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It’s been a few years since we discussed seasonal decor for the holidays, so I thought it might make another fun mini-discussion today: With Halloween sales right around the corner, what are you stalking? I’ve gotten some great pieces in the day immediately after Halloween, so now is a good time to find inventory that looks good and keep an eye on it.
In the past I’ve gotten stuff from Pottery Barn, Target, Kohl’s, Crate & Barrel, Pier One, Grandin Road, Hammacher Schlemmer and other stores. (I think my favorite thing we’ve bought is a simple sign that says “I LOVE YOU MORE THAN CANDY.” Which, I tell my darlings, is saying a lot! Because I really love candy!)
The pictured skeleton hand punch bowl was $99 but is now marked to $59.
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anonymous says
Today was the first day in a while that felt like a chilly November morning here in DC, and it reminded me I need to get winter coats for my kids. Does Primary make more substantial puffers than the “lightweight puffer” they currently are offering? Or is that one as warm as they get?
AwayEmily says
Not quite what you asked but I really think the Patagonia down sweater is magical. It has a hood, it is carseat-safe, and it seems to keep my kids warm in a really wide range of weather (when it’s super cold we layer over a fleece). Definitely been worth the cost for us. I usually get them on sale at the end of the season, but I’d pay full price.
Anonymous says
Thanks! Is it this one? $180 seems really steep…
https://www.patagonia.com/product/boys-hi-loft-down-sweater-hoody/68207.html
AwayEmily says
Yikes, that is expensive! So far I’ve only gotten the toddler version, which is $120 full price and $85 when I get it on sale.
Anonymous says
In my experience, car seat coats with hoods are super annoying. We usually have a car seat packable puffer with no hood (Land’s End this year) and a hat. We also have a heavier outside play coat (Target this time) that we buy every two years in a size up. It gets used much less but is warmer. I was very pleasantly surprised with the Cat and Jack one we bought last year.
Anonymous says
Counterpoint – hoods mean you don’t need a hat for drop off/pick up or when going in and out of stores so one less item that can be lost/forgotten etc.
AwayEmily says
Yeah, that’s why we love it. If we are on a walk but didn’t bring a hat, or are just running in or out of daycare, then we can go hoods-up and not worry about a hat. We don’t take a lot of long car trips with the coat on, anyway — if we will be in the car for more than fifteen minutes I usually put them in coatless so they don’t get too hot.
10:45 Anon says
This must be kid-specific, but my kiddo finds the hood super uncomfortable in the carseat smushed up behind her back and/or neck. Keeping track of a hat is way better than her throwing a fit all the time, lol.
Boston Legal Eagle says
Yes, they make a “winter puffer coat” – it might not be available yet. I got one this past February, so it may come out in the next few months.
Anonymous says
Exactly what I was wondering— if it’d be coming down the pike. Thanks! Did you like it?
Boston Legal Eagle says
It’s very warm! I like Primary clothes in general for my older kid (slim, tallish) and this one fits well and is good for winter. FWIW it was $30 when I got it (on sale I think), and I don’t think it’s car-seat safe approved.
Anon says
I had the same question! The reviews for the lightweight puffer kept saying it was a great fall jacket.
It’s kind of late to be putting out new winter coats.
Anon says
Also, someone told be about BabyShop dot com last night and I saw some good deals on lucky sizes in their outlet section. It’s a Scandinavian store with adorably pretentious clothing, so their winter stuff is good quality.
anon says
FWIW, also in the DMV and we got a Land’s End toddler coat this year. They seem to be perpetually on sale, and the temperature ratings make it easy.
anon says
Also in DC and we love the Cat & Jack 3-in-1 coats. The inner layer is great for fall/spring and carseat safe; the outer layer is plenty warm for winter hikes or playing in the snow. And as someone who’s kids are the same size and thus we can’t do handmedowns, the price is great.
Anon says
They do but my toddler did not live it – sort of stiff in the arms. If your kid is old enough to be pretty active, a friend recommend lighter Prinary coat with a vest on top for all but the colder days.
Not loving the weekends says
Can we talk about managing kids on the weekend? My husband and I are lucky enough to have a nanny for 8 hrs/day for our toddler during the week who we all love. She basically makes our lives run during the week. But then the weekends come. Every Saturday and Sunday night, my husband and I are exhausted and the house is a wreck. We try to divide up the time so we each get some alone time and we usually do one bigger outing on either Sat. or Sun. to somewhere outside. But why are we so tired on the weekends? Why can’t we manage to keep the apartment even somewhat clean? Why does it take us approximately 85x longer than the nanny to get the kid out the door to the park?
How do other people split up the weekend with a partner? Are you bringing babysitters into the mix? (I’m pregnant and hesitant to add another person to our bubble.) And people who are single parents, or have to parent on their own during the weekends, I salute and please also tell me how you do it because I think we’re doing something wrong.
Realist says
I’m sure other people will chime in with better advice, but honestly, I think weekends with toddler age kids are just tough and exhausting and why so many people choose to live near family for built in breaks at that stage of life. I am 99% sure it is not anything you are doing wrong.
Pigpen's Mama says
Yep. And it sounds like you live in an apartment — so you likely don’t have “kid areas” and “grownup areas” and that makes it harder to regroup. It was also easier in pre-pandemic days when you could take kids somewhere other than the part.
Once we started having one parent take our then toddler somewhere, it got a lot easier to manage. My husband would take her out of the house for a few hours– some combination of swim lessons, a bike ride, trip to his office, park, gym (kid area), lunch, etc. I’d spend about 2/3 of that time cleaning up the house, and 1/3 of the time relaxing, although frankly cleaning up listening to what I wanted to listen to felt like relaxing in some ways. And we’d also try to get a babysitter about once a month for an evening out. That got a lot harder to do during COVID, so even though we’re past the intensity of toddler-hood, the house is messier than before.
I have some neighbors that drop their kid(s) off at a home daycare on the weekends to get things done.
For getting out of the house, my child always responds better to other people than her parents, and between parents, when she was younger she was much worse for me than for her dad (still is to some extent, but it’s not as stark). This is true for almost all of my friends with kids. So don’t take it personally that it’s harder for you than the nanny to get her out the door.
Cb says
Oh no, that’s really tough. We’ve got my toddler home 5 days a week as our nursery hasn’t opened to full capacity yet, and it does just get messier being home all the time. But I find a weekend routine to be helpful. Ours is:
Saturday cooked breakfast + play, then an outing (play park, walk), lunchtime, quiet time followed by screentime, play and then dinner. I tend to clean up while my son and husband are playing, sometimes toddler and I will bake something.
Sunday cooked breakfast + play, I’ll often take my toddler on a bike ride or into the garden during this time, so my husband can tidy up or do whatever he needs to do, lunch together, then my husband and son go to the shop and get groceries, come home for quiet and screen time.
I think the things that help us are reasonable expectations of what can be done, both our hobbies are cancelled because of Covid, the strategic use of quiet and screentime (we often crawl onto the bed with my son and read our books while he’s watching an hour of Thomas), and really early bedtime for toddler (lights out by 6:45/7:00) so we get a bit of personal time in the evenings.
Anonymous says
You’re not doing anything wrong, this is just what it’s like to have a toddler. And the nanny probably has more practice than you do at this point and kids listen better to non-parents, in my experience, so don’t feel bad about that! If you just have the one child, I would try to take turns giving the other parent long breaks. When we had one kid, we co-parented the entire weekend and now that we have two, that seems like such a waste of time that we could have spent giving the other a break. But having toddlers is just exhausting.
AwayEmily says
You are not doing it wrong!! Some ages are just hard. It really helps me, mentally, to have a rough schedule ahead of time. We always reserve one weekend morning (usually the one with worse weather) for making pancakes and having a relaxing morning around the house. During this time, one of us is on kid duty and the other person is doing house stuff. Vacuuming, putting away laundry, getting the kitchen in order, etc. We switch on and off like this all morning, trying to also work in a walk in the neighborhood with the kids.
The other morning we try to go somewhere — the zoo, a hike we haven’t been on somewhere, etc. Afternoons are playgrounds or more walks outside. Maximizing outdoor time really seems to help with everyone’s mood, plus it keeps the house cleaner.
I also like scheduling something fun for the grownups on one weekend night — takeout, a Zoom dinner with friends, etc.
In terms of getting reluctant kids out the door, may I recommend the “jellybean walk”? Basically, we take some regular walks and some jellybean walks. On a jellybean walk, halfway through the walk I hide a jelly bean for the kid to find (like, on some steps or by a rock). Unsurprisingly, they are VERY motivated to get out the door for a jellybean walk.
ElisaR says
jellybean walk sounds so cute!
rosie says
I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. Toddlerhood is tough. Parenting in a pandemic is tough. Being pregnant with a toddler is tough.
I think splitting up the weekend so there is some family time and some alone time for each grown-up is a good idea. I don’t know how you are feeling physically, but it might make sense for your husband to take your child for walk/scooter ride/etc. and you to do a crafts project or something like that if you are tired or uncomfortable. I also think that leaning in to relaxing together is helpful. We’ve started inviting our toddler to cuddle in bed on weekend mornings and watch an episode or two of a PBS kids show.
And I always remembered that a nanny isn’t with your kid 24/7. They get an actual break. Also I feel like it’s easier to put away someone else’s stuff than clean up your own crap (if I’m putting books away, I get sidetracked thinking about where other stuff is, what else I have to do, how messy it is, etc). So be grateful you have a loving caregiver (as you are) but don’t compare.
CPA Lady says
I think toddlers are just exhausting. And being pregnant is exhausting. There is no special magic trick. Your nanny is probably exhausted at the end of every day too.
Everyone’s had good advice about the schedule, but as far as the house being a wreck, the only way I keep things under some semblance of control is clean up as I go, every single step of the way, all day long (this does not come naturally and involves forcing myself to slow way down and pay attention to what I’m doing). Don’t leave a room without something that needs to be in another room. And when you get to the other room put the item exactly where it goes, don’t just dump it somewhere. Clean up spills the second they happen. Don’t bring your dirty dish to the sink, put it in the dishwasher right away. The minute you finish making smoothies, put the blender base back in the cabinet and the pitcher in the dishwasher. The last step of playing with a toy is putting it away before moving onto the next thing. Develop routines that will make you more likely to succeed.
I am not saying I do any of these things perfectly. But doing them 70% of the time means the house is 70% less of a wreck. I also have a small trashcan in every room of the house. Storage is simplified. The more complicated a storage situation is, the less likely I am to use it. Kid’s toy storage at the toddler age was like three bins. Everything went in the bins. I used to do more batch based cleaning, but had to switch to all day long once I had a kid.
Anon says
DD is 3 and, well, a lot, even compared to other 3 year olds – very high energy, needs constant attention if you don’t want her causing havoc and destruction, etc. I also work long hours (DH is primary parent) and so I do more stuff on the weekends to give him a break. Our general rule pre-COVID was only one “event” on a weekend – dinner out, playdate, people over, etc. and we had housekeepers coming during the week so weekends were just about family time (plus any working for me), mostly doing restful things at home. In a COVID world where we are high-risk, our weekends look like this these days, and it is hard:
Saturday – Toddler gets up with me around 8 or 9. We go downstairs. I get her breakfast and plop her in front of the TV, I settle in to do a bit of work. Grocery delivery arrives on the front porch usually at 10 (it’s a 10-12 window we try to snag every week). I like to give the area 15 minutes or so to disperse outside before opening the door. DH comes downstairs usually as the groceries arrive and wrangles toddler who wants to “help” while I put everything away, wash hands, and wipe down the fridge handles, cabinet doors, etc. that I touched. DH makes coffee, I fiddle on my phone, DD plays with her toys. After coffee, I go upstairs to start her and my laundry (DH does his during the week), usually 3 sorted loads and then every other week I add sheets and towels. I usually also grab a shower, probably putter and read for a bit. While I am in the shower DH makes lunch for all of us. After lunch, I typically play with toddler or we watch college football as a family, switching the laundry – once clean and dried it goes into a hamper for folding mid-week. DD is so cute cheering and groaning with us. If the weather is nice, I try to take her for a walk to burn off energy pre-dinner. I usually cook dinner on Saturday nights (DD either helps or plays with DH while I am cooking). After dinner (we eat late, usually around 8), kiddo heads up for her bath which DH starts while I clean up the kitchen and I come in for the scrubbing and hair washing at the end. Depending on the weekend, I might come down for a bit more work after DH tucks her in, or we might have family snuggle and TV night until she falls asleep. I usually go to bed around 11 or midnight.
On Sundays, I again usually get up at 8 or 9 with toddler. Toddler and I make brunch together – usually pancakes, waffles, biscuits, bacon, etc. She loves cooking. DH will stay upstairs until around 11 or so and then join us for brunch. DH and I root for different NFL teams but mine isn’t local, so we usually have redzone on during the applicable game times. Every other weekend is house cleaning day on Sunday. DH and DD pick up the downstairs with all the toys while I clean the upstairs, staggered with football games, and I shower after cleaning. On “off” weekends, I run a mop on the floors downstairs while DH is supervising bath time, and the kitchen stays pretty clean because we clean after cooking, otherwise it’s a repeat of Saturday afternoons. Vacuuming downstairs is an every other day thing. We often skip Sunday lunch in favor of a “fend for yourself or graze on leftovers” heavy afternoon snack. Sunday dinner is defined as take out night. If it is nice, DH will take DD for a car ride and pick up dinner on the way home which will buy me an hour or two of peace and quiet; if it’s crummy out they will just go and pick up dinner without the joy riding. Then bath and bed.
Anon says
Wow so much detail
Anonymous says
I’m a single parent, no nearby family, no money for babysitters. When my kid was a toddler, I just gave up on doing anything other than focusing on her and the basic functions of our life — cleanliness, laundry, food. I involved her in these things as much as possible to be able to do any of it while she was awake, but tried to focus on her as much as possible. We were out of the house as much as possible to keep it from getting too messy — playground, indoor play place, library, walks/scootering. It was absolutely mentally and physically exhausting. I forced myself to do up to 30 minutes of chores after she was in bed, and then I went to bed myself. Most of my me-time was on my commute — I used the time to read the new yorker and books. I also let her have an hour of screen time on weekends, which I used for cleaning and cooking and bill paying. It was hard and exhausting. I’m not sure there’s a way around that. After age 4 or so, it got a whole lot easier because she got pretty good at playing by herself. Honestly I would just lower your expectations for what your weekends look like until your youngest is out of the toddler years.
Anon says
Good to hear.
Boston Legal Eagle says
I find weekends to be more exhausting than the weekdays and both my husband and I work full time. Being on with the kids (mine are 4.5 and 2) is A LOT. We have my parents local so we get a break when they take the kids outside one of those weekend mornings. Here’s our breakdown, now with Covid –
Sat. – kids wake up around 6, per usual. Husband gets up with them, I sleep in until 6:30. They’ve got TV until around 7:30. Husband cooks breakfast at around this time and we usually eat by 8. Then it’s time to get everyone ready to go outside (weather permitting) – yes, it takes a long time and there is a lot of complaining. I’m with them from around 9/930 (by the time everyone’s ready) until 11:30 while husband grocery shops. Then it’s lunch and then nap from 12:30/1-3 for the younger one and the older one is in swim lessons and then home for TV or other activity. The parent not taking the older one at this time gets about a 2 hour “break.” After everyone’s up and ready by 3:30, we try to go outside again, either to the playground or our yard. Dinner at 5:30/6, then bedtime routines and aim to get everyone done by 7:30. Clean up is more extensive on weekends and we find ourselves doing dishes around 3 times.
Sun. – My parents tend to come this morning, so we get a break for a few hours. If not, then we’d try to go somewhere new like a new playground, pumpkin patch, etc. With the colder weather, we would normally go to an indoor playspace, but that’s out so it’s going to be harder. Lunch and on is the same as Sat.
So basically, it’s always tiring and not to scare you but it’ll probably get worse with a baby and toddler but it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong! And eventually they will get older!
Anon says
Does your toddler still nap/have quiet time? Our weekends with a 2.75 year old aren’t bad, but she typically takes long (~3 hour) naps on Saturday and a shorter nap on Sunday and goes to bed early (usually in bed by 6:30, although she doesn’t fall asleep right away).
Here’s a brief rundown of our schedule –
Saturday: My husband gets up with her and takes her grocery shopping (curbside pickup these days), they get home around 9 am and put away groceries while I make a big breakfast for us, we eat breakfast, then we either all go to a park together or my husband takes her to his frisbee group, by the time we get home it’s time to get ready for nap, she naps (or is at least in her room) from 12:30-3:30 or so, she gets up and we talk to my parents on Skype, then we all go to a park or walk around the neighborhood, either walk or drive to pickup takeout, come home and eat and by the time we’re done with dinner, it’s time to start the bedtime routine.
Sunday: With Covid, Sunday morning has been our time to go do activities like the zoo or pumpkin patch (we live in a very church-going area, so things are typically less crowded at this time). So the last month or two, I’ve taken her to the zoo or a similar place every Sunday morning. With the weather getting colder, I’m guessing we’ll do more baking and probably more screen time on Sunday mornings. Then nap, then Skype friends or other family members, then go to a park, then home to eat dinner (usually leftovers, but sometimes we make a dinner and involve our kiddo), then bedtime and bath.
If she didn’t sleep so much, we’d definitely use more TV. I like parks because it’s not as active for us as some other things, we can pretty much just sit on a bench and watch her play.
Anonymous says
My most fulfilling weekends look something like this:
Saturday morning: DH goes golfing (We live in the Midwest. Winter throws a wrench in my ideal weekend, but DH is hardcore, so it has to be really bad for him to not golf if the course is open.) I am with kiddo. She and I have lunch together and I get her nap started.
Saturday naptime: I relax. Either napping myself, surfing the internet, or watching TV. DH comes home at some point and also relaxes. I relax in the bedroom, while he relaxes in the basement.
Saturday post-nap: I do whatever I want until dinner and have my time off. Could be a house project, exercise, shopping, getting coffee, whatever.
Saturday dinner: as a family
Saturday after kiddo goes to bed: DH and I hang out
Sunday is nearly all a family day. Mornings are spent at church (pre-covid) and cleaning the common areas of our house. DH and I both pitch in to clean and watch kiddo. Lunch as a family. Naptime, DH and I go our separate ways to relax again. Sunday afternoon usually has a family outing. The day is spent pretty leisurely tag teaming house tasks, caring for kiddo (who is now 5, so this is easier), and preparing for the week. I usually put in a grocery order on Sunday to be picked up on Monday unless I need food ASAP for kiddo’s lunch. In that case, our outing might be a quick trip to the store where I run in for a few quick things and grab us all Starbucks, while DH and kiddo watch a show in the car (in non-Covid times, we’d all go in).
In summary, what I am trying to say is a solid 3-5 hours off for both of us combined with a total of one day of everyone pitching in family time is our ideal weekend.
Pogo says
Same boat here. We aim for a big, exhausting outdoor outing – trying literally every hike in our general area. We started a new tradition of hike + playground, choosing elementary school playgrounds that tend to be empty or nearly empty. They may not be as cool as LO’s former favorite playground which is on the No list right now do to lack of mask compliance by seemingly 90% of the people there, BUT he’s never been to them before so that makes it exciting. I suppose at some point we will get to the end and have to start repeating hikes, but there are luckily a lot of small nature preserves in our area that LO finds exciting. He also likes mountain biking so we bring his bike and that makes even relatively flat hikes fun for him.
We save screentime for the 4-5pm hour as that is when I mentally need it, and when we cook. No nap on weekends = early bedtime, so there’s that.
It was much easier pre-COVID with friends, playdates, parties, museums, etc.
Anon says
Almost 3 year old and 6 month old here and it’s tough on the weekends. We have a great nanny during the week but I get to Sunday night and I am wiped out.
What helps is trying to get my toddler out of the house at least once or twice a day to break things up and get some physical activity in. We are pretty careful with Covid, so our outings look more like neighborhood walks or driving through Starbucks, but anything to break up the day helps. My husband usually takes her on these outings to give me a little downtime, which is even better.
I try to pick up and tidy during nap so the house isn’t a complete disaster by bedtime. I do 30-45 minutes of screen time for the toddler when she first wakes up so I can deal with the baby and make breakfast, and about an hour of screen time in the evenings between 4:30 – 5:30 PM so I can get dinner on the table and power through the baby’s fussiest time of day. I used to be much stricter on screen time but Covid + pregnancy + new baby has caused me loosen up my standards quite a bit.
I’m pretty Type A and I love order and cleanliness, so being stuck at home all day with all of the kids stuff and mess causes me a lot of stress. I love having little kids and I think they’re so fun at this age, but I cannot wait until the day I can contain all of their “stuff” to their rooms and not find random toys or books strewn about the house all. day. long. I remind myself that this is the season of life in which I will trade the joy of toddler hugs and baby cuddles for a less than perfect home, and the time will come when I get to have an “adult” house again someday.
BabyBoom says
As everyone else has noted – weekends with toddlers are just soo hard. I know covid makes this harder, but we have have a weekend babysitter for half a day on Sunday. Usually Sunday am, but sometimes we do afternoon. It is a lifesaver. We both know that every weekend we have 4 hours that we can catch up on work, maybe work out, maybe even laze about and read a book. It seems that there is a mental barrier to having extra-care on the weekends, esp when you are using that care while you are in the house! But if you can afford it – do it. Maybe your nanny would like some extra hours? This might put her into overtime, and would certainly put her at 6 days a week. However, even if she did it 1 weekend a month, it could give you a little breathing room.
As for splitting time, we would split time using increments that would vary from half-days down to 30 minutes – just depending on how exhausted we were and how crazy the kids were. I think it is also important to note that not all activities are the same level as hard. Going to the park was easy – so if mom 1 got the kids at the park for 1 hour, mom 2 might take the kids for the next 2 hours doing quiet activities at home. I also think it is worth talking to your spouse about what activities you find hard. For example, my wife thinks bath time is the hardest part of the day, I think it is pretty easy. I hate drop off, she doesn’t mind it. So she does drop off every day, I do bath every day – and we both feel like it’s a win.
It does get better. Our youngest is 4 and I just remarked on how much better the weekends are now. Even with no activities during covid, it just is easier. I’m sure after covid, when the kids are older I will complain about the rush of activities on weekends! But it’s hard to imagine it will be worse than the physical intensity that toddlers require.
Anonymous says
You sound totally normal for a pregnant woman with a toddler. You’re doing nothing wrong, this is just hard! Being *on* all day with a toddler is a lot of work, especially in an apartment when it’s more an effort (and supervision required) for the kid to go outside to play. I think my solution when my kid was that age was to send him to dig in the dirt in our fenced back yard and read a book or clean up while watching him out the window.
I try to enforce cleaning up one thing before you move on to the next, but success is mixed. My house is often a wreck while my kids are awake, and I do most of the heavy lifting for cleaning and tidying when the kids are outdoors or asleep. The key is to protect nap and early bedtime, so that you have some free time before you want to go to bed. Outdoor activities are your friend for encouraging sleep, and one parent going to the park while the other stays home for some peace and quiet might be really helpful. If we’re dividing and conquering like that, usually the parent who is NOT going to the park gets the kid(s) ready, so the one who is going can put shoes on, grab a water bottle, snacks, outerwear, masks, etc.
GCA says
You’re not doing it wrong – this is just weekend life with kids in a pandemic. We live in a 2br apartment with a 5yo and a 2yo We have a nanny 9-5 on weekdays for toddler, and she also picks the kindergartner up. On weekends the house is just not clean, period, and doesn’t get tidied up till after the kids are in bed.
We chunk the weekend up and trade off kid duty/ parent relax time. Most of this happens pretty organically since we don’t have anywhere to be or anyone to see during Covid. A sample schedule:
Morning – DH makes pancakes and smoothies, and I’m on kid duty. Then we trade off and he takes the kids outside while I meal prep a lot of things for the week. Sometimes we have a Zoom call with friends or family, or the kindergartner does a live Mandarin class.
Toddler naptime / big kid TV and Lego time – we catch up on sleep, work, exercise, etc.
Afternoon – kids play together or we take them outside for a bit. In the evening we might do a movie night, living room camp-out, kids help make pizza, or whatever.
Anonymous says
I’ve found that my weekends are more fun and less stressful when I plan a full slate of activities to do, even if the activities are really basic, like “go to a new playground” or “bake banana bread.” Having a schedule to stick to keeps us all on track, and we can also use the promise of future things to get our preschooler to do things she doesn’t want to do (eg., you have to take a bath if you want to go to the park).
My 3 year old still naps on weekends, so I usually plan 1-2 things for each of the four “blocks” of the weekend. For example, this weekend we have Saturday AM (1. Make french toast with challah bread we got at the farmer’s market, 2. Haircut for kiddo), Saturday PM (3. Visit a new-to-us playground. 4. Make a big pile of leaves in our yard and jump in them), Sunday AM (5. Make homemade zucchini chocolate bread. 6. Virtual birthday party for a friend), Sunday PM (7. Go to the neighborhood playground, 8. Decorate our driveway with chalk).
As you can see from this list, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but writing it out like this and talking it through with kiddo helps us all stay on track through the weekend. We do a lot of stuff as a family but we also make it a conscious effort to give each other time off – for example, I will do the haircut and probably the virtual party solo, and my husband will do the neighborhood playground and maybe the leaf raking solo.
KinderMom says
My 14 months old boy doesn’s say a single word yet. He babbles and says the typical ma-ma-ma pa-pa-pa but no real words yet. We are raising him bilingual (German, English) and people say that that contributes to the delay but I have found mixed reporting on that.
Is this something I should make an appointment for with the ped for or just wait for the next scheduled appointment at the end of the year?
Anonymous says
I don’t even think not having words at 14 months counts as a delay. 18 months is what I’ve heard as when to be concerned. I’d def wait for your next doctors appointment unless you have other reasons to be concerned.
EP-er says
Talk to your pediatrician if you are really worried, but 14 months is so early, especially with raising bilingual. 18-24 months without talking is more in the range of when to be worried. My kids were both late talkers (much closer to 3 years old) and we didn’t get referred to early intervention until 2.
Anon says
Just call your pediatrician and ask. If your doctor’s office is like mine, the front desk can transfer you to a nurse who takes down your question and gives you an answer over the phone or consults a provider and gets back to you about what is needed.
Anon says
Totally normal, IME. My kid had one word at 14 months and only a handful at her 15 month appointment. She had a huge language explosion at 18 months, and by the time she turned 2 she was speaking mostly in short sentences and seemed ahead of or on par with other kids her age.
My ped said children younger than 18 months cannot be classified as “delayed” or referred to a speech specialist, because until 18 months it is not that uncommon for language to be pretty minimal.
Anon says
Oh and she’s not bilingual, fwiw.
Anonymous says
My kids are German/English bilingual. Oldest was a late talker. Generally they want to see about ten words around a year and 20 words around 18 months. Things like ‘da’ for a parent or ‘ba’ for a bottle count as words at that age. My BFF is a speech language pathologist so we did a super early referral/assessment. Her receptive language was fine but her expressive language was slightly delayed – this combination is not uncommon with bilingual kids.
Receptive is the language they understand and expressive is the amount of language they say. We did a parent education course to learn how to better model language for her (skills work in both languages). Basically you have to be conscious of speaking at a lower level than the receptive level otherwise ‘talking’ seems too daunting to the kid to think that they can do it. E.g. speak in three words sentences even though kid understands 5-7 word sentences. The program we did is available as a book and DVD. I like the book, DH preferred to learn the strategies via DVD. http://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/It-Takes-Two-to-Talk.aspx
Finally, push the German language. It’s easy to learn English – it’s everywhere. And German is the harder of the two languages and less community exposure so you have to make the effort to keep it competitive with English.
Anon says
10 words at a year (12 months?) is a really aggressive language milestone (especially compared to 20 words at 18 months, since most kids have FAR more words at 18 months than 12 months). My pediatrician said they ideally wanted 5 words at 15 months, but was zero percent concerned when we didn’t have that. I looked online and found a lot of resources (eg. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/checkup-15mos.html) saying 3-5 words at 15 months is typical, and many kids who don’t meet that are perfectly normal.
Anon Lawyer says
Thank you, I was about to freak out since I thought it was 1 word at 12 months.
KinderMom says
We live in Germany right now, so German is all around us, he goes that German in-house daycare/tagesmutter, it feels like English needs to be pushed a little more.
Thanks for the book recommendation and explaination, that is really helpful!
Anon says
When my kid was the same age I was worried, doctor recommended speech pathologist (I think, in part, because it certainly does no harm). I found the speech pathologist very reassuring. She provided distinct strategies to encourage language development that we’ve since implemented. I’d absolutely go, if only for your peace of mind.
Ifiknew says
My son had 1 word at 14 months, Dada or maybe 0. He’s 17 months now and has about 8. Our doctor says for boys, she just wants 1 to 3 words by 18 months. I definitely would not worry. Boys are late talkers too from what I’ve heard
Help w DC neighborhoods says
I need recommendations on family-friendly DC neighborhoods (will definitely consider VA and MD). We lived in DC ten years ago, but that seems like a lifetime ago and we also have kids now, so a refresher would be helpful.
Metro stations nearest to jobs are Ballston and Navy Yard, although the Ballston job is WFH indefinitely and certainly would not be on location before fall 2021. Kids are 6 and 1, so we will need both a nearby school (preferably Catholic) and daycare.
Need a 3 bed, with barking if possible. In terms of monthly payments — I have like zero idea of what this will cost. Right now we pay $1,500/month for our mortgage on our 1,200 sqft house in the suburbs of the Midwest. I have a feeling that housing would be at least double, and maybe triple, that — is that about right?
Help w DC neighborhoods says
Barking = parking. No dogs here :)
Anon says
This is probably too far out in the suburbs for you, but Hyattsville MD checks all your boxes! Very family-friendly, in non-pandemic times there are tons of well-attended city events, has a very active Catholic community including a Catholic daycare and Catholic school through 8th grade (St Jerome’s Academy). For highschool there’s St Jerome’s Institute in Brookland (10 minute drive), DeMatha boys school in town or Elizabeth Seton girls’ school (10 minute drive). Mortgage or rent for a 3-bedroom house is around $2000-$2400 and it’s not a big city so parking isn’t an issue. We pay $1900/month for our 1600 sq ft house.
Navy Yard would be 25-30 minutes on the metro (same line), but getting to Ballston would be a pain, though.
Help w DC neighborboods says
Thank you! I remember that PG County was a big no for us last time, although I can’t quite put my finger on why. I’ll check it out. Many, many thanks.
Different Hyattsville Anon says
Another Hyattsville plug! We love PG County and have been here a few years. But I regularly get shocked responses from coworkers who haven’t thought about DC neighborhoods in 15+ years. Whatever made it a hard no last time has likely changed.
HVL Anon says
Yeah, we’ve only lived here for 5 years but I gather this area has changed a lot even in the past 10 years. Housing prices have shot up, for example.
Knope says
Hyattsville to Ballston is a ROUGH commute. Would not recommend for that reason.
Anonymous says
How committed are you to using the metro to commute? Living in Arlington could be ideal. I’m in South Arlington, near the metro, and can be in ballston or navy yard with a 15-minute drive when traffic isn’t terrible.
Help w DC neighborboods says
Totally fine with driving. We have two cars now and are planning to cut to one when we are there, but can keep two if that’s practical.
Anonymous says
Try the crystal city area (Aurora Hills— zip 22202). Lots of parks in walking distance, young families, several daycare options. Not familiar with the private school scene. You could find a true 3 BR SFH rental for $3500ish, or spend more and get a really nice place. The area may change a lot soon because of Amazons arrival, but for renting it shouldn’t be an issue.
anon a mouse says
The suggestion for South Arlington is a good one. If you are willing to drive and/or bus to metro, there are townhouses in the Fairlington/ParkFairfax area that will meet your needs, and there area ton of families in the community. A SFH will be substantially more expensive. Schools include St. Rita’s and Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria (within a mile or two).
Help w DC neighborhoods says
One request from DH: anything in DC proper? Capitol Hill, maybe? I hesitate to ask…
AwayEmily says
I have a number of friends with elementary-age kids who live in DC proper and love it (and send their kids to public schools, fwiw). One near Logan Circle, one in Petworth, and another in Trinidad-ish (near H Street NE).
Anonymous says
We live in the Navy Yard/SW area. If you’re looking to buy, there are townhouses around the area with what you want but frankly prices have skyrocketed and you need to move fast when putting in an offer. You will not find a rental even close to your current payment- it’s a lot of luxury apartments where studios are at least $2K a month.
It is a really fun area to live with kids- there are lots of parks, playgrounds, two rivers within walking distance, family friendly restaurants, all the free museums are fairly close (long walk, short bus ride, short metro ride), Nats park, Audi soccer field. Super short distance to downtown DC but you can also be in VA very quickly because we are close the major highways.
Lily says
If you might be interested in city living, you could consider Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. I commuted by car from Capitol Hill to Clarendon via 695 for a while and it was easy (Metro was fine but took longer). Navy Yard would be a walk or short bus ride. There are tons of families and a great community. St Peter’s Catholic Church has a school (K-8) that is well-regarded and Waterfront Academy is Catholic based. The neighborhood elementary schools are also quite good and PK is free. You would likely get into your zoned elementary school with an older sibling. We love the neighborhood but I recognize home prices have definitely gone up since we bought. Otherwise, I think Arlington makes a lot of sense.
Lily says
And since I see your DH has now requested Capitol Hill, I recommend looking for homes zoned for Brent, Peabody/Watkins, Van Ness, Maury if you go the public school route.
anon says
If you want public pre-K, then I’d look at homes zoned for Ludlow Taylor or JO Wilson. They’ll be a bit less expensive than homes near Eastern Market and have a good feeder pattern for middle school to Stuart Hobson.
anon a mouse says
Also depending on where you are coming from, make sure you check out the tuition for Catholic schools. They are less than the privates but still pricey, so factor that in.
DC Runner says
Have a K student in Peabody! Recommend Hill East/Stadium Armory/Kingman Park too. We’re in Kingman Park now and the proximity to Kingman Island and the fields has been a lifesaver!
govtattymom says
Welcome to the area! We love Old Town Alexandria. Our townhouse community has ample parking and is an easy commute to Navy Yard and Ballston (driving or metro). The area has lots of daycares and Catholic schools. Our place is 1700 square feet and three bedrooms. We are actually selling our place soon- let me know if that interests you and I can post a burner email. Good luck with your move!
anon says
In case it’s helpful, a 1,200 sq ft SFH in Arlington, near Ballston, will run you about $800-950K. You could look at Cherrydale or Waverly Hills. Ashton Heights and Westover are also lovely.
If you’re looking in Arlington, know that we’re in the midst of an elementary redistricting to be decided December 2nd. They’re also planning another elementary redistricting in 2 years with even more significant changes possible.
Knope says
I live in DC proper and love it but I echo others that Arlington is your best bet. The Hill would check your boxes when it comes to commuting distance and being family-friendly, but housing (townhouses or the few rentals that are there) is REALLY expensive. There also aren’t a ton of Catholic schools in that area. I’d go with Arlington based on what you’ve described.
H13 says
Has anyone done an online coding class for their kid? I have a 7 yo interested in learning and I have no idea where to start. Thanks!
Spirograph says
code.org is fantastic!
If you want more hands on attention, I heard an advertisement for Whitehat Jr on the radio the other day. No first hand experience, but it sounded pretty cool. You also might want to check with your kid’s school and see if they have any afterschool partnership classes – I know our public elementary has something with Panda Programmer.
anon says
We did a fun class on outschool with Sidney Shapiro – my kids are slightly older though, like 8 and 10
Anonymous says
I don’t know why I am in mod, but I have a couple pending responses!
Anon says
Any suggestions for easy, not messy art projects for a 2 year old. Daycare says she is “very artistic” so I feel guilty about the fact we never do art at home. Willing to spend money on supplies, less willing to spend a lot of time doing setup or cleanup. I would put her in an art class if I could, but alas Covid (very jealous of those with outdoor class options – in my red state, everything for kids is indoors with no masks required).
Anon says
ETA she’s almost 3 so I probably should have said 3 year old.
Anonymous says
This is meant nothing but kindly, in case it comes out differently, but if she is in fulltime daycare, I wouldn’t stress or feel guilty about this at all. This is one reason I went the daycare over nanny route— so I wouldn’t have to plan for and buy art supplies.
Spirograph says
This.
That said, we have a kid-height kitchen drawer with scrap paper, stickers, safety scissors, crayons, and stamps. My kids help themselves (and can, in theory, clean up after themselves) if an art mood strikes them.
Anon says
I hear you! And this is a big part of why we do daycare too. I don’t feel guilty, I just figured that since daycare has identified her as “artistic” I would see if there’s anything artsy we could do at home that’s not too much of a time sink for me.
Anonymous says
I would consider one of my kids “very artistic” and the others usually surprise me with how interested they are in crafts. One thing that’s been a huge hit: as The Activity for one day of the weekend, we go to the craft store, and let the kids pick one thing, then we do it when we get home.
They’ve picked everything from modeling clay to those posters with the fuzzy black stuff in negative space + markers, but it’s a good way to Do Art without just stocking up on a ton of random supplies when you’re not sure what might excite your kid on any given day.
Anonymous says
+1, I think daycare does enough activities that I don’t need to add on classes or anything in particular.
That said, at my house we just get supplies and let my similar-aged kid do what she wants. So we have paint, markers, paper, glue, and she does her deal. We got a smock and a placemat and that contains the mess. I think allowing for creativity is important – at least in my experience the arts/crafts at daycare are often more prescriptive and I don’t need to do them at home too (they often seem to require very specific things too).
tova says
My just turned 3 year old has done a few sets of Foam peel-stick kits from Michaels. They are meant for a party/event, so it makes 12 of the same thing in a few variations, but we have split it up over several days and she gets “better” at doing them subsequent rounds
example – search for Snowman Foam Craft Kit by Creatology™ at Michaels.
We have done pumpkins (easiest), halloween guys, medium, and turkey (too hard, too many pieces, and they don’t fit on the given based) but 2/3 were hits.
Clementine says
Low stress/effort for us is having a basket with a small amount of paper/crayons (literally like 20 crayons), maybe some washable markers (color wonder are good with the special coloring paper), etc. Waiting for dinner? Here honey, want to draw me a picture?
In the winter, one of the ‘fun’ activities is painting in the shower. I tape paper to the wall, give them a paper plate as an ‘artist’s palate’, and let them craft to their heart’s desire. I dry this art on the clothing drying rack in the laundry room and have them paint in their skivvies then do the clean-up themselves (also a fun activity). I then just give them a bath and hose down the whole area and DONE. I play on my phone while they’re painting and offer my artistic encouragement.
Boston Legal Eagle says
+1 to crayons and markers aplenty in a big container that they can reach and access, along with blank white paper and the color wonder papers. My kids (even the 2 year old) can occupy themselves with that for a while.
Anonymous says
Just have markers/crayons/stickers and some paper available. Alex Jr craft kits are great for that age. Our markers/paper are right by the table so DD (3.5) usually picks it up when I am busy. We have an easel and paint too but that takes more effort on my part.
Anonymous says
Thank you for this suggestion! Not OP, but I have been trying to find craft kits for my kid and these are exactly what I was looking for!
Anonymous says
We have a Melissa and Doug easel (white board, chalk board and paper roll) that is pretty compact and easy to use.
anon says
Watercolor paints (I buy the old school crayola) or bath crayons (test these first – they can be hard to get out of some baths). I also have crayons + Melissa & Doug Jumbo Coloring Pad in “Animals” that kiddo loves. My almost 3 year old also love chalk, but I hate chalk.
TheElms says
Cut shapes out of construction paper and glue them onto other paper? If she finds cutting frustrating you can buy pre-cut shapes. Bonus if you have things like googly eyes, pom poms and pipe cleaners to glue on as well. You can also cut out pictures from magazines.
Water colors / paint on paper are pretty easy to clean up as long as you get the washable variety and you could paint fun things like an egg carton and then add eyes (googly eyes, antennae and legs (pipe cleaners) to make a caterpillar? Sidewalk chalk while its still nice-ish out.
Take a long roll of paper and draw the basics of a city (road / a few buildings) and have her color it and add other things (people, more buildings, trees, flowers, etc). Once its done she can drive toy cars on it.
Save a giant box and let her paint or draw inside that. Contains the mess.
Anon says
DH and I are not artsy, so the 3YO does this mostly unsupervised. Watercolors (old school row of 8 or whatever) with various paint brushes on one of those big crayola pads (out of reach unless we set it up, but minimal supervision required). Then I got a large bin, and we put in it kid friendly scissors, stencils, glue sticks, pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, wooden craft sticks, construction paper, drawing pad and stickers. Separately we keep a shoe-box size tub (out of reach unless active art time due to some now decorated wall incidents) filled with an assortment of colored pencils, jumbo crayons and regular crayons. I don’t like markers because even the washable ones can be tricky to get off of things vs a magic eraser cleans up any stray pencil or crayon marks. We can generally just open the box and let her be creative and not get too fussed about the mess. Also the glue stick doesn’t hold the poms or eyes on very well, so if she’s not looking later that day, I can pull them off, put them back in the bag, and she can reuse them!
Pogo says
On the struggle bus today, day 5 of solo parenting a newborn and a snarky preschooler. I know this will get easier as they both get older and someday life returns to normal and I go back to work, but right now especially with this snow I’m in a mood.
Any cute kid stories to brighten up the day?
Anon says
Oof, that is hard. Hang in there – it will get easier. :)
My husband and almost 3-year old carved their first jack-o-lantern last night and it was so cute to watch. She named it Address Pumpkin, which I’m finding endlessly amusing. I love the weird names kids come up with.
Cb says
We asked T if he was ready and he replied “I was born ready!” and he looked so cute in his farmer “costume” this am.
Anonymous says
My daughter was super excited to dress up as the Count from Sesame Street for Halloween- we gave her her costume last night. She’s spent all night and this morning wearing it and speaking in the third person. “The Count is coming downstairs” “Daddy, the Count is ready for dinner” “Mommy, the Count would like to listen to Frozen in the car”. She’s also spent a lot of time admiring her costume in the mirror.
Anon says
One of my two year old twins has a runny nose, but started saying “my nose is running” and then the other twin wanted to know where/got mad when the nose was still on his face
Eve says
I think most of the sale is happening online rather than offline especially due to pandemic and election time. I got to know about PUREVPN offering 62% off on their major plans.