Getting Your Toddler to Take Medicine

Getting Your Toddler to Take Medicine

9.23.2019

My sister loved Dimetapp as a kid. There’s an old family story about how she once helped herself to the bottle (but was totally fine, not to worry!). Initially, our twin toddlers were also fine with taking medicine— Tylenol and Motrin from the syringe. But more recently, it’s been a battle of epic proportions. On top of that, they both developed ear infections which meant the addition of some delicious bubblegum amoxicillin.

Attempting to force-feed meds to toddlers upwards of six times a day is a nightmare. There was hitting, pushing, spitting, gagging, crying, and just a huge mess. Desperate for a better way, I rallied all my mom friends to give me their best tips.

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Should I fly the red-eye with my baby?

Should I fly the red-eye with my baby?

8.22.2019

“Should I fly the red-eye with my baby?” I see this question come up a lot in the mom groups on Facebook because moms are worried that taking a late-night cross-country flight with a baby or young child will be, well, a nightmare. If you read the comments on these questions, you’ll get a wide variety of perspectives on the topic.

We’ve flown the red-eye with our twins twice, once when they were 4 months old and again when they were 12 months, so this definitely doesn’t make me an expert on flying with all ages, but I’ll share what I learned from flying with two during their first year.

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Ditch the car and get an e-bike

Ditch the car and get an e-bike

8.08.2019

Driving in San Francisco sucks. Let’s just all agree to that. When we first moved here and looked at a map, I remember thinking how accessible the city looked. Our new apartment was only going to be 2.5 miles from my husband’s new office. Great! Just a quick 15 minute bus ride.

We were in for a rude awakening when it came to San Francisco traffic. We’ve since moved farther from my husband’s office, and now his 4.5 mile commute on the bus takes almost an hour. He would get home stressed, sweaty, and just generally pissed.

Aside from commuting, we tend to do a lot of driving because we have two toddlers. I’ve never managed to navigate public transit with them, and there’s only so much we can walk to in our neighborhood, so we end up driving. In fact, we couldn’t even find a daycare within walking distance, so we have to drive the twins to Pacific Heights three days per week.

We knew there had to be a better way. A way to get around the city that was more fun and more enjoyable and gasp faster than driving.

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Autocamp Yosemite

Autocamp Yosemite

7.25.2019

I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t like camping. The good news is that my husband doesn’t like camping either. We feel exactly zero pressure to take our kids camping. While I’m sure camping with kids could be fun for those who are into it, nothing sounds worse to me. Except for maybe 20 hours on a plane with two toddlers.

You know what I am into? Glamping. I’m 100% on board with “fancy camping” where there’s running water, AC, a pool, helpful staff, and just a touch of nature. If this sounds like your kind of camping, read on for all the glamorous details.

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We had to quit a class

We had to quit a class

7.17.2019

I started taking my twins to little classes/activities around town at about six months old. Initially, I would only do it if I could get my husband to come or on the rare occasion that a grandparent was in town. I just didn’t see how I could manage it without an extra set of hands. #twinlife

As the twins got a little older and I got a little braver, we started venturing to classes on our own. It was always a challenge. I normally called ahead to make sure the building was accessible by stroller. I always asked the teacher if the class was set up for a one adult /two children situation. (Classes like swimming obviously require an adult for every child.) I made sure I understood where I could park and what my route into the building would look like. And sure, these outings involved a lot of planning for a simple 30-40 minute music class, but I kind of enjoyed the challenge and being able to conquer it.

My philosophy has always been that if we go out and do something and it sucks, we’ll just leave. Simple as that. We’d been lucky though. Due to careful planning and practice, we never had to leave a class early.

Until now.

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