Leashes for Toddlers

Okay, the technical name is "harness," but so many people have jokilngly called it a "leash" that I find it amusing to do the same.

So, I have a "leash" for my kids. I used it on G starting around age 2 and it was wonderful to have on hand, especially when Z was a newborn. I could put the baby in the Moby Wrap or Ergo, and put the harness on G, and take a walk to the mall, or anywhere else. And I didn't have to deal with a cumbersome stroller.

I've recently started trying out the harness with Z now, and he's responding pretty well. I remember the first few times I tried the harness on G as a toddler, it took him a while to figure it out and he kept falling down when he ran or walked too far too fast. But Z seems to be more sensitive to the gentle tugging of the harness, and has not fallen down at at. Though, he has sat down a few times and refused to budge lol.

In my opinion, though, there is a wrong way and a right way to use a child harness.

WRONG WAY: For instance, once last summer I was at the park with my boys. It was a very safe park, with a large grassy area all around the playground, and even the slide was perfectly safe for any kid over 18 months. There was a mom there with her toddler on a harness. It was rather comical. The mom was just following her kid everywhere she went: up the steps, down the slide, through tunnels, up ladders...And this little girl, even though she was smaller than my son, was havimng very little difficulty with any of it. And yet here was her mom, practically being dragged by her daughter all over the playground. Was the harness really necessary? Not at all.

RIGHT WAY: When I take my boys for a walk, my toddler appreciates the freedom of not having to hold my hand constantly. But having him on a harness allows him to have that freedom, while still preventing him from dashing into the street, or around a corner without me. I am still teaching him to hold my hand when we do go into the street, and he is usually willing to do so. But, as soon as his feet are back on the sidewalk he is permitted to let go. Also, as soon as he reaches the end of his "rope," I say "Stop," so that he will learn to associate the word with the action.

In other words, I use the harness as a tool, to keep my toddler safe as I teach him how to be safe outside my arms. It worked well with G. He is pretty much perfectly independent now, when we go out. He has learned well, to stay within arm's reach while crossing a street or parking lot; and more recently, I have been teaching him to stay on the lookout for moving cars so that by the time he's in Kindergarten he will be able to safely cross the street alone. I trust him to play alone for short periods of time outside, even though we do not have a fenced-in yard.

A harness should be used as a tool for teaching safety, not as an excuse for lazy parenting.

weaning a toddler

Every time I start typing the "story" of our progress so far, I just struggle to put things simply and straight-forward enough. So sorry, no details. But, I am working on weaning Z-- finally-- and wish me luck, because I need it! 21 months of nursing is just a wee bit longer than I had bargained for, and I am so ready to move on to a new phase with my little boy. Now I just have to convince Z to get fully on board with the program.

Yep.

Z's new word for the day was "Yep." It was so stinkin' cute every time he said it. Before now, whenever he wanted to answer in the affirmative to something, he'd just kind of grunt and nod his head. But not today. Today he finally found a word to express himself.

"Z, do you want some oranges?"

"Yep."

"Is that good?"

"Yep."

On and on, all day. So cute. And probably the only reason I didn't feel more like shutting him in a room somewhere, because he was asking to nurse constantly today. This nursing-my-toddler-like-he's-a-newborn phase is really wearing me out. I am so ready to be done already. But, my kid apparently has other plans. Anyway, he just got a couple of molars in lately, so maybe he's still got more coming and he's just doing it more for the comfort than anything else (he never did take to the binky, unfortunately).

I remember a similar phase with my oldest-- the "yep" thing, not the nursing. Some of G's phrases that I remember (he went through them in stages), were "uh-huh," "sure," "of course," and even more recently at age four, "absolutely." Interesting to witness how thier vocabulary grows and changes over time.

First 25 Words

The following is a list of Z's first 25 words. They are not in chronological order.

this
ball
bubbles
mommy
daddy
no
yes
water
door
beep
up
meow
woof
moo
goodbye
bathroom
eyes
bath
hi
baby
more
wow
go
whee!
hat

Footprints in the Snow

My toddler's footprints (shoeprints). He just treks around in the snow like he's been doing it all his life :)

Anyway, I thought it made a cute picture.

More Toddler Cuteness!

 First video: taken around Christmas time (obviously, since there's a tree in the background). Z discovered how to make a funny noise.
Second video: Z likes to spin in circles lately. He was doing them even better before I started this video...
Third video: Similar to the second, but more of a "happy dance" than just spinning.
Fourth video: Z distracting us from the fact that it's late and we should all be asleep instead of encouraging him to make funny noises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9stxQdAo1D0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xjHDhNJkgw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAU0Qpf93U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95w2zSNJn7E

A Tangled Skein

I was reminded yesterday, why I haven't been crocheting much lately.

I started a new crochet project a couple days ago, and now I have a hopelessly-tangled skein of yarn that I've spent at least four hours so far trying to untangle with very slow progress. I tried during the day to untangle it some, and kept having to deal with my toddler wanting to sit on my lap and continue to get into my yarn, which would have been completely counter-productive, so I had to give up on the endeavor until later.

We actually got the kids down to bed at a decent hour tonight, so after they were down, N__ helped me do some more untangling, and we had a nice conversation together. We haven't gotten many of those lately...

It's not so much that I mind having to untangle my yarn once in a while. Actually, it can be a rather relaxing and satisfying activity in a way. I enjoyed it when my husband and I were just sitting there together, chatting and untangling the yarn.

N__ pointed out to me, that I could make it a little easier by cutting the skein in a couple spots to make it easier to unravel...I told him that went against my paradigm lol. Though, of course he's right, I could do that...but, I just can't bring myself (yet) to cut a perfectly-good skein of yarn.

I need to make myself one of these:

Toddler's Got the Moves!

Just a fun little video of my toddler dancing.