- 5 weeks to go until Match Day. Kevin submitted his rank list. Now we just have to wait! It makes it very difficult to plan anything past May, not knowing what city or state we will be past then (luckily, our list is pretty small geographically, so it's not like I have to worry about moving to Oklahoma or something like that).
- There are many things that we need to get done before Kevin starts residency this summer, and it's kind of stressing me out. Especially the whole house-selling thing. Because we'd like to sell our house whether we stay in this area or not. I need to contact some realtors, and I also need to get our deck fixed up- while decks are wonderful things, they require some serious maintenance!
- Here's a picture of Nora and me playing with some apps on my new toy that my parents got me for Christmas. They have some really fun apps for toddlers! She doesn't get to play on it very often, though cold winter days have made this source of entertainment more appealing.
- Aside from the whole Match day/selling our house thing, we have a busy spring coming up. First, we get to go on a fun little family vacation, just the three of us. Then my mother-in-law is visiting us for Match Day, and the weekend after my mom and sister are coming to visit (I love all the visitors!). In April I found out I'm going to a conference in the UK (and I'm very lucky to be going too, as funding is extremely tight right now, and this workshop I'm attending is very relevant to the work I am doing).
- I got CPR certified. I've been meaning to do this for awhile now, since I last did it when I was a babysitter in high school. A lot of things have changed since then! Now the focus is on the compressions and less so on the breathing. I was glad to learn what to do if Nora was choking or unconscious- though I hope I remember everything. It was a lot of information in two hours!
- Nora has got some attitude lately- though I think overall she's a very sweet girl. She has not yet reached (and I hope she never reaches) the hitting and biting stage that's common in toddlers this age, but she definitely has been trying to exert her will lately. Like trying to get her in her carseat right now is a real struggle for me, because she's strong enough to straighten her legs against the back of the seat so that I can't bend her into a sitting position to buckle the seat belt. She loves to say "no" to everything just to contradict whatever someone is trying to get her to do. I think I might need to re-read some parts of my Love and Logic book and maybe look into 1-2-3 Magic which I hear is good too. We haven't done time-outs much yet because they don't seem to really work at this stage for us, but I think they might be more effective in a few months. Right now, offering choices seems to work pretty well to keep the tantrums away, though everything takes a lot longer when she has to do it herself (walking up and down the stairs could take like 10-15 minutes if she had her way, because she'll "forget" something halfway down and want to go back upstairs to get it... repeat 30 times). Any other suggestions from moms of toddlers?
It's hard to be too frustrated with this little face....
she is just about the cutest thing. I know that sometimes they are even cuter when being annoying.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you get a good match!
Thanks, we're keeping our fingers crossed!
DeleteI can't wait to hear where you guys match! Oh, the nerves of that day - both exciting and terrifying. It's a fun experience though!
ReplyDeleteI love that photo of you two!
I have to admit I laughed out loud about the car seat tantrums. Boy have we been there, done that! My theory now is basically "this too shall pass". We went through a really rough couple of months, and finally this past month has been really fun with minimal tantrums. It probably even comes and goes, who knows. Maybe we should think of it as good training for the teenage years?! :)
Thanks- yes, I can feel the nerves building... eek!
DeleteYes, I think the tantrums probably do come in waves... she went through one phase at 13-14 months and now I think she might be going through another one. :) I'm guessing the teenage years will be a lot worse!
Ditto everything Melissa said ^^ the photo is adorable and I cannot wait to hear about your Match experience. I think I've been following your blog since the end of second year?
ReplyDeleteWill you guys buy a house for residency? We're contemplating it since we'll hopefully be in the same area where we want to stay.
You won't be too much further after us for the Match- those 2 years go fast!
DeleteWhether we buy a house will depend on where we go- if we end up where we want to stay (like you), we probably would, but otherwise, we would rent. Owning a house for medical school probably was not a great plan all in all. Hopefully it will work out better for us in the future when we can stay somewhere longer than 3-4 years.
She is so cute! Good luck on matching! I hope you get your first choice. What a stressful time not knowing where you're going. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteI'd love if you could share some of your favorite apps for kids. I'm just starting to look at apps for Mac. He's still too young to pay attention to anything, but I know the day is coming when he's going to want that iPad.
Thanks- I'm crossing my fingers too. :)
DeleteShe is so cute! I am also curious about your favorite apps. And jealous of no hitting or biting! We are struggling with that right now :(
ReplyDeleteUgh, sorry... I have a feeling we won't completely miss the hitting/biting stage- maybe she's just going to go through it later (I mean, she doesn't have all that many teeth to bite with right now!).
DeleteShe's so beautiful! and the picture of the two of you is really cute. Hoping that things go your way with re to matching; academia is even more extreme in terms of having no geographic choice (which is how we ended up in Singapore).
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about naughty toddler troubles. I think knowing that it's a phase, and will naturally pass (and that it's not your fault, just the age/stage), as the other commenters mentioned, is important.
We do the choices thing too, which is usually fairly effective. I also let her make all unrelated decisions (like asking her "What toys do you want to take in the car seat?", or "What radio station do you like?", assuming you don't care and are happy to flip through them as she gleefully rejects them all. Then her need for power is satisfied in a less troublesome way.)
Another thing that works for me is restating whatever her feelings are (like, "Oh, you really wanted that cookie! It was going to taste good! You don't want to wait!"). Often she will calm down as she realizes that her feelings are understood and accepted. She still doesn't get the cookie of course, but now it's OK (and she will frequently pull herself together and spontaneously go off to do something else).
I like your suggestion of restating her feelings- is that similar to what Happiest Toddler on the Block suggests? I haven't actually read that book but I've heard a little bit about it. I'll give it a go. I'm glad to hear that your daughter is more agreeable these days!
DeleteI love that you use some of Love and Logic. We have that book, and though we are such a long way off from needing to implement it, I always like hearing about other people's experiences. I have absolutely no helpful advice at this point, but it sounds like you guys find some methods that work for you!
ReplyDeleteYou might not be all that far off- even by this summer I imagine you could start to use a few of the suggestions. :)
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