Anyone who knows me in real life, or has followed My Perfect Breakdown for a little while, knows that I over commitment myself ALL THE TIME.
Well, I did it again. Or rather, I just did it to the MPB family on behalf of Little MPB.
You see, registration for winter extra-curricular activities has come and gone. And, due to our experience with gymnastics in the fall, I learned that a local recreation centre offers a tonne of great programs for toddlers. So of course, I investigated all of them, and I think I went slightly overboard.
We decided to keep Little MPB in baby gymnastics because he loves it and because we love that he is learning to climb and explore in a safe environment.
We also decided to continue with weekly swimming (albeit with a better bathing suit for me). Personally, swimming is my favourite activity because Little MPB LOVES the water so much and it’s our thing. (Mr. MPB doesn’t really like swimming, so it’s always Little MPB and I in the water). Also, asides from being our special activity, I see swimming as a basic life safety skill so he has no choice but to take swimming lessons.
And, against my better judgement, I decided to also register Little MPB for toddler skating! Skating is literally a Canadian past time, it’s something basically all kids do and enjoy (I figure we love it because it makes being outside in the freezing cold slightly more fun). So how could I not register Little MPB? Also, Little MPB loves his books about hockey, he loves his hockey stick, he loves watching hockey at the local arena on the way to gymnastics – clearly he already has a love for hockey, and skating is the first step to learning to play hockey. Also, I am hoping the weekly skating will become a special activity for Mr. MPB and Little MPB to do together.
But, the only problem is that I’ve now committed us to 3 weekly activities for almost 3 months!
I am trying to convince myself (and Mr. MPB) that January-March tend to be the coldest winter months so having 3 indoor activities scheduled may actually help keep us active and sane. Also, I figure we can miss the odd class if we just need a break because none of these classes are team sports so we wont be letting down a team if we have to miss a class or two.
But, I am a little afraid that I’m transferring my ability to over commit onto Little MPB. Ops!
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I have 2 straight-up parenting questions today.
First, how do we take away Little MPB’s pacifier/soother? You see, Little MPB LOVES his soother, he took to one on the second day of his life and it instantly became his thing, which was great initially because they are known to reduce SIDS, but we are well past that now. He loves his soother so much that he has not taken to any blanket or stuffed animal (no matter how hard I’ve tried to force it on him). He simply uses his soother as his security item. In fact when he sleeps he wants 2 of them – one in his mouth and one in his hand. And, he likes to switch them up from time to time – it’s adorable.
But, it’s also somewhat problematic now that we’ve decided it’s time for him to give up his reliance on his soother. The reason for our decision to take it away now is that here they recommend very limited soother use by the age of two as to not impact tooth/mouth development. So, we have a bit of time but not a lot.
We have successfully reduced him to only 1 at night time, but how do we reduce him to none, ever? And we try not to ever let him have one during the day anymore. I have no idea how to do this without causing a major sleep regression or a major ongoing melt-downs. Suggestions would be much appreciated.
Second, when do people tend to turn their car seats to front facing? The recommendations here are not to switch to front facing until the child is at least 1 years old and can walk independently but ideally keep the car seat rear facing until they are 5. I have to say, I truly think it’s unrealistic to force him to sit rear facing until he’s 5, considering how uncomfortable that would be. Little MPB is well past 1 year old and clearly walks/runs/climbs on his own, so I think we can switch him any time. But I’m also paranoid, I know all too well how important car safety is and I’m slightly paranoid that the day we turn him will be the day we get into a car accident. The main reason I’m considering changing him to front facing is that I am down right sick and tired of the car seat battle and I’m told most kids stop hating the car seat as much once they are forward facing. Honestly, I’m sick of being kicked and screamed at every single time I have to put Little MPB in the car. So, anyways, at what age do parents tend to turn the car seat around? And does turning the car seat actually help reduce the car seat battle?
So, if anyone has any thoughts on either of these 2 questions, I’d very much appreciate hearing from you!
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