So everyone knows about the baby whisperer, or the idea of it. What happens when they get more mobile? What happens when they start potty training? You don’t need a baby whisperer anymore. You need a toddler whisperer to deal with toddler behavior.
The Toddler Whisperer is visiting the blog on Monday!
I have also talked her into hanging out here every couple of weeks. The reason? Toddlers are HARD WORK. I am constantly running to this friend for advice. And her advice is always (ALWAYS) perfect. I just can’t keep it to myself anymore.
I asked a few friends if they had any questions for the Toddler Whisperer and, as you can imagine, THEY DID. She selected two to answer and they will be here in a post on Monday. (it’s good stuff. not even kidding.) (and by good I mean one question is about poop and another is about sleep)
Which brings me to this:
Got Toddler? What are your questions?
Seriously. Ask anything and if the expert is able to answer it, she will.
You can leave your question in the comments, or if you want/need to be more anonymous you can e-mail them to me. (address is over there in the sidebar)
(I’ll tell you more about who the toddler whisperer is on Monday.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Ooooh, fun! I don’t have any questions at the moment, but I will start thinking!
My little guy is a bit out of toddlerhood (he’s 4, more of a preschooler), but has been doing the same things since then, so I’ll give it a shot.
He’s obsessed with shooting things and guns and dying. WHAT?! I was pretty anti-toy-gun in the house but let him have Nerf ‘squirters’ (squirt guns, but I refuse to call them guns in the house). Everything is about shooting, or killing, or building guns out of LEGOS. He’s not a television watcher, and without shaking a finger at preschool/daycare, it’s the only place he can be picking it up from. With that said, I can’t move him from there or think that every other parent has to change how they raise their kids.
So, how do *I* get him on another track besides shooting and wanting toy guns. It drives me insane and some days he’ll grow up like this.
WOO! The Toddler Whisperer answers your question today!
http://creatingmotherhood.com/2012/08/14/toy-guns-thumb-suck/
What’s the best way to convince a very attached 2 year old to give up her pacifier? She sleeps great at night as long as the pacifier stays in her mouth – if it falls out of bed she cries until we find it for her. I would rather avoid crawling under her bed in the middle of the night searching for the pacifier (obviously) but should I wait until she decides she is ready or take it away now?
What’s the best way to get a toddler to stop sucking his thumb? Also, whenever ours sucks his thumb (age 3), he also pinches the skin on his neck with his other hand. The two behaviors are always linked. If I pull his thumb out of his mouth or his hand away from his neck, he inevitably stops doing the other automatically. I know it’s self-soothing behavior and possibly has made him into the fantastic sleeper he is today, but at his age, it’s no longer socially acceptable to do it in public all the time (plus if we don’t stop it now, he could still be doing it when he’s 8…)
YAY!! The Toddler Whisperer is answering your question today!
http://creatingmotherhood.com/2012/08/14/toy-guns-thumb-suck/
I echo Lynette’s question. A new behavior around here that I want to nip in the bud/redirect/SOMETHING.
I’ve heard time outs don’t really work for a two year old (my son just turned 2 in June), but what’s the “right” way to discipline a toddler? We’re having issues with deliberate limit testing, then followed by hitting or trying to bite me when I say no to something. Thanks for any advice you can offer!
Hooray! Very excited for this!! Now if I can possibly articulate my questions…I’ll get back to you on those!
OH! I do have one! Jen & I were just discussing this on Friday:
Adam LOVES to run away from us-in safe and not-so-safe situations…he will NOT stop when we ask him to. He will NOT stop when we YELL for him to stop unless we look and sound like completely insane people (oh, the looks I get! but he is very fast and I cannot catch him)-so it is look and sound like an out of control parent or imminent danger at some point.
Seriously, this really really concerns me because the thought of my one & only ending up as roadkill is not good!
Sleep. Ugh. We’ve run the gamut. About a year ago this time we let my then 2 y/o CIO when we waking at 4 am was out if control. Things were perfect, then potty training brought multiple wake ups throughout the night.
Now? She’s up at least once a night to pee/sleep in our bed. Sometimes it’s more often.
He does have sleep apnea and will have tonsils/adenoids removed in the fall, but how do I know what’s behavioral and what’s physical?
I am also looking forward to hearing from the Toddler Whisperer!
I have a sleep question, too.
We have a very active 2.5 year old boy who wakes up at 5:30 AM at the moment. Some of this is from transition, as we have just moved to a new house and everything is still rather new. We hope this will resolve itself eventually. In the meantime, both Hubby and I are exhausted. During the week, the early rising not so bad as we start our day early anyway, but we would really like to sleep in a little bit on the weekend. At least make an attempt to catch up.
Is there a good way to handle this, or should we just resign ourselves to waking up early every day? He will not pay attention to wake up clocks. If we try to tell him to stay in his room, he keeps popping out and we have to get up anyway. Is there anything else we could try?
Have you tried putting some books and quiet toys in his room before you go to bed (maybe some he hasn’t played with in a while so he is intrigued) so he can play by himself before running to get you? I have a couple of friends this works for.
Good luck! If my child woke up at 5:30 a.m., I would have to hire a babysitter to come at that time or SELL him! lol!
I think you already know my question
HOW in the heck to do I get O-man to poop on the potty? It honestly scares him. He would rather sit in a dirty pull up all day than go on the potty…halp!
Oh, this is brilliant! I can’t wait to hear what she has to say. In reading through the comments, my questions is already there. I have twin toddler boys who will be 2 in one month. They both on occassion like to bite for fun! They can be laughing and playing and then one will just take a chunk out of the other’s back or arm with no warning. I’ve tried time-out but I get a laugh and a trot to the corner with a smile so clearly they don’t get that concept yet. I would love to know the best way to stop this behavior and how to discipline.
Yay! We’re also having sleep issues. We’ve always sung and rocked our 21-month old son to sleep before putting him into the crib, but I’d like to get to a point where we can put him in and go to sleep on his own. Any hints or steps on how to get from Point A to Point B?
All of a sudden my 2.8 yr old is afraid of the bath. She screams and cries that she’s afraid. I had a hard time with her recently when I had to clean puke off her 3 times within 2 hours when she had her stomach virus, but that seemed understandable. Then she went to my mother’s while I when I caught the bug and my mother said she was saying she was afraid of the bath. Thank goodness she’s been playing in the sprinklers, because she’s had just one bath in a week and a half. Oh, and she wouldn’t sit down and there was much screaming and crying as I washed her and rinsed her off. I have resorted to washing her down with a basin and a washcloth. That’s not really acceptable. Ack, she’s been cooperative about baths for so long, this is nuts!
Any suggestions? Any great bath toy suggestions that might lure her into the tub? I’ve offered to take a bath with her, or a shower. I’ve told her she can have a cookie, or ice cream, or a popsicle if she gets in the tub, but no go. She won’t tell me what she’s afraid of.
Question… Help!
My son is 3yr 8m old. He has never learned to self soothe. Either my husband or I have to lay with him every night until he’s asleep. This takes anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour and a half. How do we teach him to go to sleep on his own at this late stage??
{ 2 trackbacks }