1 - Abbie is tiny. She turns three in under two months and I have to roll 2T pants to get them to stay on her tiny little bum (she did not get that from her mother unfortunately). This creates two problems. 1 - If she wears shorts and I roll them it starts to look like she is in daisy dukes. While she is way too young to notice/care/remember/or be sexualized by this I really don't like how it looks. 2 - She has a long torso and when I roll her pants the 3T shirts that I buy don't reach the pants and then we have belly showing if she moves (which for some reason she likes to do.) Ideas? (This is making me dread teenage-hood.)
2 - What games/activities/art projects do you do with your kids when you are stuck at home and they are booAAArrrd?
3 - How do you divide toys with your kids? Abbie is convinced that there are specific toys that are hers and others that are Savannah's. Savannah is not allowed to touch any of Abbie's toys without a massive sharing summit, while she (Abbie) can play with pretty much whatever she wants. Savannah just wants to play with whatever is on the floor. Are all the toys everyone's? Do we have to discuss sharing twenty times a day?
4 - How do you manage dinner time? Russ doesn't get home until 6:30 at the earliest, by that time my kids are staaaaaaaaaarvvvving! I try to make dinner, give them enough snacks to tide them over but not so much that they wont eat dinner as a family, and keep them entertained at the end of the day when we are all a little tired of each other. This is not a smooth process at my house.
7 comments:
I'm not one to give advice--I don't have much of anything figured out--but I'll give some anyway! As far as Abbie's itty-bitty little frame, have you tried Old Navy clothes? A lot of their pants and shorts have the elastic inside that you can adjust--they pull in pretty tight if you need them to. That might help with the waist vs. length issue. And the whole sharing thing? First, I just have to laugh for a minute. There, I'm done. I laugh because kids are SO much alike. We still have toy issues, but they're getting better. Abbie is just at the prime non-sharing age. It really should get better. Not that hearing that helps. But sometimes I found if I just encouraged sharing but didn't freak out about it Coop and Cam kind of figure it out on their own. I'm probably just a lazy parent, though. And now that I've written a novel, I'll leave you with my last example of how to be a bad parent--we rarely eat an organized meal as a family. We try, but it rarely works. I've kind of given up on making it a hard, fast rule until they are a little older, willing to eat what I cook, and their bedtime isn't quite so close to dinner time. Hope some of this was helpful, at least at showing you how good of a job you're doing compared to me!
I agree with Lisa about the clothes. We have had this problem with both Sheldon and Allie and Target sells the pants with the adjustable waist too.
As for toy sharing, each one of my kids has two special toys that they don't have to share with anyone (siblings included) other than that they are expected to share. If a friend comes over and the (non-sharing) toys becomes and issue I allow them to put it in my closet until the friend goes home. That has really helped us with sharing, because they know that they have something that is just theirs.
As for dinner time, we have the same problem with Ryan getting home. Before I even start dinner I cut an orange or two into sections, or carrot sticks, or some crackers. I put that out on the table and tell the kids they my have as much as they want of that. When it is gone then they have to wait for dinner. That seems to help with the before dinner temper tantrums because they are starving. I also have them help make dinner. They help me make salads or put the roles in the basket, or set the table... anything so that they feel like they are helping too.
Hope that helps.
I'm with Lisa on the sharing issue. They eventually figure it out, she is still young. Maybe she could go through the toys with you and help decide what are sharing toys. We didn't do that with Zie and Dax, but we did it when Dax had friends over. I would tell him that he couldn't play with the nonsharing toys if he had someone over that couldn't play with them. It worked pretty well. (hopefully that made sense)
As for the clothes, this is going to sound silly, but I still use some 18-24 month pants for Zie and they fit like shorts or capris (depending on the pants). In fact they fit like knee length shorts most of the time. The waist usually fits still and the length is perfect.
Lastly, for dinner. You could try feeding the girls dinner first and when Russ gets home, feed them a little snack at the table so they can still eat with Mom & Dad but aren't starving. I'll email you a blog site my mother-in-law showed me that might help bust boredom.
Well, I'm sure everyone else has much better advice than me. I have had the same issue with Sydney and Ethan as far as being a skinny-bones. We did the fold-over for Sydney all the time.I also used a fat/wide ribbon as a belt on the pants that had loops. My MIL suggested sewing a strip of elastic on each of the sides of the pants, like an adjustable waistband without being adjustable. And the shorts were just short. Not much I could do about that. I also had lots of casual comfy skirts for her, which seeme easier to fold over or pin tighter. Luckily I have found lots of adjustable waist pants for her and Ethan at Old Navy lately. Even with that, they seem to fall off Ethan a lot, but it helps. It sucks. I'm so glad Cole is more normal sized so it's not an issue, at least for now.
As for dinner, as your kids are young, I don't see why you couldn't once in awhile feed them dinner before Russ got home and then just let them eat a treat or snack while the two of you have dinner. I also really like Kelsey's idea. I do that sometimes, too. Somehow when I have the veggies or fruit chopped and sitting on the counter, the kids gobble them up if they're starving.
As for activities with the kids. I usually just ask them what they want to do. And then we do it! If they can't think of something, I suggest coloring or painting, or playing with blocks or something. But kids usually know what they want to do with Mommy. I have found that the simplest things are the most appreciated.
Oh, and the sharing issue is an ongoing struggle no matter what I do. But it is good to let them have special toys that they don't have to share. As long as they know not to be rude about it.
what works for one kid doesn't work for another!! all the toys in our house are mainly joint other than a couple of special toys, it saves a lot of the arguments. We always find that dresses work great in the summer as they often work out cheaper and you don't have to worry about the pants falling down. Feeding! I've tried several different ways. For us I usually feed the kids earlier and then they sit at the table when matt gets home and have a pre bedtime snack, they are less grouchy because they are fed and happy and I'm happier as i haven't fed them a ton of snacks before dinner. Plus they eat better when they are not tired. goodluck
My only comment is the toy thing. Ella still does that with me. You probably don't want to hear that.
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