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Happy Wednesday! I really like this faux wrap dress from Adrianna Papell, part of some of the great sales going on over at Nordstrom right now. The print would hide any child-related spills (or, hey, if you’re the messy one, it’ll hide those too), and a number of readers have talked about preferring faux wrap dresses for pumping. The neckline and hemline both look modest, I like that it has sleeves, and — score! — it is, indeed, machine washable. It was $139, but is now marked to $83.40. Adrianna Papell Concorde Print Faux Wrap DressSales 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
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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?
JMDS says
Baby proofing question. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and have an 8 month old boy who is into EVERYTHING. He is crawling and now pulling himself to standing, but cannot/does not want to sit.
We let him play in the living room where he has a foam mat he crawls around on and plays with his toys. But I don’t have a baby gate because it would just take over our living room, and a playpen doesn’t make sense because he cannot sit.
My question is how other mamas who live in small apartments have created a safe play space that I can plunk him into and rest on the couch for five minutes, or run into the kitchen or bathroom and not worry that he is going to bonk his head or take out his eye.
We have all the biggies covered (foam bumpers and knobs off tv stand, cords off the floor, radiator cover fastened to wall) but there are still some areas I don’t want him getting into and have to constantly pick him up and move him away.
KJ says
Our house is small so we installed retractable baby gates in order to fence the baby into the living room. Maybe those would work for you?
These are the ones we have, although I can’t say I agree with the claim that they are easy to operate one-handed, they take up very little space. http://retract-a-gate.com/
Carrie M says
We are also struggling with this exact issue, so I will be interested in the advice people have. One lifesaver for us: baby loves her jumparoo and I can run to the bathroom and know that she’ll be in the exact same spot when I come out! Down side is that it does take up a fair amount of floor space, but I’ve seen some that fold flat, so you could at least kind of put it away when it’s not in use.
Meg Murry says
I was coming to suggest an exersaucer or jumparoo – they take up some floorspace, but some of them do collapse enough to go in a closet. And they are good to drag to the kitchen while you are cooking or doing dishes, bedroom while putting away laundry, etc.
But you also need to take a hard look at what areas you won’t want him in for years (because they still are exploring and getting into things at age 2 or 3) and strongly reconsider re-arranging those areas to be safe enough for when you are out of the room for 5 minutes.
Spirograph says
Does your apartment have an open floorplan? I think that makes it a lot harder. If you have doorways, though, it might help to think of fencing him OUT of some areas rather than trying to fence him in. We usually just kept a gate across the kitchen and the bathroom door closed, and made sure he couldn’t get into too much trouble in bedrooms and living or dining room. In the family room/basement, we put a gate outside DH’s office.
We have two of the oldschool wood baby gates with the arm that adjusts the sizes (like this http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1164579/-p-Evenflo-Position–amp–Lock-Tall-Gate–p-.jsp?pfm=bd-productnotavailable). Both my husband and I are tall enough that we could step over them fairly easily, so we’d just put them up in the morning and take them down when baby went to sleep. I tried some of the more permanent gates, but wasn’t a fan.
Burgher says
We used various configurations of a hexagonal baby gate that could either be fully self enclosed or opened up to fit across our wide openings between rooms. That combined with a few doorway movable gates got us through the crawling and early walking stages nicely. It was ugly and a huge eyesore in the living room, but it worked.
Our son was not a big fan of being put in any kind of jumper for more than a few minutes, unfortunately, but it was still nice to have one for something different or if he was in a bouncy mood. Again, a big ugly plastic thing, which I was soooo against having in my house pre-kid, but they do help!
Jen says
We did babygates, and they DO take over our small house. But we have a rowdy dog so it was non-negotiable.
JMDS says
Thanks all. Looks like we need to research the baby gates route. We do have a jumper, but he only likes being in it for 20 minutes or so at a time. And, like the poster above, he has to be in the bouncy mood. Since he leaned to crawl that is all he wants to do.
Nonny says
Wow, 20 minutes? That seems like a long time, especially at 8 months. You are very lucky to have that length of time. My little girl only lasted in her jumper for max about 7 minutes. And now she is past the jumper stage entirely so we have had no option but to fully babyproof. Every day we are discovering new things that we need to babyproof!
Anon says
This is probably obvious, but getting rid of the coffee table was a boon for us in keeping babe from poking out his eyes. We got a fake leather storage ottoman (doesn’t look as ugly as it sounds) to replace it.
KJ says
I am severely tempted by this dress…
Repost since I accidentally posted on yesterday’s thread:
Any advice to determining when/how to wean?
My baby is almost 8 months. I’m pumping twice a day at work, bf-ing morning and bedtime (and overnight, which we are working on) and throughout the day on the weekends. Baby usually gets one formula bottle a day right now, but I’m not pumping enough to cover daycare needs and the freezer stash is running low, so I expect that to increase soon. She is doing OK with solids, but I don’t think she is eating enough to get significant calories.
I think I want to wean. Or at least start weaning. Or…something. On the one hand I am pretty sick of pumping and of bf-ing all the time on weekends. But I do enjoy nursing at bedtime. I definitely want to night wean, and she was going 8-9 hours without eating at night, but then she was sick and we’ve had a regression.
Oh, other relevant information: Baby *loves* nursing. She has always taken a bottle just fine, but really seems to find comfort in nursing. She was sick last week and all she wanted to do was nurse every two hours around the clock. This makes me feel guiltier for wanting to wean.
Any advice on how to sort this all out and what to do?
Meg Murry says
I think it sounds like you want to cut out pumping and daytime nursing more than anything. I’d start by cutting back to one pump a day (maybe at lunchtime? If possibly, in between the times you had been pumping) and offering a bottle or sippy or formula on weekends – possibly offered by daddy or grandma if you aren’t available. A sippy cup in the highchair might be novel enough to make her interested in it. Then after a week or so of 1 pump a day, you can cut it back by a few minutes each time until you stop altogether (but be sure to keep extra nursing pads on hand at work just in case).
Your baby might be a little young, but one good piece of advice I got was to only nurse at home in one specific chair/spot – and then avoid that spot at all other times.
I dropped down to nursing only in the mornings/before bed and before nap on weekends with no pumping, and it made our bf relationship so much less stressful I was fine with continuing it for several months that way. As for cutting night nursing or otherwise distracting during the weekend – daddy is key. Make yourself scarce whenever baby starts to want to nurse.
ANP says
I second this wholeheartedly. Well said!
HM says
At 8 months I pretty much cut out pumping. My daughter didn’t care if she was receiving formula or breast milk in the bottle. In fact, during the day, she seemed to prefer the bottle because she could see what was going on.
For the past 2 months, I’ve nursed her first thing in the morning, and right before bed (so, every 12 hours). She nurses about 15 minutes each time, and from what I can tell, gets a decent-for-us amount (2-3 ounces).
I was very happy to exclusively breast-milk feed her for the first 8 months, and very happy to transition to combo feeding for the past 2 months.
Jen says
I’m not sure if she self-weaned, or my body did it, but my supply no longer kept up with her demand around 7-8 months so I ended up supplementing wtih formula. I was also pumping in the daytime, and what i produced dropped dramatically around 7-8 months. I travel for work fairly frequently, which I’m sure didn’t help, and while LO liked nursing, she was “just not that into it” around 8/9 months. She never seemed hungry enough (she was powering through solids by then) to sit still for the full nursing session.
I dropped pumping pretty much naturally, and the bedtime nursing stopped because the baby would fall asleep after like 1 minute- so no milk there. The morning session was the only one I had to do any kind of work to stop, and I just let her have a bottle in the AM then nurse and increased the amount in the bottle a bit each day. It took maybe 4 days.
She was on whole milk by 11 months and has in all honestly been developing better since we quit nursing. She’s eating solids like a total champ and went from 95% height/60% weight to a much more even 89% height 80% weight.
KJ says
Thanks everyone (and Sarabeth below). I think I will start with reducing pumping and maybe having husband give another bottle on the weekends and then go from there. I am finding this surprisingly emotional!
AnonForThis says
Name question: What is your opinion on naming a son after his dad? I love my husband’s name (Christopher) but now that we are actually having a son I am starting to think of the negatives of using this name – How do I distinguish between my DH and DS when calling their name? Will this cause credit confusion in the future? Etc. The child will not be a real Junior because his middle name will be different. Any thoughts?
ml says
This reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s “Too Many Daves.” :)
If you really want to call your son Christopher all the time, I don’t know that there’s a great solution. But if you just want that to be his given name, there are lots of possibilities. I know a CJ for Christopher Junior, and several people who go by their middle name, initials, or use a different nickname because of duplicates in their family (eg, dad is Henry, son goes by Harry).
We sidestepped the issue by using dad’s first name as son’s middle name.
MomAnon4This says
Hahaha, you’ll end up calling your husband “Daddy” in front of your son, anyway….
OK, you’re right, there ARE a lot of issues! ;)
mascot says
If he has a different middle name, that will help with confusion. We have the multi-generational thing in my family. It worked pretty well since everyone used nicknames. Does your husband go by Chris or Christopher? You child could use whatever dad doesn’t use, or Topher/Chip/Kipp/Critter as a nickname. Yes, I went to school with a Christopher called Critter.
Sarabeth says
I cut out all pumping more than three months ago, and my daughter still comfort nurses all day on weekends. Not sure if how that plays into your decision-making, but thought I’d mention it because it’s different from what I had expected would happen. In our case, I think it’s probably good that she is still able to be soothed by nursing despite my dramatically reduced milk production – but I had been hoping to get my boobs back more, and that didn’t happen.
Sarabeth says
Meant to be in response to the poster above, obviously…
Jen says
One could be Chris and one could be Christopher? You could name son Christopher James and call him CJ?
My dad was a Robert that went by Rob; my brother was Robbie.
anon says
My son has his dad’s first name and a different middle name. I think it’s really helpful to have a different middle name for many reasons, including that the modern world of credit checks is not set up to accommodate juniors. (My husband still has a credit card on his credit report that his dad opened before he was born!) We decided on a nickname before he was born and have called him that the entire time, so in my head, they are just different names. I go back and forth – I do love the tradition and I think it’s cool, but sometimes I wish I’d given him his very own name.
Quailison says
I think if you give him a different middle name, the credit problem won’t be so important, and you won’t have to deal with the “jr” issue, unless you wanted to call him CJ (which is a great solution!) I also have friends who go by C. Middle Last in this situation, as they were always called by their middle name – so make sure to pick a middle name you like as a first name.
I think Christopher is a great name and has a lot of good nicknames, so if you and the spouse like it, go for it!
MomAnon4This says
Hahaha, you’ll end up calling your husband “Daddy” in front of your son, anyway….
OK, you’re right, there ARE a lot of issues! ;)
AnonForThis says
Thanks for your thoughts ladies. I still have no clue what I’m going to do, but I guess I can’t really make a wrong decision here.
CHJ says
Dinner question – For those of you with kids in daycare until 5-6 o’clock, what do you do about dinner? We pick our guy up at 5:30, and it’s difficult to get home and get food for him before 6:15 at the earliest. He gets a snack at daycare in the afternoon, but nevertheless, he’s still starving and freaking out by the time we get home. Lately we’ve been relying on Trader Joe’s frozen stuff most nights (he likes the chicken gyoza, frozen meatballs, ravioli, and tamales), and we can usually get food out quickly. But it still feels overwhelming, and I feel major guilt that he’s so hungry and not eating dinner until 6:15 or 6:30.
Any advice on how to make this work?
mascot says
We would have daycare feed a second snack around 4:30-5. We’d send string cheese, fruit or a granola bar. Now that he is older and doesn’t get as hangry, we offer fruit or cut up veggies while dinner is being fixed. Or even a cup of milk. We’d then adjust his dinner accordingly. If he’s been chowing on carrots since we walked in, I’m not going to look for him to eat more veggies during the meal.
Spirograph says
Crock pot! If my son starts acting hangry, we just give him a cheese stick and some apple or pepper slices to hold him over. We usually get home around 5:15 and don’t eat until 6-6:30ish. He gets a snack around 4 at daycare, so it’s not like he’s starving, but he has a ridiculous toddler appetite and metabolism so as long as eating something “healthy” I don’t mind an extra snack occasionally.
KJ says
Could you have something easy for him to eat while you are getting dinner ready? Like, you could sit him down with some carrots and hummus or celery with peanut butter or something while you are getting the rest of dinner ready. Call it an appetizer.
hoola hoopa says
Snack on the ride home (only a 5-min drive, but works better than waiting until we’re home and unloaded.
Like KJ, put the vegetable portion of the meal out while you get the rest ready. Bonus is that they eat more veggies when they are starving ;) We generally stick to super easy vegetable sides, like frozen peas/corn, carrot sticks, snap peas – so it’s literally one minute to get it on the table.
Prep as much as you can the night before. What we do ranges from just chopping to full on cooking the meal so it just needs to be reheated. Crockpots are also great. Make your own frozen meals on the weekends and/or make double batches of anything that freezes well.
Carrie M says
Leftovers! In an ideal world, we would all sit down together to eat. But I’m usually rushing home from work just in time to put her to bed as is, and then we cook and eat after she’s asleep. So my husband gets her home from daycare between 5:30-6:00, warms up the leftovers from our previous night’s dinner while she snacks on an appetizer of puffs or a pouch, and then gives her dinner. If we don’t have leftovers, then he usually gives her a pouch while he fixes something quickly (e.g., microwaving frozen peas, breakfast for dinner (yogurt and scrambled eggs), quickly sautéing fish or chicken with veggies, etc.).
Jen says
I have a rotation of a few meals that only take 5-10 minutes. Maybe this is a terrible option, but we do: quesadillas, grilled cheese, pasta, mac and cheese, tofu stir fry, pancakes,PB &Js, fake chicken nuggets (I’m a vegetarian), TJ’s personal cheese pizzas, and a quinoa vegetable dish on a pretty steady rotation. I get home around 5:45 and they’re usually eating by 6. It’s not the healthiest stuff in the world but it works. They are 2 & 4 and having them “help” me (by just sitting on the counter holding random measuring cups for no reason) seems to hold off hunger pains.
Anonymous says
We eat at 7-7:30. Preschool feeds a snack at 5:15 to any kids who are still there. I will give some carrots or fruit around 7 if we are running particularly late. NWe cook on the weekends so getting dinner on the table takes 10-15 minutes.
anon eagle says
late response– but can you bring a sippy cup of milk to daycare and have them stash it in the fridge for the car ride home? Our daughter is also so thirsty when I pick her up. I feel like the fats and protein in her milk (about 4 oz or so) can help with her hunger. If you think low blood sugar is turning your child into a hungry tiger, you can add a bit of chocolate to the milk too.
Meg Murry says
Random kid-present request: anyone seen 2 piece pjs with feet, size 3T? Our little guy loves his “slipper jammies” (one piece pjs with feet) but they don’t work well for middle of the night potty emergencies (which happen pretty much every night). Anyone seen 2 piece pjs with feet? Or a one piece that doesn’t require taking of the top half to potty?
In House Lobbyist says
We have some for awhile that were a 2 piece top and bottom with feet. The top snapped into the waistband. I think they were Children’s Place. I didn’t really like them because we were still doing overnight diapers for wetness anyway. You could always check with a Carters store if you have one in your area. They seem to have the pj market cornered.
(former) preg 3L says
These aren’t beautiful, but I think they fit your criteria! http://www.ltdcommodities.com/Apparel—Beauty/Kids/Sleepwear/2-Pc.+Kids'+Penguin+Footed+Pajamas/prod1140377.jmp?cid=GooglePLA-11403771080888&adpos=1o2&creative=62943095233&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CIiR1PWwqsICFY8F7Aodq1AAPw
mascot says
etsy has heard your plea https://www.etsy.com/listing/167813772/sizes-1-to-7-boys-or-girls-2-piece?ref=related-3
hoola hoopa says
I seriously do not understand why these are so hard to find!
We do 2pc + socks or slippers.
Meg Murry says
Thanks everyone! I’ll check these out
Anonyc says
Just wanted to say I was happy to see Illinois revisited the nursing mom’s request for bar exam breaks. Amazing what some bad PR will do.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/11/26/illinois-bar-exam-board-grants-nursing-mom-extra-time-to-complete-test/?mod=WSJBlog
Ruthnonymous says
Cross-posting on regular s1te!
After being told by doctors that it might be hard for me to get pregnant, I just had a positive pregnancy test! (Two in fact, followed by a blood test at the doctor’s to confirm.)
I’m worried about miscarriage–I’m at a slightly elevated risk because of a medical condition but the doctors have said they’re not even sure if that’s been proven. How can I distract myself long enough to not get my hopes up too high while also planning with a pregnancy in mind? Trying not to stress too much but it’s killing me that I can’t tell anyone (beyond my husband) for a while. I’m only 4.5 wks in–just missed my period this weekend.
When did others tell their close family members? Right away? Or after a bit of time had passed? I tell my mother and sister everything but I don’t want them to get excited and then be saddened if this doesn’t work out. I was thinking I would tell them after the 8 week ultrasound, assuming it goes well.
If something were to go wrong, I’d tell them at that point regardless. I just don’t want them to get excited only have to worry for a long period of time as well.
KJ says
I had a similar situation, and, honestly, it was all I thought about until I made it to the 2nd tri. I didn’t tell close family members until after the dating ultrasound around 8 weeks. In the meantime I just tried not to die of morning sickness and read absolutely everything I could about pregnancy. (It was not my most productive time at work.) Congratulations!
MomAnon4This says
Agreed. I’ve miscarried but am not considered high-risk, and this sounds like my healthy, successful pregnancy and also my current pregnancy and also my pregnancies that did not work out. Sorry to say — it’s normal! Feel free to tell some discrete friends (maybe friends also pregnant?) or people distant from your circle or not on Facebook? That helped me A LOT.
sfg says
Congratulations!
I think it just depends on the type and source of support you want/need in the early weeks. I was not comfortable telling family until after the 12 week ultrasound, but I also am not close with them. A wonderful perspective that I read (probably in another comment here) was, essentially, that there is always going to be something to worry about on this journey, so try not to deprive yourself of the joy as well (which for you, might include telling your mom and sister sooner rather than later).
NewMomAnon says
+ 1 to sfg’s comments – I went through my entire pregnancy feeling like if I could only make it to x milestone, I would stop worrying. And then something else would pop up to worry me! All through the first tri I worried about miscarriage, all through the second I worried about gaining weight too fast and my declining physical abilities, and then in the third tri I worried about birth position and labor and postpartum…and now that baby is here, I’m always worried about ear infections, or whether our daycare is good enough, or whether I will mess her up if I sleep train or don’t sleep train, or whether I’m a giant slacker at work.
So I think it’s normal to have worries, but I also know that therapy and a good support network were (and are) critical for me. My family wasn’t a great source of support for a variety of reasons, but I found a fantastic doula and a prenatal yoga center and a caring OB practice who calmed me down and helped me feel excited whil I was pregnant. It sounds like you aren’t comfortable telling your family yet, but I would really encourage you to go to a prenatal yoga class or find some other in-person support to get you through the next few weeks.
anon says
We told my parents pretty much immediately, and my husband’s by 6 weeks. In my first pregnancy, I did end up miscarrying; both of our parents said they were glad that they knew about the pregnancy beforehand, because learning about a miscarriage out of the blue would have been harder for them and they were better able/prepared to support us this way. For both pregnancies, we’ve told other people as necessary (like, sharing a hotel room when I had morning sickness), but most not until after 12 weeks. Both times it was helpful to have a couple of friends (and my sibling) to talk to during the first trimester, for my own sanity – for me, and for many women, it’s quite difficult physically as well as emotionally and it’s helpful to have someone in addition to your partner to talk to/vent to/get support from.
High Needs Baby? says
Hello All,
First time posting on this site. I have a wonderful, smart, adorable, sweet nine month old, who is an extremely high needs baby. She loves playing and is engaging with other people, so long as I am holding her or very close to her. She is also an extremely restless sleeper, waking 4-5 times per night and wanting to nurse for comfort or be sushed or walked back to sleep. I wear her a lot because its easier to get things done, but its starting to get to me. The lack of sleep and never having a minute to myself when I’m not at work. According to her daycare, she does okay without me, and the separation anxiety has just started this month, although she’s never liked to be put down or be alone. I rarely leave her with anyone besides daycare. She hates the stroller, hates the car seat, hates the crib, hated the swing, hates the exersaucer unless I am right there playing with her.
I guess I’m not looking for advice, but rather commiseration or stories of getting to the light at the end of the tunnel!
NewMomAnon says
Are you me? This describes my 10-month old right now too…I don’t have a light at the end of the tunnel for you sadly. I’ve been co-sleeping a lot lately because at least then I get some sleep. Can you have a spouse or family member come take over all household tasks so you can focus on baby? How is she with her dad or with your family? If I’m around, mine won’t calm down unless I’m holding her but if I’m gone, she’s fine with grandparents or her dad soothing her.
My kiddo at least is really happy to watch crowds, so I’ve been taking her to coffee shops with friends, taking her to yoga classes, going out to eat with her, taking her to Target, etc. Basically going about a “normal” life with her in tow. We also play “peekaboo” when I have to run out of the room to wash my hands or grab laundry out of the dryer – as soon as I’m out of sight, I’ll say, “Where’s Mommy?” and then she’ll come crawling to find me and get really excited instead of sitting on the floor screaming because I walked away.
But yeah…I’m tired and it’s stressful. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, we’ll get through it.
greenie says
This was my first… she’s a wonderful, compassionate, independant 6-year old now. Her kindergarten teacher tells me that she is a leader, and I could not be more proud of her. She still snuggles with me every night when we read before bed, but is not nearly as high-needs as when she was a baby. I think it changed at 18-months when she really got on the move. The best advice I can give is create a routine that she knows she’ll get love and snuggles at a certain time every day. Praise her when she’s being more independent, but never make her feel bad about needing closeness. I really feel that high-needs babies turn out to be the most compassionate and sensitive kids / adults. It will be a blessing.
SoAnon says
Mine was high needs too, always wanted to be with me and very active, got bored easily, and a terrible eater and sleeper. We experienced a big milestone at age 1, when he finally stopped waking up multiple (multiple!) times a night. Big steps at 2, and 2.5 and at 3 things changed dramatically.
The other side of the coin of a demanding interactive baby is that they become very social and continue to be very interactive. So after 3, my kid became delightful, and strangers would comment on how social he was and how chatty, and he can now interact with me very very logically (negotiates for what he wants, asks relevant questions, really thinks through things).
He is compassionate now and very sensitive to my every mood and feeling. So he will sometimes ask me “Are you feeling tired?” or say things like “You look preddy today mama. I like your earrings and dress.” He is a delight!
So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Keep giving them the attention they thrive on, while making you sure get some rest for your own sanity.
Venting says
Ugh, I have really been so lucky throughout my 8 months of pregnancy that I don’t have people giving lots of unsolicited advice or trying to touch me, etc. but for some reason this week EVERYONE wants to talk about what I look like. How big / small my bump is, how pregnant I look, how I am standing / sitting, that I look tired, all of it. And an extremely well intentioned woman on the train yesterday blasted a guy who wouldn’t get up to let me access the seat next to him (she gave me her aisle seat and then climbed over the jerk so I wouldn’t have to), but in a way that had five rows of people staring at me to see why I couldn’t climb over the guy. I really wish I could just be invisible for the rest of the pregnancy! I don’t like to be the center of attention in any context, but when it’s related to how my body looks I am even more touchy.
Quailison says
Right there with you at 8 mos pregnant. I never know what to say when people comment on my size, their guess as to the gender based on how I’m carrying, whether I am looking good/tired, etc etc. It feels rude not to respond, but the appearance based comments are rude themselves! (Though I know well intentioned). At least no one has touched me yet.
Venting says
Ooh, right there with you about “how I’m carrying.” Really?!
Spirograph says
Same here. My latest pet peeves are “you don’t even look any bigger!” or “yes, but you’re still the same size, just with a cute bump.” I’m sure that’s well-intentioned, but come on. I have mirror, I know my sleeves and pant legs are not magically shrinking in diameter, and I get weighed every time I go to the doctor. I have started laughing and telling people I’ve been pregnant so long that they just don’t remember that I used to be thin. Probably not the best response (which would, of course, be “thank you”) but it ends the commentary. My mom, bless her, was at least honest enough to say “no, you defintely don’t look small” at Thanksgiving. haha
PSA to any non-moms reading: the ONLY appropriate thing to say about a very pregnant woman’s appearance is “you look great.” She’ll suspect it’s a lie, but at least you’ll avoid any of the size-related comment pitfalls.
CHL says
I had a subway performer comment via his microphone and amps “how sexy pregnant looks on” me at 37 weeks. Nothing like 200 random strangers turning to look at your enormous, “sexy” physique on your commute. I started working from home shortly after:)