19 Month Update

We had a great time this month.  Mila experienced her first earthquake...and slept right through.  We did come into her room in the morning, though, and found two pictures on the floor (she is clearly unfazed).

We dyed Easter eggs for the first time and it was so cute.  She had no clue what was going on and wanted to put all of the eggs in one bowl.  It seems that dying Easter eggs is a lot of work for like 10 seconds worth of dying.

She did great on her Easter egg hunt though!  I do think we were a bit overzealous in that we hid 12 eggs and after finding six she was done and wanted to eat all the goodies from the Easter Bunny instead.

Easter Dress

Favorite Foods: Mila has actually slowed down her eating and no longer wants to eat everything.  I have found that she understands what you're saying in regard to food that I didn't realize in the past. For example, if she wants more yogurt and you tell her she needs to take a couple more bites of her sandwich first then that's exactly what she does.  Speaking of yogurt, she is  OBSESSED still and wants to eat it all the time. She still loves fruit and tends not to eat most meat for whatever reason.  Today I gave her long spaghetti and she had a fun time slurping it up into her mouth.

slurping her mac & cheese off her plate. at a restaurant. such manners.

Signature Moves: She is becoming so observant. She has noticed that Robert will come up and mess with me, either tickling me or pinching my butt and when she sees him doing it she will run over and start pinching me too.  When she laughs now over something silly she covers her mouth with both of her hands; it's adorable. We've also found if you wait to give her something that she really wants and ask for a kiss she will give you a real kiss on the mouth. IT'S SO SWEET!  She also loves rolling around on the floor with Kira, for whatever reason!

Also still not getting that we can totally see her :)

Current Words: She is in the middle of learning all of her animals noises: besides woof and meow she also knows "moooooo" and she beats on her chest and says "ahhhhh" when you ask her what a monkey does.  She claps her hands together and wiggles her hands for fish and does "sssss" for a snake.  We've been practicing "yes" and "no" rather than just shaking/nodding her head.  Sometimes she will surprise us with "hi" (it's actually more like "hey") and bye and said "ba" for ball this past weekend.   She will say "vroom vroom" for a car or a motorcycle and can (sort of) do the Itsy Bitsy Spider motions with her hands. She also loves trucks and will say "WOOOOOW" anytime a big one drives by. She also says "WOW" when she finds something she's not supposed to have (like my reading light).

Favorite Activities: I say it every month but she enjoys dancing and music more than anything. Imagine how much all babies and toddlers love it and then times it by 20 and you have Mila.  Kerry took her to a concert this past week and she said that, by far, Mila had the best time there and was dancing, clapping and shrieking in delight! She loves the stickers, park and sidewalk chalk and any activity outside.

Lastly. Doesn't this just melt your heart? I live for moments like this.

For all of the pictures from this month, click here.

On Becoming Babywise

No, no, no, contrary to the title of the post I am not an expert in baby care.  I do, though, feel it is my civic duty to pass along THE BEST piece of parenting advice I have ever received.  

Let's start at the beginning. You may remember this post where I announced my pregnancy; that was just a little over two years ago.  As soon as you tell people you are pregnant everyone wants to tell you their best friend's sister's cousin's daughter's story; this also begins the influx of advice, whether you want it or not. I, for one, love advice, but it does get a little overwhelming because everyone has something different to say about what works and what doesn't.  I remember talking with my friend Shantelle one day about our friend Jet (not her real name...it's Jessica....but I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually called her that) and her son, Andre.  Shantelle told me I should read a book that Jet read regarding parenting because Andre was an amazing child, so polite and well mannered, even to the point where he would put himself to bed at night!

Knowing me well, Jet knew how to win me over:  "With people as organized as us and knowing that we love schedules, you will love this." How was I going to say no to that? (Have you ever seen my family's color coded trip itineraries?!) So she lent me her book, On Becoming Babywise;  I must say, initially I was like THIS is it??? 

It looks like a book written in the 1970s (it was actually 1995), there is some religious undertone in it, which I was not bothered by, but also surprised with, and a quick search of the Internet at the time DID reveal that there is some controversy to the plan. But, really, with all the different parenting styles out there, what idea isn't supported and criticized by the masses?  So I figured, what the heck I would give it a try; I was going back to work at 6 weeks postpartum and I love me a good schedule.  I was sure that Andre was some perfect, magical miracle and his temperament had to come from his parents, not some book and schedule that I could follow; I was anxious to find out if that was the case.

Basically the books relies on a parent directed feeding schedule of "feed/play/sleep" (which is where the largest criticism comes into play in that many people believe that babies should be fed on demand).  The idea is that the baby eats as soon as she wakes up, then plays (and gets tired) and goes to sleep without nursing or taking a bottle; she learns how to put herself to sleep.   The idea is, just like with everything else, you have to teach your baby when to eat, play and sleep.  Of course if you're a crazy person with no common sense then I can see how this book might be criticized. As with all books out there you should use your knowledge as to what is right for you and your baby; plus, if you're like me you will probably read like 72 parenting books when you're pregnant so you will have much more information to go off of.

A newer, similar approach to Babywise was written about in Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, which I also loved and could relate more to as it was more recently published.  She refers to the schedule as E.A.S.Y. (eat/activity/sleep/you time....who's going to hate on "you" time?!  Not this mom!).  Another reason I loved this version is you could find all kinds of other moms on blogs all over the Internet that followed this book as well and there were all kinds of tips and tricks, criticism and success stories.  My favorite was this cheat sheet by Noob Mommy that I printed out, hung on our refrigerator and gave a copy to anyone that was watching our baby from 6 weeks to 9 months. I followed each little schedule to. a. tee. (T?)

I loved using this schedule because I knew what to expect when. I always knew what to expect of Mila and I could plan my day around her routine. Not on do babies thrive on routines but it also helps the parents (and the caretakers!) know what to do.  Happy parents = happy babies.  It also made it easier for me to get out of the house (alone) for grocery shopping or other errands when I knew she wouldn't need to nurse for another set amount of time.  Housework, laundry, (naps!) and other chores were easy to make time for during the "you" time as well.

The book isn't just about establishing good sleep routines either; it explains that well rested kids are also very polite. Makes sense right?  From Jet's firsthand experience with Andre, to other blog moms who have followed this schedule you hear lots of stories about well mannered kids who were reared on this schedule.

So what's my success story? Why is this not just some other book out there?  I have three reasons:  First, Mila started sleeping through the night, consistently, at THREE months; it could've been three months or three years and we would've been happy, but we were ecstatic it was sooner rather than later.  Second, she is a DREAM to put down to sleep, we literally lay her in her crib and don't hear from her for like two hours for naps and 12 hours during the night.  Third, and most mind-blowing, for the past two weeks Mila has started "telling" us (going into her room and pointing to her crib) when she is tired and "asking" (she will shake her head yes (or no) if you ask her if she wants to go night night) to go to bed.  It's amazing!  And it keeps happening.  This was my "AHA!" moment that this routine (and lesson!) actually works; I only know two moms that followed this schedule; I also only know two moms whose kids are asking to go to sleep when they're tired.  Andre and Mila: Superstars.

Who really knows if it IS the child's temperament or if it's a schedule that produces dream behavior like this but I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone with a baby. It's definitely worth a try, right?  Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy it while it lasts, that it won't be this way for the next baby....that sounds like a challenge to me :)