The Poopsie Collective

Developmental Phases: When Is It Time To…

Written by ERICA

Recently I looked at my baby boy as he legit said “I WUV YOU” and hugged me, and I realized, holy crapola, this is no baby. Owen is a BIG BOY. He is growing up, and fast. 

I mean, I’ve known it’s happening all along; it’s not like I was expecting to birth a 5 lb nugget and have him stay that way forever. That would be creepy. The fact that Owen is growing and developing isn’t the scary part. The hard part to swallow isn’t that our kids are changing, it’s that we as moms have to change with them.

When your kids become toddlers you, as a mom, have to up your A-game. The same old tricks that used to soothe/entertain your munchkin no longer cut it, and the activities/behaviors/milestones that you never used to think about suddenly become important, if not imminent. And as a first-time mom who’s never done this whole toddler thing before, I’m often not really sure what to do, or more accurately, when to do it. These days I’m wondering, when is it time to…

Introduce Utensils

My general attitude towards parenting has been very laid back from day one. I let Owen show me when he’s ready for something; we give it a try, if it doesn’t work, no biggie, we’ll get there. This mentality applied to the bottle-to-sippy-cup transition when he turned one. And the same rule applies to utensils. I am hesitant to introduce them, mostly because they make things messy(er). Not that eating with your hands is neat. 10 times out of 10 Owen looks like he was in a food fight after his finger-licking-good meal. But add a spoon to the equation and I’m pretty sure my clothes, my walls and my dog will pay the price. So I‘m fighting it. But lately Owen has literally been grabbing my fork out of my hand and feeding himself some chicken. I guess no hands dessert contests are out of the question and it’s time to teach him how to hold a fork? 

Get a Haircut

Owen has a mullet. Or maybe it’s a rat-tail. Or a little of both.  It’s basically a comb-over on top, with some wings on the sides, and a party in the back. But I just cannot get myself to cut it. It’s not that I’m opposed to toddler haircuts for any reason. I know he needs one. And bad. But it’s his baby boy hair. Once it gets cut, it’s gone. You can’t get those curly strands of innocence back. Plus, 90% of kid haircuts I see look like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber.  

Comb-over, check. Wings, check. And I promise you, there is a Jew-fro in the back.

Censor Your Language

I curse. Often. I can’t help it. I’m known to be a bit of a pottymouth, which I’m generally OK with. I can turn it off when necessary (at work, interviews, around super conservative old people). But now that Owen has started mimicking everything I say or do, I’m in a bit of a pickle. I have this vision of Owen’s first real phrase being “MOM WHERE’S MY F-ING MILK?” I think it might be time to watch what I say around him. And since I’m ALWAYS around him, I guess I better just eliminate the F-bomb from my vocabulary. F*cking fabulous.

Take Swimming Lessons

Owen LOVES to swim. Well, he doesn’t know how to swim. But he loves water. He freaks out (in a good way) in the tub. He practically drinks pool water he splashes so much into his mouth. I’m fairly certain he would do a major cannonball into the deep end (and never come back up) if I let him. But the kid is only 16 months old. He just learned where his penis is. Part of me feels like it’s too soon to ask him to kick or hold his breath or launch face first into the arms of a swim teacher. The other part of me knows he’s ready, and the sooner he learns to swim the sooner I can stop worrying he’s about to drown anytime we’re within 20 feet of a body of water.

Get Rid of Old Toys

I’m not a hoarder. I swear. I am actually a neat freak. I tidy up incessantly. Everything, including Owen’s toys, have a place. His balls are in one bin, his blocks in another, and his musical toys in a third. And as he grows two things are happening in the toy department: 1) he gets A LOT of new toys (guilty, but he needs them, for his development!) and 2) he gets bored with old toys. So the new toys get lots of play and the old toys gather dust. Logic would say that I should retire his old toys, either put them in storage or donate them. Which I would do, except that every once in a while he’ll rediscover an old tambourine and fall deeply in love with it all over again. How can I get rid of something he might want to play with down the road? No, I can’t. I think I’ll just save EVERYTHING, just in case. (Crap, am I becoming a hoarder?)

Discipline

Owen happens to be a really well behaved, happy kid (I’m sure it has nothing to do with my mothering, and everything to do with an innate, laid-back personality). So there haven’t been many situations to date where he needs disciplining. He is a good sleeper, a good sharer and a really good eater. But he’s also super curious and getting really good at exploring those curiosities. Like today when he figured out how to use the ottoman as a step and climb up to our media console. I turned around just as he grabbed our Baccarat vase (a wedding present). I’m fairly certain I should have yelled, but instead I snapped a picture. It seemed like either a good time to scold him or an amazing photo opp. I opted for the latter. I’m just not ready to be mean mommy. And yes, I know that’s going to bite me in the a$$ later. 

He’s officially a climber… nothing is safe. Well, that’s just fan-freakin-tastic.

Have your own advice/thoughts/insights to share? Or have your own doubts and questions for the Poopsie community? Email us at poopsiecollective@gmail.com or post a comment here!

Things We’re Really Into Right Now

Written by GWEN

Now that Izzy is almost 16 months old, I can really see a little boy emerging. More and more of his own personality presents itself every day. He definitely knows what he likes, what he doesn’t like, what he finds funny and who needs a good hug. So, I thought I’d do a little compare and contrast of what I’m really into right now and, more importantly, what Izzy is really into at the mo’. 

IZZY

1) Umbrellas—open or closed, rain or shine

2) Bananas. He likes to eat them, but lately he just insists on carrying one everywhere he goes. Freudian? We won’t go there

3) Dogs, which are known as “Woof”

4) Having a good giggle

5) Lying on the couch with mommy and Leroy watching cartoons

6) Doors…opening and closing them. If there are keys involved, all the better

7) Stairs and slides 

8) Animal crackers 

9) Giving hugs and kisses—you should be so lucky!

10) Jay-Z (I swear to god.) And the theme song to Friends

11) Pooping

Izzy playing with the gate to the playground! It’s a type of door.

ME

1) My Wednesday morning pilates class

2) Uniqlo jeans

3) Food52.com & Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now

4) Having a good giggle

5) Boozy lunches (because boozy dinners aren’t as fun now that no matter what I have to be up at 6:15 the next morning)

6) Lying on the couch with Izzy and Leroy watching “Pretty Little Liars”

7) My Kindle (see how I just put a trashy TV show on my list and then told you I read too?)

8) Spring/Summer Isabel Marant

9) Making Summer travel plans

10) Elderflower Ricola (I’ve been sick for the last two months basically, which sucks, but I have to say these things taste GOOD)

11) Pooping. Isn’t everyone?

So Many Phases So Little Time

Written by GWEN

When I look back on the last 14 months, it’s a bit of a blur. On the one hand I can’t believe how fast it’s gone. But on the other hand, it seems like we’ve already packed a lifetime into just over a year. There have been so many phases, trials, tears and moments of joy packed into such a short time. I’m feeling reflective this week (can you tell), so here’s a short list of phases and triumphs over the very special life thus far of Mr. Izzy Mylo.

I remember….

1.) When the mister and I used to lie awake at night in wonder at the ridiculous noises coming from the Moses basket next to our bed.  Mainly the amazingly loud farts.

2.) How Izzy’s tongue used to ALWAYS be out. I think it’s kinda unusually long and when he was really little, it just didn’t fit.

There’s that tongue!

3.) At around 7 months, Izzy finally learned to sit up on his own. So every night he would wake up every few hours crying because he had sat up in his sleep, but  didn’t yet know how to get back to lying down. It was so sad and so cute. And so tiring.

4.) Around that same time, Izzy also decided to wake up at 5:30 every morning. This was ridiculously discouraging, but now he sleeps until 7:30 most mornings. The other day he made it until 8:15. I had NO idea what to do with myself.

5.) At three or four months, we really had a great boob feeding routine down. I would take Izzy up to my bedroom, latch him on and I could actually read a book for half an hour. It was so quiet and peaceful and special.

6.) Then at the very end of the year, as I was winding down his feeds, Izzy bit my nipple to the point of bleeding every time. That was not so peaceful or special. 

7.) At the moment Izzy is in what the Mister calls a Schadenfreude phase.  Basically he thinks it’s HYSTERICAL when anybody falls, hurts them-self, trips, drops something. He may have gotten this from me. Apparently I’ve been in a Schadenfreude phase for the better part of the last two decades. I try to discourage it with Izzy, but it’s SOO sweet when he giggles. 

8.) During the tricky period where Izzy was waking up super early, I admit to putting on Baby TV from time to time. He was OBSESSED with a show called Egg Bird, which consists of decorated eggs with legs, who every episode meet a new egg bird and find him a costume. It’s really very cute. And I SWEAR Izzy shouts, EGGBIR, EGGBIR, every time it comes on.

9.) The drum phase! On Friday mornings, we go to a sing along where at the end every baby gets to bang on a lollipop shaped drum while we sing goodbye to them. Izzy became SO obsessed with this drum, that the teacher had to save him for last every week, so he could play with the drum once the session was over. Then when I finally dragged him away, he burst into tears. We finally got him his own, which he still plays with, but isn’t quite as attached to anymore.

10.) The Leroy phase. Seems to be a lifer. He just LOVES that lion.

Another phase… Izzy used to fall asleep on our bed or on the floor all the time!

I could go on and on, but you get the point! Here’s to another year of god knows WHAT!