It’s official: I’m switching to cloth diapers.

Go ahead, Gasp. Call me asking why I would do such a thing. Facebook me about it. Or comment simply to root me on. I’m changing and proud of it!

Yes, Savannah is 2.5. Sure, the logical thing is to potty train to save money but the simple point is this: she’s not ready to potty train and I’m not one to make her. I’m fine with changing diapers, but I’m not fine shelling out $50 (plus the cost of wipes) a month until whenever she shows me she’s ready (and yes, we’ve tried). Which, could be at least another 6 months for all I know. Or longer! In our tight budget, I don’t want to keep (literally) throwing our money away. Not to mention, the green mommy (not green with envy, of course! Environment conscious mommy) in me is emerging and I don’t like the thought of throwing out plastic and poop every day to sit in a landfill for 500 years. I just won’t do it anymore, and I so wish I was this brave when Savannah was still a baby and switched years ago!

So aside from saving hundreds of dollars until we potty train and doing a small part to protect the earth, I also am investing in our future child. I mentioned back when I found out I was pregnant last time that I had planned to cloth diaper that baby, and that still holds true whenever our time comes again.  So the bonus of the diapers I chose?  They change sizes! One diaper fits newborns up to toddlers, so as long as I take care of them I’m good to go for next time. I bought 15 Bumgenius 3.0 (pictured at top) for a super good deal (plus I already have 2 Haute Pockets), so Savannah can wear them now until she’s out of diapers, and the next baby can start wearing them as an infant up until he/she grows out of diapers. Which, let me tell you, saves a heck of a lot of money in the long run. I’m also switching to cloth wipes since I can just throw them in with the diapers.

So, before you knock my choices down and try to persuade me other wise (I’ve had enough of that, thanks): I’m not changing my mind. The diapers are bought, they are in the mail as I type.  Just be happy for me, even if it’s not what you would chose for your kids. Even if Savannah does magically potty train next month, this isn’t a waste, they can and will still be used in the future.

That said, cloth diapering mommas I need your help!  Mark is worried about the diapers stinking up the house between washes.  What worked best for you? I’ve heard of wet bags, diaper pails with liners with and without lids, and just a plain ol’ bucket.  Did you use baking soda or a product in the bag/pail? Is it true that not putting a lid on (so it has air circulation) reduces the smell rather than trapping it in with a lid? Any other cloth diapering tips I should know?

Seriously though, bottom line: I gotta do what’s best for us. If you don’t like my choices? Click away, click away…

I have two things I am currently debating back and forth about within my head regarding some parenting choices. Help, please! I want to hear your experiences.

Forewarning: One of these topics I’ve seen to be quite controversial on mommy boards, please do not bring that drama here. No bashing me for my parenting, no bashing others for theirs. You don’t have to agree but it’s all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t (sung like Aretha Franklin, of course). Thanks!

1. The pacy.  She is almost 2.5 and has a strong, strong, strong love for her pacy. We do limit it to only when she naps or at night  (unless really sick like last weekend) so it has not interfered with her talking what so ever and her teeth are fine. My dilemma is, I have three weeks until school starts back, so therefore if I’m going to do a pacy overhaul, I need to start NOW while it doesn’t matter if I loose sleep or not.  But at the same time, I had my pacy until I was FOUR. Yes, four. And I was fine, as well as my teeth. So part of me is like, “Big deal.” She’ll loose interest eventually.

So, should I do it now? How? I’ve heard the pacy fairy, cutting holes, etc. What worked for you?

2.  Dance Class. We don’t get out of the house a lot. I’m a shy, reserved type person and when I try to do playdates they usually end up being one time things because our kids have been the wrong ages or the other mommy and I didn’t click.  We thought about putting her in 2 day preschool this fall, but decided it wasn’t worth it right now with the cost of it.  I’ve been looking for a way for both of us to socialize regularly and ta-da! Dance class (or some kind of class) seems to be a great option.

 She’s 2.5, she would be in a pre-dance class with other 2-4 year olds. Is it worth the money? Is it too early? What’s your experience? If she doesn’t do dance class, there are music classes that I could do with her (but I keep asking her and she insists on dance class), or places like The Little Gym. Bottom line: I just want her to do something fun and make friends, and bonus if I can make friends with the other mommies.

Again, no bashing me or my commenters. I just to hear your experience and what has worked for you! Thanks :-)

I need some help, folks.  See, Savannah isn’t a baby anymore. Which means she getting quite independent, testing her boundaries, and knows what she wants when she wants it.  Our problem?  Disipline. Her biggest offense is when we tell her “No” (no, we aren’t watching a movie right now, no we have go inside now, etc.) she hits us and throws things.  We quickly hold her hands and tell her sternly, “We do not hit.” And try to explain how being angry doesn’t mean we can hit or throw.  Usually, she’ll just do it again and then she goes to time out.

The problem here?  She likes time out. Currently, time out is in her crib because it’s a place she can’t just get up and out of.  However, the pacy resides in the crib as well, so now she asks to go to time out just to be with her pacy.  Yes, we’ve taken the pacy away during this time too once we realized what was going on, but it still hasn’t altered her behavior.

Also, I do not feel comfortable with spanking/popping my child in most small cases like this.  Especially, when she just got done hitting me and I tell her “Do not hit!” and then I hit her. I don’t want to send mixed messages.  I don’t believe a child has to be spanked to be appropriately disciplined (something my husband and I differ on).

What do I do?  What do/did you do at this age? It’s so hard to know what is appropriate because she is still so young and may or may not understand why.  Tell me your secrets!

Thank you guys for the wonderful comments on the whole sleep issue. We’ve decided just not to push it anymore, since clearly she is not ready for the transition yet.  In deciding that, however, we were still left with the dilemma with what to do about her crib and climbing out.  And then, I got a glorious comment from Angel that mentioned the crib tent. (Thank you! You really are an Angel!)

This is totally the solution for us right now. It’s a win-win situation.  Savannah gets her beloved crib back, and we adults feel safe again with leaving her in there.   We bought one yesterday, but have yet to drag the crib back out of the attic and try everything out. I just can’t let her sleep in that hard port-a-crib for the next 6 months to a year until she’s ready for her bed. A girl deserves a proper bed, yes? And, added bonus, she can’t throw out her pacies when she gets mad at us for putting her to bed! Muahaha!

Oh, I hope this in the win-win solution I hope it will be! I’ll let you know. And again, thank you for all the suggestions! It helps just to simply know that we’re not alone.

I need to go study so I won’t get a C on my two tests tomorrow…but before I do that…I just had to share what my crazy girl did.  I’m laughing at how silly she is, so that I won’t break down in tears.

See, for the past 2 and half weeks we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to switch  her to the big girl bed.  We decided to make the move, even though she is just 18 months old, because she was extremely close to climbing out and we feared breakage of the neck.  The first night it took 2 hours to get her to sleep, but she did it and slept through the entire night. The next day, she took a nap in her new bed. I was hopeful, frustrated but hopeful.

Since then, she’s slept in her bed only a handful of times.  The second night she sobbed and sobbed so I bought back out the pack-n-play crib to ease her fears.  This process by far has been the most frustrating and hardest thing I’ve had to deal with as a parent. Some nights she screams bloody murder about going to bed, some nights she falls asleep without any problems, some nights she just plays and plays and plays until we just have to put her in the crib so we can go to bed ourselves.

We have seen improvement in that she knows now to stay in bed when we say to, but it’s still a battle pretty much every single time.  She chooses to sleep in her bed, but when she doesn’t listen and tries to get up, she’s warned that she will go into her crib.  Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn’t, and she just ends up in her pack-n-play crib because that’s pretty much the only place she’ll readily go to sleep now.  It takes anywhere from 45-2 hours to get her to sleep now and it’s wearing us thin.

We’ve tried everything. The girl is just the most hard headed thing (really, I don’t know where she gets it).  If we try to discipline her with “popping” her bottom or hand she just laughs at us and does it again.  Oh, we are doomed as we head into the terrible twos. Nothing works with her.

Our Dr. recommend just leaving her in her room (baby proofed) with a gate so she cannot get out. He said she may play, but eventually she should go to sleep.  Sounds good, right? Logically, that’s the only thing that worked when we were training her to sleep in her crib throughout the night as well. But, I don’t know if this will work. Today, after an hour of her playing alone I came into this:

What am I going to do with her?!  And seriously, please, please give me some advice on how to get her to sleep.  Once she lets herself fall asleep, she’s great and sleeps through the night. She just won’t let herself get to that point most nights unless she’s in her crib. She’s too distracted by her cool shutter doors, or her baby doll.

Perhaps that’s the answer right there. Take away all the fun stuff like toys and stuffed animals (and hide the dirty clothes….) so it’s less enticing to play. I want her to be bored and go to bed. It could work. Maybe?

HELP! How did you make the switch? How long did it take?

We got a “Wee Songs” tape (yes a TAPE, HA!) because it was a $1.00. And let me just say…I wanted to plug up my ears and then throw the tape out the flippin’ window. It was horrible. The songs were awful, the sound quality was terrible. Thank God for CD’s…and better music options.

I’ve been searching around for better kid’s music for in the car (or ya…when we just wanna dance around!) and so far the one I know about and LOVE is Laurie Berkner. She’s on the Noggin channel between shows and on “Jack’s Big Music Show.” If you go to that website you can see some of the fun videos they play. I also saw Lisa Loeb on that show and I think I’ll download some of her kid songs, too. And how awesome that she is doing kid music now? I used to love her stuff on the radio in the 90’s! (”You can’t hear it, but I dooo…”)

So…do you have any more suggestions for me that won’t hurt my ears?

One of the greatest things about a child turning 1 year old: no more formulas or bottles. Really, I don’t know why I was so nervous about the switch from babyhood to toddlerhood because honestly? Right now? It’s so much easier and even more enjoyable! I don’t have to keep up with the constant bottle washing after naps and bed time (the kind we own have several parts to wash/put together. It’s worth it for less spit up), buy ridiculously priced formula, and it’s so nice to just put her to bed without worrying, “I need a bottle!” (for her…not me).

And it’s not that she wasn’t a great baby and I didn’t enjoy her back then, but now she’s got such a great personality that keeps us laughing all day long. She doesn’t just sit in my lap, content where ever. I love that she choses to sit in my lap and snuggle. And ya know, sleeping through the night (for the most part) is a wonderful plus compared to this time last year.

However, Savannah hasn’t taken the change quit so smoothly. The child hates cow’s milk. And as most parents know, about at the age of 1 comes the switch-a-roo from formula to cow’s milk. I’ve tried everything and she tolerated it at first when it was mostly formula in a bottle, but things quickly went down hill. I’ve tried warming it, flavoring it, mixing it with formula again. No go. But, at least it made her not want a bottle at all, so now they’re all gone and she didn’t even care.

Though, I shouldn’t be surprised she hates milk because neither Mark or I like milk either. Therefore, I don’t want to push the milk issue on her because I know I wouldn’t want to drink it. So, what about the issue of needing calcium and vitamin D (I’ve also asked the Dr. this)? Our solution: Calcium fortified OJ. We like Minute Maid’s version for kids because it has extra vitamins. Hint: I drink it as well because I need those nutrients, too.

It’s also a good thing the girl loves her some yogurt. As well as cheese (which neither Mark or I like either, so we’ll see if that passes on to her eventually, too). She can always eat yogurt, it’s her favorite. She can even recognize it and say, “Go-gurt?”

Want some?

(Clearly, we’re still working on the self feeding with a spoon thing. I don’t mind the mess, it’s too cute to watch her learn!)