Happy 16 months, sweet boy!

Wordless Wednesday: Watching the Rain

Things I never thought I'd do

Today I'm linking up with Melissa at Growing Up Geeky for her Toddle Along Tuesday blog hop! The topic for today is "Things I never thought I'd do." As a first time mom, I have definitely broken some of my own rules. When you're expecting your sweet, perfect bundle of joy, it's so easy to say things like, "My baby will be exclusively breastfed and a drop of formula shall not pass his baby lips," or, "He will never become dependent on the pacifier," or, "We will limit the amount of television he watches."


Yeah.


Newsflash: Breastfeeding is HARD. (If you're one of those women who never had trouble ever, I don't wanna know.) I firmly believe that a mother should do what's best for her child, and that she should do what she needs to do. Whether you feed your baby breastmilk or formula, he will be just fine. Colin was, after I threw in the towel at four weeks and started feeding formula exclusively. Guess what? He never did grow a second head or a third eye. He continued to thrive. I still experience some guilt over my short-lived breastfeeding journey, but I try not to beat myself up over it.

Oh, and by the way, pacifiers aren't the devil. Colin doesn't have them all the time; he mostly just uses them to fall asleep for naps and bed, and if he's sick or teething or especially cranky. We're not completely sure yet when we'll wean him from the paci, but I don't regret letting him have one. Plus, let's be honest. It's really stinking cute when he says "guggles" for bubbles with a paci in.

 

And, last but not least, the ever popular television debate. Meh, I'm not going to debate anything with you. I'm just going to say that for us, the Disney Jr. channel has been a lifesaver. Special Agent Oso makes Colin giggle and dance, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates helps him wind down for bed as he sits in one of our laps with his milk and watches. The kid loves TV. We don't let him watch all the time, of course, and there isn't a television at daycare, so it's not like he's addicted to the tube. We did break down, though, and buy a DVD player for the car, and his favorite show to watch as we drive around is Go, Diego, Go! He's even started singing along. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.


The moral of the story, ladies... and I've said this before... is this: You do what works for you and your family, and I'll do what works for mine. You may agree with my methods, and you may not. Either way, it doesn't matter. Every child is different, and needs to be parented in a way that is tailored to his needs. Breastmilk or formula, paci or no paci, tv or no tv; our kids already have what they need most, and that is our love.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers, mothers-to-be, mothers of babies in heaven, and mommy hopefuls waiting to be blessed with a baby... Happy Mother's Day! Being a mom is one of the greatest things in this world. I didn't believe in love at first sight until I met my son.

More to come.

ROAR!

Colin has started singing along with his favorite Go, Diego, Go! DVD in the car. It is the cutest thing ever! See for yourself. He's pretty on pitch, no? Notice he starts "roaring" before they do in the video. Maybe I'm biased, but this kid is so smart! 




More to come :)

Box!

Introducing the latest and greatest in imaginative play... BOX! 

The culmination of years of research, Box stimulates the imagination cortex in baby's brain and allows him to think in new and different ways.

Box will entertain your child for hours. Get yours today! Only $29.99, plus shipping and handling.


Just kidding. :) Forget all the nice, shiny toys littering the living room and nursery. This week, Colin's toy of choice has been the empty Luvs box we were too lazy to throw away kept for him to play with! He climbs in and out of it (which is actually quite impressive), pushes it all over the house, flips it over and throws random objects into it.

It's the little things, people.


Linking up with Melissa's Toddle Along Tuesday linky party today!

Fighting Sleep

Boy, this parenting thing sure is a wild ride, eh? We have gone through so many phases of sleep.. or lack thereof. When we first brought our bundle of joy home, he slept all day and was wide awake during the night. It was rough. We were zombies.

Sweet, sleepy baby... awww.

A few months in, we all got several hours of sleep at a time. It wasn't optimal, especially now that we were both back at work, but it was the best sleep we'd had in a while and we accepted it with open arms.


Finally, the time came. Our sweet little angel started sleeping through the night. It was glorious. This happened shortly after he turned a year old. He would start to rub his eyes, we'd lay him down, and he would be out within minutes.


But suddenly, Colin is so busy and such a little sponge that he wants to do everything and see everything and how dare you if you try to confine him to that prison cell of a crib!!! Seriously, he is still my little sweetie pie... but for the past week or so, he's going through a phase (or at least I hope it's a phase) where he's fighting sleep until he can't keep those eyelids open any longer. I'll lay him down for a nap and he'll stand up immediately, looking at me like, "Hey Mom, wanna play?!"

Nice try, Mom, but I am so not ready to take a nap!

Good thing he's so darn cute. Bedtime has been harder, too, but last night wasn't so bad. He played - hard - until about 9 pm, at which point I made an executive decision that it was time for bed. He fought it at first, and cried for maybe a minute or two, but then he settled himself, lay down, and fell asleep. Hooray! The silence was peace to my tired ears. I hope this pattern continues, and that we are able to sort of re-train him to go to bed easily, like he once did.


Does your toddler fight sleep?