Sorry you had a period ! wow a whole year and.. so what does that mean really? Do side effects subside as the months go by without a period? And then ..So say the following year or two one starts feeling normal? I can't figure it out .Great post!

Let me preface my comments by stating that I have 3 children, ages 8, 5, 2 (and one on the way). So I am not new to this, but it's all still fresh enough in my memory that I remember it realistically. That's just so you know where I am coming from. And I ask your patience now for what I expect will be a long answer. The answer to your question is yes and no. If you think of discipline in terms of teaching and guiding, yes, you can begin to discipline a 9 mos old in terms of protecting them from danger. If they pull hair, you can distract them and say "no." You can say "no" and remove them from a situation like pulling an electic cord. But they aren't likely to learn any lesson from it. I know people say their babies understand "no" but I do not buy that. A baby might respond temporarily to the tone of the voice, but at that age, I don't believe, from my experience, they understand "no" in any disciplinary terms. In other words, you could substitute any word used in exactly the same tone and context and get the same reaction from the baby. At that age it is about protecting them. Even if you do get a response to no in a physically harmful situation, you still aren't going to get one over manners, i.e. crying and screaming in temper. If you think of discipline in terms of more concrete action=consequence the answer is no. If you think of discipline in terms of knowing what behavior is expected, the answer is no. That is the beginning of self-discipline and that is a couple years off. There are a million reasons why this baby would behave that way. First off, she is a baby. She has no understanding of socially acceptable behavior and won't for a long time. She could be coming down with something, maybe she's teething, or tired. Maybe her nap/sleep schedule is in a period of change making her more tired and cranky that usual. It is also common for babies that age to begin to feel frustration over their lack of mobility or autonomy. She knows what she wants to do, but she is not yet physically capable of doing it. That makes her frustrated and the only means she has to express it is to cry and scream. Some babies express that frustration more intensely than others, kind of like adults. Sometimes there just isn't anything you can do about it short of making life go their way all the time (and we all know how well that would go). We will all have days like that, some of us will have weeks like that. And it has nothing to do with our parenting skills. It's real life. What you do about it has more to do with you than with the baby. If a parent responds to a baby's cries of frustration with a raised, loud voice and frustration of their own, the baby's will only intensify. As a parent, you just have to stay calm. Rule out any cause you can resolve, fix it if you can, and ride it out if you can't. If baby cries because he doesn't really want to be in his car seat right now he'd much rather crawl on the floor, there just isn't anything you can do about it. You gotta do what you gotta do. You can't reason with him. You cannot impose a consequence for the crying. You really only can carry on with what you gotta do, try to offer a distraction, but if that doesn't work, ride it out. They are not old enough for the type of discipline that makes them understand you can't always have your way. They are still of the mentality "I am the center of the universe and as my mother it is your job to make me happy." The scream says "Why aren't you doing your job!" So when that age hits, try to see life through your baby's eyes, try to understand what their cry says to you, it helps keep your expectations within reason. If you can see the baby's view of life, it helps you determine if the fit is over a need or a want, thus the best way to resolve it. And remember that when you have days like that, you are not alone, we all have them, it doesn't make you a bad mother. Not to scare you, but the temper of a 9 mos old doesn't begin to compare to the temper of a 2 yr old. And most professionals do in fact say that the best way to deal with that is to ignore it. On the up side, you will have far more good days than bad. And when it is your child, you move into those temper cries gradually and 1)get used to them and learn to block them out and 2)have time to work into dealing with it slowly and not BAM there it is. When you find yourself having to deal with it, you watch your baby's needs. If you know your baby gets cranky being out of routine, try to avoid that. If you know strange places make him cranky, invite people to your house instead. You can try to make some compromised in your daily life to avoid things that will aggrevate the crankies. But life happens, you can't avoid it all the time and probably really shouldn't. I feel from the way you posted you are seeking information for your own use, not judging your friend. But I still want to say don't judge her parenting by this bad day, or even a rough few weeks. Instead, and I'm sure you're already doing this, be supportive and understanding of this normal phase. I hope from all that rambling you got something helpful. :o)

I'll respond to a bunch of things at once here: The general consensus from you guys seems to be that we should have a wiping technique chat and have those flushable wipes. That was what I was leaning towards as well. Thank you to whoever it was that mentioned making sure they say "flushable". We don't have him enough to be on constant potty patrol, monitoring his progress for several weeks straight, so whatever we do about this has to fit the amount we have him and I think that approach is worth a shot. So, now the hard part of the problem: What do I do about getting BF to talk with him? BF is a good dad, but he's not comfortable with that sort of things and he's not all that patient. So I know he will feel pressured into giving this tutorial, that he will hate it, and I suspect he will come off as grouchy during it, rather than matter-of-fact. I was thinking of waiting to bring it up again until there is another pair of excessively poopy underwear, but I think I would rather be proactive and prevent future messes. Should I ask him what he will say to A__, and suggest he do a practice chat to me? (He'll think that's totally lame, but it might make him more comfortable with A__) Any suggestions? I have no clue how to encourage my BF on talking to his son about wiping properly and I need some ideas. Or should I just do it myself next time A__ is here? Tell BF that I'm buying wipes and ask if he wants to talk to A__ about it, or if I should (I'm nearly certain he will say he doesn't want to). Then tell A__ "Hey, I bought these for you, because you said that even though you try your best, you have trouble wiping well. [Insert calm and matter-of-fact wiping tutorial here] and then if the paper is still dirty when you do the 'check' at the end, use one of these, just like you did with the paper, but they're wet, so they'll help. Check again, and if it's still dirty, use one more. Flush the wipes with everything else and wash your hands with soap. If you're still dirty, you can have a quick shower - I know you prefer baths, but this would just be a quick shower so you can soap up your bum, and you wouldn't even have to get your face or hair wet. I'll ask you tomorrow night if the wipes made it easier for you, and if they did, Dad or I will tell Mom that you liked them and that you'd like them at her house too."

"Best trees to plant near swimming pools" https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A86.J7vUD0dYXUUAr5cPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBzdHZpaXZrBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNyZWw-?p=best+trees+to+plant+near+swimming+pools&type=osf01s1&hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-brwsr001&ei=UTF-8&fr2=rs-top&fr=yhs-avast-brwsr001 10 Messy Plants You Don't Want Near The Pool When it's time for the acacia to release its flower clusters, they spread—all over your yard and into your pool. If you must have an acacia, plant it in the front yard and hope a mighty wind doesn't blow around the time of pod and flower drop. "The little tiny flowers [of Crape Myrtle] fill the pool surface with brightly colored debris. It clogs the skimmers and when it sinks it's so small a pressure-side cleaner won't pick it up most of the time," says Brian Alan Shirley, owner of Abracadabra Pool Technologies in the Decatur, Georgia, region http://poolandpatio.about.com/od/patiolandsaping/ss/10-Messy-Plants-You-Dont-Want-Near-the-Pool.htm