Five ways to not say "no" to your kids.

Just read a good article today on "ways to avoid saying no" to your toddler. Ah, much needed advice. I often stop and think about the fact that I find myself saying "no" more than I'd like. I don't want to be a naysayer to my little guy, I just want him to be safe and sound.

But with a toddler who loves to explore and touch and feel and try everything, I'm finding myself saying no, no and no more than I care to do.

So this is a great read, and I actually found that I follow some of these tips already, mainly, #2 and #4.

I've listed the five tips and some examples below. And here is the link to the full article.

1. Steering Clear of a Difficult Situation
Anticipate; bring along stickers, crayons, etc. when going to a restaurant and move the knife away!

2. Distraction
Hey, let's line up the Sesame Street characters (instead of trying to climb atop the table).

3. Teach Them What They Can Do
If you want to hold the fork, we'll have to point it downwards and not near your eyes. 

4. Give Choices
You can hold my hand across the street or I can carry you --- let me know which you want. 

5. Use Danger Words
Stop! Too hot! Don't touch!

And, two personal add-ons;

1. Finger Wag
Sometimes, when I'm trying to teach the little guy something not to do and it's something that will come up on a regular basis, shaking my finger and showing him that it's a "no, no, no" often does help - said in a nice, sincere, calm tone.

He actually then repeats it -- just this morning, I let him walk next to me on the sidewalk, but when he wanted to get close to the curb, I did a finger wag, shaking my finger, "no, no, no, we can't go close to the cars, it's dangerous".  And then he repeated, shaking his little finger, no, no, no.

2. Stop & Ask Yourself
If you find yourself about to say "no", stop and think; "is it really a big deal?"  Sometimes, you may just realize that it's not a big deal if your kiddo is doing something or exploring.  It really just might be better to overlook and let them be!

After the sippy cup. What comes next?

Today, since all of the sippys (?) sippies (?) were in the dishwasher and it was time for Buddy's milk, I had to improvise.  So I poured his milk into a big plastic cup and straw.  Worked well (but then again, he is very used to the sippy cups with straws).

Anyways, I'm thinking I ought to try a regular cup more often.  I've been giving Buddy sips from regular cups for some time now (either from my cup, or when we're at Trader Joe's and they're passing out free juice samples in little Dixie cups). And he loves it.

Maybe it is time to take the next step.

After all, Buddy did transition very easily from the bottle to the sippy.  And he is pretty darn good with the sippy.  Check this out:

double fisting sippy cups

Anyways, it got me wondering;
-When are you supposed to stop the sippy cup?
-What comes next?
-Is is straight to a regular cup?
-Is there a transition cup between sippy and regular?
-How do you teach using the regular cup without having spills all the time? 

So I did a little research on the good old world wide web of ours.  I found a good suggestion on the Distinguished Dr. Gregory Gordon's blog.  I'm joking - I have no idea who he is, but his website says he is a pediatrician and father of seven. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about. 

His suggestion is to set out two small cups, one empty and one with a few ounces of milk. Give your child the empty cup and keep the second cup with you.  Throughout the meal, pour single swallow servings into your child's cup for him (or her) to drink.  That way you limit the mess and they get used to using the cup.

Good idea Dr. G! 

It seems like once you start adding more into the cup at one time you'd end up with some major spills, but, I'm not a pediatrician with seven kids.  So I think I'll try Dr. Gordon's advice.

And, I found a good cup on Playtex's website, the spoutless Lil Gripper. 

It has a lid like a coffee cup with a little opening for the drink to come out.
 

<--- see little opening





I shall buy one tonight! Hopefully they have other colors besides pink & purple. 

And, if you have any other suggestions on transitioning or any good "first regular cup" suggestions, please do share! I'd love to hear them.

Throw the ball. Not the remote.

The little buddy is in full throwing mode. He's been throwing his food when he's done for a while already. But now we're expanding to, well - everything.

pile of items thrown by the buddy last night

blocks.

books.

stuffed animals.

trucks.

remote controls.

pianos (toy, of course)

sippy cups.

shoes.


I've been finding myself pretty much saying (over and over. and over again);

"Buddy, we don't throw things. no, please don't throw the food. let's put it on the plate and say all done!" or, "no buddy, let's not throw our blocks. let's put them down gently, like this. nice blocks. nice blocks."

I lamented to my mom that this hasn't been working, she made an excellent observation.

"It's probably confusing to him. you're teaching him how to throw a ball, but then he shouldn't throw anything else. he probably thinks he should throw everything".

Good point.  It must be confusing for him.

So, any advice on teaching no throwing without sounding like a broken record? (keep in mind, said record might be broken from child throwing it!)

25 words every toddler needs to know.

Came across this article this morning - 25 Words Every Toddler Should Be Using By Age Two.  I am happy to say that little buddy has 20 of them down already at 18 months (granted, milk is articulated as "mi" and more is "ma").

But as with all "milestones" - every child is different. some say more, some say less, but most of them are talking just fine when they hit high school. same with walking, eating, etc. For the most part, we're just on our own track.

Anyways, Here's the list of words (checked the ones buddy says):

1. all gone - nope. UPDATE: √ as of 2/28
2. baby √
3. ball √
4. banana √
5. bath √
6. bye bye √ 
7. book √
8. car √
9. cat √
10. cookie √ (as in the monster)
11. daddy √
12. dog √
13. eye √
14. hat - never tried to say it.  UPDATE: √ as of mid March
15. hello/hi - √ (new to the vocab)
16. hot - nope, but understands it.  UPDATE: √ as of mid March
17. juice √
18. milk √
19. mommy √
20. more √
21. no √
22. nose √
23. shoe √
24. thank you - no, do lots of two yr olds say that? excellent manners!  UPDATE: √ as of early April
25. yes - and a'no. has tried a few times - hard to say. AND, makes up for it with no, no, no, no, no UPDATE: √ all the time says yes