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I really like this blouse from Ann Taylor. When you think about a robin’s egg blue top with flowers and ruffles, it could easily fall into the “too girly” category for me, but somehow this top works. I like the bold colors and the larger graphic of the flowers, and the ruffles are small and nicely placed. The model is wearing it with the neck button open, but it can also be buttoned up to close the collar.
I kinda love everything about the styling of this outfit — the top with the large, skinny gold hoops and jeans with the cool waist. Plus, light blue looks good on camera for all of those Zoom meetings!
The top is $89.50 at Ann Taylor and comes in regular and petite sizes. Floral Ruffle-Sleeve Blouse
Sales of note for 3.26.24
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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?
anon says
My headache of the week: hybrid school for young elementary students. A week or so ago I asked about people’s experience with kids in school with masks and got an overwhelmingly positive response. I’ve still been struggling with the decision because my community is identifying anyone who signs up for hybrid as “teacher haters” or “teacher killers” who are condemning teacher to get COVID and die. The rhetoric is off the charts. Our school district isn’t helping because it’s only allowing teachers to bow out of the hybrid teacher pool if they have a documented medical condition.
So on top of this background insanity, last night the school district announced a new plan for K-2 hybrid. The plan is that kids will be required to spend their entire day at their desks unless they are going to be bathroom or one 15 minute recess where they will still wear masks and cannot be closer than 6′ to other students. At their desks, students will have their iPads and headphones. Their classroom teacher will broadcast virtual class from her desk at the front of the room for kids who are both in person and at home. The teacher will not be allowed to get up from her desk or to interact with any of the in person students except through their iPads.
In my mind this is insane. It may solve 2 days of childcare (assuming you don’t need before or aftercare), but it does nothing to improve education for K-2 students. The other days are 2 days of DL and 1 day of asynchronous iPad work. Our Principal was gushing over how this is a great idea and how much she wants students back in school. I just can’t understand. Does this even partially resemble anyone else’s in person option right now?
Anonymous says
This is insanity. Our pre-K in-person requires masks. They can come off at naptime, while eating, and at recess/gym. The kiddos in my daughters class (16 total) don’t interact with any other kids at the school unless they ride a bus. On the bus they must wear masks and only share seats with family members. Otherwise the activities are normal…just masked. They sit at 4 tables of 4 kids. Those 4 kids don’t change and are considered your pod for eating and naptime. Meals are eaten at the tables in the classroom. Other adults sometimes go in and out of the classroom. Kiddo has two classmates with special needs, and sometimes an extra adult or two comes in to give those kiddos extra help. We’re comfortable with it. Our community is comfortable with it. Teachers aren’t going crazy.
Anon says
My district isn’t doing hybrid so the in-person students have full-time classroom instruction and don’t use iPads except when they have to do a temporary quarantine from home. The kids wear masks, are supposed to stay at their desks and not get within 6′ of each other though, although I think the distancing is not really enforced at outdoor recess.
The teacher not being able to interact with the kids except through the iPads would be off-putting to me. I agree that removes a lot of the benefit of in-person instruction. I wouldn’t worry about people branding you a teacher killer or whatever, who cares what other people think.
Anon says
Yeah this is a strange set-up. +1 to ignoring people branding you teacher killers. I wouldn’t want to be friends with those people anyways. I’d still probably try sending kids in for hybrid even with all these restrictions. My daughter has fun talking to her friends at neighboring desks and I think they’re staying pretty separate!
anon says
The pressure I’m really feeling is that teachers are judging parents for their choice. I like my kid’s teachers and don’t want them to get sick, but I also need my kid to learn something. Teachers are taking it personally if a parent chooses hybrid and I’m very concerned that choosing hybrid will lead to a reputation that I’m unsupportive of teachers in a way that will trail my child throughout elementary school.
Disgusted says
I’m absolutely disgusted by teachers with this attitude (which is definitely not all teachers). Yes, the nature of the job, like millions of others, has changed somewhat. The majority of the people on the front line of these changes have a lot fewer advantages than the average teacher. We’re all aware of and dealing with it. If it doesn’t work for you anymore, personally, that’s understandable, but the job still needs to be done, in the same way that food has to be distributed and medical care has to be provided.
If they want to call me a “teacher-hater” for this, fine. I didn’t hate anyone before, but the folks with this attitude are doing their best to earn it.
Anonymous says
I’m sorry, this all sucks. Every alterative seems bad right now. I’m in NYC, and my husband is a high school teacher, and we are sending our 3rd grader son to hybrid public school. We had some similar rhetoric here about protecting teachers in September and it was really hard for me to deal with, because I felt like we were getting it from both sides. (My husband actually wanted to go back). I had a couple friends I had to temporarily block on Facebook. Our hybrid is about to be shut down, as we are hot-spot adjacent in Brooklyn, but it has not been ideal. The problem everywhere is that schools don’t have enough teachers to staff smaller in-person classes plus remote classes plus hybrid classes on at-home days. So either you have teachers teaching in-person and remote at the same time, which is what your school is doing, you hire more teachers (not an option in NYC right now), or someone gets screwed on live instruction. Our school is doing basically no synchronous instruction on hybrid at-home days, since the DOE made a deal with the teachers union that teachers cannot be required to teach remote and in-person students simultaneously. My husband, however, is doing just that because there was no alternative; his school doesn’t have anyone else who can teach his rather arcane subject. He said it is really hard. I think it is probably more appropriate for high school than elementary. For our son, we were trying to wait and see how well this flawed hybrid model worked for him – I think Zoom instruction isn’t necessarily better than pre-recorded video lessons and independent work, at least for our kid, and we really really value in-person instruction for him. We can switch to full remote, which would have a lot more live instruction, at any time. But he’s only had 2 days of in-person school so far (1-2 days a week) and I’m pretty sure our school is going to be shut down for 2 weeks by Friday.
Re: the other rules – my son is staying in his room all day. They deliver breakfast and lunch and kids eat at their desks. They are outside a little at the end of the day I think but they are trying to keep kids 6 feet apart at all times. He has a bathroom in the classroom. My husband’s principal initially decreed that their students would not be allowed to removed masks at all during the school day, not even to drink water (!) or eat. Husband said this is ridiculous; I’m not depriving students of water for 6 hours. But I think they may not get a lunch break at all still. He is also not supposed to eat in his classroom as that would require removing his mask, even when he is alone in there. He’s ignoring this because he thinks it is safer for him to stay in the room than try to navigate the halls to go outside or to the cafeteria to eat. (He’s in a massive building). It’s all bananas. And now my son has a runny nose, so I guess I’m going to try to get him a COVID test today. Husband is exhausted, but it could be stress as well as illness. Have I mentioned I hate this?
anon says
The original plan had been to have three asynchronous days and two in person days, which sounds similar to what you have. Under that plan, I was hopeful that it would give my kid at least two normal-ish days where she could actually learn something. I assumed that kids could work with neighboring partners while seated at their desks. I thought they’d be able to get some social time at outdoor recesses. I was hopeful that a teacher could walk around the room and give feedback/redirection to students. I was also planning to supplement on shorter asynchronous days to make sure my kid wasn’t falling father behind, given that the virtual content has all been remedial thus far. I don’t know what to do with this new plan.
Anonymous says
In our case, I think they are really serious about keeping kids 6 feet apart, so I doubt a lot of collaborative work is happening. I think they are doing some socializing, but from a distance. I do think the teacher is interacting with them some, but they are probably trying to stay distant. In your case, I would take what the principal says with a grain of salt – it is up to the teachers to actually implement it, and I doubt they will do what you are describing to the letter.
FVNC says
I don’t have anything constructive to add, but this is awful. It’s the worst of both worlds and really seems borderline…cruel is not the right word, but…completely lacking understanding of a young child’s capacity to sit still for longer than 30 min at a time. In contrast, my 2nd grader’s school is providing more recess than normal and holding as many classes outside as possible. I’m so sorry; I think I’d pull my child from school if they weren’t allowed to get up from their desk for more than 15 min each day + bathroom breaks.
Anon says
Yes, this doesn’t sound developmentally appropriate at all. I’m not even sure the benefits outweigh the costs just in terms of how a child this age should be spending their day.
Anonymous says
This is a big reason why we took the 100% remote option. There is zero educational benefit to being in a classroom during on-line instruction, and a lot of risk.
I wouldn’t worry about being branded a teacher-killer, though. Several families I was certain would go remote ended up opting for in-person, including some who are a till involved in advocating for 100% remote instruction for everyone. They were all afraid their kids would miss out on something if they kept them home. It turns out that all they would have missed out on was repeated rounds of quarantine for COVID exposure.
EP-er says
Our district started out 100% remote, kids assigned to classroom teachers. We were just given the option to return to school. It was originally pitched as 2 days/half the class in person, half virtual M & T; everyone remote Wednesday; then in-person switches TH & F. I was maybe okay with that, since 10 vector points. But instead, they went back to 5 day/week in person for those who want to, so 16? 18? 20? vector points. It was really unclear how many people were coming back. Our district said that they couldn’t guarantee social distancing, nor could they share classroom layout. They are supposed to have mask breaks & outdoor time.
We choose to stay home — every 4 weeks we can reevaluate our choice. I want to see how virtual works with the kids in the class — we also were told to bring iPad & headphones every day for in person. For us, 100% remote is working remarkably well. My middle schooler was given the 2 day option, but we let him pick & he chose to stay home.
Part of me thinks that this first four weeks is the only chance until mid-Jan to go to school in person. I think that post-Thanksgiving to the mid January are going to be a surge in outbreaks based on family visits/travelling. But my dad is very high risk and we had a very scary personal situation with COVID, so we are continuing to hunker down.
anon says
Unfortunately, the school district has stated that this is the only opportunity we’ll have to choose between virtual and hybrid until the pandemic is over. They’re reassigning kids to new teachers based on virtual/hybrid cohorts and shuffling teachers between grades for medical need, so they aren’t willing to do it again.
My 7yo hasn’t been able to engage or learn anything virtually at this point, so choosing to stay virtual feels like writing off the whole school year. She spends 6 hours a day on the iPad as teachers present remedial content that is far below her ability (e.g., letter shapes and sounds for 2nd graders), but then is too fried to do anything educational to supplement/make up for the lack of learning.
Anonymous says
It doesn’t sound like she would be learning anything different in person. I would pull her and homeschool. Is she in second grade? You could cover more than the usual school curriculum in 1 – 2 hours a day at home.
anon says
Yeah, unfortunately with work I really don’t have the bandwidth to homeschool and, despite initial high hopes, our pandemic nanny isn’t really competent to teach anything.
I’m still trying to figure out how to pivot since this was just announced last night. The original school plan had been to have two normal-ish in school days (with 10 students per class) and three asynchronous days. That seemed like an improvement for my daughter.
I now have to decide if the school is going to stick with this crazy plan or if it will innovate and find ways to engage students in person once hybrid is running and the hysteria has died down. It seems so improbable to me that they’ll be able to keep K-2 students at their desks for 7 hours without movement breaks while disciplining them through iPads only. Something will have to give.
Clementine says
That sounds… awful.
FWIW, my kid is in school. It’s 14 kids in his class but they also put twins together in a class and arranged so that families already in a pod had kids in classes together if possible. The kids all eat in the classrooms, they go outside multiple times a day, kids are at individual desks separated by 5/6 feet (they don’t have a carpeted area anymore and kids are up against the windows).
Kids wear masks unless they’re eating. A few times a day, when all the kids are seated at their (socially distanced) desks, they get a 5 minute ‘mask break’. I didn’t think it would work, but the kids are… totally fine with it.
anne-on says
+1 – this sounds terrible and like the worst of all possible worlds.
My son’s school has a set up similar to Clementine’s and the classroom is large enough that they have a designated ‘mask break’ area in the back, next to a window, with a fan, which the kids can use individually as needed. They are also doing as much outside as possible (reading class outside, outside sports, lots of extra recess, etc.).
Anon says
so where i live, hybrid learning is not allowed by the governor and things are slated to start in-person soon, but for some of the high schools they will be sitting in their classrooms essentially doing the same thing they were doing at home bc the high schools are so big, but that is so different than little kids
Anonymous says
This is insane. It’s like a learning hub, but staffed by a teacher, which frankly is a waste of the teacher’s talents. The sitting at their desks is reasonable, but surely recess should be longer than 15 minutes and they need other movement breaks!
My mom teaches in a district doing hybrid, but she actually interacts with the kids in the classroom, and those are normal-ish school days without computers for the kids. Kids are required to stay seated except for breaks, but she is allowed to move around the classroom if needed. She said that actually feels OK to her, since she’s always standing and the kids are always sitting, so they’re never face-to-face. The virtual days are asynchronous lessons/independent work in her district. It’s apparently a challenge to keep the two groups in synch (especially in weeks with a holiday), but basically she has in person lessons and virtual lessons, she just has to teach the in person ones twice.
No Face says
I have been very glad that I do not have Facebook. I have no idea if people think I am a “teacher killer.”
Your school district’s K-2 plan is dumb – worst of both worlds. I would rather just homeschool/ unschool with lots of playdates than that.
As a data point, Pre K kid is back in person. They all wear masks except when eating. They modified procedures so that the kids stay with their classroom – dividing the playground into different areas, made more separate outdoor spaces, music teachers appears remotely in the classroom instead of all the classes traveling to her room, etc. At circle time, the kids sit in assigned chairs instead of sitting on the rugs, etc.
Anonymous says
This sounds like the plan for DC schools starting in November…except there they want to break up classrooms into smaller groups so are trying to track down more adults to supervise groups of kids doing virtual learning.
DC Runner says
yeah, I’m not thrilled about the DC plans. at all.
Anonymous says
I also have a 7 year old. We are in the Boston suburbs and currently she’s hybrid. She goes M/Th regular hours. She takes the bus (it now has 7 kids on it). Lunch is delivered to the classroom, but they have trips to the bathroom, mask breaks whenever they want (there are designated areas) and recess. When in the classroom, they do not use computers except when they do the whole group “check ins” with the other cohort that is working remotely.
On T/Fri the other group goes and she does mostly asynchronous learning with a couple of checkpoints. It’s a lot of busy work.
On Wednesdays, she has a fully virtual half day. The entire class is online listening to the teacher for 3.5 hours with two breaks.
We send her to a local YMCA-like program during school hours on remote days. It keeps her busy and with two other young kids I can’t manage to work and teach and deal with them.
I asked her how she felt about being in the classroom (ie not leaving) 9-3 all day. “Mom I love it. I want to be there every day!!!”
I think hybrid is silly and all the working parents in my town are cobbling together care that exacerbates their exposure. But human interaction, even masked and at a distance, is so much better than computers at this age.
Don’t get me started on the fact that “specials” (music, art, orchestra, gym, library, Spanish) are all remote. Remote art, gym and music/orchestra are the WORST.
AwayEmily says
How do people deal with older-kid night wakeups? My 2.5-yo wakes up at about 3am every morning and piteously moans for awhile. Sometimes he is able to put himself back to sleep, and sometimes he gets progressively louder until I go in and say “time to sleep. shhhh.” Then he falls back asleep immediately. Either way I’m awake for a half hour, which sucks. Luckily he is not loud enough to wake up his sister, with whom he shares a room. He’s never panicked/screaming.
I think he genuinely WANTS to be able to put himself back to sleep — he’s really proud on the mornings that he manages it. He has a lovey and a nightlight in his crib, we’ve talked about how important it is for him to go back to sleep and strategies for making himself comfortable. I am kind of at a loss for what to do.
Anonymous says
It’ll pass, just get up, reassure him and put yourself back to bed. Alternate nights with DH so you can sleep with earplugs and sleep through the wakeups 3/4 nights a week.
Anon says
What if you tucked him in with books and if he wakes up he can read quietly until he is ready to go back to sleep? My kid hasn’t ever slept through the night consistently despite trying everything we and everyone else we know could think of. Our livable solution is that if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she can come down the hall and crawl in our bed (where she sleeps soundly), but no crying and no waking up the adults. I probably wake up half the time, and half the time I don’t. She’s 3 and out of the crib, so it’s helpful that she can do it herself without me having to get up. And then I try to enjoy the morning snuggles and remind myself that she won’t still be sleeping with us by the time she goes to college.
Realist says
I would be inclined to try the Twilight Turtle or something similar. The turtle plays some soft music and lights up for about 30 minutes. Maybe it would be enough to turn the turtle on and soothe himself back to sleep.
Anonymous says
I just figure sleep is going to suck until my kiddo is a teenager. At which point I’ll be too old to sleep well anyway. At least this is what all the 55+ adults in my life tell me.
Anon says
+1. I feel like all these people who talk about “sleeping through the night” must have magical children and I can’t comprehend it. My 5 and 3 yr olds are each still up at least a couple nights a week… I tell myself it’s a phase, it will pass, the years are short, etc but it’s still annoying!
ugh says
Same ages, same frequency. I don’t think it’s a phase at this point!
10:35 Anon says
I feel like I have a good sleeper compared to lots of friends kids. And still there are phases were she is up a lot. Right now she just was night trained, and she needs to go potty at some point most nights (and by most, I mean easily 90% of the time. But I can’t really hold it against her – she goes to bed around 7:45 and gets up around 7:00. I, too, do not have a bladder that can handle that. And it is still pretty new to make her go herself.
Anonymous says
Have you tried a “dream pee?” My 5 year old will wake up on the early morning hours to pee unless we take him around 11 when we go to bed. He Is SOUND asleep at that hour and pretty much doesn’t wake up (we carry him, direct him to the toilet etc). I’m a light sleeper so would be woken up at 4 am otherwise by his bathroom visit, and he has a lot more trouble going beck to sleep at 4 or 5 am than from the 11 pm bathroom trip.
Anonymous says
We had a more extreme version of this and hired a sleep consultant. At that age, we had a sticker chart and talked up how he was a big boy and if he slept all the way through the night without waking mommy and daddy, he’d get a special treat (usually something tangible in the morning like a special breakfast treat) or if he didn’t, there’d be a consequence (no Daniel Tiger or something). We also waited for him to come into our room before silently walking him back. The idea was to not engage at all, if possible, and to make him go to the effort of coming all the way out and into the hallway. The idea was to wake him up a bit so he was aware of his choices. It actually worked pretty well.
AwayEmily says
Thanks all. These are really helpful suggestions. We have tried negative consequences (if you yell, we will move you into the pack-n-play in the guest room — he hates being away from his sister so this was a serious one). Basically we follow through on the consequence, he’s fine for two days, then it starts again. Perhaps rewards would work better. I like the idea of the soft music, too (he already has books in his crib and a nightlight he can turn on to read them — he uses them before bed and in the morning but I think at the 3am wakeups he’s not quite awake enough to do that).
Tweeter says
My son is about to be 2 and I would like to introduce some TV. I would like to keep it educational. Any recommendations for programs? Over the past month we’ve watched some YouTube songs, so I’ve seen Cocomelon, Blippi, Sesame Street, and Daniel Tiger. Are those among the best choices? Also when do you watch it? He goes to daycare so I don’t imagine watching on weekdays. Do you do it like one show after nap on weekends? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!
Cb says
We do an hour after naptime. He knows he gets TV from 3-4 and doesn’t ask for it otherwise.
Anonymous says
My kids are animal obsessed so we also like nature shows/clips. A lot more zoos and aquariums are posting things since the pandemic started.
Anonanonanon says
I hate Daniel Tiger. It was great for my first kid, but my youngest acts out when she watches it. Daniel just has SO MANY FEELINGS and she likes to mimic that and it is not helpful.
We like Dinosaur Train because it’s somewhat educational (on a very specific topic, but sure) and the dinos don’t really argue or get grumpy. They’re all nice to eachother.
Love Sesame Street. Mine likes Elmo’s World too.
Non-educational, but I’ve recently introduced the late 1970s winnie the pooh animated movie and she liked it. I like Pooh because it’s calm, focuses on friendship, etc.
We do TV before nap, mostly to get mommy and daddy through that last hour before nap time. Sometimes during the week TV happens early in the morning while my husband gets ready for work (he works out of the house) so I can crank out some work before he leaves
avocado says
Ha, my mom had the same issue with Mister Rogers back in the day. There was an episode about being afraid to start kindergarten, and apparently I was confused because I wasn’t scared and thought I was supposed to be.
Cb says
Ooh the 1970s Pooh is lovely! We like Dinosaur Train, Tittipo, Thomas, Chuggington, Cory Carson, and Stinky and Dirty (clearly kiddo is train obsessed).
Some of the British children’s books productions are also amazing – Room on the Broom, Gruffalo, The Tiger Who Came to Tea.
Anon says
we do tv post nap on weekends, and when im trying to prep dinner on weekdays and am solo parenting. we do daniel tiger for our 2 year old twins. i actually like it and think it is cute. sometimes my twins act out the plots and say they are mad or whatever, but i like that they are learning to name feelings. im not ready to introduce a second show bc i dont want them to know there is a choice
AwayEmily says
Echoing what everyone said to have a specific TV-watching period so that they don’t ask for it otherwise. Ours is 15 minutes (ie exactly half of a Daniel Tiger) while we get the kids dressed before daycare, and another 15 minutes in the evening if a grownup is parenting on their own and needs to prepare dinner. I recommend saving the TV for when you really need it (for me, I wouldn’t need it after nap because that’s when I just got a whole bunch of time to myself).
For a 2yo, Daniel Tiger and Peppa Pig.
Anonymous says
Down with Blippi.
At age 2 my kids loved Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Super Why, and Wild Kratts. I can’t stand Super Why and find Sid annoying, but the others are tolerable. You can watch full episodes through the PBS Kids app. We have an HDMI adapter for the iPad so we can watch on the big TV.
Anon says
Content-wise, check out PBSKids. You can watch via app or TV. My favorites (i.e., least annoying) for my 3YO are Sesame Street (the only reason she knows letters and numbers), Esme and Roy (good calming techniques), Curious George (she thinks monkeys are adorable), Wild Kratts (lots of animals and nature info) and Dinosaur Train (dino info). At the younger age, it was a lot easier for kiddo to watch TV on the TV (i.e., she didn’t know that phones played shows). I recommend keeping the fiction as long as possible! We actually don’t limit screentime in any organized fashion, so kiddo watches whenever she wants, particularly these days with WFH, but she is good about self-limiting (i.e., she rarely sits in front of the TV for long and would rather do other things) and we don’t have behavioral issues stemming from it which makes us a rarity.
HSAL says
My two year olds love Daniel Tiger, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is GREAT for educational stuff. We don’t do a ton of Sesame Street, but occasionally I play the songs on YouTube. We don’t do any tv during the week, but the weekends we usually watch some in the morning while one parent sleeps in, and maybe a little more in the afternoon. When my oldest (almost 5) was younger the more tv she watched the worse she behaved so we had to limit her, but she’s fine now and so far the twins don’t seem to have the same problem. Since you haven’t watch much tv yet, assume that his attention span will be pretty short.
Anon says
There are a couple of new PBS shows Eleanor Wonders Why and Molly of Denali that I really like. Your kid might be a touch on the young side for them but check them out! Otherwise, agreed with the others, Elmo’s World, Sesame Street, Wild Kratts are great, and I also do some Peppa. Peppa isn’t super educational but it does cover some social skills type content.
Spirograph says
We allow TV on weekend mornings until 9. When the kids were little, one of us would get up and go doze on the couch after turning on a show. Now the kids how to use the DVR and Netflix, so they’ll just go find their own things and we can sleep! We have a Kids profile on Netflix and Prime so they don’t stumble on anything inappropriate.
When they were younger, I gave them the following options:
Paw Patrol (bleh, but they learned about it at school and loved it)
Bubble Guppies
Daniel Tiger
Mister Rogers Neighborhood
Sesame Street
Agree with everyone else that you need a designated TV time so that your child will 1. be prepared for it to be time-limited, and 2. not ask for it constantly. I found TV –> nap transition difficult, and “you can watch one show after naptime if you are good at staying quietly in your bed” was a good incentive, so in addition to morning cartoons, TV during the groggy post-nap wakeup was our choice for littles. Now we allow screens after 5pm until dinnertime, but usually they choose Minecraft, ABC Mouse, or another game rather than a TV show.
Anonymous says
Elinor Wonders Why. It’s a new PBS Kids show. My boys (3 and 4) love it.
Anne says
Daniel Tiger is our favorite hands down – if I could be half the parent his parents our our life would be amazing. Doc McStuffins is fun if you’re willing to buy a season or two. Dora’s solid. Bubble guppies are harmless. We do an hour after naptime.
Anonymous says
Doc McStuffins is on Hulu!
My kids 2, 4) have long watched that and Daniel Tiger. At their grandparents’ they were introduced to Nature Cat and Lets Go Luna, so those are in the rotation now as well.
Anne says
Amazing! Thanks!
Anon says
also on Disney+
rosie says
I would start with Daniel Tiger and then explore some of the other PBS kids shows (we watch on the app, either Roku or iPad). Molly of Denali is our (parent) favorite. My child also likes Superwhy, Elinor Wonders Why, Pinkalicious, and Dinosaur Train. I highly recommend the app though — and you can get the PBS kids games app when you’re ready to do that.
Anon says
We typically do 20-30 minutes of TV in the mornings on the weekends (mostly so my husband and I can have a cup of coffee uninterrupted – what a luxury!) and roughly 30 minutes in the evenings on a daily basis so I can get dinner on the table. These are the semi-education shows my 2.5 year old enjoys:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Doc McStuffins
Charlie’s Colorforms City (Netflix)
Daniel Tiger
Sesame Street
Beat Bugs (Netflix) – not as educational but the music is great and it’s adorable that she knows almost all of the words to Yellow Submarine
Motown Magic (Netflix) – same comment as above
CCLA says
A couple of additional ones I didn’t see mentioned yet that our 2yo likes: stinky and dirty (plot is compressible for I’d say 3+, definitely goes over the 2yo’s head, but she adores it anyway), and Leo Junior (Leo the Truck), which is a super basic animated series in about 6 minute clips, very calmly narrated, where they build things. I found it annoying at first but now it is pleasant background noise.
Anonymous says
Thank you all, really appreciate it!
Paging movie party poster from yesterday says
So I saw you replied on some but not Zombies – has your DD already seen it? Because my Descendants loving 6 yo really is obsessed. It’s on Disney Plus!
Anon says
Anyone have inspirational stories to share about resolving diastasis recti? I’ve been doing the Every Mother program, just started seeing a physical therapist who gave me tips on breathing and exercises, but I’ve been doing this for over 5 months now and have seen little progress. I’ve only reduced the pooch but about an inch and the bulge is still very obvious. For those that were able to resolve it, how long did it take? I do try to do the exercises every day but sometimes don’t have time. Do I have to do it every day for it to work? Help! I’m feeling pretty down about my body these days. Almost 11 months post-partum.
Anon says
It sounds like you’ve been doing stuff on your own for five months and doing PT for a very short amount of time. Think of this as being new to PT with five months of prep work and give the PT some time.
If you’ve been in PT for five months, get a new physical therapist.
Clementine says
Any suggestions for a slipper for a two year old? I want something other than socks because this kid HATES socks (like, we had an issue at daycare when she learned how to take off her own shoes where she would take her shoes off, pull off her socks, put back on her shoes, and hide the dirty socks).
Doesn’t matter what brand. Kid also just has really hot little feet… but with winter coming, I want some type of a slipper option for her to wear in the house. My issue is that they don’t seem to come in small enough sizes.
The rest of us wear LLBean type slippers – rubber sole, fleece lining. Any suggestions for my chubby footed little munchkin?
anon says
https://www.landsend.com/products/toddlers-sherpa-fleece-bootie-slippers/id_326513?attributes=31688&source=GS¤cy=USD&geo=US&skumv=5274294&promotion-code=NUT&promotion-pin=0&cm_mmc=139971612&SC=pla_brand&CMPGN=1339125246&ADGRP=108562677260&KYW=&MT=&DV=c&PID=5274294&TRGT=pla-946496897755&gclid=CjwKCAjwzvX7BRAeEiwAsXExo3tiq3jDhGOBzFeFwgcmz-cqFetv6s0oNbrZi3xbOr7Xy8M1g-yXhhoCAWMQAvD_BwE&gclid=CjwKCAjwzvX7BRAeEiwAsXExo3tiq3jDhGOBzFeFwgcmz-cqFetv6s0oNbrZi3xbOr7Xy8M1g-yXhhoCAWMQAvD_BwE&CH=Google%20AdWords&_cclid=Google_CjwKCAjwzvX7BRAeEiwAsXExo3tiq3jDhGOBzFeFwgcmz-cqFetv6s0oNbrZi3xbOr7Xy8M1g-yXhhoCAWMQAvD_BwE
Party Animal says
+1. My 2-year old is obsessed with these “lippers”
Anonymous says
Can’t get mine we wear them and the cold doesn’t seem to bother him. Either grippy socks or just bare feet if he refuses socks. Seriously he doesn’t seem to mind.
Anonymous says
Old Navy usually has some bootie-type slippers with a knit cuff in toddler sizes.
Anonymous says
Minnetonka? But i would just do bare feet unless you live somewhere crazy cold
Anon says
These are good https://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=135757002&vid=1&tid=gppl000001&kwid=1&ap=7&gclid=CjwKCAjwzvX7BRAeEiwAsXExox6FcToNVt4c4JSKp-oVCy27DGxh9ye8jGDPjI0sJxjhufRwLcOU7RoCOz0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#pdp-page-content
But I also second letting her go barefoot if she wants to. My kids prefer it to slippers most of the time (and we only heat our house to like 65…)
CCLA says
We use the estamico ones – key is the elastic ankle so that kiddo can put them on and off easily but they stay on. They seem to run about a full size large. I would also (and do) totally let them just run barefoot around the house, but these have been a great solution for when kiddo wants to have cozy feet but not slip around in socks.
anon says
+1 We bought these last year after they were recommended on this site. They don’t seem to last longer than a season, but by the next year my kids needed the next size up anyway.
Anon says
My toddler wears booties – I feel like they’re basically slippers and he’ll shuffle off real slippers.
Clementine says
Thanks, guys!
Here’s the thing: kid LOVES shoes, just doesn’t like socks. I actually don’t think she’d wear anything with an ankle cuff so going to see if Minnetonka has them in small enough sizes.
(And yes, we’ve tried MANY different socks. Kid just likes that no sock life.)
anon says
Lands End Toddlers Sherpa Fleece Bootie Slippers
Daycare says
Has communication with your daycare changed since COVID? I have no idea what is going on for my toddler anymore. They are staffing the classes more leanly and I think the teachers are exhausted and so skipping parent communication. The teachers used to regularly post pictures and send daily reports with basic info – length of nap, did she eat lunch, an activity she did – and that has totally ceased. There isn’t an opportunity to chat at drop off or pickup because it happens outside and there is a line of kids waiting to get in. My kid is fine once she gets there but has been really stalling to leave in the morning and won’t talk about her day in the afternoon so I’m a little concerned about how she’s doing.
I asked for a phone conference but am not sure of my expectations are off. I feel like I should be grateful that I still have access to daycare, price hasn’t gone up, and hours are roughly the same. I know the teachers are doing their best but am just not comfortable with this situation.
CCLA says
Same, we continued getting the reports emailed for awhile when they reopened and there were just 4 kids in each room, but now that they’ve expanded to 8-10 (still smaller than regular size though), it’s not really happening, at least in the 2-yo and pre-k rooms. I’ve accepted it – they are responsive if we ask questions, we just had ASQ meetings via zoom, and I am overall just very grateful to still have access to this and appreciate that their job is way harder now. Also our youngest is turning 2 this month, so we are at the point where the daily schedule doesn’t matter as much, and I think state requirements for daily reporting ease up around that age anyway. If I had an infant, I would still expect to be getting that info regularly.
CCLA says
I realized I missed the part about you being concerned and uncomfortable – 100% if you’re concerned a phone call is reasonable! I have accepted we’re not getting a daily sheet but there’s a lot of room between getting a daily list of exactly what they ate and when >>> no info at all.
Anon says
We still get the same daily sheet we got before. We can’t talk to the teachers, but I’ve occasionally written a note which they respond to.
Anonymous says
We moved from an infant toddler room to a 2 year old room after shutdown. We get more photos but less updates on meals and naps, but I mostly chalked that up to the kids being older. I think it’s totally reasonable to request a phone conference. We have regular quarterly parent-teacher conferences (virtual now of course).