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Babywise II talks about the importance of free playtime for your baby. It isn't a time when you allow the baby to cruise around the house doing whatever they want but it's times when the baby plays with toys at a specified play center. I have two play centers: our bathroom and the kitchen. When I'm getting ready Kye uses two or three toys in the bathroom to play with. In the kitchen I keep 2 old pots and 2 big spoons in a drawer for him. I pull these out and let him play his heart out so I can put dishes away, put laundry in the wash, or do whatever I need to get done in the kitchen area. The idea of play centers is that there are certain toys in designated areas for your baby to freely play with. I doesn't mean that there are toys all over my house though! Babywise II talks about how important play is for a child because the repetition of play activities gives them a chance to develop and consolidate the skills that a particular kind of play requires. It also gives the...
This month has been CRAZY with the many, many changes Kye has gone through. I love that every day brings something new!!! It's such an exciting time in his life! Ball: While at Disney we got Kye a ball! He's had a little plastic one but it didn't roll very well and he also has had a football that (duh) doesn't roll well either. Even though I hate basketball it was the best ball and it was Disney!!! He LOVES it! Zach will play catch with him which is cute as he will semi-catch it (with some luck) and will (also with luck) roll it kinda back to Zach to do it again. The best part though is how he CHEWS on the ball. I guess he thinks it tastes good? This video shows him going to town on it...so funny! Reading: Kye isn't reading as much as he used to anymore :( He does still really love the books and has learned to enjoy them sitting up and is starting to master turning the pages. Here's a video of him doing this! While he may not be as into reading on his own...
Babywise II says that once your baby is 6 months old they can go down to two naps a day instead of three. The first nap you drop is the one in the evening. Kye goes to sleep at 9 (up at 11), 1 (up at 3) and 5 (up at 7 to bed at 8) for naps. The 5:00 one is annoying because it limits what we can do at night so we were pretty pumped about dropping it! All throughout his 7th month (he was 6 months old) he just still seemed to need it. His naps were kinda more random though and sometimes he'd sleep for only 30 min at the 5:00 one and sometimes he'd sleep the full 2 hours and needed to be woken up. It wasn't reliable and that made it even more annoying. It also made his other naps different too and I got to the point that I was over it! The Babywise Blog I follow talks about dropping naps and says that when other naps are affected it may be time to drop the nap. She has a baby right now a little younger than Kye and her baby sometimes takes the third nap and sometimes skips...
While I'm on my Babywise II kick I thought I'd talk some more about the book and things I learned from it! Besides the re-parenting idea I also LOVE the idea of independent playtime. I actually had read about it on the Babywise Blog I follow but I liked reading it from the actual book too. Babywise II talks about the use of a playpen (I call it a pack and play) for independent playtime. They say the pack and play has three benefits: 1. It provides a safe environment. 2. It doubles as a portable bed. 3. It offers a structured learning center. #1 and #2 are pretty obvious, but #3 was something new to me. I, like most new moms, thought that every moment Kye is awake should be spent with me cuddling, playing, reading, singing, and doing other things together. I never thought that he might need time to himself! Some of the ways that the book discusses that the pack and play helps a baby develop include: Mental focusing skills: Helps them to concentrate on an object or activity ...
Duh, I loved Babywise and I'm actually even MORE in love with Babywise II! It is meant for a parent of a baby who is between the ages of 5 months old and 15 months old. I got it when Kye was about 4 months old and read it cover to cover then read it again when he was about 5 months and have left it out to use as a reference over and over again. I think that the Babywise series is awesome because the authors say what they want to say and don't worry about stepping on people's toes. I love that! The beginning of the book talks a lot about parenting and how important it is to teach children morals. I, like most people, hadn't really thought about how Kye doesn't know right from wrong. I mostly worry with trying to help him develop skills (such as sitting up) or learning tools (like always counting things, telling him colors, etc). But do I put much focus on right and wrong? Not really. This book really helped me realize that moral training is the most important th...
Back in the day I started Kye on rice cereal and didn't have the most amazing experience with it. I think the whole issue was really a teething problem, but once we went to the walk-in clinic and they dr. told me he typically recommends babies to wait until at least 5 months old before doing solids, I decided to chill out for awhile. I started thinking to myself and the pressure I felt to start Kye on solids so soon. Why did I think he needed solids when he really didn't at all? I think a lot of it had to do with so many people asking if he was eating solids yet, so many people giving their babies rice cereal in bottles at young ages, but mostly I think it was brainwashing by the baby food companies. As soon as Kye turned four months old I got overhwelmed with mail from baby food companies (Gerber mostly) with tons of coupons and little booklets all about introducing solids. As yes, by their standards Kye showed all the "signs" of being ready. But did he actually N...
This whole food thing has been a little tough for me. First it was hard to figure out how to even begin, then it was a tough choice on when to start. Kye is still young to be eating baby food. Most books recommend to wait until they are 6 months old and Kye is only 4 1/2 months old! However, he is a big boy and he showed all the signs of being "ready." So I knew it was what is best for him, however, it was still tough!!! Eating solids is a big step for a baby! It's the first step to being done with nursing. It's also the first time that I will really start to be responsible for how he handles himself. Even though it made me a little emotional (no actual tears fell, but they were super close) I knew I needed to just do it so I decided to start with the rice cereal on Friday morning. I didn't buy rice cereal when I had gone to Publix but luckily we had some from awhile ago when they gave it out free and we used it once or twice in a bottle (which Kye hated). ...
