We got a box of pipe cleaners at the Euro Shop. Micah had a lot of fun with them! It was a great way to past our time while waiting for the baby to come.
We made a spider and reenacted “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”.
“Out came the sun and dried up all the rain!”
“And the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again!”
Micah is a brilliant little child. He is 21 months old. He can:
Micah has always done well to routines and he is really good with verbal prompts:
Lately, I’ve realized that Micah needs to be playing, stimulated, or learning every minute of the day. Whenever he gets bored then he starts throwing a tantrum. He needs more than just play time with toys. I recently felt inspired to add structure into his daily routine by making his play time into learning time. I try hard to make sure Micah never gets bored. It has worked so well! Here are some ideas I’ve come up with:
I will alternate activities throughout the day and week. It has worked so well that Micah wants his own free time. The last few days he has been going into his room for 30 to 45 minutes and he’ll close his door to play with his toys by himself. I didn’t know what to do with myself! I thought he was making trouble but really he just wanted time to himself. 🙂
What do you do with your toddlers?
I bought these cars from the Euro shop:
I made Micah a car mat with paper, permanent marker, tape and crayons:
I added a section so he could sort his cars by color and count them:
Micah loves this simple car mat! He can play with it for an hour!
Now you can make one for your toddler!
For the fans of the Bradley Method, they tell you not to go into the hospital until your contractions are so strong that you can’t smile for the camera. Well, that works most of the time but what if you’ve been having contractions for 2 weeks and 2 days!?! I’m not crying because the contractions hurt, I’m crying cause I’m so emotionally strained from Prodromal Labor.
My first baby was a textbook baby. Everything that happened during pregnancy and labor was described exactly in all pregnancy textbooks. Labor started in the morning at 38 weeks of the pregnancy, I had contractions ~8 minutes apart for most of the day. Throughout the day, the contractions progressed to be stronger lasting about 50 to 60 seconds and coming every 5 minutes. I had a “show” in the afternoon and was emotionally nesting throughout the day. Well, being my first baby… I had no idea I was in labor at all! It was so easy… there was no way I could be in labor. So I took a shower and tried to go to sleep. My water broke (well… trickled) at around 10 pm and my contractions took off. We were only 5 minutes from the hospital but by the time I got there I was 6 cm dilated and I was having contractions 1 min long every 2 minutes. Transition occurred shortly after being on a birthing ball and the baby came out nicely with mother-directed pushing (pushing was indeed my favorite part!) Yes, easy… well as easy as labor can be!
I would used to always tell people, oh labor is easy. It’s only one day… it comes and then it goes and *pow* you have a baby! Surely, this saying was going to come back to bite me.
At 38 weeks for this second pregnancy, contractions started 3 minutes apart lasting about 60 seconds. It went on for 3 hours so I called up my midwife and asked “when do I come in?” She said “you’re not in labor yet.” Oh… of course, I’m not in labor… I can still smile for the camera. She told me to call back if they get stronger. These contractions went on and did get stronger throughout the day. So I called up my husband to come home from work by 4 pm. By the time he got home and everything slowed down. It was bed time so I needed to sleep anyways. How disappointing!! I thought for sure I was going to have a baby because it was going exactly like how the first baby happened.
Well, to my surprised this went on for 1 week! The contractions would go on day/night coming every 5 to 10 minutes for hours on end. The contractions ranged from mild to strong but not “intense”. Finally, after 1 week the contractions got stronger. I thought for sure these were it. I called someone to come get my toddler but by the time my first child left everything slowed down and the midwife told me to go to bed. How disappointing!!
I thought I was making it up in my head. I couldn’t believe that my contractions were starting and stopping. I went into the hospital anyways only to find out that I’m 2 cm dilated. What is going on with my body?! I went home and the contractions went on and off for the next week. I had a “show” 1.5 weeks ago but still nothing has happened.
Finally, I found something useful online as I desperately search for something that would make sense of what is going on with my body. Prodromal labor!!!
Prodromal labor is pre-labor that goes on and off for hours, days, or weeks! That’s it. It made so much sense… well kinda. At least it gave me hope and I now know that there’s nothing wrong with my body. It’s just having a long warm-up.
The hardest part of prodromal labor is my emotional state. I get a rush of hormones throughout the day that makes me really emotional. I’m always on the edge and anything could make me cry! Good news, I’ve learned to deal with it better the last few days. I stopped timing my contractions and can even ignore my contractions. 🙂 Even though my baby is now “over-due”, I feel peace and love as I search the scriptures, receive priesthood blessings, be grateful, watch the missionary broadcast, do my Hypnobabies scripts, spend time with my toddler, serve others and pass time by reading other women’s prodromal labor stories. Everything will turn out just fine! My body knows exactly what to do and I’m going to let it do it’s thing.
Great reads about prodromal labor:
http://wafflesandcereal.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/prodromal-labor/
http://belladolcebirths.blogspot.ie/2012/01/prodromal-labor-what-is-it.html
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/990201/what-you-need-to-know-about-prodromal-labor
Read my happy ending to Prodromal Labor:
https://hubbardscupboard2010.com/2013/07/11/having-a-baby-is-not-scary/
This is Micah. He is 19 months old and he can go pee in a bucket. He only wears a diaper to nap, when we go out, and bed time. I wouldn’t say that he’s “potty trained” but it’s definitely a start! If you’re reading this, I’m telling you right now that I’m not an expert. I only have very little experience and what worked for us might not work for you. I’m writing this post mostly for my sake so I don’t forget when I do this the next time around. 🙂
Also, if you’re potty training a girl… this post probably won’t help you very much.
Why did we start so early?
I’ve read lots of criticism about early potty training. There’s a lot of negative opinion out there warning people not to start potty training too early. However, both my husband and I felt very strongly that we should start teaching Micah. Micah was getting really horrible diaper rashes and wearing diapers was not helping.
It hasn’t really been easy. It has tested my patience and self control in may ways. I definitely don’t think early potty training is for everyone. It’s taken some time sacrifice and lots of work but, recently, it has paid off for us!
What worked for us?
What didn’t work for us?
Now what?
I have no idea… just keep trying I guess. I don’t know what the future brings. One big thing I’ve learned is God is here to help even with potty training! From the beginning we felt inspired to start potty training. My husband and I prayed about it a lot. We prayed for help. We prayed that Micah would be ready. We prayed that I would be patient. My husband and I both received inspiration on how to start potty training. We counseled together when ideas fail and then celebrate together when things start working out!
What has worked for you? 🙂
As I’m prepping to breastfeed my new baby. I remembered that my first baby had a type of jaundice that was induced by my breast milk called Breast Milk Jaundice. He was NOT mal-nutrition that is called Breast Feeding Jaundice. Breast Milk Jaundice occurred when he was about a week and a half old and, usually, Breast Feeding Jaundice occurs during the first week of life. Rather there was a protein in my breast milk that caused my baby to not be able to break up bilirubin which made him really yellow looking. The doctors couldn’t tell if he had jaundice or if his skin was just “asian colored”… lol (see picture above). They asked me to stop breastfeeding for 1 day. They tested my baby’s bilirubin levels before and after. Surely enough… his bilirubin count dropped significantly after 1 day of being on formula. There is nothing they could do about Breast Milk Jaundice and it is not harmful to the mom or baby. The Breast Milk Jaundice disappeared when he was about 6 weeks old and his skin was as white as can be (see picture below). If this happens again, I won’t be stopping breastfeeding for them to test it.
I can’t believe Micah is now 18 months. Woot! He is old enough to go to Nursery at church now. How exciting! Now we just need a bunch of nursery aged kids to move into the branch so there can actually be a nursery. 🙂
At 18 months Micah likes:
Micah can say:
Micah can sign:
Micah can point out:
Micah can follow instructions:
Micah can answer:
Here is are the pictures I took of at 18 months photo shoot. I’m very please by how these pictures turned out!
Dallin went the whole year in 2012 without eating any sugar desserts. It was his new year resolution to be more healthy. Since we’re in Europe this year he decided to add sugar into his diet again… in small quantities of course! 🙂 We can’t deny that the chocolate and pastries here taste fantastic.
We dressed up Micah as a nerd this Halloween. He was so cute in his little suspenders and crayons in his pocket protector.
Hubbard's Cupboard 