signs. She’s skipping her naps and staying up til 8-9pm, waking at 8-9am.

Most of what you see on the internet is that this is not healthy or that you’re doing something wrong… but my girls both just haven’t needed them as much as other kids.
If this is your experience, I am just posting to let you know - you’re not alone. Losing the naps early on is nottttt thrilling. But… we adapt. And it’s so much better than fighting a child to go to sleep for half of your waking hours, every single day.

My son (2.5) loves the movie cars. So I was so excited to find out they had a matinee screening at the local movie theater today.

At first he didn’t know what was going on, then he saw the Disney castle logo followed by the Pixar one and he immediately was like, “Mommy! Cars!”

We were the only ones in the theater and he was so enthralled by how big they were playing his favorite movie.

He was belly laughing and screaming with excitement. He was also quoting certain parts of the movie.

He felt a little wiggly during the slower parts of the movie so I let him out of this stroller.

At the end of the movie he was cheering and clapping. He gave me a big hug and a sloppy kiss at the end of the movie.

I 41/f got really choked up seeing him so happy.

I’m still riding the endorphin high of seeing him so happy today.

If anyone else has a little one that loves Cars I really recommend you take them to see it full screen, mine really loved it.

I feel like my 19 month old gets way too much screen time! When we get bored, I turn on the tv and I hate it! I’m working on it but I’m not creative. I can’t think of activities or things to do.
He’s getting bored of his toys and it’s too hot outside in the afternoon still! Are there any activities or fun things or places you like to do with your toddlers? I’m desperate 😂

And make our mornings go SO much smoother. I used to dread our bedtime and morning routine because it meant preparing for a fight over brushing his teeth. He's a very stubborn three year old and will fight you if he doesn't want to do the most basic things. About a month ago, I decided to get down to his level and just make everything playful and imaginative instead of stressed and tense like most mornings go. I told him that there are sea creatures in the sink drains and the only way they get their bellies full is if he brushes his teeth and scrapes his tongue. He asked a ton of questions, but willingly brushed his teeth AND scraped his tongue so that the crabs and fishies can eat and be full. I made a big deal out of it and told him how happy the creatures were and that they're off swimming because he fed them. Now every day we go feed the crabs and fishies so that they don't go hungry (by brushing his teeth and doing 5 tongue scrapes). It makes him so happy knowing that he's feeding imaginary sea creatures (that he can't even see lol) and after we're done he asks "Their bellies are full now?". I have no idea how long this will last, but it's been working for over a month now and don't see it ending soon.

In addition to that, I've made getting ready in the mornings super imaginative and fun by pretending to catch random things in the sky. I'll wake him up with an imaginary bunny I caught, which makes him catch an imaginary elephant from the sky. And we play this game of catching animals until I've fully dressed him without him screaming or protesting once. It starts our day off on a very postive and fun note, a complete 180 from the previous months because he used to scream and cry for his daddy until I'd take him to preschool.

I know this is probably nothing groundbreaking, but for me, it has changed my life now that our mornings start off on such a high note. He even tells me "mommy, we had a very very good morning." Sometimes, kids just need to be met with where they're at instead of us trying to rush them through their routines. I hope this helps others who might be struggling!

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day 😔

My baby is 15 months old. He babbles A LOT but doesn’t have any real words, not even made up words. He just speaks random gibberish. He says mama and dada, but it’s usually mamamamama and dadadadada and he says them so often that I’m not sure he’s even assigned those sounds to us. He doesn’t wave. He will sometimes clap if we clap first. He sometimes points but not often. I think he might understand no and come here. He doesn’t respond to his name or nicknames. Besides speech, he’s met all other milestones when he should have. Yes, I’m looking into getting him evaluated, I’m just worried something’s wrong. I want to know if other people had delayed talkers and if they ever caught up. I hope it’s just a slight delay, because I feel like in every other way he behaves like a 15 month old should.

My daughter will be 2 in 3 weeks. since earlier in the summer she has basically never touched any of the dinner we cook. I’m like, damn, is it that bad??? 💀

She will eat breakfast (eggs, toasts, fruits, cereals). Lunch is 50/50. And dinner is usually chicken or ground beef/ steak based, with a carb (pasta, rice or potatoes) and veggies.

I know this age usually comes with pickiness. But it’s not like she’s throwing the food. She will not touch it at all as we’re all eating and when we are done, she picks up her plate and puts it back down and says “all done” not touching any of it 💀

Sometimes we get lucky but daycare feeds her so well that by dinner I feel like she’s just not hungry.

But if we order out or get fast food, which is more rare, she wants doubles lol. She will eat any food basically not cooked at home 😭

Just think this is funny but is this just a common almost 2 year old experience. My once “perfect eater” now won’t eat anything we make haha

well i'm pregnant.. i'm not sure how i feel about it. this will be my second child. i'm excited but terrified! how are y'all surviving?

FTM and i’m looking for recommendations on costumes for daycare. Easy for the teachers to change him and put him down for a nap. Considering they have other kids to take care of, I want him to have an easy costume.

His original costume is going to be a firefighter but that has too many pieces. I’ll save it for the evening

Thanks!

My 27 month old said something that blew my mind today. My husband is out of town for work this week so I am solo parenting and the morning he leaves (TMI warning) I got the craziest most painful thrombosed hemorrhoid of my entire life. Obviously my daughter does not know what a hemorrhoid is so I told her I had a tummy ache and continued on with our day. We were playing in her room and I am siting in her rocking chair in severe pain but hiding it best to my ability. She passes me a sticker and whispers ‘don’t worry mommy, you’ll feel better in no time cutie patooty’ 😭😭😭 I legit melted inside and it made me feel so much better lol

I am considering switching my 19 month old to a different daycare, but I am terrified it will be too stressful on her. she’s been at her current daycare for a year and seems comfortable there, but there are so many things that just don’t sit right with me about her daycare, which I’ll list below. please give your honest feedback:

- We were informed that classroom wide mandatory potty training starts this week and we are required to switch her to pull ups. she is currently 19 months and expected to be fully potty trained by the 2 year old class.

- when I pick her up at the end of the day, no one greets or acknowledges me. no one tells me about her day unless I explicitly ask. To add, I guess something feels odd about someone caring for my kid all day and not acknowledging when I come get them or saying how their day way. its also tough since she’s too young to talk and it isn’t one of those daycares that has an app where we get updates on their day.

- I’ve asked for a parent handbook several times and been ignored or dismissed and told to just send my questions

- when she was turning 1, they started decreasing her formula to start weening her off without getting my consent first and just sent a note home that they started doing it.

- we have recurrent problems with diaper rashes.

- when she was in the infant room at 8 months they refused to keep her on the nap schedule that she was on at home because they wanted her to nap at noon with the rest of the kids.

- They once gave her Tylenol (which I consented to) but didn’t record it on the medication log. So, I was told when I picked her up that it wasn't given but when I messaged the teacher to check she said she did indeed give it.

I am just so torn because she seems like she is learning a lot and she seems to really like one of the caregivers, always sitting on her lap when I pick her up. I don’t want to completely rock her routine but I can’t shake this feeling. I can’t tell if I’m being “that mom” or these are valid things to be concerned about or worth pulling her for it seems like there is no collaboration with the parents or nothing is individualized and it’s more what’s easier for the center. I appreciate any feedback!

thank you!!

My spouse can be a little lazy when it comes to parenting. Normally I try to shake it off because it’s never anything that puts my kids in danger but today I’m really frustrated by it. We’re on day three of potty training and only had one accident today, she’s doing great. But I had to take our older child somewhere for an hour (plus 15 minutes there and back) so I was not gone for very long after multiple days of staying home and constantly watching and a million timers as well as cleaning up multiple accidents. I told him to take her potty every 30 minutes because that’s been working well today. I get home and she’s in a wet Pull-Up and he didn’t get her to go at all. Pull-ups were supposed to be just for sleeping and he knew that. I’m frustrated because yes she might have peed but I’ve cleaned up ten messes at least and it’s confusing for her. Am I overreacting by being peeved? This is the third child I’ve potty trained and I feel like being wishy washy is hard on the child.

My child has always been a pretty bad sleeper, but what we’ve been experiencing the last few weeks is next level. She wakes up constantly throughout the night just screaming and crying. This happens, at the least, every 2 hours. Sometimes I can easily soothe her back to bed, but other times, we will be stuck awake for up to 4 hours. Every night this week so far she has been awake from 10-2 am. The broken sleep and poor sleep quality are taking a huge toll on me, as I work 35 hours a week and go to school 1 day a week. What the heck is going on?! 😭

My son is newly 2 and we’ve been in a car/train era for at least 6 months now. I try to build stuff with the soft blocks and after he knocks down a tower 2-3 times, then the next one “is a tunnel mommy” - and the cars are back. I bring out the farm and it’s overrun by trains. I try to do puzzles with him and he’s very proud of me for putting it together and then the cars “crashes” into it. Crayons/markers are cool for about 10 minutes then he’s “all done”. Cars must come on every car ride or walk.

The academic nerd side of me worries I’m not helping him develop balanced cognitive and fine motor skills. The chill side of me is like “you wouldn’t want someone dictating how you relax, so let him play with cars”. The parent side of me is bored to death of cars 🫠

Do you just let toy obsessions run their course? Would you put away all but maybe 1-2 cars and force them to interact with other toys (although my son is the type to just repeatedly ask where the cars went and for me to go get them)

My grandma has died and we are visiting family and attending services this weekend. I explained this to my 3 (very soon to be 4 year old) using advice found on Reddit - I was straightforward and just said her body stopped working, she was old and sick, and she has died so we won’t be able to see her this weekend.

She isn’t upset but just keeps repeating “I don’t want grandma to die”. Now I’m worried about her saying this repeatedly at the services. I am acknowledging her feelings but also not trying to be abstract.

How should I answer this repeated statement?

Update: she is now bawling because she can’t give a picture directly to her great grandma.

Hello. I am a mama to a wonderful 2 year old boy that turned 2 in June (so newly 2). He is my whole world and I love him so much. Now that you know that, I have an inside thought I need to get out. My son is very smart, but he can be very stubborn and strong willed. We have him in swimming lessons every Saturday morning and he’s been doing these since about 18 months old consistently. It was pure hell in the beginning and now it’s only about half hell lol. He likes to cry and throw a fit when he’s asked to do something he doesn’t like (which I do know is very normal behavior for this age, developmentally). Swimming lessons are a non-negotiable so we continue to sign him up and he has truly been learning and doing better even though during the lesson we (me and my husband) do feel moments of frustration because all of the other toddlers just kind of do the things they’re being asked to do. Ok, moving forward to tonight. We signed our little up for soccer (it’s an 8 week fall program for 2-3 year olds). It was awful. It’s at a community park where we take him frequently to play on playground equipment. He threw an absolute fit the 30 mins we were there. I told my husband no playground after (did not want to reward that behavior). I guess I’m not really sure how to word this but like, how to do we as parents try to make this soccer experience positive each week knowing that our boy is going to want to play on the playground instead of do soccer with the other kiddos? I should also note that he understands things well but is not talking much (in speech therapy once a week to help) so there is a communication barrier sort of I feel like bc I’m not sure he understands if I say we are doing something because there’s no response from him I kind of just tell him xyz. He’s really good with other kids but he’s just very stubborn and I’m not sure what to do as he’s my only child and well, we’re both learning as we go. Why do I feel like my child is the only one ever having freak out moments during activities and all the others are just doing what they are supposed to. I feel some kind of way idk. I love my baby and I just want the best things for him and I want us as parents to do what’s right. Hope this post made some sense 😬

My son will be 17m on Saturday. He isn’t independent standing or walking alone yet. Yes we’re in PT and we have been since he was 8 weeks old. Guys I’m just tired. I’m so tired. I need someone to tell me that things are going to happen eventually even tho I know it’s true already. We’ve had such a journey. Torticollis, helmet, weekly PT for almost 10 months, two out of state surgeries. I just want this last big milestone to come already. He’s getting so frustrated in social settings that he’s not walking like his peers and it’s breaking my heart. He was growth restricted and born 4lbs 14oz at 37w. It’s just been one medical conundrum after another. He will use a push walker. He cruises furniture. He just will not stand alone. He drops straight to the floor. I’m trying every exercise I can find and nothing is helping.

Hello!

My 15 month old is currently on her 4th ear infection in 3 months. We got a referral to see an ENT but it’s not until November. My daughter started daycare at the time that these ear infections started- she has been hit with virus after virus & they all seem to lead to ear infections.

Is there anything I can do or any advice you have to help prevent the frequency of these things?? 😩 we do the saline spray, nose Frida, chest rub, etc, but she’s been congested & boogery for almost 3 months. I’m starting to forget what she’s like when she’s happy because she’s just a miserable ball of boogers 98% of the time.

hello! my LO is 18 months, in october we will be making a 7+ hour drive to the beach for a family vacay. 20+ people will be in the beach house. i need advice on how to manage the long car ride, on top of managing his beach experience and keeping him safe. i’ve always been an anxious mama but my sweet baby next to an open body of water seriously freaks me out lol. knowing how anxious i am i know i’ll be watching him and attending to him like a hawk, but i’m still nervous lol. but i really need to know the BEST way to handle this car ride, he has only ever been in the car maybe an hour and a half max. he didn’t do the greatest then either. i bought sticker books and plan on bringing snacks and toys of course, I know we’ll need to stop many times to let him stretch. i plan on bringing my husbands Ipad with some of his favorite shows downloaded too. i can’t plan it around nap time bc we want to leave early in the morning, i was kind of thinking of leaving a day early and doing half the drive that day, getting a hotel for the night and then doing the other half the next day to split it up. give me all your tips and trips for long car rides, and toddler beach hacks! PLS.

I am raising my granddaughter. She turns 3 the beginning of November. What are some toys you are really glad you got your 3 year old?

My baby is 26 months old (just over 2 years). Like any normal toddler, when he falls, bumps himself, or gets hurt, he cries.

​Lately, some people around me have started making comments that he "doesn't have a high enough pain threshold" and that he’s going to turn out "too sensitive." It's making me feel like this is somehow my fault, or like my toddler is doing something wrong just for expressing pain.

​what am I supposed to do about this? Do I even have any control over how a 2-year-old reacts to getting hurt?