Toddler Archives - Deep In Diapers

In Parenting

What To Do When Your Toddler Won’t Sleep

June 4, 2018 No Comments

I love to sleep. I love it for myself, I love it for my kids. Sleep is something I’m passionate about because I see the benefits of ensuring my family gets plenty of it. When I have lots of sleep I feel better. That’s why I try to make sleep a priority for my family.

However, sleep doesn’t always happen. Sometimes kids get sick. Sometimes kids decide they don’t want to take naps or go to bed even if they are really tired. So how do we handle those situations when sleep stinks?

When A Toddler Doesn’t Nap

My son at about two and a half years old started not sleeping when it was nap time. He was still in a crib so he wasn’t running all over his room, but I could hear him pounding his feet on his crib rails, talking, singing and sometimes even crying out for me.

I was shocked. He had always been a good napper, what on earth was going on? I felt like he might still be too little to go all day without a nap, so one day I put him to bed with a stack of board books. I told him to read his books until he felt sleepy and then go to bed. That day he read his books for about 15 minutes and after that, he fell right to sleep.

I tried it again the next day. It worked perfectly. And not at almost 4 years old, he goes to bed with some books and falls asleep about 20 minutes later.

When A Toddler Doesn’t Go To Bed At Night

We recently traveled out of town for a wedding. Our whole family stayed in the same hotel room. My daughter is a party animal. If there is action going on, she will do everything in her power to stay awake. She was in her pack and play in the middle of the room and was doing everything in her power to not go to sleep.

By 11 PM that night, we were exhausted of her talking and alternating whining. We finally discovered the secret to her sleep problem: if she couldn’t see us, she’d go to sleep. We moved her bed by the bathroom out of view and then she finally fell to sleep.

Sometimes kids won’t sleep, but it doesn’t mean they don’t need sleep or that they should stop napping. Many times it is just about troubleshooting the problem that is keeping them from sleeping.

Read: How I Stopped My Toddler’s Middle of The Night Wakings

Troubleshooting Sleep Issues

Sleep issues can happen for a variety of reasons. My son stopped sleeping when his sister was born. He was emotionally upset and it was affecting his sleep. My daughter often won’t nap when she’s teething. I gave her Tylenol and she was happy and went right to sleep. Two different kids, both experiencing different sleep issues.

The main thing to remember is that your kids need sleep.

Your kids might fight sleep. They might try to talk you out of putting them to bed or stall, but they do need a good night of sleep and when they’re young they need naps too. Do what you can to figure out why your kids aren’t sleeping well.

Follow your mother’s intuition and listen to your kids. Often they’ll give you clues as to why they aren’t sleeping well. For example, my son told me one time that he needed more time with mommy. He meant one-on-one time with me. And he could get it if he stalled going to bed or calling for me at night. So I started working that time into our day. It was hard, but I found some spaces where we could have time to cuddle or read and it made all the difference in his sleep.

So spend the time asking your kids questions if they’re verbal or troubleshooting if they’re non-verbal and figure out why they’re not sleeping well. You’ll be glad you did. Kids that are well rested are easier to deal with and more fun to be around.

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In Parenting

How I Stopped My Toddler’s Middle of the Night Wakings

April 22, 2018 No Comments

*** NOTE – this post is for older babies or toddlers, who have already been sleeping through the night after you’ve ruled out things like growth spurts and teething ***

My son started waking up in the middle of the night. He’d been sleeping through the night pretty consistently and all of the sudden, he started waking up almost every night.

When he woke up, he’d always say things like let’s go downstairs and play. He wanted to get up and out of bed to play. I’ve had several friends who said that they had kids the same age doing the same thing. They’d get up with their kids, turn on the TV and start watching Netflix or Hulu with their kids until the kid got sleepy two hours later.

I didn’t think that sounded like the best idea for me since I’m already working at 5 AM every morning. I didn’t need or want to get up every night and have to be up for several hours.

Here’s What I Did

When my son woke up, I’d go into his room. I’d use the most boring, least fun, and the most monotone voice I could find. I didn’t do any of the usual tickles, jokes or silly faces. His lights in his room never got turned on. Finally, I gave him a drink of water and when he asked to play I told him we’d play in the morning.

After a few days, he began to realize how boring mom was when I came into his room in the middle of the night. And believe it or not, just three or four days later, he stopped doing it. No more screaming for mom in the middle of the night.

Night Wakings Aren’t a Big Deal

I think the mistake many parents make is that when their child wakes at night they treat it like a big deal. They read books, play or doing something stimulating during the wake time.

To me, this seems silly. If I woke up, watched some TV, played games, and read a book, I wouldn’t be tired either. But if I wake up in the night and things are kept very quiet and low key, I’m usually able to get back to sleep very quickly.

So rather than trying to play games and treating the waking as a fun time, try keeping the lights dim and things really boring. Offer a cracker and some water and then put them back to bed. This will give you the greatest chance of your child going back to sleep.

If things are boring, most likely they won’t have any incentive to wake up and call you at night. After a few nights, my son stopped calling for us. I think if we had given in and played games with him, or made it fun, he might have kept waking up for a long period of time.

Sleep Is Important

I want my kids to have good sleep habits. I believe sleep is one of the most important things we can give our kids. When they’re not sleepy, they’ll learn better, and be happier during the day.

That’s why I do everything I can to get my kids as much sleep as possible. I believe sleep is one of the best parenting tools a parent can have. A well-slept child will be easier to deal with during the day and raising kids is hard enough. Make it easier on yourself by helping your kids learn good habits to help them sleep well.

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In Parenting

A Helpful Phrase for Your Toddler’s Endless Questions

April 16, 2018 No Comments

I remember waiting excitedly for the day my son would talk. I hated not knowing what bothered him or why he was crying. However, now that he does talk, I have my times where I wish he was the quiet little boy who couldn’t speak. He started talking and hasn’t stopped since.

If you’re like me and you’re a parent to an inquisitive toddler you can probably relate to how tiring it is listing to endless questions.

“Why do you have hair in your nose?”
“Do they have macaroni and cheese in Heaven?”
“Why is our car red?”
“Why do we walk?”
“Mom, Why are skunks stinky?”
“Why do we need to brush our teeth?”
“What do pigs drink?”

On and on the questions go. One after another until your head hurts and you want to scream, “be quiet, give me a break! Who cares, go figure it out yourself.” Many times the questions my toddlers ask are really good, and I don’t want to ignore them, but how do you give your kids the right answer? Because honestly, a lot of the time I have no clue why something works the way it does.

How Do We Deal With The Endless Questions?

I started implementing a simple phrase in these situations where I have no idea what to say back. I simply say, “let’s learn together”. Our learning together could be getting online and googling it together. A few times its been simply asking a friend who drives a semi about the truck my son is interested in.

Read: 3 Proven Phrases to Prevent Mealtime Battles

The phrase, let’s learn together” gets my toddler giddy with excitement.

Instead of shrugging it off and saying, I don’t know. I use this phrase. My toddler loves it. He’s usually almost shaking with excitement as we run to the computer to google his questions. I think he likes being heard and knows that he’ll get an answer. This works because it takes the pressure off of me to know all the answers.

An added bonus to this phrase is that it also lets us focus on finding the answer to one question for a while. This gives me a break from listening to the endless questions that he’s normally asking. I’ve found it really helpful.

Practice Patience

Finally, one of the best things you can do as a parent is to learn to practice patience. Your child might be railing you with questions or doing a behavior that you find particularly annoying. In moments like these, one of the hardest things to do is to be patient with your child.

Today I told my daughter very unkindly to keep her hands off the pile of laundry. She was about ready to knock it over a mountain of clothes that I had just folded and I didn’t want to have to refold and sort them. I told her to stop, but I was really loud and mean when I did it. Then I glanced up, saw her face fall and she looked like she was about to cry. I immediately apologized to her and told her that I was sorry I hadn’t been nicer to her.

I often get sucked into the trap of not being patient with my kids. Whether it’s a toddler asking endless questions, potty training your toddler or a one-year-old’s curiosity about folding laundry, as a mom, it’s sometimes hard to be patient.

In those moments where patience is hard, I keep daily reminding myself how precious my children are. I daily remind myself that my kids are a reward from God, even when I’m tired of their messes or endless questions.

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. – Psalm 127:3 (NLT)

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In Parenting

Why Scheduling Your Day Is Easier Than You Think

April 2, 2018 No Comments

The idea of a putting your kids on a schedule can seem a bit intimidating and you might wonder where to begin. Getting your kids on a schedule isn’t that hard. It just takes a little thinking ahead. In fact, your kids may already be on a schedule and you just haven’t noticed it.

I think the easiest way to start a schedule is to think about what time you want your child to wake up in the morning. Then back that time up by 10-12 hours depending on how much sleep your child seems to need. With those two times, you’ve got a wake-up time and a bedtime. Those are the two bookends to your schedule.

Next, take a look at things you need to do throughout your day. Stuff like eating, reading books or naps if your kids still take them.

Once you fill those items in, just add a block of time for errands or chores and then a few blocks of time for your kids to play. Before you realize it, you’ve got most of your day mapped out. Scheduling doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating. It’s simply setting aside a few blocks of time for naps, play, and chores.

Why I Love Schedules

I’m a very organized person, though if you’d look at my house right now, you wouldn’t know it. Before kids, I’d organize my DVDs and books alphabetically (NERD ALERT). So maybe some of it’s my personality, but I do feel scheduling is important for kids.

I like a schedule because it sets a time in your day for priorities. Maybe you want to prep your child for preschool and teach him his colors. To make sure this happens, schedule ten minutes a day at a certain time and use it to teach skills. Then have an activity for your other kids like letting them read books or playing with a toy they haven’t seen in a while.

Perhaps Bible reading is a priority to you. Then set aside a block of time for that each day. A schedule ensures you get your priorities done and helps you get to the end of your day where you feel that you’ve accomplished something and made some time for each of your children.

Scheduled days work well for my kids. They always want to know what we’re going to do next or when we will eat. Since they don’t tell time yet, telling them to play first, then eat makes sense to them.

For our family, a flexible schedule has worked well. I wouldn’t be able to work from home without it. Here’s what my day usually looks like.

Here’s our Daily Schedule

5 AM – I get up and work
7 AM – Kids get up and play in their rooms
7:30 ish – Eat Breakfast
8:15-8:30 – Get dressed, Brush Teeth
9 AM – Independent Play in Rooms (I work while kids play)
10 AM – Pick up rooms
10:15 AM – Worship Jesus, Bible Verse, Letter of the Day, and Fun Activity Together
11 AM – Lunch
11:30-11:45 – Play Time
12:30 PM – 1-Year-Old Naps
12:30-1PM – Mom and 3 Year Old One on One Time
1 PM – 3-Year-Old Naps or Reads Books Quietly in Room if not Tired (I work here)
2-3PM – 1 Year Old Wakes Up and Reads Books With Mom
3 PM – 3 Year Old Wakes Up
3-7 PM Free Time to run errands, go to the library, whatever we want to do that day
7:20 PM-ish – 1 Year Old Sleeps
7:30-8 PM – 3 Year Old Goes to Bed & I work if needed or do housework or laundry.

This schedule has allowed me to continue working while staying at home with two kids. I know there’s no way that I’d be able to work from home without a schedule.

The great thing about a schedule is that it doesn’t have to be rigid. I don’t always follow the clock to the minute and I don’t sacrifice doing fun stuff when it pops up. However, I’ve noticed my children’s behavior is a lot better if we follow this schedule 4-5 days a week.

What works well for your family? Do you follow a schedule, or prefer to just take things as they come?

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In Parenting

Stop Meltdowns – 5 Easy Ways To Get Toddlers To Obey

March 19, 2018 No Comments

Do you struggle to get your toddler to do what you ask? At my house, battles are usually fought over my kids picking up their toys. Somedays it would be easier to just give up, give in and pick the toys up on my own. As a parent, it can be really hard to get toddlers to do what you want them to do. They’re a huge ball of emotions and can go from laughing to tears in a matter of seconds.

So is it realistic to think you can to get your toddler to do what you ask them to do? And can it be done without you or them ending up in tears? If you have toddlers you will have tantrums. However, there are a few ways to make obedience easier for your toddler.

Read: Two Simple Ways To Avoid Toddler Tantrums

Limit Choices

Giving a toddler too many choices can wind up backfiring for you as a parent. If you give them choices all day long, like what book to read, which show to watch, what to eat for breakfast and then out of the blue ask them to do something like pick up their toys, your toddler most likely won’t go for it.

If your toddler is used to calling the shots, he won’t do what you ask when it matters. He’ll think that you’re giving him another choice. That isn’t healthy for you or your toddler.

During the day, find ways to limit your toddler’s choices. This isn’t to say that your toddler can’t ever make a choice, but be sure to leave some choices that are up to the parent. This way your toddler won’t think that he’s the boss and when you give him an instruction he thinks it’s his choice whether or not to obey.

Give Choices

This might seem contrary to the first suggestion, but it actually isn’t. With toddlers, there is a balance in giving choices. Give too many and they don’t listen or obey, give too few and they get frustrated.

I often let my toddlers have choices that aren’t consequential. I’ll say something like, “Buddy, it’s time to take a bath. Would you like to take your clothes off by yourself, or do you want mommy to help?” It doesn’t matter whether I take his clothes off, or if he does it. What matters is that the bath is happening. As the parent, I made the choice to take a bath, my child makes the choice of whether to take his clothes off on his own or to have me do it.

Giving inconsequential choices to my children has really helped with them being more obedient. They feel like they have some say in the matter, which causes them to throw fewer tantrums.

Give Timed Warnings

Whenever I can, I give my children timed warnings. A few days ago, I was at McDonald’s letting my kids play in the play place. My kids were having a blast running around, but I knew we needed to head home soon to let my youngest take her nap.

About five minutes before we needed to leave, I quietly pulled both kids aside and told them in five minutes we were going to need to put our coats and shoes on and head to the car. Then a few minutes later I told them both we were leaving in two minutes. After that, when it was time to go, my three-year-old went and got his shoes without crying or complaining. It was because he’d had time to mentally prepare for the disappointment of leaving.

I’ve noticed when my kids don’t get warnings that we’re going to be leaving soon they’ll often throw a major fit when it’s time to go. Giving my toddlers a heads up that they’ll need to stop playing or pick up toys in a few minutes seems to help them and they throw fewer fits when it’s time to obey.

Be Consistent

One of the hardest things in parenting is being consistent. I don’t want to punish my kids when they make bad choices. I wish they’d just realize how much I loved them and choose to obey out of the goodness of their hearts. However, as you know that’s just not the case. Kids don’t just automatically obey.

That’s why you’ve got to be consistent with rules and consequences. When you’re consistent, your kids can be confident knowing you mean what you say. They know the rules won’t change and that they know what to expect.

Consistency is important. Give your kids confidence by doing what you say. Kids love knowing what to expect.

Don’t Ask – Tell

It’s easy to get in the habit of asking kids things. “Do you want to come inside?”, “What do you think, should we start picking up your toys”, or “Let’s go to bed, ok?”

These phrases aren’t effective for toddlers. Mainly because what kid is going to want to come inside, or thinks to pick up their toys is a good idea? They won’t and you wouldn’t either. You wouldn’t clean your house or do the dishes if given the choice, and your toddler is no different.

Instead, rephrase questions telling the child what you want them to do. “Hey buddy, in 5 minutes we’re going to pick up toys.” This isn’t asking the child if they want to, what they think, or giving them the ability to choose whether or not to obey it. Tell your toddler what you’d like them to do. I often give my kids a timed warning before an instruction I know they won’t like and when the time is up, I give them a choice to help them process the disappointment of having to pick up toys.

For example, I’d say, “Buddy, we’re going to pick up toys in 5 minutes.” After the five minutes have passed. “Buddy, it’s time to pick up, would you like to pick up the blocks or the trucks first?”

Read: How I Keep My Kids From Getting Bored of Their Toys

Dealing with an emotional toddler is not easy and getting them to obey can be even harder. Hang in there mom! Having a toddler that obeys well is worth the effort. If you stay consistent with consequences and boundaries, eventually, they’ll get it.

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In Activities/Games

6 Easy Activities To Keep Young Toddlers Entertained

March 12, 2018 No Comments

My toddler gets bored so easily. I’m trusting this is because she is very intelligent and likes to learn and experience new things, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. She keeps me on my toes trying to think of new ways to keep her entertained. In order to keep my sanity and hers, I often end up running to the kitchen in search of a new activity to satisfy her curiosity.

If you’ve got an easily bored toddler like mine, you’ll love some of these activities I’ve found helpful to keep my toddler happy.

Toddler Activity One – Sour Cream Stacker (Ignore the sticky on the craft sticks…my toddler is messy!)

One day out of desperation, I ran into the kitchen. I searched frantically for anything I could find that would keep my toddler from being bored. Out of desperation, I rummaged through the Tupperware drawer, hoping to find an answer there. I found my answer in an old sour cream container. Taking a large knife, I made a hole in the top.

Once the hole was made, I gave my daughter the container and a bunch of craft sticks. My toddler began sticking the sticks in the hole and pulling them out. Mom win. My daughter has another activity to do that she loves.

Toddler Activity Two – Kitchen Utensils

My toddler loves using any kitchen utensil as a toy. She paints the walls with a basting brush. She loves the sound the whisk makes as she shakes it. Kitchen utensils make great toys for a toddler.

I pull out all kinds of funny utensils to see what my toddler does with them. She’ll hit the floor with a wooden spoon or go nuts on measuring cups. No matter how loud she gets, it’s always worth it to have a few minutes where she’s busy and out of trouble.

Activity Three – Hotel Keys and Gift Cards

For some reason, my toddler loves to walk around the house with something in her hand. Maybe it’s because she’s a girl and loves multi-tasking? Whatever the reason, she just loves holding things.

A few weeks ago, I set her up with a bunch of old gift cards and hotel keys to play with. She loved it.

Activity Four – Rocks in Containers

This activity is so basic, but it’s always a hit in our house. I just raid the Tupperware drawer for some old leftover containers. Once I find some that still have lids, I run outside and find a few small rocks, acorns, or sticks. Then I put them in the containers. Once my toddler has a container, it just takes a couple minutes before she realizes that she can shake it and it’s noisy. Her face lights up and she’s shaking away keeping busy.

Activity Five – Kitchen Drawer

I have one drawer in the kitchen that my kids are allowed access. I have it stuffed full of plastic lids, containers, cups, pretty much anything I don’t use that much but is plastic or not breakable.

My kids love it. They love opening the drawers and pulling EVERYTHING out and scattering it all over the floor. Then they play restaurant, feed their stuffed animals or any other crazy game they think up. Currently, my toddler loves bringing me all the plastic cups she can find in the drawer to have me take a drink from. Having their own drawer keeps my kids out of the areas in the kitchen that have breakable items and lets them hang out with mom in the kitchen while I cook.

Activity Six – Newspaper and Mail Wads

I let my one-year-old and three-year-old tear up the old newspaper and take turns throwing it in our recycling bin. They loved every step of this activity. From tearing up mail and newspaper to wadding it into balls and throwing it in the recycling bin. It was a big hit. Both of my kids were entertained and not fighting for about half an hour. I consider that a big win in my book.

These things have been sanity savers for my kids. What are some things you’ve done to keep your kids entertained?

Read: 5 Learning Activites For Preschool Boys

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In Parenting

One Often Overlooked Parenting Tool

March 5, 2018 No Comments

How many times as a parent do you blow it? Or if you’re like me, how many times an hour do you mess up? How many times do you rant, rage blow up at your kid or say or do the wrong thing? If you’re anything like me, it could be hourly. The thing they don’t tell you about parenting before it’s too late and you’re already into it is how hard it is.

In fact, parenting is probably one of the hardest things you’ll do. You have to try not to strangle your kids for throwing a fit. Then you have to try to not yell at them for talking loudly about the color and size of their poop while eating out with friends.

Read: 3 Proven Phrases To Avoid Mealtime Battles

Here’s the secret

However, there is hope. The secret is, you don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to always say the right thing and you don’t have to always do the right thing. For me, that’s good news.

You don’t have to be a perfect parent. Just own up to your mistakes and be real with your kids.

With kids, there’s always room for a reset. As a parent, you can always make adjustments and do things better the next time. That’s good news as a parent. You don’t always have to have to do the right thing…just own up to it when you mess up.

And that’s why I’m not afraid to say I’m sorry, and I do, like hundreds of times a day. I sit down with my toddler, look them in the eyes and tell them, mommy is sorry. I own up to the fact that I didn’t handle the situation the right way. I acknowledge that I got mad and yelled at them and what I did wasn’t nice. Then I say four powerful words: Can you forgive me?

Apologizing to Your Kids Might Sound Crazy, BUT…

The idea of apologizing to your kids might sound a bit crazy, but I feel like it’s powerful. I know I can’t always say or do the right thing and be a good example to my kids all the time. However, if I realize that I’ve said something unkind or handled a situation badly out of anger, I admit it.

I try to reset. My kids are always ready to forgive. I get sweet little hugs after my apology. And every once in awhile I hear the older child apologize to the younger. The other day he ran into her accidentally and I heard him say sorry. What an awesome skill to learn. We don’t have to be perfect to raise kids that are kind and loving. We can mess up, own up to it and teach our kids another powerful lesson, to apologize.

Mistakes can be made but if we own up to them we can receive forgiveness and move on, and try to do it better the next time. So if you haven’t, give an apology a try. You might be surprised how your kids respond.

The Benefits of Apology

Yesterday, my three-year-old apologized to me. I was shocked.

Mommy, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up my toys – Three-year-old

After hearing those words, I stood there dumbfounded. I’m sure my mouth was hanging open in shock. My preschooler has heard me apologize for doing the wrong thing so many times that he offered me an apology when he messed up.

I gave him the biggest hug and told him I loved him. In moments like these, I’m so thankful I’ve owned up to my mistakes in the past and apologized. I see the fruit daily in my kids, how they respond to each other and how we as a family treat others.

So if you haven’t, begin adding the apology to your parenting toolbelt. And let me know how your kids respond!

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In Parenting

The Biggest Mistake I’ve Made In Parenting My Children

March 1, 2018 No Comments

How often do we as parents put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have children that behave or look a certain way?

If our child chooses to throw a fit in the restaurant we feel it reflects on how good of a parent we are. Or if we show up to grandma’s house with spaghetti sauce from lunch smeared all over our kid’s faces we are showing our family that we don’t have it all together and that we’re not good parents.

I’ve fallen into this trap time and time again. I feel good about myself when my children look clean and cute. I take pride when my kids act well at the store or restaurant. When they act up, throw a fit or say something embarrassing, I want to hide or act like I don’t know them.

Read: Two Simple Strategies to Avoid Toddler Tantrums

Why is it that we as moms tie so much of our self-worth to how our kids behave or look?

I realized the other day how crazy this was. I was allowing myself to feel good when my kids behaved and bad when they didn’t. The crazy thing about this is that none of my children’s behavior is really about me. (This is not to say I accept bad behavior)

I realized that just like me, my children have the ability to make choices. They can choose to act in ways that are good or they can choose to act in ways that are bad. My children don’t make bad choices to embarrass me or to reflect on my parenting. Rather, they make bad choices because they’re human and they’re learning.

I think about how many times a day I make bad choices. How many times a day do I disobey my father God?

God is a perfect parent and yet his kids make bad choices every day all over the world. So is it any wonder that I, an imperfect parent will have kids that do the same?

So as moms let’s take the pressure off ourselves to feel like our self-worth is tied to how our kids look and behave. That’s too much pressure. As moms, our self-worth should be tied only to what God says about us. If we base our self-worth on anything else we will constantly fall short.

Read: How I Began Developing a Love For Christ In My Children’s Hearts

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In Parenting

4 Things I Learned While Potty Training My Toddler

February 26, 2018 No Comments

I thought potty training would be easy. I saw all the books and training videos claiming potty training could be accomplished on a weekend. Maybe the people who write those books have a superstar toddler, but for me, potty training that fast didn’t play out.

The main reason potty training didn’t happen over a weekend is that I work from home. Every minute of my day is accounted for and scheduled so that my toddler is busy when I need to work. The idea that I had to somehow carve out two uninterrupted days to plan for potty training was impossible. So with that in mind, I ended up taking a much more relaxed approach to potty training. Here are a few things I learned about potty training along the way.

Potty Training Isn’t Easy

I don’t know why I thought it would be easy. I figured my kid probably didn’t like sitting in a dirty diaper so I thought they would be as excited as I was for them to potty train…WRONG. Come to find out my toddler could have cared less about potty training. Dirty pants don’t care was his motto! Potty training was a lot harder than I thought.

I Needed Lots of Extra Clothes.

I didn’t adhere to the idea of letting my kid be naked during the potty training time. First of all my toddler hates being naked and cold. Secondly, it just seems weird to me to let my kid play all day naked and let him pee on himself.

So I opted for doing lots and lots and lots of laundry during the many accidents that equaled potty training. I needed extra sheets, mattress pads, socks, underwear you name it. The extras helped on those days we’d go through 4-5 outfits. Ugh!

Potty Training Requires Patience

It’s so hard to be patient when teaching a toddler a skill that is easy for us. It’s hard to remember that we too once had to learn to go potty. I remember one time after losing my patience with my toddler for what felt like the 85th accident that day I asked him do you know why we’re learning to go potty in the toilet?

It makes mommy sad when I go potty in my pants – Three-year-old

He said because it makes mommy sad when I go potty in my pants. I realized my toddler didn’t really understand why I wanted him to potty train so badly. At that moment, I realized I had to be patient and not lose my cool while I was letting him learn.

Don’t Get Discouraged – They will get it.

When you’re potty training it feels like your child will never get it. It seemed all my friends and family that had kids the same age we already potty trained. My son wasn’t. So I felt bad that it was taking what felt like 90 years longer than everyone else I knew. I was certain I would be sending my child to kindergarten in diapers.

We as moms often compare our kids and their development with others. We see the kid that potty trained at 12 months and feel like a failure because our three-year-old is still wearing diapers. This is easy to do but never healthy. Instead of getting frustrated and comparing the achievements of other kids, we should take comfort in the fact that our child will get it.

If you’re deep in diapers, accidents, laundry and just the crazy that makes up mom life, take heart. Your toddler will learn to go potty. Your toddler will stop messing his pants 19 times a day. You don’t need to bribe him, yell at him or use any other crazy techniques to get them trained. Just stay patient, positive, and focused and after a couple of months, he will get it.

A few months after I started my toddler very seldom has an accident. He goes in the potty without me checking on him or bothering him about it. Hang in there, Mom. You will make it through and you too won’t have to send your child to school in diapers!

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In Activities/Games

5 Learning Games for Preschool Boys

February 12, 2018 No Comments

I love activities where my toddler can learn through play. However, raising a preschool age boy, I’ve come to realize that all our games have to involve some sort of vehicle or my preschooler loses interest fast. So here are a few of our favorites.

Counting Practice with Mailboxes

This has to be one of my preschool boy’s favorite games. I simply draw mailboxes on our sidewalk or driveway using sidewalk chalk. Then, I write numbers on the mailbox, I usually try for 1-10. Next, I pick up a pile of sticks or rocks and tell my preschooler to deliver the sticks to the mailbox.

For example, I hand him a stick and say could you please take this to mailbox 6? Or here’s a package for 2, and he’s going to be so sad if you don’t help him deliver it. This keeps him busy for a long time. He absolutely loves pretending that he is the mailman. He drives his trike (Mail truck) to each mailbox and puts the stick or rock in. This game has been a huge hit in our house.

Cars Number Recognition Printable

This is an awesome printable from totschooling.net. My preschooler absolutely adores this game. He loves driving the cars on the printable road and finding the corresponding gas pump that matches the car’s number. I threw the roads in sheet protectors and laminated the cars and he loves playing with them. He loves making the noises the gas pump does as he fills each car up with gas. The printable goes up to number 20, so it’s a great way to work on matching skills and number recognition all while your preschooler is playing and having fun!

Letter Practice With Letter Road Game

This game has been awesome for us. It’s not only good for learning, but it gets some of that pent up energy out! When the weather is nice, I take my kids outside and I draw a road of a bunch of “N”‘s or whatever letter I want my preschooler to practice. I call the line of letters a road. Then I get crazy with the letter road.

We pretend that we’re big semis and we walk up and down the letter road honking. Next, we try to jump down the letter road. Then we go really fast down the letter road. We try to keep it fun and keep doing things up and down the letter road. It’s a great game to get some energy out and also teach your preschooler or toddler letter recognition.

Little Blue Truck Activities

If you haven’t read the little blue truck books with your preschooler you need to. The books are so cute and of course have trucks in them, which will keep your little boy excited. There are tons of activities online to do with little Blue Truck, but I really like the matching toads to trucks letter recognition activity found at totschooling.net. My preschooler enjoys matching the toad to the right truck.
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Counting Practice With Tractors

My preschooler loves playing with tractors, so this game is perfect for him. I found a deck of flash cards at the dollar store that we use with this. I place a flash card out on the table and ask him what number is on the card. He will tell me and then I have him get that many pieces of corn and put it into his tractor’s wagon.

We go through the deck of flashcards and let him practice over and over again counting corn. I’ve really seen an improvement in his counting since playing this game.

It’s fun finding a game that incorporates play and learning!

Learning Games Are Great

I love games that keep my preschooler interested and keep him learning. What are some games that you’ve found helpful for teaching your boys colors, letters, shapes and numbers?

Need Ideas to Keep a Young Toddler Entertained? Read: 6 Easy Activities For Young Toddlers

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