Don’t be past me and concert a 2 kid trailer to a questionably safe 3 kid one…
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Hahah yeah that’s a tight squeeze! We don’t have one at all right now which means we never go on bike rides, but a 2 seater would fit him + a ball + a picnic nicely.
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This is sort of what @Bracken_Joy was saying. We don’t have trays but we do rotate and cull toys pretty often to keep what he has available to him limited and we work on putting toys away in between things.
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Oh and I got some clothesline and sewed some little baskets for things! That was fun and cheap. But the two biggest things have been aggressive rotation and persistent tidying with him. He now often tidied himself.
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Anyone heard anything about the Babyzen Yoyo stroller? My friend told me about it half an hour ago and I’m ready to just order one right now, because I’ve been looking for a compact stroller that goes up to 20+kg for over a year and this looks really easy. Expensive (~$700 AUD), but pretty colours and machine washable, and also then something on my list I don’t have to think about.
https://www.babyzen.com/en/yoyo-stroller
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How tall are you? I’ve test driven and it was too tall for me. We have a Zoe stroller which I love and it was cheaper and has a bigger sun thing and basket so I think it’s amazing.
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I’m 5’2". My giant BFF was the one telling me it’s awesome. The handle doesn’t adjust enough? I’ll look into the Zoe.
ETA: we have limited options in Aus. Zoe might not be available. 
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Do not recommend yo-yo or uppababy mini for short people. Zoe also doesn’t have adjustable handle but seems a bit better. Do they have those services that ship things that companies don’t ship?
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If I can get it here we could price shipping and gift options… and when stores open I could height check it
Pram situation put on hold for now. I might do some recon visits to the local baby stores to see what they have once things open up.
Meanwhile… We’re getting Duckling into cooking. Anyone seen a good cookbook for little kids with lots of step-by-step instructions in pictures?
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What is a good window covering for semi-destructive children? Not purposely hurtful, just, er, “hard” on their environment. Kiddo damaged some of our blinds to the point that they’re mechanically not functional any more, luckily the previous owners of our house put the same blinds in a bunch of different rooms so I’m going to swap out one that had been in his room (the damage was done in a different room). He’s actually already down by one set of functional blinds because a bracket fell out of the drywall a year or two ago.
I have not had good luck with curtain rods in the past, they come out of the wall even if I thought I was installing them into a stud. Maybe it’ll be better this time? I’m kind of tempted to just paper over the window entirely but it would be nice for him to be able to see outside sometimes, especially since we’re still doing quiet time every day right now.
Please don’t quote the picture. Current blinds, plus the other window got papered over already due to the bracket issue.
Roller blinds have always struck me as relatively indestructible, particularly if installed inside the window. If you pull too hard on them, the shade itself pops off the bracket but is easy to return.
Or what about something like this: https://www.dormify.com/products/complete-black-out-magnetic-window-shade?variant=18383106900083&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI08DelLmd6QIVypyzCh3SBgBJEAQYAyABEgJVk_D_BwE.
Since it’s magnetic, I assume it’s actually supposed to pull off the wall easily and could be easily returned to the wall?
This maybe too: https://blackoutez.com/Blackout-EZ-Window-Covers/SMALL-36-x-48-inches-Black-White?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI08DelLmd6QIVypyzCh3SBgBJEAQYAiABEgJCO_D_BwE
Talk to me about Montessori home things. H and I both did Montessori/Montessori-esque schooling for pre-K/K and are into the idea of setting up more for Bobbin at home. We’ve made her room as accessible as possible to her (bins of toys on her level that she gets out, books on shelves she can reach, she regularly gets clothes out of her dresser and is working on putting things back).
We have a crib for her but I’m toying with the floor bed idea. She sleeps well so I don’t know if I’m ready to rock the boat yet, but maybe if/when we move. The rest of our place is not super baby friendly so we have big baby jails set up so she has as much space as possible to run around and I try to make her toys so that she can pull them out/put them back and only access what she wants at any given time.
I’ve got some books on hold at the library on the subject but I’d love to hear from anyone whose done it or has ideas to share!
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We have a knob cover on Kiddo’s door.
Just FYI it took about three weeks to fully transition to the floor bed. Kiddo loved LOVED moving to a big boy bed, but he was so excited to have access to his whole room that he wouldn’t stay in bed.
We’ve also had problems with inappropriate chewing recently so the lamp whose cord was behind furniture wasn’t safe enough, now we have a USB rechargeable nightlight and the OK to Wake Clock and the overhead light with a pull cord (which I hate, it’s so very bright and changing it out to another light fixture or fan/light is a whole Thing now). I would also like to put a bluetooth speaker into Kiddo’s room so he can listen to music or podcasts during quiet time (I dunno how into podcasts he really would be yet) but I need to put it out of his reach so he won’t somehow break it.
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That’s part of my hesitation with moving beds now is that she currently has too many books/toys on her shelves within reach and I think the temptation would be too much. her favorite thing right now is to godzilla the whole room, pulling out every book/toy bin/article from the dresser drawers and make a big mess. It’s easy enough to clean up since there’s a place for everything but its clear to me that she has access to too many things for any one of them to hold her attention. So I’m starting to think about ways to maybe rearrange her bookshelves to put more things in the unreachable top shelves (its one of those 4x4 cube shelves from ikea) and keep just a few rotating things within reach.
But that means I need H to find a place for his anatomy textbooks and professional journals and comic book collection since they currently live on the top shelves.
What did the transition to a floor bed look like for you all? In my head it’s the same bedtime routine as normal but I’m putting her down on the mattress and closing the door. We don’t have a video monitor so there’s that as well. H is really trying to get her to stop waking up at 5am and instead sleep until 7ish (so sleep roughly 12 hours straight) but is having no success and I’m wondering if something like this would keep her happy in her room for longer. She does play quietly in her crib for decent amounts of time each day, especially now that she’s transitioning to one nap there’s often more of a “quiet time” scenario where I can hear her talking to her toes and whatnot instead of sleeping but she’s content. That dissolves into her throwing her 2 blankets, 2 toys, and pacifier out of the crib and then screaming because she can’t reach them which is when I go get her. A floor bed would help with that part of things.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness post, I’m thinking out loud here 
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Getting interrupted already, but here’s pictures https://forum.ohmydollar.com/t/meerkats-journal-in-which-there-are-pictures/939/27?u=meerkat
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We transitioned from family bed and had this ginormous galley bedroom (it was bigger than the entire rest of the apartment) so it was easier than we thought because kiddo was already used to falling asleep in a space he could move around in.
Our kid was a total Montessori personality (he responded very positively compared to other methods of stimulation/environment). I can’t remember much about how we set things up between 12-18 months other than helping him use regular dishes/cut up bananas, clean, etc.
Around 18 months we started keeping the bottom shelf of the fridge for him - separate bowls with cut up fruit, cheese, veggies, dry cereal, a little container of milk. He had his own glass, and stoneware “coffee” mug, plate, bowl, and then silverware that was all kept on a bottom shelf.
He got to pick a few of his own groceries at a store that had little carts around 3-4 and he took it very seriously. We thought he’d go straight for cookies but I’ve never seen someone study an eggplant so carefully 
It was awesome and fun to see what research shows, that toddlers instinctively will select a variety of fresh foods and eat in cycles. He’d go heavy veggies, some fruit, quite a bit of fish (but not with eyes!), bread, yogurt, and goldfish crackers 
His own cleaning supplies - squirt bottle with water and a little essential oil that he got to choose, a stack of cloths, and an apron. A little broom and dustpan. He was always a kid that wanted to do what we were doing and needed to be busy so it was pretty easy to direct him through tasks.
This is all of course through the lens of 20 years and knowing how he is now There were also lots of days of crying on my part because I just wanted to rest and have quiet but thankfully his dad is also a go go go person and was fantastic at building things like sorting puzzles and lock&latch boards. He was the life skills parent; I was the interpersonal skills parent 
I do remember when we moved here kiddo was newly 2 and we spent a weekend arranging the apartment to fit Montessori method - so, set up for kiddo to make his own choices with built in “success” point. Things like having his clothes accessible to him, but only two of each item - he had a nightstand w drawers that was his dresser - two pairs socks, two shirts, two pants etc. The rest of his clothes in one of our drawers. Added more as he got older. Same for books in the bedroom - two at a time. But our apartment made this possible.
We labeled things with pictures and the word ( like where toys went, and his tools, etc). We didn’t have kid versions of stuff, but assigned him the stubby handle screwdrivers etc. Mostly we were very lucky that our apartment had super high ceilings and built ins where we could store unsafe items up high and then everything else was accessible to him.
I’m totally rambling because it’s fun thinking back about that age- so fun to see their little brains develop so fast in the toddler years, even though it was maddening at times.
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I think, too, that my kid was always more of a minimalist. He’d focus intensely on one thing at a time in bursts. His dad is definitely a minimalist. That made it easier to see the benefit of only a few of each item available. And then having a “den” room made it possible to have storage for the rest without having to see it like in a typical playroom.
That made it soooo much easier to keep the bedroom free of stimulation.
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Thank you so much for all of this! It is so helpful!
I am (to H’s frustration sometimes) kind of militantly against most kid versions of things. If I want Bobbin to grow up and be independent and know how to do things, I should give her the real version to learn with, right? I mean, my parents didn’t give me an 8 key piano to learn to play, I had the full keyboard. It just makes sense. Also, H was this kind of kid too…he just forgets that sometimes He loves to figure things out and have the proper tools to do it so I want to provide that same thing for Bobbin. I credit a lot of my scrappiness and success as a business owner to my being unafraid to just try something and see if it works, so definitely a life skill I want to foster in her. I also don’t want to buy a bunch of plastic crap that becomes useless when she gets older or have to find a place in my home for a kid version of something I already own.
I love love LOOOVE watching how she figures things out. Just yesterday I was planning to fold her diapers but got caught up by a text message. She was with me in her room and completely independently she went over & got inside the bag, opened the tallest drawer she could reach (the diapers go in the top drawer since it is right below the changing pad, but the second drawer was all she could open), and started trying SO HARD to throw diapers and wipes into the drawer. I could see her little wheels turning about where the diapers go and how to get them in there, it was awesome. Then I joined her and she would hand me diapers from the floor, I’d fold and put them in the drawer. We also play this game on the floor where she hands me things and I fold and put them into the laundry bin in front of her and then we go put away together. It feels like a great combo because she is engaged/learning/helping and I get to accomplish a task.
I love the cleaning supplies idea too! She already likes to wipe up the coffee table where she eats on her own, and wipes her own hands and face when I ask her to so this feels like a natural extension of that. She would also love a shelf in the fridge if she can reach the handle to open it, I’ll have to see if that’s possible for her. She already loves getting into the cabinets to get out the mixing bowls to play with.
I think that there’s a lot of things we can set up in our place right now to make it successful for her. I feel bad that she can’t just run around the house but for now that is what it is. We are trying to avoid buying all new storage furniture because that’s what we’d need to do in order to keep all our books and things out of tiny hands and keep things safe for her. Small space living is a blessing and a curse in that way. Whenever we move our next place will be set up with her in mind so that she can have more room to explore. I need to think through how to do that most effectively within our limitations.
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We just put everything back on an arbitrary shelf (it’s just messy, not unsafe). Maybe when he’s able to read chapter books we’ll (I’ll) do a proper reorg and then if he messes it up from there he’ll have to be the one to resort them. 
You asked about bedtime routine - it was the same. He’d sweetly say goodnight when he was tucked in his bed, I’d leave, then a while later we’d hear suspicious noises that indicated a not-sleeping toddler. I think that’s when we got desperate and begged the pediatrician for help because he was seriously cutting into his sleep hours, he was even cutting into our sleep hours, then everyone was in a shitty mood the next day, for weeks. Melatonin got him out of that, we only needed to do it a couple nights I think? Not a long term thing at all. Then he’d get up and play in his room in the morning which everyone was much happier with.
Oh, and I like the OK to Wake Clock as a way to show him when it’s wake up time. Don’t try to shift her wake up time by two hours all at once, shift it by like 10-15 minutes for like a week, then another adjustment, then another. Sometimes we hear him bumping around in the morning and I’m like “My obligations do not start until it turns green!!” I’m not a morning person, obviously. I just live with two of them.
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