I mentioned a while back that we were thinking about fencing in our yard. Well, finally we came up with a little money to spend on a home improvement, and Brian gave me a choice: new couch for the living room or a fence. Although I'd really like to upgrade our living room furniture, I decided that the fence would increase my quality of life. It has become quite an exhausting task to open the front door and let my daughter run out. Because there is nothing to stop her from running right into the busy street, I felt limited in what we could do outside. I had to be holding her hand and hovering over her at all times. Ironically, the boundaries of a fence would provide the freedom to let her play. And let me sit on the porch and watch her. With a Diet Coke and a magazine? Maybe next summer, we're not quite to that point yet.
So Brian found a good contractor (yellow ruler-print suspenders and all), and ordered us up a white picket fence. Yes, folks, the American dream is a reality right here in central Ohio. I know you're dying to see Before and After's.
Before:
During: (apparently fence building is quite entertaining)
And after:
I actually think our yard looks bigger with the fence. Ahhh...the spacious yards of (semi-) urban living.
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Unrelated question - does anyone have any advice on getting your toddler to move from bottle to sippy cup? Katy drinks from a sippy cup at meals, but doesn't take very much, so I still give her bottles of milk at naptime and bedtime. Here we sit at 15 months old, and I know we're supposed to be off the bottle, so today I thought I'd be really clever: I took her sippy cup full of warm milk and attempted to give it to her at naptime, sitting in my lap as usual. She wanted nothing to do with that cup, and looked at me like, "why are you shoving this cup of milk in my face right now? this isn't the way we do things." So should I wait until she's taking more from the cup at meals to get rid of the bottle at bedtime?
7 comments:
Jack's just behind Katy so I'm trying the same thing. He drinks really well out of a sippy cup and seems to love water but I'm not keen on giving up the warm milk in a bottle because he naps and goes to bed with it so easily. I'm interested to see what other mums say.
In response to your camping Qs - we take a pack n play and lots of warm clothes - including woolly socks! He only naps once but he slept both nights for 12 hours. Wouldn't go down till it went dark though and I had to send him to bed with warm milk in a bottle (see above).
Oh, and shame on me for not saying firstly - fence looks GREAT! :-)
Wow, I love what the fence does for the look of your yard. Very sharp looking. And I'm sure it was worth every penny for you to let her play more freely now. Our back yard is fenced in, but it's almost too big. If Zachariah stays nearby I can let him wander. But sometimes he gets into things if I let him wander too far. Oh well, some things we can't win. And it will be easier when he's older.
Oh the sippy cup. We got rid of the bottle early. I started giving Zachariah a sippy cup instead of bottle at about 9 months. At first I would give him a little in the cup, then pour what he wouldn't drink into the bottle if he still wanted it. Then I eventually just offered the cup. He still wanted milk warmed for a while in the cup, and he did better laying on my lap. But eventually he stopped doing that and was able to take it all on his own. By 10 months, we didn't use any bottles. He still took milk before bed until about 12 months or so. Then he started eating more solids/table foods. Within a month he was eating almost all table foods, and he only had milk with meals. So he was more interested in having food before bed. Now part of our bedtime routine is bath, snack, book, brush teeth, and bed.
I know there isn't too much advice there, but I hope there is something that will help.
LOVE the fence...it looks great and IS great for everyone concerned!
As far as the bottle, it's been too long ago for us to give advice. But I do remember when Mark was little, I took the bottle away from him and then a few days later he was sick so I thought the bottle would comfort him...Well, he didn't even know what to do with it...he had already forgotten it. Guess out of sight, out of mind does work!
Love, Mom/Grammy/John/Papa John
The fence looks fantastic! So does the house, by the way. Nice work!
I have a deep dark secret to admit. Calum is TWENTY MONTHS old and still takes a bottle at night before bed. We brush his teeth after, so we figure it's okay. We had to go cold turkey on the daytime bottles eventually. And it stunk for about a week. We kept the pre-bedtime one because getting the kid to sleep at night was a matter of us maintaining sanity. We still do it because we're bad parents. And it gives Calum a chance to snuggle up and calm down before bed. Good luck!
Love the fence! What a great idea; and it makes the house look very homey in your college neighborhood.
I don't know about timing on bottles, but I am a "go with the flow" mom. Blankets and bottles can provide much peace for parents and children. Try again later. She's not ready.
Nuby No-Spill Sippy cups (99cents at Wallys or Meijer)... they are ALMOST a bottle, but look a little more grown-up. Colin had them until today. We're moving him up to tippy cups. Good luck. AWESOME fence!
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