Past our Bedtime

What If Progress Has A Purpose And Parenthood Is The Practice

• Taylee and Braydon • Season 2 • Episode 3

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0:00 | 51:21

Ever feel like your toddler is three steps ahead while your house is struggling to keep up?

In this episode, we laugh through the daily chaos and get specific about what truly helps in the toddler years: babyproofing that targets danger without shutting down curiosity, toy rotation that makes your space feel livable again, and the surprisingly powerful shift from constant “no” to offering simple choices.

Along the way, we reflect on the bigger questions that sneak in between snack negotiations and milestone moments: what does healthy progress look like in a world shaped by AI and automation? How do we hold firm boundaries while still leading with warmth, trust, and humor?

We talk practical setups, toddler tantrums as skill gaps (not moral failures), and how routines and autonomy can calm the toughest transitions.

If you’ve been navigating screen-time endings, diaper-change battles, or the mysterious toddler pointing that somehow means eight different things, you’ll leave with strategies you can try right away — and a reminder of our simple creed:

Secure what can harm, let safe learning happen, and keep showing up with heart.

Enjoying the show? Follow, share with a friend in the trenches, and leave a review to help more parents find us. Questions or stories welcome — we may tackle yours next time.

Taylee:

Well, you want me pre-show banter? Like pre-intro banter?

Braydon:

I didn't prepare that.

Taylee:

Well, you can file your taxes now. The IRS opened it.

Braydon:

Oh, I got a text today.

Taylee:

Oh, from Hoffman and Company?

Braydon:

No. Well, maybe, I don't know. Oh. It was an 801 number.

Taylee:

Yeah. Did it say the IRS is now accepting tax returns?

Braydon:

And the opened e-filing or something.

Taylee:

Yeah, and then it say dash Hoffman and Company.

Braydon:

I didn't read the whole text. I didn't really care about it. Exciting! This year we actually are getting a refund, so I'm actually like really excited to file taxes. It's like Christmas.

Taylee:

That's good. Yeah, you know that we're gonna do us, yeah. I know, we've never had that before. Weird stuff. Yeah. Alright, well three cards. Yo yo yo! Welcome back to the pod. I'm Taylor. I'm Braden. And we're up past our bedtime, and I got a song to sing. Yo, yo, yo, curious. We got a great podcast for you today. Wicka wicka word. I did just make that up on the spot. I made it up on the spot when we were testing your mics. So brilliance in the making. Just wanted you guys to hear it. Glad they got to it. Yeah. They get our intro for every show now. Yeah, we did need a jingle. It's what the good shows are having these days. Yeah, we should get one of those. Yeah, probably a little bit better. Like a little more like we uh passed. Our bit tempted night. That was a little better. Spitting bars and telling stories. You psych right now. Well, I put on the spot and I got kind of nervous. Okay, well moving on. On and on. Onwards and upwards. That's the only way. Um, what up? The sky's up. Wow. Okay. We're starting this podcast off hot with some good stuff. Wow, that's it. Oh, you really don't have anything up? Oh, I have stuff. Oh. Well what? I mean, we're not bearing down right now, so. There it is. I know. I made sure to get it in. Just because I guess that's our thing now. Did you know the Chicago Bears thing is beared down? I learned that this week. What do you mean by that? Like they say that at their games. Any team with a mascot bear says that. What is another team with a mascot bear? Arizona. Arizona, huh? Who? The Bears. What sport do they play? University of Arizona. Which one? The red and blue one? Are they red and blue? Did they have scatterboo? No. That was Arizona State. They're the Sunday ones. But Arizona's literally get I get so mixed up. So this is the red and blue Arizona. Well, I guess. Yeah. The red and blue one, and they're bears? I didn't know that. Yeah. That does not slow. On the podcast before. I don't believe it. We could go listen. Okay. Okay. Okay, son. You want to make a bet? Yeah. $100. Okay. If I win, I'm buying shoes. Okay. What are you buying? More stock options. Sidekig to the stars. It's like a get rich quick scheme, but you're like only just getting yourself more sold on it. I know. And other people. Maybe I should start a course where I teach other people how to do it. That's when you actually do it. That's how you actually know someone is not successful. Except I have been successful. No, yeah, I know. I'm saying when you're starting to make a course about something that you're doing, I just feel like that's a sign. Like, you know the saying. What's the saying? Those who can't do teach. Is that the same? That is a saying. I feel like that's all it's kind of saying. Yes. No, this isn't even just like one of my sayings that I like am usually wrong about. This is a real saying, I promise. You can't do teach. Yeah, you've never heard that? Like gym teachers? That's funny. Think about gym teachers. Yeah, they're they're not really usually athletic. That's fair. They can't do. So they teach dodgeball.

Braydon:

Dodgeball.

Taylee:

And kickball. I think in another world I'd be a really fun gym teacher. Kinda creepy. I had a really actually creepy gym teacher, and there's like a really weird experience I had with one time. I think about this a lot. It's kind of trauma. I was running in the neighborhood one my neighborhood one time.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

And he pulls up in his truck and like rolls down the window and is like, Taylor. That's exactly how he said it. And then he just like drove away. You cannot be remembering that, right? No, I am. I have it ingrained in my memory because I was like really creeped out. Because I'm just like running and I'm like 12 and he's like a gym teacher. But in the world. It was weird. That was weird. Yeah. Glad you didn't. I had a few creepy teachers. You moved on now that you've got that out. Well, no, listen to this. I also had a really creepy choir teacher in middle school. And choir was my jam, okay? Like I was the all-star student in choir. So anyways, I was kind of close with the teachers.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

And um what was I saying? Oh, oh, oh, oh. Okay. We were in the sound of music. And like the girls' changing room was the choir room for the musical. And because there's like 30 girls in this play, and we all have the quick change in different costumes. So like that was the girls' changing room, and the orchestra room was the guys' changing room. Uh I see. Yeah. And he would just sit in there like while the girls were changing in their costumes. And guess what I did? What? I was a brave little 12-year-old. I went up to him and I asked him to leave the room. Good job. Yeah. Did he lose the room? Isn't that kind of crazy? Yeah, he did, but he got really mad at me and then like that was weird vibes. But the heck. Yeah. He also got up really close to my face and like it. This is actually crazy stuff. I don't know why I never told my parents this. Your mom's gonna know. Well now my mom's gonna know. So yeah, anyways, he was a creep, but um, I'm pretty proud. I was kind of cool. I was just like standing up for what was right back then. There you go. Yeah. Good job. Yeah, thank you, thank you. I don't think I had any creepers. I don't know how we got there. Well, your town, you also literally like knew all of your teachers personally. So one of my teachers had his own church. And I'll always invite a student to come to the coffee break. That's fun. He's the one that made his own sweet tea too. It's delicious. Right, yum. Just kidding. I've never had sweet tea. I don't know what it tastes like. So good. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I'm a tea person. That's good. Yeah. Anyways. Attention. Well, that's cool. I literally have no idea how we got here. Me either. Sweet revel. Where are we from? Where are we going? Oh, Bear Down! Chicago Bears! How did that bring us to here? What was happening before then? Anyways. Well Oh, did you hear about the crazy ice storms? Wait, what? Did you hear about the crazy ice storms? No. You didn't? What do you mean, weather? Yeah. Oh. Well, yeah, I did. You did from you, actually. Yeah. Wait, I told you. You just told me that some state was under like three inches of ice right now. Like every state except Utah, basically. Oh yeah. I thought I had faded by now. Yes, but my coworkers couldn't open their car doors. What do you mean your co-workers that are in Nashville? Oh they couldn't? No. Ooh. Because it rained and then frozen they had like three inches of ice on their car. That's crazy. Yeah, that would suck. I'm not built for that. No, definitely not. What do you do? Like, how do you get into your car then? Because you can't melt that episode that you just stay home. Yeah, like to have power. Oh stuff. Yeah. Yeah, that's really bad. Lady I talked to you today. It was negative 20 degrees wind chill. I literally could not think of a worse place to live than the Midwest. I have no desire to ever live there.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

I couldn't do it. I really don't think I could do it. Like, they have the worsts of all the weather. And there's literally like not a lot there. Nothing. Yeah. It's terrible. I could never live there. I don't think. Midwesterners. Maybe they'll tell it's wrong. They're really nice people though. Yeah. I haven't met a mean Midwesterner. Yeah, I know. They're great people. Maybe it's because they live in a terrible place. I haven't met a lot of Midwesterners though. You lived in Minnesota. Minnesota. Yeah, I didn't think about that. That was kind of Yeah, I guess that was the Midwest, huh? Yeah, isn't that exactly what the Midwest is? Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Never mind. I haven't met a lot of Midwesterners.

Braydon:

Good people.

Taylee:

Good people. Bless their heart. Bless their hearts. That's funny. Well, that's cool. Yeah. You want to tell me about your week first or me tell you about my week? Oh, well, yeah, I can tell you about my week for Shizlies. Um, let's see. Where did I leave off? I had a humbling experience this week. Humbly. Um honestly, you're not gonna care about this at all, but it was just funny. So I have started going to these workout classes, and they're in a room that's like lit by red light, if that makes sense. So it's like dark kind of. You know, you know what it looks like, but for the for the crowd. Oh, oh, mic, mic down, bear down. Okay, sorry, my mic was falling. Um, okay, so uh I've been working out in these classes, yeah. So it's like pretty dark in the room, it's just this red light, which is a vibe. I really like it, it's nice and moody. Um, but I went to a Pilates slash cold blonde class with my friend London the other night. And um I realized because I've been going to these dark lit classes, that I have not shaved my legs. It's also winter, and it's none of my business with something down there. I was like looking down in this fully lit room and like my leg hair was really out there and it was long, and I got dark hair. That was a little rough. I really realized that I need to shave my legs more. So I need summer to come immediately because basically it's just dark and depressed, and we're all hairy at this point, so it just needs to come sooner than later for both mental and physical reasons. Yes, um, in other news, I was also humbled by another fact that I found out this week. Okay, I guess one could say it is a conclusion that I came to. Did you conclude? So I was on a walk with my good friend and we were talking, I don't know what we're talking about. I mean, you know, just just the daily chatter. Um daily chatter. And I brought up something about how, oh, hard hard. I was asking Chat GPT about like a parenting advice for something with Maxon. Yeah. And she's like, wow, you're just like my sister. She's always asking chat stuff, and she was just kind of laughing at me. And then she was like, Yeah, I had to tell my sister the other day because she didn't realize that chat will basically just reassure you or agree like with everything you say. Yeah. Yeah. How did you not know that?

Braydon:

You didn't even let me say I didn't know.

Taylee:

Literally, every message you say is like, yeah. You have no reason to be scared.

Braydon:

I literally, I don't know how I didn't know that.

Taylee:

But I was playing along like I did, and I was just like laughing with her, and I was like, oh man, that is so funny. Like, oh and then it hit me, and I was like, wait, it's been agreeing with everything I've said, like my whole life is alive. So that's the realization I came to this week, and it was a hard pill to swallow. Maybe you should switch to grok. Because I oh, does grok not do that? I don't know. I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does. No, literally, like, I love being right. Okay, yeah, and I'm like, you know that that mew on Instagram, like, if you come across, or there's three people who are always right: a woman, an oldest daughter, and an oldest granddaughter. If you get all three, good luck. That is me. I am that. I am all three.

Braydon:

I'm the holy trinity.

Taylee:

And I love being right, and yeah, I was always right for chat, and I also stress a lot, so it was just like really reassuring. But it's not a bad thing, I guess. I mean, yeah, but like if I'm very wrong about something and I'm thinking I'm right, that's bad. That's not great. Yeah. Yeah, so we've had to take a step back from chat. Proud of you. Yeah. I started using Google again. Wait, what? No, I'm still against AI. Like, overall. I am against it, but like if we're just going for it, if the whole world is like, okay, let's let's use it, I'm not gonna like stand idly by and like suffer while everyone else succeeds because of it. Yeah. But I it goes against everything I believe in. Everything you believe in. Oh, speaking of tea, actually. Oh um, you know Scarlett Johansson? I do know her. Scargo? Her buds. Oh, really?

Braydon:

I was like, what does that mean? For pals.

Taylee:

Um, so she and like a few other celebs are starting an anti-AI campaign. Interesting. Just for for like what? For like copyright for like Hollywood crap. You know, because they're not privileged enough. What do you mean? There was a bunch of artists that were mad about AI too, because it kind of just like copies art. Well, yeah, yeah, that's like the whole point. Same thing. I mean, I support that. I feel like could we make it a bigger scope? Like, don't take truck driving jobs away from people and such. AI is truck driving jobs. Well, robots are. Yeah. Which is AI. How is that different? It's like AI and a piece of machinery. Yeah. Yeah. I see. Like full self-driving. Do you want me to go like really you want me to get into something like really deep, a weird deep thought I had? Okay. Well, I was thinking about the meaning of life the other day, and I was like, oh, why do we have this AI thing if it's gonna kind of ruin the world and take all our jobs? Like, why are we still moving forward with it, even though we know it's gonna be the end of us? Yeah. And I was like, well, there's just like this innate human need to what's the word? To like progress, I guess.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

And so then I was like, okay. Do you think God has certain things he wants humans to like invent and create and discover? And then once we get to that point, then Jesus is coming back. Probably. But isn't that weird to think about kind of? I guess, yeah. That's not crazy to you? I feel like, well, I mean, yeah, yeah, that's crazy. I feel like that was pretty deep. That was very deep for you. For me? What does that mean? Wait, what? You don't like to go deep into that stuff usually. No, I don't go deep. I usually try and avoid going deep because it goes dark. My deep goes dark real fast, and it's not a good place to be. I'm glad that one didn't go dark for you. Well, it kind of is dark. The end of the world. Yeah, if we go deeper into it and it's like we're our own destruction. That has always been the case. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't think that's always been the case. Like, if dinosaurs were still around, I think they would destroy us. There was no way that connected.

Braydon:

What do you mean?

Taylee:

Dinosaurs don't exist right now. I don't ever think they existed, but that's a conversation for another day. Where do you think the bones came from? Okay, okay. I don't know. Like, what? Just for fun, I'm gonna make all these fake bones into a shape with this huge body. To be fair, to be fair. I'm gonna bury them in the ground for people thousands of years ago. I didn't think anything in the dinosaur museum was real. You were the one that pointed out to me that there were actually real bones there. Okay, but no, what I was saying was true because you said we are our own destruction, and I said not always. I said there can be things that destroy. Destroy us, aka dinosaurs or an earthquake. Like things, yeah.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

Nature. Mother nature. Mother nature. Yeah, maybe. I see. I see what you're saying. Yeah. I'm following you. Thank you. Good thoughts. Well, do you have any deep thoughts to add to that? I didn't think of any deep thoughts this week that I can think of. You usually have a lot of deep thoughts. I have some good deep thoughts. Yeah. No. Alright. I vibed with your deep thought. I don't feel like you did. You did, really? Yeah, I liked it. Oh, well, yeah, that's all you said. I don't I don't feel like more connected through that. Than your dinosaur comet. Oh man. It's coming from the person that just said dinosaurs are real. Okay. I think there could be some good, like arguments to be made for that. Okay. They just seem fake. Bro, I just made the argument for where did the bones come from if they were fake? From rocks. They could just be weird-shaped rocks in the ground. I don't know. What? I think it's more weird. Weird-shaped rocks. It just magically form the shape of this animal that no one's ever seen. It literally That way also you can carbon date and pull DNA from, so you know it was a living organism. Okay. But just a random rock. Just listen to me and let me blow your freaking mind, okay? Okay. Blow mind. It doesn't make sense how humans survived that time and dinosaurs didn't. Well, that doesn't make sense either, because we're going back to Adam and Eve. So when were the dinosaurs around? So they were only there for like six days on the earth?

Braydon:

Bro.

Taylee:

The earth was not made in six days. It was made in seven. There's no way you actually believe that it was six of our days. Six of God's days. Okay, I get it. I know. I just don't get then like what was the point of having the dinosaurs there if they're just gonna be gone for the rest of humanity. I don't know. What's the point of any animal? For us to eat. Okay, well, I could have caused a lot of issues with just saying that the vegetarians are gonna come for me. I didn't mean it, okay? I didn't mean it. They're for other reasons, okay? Well, not really. But like a lot of them I feel like are are helpful to our survival. Yeah. Dinosaurs kind of set up other animals. How? I don't know. Is it an alligator from a dinosaur and a chicken? A chicken? I'm pretty sure. A chicken. I'm pretty sure there's been studies on how close chickens are to T-Rexes. Well, that just begs the question. What came first? Chicken or the egg? The T-Rex. Neither. We should teach Maxim that. Oh my gosh. Okay, well, I think we can move on. I think we beat this horse dead. Um dinosaurs are dead. Alright, rip the dinos. Allegedly. Allegedly. Okay. I actually love dinosaurs though. I know, it's so cute. We go to the dino museum like every day. Not every day, but probably once a week. Once a week. Once a week we've been going strong to the dino museum. Yeah, it's cute. Just like to walk around the thing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What's your um parent? I guess we can start with the parenting loss and end on the win for the week. Mm-hmm. Um, parenting loss is anytime I pick up Maxim now, he just points where he wants to go, so I'm like a little one-year-old slave, basically. Wow. Yeah. And if I don't go that direction, he cries, so that I end up going that direction. Yeah, yeah. It's a rough stage we're in. Not Ben My Faith. It's pretty funny though. It's like hard because I don't know. There's just so many different ideas on this. Like, I heard I was listening to I don't know, either a book or podcast talking about the importance of following where they act like you listen to books.

Braydon:

What?

Taylee:

I'm just kidding.

Braydon:

Um I lost my train of thought.

Taylee:

I had a good thought. They followed. Sorry. Really rude. What was I saying? Don't act or follow. Oh, it's important to follow or to grab what the baby is pointing at because it helps them understand, like, or feel like you understand them, and that helps them learn more. Right. But then at the same time, you're also just teaching them that they get whatever they want when you when they point at it. But I don't think they're at that. Yeah, I don't think they're old enough to understand that. Yeah. But it is stressful because like the cry comes fast, and a lot of times he's just pointing at a lot of different things. I don't think he does what he wants most of the time. No, I have learned now. When he points at the fridge and when he wants into the fridge, he wants food. Well, that makes sense. Well, at first he loves playing in the fridge too. He does love to play in the nap five. And so, like, and this has been a consistent thing after this has been a big discovery for me. This has been a consistent thing after nap time. He will just be like screaming and sobbing and crying for like ever, and I can't figure out why, and it's a disaster, and he's just like pointing and wanting me to hold him. And so, yeah, I finally figured that out. Like after nap time, he needs a snack immediately, even though he literally eats all day. Like the kid is a bottomless tank. But no, we got up snacks after nap time. That has solved a lot of problems for me. Oh, yeah.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

Yeah. It's basically just a slave owner. I guess I don't like that word, but sure. Um, my loss is that oh, when he bumped his head this week. That was a loss. That was a big bummer. I literally was crying. I just felt so bad. And I realized like I really gotta toughen it up because I have a lot more years of my kids getting hurt, and I'm not prepared. You do that. I'm not good at that that stuff. Yeah. I really thought I was good under pressure though. Good in like stressful, high-tense stress situations. No, but like remember when you got the fish hook in your finger? I was on that. Yeah. Yeah. I was ready to rip it out for you. You wouldn't let me. Could have saved us a lot of money. And that ER bill.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

So that was my loss. That was just really sad, and I was like, oh, parent guilt. Like, oh man. If I just was like not letting him sit right there, he probably wouldn't have bumped his head. Yeah. But you live and you learn. That is what it is. Yeah. Where we got all the sayings today. Parenting wind of the what? His love for cars. I feel like that's a parenting win. Just staring out the window with him. And all the cars. And tonight a loud car drove by and he loved it. That's cute. That was a parenting win. Well, I'm happy for you. That's good. That's really good. I go to car shows together someday. That's great. You keep moving your head and then the light is shining right in my eyes. So if you could just keep it that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be great. Thanks. Um, my parenting win. I kind of already said it about the figuring out what happens after nap time. Good job. Yeah. The other win is homie started sleeping till 7 30 in the morning again.

Braydon:

Oh, now it's win.

Taylee:

That has been a beautiful thing.

Braydon:

Probably just drinks it then. Probably. That's usually what happens.

Taylee:

Oh, and his top two teeth pops through. Woo! We got a four-tooth baby now. Yeah. So that's been great. That was good stuff. Yep. He's just eating away, talking away, crying away. He's saying mom a lot. All the time. So stressed for no reason. Yeah, it's still in the back of my mind, though, not gonna lie. Still fresh. Still fresh. I'm still thinking about it. But all is well. Say la vi. Say la vi say la vi say. Okay, well, welcome to the parent helpline. Um, we are going to be posting different questions or little boxes for you to ask us questions on Reddit, on our socials, everywhere. Go look there if you need some advice. If you need some advice or just want to event, want someone to relate to about being in the thick of parenthood, please give us your comments. Um, we got some goodies for you tonight, and we are here to help, hopefully, or just give some funny advice or just talk. Alright, so first one up. Looking for advice on how to set up a new home for maximum utility to make life easier with a toddler. Ooh. Like we still need this advice.

Braydon:

What?

Taylee:

Well, I guess, okay. My husband and I are moving into a new apartment with our one-year-old and getting some new furniture. We both work full time and struggle to keep up with the daily chaos in our living space. Amen, sister. Toys everywhere, clothing everywhere. Amen. Um, part of the problem is that our current place was set up for adults, our couch can't be washed, and there's a lot of stuff within our daughter's reach that she's constantly messing with. Bookshelves pillaged. I don't know what that means. Um pillaged. Bookshelves pillaged. You don't know what the word pillaged means. Well, I'm assuming it means like But it's like pirates when they go and like pillage a town. Yeah, I feel like I feel like my sound described it. Okay. Um, so what do you guys have in your homes that makes life with an active baby easier? Go for it! Well, we got little clips on the cupboards. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got the clips on the cupboards. Well, let's see. We took off all the little doorstop things. Oh my gosh. Those things are a freaking nightmare. Whoever came up with those, why do they let why do they make the cat come off? Like, it's literally the exact size of your breathing hole. Literally, like, talk about a freaking choking hazard. So those are gone. Yeah, those are gone. Um, Brandon over here is just kind of a psycho minimalist, so we don't have a lot of stuff, to be honest. That's a good way to live. Like, you would literally have empty everything. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. Well, I would um yeah, yeah, that's fair. Not empty. I'm glad, I'm glad, honestly, this is where I think our opposites attract, like, really gives us strengths. We're in the middle of minimalists. Because I'm type B, yeah, I'm type B about this stuff, and you're type A. And like, we just balance each other out, and it's a good balance. Nice. Yeah. I agree. Because it's like there's always a mess with the baby, so you can't be like freaking out all the time, but you also gotta be kind of clean. True. If you never clean up. Wow, that is something crazy. Um, yeah, so I do think though, cleaning has helped us kind of. Yeah. Well, I got overwhelmed by all the toys. Oh, yeah, Braden a bunch in his room, and now there's just a certain amount. Yeah, we only have a certain amount of toys out here, and it has actually helped a lot. And little dude literally uh knows no difference. Literally not. Yeah, he doesn't even care. I know, we'll probably end up donating a crap ton of toys, anyways. Yeah. So yeah, that's been nice, and I think just like yeah, I feel like obviously you just want to babyproof the thing like the things that are unsafe. So I only put cabinet locks on like our ones with the cleaners in them that would be bad for him to eat, or like the cabinet that has all the sharp things in it.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

And then um, now we're recently garbage can. Oh, yeah. Move the garbage can because that would be a mess if it fell over. But I was talking to my friend and she brought up a good point because she was going crazy because her daughter kept taking things out of her drawers, and she was getting sick of putting them back in, so she was like gonna close all the doors in their house her house and basically never let her daughter go anywhere except like the one room that's like fully babyproofed.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

But then you get to the point, it's like they also kind of gotta learn. So, where's the balance between like having them learn, just like, okay, we're not gonna do that, or we don't really do that? I feel like if you're just off the bat or teaching them that, that's easier than having all this stuff like off limits, and then all of a sudden it's on limits, or like, you know what I mean? Yeah, I guess that makes sense. So I feel like, yeah, I was like, oh, that's good. So I'll just do all the things that are unsafe that would be terrible for him to get into, like life-threatening. Smart. But then the cabinets that just have like non-life-threatening things in them. Or like his clothes and drawers, like even though it's a pain and it's inconvenient to have to keep putting them back, it's still something I don't know, he finds entertaining and he's like learning, I guess, still from that.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

And when he sees me put them back, he'll learn, like, oh, that's where my clothes go. So even though it's more inconvenient for you, it's still it's not something that's probably necessary to babyproof. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. I think, yeah, it's a good balance of learning and not learning. Yeah. Um, something I didn't think we would encounter, I was like, oh, that'll never happen to us. The toilets. Yeah. It happens. I think we would actually bother as a child. Oh, I've heard of it, but I'm like, nah, this won't happen. Oh, it happened. Homie loves the toilet more than anything ever. And yeah, he's always playing in it when I'm in the shower. So today I took scotch tape and taped down the toilet bowl. And I also turned off the water for it because of our bidet.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

Yeah, so now that thing is on lockdown, but it's kind of funny. That's hilarious. I know. Yeah, babyproofing's kind of hard. I feel like just the whole like baby to toddler phase is kind of hard. You don't really know what to prepare for. Nah. Especially for the first. I guess after that you know. Yeah. Also, I feel like after honestly, I don't know how like second, third, fourth kids survive. Why? Because they have so much like less attention on them.

Braydon:

True.

Taylee:

And the older kids are usually playing with like chokeable things and like more things and constantly giving stuff to the babies and all sorts of stuff like that. I I just they make it. Yeah. I don't know how, but they do. Life is good for them. Yeah, they just get like beat up and stuff, I guess. Whatever they want to do. Yeah. I also think like, okay, so if your couch couch can't be washed, then I've never heard of a washable couch. I think that just means like if it can't be cleaned. Well, like, obviously, we're not gonna wash this couch, but you could hire someone to clean your couch. Really? Yeah. You have someone to clean anything. Come on. Well, I understand that, but like what do you want to do to clean it? Well, they have like a um, it's like a steamer, like a vacuum type thing that you know my noises that make make sense. Yeah, I mean perfectly. Just like little zhuzh zhuzh, you just zhuzh it up. Nice. Yeah, clean it. I also think they have like fabric cleaner. Have you ever heard of an upholsterer? I don't think that's someone that cleans a couch. They literally fix up couches for a living. Yeah, they like redo like everything on the couch. It's a couch fixer upper. Clean the couch. Well, yeah, sometimes a couch just needs a good clean and it's fixed. Yeah, that's not an upholstered. Oh, well, I was just gonna say, if you have a nice couch, then just don't give her food on the couch or markers. I don't know, a baby has markers, so I don't really know what could cause a mess on the couch. I mean, I did let homie eat a pancake on our floor today, on our carpet. That was big regret. Yeah. Oh, it's so cute though. Now he's he's just growing up. Now he's insisting on instead of me breaking like the pancake or the cheese into bites, he's insisting on just holding it and biting it with his own teeth, biting off little bites. He's been doing that with everything today. Absolutely. And that's another thing I've like understood now with his points because he'll point at it and so I'll break off a piece, then he points at the bigger one. He's like, mm-mm. So then I give him the bigger one, and he's happy. Such a such a funny one. He knows what he wants. I know he is stubborn, and also I pride myself on having a good memory, and he does not forget. No, like I will try and pull him away or like distract him from. So let's say he wants to play in the pantry where the trash can is, and I'm like, nah, we're not doing this. So I'll quickly pull him away. I'll like bring him over here super fast. I'll try and bribe him with snacks, I'll try and like play with him and distract him. He'll get distracted for one moment and then he'll turn around and start crying and pointing at the pantry again. I'm like, how do you remember that? We're not playing in there. It's so crazy. So I'm regretting that. My no, it'll be good, but it will be good. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's let's move on to our next one, I'd say. Just need some tips on what to what to do slash what not to do. My boy is 18 years old. Oh, 18 months. I was like, I got no help for you. 18 months old next week, and he seems to be happy when things go his way and has fits when things don't. We feel that. Such as ending screen time, diaper changes. We can't read a book when he wants to. He wants to play instead of getting ready for sleeping. He doesn't readily listen, but we will say no no, and he'll do whatever anyway. Is this normal for all kids? I think so. Like what 18 month really knows when things end and don't end fully. I don't know. Doesn't really add up to me. So say normal.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's definitely normal. Um, I think I don't know if there's really anything else you can do. For that at the beginning. No, I think there is. One. I don't know. Maybe maybe avoid screen time. Yeah, we don't do that. So. But I mean, just in general for things, I've heard. And what I've started to try to do with Maxine, he's not quite there yet. But I've heard a good thing to do is to give them options. So instead of just saying, like, no, it's time to leave the museum, you can say, like, okay, do you want to go have a snack in the car or go home and play with toys? Like, give them two other options of things that they can do instead of just telling them no all the time. That was in the book I listened to.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

You should read that book. Yeah, what the heck? You listen to parenting books about that. I told you about it. It's a good one. Oh, you finished it? You never even told me the name of it. Well, I don't remember the name of it. What? Parenting with something. Oh, okay. Sounds good. But his whole thing is like giving them options, but like also when they're older, you have to like set boundaries for yourself. Okay. Like how? Um trying to think of an example that he used. It was like, so anytime his kids like went out or like wanted to do something, like he would hear them out on what they wanted to do. And then if then you would just like give them an option and be like, I'm okay with you doing it as long as you protect. He always calls it like protecting his heart. Basically, like not breaking his trust, essentially. Like protect the parents' heart. If you don't break my trust, like yeah, 100% you can do that. Okay. That's cool. That's pretty interesting. Yeah. That's more when they're older, but. Yeah, I don't really get the whole protecting your heart thing. I mean, like, protect your heart. I'm not explaining it very good, but I see. Yeah. But like he compares it. This is difficult deep, I guess, now, but he compares it to the Old Testament God and the New Testament God. Because the Old Testament God was all about punishment for people. Essentially, like he'd punish you if you did the wrong thing.

Braydon:

Okay.

Taylee:

The New Testament God would love you no matter what. And if you put your trust in him, then he put his trust in you. Essentially. It's kind of interesting. Yeah, that's good. Definitely the definitely leaning more on the trust side of things. I would hope so. Yeah, but no, it's definitely frustrating. I mean, I think there's a reason why, like, most toddler most kids' first words is no. Because you say that Waltman's like. Yeah, but it's just like they don't know what they're doing. But yeah, I feel like we're in the hardest stage because they have no idea how to communicate what they want. That's true. And besides the pointing. The pointing is strong. Yeah. So yeah, patience is a virtue. That we're all learning. I've loved like waking up early before he gets up and having starting my day with time not being a parent. Yeah. That's helped me have a lot better like mental fortitude for the for the day ahead. That makes sense. So maybe that'll help. Yeah. Um, she does say, she does go on to say, I get he doesn't understand certain things at this point, but I don't know how to respond. Feel like I'm enabling his behavior when I let him have his way. We verbally redirect him and tell him what's happening, given options on next text. Give him options on next steps, but I'm just exhausted and feel like I'm being walked over like a doormat. Sounds like you're slavery. Sounds like they're doing the right thing though. Yeah, you're killing it. You're doing great. Literally no stress. Hakuna matata. Well, I guess that's also a bad thing. Apparently. That's a funny thing. Yeah, apparently, what were you saying about that earlier this week? We're going deep a lot this today. There's another podcast that we listen to fairly regularly. Uh-huh. A spiritual one. A spiritual one. And they compared. So in The Lion King, when Simba goes and hangs out with Tomon and Pumba, he compares them to Satan because they're all like no worries. But also, if you're not like worrying about anything, you're not progressing in any way. And they don't want him to go back to his normal life to live up to his potential as king, which is what Satan would want you to do. Oh my god. That's so true, but it's like I don't want to believe it. I love them. They're like the best characters. That's a that's a hot take. It's a pretty hot take. I don't know if I believe it made a lot of sense. I mean, it does. If he stays with them, he just is like a weed smoking lion. Just chilling. He smokes weed? I don't know. They kind of give off those vibes like they'd be weed smokers. Oh my gosh. Well, there you go. You're doing great. Like you're worrying about your kids. So that means you're doing good and you're not following Satan. Cannot get an amen. Oh man. Well, yeah, pretty much. Um, what do you think is like the biggest difference between taking care of a baby and a toddler, like parenting wise? Um, when you're taking care of a baby? I don't know. It was easier.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

Because you don't, I mean, you just feed them and change their diapers, basically.

Braydon:

Mm-hmm.

Taylee:

And get them to sleep somehow.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

As a toddler, you do all of that, but then also make sure they are surviving. What do you mean? You're making sure the baby's surviving together. Yeah, but they have like their own will now, and they're like trying to jump off the couch or something. Oh, I was also thinking like stand in the dishwasher. This is what my friend said, and it really hit me hard. Is like taking care of a baby, yeah, you're just like making sure they survive and get like their essential needs, like food, shelter, love, warmth, that stuff.

Braydon:

Yeah.

Taylee:

But like now that they're like becoming a toddler, like you have to teach them how to be a good person. That's all on you. That's a lot. That's stressful. I'm always like, wow, they really need to make more like they should have like a a rule book or something to follow, or like something to give you guidance, but they do have a lot of parenting books. You just have to read them. Or listen to this podcast where we're giving great advice. Mostly all of our expertise. Yeah. No good. No good. So, anyways, that's our show for you tonight. That's all we got for you. I'm about to go grub up on my viral Japanese cheesecake, aka, you know, the Greek yogurt with the graham crackers in it. And if you like put a ton of graham crackers and like 20. Why is it Japanese? It it originated in Jap Japan. Japan. It originated in Japan. I don't know. It's like a Japanese thing. Weird. It's viral, going viral right now on Facebook. That's the only social media I've been using lately. I mean, you sound really old. I know, it's really funny. I am like a I'm such a millennial. I know, I'm so choogy. Um that's a term for millennials. Choogie. Choogie in the world. Well, clearly I'm more with it than you are. It just is a term for like things that are millennial, like skinny jeans. They're chooggy. What the heck? That's weird. Yeah. Learn something the other day. So, anyways, well, if you liked what you heard or liked what you saw, give us a like. Leave us a review. Leave us a review. That would be huge. Remember, if you have any questions, concerns, or that you would like advice on, let us know. Yep. Okay, well, on that note, have a rockin' fantastic week, and we'll catch you next time. Catch you later. Bye! Bye.