So, it's been a while since I've posted. This time I have a good excuse, I promise!
I started a new job mid-February and my part of the grant is 1 1/2 years behind. Needless to say, I have had to hit the ground running! It's a welcomed change compared to my old gig where I was constantly in search of a greater challenge. I work as a Research Coordinator at Spelman College. My job is basically to coordinate research and mentorship opportunities for the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students through a grand-funded progrm called the "Health Disparities Scholars Program." I have to create and run seminars on research, data management, data analysis, scientific writing, publications, presentations, etc...Basically, I have the money to run the program and the authority to do with it what I want...incredible and intimidating all at once.
So, on the baby front, my little girl is getting O-L-D-E-R!!! I am so proud of her for all her accomplishments, but at the same time, each little victory brings with it a tint of sadness. I only have these baby moments for a little while longer and pretty soon she will no longer need me to do everything for her. Here are a couple of highlights of what's been going on with us:
1) As a testament to the fact that KR is growing, she has been upgraded to "big kid" status in her daycare. There's a new baby in town and she's only 6 weeks old. While my child loves sitting at the big-kids' talbe (see below), she is effecively being quaranteened to prevent any vector-host transactions. She is always so excited to see me when I pick her up from school...I walked in behind her and surprised her (I had my camera phone ready) and this is the beautiful face that greeted me!
2) The other day, I was driving home from daycare and I heard a strange sound from the carseat. It sounded like a cry/yelp/knawing/gagging sound and I was really scared for a minute. I peeked back at KR and saw her going to town on her teething ring/book thingie. She was really grinding away! Until then, she had never used teething rings properly. She usually just licks them or throws them around unintentionally beating herself over the head with the hardest or sharpest part she can find. I peeked at her gums when we got home and sure enough, there's a visible white spot where the first two teeth typically pop up...I'll keep you posted on this one, but in the meantime here is a picture of her this morning when I dropped her off at daycare. She's making one of her goofy teething faces...
3) As you can see in the two pictures above, we are having signs of independent sitting! In the first picture, there's a blanket wedged between her belly and the seat to help her stay sitting, but in the second picture (two weeks later), she's sitting all on her own. When she's sitting on my lap, KR can sit up on her own for upwards of a minute at a time before flailing in some odd fashion or reaching for my shirt/chin/necklace, etc. and losing her balance. She can sit in a high chair or other chair just fine, but I'm afraid to put her on the floor just yet in fear that she will start playing her throw-my-head-back-so-mommy-can-catch-me-game and I'm not actually there to catch her. :0(
4) Her hair is growing exponentially. Which is really fun for a little girl because it allows me to try out all kinds of fancy/stupid hairstyles. She doesn't mind getting her hair combed at all, which makes it all the more fun to do things like this:
(I'd like to send a special nod to Sanjaya and baby MLH. Great minds think alike, I guess)
5) She wants to be a teenager alrady. This little girl just loves being behind the wheel...move over Danica Patrick!
6) Yesterday when I picked her up (it seems as though everything happened to her yesterday, but I swear it's true) I was tickling her. Usually when I do this, she just smiles and buries her head in my neck/shoulder. But yesterday, she let out the goofiest snort/laugh. I thought it was a mistake and so I kept going...but so did she. I have to catch a video of this so you can see how wonderful it is (although I hardly expect you go be as gaga over my kid as I am)...but seriously, how could you not?
7) Ok, and here's the kicker...Now that KR is 6 months old (minus four days), I have decided to begin "sleep training". I hate that phrase, but whatevs... For those of you who are not familiar, feel free to look it up...there are several methods out there to choose from. I must admit, we have been co-sleeping for the last 6 months and she nurses on demand all night long. It's really pretty easy because I don't actually have to move or open my eyes, she's a pretty independent eater as long as I make myself...um, accessable...yeah, we'll just leave it at that. I have decided to try the Ferber (cry-it-out) method and I am having EXTREME amounts of guilt at going from co-sleeping attachment style parenting to this method and I invite any and all mommies to please leave your detailed comments on how/if this method worked for you (if not, what did) and how you coped with the guilt of hearing your baby cry and purposely not attending to them for extended periods of time [run-on sentence much?]. I really want her to be able to be placed in her crib when she's sleepy and to drift off to sleep on her own without me using excessive rocking or nursing to fall asleep. That's a bad habbit to start and I fear that it will be impossible to break the older she gets.
Last night was night #1. I started our bedtime routine (we never had one before) of a bath at 8pm, nursing while reading a book at 8:20pm and bed by 8:35 or 8:40. She cried for 24 minutes before she fell asleep for 5 hours (8:30-1:30), which is way longer than her usual 2 to 2 1/2 hour stints. After nursing her at 1:30am, I brought her to bed with me because I did not want to repeat what happened earlier in the night in fear of waking up everyone in the house...I know that consistency is key with this kind of thing, but do you have any suggestions on what I can do to make this work?
3) As you can see in the two pictures above, we are having signs of independent sitting! In the first picture, there's a blanket wedged between her belly and the seat to help her stay sitting, but in the second picture (two weeks later), she's sitting all on her own. When she's sitting on my lap, KR can sit up on her own for upwards of a minute at a time before flailing in some odd fashion or reaching for my shirt/chin/necklace, etc. and losing her balance. She can sit in a high chair or other chair just fine, but I'm afraid to put her on the floor just yet in fear that she will start playing her throw-my-head-back-so-mommy-can-catch-me-game and I'm not actually there to catch her. :0(
3 comments:
So much to comment on...do you still have the same e-mail address? We should get together--between our hate/hate relationship with pumping, and your guilt with moving away from attachment parenting, we have a lot in common. I do have to say that I even bought and read Ferber, but we did modify it to the Heintz method. It has taken 9 months, but things are much better--and we still do co-sleeping, and there really isn't much crying at all! Drop me a line or give me a buzz. Seriously, we should get together and talk shop!
On a completely different note--KR is so cute, and I think her hair is hilarious. It's so long!! And bless you for not having a wild screaming banchee while teeting. It is hell on a foundation when Miles gets a tooth (exaggeration, but he is really uncomfortable). Also, I think she looks SO much like you!
Talk soon! Keep up the great work, Mama. I hope the new jobs is wonderful!
Hi Ali,
I have a the same email address (@jhsph.edu)...let's schedule a play date!
Some advice on sleeping and routines from the Balima household... take things one step at a time. If you're just introducing a bed-time routine, it will take a week or so before the benefits of the routine really start to relax her and get her in to the "it's time for bed" mood. Consistency is key, like you said.
I've also read that any time your child is going through a major change (like a move, new day care, or a tooth coming in , etc), don't expect their sleep pattern to go undisturbed. I've found this to be the case with Samir. He can sleep through the night for 8-10 hours and then if we change something he's back to waking twice a night. He has 2 teeth quickly emerging and it's wrecked his sleep pattern. While I initially got Samir to sleep 10 hours at a time without waking by using the cry-it-out method, I am responding to his crying during this teething period. The poor kid is in pain, so I do whatever I can in the night to console him. Usually it just takes a 4oz bottle gulped down in 10 minutes, and then he's back to sleep.
Has KR been moved in to her own room yet? We didn't start the cry-it-out method til Samir was in his own room. It only took a few nights before he was able to sleep 10 hours, but I must admit that he was already sleeping for 6 hours consistently when we moved him to his own room. Gradually she should start sleeping in longer stretches, but it will take time. I stretched out Samir's sleep pattern by gradually giving him less milk in the night and by not talking/singing/cuddling in the night when he'd wake. We just do the essentials...diaper change and a quick bottle. I've heard that the cry-it-out method is harder when you're nursing and that sometimes it helps to have the dad respond to baby in the night. Is E up for it?
More than anything, it will be a change for you to get used to the crying. But slowly it just becomes a little whimper or whining and then one night, it all subsides and you realize she has slept through the night!
Keep being a great mama!!! And don't feel bad if you can't let her cry it out. Everyone has their own method and there's no perfect way.Good luck to all of you!
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