1. Snuggle Bud: Snuggle Bud has been Lydia’s security item for a very long time. (For Snuggle Bud’s full history, click here.) Lately she has taken to calling it “Cubbie.” Sometimes it’s a boy and sometimes it’s girl. She often makes up a story about Snuggle Bud based on what we are doing. Today I made some bread in the breadmaker. Lydia said, “A long long time ago, when my Snuggle Bud was four years old, she used to make bread, too.” There was also a story where Snuggle Bud had a grandma who died a long long time ago, and that was when the Mickey and Minnie videos started being in color instead of black and white. (See below.)
2. Minnie Mouse: I think this Minnie Mouse toy was a gift from Nana one Halloween. Recently, Minnie Mouse has risen to the top of the favorite toy list, almost knocking down Snuggle Bud from its number one spot, but not quite. She sleeps with Snuggle Bud and Minnie Mouse. She takes them both to Walmart. When she is feeling puny, however, it’s always Snuggle Bud she asks for.
I can’t remember what got us going on Mickey and Minnie, but for some reason Keith started finding vintage Mickey and Minnie videos on YouTube. Our extensive playlist is here. She will say, “I want to watch a video with a mouse.” These videos have been watched, studied, discussed, retold, and acted out at length.
3. My silver watch with a dead battery: This watch lives in a little jewelry box by the side of my bed. Lydia will ask, “May I please go get one phing out of your jewerly box?” (She says th with an f sound.) The one thing is always the silver watch. She is supposed to keep it in my bedroom, but lately she has gotten bolder about taking it other places in the house. She will play with it, and maybe one of her necklaces, along with a book. I think she is pretending the watch is a princess who is interacting with the pictures in the book. She can entertain herself with these items for up to a full hour.
4. Small princess dolls: When Nana and Poppy went to a garage sale about two months ago, they hit the princess jackpot. One thing they bought was a set of small princess dolls with rubbery dresses and hair that can be mixed and matched. These poor princesses usually walk around with no clothes or hair. She plays with the princess dolls the same way she plays with the watch. She always has a princess doll with her during her rest time, but not necessarily bedtime. It doesn’t seem to matter to her which princess doll she has, as long as she has one. They don’t have names, which is surprising considering how much she likes to name things.
Usually a combination of these toys comes with her to go potty. This can get complicated. The toys usually rest on the step stool near her feet and she leans over to play.
Have you noticed I’ve been blogging more lately? You can give credit to the fact that Lydia has “rest time” instead of nap time now. She goes in her room for an hour, starting at 1:00. Some days she goes to sleep, but usually not. As a result, her bedtime is now 8:00 on non-nap days. I was really dreading this change, but I really really like having my evenings back.
Speaking of blogging, there is a special day coming up August 4. Anyone care to guess what it is?
Lydia loves Luke. She really does. But sometimes, she is in a groove with her monkeys or ponies, and Luke gets in her way. He’s just being a normal toddler, interested in what she is doing, but she is NOT in the mood to be bothered or share. She convinces herself that Luke is going to put her toys in his mouth, and she pushes him down. We’re talking about a very intentional, two-handed shove. (These pictures are not related to the post other than they show my lovely offspring.)
I can’t even remember what we did the first few times this happened. I know one time I put her in time out, she laughed, then she had a major tantrum, I tried spanking, and the situation was completey esclated and out of control. I hate hate hate this kind of reactionary discipline, yet I found myself doing it.
It was probably over a year ago that I had Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years checked out from the library. I can’t remember all the details, but the basic premise of Love and Logic is that you show sympathy, not anger, when a child misbehaves. The reason you can show sympathy is that the consequence for the behavior has been clearly stated ahead of time. That way, when the offense occurs, you can just say, “Oh, I’m so sorry that _________ (unpleasant consequence) has to happen now.” It keeps the parent cool, calm, and collected. It also makes the child completely responsible for her own actions.
So, I told Lydia that the next time she pushed Luke, Snuggle Bud would spend one night on the top shelf in my closet.
Wow, yes, I really said that.
Well, it happened earlier this week. She pushed Luke, but I didn’t see it, and she denied it. What to do? I was 99% sure she had done it, but I just couldn’t follow through on the consequence without knowing for sure. I decided to let it go. I didn’t even mention Snuggle Bud.
That evening when she was having her bedtime snack, she suddenly said, “Mommy, I don’t want you take Snuggle Bud away!” I wasn’t even thinking about the pushing incident, and I said, “Would I ever take Snuggle Bud away?” Then it occurred to me why she was worried. I thought to myself, “Aha!! So you DID push your brother!”
However, since we had already been through the interrogation, and since I had not seen her do it, she got Snuggle Bud that night, but I knew if I ever witnessed her doing it again, I would HAVE to follow through, since obviously she had not forgotten about my warning.
Well, today we were at Nana and Poppy’s house. I had taken Luke to the doctor to check for and ear infection that wasn’t there. We came in from the appointment, and Lydia was playing with some Valentines she had made with Nana. I put Luke on the floor, he walked over to where Lydia was, and she pushed him down. It wasn’t really a hard push, and if it had been the first time, I might not have said much about it, but given our history, I grabbed her up and took her to the hall. I reminded her that now Snuggle Bud would be spending the night on the top shelf of my closet.
Of course, her reaction was to protest, but we got her going on lunch and made it through without too much hoopla.
Then, bedtime came. Keith and I spoke in hushed tones as the moment drew close. I was pretty nervous, but I was determined to stick to my guns. I told her Snuggle Bud would be spending the night in my closet, but she could choose another toy to sleep with.
We proceeded with our normal bedtime routine. Her mood variated from genuine sobs of grief to perky comments about the book we were reading. I just kept plowing through. She dragged out the story time by adding new, silly elements to the Rudolph story. At the end of the routine, I left the room, and she cried for quite a while, pleading for us to bring back Snuggle Bud.
Finally, Keith and I went back in together, gave her a drink, and took turns telling her one more story and sang one more song together. She snuggled in with her toy puppy, and we haven’t heard from her since.
She’ll get Snuggle Bud back in the morning.
What about the pushing? We’ll see.
What about the parents? It was a rough evening, but I can go to bed knowing I didn’t react in anger, but planned ahead with love.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ~ Hebrews 12:11
There is nothing quite a sweet as a one-year-old. Let me rephrase that sentence. There is nothing quite as sweet as this one-year-old. He gives hugs and kisses and snuggles, and he utters one-syllable vowel sounds with great conviction.
A one-year-old, however, is also accident prone. Although walking is old hat by now, his poor little head takes the brunt of most of his falls. In this picture, he had a scrape on his forehead from landing on the track for the sliding glass door, and he had a swollen lip from landing flat on his face on the wood floor in the entryway, which resulted in a large amount of blood going everywhere. (I’m afraid I’m to blame for the busted lip though, since I had him in a very fluffy cloth diaper along with a pair of tight pants. It was a combo that didn’t allow him to get around quite right.) Poor child.
Of course there was also the incident where, since there is simply not enough drama and stress in my life already, I had myself convinced Luke was choking on a fuzzy red reindeer nose. We were at Nana and Poppy’s house. Lydia was wearing her Rudolph antlers and had a red fuzz ball taped to her nose. Luke was carrying around another red fuzz ball. I was 100% certain I saw him put the fuzz ball in his mouth. So, I put my finger in his mouth to fish is out. I was 100% certain I felt it in his throat. He started coughing. I picked him up and held him upside down, hitting his chest. Poppy took him and tried the Heimlich maneuver. Finally we realized Luke was breathing just fine, so we assumed he must have swallowed it.
Then we found the fuzz ball. It was in his hand.
It was dry.
Ahem. Let’s move on. Although Lydia is firmly out of the toddler stage, she certainly has her share of bruises most of the time. The worst one happened just the other day. She ran into her room to get her bedding set. (She drags her pillow, blanket, comforter, and Snuggle Bud all over the house.) On her way out, she ran into her door and acquired a huge lump on her forehead.
I took this picture of her when she was waking up from her nap, so her half-closed eyes are because of her sleepy state, not because of her injury. Notice, though, the bruise on her forehead from the door crash.
By the way, that is exactly how she was sleeping, with her hands behind her head. We’ve seen her do this before. I find this pretty endearing. I think it’s because neither Keith nor I sleep that way. It’s her thing. She is her own person.
Speaking of being her own person, that girl engages in pretend play from the moment she gets up in the morning until the moment her eyes can’t stay open one moment longer at the end of the day. She is probably 10 different characters throughout the day, and the rest of us play along. She tells us who to be and what to say. She runs around with excitement as she figures it all out. Her brain is in gear constantly.
No wonder she ran into the door. She was probably busy planning what story to act out next.
When Lydia was about nine months old, we started introducing baby signs to her. Baby signs is a way babies and toddlers can communicate with their parents before they can talk. We used an earlier version of this book (Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk) to guide us.
Lydia’s first sign (and corresponding first word) was “hat.” She simply tapped her head. The sign for “flower” was to make a sniffing sound with her nose. For “cat,” she stroked the back of her hand. The sign for “Snuggle Bud” began as a hugging motion, but somehow morphed into grabbing her wrist and twisting it. The sign for “more” was to place the index finger in the palm of the other hand repeatedly. In fact, the sign for “more” was always her strongest sign, and even now, she will subconciously use it when making a heartfelt request. In this video taken last June, she uses it when asking to sing about a pony.
I also created a playlist on YouTube of Lydia using baby signs as a toddler.
The book, which I believe was one of the first books to introduce the concept of baby signs, does not give hard and fast rules about what signs to use for what concepts. It does give suggestions, which are helpful, but it also encourages parents to make up their own signs. After a while, Lydia actually made up some signs, too. Other books you can find will use a more standardized approach, such as American Sign Language.
I would suggest to parents starting out not to introduce too many right at first. Start with one or two. Once your baby has the hang of those, introduce more. Like I said, we started with Lydia when she was nine months old, but it wasn’t until she was twelve months that she really took off with using them. Once she did, however, it was amazing how well she could communicate with us. She had at least 20 signs she used regularly. There was rarely a time when she was trying to tell us something with signs that we could not understand her. This reduced frustration for everyone.
Now Luke is nine months, and I’ve been watching for him to show us he is ready. He hasn’t started clapping or waving yet, so I haven’t been in a hurry to try to get him to sign other things. This evening, however, he started raising his hands in his high chair. At first, he was just doing it randomly, and when we did it back, saying “Raise the roof!” he would just look at us and smile. Soon, however, he would imitate the rest of us raising our hands. I took this video, and you can see the camera jiggle when I raised my hands to show him what to do.
Later this evening, when I was playing the video on the computer, Luke was sitting across the room from the computer. He heard me say, “Raise the roof!” on the video, and raised his hands high. Yes, I believe he’s ready.
Lydia loves Snuggle Bud. Keith fell in love with this toy in Target before she was even born. He determined it would be her “lovey,” and boy, was he right.
Here, both Lydia and Snuggle Bud were quite a bit younger.
Notice how Snuggle Bud has a silky texture and an intact eyes and nose. This toy became so well-loved that I bought another one. The only one available had a cow’s head, but she didn’t seem to notice the difference. Getting one laundered was simple, since there was always a backup.
When Lydia became old enough to do baby signs, we made up a sign for Snuggle Bud, which looked like a hug. Somehow, however, the sign morphed. When Lydia wanted Snuggle Bud, she would grab one wrist and twist it.
When she finally started talking, her word for Snuggle Bud was “Ah-Pud,” with and emphasis on the “d” sound at the end of the word.
Slowly she began noticing how the two Snuggle Buds were different, and she would request the one with a teddy head.
As her verbal skills improved, the word was “Tuggle Bud.” Soon she was saying other words that begin with “sn” like “snow,” so I knew it was only a matter of time before the word “Tuggle Bud” would no longer be heard in our home.
Just a few weeks ago, a perfectly articulated “Snuggle Bud” began to come from her lips. I must admit I was a little sad.
Now we don’t even bother with Cow Snuggle Bud. It’s like it doesn’t even exist. Why settle for second best?
Lydia shows her love for Teddy Snuggle Bud by chewing on it nonstop. This makes Snuggle Bud smell not-so-good. Laundering it is very tricky, since she wants it around all the time. Yesterday it happened to be near a pile of laundry. She was out of the room, so I scooped it up and hid it in the pile, and took the pile directly to the washing machine. Yes!!!
A few times, I have asked Keith to sneak into her room after she is sleeping so I can add it to a load of sheets or towels. One time we heard her start to fuss before the load was done in the dryer. I was feeding Luke, so I asked Keith to get it out of the clothes dryer and use the hair dryer on it. By the time she woke up asking for Snuggle Bud, there was Daddy with Snuggle Bud in his hand, ready to save the day.
Snuggle Bud, like all of us, is showing some signs of age. Here are Snuggle Bud and Lydia, just this evening.
Saturday morning Lydia woke up with a fever of 103.5. It went down after a nap, but by the late afternoon, it spiked to 105.1. After being on the phone with an on-call nurse several times already that day, we took a trip to the emergency room.
After a thorough exam, Lydia was diagnosed with a virus. Our instructions were simply to keep her comfortable by alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen. We expected the high temp to last two more days at the most, but when Lydia woke up Tuesday morning with a fever and a swollen eye, we took her to the doctor.
Now, a day after Lydia was prescribed an antibiotic for a possible baterial infection, she is finally starting to perk up a little bit. Over the last several days, there has been lots of neediness, lots of whining for Mommy, an intense need for Snuggle Bud, and not much eating. Oh, and did I mention there has been LOTS of Little Bear?
Little Bear was originally a series of books written in the 50s and 60s. I’ll have to admit, the books themselves read a little like Dick and Jane and don’t immediately seem very exciting. The television show is how we learned about Little Bear in the first place. When Lydia was staying with Nana and Poppy while Luke was born, they stumbled upon the show on the Noggin network. Lydia took a liking to it, and soon Poppy had recorded all 60 episodes (each containing three stories) on his DVR.
The show is pretty sweet, really, and very wholesome. The soundtrack is comprised of lovely woodwind music. Mother Bear is gentle and busies herself with domestic tasks. Father Bear is a sea captain and wears a three piece suit. Little Bear is friends with Duck, Hen, Cat, and Owl. They do cooking, gardening, plays, picnics, and make music. They live a simple, happy life.
Little Bear became the thing to watch while we were visiting Nana and Poppy. Soon they recorded several episodes for Lydia to watch at home. One DVD has four hours worth and another has six hours. Until recently, she would watch about 30 minutes of Little Bear at a time. This week, however, we have lived and breathed Little Bear. I wish I could truly convey to you how much this little program has taken over our lives. When Lydia was feeling just well enough to want something other than snuggling on Mommy’s lap, Little Bear was her choice.
Little Bear is also the fuel for much of her pretend play. One of Little Bear’s friends is a girl named Emily who carries around a basket full of cookies, therefore Lydia becomes Emily when she carries a basket. Lydia wears a garden hat around the house like Mother Bear’s. When Lydia finds a stick, it becomes a fishing pole, just like Father Bear’s. She has picked up phrases like “Ta da!” or “That’s perfect!” (I prefer these phrases to many other phrases that can be heard on television.)
Now that Lydia is feeling better, I hope to reduce her screen time significantly, but Little Bear will be an important part of our lives from now on.
A classic question is, Why is the sky blue? Perhaps a better question lately would be, Why isn’t the sky blue? Late last week we had a little more ice and snow. It wasn’t enough to cause any trouble, but it was enough to make any spring-lover just a little crazy. These gray skies motivate me to do, well, nothing.
Lydia has had a cold for the past several days. Then, last night she threw up. It turns out it was the scrambled egg yolk I fed her for supper. Her face broke out immediately after she ate, which we knew was from the egg. She also got very snuggly and needy. She actually found snuggle bud and walked to her bedroom. Daddy snuggled with her in there with her for a while. We thought she was just still worn out from her cold. We decided to go on over to our fitness center to walk. We came home a little early, since Lydia just wasn’t acting right. After we got home, she promptly vomited half of her eggs on the carpet in front of the sofa, and then the other half onto Daddy after he picked her up. We are so thankful she didn’t throw up all over Daddy’s back while we were walking.
We went ahead with the bedtime routine and held our breath. She perked back up during bath time, and then she slept all night. Diagnosis: Lydia is more sensitive to eggs than we realized. Prescription: No more eggs.
Since the egg episode wasn’t exactly a Kodak moment, I’ll show you some other pictures we have taken recently.
Pure Sweetness
Red Roses sent to me in Illinois for V-day. They survived the trip home.
Mommy isn’t the only one ready to get her hands in the dirt!
Daddy’s coat.
Lydia is learning to smile for the camera, including some pretty darling face-scrunching.
Right after Lydia turned a year old, we decided to buy her a potty. I know, I know, this is waaayyy earlier than everyone says you should start potty training, but the girl was squatting in the bathtub to pee after her bath water drained out. We thought we’d give it a try. If she took to it, great. If not, no big deal.
She started using the potty once or twice a day. She even pooped in it twice. I thought that I must have discovered the secret to successful potty training: starting early. Everyone else was starting too late, I reasoned. I figured we would just continue using the potty a few times a day until she became more and more aware of how her body functions, and eventually, she would just be using the potty on her own without much hoopla or stress. Was I a good mother or what?
I seem to have forgotten this word of wisdom from Proverbs: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
At the beginning of the year, Lydia stopped using the potty. She tinkled in it a few times over the course of a week, but not nearly as much as she did before. She would usually sit patiently while I read her a book, but nothing would happen. Then, last week, she stopped wanting to sit on it at all. She has other things she wanted to do, like run through the living room with no pants on.
I’ve done a little reading about potty training, and one method suggests having the child teach a doll to use the potty. I asked her if her stuffed snowman wanted to go potty. Yes! The snowman DID want to use the potty! While the snowman was doing his business, I removed Lydia’s pants and diaper. She promptly squatted on the floor next to the potty (where the snowman was still sitting) and peed on the floor.
I think this must be progress, since she is associating the potty with its intended use. The snowman, the purple ducky (yes, the ducky is back), and Snuggle Bud have all learned the use the potty now, and Lydia has now peed on the floor three times. Trying to move Lydia from her squatting position on the floor to the potty is met with fierce resistance.
I’m not sure what to do next, but at least I won’t have to change the snowman’s dipaer anymore.
Anyone else out there try to potty train early? I really feel like she can do it, if I can gently persuade her that the potty is for her and not just the toys. I’d love to hear your thoughts! In the mean time, my humbled haughty spirit will be wiping up the puddle on the bathroom floor.
Keith taught Lydia to love her Snuggle Bud from a very young age. He fell in love with the silky yellow blanket with a bear’s head the moment he saw it in Target. We started putting her to bed with it, and sure enough, it became her favorite toy that she could not live without. In fact, I have since bought a second snuggle bud (this one with a cow’s head that rattles) so she can always have one when the other one needs to be laundered.
However, Snuggle Bud has recently had some competition for its status as favorite toy. (Doesn’t this sound like a movie story line?) The rubber duckies have taken hold of Lydia’s heart. When we’re in the bathroom, she remembers them and asks for them by saying “duh” and making the duck sign, which mimics a duck’s bill quacking.
Since we have bath time right before bed, and since Lydia WILL NOT let go of the ducks when she gets out of the tub, they come with her into the bedroom while she puts on her pajamas. It’s prettty much impossible to put your arms through your sleeves if you are holding a rubber duck in each hand, and it can be traumatic to let go for a few seconds, but somehow we all live through it.
Before Lydia began her obsession with the ducks, she would help me turn the pages in her bedtime books, but alas, that too is impossible to do while holding twin ducks.
Snuggle Bud is still around, and probably brings more comfort in the middle of the night than rubbery water fowl, but for now, I’m not about to interfere with this kind of love.
All these meausurements are in the 75th percentile for a four-month-old, meaning Lydia is well-proportioned. Dr. Andrews said one of her colleagues says a four-month old baby is one of the happiest creatures on earth. We have to agree. She is just more smiley and sweet every day.
Now here’s the big news: Lydia is not getting a tooth. I suspected as much when I could no longer see the white spot on her gum. Since it seems unlikely that a tooth would emerge and then disappear, I asked the doctor what she thought. She said what I saw was probably an Epstein Pearl. “On the gums, they sometimes resemble emerging teeth. The condition is harmless although it sometimes worries new mothers.” What doesn’t worry a new mother?
I didn’t watch the nurse give Lydia her shots this time, and I didn’t cry at all! (Lydia did.) I think I was more prepared for her reaction this time. The shots have already given her a fever and a cranky disposition this evening, and we are going to have to keep up with giving her Tylenol to keep her symptoms at bay.
In other Lydia news, she is really getting good at reaching and grasping for objects. And yes, she is now playing with her rattle, although I think she prefers the snuggle bud.
A few days ago Lydia started giggling. It’s pretty cute. She does it when we give her smooches on her cheeks or on her belly.
She’s also getting better at sitting up and does it with less and less support all the time. I predict that she will do it on her own within a month!
Now to close this post and bring together this scattered smattering of Lydia facts, here is a random picture of her taken a few days ago.
checked out from the library. I can’t remember all the details, but the basic premise of Love and Logic is that you show sympathy, not anger, when a child misbehaves. The reason you can show sympathy is that the consequence for the behavior has been clearly stated ahead of time. That way, when the offense occurs, you can just say, “Oh, I’m so sorry that _________ (unpleasant consequence) has to happen now.” It keeps the parent cool, calm, and collected. It also makes the child completely responsible for her own actions.
) to guide us.
written in the 50s and 60s. I’ll have to admit, the books themselves read a little like Dick and Jane and don’t immediately seem very exciting. The 
