I'm Hungry - Looking for Wisdom

Someone once told me that parents of girls are expected to pay for their wedding which is equal to feeding a boy until he is an adult.

Well I can't count the number of times my 2-year-old boy says, "I'm hungry" in a days time. My question to you is how do I know if he is really hungry or not?

We just left the breakfast table where he ate a piece of toast and a bowl of cereal. That was all of 15 minutes ago. I think (if I'm counting right) that I have heard, "I'm hungry" 3 times already! Is he really hungry? Is he bored (I don't think that's the case this time anyhow)? Is he feeling another emotion and just doesn't know how to tell me? HELP!!!

Organizing Toys - LFW

Help!! Princess just turned 3-years-old last week. Of course, with a birthday comes a whole new truck-load of toys. And Christmas is in 2 months (YIKES!!). You can see where this is going. How do I organize all these toys?

Here are some of the issues:

* I have girl toys and boy toys.

* I do rotate toys.

* How do I decide what to give/throw away? What if the next child would play with it?

* Stuffed animals - need I say more?

* I have a toy room and they each have their own room.

* Lots of books - some board and some paper.

* I have a 5 shelf bookshelf, toy bins, and a 3 shelf bookshelf.

HELP!!! How do you keep control of toys in your house?

Sleep Issues - LFW

Wow! It's been a while since I have asked you to share your wisdom. Things must have been honky-dorry in the Thrills household for the last 7 months.

Well I have a lot of questions about sleep. This could possibly be coming from the fact that I am pregnant, tired, and thinking how am I going to do this when we have a newborn. So here we go.

This is our bedtime routine. Around 7:30 p.m., we ask Little Guy "are you ready for bed?" He waves and goes upstairs. We put his jammies on, pray with him, put him in his crib, and he is in there for the next 12+ hours...easy!

Now Princess on the other hand, gives us a hard time. Around 8:00 p.m., we put her jammies on, let her watch a half-hour show on TV, pray with her, and then we lay with her for forty-five minutes to an hour until she finally falls asleep. She will wake up some time in the middle of the night and come over to our room. We don't let her sleep in our bed, but we have a cushion on the floor that she sleeps on until 7:30/8:00 a.m. Around 12:30p.m., Princess will take about an hour and half nap. I lay with her then, but it takes her less than 15 minutes to fall asleep.

There's the history. Now I know that I am enabling Princess. And I know I shouldn't compare kids. I feel like sleeping has been an issue with Princess most of her life. And I think that it is because she was the first child and we did whatever it was that she "needed" to help her fall asleep. And now I just get frustrated laying in her bed for what feels like an eternity every night (except the nights that Hubby takes his turn - yeah!)

So my questions aren't necessarily "how do we fix her?" although that would be helpful, but what is "normal" in your house. Does anyone else go to extremes for your kids to sleep? How long does it take your kids to fall asleep? Do all kids get up in the middle of the night? If so, how do you handle it?

I try to tell myself that this is just a season, but then I wonder if I could still be doing this when she is 10, probably not 15 though. That's a long season. We are going on vacation very soon. So when we get back, I think I am going to work on this. I think part of the problem is I start to work on it and then I get tired so I give in again. I need to be consistent! That's hard for me.

Big Girl Bed, Eating, & Potty Training - Updated

Big Girl Bed - Not going. The first week, Princess slept in her bed first without the bed rail then with the bed rail. She started getting out of her bed, so we would give her a spanking and put her back to bed. After a couple of spankings, we weren't sure how many spankings it took for the authorities to be called. We then decided to try Hands-Free Heart's suggestion and put her in the Pack 'n Play as punishment. Well that is where she now sleeps. She will only sleep in the Pack ' n Play. So she is confined again.

Eating - Going much better. As you know Princess would ask for some of "our" food on her plate, but would usually just play with it and not eat any. Well, we now tell her that she has to try at least one bite. If she doesn't like it she doesn't have to have anymore or she can even spit it out into a napkin. She does really good with this usually. Sometimes we bribe her by saying she can have a treat if she tries it. Other times we don't let her have anything the rest of the night until she tries our dinner. By bedtime she has tried it. She now likes potatoes. She will try to eat raw carrots, but I think it is too much chewing for her.

Potty Training - Not even trying at this point.

Feeding My Toddler - LFW

As you know, Princess turned two-years-old in October. I am having an issue with feeding her. I don't know if I did the wrong thing as she was beginning to eat or if this is normal for a toddler. If I handled it wrong, I would like to know now so I can do things different with The Little Guy. So here is my story. Give me your input please.

When Princess started eating baby food, she would eat any kind of vegetable and fruit. After a while she began to refuse baby food, but didn't have enough teeth to chew most "adult" foods. For veggies, I gave her those veggie puffs from Gerber or I would put veggies in plain yogurt and she would eat it that way. We never really gave her meat. She continues to eat fruits no problem.

Now that she can eat almost anything, I can not get her to eat any vegetables or meat. She used to eat tomatoes (fruit/vegetable? Who really knows?), but now she won't eat those either. Other than fruits, she eats mostly "noodles" (pasta with milk, butter, & Parmesan cheese), peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, bread with butter, pancakes, and waffles. She drinks about 4 cups of whole milk in a day. (The doctor recommended whole milk because of how petite she is.)

The other day I tried putting some of Little Guy's squash on a grilled cheese. She noticed it after one bite and refused to eat any more of it. I tried a bite of it and it was terrible.

At her 2-year check with the doctor, he asked what she eats and I told him. He just said that is a "toddler's diet". So I was not concerned. I am still not too concerned because I hear of kids who are picky eaters all the time. I think the biggest thing for me is I make Hubby and I dinner. I make her something different. And then of course Little Guy gets something else.

I know you are going to tell me to be a "meanie" and make her eat what we are eating, aren't you? That's OK you can tell me that, but if you have any other wisdom or encouragement please share that too.

Potty Training - LFW

I am not the type of mom who pushes my children developmentally. I figure if they can walk, talk, and be potty trained by the time kindergarten rolls around, there is no need to worry. (That is exaggerating a little.) I think we may be at the potty training stage, but I am not sure. I don't want to push this onto Princess, because I have seen several moms get stressed with the whole potty training thing and I don't really care to have that stress right now. Personally I think diapers are more convenient than going to the potty.

What's going on in our house? - Princess tells me when she has poop in her diaper. She doesn't like to sit in it. I tell her about going to the potty, but she always says "no". She hasn't ever said anything about pee though.

So my questions for you are:
1. Everyone says "You will know when she is ready." Well, how will I know?
2. Do you have any suggestions on how to begin this process? Please tell me what worked for you.
3. Do I need to buy anything in particular? I do have one potty chair, but we have a two-story house. Would you recommend a 2nd?

Please just give me any advice that you have. Thank you!

Big Girl Bed - LFW

Princess is turning two in a couple of weeks! I can't believe how fast time flies. Anyhow, I have been thinking that it may be time to change her crib to a toddler bed. But then I talk myself out of it, because I like having her confined.

Yesterday, I was doing laundry in her room and she was playing. She likes to play in her crib. She kept saying, "Mommy, help". I guess I was taking to long because when I looked at her she was climbing up the side of her crib (to get in). She had a good grip on the bed rail, one foot on top of the mattress and the other foot and leg on top of the bed rail. Next thing I knew, she went flying onto her mattress. I think she surprised herself. I know she surprised me. (Maybe I should change her name to "Monkey".)

There have been times where she is in her crib and wants out so she will put her foot on top of the bed rail. I tell her "No. Put your leg down," and she will listen to me. So she has never climbed out. (Yet!)

The wisdom I am looking for today is how do you know when your child is ready for a "big bed"? Do you have any suggestions on how to do the switch over?

White Noise - LFW

We live in an old house that does not have central air. In each of the bedrooms we have window unit air conditioners. I was so excited to put these in this summer because I knew it would create white noise and Little Guy (or all the other sounds from outside) would not wake Princess up. Any time Princess or Little Guy go down for a nap or for the night, I turn the air conditioner on.

Hubby is telling me that we can not keep the air conditioner in all winter. He doesn't understand that we have to. He says something about it not being heat efficient or something like that. Anyhow, I see his point.

I am freaking out about having no white noise. Princess will wake up at Little Guy's first cry. Little Guy will wake up from the trash truck. I will never get sleep or some quiet time!!

Please help! What do you or did you do for white noise?

Introduction - LFW

There are many times being a "new" mom that I have questions. When I only had Princess, I would read books and search the web for answers. Since Little Guy has been born, I read very little and honestly there are too many blogs to read that I don't have time to search the web. Sad isn't it.

I have found some of my best advice comes from my friends or moms who are either in the same season or just went through that season. I have also learned not to take every little piece of advice that I get. I do appreciate every piece of advice though. Sometimes I just put it in the back of my head and use it when necessary.

This brings me to the point of this post. I am launching a new set of posts called "Looking for Wisdom." I have some questions for you that have been lurking in my head for a little while. I know that almost 100% of my readers have children, so I should be able to draw some wisdom from you.

I am hoping that these posts will help other moms out there as well. I am going to keep these listed in my sidebar for easy access. Thank you in advance for your wisdom.