Distraction Techniques for a Happier Baby

As the Baby creeps ever closer to toddlerhood we are beginning to experience fits of whining and some epic meltdowns. We have discovered through trial and error that words and physical comfort do little but prolong the agony (ours probably more than his) and that the best technique is distraction. A little voice at the back of my head asks if, by doing this we are making a rod for our own back in the future. I deal with that voice by beating it to death with its own flipping rod. I will do anything to cease the whining and screaming.

Ahem. Yes, so…distraction. We have found sometimes simply moving the Baby away from what ever is causing him to act like the world is ending is sometimes helpful. He would still be beaten in attention contests by goldfish so relocation can be enough to distract him. Singing also works sometimes. Perhaps the trauma being inflicted upon his ear drums by my voice drives him to forget his initial upset. Occasionally I will also work his protests into my song.

Being silly is usually a hit too. My son has more mood swings than a pregnant woman in her third trimester and can usually be persuaded to switch from tears to giggles by some stupidity on my part. When he is done throwing food around at dinnertime, for example and starts waving his arms around, working up to a meltdown I just bust a move.

If all else fails we break out the big guns and play with the dog. She’s stupid enough to provide hours of entertainment. If only she wasn’t so lazy we can only get her to play for 20 minutes or so.

What do you do to distract your kids?

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The Baby is Sleeping Through the End of the World

For any parent nap time is a sacred time and it is no different in the Poop Rainbow household. We request quiet nearing silence if the Baby is sleeping.

Unfortunately our Baby is a light sleeper. We cannot allow him to fall asleep in his buggy with the plan to transfer him to his crib later. If he falls sleep somewhere that’s where he stays. Which is why we can occasionally be found sitting in a still running car for several minutes after we arrive home.

Normal noises wake him but he has an uncanny ability to sleep through ridiculously loud noise. I have witnessed him barely stir when fireworks were being lit ten yards away from his bedroom window. He also has learned to sleep through the drilling and crashing which is happening in the building site across the road.

Two nights ago the Mummy, the Dog and I were woken at 2am by the mother of all storms raging directly above our heads. For at least an hour I lay awake listening to thunder crashing and the rain hammering down outside. We also lost electricity from 2-7am which meant all the air conditioners went off and the rooms grew steadily warmer.

And how was the Baby while the Dog (and I) cowered in our bed?

The next morning I had to battle my way to school through floods and swarms of unidentified flying bugs which seem to have emerged overnight. Perhaps a plague of locust? Is the end of the world nigh and I didn’t get the message?

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Imaginative Play Gone Wrong

This story was shared with us by a friend of the Mummy.

“Mummy, mummy! Look what I made. I did what you said and used my imagination!”

“Hmm? Yes, yes. Lovely, sweetie…..Hang on, what’s that on the top?!’

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My Baby is an Animal 3

You can find part one here and part two here.

Do you feel like your chasing around the fastest creature on land, like Lisa from Mumma Scribbles ? Are you constantly on the brink of exhaustion because of seemingly never ending stamina?

Is your child annoying at times? Constantly buzzing in your ear, pestering you? Is he hard to catch? Is she oddly drawn to poop and other unpleasant things? Is he a sneaky chap like Kelly’s from Yes Peas Mumma?

Does your tot think they are king of the land, like Chloe’s from Life Unexpected? Do they voice dissent through growling? Do they have an unsettling way of pouncing on their teddy?

What about you? What animals are you raising?

My Baby is an Animal 2

You guys had such great ideas after my first post I decided more posts were necessary.

Does you kid never stop bouncing around? Does she use her nappy as a pouch for convenient storage of snacks and toys? Does he deliver kicks with impressive force? Then perhaps you are raising a baby kangaroo like Angela from http://www.daysinbed.com.

Do you have a floppy, young baby? Is he more slippery than wet tiles after a bath? Does she dribble and regurgitate food? Do they offer delicious snacking opportunities? Maybe yours is a baby fish like Sammie from https://thechroniclesofanonbellymama.wordpress.com

If you’ve ever tried to put a kicking, wriggling, squealing, grunting toddler into a pair of trousers when they don’t want to you probably understand where Amy from http://apparentlyawkward.blogspot.co.uk/ is coming from when she says her boy is like a piglet.

More to come tomorrow! Drop an idea in the comments if you’d like to get involved.

 

If you enjoyed this please vote for me in the MADs Blogging Awards. Just click the link, add your name and email and select ‘Poop Rainbows’ from the drop down menu in the ‘Baby’ category. Thank you!

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MADs Blogging Award Finalist

I made it, you guys! I am one of 6 finalists in the ‘Baby’ category for the UK based MADs blogging competition. Thank you so much for everyone who voted. I am deeply touched…in a good way- not in a creepy way. We’re all really excited over at the Poop Rainbows house.

As one last favor could you please vote for me by clicking here. You just need your name, your email and then select Poop Rainbows from the drop down list in the ‘Baby’ category. Thanks so much!

Also if you’re not sure who to vote for in the ‘Thrifty’ category, head over to http://www.awesomeausterity.com for some giggles and money saving tips!

First Impressions of the Baby

One of the great things about being in Bangkok is that we are many people’s stop-off point during their around the world traveling trips. I seem to have loads of friends doing this recently. Not that I’m jealous. Nope, not at all….

It’s great though as it means we get to see people we might not see again for many years, if at all. Yesterday a friend, who was my Spanish teacher when I was traveling in Peru several years ago, arrived for an extended visit. Hooray because she’s a great laugh and I’m not sure our paths would have crossed again otherwise.

She had fun with Thai immigration services and arrived late enough for a drowsy cuddle from me and some grunting and pointing at the spare room and the bathroom, through a cavewoman-like nest of bed hair.

I was excited to catch up when I got back from work around lunchtime the next day. We had a distracted chat while the Baby did his thing by her feet. She had spent the last 4 hours with him, and what was her verdict?

Yes. Be warned, visitors. We are now armed with a baby whose cutesy Facebook photos don’t quite paint the full picture.

Sensory Play: When Will I Learn?

A couple of times a week I convince myself it’d be a good idea to do some sensory or messy play with the baby. Although my past attempts haven’t been wildly successful (here and here), I always convince myself this time will be different.

So I had a quick word with my ideas buddy, Google and found a recipe for baby safe paint. In true me fashion I then proceeded to ignore said recipe as it called for corn flour which I didn’t have and cooling down time with I didn’t have patience for. Water, regular flour and food coloring it is then!

I whipped up five different colors, glanced at our white living room tiles, then at the Mummy who was opening her mouth ready to knock some sense into me and decided it might be best to take this activity outside.

I grabbed some scrap paper and sellotaped a big ‘canvas’ down, brought out the paints, a fan to drive away the mosquitoes and blow the 40 degree air around us and the Baby.

The first thing he did was point out that I hadn’t used enough sellotape by ripping up half the canvas and shredding it. I tried to interest him in the paint by smearing some on the paper myself which elicited a minute or two of dubious poking. Then he made his first break for freedom.

Undeterred I grabbed him, brought him back to the canvas and stuck more paint under his nose. A quick taste test confirmed that he didn’t really want any part in this activity and another bid to escape was had.

I grabbed him and stuck his feet in the paint, encouraging him to walk around on the paper. To this he pulled his new favorite floppy, arched back, toddler trick and slid to the floor complaining.

By this point the Baby was fairly covered in paint and had taken on the texture and attitude of a catfish which made trying to prevent him reaching the recently professionally cleaned, pristine car a tad more difficult. My back was killing me, the Mummy may have given herself lockjaw through trying not to say ‘I told you so’ and thus I decided to call it a day.

The whole Baby participation portion of the activity lasted a maximum of 7 minutes.

Will this deter me next time I’m feeling a little creative? Probably not.

Does my wife think I am clinically insane? Almost certainly.

Photographing a Baby

I am terrible for remembering to take photos of the Baby. I have a big, very nice camera that takes lovely shots but its main use at the moment is working as a scanner for my dodgy blog illustrations.

Today we decided to take the Baby to one of those 3D art show things. You know, a selfie taker’s wet dream. Not that the Mummy or I are avid selfie takers. I think for that you need some self esteem.

Anyway, knowing there would be a plethora of baby photo taking opportunities I decided to haul along the big camera.

The main problem with any outing is that we live quite far out from the city- an hours drive on a rare, light traffic day. We waited until the wailing from upstairs signified the end of the Baby’s first nap and then hastily hit the road.

By the time we arrived in the city it was lunch time. The Baby was on good form, chowing down on cheesy pizza bread and winking at the woman sitting alone at the table next to us. He managed to sit nicely for the whole meal, which was extra long as the Mummy was eating like she was wearing dentures due to a surprise wisdom tooth extraction the day before.

The bad news was by the time we arrived at the art thingmy it was nearing the Baby’s second nap. But we pushed on.

I got busy with the camera. For the first 20 minutes or so it was fun.  The place was empty which meant we could be stupid with the art work without an audience and, even better, there was no one in the HUMUNGOUS ball pit we discovered half way round. Then it was monotonous and the Baby was over it so we rushed through the last section.

And the photos? I learned a few things:

• Trying to position a mobile baby for 3D art is like trying to thread a needle with a worm.
• Trying to take non-blurry shots of a mobile baby is also beyond me.
• A baby will afford you approximately 30 seconds to get your shot, then they are moving on.
• For a baby past his nap that time is much much shorter.
• People will judge and tut if you let your baby crawl around the (impressively clean) floor of the art exhibition. Especially if they are crawling while their caregivers are taking stupid photos of each other.
• Watching your baby literally dive head first into a huge, deep ball pit is hilarious but your wife might not see the humor.

 

A fun day was had by all but it made me really miss the immobile baby shoots.

 

 

 

 

 

Weird Baby Eating Habits

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the baby’s weird eating habits. Just when I think I’m getting my head around it, he throws me a curve ball.

There are the ‘Heck yes! Gimme gimme gimme’ foods:

These are the fall backs, the ones he will almost never refuse or waste chucking on the floor or sharing with the dog. Examples are cheese, Cheerios, raisins, plain yoghurt, tofu, rice crackers, humus and baba ganoush (I never thought a baby would go nuts for roasted aubergine/eggplant mixed with roasted garlic but ours is apparently special). With the exception of raisins there is a definite color trend among these foods.

Then there are the ‘No, nope, nut and never’ foods:

These may accidentally be scooped into the Baby’s mouth but will be immediately expelled with velocity, or stored but not swallowed in a rodent-like fashion. These include broccoli, meat (of all varieties except the processed kind), peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, egg and rice…so far. Again a colour pattern.

Then there are the ‘Keep you on your toes’ foods.

These will be gobbled up one day, disappearing faster than my Friday night cocktail but screamed at and launched the next. Examples might be mango, carrots, purees of any variety, spag bol, oatmeal, chilli, pesto, banana, watermelon and apple…again, so far. This category is the one that drives me bonkers. It get my hopes up, thinking he’s finally bringing a new food into the first group only to have him laugh in my face, chuck it at the dog and start looking for his egg tofu. *SIGH*

 

Add to this the Baby loves to steal food from his mummies’ plates, even if it’s sore-butt-spicy but refuses the same food offered on his highchair. He only eats food which is room temperature or below. He refuses to drink water from a sippy cup and will only drink it from a normal cup after swirling his food covered fingers in it. He will only eat food which has been marinating in his bib pocket for a couple of hours or that has been dropped on the floor a few times.

I miss the days when we only worried about bottles.