I want to be able to do the splits, but I don't have the patience to stretch daily.
There's something about the lack of immediate results that greatly affects my ability to push through a tedious task. Trust me, I know it's a personality flaw.
Silas recently started learning to spit. At first I was thrilled, because we were brushing our teeth and he was trying to imitate me; a great next step for him in his own personal care.
Then he realized that this wonderful trick could be applied to everything he put in his mouth. Now he was chomping onto toys and spitting them out. Now he was taking big sips of water and spraying it on the floor, nearly choking on his laughter.
I know that I have to be patient. It will take many explanations that we spit in the sink while brushing, but not on the floor while drinking. There will be messes. I get Silas to help clean up his messes in an attempt to gently rebuke him (but the kid really likes blotting up spills with paper towel so I'm worried this might encourage him).
Just like the splits, I know I have to work with Silas every day as he learns to navigate the basic activities we take for granted (brushing our teeth, using the toilet, putting on clothes). All of these have a vague starting point and a defined ending point, but the steps in between are brutally slow going and the day to day changes are essentially non existent. Only when I stop to think back to a few months ago do I realize how far Silas has come in any of his skills.
I am not a particularly patient person - I am all about the destination rather than the journey - but hopefully teaching Silas will help me to change my viewpoint. And maybe one day, I'll look back to a time when I thought I was incapable of doing the splits.
Maybe.
Showing posts with label does it matter?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label does it matter?. Show all posts
Monday, May 12, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Babies Learning Language
It is ridiculous how many curse words a baby knows these days.
Silas learned how to say "foxes," for example. The first twenty times, it sounded much more like he was dropping F bombs left and right (and up and down for good measure). He kept pointing to the fox on the shirt he was wearing each time he said it, which helped calm my frazzled nerves. I figured if anyone in public heard him, I could quickly clear up any confusion.
Then Silas learned how to say "cook." Only, it sounded like he was crudely referencing the male genitalia. He tried to mimic me stirring a pot on the stove, though, and eventually his pronunciation got better.
Shirt was another tough one. Silas was more than happy to hand me any of his t-shirts or onesies while dropping the "r" in the word. (This, too, has gotten better over time.)
I think learning to talk is a cruel prank sometimes. On the one hand, when Silas busts out a perfectly innocent swear, I want to laugh because it is cute and adorable that he has no clue what he is doing. On the other hand, toddlers thrive on making others laugh and while the swearing child on TV might be hilarious, I don't think it's as funny in real life.
Luckily, when I type about it on the internet, I can laugh as much as I want and he doesn't know. Then he only thinks I'm crazy. Which may or may not be a good trade off.
Silas learned how to say "foxes," for example. The first twenty times, it sounded much more like he was dropping F bombs left and right (and up and down for good measure). He kept pointing to the fox on the shirt he was wearing each time he said it, which helped calm my frazzled nerves. I figured if anyone in public heard him, I could quickly clear up any confusion.
Then Silas learned how to say "cook." Only, it sounded like he was crudely referencing the male genitalia. He tried to mimic me stirring a pot on the stove, though, and eventually his pronunciation got better.
Shirt was another tough one. Silas was more than happy to hand me any of his t-shirts or onesies while dropping the "r" in the word. (This, too, has gotten better over time.)
I think learning to talk is a cruel prank sometimes. On the one hand, when Silas busts out a perfectly innocent swear, I want to laugh because it is cute and adorable that he has no clue what he is doing. On the other hand, toddlers thrive on making others laugh and while the swearing child on TV might be hilarious, I don't think it's as funny in real life.
Luckily, when I type about it on the internet, I can laugh as much as I want and he doesn't know. Then he only thinks I'm crazy. Which may or may not be a good trade off.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Silas is now sleeping through the night. Probably.
About 12 out of the last 15 nights, Silas has slept through the night. I guess his "sleep through the night" switch was flipped, though I couldn't tell you how or what did it. He turned 17 months old last week, so it's been a long time coming. I don't know if 15 days is long enough to become retrospective, but again - almost 17 months of waking up three to infinity times a night means the last two weeks of good sleep feels like forever (in a good way).
The switch is leaving me with a lot of mixed feelings on baby sleep. Seventeen months is a long time for me to go without good sleep at night and whereas Silas could nap during the day, I had to often use that time to study or do housework. But we tried crying it out for a bit and it didn't work for long. So, here is a list of six things that did or did not work to get Silas to sleep through the night.
6. An early, early bedtime
Silas likes to hold onto his naps. He was napping three times a day for several months before he finally transitioned to two naps a day, a few months before his first birthday. This meant that for most of his first year, he had a late "bedtime" of nine or ten. When he dropped his late evening nap, I pushed his bedtime up to 7:30 and then 7 and then sometimes 6:30. Occasionally he would sleep for a long chunk of time when I did this, but he was still up two to four times a night.
The nice thing about the super early bedtime was that I had some time in the evening to be an adult. The not so nice thing was that I still had to get to bed early myself if I wanted any meaningful sleep. It's all dandy when the baby sleeps for six hours straight, but when that means he wakes up at one in the morning, I had to be in bed by ten just to sleep for three hours in a row.
Now that he's sleeping through the night, he typically goes to bed between 7:30 and 8.
Conclusion: An early bedtime had a small effect on Silas sleeping for a longer chunk of time in the first part of the night.
5. Naps
Again, Silas likes to nap. There was a brief period of two or so weeks around thirteen months where he started to fight his naps and I was going to transition him to one nap a day, but that passed; I suspect he was simply testing his boundaries. He currently still naps twice a day, usually for about an hour or two each nap. I read a lot about how napping too much during the day could upset sleep, but let me assure you - cutting down on his daytime sleep meant I would be up every hour with him at night.
Lately we've gotten to the point where he will nurse and then ask to go to his crib and nap. I currently call this the "golden age of napping" because he then says "sleepy doggies, bye-bye doggies" and babbles to himself for a bit (anywhere from one to thirty minutes) and then falls asleep peacefully. And with two naps a day, I have time to clean up, do laundry and read and write constantly. It is amazing.
But that's a bit of a tangent. Over the last two weeks, Silas has not reduced his nap time even as he sleeps through the night. (I'm obviously overjoyed by this).
Conclusion: Naps are impossible to figure out. The time Silas spends napping each day seemed to affect his sleep negatively; if he didn't sleep enough during the day, he didn't sleep well at night. However, more sleep during the day did not correlate with more sleep at night after a certain point. Overall naps seem to be mostly independent of his sleeping through the night habits.
4. Nursing
Silas has nursed at least once over night since he was born. And for a long time, he was nursed to sleep. I had read a lot about nursing being a sleep association, but even when he wasn't nursed to sleep (as in the time we did cry it out), he would still wake up to nurse multiple times. I know that many books/professionals also indicate that babies should no longer nurse overnight much sooner than seventeen months, but thankfully at least one guy has my back. (Dr. Sears writes that babies might go up to eighteen months before dropping the overnight nursing).
For a long while, he had a bedtime routine that ended with him reading some books and then nursing and then being put in his crib awake but drowsy. He usually fell asleep without crying on these nights, but woke up often to nurse again by one.
Coinciding exactly with when he started sleeping through the night, Silas dropped his bedtime nursing. In fact, the two nights these past two weeks that he slept poorly were the two nights in which he was nursed closer to his bedtime than the other nights. Most nights he nurses for the final time around six now. I remember the first day it happened. We had been out at a friend's house and I had nursed Silas beforehand. When we got home around 8:30, Silas had fallen asleep in the car. Smiley brought him inside and put him in his crib and he didn't wake up, so I figured I'd head to bed myself and just wait for him to wake up at midnight wanting to nurse (which is what he has done countless other nights in situations like that). Silas slept until five the next morning!
When I tried to take nursing out of the bedtime routine in the months before, it backfired and he was up more than ever. So I think that the breakthrough is more on his decision to drop nursing at bedtime rather than me trying to force it.
Conclusion: Once Silas decided to stop nursing before bedtime, he slept through the night. However, experience showed me that he had to make the decision, not me.
3. Food intake and activity level
It starts VERY early - well-meaning friends and parents suggest putting a tiny bit of rice cereal in a bottle to get your baby to sleep through the night. From there, the suggestion is that if you make sure your baby eats enough during the day, they won't wake up at night. Well, I was nursing Silas and didn't feel like using formula or pumping to give him a bottle when he was younger, and when he got older, I noticed that there was no correlation between how much he ate during the day and how well he slept at night. Absolutely none. Some nights he would eat a lot at dinner and wake up a lot. Other nights he'd eat a lot at dinner and wake up a few less times. Sometimes he would eat very little during the day and wake up only twice. Other times, he'd eat a little and wake up six times. You get the idea, right?
Going hand in hand with that is the concept that if you wear out a baby during the day, he'll sleep better at night. This also had no correlation to how well he slept at night. And on days when he skipped his nap because he was at the park playing, he slept even worse at night.
Conclusion: Food intake had little to no impact on Silas sleeping through the night. Activity had little to no impact on his sleep either.
2. Teething
Oh, baby. My dear little Silas started cutting teeth early and hasn't stopped yet. At seventeen months he has all of his teeth minus his two year molars. His bottom eye teeth are still working their way all the way out, but they have broken through the gums. Some nights when Silas seemed to be extra upset, I would give him some ibuprofen in case he was in pain, but he rarely slept better on those nights. It is possible that since all of his teeth minus the two year molars have broken through that he is now able to sleep better at night. I guess I'll get my answer when his two year molars start to make an appearance.
Conclusion: Teething might have a horrible, negative impact on Silas sleeping through the night. It's possible that he did not sleep through the night until now because he has seriously been working on cutting one tooth after another since five months. However, ibuprofen did not seem to help, so I suspect it is less likely that teething had a huge impact.
1. A bedtime routine
I'm not going to make a blanket statement here; maybe your baby thrives on a bedtime routine. Well, I don't and neither does Silas. For several months I kept his bedtime the same - put on the overnight diaper and pajamas, brush teeth, turn on quiet music, read a couple of books, nurse, put baby in crib.
The past two weeks have not been that routine. He doesn't nurse. Sometimes we read books, sometimes we don't. Sometimes he puts on his pajamas and plays for a while longer before brushing his teeth. The lack of routine has not affected his sleeping through the night.
Full disclosure: during the day, we have a rough routine of wake up, breakfast, naptime two hours after wake up time, play time and lunch, naptime three hours after waking up from the morning nap, playtime and dinner, bedtime roughly four to five hours after waking up from the afternoon nap. Silas typically doesn't watch TV until after his afternoon nap if we watch anything. And that's about it in terms of routine.
Conclusion: A bedtime routine did not help and only stressed me out when I felt like I was deviating from it. I am not a good routine type of person and it stands to reason that my son might not be either. We use loose guidelines. It is not probable that the routine hurt anything, but I am super happy to not have to worry about it.
Final Conclusion: Now that I've spent forty-five minutes typing "Silas sleeps through the night" seventy-six times, I bet you that the moment I hit "publish," Silas will wake up every half hour tonight.
The switch is leaving me with a lot of mixed feelings on baby sleep. Seventeen months is a long time for me to go without good sleep at night and whereas Silas could nap during the day, I had to often use that time to study or do housework. But we tried crying it out for a bit and it didn't work for long. So, here is a list of six things that did or did not work to get Silas to sleep through the night.
6. An early, early bedtime
Silas likes to hold onto his naps. He was napping three times a day for several months before he finally transitioned to two naps a day, a few months before his first birthday. This meant that for most of his first year, he had a late "bedtime" of nine or ten. When he dropped his late evening nap, I pushed his bedtime up to 7:30 and then 7 and then sometimes 6:30. Occasionally he would sleep for a long chunk of time when I did this, but he was still up two to four times a night.
The nice thing about the super early bedtime was that I had some time in the evening to be an adult. The not so nice thing was that I still had to get to bed early myself if I wanted any meaningful sleep. It's all dandy when the baby sleeps for six hours straight, but when that means he wakes up at one in the morning, I had to be in bed by ten just to sleep for three hours in a row.
Now that he's sleeping through the night, he typically goes to bed between 7:30 and 8.
Conclusion: An early bedtime had a small effect on Silas sleeping for a longer chunk of time in the first part of the night.
5. Naps
Again, Silas likes to nap. There was a brief period of two or so weeks around thirteen months where he started to fight his naps and I was going to transition him to one nap a day, but that passed; I suspect he was simply testing his boundaries. He currently still naps twice a day, usually for about an hour or two each nap. I read a lot about how napping too much during the day could upset sleep, but let me assure you - cutting down on his daytime sleep meant I would be up every hour with him at night.
Lately we've gotten to the point where he will nurse and then ask to go to his crib and nap. I currently call this the "golden age of napping" because he then says "sleepy doggies, bye-bye doggies" and babbles to himself for a bit (anywhere from one to thirty minutes) and then falls asleep peacefully. And with two naps a day, I have time to clean up, do laundry and read and write constantly. It is amazing.
But that's a bit of a tangent. Over the last two weeks, Silas has not reduced his nap time even as he sleeps through the night. (I'm obviously overjoyed by this).
Conclusion: Naps are impossible to figure out. The time Silas spends napping each day seemed to affect his sleep negatively; if he didn't sleep enough during the day, he didn't sleep well at night. However, more sleep during the day did not correlate with more sleep at night after a certain point. Overall naps seem to be mostly independent of his sleeping through the night habits.
4. Nursing
Silas has nursed at least once over night since he was born. And for a long time, he was nursed to sleep. I had read a lot about nursing being a sleep association, but even when he wasn't nursed to sleep (as in the time we did cry it out), he would still wake up to nurse multiple times. I know that many books/professionals also indicate that babies should no longer nurse overnight much sooner than seventeen months, but thankfully at least one guy has my back. (Dr. Sears writes that babies might go up to eighteen months before dropping the overnight nursing).
For a long while, he had a bedtime routine that ended with him reading some books and then nursing and then being put in his crib awake but drowsy. He usually fell asleep without crying on these nights, but woke up often to nurse again by one.
Coinciding exactly with when he started sleeping through the night, Silas dropped his bedtime nursing. In fact, the two nights these past two weeks that he slept poorly were the two nights in which he was nursed closer to his bedtime than the other nights. Most nights he nurses for the final time around six now. I remember the first day it happened. We had been out at a friend's house and I had nursed Silas beforehand. When we got home around 8:30, Silas had fallen asleep in the car. Smiley brought him inside and put him in his crib and he didn't wake up, so I figured I'd head to bed myself and just wait for him to wake up at midnight wanting to nurse (which is what he has done countless other nights in situations like that). Silas slept until five the next morning!
When I tried to take nursing out of the bedtime routine in the months before, it backfired and he was up more than ever. So I think that the breakthrough is more on his decision to drop nursing at bedtime rather than me trying to force it.
Conclusion: Once Silas decided to stop nursing before bedtime, he slept through the night. However, experience showed me that he had to make the decision, not me.
3. Food intake and activity level
It starts VERY early - well-meaning friends and parents suggest putting a tiny bit of rice cereal in a bottle to get your baby to sleep through the night. From there, the suggestion is that if you make sure your baby eats enough during the day, they won't wake up at night. Well, I was nursing Silas and didn't feel like using formula or pumping to give him a bottle when he was younger, and when he got older, I noticed that there was no correlation between how much he ate during the day and how well he slept at night. Absolutely none. Some nights he would eat a lot at dinner and wake up a lot. Other nights he'd eat a lot at dinner and wake up a few less times. Sometimes he would eat very little during the day and wake up only twice. Other times, he'd eat a little and wake up six times. You get the idea, right?
Going hand in hand with that is the concept that if you wear out a baby during the day, he'll sleep better at night. This also had no correlation to how well he slept at night. And on days when he skipped his nap because he was at the park playing, he slept even worse at night.
Conclusion: Food intake had little to no impact on Silas sleeping through the night. Activity had little to no impact on his sleep either.
2. Teething
Oh, baby. My dear little Silas started cutting teeth early and hasn't stopped yet. At seventeen months he has all of his teeth minus his two year molars. His bottom eye teeth are still working their way all the way out, but they have broken through the gums. Some nights when Silas seemed to be extra upset, I would give him some ibuprofen in case he was in pain, but he rarely slept better on those nights. It is possible that since all of his teeth minus the two year molars have broken through that he is now able to sleep better at night. I guess I'll get my answer when his two year molars start to make an appearance.
Conclusion: Teething might have a horrible, negative impact on Silas sleeping through the night. It's possible that he did not sleep through the night until now because he has seriously been working on cutting one tooth after another since five months. However, ibuprofen did not seem to help, so I suspect it is less likely that teething had a huge impact.
1. A bedtime routine
I'm not going to make a blanket statement here; maybe your baby thrives on a bedtime routine. Well, I don't and neither does Silas. For several months I kept his bedtime the same - put on the overnight diaper and pajamas, brush teeth, turn on quiet music, read a couple of books, nurse, put baby in crib.
The past two weeks have not been that routine. He doesn't nurse. Sometimes we read books, sometimes we don't. Sometimes he puts on his pajamas and plays for a while longer before brushing his teeth. The lack of routine has not affected his sleeping through the night.
Full disclosure: during the day, we have a rough routine of wake up, breakfast, naptime two hours after wake up time, play time and lunch, naptime three hours after waking up from the morning nap, playtime and dinner, bedtime roughly four to five hours after waking up from the afternoon nap. Silas typically doesn't watch TV until after his afternoon nap if we watch anything. And that's about it in terms of routine.
Conclusion: A bedtime routine did not help and only stressed me out when I felt like I was deviating from it. I am not a good routine type of person and it stands to reason that my son might not be either. We use loose guidelines. It is not probable that the routine hurt anything, but I am super happy to not have to worry about it.
Final Conclusion: Now that I've spent forty-five minutes typing "Silas sleeps through the night" seventy-six times, I bet you that the moment I hit "publish," Silas will wake up every half hour tonight.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
The Grocery Store Five Part Trip
My old online journal was a lot different from this wonderful blog. I used it mainly to record what I did each day, which tended to be hanging out with friends and going play DDR a lot. And going to Jewel (the grocery store I used to work out). I went to Jewel a ton. In fact, this old post I came across has me laughing at both how outgoing and social I used to be and how many times I can go to a grocery store in one day.
This vintage post came from the summer of 2005. Past me writes:
Well, yesterday was pretty cool. But let's break it down and see how many times I went to Jewel. Argh!
Woke up, went to Jewel - 1
Went to friend 1's house
Back to Jewel - 2
Taco Bell
Eskape
Friend 2's house
Back to Jewel - 3
Home
Currency Exchange
OCB
Blockbuster
Friend 1's house
Jewel - 4
Eskape
Friend 3's house
Jewel - 5
Home
Well, in any case, though, I had a very good time, although I did fail Sakura.
Three friend's houses and multiple locations throughout the day? I was a freaking social butterfly, people.
In case you're wondering, Eskape is the name of the arcade that I went to all the time to play DDR. (Sakura is the name of a song I was learning to beat on Expert mode). I'm PRETTY sure OCB stands for Old Country Buffet, which is exactly what the name suggests.
I have no clue what I did at Jewel 5 times.
And Blockbuster? Now there's a sign that these were simpler, quieter times.
This vintage post came from the summer of 2005. Past me writes:
Well, yesterday was pretty cool. But let's break it down and see how many times I went to Jewel. Argh!
Woke up, went to Jewel - 1
Went to friend 1's house
Back to Jewel - 2
Taco Bell
Eskape
Friend 2's house
Back to Jewel - 3
Home
Currency Exchange
OCB
Blockbuster
Friend 1's house
Jewel - 4
Eskape
Friend 3's house
Jewel - 5
Home
Well, in any case, though, I had a very good time, although I did fail Sakura.
Three friend's houses and multiple locations throughout the day? I was a freaking social butterfly, people.
In case you're wondering, Eskape is the name of the arcade that I went to all the time to play DDR. (Sakura is the name of a song I was learning to beat on Expert mode). I'm PRETTY sure OCB stands for Old Country Buffet, which is exactly what the name suggests.
I have no clue what I did at Jewel 5 times.
And Blockbuster? Now there's a sign that these were simpler, quieter times.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Baby Small Talk
Yeah, I'm double posting this morning because I don't understand how to wait and dole out content in reasonable intervals.
Due to Sila's one year check up and a sudden and awful case of mastitis for me, I found myself at the doctor's office a couple of times these past few weeks and I quickly found myself having the same few conversations with the people I talked to. Baby small talk is not that different from commenting about the weather; every baby is similar enough that you have a common understanding of what words will come up in the conversation and every baby is different enough that you will feel like you are talking about Florida weather to someone who's only ever known Midwestern weather.
1. The Teeth Conversation
Silas smiles a lot. I'm happy about this; he's a regular Smiley Jr. The downside to his smile is that he reveals a mouthful of teeth. Which starts the exchange, almost every time:
"Oh, what a lot of teeth! How old is he?" said with a curious expression.
"He's about a year old now."
"Oh, my baby is almost one and has only has two teeth!" said with a slight frown, as if they were hoping for more teeth by now.
Don't you worry! I've got the statistics memorized. Most babies don't start teething until about 6 months, but can easily wait until eight, ten or twelve months to come up with that first tooth. All normal. Some babies will get one or two teeth at a time, others will cut a mouthful in a month. Still normal.
I try to suggest that perhaps it will be easier on them since when Silas started teething, I couldn't get him to hold a teething toy. Instead, he preferred to chew on my shoulder; nature's most ergonomic teether for a small baby, I suppose! I hope I don't come across as patronizing, because I know Silas has his "trouble" areas (like sleeping through the night!).
I talk about how Silas started teething at four months and how, though he has gotten his teeth quickly, each individual tooth has been working its way down consistently but slowly, if that makes sense. For example, his upper premolars started cutting through at the beginning of August. A month later, they still hadn't completely broken through the gum. He drools a lot.
As far as I know, teething is not a sign of intelligence or development beyond the fact that he can leave more bite marks when he chews on something. But teeth are a safe topic; most everyone has them.
2. The Walking/Crawling Conversation
This one takes several forms. When Silas was around eight months, I was flying up north to see my family with him. I had Silas tied up neatly in my baby carrier as I moved through the airport. As I walked, I fell in step with a husband and wife heading in the same direction. The husband was holding a baby.
The baby girl had cute, curly blond wisps of hair and a bright smile that lit up when she saw Silas. Her parents looked over at me and the dad started a conversation about how they also had a baby carrier but their daughter hated being in it and preferred to be carried. I nodded sagely, thinking of the time my friends and I went on a hike and Silas ended up being carried in our arms more than in the carrier.
Any conversation about babies always has an exchange of ages, done in weeks for the first 12 weeks or so, months for the first 24 months or so and then, finally, years once they hit 2-3. Their daughter was nine months.
"So does he walk yet?" asked the dad. I shook my head. Silas had just really gotten into crawling at this point. Before my headshake was over, the proud dad continued, "she's been walking for about two weeks now."
I smiled. I could see how excited he was. I told him and his wife I could see their daughter had walking legs and said that they must be having a great time chasing her around.
Babies walk at an amazing range of times. Some start as soon as seven or eight months, mostly girls (from what I've known. No scientific reason here). Others wait until past their first birthday, content to know they will be walking for a lot longer in their life than not walking. Again, all normal.
Sure, I did sort of hope that Silas would start walking as soon as possible, but I was in no rush. Silas started walking about a week after his first birthday. This has lead to me being on the other side of the conversation.
At the doctor's office waiting room, Silas was toddling around in his sandals, to the delight of an older woman. She watched him move across the room and asked me how old he was, and let me know that her daughter's baby girl didn't walk yet.
She looked at Silas again and confided to me, "I know that if my daughter would just put shoes on her baby, she'd walk!"
I'll admit, I was taken aback by this. Anyone who knows me knows that Silas has been barefoot nearly all of his life. It was just passing conversation, but I found myself wanting to explain that shoes aren't really necessary for a baby who is still learning how to manipulate all of the tiny muscles in her feet.
Finally, I said, "Well, maybe. I usually let him go barefoot in the house. But every baby is different." And she nodded, and I understood that it was a case where she believed what she believed and that was that.
So there you have it. Talking about babies is hilarious.
Due to Sila's one year check up and a sudden and awful case of mastitis for me, I found myself at the doctor's office a couple of times these past few weeks and I quickly found myself having the same few conversations with the people I talked to. Baby small talk is not that different from commenting about the weather; every baby is similar enough that you have a common understanding of what words will come up in the conversation and every baby is different enough that you will feel like you are talking about Florida weather to someone who's only ever known Midwestern weather.
1. The Teeth Conversation
Silas smiles a lot. I'm happy about this; he's a regular Smiley Jr. The downside to his smile is that he reveals a mouthful of teeth. Which starts the exchange, almost every time:
"Oh, what a lot of teeth! How old is he?" said with a curious expression.
"He's about a year old now."
"Oh, my baby is almost one and has only has two teeth!" said with a slight frown, as if they were hoping for more teeth by now.
Don't you worry! I've got the statistics memorized. Most babies don't start teething until about 6 months, but can easily wait until eight, ten or twelve months to come up with that first tooth. All normal. Some babies will get one or two teeth at a time, others will cut a mouthful in a month. Still normal.
I try to suggest that perhaps it will be easier on them since when Silas started teething, I couldn't get him to hold a teething toy. Instead, he preferred to chew on my shoulder; nature's most ergonomic teether for a small baby, I suppose! I hope I don't come across as patronizing, because I know Silas has his "trouble" areas (like sleeping through the night!).
I talk about how Silas started teething at four months and how, though he has gotten his teeth quickly, each individual tooth has been working its way down consistently but slowly, if that makes sense. For example, his upper premolars started cutting through at the beginning of August. A month later, they still hadn't completely broken through the gum. He drools a lot.
As far as I know, teething is not a sign of intelligence or development beyond the fact that he can leave more bite marks when he chews on something. But teeth are a safe topic; most everyone has them.
2. The Walking/Crawling Conversation
This one takes several forms. When Silas was around eight months, I was flying up north to see my family with him. I had Silas tied up neatly in my baby carrier as I moved through the airport. As I walked, I fell in step with a husband and wife heading in the same direction. The husband was holding a baby.
The baby girl had cute, curly blond wisps of hair and a bright smile that lit up when she saw Silas. Her parents looked over at me and the dad started a conversation about how they also had a baby carrier but their daughter hated being in it and preferred to be carried. I nodded sagely, thinking of the time my friends and I went on a hike and Silas ended up being carried in our arms more than in the carrier.
Any conversation about babies always has an exchange of ages, done in weeks for the first 12 weeks or so, months for the first 24 months or so and then, finally, years once they hit 2-3. Their daughter was nine months.
"So does he walk yet?" asked the dad. I shook my head. Silas had just really gotten into crawling at this point. Before my headshake was over, the proud dad continued, "she's been walking for about two weeks now."
I smiled. I could see how excited he was. I told him and his wife I could see their daughter had walking legs and said that they must be having a great time chasing her around.
Babies walk at an amazing range of times. Some start as soon as seven or eight months, mostly girls (from what I've known. No scientific reason here). Others wait until past their first birthday, content to know they will be walking for a lot longer in their life than not walking. Again, all normal.
Sure, I did sort of hope that Silas would start walking as soon as possible, but I was in no rush. Silas started walking about a week after his first birthday. This has lead to me being on the other side of the conversation.
At the doctor's office waiting room, Silas was toddling around in his sandals, to the delight of an older woman. She watched him move across the room and asked me how old he was, and let me know that her daughter's baby girl didn't walk yet.
She looked at Silas again and confided to me, "I know that if my daughter would just put shoes on her baby, she'd walk!"
I'll admit, I was taken aback by this. Anyone who knows me knows that Silas has been barefoot nearly all of his life. It was just passing conversation, but I found myself wanting to explain that shoes aren't really necessary for a baby who is still learning how to manipulate all of the tiny muscles in her feet.
Finally, I said, "Well, maybe. I usually let him go barefoot in the house. But every baby is different." And she nodded, and I understood that it was a case where she believed what she believed and that was that.
So there you have it. Talking about babies is hilarious.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Chore Priorities
I, like many people, procrastinate by cleaning. (Many people do that, right?)
I realized today that I use this method while I am cleaning as well. I will procrastinate the heck out of doing the dishes and the laundry by doing other cleaning. I decided to rank a few of my "least" favorite chores, along with added commentary. The list is ranked "favorite" to "least favorite."
Vacuuming - my go-to chore, especially now that we have a cordless vacuum. Smiley would be all "I told you so" if he knew (so thank goodness he doesn't read this). I made a huge fuss about not wanting to have to charge my vacuum all the time, but it turns out not having to deal with a cord is the best thing that has ever happened to vacuuming.
Whereas before I would (no lie) go weeks and quite possibly months with only a few spot cleanings of the floor, I now go ahead and just vacuum whatever room I'm in, for fun, several times a week. Sometimes twice a day.
Laundry (gathering, washing and drying) - I have no problems with the first part of laundry. Gathering clothes from the hampers, sorting if needed and running loads throughout the day is easy and boring. Not as fun as vacuuming, and I do feel required to stick around the house while the washer is going in case it floods. Did I mention my cordless vacuum means I can literally pick up my vacuum and get dirt off my floors on a whim? I shouldn't be this excited about any chore.
Cleaning - When faced with a sink full of dishes or a hamper full of clothes that need to be put away, I divert to cleaning. I'll dust, wipe baseboards, spot clean the counters, and generally put things in piles so that they hopefully look neater. I always go in with the idea that I will sort through those piles later and put them in better places, but that part turns out to be way too boring to follow through with.
Laundry (putting away clean clothes) - I have no shame. I admit I set up a hamper in our house to put clean clothes in so that I don't have to put them away right out of the dryer. I've tried folding them out of the dryer but I just hate putting things on hangers so much that I will straight up start cleaning the toilet bowl just so I still feel productive. (Or I'll vacuum.)
Dishes. Seriously, screw dishes. I mean, what the heck! Even with our small household of three people, my sink is constantly full of dirty dishes. And now that Silas eats at his highchair, I have a highchair to clean three times a day.
But... as much as I hate them, I have a system. And that system means I don't like to just put everything into the dishwasher. Smiley would gladly put everything in the dishwasher. (Well, so he says. Maybe he's figured out that I just can't make myself take him up on that offer.)
Honorable Mentions:
Rearranging Furniture - This doesn't really get a place on the list because it can be too time consuming to attempt during one of Silas's naps. Before I gave birth, I would rank this somewhere around general cleaning. Now I just stare at our rooms and rotate 3D objects in my head.
Thinking About Organizing - Sometimes, just thinking that I will eventually, one day, sort through everything in my house diverts me from me actually doing that. But the truth is, I usually just think about this while I vacuum so it's kind of win, win.
I realized today that I use this method while I am cleaning as well. I will procrastinate the heck out of doing the dishes and the laundry by doing other cleaning. I decided to rank a few of my "least" favorite chores, along with added commentary. The list is ranked "favorite" to "least favorite."
Vacuuming - my go-to chore, especially now that we have a cordless vacuum. Smiley would be all "I told you so" if he knew (so thank goodness he doesn't read this). I made a huge fuss about not wanting to have to charge my vacuum all the time, but it turns out not having to deal with a cord is the best thing that has ever happened to vacuuming.
Whereas before I would (no lie) go weeks and quite possibly months with only a few spot cleanings of the floor, I now go ahead and just vacuum whatever room I'm in, for fun, several times a week. Sometimes twice a day.
Laundry (gathering, washing and drying) - I have no problems with the first part of laundry. Gathering clothes from the hampers, sorting if needed and running loads throughout the day is easy and boring. Not as fun as vacuuming, and I do feel required to stick around the house while the washer is going in case it floods. Did I mention my cordless vacuum means I can literally pick up my vacuum and get dirt off my floors on a whim? I shouldn't be this excited about any chore.
Cleaning - When faced with a sink full of dishes or a hamper full of clothes that need to be put away, I divert to cleaning. I'll dust, wipe baseboards, spot clean the counters, and generally put things in piles so that they hopefully look neater. I always go in with the idea that I will sort through those piles later and put them in better places, but that part turns out to be way too boring to follow through with.
Laundry (putting away clean clothes) - I have no shame. I admit I set up a hamper in our house to put clean clothes in so that I don't have to put them away right out of the dryer. I've tried folding them out of the dryer but I just hate putting things on hangers so much that I will straight up start cleaning the toilet bowl just so I still feel productive. (Or I'll vacuum.)
Dishes. Seriously, screw dishes. I mean, what the heck! Even with our small household of three people, my sink is constantly full of dirty dishes. And now that Silas eats at his highchair, I have a highchair to clean three times a day.
But... as much as I hate them, I have a system. And that system means I don't like to just put everything into the dishwasher. Smiley would gladly put everything in the dishwasher. (Well, so he says. Maybe he's figured out that I just can't make myself take him up on that offer.)
Honorable Mentions:
Rearranging Furniture - This doesn't really get a place on the list because it can be too time consuming to attempt during one of Silas's naps. Before I gave birth, I would rank this somewhere around general cleaning. Now I just stare at our rooms and rotate 3D objects in my head.
Thinking About Organizing - Sometimes, just thinking that I will eventually, one day, sort through everything in my house diverts me from me actually doing that. But the truth is, I usually just think about this while I vacuum so it's kind of win, win.
Monday, June 17, 2013
I'm Probably The Last Human Being On Earth To Discover This
People who spend their time wisely at all times, you're dismissed from this post.
Otherwise, maybe you're like me. (It's ok. Don't be too scared.)
Maybe you'll be sitting at your computer trying to take notes on the heart cycle and all of the new vocabulary words are blurring together into blobs that start with "cardiac" and end with "oh my god I can't deal with this and seriously I think those two words are only different because one has an 'i' and one has an 'e'."
So then you think, "well, clearly I'm not getting my homework done right now. But my baby is asleep and I need to study right now because this is my chance."
Then you look at the etext again and maybe absentmindedly eat a dark chocolate pomegranate piece, hoping that it's just low blood sugar that is causing the confusion.
Nope. Those two words still look the same and "studying" now means looking ahead in the chapter to see if there are any words that you already know. Then you decide maybe you should just go on Facebook or something. Because then at least you'll still be at your computer for when the urge strikes to go back to studying.
Except that's not how it works. You go on Facebook or catch up on a webcomic and the next thing you know, your baby is waking up from his nap.
So this tale is fairly accurate to how I've felt several times while studying for my anatomy and physiology class. I typically read though a concept at least twice before I really start to get it, and that first read through is usually a glance followed by facebook. Except, (and I'm sure that I am the last person in the world to discover this), I found a better way.
When I feel like I'm not studying well, I get up and attend to my housework.
Yeah, I know. Right? Rocket science is happening, right here. Right now.
It's just that it is incredibly hard for me to tell myself that I can get up from my computer when I think I should be studying. I'll sit there and read random articles and browse websites, knowing I'm not going to studying any more. But just sitting there makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. Right up until Silas wakes up and I realize I didn't accomplish anything and there's still a sink full of dishes that now need to be cleaned while a newly rested baby tries to climb up my legs.
So for the past week, when I've reached that point in my studying, I've gotten up and done other things (mostly cleaning). It's silly, but I had to learn to give myself permission to get up from my computer and acknowledge that I won't be studying anymore for at least the next half hour. These breaks are sometimes good enough that I do sit back down and take another page of notes.
Look, I know that probably everyone else already knew how to do this. Or that it might not even be an issue, because before I had Silas, I could have just done other things at other times. But at some point in my life, all of my "free time" became "on-call for a baby" time and well, this new way of thinking about my time while Silas naps has really helped.
It also helps that Silas has been reliably napping for almost two hours each afternoon. Oh, it is glorious.
Now, if only I could convince him to sleep longer at night. But I suspect we'll get there one of these days. Weeks.
...
Months.
Otherwise, maybe you're like me. (It's ok. Don't be too scared.)
Maybe you'll be sitting at your computer trying to take notes on the heart cycle and all of the new vocabulary words are blurring together into blobs that start with "cardiac" and end with "oh my god I can't deal with this and seriously I think those two words are only different because one has an 'i' and one has an 'e'."
So then you think, "well, clearly I'm not getting my homework done right now. But my baby is asleep and I need to study right now because this is my chance."
Then you look at the etext again and maybe absentmindedly eat a dark chocolate pomegranate piece, hoping that it's just low blood sugar that is causing the confusion.
Nope. Those two words still look the same and "studying" now means looking ahead in the chapter to see if there are any words that you already know. Then you decide maybe you should just go on Facebook or something. Because then at least you'll still be at your computer for when the urge strikes to go back to studying.
Except that's not how it works. You go on Facebook or catch up on a webcomic and the next thing you know, your baby is waking up from his nap.
So this tale is fairly accurate to how I've felt several times while studying for my anatomy and physiology class. I typically read though a concept at least twice before I really start to get it, and that first read through is usually a glance followed by facebook. Except, (and I'm sure that I am the last person in the world to discover this), I found a better way.
When I feel like I'm not studying well, I get up and attend to my housework.
Yeah, I know. Right? Rocket science is happening, right here. Right now.
It's just that it is incredibly hard for me to tell myself that I can get up from my computer when I think I should be studying. I'll sit there and read random articles and browse websites, knowing I'm not going to studying any more. But just sitting there makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. Right up until Silas wakes up and I realize I didn't accomplish anything and there's still a sink full of dishes that now need to be cleaned while a newly rested baby tries to climb up my legs.
So for the past week, when I've reached that point in my studying, I've gotten up and done other things (mostly cleaning). It's silly, but I had to learn to give myself permission to get up from my computer and acknowledge that I won't be studying anymore for at least the next half hour. These breaks are sometimes good enough that I do sit back down and take another page of notes.
Look, I know that probably everyone else already knew how to do this. Or that it might not even be an issue, because before I had Silas, I could have just done other things at other times. But at some point in my life, all of my "free time" became "on-call for a baby" time and well, this new way of thinking about my time while Silas naps has really helped.
It also helps that Silas has been reliably napping for almost two hours each afternoon. Oh, it is glorious.
Now, if only I could convince him to sleep longer at night. But I suspect we'll get there one of these days. Weeks.
...
Months.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Which is more "redneck?"
My husband and I purchased a house some two and a half years ago (time flies) and from the start, there's been a small, rusty old shed in the back of our yard that we kind of want to get rid of. There's a problem though, and you better believe this problem is related to our "Stuff" issue.
Let me, briefly, start at the beginning. When we bought this house, we knew we'd have to redo the bathrooms. The master bath had a huge leak somewhere, somewhere being to the point that we had to strip the whole room to the studs and redo a lot of the plumbing. This was fine; we planned for it.
We also attempted to save money by seeing if we could scrounge up a tub and toilet for free, as Smiley has a lot of friends who are also maintenance type guys and property manager type guys and those type guys sometimes have extra tubs and toilets floating around.
So we spent one Saturday crawling to the top of a steep backyard hill to reach a rusty old shed at a friend's house to take and remove two bathtubs. It is not exactly easy to bring a tub down a steep hill that is overgrown with vines and what were once small trees. But free is free, we figured. Right until we realized that the tubs were oriented in the wrong direction for our bathroom. Our friend benefited from having two tubs gone from his collection of Stuff and we, well, we had two tubs that we couldn't use but didn't necessarily want to get rid of because they were tubs and could eventually someday be useful.
We spent another Saturday in similar fashion, though a different place and people, obtaining three toilets. Free toilets. Three free toilets that we did not end up using either when we decided the toilet already in the bathroom was actually not leaking. Well, now we had three free toilets that we could maybe someday use when we probably needed to replace the current toilets. Someday.
These items languished in our garage for a bit until our garage needed to be a place for different Stuff and then the tubs and toilets migrated to our shed. Then the shed got hit by a tree and now in addition to being old and rusty, it is also partially, mostly caved in. We really need to rip it down. There's actually a little foundation underneath it that I want to use as a small patio. Maybe put a firepit on it or something. Except then we get back to the problem of the tubs and toilets. They could still be useful.
Actually, I think Smiley said we could put the tubs out but he wanted to keep the toilets. Or something. But despite the partially caved-in, rusted shed being an eyesore on our property, he postulates that taking the toilets and temporarily storing them on our gazebo is too redneck. Moreso than having an old, falling apart shed. I'm sure you can tell I don't 100% agree with this.
Until we figure out what to do, I'm just going to go back to wishing that the tree branch that partially collapsed the shed was big enough to put it out of its misery. Maybe crushing a few toilets on the way. But I figure I'm not that lucky.
Let me, briefly, start at the beginning. When we bought this house, we knew we'd have to redo the bathrooms. The master bath had a huge leak somewhere, somewhere being to the point that we had to strip the whole room to the studs and redo a lot of the plumbing. This was fine; we planned for it.
We also attempted to save money by seeing if we could scrounge up a tub and toilet for free, as Smiley has a lot of friends who are also maintenance type guys and property manager type guys and those type guys sometimes have extra tubs and toilets floating around.
So we spent one Saturday crawling to the top of a steep backyard hill to reach a rusty old shed at a friend's house to take and remove two bathtubs. It is not exactly easy to bring a tub down a steep hill that is overgrown with vines and what were once small trees. But free is free, we figured. Right until we realized that the tubs were oriented in the wrong direction for our bathroom. Our friend benefited from having two tubs gone from his collection of Stuff and we, well, we had two tubs that we couldn't use but didn't necessarily want to get rid of because they were tubs and could eventually someday be useful.
We spent another Saturday in similar fashion, though a different place and people, obtaining three toilets. Free toilets. Three free toilets that we did not end up using either when we decided the toilet already in the bathroom was actually not leaking. Well, now we had three free toilets that we could maybe someday use when we probably needed to replace the current toilets. Someday.
These items languished in our garage for a bit until our garage needed to be a place for different Stuff and then the tubs and toilets migrated to our shed. Then the shed got hit by a tree and now in addition to being old and rusty, it is also partially, mostly caved in. We really need to rip it down. There's actually a little foundation underneath it that I want to use as a small patio. Maybe put a firepit on it or something. Except then we get back to the problem of the tubs and toilets. They could still be useful.
Actually, I think Smiley said we could put the tubs out but he wanted to keep the toilets. Or something. But despite the partially caved-in, rusted shed being an eyesore on our property, he postulates that taking the toilets and temporarily storing them on our gazebo is too redneck. Moreso than having an old, falling apart shed. I'm sure you can tell I don't 100% agree with this.
Until we figure out what to do, I'm just going to go back to wishing that the tree branch that partially collapsed the shed was big enough to put it out of its misery. Maybe crushing a few toilets on the way. But I figure I'm not that lucky.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Does anyone else have mornings like this?
So I'm hungry this morning and my loving and patient husband asks me what I'd like while I'm nursing the baby.
I say, I don't know.
He says, would you like a bagel? I can put cream cheese and regular cheese and a tomato on it and heat it up for you.
I say, that doesn't sound appealing.
He says, I'll make you just a bagel and cream cheese if you want.
I say, I really want stuffing. I want to eat stuffing.
He says, we don't have stuffing.
I say, I know. I think that's why I want it.
He says nothing. I eat a reeses peanut butter cup and drink some juice.
I say, I don't know.
He says, would you like a bagel? I can put cream cheese and regular cheese and a tomato on it and heat it up for you.
I say, that doesn't sound appealing.
He says, I'll make you just a bagel and cream cheese if you want.
I say, I really want stuffing. I want to eat stuffing.
He says, we don't have stuffing.
I say, I know. I think that's why I want it.
He says nothing. I eat a reeses peanut butter cup and drink some juice.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Rebranding
I've been meaning to post about this much sooner, and in my mind, the post was decorated with cute little drawings of dancing plums and maybe some senior citizens kind of doing crazy dance moves with the help of their canes and walkers. As you'll notice, none of that happened. I know that it's not literally true that every moment of my life is spent on washing dishes and laundry, but lately I've had the energy level of "nonexistent" so in fact, every moment of my life that I'm AWAKE, I'm probably working in some fashion. Ah well.
So I know that if I were to ask anyone, "hey, where do raisins come from?" it would be an easy answer to say, "Dried grapes. That's why there are dark raisins and golden raisins and red raisins. Because those are all types of grapes."
What about if I asked you where a prune comes from? Some of you might shrug and ask your grandparents. Others might grin knowingly and let the truth be heard: A prune is a dried plum.
You don't hear the word prune on TV anymore. Prune juice (in the mind of America) has long become the snack of choice for constipated seniors and ditto for prunes. Your grandmother offered you prunes when you visited. They were dry and nasty and smelled like old people.
Today's prune has shed that image. It has been rebranded. Dried plums are the snack of choice of that averagely hot guy who is eating fruit on his breakfast cereal. It is the snack of choice for that group of women on their way to yoga. There's not one mention of potential laxative properties and certainly no grandparent figures in the recent commercials.
This kind of rebranding greatly amuses me. I never thought much about prunes before but I assure you these commercials have made me think about prunes. Are they now truly a superior product to the prune of the 1950's? Or is it the same product in a cute new package?
More importantly, do people know that dried plums are prunes? And does it matter?
These, ladies and gentlemen (and dedicated spambots), are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night. You're welcome.
So I know that if I were to ask anyone, "hey, where do raisins come from?" it would be an easy answer to say, "Dried grapes. That's why there are dark raisins and golden raisins and red raisins. Because those are all types of grapes."
What about if I asked you where a prune comes from? Some of you might shrug and ask your grandparents. Others might grin knowingly and let the truth be heard: A prune is a dried plum.
You don't hear the word prune on TV anymore. Prune juice (in the mind of America) has long become the snack of choice for constipated seniors and ditto for prunes. Your grandmother offered you prunes when you visited. They were dry and nasty and smelled like old people.
Today's prune has shed that image. It has been rebranded. Dried plums are the snack of choice of that averagely hot guy who is eating fruit on his breakfast cereal. It is the snack of choice for that group of women on their way to yoga. There's not one mention of potential laxative properties and certainly no grandparent figures in the recent commercials.
This kind of rebranding greatly amuses me. I never thought much about prunes before but I assure you these commercials have made me think about prunes. Are they now truly a superior product to the prune of the 1950's? Or is it the same product in a cute new package?
More importantly, do people know that dried plums are prunes? And does it matter?
These, ladies and gentlemen (and dedicated spambots), are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night. You're welcome.
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