Losers. You're all losers.
(Ah Meems- you're just jealous because you can't reach our heads yet.)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Losers
Losers. You're all losers.
(Ah Meems- you're just jealous because you can't reach our heads yet.)
And more mommy daughter time
I love capturing what my kids see.
Is this what Mimi sees when Ernie and I are together? Can she tell how much we love each other? That's something Ernie and I talk about a lot- Ernie knows how much we love her. We need to teach Mimi how much we love her- she needs lots of cuddles and I love yous. Just like Ernie. We do a lot of cuddling in this house. I ask Ernie "Do you know how much I love you?"
"Yeah. A LOT"
Is this what Mimi sees when Ernie and I are together? Can she tell how much we love each other? That's something Ernie and I talk about a lot- Ernie knows how much we love her. We need to teach Mimi how much we love her- she needs lots of cuddles and I love yous. Just like Ernie. We do a lot of cuddling in this house. I ask Ernie "Do you know how much I love you?"
"Yeah. A LOT"
"Do you think Mimi knows how much we love her?"
More Girls and a Camera
I love Ernie's face in these shots. What is she thinking?
I love this kid so much.
I love this kid so much.
Daddy Daughter Popsicles
Wonder Daddy and Ernie hit the town to visit a nightly parade in a local town- there's a marching band, and stands along the street for the member to stand on while they play more music. In years past there's been "snow" (soap bubbles) but I guess it didn't work very well, so this year they just did bubbles- plenty magical enough to please the kids!
All bundled up and ready to go.
On the town!All bundled up and ready to go.
Just Two Girls and a Camera
What do you think? She's pretty excited about our impromptu portrait session, right?
*I don't get it: I've carried this baby every day of her life. Nearly 16 months. Why is my wrist not stronger? The doctor said something about stressed tendons and tiny tears. I said something about an aching wrist that stretching would not help. She said something about for gosh sake, stop stretching it then! So I braced it. Do you know how much weight a braced wrist will support? Hello, meet Wonder Woman and her Bionic Wrist! Seriously, it's like having a temporary*** super power. Without the range of motion. **
** Soup stirring it out of the question. As is dish scrubbing. So...Hello, Wonder Daddy! I love you, man. And your pruny fingers.
***Three days.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sleepy Thoughts
Consider this an open plea for advice.
When Ernie was a baby, I read all the books and memorized all the methods. I was all about "She needs to learn this for herself!" I don't remember how or when she started sleeping through the night, but I do remember letting her cry for a good long time at least one night. I sat in the hall, and waited and waited and waited. I was nearly crying myself. I think it was an hour and a half, off and on.
Now with Mimi, I've (almost never) let her cry it out. She's nearly 16 months old and she's slept through the night fewer than 10 times, I'd guess. If she was just looking for attention, I think I could do it. I KNOW I could do it. But she's hungry! Right now she's nursing 2-3 times a night.
A couple thoughts come to mind.
1) If so many books have been written on the subject of how to "fix" our children if they don't sleep through the night...maybe they don't need fixing? Maybe every child is on their own growth schedule? Goodness knows we learned this lesson often enough with Ernie, with her speech and reading. Children aren't all the same. Eventually Mimi will sleep through the night?
2) If I weaned her, would she sleep through the night? Would that be the impetus she needs to take in enough calories during the day? She's not growing very fast right now, so I don't think she's OVER-eating by eating at night. Would weaning her give her a reason to stay asleep or go back to sleep on her own, knowing I have nothing to offer her?
3) Point number two brings up the question...just how long will Mimi nurse? She shows no sign of slowing down on her own. I weaned Ernie when she was 22 months old, but only then because we intended to have another baby soon and wanted to wean before I was pregnant and to give my body a chance to function normally for at least a few months. (You know, function without a constant supply of raging hormones. Although I hear the hormone surge/change after weaning is intense. I never noticed.)
4) How did you convince your children to sleep through the night?
5) Looking in her mouth right now answers a lot of my "why" questions. I think she's cut a molar and a canine in the last few weeks, and there are a lot more coming in all over the place!
Mimi goes to bed around 7:30, and then normally wakes up to eat around 11, and then around 3, and then wakes up around 6:30 for the day. She eats dinner before she goes to bed, and doesn't nurse heavily before or after sleeping. Last night she woke up at 10:30 and I left her alone. She yelled and screamed and sobbed. I went in around 11 and tucked her back in, and she fell asleep around 11:15. At 1 she woke again and I left her for a few minutes before I ran to grab her. She was RAVENOUS. She slept until nearly 7, but I think she was just exhausted from all that yelling.
I'm going to try again tonight, and try to teach her that if she's hungry she needs to eat in the morning. But, but, but...breast milk only stays in the stomach about 2 hours. Everyone wakes up multiple times at night, the trick is being able to go back to sleep. She needs to learn that skill, I know. I just can't stand to hear her crying and hungry.
Also, compared to the no-sleep of a few weeks ago, this is a piece of cake! Wake up every 2-4 hours, for 10 minutes, to nurse a sleepy baby? Easy!
So. Am I pansy? Am I off base? Is she manipulating me? I need to decide now, because she's going to wake up in about 2 hours demanding milk, and I need to know!
(And the pictures...do they distract you from the fact that I sound like a lunatic? :)
When Ernie was a baby, I read all the books and memorized all the methods. I was all about "She needs to learn this for herself!" I don't remember how or when she started sleeping through the night, but I do remember letting her cry for a good long time at least one night. I sat in the hall, and waited and waited and waited. I was nearly crying myself. I think it was an hour and a half, off and on.
Now with Mimi, I've (almost never) let her cry it out. She's nearly 16 months old and she's slept through the night fewer than 10 times, I'd guess. If she was just looking for attention, I think I could do it. I KNOW I could do it. But she's hungry! Right now she's nursing 2-3 times a night.
A couple thoughts come to mind.
1) If so many books have been written on the subject of how to "fix" our children if they don't sleep through the night...maybe they don't need fixing? Maybe every child is on their own growth schedule? Goodness knows we learned this lesson often enough with Ernie, with her speech and reading. Children aren't all the same. Eventually Mimi will sleep through the night?
2) If I weaned her, would she sleep through the night? Would that be the impetus she needs to take in enough calories during the day? She's not growing very fast right now, so I don't think she's OVER-eating by eating at night. Would weaning her give her a reason to stay asleep or go back to sleep on her own, knowing I have nothing to offer her?
3) Point number two brings up the question...just how long will Mimi nurse? She shows no sign of slowing down on her own. I weaned Ernie when she was 22 months old, but only then because we intended to have another baby soon and wanted to wean before I was pregnant and to give my body a chance to function normally for at least a few months. (You know, function without a constant supply of raging hormones. Although I hear the hormone surge/change after weaning is intense. I never noticed.)
4) How did you convince your children to sleep through the night?
5) Looking in her mouth right now answers a lot of my "why" questions. I think she's cut a molar and a canine in the last few weeks, and there are a lot more coming in all over the place!
Mimi goes to bed around 7:30, and then normally wakes up to eat around 11, and then around 3, and then wakes up around 6:30 for the day. She eats dinner before she goes to bed, and doesn't nurse heavily before or after sleeping. Last night she woke up at 10:30 and I left her alone. She yelled and screamed and sobbed. I went in around 11 and tucked her back in, and she fell asleep around 11:15. At 1 she woke again and I left her for a few minutes before I ran to grab her. She was RAVENOUS. She slept until nearly 7, but I think she was just exhausted from all that yelling.
I'm going to try again tonight, and try to teach her that if she's hungry she needs to eat in the morning. But, but, but...breast milk only stays in the stomach about 2 hours. Everyone wakes up multiple times at night, the trick is being able to go back to sleep. She needs to learn that skill, I know. I just can't stand to hear her crying and hungry.
Also, compared to the no-sleep of a few weeks ago, this is a piece of cake! Wake up every 2-4 hours, for 10 minutes, to nurse a sleepy baby? Easy!
So. Am I pansy? Am I off base? Is she manipulating me? I need to decide now, because she's going to wake up in about 2 hours demanding milk, and I need to know!
(And the pictures...do they distract you from the fact that I sound like a lunatic? :)
Friday, January 1, 2010
Today
Today the girls got up at 5:30. Happy New Year, we're happy to see you!
I changed the baby's diaper, put my robe and slippers on...and opened the bedroom door before falling face-first into my pillow, thus freeing the baby to wander the house alone. I'm such an awesome mother.
Wonder Daddy sweetly asked "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah. Put me to bed at 10:00 last night and make the kids go back to bed." I'm such a grump. He didn't say anything, but he did take the kids into the basement. I don't remember anything after that, but I woke up at 9. My husband is a saint.
Everyone was at the breakfast table when I came out, I joined them for Santa Cereal. Changed the baby's diaper again, took my shower.
Frog-Marched the kids through picking up. We cleaned the kitchen (Ernie washed the tupperware in the sink, I may or may not have handed spoons and forks to my 15-month-old to load in the dishwasher.) We cleaned the upstairs toy room. Ernie ran and hid in the basement with the "fun" parent (who may or may not have spent the morning playing video games. From this side of his laptop, I can't tell! Or he could have been coding a database for my burgeoning piano studio. Because, remember, he's awesome. Never forget that!), and the baby fell asleep on my lap at 11.
Ernie took her nap at noon, and Mimi got up at 12:30. Ernie followed at 1:30. I then frog-marched the family into the backyard for yard work. It's raining? PAH! Beauty knows no pain, girls! (OK, so I got my work clothes on and called to Ernie as I walked out the door "I'm going outside! Get your coat if you want to come!" She ran to join me, and Wonder Daddy came as fast as he could get the baby's coat and shoes on. They're good people.)
Wonder Daddy and I cleared 40 feet of blackberry brambles, the baby wandered around looking confused and damp, and Ernie ran from one favorite spot to another. Ernie also discovered that somewhere during winter's long hiatus from parks and swings...she has perfected her swinging method. She's a machine! A park-going-animal! She can't wait until the sun comes back in May.
Wonder Daddy and Baby made a bolt for the warmth and dryness of the indoors while Ernie and I finished up. I turned two of the laissez-faire compost piles in the yard (it still seems like a miracle every time I find dirt in there. Who put dirt in my pile? Isn't this where I put my clippings??) Also, I've decided I'm going to make a boxwood wreath next time I trim the bushes. Buried in the middle of my large compost pile, I unearthed bright green sprigs of boxwoods. Completely unscathed after nearly 8 weeks off the bush. They'll last forever if I stick them up on the door!
I came inside when my ponytail soaked through my fleece, and the water started dripping down my back. Brr! It was a nice time in the yard though- wet, but warm. Nice to know that my raspberries have a little more breathing space come spring time, when they want to get some growing done.
We drove into town for pizza and Lolo-House-Hunting, and came home to eat the pizza on the floor, watching the rest of last night's movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I made kettle corn on the stove and we watched "Sword in the Stone." Mimi was like a Monster Truck, getting at that popcorn bowl. She'd climb over anyone and anything to reach her fist into the sugary salty depths one more time. And other time. And another.
At 7 Mimi asked for milk, so I got her ready for bed. She has some gnarly (probably lactose-related) diaper rash right now, so I let her have some nakie time. Because apparently I'm stupid and really really really like to clean things. (Look away now if you're squeamish.) I stepped away to use the facilities, and she poked her head in to see what I was doing. She thought it looked like a good idea, so she squatted down on my bath mat and did the same. Then stepped in it. Threw the baby in the shower, hosed off the bathmat and threw it in the diaper pail, then threw the baby in bed. Double-diapered. She never made a peep. I wonder when I can start potty-training her??
We put Ernie to bed. We read King Benjamin's words: "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
Tonight's song request: Oh I wish I was a house with a drawer and a lid that plays music when you open it. Wonder Daddy is getting a lot of practice ad-libbing songs these days- he made up a nice ditty about her little jewelry box.
Now the kids are asleep, and I'm researching Waldorf methods and Steiner education. I want to be a more mindful parent this year. I want to say yes instead of no, give my children a firm grasp and understanding of the world around them and their place in it. I'm planning the garden, too- melons, squash, ground cherries, herbs, flowers, tomatoes, beans, peas, kale, chard. But mostly, I'm ready for bed.
Gosh, these are the best days of my life. And I truly mean that. We never know when life will change, and children grow a little older every day. I never want to say "I wish I had appreciated what I had when I had it." I never want to spend so much time looking forward that I forget to look down and see where we're standing.
I changed the baby's diaper, put my robe and slippers on...and opened the bedroom door before falling face-first into my pillow, thus freeing the baby to wander the house alone. I'm such an awesome mother.
Wonder Daddy sweetly asked "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah. Put me to bed at 10:00 last night and make the kids go back to bed." I'm such a grump. He didn't say anything, but he did take the kids into the basement. I don't remember anything after that, but I woke up at 9. My husband is a saint.
Everyone was at the breakfast table when I came out, I joined them for Santa Cereal. Changed the baby's diaper again, took my shower.
Frog-Marched the kids through picking up. We cleaned the kitchen (Ernie washed the tupperware in the sink, I may or may not have handed spoons and forks to my 15-month-old to load in the dishwasher.) We cleaned the upstairs toy room. Ernie ran and hid in the basement with the "fun" parent (who may or may not have spent the morning playing video games. From this side of his laptop, I can't tell! Or he could have been coding a database for my burgeoning piano studio. Because, remember, he's awesome. Never forget that!), and the baby fell asleep on my lap at 11.
Ernie took her nap at noon, and Mimi got up at 12:30. Ernie followed at 1:30. I then frog-marched the family into the backyard for yard work. It's raining? PAH! Beauty knows no pain, girls! (OK, so I got my work clothes on and called to Ernie as I walked out the door "I'm going outside! Get your coat if you want to come!" She ran to join me, and Wonder Daddy came as fast as he could get the baby's coat and shoes on. They're good people.)
Wonder Daddy and I cleared 40 feet of blackberry brambles, the baby wandered around looking confused and damp, and Ernie ran from one favorite spot to another. Ernie also discovered that somewhere during winter's long hiatus from parks and swings...she has perfected her swinging method. She's a machine! A park-going-animal! She can't wait until the sun comes back in May.
Wonder Daddy and Baby made a bolt for the warmth and dryness of the indoors while Ernie and I finished up. I turned two of the laissez-faire compost piles in the yard (it still seems like a miracle every time I find dirt in there. Who put dirt in my pile? Isn't this where I put my clippings??) Also, I've decided I'm going to make a boxwood wreath next time I trim the bushes. Buried in the middle of my large compost pile, I unearthed bright green sprigs of boxwoods. Completely unscathed after nearly 8 weeks off the bush. They'll last forever if I stick them up on the door!
I came inside when my ponytail soaked through my fleece, and the water started dripping down my back. Brr! It was a nice time in the yard though- wet, but warm. Nice to know that my raspberries have a little more breathing space come spring time, when they want to get some growing done.
We drove into town for pizza and Lolo-House-Hunting, and came home to eat the pizza on the floor, watching the rest of last night's movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I made kettle corn on the stove and we watched "Sword in the Stone." Mimi was like a Monster Truck, getting at that popcorn bowl. She'd climb over anyone and anything to reach her fist into the sugary salty depths one more time. And other time. And another.
At 7 Mimi asked for milk, so I got her ready for bed. She has some gnarly (probably lactose-related) diaper rash right now, so I let her have some nakie time. Because apparently I'm stupid and really really really like to clean things. (Look away now if you're squeamish.) I stepped away to use the facilities, and she poked her head in to see what I was doing. She thought it looked like a good idea, so she squatted down on my bath mat and did the same. Then stepped in it. Threw the baby in the shower, hosed off the bathmat and threw it in the diaper pail, then threw the baby in bed. Double-diapered. She never made a peep. I wonder when I can start potty-training her??
We put Ernie to bed. We read King Benjamin's words: "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
Tonight's song request: Oh I wish I was a house with a drawer and a lid that plays music when you open it. Wonder Daddy is getting a lot of practice ad-libbing songs these days- he made up a nice ditty about her little jewelry box.
Now the kids are asleep, and I'm researching Waldorf methods and Steiner education. I want to be a more mindful parent this year. I want to say yes instead of no, give my children a firm grasp and understanding of the world around them and their place in it. I'm planning the garden, too- melons, squash, ground cherries, herbs, flowers, tomatoes, beans, peas, kale, chard. But mostly, I'm ready for bed.
Gosh, these are the best days of my life. And I truly mean that. We never know when life will change, and children grow a little older every day. I never want to say "I wish I had appreciated what I had when I had it." I never want to spend so much time looking forward that I forget to look down and see where we're standing.
Monday, December 28, 2009
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