September 12, 2010

Tantrums, Park, Home, & Sanity

Chloe looks all sweet and innocent here but don’t fall for the cutie pie act. At 17 months she has started to throw tantrums. I thought this was not supposed to happen until 2 years old, you know the terrible 2’s. From what I have read it is best to take charge now and let her know that it is not acceptable behavior. This sounds pretty impossible considering how young she is and the language barrier at the moment. After reading all I could find, we decided to set up a play pen in an out of the way corner to kind of use as a time out. Her tantrums usually occur when there is something she wants but can not have due to safety issue, and also when you end an activity that she wants to continue. If she is out of control and does not look like she is coming back to normal any time soon, I will pick her up and place her in the time out playpen and tell her I will be back when she calms down. I then walk out of the room and stand outside the room listening. If she calms down I will go in and get her. Otherwise I pop my head in after a minute or two and ask if she is ready to come out yet. This usually prompts her to let go or forget what she was so upset about. So far I have only had to do it maybe 4 times in a week period. I am open to any advice and feel free to share any methods you have used and seems to work.

Children’s Park
On a happier note we found a children’s park that has a baby swing. The only one we were aware of before that had baby swings was the local zoo and you had to pay admission just to get in and use the park area. Chloe loves some swing time. The park also has a huge jungle gym area with lots of buildings different size slides and things to climb around. Chloe is still a little small to be climbing around but should be big enough this autumn. Here are some photos at the park.







New House
The new home is coming along. I thought I would share some indoor features I am excited about. This is a photo of the loft. It is a large upstairs area we plan to use as part family room and part Chloe play room. I am excited to have a place for Chloe’s toys and still have plenty of room for a space adults can chill out too.

This little window is going to be above the kitchen sink and over looks the back yard. I have always spent a good amount of time in the kitchen and at the sink but since having a baby I clock serious hours in front of the sink. Having a window above the kitchen sink is probably one of the top five things I must have in my house.

This little area is up stairs beside the staircase. It is going to have a half wall so there will be plenty of natural light. This area was kind of a surprise, we did not notice it when we just looked at the drawn out floor plan. We decided it would be cool to make it into a little reading nook for Chloe. We are thinking to put a child book case and possibly a few bean bags. This will be great for accommodating Chloe’s ever growing stash of books.

Granny Stripe
I am progressing on my Granny Stripe afghan. I have completed 28 stripes which is 56 rows. I am so glad I started this, and I should name it my Sanity Blanket. It is something that is keeping me grounded and relaxes me. Chloe is currently going down to one nap a day instead of two. This is kind of like when Chloe decided she did not want her pacifier any more and just quit it cold turkey. My husband and I were not ready to get rid of it but she was clearly not having it any more. I think I would hold onto the second nap until she started kindergarten if I could. I did not realize how much I depended on her morning nap until she decided she did not need it anymore. I am not sure if it is harder on the kid or the parents when they go thru these transitional periods.

A Shout out to my Father, Happy Birthday Dad! You have been in my thoughts today. Chloe sends her Grandpa lots of hugs and kisses. I wish you many more years of happy days.

3 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Oh yes little girl tantrums still go on when they get older. My daughter is 9 and still has the occassional tantrum but not like when she was little and used to throw herself on the floor! I have never really known anyone to be the terrible 2's, more like the terrible 3's. Your little Chloe is adorable too and looks very happy swinging on the swing.

September 12, 2010 at 9:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would just say to keep an eye on Chloe so she doesn't climb out of the playpen... My daughter started climbing out of her crib and playpen at 16 months - we had to switch her to a twin bed.

September 13, 2010 at 7:41 AM  
Blogger Open Roads Mama said...

ah, the tantrums... we still try to do the distraction method, it usually works, but we have been doing the little time out in a play pen too... for now, nothing more was ever needed, we'll see how it goes.
That playground looks so much fun! I'm waiting for our little monkey to start walking better, then he'll be able to really enjoy those big playgrounds. :) Great that there's a baby swing too - when we're out for our walks, we always stop at any little playground where there is a baby swing. Thankfully there are quite a few around our place.
I love your house and the sink window sounds soooo good - I don't have one by the sink, but at least we do have a window in the kitchen, always nice to have some day light in there. So much fun planning how to organize new living space!

September 14, 2010 at 12:08 PM  

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