DVR

Moms on Call has a great podcast that has covered these potty situations. Their approach is not to force or fight or punish but to be confident in your child’s ability and let your confidence be contagious. We have to remember these are scary transitions for little kids, and although it can be exasperating for us, they will pick up on that feeling and dig their heels in more. My daughter pooped in her nap time pull up for months after being potty trained, and then eventually she figured it out, it wasn’t anything that I did.

Also for pooping, prune pouches are helpful!

In our area (Westchester NY) a number of “5s programs” have sprung up to meet this need. We decided to send our daughter to K even though she’s on the younger end because the preschool she had been going to didn’t have this option and she wanted to go to K with her friends. It’s been a mixed bag, in some ways she’s doing incredibly and has grown so much, in other ways I can see how she would have benefited from being held back and am a little regretful.

I had this for months, it’s so hard, it takes time for your body to adjust back, and then just when I think I’m in the clear baby has a sleep regression! I found a sound machine in my room helped, and trying to replace the thought loop when I woke in the night from “this is so stressful and frustrating, I’ll never sleep, I’m going to be so tired” to “I will be ok, it’s not the end of the world, I will get through this” or singing a song in my head

I always wonder what happens to the OPs, so glad to hear you’ve turned a corner!

This is so tough. Unfortunately free childcare comes with strings attached, so if you want to continue having getaways (which you deserve!) you’ll need to pick your battles with MIL or find some hired help in the future. Are there aspects where you can set a non negotiable boundary with corresponding consequences (like we would with a child) and other aspects you can let go? For example, kindergarten is a must, and ignoring that boundary will result in not being able to see your child for a certain period of time (maybe you could even get the school to pitch in and call her with their expectations). With the sugar and screen time, can you keep the perspective that it’s a few days out of the year and will not cause irreparable harm? There are some situations in parenting where unlimited sugar and screen time are necessary for survival and sanity, like an airplane flight or a snow day where both parents need to work, and grandma’s might be one of them!

Preaching to the choir here, but the way I handle the anxiety is to ignore all the panic headlines and just read Emily! She usually addresses the latest in the news or you can search on the site. It have saved me so much brain space to have someone else tell me what is worth worrying about, and mostly it’s not.