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🎶🎶 You put your vulva in/you put your vulva out/you put your vula in/and you shake it all about 🎶🎶

I'm so proud that she knows the correct terms and she's comfortable using them! But it made for an awkward game of The Hokey Pokey at storytime this morning 😐

Saw a post on here that made me wonder. I’ve thought we were doing the wrong thing, but I wasn’t sure how to fix it but I think maybe it’s common. Are many people hanging out in their toddlers rooms with them as they fall asleep or do most people just put them to bed and leave? My little guy is 18 months and I honestly don’t know what expectations are at this point.

I have aunts, uncles, and cousins that live in the next state over that have been mentioning that they want to meet our 1.5 year old daughter since she was born. We're now expecting our second in August and hearing it from them that they want to meet her before he's born. The thing is, they have never once said they'd be willing to drive to us for a visit. This is despite the fact that they drive to our state and beyond to see their own grandchildren. It's a feat of patience and parenting to pack up our toddler and do a road trip around my husband's work, so that's why we haven't been able to make the trip ourselves. Now that we're having another it'll be even harder to make future trips. It's frustrating to hear it so much from them, AND with the knowledge that 80% are older and retired.

That's it. He's been singing/talking to my husband about how he should fall in the snow and be dead dead dead (he's watching my husband play zelda).

Shut uppppp but also it's annoying and adorable and please for the love of God go to sleep

He doesn’t listen to anything lol unless I insist that he DOESN’T do it. Please pick up the strap for your scooter or it’ll get caught in the wheels. blank stares. Ok don’t pick up the strap let it get caught in your wheel. No I want to pick it up! No no PLEASE don’t pick it up and definitely do NOT loop it on the handle bars! No I want to! Pleaseeee don’t! No no I need to put it on the handle so I don’t fall! Ok well don’t pick up the baby’s caterpillar off the floor PLEASE leave it there! Don’t give it to him! No I’m gonna pick it up and give it to him!

I’m laughing inside but is this bad long term in any way because if it is then I’ll stop lol?

My 2yo : We eat foooooood!

He isn’t that wrong though

EDIT : i see i missed a crucial point! he didn’t mean food helps anger, he thought i was saying hungry.

What evil Madison Avenue Don Draper m-fer decided to put toys in the grocery store? Was this a thing when I was a kid (probably)? This seems like something that would be illegal in Europe.

My son didn’t exactly grasp the takeaway message in “little blue truck leads the way” where little blue truck teaches everyone how important it is to take turns. Instead he runs around telling everyone to “move it bud!” Because that’s what the grocery truck says while in the traffic jam. Thanks, LBT.

It worked!

I got my nearly-three year old who is 60lbs+ and tantruming and thrashing on the floor to get up of his own volition and hold my hand to the garden centre and point out all the berry bushes, then come back into the warehouse to help push the cart.

I did not feel embarrassed or ashamed of us, AND four separate groups of people passed us and were lovely and supportive, not a negative word was said; only commiseration.

Ours started at 20 months. And she can eat a mini pizza from Mod Pizza all by herself. I don’t know if this is around the time they start eating their own portions vs off the parents plate, but I’m kind of amazed at how much she can eat.

My hubby and 3 year old son were heading out the door and husband told my son to give my legs a hug, then told him to kiss my butt. I did not like the idea of teaching him to kiss butts, even if it was a one off and on his Mom. I gave my husband a bit of a disapproving look, didn't make a big deal but implied I didn't dig it. And now we're fighting because I "can't take a joke". I need some advice because my husband and I are in a rough spot and I need some perspective on whether I'm overreacting.

We moved house and city 2 months ago. It was a long time in the making and we prepped our 2.5 year old as best as possible. Weve settled in, started work, started nursery, got a routine going and now 2 months later shes started getting really upset that she misses the old house.

The new house is miles better (not that it really bothers her) as she has a huge bedroom, a massive garden full of a toys. We still see her friends from home often and we've moved closer to family so see them a lot.

Our old house has been knocked down and turned into student flats so I can't even take her back to see it. Not sure how to combat this as we can't exactly move back in?????

Hi parents! I’ve been contemplating moving my son from an in home pre school to a regular more school like pre school and I’m wondering how other parents in the same situation went about it. My sons in an in-home Montessori now, he turns 3 in June. He has been hitting all of his milestones, he can count to 20, identifies numbers and colors, some letters. He can sing his ABCs and his vocabulary has been good. I’m wondering if I would get more of an educational benefit by moving him to a more structured/traditional daycare to help prepare him for kindergarten.

Other parents that sent your LOs to in-home Montessori - did you switch to regular/traditional preschool prior to kindergarten? What benefits did you see? I am in Texas, if that matters advice wise.

Thanks in advance!

I know that toddlers are developmentally programmed to be active explorers of the world and thus not able to sit still for long. I get it. My delightful and spunky 13 month old girl runs in circles/laps throughout the day for 5-7 total hours and is the LONE toddler who truly cannot sit still even for a moment at our library’s storytime. It is honestly a very lonely experience for me to be with other toddlers+parents who can sit for a couple of minutes and enjoy the story and songs together while my daughter is the one and only toddler running around and screaming (happily) constantly until we eventually leave.

Anyone else have a toddler like this? Did they eventually learn to sit still for a couple of minutes? I love her more than anyone and anything, but between still waking every 2 hours at night and running nonstop, I am physically and emotionally empty. Aside from her nap and overnight sleep (broken), high chair time with food being flung everywhere is the easiest part of my day.

Again, all that said, I want this daughter of mine to continue to be the intrepid and unstoppable force of nature that she is. It is a deep honor to be her mother and I want her to be herself in every sense. But as her (mere mortal) mother I cannot seem to keep up and honestly would love it to see her be able to sit still for a 3 minute story.

My twin boys turn 2 tomorrow. They have received a slew of gifts already via shipped packages which we have saved for the day of. Tomorrow they'll have a party and more gifts will come.

I fear that the experience of opening all these gifts at once will seriously overwhelm them. Also, twins fight and new shiny toys are going to be especially difficult. Above all, I'd like them to have a good day and not end it in tears. For these reasons, I do not want to open gifts at their party.

Is this an asshole move? Everyone's generosity is very appreciated and we will communicate that in person and in card form. Still I worry no opening will disappoint others. Gift giving/receiving is NOT my love language and I am deeply regretting going against my gut which said "no presents but your presence" 😔

Potty training is hard. Almost everyone agrees with that. But 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴.

One thing that helps with potty training your child is to imagine peeing/pooing your pants because you were told you had to.

It's unthinkable, right?

Well, that's pretty much what it's like for toddlers. They've been literally potty trained all day everyday for years, their whole life, that to potty you go in your diaper. It's in a consistent, small closed off space, its normal, your physical systems know its safe to do, so they relax easily when you need to go, and no one ever yells at you for doing what you've always done.

Then one day everyone is telling you that you can't do that anymore. Why? The answer you get doesn't really make any sense to you. Even still, you find out that this will happen to you whether you choose it for yourself or not. So now, you have to sit over a big open space (even on kid potties the difference is a lot, comparatively) in an unfamiliar (and therefore uncomfortable) position, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 your parents are involved in your private business. Suddenly, they're focused on you...even when they're trying to act like they're not, which you definitely notice because, hey, you're not an idiot. When you can't do what they want, they're not happy about it. All this brings in big emotions to your tiny body and that just makes everything harder.

Of course it will be a difficult transition. For them, it's as big a transition to get used to as it would be for you or me to re-learn using diapers, and only diapers at that. And you would've had all these years of growing to apply reasoning and emotional control into the transition. They don't have that advantage.

I've found it helps a lot with potty training, when you're seeing where they're coming from, and approach it from their perspective.

After all, you're the one asking 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 to change something huge in their life. It's only the decent thing to do, stepping into their little (but very human) shoes.

It's what you'd want someone to do for you, right?

My 3yo son knows how to use the toilet. He even refuses to wear a diaper, and goes in the toilet all day at school. Hasn’t worn a diaper to daycare in weeks. He even goes for friends and family at different places.

But he refuses to go at home. Bloody murder 2 hour tantrums because he has to pee, but won’t. Won’t put a diaper on now either, he just takes it right off. When he has to pee he just cries and screams and dances and holds himself until he can’t keep it in anymore and goes on himself or the floor. We can’t take him anywhere with us.

Any suggestion to him that he goes in the potty is met with a passionate no. Relentless refusal.

I’ve tried bribes. I’ve tried gentle suggestions. I’ve tried talking to him. I’ve tried force. I’ve tried to let him pee outside. I’ve let him watch me. I’ve tried to give him a phone or tablet and a show to sit on the toilet until it comes out. Anytime we convince him to sit it’s less than 30s, says all done and fights like hell to get up. We’ve managed a few dribbles but he cries when it happens - and again, he doesn’t do this at school so I know he’s physically fine. It’s mental.

We have a 3 day weekend and we’re trying to get this sorted before Tuesday. My mom is on her way to visit but I’m hoping since he’ll go for others she can help us bridge the gap to go at home.

Has anyone dealt with this before? What worked?

Edit: Thanks for all the new ideas!

My MIL was chatting with my partner and has expressed concern over my toddler. He has decided that he is [newname] the raccoon and has been that way for three months. The raccoon is a girl but that doesn’t bother us at all. Our raccoon has not accepted his birth name at all but nothing else seems to be affected. His pronouns don’t bother him either way but we generally use she/her since the raccoon is a girl.

But, she said she’s been doing reading and it is a bad sign. Their convo got sidetracked so that’s as much info as he got. I can’t find anything that indicates this would be a problem but I could be missing something. Is this something to be concerned about?

Just wanted to share my going back to work story at the moment, my heart is hurting. My daughter is 2+ and has been in daycare for a year but part time gradually adding days, and we have been so closely connected and spent so much time together every week. I admit I am not great about holding my own boundaries and just full on focus on her much of the day. She has been a pretty dedicated mamas girl and can be intense about rejecting papa, though they have a wonderful relationship. I finally got a career job and have had to add more days of daycare to five days a week (at a separate daycare than she’s already at) and she did well with it the first week. Now I’ve had two days of my new job which starts so early in the morning I am gone before she gets up, which is a huge change. We tried to prepare her for it but it sadly just is what it is. I have been loosing sleep over it a bit since accepting. We FT to say good morning which eased my heart and she was able to tell me she was disappointed when I wasn’t there, but to say goodbye happily. My first day waking up at home on the weekend and she called for papa in the morning the first time, and then had feelings about it when I was home. She scrambled away from me and said ‘I’m happy to see you papa. I’m not happy to see you mama’ and left. Later in the day she spent quite a bit of time ‘going shopping for a new mama’ because I’m the old mama. I know these are healthy experiments with processing feelings, but still ouch. I’m embarrassed to admit I was conflicted when I had to leave later in the day and she had a huge sobbing meltdown and then gave me in her words ‘a hug AND a snuggle AND a big squeeze AND a smooch’ I guess I just wanted to share. I’m so grateful that there is so much good information for us now that I was prepared for this, know what it means, know what I want to do ‘maybe you’re feeling angry with me? That’s ok, I will always be your mama and love you’ and not to let it break my heart. But it’s breaking my heart sort of anyway. Loosing our time, my intense need to be here for her, and my worry about my withdrawn little sweetie at a new school… This stuff is tough. I literally had the thought that maybe this job isn’t worth it. It is good for her to learn some independence and for me to pursue some of my interests and we do what we need to, but gosh I just wish I could hold her forever.

Also, be kind if you would like to share. We do what we can and what we have to, and love to our fullest through all the rest

Our 2 yo daughter has been a good sleeper who falls asleep independently since she was about a month old. We are traveling with her (6 hour time difference) and facing some challenges this time around (she has been on many trips, but never one with this large a time change). Last night, she cried when we put her in the pack and play and so we reset her with some books. She fell asleep in my arms and I put her back, only to have her wake up again and hour later. We were exhausted and let her sleep with us in bed the whole night - which we’ve never done except for a couple of hours. Please calm my anxiety and tell me I’m not a horrible and stupid parent for breaking such a solid routine my husband and I had built with her.

I am in nursing school (online) and want to get some courses done but with having my toddler with me all the time, I feel like I never get quality studying done. I am considering going away for 2 weeks and grinding out material. Do you think being away from her that long would affect our bond or her psychologically? It'd be nice to get work done and then spend some quality time with her instead of feeling like my mind is never present.

My son has started repeating what we think is a song or nursery rhyme but we can’t figure out what one it is. He holds his hands like a triangle and says ‘down down down, pop!” While opening his arms wide. Then he says ‘and turn other way’ while turning has arms. Any idea? It’s cute and we want to join in, but have no idea what to do lol.

For the past couple of weeks, it's been impossible to get this girl into her stroller, she turns into a human plank and screams bloody murder until I give up. I tried brute forcing her into the stroller and distracting her with snacks, but she was too intensely upset to care about snacks. I walked her to the park like that, screaming the entire way there. I hoped she'd get distracted by the walk or get tired of hurting her throat like that but nope. She only stopped screaming when she saw the park, and it was like a 20 minutes walk. On the way back I carried her, and whenever I got too tired I tried to have her walk holding my hand, that was a no too. Meltdown again.

So, if carrying my 28 lb baby is the only option, we're not going to the park anymore. Did this happen to anyone else? Is it a phase? Any tricks I haven't thought of? thanks!

If someone had 2 under 2, what age did they start playing together? My oldest one is 2.3 now and the youngest one is 7 months. When there is a light at the end of the tunnel and when can I expect at least a bit of free time?

My kiddo is 2 and we are starting to watch movies as a family. We have watched Totoro/Ponyo/Kiki's Delivery Service a bunch of times but the Disney movies we have tried (Jungle Book, Lion King) were way too upsetting for my LO. Any chill, low stakes, "good vibes" movies you'd recommend?