This is a summary for Brinley from 27-27.5 months old.
SLEEPING
Sleeping was great! This was during a time of the time change, and she did really well with it. She adjusted well and quickly.
EATING
Eating was good and normal. Her favorite food right now, hands down, is yogurt and granola. She totally loves it. The food throwing was really a non-issue during this time period.
PLAYING
Playing was good. She really was just all around pleasant during this time.
TIME CHANGE
Like I said above, the time change was during this time and she handled it really well. We weren’t able to do any prep before. It gets hard to slowly transition when you have older kids who have certain schedules they adhere by (like school). She is a flexible person, though, and did great.
DENTIST
We went to the dentist during this time and she did really well there. She has always handled the dentist well. I think kids can do well and then suddenly be scared, though, so I did some practice that morning. We talked about going and I pretended to be the dentist and she was the patient. She probably would have been fine, but I have had scared kids at the dentist and I wanted to do what I could to have the best experience possible. While there, there was a little girl about Brinley’s age who was super scared and crying. Her mom said she was great last time, so she figured she would be fine again. It is always a good idea to mentally prepare children for things like this. Sometimes, they will still be scared with preparation, but most of the time, it helps immensely.
TRIP TO CALIFORNIA
At the end of this period, we took a trip to California. We drove there. A lot of people who drive from Utah to California split it up and stay in St. George or Las Vegas overnight on the way, but we really didn’t want four days of travel. So we decided to just drive straight through. It was a 12.5 hour drive.
Brinley did awesome. The furthest she has gone is 3.5 hours, so this was a huge risk on our part. We had no idea how she would do. We ended up getting there at about 1 AM our time (midnight their time). Then we had to unload and get kids in beds. If I did it again, I would have had a little bag packed with their pjs and anything they needed that night so we could have just unpacked that one bag and put them to bed.
Brinley did not sleep in the car at all the whole way there. It was no surprise–she has not slept in the car since she was a very young newborn. So she missed her nap AND didn’t get to bed until close to 2 AM her time. Crazy.
That night, she was super hot. It is always a good idea when traveling to bring pjs for cool nights and hot nights. You never know how it will be, and over the course of our trip, she had a lot of variety of nights. We were able to dress accordingly.
The next day, we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a great activity to do after a long drive and super late night. She was very tired, but really enjoys animals and only had one meltdown, which I considered a win. We saw all but four animals and left two hours before they closed so we could get her down at a good time for bed.
We stayed in a condo in Oceanside. When we got back, we went to the beach to check it out. She was very cautious. She finally got brave enough to go just outside of the reach of the waves. She played in the sand. Well, a wave snuck up eventually and washed over her. She held her ground and kept her wits about her and got out of the water, but she kept a much further distance from the edge of the water from that time forward.
The rest of the trip will be in her next summary :). The zoo day was her only bad day with a meltdown of any kind. Pretty amazing.
SCHEDULE
8:45 AM–Wake up/Breakfast
9:15 AM–Get ready
9:30 AM–Walk
10:30 AM–Outside Time
11:00 AM–Independent Playtime
12:15 PM–Lunch
12:45 PM–Learning Activity
1:00 PM–Sibling play with McKenna
1:30 PM–Nap
5:00 PM–Free Playtime
5:30 PM–Dinner
6:00 PM–Family Time
7:30 PM–Get Ready for Bed
8:00 PM–Bedtime
HELPFUL BOOKS
- On Becoming Toddlerwise
- Wholesome Toddlerfood.com
- The Toddler’s Busy Book
- What To Expect The Toddler Years (this is okay–I don’t love it)
- Super Baby Food
- So Easy Toddler Food cookbook
- The Wonder Weeks. (and a link to their site:http://livingcontrolsystems.com/)
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
- The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior–Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood
- Baby Body Signs: The Head-to-Toe Guide to Your Child’s Health, from Birth Through the Toddler Years
- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
- The Wonder Weeks
- http://wholesomebabyfood.com/
RELATED POSTS/BLOG LABELS:
- Toddler Summary: 27 Months Old (for McKenna)
- Toddler Summary: 28 Months Old (for McKenna)
- toddler summary (blog label)
- dentist tips
Hi! My question doesn't have much to do with this post but I'll venture anyway. My 14 month old has gone down to one nap recently. It seemed early to me but if he takes a morning nap he absolutely will not take an afternoon one. He takes a single nap at 1:00. But it's only 1-1.5 hours. Not long enough! I've played with waketimes but he just never sleeps longer. Any tips?
How long has he been at one nap? After 2-3 weeks, it should be a good length. If it isn't, I really would go back to two naps and just decide if he doesn't nap in the afternoon, you will be okay with that but at least he is resting.Or you can decide on one nap, but go to the time of he Morning nap and move it 30 minutes later. This is a tricky transition time.
Hi Valerie, forgive me, I also posted on another page of yours. Im new to blogs ;0) I happened upon your blog when researching how to change my 9 month old daughters schedule and boy, Im glad I did! Ive spent a few hours today reading your posts! Im hooked! So,I was looking for some advice on how to change her schedule w/o throwing her off. She is formula fed, a BW baby since 12 weeks, and I did the CIO method for sleep training. Here's her sch. now:6:30am – wakes up but usually goes back to sleep7:30am – wake, bottle, oatmeal9am – nap 1 (usually 2 hours)10:30/11am – bottle12pm – nap 2 (usually 1 hour but lately she's shortening it)1:30pm – bottle, fruit3pm – catnap (usually 30-45 mins but lately has been a hit or miss whether she sleeps or not)4:30pm – bottle, veggies & grains6:30pm – bedtime routine with bottle7:15/7:30pm – asleepIt seems she's ready to move to 4 feedings and 2 naps given the 2nd nap is not as long and the catnap often doesnt happen anymore. Am I reading the signs right? How do I go about tweaking her schedule to make it so, & so her 2nd/last nap is later in the day so she's not awake from 1pm-bedtime?
She is definitely in an age range for a 4 hour schedule. Something for you to figure out is if she can stay awake for two hours. If she is up for 1.5 hours and sleeps 2 hours, she is only at a 3.5 hour schedule. If it were me, I would start by extending her second waketime length of the day. She is taking a 2 hour nap for her first nap as things are and I wouldn't want to mess with that. You said her first nap is usually 2 hours long, so that would put her getting up at 11 am. You then said her second nap starts at noon. I would do her second nap starting at 12:45 if she is getting up at 11, so 1 hour and 45 minutes later. See how her nap goes after that. Give her several days with that length. If she takes a two hour nap, I would stay there. If not, try her being up for two hours instead.