Nursing/Postpartum Tuesday: Original Baby Carrier

I loved this carrier! I couldn’t get any of the wrap-style ones to work for me, and my baby was too small for the structured carriers for a long time.

We can already tell that our just-started-first grade 6yo son is a kid who is exactly like his parents — fairly intelligent with zero interest in doing more than the bare minimum required. He learned his time tables on his own this summer and reads well above grade level, but getting him to complete his math homework (which admittedly is too easy for him — number bonds to get to 5 and 10) or his 20 minutes of reading each day is like pulling teeth and ends with tears or yelling. We get all kinds of work sent back to us each evening that he didn’t complete but he knows how to do. It’s clear he’s not interested in school stuff right now.

I’m not sure what we can do at this point but both his father and I would like to nip this in the bud if at all possible. Any ideas? Should we accept that this is the kid we have and not force anything? Should we look into gifted programs? We don’t have the money to pay for the fancy private schools near us (and make too much money to qualify for any financial aid) but he is in a very small class in the nearby Catholic school — normally I would start with his teacher but she is 23 and she is in her third week of teaching so I’m not sure how helpful she will be even after pressing her for differentiation. And even then, she doesn’t have the history to know that he just doesn’t want to do number bonds instead of seeing that he’s doing math a couple of grade levels before. He doesn’t like reading aloud so he just says that he doesn’t know simple words on a page even though he flew through Dr. Seuss when he was 4.

Parent hacks continued….although these might fall more into the “moms carry the mental load of family life” category, some may find them helpful.

Google calendar – as soon as I get a birth announcement, wedding invite, or obituary, I put it in the calendar. All of these are in one color and repeat yearly. (IE Joe’s Birthday (Katie’s 3rd LO, born dd/mm/year; Death Anniversary of John Doe, dd/mm/year). I’ve got too many little things I try to remember for the kids, so not trying to “remember” all this other stuff is so helpful.

I also use old freebie bags (like the ones you get when you order makeup) to store go-bags. One has just one diaper, a travel wipe container, and hand sanitizer; another has snacks and a mini coloring book thing; one has bug spray and sunblock. It makes random, close-by outings easier (I also hate grabbing the whole diaper bag for things like a walk at a nearby park, etc.). And, you can throw into the diaper bag or beach bag as needed.

Daycare also has us use those giant ziplock bags. I didn’t know they were a thing- so handy!

3.5 year old DD is refusing to go to bed some nights. We go through all the routines, she gets under the covers and as soon as we start to leave the room it’s an insistent “I’m not tired. I’m scared of the dark [her room is decidedly not dark, and she sleeps well 5/7 nights so she can’t be that scared…?]. I don’t want to sleep. I want a snack [she’s had a full dinner and is def not hungry]”.. so on and so on. We have a Hatch light that she’s pretty good with, which helps her stay in her room (she knows not to leave if it’s not green).

I’m trying to chalk this up as a phase. We are going through a lot of transitions at home right now, which can’t be helping – new nanny and new preschool, for one… last night we tried the “you don’t have to stay in your bed, but you have to stay in your room” shtick. She basically screamed bloody murder for 45 mins before I went in and had to fully calm her down. I don’t want to lay with her and accidentally fall asleep in her bed because then she’ll come to expect that. Any other ideas? Solidarity that this is a phase and it will pass?

My just turned 2 year old has been having raging meltdowns over putting on a mask. Does anyone have a kid who eventually got over it and started wearing a mask? We’ve tried a million different things (books, putting it on stuff animals, screen time, going out together all masked up, etc) and this kid isn’t convinced by any of it.