Brinley Toddler Summary: 34 Months Old

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Brinley is a good sport. This is a picture she took of her feet as she sat on the couch
and entertained herself at the end of the year Kindergarten party. She was good to
play independently and good to clean up all of her messes on her own.

This is a summary for Brinley from 33.5-34 months old (she is 2 months shy of 3 years old).

 

SLEEPING

The crib to bed transition has been such a breeze. She doesn’t get out of bed. She stays there when we put her down and doesn’t get out until we come in to get her again. I am still leaving a few books for her at each nap and at bedtime. She typically looks at least one book in her bed before she goes to sleep. 

 

EATING

Eating is going well. She has typical toddler moments. At times, she will want to stop eating sooner than she is really done because she thinks of some fun thing she wants to play. I can tell if she is full and if she is just thinking of something fun to do. If it is something fun to do, I will require a certain number of more bites before she leaves. 

 

With toddlers, it is a good idea to give a small amount of each food–like 1-2 Tablespoons of each food. Then you can add more if they eat it and want more of it. It seems to be less overwhelming to them. 

 

SICKNESS DIVA

I have figured out something about Brinley that I haven’t had with my other children. In the days before she gets sick, she becomes a real diva. She gets super sensitive to being late for a nap and she gets so she really likes to make other people upset. 

 

I came to this realization one day. The same day, a mom of a boy in Kaitlyn’s class randomly told me that in the few days before her son gets sick, he is like a totally different person. I was so glad to hear that because it validated what I thought was probably true! 

 

On one of these days, before a cold set in, and an hour after her nap was supposed to start, we were at the park. Brinley decided to throw wood chips on people and upset one of her friends her age and a 6 year old boy. She got the most thrill from the 6 year old boy. We left the park immediately.

 

A hard thing is you don’t initially know that a sickness is coming on. Your child starts to be a punk and you wonder what has gone wrong. Then a cold sets in and you think, “Oh that explains it!”I will have to be more mindful of these signs so I don’t do things like keep her up past her nap with poor other kid around for her to antagonize. 

 

The crazy thing is that she is normally such a sweet girl. When she goes diva, it is a shock. 

 

LOOKING AHEAD

Our next big move will be potty training. I have been verbally warning Brinley many times a day that this will happen soon. “Soon you won’t wear diapers anymore! You will wear panties and go potty on the potty.” She responds, “No, I pee in my diaper.” She does not like her growing up milestones. But I did the same with the bed transition and she warmed up to the idea and even got excited. I will not let her go past 3 without doing it. I will probably wait a few weeks until after a big trip we have coming up involving an all day drive each way. I don’t want more potty stops than necessary. I will keep talking about it and feeling her out until she seems more ready, or start close to 3–whichever comes first. 

 

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 (sometimes this is in the morning slot before lunch if getting ready doesn’t take as long)

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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6 thoughts on “Brinley Toddler Summary: 34 Months Old”

  1. My daughter is 34 months. For the past 6 weeks she has been taking 30-45 minutes longer to fall asleep at bedtime than usual. For a week I tried moving nap from 1245 to 1215 and waking at 230 instead of 315. It didn’t have any noticeable change on her falling asleep. She has all her teeth, no new siblings, room is dark, she is in a twin bed, no nightmares, etc. I’m at a loss with what to do or try. Any suggestions? Thanks!

    Reply

  2. also I should have said the issue is at bedtime, not nap time, she falls asleep in 10-15 minutes for nap. But bedtime is what is taking forever. 🙂

    Reply

    • I would let her nap 2-3 hours or so for her nap. You could try moving bedtime back some, but not more than 30 minutes.

      Make sure she is getting plenty of physical exercise and mental stimulation to make sure she is ready for needing sleep at bedtime.

      With that said, it isn’t unusual for 2 year olds to do that at bedtime–take a while to fall asleep. So don’t let it stress you out too much when it happens. There mighe be adjustments you can make to help, but it might be a normal sleep regression.

      It could also bee teething pains.

      Reply

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