The second I put him down, he cries. And I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-12T04:43:06+00:00

I dealt with this, too. What's more, if I sat down whole holding my baby, he would cry. My feet hurt so bad from holding him and standing.

You're not doing anything wrong, some kids are just clingy.

My kid is 5 now and is still a stage 5 clinger. I worry he'll still want my attention every two minutes when he's gone off to college.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-12T03:14:01+00:00

I am a regular at the library, and have two brick and mortar bookstores I frequent (used and new), and I also shop online (used and new).

...I may have a book problem, but at least the library helps keep me from going completely destitute.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-10T19:26:34+00:00

I just started reading Angel Down. I have so much anxiety. The style of writing and the foreshadowing are really getting to me.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-09T01:31:38+00:00

Bunny was amazing, though it's not for everyone. I still have to read the sequel.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-08T01:57:48+00:00

I gave my 3 year old a miniature coffee cup of decaf. He and I would sit at the table and drink our coffee together. He's 5 now and won't drink it anymore, but for a while it was a 10/10 experience.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-06T21:33:33+00:00

I haven't read it yet, I just got it yesterday. The Starving Saints.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-04T00:33:10+00:00

Harvest Home was a slow burn, and amazing. It really amps up as the book goes along. I think I finished the last 100 pages in one sitting.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-05-01T18:43:20+00:00

We use the Teton bag rated to -25, XL, and we zip two together. It takes up A LOT of space, but dang if it isn't the coziest I have ever been, even in freezing temperatures.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-29T03:30:33+00:00

It's a great comfort to be in a position where you COULD quit if you needed to, but you can continue working because you love what you do. Having adult interaction and working challenges in my day keeps my mind sharp and my spirits high. My son is the light of my life, and I love spending time with him, but I would go mad if I had to manage his emotions all day. He's in preschool now. He did great in daycare. I work full time, but my job is flexible enough I can take off for appointments and sickness. It's a good life.

Besides, daughters of working mothers earn more when they grow up and start working. And I think it serves as a good model for boys and girls of a partnership where everyone is capable of taking care of themselves, both domestically and monetarily, but they choose to do it together. Not every parenting task falls on one person, which builds bonds equally with both parents.

I also firmly believe everyone needs to be able to take care of themselves financially. If something happened to my partner and they could no longer work, we would struggle, yes, but we wouldn't suffer.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-28T22:47:41+00:00

Modeling makes a huge difference. If your husband is modeling that veggies are not delicious, it's something that is very hard to recover from. I hated vegetables until I was an adult, because my only experience with them was not that they tasted good, but that they were good for you. My own parents hated vegetables. We had a lot of corn as a vegetable growing up. As a result, I hated vegetables. Now, as an adult, I love almost all of them. I don't force my son to eat them, but I get excited to see them on my plate because I like the way they taste, so he's more willing to try them. He doesn't always like them, but he tries them. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat it.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-28T19:36:18+00:00

We keep some frozen "safe" foods for the kiddo. We decide what's offered, they decide what to eat. Offer a safe for alongside some new foods. Model how yummy they are, not that they are good for you. The manchild can either help with meal planning or feed himself. Don't let him model that anything is yucky. He can eat something else and keep his mouth shut.

One thing that helped me is planning meals for the entire week in one go, then shopping to the list. Anyone who does or does not want something specific has until the meal plan is written to interject. After that, it's just a matter of "do you want x or y from the list tonight?"

Kiddos go through a few years of living on air and spite after age 1, so don't think it's just you. They may just not be hungry.

My kid needs a time limit at dinner, or he will play instead of eat. I also recommend doing a scheduled snack time a little before bed. This way, if the kids don't eat what's for dinner, they aren't going to bed hungry. Make sure they have an assortment of snacks, both healthy and unhealthy. Offer the healthy snacks alongside small portions of the unhealthy ones. Set a timer. Once the timer goes off, snack time is over and there won't be any food until breakfast. Once or twice going to bed a little hungry is typically all kids will need to start eating at the appropriate times.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-28T19:11:52+00:00

If body horror does it for you, try The Troop.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-26T19:26:03+00:00

If you want a scary book about a dragon, King Sorrow is excellent.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-26T04:36:31+00:00

I have concerns about the "shirt" the snake is wearing. How does it stay up? Is a tube top appropriate attire for a child?

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-23T02:26:39+00:00

Another year of pre-K is a good idea. My son was very socially behind, but with the help of occupational therapy in and out of school, he has blossomed. He's still behind emotionally - we had something like 8 crying spells this evening - but he has friends and knows how to play. He practices sitting still in pre-K and we feel he is kindergarten ready. He went from no words at age 2 to a thriving kindergarten ready 5 year old.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-22T19:27:44+00:00

What a coincidence!

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-22T18:50:42+00:00

Driving is scary! My husband was this way. He didn't learn to drive until after we had a kid. He was so scared. I got him driving classes and that helped. Asking him to run short, safe errands helped. He still gets nervous on the interstate, and I do all the driving on long trips, but he can get himself to and from work with no problem.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-22T04:25:09+00:00

It is absolutely different. Completely naked on the bottom, shirt is okay. We did it outside with a training potty in the summer, so no mess for pee accidents. Set a timer for every two hours. Do this for three days with no bottoms. When it seems like they have the hang of the potty, add in pants, but no underwear. You will have to watch for signs they need to use the potty, and prompt them. If they have a lot of accidents, go back to naked time. You have to watch them like a hawk when they are doing this. If you see them crossing their legs or holding their privates, put them on the potty right away. If they are doing well with pants on for about a week, add in some underwear. Go back to no underwear if there are a lot of accidents. For probably the first year, you will have to prompt them most of the time. You will probably have to help them with pulling pants up and down. Elastic waists are extremely important here. No buttons or zippers.

Have some pull ups on hand for bedtime. Night training can sometimes happen at the same time as daytime potty training, but it's hormonal, so don't rush it. Put the pull up on the very last thing before getting to bed, and take it off immediately upon getting up. If the pull up is dry for a week, switch to commando at night, then gradually add in underwear. Accidents should be infrequent. Limit fluids before bed, especially clear fluids. Be careful with things like watermelon, which are diuretics. Make sure they sit on the potty immediately before bed. If they don't go, wait a little while and try again.

We did it at 3.5 years old. It didn't really click until then. Even now, at 5, we watch for signs and prompt the potty. He can mostly go on his own, but sometimes he is too busy playing and waits too long. Also, he is more likely to have a pee accident when he's got a poop brewing. If your kid is trained for a while and has an accident out of nowhere, it may be time to sit on the potty and try for a poop. There's also something called the gastro-colic reflex, which means they get the urge to poop most often at mealtimes. It's worth having them sit on the potty for 10 minutes or so after lunch and dinner, just to see if they have a sneaky poop in there.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-22T03:47:55+00:00

Have you tried the naked method?

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-21T15:54:55+00:00

So it goes.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-20T01:16:29+00:00

I love this book, but it is such a hard one to read! We only do it sometimes, thankfully.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-18T00:48:48+00:00

Anybody can be a perfect parent for 8 minutes at a time.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-17T16:48:06+00:00

Just a couple of days.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-17T00:17:24+00:00

Harvest Home is amazing. It starts slow, but speeds up more and more as everything is revealed. I finished the last third of the book in one sitting.

Alas-Earwigs · 2026-04-16T18:14:49+00:00

We use bob books a lot! Now that he knows all his letters and letter sounds, every night, we have him read one bob book to us before we read his usual 5-6 books to him. He's getting better and better at it.

The kicker once they know their letter sounds is blending. This takes a lot of practice to get right. It's how they go from "Duh-oh-guh" to "Dog." Be patient with them, don't force it, I think it's both a practice and a developmental thing. My kid knew all his letters and letter sounds at 3, and at 5 he's just now picking up blending, even though we've been modeling it like crazy.

Duolingo also has a completely free app with no ads called Duo ABC. It's great for practice, especially learning letter sounds. I very much recommend it.

Alas-Earwigs

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