Nicholas has never been much of a fan of having his teeth brushed, but will usually allow us to do so without too much struggle. Despite our best attempts, Gabe and I noticed a brown spot on his lower bottom tooth. It wouldn't go away and I was worried that it could be a cavity, so I decided to schedule an appointment for him at the dentist. Our local dentist recommended pediatric dentist Dr. Vann in Trussville. I am so very glad that they did because he was great. Obviously I was worried that this was not going to go well at all, as most first dentist trips tend to be. So last Thursday, we walked in and they had Finding Nemo on, which was a hit right from the start. Dr. Vann talked to Nicholas and explained that all he would do is just brush his teeth.
Nicholas sat in my lap and let him brush his teeth without any problems. Luckily, Dr. Vann told us he did not have any cavities. Nicholas does however have pretty bad staining that he said was pretty normal for kids his age. Dr. Vann recommended starting Nicholas on fluoride toothpaste saying that to use such a minimal amount that he wouldn't be able to swallow anything and harm him. He also recommended limiting juice between meals and switching to sugar free juice.
Nicholas also has a pretty big overbite thanks to his sucking on his fingers. Of course he also recommended that we work on putting a stop to this. So we have started a plan of action. The only time he ever sucks his fingers is when he has his blankie. We have started to limit blankie time telling him he can only have it at bedtime/naptime. It seems to be working pretty well so far, but this is not going to be easy battle to conquer as Nicholas is really attached to that blanket. If worst comes to worst, Dr. Vann told me that they do carry a product that we can put on his fingers that tastes really bad and will help him stop.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Dirty Jobs
Too bad I didn't have Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs here today. He could have helped when this evening I discovered what Nicholas decided to do. If you read my previous post, you would know that just recently Nicholas started to put his hand in his diaper after he "dirtied" it. He had never (to the best of my knowledge) done anything with what was on his hand until today. So several days ago, in an attempt to figure out why he was doing this, I googled the toddler issue to see what I could find. To my horror I read all sorts of stories about kids playing with their own poo and putting it in various places around the home. Ironically, I told Mimi just earlier today that thankfully Nicholas hadn't done anything of the sort. I spoke too soon...
So as I was baking some brownies and heating up leftovers for dinner. Nicholas was (I thought) playing in his room. After not hearing him playing for a few minutes I checked on him. The door to his closet was wide open with - you guessed it - smeared all on it. Nicholas was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere throughout the house and called his name but didn't hear a thing. Finally I found him hiding behind the door to his room.
At this point I remembered something from my google search the other day. While I was reading the horrific stories of "dirty jobs" and how parents dealt with the situation, I remembered one effective technique that many parents used. They put their child in the bathtub and would run a cold shower on them. Granted I didn't get into the reasons why this worked because honestly I didn't think I would have that same problem. Well I did put Nicholas in the tub and ran the shower. I didn't run cold water though since he has had a cough all week and that just seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. He immediately didn't like it and said that it was hurting him. I let him stand in the shower for a minute while I worked on clean up efforts. Who knows if this technique will work or not, but I am going to be overly aware of anytime Nicholas even thinks about making a dirty diaper, because I'm going to be all over it like poo on the closet door...
I did go a little easy on Nicholas even with the situation because he has been sick all week. His cough became so persistent that I took him to the doctor on Wednesday. The doctor basically said he had a dry cough and also a slight ear infection in one ear (his first one). He prescribed him some medicine and gave him something at the doctors office for the infection. While we were there, they decided to go ahead and give him a flu shot. Nicholas weighed almost 32 lbs, but my guess would be that has decreased as he has eaten very little this week with all the sickness. Thankfully he seems to be getting better and has definitely caught up on his sleep.
Needless to say I don't have any pictures to post on this entry, as I don't think the readers would appreciate that. For those reading this, could you please just say an extra prayer that my son will soon be potty trained?? I just don't know how many more dirty jobs (inside and outside the diaper) I can take.
So as I was baking some brownies and heating up leftovers for dinner. Nicholas was (I thought) playing in his room. After not hearing him playing for a few minutes I checked on him. The door to his closet was wide open with - you guessed it - smeared all on it. Nicholas was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere throughout the house and called his name but didn't hear a thing. Finally I found him hiding behind the door to his room.
At this point I remembered something from my google search the other day. While I was reading the horrific stories of "dirty jobs" and how parents dealt with the situation, I remembered one effective technique that many parents used. They put their child in the bathtub and would run a cold shower on them. Granted I didn't get into the reasons why this worked because honestly I didn't think I would have that same problem. Well I did put Nicholas in the tub and ran the shower. I didn't run cold water though since he has had a cough all week and that just seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. He immediately didn't like it and said that it was hurting him. I let him stand in the shower for a minute while I worked on clean up efforts. Who knows if this technique will work or not, but I am going to be overly aware of anytime Nicholas even thinks about making a dirty diaper, because I'm going to be all over it like poo on the closet door...
I did go a little easy on Nicholas even with the situation because he has been sick all week. His cough became so persistent that I took him to the doctor on Wednesday. The doctor basically said he had a dry cough and also a slight ear infection in one ear (his first one). He prescribed him some medicine and gave him something at the doctors office for the infection. While we were there, they decided to go ahead and give him a flu shot. Nicholas weighed almost 32 lbs, but my guess would be that has decreased as he has eaten very little this week with all the sickness. Thankfully he seems to be getting better and has definitely caught up on his sleep.
Needless to say I don't have any pictures to post on this entry, as I don't think the readers would appreciate that. For those reading this, could you please just say an extra prayer that my son will soon be potty trained?? I just don't know how many more dirty jobs (inside and outside the diaper) I can take.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Big Boy Bed
We have considered moving Nicholas to the double bed that is currently in his bedroom. On occasion we would lay down with him in it (if he gets up early in the morning or something) but he's never been there for an entire night or nap time by himself. He even received some Toy Story sheets from Santa this Christmas. The only reason we've been a bit hesitant about this transition is because he does extremely well going to bed and we didn't want that to change. It had to happen sometime so we tested the waters today during nap time. Nicholas went down with no problems and even took a 3 hour nap. Hopefully tonight he will do just as well.
Here is Nicholas after his nap with his Toy Story sheets and all his "animals."
On a different note, Nicholas' commentary can be so random and funny. Here are a few recent LOLs:
I was driving him to Mother's Day Out one morning and out of the blue he says "Good driving Mama!" He told me again on the way home that night. I do pride myself on being a good driver, but didn't quite expect a 2 year old to notice that...
Then recently as he was saying his bedtime prayers, he threw us a curve ball. Normally his nightly prayer is "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything. I love you. Amen" Well one night recently his prayer went: "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything. I want some milk." Even though this was way out of the ordinary, I will say that he will usually ask for milk at some point before bedtime as a stall tactic. I just love this boy!
One unfortunate thing recently that I'm sure everyone wants to know about is the decision for Nicholas to stick his hand down the back of his diaper after he has "dirtied it". Just today he walks in the living room, shows me his hand and says "I have poo on my hand." I really hope this is not a trend that sticks. Gigi, ever the optimist, thinks that potty training might not be far away. I'm going to hope that she is right, but we shall see. Our favorite is when we ask Nicholas, "Do you need a new diaper" He replies: "No, I feel better."
And I need to give a special shout out to "Uncle Bumbles." His gift of Rocket from his favorite TV show Little Einsteins made an impression on Nicholas. Just this week he was playing with it and said "it from Uncle Bumbles." I was very impressed that he remembered who gave it to him. Although his all-time favorite gift from Uncle Bumbles is blankie. It will be a tough day when he will have to give that up.
Here is Nicholas after his nap with his Toy Story sheets and all his "animals."
On a different note, Nicholas' commentary can be so random and funny. Here are a few recent LOLs:
I was driving him to Mother's Day Out one morning and out of the blue he says "Good driving Mama!" He told me again on the way home that night. I do pride myself on being a good driver, but didn't quite expect a 2 year old to notice that...
Then recently as he was saying his bedtime prayers, he threw us a curve ball. Normally his nightly prayer is "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything. I love you. Amen" Well one night recently his prayer went: "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything. I want some milk." Even though this was way out of the ordinary, I will say that he will usually ask for milk at some point before bedtime as a stall tactic. I just love this boy!
One unfortunate thing recently that I'm sure everyone wants to know about is the decision for Nicholas to stick his hand down the back of his diaper after he has "dirtied it". Just today he walks in the living room, shows me his hand and says "I have poo on my hand." I really hope this is not a trend that sticks. Gigi, ever the optimist, thinks that potty training might not be far away. I'm going to hope that she is right, but we shall see. Our favorite is when we ask Nicholas, "Do you need a new diaper" He replies: "No, I feel better."
And I need to give a special shout out to "Uncle Bumbles." His gift of Rocket from his favorite TV show Little Einsteins made an impression on Nicholas. Just this week he was playing with it and said "it from Uncle Bumbles." I was very impressed that he remembered who gave it to him. Although his all-time favorite gift from Uncle Bumbles is blankie. It will be a tough day when he will have to give that up.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We've had a wonder Christmas season! We started off by taking Nicholas to Zoolight Safari at the Birmingham Zoo. Nicholas was way more interested in the few animals they left accessible than the lights they had set up everywhere. It was really cold when we went, but he loved petting the animals. The zoo membership was definitely a good birthday idea on our part.
We then celebrated the Davenport family Christmas a few weeks early. Lots of good food and good times. I was most proud of the gift I found for Brad. I felt it was very appropriate and will need to purchase another one for Ryan with his three girls.
We both took the entire week before Christmas off, so we headed down to Mobile to visit with Gigi and Pawpaw. The entire time Nicholas was Pawpaw's shadow, but I don't think he minded at all. A few of his favorite gifts were a Cars mat from Ryan and Nancy and the nap mat that Gigi made for him.
We also has fun visiting with some of both the Thompson and Allenbach clans. Nicholas enjoyed playing with second cousins Carter and Emma. Carter and Emma did a wonderful job singing Away in a Manger for us. We tried to get Nicholas to chime in, but he wasn't interested.
We got back home Christmas Eve in time to make cookies for Santa. Nicholas helped but then didn't understand why he couldn't eat the cookies that we were TRYING to leave for Santa.
When Nicholas woke up Christmas morning, we got him and asked if he was ready to see what Santa left him. When we got in the living room he says "Where's Santa?" We had to explain that Santa visited last night while he was sleeping.
Some of his favorites from Santa were his tent and play-doh sets.
Finally the day after Christmas we celebrated with the Martin clan. One of the highlights of the evening was the gift that we gave Uncle Robert. He opened his gift from us to discover an empty box. Apparently I had wrapped not only an empty box, but a box inside an empty box. I couldn't believe it. Thankfully Gabe ran home and grabbed his actual gift. Ahh good times!
We both took the entire week before Christmas off, so we headed down to Mobile to visit with Gigi and Pawpaw. The entire time Nicholas was Pawpaw's shadow, but I don't think he minded at all. A few of his favorite gifts were a Cars mat from Ryan and Nancy and the nap mat that Gigi made for him.
We got back home Christmas Eve in time to make cookies for Santa. Nicholas helped but then didn't understand why he couldn't eat the cookies that we were TRYING to leave for Santa.
Some of his favorites from Santa were his tent and play-doh sets.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
2 1/2 Years Old
It's hard to believe that Nicholas is 2 1/2 years old now. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Here is what he has been up to...
Some of our favorite vocabulary includes:
Do it again - do din digain
Holy Moly - moly moly
Uh oh spaghettios - uh oh spitigos
Stephanie - nephie nephie
Lightening McQueen - Lightening Aqueen
Thumper from Bambi - Sumpers
Kangaroo - Kangakoo
Tater tots - Tootie tots
Whatcha doing? - Whatcha donut?
When he's hungry he says - Something a hungry?
He is now counting correctly all the way up through twelve, but then says fourteen for thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. His alphabet tends to skip around a bit, but it's too cute.
His favorite TV show at this point is Little Einsteins (aka Little Einteins). In fact, thanks to Little Einsteins and the portable DVD player, we had a very successful trip to Mobile for Thanksgiving (and will hopefully have a good one for Christmas as well).
Whenever he sees any female whether it's just a character on a TV show or an actual female Nicholas will say "Like you mama!" He does the same for Gabe when he sees a male. On the way to church one Sunday, Nicholas was looking at his kids bible and saw a picture of Jesus and said "Like you dada!" We got a kick out of that one.
Nicholas cracks us up when he corrects us with what we are saying. We'll say "look there's a dog." To which Nicholas will reply "No, it's a dog." One day I went back and forth with him because I pointed out a frog to him in a book and he kept telling me "No, it's a froggie." Apparently my proper term of "frog" was not correct.
He is also very independent. When I offer to do something for him, often times he will say "No - my do it." In other words, "I've got it mom."
We are really trying to be patient with the whole potty training thing, but I would really love it if he was trained by his third birthday. That being said, I've been reading up on tips and techniques. I purchased a jar which I promptly labeled "Potty Treats" and filled it with M&Ms. So far he just wants the treats and not the potty. So no M&Ms for Nicholas yet. Then I read about another technique to let kids go au natural around the house - the thinking behind this being that they won't want to pee or poop just anywhere and will want to use the potty. Well lets just say this REALLY didn't work with Nicholas. I basically let him go commando for about 15 minutes and had to clean up several different spots where the floor was sufficient and he didn't feel the need to use the potty. After this experience, I will keep Nicholas in diapers at all times.
We are really looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be interesting to see how Nicholas reacts this year compared to last year.
Some of our favorite vocabulary includes:
Do it again - do din digain
Holy Moly - moly moly
Uh oh spaghettios - uh oh spitigos
Stephanie - nephie nephie
Lightening McQueen - Lightening Aqueen
Thumper from Bambi - Sumpers
Kangaroo - Kangakoo
Tater tots - Tootie tots
Whatcha doing? - Whatcha donut?
When he's hungry he says - Something a hungry?
He is now counting correctly all the way up through twelve, but then says fourteen for thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. His alphabet tends to skip around a bit, but it's too cute.
His favorite TV show at this point is Little Einsteins (aka Little Einteins). In fact, thanks to Little Einsteins and the portable DVD player, we had a very successful trip to Mobile for Thanksgiving (and will hopefully have a good one for Christmas as well).
Whenever he sees any female whether it's just a character on a TV show or an actual female Nicholas will say "Like you mama!" He does the same for Gabe when he sees a male. On the way to church one Sunday, Nicholas was looking at his kids bible and saw a picture of Jesus and said "Like you dada!" We got a kick out of that one.
Nicholas cracks us up when he corrects us with what we are saying. We'll say "look there's a dog." To which Nicholas will reply "No, it's a dog." One day I went back and forth with him because I pointed out a frog to him in a book and he kept telling me "No, it's a froggie." Apparently my proper term of "frog" was not correct.
He is also very independent. When I offer to do something for him, often times he will say "No - my do it." In other words, "I've got it mom."
We are really trying to be patient with the whole potty training thing, but I would really love it if he was trained by his third birthday. That being said, I've been reading up on tips and techniques. I purchased a jar which I promptly labeled "Potty Treats" and filled it with M&Ms. So far he just wants the treats and not the potty. So no M&Ms for Nicholas yet. Then I read about another technique to let kids go au natural around the house - the thinking behind this being that they won't want to pee or poop just anywhere and will want to use the potty. Well lets just say this REALLY didn't work with Nicholas. I basically let him go commando for about 15 minutes and had to clean up several different spots where the floor was sufficient and he didn't feel the need to use the potty. After this experience, I will keep Nicholas in diapers at all times.
We are really looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be interesting to see how Nicholas reacts this year compared to last year.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Big Boy
I've recently had a request to update the blog, since I've been slacking recently. Well today was very momentous and definitely blog-worthy!
To give a little background, I have read and heard from many different sources that children will potty train when they are ready and if you push the issue, it will just backfire on you. We took this advice to heart and wasn't going to press the issue on Nicholas. We have a potty seat, which we actually got at one of our showers - so thanks to whomever for that forward thinking! We would occasionally put him on the toilet if he was willing. We do keep some reading materials for Nicholas right besides daddy's reading material (Sports Illustrated) and would read to him while he sat there.
Recently when Nicholas would have a dirty diaper, we would say that big boys go poo poo in the potty. Not degrading him by any means, but just educating him. Today, Nicholas was playing and he started to pull at his pants. I asked him if he wanted to go potty and he said yes. I fully didn't expect anything to happen and we just went about reading his books while he sat there. After a while we finished all the books we had, so he requested some more. I walked into the living room to grab a few more and when I got back I noticed that the front of the toilet seat and in front of the toilet was a little wet. I could easily tell what it was and got so excited and cheered for him, etc. We read the books I brought back and he requested some more. I again went into the living room to grab a few more and took my time getting back to him because I could tell he was trying to go again (and with the sounds he was making I thought he was doing the other this time). When I got back he was going again and he said "Look Mama!" Again, I cheered him on for being a big boy.
I thought it was so funny (and rather appropriate) that we would try after I left the room. Now, I'm not naive to think that it's all down hill from here, but was just excited to see progress being made. I obviously would prefer him do the other so there would be no more dirty diapers to change, but I'll take what I can get when I get it. I called up Gabe all excited and we were both hoping this was not just a one time occurrence. Well a few hours later Nicholas made some other indication that he needed to go, so again I asked him if he wanted to go potty. He said yes, so we did the drill over again. Granted we had just about all of his books in the room, but I left to grab my phone and he went again! Oh happy day! Who knew I would ever get so excited over peeing in the toilet, but I'm ecstatic!
To celebrate, I told Nicholas he could watch Bambi (recently his favorite movie) after his nap and that we could go to Chick-a-la (as he calls it) for dinner. His exact reaction was "Oh Boy!" and started dancing.
It will be interesting to see where everything goes from here. I know this can be a frustrating time for both parents and child, so I'm going to attempt to be as calm and cool about it as possible.
In related news, Nicholas is going to move up a class at Mother's Day Out. Right now he is the oldest in his class and he will be moving to a class with kids that are closer to him in age and development (luckily with a few others going through the potty training period right now as well). I know Nicholas will miss his teachers Mrs. Becky and Mrs. Kim and of course his buddy Colin, but he will be able to see them on the playground and during music.
My little guy is growing up so fast!
To give a little background, I have read and heard from many different sources that children will potty train when they are ready and if you push the issue, it will just backfire on you. We took this advice to heart and wasn't going to press the issue on Nicholas. We have a potty seat, which we actually got at one of our showers - so thanks to whomever for that forward thinking! We would occasionally put him on the toilet if he was willing. We do keep some reading materials for Nicholas right besides daddy's reading material (Sports Illustrated) and would read to him while he sat there.
Recently when Nicholas would have a dirty diaper, we would say that big boys go poo poo in the potty. Not degrading him by any means, but just educating him. Today, Nicholas was playing and he started to pull at his pants. I asked him if he wanted to go potty and he said yes. I fully didn't expect anything to happen and we just went about reading his books while he sat there. After a while we finished all the books we had, so he requested some more. I walked into the living room to grab a few more and when I got back I noticed that the front of the toilet seat and in front of the toilet was a little wet. I could easily tell what it was and got so excited and cheered for him, etc. We read the books I brought back and he requested some more. I again went into the living room to grab a few more and took my time getting back to him because I could tell he was trying to go again (and with the sounds he was making I thought he was doing the other this time). When I got back he was going again and he said "Look Mama!" Again, I cheered him on for being a big boy.
I thought it was so funny (and rather appropriate) that we would try after I left the room. Now, I'm not naive to think that it's all down hill from here, but was just excited to see progress being made. I obviously would prefer him do the other so there would be no more dirty diapers to change, but I'll take what I can get when I get it. I called up Gabe all excited and we were both hoping this was not just a one time occurrence. Well a few hours later Nicholas made some other indication that he needed to go, so again I asked him if he wanted to go potty. He said yes, so we did the drill over again. Granted we had just about all of his books in the room, but I left to grab my phone and he went again! Oh happy day! Who knew I would ever get so excited over peeing in the toilet, but I'm ecstatic!
To celebrate, I told Nicholas he could watch Bambi (recently his favorite movie) after his nap and that we could go to Chick-a-la (as he calls it) for dinner. His exact reaction was "Oh Boy!" and started dancing.
It will be interesting to see where everything goes from here. I know this can be a frustrating time for both parents and child, so I'm going to attempt to be as calm and cool about it as possible.
In related news, Nicholas is going to move up a class at Mother's Day Out. Right now he is the oldest in his class and he will be moving to a class with kids that are closer to him in age and development (luckily with a few others going through the potty training period right now as well). I know Nicholas will miss his teachers Mrs. Becky and Mrs. Kim and of course his buddy Colin, but he will be able to see them on the playground and during music.
My little guy is growing up so fast!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Toddler Vocabulary
It appears as though Nicholas has discovered how to really push his limits with Mama and Daddy (and I'm sure Mimi and his teachers at MDO too). Some toddler phrases that he is now trying on us include:
"Hello. Hey Gigi! No. Good. Bye Bye" It cracks me up every time I hear him do this. I suppose he has heard mama say this a time or two.
Nicholas likes saying his ABC's but tends to skip over a few here and there (Ex: X takes the place of S, so he says Q R X Y and Z. He then says "now I know my A B C D..." so that he goes in a continuous loop of ABCs. He will also sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Gabe's favorite part is when Nicholas says "how I wonder what ya high" instead of "how I wonder what you are". My favorite is the line "like a diamond in the sky" which for Nicholas sounds more like "like e diamond in the ky".
Gabe and I also got a kick out of him last Sunday on the way home from church. Nicholas was talking about a show on Disney called Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He was talking about Jake and Captain Hook. There is also a parrot on the show and I couldn't think of his name so I asked Nicholas. He thought for a moment and then said "Scully" which was correct. I love seeing his little brain at work. My little guy is growing up!
I cut his hair today and he always looks so old afterwards! I was prepared this time with Teddy Grahams and Bambi dvd and had no crying or screaming at all. Woohoo! Mama was excited about that.
- No mine!
- Move
- Give me that
- Why not?
- Oh Boy!
- Goodness Gracious!
- Whatcha donut? - AKA what are you doing?
- Opopus - AKA octopus
"Hello. Hey Gigi! No. Good. Bye Bye" It cracks me up every time I hear him do this. I suppose he has heard mama say this a time or two.
Nicholas likes saying his ABC's but tends to skip over a few here and there (Ex: X takes the place of S, so he says Q R X Y and Z. He then says "now I know my A B C D..." so that he goes in a continuous loop of ABCs. He will also sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Gabe's favorite part is when Nicholas says "how I wonder what ya high" instead of "how I wonder what you are". My favorite is the line "like a diamond in the sky" which for Nicholas sounds more like "like e diamond in the ky".
Gabe and I also got a kick out of him last Sunday on the way home from church. Nicholas was talking about a show on Disney called Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He was talking about Jake and Captain Hook. There is also a parrot on the show and I couldn't think of his name so I asked Nicholas. He thought for a moment and then said "Scully" which was correct. I love seeing his little brain at work. My little guy is growing up!
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