3 year check-in

Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st. Most recent pic at
http://tinyurl.com/lzdaj.

She still nurses as much as I let her, which is sometimes two sides a
day and sometimes more. I think she's gone one day in her entire life
without nursing.

She started preschool the week before she turned 3, and loves it. She
potty-trained 3 days before the start of school, all on her own. She
woke up and said she was done with diapers and going to wear underwear,
and so she did. Oddly, I'd almost rather she was still in diapers,
because a) she refuses to use a full-size toilet, and cleaning poop out
of a potty chair is nasty, and b) she is so intensely private about
going that she won't say if she needs to go. If there's a potty nearby,
she'll wander off and take care of things (complete with emptying the
potty into the toilet and flushing) all by herself. If there's not one
nearby, there's a puddle on the floor.

I'm loving her being in preschool. She eats vegetables there. She
dresses herself there. She naps for 1.5 hours at school and still
sleeps 11 hours at night on school days. She's never ready to go home
when I come to pick her up. She adores her teachers.

She does not sleep through the night. Most recently, she's been waking
up as soon as she pees and insisting on a dry diaper, which may mean
she's working on night training. But sometimes she wakes up with a bad
dream or just at random and wanders into our bed.

We had allergy testing done because she'd had some huge eczema flares,
and it turns out "she's allergic to outside." Every tree and weed that
grows in Oklahoma, plus grass. But not dust, mold, animals, or food,
thank goodness. Eczema itchies are probably a combination of allergy
and stress. So she's on Claritin + Sudafed pretty much continuously,
plus Benadryl as needed for itchies. That combination has kept her
sinus-infection-free for the last year, even though it doesn't keep her
nose from running.

We finally cut her hair from waist-length scraggly tangles to
shoulder-length. Halfway through, she decided against bangs, so she's
*still* got hair in her eyes. Which she will not tolerate having
barrettes in, or braided, or ponytailed, or pigtailed, or confined in
any way.

Phoebe

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote:

Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st. Most recent pic at
http://tinyurl.com/lzdaj.

She's adorable!

She still nurses as much as I let her, which is sometimes two sides a day
and sometimes more. I think she's gone one day in her entire life without
nursing.

She started preschool the week before she turned 3, and loves it. She
potty-trained 3 days before the start of school, all on her own. She woke
up and said she was done with diapers and going to wear underwear, and so
she did. Oddly, I'd almost rather she was still in diapers, because a)
she refuses to use a full-size toilet, and cleaning poop out of a potty
chair is nasty, and b) she is so intensely private about going that she
won't say if she needs to go. If there's a potty nearby, she'll wander
off and take care of things (complete with emptying the potty into the
toilet and flushing) all by herself. If there's not one nearby, there's a
puddle on the floor.

I'm loving her being in preschool. She eats vegetables there. She
dresses herself there. She naps for 1.5 hours at school and still sleeps
11 hours at night on school days. She's never ready to go home when I
come to pick her up. She adores her teachers.

She does not sleep through the night. Most recently, she's been waking up
as soon as she pees and insisting on a dry diaper, which may mean she's
working on night training. But sometimes she wakes up with a bad dream or
just at random and wanders into our bed.

We had allergy testing done because she'd had some huge eczema flares, and
it turns out "she's allergic to outside." Every tree and weed that grows
in Oklahoma, plus grass. But not dust, mold, animals, or food, thank
goodness. Eczema itchies are probably a combination of allergy and
stress. So she's on Claritin + Sudafed pretty much continuously, plus
Benadryl as needed for itchies. That combination has kept her
sinus-infection-free for the last year, even though it doesn't keep her
nose from running.

We finally cut her hair from waist-length scraggly tangles to
shoulder-length. Halfway through, she decided against bangs, so she's
*still* got hair in her eyes. Which she will not tolerate having
barrettes in, or braided, or ponytailed, or pigtailed, or confined in any
way.

Phoebe

Everything sounds great. :-D (well, except for puddles on the floor, ewww.
but hopefully she grows out of that soon.)

rj

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message
...
cleaning poop out
of a potty chair is nasty,

Try keeping some water in the potty at all times.

Cute Caterpillarr!!
Happy belated birthday to her... hugs and kisses too..

You should see the smile on my face along the way while I'm reading
your story .

Nice post, Phoebe..

Cheers,
- aurora -
http://aurora.insparenting.com

PattyMomVA wrote:

I must say that I'm a bit surprised you've continued nursing. It
is any more comfortable for you?

I actually weaned her cold-turkey back in October or so. You wouldn't
think a nearly 2.5yo would be nursing so much that I'd be uncomfortably
engorged for more than 2 days, despite hand-expressing, continous
cabbage leaves, and Sudafed. I wasn't that full in the week that my
milk came in!

Anyhow, I discovered that I really missed it. And offered her the
chance to continue nursing with a token system. At the beginning, she
got 4 chips a day, and could trade them in for a side of nursing or save
them up. At one point, she was down to 2 chips a day with no carryover.
My tolerance must be improving, because she's back to night nursing
now and then, in addition to nursing in the evening before bed.

She still tends to use a bit too much tooth (there's always a tooth-ring
when she's done) and doesn't have a great latch (one nipple tends to
peel if she nurses more than once a day). So I wouldn't be heartbroken
if she self-weaned. But she shows absolutely no signs of doing that
anytime soon.

Phoebe

Phoebe & Allyson wrote:

Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st. Most recent pic at
http://tinyurl.com/lzdaj.

She is an absolute darling!

It's so good to hear about her.

-- Anita --

Irrational Number wrote:
Phoebe & Allyson wrote:

Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st. Most recent pic at
http://tinyurl.com/lzdaj.

She is an absolute darling!

It's so good to hear about her.

-- Anita --

Can we hear about Pillbug too? I wonder how Moo Boy's doing, they seem
to be long gone. Haven't heard from Jen/Alena's Mom in years either.
Who else were the regulars? I lurk here about once a month, great luck
that I caught this thread!

The Bug turned three two weeks ago. I think she's just all around
great, but of course I'm biased. She still spends 2 days a week with
my folks and goes to pre-school 3 days a week. She's now starting to
have friends at school who she talks about at home. She's been
violently resisting any attempts at potty training until quite
recently, when she's peed in the potty a few times. Clearly this is
something she's going to do in her own time on her own terms, although
of course I knew I'd never have a 3-year-old in diapers. It's adorable
and hilarious how she just puffs up and beams with pride when she pees
on the pot and we all praise her.

She weaned last August, after about 6 months of feeding just prior to
sleep. After a month that I wasn't on overnight call in the hospital,
when I went back to taking call she started nursing somewhat
irregularly. Then she went a longer stretch without nursing, and then
when she tried she'd plumb forgotten how to latch on. I tried to
explain it to her but she just didn't get it. So that was that.

I've got one year left of residency and then I get to live like a
normal person again. The Bug and DH visit me at the hospital
frequently when I'm on call and many of the nurses and my fellow
residents know her. I think when you spend a lot of time around really
sick kids it's nice to see one who's well and happy.

Caterpillar is adorable! It's wonderful to see such a happy laugh.

Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel
and the Bug, three years old

Kate - The Bug sounds like she's doing well.
Any pictures?

Here's one of Pillbug and Rocky in May:
http://www.geocities.com/babypillbug/pillbug2.html

Quick update... Pillbug is 40 lbs. and 40" tall.
He was diagnosed autistic in February. He'd been
diagnosed developmentally delayed at 18 months old,
so we've done the early intervention therapy for
awhile now. However, he was not progressing, so
we finally got the dx.

He's learning very slowy. He finally walked
at age 2, but still does not run or jump. He
can sign for "more", but has no words and can
sort of use a picture to request the bottle.
We have sort of started toilet training now
that he's not freaking out on the toilet.
It's going to be a long, hard road, though.

We're currently in a huge fight with our
school district. You would think a diagnosis
of autism gets you services. Well, you think
wrong. We have an advocate and a lawyer and
we are still going to concede defeat and private
pay for a lot of therapy. (Home equity loan,
cashing out stocks, etc... No more bonbons...)

However, Pillbug is a joy to be with. He is
happy and friendly, very affectionate, and
now that little brother Rocky is 1, they can
actually play with each other and it's fun
watching them.

-- Anita --

I forgot to mention... Pillbug weaned at 17 months
because I was two months pregnant and the milk
changed. Now I'm nursing Rocky, who just turned
one, and we're still going strong!

-- Anita --

Phoebe & Allyson wrote:
Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st.

It's great to hear from all the other people with three-year-olds -- I
had been wondering about all of you and your littles.

DS is 3.5 and still nursing on waking, to sleep for naps and at bed,
and if he gets hurt or needs a snuggle. Too much tooth here, too, but
he lets go when I say "no teeth, no teeth!" and rolls over to go to
sleep.

He potty trained about two weeks ago for real (had been working on it
in phases and absolutely cracking us up, announcing that he was going
to see how many in a row he could do...) and has turned out to be one
of those kids who spontaneously night-trains several months before any
willingness to attempt day-training.

We are preparing for a cross-country move (DH got a tenure-track
offer), so he's not in preschool at the moment.

Take care, all!

--
C, mama to three year old nursling