Why Is My Toddler Suddenly a Picky Eater? – Ep. 88
March 9, 2020
Listen Now:
When Laura’s toddler transforms from a food lover to a picky eater, she wonders if maybe she should have seen this coming, and Shanna’s work-from-home routine is upended when she and her daughters all fall sick at the same time. In this week’s special segment, “Gripe Water,” strangers in playgrounds, baby poop, internet behemoths and alphabet rugs make Laura and Shanna ask themselves, “Are you f-ing kidding me???” Finally, the moms reveal their BFPs and BFNs for the week. Shanna’s toddler is 13 months and 4 weeks old, and Laura’s toddler is 13 months old.
This episode’s show notes – https://bigfatpositivepodcast.com/ep-88/ | Get social – Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bfppodcast/ | Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigfatpositivepodcast/ | Email – [email protected] | Our mom-tested ultimate baby registry list – https://bigfatpositivepodcast.com/registry
Show Notes:
- Fake and dangerous kids products are turning up for sale on Amazon Super scary!
- Little Tykes First Slide* Shanna's toddler loves this indoor/outdoor slide! *affiliate link
- Little Tykes Rocking Horse* Cute little rocking horse for your toddler!
- OAISNIT Toddler Shoes* Okay, so these definitely have a weird description on Amazon, but the shoes are super easy to put on and they stay on! *affiliate link
This episode's sponsors:
Whisker Litter-Robot
Litter-Robot is the world’s best automatic self-cleaning litter box. And just for listening to Big Fat Positive, you can save an extra $50 on bundles! Just use BFP at checkout.
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Episode Transcript
Shanna
Hi, and welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, Gripe Water, where we get to bitch and moan about things that are bothering us lately, including park etiquette and some aggravating mysteries. We wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get to it. Hi, welcome to episode 88. Hey, Laura. How are you guys doing?
Laura
Hi, Shanna. We're good. So my toddler is 13 months now. And so I think I've talked about what a great eater my baby is. Yeah. Well, it's starting to get harder. Really? I've been warned that toddlers get pickier and I'm starting to see it happen. My baby who would eat literally anything you put in front of him is now starting to have a real opinion, especially about vegetables. And dinners are just getting harder. Like lunches, I don't know, there's still something easy about lunches partially because you, I don't know, I feel like my lunches tend to be like collections of snacks.
Shanna
Yeah, kind of. Yeah.
Laura
More than anything, but trying to come up with dinner menus for him, it's starting to get challenging and I'm starting to worry a little bit that he is going to become a really picky eater. I'm hoping that because we started with a baseline of like him eating pretty much anything that him getting picked here means he'll just sort of eat more than your average toddler, but we'll see. Like right now, he really only reliably will eat like fruit and pasta. I mean, like he'll eat other stuff, but you never know if he's going to that particular night. Like one night he will he'll eat roast chicken. And then the next night he'll be like, pick it up, put it in his mouth. He doesn't he tries everything, which is great for him, but he like puts he'll put stuff in his mouth and then he just goes.
Shanna
and it just like the open mouth and it just tumbles out.
Laura
I know that very well, yes. And there's no more tricking him like by mixing stuff together because he's really good at picking stuff out. So he will like pick out any of like the veggies and ugh. But anyway, I'm trying to. They're getting smarter and smarter. Smarter and smarter. They're outsmarting us. So yeah, I'm trying not to be too concerned about it because I know that it's a phase. I actually saw something on Instagram where someone was saying that people have suggested that the reason toddlers get picky. Have we talked about this? No, I don't think so. Is that they think from an evolutionary standpoint toddlers are walking now, right? And that is the time where they could wander off into the woods and start picking berries off the trees that are poisonous for them, right? So the idea is that at this age, they evolutionarily, is that a word evolutionarily? I think so. Yes.
Are starting to get picky because it helps them not eat the poisonous berries off the trees, basically. Okay, that makes sense. It makes sense. Except for my baby will put everything in his mouth.
If we're at the park, the wood chips go straight in his mouth. Everything he finds.
Shanna
Well, that's how you have to test if it's poison or not. That's true. You can't just tell with your eyes. You gotta get a little taste. Apparently, carrots are now poison. Peas are poison. Peas are poison. And the thing with my baby is she gives all the poisonous stuff straight to the dogs. If it's not like a hard toss off the high chair and onto the wall, it's just straight like hand feeding to the dogs. They love it, of course, though.
Laura
They're the king's food tasters or whatever, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. But, yeah, so, oh, and did I tell you also, my mom warned me about this, if we talked about this. She does this thing a lot, which sometimes drives me up the wall where she likes to sort of for tell the future in a foreboding kind of way. So when he was, not in a dangerous way, but it's sort of like, you know, if he's very cuddly and sweet, let's say she's like, just look out when he's X number of years, he's gonna want nothing to do with you. And I'll be like, don't, why are you ruining my future? I just want, maybe he'll be one of those babies that isn't. That's just an example, but. So she did this with food. So when he was like nine months old and eating literally anything you put in front of him, I'd be like, oh my gosh, she's such a good eater. And she was like, just wait.
She's like, when he turns 12 months, he's going to start slowing down on what he eats and he's going to get pickier. And I was like, maybe not my baby. And she's like, no, I'm telling you this to warn you because apparently every year she gets people Coming into her office parents who are like my baby used to eat everything and now he's barely eating anything what what can I do like they're worried about them and so she was warning me she was like. Toddlers they need way less like their calorie needs I guess go down or you know it's just like a different phase and so she's like he's gonna eat less. and you need to not panic about it when it happens because everyone panics. Everyone thinks, oh my God, my baby's not eating enough food.
So she warned me and I was annoying at the time because we were like, maybe not my baby, but thankfully it, you know, prepared me because now I'm like, okay, he's eating less. He's eating fewer types of food and that's okay. And that's natural and let's not like force anything on him or panic. Like he's going to be fine.
Shanna
Good. Yeah. I think that's a helpful forewarning. I will say, I've been calling my baby Picky for a while, but now that I look back, yeah, that kind of started around 12 months around when she started walking more. And what I have noticed is that she's Picky a lot of days, but then one or two days, she's ravenous and she will just devour everything I give her and more. And so I see these fluctuations of ups and downs that I think maybe she's going through a growth spurt one day or maybe one day she's teething and it hurts a little more so she doesn't want to eat as much or something like that. So I've definitely grown comfortable with the picky eating and the fluctuations, especially because I have an older kid. Yeah, you've been through it. Yeah. They just are. I was the same way with Elle. She ate so much when she was little. You know what I mean?
I'm like, oh my God, this baby eats hummus and miso soup and all this stuff. She does love seaweed snacks, which blows my mind as a four-year-old. But in general, it's pretty standard and pretty picky what she likes. Maybe she'll just grow out of it. We'll see who knows.
Laura
She's fine though. Yeah, I feel like what I'm trying to do is just keep offering the veggies even if it's so frustrating when you're basically throwing them away at the end of every meal. But I know there are the weird days where he'll like give it a try. So I'm trying to keep it as an option, not think of it as a set in stone like he doesn't like this, right? It's like just today he doesn't want it and maybe tomorrow he'll actually like you know, peas again.
Shanna
So yeah, that's a great strategy. I like that idea.
Laura
Yeah. So we're doing that. And so that's the interesting development. And then, you know, now that he's walking, we have decided to go back to swim class. Yay. We went a few times back when he was, I want to say like four or five months old, and he had fun, but it was an It was too early. It was just a little too early. He wasn't really getting anything out of it. I was getting more out of it. I think it was really for me to feel comfortable holding him in the pool and stuff. So that was worth it. But anyway, I bought a package back then and I was like, oh crap, I've got to use up this package within a year. So we booked some more classes, and we went back to one class this week, and oh my God, he loves it. Oh, fun. Loves it. And the teacher wants to up him to the next level already.
Shanna
What? Oh my God, future Olympian, Michael Phelps up in here.
Laura
Well, I guess the criteria to up to the next level in the parent and me class at this place is that they're not upset when they have to get their face wet, their whole head underneath. And that they can float on their backs, not without help, of course, but that they can float on their back with assistance. And he thinks it's hilarious when his face gets wet. He wants more of it. He wants to get dunked. They do this exercise where you hold them on their chest. You're basically like sandwiching your palms.
between their chest and their between their shoulder blades and you're encouraging them to like swim along and he just like kicks and splashes and he's like really trying to swim and then you go one two three under and you get them dip them under and like all the other babies you know understandably so they go under and then they like start coughing and then they're like you know crying oh yeah i dip him under and he goes like
He loves it.
Laura
And he just wants more. And then you also, like, help them pretend to sort of get up on the side of the pool, like elbow, elbow, knee, knee, butt. And then you sing Humpty Dumpty. So I don't know why Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And then they're supposed to, like, launch themselves into the pool, into your arms, of course. And, you know, they're like, oh, you know, you're going to have to do it for them. Nope. I just sat them there and did Humpty Dumpty. And then he just, like, launched himself forward. So I think we're gonna be going to the next level. Fun. Yeah. And the floating, oh, he floated on his back. The instructor was like, here, let me try with him because I was like holding his back and his butt, right? And she's like, let me try him. And so she comes over and he ended up floating on his back with her just holding his head. Wow. I know. And he was just like chilling.
Shanna
Oh, wow.
Laura
He loves it. He loves it. So the downside is that it's a whole ordeal getting a baby in and out of the water. Like I had only ever gone with Corey to help me. And this time I went by myself. So like we both got in the water. So we had to go rinse off afterwards and both get changed. And that was, it's a logistical challenge to figure out how to do that. Thankfully, they have these little seats in the shower room that you strap the baby in. It's like a high chair, basically, but attached to the wall.
Shanna
Oh, that's thoughtful. Yeah.
Laura
So that was the only way I was able to get anything done.
Shanna
Wow. Yeah. When I take CECE to the YMCA pool, it's just pure chaos I mean it's like trying to be in the changing room with her and she's running around it's actually easier now that she walks because I can just like stand her up on you know on the floor and do my stuff and just kind of like watch where she goes. But before she could even walk, I was just like, what do I do with her while I dry off and change, set her on the ground? No. Those chairs would have been perfect for that.
Laura
I'm starting to think I really wish all public bathrooms had a chair like that. Yeah. Because it's really a challenge to know how to pee when you're out in public with the baby and it's just you. I've had this problem where I'm like, well, I've held him in the past, which is I guess now that he's walking it's okay, but I mean he's just gonna get down on his hands and try to pick something off the bathroom floor. I know. I wish these chairs existed everywhere, but yeah. So anyway, we're excited about swim class. I think we might do one more of the beginning level just to make sure it wasn't like a fluke and then we'll have to try to find the intermediate level and report back. Awesome. But anyway, so we had a pretty fun week. I have to say all things considered. Shanna, what have you guys been up to?
Shanna
Oh, we kind of have the opposite. CCL and I are all sick right now. And yeah, I don't know. Elle brought it home from school, of course, on Thursday. I had a low fever and a cough and stuff. So we kept her home Thursday and Friday. And then Cece got a fever and cough this weekend and so did I. And it's just, it's very exhausting to juggle working and keeping an eye on a four year old. And, you know, it's really tricky. It's just so exhausting to multitask working and watching a four year old and a baby. Steve took off and worked from home on Thursday, which was helpful, of course, but it's draining.
Laura
Yeah, plus when you're sick too, right? It's so hard. I think last week we talked about how I had food poisoning and the only saving grace was that my nanny was scheduled that day because you're exhausted yourself. You need to take care of yourself. And then you've got all these other creatures to take care of. So I actually have a question about how do you handle medicine with the two kids? Do you use a tracker to keep track of when you give Tylenol or ibuprofen to your kids? How do you keep all that straight? Because I imagine with two kids, it's like a lot.
Shanna
Yeah, I have a tracker. It's called my brain, which is like a sieve. So if I remember the last dose, there wasn't a lot of medication juggling going on. Elle didn't really need too much. Hers was kind of mild. Friday, her staying home was almost just like a, like a gimme day. Like she just wanted to stay home and we're like, oh whatever. Okay. And Cece on the other hand was refusing medicine. Like she just, when she gets sick, she won't even take Tylenol, ibuprofen, she spits it everywhere. That's part of the exhaustion is trying to get her to take some damn medicine to get the fever down. So yeah, I just give it to her and I try to remember. And usually that works. Sometimes what Steve and I will do is we'll text each other. Like gave gave CECE Tylenol at 10 o'clock. That's smart. So that we know. But that's really all we have. We don't we don't track anything officially in any way.
So good question, though. I like that. Do you have a method?
Laura
Well, I the baby tracker app that I weaned myself off of, you know, for tracking. Oh, yes. Breastfeeding. I still track naps on it and they actually have a section where you can put in medication. So it's called Baby Tracker is the app and very straightforward. And it's actually really cool because it does sync between, you know, Corey's phone and my phone and you have your sort of pre-selected, you preload the dosages and stuff. So you just click Tylenol. It's actually helped us remember what the dose is. you know, because like it changes based on their weight. And so I couldn't remember the other day, like what was the dose for the Tylenol and thankfully it had been saved in the app. So I was like, oh yeah, it's 3.75 or whatever. Yeah, that's so smart.
Shanna
I never remember either. And I think I often give her too little medicine.
Laura
Also, it has a school feature where you can either see the time you gave it to them or if you tap it, it says how long it's been. So that's really helpful.
Shanna
Yeah, so you don't even have to do the math because it'll say like five hours and 56 minutes ago and you're like okay great perfect you know time for more that's so cool i love that idea i probably won't implement it let's be honest i'm overwhelmed but yeah so she's still not doing well. I'm feeling a little bit better, but I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow. So I might have an update next week of how things are going. And I'm just so tired of everyone being sick. It's like, God, come on. This poor baby has been sick so much since she's been born.
Laura
Was Elle like that? Or do you think it's just because Elle is bringing home older kid germs?
Shanna
Oh, that's 100% why. Elle was not like that. She didn't get her first fever and like serious thing until she was like a year and a half. And she started daycare and went to and she got hand foot and mouth disease. And yeah. So I really think it's, you know, she's just exposed to a lot more than, than Elle was.
Laura
And there's really no way around it. What are you going to like isolate Elle? Yeah.
Shanna
And just in general. Yeah, I know. In general, it's been a tough week because CECE is It's just like this trifecta of sickness, teething, leaping. She's in her ninth leap, I think. And I just can always tell when she is, I really think there's something to this fussiness of, you know, starting to go through this leap and she's way more clingy, way like cries the second I walk away from her. Very needy, very just so sensitive, like happy one second and then can just be like scream crying the next. So this kind of up and down is already like, draining on me and so I'm just tired yeah that sounds exhausting yeah is it the molars or the pre-molars or whatever that are coming in I think so I can't tell for sure I tried sticking my finger in there to like you know touch and good luck
I was trying to shimmy my finger around and they're like, let me feel what's going on in there. And she just got him between her front teeth and just bit down like it was a graham cracker or something. I don't even know. Yeah, it hurt so bad. So I'd avoid that now. They have the jaws of snapping turtles, I swear. We do. I could not believe how hard that bite was. It was wild. So don't stick your finger in your kid's mouth. Don't recommend it.
Laura
Unless you're wearing like chain mail.
Shanna
Yes, exactly. That's that's the product we need to invent. Oh my god, but that's that's pretty much my check in for this week. It's not too exciting. I'm sorry, but it is what it is.
Laura
I hope you guys feel better soon.
Shanna
Thank you.
Laura
Mostly because I want to hang out with you guys. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages because you guys are always getting sick.
Shanna
I know between the four of us. Oh God, anyway, OK. Let's move on to our fun segment, shall we? I think it's a good idea. Okay.
Laura
And we're back, so our special segment for this week is GRIPE WATER, where we get to complain freely like we don't do that any other day about the stuff that annoys us or bothers us about parenthood. It could be pregnancy, but I I bet it's all going to be parenthood right now. Shanna, what are you going to gripe about today?
Shanna
Okay, so you know that I love Amazon and I do a ton of shopping on Amazon and I have for years. And I just feel like lately it's become weirdly unreliable. At times it really bothers me that like I'll do a search for something and then within the first page some weird ass product comes up. that I'm like, who is selling this? Why does it have so many reviews that look so sketchy? But I don't know. Maybe I should get that product. I don't know. And so I'm starting to feel like I don't know if I can trust my Amazon purchases. So, okay, for example, I came across this product, and this is one of my gripes too. The title of the product is basically just like a string of 60 keywords. Yeah.
Laura
That's always a red flag for me.
Shanna
Yeah. Mommy baby baby lounger baby nest 100% soft breathable cotton newborn lounger perfect for coast sleeping portable crib baby bassinet snuggle bed for travel suitable for zero to 12 months infant. So basically it's like a docketot type of thing. So if you're shopping for a docketot but you want to get something cheaper, you might like look into this. I'm always looking for cheaper options. So this is why this kind of stuff appeals to me, right? So you're looking through and I'm looking at the photographs of this product and then I come across this photograph that they include as one of the actual pictures of the product and I'm going to send it to you. Since I found it, they have taken it off, so I can't send you the link, but I saved this picture. Okay, here you go.
Laura
Okay, I'm going to describe it. Okay. This is a very happy looking hipster, probably like late 20s, early 30s couple, very casually laying in their bed next to this dog-a-tot looking thing.
Inside of it, there is what is clearly a badly photoshopped infant that is probably half the size of an infant should be who appears to be screaming, right?
Shanna
And they're like lovingly looking at this baby who's I mean, this is like a micro preemie if it's in real scale.
Laura
Oh my God.
Shanna
Like it's so hilarious. Like the stock footed, like the stock photo of the couple, plus like the photo shopped baby and the baby is miserable. It's just so weird and like this kind of shit on Amazon. I'm like, who am I shopping from? Who am I buying from? Like obviously I did not buy this product.
Laura
Well, it's a big problem. Do you know there was like a whole expose about this recently?
Shanna
Well, I kind of generally know that a lot of reviews are like bought and not accurate. And that's another gripe of mine, which I can go into in a minute. But what are you speaking of?
Laura
Okay. So I saw this, this was back in December, but the headline is fake and dangerous kids products are turning up for sale on Amazon. But it's really kind of scary because what they did was they actually bought stuff that's being marketed as a brand name. So they bought a Duna car seat. Who they? The parents? CNN. Oh, OK. CNN bought something that was described as a four-in-one baby car seat and stroller by Duna, which is like an expensive thing. Apparently Ivanka Trump had one or something. OK. And it was listed for $299, which is $200 cheaper than the regular price, right? And then they put it in a, whatever, what do you call it, like a crash simulator? It's not a simulator, like a crash test, right? And apparently the car seat broke into pieces in a 30 mile per hour crash test.
Shanna
That triggers my anxiety. That is terrifying.
Laura
It is. No, it's completely terrifying. And CNN went and found all these products that were being sold on Amazon that were basically trying to be copycats. This one's trying to be a doctot copycat and we're completely unsafe. And the problem is that Amazon is not enforcing So like they're supposed to enforce copycat rules, but it's basically, they called it like whack-a-mole, because it relies on people to report them, right? Which is probably why that one you found is not there anymore, because someone reported it and it was taken down. But they pop up faster than they can take them down, basically. I share this gripe because I've started getting really, really picky about what I buy from Amazon. My method is I always look at who is actually selling it. Do you know how to do that?
Shanna
I do, but I don't always do that. That's a good thing to remind us of.
Laura
Well, I did end up returning something when my baby was like a three or four months old, because I actually, it wasn't me, it was my mom. My mom bought these teethers on Amazon. And I was like, one thing that really tipped me off was the same teether was listed like by six different companies, you know, was like always a red flag.
Shanna
Yes.
Laura
And then I was like, you know what, I'm going to go to Ali Baba, Ali Express, right? Which is the Chinese sort of, sort of the Chinese Amazon is like a Chinese wholesale website where you can buy everything. And I found the exact same teeters being sold for like you know, 20 cents a package or something. And you know, not that there's necessarily anything wrong from China, but we don't know. Like we don't know if these have been tested for lead. We don't know if they've been tested for like dangerous chemicals. So I immediately returned them. And now I only that that opened my eyes to paying attention to who sells things. So I'm being anything that goes in my baby's mouth to or anything that has to do with safety. I just have to be vigilant. But yeah, it sucks. It really does.
Shanna
And speaking of red flags, some of the other ones aside from badly photoshopped pictures is a great red flag. I would never buy that product. The other thing I've come across a lot and for some reason this always comes up when I'm searching for party supplies for my kids. I'll look for like a banner, right? Happy Birthday banner, Paw Patrol. And I'll find the one I want. And it's got like 2,000 reviews. And I'm like, okay, like that seems okay. And then I start like scrolling through the reviews. And then like half of them aren't even for the banner. It's like this tablecloth was wonderful. Like it did a great job. And I'm like, was this listing once for a tablecloth? And now it's for a banner. But it's like retaining the reviews from when it was a tablecloth. And I just hate that shit. It's like, don't try to pull the wool over my eyes, assholes.
Laura
But it works. And there's a reason they do it, right? Because it works. And we see, oh, you know, 10,000 five star reviews. Great. You know, I'm going to buy this. So it sucks because it means you have to be Conscious consumer attention to things, but it has made me really, really think twice about ordering certain baby stuff off of the Amazon and paying really. Oh, for people who don't know the way you tell who's selling something is like underneath the description, it will have a little like in a different color on month. Let's see. I'm going to pull up my app so that I can tell you exactly right but on the iPhone app like let's go into something underneath the title of what you're buying or actually on mine it's above it there's like a little in blue there's a little name of like who's selling it and so you can see if it's the actual company selling it.
And you can click through and see what they're selling or you can see if it's some random, you know, bizarro company that doesn't make it, you know, doesn't exist. You can also check the reviews of the company when you click through. Yes.
Shanna
And sometimes I will just Google search that company. Like, so for instance, this. Oh, that's a good idea. Dacotot Lounge or knockoff. is by a company called Mommy Baby. So I clicked on it just now because of what we're talking about. And I see more horribly photoshopped images, by the way. And then I Google searched it and like the first couple like results are for their Amazon store. So I'm like, that's not an actual, that's not like even flow or Kiko or like an actual company producing things. They're just someone supplying shit they're getting from somewhere. I don't know. I don't trust that.
Laura
Yeah, I agree. Okay, so I have to admit that I actually bought something that totally fits all these red flag warnings for the baby recently, but it was kind of awesome. It was just a pair of shoes, so I figure it's not really a safety issue. Yeah, if they disintegrate on his feet, whatever, but he's not putting them in his mouth usually. We actually ended up buying two pairs of them. because they were so great, but I need to redo the description. So the title of it is Baby Boy's Girl Sneakers Anti-Slip Lightweight Soft Toddler First Walkers for Walking Running. So it's like all the keywords. And then the description says, they're called OISNIT, O-A-I-S-N-I-T. OISNIT is a brand specializes in all kinds of multifunctional baby children's shoes. High quality, comfortable, leisure children's shoes full of the flavor of innocence. covering all ages demand brand.
Welcome to Oisnit Baby Kids Footwear Store. Are you still hesitating to buy what kind of baby shoes for your lovely baby boy or girl here? You can find your interesting. You read this and you were like, got to have it. Actually, I saw a friend had these shoes and I was just like, what shoes are they? And she sent the links. OK, gotcha. That's hilarious. Oh, man. They're good shoes, though. Yeah, so we have to be vigilant and that sucks because Amazon is super convenient. I will say the thing that's really replaced Amazon for me for a lot of things is target drive-up shopping. I don't know if they have this.
Shanna
I haven't tried that yet.
Laura
Yeah, you just order on the target app and then you tell them when you're coming. You order, they say it's ready, and if you're on your way, you press a little button that says on your way when you're there, you say, I'm here and someone walks out to the car, puts it in your trunk for you. Yeah.
Shanna
That's awesome.
Laura
You don't have to take the baby out of the car seat.
Shanna
Although that's the only place we go, Laura. It's the only social interaction we get. Hey, you can go out.
Laura
You can get out of the car and go to Target if you want. That's true. You do you.
Shanna
All right. So that's mine.
Laura
What do you got? I actually have two. Do you think we have time to do another one after this? I think we do. Yeah, why not? Okay, so I'll do this short little one, which is, I just feel like everyone's going to sympathize with me on this one. I don't have a big story to go with it. It's just that it drives me crazy. Now that our babies are older, they're not pooping as much. Like when they're newborns, right, they're pooping all the time. So you're like always changing diapers. But now the babies are older and you have to actually like, I don't know about your baby. My baby does not care if he's in a wet diaper. at all, like he doesn't tell me. So I have to like really pay attention and change the wet diapers. Otherwise like there are times you'll just forget and I'm like, oh my God, baby, I'm so sorry. You know, you're sitting in this like enormous diaper. It's swollen.
But it's always a risk if the baby hasn't had his poop that day because I'm always doing this dance like, should I change the diaper? His diaper is wet, but what if he poops right away? And I'm telling you, Without fail. I'll be like, okay, the diapers wet. Let's go change the diaper. I go. I changed the diaper, which is not an easy task right now. Like you always have to find something to distract him. There always is like a struggle. I have to do a lot of like, I hear that you don't want to be on the changing table. But right now, you know, like he's like, trying to stand up on the changing table. Anyway, wrestle the bear into a new diaper. We're all exhausted. Finally get him back dressed, button the onesie, put the pants on, put him back down on the ground, and then he squats.
And has a big old poop. And I'm just like, couldn't have done this five minutes ago.
Shanna
Every single time he wants a fresh canvas man his art Yeah, yeah for me it's like oh come on you could have like I just kind of wasted a diaper like you could have just like pooped in the wet one and then it would all been but no It's in a nice clean run.
Laura
It's the time and effort for me. I'm not so worried about the cost of the diaper as much as I'm just like, ugh, you're kidding. And you can't just leave a baby sitting in a poopy diaper. No. That's a recipe for diaper rash. So you're like, OK, well. Here we go again. And this time it's harder because you can't wiggle as much. It's just a wet diaper. Who cares if they roll around and try to stand up. Yes.
Shanna
Trying to get them out of that poop is no fun. Have you ever had a diaper get so full that it bursts? No. Have you seen this before? Oh my god. This is crazy. The first time it happened with Al, I think it was an overnight. diaper. Uh-huh. I got her up in the morning and opened her diaper. It was so puffy and so full. And on the inside, her entire diaper area was covered in like these little gel beads. Oh my God. Like the adorned beads of the diaper. Yeah. And they were just everywhere. Oh no. Like they just exploded. So that's what happens when a diaper gets too saturated and partly why pools don't want you to bring regular diapers because when they do get saturated they explode and this little like. Oh my God. Absorbent ball shit goes everywhere.
Laura
I've seen like one or two of them that have escaped, but like not not a whole diaper full.
Shanna
Oh god Yeah, it's I was like, oh my god, what's wrong with my baby? And then I realized it was the diaper and it was still disturbed, but
Laura
at least it wasn't coming out of her body.
Shanna
I know, right? The things you think is a mom. Oh my God, she's oozing gel balls.
Laura
No, Shanna, no. Phew. This kind of actually makes me want to go check my baby's diaper. Yeah, go do it. Should we take a little break and come back with a few more gripe waters? Oh, let's do it.
Okay, we're back and we have a couple more gripe waters for y'all. Shanna, what's your next complaint?
Shanna
Okay, so there's something that's been going around my mom's group. I've seen it on Reddit too. And it drives me nuts. It drives a lot of mom's nuts because we cannot figure this out. It pisses me off that it's so inscrutable. And so I have to talk about it and I have to see if you can help. Okay. Sure. So I don't remember the lore of this thing. Someone saw this, it's like a, I think it's like a rug hanging, you know, like a decorative rug hanging. Like a tapestry. Tapestry of sorts, yes. Children's tapestry hanging somewhere. And it's an alphabet thing. So each letter has a corresponding picture that goes with it. And the pictures in general aren't amazing, but you can tell what they are, right? So there's a snippet of this piece of tapestry with like, you can see the letter D is dinosaur, E is obviously egg. And then the ones below it, you kind of jump down, I is igloo.
And then there's like N, nest, whatever. The J, nobody knows what the frick, this J is supposed to be. You know, this podcast is explicit.
Laura
You can just say the F word. But I'm a mom. No one knows what the fuck this J is, OK? I'm going to send you the picture. Yeah, I want to see, because I'm a busy body, know it all. So I want to see if I can figure this out.
Shanna
People have a lot of theories about it, but nothing is obvious. Like J, I don't know, just like do a Jack in the Box or something really obvious, right? Sending you a picture.
OK, let's see. Let's see. Oh, OK. So OK, let me describe it to everybody. OK. It's a green background, like a forest green. And on the left side, there is a pink, tiny mound that kind of looks like the tip of a penis. Let's be honest. It does, yeah. It does. And then it looks like at the bottom of this, there's a couple, like a light green and a dark green, possibly like a mountain. range, a couple white dots, a couple like a few twigs or something sticking out of the right hand side of the picture. I mean, I am at a complete loss on what this is and I don't understand why they just didn't make it something obvious. Is it jumping? Like, is it jumping over stuff? A lot of people guessed that. They guessed, like, jumping, like how jumps over the moon. But it's like, why not just, like, make a cow over a moon?
Like, why, like, make an abstract of, like, the cow's back legs and udders flying? And what's the thing on the left-hand side that looks like a wiener? I mean...
Laura
It does look like a wiener. What is going on? Well, at the top, there's something that's the same pink, right? That has little legs or something, but they would have to be cut off. That is weird.
Shanna
This is so weird. We have to share this photo immediately so listeners will know what we're talking about. We definitely need help. You're right. Like, one of my guesses was maybe like, is it Juniper? Like, is it supposed to be a tree? Like, hmm. But that's so not obvious either. And like what child like is like, J is for Juniper. All children.
Laura
All children, yeah. Yeah. Wow. I don't, I, this is a snumper. I have to admit, I don't have any idea what these things are doing. So there's no definitive answer.
Shanna
There's no definitive answer.
Laura
So this is turning into it. It takes a village segment where we need our listeners help. Okay. We'll post this on our Instagram and in our show notes on our website so people can go find it.
Shanna
Yes, give us your theories, we need to know. And if anyone knows who made this tapestry, I think that's really how we're gonna get to the bottom of it because so many of the theories, they can kind of pass muster, but I just, oh man, I really wanna know for sure.
Laura
Maybe it's meant to confound us. Maybe it's meant to mess with our heads. Maybe. Oh, this is fascinating.
Shanna
Whoa.
Laura
Maybe it's a jumble. Jumble. Because it's like a jumble of things. A jumble, yeah.
Shanna
A jumble of mountains and wieners. A wieners.
Just your typical jumble, just your typical miscellany. Yeah.
Oh my God. OK, we'll share this. You guys help us out. That's all. That's all. I'm just pissed at this picture and that I don't know what it is and why someone would make it so inscrutable. Okay, you're up. What's yours?
Laura
Okay, so mine is it's directed at a specific person and I feel bad about this, but who shall not be named because I don't actually know her name. I was just annoyed because I walked with to the park recently with my toddler. And he loves going on the swings. Swings are life for him. He absolutely loves it, right? So we got to the park. We're going to have a little snack. And we got there. And there, at this particular park, there are, you know, bigger kid swings. And then there's one bucket seat, you know, baby swing. And then there's also like this weird chair swing. Oh, those are handicap accessible. That's what it is. I was like, I didn't know what it was and it looked like it wasn't really going to work for my baby and there wasn't a strap. So I was just like, I don't think we're going to use it. So essentially there was one baby swing. That's fine.
So we got there and we start strolling up to the play area and my baby sees the swings and he's immediately like, you know, doing his Jedi point like, I want to go there. And there was, it was being used, right? So it's like, okay, you know, that that's very common, right? And I think that we've all learned park etiquette, you sort of wait your turn, whatever. So I spread out our little blanket so we can have our little snack. And the whole time he's like, eh, eh, to the swing. And I'm not far from the swing. I'm like, definitely within hearing distance of the swing.
Shanna
Yeah.
Laura
And I look a little closer to who's using the swing. And a mom has put her like four year old daughter in this swing, which I think like, You know, maybe, you know, I think there's some four-year-olds who maybe still need the bucket seat. Probably not, but you never know.
Shanna
I will say Elle does use it sometimes. It's fun to like swing super, super duper high.
Laura
Yeah, and I didn't have any problem with the fact that this four-year-old was in the swing. At first she but she was sitting there and she wasn't actually swinging and then as we're like sitting there and my baby is losing his mind because he wants to go to the swing. I noticed that the mom has basically put this four year old in the swing because she didn't want her running around the park and the girl was just sitting there having a snack. No. Yes. What? And again, if there was no one else there, she was treating it like a high chair, right? And meanwhile, the mom is like looking at her phone, right? So anyway, we finished our snack and I've said a couple times like, well, we got to wait our turn for the swing, you know, hoping that. You know, because you'll say, I definitely find that when we're using the swing, I don't notice that there's someone behind us, right?
So someone can, when I hear a mom saying like, it's not our turn yet, I'll, I'll be like, oh, okay, you know, like we'll do a couple more swings and then give it to someone else. So I've said that a couple of times. No, absolutely no. reaction from the mom. So then I'm like, okay, let's go run around the park. So we're running around and he's walking now, right? So it's funny, you know, I put him on the top of the slide a couple of times and, you know, we see he slid down and, but he kept wanting to go to the swing. So he kept like walking back towards the swing. And right now we're at like, I think 15 or 20 minutes of this girl just sitting in the one bucket seat, right?
Shanna
Just picturing this giant kid in her feet.
Laura
Yeah, her feet are almost touching the ground.
I'm so odd. And then the mom goes and sits in the other swing, the accessible swing. Oh my God. And so she's like looking at her phone. And meanwhile, my guy's like, eh, eh, and I keep being like, well, it's not our turn. And so finally, he runs over and he's literally standing in front of both of them. And I'm getting annoyed, you know, because I'm like, come on. Yeah. Like, I don't want to judge her from a, I'm not judging her from a mom point of view. Like, if this is how she gets her 10 minutes of quiet, that's fine. But if there's other kids needing to use the swing, like you gotta, you gotta. Park etiquette is real. Yeah. So we get there and she finally is like, oh, you want to use the swing? And she got up from the accessible one.
What?
Laura
And walked away. So I like put him in that and like carefully pushed him a few times. And she didn't, she never left the swing like for, it was like a half hour. And then finally she got her daughter out of the swing. I think only because her daughter was like wanting to run around.
Shanna
Uh-huh.
Laura
But man, swing etiquette, people.
Shanna
Swing etiquette 101. That, that's just rude.
Laura
That's just so rude. And I feel like the four-year-old could have sat in like the completely empty older kids swings and had her snack.
Shanna
Yeah, exactly. Especially if there's a little baby like wanting to get in that swing.
Laura
Oh, and you know what? Every single time I've gone back to that part, I've gone like two or three times since then, they've been there. Not on the swing, thankfully, but like that same mom is there and I'm like... Oh, gosh. I don't want to interact with you.
Shanna
I feel like if she does that again, you've got to say something. I mean, not like you shouldn't put your kid in that swing, but like, oh, do you mind if my baby takes his turn in the baby swing?
Laura
Yeah. I think I'm going to have to.
Shanna
Yeah. Report back how it goes down. Mom fisticuffs at the playground.
Laura
Right. I just, you know, I expect there to be some problems with the kids sharing, but like adults learn to share. Yes, yes. And adults don't sit in the damn swing if there's kids waiting.
Shanna
If there's kids waiting, yes. I will occasionally sit on the swing and, you know, have a glide, but if there's kids around, my ass is off the swing for sure.
Laura
Yep, yep. So that was annoying. I'm so glad I have a venue to come play. I know. Isn't it fun? It is fun. But do you think we should move on to our BFPs and BFNs for the week? Oh yeah, let's do it. Okay.
Shanna
Okay, we're back with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Laura, you're up. What you got?
Laura
I have a BFP, which are t-shirts, instead of onesies, specifically t-shirts instead of onesies.
Shanna
Oh, that's interesting, because when you mentioned earlier about diaper changing, you're like, and then put on the onesie and I was like, what? Are you guys still using onesies? I almost said that and then I didn't. So this is interesting. Okay. Tell me. It's good. You didn't ruin the BFP.
Laura
Well, sometimes onesies are good because you like, if you don't have a onesie on and you're carrying the baby around a lot, they ride up, you know, t-shirts ride up. And I think for naps too, like I like to put my baby in like a onesie and a sleep sack. So I, you know, onesies still have their place.
Shanna
Okay.
Laura
But I have come around to just wearing shirts and it's very exciting. Yeah. Maybe everyone else has figured this out. But now that the baby's walking and, you know, it's not so much, you don't have to worry about the shirts riding up, you know, crawling around and stuff. It's great. Yeah. You throw it over their head. No snaps involved. Where have they been all my life?
Shanna
So good. I welcome you to the world of shirts. I know what you mean. I love t-shirts. I was so excited when CeCe was able to fit into like a bunch of the hand-me-down t-shirts from Alcs. I just remember that and they're cuter. I don't know, someone once gave us a onesie for like a age two, like a two T onesie. And I remember just being like, what in the... Like there's no way my two year old's still gonna be wearing this thing. And that's fine. If your mom who still has your two year olds and onesies, that's no shame. But for me, yeah, I love the t-shirt too. So that's awesome.
Laura
I feel like also with girls, You probably work keyed in to the t-shirt earlier because dresses are just basically long t-shirts. Oh, true, yeah. And we don't have that in the boy world. You just go on autopilot with, you put them in the onesie every morning, you have a onesie, and now I'm just like, wait, shirts. You don't need to do this. Yeah. But he does his diaper does like stick out of his pants a lot. And he does like to pull his shirt up and like show off his belly. So which is very cute.
Shanna
Cute. That's a bonus. That's a positive of the situation. Where's your belly button? They pull up their shirt. Oh, I love it. I love it.
Laura
So cute. So yeah, so we're really into t-shirts. And also, I'm excited because it seems like a weird thing to be excited about, but we're actually growing out of most of our hand-me-downs. And that means I can finally buy clothes for him. Yeah, that is fun. I want to buy some clothes for him. I want to dress him up in cute little outfits. Mm-hmm.
Shanna
Yep. Some of my favorite clothes are the ones that I bought like L and CECE personally because The hand-me-downs are great and so helpful. But yeah, it's not your own aesthetic, I guess. Your own favorite style.
Laura
Well, also, when they're babies, especially newborns, you don't have the mental power to think about. I don't know. I didn't, at least, to think about style. So hand-me or shopping seemed so hard. But now it's like, OK, I've got a hang of this. I know what they need. Oh, I ordered a cute shirt from Carter's that says, That's got a little like taco giving a thumbs up and it says simply spectacular.
Shanna
Oh God, that's adorable.
Laura
I can't wait for that to arrive.
Shanna
Oh, I love it. Fun. Target always has really cute t-shirts too. Their cat and jack line is so great. Okay, I've got to look. I've got to look.
Laura
So whole new world. So that was my BFP, short and sweet and simple. Shanna, what do you have a BFP or a BFN? I'm worried about your illnesses that it might not be a BFP.
Shanna
It is a BFP, actually. Oh, thank God. Yeah, because at the beginning of the week before the shit hit the fan, Cece had an explosion of...
physical prowess.
Laura
Okay. You never know with an explosion with a small child, what they're exploding.
Shanna
Build up the suspense. And so I think I mentioned a while back that for Christmas she got a little toddler slide for inside the house because I'm always looking for things to entertain her while I work and a little rocking horse, and she is able to use them now, which is awesome. Like, specifically, my BFP is the slide itself, which is called the Little Tykes First Slide. So it's really cute. I really loved it. I really love it. When I gave it to Cece for Christmas, She opened it, could not care less about it because she was about 12 months old. And Elle loved it, right? So she plays with it all the time. And I was like, oh, she can't even like use her Christmas present. And I was kind of bummed. And then I was like, well, the package does say 18 months old. So I guess we'll have to wait a long time before she can use it.
And then the other day, you know, she was like trying to climb up the steps and asking for a hand and showing a lot of interest. And I was helping and supporting her. And then I was like, you know what? I'm just going to encourage her to try this on her own. Why not? You know, like I like to encourage them to be independent and adventurous. And so I was like, no, you can do it. Hold here, hold here. And she was so nervous, you know, but she tried it and she climbed the two steps by herself and got up there. and slid down all by herself and she was so proud. I mean, of course I clapped and she clapped and then she came back around immediately and did it with more confidence all by herself and just like went down and then just went in a circle up and down and up and down and up and down. And I was like, yay, you can use your Christmas present now. It's so fun.
Does it make you nervous at all or is she like totally fine on it? She's mostly fine, but yeah, I do get nervous, you know, she's still learning her balance and stuff, but I think this is a really good thing for her to help her learn her balance. And I try to trust her, but I do try to spot her too. And I put the slide, of course, on the, I ended up getting one of those baby play, what's it called the baby play mat? Baby care, baby care, right? Baby care. Yes, the baby care play mat, which is nice and cushy. So I make sure it's on there. So if she does fall off, you know, she has a cushy landing. But yeah, so it's so fun. It's a great thing to have in the house if you have space, of course.
Laura
I feel like my guy would love that.
Shanna
Oh, I think he would really love that.
Laura
We don't have the space, but I want it. Once you guys are no longer disease vectors, I want to come over and have him use it.
Shanna
You should, I swear our house is like an indoor playground these days with all the stuff we have. The rocking horse, she can use that now too. I should mention which one that is.
Laura
We'll put these on the website, of course, Big Fat Positive Podcast.com y'all.
Shanna
Oh, it's the same company actually. Little Tykes, Little Tykes Rocking Horse. And she didn't know what to do with that. We first got it. And now she's climbing up on it and sitting down. And she even has figured out how to move her body to use the momentum to get it rocking.
Laura
Oh, how fun.
Shanna
It is. It's fun. And it's really cute to see how proud she is of being able to conquer these things. Yeah, cool, cool, cool. Though those are fun. Yeah, but that's it for me. Should we wrap up this episode? I think we should. All right. If you have any gripes that you want to share with us, you know we want to hear them. Reach out to us. Laura, where can they reach us?
Laura
We are on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at BFPPodcast. We also have a website, bigbatpositivepodcast.com. You can also find our community group on Facebook. Just search Big Fat Positive Community. It's a closed group, so you'll have to request to join, but I will add you right away and you can get in on all our very fun conversations we're having in there. You can also send us a voice memo or just a regular old email to contact at BigPetPositivePodcast.com.
Shanna
Thank you everyone who has been giving us new ratings and reviews. Thank you. Thank you. It means so much to us. If you have an extra minute in your day, please think about leaving us a rating and review on whatever platform you listen. We've found that it's really, really helpful for people discovering our podcast and trusting that it's a good show and wanting to dive in and listen. It's so important, and we really appreciate it. And of course, as always, spread the word. If you know someone who's trying to conceive, someone who's pregnant, a new parent, let them know about the Big Fat Positive podcast. Big Fat Positive is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. We will see you next week. Bye. Bye.