Question about learning...

So the boys will be 2 in July and we are still having issues with certain milestones. They are incredibly hyper (Every time they wake from a nap or first thing in the morning they are literally jumping up and down as fast as possible in their crib) and very inattentive and when I try to read to them, or teach them colors or numbers they pay attention for a few minutes and are off doing something else and I can't get them back to the book again. I've tried "Your Baby Can Read" and other educational DVDs but as with everything else they watch for 15min or so and then get up and do something else. The only thing they stop and pay attention to are t.v. commercials and Yo Gabba Gabba.

Now they do know what things are. For example if I say "River go get your bunny" he will look around for it and then go get it. Or if I say to either of them "Bring Mommy a book" or "Bring Mommy a ball" they will look around for one and bring them to me. They know to sit when I say sit and when I say "no no, put it away" Alex will put things back and close the drawer he got it from but River runs away with the item in question. They also put their crayons away when they are done coloring. So they are comprehending things and know what things are but they don't point to something and say the word for it yet. Vocabulary is still a process for us but we are getting a lot better.

Another issue is with mealtime. I try to always use the suction plates and bowls and put their food on those along with giving them forks on their trays that are on their booster seats but the will use the fork for a few minutes and start playing with it and eventually throw it on the floor. The plates and bowls only last for a few minutes before they pick them up and turn them upside down to eat with their fingers on the tray. This behavior is why they are still not sitting at the table.

Anyone else having these types of problems or know how I can work better with them??
I did call their Pediatrician and she said they sound like perfectly normal toddlers and that every child learns differently and at different paces but I can't help but feel they are behind...probably mostly that dreaded good parenting questioning.

 

They sound fine to me too. Right now, before and around the age of 2, they have an attention span of about ~~><~~ this big. Everything is so new and fascinating they don't want to have to sit still for very long.

Toss the My baby can read stuff, it's been proven to be useless and is just pure memorization. If you can't get them to sit still for books, then bring the book to them. When River takes something from the drawer, nararrate (dang I can't spell that) it out for him. "River, did you take that xxxx from the drawer? Time to put it back." Talking to them, and repetition, will teach them far more than any reading system or dvd will. When you put them in their carseat, say "It's time to go, come on, let's get in your carseat! Can you get in like a big boy? Good job!! What a big boy you are!"

Mine turned 2 in feb and they know a couple of colors, they know they are 2 and can hold 2 fingers up, and Rylee can count to 10 with prompting, while Liam just repeates "2...2....2....2....2" :lol:

As for the food fight, have you tried them at the table yet? Most kids I've know, they start eating much nicer when they are sitting at the table like big kids. Yes they still make messes, but when they can sit right there and watch how you are eating, you have a greater chance of them copying your actions. Do you eat meals with them? That helps too.

 

Thanks for the reassurance

I do that all the time. Like after they are done with their bath I will say "all done!" and things like that so I am encouraging communication by repetition.

We don't all eat together so I haven't really tried that. I guess a lot of it has been fear more than anything. We only have the two kids so I don't think they know how that sitting like a big boy is important or something they know about. I have eaten with them, we tried pot roast with them which they hated, and I ate with them right across from them at the table and they didn't care one bit and still threw food everywhere.

 

Their attention span sounds about right to me. as to the jumping in their cribs, that sounds normal, too. Mine act like they have springs in their legs! Do they have opportunities for physical fun daily? As in the park or a swing, slide or tramploline? Boys are SO physical!

Mine are animals, too, when it comes to mealtime. I suspect it's because I am outnumbered. I have started with the small goal of their cups and plates or bowls. For cups, it's either on your tray or hand it to mommy. Any cup that gets thrown is immediately handed back to them with the instruction of what they need to do with it. Then I make them do it 'right'. Bowls and plates stay 'down' as there is no reason for them to pick them up at this point.

 

We don't go to the park too often because they don't always listen very well and it's hard for me to watch both of them by myself and since it's just me with them 90% of the time we don't go much. Their Dad is fixing up the backyard so they can play and run around back there since it's fenced in but they do expel a TON of energy just running around the house.

By "cups" do you mean actual cups or sippy cups? They are really good with sippy cups and only throw those when they are empty or done, which still isn't good but an improvement from when we first started.

 

Oh yeah. I forgot about Your Baby Can Read. It's been proven as not a very good way to teach reading to kids- it doesn't inspire them to want to read later on. So ditch that and maybe when they are jumping in their cribs after a minute or two read a story to them.

Also, try Hap Palmer on YouTube- he does a lot of singing in his kids videos. (they are old but the content is good).

 

Thanks, I'll try that.

 

This is going to sound terribly NOT politically correct but don't discount those commercials. My sons, especially my baby B, didn't talk well but they were picking up words along the way. One afternoon we were out walking and one said "Kia" and then "Honda" and the other said "Ford", and "Chevolay' I realized they were picking up these words from commercials. Now they talk non-stop, lol

 

Oh sorry- sippy cups! I don't give them glasses as they'd chuck them and I only have glass glasses in the house. Now I do give them shot glasses of water sometimes as the glass tends to be thicker. That is practice though.

I don't think you have to necessarily go to the park, but a mall playplace or gross motor skill toys (like I mentioned earlier) are good to get the energy out. Im nervous taking mine to the park too but my DH does it by himself regularly. What he did firstly is start a game where he yells "get brother!' and they stop immediately find their brother. My trick is to have a visual boundary (like the woodchips or sand or wherever we are) which they need to stay in. If they do not I stick whomever in the stroller immediately for a couple of minutes. (love an enclosed mall playplace for this!) now that I go to the park I put 1 or both in the swings at all times so I'm not freaking out about both in harms way so much.

 

lol, good thing I'm not alone in that one.

Glad you added "of water" after "shot glasses" :rotflmbo:

And they have lots of toys that they learn motor skills from so that's not really a problem. They are just hyper no matter what but man do I love it when they get sleepy because that's when I get to cuddle with them

 

I think your sons sound right on track too.

Don't worry if all they will pay attention too is Yo Gabba Gabba--that show is GREAT for language acquistion. I teach English as a Foriegn Language, and when I first saw that show I thought--OMG! I'm soo showing this to my students. It totally follows the principals of language development and is engaging and entertaining to boot.

Another thing you could try is sitting them at the table for meals--you said that their behavior is why they are still not sitting at the table--but maybe it's the other way around? Their behavior is because you are still not sitting them at the table? I'm a big fan of trayless high chairs so babies are included in the family meal from the beginning. They learn how the rest of the family behaves a the table by being right there seeing it. Maybe they are acting like babies (dumping their food and throwing the fork on the floor) because you haven't shown them you expect them to act like big boys and eat like mom and dad? (Just a possiblity?)

 

We've tried showing them what to do with their utensils and with the plates and bowls but it only works for a little bit. River is far better at it than his brother but will still end up throwing the fork on the floor and he mimics his brother who always dumps his plates upside down. They've seen how we eat and when I first started with plates and utensils I made sure to show them what to do and praise them when they got it right.

 

But by having their own chairs with separate trays. They are not really at the table, nor included in the family meal.

 

No they are in booster seats on the dining chairs so they are at the table just with their own trays that aren't that big, in fact they can reach the table with the tray in place. We don't really eat as a family anyhow because of DH's work schedule. They eat and then we eat when he gets home. I will, of course, change that as they get older.

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.

 

Have you tried removing the trays and pulling the booster seats up to the table for the kids to eat that way? That helped my two to not throw plates & food. Just to echo what PP's have said, your boys sound like normal toddlers. My kids love Yo Gabba Gabba and they've learned so much from it. I would keep reading them short stories and if you are trying to teach the boys something...keep it short (i.e. no longer then 5 minutes). My kids are 3 and their attention spans aren't that long, so when I am teaching them a letter or number, I keep it to around 10 minutes. Any longer and they lose interest.

 

No I haven't. I suppose it's time though. Crossing fingers..lol

And thank you ladies for all of the help and reassurance, makes me feel a TON better! :thanks:

 

Just wanted to agree with everyone else, they sound 'normal' to me too.

As far as learning stuff goes I wouldn't try to sit down and teach them stuff, I would just incorporate it into your everyday activities. So instead of trying to sit down with them and get them to focus on learning colours mention the colours of things they are interested in throughout the day. For example when they are colouring say the colours as they use them-"Oh, you've got the blue crayon, where are you going to use that?" "Wow you put a lot of red in your picture" "I like these yellow zig zags"-when getting dressed talk about the colours of their clothes, when you're out say the colours of the cars/flowers/whatever they're looking at. You can do the same kind of thing with numbers; count stairs as you walk down them, blocks as they build towers, slices of banana as you serve them, how many jumps they are jumping in their cribs, anything really!
With the books I think them only sitting for a few minutes is fine. Just choose short books for now and don't try to read more than a couple in one go. I've found that books with feely parts or (sturdy!) flaps hold their attention better as they can interact with the book more.

I think with getting them to change their behaviour at mealtimes sitting up to table may help some, but you also need to correct the behaviour you don't want to show them how you expect them to eat. I'm not talking about discipline or anything just giving them guidance to let them know what your mealtime rules are. So when they dump their food out you scoop it back into the bowl/plate and say "Food stays in your bowl" then stick the bowl back down again. Same thing with the fork, if they toss it pick it back up and return it to them explaining "Your fork goes in your hand, or you can put it nicely on the table". You can try to head off the dropping of the fork by stopping them when they start playing around telling them "use your fork properly or put it down please". Of course keep up the positive praise as well, if you're clear with your expectations they'll get it.

 

Honestly Your Baby Can Read and other programs like this look extremely boring, I'm not surprised most kids get bored with it. Otherwise, they seem normal to me... the learning will come (at 3 my kids know a few numbers, a few letters and a few shapes and that's about it). I think 2 is too young to teach. We never taught really, just said things in every day conversations, and they got the rest from TV shows...

For the eating behavior, my kids did the same thing until we got rid of highchairs and boosters. I think it's because they were bored and stuck. When we switched to regular chairs (a bit before 2.5) they completely stopped and just got up instead when they are done.

 

They sound normal. Mine love to jump still.

I'd just add a CD with a song to their jumping routine. My boys love to play oldies with a good beat and jump/dance around to it. They now ask for specific songs and I catch them singing versus. I play the same CDs over and over. I have one of kids songs (fisher price travel CD) and the stand by me sound track that has songs with a good beat. They learned to count from one of the songs on the fisher price CD (1 2 buckle my shoe) etc. I use music a lot especially on days we can't get outside to burn off energy. And I am jumping with them.

The boys have sit with us without booster seats at the table since they were about 20 months. They gave up highchairs at a yearish. Defintely helps to eat with them. And don't give up on pot roast. It truly takes 10-20 tries with a new food. I have one who literally on the 20th try will finally try the food. Just keep serving it with something on the side that they like (mac and cheese etc.). As for table manners. Still working on them but it gets better each week. Just takes lots and lots of practice.

 

one thing about your beautiful table... I have the kids in boosters at the table, but they are kids, and I don't want them to bang it or dent it etc... anyway, I want to the local fabric store, and got the thickest clear vinyl and wrapped the table top where they sit so that they are not really eating directly on top. I used double sided velcro, but could have just used double sided tape as I haven't taken it on and off.

anyway, if you "secure" the table, maybe you'd feel better about having them eat at the table. I also think that they eat better when they are eating with others... showing them how to eat.

BUT truly this is the behavior of that age group! I'd say you have another 6 months of throwing! i did finally go to glasses & ceramic plates a few months ago, but that's a full 12 months older than yours are right now.

as for learning... yeah, we don't do directly learning like that, but they learn so much, it's amazing! just try talking about it all! My dd is smart, but doesn't really show her cards... she doesn't repeat numbers like my son, but she's more adventurous... so maybe it all even out later.

our favorite videos... Signing Time and Baby Signing Time at that age. and then the music one we love is the Laurie Berkner ones! She sings crazy fun songs and dresses cute and childish... the kids love her music too!

 

Just wanted to give you guys an update. I took the trays off the booster seats yesterday for lunch and it was a disaster so they went back on for dinner. Today for lunch, since I don't have a table cloth, I layed a beach towel across their side and put them in their booster seats and sat them right up at the table like a big boy, gave them their plates with half a p&j and banana and their apple juice and to my surprise things went rather smoothly. They tried to grab the plate and tip it over only a couple of times and they tried to pull the towel off but they didn't throw any of their food on the floor or across the table and ate almost all of it which is huge all on its own.

So once again, thanks ladies!

 

I'm glad lunch went good for you today! Another thought, see if you can find some character placemats of their favorite characters. Similar to these but I found ours at walmart for much cheaper. I have a couple transformer ones, a sesame street one, a world map one, tinkerbell, dora and thomas the tank engine. Whenever I find some I buy a couple more so we can rotate them out. Then, you teach your boys to keep their food/plates/cups on the placemats. They think it's fun to keep stuff on the mat and not on the table, it helps protect your table, and they are vinyl and wash off like a piece of cake! I've seen them at walmart, target and toysrus, but it's very random, usually on a hanging thing on the side of a bunk end.

 

Oh yeah I had those when I was a kid! Was ticked when I was "too old" for them..lol.
I'm going to try and find a full wipe-able table clothe that fits the whole table first. Tonight will be the true test since we'll be using forks.

 

Picture of the BIG BOYS!

So we are working on it. Day 4 and getting a little better each day, dinner time is the worst though. But one small step for toddler learning on large step for Momma's stress level..lol

 

:woo: Look at all that food on the plates! :clapping: :youcandoit:

 

the idea with the clear vinyl is a great idea. i consider the fact that my twins have graduated to giving me their plates after they dump the food onto their highchair trays a huge step forward! previously they would either throw the plate on the floor or decide to wear it as a hat!

With regards to learning and speaking...my son has learned to count to 5 (with me prompting) from all the times he's put in time out and we count to 5 towards the end of the one minute to indicate that his timeout is ending soon....!

 

glad you liked the idea of the vinyl... I think ours has been on at least a year if not 1 1/2 yrs... I don't see me taking it off any time soon. now mine will bang a fork on the table every now and again, and I don't want marks on the table since it's not that style table.