I must say, I really don't like teething! I imagine my dislike is nothing comapred to what Jacob's feeling, but it's sufficient to make me very unhappy.
I do, however, love watching my little man chewing on his fingers, his pacifiers, his teething ring... anything he can get in his mouth.
So far, he has four teeth - two front top, two front bottom. Only 16 more to cut through before he has all his milk teeth in. Then he starts losing those and cutting his adult teeth! Oh, joy!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Spirit of Giving
I know it's still early in the year to be thinking about Christmas, but in the spirit of what Christmas SHOULD be about (giving, not receiving) I thought I'd mention two projects that definitely need some Christmas giving: Heifer International and Lantern Projects.
They both offer people the options of making a big donation (i.e. buying a cow for a village or buying a trip to a hospital for a child in Vietnam) or of making a small donation (i.e. buying a share of a cow or buying mosquito netting for one family). Both causes are much more deserving of money than I am of more junk around the house.
When it comes right down to it, I live in luxury. Sure, we have bills that make us bite our nails every month, and sometimes we can't afford to buy the foods we'd prefer to have... but we have a cabinet full of canned goods and dry pastas and cold cereals; we aren't going to starve any time soon. I won't be going to bed hungry. The same can't be said for a lot of people out there.
So in the spirit of giving, I'm encouraging people to ask that instead of people buying you things off your Amazon wishlist, they make a charitable donation and give you a print-out or send you an e-mail to show you what donation they've made. To me, that would be vastly more satisfying than anything I want... even the baby things that I REALLY want for Jacob. *L*
They both offer people the options of making a big donation (i.e. buying a cow for a village or buying a trip to a hospital for a child in Vietnam) or of making a small donation (i.e. buying a share of a cow or buying mosquito netting for one family). Both causes are much more deserving of money than I am of more junk around the house.
When it comes right down to it, I live in luxury. Sure, we have bills that make us bite our nails every month, and sometimes we can't afford to buy the foods we'd prefer to have... but we have a cabinet full of canned goods and dry pastas and cold cereals; we aren't going to starve any time soon. I won't be going to bed hungry. The same can't be said for a lot of people out there.
So in the spirit of giving, I'm encouraging people to ask that instead of people buying you things off your Amazon wishlist, they make a charitable donation and give you a print-out or send you an e-mail to show you what donation they've made. To me, that would be vastly more satisfying than anything I want... even the baby things that I REALLY want for Jacob. *L*
Monday, October 19, 2009
To health - the B smoothie
While full raw may be out of our reach currently, we do ty to incorporate at least one raw smoothie a day. After all, when you have a Vitamix, you ought to use it, right?
Today's smoothie is very B-oriented: bananas, blueberries, and lots of various B vitamins from the avacado and bananas. Not to mention, it's rather beautiful.
It has a very sweet flavor, which is nice; my sweet tooth has been bothering me lately, and the combination of banana and blueberry has definitely taken care of it. If you're interested in trying it out, here's the 'recipe:'
The B-Smoothie
2 ripe bananas
2 ripe avocados
2 handfuls of baby spinach
Approximately 1 cup of frozen blueberries
Blend until smooth.
I look forward to Jacob being old enough to try a wide variety of smoothies, too. Right now, he's much more into breastmilk... although this smoothie did seem like a hit with him, as well as with us:
Today's smoothie is very B-oriented: bananas, blueberries, and lots of various B vitamins from the avacado and bananas. Not to mention, it's rather beautiful.
It has a very sweet flavor, which is nice; my sweet tooth has been bothering me lately, and the combination of banana and blueberry has definitely taken care of it. If you're interested in trying it out, here's the 'recipe:'
The B-Smoothie
2 ripe bananas
2 ripe avocados
2 handfuls of baby spinach
Approximately 1 cup of frozen blueberries
Blend until smooth.
I look forward to Jacob being old enough to try a wide variety of smoothies, too. Right now, he's much more into breastmilk... although this smoothie did seem like a hit with him, as well as with us:
Making some noise
To keep Jacob always entertained and trying new things, this morning we're trying an experiment in music-making (read that as "noise"). I have two bowls - one metal and one plastic - and a wooden spoon.
I'm about to take him out of his rolling walker and set him on the play mat (which is really just a double-folded comforter, to protect his head when he topples over - he can sit up, just not 100% reliably) and see what happens when I mix a six-month-old infant with some classic noisemaking toys. My guess? He'll chew them all in turn without ever realizing what glorious, cacaphonous sounds he can make from the smashing of them together.
Who says you need to spend money on baby toys?
I'm about to take him out of his rolling walker and set him on the play mat (which is really just a double-folded comforter, to protect his head when he topples over - he can sit up, just not 100% reliably) and see what happens when I mix a six-month-old infant with some classic noisemaking toys. My guess? He'll chew them all in turn without ever realizing what glorious, cacaphonous sounds he can make from the smashing of them together.
Who says you need to spend money on baby toys?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Information overload
I have been remiss; my updates have become sparse as I try to get myself educated but still be available to Jacob whenever he needs me.
I wish I had known two yeas ago what I know now about child and infant development. I feel like I've become Alice in Wonderland, running as fast as I can just to stay in place. I spend the majority of my "free" time (read that as Jacob-is-napping-or-otherwise-occupied-with-a-caregiver-who-isn't-me) either memorizing ASL signs for common and important things in his world, or studying Montessori theory for the under-three set, or reading about brain development in children and infants. It literally feels a little like information overload.
I wish I had known half of this when I was pregnant. I did a little research into ASL signs, but without a baby to guide me as to what he considered important, I didn't really know what signs to memorize (obviously "milk," which we actually sign when we say "nurse;" and with four dogs, we knew "dog" would be an important sign. but from that point on, it was open to guesswork). And I didn't really know much of anything about Montessori until he was born and I began researching homeschooling alternatives.
Now I have a six-month-old infant who needs constant supervision (sometimes, i can lay him down with a toy - or sit him up with a toy, although that bring falling over into the equation - and leave long enough to have a quick pee or toss a wet diaper into the diaper hamper) and I feel like I waste every day that isn't spent enriching him.
I am a perfectionist to the core, and it irks me to know I could be doing "better" with my son. I know I'm head and shoulders above many parents who use the Cry It Out method, or allow their children to spend hours alone in a playpen, but when I compare myself to parents who are following a truely strong Montessori methodology for their infants, I see that I am lagging behind.
We've only recently introduced a treasure basket for Jacob, and he loves it. He can be happily occupied by a wooden spoon, a set of four metal measuring spoons on a ring, a plastic rice ladle, a rough-textured washcloth, a silk neckscarf, a closed bottle of seseme seeds, and a piece of flannel for up to half an hour, and I'm already making efforts to remove the items he finds not-as-interesting and am looking for things to replace them to keep his learning progressing. But I feel like I should've introduced this a month ago, when he first started being able to sit up on his own.
He's started drinking water out of a small espresso cup, which he holds rather well by himself. He can manage two or three sips before he decides he needs to see the bottom of the cup and spills the contents all over himself (which i don't mind at all - i WANT him to know that cups spill, so he'll take care when he has more coordination and i give him cups to drink out of at mealtimes). People keep telling me that I should get a sippy cup - I don't HAVE to put the lid on. But why give him a huge, garish cup when we have perfectly pretty and completely unused espresso cups? I won't let him have it all by himself with no supervision, so we limit the danger of him breaking it.
But these feel like tiny steps compared to what I'd LIKE to be doing for him. Chris and I remind ourselves that we can have more for our next one... but isn't that slight to THIS one? Maybe not, if we know we WOULD provide the best, if we COULD.
All the learning and doing, though, has left me in a permanent state of information overload, part of why I haven't updated in so long. The easiest way for me to process information is though word-vomit: I take what I've learned and sort of let it all go in one big BLAH, hence this entry. I knew when I did update, it would be lengthy and possibly incomprehensible to anyone who isn't me. But let it be known that the family is well, the baby is amazing, and I will try to update with more regularity as we make this journey through life.
I wish I had known two yeas ago what I know now about child and infant development. I feel like I've become Alice in Wonderland, running as fast as I can just to stay in place. I spend the majority of my "free" time (read that as Jacob-is-napping-or-otherwise-occupied-with-a-caregiver-who-isn't-me) either memorizing ASL signs for common and important things in his world, or studying Montessori theory for the under-three set, or reading about brain development in children and infants. It literally feels a little like information overload.
I wish I had known half of this when I was pregnant. I did a little research into ASL signs, but without a baby to guide me as to what he considered important, I didn't really know what signs to memorize (obviously "milk," which we actually sign when we say "nurse;" and with four dogs, we knew "dog" would be an important sign. but from that point on, it was open to guesswork). And I didn't really know much of anything about Montessori until he was born and I began researching homeschooling alternatives.
Now I have a six-month-old infant who needs constant supervision (sometimes, i can lay him down with a toy - or sit him up with a toy, although that bring falling over into the equation - and leave long enough to have a quick pee or toss a wet diaper into the diaper hamper) and I feel like I waste every day that isn't spent enriching him.
I am a perfectionist to the core, and it irks me to know I could be doing "better" with my son. I know I'm head and shoulders above many parents who use the Cry It Out method, or allow their children to spend hours alone in a playpen, but when I compare myself to parents who are following a truely strong Montessori methodology for their infants, I see that I am lagging behind.
We've only recently introduced a treasure basket for Jacob, and he loves it. He can be happily occupied by a wooden spoon, a set of four metal measuring spoons on a ring, a plastic rice ladle, a rough-textured washcloth, a silk neckscarf, a closed bottle of seseme seeds, and a piece of flannel for up to half an hour, and I'm already making efforts to remove the items he finds not-as-interesting and am looking for things to replace them to keep his learning progressing. But I feel like I should've introduced this a month ago, when he first started being able to sit up on his own.
He's started drinking water out of a small espresso cup, which he holds rather well by himself. He can manage two or three sips before he decides he needs to see the bottom of the cup and spills the contents all over himself (which i don't mind at all - i WANT him to know that cups spill, so he'll take care when he has more coordination and i give him cups to drink out of at mealtimes). People keep telling me that I should get a sippy cup - I don't HAVE to put the lid on. But why give him a huge, garish cup when we have perfectly pretty and completely unused espresso cups? I won't let him have it all by himself with no supervision, so we limit the danger of him breaking it.
But these feel like tiny steps compared to what I'd LIKE to be doing for him. Chris and I remind ourselves that we can have more for our next one... but isn't that slight to THIS one? Maybe not, if we know we WOULD provide the best, if we COULD.
All the learning and doing, though, has left me in a permanent state of information overload, part of why I haven't updated in so long. The easiest way for me to process information is though word-vomit: I take what I've learned and sort of let it all go in one big BLAH, hence this entry. I knew when I did update, it would be lengthy and possibly incomprehensible to anyone who isn't me. But let it be known that the family is well, the baby is amazing, and I will try to update with more regularity as we make this journey through life.
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