Of course. It's what they all say. But when you observe your eleven week old son licking his lips as he watches another baby being spoon-fed sweet potatoes, it definitely hits home.
He is still developmentally too young to start rice cereal mixed with breast milk, but now I am keenly aware that I will not have to struggle with the introduction of a spoon as I did with his big sister. His interest alone is enough to let me know we can start as soon as his little digestive system can handle it.
In other news, he is also sleeping a 6 hour stretch from about 9 pm till 3 am every night. I so want to push his bedtime to the right just to get his stretch to match mine, but he gets ridiculously angry with a later bedtime and wakes at 3 anyway, so we will hang tough a while longer. If our firstborn was any indication, his timeline will shift on its own soon anyway.
I am afraid if I blink, he will be three like his sister...at which point she would be six. Sigh... Too fast.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
The List
EUREKA!!!!
We have discovered a method that works. As mentioned in the previous blog, our 3-year-old was adamantly opposed to independently clothing herself. I should mention that creativity in parenting style is an absolute must-have. So, using my creative brain, I developed a list.
1. Wake up.
2. Use the toilet.
3. Brush teeth.
4. Get dressed.
5. Comb hair.
6. Make the bed.
It seemed a little ambitious, I know. It might be kind of hard to expect a 3-year-old to do these tasks. I went a step further and animated each item on the list with a little girl that looks kind of like my little girl. Since she can't read yet, I had to effectively demonstrate the activity being performed for each item on the list. The girl has quite a memory on her, though... so I really only had to say it once and she quickly stored it away. And HALLELUJAH, she got out of bed and did EVERY item on her list. We were ready to go in less than thirty minutes.
When I saw she checked the list before bedtime too (even though it was a wake-up list), I did the next logical thing and made a good-night list, too. This one has more steps, but I felt having a streamlined bedtime routine might be worthwhile.
1. Get undressed.
2. Put in the hamper.
3. Put on P.J.s.
4. Feed the kitties.
5. Brush teeth.
6. Use the toilet.
7. Get ONE book.
8. Good night!
Again, I animated each item so she'd know what each thing meant. I posted the wake-up list at her eye level on her bedroom door, and the good-night list at her eye level on the bathroom door. Sometimes she gets confused, or when she's trying to stall will "accidentally" do the wake-up list instead of the good-night one. And yet, the child loves structure. Who knew? I didn't. It was just a guess, and a lucky one at that.
We have discovered a method that works. As mentioned in the previous blog, our 3-year-old was adamantly opposed to independently clothing herself. I should mention that creativity in parenting style is an absolute must-have. So, using my creative brain, I developed a list.
1. Wake up.
2. Use the toilet.
3. Brush teeth.
4. Get dressed.
5. Comb hair.
6. Make the bed.
It seemed a little ambitious, I know. It might be kind of hard to expect a 3-year-old to do these tasks. I went a step further and animated each item on the list with a little girl that looks kind of like my little girl. Since she can't read yet, I had to effectively demonstrate the activity being performed for each item on the list. The girl has quite a memory on her, though... so I really only had to say it once and she quickly stored it away. And HALLELUJAH, she got out of bed and did EVERY item on her list. We were ready to go in less than thirty minutes.
When I saw she checked the list before bedtime too (even though it was a wake-up list), I did the next logical thing and made a good-night list, too. This one has more steps, but I felt having a streamlined bedtime routine might be worthwhile.
1. Get undressed.
2. Put in the hamper.
3. Put on P.J.s.
4. Feed the kitties.
5. Brush teeth.
6. Use the toilet.
7. Get ONE book.
8. Good night!
Again, I animated each item so she'd know what each thing meant. I posted the wake-up list at her eye level on her bedroom door, and the good-night list at her eye level on the bathroom door. Sometimes she gets confused, or when she's trying to stall will "accidentally" do the wake-up list instead of the good-night one. And yet, the child loves structure. Who knew? I didn't. It was just a guess, and a lucky one at that.
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