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My 10 year old constantly cracks me up. I love shooting the poo poo with her and having long, whimsical conversations. She makes me laugh more than almost any other human being. She has a habit at the moment when she is with either me or my wife and we call the other parent, of pretending to be the parent she's with and putting on a funny voice. "Hi my darling, I miss you. I can't wait to give you a big kiss later and exchange saliva." (I think she learned of the mechanics of French kisses recently and is both fascinated and repulsed by the idea, so keeps referring to my wife and me doing it)
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# ? May 27, 2022 16:36 |
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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:54 |
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Koivunen posted:Ok crisis possibly averted. Kid’s dad actually stepped up and worked things out at his job so he can take some time off, and he will take both kids this weekend as he was supposed to anyway. I have a couple days off mid-week and then my mom is YET AGAIN saving my rear end by covering my last two work days, she will be babysitting in an n 95 on quarantine days 7 and 8. This will work out great if I stay negative. If I pop positive it’s whatever, I’d have to isolate anyway. Doing two kids quarantines back to back is tough AF. We need to extract all of your bad luck and weaponize it
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# ? May 27, 2022 17:03 |
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wizzardstaff posted:My kid is three and I don't think I've ever felt this way. I think this is kinda normal. People feel different ways about things, don't feel bad if having a small child isn't "the best thing ever even though it's hard" for you. I love my kid and it can be so fun and interesting, but at the same time it's hard as hell and it's much harder to take care of yourself and do the things that make you happy when you have a kid. I think some people can either shift what makes them happy to doing kid stuff, or have things in their lives that aren't as impacted, but other things just get harder. SalTheBard posted:I need help because I feel like I'm losing my loving mind. My 3 year old (they are on the spectrum) has refused to sleep in his bed anymore. He will only sleep on the couch. He won't even entertain sleeping in his bed at this point. It used to be that once he was asleep we could move him to his bed and everything will be fine, but now as soon as I pick him up he just starts going "NO COUCH I WANT IT COUCH I WANT IT" and if I lay him down in his bed, he just gets out and walks back to the couch. Take away the couch and deal with the meltdowns for a few days that said, "dealing with the meltdowns" might not work for a kid on the spectrum, I don't have any experience with that.
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# ? May 27, 2022 21:04 |
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Levitate posted:I think this is kinda normal. People feel different ways about things, don't feel bad if having a small child isn't "the best thing ever even though it's hard" for you. Yeah I have a lot of "hours of alone time" hobbies that I no longer have hours of alone time for. My theoretical hours of alone time are mostly when I should be sleeping, and chances are that's gonna be impinged upon as well. It's... a rough balance.
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# ? May 27, 2022 21:12 |
I had a long thing written but it boils down to that I have not had time to do the things I relied upon to keep my sanity and health in over two years, and I have no hope of being able to do them in the near or mid term future. What little non-toddler time we manage is devoted to keeping the house running and our relationship going. I used to semi-regularly have days to do whatever I wanted but between daycare being closed on holidays (but not Mrs Pony's work!), Mini Pony's astonishing ability to get sick and/or get me sick on holidays I have off, and the ever growing backlog of time critical poo poo that must get done I can't bring myself to get excited about it only to be disappointed yet again. Every time we plan for someone to help it falls through. In two years we've managed four babysitter-enabled outings and we finally managed to get someone to come clean the house after over a year of on and off trying. It isn't clear how much of this is because COVID absolutely shattered support networks but either way it has been a slog.
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# ? May 27, 2022 22:45 |
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Getting a babysitter these days is expensive as gently caress. It was going to cost us around $100 to go see a concert the other week. Thankfully the grandparents volunteered, but we can’t rely on them often. I’m still trying to figure out who I even am anymore that I don’t have time for the hobbies I used to enjoy.
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# ? May 27, 2022 23:19 |
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If you have a kid or kids in daycare and have any scraps of PTO to devote to it, I highly recommend taking a day or two off and staying at home and loafing around after drop-off. It may sound obvious, but I had this weird mental block that if I wasn’t working my kid should be home with me too. I finally did this arrangement and it’s like a wonderful little vacation with no disruption of routines or extra expenses. I take a lil time in the morning to neaten up, take care of one or two outstanding tasks, then just play some video games and get spicy takeout for lunch. Sometimes my partner takes the same day off and we get to have a lil date and talk to each other like adults. Would recommend, extremely refreshing.
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# ? May 28, 2022 00:50 |
Oh awesome kid just tested positive.
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# ? May 28, 2022 01:04 |
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SalTheBard posted:I need help because I feel like I'm losing my loving mind. My 3 year old (they are on the spectrum) has refused to sleep in his bed anymore. He will only sleep on the couch. He won't even entertain sleeping in his bed at this point. It used to be that once he was asleep we could move him to his bed and everything will be fine, but now as soon as I pick him up he just starts going "NO COUCH I WANT IT COUCH I WANT IT" and if I lay him down in his bed, he just gets out and walks back to the couch.
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# ? May 28, 2022 01:23 |
Shifty Pony posted:Oh awesome kid just tested positive. Hopefully it's like our daughter who had just a runny nose. Our daycare wants negative results for everyone before coming back. Funny enough I had the worse symptoms out of all of us and tested negative and before my wife and daughter. Cases are definitely increasing everywhere. I work on the wastewater surveillance for our state, which is usually a good early warning for increasing cases, since you shed viral particles before symptoms occur. We are definitely seeing increases in the wastewater.
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# ? May 28, 2022 01:23 |
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News is saying cases could be up to 8x what is being reported/tested. So there's that! loving wonderful. Thought this would be a good summer so we booked plane tickets for the week of 4th of july. So that my parents could finally meet their 2 year old grandson for the first time in person. super happy with the thought that we might have to shitcan that idea. At least covid policies are still in effect so there's no change fee, just fare difference. Because that makes up for lost time...
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# ? May 28, 2022 01:31 |
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Is it one of those "difficult-to-swallow phases" for your five year old to start gleefully telling you "I hate you"? I'm trying not to let it get to me and tell her exactly how it makes me feel, but boy does it take the wind out of one's sails to hear that after making them their favorite dinner or telling them their favorite story... I know it's probably just boundary testing to get a reaction, but... Ughhhh
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# ? May 28, 2022 01:59 |
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Shifty Pony posted:I had a long thing written but it boils down to that I have not had time to do the things I relied upon to keep my sanity and health in over two years, and I have no hope of being able to do them in the near or mid term future. What little non-toddler time we manage is devoted to keeping the house running and our relationship going. Yep, I've been real lucky I think to be able to keep doing a lot of things that keep me sane, but it also requires getting up at 5am to ride bikes for 1.5-2 hours and then immediately jump to taking my kid to daycare and then right into work, and I'm lucky to have a partner who is fine with doing morning wakeup and breakfast routine without me there. It's weekends that kill me...it's hard to do stuff for the house or get necessary projects done during the work week but then with a 5 year old it's hard to get anything done on the weekend either. but again I do think I'm real lucky in being able to take time for myself and my wife and work are flexible and it mostly works out, but I also have not been able to do the kind of backpacking I really love which is a low key burn on my life enjoyment. So, I guess I'm saying, I'm lucky I've been able to make things work pretty well but even then it's still hard BadSamaritan posted:If you have a kid or kids in daycare and have any scraps of PTO to devote to it, I highly recommend taking a day or two off and staying at home and loafing around after drop-off. Honestly since covid and my wife working from home full time now, it's not as relaxing as it used to be we just moved to a bigger place which is nice but it's still not the same as just being home alone and being able to veg out in whatever way you want. I've seen people say that if you can afford it, taking a 24 hour vacation to a hotel nearby can be worth it. I've taken a few bike trips for myself and it's amazing what just loafing around in a hotel room watching bad TV and eating ice cream and bad food can do for your mental state. Brawnfire posted:Is it one of those "difficult-to-swallow phases" for your five year old to start gleefully telling you "I hate you"? I'm trying not to let it get to me and tell her exactly how it makes me feel, but boy does it take the wind out of one's sails to hear that after making them their favorite dinner or telling them their favorite story... I know it's probably just boundary testing to get a reaction, but... Ughhhh It's so difficult sometimes but again and again I find that just trying to remain as even keeled as possible with kids works out best...but it's hard when they're really pushing those buttons
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# ? May 28, 2022 03:37 |
I used to ride thousands of miles each year. I haven't taken the bike out for more than a mile or three around the neighborhood with the baby trailer for over two years. Working out in the morning makes me feel ill then like absolute garbage the rest of the day, working out in the evening gives me awful insomnia. I have to fit eight to nine hours of productivity into six to six and a half hours of work so that I can take kid to daycare in the morning and in the afternoon prep most of dinner for handoff to Mrs Pony before running to daycare pickup, so I don't have any time to do any workout during the day other than a walk at lunch. I'm the primary income, the default parent, and the one who the kid is glued to. I've managed to halt weight gain at the upper end of the normal range but my blood pressure has gone from 100/60 to the doctor saying "we need to keep an eye on that". loving sucks rear end, I know I'm burning the candle at both ends. In a year I'll hit 15 years of service at work and start getting more leave so that will help, it has to.
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# ? May 28, 2022 04:42 |
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:This thread makes me both more and less terrified about having a kid. How did you folks get through?? I never really wanted a kid but my ex did and they made a good point about how raising a healthy child is one way to potentially improve the future. i can certainly say that our kid has it way better than either of us did growing up and that's pretty neat. anyhow, having a 6yo is pretty rad. taking care of a baby/toddler was rough and i would never do it again. being able to communicate complex feelings and topics rocks. lastly, we get a "somebody had covid at school" today text like every other day so i'm just crossing fingers. wishing the best for all of you currently dealing with COVID stuff.
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# ? May 28, 2022 05:47 |
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My little guy has pneumonia on top of covid. He should just never be off antibiotics at this point…
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# ? May 28, 2022 17:26 |
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Oh no Koivunen, I hope he's feeling better soon. I'm at a work retreat weekend right now, which is awesome & I'm very thankful for. This is the first time I've been away from my three year old since she was born. The higher-up moms at my firm looked at me like I had two heads when I said that. Yeah, of course I would LIKE to get away more often, but it's not exactly feasible with our budget and babysitting situation! I've been getting in exercise by biking my daughter to daycare on my way to work. She really enjoys it, and so do I. 133km in the past few weeks since it finally stopped snowing here!!
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# ? May 28, 2022 18:02 |
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Brawnfire posted:Yeah I have a lot of "hours of alone time" hobbies that I no longer have hours of alone time for. My theoretical hours of alone time are mostly when I should be sleeping, and chances are that's gonna be impinged upon as well. It's... a rough balance. Yeah my "work on robotics Arduino stuff & programming stuff" time is basically from 11:30pm-4am on workdays, if I know I just have a bunch of useless meetings the best day and can afford to be a zombie. Those hobbies are effectively over until I can teach my kids to rot their brains with video games at about age 6 or 7
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# ? May 28, 2022 18:07 |
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I’m hoping that I can at least get the small amount of work I need to do to complete my Warhammer Sternguard Squad All other projects can get pushed back, aside from two models for my DnD group
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# ? May 28, 2022 19:19 |
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My very smart but not wise 2 year old disassembled the bathroom scale with a screwdriver yesterday. It was very cute til he threw a tantrum because it was broken and he had to wait to weigh himself til after I had it put back together. Once he figured out screwdrivers taking stuff apart is his favorite pastime.
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# ? May 28, 2022 19:30 |
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pro dexterity for a 2 year old. mine has a 50/50 chance of either dropping or crushing his snacks in his hand
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# ? May 28, 2022 19:32 |
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Sweet Gulch posted:The higher-up moms at my firm looked at me like I had two heads when I said that. Yeah, of course I would LIKE to get away more often, but it's not exactly feasible with our budget and babysitting situation! My firm's working parents' group was initially headed by some PPMDs who totally understood how us peons wfh during the start of the pandemic felt, since they were now having to be extra careful picking their nannies and couldn't do their usual family vacations. The disconnect drat near made my head implode.
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# ? May 28, 2022 19:33 |
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On vacation with my 22 month old, wife, and inlaws. There's this golden hour when my little man wakes up about the same time as I do, where it's just me and him alone as Papa and son. He would ask me for a snack of wheat cracker and milk, then ask to go for a walk on the beach. He knows I'll never say no to a walk, who can? It was 40 minutes of solo bonding time that I'm going to cherish as a memory long after we've come back home. I really enjoy his company, in spite of all the changes his introduction to our lives has brought about over the past ~2 years. Parenting is just something so extremely special and also exhausting, but by golly that big hug I get as he stares down a heron with that toddler glee as the sun rises behind the horizon and the sheer joy he has for it all...gosh. He waves and smiles infectiously at strangers, he jumps for joy and chases at waves crashing the sand, he wants to run with the early morning beach joggers and chase after the plovers. It's also just been recently broached by wife. She *was* taking the opportunity to sleep in, but now she wants to join in. I initially suggested she stay home and sleep a bit more, but my excitement was infectious, the photos and videos I'd capture were just moments she couldn't miss out on, and now we do it together as a family the past two mornings. As we do everything. It's okay. I still have my memories. A Bad King fucked around with this message at 19:52 on May 28, 2022 |
# ? May 28, 2022 19:50 |
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It's also really fun to watch language development in person and in real time. We are a bilingual house, with English and Russian spoken at a 30/70 split between them. He understands what we tell him in either language, but he defaults to "what is easier to vocalize," every time. I learned through him that English is simpler than Slavic languages for toddlers. He asks us for the ball when we say, Papa has a new ball for you, in Russian. The Russian word is two syllables with a "chik," at the end -- sounds like work, no thanks! It's all about what is the shortest, easiest, and funnest way (in his mind) to get his point across. We all know some sounds are more fun to make. Kaka over poop. Sahsah over sushka. Paaaah.....PA, instead of just a boring Papa. He refuses to say give me, he invented his own method: "Ah goohLagoohLaGoooh!" Language. How did we even get this far.
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# ? May 28, 2022 20:41 |
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Hello it was suspected before but now confirmed my wife is carrying twinsA Bad King posted:It's also really fun to watch language development in person and in real time. oh hey that's literally us, and one part I'm really excited for.
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# ? May 28, 2022 20:48 |
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:Hello it was suspected before but now confirmed my wife is carrying twins Two 6 month olds on different sleep schedules. Two 11 month olds with different opinions on steamed carrots and the mouth feel of this mashed potato. Two 2 year olds with different opinions on who gets the red ball, and who gets the green shovel. Where's that Survive! gif.
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# ? May 28, 2022 20:58 |
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Spending the rest of our saturday thinking of twinny names that are cute but not gimmicky, no rhymes, no Laurelin and Telperion no matter how much I want those. It helps that my wife wants to keep the russian tripartite system, so they will both be x Edgarovna Hoa instead of also having to think of middle names. I was actually against that bit till she wisely pointed out who was the woman and who was the man going "no actually your culture is misogynistic you loving lady" This is def baby poo poo to you veterans but I'm treasuring this memory of throwing names out there before the names turn into human slugs bullying me in five months or so. It's so scary also I can't wait to meet them :3
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# ? May 28, 2022 22:13 |
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kecske posted:pro dexterity for a 2 year old. mine has a 50/50 chance of either dropping or crushing his snacks in his hand He's a bit ahead on the physical things, a bit less so on social things. Also his screwdriver has the spinny top bit, so he holds it with one hand and spins with the other.
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# ? May 28, 2022 22:57 |
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That's still really good. I know a lot of adults that would struggle with something like that. I don't think I picked up a screwdriver until I was like 4
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# ? May 28, 2022 23:35 |
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I still make fun of my wife for when she asked how to remove a coax cable that was too tight for hand tightenining. I told her she needed a socket wrench, preferably a adjustable crescent wrench, to adjust the nut on it. She went to the store and got a pair of pliers. She came back and tried to use them and immediately started bleeding (?). The building super took pity on her and removed it for her.
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# ? May 29, 2022 01:00 |
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:Spending the rest of our saturday thinking of twinny names that are cute but not gimmicky, no rhymes, no Laurelin and Telperion no matter how much I want those. Friends of ours went for Anika and Zoe. It works.
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# ? May 29, 2022 01:17 |
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The thing I’ve been worrying about for the last few days is happening. My wife has been refusing to nap when possible, such as when baby is sleeping/ when family members can watch her, and is worn out on a night when baby has a lot of gas and is not settling at all. I am desperately trying to stay awake until feeding so that mom can sleep.
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# ? May 29, 2022 02:52 |
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"Nuh-uh scoop, you gotta floss between your back teeth too. I saw you just floss your front ones." "Are you SERIOUS? You need to get your eyes checked!" drat, girl
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# ? May 29, 2022 02:53 |
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So I sadposted a bit on the previous page but I want to share some hope. Kiddo had a great day today. She was an absolute delight. Zero meltdowns, no yelling at us to shut up from across the house, played enthusiastically and cheerfully and actively included me which was nice. No screaming for breastmilk (though she did get some). Didn’t even cry when she crashed forehead-first into a door, which had real mood-ruining potential. If every day with her was like this, or even a majority, or heck even if it was a rare but reliable occurrence….I’d feel so much happier about parenting. It might be light at the end of the tunnel.
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# ? May 29, 2022 06:04 |
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I don't have kids but I want to say that you parents are something amazing. Being a parent must be a super difficult job and I have nothing but respect for people that are parents.
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# ? May 29, 2022 10:00 |
Edgar Allen Ho posted:Spending the rest of our saturday thinking of twinny names that are cute but not gimmicky, no rhymes, no Laurelin and Telperion no matter how much I want those. I straight up declared that if we had twin boys they'd be Petya and Seryozha because that Marshak poem is still firmly lodged in my brain from childhood.
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# ? May 29, 2022 12:32 |
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:Spending the rest of our saturday thinking of twinny names that are cute but not gimmicky, no rhymes, no Laurelin and Telperion no matter how much I want those. Vala? Arda? Earendil. Galadriel. Come on, do Silmarillon names for her Uncle D34THROW! Daughter turns 7 today. I still cant believe it. Every year i say the same loving thing and every year i remember a little swaddled pink and white slug shape with a face and a hospital hat making a grown rear end man ugly cry in an L&D suite.
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# ? May 29, 2022 13:03 |
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Baby woke up early this morning. I wander in tired as hell and say "can you go back to sleep or play quietly for a while? I'm tired" He just goes "SURE" and lays back down and gives me an hour and a half more sleep. Sure, half his bookshelf is now rearranged, but at least he did it quietly.
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# ? May 29, 2022 13:41 |
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My almost-2-year-old just threw the bathroom door open and threw one of his shoes into the toilet as I was peeing then he ran away yelling HA HA HA so that's my Sunday
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# ? May 29, 2022 17:17 |
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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:54 |
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Bar Patron posted:I don't have kids but I want to say that you parents are something amazing. Being a parent must be a super difficult job and I have nothing but respect for people that are parents. Pretty sure there's an elaborate cover up happening at the middle and high school levels, if those school kids had any idea how much time and energy kids take, the human race would collapse in less than a generation, and we're hiding the truth from them for the good of society My anti teen pregnancy plan for my kids is to find the most horrific toddler on the block, then pay that parent for the privilege of making my kid pick them up from daycare and babysitting them for three+ hours after school each day until bedtime Hadlock fucked around with this message at 17:31 on May 29, 2022 |
# ? May 29, 2022 17:29 |