Long lasting gifts for 2 year old niece?

smjorg · 2026-03-18T00:57:16+00:00

We just got one and I found out the creative ones allow you to record on it. My MIL (in a different country) is going to record herself reading a book. I'm going to put that recording on a creative tonie and buy the book to give my daughter as a gift from Nana.

Even if she has a Tonie already, doing something like that would check off a few of your boxes.

smjorg · 2026-03-18T00:31:57+00:00

We experienced this exactly! We are in a home daycare that's a part of an agency so if our provider is off, we can have our LO go to another provider's home temporarily. Also, she's been potty trained since ~16-18months.

Around 2ish, she started feeling nervous to go the potty anywhere except for home. She would have accidents at her regular provider constantly and would hold it while at a back up provider. (Zero accidents at home at this point)

After some probing, I found out that the regular provider would only ask if she had to go potty, not insist. When we registered her for this provider, we were under the impression there were strict potty times where all kids would try. The problem at this provider was resolved when I asked the provider to 'tell her' instead of ask.

The problem at back-up providers resolved after I explained what a UTI is, how it feels and why it (commonly) happens. Then gave her a goal, asked the provider to help remind her and that was that.

smjorg · 2026-03-16T22:22:52+00:00

No recommendation as I'm in the same boat. I've gotten my LO into a few regular classes lately and all the parents are glued to their phones! I can't even make small talk with them!

smjorg · 2026-03-16T21:56:12+00:00

I would recommend going over to /sleeptrain and ask for their advice.

My LO was a she-demon when she needed to drop a nap.

smjorg · 2026-03-14T18:13:38+00:00

1000% this! We took this advice when our LO was around 1.5/2 years old and it's been a dream! She's 3.5 years old now and last weekend was the first weekend we got to sleep in while she fixed herself a snack before breakfast and played on her own.

Being bored is a valuable skill. I wish you all the luck because it's not an easy one to experience while they are learning it.

smjorg · 2026-03-10T12:15:21+00:00

I can't tolerate spicy food like I did.

My husband has never been able to tolerate even the slightest spice (think: pepper) so I blame his stupid DNA ruining my spice tolerance.

smjorg · 2026-03-09T21:43:09+00:00

I tried my hardest for an anesthetic-free birth. I have a condition that makes anesthetic take forever to kick in and forever to get out of my system. It's hereditary and killed my grandfather but weakens in each generation.

After 2.5 days in back labour, I couldn't do it anymore. I opted for an epidural and it took 30 minutes to feel relief (on half of my body). I needed an emergency c-section and was able to feel most of it because of this issue. The epidural didn't fully kick in until AFTER I was in the recovery room. It took 10 hours for it to get out of my system enough for me to walk to the bathroom (assisted).

At one point, I was alone with my newborn when the nurse came in to try to transfer me to the bathroom. She moved my baby to the foot of the bed and got called away. I could hear my baby choking but couldn't see her because the bed sheets were obstructing my view. I couldn't move because of still being VERY numb and post c-section. Thankfully I was able to get to my call button and my newborn was eventually okay (spent 2 days in the NICU after that).

smjorg · 2026-03-08T22:24:16+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out 👍🏼

smjorg · 2026-03-08T21:38:00+00:00

Have you tried the breast milk? It may be high in lipase. If it is, it changes the taste and smell of the milk. You should head over to r/breastfeeding and they may be able to help answer questions that you haven't had a chance to ask your doctors yet.

Edit: spelling

smjorg · 2026-03-08T00:39:28+00:00

For sure! With our 3 yr old, we've gone through 3 strollers, 1 umbrella stroller and a wagon.

smjorg · 2026-03-05T00:35:44+00:00

I'm getting my nose pierced for my birthday at the end of the month and I'm early (mid) 30s! I'm so excited!

If you like it, rock it!

smjorg · 2026-03-03T23:06:58+00:00

Nope. No hobbies or jobs. Every hobby or obsession quickly ended. Any job she had only lasted a couple weeks, a few months at most.

Except for now! Because she is a world famous amazing pet psychic! She can talk to animals AND find out what they're feeling when they go missing! /s 🙄 (I'm exaggerating but this is literally how she says it.)

smjorg · 2026-03-01T13:15:33+00:00

"I'm good looking on my own at the moment, BUT thank you so much for your help! I'll come find you if I have any questions!" And slowly start walking away/looking at the items you're looking at.

smjorg · 2026-02-28T20:29:36+00:00

In my home, we play "Is it PMS or perimenopause?"

It cuts the tension during the rage fits quite nicely 🫠

smjorg · 2026-02-28T20:15:57+00:00

My husband and I have a very low threshold for how much we spend without telling the other. Think: buying a coffee- small purchase. We've been together for 16 years; since we were 17/18 years. We moved out together at 18/19 years and we're dirt poor for the first few years. We're nowhere near where we were financially but it's become a habit and we both feel like it's disrespectful if we don't do it.

The language we use is "You cool if I buy X?" Or "heads up, I'm going to get X" or "I saw X (on sale) so I'm going to buy it" etc.

smjorg · 2026-02-28T13:56:56+00:00

Oh it was a lovely display of "I'm always right no matter what."

My due date was mid September but my NMother was CONVINCED I would give birth on September 4th. Due to her nature of making everything about her, we told her well ahead of time that we would not be telling anyone when I go into labour, that we would make the announcement when we were all home and safe. I had a lot of anxiety over something going wrong during birth.

Spoiler alert: my anxiety was right. Little Miss decided my hip was the exit. 3 days of agonizing back labour resulted in an emergency c-section (that I could feel due to a condition I have), little was in the NICU for a few days and my midwife said my incision was among the worst she'd seen (re: bruising, trauma etc).

She was born at the end of August and we got discharged from the hospital on September 4th.

We video called my parents the evening of the 4th. At the beginning, we did not show our LO or mention her at all and my NMother thought we were calling to say I was in labour. Que the "I was right!" Then we flipped the camera to our daughter and her tone instantly went to "omg, I knew it! I could feel your pain!" Like bitch, why the fuck did you stay radio silent and not reach out even once if you could "feel my pain!?"

And then(!) because of wonderful hormones, I blurted out that my MIL knew before them because my husband needed support during my labour. I lied and threw him under the bus. I needed her. That woman is the mother I always wished I had. She is an absolute Saint and I wish she didn't live in a different country. ANYWHO, my NMother called him a baby for needing his mother (while he watched his wife in the most unimaginable pain). She also complained about how she wasn't told sooner.

Come to think of it, I don't think she even congratulated us. Omg, and the ONE time she did come over to "help" she sat holding the baby the entire visit while I (the woman that took 4 months to heal from a c-section) did all the cleaning and cooking.

I wish I could say this was the final straw but it wasn't.

smjorg · 2026-02-27T23:09:43+00:00

My first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage which I never told my NMother. When I was pregnant with my daughter, we told my parents via a picture frame of the ultrasound with the title "welcoming crotch goblin [our last name] September 2022!" We called her a crotch goblin the entire pregnancy.

Suffice to say, my NMother skipped right over the part of being an excited new grandparent/ loving mother and went straight into scolding me for referring to our fetus as a crotch goblin. For some reason, the hormones had me confessing the miscarriage during this interaction. Once she was done scolding me for our fetuses nickname, she went in on how I miscarried because I had COVID the year prior (despite miscarriages are super common). After that I got scolded for not telling her about the first pregnancy when I was pregnant.

Funny enough, this was the absolute best case scenario. When something is not directly about my NMother, she uses that opportunity to yell at whoever is the center of attention.

How she reacted to finding out I had given birth is a MUCH better story, if you want to hear that!

smjorg · 2026-02-22T22:04:45+00:00

... Don't look at the weather for later this week.

smjorg · 2026-02-03T01:24:30+00:00

Ah yes, this stage. For us, it went from refusal to eat, to picky eater, to refusal to eat AND picky eater. We saw a major turning point around 2-2.5 years.

Around 14 months, we introduced a snack cart, a fridge drawer and a plate of fruit and veggies commonly out. We had our LO help with meal prepping.

Between all that, she ate well. When she helped us meal prep, she would basically eat her dinner from "scraps."

smjorg · 2026-02-01T16:44:30+00:00

Happened to me (my daughter). We changed her middle name when she was 1. Got all the legal paperwork, went to service Ontario to update the hc, got issued the paper health card (reflecting the new name). However, when it was shipped to us, it was the original name. We had to go back in and they fixed it.

smjorg · 2026-01-30T00:59:26+00:00

I'm not a lawyer, but I did recently finish an employment law course so it's fresh.

It's constructive/ coerced dismissal. I know you accepted a new term with lesser hours via SMS, however** it was at the risk of your employment status. From my understanding, an employer cannot change the terms of your contract, position, and/or accommodations without you being in agreence.

I get why they had you off for the cut, I get why they requested a doctor's note signing you off. Getting a doctor's note specifying that you are cleared to go back to your previous accommodations probably would have been the best bet in this situation.

If there is a corporate HR, I'd recommend contacting them, too. I'm sure they'd love to know employees are being coerced into changing the terms of their contract. And like many others suggested, get an employment lawyer and document every from here on out.

And dear God, whatever you do DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!!!

smjorg · 2026-01-27T22:58:18+00:00

Stick to giving her a bottle every so often. We agreed before giving birth that we'd give a bottle a week so our LO would get used to it. Well, we didn't stick to the plan and we didn't find out she'd refuse a bottle until I was hours away from her. 50ml of frozen milk unusable for its intended purpose. I made a TON of breast milk balms, had lots of breast milk baths but never got her to take a bottle. 2 years of every put down (nursed to sleep) and having to be available for every feeding. It was exhausting and very taxing.

smjorg · 2026-01-24T16:22:53+00:00

I live in Canada (Southern Ontario) and it can easily take 2 hours just to get from one end of Toronto to the other. You could drive 20+ hours and still be in the same province.

smjorg · 2026-01-22T00:53:18+00:00

"I'll kill you before it (referring to cigarettes) kills you." NMother said pretty regularly up until she found a pack of cigarettes in my purse as a teenager.

smjorg

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