Connecticut – Paige is Parenting

Dining out with a two year-old

It’s starting to feel like Autumn here in Connecticut and we wasted no time doing some of the most basic Fall things you can do: hitting up the Farmer’s Market and going out for cider donuts.

Jameson’s love for apples has returned just in time for apple picking season. Truly his mother’s child.

D and I took Jameson to our local Farmer’s Market this Saturday and it amazed me at how mature he has grown in these few months.

Our first trip to the market was probably sometime in the beginning of the summer and consisted of D shopping for fresh produce and baked goods, and me chasing after Jameson as he weaved in and out of the seller stalls. An Instagram worthy trip it was not.

Cut to this weekend and our little man was in it to win it. He stood my my side the whole time, named the different kinds of fruits and vegetables with me, and happily chomped on an apple that he picked out with enthusiasm.

Earlier in the morning we went to a local diner for an early bird breakfast after dropping D’s car off at the shop. Which brings me to our title topic: dining with a two year-old.

With a big boy fork and a straw full of juice, who could be happier?

Here too I have seen how Jameson is growing up and into the person he’s going to be.

You see, Jameson loves food but hates standing still. Especially if we are somewhere new like, oh, a restaurant. He thinks its silly to sit and wait for our meal when there are perfectly good nooks and crannies to be explored. Like the giant gumball machine filled with what he assumes to be brightly colored bouncy balls. Or the table of toddlers sitting right behind us who are probably just waiting for a friend like Jameson to walk over and make their acquaintance.

That is where my tradition of bringing a “busy bag” has come in clutch.

Feeling proud of himself for matching the square to the square. He did this puzzle about five times. Note to self: buy more puzzles.

I don’t remember when I first heard of the idea of a busy bag for toddlers in restaurants, but it has been a heaven sent more times than I can count. I’m sure it was probably the result of scrolling on Pinterest one sleep-deprived newborn night.

Either way, it helps D and I stick to our rule of no technology at the table. There is nothing we hate more than seeing a kid sitting at a restaurant with their parents, playing on an iPad the whole meal. It’s even worse when the parents are also zoned out on their phone.

Let’s be real for a moment. Tech addiction is a serious thing these days and most of us are addicted to some degree. It can take some planning and commitment to rein it in and focus on the present moment.

In our house this looks like time limits on television, no iPads for kids, and a self-imposed time limit on my own social media accounts to remind myself to unplug. There’s actually a section on iPhones to set this limit, which is helpful.

But back to our busy bags. They usually work out great in keeping Jameson occupied while waiting for his meal. Of course this time in particular I had recently dumped out his busy bag with the intention of refilling it with new items…and completely forgot to refill it.

What was left when inside when I opened it up in the diner? One shapes puzzle and a hot wheels car. Oh man.

I could feel my heart pick up it’s pace as he finished his puzzle for the third time and pushed it to the side.

“Wow, you did!” I exclaimed, a little too excitedly as I eyed our waitress who was busy with another table. Damn.

“You want to try it again?” I asked. My husband shook his head and handed Jameson a hot wheels car instead.

The joy of playing with that lasted about three minutes and then he was trying to stand up in his high chair.

“No no, Jamie. We’re waiting for our meal,” D said.

Jameson sat down with a dramatic cry that had some of the other patrons giving us the side eye.

Trust me guys, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. That was just his warmup cry, I thought to myself.

We went back and forth with this borderline meltdown dance for what felt like an hour but was probably closer to ten minutes, before our breakfast landed on the table.

“A bite of the cider donut before breakfast? My parents must really be scrambling here.”

Jameson happily dug into his feast of silver dollar pancakes and strawberries while I pretended my egg white omelet was just as good. It wasn’t, guys. Nothing is as good as syrupy pancakes. But alas, I’m trying to make sure my pregnancy weight gain stays on the healthy track *sigh*.

My two year-old looking like a five year-old somehow. How??

It was a close one, but we managed to have a somewhat relaxing breakfast in public, with a toddler. And no tech.

Just remind me to refill the busy bag next time.

My toddler’s speech progress

I am writing this post with a happy heart. With speech sessions occurring 1-2 times a week, and lots of practice and repetition at home, Jameson’s speech is really blossoming.

Two months ago I had Jameson evaluated by the Birth to 3 services that CT offers. I had noticed that ever since his ear infections became chronic his speech development had almost completely stalled.

At two years old he was only saying about 30 words, but used babbling and pointing as his main form of communication.

Everyone around me was telling me to give him time. I lost count of how many people told me anecdotes of kids they knew who never spoke a word until 3 or 4, etc. Their intention was to make me feel better of course, but as a special educator who frequently worked with kids well out of toddlerhood who were nonverbal, my heart was still worried.

What if he never caught up with his peers? How would limited language affect his behavior? His emotions? His ability to learn and to be understood?

I spoke to a friend of mine who is an Occupational Therapist and doing that gave me the nudge I needed to make the call and get him evaluated. She assured me that the only negative that would come from an evaluation was a wasted hour if they decided his development was fine. And wouldn’t the peace of mind offered by the results be worth it in the end?

It was.

The evaluators came to our home and assessed Jameson’s skills through that play, observation, and a parent/caregiver questionnaire.

At the end of the assessment I was able to hear the results immediately. It was as I suspected: my sweet boy had a mild speech delay that was also effecting his ability to understand (receptive language).

The morning of his surgery to get tubes put in and adenoids removed. All went well, thankfully!

Cut to two months and a surgery to get ear tubes put in, adenoids removed, and countless speech sessions later. I’m so happy that I went with my gut and got to the bottom of Jameson’s speech delay.

Yesterday he said I love you for the first time.

He now says small phrases like we’re here and where’d they go on a daily basis.

He’s able to ask for help and name items he wants when given a choice of two.

Yes, my heart is singing today because I’m so happy for my little boy.

Playing our way to 1,000 hours outside

The weather is finally warming up here in Southern Connecticut and we are loving it!

To be honest, the beginning of 2022 hasn’t held a lot of outdoors time for us, with the temperatures falling so low. I know that some people don’t mind freezing temps, but I get too nervous to risk it, since my son can’t really speak yet.

One of our favorite places to go has been our local botanical garden. It’s been a great way to immerse ourselves in nature and gives Jameson plenty of opportunity to explore and climb.

Why use the steps when you can scale the rocks?

We’ve also had fun visiting our local nature center, which has an awesome outdoor playground.

The playground is built into the side of a tall hill, which makes it seem like a part of the landscape. It’s beautiful to look at and lots of fun for kids!

I’m going back and forth about actually committing to a membership to the nature center though. It’s fun, but we already have so many memberships to other places in the area. But maybe a few more trips will convince me!

We’ve also spent a lot of time at our local playground. Simple, fun and always a good time!

Is it warming up where you are, or are you lucky enough to live in a place with year-round warm weather?

Playful Practice: learning how to pour and drink from a cup

This weekend wasn’t very eventful (hence no weekend roundup). Jameson had a slight fever and runny nose, so we chose to stay indoors and do laidback family things instead.

After watching my toddler run around and spin in circles like a tiny, adorable tornado, I thought it might be good to pull out a calm activity before lunchtime.

So I set up a large towel and Jameson’s plastic highchair tray cover on the kitchen floor. Then I got out some cups and filled them each about 1/4 of the way with water.

Already a master of eating peas out of a cup. Could drinking water be next?

Drinking from an unlidded cup was a skill I had tried to teach Jameson when he was much younger, simply by giving him a teeny cup with a bit of water at dinner time.

Each time he would pour the water into his cup and laugh. After the eight or ninth refill, my husband gently suggested that maybe dinnertime wasn’t the time to have our son giving himself a makeshift bath.

So I put the big boy cup away and caved into the widely accepted toddler sippy cup.

But I’ve always felt that Jameson was capable of drinking from a regular cup, if given enough chances to figure it out.

So I am on a mission to use our weekends to figure it out. And also, have some fun.

So far, J is still dumping all of the water out into his lap and then taking a sip from the cup. Which is super adorable but not practical. It’s fun to watch his eyes scrunch up as he wonders where he went wrong.

He actually wiped up some of his spills with the paper towel!

I’ve been doing my best to model how I hold the cup and take a sip, without saying what I’m doing (the Montessori way). I’m excited for the day that he will figure out that he has to bring the cup to his lips without flipping the cup over first.

I must say though, he’s really getting there with his pouring! He got a couple of splashes of water from one cup into the other during our practice time!

When did your child learn to pour and start drinking from unlidded cups?

Or are you working on that now?

The oddball pickiness of a toddler at mealtime

My toddler is a fairly adventurous eater. This is partially because D and I eat a varied diet and have been giving him the same meals as we eat, since he was old enough to eat them. It’s also because our son doesn’t seem to have any sensory issues with food textures.

Always partial to the almond croissants, of course

Being a special education teacher, I’m well aware that some kids can have serious sensory aversions that have nothing to do with whether or not you did “baby-led weaning” with them (no matter what the hardcore weaners will tell you).

But luckily, Jameson seems to tolerate all kinds of textures pretty well.

So yes, my son is a good eater, but he’s also a toddler. Meaning he is starting to assert his independence around at the dinner table (and the lunch table, and the breakfast table…).

When I say that, I don’t mean he’s throwing massive tantrums and flinging peas on the wall every day. Although, he’s done each of those things at some point or another, being a tot and all.

What he’s been doing lately is some kind of “choose one” toddler ritual where he will pick one food on his plate and eat only that food.

“Chicken and potatoes? Sorry, but I’ve decided that only peas are worthy of my palette today!”

“Nice try with the bacon, egg and cheese, mom. But I’m only eating oatmeal today, k?”- my toddler, probably

Also, I’ve had to hide the fruit bowl from view during dinner.

Yes, really.

If he catches a glimpse of a banana or a cherry tomato it is game over. He will immediately decide that what we have served him is straight-up trash and only seventeen bananas will do.

Jameson was on cloud nine at the apple orchard this past fall

Looking around online, it seems like this is a normal part of the toddler stage, and that it should pass eventually.

For now, I’ll be doing my best to not make a big fuss about him only eating parts of his meals…and hiding the fruit bowl like a crazy woman at dinner.

Has your toddler went through any picky eating stages that made you scratch your head or laugh? I’d love to hear about it!

What I read with my toddler this week: February 5th

It was a 4-day work week for me, which meant more opportunities to read with Jameson (and get some of my own reading in).

Here’s what we read this week:

T. Rex distributed by Smithsonian Kids

This is Jameson’s current favorite to skim through during diaper changes. He loves roaring like a dinosaur!

Also, the finger puppet aspect of it made for lots of giggles when we read it together. 10/10. Highly recommend!

On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott

I loved this book for many reasons. The story was, of course, a big part of it. The takeaway being that there is always room on mother’s lap.

I also appreciate a book with beautiful pictures and diversity. This book checks both of those boxes.

Jameson sat with me for part of the reading and played nearby for the other part.

He seemed to like the pictures, as he kept coming back to peek at the next page.

Scholastic mini board books

Jameson has taken a serious liking to these in the past few months. We read one of these books at least three times a day!

Romeo and Juliet: a counting primer by Jennifer Adams

Full disclosure: I bought this book at a secondhand bookstore solely because of my love of Romeo and Juliet.

When I was in high school, I must have read through the play dozens of times.

I loved that each reading meant discovering something new in the story, and how beautiful the lines were.

When I sat down with Jameson to read this, I was pleasantly surprised that he really enjoyed this book! Maybe it was the beautifully contrasting colors on every page, or the counting aspect, but he loved it.

He even requested a reread, which I always count as a sign of a well-loved story!

What have you been reading with your child this week?

A very busy weekend- Jan 28

A very busy weekend means that this post is coming to you on a Wednesday instead of a Monday!

Consider it your pass to daydream about all of the fun things you’d like to do this weekend as you’re sitting at your desk 🙂

Saturday:

The big snow storm visited us here in Fairfield County!

Unfortunately, Jameson was still feeling a little under the weather, so there was no playing in the snow for us.

BUT he did have fun playing with some dried oats while I made oatmeal that morning.

I gave him some kitchen tools to scoop and sift with, but he had the most fun just using his hands to scoop and feel the oats.

This was another weekend where we did not add any hours to our 1000 hours outside goal, mostly because of the cold and Jameson being under the weather.

Warmer days, where are you?

Sunday:

I spent the entire day at a blood drive my Junior League chapter was co-hosting for the Res Cross.

Our goal was 28 donors and we managed to get 40 donors! I was so worried that the storm from the night before would deter people from coming in, but it was a huge success.

D and Jameson had some fun, dad and son bonding time while I was at the blood drive. I made it home in time for dinner and bath time.

Monday

Jameson and I met up with some friends at one of our favorite coffee places, Honey Joe’s.

While I chatted and had some mom time, Jameson got to play with his buddy on the indoor play sets.

It’s crazy how much his climbing and maneuvering skills have improved since the first time we came to this play area. He really is becoming a big kid right before my eyes!

After our fun morning, I dropped Jameson off at daycare for a half day so I could drive to my sister-in-laws studio salon.

And she blessed me with these beautiful brows!

This is my first time getting my eyebrows micro bladed, but I love it.

So that was our weekend! I have another long weekend coming up again, so we’ll see what we get into then.

Have a good week, everyone!

Finding “Montessori moments” as a working mom

A couple of weeks back I checked out a book called The Montessori Toddler from my local library.

It’s an amazing book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to add more aspects of Montessori learning/lifestyle to their home.

With that being said, there were some things in the book that felt a bit overwhelming to me, a working mom.

The reality is, if you work a full-time job, you just don’t have as many hours in the day with your child as a parent that is a full-time caregiver or even works from home.

This realization got me thinking about ways I can fit “Montessori moments” into my time with my child, to get all (well, most) of those great experiences with less of the fuss.

Here are some ways I’ve been putting this into practice so far:

Teaching my toddler how to pour into a cup

The other night, Jameson only wanted the peas on his dinner plate…and then some “to-go” peas afterwards. He also felt like rummaging through his cups and plates cabinet.

Cute an “aha” moment for a teaching opportunity.

Teaching opportunity? Just let me eat my peas in peace, mom.

I put some extra cups on the ground and sat with him. Then modeled how to pour the peas from one cup to another, using two hands.

I went as slow as I could so that he could see the steps I was taking. I also made sure to not talk while doing my demonstration, because apparently talking while demonstrating makes toddlers confused about whether they should be watching you or listening to you.

I don’t know about all that, but I kept my mouth shut anyways. Well, at least most of the time. I mean, it’s weird to be that quiet for so long, right?

But anyway, Jameson had a lot of fun watching me pour his peas in different cups. He tried pouring them himself and I have to to say, his skills have definitely improved from the other week when we tried this with water.

Letting my toddler choose his outfit in the morning

Jameson’s room isn’t set up for a tiny Montessori style wardrobe to be set up, so I’ve improvised by making the top shelves of his toy rack into clothing choice baskets.

This works for us because a. It doesn’t take up any additional space in his already small room and b. I now have the shelving space to use for this since I’ve started rotating his toys to play with and keeping the rest stored in his closet.

Okay, so I will admit that I have been so-so about remembering how to do this.

This is relatively new for us and there have been a few mornings this week that I’ve scrambled for an outfit for him, completely forgetting that I have two preselected ones for him to choose right across the room.

BUT the mornings I have remembered this have been mostly successful thus far.

Two of the times he picked an outfit, he seemed really excited about it. The third time, he pushed both of the choices away from him and did not want to be bothered.

I’ll chalk that time up to him watching Sesame Street when I asked him.

Pro-tip: when attempting Montessori independence fostering activities and rituals: make sure frowned upon screen time tv characters have not hijacked your child’s attention.

All jokes aside, the point is that Montessori doesn’t have to be elaborate or time consuming. You can pick and choose what works for your family and toss the rest.

Either way, you’re doing a great job. Now excuse me while I go sweep up some random peas I just found under the dishwasher. xx

Weekend roundup: January 23

It was another cold one this weekend, but that meant it was perfect for having some fun indoors in our area!

Jameson and his cousin (left) on the big school bus at Stepping Stones

Saturday

D and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends, and yesterday it was my turn (hallelujah). While I slept in, D and Jameson went grocery shopping.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with some family to go to Stepping Stones Children’s Museum in Norwalk, CT.

Stepping Stones is a great place to take toddlers because there is just SO much to do. From water play to make believe to a life-sized, moving dinosaur! This place knocks my socks off and I’m 32.

A cool make believe/ dress-up area at Stepping Stones

Thankfully, Jameson feels the same! This kid has a blast everywhere he goes, but he especially loves it there. We got to share our favorite place with his cousin, Sebastian, so that made it even more fun.

Sunday

We started the day off pretty laidback. Watched some Blippi with Jameson’s morning milk and then had some fun with Play-Doh.

We love Play-Doh and Christmas pajamas, no matter what month it is

After his nap, we went to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. This is another one of our favorite places to visit when it’s too cold to be outside.

Fun fact: D and I used to have a huge freshwater fish tank in our first apartment. At one point we had an eel and a stingray! It’s something we plan on having again when we buy a house. Sadly, it was too difficult to find another apartment that was okay with a 500 gallon fish tank moving in with us *sigh*.

Our old fish tank that’s we somehow fit into our 900 square foot apartment

Did you and your family get into anything fun this weekend?

My top 5 favorite parenting quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes about parenting:

1. Do not ask your children to strive– William Martin

“Do not ask your children to strive for for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

2. Our children absorb our ways constantly- Dr. Shefali Tsabary

“Our children absorb our ways constantly. They are always watching, listening, making a mental note of what we are doing and how we do it. As a new mother, to realize all my choices now had bearing on another human being felt like a heavy burden to bear. Whether I ordered a diet soda or water, fries or salad, worked out or vegged out in front of the television, nothing was simply about me anymore. How I used my time, coped with anxiety, handled failure, related to my spouse, took care of my finances— everything now affected how another human being would eventually lead her own life.”

3. A child’s inner voice – Peggy O’Mara

“The way we talk to children becomes their inner voice.”

4. Your child is not a masterpiece you create- J. Warren Welch

“Your children are not a masterpiece that you create. They are their own masterpiece, creating themselves, and you have been given the privilege of watching them be the artist.”

5. Love them – Unknown

“Before I had kids I had a million ideas on how I would raise them. Now that they are here I have only one. Love them. Love them through their giggles, messy hands, and fearlessness. And when it is hard, like really hard, love them through that too.”

These are some of my favorite parenting quotes. What are some of yours?