just say no

I believe that you have to set limits with children, and that whining should not get them every thing they want. And certainly we do not need to buy every thing that catches the eye at the store, especially things that make noise. And the first time I faced the actual situation, I failed (against my nine month old, no less).

We were checking out a new store in town to see its children's section. I notice that there were a lot of velour pants for my budding toddler. We don't need any. (I mentioned to my mom that they were "in." She noted that it was too bad we still didn't have my toddler velour pants... Hmm.) And we looked at toy key rings and cell phones, because Kiddo really liked the one she saw when we were visiting some friends last week. She was so enamored with this set of plastic keys (that made noise when she pushed the buttons!) that even though I wouldn't let her put it in her mouth, she still wouldn't let go of them. She fussed everytime I acted as if they might get removed from her tight little grip. I caved, and bought it for her. She got upset when I took them away so the lady could ring it up. Does it need to be said that we did not get a bag?

Now, there are some extenuating circumstances here. 1) I was actually in the market for such a toy. 2) Kiddo came into some money last month by participating in a health study, so in fact I was spending her money. 3) We had just returned something else I had bought with the money, so it was with us at the time. I want to think that given my life currently, no matter how much she liked them or fussed when I put them back on the shelf, we would not have bought them. But this did not seem to bode well for our shopping future.

what's for breakfast

Eating while pregnant was always a chore. I would find something to eat, and then two or three days later it would make me sick. So I'd try something new, which sometimes worked, only to need to be replaced a few days later. Then, about this time last year I found scrambled eggs. Two. With a piece of wheat toast. And suddenly, I had a breakfast that I could eat every day. And did. And do. A year later, each morning I still have two scrambled eggs with a piece of wheat toast. When the good bread is on sale, it's an excellent breakfast. When it's not, it's a good breakfast.

So, toast may have been one of Kiddo's first real foods. She loves it. And I've recently started her on eggs too. It took us a little work to figure out how she could eat eggs (she didn't want to be fed them) but now we have a little routine.

We sit her in her chair, and she has cheerios while I get her breakfast. She has some baby oatmeal, then some sort of fruit. When she won't eat any more of that, she plays in her chair for a bit while I make my breakfast. Then we share my two eggs and toast.

This morning, she was having trouble picking up the eggs and getting them into her mouth. I marveled at her ... innocence in this process. She would carefully pick up the egg bit, and try to get it to her mouth. Sometimes she couldn't pick it up, sometimes she dropped it on the way to her mouth, and a few times it slid out of her mouth once she got it there. Undeterred, unembarrassed, and undaunted, she tried again until she made it. When is the last time I've been so diligent about accomplishing something that I wanted but wasn't that good at yet? What a good example my baby is to me.


Our first attempt a few weeks ago... (this time she let me feed her, which explains the amount in her mouth.)

Don't you love this smile?

a lesson in comparing babies

I try not to compare my daughter's talents, looks, skills, growth, etc. with other children. But, being a human, and having three or four friends, plus a brother and a cousin with kids that are within 6 weeks of my daughter's age (plus or minus) makes this a lot harder. But hopefully, I've learned my lesson.

I read on a friend's blog that her boy clapped along with pat-a-cake. I thought: how cute is that? Would Kiddo do that? It turns out that, yes, she will, and in fact, it's not so cute at all. (Well, it is cute, because she's cute, but other than that, not cute.) Perhaps it is because she will sit there forever listening to me chant the rhyme, and then as soon as I get to the end she will start clapping her hands to indicate it is time for an encore. And then again, and then again. I don't know how long she'll ask for it, because I certainly can't stand it as long as she can.

The last time I found myself in this cycle I thought, maybe we'll chant some other rhyme and clap along. Nope. That wasn't good enough. She "nya-nya"'d at me until I went back to the old favorite.

The worst part of this situation is that even when I'm not entertaining her with the chant, it still drifts through my head in a never ending loop: pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake...

I love doors

Kiddo's favorite room by far is the bathroom. Not that she ever goes in there, except in a heavily supervised fashion, but she likes it all the same. I know because she crawls toward it whenever the door is open. Next place she likes is the pantry/closet. The only thing that makes these loves bearable is the amazing invention of the door. We close them, and she can't get in.

I know, I know, it won't last forever. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be grateful while it does.

messy eating

My daughter has always been a clean eater. As a baby, she didn't spit-up. When we started solids, she just took in the food. A little food on her lips gets licked up, not smeared everywhere. Food on her bib was more likely to be spilled by us feeding her than by her mess. Until recently.

She's learned that she has choices - like when to eat or not eat. So if she isn't in the mood, she shakes her head back and forth with amazing speed, and this may result in some food on her cheeks. In addition, she wants to hold the bowl and spoon, which often results in food on her hands, which gets pushed onto her tray and chair.

The last two days have been particularly messy.

This was not her fault. Her dad just dropped her food bowl, and got oatmeal everywhere. The second picture is of her trying to lick it off the tray.



This was. She hit the spoon, and peaches flew everywhere. Note her arm pulled into her sleeve. She seems to be figuring out sleeves these days. Later in this feeding (or was it the next time?) she made a lunge for the cereal, and succeeded. Ah for the clean days again.

unexpected chores

I was getting more diapers from her room when I heard a crash in the front room (where the baby was). It was not followed by a scream, so I assumed that things were okay, but I still ran to figure out what made the noise.

Kiddo had finally managed to knock over the plant. So began the list of things I didn't mean to accomplish that day. I had to get the vacuum out, so I found the time to vacuum the rest of the house. I had to replace the plant in its pot. Since we had potting soil in the car, and I have been meaning to repot the silly thing for at least three years, we finally got that done.

Later on that day she just wouldn't take a nap, then I was inspired to take her somewhere in the car. So I got the bills ready to go, and made a trip to the post office (it worked - she fell asleep). Not much happened that day that was supposed to, but plenty of other things did.

I read in a magazine once that instead of making a "to-do" list at the beginning of the day, a lady made an "I've-done" list at the end. That was the kind of day I had.

wave bye-bye

Kiddo has always moved her hands, but within the last few days we have successfully taught her to "wave bye-bye" (obeys single commands- yes!). When Dad walks out the door for school, or when we leave the house, or when we leave a set of people, we tell her to "wave bye-bye" and she (usually) does her approximation thereof.

Sometimes she makes a fist and bends her wrist once or twice. Sometimes she moves her hand up and down.

My favorite application of this skill is while reading. The book "Oh my oh my oh dinosaurs" by Sandra Boynton ends with the page "Dinosaurs looking right at you to say good-bye because we're through." With no prompting from us she figured out that this was "saying bye-bye" and she waves to the dinosaurs. I love it.