Anyone else here with toddlers?

[mondk]

I just wondered. My Joshie is in bed right now playing. He will play quietly in his room for up to 2 hours before finally going to sleep. It has been ages since my oldest was 2, and I don't remember him ever just playing in his room. He was the kind (and still is) that goes right to sleep after climbing in bed.

For those of you with toddlers, how old are they and what kind of stuff do they do to entertain themselves during the day?

Blessings, Michelle

[sue in CA]

None here. I have a teen and a tween. Just revisiting the terrible 2's and horrible 3's in big bodies!!

[pepper]

I have an almost 3.5 year old and a 4.5 year old. They don't play before sleep - we have to snuggle or sit with them until they fall asleep.

Entertaining themselves during the day - DS will play with his toys some but DD loves to play with her Barbies, kitchen, dollhouse, Little Ponys, dress-up stuff, etc.

I have been bad about letting them watch alot of TV lately. I try to get them outside and running errands, going to the pool most days, to the gym's daycare. Daddy often exercises them in the driveway or backyard in the evenings. This Fall we'll be in multiple activities - soccer, gymnastics, homeschool, and homeschool co-op classes for DS (4.5) and dance, gymnastics, homeschool, and homeschool co-op classes for DD (almost 3.5). We've always been really laid back and done alot of free play. This Fall is going to be really scheduled and difficult for all of us to get used to, but they will be going to traditional public school for Kindergarten (2010 for DS and 2011 for DD) so I figure this will get us used to it.

[mondk]

Hi. I have thought about and would love to homeschool my tween but I have nothing but negative feedback about it from my all-retired-teachers family. My mom still teaches part time and is super against it. She says he needs to know how to get along in the world and even though most of the kids at his school tease him about his weight, height, and wearing of glasses she says this is not reason enough to take him out of public school. It is so exasperating; he went to a private parochial school until we adopted Joshie and then I took him out mainly because they didn't run buses and I would've had to driven him in 10 miles each way with a newborn in tow. They also greatly increased their prices and I wanted to save more money for him for college. So we switched him to public school and he has had a pretty rough time. Now that Joshie is older I could probably put him back in the parochial school, but he would only be there another year (they only go up to 8th grade) then would be back in public high school.

I sent him to a fitness camp this summer and he says he's lost a lot of weight. He comes home in another week so I'm anxious to see. If he can maintain his weight, that would be one less thing for the kids to tease him about. I don't know...he's had therapy also for low self esteem; I just hate watching him suffer you know?

Sorry to ramble...here I am talking about my tween when I started this thread about toddlers, Heehee!

Blessings, Michelle

[pepper]

Are you planning to change anything at home with regard to eating/fitness level? Does anyone else in the home need to lose weight or increase activity? I think Bradley may not be able to keep his weight in check if there are still oreos and ice cream at home, and no one to play frisbee with or run/walk around the neighborhood. I hope he can get healthier and stay that way.

I wouldn't listen to negative people about homeschooling. If you feel it would benefit Bradley, pull him out and try it for a while. He may choose to go back to public school, or you might find some co-ops (classes he might be interested in during the day for homeschoolers) by asking around or advertised at the library or websearches. I found a flyer for my homeschool group at the library. One of the women told me about some classes in another part of my county for homeschoolers - they have math, art, fencing, science, and many other choices on T/TH. On Fridays we go to the park or the pool, or another field trip. Most moms teach in a laid-back fashion as opposed to a lot of desk work/book work. If we go to the aquarium, the kids learn about aquariums and fish and maybe architecture and construction, marine biology, etc. If we go strawberry picking, they will learn about farming and/or cooking.

[mondk]

Oh yes, we plan on stepping up exercising here quite a bit. We live way out in the country off of a very busy highway, so there will be several trips into town to walk/jog the parks, and I can put Joshie in the stroller. They gave us a special meal book for Bradley so I can make sure his portions are just so and a list of good foods etc. I also have a Weight Watcher's cookbook I've bought and been looking through for me too. We've already replaced a lot of our fatty foods with fresh fruit and we are striving to drink plain ice water instead of juices and sodas. We are members of our local YMCA too where I take aerobics already and they just built a fitness center for mainly tweens, so Bradley will be spending quite a bit of time there and he can swim laps during my water aerobics classes. They have a part time babysitter so free child care for Joshie.

Yes, we just need to remember to keep track of all we do and eat for awhile until I'm used to everything!

Blessings, Michelle