Disneyland Tips with a Toddler

Thanks to the wonderful offer Disneyland has going this year, where you can get in free on your birthday, we got to take our son for his first trip. For my 23rd birthday yesterday, March 30, we spent the day at the happiest place on earth, and it truly was a great time with our 18 month old toddler.

Our first trip on the train didn't work out so well because we ended up getting stuck on the tracks for 20 minutes. That's not a fun experience with an antsy toddler who is all full of energy and ready to go. We made it of course, but all the while I was debating whether this was a good idea since any ride could get stuck at any time and we'd have to deal with keeping him happy while they worked it out. But I didn't let my fear get the best of me and we carried on.

His first real ride was the Haunted Mansion. We went on Small World, Pirates, Nemo Submarines, Tom Sawyer Island, and watched the fireworks. It all went by so fast and we ate twice. Although it doesn't seem like we did that much, the day was long and full. Our son did amazingly well and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

I did plan ahead and there are some things which greatly help

• Plan to do a lot when you get there so they get tired. They will pass out for a while so try to plan a time where you eat or relax during their nap and they won't miss out on too much fun. You can also let them sleep on you while you wait in one of the longer lines.
• Use overnight strength diapers so you can have a lot less bathroom stops.
• Bring plenty of sunblock and/or an easy sunblock stick for quick application.
• Bring a change of play clothes and a change of warm clothes. Don't forget a blanket.
• Unless you want to spend a huge fortune on food, aside from the huge fortune you spent getting in, pack a lunch for your whole party. This can save you up to $100 or more.
• If your kids like the stuff then bring some Pedia-Sure so you can help them get nutrients during a day which they just might lose their appetite to excitement.
• Bring your own stroller, it's much easier to find in a sea of rentals.

Don't forget to look up http://www.snopes.com/ for all the awesome secrets and scoop about Disneyland myths, facts, and legends.


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Arts and Crafts with an 18 Month Old

It's never to earlier to start arts and crafts with your child. The sooner you start, the more they will enjoy doing it. Although, to be honest, I think most kids will enjoy it whenever they start because art projects are just so much fun.

One of the biggest reasons I can say I may refrain from doing certain projects, is the mess. It's hard to just set your toddler up with all these different ways to make a gigantic mess for you to clean up. Really, art projects are a great thing for parents and kids. The kids get to enjoy the work, creating, painting, and fun while making something they can look at and be proud to say they made. On the other hand, parents have to endure the mess and learn that it's worth cleaning up to see the happiness the project has brought their child. Not to mention all the great skills they learn from doing it. So we parents do need to learn to let go a little.

I have already done so many wonderful crafts with my 18 months old. I'd love to write about them all but quite frankly, I might as well start a whole separate blog for them all. Which actually sounds like a great idea to keep in mind.

What I would like to recommend is a great book that got me going with lots of ideas to do fun artsy things with my son. It's called "The Everything Toddler Activities Book". It's not just for art either. There are fun games, songs, party ideas, and much more to entertain your little ones. Now, there are a few things inside of it I have learned are no good. My example is the play dough. Some of the recipes in it are just no good so you might have to do a few trail and errors on your own. Perhaps something the author did not do. But you will find plenty of great games your child will get a kick out of. I suggest while reading it that instead of going by her age range, go by what you feel your child is capable of. Many of the activities are said to be good for an 18 months old, but some of them I know my son is not ready for. When children lack some of the skills needed to complete a task they can get very frustrated and therefore discouraged.


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Baby Proofing Supplies That Don't Work

So as any parent would do I started to buy baby proofing supplies to be sure our son wouldn't get into dangerous naughty things that could cause him harm. Of course I also enjoy looking forward to keeping him out of certain cupboards for the simple fact of saving myself the mess to clean up. he has quite enough toys to play with anyway right?

Well, over the course of having my first son start moving to now we have gone through quite a few different baby proofing items for the whole house. I have yet to find any one single piece that did it's job keeping the baby safe and not malfunctioning at all. Currently we still use a few of them and they work to keep him out of trouble, but I feel with the cheap quality it's just a matter of time before he figures out just how easy they come off and he works his way into a large mess of trouble.

Let's see now... we bought those drawer locks that stop the drawer and then you have to push it down to continue opening it. Those were a huge pain to install and you weren't able to install them on most of your drawers... they would probably be best for doors that swing all the way open. We currently have only one of those installed and if you pull just slightly hard the door opens all the way.


We tried some clear straps that are designed for appliances and doors. Two small round plastic knobs stick to the surface and a cheap clear straps attaches through a small hole. The work at keeping doors closed but even a toddler has strength enough to pull them open. Oh well.

We also tried some similar locks that were all plastic and more sturdy locking mechanism. These were certainly baby proof and sometimes cannot even be opened with one adult hand. The problem is that they suck at sticking to the surface. The bonus though is hat you can screw them into the wall or cupboard. Unfortunately the item I wanted to use them for wouldn't hold a screw. These might have worked well on an appliance.

Then there was the oh so ridiculous toilet lock. With two rubber suction cups it is supposed to stick to the back of the toilet and curve over to block the lid from being opened. There is a unlock feature that allows adults to move it to the side easily so the lid can be opened and the item stays installed. Now this item is actually great... if only it would stick to the toilet. The only way I could get it to stay was if I wiped down the back with cleaner and dried it completely then installed it. Any type of moisture in the bathroom (a shower) would cause it to slip when touched and therefore making it useless because it would then slip off even under the toddlers touch.

We have a very large opening from our kitchen to our living room and we needed and extra large gate to block it off. We got a great one. The problem with it though? The screws they give with it to attached to the wall are not long enough and combined with our lack of a sturdy wall to attach to the gate has ripped out of the wall quite a few times.

That's all I'm going to complain about right now. The best piece of advice I can give with all of this information is to completely rearrange your house and place the dangers up high and the not so bad down low. Example: in the kitchen place plates and cup down low and cleaning supplies up high. Use safety items but never trust them completely and always check on your baby every few minutes that way if he gets hurt you'll find him fast or if he starts to make a mess you can catch him before it's a huge mess. And also these could only apply to me so try them if you need to and see they just might work for you.


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Naked Time

It's a very important thing to go naked. Something many of use refrain from doing. Why is that? My best guess is probably that with the way our society is we have learned to feel ugly and hate our bodies, therefore we want to cover them up and hide them. Especially once you become a mother, you might feel unhappy with your body and choose to hide rather than show it off. But this blog is more about letting the baby go naked than the parents.

I'm certainly one of those anal parents that would rather not let my children do something then to deal with the mess of letting them do it. But I fight that so they can learn and experience. One thing that falls into that category? Nakedness. The trouble with letting little kids go naked is that they aren't potty trained so you end up with mess all over the floor. I have never minded changing diapers, but it's a bit more difficult when it's all over the floor. And far worse once they get hold of it too.

Going naked gives your child a free feeling. They were born naked, they know that. When they are naked they are usually happy to be so and they run free laughing and having a great time. It's a beautiful thing to watch actually because they haven't yet been taught to hate their bodies. It's a really wonderful lesson to adults too if they pay attention to it. Airing out the booty from the diaper is also a wonderful way o keep skin fresh and prevent or cure diaper rash.

Now one downfall, the mess. Yes, if your child isn't potty trained they will surely go on the floor. I catch myself not taking of my sons diaper sometimes to prevent messes but I haven't been as bad as I thought I would be. We came up with a great routine that after dinner since his clothes are usually messy we strip him completely and let him run naked until bath time. If it's longer than 20 minutes he will most likely stop to pee. We do have carpeting but I'm always right there to catch him and I soak it up with a towel right away. Febreeze and/or Resolve cleans up any mess nice and quick on a carpet. We have had this routine petty much since he started eating. First he crawled around naked, then he cruised around naked now he runs around naked. Each and every time he has been so thrilled to remove all his clothes. We are lucky however that he still hasn't learned how to remove his clothes on his own.

In the whole 18 months that we have had the joys of letting our little man go naked, we have only had less than 5 times when he pooped on the floor. We were also very lucky that the stools were firm each time,or at least firm enough. The worst part of it all is when the baby gets a hold of his own poop and does something like start to paint with it. The wonderful news is that there is a cure for that! Pay attention to your child. It's going to be 20 minutes, or more if you wish, so just walk away from the computer, set down the phone and turn off the TV. Watch your child rejoice in his nakedness and be right there ready to clean up any mess that magically appears from your child's behind. And yes, I learned this the hard way.

Now on another important note, your child runs around free and happy when he is naked, wouldn't it be nice to keep it that way? At least the happy with the naked part? As with most things your child is going to mimic what you do. If you walk around criticizing your body or anyone else's for that matter, sure enough your child will pick up that same behavior. If you refuse to be seen naked, they too may become shy. I was actually quite surprised that from very early my husband was alright being naked in front of our son. To be honest I didn't think he would be, but I am very thankful he is. He teaches our son that he is OK in his own skin and hopefully he will be too. I can say I am not always happy in my skin, but my husband boosts my self esteem and gets me to go naked more.

Of course there are certain boundaries, and you need to teach your children that nakedness is only OK to do when you are at home, but they will learn that especially since they never see you go naked outside of the home. Teach them to value their body and allow them that fun time to live and explore in all their skin as nature intended them to do.


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