Gotcha Baby » parenting

Works for Me Wednesday: Getting Kids to Take Medicine

Michelle — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:16:28 +0000

Actually, in the medicine department, we are really lucky. Both kids are always super excited to be medicated. I say “time for vitamins” and they both start running and clapping and acting like I just said, “Here comes the ice cream truck!”

Taking Liquid Medicine

If you don’t have a lot of experience in this department, let me introduce you to the must have syringe:

A bulb syringe will make you crazy (I found them hard to measure exact doses), but this one? This one you just pull up as needed. By using a syringe, you don’t spill any liquid if your child turns his head, locks his jaw, turns up his tongue, etc. Meijer gives them out with every prescription.

Taking Capsules

My kids are both on an acid-reflux medication–MaM takes it once a day, Jr. takes it 2x per day. It’s available in a kid-friendly sol-u-tab (dissolves in your mouth), and we are so fortunate that it’s covered under our insurance plan. This year, however, the terms of our plan changed a bit, and we are looking into ways to cut the amount of money we spend on this drug (we use three doses a day).

Capsules are available, but MaM can’t swallow them yet.

Enter: the friendly pill cutter

I discovered I can slice open the capsule, pour the granules on a spoon (put something under the spoon in case it spills) and then top the spoon with a dollop of yogurt. They lick the spoon clean, and the medicine is ingested! Phew!

What works for you when dosing up your kiddos?

Have an idea that others might find useful? Link up at We Are That Family!

What’s the tooth fairy’s going rate these days???

Michelle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:58:34 +0000

MaM has been anticipating turning five with as much gusto as anyone I ever met (remember, I teach 3-6 yr olds), and she FINALLY has a developmental milestone that proves she is so close to five she can almost taste it.

For months, she’s been talking about “wiggly teeth”. Months. Last time we were at the dentist, MaM had her double check to make sure the doc hadn’t missed a wiggly one.

This morning she told me she had a wiggly tooth, and I merely “yessed” her. I was probably changing a diaper or pouring coffee or something when she told me.

Tonight at dinner, after she cried because her hard bread was too hard for her wiggly tooth, I inspected.

MaM has her first loose tooth!!!

I’ll be honest it took me by surprise, and it kind of took my breath away. I mean really, didn’t she just get these teeth? Didn’t we ache and moan for months to get these teeth? Four short years later, and she’s on to the next best thing.

I immediately thought of my favorite tooth-related book as a kid– Molly and the Slow Teeth. She, apparently, will be NO Molly!

Do you have a fav book about the topic of tooth-losing? It is SUCH a big deal in grades K-2 or so. Inquiring minds want to know!

An Interview with The International Mom, Judy Miller

Michelle — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:57:16 +0000

As I’ve said before, I love the internet. It has expanded my horizons in so many ways, broadened my knowledge and brought me friends. One of those friends is Judy Miller, author, advocate and adoptive parent. (I’m also fond of alliteration)

Judy has a new project on the horizon, Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens and Beyond with Judy M. Miller and the other day we sat down with some delicious Skinny Cinnamon Dulce Lattes to discuss it.

Judy has developed and will be teaching a class to help parents of adopted tweens and teens, beginning Weds, February 10th. What? You don’t live in the Indy Metro area? Good news–the class format is via email. Judy will send out assignments, you will complete them, and then there will be discussion online.

Judy created this class with hopes of reaching parents as their children enter an age wrought with emotions and new understandings about adoption. As a mom to four children (one biological, two from China, one from Guatemala), she’s living through her own children’s adolescence and observing what sort of questions and difficulty her children are having in regards to their being adopted.

Each week, Judy will email a topic for introspection, and participants will then write on that topic. Judy said each week’s assignment will prompt participants to “go deep”. The messages the parent sends to the child lay the groundwork for that child’s journey to discovering himself. The topics are ones that will most likely come up in conversation in the tween (8-12yrs) and teen years, but Judy encourages parents with children as young as four or five to consider signing up.

You can learn more about and register for Parenting Your Adopted Child by visiting Judy’s website. There is also a spot to sign up for a newsletter that I know will be great. I always LOVE the time I spend with Judy, and I know you will too!

Judy is a fellow contributor to Grown in My Heart, her personal blog is The International Mom’s Blog.