First time in the swimming pool for both kiddos!

Week 152 motherhood of 2 year 10 month old and 7.5 month old:

• August 12:  The toddler (and baby) finally had a long-awaited playdate with one of my friends who has a boy of the same age as the toddler.  He is only one month younger than her.  The toddler was reserved and timid during the first hour or so but then got accommodated and warmed up.  They played at the play kitchen next to each other.  The toddler actually did a lot of observing.  She watched him play with her play food, the keyboard, and draw at the chalkboard.  Shockingly, she didn’t say “I don’t want to let him play” and let him play with everything.  She also didn’t say anything when he sat in her usual learning tower chair to eat a snack.  So good!
  • The baby was fussy and tired and needed me to nurse her to sleep otherwise the playdate could have lasted much longer.  It was still great though!  The toddler boy also rode the bikes in our basement and the toddler saw him do it.  It’s great modelling behaviour for her and next time she’ll want to hop on a bike too to try.  Yay!
• The toddler has been successfully pooping in her potty every night for like a week (and more).  She’s been to the potty more often for pees too, but they’re not as consistent.  I think her being potty trained is around the corner.  We won’t push her though but she certainly knows when it’s time for her to do a number two and she does it in the potty instead of in her diaper.  Yay.
• Speaking of poops, the baby has more solid poops these days.  Because she was a little congested a few days ago, her latest poop seemed a bit more stinky and like there was pus/germs in it.  Glad to see that the cold is going away.
• I got a pair of kids’ scissors for her recently and showed her how to use it.  She successfully was able to hold it in her right hand and make a cut on a sheet of paper!  DH also drew her some shapes for her to attempt to cut out.  I feel like this opens up another new world of possibility of play for her.  Not only can she use the dot markers and paint to colour and draw now, she can now cut those creations out to play with them all around the house!  Yay for learning scissors!  (She’s tried white glue at EarlyONs but not a big fan of them and wants me to paste items for her because she doesn’t like sticky things, but I know eventually glue will be another staple tool in her source of play and creativity.)
• I’m such a workaholic… I agreed to do audio work again (last week) and took on something else again this week.  It’s not many hours of transcription work, but I’m definitely voluntarily taking on more work this postpartum time around than I did last time.  I believe last time, I didn’t voluntarily ask for or take on jobs until I was 7 or 8 months postpartum.  This time, I was already working voluntarily by the 5th month.  I do enjoy my steno assignments though.  I love stenoing and it feels good to make income again. ^_^
  • I almost always steno late at night/early in the morning (right now it’s 5 a.m.).  I either work around 11 p.m. after the baby has been put to sleep (and work until 1 or 2 a.m.) or if I ended up passing out with her and slept from 9 p.m., then I’ll wake up around 2 a.m. and can stay awake for a few hours to work.  It’s the greatest time for me to enjoy my me time as well.  The house is quiet and there’s no one to bother me (until the baby needs a feed again).
• August 16:  I guided the toddler in making “noodles” with the scissors and paper.  She was fascinated and then kept trying to replicate the long strands of paper and put more “noodles” into her play pots and pans.  However, the way the kids’ scissors is made, it’s made to be safe, and thus it doesn’t cut very well.  When the toddler is not holding the piece of paper that she’s trying to cut, the paper will actually fold underneath the blade of the scissors.  It’s rather annoying and detracts from the toddler trying to make progress with the cutting.  Oh, well.  She will have to learn to cut the paper at an angle.
  • She kept asking me to show her how to use the scissors.  I took extra care not to take the scissors too often myself because I don’t want her to think she can’t cut it.  There’s a framed quote in one of the EarlyON centres I saw that said, “If you do it for me, all I learn is that you do it better than me”, which is so true.  Kids need to learn to mess up and practise and do it themselves in order to learn how to do it.
• The toddler likes to play pretend that she’s feeding her stuffed animals either by breast or using the pump 😂.  She actually goes to the bench in our bedroom where my pumping supplies are (I need to put them away since I don’t use them anymore actually) and takes one of the pumps and lifts her shirt up and places it on her chest like she’s pumping milk.  She says she needs to pump milk for her stuffed animals.  So funny.
• Whenever we’re out and her diaper is full, she always likes to be changed on the changing tables.  If the washroom doesn’t have a built-in changing table, she asks why there isn’t one.
• The toddler loves eating the samples at Costco 😁
• We drove about 2 hours in traffic to St. Catharines for our first ever long trip!  “Long” as in it was more than one night’s stay.  Last time when we stayed over in Niagara Falls, it was just one night.  This time, it was five nights!  It was a great precursor to a longer vacation that we will have later this year.  For what it’s worth, the kids both did amazing.  I had bought everything in preparation for this trip (and more).  The inflatable bath tub was perfect for both kids to bathe in (one at a time).  The toddler loved it.  The inflatable kids’ mattress was perfect for the toddler and she slept well in it without complaining.  The baby was so tired after the first day (because her nap schedule was interrupted) that she slept right away at night when I nursed her in the bed.  Then when she was sound asleep, DH transferred her to the floor bed (amazing lucky purchase that I got a day right before the trip — a foldable baby bed/play area from FB marketplace for just $15!).
  • The first night, it took a while for the toddler to sleep because we were all in the same room and she wasn’t used to all the noise and lights on.  We had to turn off all the nights (left the bathroom light on as we usually do for hotel stays) and turned on some bedtime lullaby and DH crawled into the inflatable mattress bed with her before she fell asleep eventually.  When the baby cried at night for a feed, the toddler luckily didn’t wake up.  Yay.  On the hotel queen-sized bed, I slept sideways to nurse the baby since we didn’t have the usual pregnancy pillow to block off the baby from potentially falling off.  It was a great trip.
  • I think it was also great because we brought toys for the toddler this time.  We brought her small set of Chinese books, a few magnetic tiles, a few peg dolls, and that kept her occupied during down time that we had during the hotel.  She was so happy and content to play on the bed.  She made several different creations using the magnetic tiles too!  So fun to see what she can make with her imagination even with a limited number of toys.  The hotel room had two large wheeled ottomans that she was able to use to get up on to the hotel bed.
• It’s easy to nurse the baby anywhere.  Back in March when we were in the Niagara Fallsview mall, I remember we had to search for discreet places that weren’t in full view of others so that I could nurse the baby.  This time, I nursed her right in the food court with no cover.  Same thing with restaurants or anywhere else.  I don’t really care too much about others looking.
• The toddler did well in restaurants too despite a few long wait here and there.  When she was tired, she would get into the seat of the double stroller and chill there herself with the seat reclined.  So glad the double stroller is something she enjoys resting in.  The baby would get fussy sometimes and when she did, it was usually when she was tired.  Then DH would pop her in the car seat and rock her to sleep.  Pretty easy too.  Grandma brought rice to make congee and so the baby ate congee or instant baby oatmeal during mealtimes too.
• So many people liked to interact with the baby and say she’s cute.  The baby stared at people’s faces and smiled back at them (sometimes).
• The toddler got used to eating at the continental breakfast buffet in the mornings too.  She would eat with grandma while I dropped off DH at work.  She went with grandma to the neighbouring Toys R Us too and got so pooped out afterwards.
• We found a playground to play at one day after work because the toddler kept saying she wanted to go to one.  This was a nice playground with swings, slides, a rocking “ship”, a teeter-totter.  I ended up chatting with a local mom with an 18-month-old boy too.  The baby swung on the swings too.  We can now have both kids on swings at the same time! ^_^
• We brought the toddler’s potty to the hotel and she continued her successful run of poops in the potty at night.  She basically knows when she needs to pee now as well but because of the trip and constant outings, it’s not consistent enough for her to say she wants to pee.  Again, it’s just a matter of time before she’s fully potty trained.
• A highlight of the trip was definitely bringing both kids to the swimming pool for the first time!  I bought size 3 and size 4 disposable swimming diapers for them (FB marketplace of course, $5 and $8 respectively) and they’re just like pullups.  Both kids wore the swimsuits without complaint too.
  • The baby was so chill in her little “swim school” floatable ($5 from FBM) and drifted in the water while I held the back of it.  She was so relaxed and chill and kicked her little legs.
  • The toddler wore Minnie Mouse arm wings and a floatable ring as grandma led her in the water and encouraged her to kick.  She was hesitant to get in the water at first (as expected) but I’m so glad she didn’t back out.  She felt more comfortable in the water as grandma led her around and she began to float and kick her legs.  After 10 minutes though, she slowed down, didn’t show interest, and was very tired so we took her out of the pool.  The swimming pool at the hotel was only 4 feet at the deepest, so it was good for shallow swimming/play.  It had been so long since I had been in a swimming pool myself.  It was really nice to be in the water.
  • When we returned to the hotel room, the toddler peed before we got her changed and out of the swimming suit.  Because the disposable diaper already was full and soaked from the swimming pool water, it didn’t hold her pee and it overflowed and went into her crocs. 😅
• On this trip, sometimes when the baby was in a high chair in a restaurant, the toddler then wanted to sit in one too.
• At a buffet dinner, the baby gnawed on honeydew, pineapple, and cantaloupe.
• Another fun thing was we brought the kids to an EarlyON Centre in St. Catharines!  I mean we were there for a week and DH was working so we had the daytime to explore kid-friendly places in this city, so we had time to visit one and try!  Unfortunately, this location we visited was in a social services building and it was a little “sketch”.  When we arrived, there were 3 or 4 moms chilling with their tiny newborn infants on the couch.  I got the feeling that they didn’t have many places to go to and this EarlyON centre was one of their usual hangout spots.  The facilitator was amicable and glad that I was able to create a new account and log in (I thought that my usual account would carry over from my Markham/RHill/Thornhill spots), but she didn’t really engage or showed interest in the kids.  Shortly after we arrived, the moms with babies all left to go to a nearby splashpad and we were the only ones there.  To go to the washroom, the facilitator had to lead me there and open the door with a key.
  • I read a book with the toddler, she played with the cash register toy (so neat, there was a button you could press for the conveyor belt to move and another button that sounded like the real “scan” items sound), she drew with crayons and asked me to stick googly eyes on a piece of paper and write our names on it, “feelings” rocks and book, elaborate farm animals, and a woodworking station like the Melissa & Doug set that she has at home.
  • We didn’t feel all that comfortable, so we left after just an hour of play.  The toddler asked if we were going to sing songs (she’s used to circle time now), but there weren’t any.  This EarlyON centre was open for drop-ins from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so I knew that there wouldn’t be any singing or songs.  It was a place for families in St. Catharines to just drop in with their kids and play with the available toys and activities.  When we left, the facilitator appeared to go back to her office and chill since there were no more kids in the play room.
• During lunchtime, the toddler was very tired but couldn’t fall asleep and threw a temper tantrum.  The baby’s diaper had to be changed, so grandma went to the washroom to change her.  The toddler wanted to go with grandma but wanted me to go as well.  I couldn’t leave the table with all our things there and I had to eat, and the toddler cried because I couldn’t go with her.  I just let her cry because there was nothing really I could do.  It was interesting because one of the young male servers there was clearly amused at the toddler crying and tantrumming (just wait until you have one of your own one day, young lad lol).  After a few minutes, the toddler was fine.  Toddler tantrums eventually dissipate, but during the moment, it looks and sounds ugly. 🤷‍♀️
• One of the restaurants we visited for dinner gave the toddler a huge colouring book and can of crayons to draw with during dinnertime.  That’s the first time we have seen that.  Usually, they just gave one piece of paper that doubles as the menu.
• I had my second partpartum alcoholic drink (apple cider).  It was great.  The toddler saw and wanted to try it too but I said she couldn’t lol.
• The baby’s nap schedule was interrupted quite a bit this week and so her eyes have been a little more squinty and swollen than usual.