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March 23, 2003
March 23, 200FOUR (Why isn't that a choice in the drop down menu?)
Well, I haven't put up an entry for several weeks, because I've been waiting for my TTM board to be put up, but I'm beginning to think I could be waiting forever so I'm going to write anyway and hope for the best. I got this diary on March 2nd, and it's the 23rd and still no TTM board. I'm a little disappointed, but hopefully things will get better soon.
Until then, my Babies Today board still works: it's at
http://interact.iparenting.com//postlist.php?Cat=&Board=btjennifer
Jake turned 18 months old on March 12th. I can't believe it's been a year and a half since I gave birth to him. He's turning into such an interesting little person. I remember looking at him when he was born and not being sure what to think, but knowing that I couldn't wait to get to know him. I love how unpredictable and independent he is. I never know what to expect, and his antics make me laugh every day.
I'M NOT TALKIN' TO YOU
A lot of 18 month children speak many words very clearly, and even are forming sentances, but not my child. He's happy to mumble and trill his tongue to make the noises he prefers, using the words he's made up instead of the ones we're trying to teach him. I don't think he has speech disabilities, I think he just doesn't want to talk right now. There are some words he says very clearly -- mama, dada, nana, pa, ball, no no, this, drink, more . . . and he makes animal sounds when he sees certain animals -- doggies, sheep, lions, elephants,
chickens, etc. And then there's his recognition of all the Sesame Street characters -- if we ask where one is, he will point it out in a picture with 10 choices. And when he sees the Count, he says "ah ah ah." So I know he can associate objects and pictures with words that go with them, he just doesn't want to talk.
When I try to teach Jake how to say something, or try to prompt him to repeat a word before I give him the object he wants, he just shakes his head "yes," like "yes, that's what I want, now give it to me." He does the same thing when we ask him to say "please" -- just shakes his head "yes" furiously. Of course, if we ask Jake if he wants something, instead of saying "yes," he says "ha ha" (like "ha ha, I'm getting my way.")
MINI ME
Jake loves to play with my stuff. When I get home, he wants to play with my keys, and my shoes. I have a pair of black dress flats that I wear pretty much every day, and he loves them. They're the only pair he walks around in (although he's not picky about taking all the shoes out of the shoe holder in the hallway and putting them in a pile on the floor.) At 6:15 every morning when Jake and my mom are happily sleeping soundly upstairs, I am running around trying to figure out where my son left my keys and shoes so I can leave for work. If I'm lucky, I had put my keys up the night before, but some mornings I play hide and seek for a while.
BUILDING WEBSITES
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessively crafty, whether that be cross-stitch, srapbooking, photography, or my "new" obsession (about a year old), building webpages. I work full-time as a secretary and for extra money I baby-sit, teach piano, and work on my grandmother-in-law's Mary Kay newsletter. For a while now I've been thinking about free-lancing as a web-desginer, but I've mostly been preparing for that in my free time -- collecting web graphics, organizing and planning, getting experience building pages for friends and Jake, etc. Well yesterday I had my first free-lancing job! It was very exciting, and I made $40 in two hours (oh yeah.) I'll probably works two more hours on this job, so that's another quick $40. It's nice to make money for something I love doing. I'm going to advertize in a local parenting mag starting in May, so hopefully that will drum up some interest and I will be able to put a dent in my student loan debt! I feel like we're not going to be able to move forward in our lives until it's not glooming so hugely over us.
FEED ME
Jake used to be a carb addict: eating Cheerios and crackers all day long, loved french fries and mashed potatoes (oh yeah, he said "french fry" the other day. That's progress, right?). Now he's on a protein kick -- he LOVES meat. He eats like 3 hotdogs a day, loves chicken, loves hamburgers. He will actually eat every piece of meat on his plate before he'll touch anything else. He also really likes cheese and yogurt, but doesn't like to drink milk unless it's the middle of the night (he's a big apple juice fan, and he LOVES diet Coke, but don't get me started on that . . . ).
TERRIBLE TWO'S
Yes, my child is only 18 months old, but hey, he's beein in 2T clothes for a month, why not the terrible two's while we're at it? Actually, it's just the beginning -- the other day Jake was pitching a fit and my dad said "and he's not even in the terrible two's yet" and Lou looked up at him, horrified, and said "you mean it will get worse?" HA HA. Lou doesn't know much about kids, and it's kind of funny to see how shocked he is by normal development.
Jake is a good kid, he just wants to get his way (don't we all?) Naturally, when he
doesn't get his way, he uses the only tool at his disposal to communicate that he's pissed: throwing a tantrum. If it's minor, we ignore him until he acts human again, but when he's really pitching a fit for no reason he gets put in time-out, which sobers him up pretty quick. Sometimes time-out just means me picking him up and standing in the hallway with him and talking to him quietly so he'll calm down, sometimes it means putting him in the pack-and-play to cool off. He doesn't like to be in there, so he'll usually calm down so he can get back out and play.
BOOKS AND PUZZLES
Jake's favorites toys right now (aside from Hokey Pokey Elmo, and Bouncing Tigger, which I think is trying to die, are books and puzzles. He's so good at putting puzzles together, but he really likes for us to hold them while he puts the pieces in so we can be sure to clap for him when he's done. (He loves affirmation.) He also really likes books -- he likes looking at the alphabet book I put together for him, and he really likes a Winnie the Pooh pop-up book about opposites.
PICTURES
We got Jake's picture taken at Picture People the other day -- I have the pictures on a webpage, but I haven't gotten around to putting graphics on it, so it's barebones. If you want to see it, go to: http://www.mypages.iparenting.com/webs/strangejen3/MarchPP.html
The pictures are kind of goofy, but hey, that's my kid.
THE END
There's a million things to say but I want to post this so I have a starting point for next time. I find that if I set my sights too high (i.e. record every event and thought I have about the last month that I've not written), I won't write at all, but if I give myself a break and go a little at a time, I'll catch up in the end. It's all good!
Happy thoughts, and stop by my other TTM board to say hey.
Jen
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