Parents/aunts/uncles/friends of parents in the playground

[danzibr]

Dear fellow parental playgrounders,

I figured we could make a parenting thread. Not like... how to raise your children or anything, just maybe some Q&A and maybe funny stories. Just talk about parenty stuff.

To start, my wife and I have a son who's nearly 2 (~20.5 months old at the moment) and we're expecting a second this coming March! We just learned two days ago our second is a girl. Very exciting.

She did measure a little small (we're supposedly at 19 weeks 1 day, she was measuring ~17 weeks 4 days). Anyone else have this happen?

For funny stories... well, right now my son calls chocolate milk "coffee" because my wife and son were at Panera and he saw some iced coffee, called it chocolate milk and my wife corrected him. Now he thinks all cold brown stuff is coffee :P

[Agamid]

I'm not a parent, but I'm an Aunty to the most adorable 18-month-old you ever did meet (i'm sure every aunty says that though).

I was living in Canberra when his mum, my sister-in-law, was pregnant, and flew up to Brisbane for a Playground meet-up and to see my partner who'd just moved back from overseas (he's back overseas again now) only to discover that he she'd gone into labour early that morning! So I got to be one of the first people who held him, and my partner and I accompanied him home from the hospital.

He's inherited tidiness from both his parents and he's pedantic like his dad. EVERYTHING has an exact spot where it goes and if you take out of that spot he'll take it off you and put it back. He even went around my mum's house the other week when she was moving house straightening the stacks of empty boxes so that they were all exactly upright.
He also likes sweeping and cleaning the house so much that his parents bought a handheld vacuum cleaner just for him.
Here's hoping he can retain these clean and tidy habits all through his teenaged years!

[valadil]

I have an almost thirteen month old. He purrs when happy and repeatedly says "gwelf" when distressed. He listens to Primus and occasionally sports a fierce mohawk. I love him.

[missmvicious]

@danzibr congrats on your second, do you know the gender yet? What exactly did you mean by the measuring thing though?

My husband InexorableTruth and I have a two year old boy and I'd like to have a little girl as well. Someone to buy tutus and pink fluffy things for. So like most parents I think my little boy is the most adorable thing ever. He is in a phase where when he is bad he is terrible but when he is good he does things like tries to clean the house. Which is ineffective but sweet and I really hope he keeps the desire to clean when he is older.

We recently celebrated his second birthday at the zoo and he was mostly an angel the whole time there and was quite pleased by all the new things to see. Also he was quite popular at the petting zoo area because he walked up holding half a cookie.

So when he took his first steps it wasn't towards me, or my husband, it was to a friend that was coming over to play D&D with us for the first time. The friend wasn't even comfortable around kids so small and Thomas had never met him before and decided first steps were to this stranger. I was happy that he was starting to walk, but a little insulted. Anyone else have stuff like that happen?

Oh also is anyone else here a stay at home parent?

[danzibr]

Ooh nice responses all.

That's a cool story Agamid. I'm surprised they let her fly so pregnant. My wife and I were beginning to be afraid our son was OCD because he liked to line everything up and we asked a professional about it but apparently it's only a problem if that's *all* they want to do. Gabe, my son, likes to line them up then smack them around. He also likes to push around brooms and stuff, so we too hope that keeps up :P

And valadil, I wonder what "gwelf" could be... when my son's distressed he pretty much just cries out for my wife or me. Hmm.

And missmvicious, thanks for the grats! We are having a girl! Very exciting. As for the measurements being off... basically as of last Tuesday our daughter should have been 19 weeks 1 day but was measuring 17 weeks 4 days on the ultrasound. We're going back in 4 weeks from now to see if she's growing at a good pace. I think she'll just be petite but my wife is worried.

One factor which would contribute to the discrepancy is my wife had a 31-day cycle rather than a 28-day cycle, but that doesn't make up the entire difference.

As for our son's first steps, we keep a log (nothing fancy, just in Word) of our son's firsts. The log reads, "Mon 10/3/11 5:00ish, Gabe's first step! He was on Daddy's legs (like, cruisin') then just stepped over to Mommy!"

And my wife is a stay-at-home mom, and we're very grateful we can make it work. Money and time are tight as I'm a student and teach at a university and community college, but it works out.

[ForzaFiori]

I'm an uncle! I have 2 step-nephews. I don't get to see them much cause I don't deal with that side of my family much, but they're still adorable. And freaking HUGE. The first was the size of a 5 year old before he was 3, and his little bro is looking like he'll be just as big.

Also, thanks to a deadbeat step-sister, the older of my nephews (he's... 3 now I think. He might have just turned 4) is also my adopted brother, which makes for a fun conversation starter.

[DrK]

I have a beautiful 3 year old princess obsessed daughter and have just had my son arrive this Monday! So beginning the whole saga again.

I'll come back with anecdotes later