Tonight was our first night of training for the Parent Companion Program that I mentioned before. Although I had originally planned to be a birth companion, I'm looking forward now to being a parent companion instead. It was a pretty overview-ish, paperwork-y night, but interesting nonetheless.
We'll be matched with a partner in January. I'm nervous but excited. This is really a big step out of my comfort zone for me, the one who was so often labeled as "stuck-up" because I was so painfully shy. I do hope it goes well.
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
First steps
Yesterday - out of the blue! - we had three dry diapers and two pees on the big toilet.
Shock and amazement!
I don't know whether this will continue, and I admit I'm not holding my breath in case it was merely a fluke, not to be repeated for many more months, but perhaps it really was his first steps towards potty learning.
I admit it - I sniffled a little bit. They grow up so fast, it catches you by surprise sometimes. My husband said yesterday that while it's always been neat to watch him learn new things, it's like a switch has flicked recently and he's kicked things into a higher gear. It's true, and is it ever fascinating to watch.
I wasn't planning on starting potty learning for, goodness, another year-ish. It wasn't something I wanted to push him towards before he was ready, so I planned to take a slow and casual pace. Maybe he has different plans - they do say, after all, that kids in cloth diapers learn to use the potty earlier than kids in disposables, since you can feel the wetness in cloth diapers while disposables whisk it all away.
And besides, isn't that the core of attachment parenting - working with your child, recognizing their cues, adjusting your approach to fit an individual child...knowing them, building a relationship with them, walking along beside them? And parenting just wouldn't be parenting if it weren't always evolving, plans revised, nothing ever quite the way you expected - and so often, much much better than you could even have imagined.
Shock and amazement!
I don't know whether this will continue, and I admit I'm not holding my breath in case it was merely a fluke, not to be repeated for many more months, but perhaps it really was his first steps towards potty learning.
I admit it - I sniffled a little bit. They grow up so fast, it catches you by surprise sometimes. My husband said yesterday that while it's always been neat to watch him learn new things, it's like a switch has flicked recently and he's kicked things into a higher gear. It's true, and is it ever fascinating to watch.
I wasn't planning on starting potty learning for, goodness, another year-ish. It wasn't something I wanted to push him towards before he was ready, so I planned to take a slow and casual pace. Maybe he has different plans - they do say, after all, that kids in cloth diapers learn to use the potty earlier than kids in disposables, since you can feel the wetness in cloth diapers while disposables whisk it all away.
And besides, isn't that the core of attachment parenting - working with your child, recognizing their cues, adjusting your approach to fit an individual child...knowing them, building a relationship with them, walking along beside them? And parenting just wouldn't be parenting if it weren't always evolving, plans revised, nothing ever quite the way you expected - and so often, much much better than you could even have imagined.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Just guide gently
I read the most wonderful picture of parenting recently, Just Guide Gently over at A Holy Experience. I couldn't possibly think of a better analogy - nor could I ever say it so beautifully.
Just a snippet:
Just a snippet:
“If you’ll look closely, do you see how it puckers here, when you push the material through? Don’t rush, or push the fabric along. If you push the material through, you’ll end up with wrinkled, disappointing handiwork. You just guide….”
“Gently?” Hope offers.
“Yes! That’s it precisely: no pushing…or you’ll wrinkle everything. Just guide gently.”
My ladle hangs midair. Empty bowl waits in one hand. I have ears to hear.
Rain streams in rivulets down the glass. The needle again begins to purr. I close my eyes, breathe deeply, and finger write those words on soul sand: “Just guide gently.”
Push and it will all pucker.
Monday, 17 November 2008
Language
Language skills have absolutely erupted here over the past week or two. I've been waiting for this so it's nice to see it happen. The little guy will now mimic anything when prompted (something he hadn't been doing before) and the words he can say are even clearer.
The other day he figured out how to nod "yes" - which is hilarious. He does such an exaggerated nod, bending waaay back, then flinging his head all the way forward. My husband called it "a Japanese bow on steroids". Yes, my husbands has no idea how to be politically correct.
I'm also really impressed with how easily he can follow instructions now (the little guy that is - not my husband). Sometimes I'll ask him to do something complicated - either with multiple steps or in words that I'm not certain he will yet understand - and he'll just run off and do it. Meanwhile I'm sitting there completely flabbergasted, having expected to have to explain further or coach him through the steps.
Letting us know what he wants has become much clearer as well. He'll use words, multiple signs, pointing and occasionally some bodily tugging or pushing to get his message across. He's learned the sign for "tired" and has been using that when he wants to go to bed, which is just so sweet. And he absolutely shocked me the other day when he actually asked me to change his diaper, as he's never shown any notice of having a dirty diaper before. He's asked a couple times since then - maybe this is a sign that we can start considering potty learning? I'm a total newb, I admit it, I have no idea how to go about doing that.
He also understands the idea of "first we have to do this...then we can go do that." Not that he's always happy about it, but he understands it and accepts it.
And books! He's long been a huge fan of books, but things had started to peter off a bit in that regard. There has been a definite resurgence lately, though, leaving us with tall stacks of books in all his favourite reading spots.
He's recently started on a dinosaur kick, which surprised me for some reason. Now he points them out everywhere, has added "dinosaur" to the list of words he can say, and his most requested book is a dinosaur alphabet book. Some of those dinosaur names...quite the mouthful. Ah well, first I had to learn how to tell the difference between a backhoe and a bulldozer and a loader and all the rest, now I suppose it's time to get my "mother to a little boy" education in dinosaurs.
Ah, but with all these great leaps in communication lately, we had one dismal failure the other day. The little guy was standing beside the toilet with me, watching as I scraped out his diaper. When I was done I nodded to him to go ahead and flush the toilet, which he likes to do when I'm finished with the diaper. Well, he interpreted my "flush the toilet" nod as a "go ahead and drop that sock you're holding into the toilet" nod. Doh. I let out an exclamation and he looked up at me with a "oh...that wasn't was I was supposed to do?" look, followed by an "am I in trouble?" look, so I sighed and closed my mouth and fished the floating sock out of the toilet and tossed it in the diaper pail. Lesson learned - use words, not nods.
The other day he figured out how to nod "yes" - which is hilarious. He does such an exaggerated nod, bending waaay back, then flinging his head all the way forward. My husband called it "a Japanese bow on steroids". Yes, my husbands has no idea how to be politically correct.
I'm also really impressed with how easily he can follow instructions now (the little guy that is - not my husband). Sometimes I'll ask him to do something complicated - either with multiple steps or in words that I'm not certain he will yet understand - and he'll just run off and do it. Meanwhile I'm sitting there completely flabbergasted, having expected to have to explain further or coach him through the steps.
Letting us know what he wants has become much clearer as well. He'll use words, multiple signs, pointing and occasionally some bodily tugging or pushing to get his message across. He's learned the sign for "tired" and has been using that when he wants to go to bed, which is just so sweet. And he absolutely shocked me the other day when he actually asked me to change his diaper, as he's never shown any notice of having a dirty diaper before. He's asked a couple times since then - maybe this is a sign that we can start considering potty learning? I'm a total newb, I admit it, I have no idea how to go about doing that.
He also understands the idea of "first we have to do this...then we can go do that." Not that he's always happy about it, but he understands it and accepts it.
And books! He's long been a huge fan of books, but things had started to peter off a bit in that regard. There has been a definite resurgence lately, though, leaving us with tall stacks of books in all his favourite reading spots.
He's recently started on a dinosaur kick, which surprised me for some reason. Now he points them out everywhere, has added "dinosaur" to the list of words he can say, and his most requested book is a dinosaur alphabet book. Some of those dinosaur names...quite the mouthful. Ah well, first I had to learn how to tell the difference between a backhoe and a bulldozer and a loader and all the rest, now I suppose it's time to get my "mother to a little boy" education in dinosaurs.
Ah, but with all these great leaps in communication lately, we had one dismal failure the other day. The little guy was standing beside the toilet with me, watching as I scraped out his diaper. When I was done I nodded to him to go ahead and flush the toilet, which he likes to do when I'm finished with the diaper. Well, he interpreted my "flush the toilet" nod as a "go ahead and drop that sock you're holding into the toilet" nod. Doh. I let out an exclamation and he looked up at me with a "oh...that wasn't was I was supposed to do?" look, followed by an "am I in trouble?" look, so I sighed and closed my mouth and fished the floating sock out of the toilet and tossed it in the diaper pail. Lesson learned - use words, not nods.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Sharing the love
I received this award from Heather and Korey last week. Thank you, ladies! It was so sweet and thoughtful of you.
This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day.
The rules are:
1. Accept the award and post it on your blog along with a link to the person who has awarded you.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Here are the blogs I picked:
1. Stefani @ Blue Yonder
2. Adrian @ Dreamin' in Technicolor
3. Patti @ Fill Me With Beauty
4. Lauren @ Fizleglitz
5. Rebecca @ Graceful Parenting
6. Jen @ Hilty Sprouts
7. Carol @ Parenting Freedom
8. Annie @ PhD in Parenting
9. Nicole @ The Single Domestic
10. naejeirual @ Thinkin'
11. Natasha @ To Live For Him
12. Melody @ Transitions of an Overachiever
13. Sara @ Walk Slowly Live Wildly
14. Christine @ Welcome to my Brain
15. Laura @ Wild Parenting
The rules are:
1. Accept the award and post it on your blog along with a link to the person who has awarded you.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Here are the blogs I picked:
1. Stefani @ Blue Yonder
2. Adrian @ Dreamin' in Technicolor
3. Patti @ Fill Me With Beauty
4. Lauren @ Fizleglitz
5. Rebecca @ Graceful Parenting
6. Jen @ Hilty Sprouts
7. Carol @ Parenting Freedom
8. Annie @ PhD in Parenting
9. Nicole @ The Single Domestic
10. naejeirual @ Thinkin'
11. Natasha @ To Live For Him
12. Melody @ Transitions of an Overachiever
13. Sara @ Walk Slowly Live Wildly
14. Christine @ Welcome to my Brain
15. Laura @ Wild Parenting
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Mememememe
Husband has been sick. Sleep has been short. Work has been overabundant. PhD in Parenting has tagged me, and for that I am grateful.
THE FAVOURITE MEME
Fill in your favourite for each of the following:
1. Political show Don't really watch any. Especially since we don't have TV.
2. Picnic food Potato salad.
3. Mixed drink Cranberry juice and Sprite. Heh.
4. U.S. President I enjoy Reagan's quotes.
5. Kind of student to teach One who is interested in learning.
6. Hobby you do or wish you still did Knitting. It's much more interesting now that I've branched out beyond squares and rectangles.
7. Sports commentator *yawn* Sorry, what?
8. Sport to watch on TV Gymnastics.
9. Animal to have as a pet Hermit crabs are awesome pets.
10. Halloween costume you have worn I have fond memories of a very pretty ballerina costume I wore when I was very very small.
11. Kind of dessert Anything with chocolate.
12. Comic strip I love For Better or For Worse
13. Style or make of footwear My cheap $10 Walmart cork sandals. I buy a new pair every year and wear them until they quite literally fall apart. They are my guilty Walmart pleasure.
14. Ice cream flavor Ooh, that's a tough one. It would be a toss up between chocolate chip mint and chocolate cherry. I just finished eating the most delicious chocolate cherry ice cream a few minutes ago. I just discovered it at Farm Boy last week. If you live near a Farm Boy, buy some.
15. College or university president I probably liked the president of the Certified General Accountants Association when I graduated.
16. Internet news source Heh, my husband. Or at least he reads it off the Internet to me. He likes CBC.
17. Vacation spot Is it warm? I'm there.
18. Wine I'm not terribly fond of wine. Sipping it during communion every week from the time I was a little girl has made drinking more than a tiny sip of it taste incredibly weird and overwhelming.
19. Way to waste time instead of working Reading blogs and forums, not that I think I'm wasting time when I'm doing that. Not all the time, anyway.
20. Student excuse for late work Bowel reconstruction surgery. Definitely valid in my books. She got a two month extension for that. (I teach an online course.)
21. Reality show I'm drawn to shows like Wife Swap, even though they usually annoy me. I loved the first season of The Apprentice.
22. Jewelry on a man Other than the wedding ring on my husband, nothing really.
23. Pizza topping Lots of meat. Especially spicy sausage.
24. Children’s movie The Land Before Time. Only the original one though. Not the 5,386 movies that followed.
25. Celebrity you wish would retire ...Can't think of anyone.
Tag, you're it! Lauren, Melody, Karyn, Korey, Heather, and you. Yes, you. Because probably the only reason I didn't list you by name was that I thought you wouldn't be interested. If you are, consider yourself tagged.
THE FAVOURITE MEME
Fill in your favourite for each of the following:
1. Political show Don't really watch any. Especially since we don't have TV.
2. Picnic food Potato salad.
3. Mixed drink Cranberry juice and Sprite. Heh.
4. U.S. President I enjoy Reagan's quotes.
5. Kind of student to teach One who is interested in learning.
6. Hobby you do or wish you still did Knitting. It's much more interesting now that I've branched out beyond squares and rectangles.
7. Sports commentator *yawn* Sorry, what?
8. Sport to watch on TV Gymnastics.
9. Animal to have as a pet Hermit crabs are awesome pets.
10. Halloween costume you have worn I have fond memories of a very pretty ballerina costume I wore when I was very very small.
11. Kind of dessert Anything with chocolate.
12. Comic strip I love For Better or For Worse
13. Style or make of footwear My cheap $10 Walmart cork sandals. I buy a new pair every year and wear them until they quite literally fall apart. They are my guilty Walmart pleasure.
14. Ice cream flavor Ooh, that's a tough one. It would be a toss up between chocolate chip mint and chocolate cherry. I just finished eating the most delicious chocolate cherry ice cream a few minutes ago. I just discovered it at Farm Boy last week. If you live near a Farm Boy, buy some.
15. College or university president I probably liked the president of the Certified General Accountants Association when I graduated.
16. Internet news source Heh, my husband. Or at least he reads it off the Internet to me. He likes CBC.
17. Vacation spot Is it warm? I'm there.
18. Wine I'm not terribly fond of wine. Sipping it during communion every week from the time I was a little girl has made drinking more than a tiny sip of it taste incredibly weird and overwhelming.
19. Way to waste time instead of working Reading blogs and forums, not that I think I'm wasting time when I'm doing that. Not all the time, anyway.
20. Student excuse for late work Bowel reconstruction surgery. Definitely valid in my books. She got a two month extension for that. (I teach an online course.)
21. Reality show I'm drawn to shows like Wife Swap, even though they usually annoy me. I loved the first season of The Apprentice.
22. Jewelry on a man Other than the wedding ring on my husband, nothing really.
23. Pizza topping Lots of meat. Especially spicy sausage.
24. Children’s movie The Land Before Time. Only the original one though. Not the 5,386 movies that followed.
25. Celebrity you wish would retire ...Can't think of anyone.
Tag, you're it! Lauren, Melody, Karyn, Korey, Heather, and you. Yes, you. Because probably the only reason I didn't list you by name was that I thought you wouldn't be interested. If you are, consider yourself tagged.
Friday, 14 November 2008
One such day
Sometimes snuggling in a warm bath is the perfect way to redeem an otherwise grumpy day - for mama and chid.
Today was one such day.
Today was one such day.
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