Now that my babies are two...I have to ask.. 1.When did you get rid of binkys? Girls have to sleep with them at nap and bed time. They dont normally want them during the day accept if they get hurt or are tired. They are at home all week with their grandparents while I work three days a week and one day they go to preschool. I let them take it with them there as they are still not liking school very much. 2. when was your toddler officially potty trained? when did you start? what method dd you use? how long did it take? how did you know your toddler was ready? 3. when did you put your toddlers in big beds? no more cribs? was it a disaster? one of my girls can climb out...the other porlly could but doesnt. 4.when did they really start talking? my two are alittle behind in their words. they can show me everything they want but its kinda frustrating when they cant tell me. doc says to give them a couple more months if not we will start something speach therapy. Lastly, any advice you have for teaching them when mommy says NO, you need to stop. hahaha i know thats a funny one. But serisouly, i feel like that know what no means but still do it....i usually tend to try re-direction because thats the only thing that sometimes works. yelling gets no where they think its funny. and Time out. hahah we cant do that at all. Thanks in Advance! Hope everyone had an excellent Easter!
We got rid of binkies at 4 months so I can't really comment on it... they do suck on blankets for comfort though, and we haven't managed to stop that, so I'm glad we stopped binkies so early... My kids are 4 and not potty trained (although working on it). We wanted to wait in case they just got it on their own (didn't happen) but frankly I was in no rush, because I'm just dreading going anywhere with two little kids who need potty breaks frequently. I just started now because we had 10 days without school and well, they're 4. Seeing how DS is doing, I'm glad we didn't bother before, heck I'm starting to wonder if he'll get it by the time he has to go back to school in a week... DD is doing better and got it after one day, she still has a couple accidents a day though... we just switched to underwear, and they just stay in underwear all day. DS might get it faster if he wore nothing, I just really don't want to deal with too much mess (plus being a boy, he'll probably just pee on the floor and not be wet at all anyway)... We got rid of cribs just before they turned 3, because they started climbing out. We just put twin mattresses on the floor that night. It took a good week or two before they got used to it and took naps again though, and we had to remove everything from the room (still only stuffed animals a year later). Personally, I think it's too dangerous to leave them in cribs if they can climb out, so I didn't want to run the risk at all, but I had a crib tent ready just in case... just didn't bother with it as they were almost 3 anyway (and DS started climbing as soon as he saw his sister too). For talking, my kids are pretty delayed. I know raising them in two languages and letting them play together a lot didn't help though (my kids were playing together at 1.5 already). If I were you, I'd contact Early Intervention just in case. We had therapy for 1.5 year, it was free the first year then we had to pay $20 per session (it depends on where you live)... Great deal because our insurance will NOT cover speech therapy at all, so you might want to check with yours too. For teaching them no, well, still a work in progress here. We redirected for the longest time...
1.When did you get rid of binkys? 6m for Alex and 14m for Will, but they both still suck their thumbs. (Not sure that's much of an improvement. 2. when was your toddler officially potty trained? when did you start? what method dd you use? how long did it take? how did you know your toddler was ready? I just posted about it in the PT stories thread. I'm not sure what you count as "officially PTed." They are in underwear during the day, diapers for naps and nighttime. They each have an accident maybe once a week, sometimes twice, but we only PTed 5 weeks ago. 3. when did you put your toddlers in big beds? no more cribs? was it a disaster? They are still in cribs! I thought we would've switched by now but neither has tried to climb out, they sleep and nap great, so I'm not rushing it. I think by June if they haven't climbed out we'll just go ahead and switch them. I admit I'm dreading it though! 4.when did they really start talking? They started talking at 15m and each had about 400-500 words by the time they turned 2. They communicate pretty well. If you have concerns about their speech I'd go ahead and contact Early Intervention for an evaluation. Lastly, any advice you have for teaching them when mommy says NO, you need to stop. hahaha i know thats a funny one. But serisouly, i feel like that know what no means but still do it....i usually tend to try re-direction because thats the only thing that sometimes works. yelling gets no where they think its funny. and Time out. hahah we cant do that at all. Have you tried the SuperNanny method of Time out? (You can read about it on supernanny.com if you're not familiar.) It works pretty well for my boys. That and logical consequences, e.g. if they throw a toy at brother's head, they get TO and the toy gets taken away for a while.
I have 6 kids, and they've all been different at meeting pretty much all of their milestones. 1.When did you get rid of binkys? One of mine didn't need one at all. 3 of them I started only letting them have it for sleeping, around 18 months. And slowly they'd need it less and less. It was harder with my twins. And at one point I took them away for almost a week... it was horrible! They were miserable and made my life miserable. I finally gave in and gave them back. They were closer to 2 1/2 before we were done with them. 2. when was your toddler officially potty trained? when did you start? what method dd you use? how long did it take? how did you know your toddler was ready? It really was a range of times. I had a couple who were about 2 1/2 (and it took a few months of keeping on it before they would always remember to go on their own) but still were in pullups for a long time when sleeping. 1 was just about 3 and dry at night before he was dry during the day. He just decided to be PT'd one day and was. Seriously. I was on bedrest for the girlies and couldn't change him easily, he had to climb up on the bed and it was a pain, I think he just figured that was dumb and he would rather go in the potty. Sabrina and Sydney were stressful! Sabrina was PT'd before her 3rd birthday, but when Spencer was born about 8 months later she totally reverted. Sydney started to be mostly PT'd about the time Sabrina reverted. It was many months before they were basically PT'd and at six they still sleep in pullups. Spencer is totally daytime PT'd. He'll be 3 in May and has been totally daytime accident free for about a month. We'd been working on it for awhile, maybe 4 months or so. 3. when did you put your toddlers in big beds? no more cribs? was it a disaster? one of my girls can climb out...the other porlly could but doesnt. Most of my kids went into toddler beds around 2. Not a disaster, but just takes more keeping on top of things at bedtime. 4.when did they really start talking? my two are alittle behind in their words. they can show me everything they want but its kinda frustrating when they cant tell me. doc says to give them a couple more months if not we will start something speach therapy. Again, a range of times. Sage didn't talk much at all at 21 months and I got worried about it when my friend's daughter who was a few months younger was talking up a storm. It turned out her hearing was quite bad because of chronic ear infections. Tubes worked like magic. 2 weeks after them, words sort of exploded out of her and a week after that she tested at or above average on everything verbal with a speech therapist. Trey talked, but not much. He could obviously hear fine, but it was a struggle for him to find the words he wanted. He didn't talk much til about 3. He could say words, he just wasn't much of a talker. Adam talked before his first birthday and in complete paragraphs by 2. Sabrina started really talking around 19-20 months and Sydney just grunted for the longest time. Drove me nuts. Now she's a chatterbox. Spencer was a little on the early side, but not quite like Adam. He'll be 3 in about 6 weeks and talks non-stop. He doesn't pronounce everything exactly right, but has a huge vocabulary for a toddler his age.
For reference, my twins are still baking but my oldest daughter is 25.5 months. 1.When did you get rid of binkys? A week and a half ago. I just hid all of them and barely mentioned them. When she specifically asked for her "ci" I would say that she was a big girl now and didn't need the paci. She would cry a little bit as soon as we put her down but after 10 minutes, she'd get the idea that we weren't coming in to give it to her. This took 3 nights. 2. when was your toddler officially potty trained? Haven't even started. I'm waiting until after the twins come for this - mostly because my daughter hasn't shown any signs of being ready yet. 3. when did you put your toddlers in big beds? We started my daughter in her toddler bed last Saturday (she can't climb out but I'm not supposed to pick her up any more so we kind of needed her to be able to get out on her own). You can take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. Bedtime was a little rough the first night but with the room decently toddler-proofed and all but a couple toys put away we just let her run herself until she fell asleep on the floor and put her in the bed. The second night went better mostly because she refused to nap. She refused to nap again today. So it wasn't a smooth overnight transition but it hasn't been a disaster or anything close to it. 4.when did they really start talking? My daughter can say a bunch of words and combines them into 2 and 3 word sentences sometimes. But the vast majority of the time, I will pick up only 1 or 2 words of what she's trying to say. Half the time, I can figure out the rest by context (and repeat what she should have said to her), the other half I repeatedly ask her to use her proper words until we figure it out or she moves on. I doubt it's a method that would be approved by experts but it works for us. Lastly, any advice you have for teaching them when mommy says NO, you need to stop. If I really need her to stop what she's doing, I say stop instead of no. So using a different word and a different tone seems to help for situations where I really need her to stop what she's doing. I use this for when I need her to stop running into the street though, not when I need her to stop whining, so that I know she will listen when I really need her to.
1. My two never took to the binkies, so that's N/A here. 2. My DD was potty trained at 2.5 and my son at 2 years 8 months. With DD, I did pull ups and just followed her cues. With my son, I did the 3 day potty training program. He was not trained in 3 days but it definitely helped him overcome his resistance and got him on the potty & confident enough to do it. 3. DD was moved to a toddler bed at 19 months, she was our climber. She just got a twin bed 6 months ago. It took her about two weeks to adjust to the toddler bed and then she was fine. My son was in a crib until he 3, had no interest getting out and when we did move him to a toddler bed, he did a great job with the transition. 4. My two had words and small sentences before age 2 but their language really took off after turning two. 5. Teaching them that you mean what you say: find a consistent way to handle discipline. Whether you put them or the toy in time out, redirection or whatever you use to discipline, be consistent. It's frustrating but they will start to get it. Not to say that they will not find a way to keep pushing your buttons but it does get better!
We just finally ditched them. We stopped using them at night around a year old, but naps have always been tough for us. We tried several times before and it led to lots of screaming and no napping. This time, we are on day 4 and I think it's going to stick. Mine aren't yet and they are 27 months. I started some pre-training around 20 months - getting the little potties, letting them sit on them with clothes on, etc. About 2 months ago, my boys were extremely interested in using the potty. They each went once or twice and have seemed to lose a lot of that interest now. Honestly, I'm not sure they are physically ready yet because most of the time when they tell me they are going "pee pee" or "poo poo", they are usually already in the act or even done. Then they would insist on sitting on the potty still, and would scream and pitch a fit when I would try to have them get up after 5 minutes or so. So I decided just to step back for a bit and not push it. I think they are emotionally ready, but not physically, and I'm very busy for the next month or so anyway, so I'm not in a rush either. We transitioned about a month and a half ago, and it went MUCH better than I expected. However, the cribs we had converted to a daybed type toddler bed, plus we added a bedrail, so they are still mostly enclosed, very similar to the crib, but lower to the ground. They could get out over the bedrail if they tried, but so far so good. If we didn't have those bedrails, though, I'm sure it would be crazy!! At 27 months, my kids are using simple sentences, so they are pretty advanced, but I will say that they had a HUGE language explosion around 25-26 months. In my experience, the speech growth seems to go in spurts and can change very quickly, so you may see a huge jump at some point. If you figure this out, please let me know!! :laughing: I really think that they just don't have the self-control yet to always obey. Mine will say things like "no pushing" and then turn around 10 seconds later and push each other. Time out DOES seem to work for us, at least in the short term, but over the long haul, they need constant reminders and redirection. I reserve time outs for major offenses (hitting, biting, etc.) and mostly redirect or distract for other, smaller things.
1.When did you get rid of binkys? Girls have to sleep with them at nap and bed time. They dont normally want them during the day accept if they get hurt or are tired. They are at home all week with their grandparents while I work three days a week and one day they go to preschool. I let them take it with them there as they are still not liking school very much. Mine never had them, so no advice here. 2. when was your toddler officially potty trained? when did you start? what method dd you use? how long did it take? how did you know your toddler was ready? Mine were officially PTed (except for naps and night-time and occasional accidents) at 31 months. I took a very gradual approach beginning at 24 months when my DS showed signs of being interested and ready - naked time in the morning, some time in undies every morning, potty at bath and bed-time, slowly increasing the times ... It clicked for him around 30 months and then my DD (who had shown no interest and just cheered DS on) wanted undies and trained within less than a week. 3. when did you put your toddlers in big beds? no more cribs? was it a disaster? one of my girls can climb out...the other porlly could but doesnt. We went from co-sleeping to toddler beds (with guards rails) some time after their 2nd birthday. They were both able to climb out of a crib at that age. For us the transition was smooth, maybe because they were already used to the freedom of a bed they could get out of and had learnt from us the habit of staying in bed? We see no need for big beds yet, the toddler beds (converted cribs) will fit them for a while yet. 4.when did they really start talking? my two are alittle behind in their words. they can show me everything they want but its kinda frustrating when they cant tell me. doc says to give them a couple more months if not we will start something speach therapy. I had really early and gradually learning talkers, one began at 13 months, the other at 16 months and they were both talking in sentences by 24 months. But we are not at all typical. If your girls have good passive speech I would expect an explosion of words and speech very soon. Lastly, any advice you have for teaching them when mommy says NO, you need to stop. hahaha i know thats a funny one. But serisouly, i feel like that know what no means but still do it....i usually tend to try re-direction because thats the only thing that sometimes works. yelling gets no where they think its funny. and Time out. hahah we cant do that at all. I wish I knew ... redirection, consistency in our expectations, picking our battles to limit no to the important things seem to work best here. I only use TO for really serious stuff like hitting or biting, so it is rare. The only no that they do mind consistently is one I use only in emergencies like when they are in danger of running into the street - this is a special no screech, I use it very sparingly and they know I am an frightened for them and mean it.
1.When did you get rid of binkys? My boys used them for sleep time only and quit them shortly after they turned 3. My one son ripped his and I took them both away (they used green Soothies). They asked for them and whined a little bit at bedtime for a few days, but it was super easy! I dreaded it!!! 2. When was your toddler officially potty trained? when did you start? what method dd you use? how long did it take? how did you know your toddler was ready? Started potty training at around 2 years 3 months. We did "naked time" in the morning where they would have their milk and breakfast (while being naked on the bottom) on their potties in front of the TV... easy access. At 2 years 8 months, we quit diapers cold turkey during the day and used pull ups at night. I don't know if they were ready or not, but I found out I was expecting a fourth baby and I didn't want 4 kids in diapers or have to potty train with a huge belly! We had good look with a sticker reward chart and they were completely day trained in 1 week. I stopped doing pull ups at night after there were no wet diapers for 1 month. Completely potty trained by 3 years 1 month. 3. When did you put your toddlers in big beds? We did this around the time we started full out potty training... 2 years 8 months. They were still using binkys at the time and I think it helped mine with the transition, though I would hardly say it was "easy". 4. When did they really start talking? Mine sound a lot like yours... not very many words but enough to communicate their needs (I would say around 20 words at age 2, but pronunciation was terrible). Their vocabulary REALLY picked up around 2.5 years old and they started speaking in full sentences around 3. Any advice you have for teaching them when mommy says NO, you need to stop? I have to laugh at this one because right as my twins turned 2, I was convinced they were going to be monsters because they NEVER listened to anything I said!!! Age two was a rough transition for us, but staying consistent, a firm "no," and redirection really does work. We also started spanking and time outs at age 2 for serious offenses. WELCOME TO AGE 2... IT IS A GREAT YEAR!!!
Binkies: We got rid of them around 2 1/2. Just did a countdown sort of thing. Went smoothly. Potty training: We didn't even start until 3. Alice did it in a day at three, with about 4 accidents since, and Royce wasn't interested in it. At 3.5 he was interested and PTed in a day and a half. He has the occasional accident now, but he drinks a ton of water (like as much as an adult). Big beds: 20 months or so. We moved 1,000 miles away and I didn't want to disassemble and reassemble cribs, so we bought Ikea beds that went from toddler to twin, and that's what they're in now, the twin size. They were in the toddler size until last month, with their crib mattresses. Talking: Starting about 18 months, Alice started talking, Royce picked up a few months later, but they didn't speak in sentences until right after they turned 2. Maybe 26 months? You have to be consistent in your discipline. We started 1-2-3 Magic when they turned two and it's worked wonderfully for us. And the best thing is, we live in a town home, so we have two sets of stairs, so each has their own set of stairs.
wow! thanks for all the responses! Hope this post helps other mommies too! I know all kids do things differently i just love hearing about other kids and what they are do or not doing. Well I am going to start trying to Potty train again next week. We had a poop and pee on the toilet yesterday. wahoo! and both peed last night!
Neither of mine used Binkies. One sucks her thumb, but now at 5 she is saying that she is going to stop. We are leaving it up to her. 3y1m for Meara, 3y2m for Ana. Meara pee trained at 2 1/2 and then regressed. At 3 we started with a sticker chart and really talked it up. Within a week Meara was completely day trained. A couple weeks later Ana trained day and night. By 3 1/2 both were day and night trained. At 2 1/2 we moved our girls to toddler beds. I happened to get a good deal on adorable matching toddler beds on craigslist. Otherwise we might have waited until they were 3 because they weren't climbing out. Again we talked it up, let them help set up the beds, etc. They were so excited and it was a very easy transition. Mine were chatterboxes. I agree with Bex 1000% about consistency. Why can't you do time out? We started time out when my girls were less than 2. We used a pack in play in a separate room. The idea behind time out isn't punishment, but rather ignoring them. They want attention so you give them lots of attention when they are doing the things you want them to do, and no attention (time out) for the things that you don't want them to do. But pick your battles because you don't want to set up situations where they are constantly being told what NOT to do.
