mommapalooza

Madeline's 3/4s There!

I must have lost track of time over the Easter weekend because I didn't realize that M turns nine months old today until a few hours ago!  Bad Mom! She was spoiled by her parents, both sets of grandparents, and Auntie Julie ... What will happen next Easter, when she should have enough teeth to eat chocolate???

Since the last big update, Madeline has become quite adept at standing.  She hasn't really started cruising around furniture yet, but there is a lot of house for her to explore on her hands and knees still. But she loves pulling up and standing! 

My girl is also doing much better in the sleep department, going about 6 - 7 hours straight fifty-percent of the time.  The afternoon nap has become shakey; still haven't figured out what's up with that ...

She's eating significantly more solids now - a good breakfast of oat cereal with applesauce or pears, another meal of plain yogurt and a fruit or veggie, and a third meal of rice and a veggie or finger foods.  She loves chunks of banana and Cheerios. Man, she's addicted to Cheerios now ...

With Grandma's encouragement, Madeline started waving back to us this weekend - it's the cutest thing!

Duty of Care

This doesn't seem to be reported very widely (I haven't even received an update from Baby Bargains about the latest recall), but Graco has received a multi-million dollar fine from the US gov't for failing to report safety issues with some of their products.  This makes me a little uncomfortable.  We had a SnugRide infant seat for Madeline and also a Pack n Play, neither of which have been recalled, thank goodness, but it's really disconcerting that a company who's bread and butter is baby products would not go out of their way too keep their clientele safe.

Wanted: Bookworm

I have been trying, rather unsuccessfully, really, to start a consistent naptime routine with Madeline.  The part where it all tends to unravel is my idea that reading a couple of short stories must be part of the routine. Well, Madeline would much rather chew on the books than listen to the words they contain (how on earth could I have a child who doesn't like reading???), and I get frustrated by this lack of progress. Boo.  I realize that she's more into motor skills at the moment, with standing and shoving spoonfuls of oat cereal or yogurt into her mouth, so hopefully soon she'll start concentrating on cognitive ones.  Sometimes I wish that I wasn't so routinized :)   

Just call her Tanya ...

I fear that Madeline has become a pint-sized bully.  I know that she doesn't know any better, but it is still unacceptable that she grabs and pulls the clothing, hair, and faces of the other little persons in our playgroup.  She hasn't bitten anyone yet, thankfully.  Hopefully we're only a few weeks away from her finally clueing in to what it means when I say "don't bite" or "no hair-pulling"!

Water on the Brain

Last Sunday, we took Madeline to the community pool for the first time.  To capture this *first*, I bought one of those water-proof disaposable cameras, and we had a blast taking photos of Madeline happily standing in the kiddie pool, splashing away at the puddles on the ledge, and laughing as the waves from the main pool crashed over her feet.  I took the camera in to London Drugs for developing, and was kind of sad to see that our memories came out totally dark and grainy. There was a note tucked in the photos saying "you didn't use a flash". Duh.  Did the camera that you took the film out of have a flash, Mr. Photo Technician? 

Thinking about taking one of our 35 mm cameras to the pool next time ...

Accepting Applications for Night Nurse

On Monday night, Madeline slept from 6:15 pm - 12:30 am, and then from 1:00 am - 4:40 am, then from about 5:00 am - 6:30 am on Tuesday morning.  Any stretch of sleep of more than 3 hours I'd deem record-breaking and certainly a nice change.

I've been thinking a lot about Madeline's sleeping habits, and how much of her night-wakings are about hunger and how much are social calls.  I've been doing more reading about infant development in this regard, and the lastest book I've pored over is The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg.  Her advice to parents to deal with their wakeful infant is to comfort and calm them, then replace in their crib.  Repeat as often as necessary, until the baby falls asleep.  Even if that is 143 times in a single night.  One thing that I noticed is that all of the success stories about this techique involve her camping out at the house with the parents and baby, and it's her who does the "replace in the crib" routine, not the parents.  Maybe I'd do this too if Tracy Hogg would come over to our place :)   Oddly enough, this is reminiscent of the sleep regimen promoted on Supernanny, although Nanny Jo makes the parents tough it out ...

Maybe I'm kind of harsh on the Baby Whisperer, but I was a little irritated from the beginning with the author's comment that demand feeding leads to a demanding baby ... and the instructions to watch the clock whilst nursing.   I will admit that I don't know if that advice is the best, but it contradicts everything else that I've read and been advised.  That's just frustrating.

Eeeny Weany Miney Mo

Chris has been bugging me lately about how he's certain that I'll still be breastfeeding Madeline when she's five.  This stems from a comment that I made to him that I don't think that one weans a child by cutting them off cold turkey, out of the blue, one day.  I had figured that once Madeline's old enough to have a bit of cow's milk in her diet, we'd start offering *special milk in her drinking box* as an alternative to nursing and gradually make the transition.  I didn't realize that it would be such a horrible thing if Madeline is still nursing on occasion after her first birthday.  Are other people similarly scandalized to see a child over the age of one drinking from a bottle? 

Shopping Carts are Yummy

Chris and I had a difference of opinion in regard to Madeline last Thursday. We were at Superstore, and I had settled Madeline into the Bjorn for the trip, while Chris was hoping to stick her into the child-compartment in the shopping cart.  I haven't ever let Madeline ride in the child-compartment before.  I must admit that I get concerned when I read about lapses in shopping cart safety, like this, and then there is the whole germ issue.  Madeline is still very much in favour of sticking everything she can in her mouth.  Those carts are touched by at least a hundred individuals on a daily basis, and I doubt everyone washes their hands beforehand.  And I also doubt that Superstore disinfects them every night.   

I've been wondering ... am I being silly to worry so much about Madeline riding in the child-compartment?  Should I invest in a cover for shopping carts?  Just wait until she's past the "I want to taste everything!" stage? 

Does this swimsuit make me look fat?

We're hoping to take Madeline on her first trip to the community swimming pool this Sunday.  I managed to find a swimsuit for her (pink and green with a ruffle), a new swimsuit for me (as my post-baby body won't work too well in my pre-baby swimsuit), and have a package of Little Swimmers ready to go.  The thing that I am skeptical about is that the pools here in Calgary require non-toilet-trained children to wear a pair of plastic pants in addition to their swim diapers.   I cringe at that, imagining Madeline with a bum far too big to fit into the swimsuit.  Or worse, that the combination of the swim diaper and the plastic pants turn into a flotation device and the rest of her body will be under the water ...

Making Tracks

Madeline seems to take her new crawling ability totally in stride.  I have a much less frustrated little girl around, which makes me really regret having the oak floors refinished in our house because she probably would have crawled sooner if we still had wall-to-wall carpet.  More resistence, I figure.  Normally, Madeline crawls from wherever she's been playing over to where I am.   It's kind of cute how I'll be rinsing a dish at the kitchen sink and suddenly there's a little warm body at my feet, trying to pull herself up on my pantleg.  It's not so cute when she takes off towards the broom, or our shoes, or the trash compactor.  I really don't think those would be good things to taste :)