Well, Nathaniel officially gets the concept of "two," as of today. This morning when he got up and went downstairs, he counted his steps all the way down: "One! Two! One! Two! One! Two!"
He counted his baby Crocs a bunch of times (there are two of them!).
He counted bugs.
He counted whatever he could find.
When he ate all his fruit snacks except for one, he held the one up and said, "MOMMY! ONE!!!" over and over again, elated to understand and articulate that he only had one fruit snack.
I'm pretty happy with him!
He's doing well with his pre-reading, too. He loves his Dr. Seuss ABC book (Big A, little a--what begins with A?), and he loves to point at all the letters and say their sounds. On every page, he points to the word BIG and says "B! I! G!" He really enjoys that.
He turns 2 in about three weeks. Pretty crazy!
Monday, June 24, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
attachment parenting 23 months in
Well! Nathaniel is now 23 months old. I figured it's a good time to check in with you all about our attachment parenting ways, since I haven't been that good at updating about them, and we have another kid on the way. Baby #2 is due in late August, so Carl and I have been talking about what we liked and didn't like about our parenting experiences so far.
Mostly, we've liked them.
As a reminder, there are Seven B's of attachment parenting: birth bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedding close to baby, belief in language value of baby's cry, beware of baby trainers, and balance.
1. Birth Bonding. Did our best with that one, but that went horribly with Nathaniel because of my [unwanted] pitocin induction and epidural, and then the fact that he was so late and so big--he ended up in the NICU for the first day or so after birth. We will do better with this kid because I know now to really work hard at going into labor at 39 weeks (no more 43-week pregnancies, thanks), and we're having Kid #2 at home. So we will bond with this one.
2. Breastfeeding. I still nurse Nathaniel and I am not ashamed. He is allergic to lots of things, and nursing is one way I can be sure he's getting nutrients he needs even though his diet can be... uh, imbalanced due to his dietary restrictions. He only really nurses once or maaaaybe twice a day now--at night right before sleeping, and then before a nap if he bothers to take a nap these days. Mostly he is too busy for breastfeeding. On the pro side, I feel like nursing strengthens our relationship. On the other hand, I'm a little tired of my nursing wardrobe. It's not terrible, but I miss wearing other clothes. On the plus side, as a pregnant person, now it doesn't matter what I want to wear, because everything will be uncomfortable and look weird and I just have to deal with it for another three months. AUGUST!
3. Babywearing. Babywearing is AWESOME and I way recommend it. Nathaniel and I have always been very close--literally and emotionally. When he was just little little, I would wear him as I did my chores. I always wore him to the grocery store and on walks. And on airplanes--SO convenient on airplanes. Now that he's bigger and I'm pregnant, I don't wear him as much, but I still do a little bit. Well, not this month. But last month I did wear him! I fully plan to wear the second one a ton. It will be very convenient while I have to chase Nathaniel around to have both hands free and my little one right next to my body. Best babywearing tool: the ring sling. I got mine on Amazon for like $29.99. So worth it, so much better and more comfortable and convenient and cheaper than anything else I've tried.
4. Bedsharing. We still bedshare. My grandma was like, scandalized by it. And yeah, at this point, it's getting a little bit old. Nathaniel's getting big. But since we have been travelling and still have more travelling to do before the summer is over, we've decided not to move him to a toddler bed just yet. It would be bad to move him over and then have him sleep with us again while we're on the road, and have to have all the battles over again.
Bedsharing has been awesome for us. We've all slept very well, overall--I can count on two hands the times Nathaniel has woken us up with crying in the night. Every time it's been teething or illness, and we were right there to comfort him--no need to get out of bed. It's been amazingly convenient and very cuddly. Also it's been nice because a lot of times Carl doesn't get to see Nathaniel for more than an hour a day--but they can cuddle at night and it's nice. Also, Carl never lost sleep having to leave the room to bring me a screaming baby in the night. We will most likely bedshare with #2 as well. REMEMBER if you bedshare to follow all the rules for safe bedsharing. Look 'em up if you're interested.
5. Belief in language value of cries. I have always felt like Nathaniel's cries were important communication. Babies, at least as far as I can tell, don't cry because it's fun. They cry because they're scared, or tired, or lonely, or hurting, etc. All of those feelings are valid and crying is the only way a baby can express them. We have been very, very responsive to his cries and we do not let him cry it out. As a result, I believe, he's been a very chill dude, and he trusts us a lot. We will definitely work to be as responsive to #2 as we were to #1.
6. Beware of baby trainers. Eh, I was already doing this one. We'll keep being wary of baby training.
7. Balance. Been working on this one. I feel like life is pretty imbalanced right now, thanks to my pregnancy and travelling and weddings and Nathaniel's allergies and everything. Who knows. But we're trying. And we'll keep trying with the next one!
In other news, I'm excited to cloth diaper #2. Our cloth diapers have been fantastic and I way recommend them. They have saved us so much money. And now that Nathaniel's approaching potty-training age, he's really aware of everything going on down there, because cloth diapers are less comfortable than disposables. I think it will make potty training him a lot easier.
Anything else I'm missing? Anyway, attachment parenting isn't for everybody, but so far, it's been great for us.
Mostly, we've liked them.
As a reminder, there are Seven B's of attachment parenting: birth bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedding close to baby, belief in language value of baby's cry, beware of baby trainers, and balance.
1. Birth Bonding. Did our best with that one, but that went horribly with Nathaniel because of my [unwanted] pitocin induction and epidural, and then the fact that he was so late and so big--he ended up in the NICU for the first day or so after birth. We will do better with this kid because I know now to really work hard at going into labor at 39 weeks (no more 43-week pregnancies, thanks), and we're having Kid #2 at home. So we will bond with this one.
2. Breastfeeding. I still nurse Nathaniel and I am not ashamed. He is allergic to lots of things, and nursing is one way I can be sure he's getting nutrients he needs even though his diet can be... uh, imbalanced due to his dietary restrictions. He only really nurses once or maaaaybe twice a day now--at night right before sleeping, and then before a nap if he bothers to take a nap these days. Mostly he is too busy for breastfeeding. On the pro side, I feel like nursing strengthens our relationship. On the other hand, I'm a little tired of my nursing wardrobe. It's not terrible, but I miss wearing other clothes. On the plus side, as a pregnant person, now it doesn't matter what I want to wear, because everything will be uncomfortable and look weird and I just have to deal with it for another three months. AUGUST!
3. Babywearing. Babywearing is AWESOME and I way recommend it. Nathaniel and I have always been very close--literally and emotionally. When he was just little little, I would wear him as I did my chores. I always wore him to the grocery store and on walks. And on airplanes--SO convenient on airplanes. Now that he's bigger and I'm pregnant, I don't wear him as much, but I still do a little bit. Well, not this month. But last month I did wear him! I fully plan to wear the second one a ton. It will be very convenient while I have to chase Nathaniel around to have both hands free and my little one right next to my body. Best babywearing tool: the ring sling. I got mine on Amazon for like $29.99. So worth it, so much better and more comfortable and convenient and cheaper than anything else I've tried.
4. Bedsharing. We still bedshare. My grandma was like, scandalized by it. And yeah, at this point, it's getting a little bit old. Nathaniel's getting big. But since we have been travelling and still have more travelling to do before the summer is over, we've decided not to move him to a toddler bed just yet. It would be bad to move him over and then have him sleep with us again while we're on the road, and have to have all the battles over again.
Bedsharing has been awesome for us. We've all slept very well, overall--I can count on two hands the times Nathaniel has woken us up with crying in the night. Every time it's been teething or illness, and we were right there to comfort him--no need to get out of bed. It's been amazingly convenient and very cuddly. Also it's been nice because a lot of times Carl doesn't get to see Nathaniel for more than an hour a day--but they can cuddle at night and it's nice. Also, Carl never lost sleep having to leave the room to bring me a screaming baby in the night. We will most likely bedshare with #2 as well. REMEMBER if you bedshare to follow all the rules for safe bedsharing. Look 'em up if you're interested.
5. Belief in language value of cries. I have always felt like Nathaniel's cries were important communication. Babies, at least as far as I can tell, don't cry because it's fun. They cry because they're scared, or tired, or lonely, or hurting, etc. All of those feelings are valid and crying is the only way a baby can express them. We have been very, very responsive to his cries and we do not let him cry it out. As a result, I believe, he's been a very chill dude, and he trusts us a lot. We will definitely work to be as responsive to #2 as we were to #1.
6. Beware of baby trainers. Eh, I was already doing this one. We'll keep being wary of baby training.
7. Balance. Been working on this one. I feel like life is pretty imbalanced right now, thanks to my pregnancy and travelling and weddings and Nathaniel's allergies and everything. Who knows. But we're trying. And we'll keep trying with the next one!
In other news, I'm excited to cloth diaper #2. Our cloth diapers have been fantastic and I way recommend them. They have saved us so much money. And now that Nathaniel's approaching potty-training age, he's really aware of everything going on down there, because cloth diapers are less comfortable than disposables. I think it will make potty training him a lot easier.
Anything else I'm missing? Anyway, attachment parenting isn't for everybody, but so far, it's been great for us.
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