Tag Archives: learning

Typical Conversations With Our Toddler

09/12/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

At almost 22 months old (seriously, time, just stop for a change), our toddler daughter seems to increase her vocabulary every day. Not that it’s a big surprise with how much time we spend reading to her as well as her reading by herself.

Reading usually occurs sans animals, but Nana’s dog was adamant about sticking around for the ending.

I figured I would share some of the typical conversations we have with Avery at this stage in her toddler career. Obviously, they are less like conversations and more like us asking a lot of different questions with one syllable, hard to distinguish answers. Or just going through asking what noise *insert animal* makes.

When she’s getting fussy and we can’t figure out why or it’s just because she wants us to give her something she can’t have, we’ll bust out with the animal sound questions…

Us: What does the kitty say?
Avery: La (sometimes it’s more of a meow, but not quite yet)
Us: What does the owl say?
Avery: Who-who
Us: Ummm, what does the dog say?
Avery: ruff
Us: How about the pig?
Avery: very soft snorting noise I’m not sure how to spell out
Avery: getting fussy again
Us: Uhhh……what does the bear say?
Avery: rooaarrrr <—-cutest thing ever!

Just recently, when we’re changing her and just took off her pajamas, she gets upset if she’s not wearing a shirt.

Avery: Shit, shit, shit
Us: What?
Avery: *pointing at our shirt* Shit!
Us: Oh, you want a shirt?
Avery: Yesshh
Us: Okay, what color do you want?
Avery: Pink (this was the first color she could say, so it’s always her first color question response)
Us: Would you like this green one with the Ninja Turtles?
Avery: Yesshh
Us: We’ll put it on right after changing your diaper. What color diaper do you want?
Avery: Pink
Us: How about this one, what color is it?
Avery: Pink………bllluuueee
Us: Yes, good job dear! You’re so smart!
Avery: I smaahht

And then, quite often, there are times where it’s just a drawn out guessing game. She’s fussy and only getting worse by the second…

Avery: Uh, ugh, ugh….bla
Us: What do you want sweetie?
Avery: bla baaa, laa
Us: I don’t understand what that is, dear. Do you want another book?
Avery: nnnn, bla bla baaa
Us: Still don’t know, does something hurt?
Avery: *reaching up but not really towards anything* blaaa laaa
Us: *finally realizing…we think* Oh, you want water?
Avery: Yesshhhhh

So apparently “W’s” are hard to pronounce right now. No worries, we have plenty of time to learn. Since a toddler is usually around the ages of one and three, I see follow-up posts in our future, and maybe by then she’ll at least have “water” down.

There are plenty of other “conversations” we have with Avery in a day, but these seem to be the most frequent so far. But with a constantly growing list of words she can say, including high chair, bear, book, swing, slide, mow, squats, shorts, mom, glasses, phone, trash, pig, squash, and most of the primary colors, our talks are sure to get more interesting. Oh yeah, she started saying No, which is already proving to be a problem. Apparently for the both of us….

What are your little ones saying right now or what did they say when they were toddlers?

Any plans for the weekend?

Life, Parenting

The Urban Air Trampoline Park Carryover Effect

09/04/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Have you ever been to a trampoline park? Urban Air, a franchise, is located mostly in the South around Texas, but there are a couple in the North East as well. I have been wanting to take Avery for a while, but was not sure how she’d take being on a trampoline.

My hesitation only grew when she wanted nothing to do with our friend’s trampoline last week. We figured it was due to being above ground as she freezes up on above-ground things like playground equipment and, well, trampolines.

Yeah, I'm fine right here, thank you. — Yeah, I’m fine right here, thank you.

On top of that, she’s been fighting a cold, so I was pretty sure the trampoline park was a no go this week. But, it was right next to Costco where I just so happened to be, and it was before noon on Wednesday which is when Urban Air has their Jumperoo time where ages 5 and under are only $5 and parents are free. Score!

Despite her runny nose and unpredictable temper (isn’t that toddlers in general?), I decided on giving our first visit to the park a try. Avery was almost the youngest kid there with the majority of jumperoos around the age of 4 and filled with energy. I brought her to the main area filled with sectional trampolines all interconnected for plenty of jumping action. But Avery, she just looked at me with a hesitant but cute smile.

I urged her to jump just like the numerous kids surrounding her, and even carried her to the middle hoping she’d catch on. Instead, she scooted on her but like a dog with worms before flipping over to bear crawl.

She did this until making her way back to safety, the stable orange area.

After watching others jump all around her, I thought she might be ready to make the plunge into the black, so I prepared my phone’s video camera.

Technically, she jumped, but I’m sure her butt would’ve appreciated a softer, more pliable surface. Oh, maybe like the trampolines all around her! At least she has the padding from her cloth diapers to help soften the blow. Finally, I think I caught the moment she realized what was expected of her after staring off at a group of 4 year old kids wrestling each other for a ball.

It was right after this picture, when I tried the video again. This time, it was Instagram-worthy. At least to the biased parent such as myself. 🙂

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

That’s more like it, now we were having fun! Her next order of business was chasing down that ball all of the other, bigger, kids were playing with. Only problem was, they really didn’t want to give it up to some “baby” as they called her.

Her first attempt to nonchalantly grab the ball when it was loose quickly failed as some boy ran up to grab it away. Silly boy, you simply DO NOT take balls from Avery!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

Guess all of that working out with Mommy and Daddy is paying off! The boy’s mom told me to get on to him if was being too rough with Avery, but I never had to, she took care of it herself. Speaking of rough, I thought this brother-sister duo playing crack the egg with Avery (without Avery knowing) would be too much, but she just smiled and laughed as her body flopped like a fish out of water.

I’m positive that if it were me making her bounce like that, she’d be wailing as if I just broke her arm in half, but other kids doing it, no problem. She carried on jumping, doing butt busters, and chasing the ball around all over.

Feeling like we made great progress with her jumping on the trampoline, I thought I’d introduce the awesome foam pit! Seriously, trampolines lined up for you to jump on and launch yourself into a giant pit of foam; what’s not to like? I think Avery has the answer….

That was the first and last of the foam pit for the day. Maybe next time….or the time after that. Noon was fast approaching which meant toddler time was over, so after a few more jumps and ball chases, it was time to go. Surprisingly, Avery just said “bye-bye” without a bit of a fuss.

Once home, there was just enough time to watch a little Sid the Science Kid as she had lunch before a much needed nap was attempted. Her cold symptoms somehow reappeared and turned her into a little fuss monster. They may be little, but toddler fuss monsters are a force to reckon with!

With her belly full, teeth brushed, and story-time done, I put her down for a nap. Surely after all of that jumping and still fighting a cold she’d quickly fall asleep. Or so I thought; I guess the carryover effect from jumping on the trampolines was too intense. She was doing butt busters in her crib which is far from napping.

Can’t blame her, jumping is fun! Finally, she tired out and as quick as you can snap your fingers, she was out.

All for a good 30 minutes instead of the 1.5 to 2 hours she normally gets. Apparently that’s all she needed because she was a bundle of energy the rest of the day and again when in her crib. I’m glad she’s healthy enough for all of the activity, but geez, calm down Avery!

So that was our first but definitely not our last time at a trampoline park. I’m hoping to make it a meet-up with our Dallas Dads Group next time since I haven’t seen those guys in a while.

Have you ever been to Urban Air or similar park?

Do you love trampolines? What about your kids?

Books, Life, Parenting

Pee on the Floor: A Potty Training Story

09/03/2015 R.C. Liley 8 Comments

We’ve been off and on with our attempt at potty training for Avery, but as she gets closer to being two, I figure we should start trying a little more. We bought an appropriately named book, Potty, in hopes she’d read it / look at the pictures and instantly want to be like the baby in the story.

She really enjoys the book, but seems to enjoy flipping to the kitty and doggy more than inspecting the use of the potty. She’ll flip right to the pages with an animal and point them out immediately.

We’re proud and happy she’s knowledgeable about animals and all, but Going Mom and I are aiming for diaper changing freedom here! The other day, I finally decided to get serious about potty training our little girl by following The Easiest Potty Training Method that Modern Alternative Mama wrote about.

Basically, it’s just get them naked, don’t make going potty a big ordeal, have a potty available, don’t try and reward them (this could make them only go potty for a treat and not using the potty when their bodies show a sign of needing to go), and ignore them by NOT asking them 50 million times if they need to go. Basically, everything we’ve been guilty of doing thus far.

So, I set out her potty in the kitchen (I was cooking as usual), got her naked, and put her Potty book down for a little incentive/reading material.

Right away, she gravitated to the toilet giving the impression she was ready to do just as the baby in the book and go potty! Just a minor course correction for her foot was all I offered, nothing about going pee or poo.

With her foot out and butt down, she took to reading. Yes, my plan was working!

As usual, she pointed out the kitty and doggy, but then continued on flipping the pages. All good signs, my anticipation grew by the second!

Uh oh, I think I spooked her a little. What? Is it soooo weird to sit around snapping photos of your naked toddler on the pot?

Don’t answer that, I just read the question out loud, and yes, yes it is weird. C’mon, you can’t tell me I’m the only parent out there that does this. Right? Right?

Whatever the case, she quickly recovered and continued sitting and flipping through the pages. Ooo, it was a good page, the part where he goes in the potty and proclaims “I did it!” This part gets her excited, which, subsequently, make us excited thinking how she gets it and it will start using potty from here on out.

Her face was beaming with pride as if she can and will go potty. I felt like this was it!

Well, even if it was, it wasn’t. Right after that page, she stood up from the toilet and sat right back down next to her pink plastic throne.

But at least it’s a good sign she still had the book, right? Wrong!

I’ll spare you the pictures (I actually did not take anymore), but what followed was a stream of pee right next to her potty. I quickly cleaned her legs and feet (yes, she made pee prints across the floor), and then the floor.

Trying extremely hard to remain calm, I caved and mentioned using the potty to go pee or poo so it doesn’t get on her legs or the floor. You could tell she was frustrated with not having a diaper to catch her refuse, so I thought an explanation would help. I even pointed out how the baby does it with the diaper off in her book.

I went back to doing chores around the house trying my best to ignore my nude toddler with a full bladder, but had to draw the line when she climbed the couch. She thought it was funny, but I only saw another potential clean-up.

With Avery back down and running around, I carried on around the house only to have her come up and give me a hug while saying “Hi.” That’s her “I know I did something wrong but look how cute I am” sign. I’m not one to turn down a hug, so I hugged her back then went looking for wet spot. This time it was the carpet in the playroom.

So, potty training, even if it is “the easiest method”, is not so easy. More hugs and “Hi’s” followed by a pee puddle search party continued for a while before nap time that day. I haven’t tried again since, but know consistency is key. Maybe just a little closer to two years old, then we’ll start again.

Do you have any potty training fail or success stories to share?

Do you like having a small potty like we have or a seat made for the large toilet? I think I’d like to get a seat for her to go on the real potty soon.