We had our school "orientation" on Wednesday where Lily got to meet her classmates; basically they had a playdate. After only an hour at school, she comes home with a cold! Oh well, runny noses are the price we're going to have to pay for the socialization of our child. And like her first and only other time to be sick, she doesn't seem to feel bad; a little whiny, but who isn't when they're sick?
The other news about school is that of the 6 kids in her Toddlers class, she is the ONLY girl! There is another Toddlers class that will meet up with hers for Chapel & Recess, so assuming there are girls in there, she won't have 100% boy-time. But she's either going to have to teach those boys to play nice (and not push her out of the way to get what they want like a couple of them did at orientation), or she's going to have to learn to defend herself!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Pas-TAH!
She is officially her mother's daughter- she LOVES pasta, or as she yells it, "pas-TAH!" Now if only I can get her to eat ice cream...
On the Daddy side of things, she actually likes Triscuits. YUCK!
On the Daddy side of things, she actually likes Triscuits. YUCK!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Dayschool!
Lily starts Dayschool next week, 2 days a week. I'm a mix of emotions about it- excited to have some dedicated "mommy/work" time, nervous about how she'll behave with strange teachers & kids, worried about her picking up bad habits & stray illnesses, but mostly really glad she'll have this opportunity for socializing with kids her age.
The whole idea for her going started earlier this year because she would get really excited when kids came into the store & would sometimes cry when they left. It was so sad! She really doesn't have any playmates that aren't adults. There's a playdate here & there, and storytime once a week at the library, but Dayschool will be an all-new adventure for her and I can't wait to tell you how it goes!
The whole idea for her going started earlier this year because she would get really excited when kids came into the store & would sometimes cry when they left. It was so sad! She really doesn't have any playmates that aren't adults. There's a playdate here & there, and storytime once a week at the library, but Dayschool will be an all-new adventure for her and I can't wait to tell you how it goes!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Good girl!
Wow- I new I hadn't written in a while, but it's been a few days shy of a month! I'll try to do better. (-:
We say the words "good girl" over and over again to Lily as I know many parents (I hope all) say to encourage their child. But Lily is such a good girl, I just have to note it before the terrible, twos, threes, etc. come along and I forget all about how good she used to be.
She's happy. She just is. She has fits of course- she's a 16-month old. But if she's fed, diapered, rested, she's a happy baby and always has been.
She willingly takes naps when she's ready. You can say "Lily, are you ready to go to bed?" and if she is, she'll get up from wherever she's playing and walk to her room.
She'll put things back when I ask. I have a red comb that I use for fixing her hair and mine in the morning. It lives in my drawer in the bathroom. She is totally enamoured with this red comb. There are times when it is more fascinating than any toy or book. You can pretty much hear my bathroom drawer opening from any room in the house (partially a noisy drawer slide, partially because of the layout of our house). When that happens, Lily will come sauntering into whatever room we're in swinging that comb around. Now, the rule for the comb (and all other bathroom items) is that they STAY in the bathroom so they're there when we need them, and Lily knows this. So when we tell her in our stern parents' voices, "Lily, you know the comb stays in the bathroom- take the comb back and put it in the drawer please," she'll actually do it.
She follows directions. She's learned to climb into chairs and of course it's fun to stand in the chairs. However, that leads to FALLING out of the chairs. But when we tell her to sit on her bottom, she does it. Granted we might have to remind her again (and again), but she does it! Also, I can give her a little bowl of snacks while she's playing and tell her to leave the bowl on the table and just come get a snack when she wants, and she'll actually leave the bowl there! I tried this out a couple of times this week after attempting to let her have a snack-trap type bowl while she played and ending up with sweet potato puffs everywhere. But the open bowl on the table actually worked! I couldn't believe it!
I have lots more examples that I won't bore you with, and of course lots of examples of bad behavior, but "bad" for Lily really isn't all that bad. And that's my point.
We say the words "good girl" over and over again to Lily as I know many parents (I hope all) say to encourage their child. But Lily is such a good girl, I just have to note it before the terrible, twos, threes, etc. come along and I forget all about how good she used to be.
She's happy. She just is. She has fits of course- she's a 16-month old. But if she's fed, diapered, rested, she's a happy baby and always has been.
She willingly takes naps when she's ready. You can say "Lily, are you ready to go to bed?" and if she is, she'll get up from wherever she's playing and walk to her room.
She'll put things back when I ask. I have a red comb that I use for fixing her hair and mine in the morning. It lives in my drawer in the bathroom. She is totally enamoured with this red comb. There are times when it is more fascinating than any toy or book. You can pretty much hear my bathroom drawer opening from any room in the house (partially a noisy drawer slide, partially because of the layout of our house). When that happens, Lily will come sauntering into whatever room we're in swinging that comb around. Now, the rule for the comb (and all other bathroom items) is that they STAY in the bathroom so they're there when we need them, and Lily knows this. So when we tell her in our stern parents' voices, "Lily, you know the comb stays in the bathroom- take the comb back and put it in the drawer please," she'll actually do it.
She follows directions. She's learned to climb into chairs and of course it's fun to stand in the chairs. However, that leads to FALLING out of the chairs. But when we tell her to sit on her bottom, she does it. Granted we might have to remind her again (and again), but she does it! Also, I can give her a little bowl of snacks while she's playing and tell her to leave the bowl on the table and just come get a snack when she wants, and she'll actually leave the bowl there! I tried this out a couple of times this week after attempting to let her have a snack-trap type bowl while she played and ending up with sweet potato puffs everywhere. But the open bowl on the table actually worked! I couldn't believe it!
I have lots more examples that I won't bore you with, and of course lots of examples of bad behavior, but "bad" for Lily really isn't all that bad. And that's my point.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Our Experience with Cloth Diapers
Many of my friends ask me about our experience with cloth diapers. I have general answers and specific answers.
In general:
We LOVE our cloth diapers. Our main reason for choosing cloth was a financial one- you spend WAY less on cloth diapers than with disposables over the course of the baby's diaper-wearing. Click here to read about saving $$ by using cloth diapers. The whole idea of saving the landfills from stinky dispoables is a great big bonus, as well, but mainly, I'm cheap. When you own your own business, you don't have a choice.
Specifically:
Lily has only had diaper rash a handful of times, mainly when she's eaten something that she's allergic to (you have to find out food allergies the HARD way!). Supposedly cloth babies have much less diaper rash than 'sposie babies. I don't mind dealing with washing & folding the diapers every other day. It feels good when I do it- like I'm being a responsible parent. Sounds hokey, but it's true.
The only downsides we've experienced are having to "scoop the poop" and the occasional diaper leaks that develop when I need to strip the diapers (of detergent build-up). Oh, and that the cloth diapers are physically bulkier than 'sposies, so sometimes we have to sacrifice wearing cute pants for stretchy pants. That's not a bad lesson for a girl to learn anyhow.
Brand Specifics:
We tried the Fuzzi Buns and some other locally-made pocket diapers when Lily was too small for the Bum Genius. I'm a fan of the pocket diaper style in general, but we really like the BG 3.0 because they fit virtually any size and we don't have to keep buying bigger and bigger sizes as she grows. They've held up really well for the 14 months we've been using them. At first we were undoing the sizing snaps everytime we washed them and learned that was too much stress on the fabric around the snaps, but Cottonbabies.com replaced all of those so it was no problem. the only other issue we've had is with the velcro tabs losing their "sticky" but I've fixed that by adding another velcro strip over the top of the tabs after putting on the diaper. Brian calls it the "30 cent solution."
So I hope this helps those of you out there trying to decide on cloth vs. disposables. If not, maybe this will help you decide: choose cloth. (-:
In general:
We LOVE our cloth diapers. Our main reason for choosing cloth was a financial one- you spend WAY less on cloth diapers than with disposables over the course of the baby's diaper-wearing. Click here to read about saving $$ by using cloth diapers. The whole idea of saving the landfills from stinky dispoables is a great big bonus, as well, but mainly, I'm cheap. When you own your own business, you don't have a choice.
Specifically:
Lily has only had diaper rash a handful of times, mainly when she's eaten something that she's allergic to (you have to find out food allergies the HARD way!). Supposedly cloth babies have much less diaper rash than 'sposie babies. I don't mind dealing with washing & folding the diapers every other day. It feels good when I do it- like I'm being a responsible parent. Sounds hokey, but it's true.
The only downsides we've experienced are having to "scoop the poop" and the occasional diaper leaks that develop when I need to strip the diapers (of detergent build-up). Oh, and that the cloth diapers are physically bulkier than 'sposies, so sometimes we have to sacrifice wearing cute pants for stretchy pants. That's not a bad lesson for a girl to learn anyhow.
Brand Specifics:
We tried the Fuzzi Buns and some other locally-made pocket diapers when Lily was too small for the Bum Genius. I'm a fan of the pocket diaper style in general, but we really like the BG 3.0 because they fit virtually any size and we don't have to keep buying bigger and bigger sizes as she grows. They've held up really well for the 14 months we've been using them. At first we were undoing the sizing snaps everytime we washed them and learned that was too much stress on the fabric around the snaps, but Cottonbabies.com replaced all of those so it was no problem. the only other issue we've had is with the velcro tabs losing their "sticky" but I've fixed that by adding another velcro strip over the top of the tabs after putting on the diaper. Brian calls it the "30 cent solution."
So I hope this helps those of you out there trying to decide on cloth vs. disposables. If not, maybe this will help you decide: choose cloth. (-:
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hand-me-downs: A Cautionary Tale
I. Love. Hand-me-downs. We've gotten hand-me-downs (HMDs) from friends, family, even customers at my business brought me HMDs when they saw I was pregnant. Clothes, toys, bottles, spoons, cups, car seats- you name it, we've probably gotten it as a HMD.
We received a new car seat at one of Lily's baby showers that we use in my car. We also have 2 HMD car seats- one that resides in Ms. Deedee's car, and another that's been in the attic for a while that someone gave us before Lily was even a twinkle in our eyes. Since Miss Lori would like a car seat in her car so she can take Lily to the park on her days off, I decided to "dust off" the cobwebs (literally) from the old one in the attic. I brought it in the house yesterday and proceeded to remove all of the fabric so I could wash it. I always assume that what's been given as a HMD will need a wash or wipe down, so I expect to find a stain here or a bit of something there, but I was not prepared for the treasure trove that I found when I took apart this car seat. Here's what I found:
1 melted red crayon (stuck to the underside of the armrest fabric)
2 raisins
1 goldfish cracker
1 french fry
some bits of what I'll call dried pineapple
1 pink hair bow
1 tortoise shell metal hair clip
1 brown plastic hair clip
2 red stretchy hair bands
1 Tigger magnet
1 quarter (I wasn't sure what it was until I flipped it over)
assorted stickers
assorted other "bits" of food, etc.
I was so amazed with what I found, that I found myself getting out of bed at 10:30 last night to write it all down before I forgot. So there's a chance I found even more than what I remembered in my sleep stupor. I share this because, well, it's funny. Also, as a cautionary tale: be sure to wash your HMDs. (-;
We received a new car seat at one of Lily's baby showers that we use in my car. We also have 2 HMD car seats- one that resides in Ms. Deedee's car, and another that's been in the attic for a while that someone gave us before Lily was even a twinkle in our eyes. Since Miss Lori would like a car seat in her car so she can take Lily to the park on her days off, I decided to "dust off" the cobwebs (literally) from the old one in the attic. I brought it in the house yesterday and proceeded to remove all of the fabric so I could wash it. I always assume that what's been given as a HMD will need a wash or wipe down, so I expect to find a stain here or a bit of something there, but I was not prepared for the treasure trove that I found when I took apart this car seat. Here's what I found:
1 melted red crayon (stuck to the underside of the armrest fabric)
2 raisins
1 goldfish cracker
1 french fry
some bits of what I'll call dried pineapple
1 pink hair bow
1 tortoise shell metal hair clip
1 brown plastic hair clip
2 red stretchy hair bands
1 Tigger magnet
1 quarter (I wasn't sure what it was until I flipped it over)
assorted stickers
assorted other "bits" of food, etc.
I was so amazed with what I found, that I found myself getting out of bed at 10:30 last night to write it all down before I forgot. So there's a chance I found even more than what I remembered in my sleep stupor. I share this because, well, it's funny. Also, as a cautionary tale: be sure to wash your HMDs. (-;
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Thoughts on Motherhood
I was watching 48 Hours Mystery on CBS tonight and it was the story of this 17 year old girl who was convicted along with her boyfriend of killing her mother. They kept showing pictures of her as a baby and toddler and I just cried because it reminded me so much of Lily and of the potential each of us has for causing joy or misery. I PLEDGE to do my absolute best to raise my daughter to be a person of value, but I will love her forever regardless of what she chooses to do with her life.
"Never squander the miracle of another human being."
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