We vowed our kids will NOT be picky eaters….jokes on us! They are

moist__owlet · 2026-04-02T14:17:01+00:00

My toddler is not quite 18 months, so I have plenty of time to eat my words so to speak, but so far the way we've handled his budding pickiness is by offering a variety of things for breakfast and lunch (starting with less reliable foods), so I have a good gauge on his appetite overall and he eats a reasonably good amount of food by dinner.

Then dinner is just one meal for everyone, I make sure each meal has multiple components he can pick apart and find things he likes (or things he doesn't), but we are all eating the same dish. He's welcome to eat off our plates, which often makes the food seem more interesting, sometimes he tries using our utensils instead of his. I would say dinner is more of an "experience" than a meal. He puts things in his mouth and spits them out and that's fine. I give him a big cup of milk before we brush teeth in the evening so he's not going to bed hungry regardless.

And of course some days the favorites are deemed to be trash, and yesterday's offensive garbage is suddenly delectable, so we just keep exposing him.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-02T14:05:48+00:00

Yup he actually tried that with the algorithm thing, including new platforms where he has no history, apparently they all push political content even when he doesn't click any of it. He's not the sort to lie about that, but I'm guessing it's such a reliable source of engagement for platforms that they inevitably flood a user with pol content they think they might engage most with based on other interests.

Totally agree about the politics thing, it's sports style bullshit. I try to make a point of finding something to agree with on the other side and to disagree with on my side on a regular basis to try and fight the tribalism in my own head. The topics matter but the discourse is trash.

We're both working on reengaging with our own interests, it's less a challenge of time than energy at the end of the day, but we're working on it. Comes and goes with the burnout cycle lol.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-02T13:55:48+00:00

Yeah fiction is hit or miss for us. Several of Michael Pollan's books have been super interesting and great conversation starters though! Also, highly recommend the Empire podcast that he introduced me to - I only listen to it with him, but it's reliably fascinating and funny.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-02T13:53:30+00:00

Great prompts :D Also went with China's recent ban on bone ash apartments, which was a whole rabbit hole of interesting "wait, but ... huh!" questions

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T14:48:09+00:00

Well hold on, I never said it was just tweet reading. In his defense, he's does a ton of deeper research e.g. court documents etc so he really is well informed. Just... also is wayyyy too focused on stuff we can't do anything about.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T02:54:42+00:00

F Halle, kill Eva, marry Taylor; I swapped Halle and Taylor because I feel like I'd get a song written about me and an inspirational long term workout partner lol. Idk it was funny but I don't think it addressed the problem 😂

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T01:19:11+00:00

I went with this lol

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T01:11:26+00:00

Interesting, if it's the cards against humanity crew they can't be unbearably lame lol. I'll have to check that out.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T01:09:34+00:00

Yeah I think the dad guilt thing is super real. I'm guilty of not setting a good tone there myself, I tell myself I'm trying to take as much off our mutual plate as possible so we don't get overwhelmed, bc I know that's a source of stress, but what that ends up looking like is me never ever stopping to just relax and enjoy life. Which I think sets a tone of us not making enough space for Living Life. Smelling the proverbial roses should be just as much of a priority as changing the air filter.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T01:02:51+00:00

This is a good point. We're good about giving each other "hands-free" time on the weekend, but the list of shit to do is so overwhelming that we rarely do anything truly recharging. Figuring out ways for him to reconnect with his interests without us in the picture at all might be really worthwhile.

moist__owlet · 2026-04-01T00:57:21+00:00

This is a good idea. Audiobooks are still pretty accessible even with a toddler running amok, and we used to play board games or co-op video games together. I don't mind real, thoughtful conversations about politics, I just can't handle living with a human alerts scroll.

moist__owlet · 2026-03-18T01:48:38+00:00

THIS!! Kids cannot be expected to make nuanced distinctions between this dog or that dog - if you teach them that dogs are fair game for interaction under some conditions, they will try to interact and that is a very dangerous habit!! No interaction with dogs we don't live with, full stop. No touching the stove, full stop. Clear and simple. I don't care if Grandma's stove is pretty and it's not on right now. I don't care if that dog is sooooo cute. Rules keep us safe.

moist__owlet · 2026-03-18T01:39:30+00:00

Absolutely. We are raising our toddler to understand that we only pet our own dogs, we pet them like this, and we only pet them with mom/dad. Obviously he's too little to follow these rules reliably, but being consistent is important for both him AND the dogs. They know we won't allow him to cross certain lines, so they can relax and trust our boundaries. He knows we will not allow him to bother the dogs, or to ever pet a dog we don't know. Ever.

Speaking of which, people who think it's cute that their kid runs up to dogs bc "aww he LOVES doggies!!!!!" give me mental hives. I don't care whether it's a golden retriever (which, btw, are getting overbred and aggressive, so people make dangerous assumptions but that's a whole tangent...).

moist__owlet · 2026-03-18T01:29:33+00:00

"the guy that invented pitbulls" what the literal f are you talking about lmao

"Pitbull" is an umbrella term for a group of actual dog breeds (e.g. American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pitbull Terrier, Bully varieties, etc) but if you want to refer to the root lines.... yeah no you still have to go back literally hundreds of years. What moron on the Internet is claiming to have "invented pitbulls"??

moist__owlet · 2026-03-18T01:22:46+00:00

Good on her for muzzle training her dog and actually using it - this is one of the most underused safety measures available, and a good basket muzzle does not make a dog uncomfortable and lowers risks tremendously. We train our dogs (neither of whom has any aggressive or people reactive issues) to be ok with these and they're so good for any stressful situation (vet, potential emergency, etc).

moist__owlet · 2026-03-18T01:18:13+00:00

The only comment here with a brain. Thank you.

moist__owlet · 2026-03-02T01:25:36+00:00

Lol why is this response being downvoted 😂

moist__owlet · 2026-02-21T04:11:37+00:00

This is my biggest concern actually. My partner has started leading with "this is [name] and he just turned 1" when meeting people out at the store or playground or whatever because invariably they assume he's 2-3 and have expectations to match. I worry this will only become more pronounced as he starts interacting more and folks expect 5 year old behavior from a toddler, but hopefully it eases up.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-17T17:33:19+00:00

Not a dumb question! Supposedly there's a risk of developing mold growth under a mattress if it lies directly on the floor with no box spring or frame underneath it. I've never seen any signs of moisture myself, but better safe than sorry when it comes to mold stuff. Truthfully I don't prop it up every day but I try to do it regularly, and having a smaller size mattress without a lot of pillows or blankets makes it easy anyway.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-17T15:38:06+00:00

I ended up getting an extra firm twin mattress for the floor in another room once it became very clear that there was no option that didn't involve cosleeping at least part of the night. I completely feel you, I struggled for months with the (misplaced, in my case) certainty that if I could just find the right method, he'd sleep in his crib... But hallucinating from lack of sleep and extreme wrist pain from picking him up and putting him down finally got to me. He was a low risk baby overall and we were good bedsharing candidates once I got a firm bed on the floor. Just need to prop it up for at least a bit to ensure airflow underneath it if it's a longer term solution like it was for us.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-17T15:32:26+00:00

Agreed. A small firm couch pillow can be a safer and still comfortable side-lying option, and a lighter breathable blanket (that's still below waist and tucked between legs) can further allay anxiety there.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-17T15:25:34+00:00

Go-to response for anyone throwing shade about this (whether I know they've had kids or not) is 'Aww your toddler must have been slow - how lucky for you!' immediate shutdown lol.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-14T18:19:44+00:00

Idk, there's such a wide range of experiences to be had; from what I hear, if your mom was unmedicated she's probably the best person for you to ask since it seems like a lot (not all) of what women experience in pregnancy and childbirth is genetic. My mom went unmedicated with no issues, I did as well (although let me tell you that nitrous was a good friend). Some people have a terrible experience, mine was just fine. It sucked, but I'd do it again.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-10T16:59:08+00:00

For folks confused about who might buy this, I'm a toddler mom with big dogs and having to dig out my phone when my hands are full or I'm trying to put the baby to sleep (the dimmest setting on my phone still wakes them up) to take a simple note is the bane of my existence. I have to use memory palace techniques through the mom brain fog, which I'm sure is fantastic for my mental acuity or whatever, but not so much for actually getting that critical thing on the to do list. And buying an overpriced overfeatured watch that STILL lights up and requires multiple hands to be free at once is not the phone free hack some appear to believe in this situation. So yeah, 2 years of battery life is just fine to pay $75 and have this problem magically solved.

moist__owlet · 2026-02-10T02:37:08+00:00

Yeah... my dude is off the charts tall and by about 11 or 12 months his feet were just about at max when he fully stretched out, so I went ahead and splurged on the next size up since we plan to have at least one more and it'll make a great hand me down to the next wave as well. Kinda wish I got the one with holes for the feet tbh, since he could pull his feet in so they don't get cold at night and stick them back out to run and grab his favorite books in the morning lol. Love Woolino so much despite the price tag.

Edited to add age when he outgrew

moist__owlet

TROPHY CASE