First Aid Kits

Shorts weather is sadly still a long ways off, but when spring finally does arrive, skinned knees are going to become a common occurrence again.  When Oliver fell on the sidewalk last week and got a nasty bump on his head, his injury reminded me that even ahead of spring, I need to be more prepared if an accident happens farther from home.  So I finally put together first aid kits for not just my home, but for my car, my husband's car and the nanny's car. 

If you google first aid kits, you'll find lengthy lists of what every kit needs.  Given that I'm never far from a hospital or pharmacy with the kids, I limited the contents of our kits to what I would need to treat bumps and cuts and left out things like medications and a thermometer.  I was not trying to copy the kits we learned to put together in the Wilderness First Aid course I took in college in preparation for leading groups of freshman into the wilds of Maine. 

First aid kit contents:

• Band-aids of various sizes
• Size small and medium gauze pads
• medical tape
• instant cold pack
• tweezers
• hand sanitizer
• alcohol wipes
• antiseptic spray
• latex-free gloves
• extra baggies

I bought all the supplies and then divided them into plastic baggies and packed them together in either plastic bins or a large plastic bag.  The bags are able to fit in the glove compartment and the bins underneath the seat of the car.  I printed the national Poison Control number (1-800-222-1222) on the front of the kits.   

I was surprised to learn that some items I thought were supposed to be staples of first aid kids are not recommended anymore, the main one being ipecac syrup to induce vomiting.  Research has shown that vomiting does not prevent a person from getting sick from a poison and that syrup itself can cause other problems.  Not only does Poison Control not recommend its use, it's difficult to even find in stores anymore.  Instead of ipecac syrup, the advice now if you suspect your child swallowed something harmful is to simply call Poison Control.

If you have recommendations for other items I have missed, please let me know!

Playing Like Girls

Our nanny is a soft-spoken, think-before-she-speaks type of person, but she's bold.  She'll call other parents or caregivers out if she thinks they're being irresponsible. She took the kids to Tot Time, held at the gym of a local rec center, where kids of toddler and preschool age can burn off steam. Oliver and his friend were super excited to be there, yet they kept running back to our nanny crying.  She finally noticed that two older boys, much too old to be at something with "tot" in the name, were snatching toys from the other kids and hoarding them in the corner of the gym.  She located the parents, marched the two boys over to their moms and explained to them what they had been doing.  As you could probably guess, the moms blew her off.  The kids should just work it out themselves was the one mom's reply. 

Frustrated with the lack of concern, our nanny turned and walked away.  That's when the one mom told her son not to play with "those boys" because "their mom wants them to play like girls."  If our nanny was fuming mad when she heard this, can you imagine how upset I would have been if I'd heard that?  I hate, hate, hate when people use gender as an insult.  Play like a girl. Throw like a girl. Cry like a girl. Why do we perpetuate these stereotypes and cast certain traits, such as sensitivity, as feminine and inferior?

I've promised myself that gender stereotyping won't be forced on my kids by the people they're surrounded by and they certainly won't be taught that they can exploit gender stereotypes to bring others down. I don't want Oliver to ever be told his favorite color can't be pink because that's a "girl" color anymore than I would want a daughter of mine to be told she can't play with her older brothers' trucks because those are "boy" toys.  I don't want them believing that they should or shouldn't have/feel/want interests, emotions, personality traits, whatever it may be, because of their gender. 

I think Chris and I have done well in not reducing our kids' interests in trucks and splashing in puddles to them just being boys while ignoring their interests in anything arts and crafts and baking.  We never use the phrases "because he's a boy" or "all boy" because they imply that they're supposed to be a certain way because of their gender, and we don't use their sex to explain or justify their actions.  For instance, I'm not going to tolerate yelling in the house or being destructive their toys and books just because they're boys.  It doesn't even make sense to me to talk or think like that because when I look at who Oliver and Soren are as people, and not just as boys, I see attributes that span the gender spectrum.  Why teach them to limit themselves?

Spring May Never Come to Minnesota

Chris and Oliver are outside making a snowman.  On April 13.  The seasons in Minnesota can be cruel.  By last weekend, the last of the snow and ice had disappeared from even the shady parts of our yard.  We ventured outside wearing just long-sleeve shirts.  The kids pushed their trikes up and down the sidewalk.  We saw our neighbors for the first time in months.  It was chilly, but sunny and spring felt within sight.  That night I washed all the kids' winter gear - jackets, hats, mittens and snowpants.  Before I had a chance to box everything up and put in storage in the basement, it snowed three days in a row.  Yes, the seasons in Minnesota can be cruel indeed. 

Friends have posted pictures on Facebook that struck me as odd.  Then I realized the photos looked odd because people were in shorts and t-shirts or I could see green grass and flowers in the background.  It's inconceivable to me that it's been in the 60s and 70s in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, my friends in the Upper Midwest and northern New England have been trying to use humor to cope.  Some of my favorite pictures posted on Facebook have been these two.

 

 

Meanwhile, in Minnesota....

Oliver may be the only one will miss the snow.  Every day he'd ask to go outside so he could shovel and he happily made "snow castles" using his sand buckets.  He was stoked when he and Chris went outside today.  I was expecting them to build a tiny little snowman and was shocked to step outside to a snowman taller than I am and the beginning of a fortress they made by using the recycling bin to make blocks of snow.  As the saying goes, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

 

Soren Update: 18 Months

Soren had his 18-month wellness check-up today.  He continues to follow his growth curve beautifully and is now at 31.5 inches (25th percentile) and 21 pounds, 15 ounces (5th percentile). 

Just like I had done with Oliver at 18 months, I filled out a questionnaire that serves as an autism screening.  I was asked a series of questions pertaining to Soren's social and behavioral development, such as whether he liked to climb on stairs (yes!), pretends things, like talking on the phone (he'll put any object up to his ear and pretend it's a phone) and whether he plays games like peekaboo or hide and seek.  Gosh, yes!  Soren still loves peekaboo. I always associated that games with babies, but he loves when you "hide" from him and reappear.  We were at the playground last weekend (before Minnesota got dumped with an April snowstorm) and when Soren ducked behind a play structure and stood unusually quiet.  I knew he wanted me to play peekaboo with him, so I jumped into his line of sight and said, "Boo!"  He laughed and laughed and laughed.  No matter how many times I jumped in and out of view, he thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.  He was laughing so heartily that he attracted the attention of other parents, one of whom said what a great laugh he has. 

I asked the doctor about pacifiers since he had pointed out Soren's "snaggle tooth."  It was his opinion that the pacifier didn't necessarily cause the unevenness of Soren's front two teeth and thinks they'll straighten some as more teeth come in and push the others into place.  I'm a big fan of pacifiers and don't plan to make Soren give his up any time soon, especially when he primarily uses it only when he's in his crib, so I was glad that it was the pediatrician's view that pacifier use is fine up to age three.  He also feels that the positives outweigh any negatives. 

Soren has been imitating us, especially Oliver.  The two of them were playing with blocks one morning while I was getting ready for work and Oliver laid down on the carpet and rested one arm while he moved the blocks around with the other.  Soren immediately followed suit.  Soren surprised me by crawling and then I saw that he was crawling towards Oliver who was crouched in a crawling position.  When Soren saw Oliver and I wearing aprons while we prepared dinner, he grabbed a cloth bag that had been hanging over the gate in front of the basement stairs and through it around his neck.  He looked ridiculous with a cloth bag hanging from his neck, but he was so pleased that he was also wearing an "apron." 

As playful, happy-go-lucky and loving as Soren his, the toddler side of him shows through when he becomes crabby, demanding, and opinionated. He cries for his breakfast, but then doesn't want to sit in his booster seat and I don't know if it's because he suddenly doesn't want breakfast anymore, he doesn't want what I'm giving him, or he wants Oliver's spoon.  I've also noticed the emergence of sensory issues the past few months, such as hating to have his sleeves pushed up.  I know a lot of kids don't like bibs, but Soren never minded until recently. 

Soren has always like going out in the fresh air, no matter the weather, but now that he's so mobile and he doesn't need to bundle up on boots, snowpants and a thick winter coat, he loves going outside.  Unfortunately, he's at the age where he thinks that since every time mommy puts on her shoes, she gets to go outside, if he picks up his shoes, he'll get to go outside and that's lead to a lot of disappointment for him.  One time Uncle Andy was visiting and when he was getting ready to go home, he put his shoes on.  Soren got so excited and scrambled to find his shoes.  I tried explaining to him that we weren't going outside, but he turned increasingly anxious as he paced about the foyer area with a shoe in each hand.  Then he spotted my purse and pulled out my car keys and handed them to me as if that was magically going to get him outside. 

Soren is going to either be very tidy or a people-pleaser (or both) because he's very compliant about helping to put things away and even takes the initiative to pick up toys if he sees you picking up toys.  We have a routine of putting his pacifier away before he leaves his bedroom in the morning.  At first he balked at the idea of giving up his pacifier, but he still complied.  Now he gets excited about opening the top drawer of his dresser, depositing his pacifier, and closing the drawer. 

He's also in the sorting stage, and what I like to call the "stashing" stage. He likes putting things in the "trunk" of the little fire truck he can ride on outside.  Between Oliver and Soren, you never know what you're going to find in there - pine cones, toys, dirt....Meanwhile, last fall he was just big enough to climb on that fire truck and sit there, and now he's slowly learning how to push himself forward with his feet. 

Soren is starting to recognize animals in books.  He has a big picture book of animals and when Chris asked him to point at certain animals, he pointed (correctly) or just sat there.  He's also learning body parts.  If you read him a story and he hears the word "nose" or "head," he'll point the proper body part on his own body. 

End of Naps

The milestone parents of preschoolers either dread or look forward to is the dropping of the nap.  If it's your oldest child who no longer needs a nap, this development may not be a welcomed milestone because you're so used to the break and still need it when you have young kids who demand a lot of your energy.  Or if it's your youngest child, you may look forward to this day because no need for an afternoon nap opens up the whole day for the rest of the family. 

Oliver has been in the slow transition towards dropping a nap for months now, but Chris and I never pushed it because we weren't ready.  We looked forward to having quiet time in the middle of the day when the kids were sleeping.  Truthfully, there were days when I felt like I wouldn't make it unless Oliver napped because I so desperately needed that mid-day break.  And because we have a younger child who's napping, Oliver might as well be napping too. 

The transition started when Oliver stopped napping on the weekends.  In fact, aside from the times he's been sick, I can't remember the last time he's napped for us.  Yet, he almost always napped for the nanny.  But eventually he started have trouble going to sleep at night.  Trouble as in two or three hours past his bedtime.  Then Chris went away for a long weekend and I was facing a couple of days by myself with two kids, one of whom was refusing to nap.  My time alone with the kids went surprisingly well because even though Oliver didn't nap, he was actually in a good mood all day and he went to bed on time.  I wasn't getting my mid-day break, but I wasn't spending my precious "me" time in the evening stressing that he wasn't going to sleep.  That's when I decided we were going to cancel Oliver's naps.

Oliver's been "nap-free" for two weeks now and he's doing really well.  There are moments that are tough, like the separation anxiety that resurfaced when leaving him at ECFE.  The class starts at 6:00 p.m. and he's undoubtedly tired by that point.  And our nanny has found him dozed off on the couch mid-day, so it's clear he still needs a bit of sleep on some days.  Surprisingly, he hasn't been going to bed earlier than usual, like I expected, so maybe that's a sign he really was ready to drop a nap.

The transition has been most stressful on our nanny who's trying to keep two boys quiet (we do a nanny share with another newly-minted nap-free child) so Soren can sleep, but it's required Chris and me to give a little too.  I'd prefer Oliver not watch so many videos, but letting the kids watch something on the laptop is sure to keep them quiet, at least for some time.  And our nanny needs a break.  The kids eventually get restless though, so we've got to settle for whatever nap Soren manages before he's woken up by the noise the big kids make. 

Like with any transition, it's about finding a new routine.  For the nanny it's figuring out how to foster quiet time for kids who aren't napping anymore and for me, it's figuring out how to keep Oliver entertained while I also get some semblance of down-time.  This whole no-nap thing has made me realize that at only three and a half, Oliver's better at entertaining himself than I thought.

I admit that dropping a nap was a milestone I dreaded, but after the bedtime struggles we've been through, I'm relieved Oliver has turned this corner.  Now I don't see lost quiet time, but new opportunity. 

Easter

What a difference from last Easter, which we spent in Philadelphia, where the trees and flowers already showed signs of spring. It was really windy, but also so sunny we squinted like we hadn't seen the sun all winter. The kids ran threw the lush lawn at my stepsister's place hunting for eggs. On the last day of March this year, winter was still trying to hold its grasp on Minnesota. Our soggy, muddy lawn sat under a remaining layer of snow and the windchill made the air feel colder than the day's high of 36 degrees.

Oliver noticed his Easter basket as soon as he came downstairs yesterday morning. His favorite part of the day may have been that he got to eat chocolate before breakfast. He was leery of the jelly beans and looked interested in the Cadbury eggs, but wasn't feeling adventurous and stuck with what he knew he liked - good old milk chocolate.  I eventually cut Oliver off so he'd actually eat breakfast and that's when he very seriously turned to me and said that he was going to hide his Easter basket so Daddy wouldn't eat all his chocolate.  Now, I can't totally pick on Chris, because Oliver is actually usually hiding chocolate from his chocoholic mom.  And I have memories of my mom swiping chocolate from my Easter basket as a kid, so Oliver was trying to stay one step ahead of us.  It's just that he hid his basket in a room with the childproof cover on the doorknob, so when he wanted to retrieve his stash, he had to ask for my help to get to his "hidden" basket of chocolate.   

The kids also received stickers and colored masking tape in their baskets. Yes, the Easter Bunny gave them tape. But the Easter Bunny knows what a three-year-old likes. That stuff kept both kids occupied the rest of the day. I spent that evening scraping stickers and tape off windows, floors and counter tops, but they had fun.

Despite the un-spring-like weather, the sidewalks were clear of snow, so before our guests arrived, I plopped Soren in the stroller, zipped up his cozy stroller cover and headed out for some fresh air and a walk. Grandma and Grandpa were already here when we returned and once Uncle Andy and his girlfriend arrived, we sat down for a very nontraditional Easter brunch of breakfast burritos.

There was one thing on the menu for dessert. Chocolate! Our talented nanny had made us a traditional chocolate Easter eggs like she grew up having on Easter in Brazil.  We cracked the egg open in inside were homemade chocolates.  Soren had missed out on the pre-breakfast chocolate, but by this point, he wanted his fair share and before long, had a mouth covered in chocolate. 
Because of the weather, we never had our Easter egg hunt.  The kids were having so much fun playing with extended family that I didn't want to interrupt them.  Soren went down for a nap and Oliver eventually experienced a sugar crash.  And yes, I sampled the chocolate from the kids' Easter baskets.