Brinley Toddler Summary: 30.5 Months Old

This is a summary for Brinley from 30 months old (2.5 years) to 30.5 months old.

 

SLEEPING

Sleeping has continue to improve. My husband usually puts her down at night and I put her down at nap. This is something we started when Kaitlyn was a toddler. Kaitlyn was a major mommy’s girl and I thought if she had that special time with dad each night, it would help (and it did). We have continued that tradition with our girls. He starts when they are about one year old to put them to bed. 

 

He and I are similar, but we don’t do every thing the same. That hasn’t ever been a problem for our other kids. I wondered if that was feeding into Brinley’s valiant efforts to delay nap and bedtime, however. We talked about what we did for the routine and have taken things to be a lot more similar. Same number of songs and stories. Same number of kisses…just got to be the same. I think that, along with the lack of molars coming through, has helped. 

 

One night, Brinley had a really hard time sleeping. She had a fever that day, and that night she was up about every 45 minutes. Not fun! At some point in the night, in my haze, I remembered the words from a doctor once when I had taken McKenna in…”Whenever a child who sleeps well suddenly doesn’t sleep, I always first check for ear infection.” She did this on a Friday, and so seeing a doctor on a Saturday would mean Instacare (urgent care). This would mean lines and waiting. Saturday was a swim meet for Brayden…so not fun. 

 

Our Instacare actually allows you to get on the waiting list ahead of time, you can call or sign up on their app. So I took Brayden to the swim meet, my mom took the other two girls, and  Nate called and got on the list for Instacare. He got there, waiting five minutes, and was in. Pretty nice!

 

Her fever was at 103 while on Ibuprofen and she had a super bad ear infection. She also had a bad cough and pneumonia has been roaring through our valley (did I mention I had it last month? Not fun). She went on antibiotics and was feeling much better by that evening and slept as usual that night. They also gave her some ear drops that dull the pain. That was super helpful. I had purchased some Earache Drops of my own earlier, and had fought her the night before to get them in an ear, and managed to get them in the ear that wasn’t infected. Not helpful.

 

EATING

Her food intake is normal and fine.

 

She has started this attempt to get down and run around during a meal in between bites. She wants to eat some, get down and play, then eat some…This is something that isn’t okay with me. I want her to sit and eat until she is done, then have her hands and face washed and play. The other day, she got down and went over to my off-white couches (I bought them when we lived in a different house and our formal sitting area was not part of the kitchen area!), and wiped her berry cream-cheese covered hands on the couch. Fortunately I saw it happen, and fortunately my couches are microfiber so they clean easily. I wiped it up and it was fine. 

 

I have been explaining to her she needs to stay seated until she is done, wiped, and excused. Until recently, she has been nervous to get down from her chair alone. I decided to teach her how to get down herself and she is beyond thrilled to practice this new skill over and over. She is improving, but still has room for improvement on waiting to be excused. I think a big thing you must do in a situation like this is to be very consistent. Any time she gets down without asking, I remind her she needs to ask to be excused. If she says she is done and her hands are clean, I still make her go back and sit and ask to be excused. Toddlers require lots of consistency. 

 

PLAYTIME

Playtime is great!

 

LEARNING TIME

She is still loving her learning time using  the Babes, Tots, and Kids curriculum . She is learning quickly. She especially loves art, and her fine motor skills are looking great! She knows all of her letters (though she insists and “H” is actually called “Huh”). She knows all of her colors. She knows almost all shapes (hexagon and octagon mix her up, and rectangle is currently “box”). She counts well. She can sometimes get 1-10, but most of the time she skips one of the numbers somewhere between 6-9. 

 

POTTY TRAINING

Last time, I shared with you that I would be attempting potty training Brinley. To give away the end first, it didn’t go so hot. 

 

In some ways, it went well. She initially was not thrilled about wearing panties, but McKenna showed her that she wore panties, so Brinley was excited. She initially wasn’t interested in sitting on the potty for more than 60 seconds, but I set a timer and offered a treat and she sat great. 

 

She had zero accidents. She has long been very good at holding it. 

 

But she also had zero success. At about noon, Brinley was sitting on the potty, holding my hand, and saying, “Mommy please help me!” She couldn’t figure out how to go and she hadn’t gone for hours. This was far too much like my experience with Brayden, who went 24 hours without an accident but also without peeing or pooping. I didn’t want to do that to Brinley. I asked her if she wanted a diaper on, and she said yes, so I put it on and she peed. 

 

On the bright side, I think the experience has made her more aware of when she pees. She is paying closer attention. Hopefully it will help her figure out how it works. 

 

She has a lot less interest in the potty now, though. Before we tried it, she pretended all day to go to the potty. Now she rarely does. I think it was worth the try, and I am sure she will be ready at some point. I will probably give it another try in 2-3 months if she seems interested. 

 

Daddy/Brinley Date

This month, Brinley had her date with Daddy. They took some bread and went for a trip to the duck pond. They fed the ducks. She loved it. 

 

SCHEDULE

This is her typical daily schedule.

 

8:45 AM–Wake up/Breakfast

9:15 AM–Get ready

10:00 AM–TV time

10:30 AM–Independent Playtime

11:45 AM–Help get lunch ready/hang out with me doing stuff

12:15 PM–Lunch

12:45 PM–Learning Activity

1:00 PM–Sibling play with McKenna

1:30/2:00 PM–Nap

4:30/5:00 PM–Wake up and Free Playtime

5:30 PM–Dinner

6:00 PM–Family Time

7:30 PM–Get Ready for Bed

8:00 PM–Bedtime

 

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1 thought on “Brinley Toddler Summary: 30.5 Months Old”

  1. You've got a lot more experience than me (I've only got the one child!), but just to share my toilet-training experience that I started a few months ago. Day 1 sounded exactly like yours, my daughter held on for ages, and finally went in her nappy at nap time. I thought, oh, what am I doing, I don't think she's ready. But we were stuck at home recovering from chicken pox anyway, so it was as good a time as any, and I really wanted to get it done in summer (we did the 'nothing at all below the waist' method, which I thought wouldn't be fun in winter – we're Southern Hemisphere). Anyway, day 2 wasn't a whole lot better, a couple of floor accidents, some drips in the potty from where I'd managed to get the tail end of a wee in there. Lots of praise for those drips, but I was still thinking, what am I doing? I was going to give it one more day then give up, but day 3 she had some success on her own (and a couple of accidents too). The penny was starting to drop, and I felt bad giving up on her by that point. From then on she was great. We have the odd accident, but she's better and better. We're about two months down the track, and she's great about asking when we're out, she'll take herself to the toilet at home, and I'm so glad I persevered. In hindsight I should've waited a little longer maybe, but then maybe not either, she's done great (she was 2yr 5mo when I started, and showing no interest at all in sitting on a potty, she has always preferred a nappy). She's still not dry at night, not even close, so we still use a nappy at night. Anyway, no point to that, just wanted to share I had a similar start!

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