Have you ever had an experience where you allowed yourself to be influenced by what another parent was doing instead of listening to your gut? How did that work out? If your experience was anything like the experience that I had today, it probably did not work out too well. It started at the grocery store. Before we went in I reminded Dylan that since we had just had a snack, he would not be getting a snack at the store. To his credit, he did not ask me for a snack while we were at the store. He did … Continue reading →

Sometimes it can be very difficult to try to figure out what contributes to whether it is going to be a good day or a challenging day around here. We have both good and tough days when we stay home most, if not all of the day. We also have both excellent days when we are on the go all day long and very difficult times when we are out and about. It is entirely possible that there is no rhyme or reason to it, so perhaps I should just stop trying to figure it out and simply let the … Continue reading →

I love all four of the seasons that we have here in Vermont, but I must say that if I were pressed to pick a favorite, Fall would be the one that I like best. Now that I have children, I am able to share my love of all things autumn with them. Number one on my to – do list for this fall was apple picking. Last Friday, my dad came to town for a visit. I thought that apple picking would be the perfect way for us all to spend an afternoon together. Unfortunately, none of the apple … Continue reading →

Yesterday I took Dylan and Blake out for a day of errands and shopping. We have gone out for errands and shopping many times before, but yesterday a few things happened that left me wondering whether other moms have experienced similar situations. The first incident happened when we were at a consignment store. I had brought in a bunch of baby clothes that Blake has already grown out of, and the store owner was looking through the box, deciding what she wanted to buy. I was looking through baby clothes in Blake’s current size and Dylan was beside me until … Continue reading →

If you are experiencing or have experienced a period of time when your toddler refuses to eat vegetables, you are not alone. In fact, most toddlers go through some variation of this phase at one time or another. For about the past month or so, Dylan has been known to declare that he “does not like vegetables” when they are placed on his plate. Parents differ in how they approach the no – veggies situation. At our house, the way that I am dealing with this phase of Dylan’s development can be summarized as “put them on the plate and … Continue reading →

Dylan loves to go to the playground. It does not matter which playground, or where it is, the moment he hears the word “playground” he drops whatever he is doing and runs for the door. We have a few playgrounds around here, and I like to mix it up by taking him to different ones. One thing that I am trying to figure out, though, is how to keep him out of the sandboxes at the playground. I’m not completely against sandboxes, however recent events have left me a bit concerned. A few days ago, I brought Dylan to a … Continue reading →

As with any topic related to parenting toddlers, the topic of television is one where families vary greatly in their approaches. Some families avoid any and all television. Some have multiple televisions which are on much of the time. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the television spectrum. Personally, we only have one television in our home. It is in our bedroom. It is not hooked up to cable, satellite, or any other television service. We have a DVD player, and that is what we use the television for. As far as what kind of programming and … Continue reading →

I was about to sit down and write something about toddlers and testing limits. After all, there was a whole lot of that going on around here today. It seemed as if Dylan and I went from one tense situation to another as he pushed and pushed and pushed some more. Of course, the fact that I went to bed late last night did not help matters any, because it is much easier to deal with typical toddler behavior when one is well rested. While my day did contain plenty of fodder for an article about why and how toddlers … Continue reading →

Today was a travel and transition day for my family. This morning, we woke up in our hotel on Cape Cod. By bedtime, we were back home in Vermont. Transitions can be difficult for toddlers, and I could tell that today was a little rough for Dylan. He did his best, though, and I am proud of how well he has done this week with all of the new places, excitement, and different experiences. I am hoping that as we unpack and get settled back in to our home, Dylan will feel happy to be at home. I’m expecting that … Continue reading →

This week, my family is on vacation. We have been having a great time, and Dylan has been doing very well as far as behaving appropriately and listening to us – much of the time. I think that there are a couple of reasons why things are going smoothly for us, even though our days have been much busier and exciting than they are at home. The first thing that I think is helping us to have a great vacation is to keep our expectations realistic. By choosing restaurants where we do not have to wait too long for a … Continue reading →