Teaching Toddler to Blow Nose. Any Ideas?

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

Why aren’t children born knowing how to blow their nose? I know babies sneeze to clear their noses, but once past that stage, it takes years to get them to blow. And who out there has a baby who likes those bulb things?  When I use the bulb on my kids, they get so pissed, they cry harder, thus making more snot. So really in the mucus arena, I’m still just coming out even. Or in the negative.

A friend of mine said her mom gave her a tip on teaching her three year old to blow. Didn’t work with her. Figured I’d give it a try. Didn’t work with me either. In fact, I almost caught Fia on fire. The trick was this: have your child try and blow out a candle through their nose. Tell them to close their mouth. Fia kept opening her mouth and getting so close I got paranoid her eyelashes–or worse–would singe. So there went that idea.

In the meantime the snot just continues to get sniffed back up the nostrils. Swallowing that much snot certainly can’t be good for you either.

There has got to be a way. Any ideas out there? Did god/mother nature just forget about having this as an instinct when the human race evolved? I’m a bit baffled as to why this is learned behavior.

And if there isn’t a way, at what age can I expect my child to know how to do this?

Until then, I remain buried in a snot faucet…

Moving Mid-Pregnancy: Freezing in LA

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Author’s Note: Join me every Tuesday or Wednesday for “Moving Mid Pregnancy,” to read about my ongoing search for a new “everything” (from nannies to mom friends to health providers) while pregnant and living in a new city.

Cold=Misery

So far here is the major difference between LA and NY: I’m FREEZING. In California. This makes no sense.

And as a person who hates the cold (and has a hormone or two raging in my pregnant body), I swear it is making me miserable.

I have bought 7 space heaters so far. S-E-V-E-N. Granted, I’m not keeping them all, as I keep experimenting with which one I think is the best. But this has practically become a full time job for my pregnant self.

Here’s what no one told me when moving here: yes, the weather is great, meaning when there is a snowstorm in NYC and 10 below, we have 60-degree weather and sunshine out here. However, in our Brooklyn apartment, we had heat. In fact, it got so hot in our place, we frequently opened the windows (I know, a complete waste of money and energy, but in our building we have no control over the thermostat).

Out in LA, most homes aren’t insulated. People learn to layer in the winter. The house we rented takes it a step further. There was never heating ducts put in the kitchen or in two of the upstairs bedrooms, which happens to be Fia’s room and the new baby’s. Luckily our landlord was gracious enough to install heat (after I called her nearly in tears) in those. There is no way I could have a newborn in a room without heat. But the kitchen is a more complicated job. Thus, my continued quest for the perfect space heater.

I think maybe the oil-filled radiators are best if I want to keep them on all the time. Our kitchen is large and has lots of windows, so I think I need two of them. I’ve bought the ceramic ones too, but they use a lot of electricity and you wouldn’t want to keep them running through the night (any experts out there care to weigh in?).

In the meantime, I went to Target yesterday and bought (fake) fur-lined slippers and a big puffy robe thing.  I am going to walk around like I’m in a blizzard out here.

Okay, there are more differences between NYC and LA than this, and I’ll write about them in future posts (like how I love the traffic out here. I’m serious). But I just had to get this off my cold chest—and belly. Thanks for listening.