Hitting your kid is the only effective way, really?

Another rant, be warned!

My mom was watching what turned out to be a very annoying, misinformed tv show. Some people believed that hitting your child is essential, a must, so you can successfully discipline your child. Others were saying that all a child needs is love. Not making this crap up!

I happen to disagree very strongly with both points of view. Shocker! What else is new?! I am very much a do-my-own-thing type of person. I research things, educate myself, analyze the possible outcomes, make my own decisions (with my husband, of course, particularly when it comes to my child). Ultimately, we do what we think is right. Frankly, I don't give a damn what our relatives think! Facts are worth much more than opinions to me. I do not mean that I do not welcome advice. I mean that, to me, advice with facts to back it up is worth so much more than simply "I did x, so you should too."

Don't have a lot of time right now, but here are my beliefs and how we respond to unwelcomed behaviors...

Lots of positive reinforcement.

Try to make being around parents fun. Every day, do something fun with your kid. Little things at home make kids so happy... I wish you could hear Ari's laugh when she runs after her daddy trying to catch him!

Lovingly, calmly and respectfully set limits.

If you say no, mean it. Otherwise, your word as a parent is worth crap. If your word is not worth a damn, then don't get mad at your child when the child does not listen to you. It's your own damn fault, no offense!

Enforce the limits/boundaries. If you said "if you do a, x will happen," make x happen. Take away what you said you would take away.

Consequences come immediately. When Ari thinks spilling juice on the floor is cool, I immediately say "ut-oh," take the juice away, and I don't give her attention until the tantrum is over.

Once the situation has passed, it belongs there, in the past. We give her a hug, tell her we love her, and move on, onto fun stuff.

It goes without saying that no one parent is perfect, but if you communicate that your word is worth something and if there are consequences to your kids' actions, they will get the hint.

We all have bad days and frustrating moments. No one is 100% consistent. Every parent loses it every now and then. Being a parent does not mean you stop being human. But if we do our best and do right by our kids, hopefully we will be proud parents one, five, twenty years from now...

Don't you love unsolicited opinions? A rant, be warned!

Today I was chatting with someone and she was asking about Ari. Sleep woes came up.

She said: You have to wean her. She won't sleep well till you wean her.

Oh my God!!! Not again!

My response: *Name*, no offense, but that is bullshit.

I said it to her, I will type it on this blog, and I will say it 100 times if necessary. THAT IS BULLSHIT.

Tell me, why the hell do people insist in telling you that your child will sleep better once you… feed them cereal, feed them solids, wean them, get them out of your bed…? What’s next? Once they are potty trained? Once they go to preschool?

She said that so-and-so's baby is on formula, is on a schedule, never wakes up in the middle of the night because that routine is all he has known. Breastfed babies, on the other hand, get used to eating every two hours, so they wake up in the middle of the night until they are weaned.

Again, I repeat: that is bullshit.

The ironic thing is that one of her kids was breastfed until age one and the other one only until six weeks. Neither one slept "well." So there goes that theory!

I night-weaned Ari and she still wakes up. My friend weaned completely for health reasons at 21 months and five months later, her son still wakes up once. My former professor/advisor's breastfed son was sleeping ten hours straight at seven months. There are plenty of formula babies out there that wake up and want their parents in the middle of the night.

So, in case you did not read it above: that is bullshit.

Children want their parents at 3am because they are used to falling asleep with something of their parents' nearby, whether it is simply the parent's presence, a little walk in the bedroom, a hug, holding the parent's hand... Yes, the boob is what they want in many cases, but that is not it. Otherwise, they would magically put themselves to sleep the minute you night-wean them. As you know, that is not the case. You saw all my posts about our experiences with weaning and sleeping night after night. Ari understood that there was no nursing until daytime, but she wanted to put her hand on my chest. I am now working on holding hands, rather than the hand on my chest.

By the way, you know what, if the fact my child breastfeeds has anything whatsoever to do with her night wakings, I still would do it again, in a heartbeat. Breastfeeding benefits both baby and mother in so many ways. So many stories have proven or found correlations between breastfeeding and positive things... In fact, I will endeavor to find a few and post them on here.

Why the night wakings, you wonder? Children have shorter sleep cycles than we do. If I remember correctly, the length of a young child's sleep cycle ranges from 60 to 90 minutes. So all children wake up in the middle of the night, just like we do. The trick is whether or not the child can put her/himself back to sleep without any assistance from a parent.

I would sleep a lot better if Ari put herself to sleep independently. I would be more rested. That is true. But, you know what? Parenting is a 24/7 job. My job does not end at 5pm. Does this mean that I am happy with the current set up, that I do not want her to be able to put herself back to sleep independently? Of course not. I can't wait, in fact! I am freakin' tired, if you had not heard!

Here is the difference: we are willing to gently transition her because my #1 priority is that my child is securely attached to her parents. For those of you unfamiliar with psychobabble, attachment has to do with the relationship that a child has with her/his parents. Is there a sense of trust? Does the child know that the parents will protect her/him? Does the child know that the parents will always return, that he/she will not be abandoned? A securely attached child knows this. This, in turn, helps the child develop her/his independence. A securely attached child will be a better partner in her/his relationships as a grownup. That child will grow up to be confident, not clingy. Again, there are plenty of studies that prove this. An insecurely attached child, one whose parents did not respond to her/his needs during the early years, either cries inconsolably when a parent leaves or does not give a damn if mom walks away. These are the people who grow up to be non-trusting people or people who cannot have a close, fulfilling relationship due to their own, personal issues.

I know a two-year-old who is an excellent example of ambivalent attachment. He will be around strangers. His mother walks away and he could care less. He is so used to her walking away, to her ignoring his calls for help. Very sad. That is not what I want for my kid. That is why when people told me to let her scream it out at three months, I said no, not now, not ever. At three months, babies do not have object permanence. In other words, if you leave, you do not exist. They do not comprehend that you are simply in another room of the house, that you will return if they really need you.

Let me clarify... I don't mean that Ari never cries. There is always some crying. That is unavoidable. But we are there, visible, in her room, holding her hand if that is what she needs. What we need to work on is to make it so that we can slowly get farther and farther away until she does not need us in the room at all. I am confident that will happen. She will know that she can put herself to sleep but that mom and dad will be there if she is afraid, is not feeling well, is hurt, etc.

Woe, long rant. rant over! I feel better now. Time for bed...

Progress in the potty training department...

Last night, Ari said "pee-pee" and Geeky Entrepreneur brought her to the potty. After a few minutes, she peed. It was ridiculous how excited we were! We were clapping! Positive reinforcement at its best!

I decided that after each meal, I would bring her to the potty.

After lunch, I brought her to the potty at Abuela's. She sat down, got up, walked, sat down again, over and over again...

I told her she had a choice: either potty or diaper. She said "pie" (potty).

A few minutes later, she came out and said she had pooped. It was true!

Time to be ridiculous again! This time, it was my mother and I.

Later on, she peed in the potty at Abuela's.

And, just now, as I type this, she said "pee-pee" and peed in the potty.

Good job, little girl.

Time to buy cloth training pants. There are several out there, but I am not sure which ones work best. Unfortunately, there are not tons of reviews, like there are for cloth diapers. I guess trial and error it is. One of each and then buy more of our favorite. Any suggestions out there?

We can travel chaos-free again!

Last weekend, we drove to Boston to see friends. We spent one night away from home. Ari did so, so well! I was very pleased. I could not believe it went so smoothly!

We left on Saturday at naptime. By the time we got to the gas station, she was asleep. She slept almost the entire ride. She woke up about 15 minutes before we got to my friend's Yaminette's place.

We spent the afternoon and evening with Yaminette, her husband, and her little one, who is two months older than Amor Chiquito. The kids had a blast, mostly playing with trains and riding a car. The guys got to chat. The girls got to catch up. It felt great. It was not chaotic at all, like one of our get-togethers was. I think last weekend worked well because we made sure we got together after the kids napped.

We slept at Yaminette's place. We were wondering how it would work, praying that one of the kids would not cry, wake the other kid up, and having the night turn into a nightmare.

The only thing that went wrong is that Ari did not fall asleep until 10:30pm. Very minor issue.

Each baby only woke up once and the other baby was able to sleep through it.

The kids played a bit more in the morning and then we left to see our friend Liz.

We had a funny episode at Liz's. Liz shared a very yummy watermelon with us. Ari ate lots of it. She would not stop peeing! She was peeing every ten minutes or so. I swear I am not making this up! I think we went through five diapers while we were there. I eventually ran out of cloth diapers. Fortunately, we had some disposable diapers in our trunk. Ari was in heaven because she got to wear "pappos"!

Five minutes after we left Liz's, Ari was asleep. She woke up when we pulled into our driveway.

That's what I call success!

We spent a few hours with Sarah and Moo (Will, I mean)! Again, Ari was rested. All was well.

Stories about last weekend... Geeky Entrepreneur and I got exposed to lots of yummy food. This led to many jokes...

We love meat and Yaminette and her husband eat vegan. Yaminette and I had fun figuring out where we would have dinner. There were plenty of options. It's just that any time we talk about food, I must remind her "whatever the hell kind of food you want, just make sure they have chicken!"

On Sunday morning, the crunchy woman offered us vegan pancakes! I must pick on her! How could she dare?! I will admit it: they were yummy.

As if that was not enough, she offered us super crunchy juice (apple, ginger, and broccoli)! Tasty, but super spicy! If I did not have terrible reflux, I would have really enjoyed it. But don't ever tell her I said that! Oh, wait, you read this, oops!

Lastly, at Liz's, there was a very yummy potato, bacon and cheese pie waiting for us. The hell with vegan food! As if that was not enough, there was a blueberry coffeecake that was more like cream cheese with a thin layer of cake. Yumm, my kind of cake! Oh, and there was a delicious fruit salad. Remember the watermelon peeing episode?

Diapers need to be washed. More later... Looking forward to our next little trip.

Breastfeeding while working... It can be done.

Wow, how annoying... Just spent quite a while typing about breastfeeding, working moms. The post is gone, gone for ever... I want to kick something!

Here is the short version, as I don't have time to retype the post right now.

Usually, breastfeeding moms who work use an electric breast pump. The bad news: they are expensive. The good, most effective ones are anywhere from $250 to $350. The good news: apparently, you can learn to effectively hand express breast milk.

Check out this blog entry to learn more:
http://fabnaima.blogspot.com/2009/09/do-you-really-need-pump.html

I was one of those moms who, no matter what, only got three ounces of milk at a time. Pumping more frequently and drinking tons of water did not help. I am sure there are many moms out there who have the same problem. It is good to know that there are other options. Breastfeeding and working is not easy, but it can be done. If worse comes to worse and you have tried it all, some breast milk is better than none. Your baby will still benefit from your milk.

Heading out for the weekend...

As is the case every time we go somewhere for the weekend, I am excited and a tiny bit nervous. I think Ari will be fine, but there is always the unexpected with babies!

We are driving to Boston (2 hours) to see some friends and will return tomorrow afternoon. We are doing the driving during Ari's naptime both days.

We will then hang out with our local friends/former tenants.

It's friends weekend! Yay! It's been a while.

A cute little story... The other morning, Geeky Entrepreneur was going to take Ari so I could get a little more sleep. She said and did the following:

Bye.

Blow big kiss.

Oh, agua.

Grabs my Klean Kantine from the hallway and hands it to me.

Bye.

Another kiss.

Close my bedroom door.

I am biased, but, that was cute, you must admit!

Elimination Communication

Ari is napping and I am catching up, reading blog entries.

Just came across this:
http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2009/09/elimination-communication-with-two.html

Elimination communication is, essentially, infant potty training.

It was not for us when Ari was tiny. I have no regrets whatsoever. I was too busy trying to breastfeed and dealing with post-partum depression to care about this. But, if it works for you and your baby, why not?

That flu shot better work!

Horrible night last night. Ari woke up with a high fever. She was shaking. She kept trying, but could not fall asleep. Ari was up from 12:45 to 5:30. She was a trooper throughout the whole thing. She was patient, hardly cried, only asked to nurse twice.

It was a hard night, but I am a lucky woman. I have a husband who steps up to the plate without hesitating. All I had to do was wake him up and he took over. I needed help badly! It was 5:00 and I had gotten less than two hours of sleep.

Today is one of those days when I am glad my husband is a crazy entrepreneur. The baby is not feeling well. Everybody slept very little. We are taking turns. He took the day off. He did not need to call anyone and pray that the boss would not be angry. As with anything, there are disadvantages, but I’ll focus on the good stuff, especially on a day like today!

That flu shot better kick ass!

Platelets: The Third Time

The "booboos" on my arms were gone, so I was able to donate platelets last Saturday.

As I said before, if you have podcasts and dress as though you are going to play in the snow, you will do fine! Ask for a blanket or two and it will be an enjoyable experience.

Donating platelets, believe it or not, is like getting a break for me. I get to help two or three patients by donating my platelets, so it is a win-win for all.

My arms are red again. I assume it is simply because the needles were in for about 95 minutes. There is no infection or pain. So I am not worried. I will hold my horses and go again, as soon as my arms allow!

Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that I can do this?! I have, I know!

Off to bed now, for real. I'll enjoy some sleep before the little guest shows up and climbs into bed with us! I want a king-size bed!

24-month Checkup

Amor Chiquito's 24-month check up went well. As usual, we answered many questions to assess development. We also did the autism screening. I am happy to say that she passed with flying colors.

The pediatrician is pleased with Ari's progress in the language department.

Ari weighs 25 lb 7oz and is 35" tall. 25th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. We have a tall, skinny kid.

The pediatrician is not concerned about her weight because Ari has been in the 25th percentile for over a year. She figures if there is consistency, there is nothing to worry about.

Ari has followed the pattern breastfeeding kids tend to follow: gain lots at the beginning and gain at a slower rate later on. I used to get concerned about her weight gain, or lack thereof, but she is not underweight, so we need not worry.

Funny little story. The pediatrician asked what questions we had. I said I wanted to talk about
Ari's weight and eating habbits. The pediatrician's response? "Arianna has the proportions I have been dreaming of my entire life! She is perfect!"

Ari got a shot today. I warned her and explained as best I could what was coming. I don't know if that is what did it or if we were just lucky, but she did not cry, did not ask to nurse, did not seem upset at all.

Afterwords, she milked it for all it was worth, though! She kept talking about her booboo and limping any time she remembered it! The drama!

After the checkup, Ari spent the day with Abuela and I went to a training session for a part-time job. Long day, so I am going to bed. More tomorrow, maybe, hopefully, if the child allows!

Watch out, I am two!

I think something along those lines is going through my daughter's mind!

Amor Chiquito is standing in front of the television, watching cartoons, eating cookies.

When did I become that mom, the mom letting her kid have cookies for lunch and letting her run the house for a brief period of time?

She has a super wet diaper, but refuses to let me change it.

Her once upon a time warm pasta is waiting for her at the dining table. But she won't come eat it.

No, no, no... That is the answer to anything I say to her.

Welcome to the terrible two's! We are celebrating her birthday in style, with a reality check! This is what it is like, what everyone talks about! We are in for it!

Long night. My father is in the hospital with something cardiac-related. Add the multiple calls from the hospital, calls from relatives and friends asking questions, and the times Ari woke up last night... I was up more than six times. I am tired. I don't feel like fighting her. But I feel like a crappy mom. Time to get off my butt and put Love and Logic to work.

Happy birthday, my baby girl! The day will get better, I promise.

A trip down memory lane...

Last Tuesday, shortly after I woke up, I remembered/realized it was 9/15. I felt like it was a date to remember, but could not place it. It was my due date. It was the very much anticipated date, the date I waited for for over eight months! The day was just like any other day. It came and went, with nothing to remember, not even a contraction!

Since Tuesday, I keep remembering all the things we did just before Ari was born, all the thoughts going through my head before the big day. I distinctly remember thinking I want to sleep; I need to sleep really late, one last time! I knew I would not be getting much sleep, but, oh boy, I so did not know what it would really be like! I tried to sleep late, but just could not, probably due to the labor jitters.

Two years ago, right about now, we arrived at the hospital for an induction. In hind sight, the induction was not necessary. The OB left it up to me and I was freaking out because the baby was not moving as much as she used to. Now I know a lot more than I knew back then. Every now and then, I feel guilty for having put the two of us through unnecessary hell: her heart tones decreasing over and over again, mine increasing, my low pressure decreasing... Freakin' pitosin and epidural, how much I dislike them... They are great drugs for the times when they are necessary, but they are so over used. But that is another post for another day.

So, back to memory lane, pitosin was started at 9pm. For about an hour and a half, it was a piece of cake. Tiny, almost unnoticeable contractions.

At 10:30, I said yes to breaking my water so that things would progress. That is when labor really started, no doubt! A yoga ball and a bottle of water to put pressure on my back became my best friends!

Around 1am, things got really scary and unbareable. I will never forget the never-ending contraction that lasted about five minutes. My room filled up with nurses. Someone put an oxygen mask on me. Everyone telling me to get on my side. I said I could not move. A nurse said I had to for my baby.

After that hell, I agreed to an epidural. After an idiot trying to put in the epidural three times, a real anesthesiologist did it quickly and without it causing me pain. That made me feel better, but my baby was still in distress, lots of distress. My blood pressure started getting dangerously low.

After three hours of hell and scares, it was time to push. The longest hour of my life began. Everyone said I was doing so well. I felt like the baby was never coming out. Pushing was, by far, the most intense workout of my entire life!

At 5:31am, on September 18, 2007, Arianna Janette was born. What a releaf! She was here, safe and sound. She was immediately placed on my chest. I held her close and cried and cried...

About 20-30 minutes after she was born, we breastfed for the first time. I so did not know what I was doing! Fortunately, Ari did very well. Eventually, it became very painful due to her being tongue-tied, but those first two days were great.

Long story short: it was totally worth it. I have my precious girl and she is fine, despite all the scares. But, please, learn from my experience. Research, research, research... Ask lots of questions. Educate yourself. Let nature do its thing, so long as you and your baby are healthy. If something comes up and the baby needs to come out, sign up for an induction or a c-section yesterday. They can save lives. But, otherwise, hold your horses! Labor and delivery will be much more manageable that way, believe me!

On a different topic, my daughter just began an Elmo obsession. God help me!

Houston, we have phrases!

Ari started saying phrases every now and then a few weeks back, but now she is saying phrases all the time.

Her favorite? "Mas teti (more boobie!)"

Another favorite: "mas fita (more Ffresca)"

Just now, we were lying down. She was nursing. We love to snuggle! She said "Ari fria (Ari cold)."

More later, before someone else begins typing!

Better day today...

Ari napped today. We were at my mother's and she had not napped there in months. I would end up coming home earlier than anticipated so she would not miss her nap. But it worked and she napped for almost two hours. I had to try twice, but it worked.

Thanks for the reminder/encouragement, Musical Daddy!

Geeky Entrepreneur still has work to do at home, but he told the people he was meeting with he was wrapping up at six so he could have dinner with the family. So the three of us got to enjoy a nice dinner at a local, quiet restaurant. Nice, low key way anniversary celebration.

A little story... September 2004, Geeky Entrepreneur had been on eHarmony for six months. On September 7, he expanded the age range so that he would get matches 21 and up, rather than 24 and up. He wanted nothing to do with the 21-year-olds who were still trying to figure out who they are, what they want, etc. Turns out the very same day he changed this parameter, I signed up and we got matched. Guess how old I was at the time? Yup, 21! You got stuck with a 21-year-old after all, Geek!

I knew Geeky Entrepreneur had played with the age setting, but I had not realized that he did so the same day I signed up. Five years later, we are still learning little stories about each other... You would think we must know it all by now, but, clearly, that is not the case...

Post #100 already...

Happy Anniversary, Geek!

Not our wedding anniversary. That was last month, August 12.

Geeky Entrepreneur and I were matched on eHarmony five years ago today! Yes, eHarmony! We were only 30 minutes apart, but we would have never met otherwise. As Geeky Entrepreneur likes to put it, he works with old men and I was at an all girls school. Go eHarmony!

Happy anniversary, my love. Here is to hoping that you get home from work before 10 p.m. so we can spend some time together before the day is over!

I have been informed that he will be helping an entrepreneur build a presentation from scratch and that he might very well be working until 10 p.m. He is starting at 10 a.m. So sad!

Blogger Bug?

The last three times I have tried to post a comment on my posts, I am told my request cannot be processed, but when I try a second time, the comment goes through.

Has this happened to anyone else? Strange...

Almost 3:30 a.m. Let's see if I can get some sleep...

One of those days...

No nap today. No nap whatsoever... I tried three thimes and she never went to sleep. Ari has now been up for 12 hours. A long time for a child her age.

Please tell me this is just a fluke! Please tell me she is not outgrowing naps! I need those naps. It is the only break I get all day.

K, done panicking... Hoping that tonight and tomorrow will be better...

She ate a real meal, finally!

I know that toddlers go through phases where they are not interested in eating. I don't know why this happens. I just know that it does. I know not eating well for a few days is not going to kill her, but it is hard not to get worried when it has been about ten days.

We just got home from Abuela's. We delivered dinner because my mother just got surgery. Surgery on your left hand (carpal tunnel release) when you are left-handed sucks!

Back to Ari, she asked for rice and actually ate all the rice I gave her. She also had a small bowl of fruit and about half of a Danimal smoothie. I can feel her little, full meatball tummy! Yay! The things parents get excited about!

Article on Early Education

Just came across this article:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/08/30/pressure_cooker_kindergarten/?page=1

About half of my readers are parents to 2-year-olds. Soon, it will be time for us to begin thinking about preschool. Do we want our kids to go to preschool? If so, what questions do we ask? How do we pick the right preschool for our children? What do we want our children to get out of preschool?

Thoughts on this article?

Looking forward to your comments! Some of us are parents. Some are teachers or thinking of becoming teachers. Some are both. This will be interesting!

One more thing to research!

The latest source of entertainment is...

Arianna is thoroughly enjoying throwing toys and other things down the stairs and screaming "down"! I should tell her to stop, but I am having too much fun watching. I could not keep a straight face if I tried!

Night-Weaning: Night Eight

Last night went well.

Ari was excited about her new bed. She enjoyed checking it out, jumping on it, etc., before bed time.

At bedtime, I nursed her, gave her a chance to have some milk (aside from mama milk), walked her, sang the song, and gave her a backrub, as I do every night. Ari took a while to fall asleep, but there was no crying, no trying to nurse. She put her hand on my chest and went to sleep, after tossing and turning for a while.

Ari slept for five hours before she woke up! At that time, I went in her room and sat next to her, until she fell asleep. I was in there for about half an hour. It took me a long time to fall asleep after that. That was the only bad thing about last night. So nothing to complain about.

The next time Ari woke up it was 5:30, so I told her she could nurse and brought her to bed with us. I was too tired to sit next to her for another half hour or so. I felt like I had just fallen asleep. The stupid toothache is not letting me sleep very well.

On a different note, I tried to donate platelets today, but I got a temporary deferral because of some tiny red bumps on my arms. Basically, there are red marks from where the needles had been. The nurses were fairly certain that there is no infection as there is no pain or swelling. But they could not take a chance and more needles would not help my arms right now. I was told I could go in again when the redness goes away. I guess my body is complaining about the facts that there have been needles in my arms three times in just over three weeks!

When the redness goes away, I will try again and hopefully I can donate every other week.

I learned that my last platelet count was 290. My count keeps going up! The higher it is, the more platelets I can donate. Last time I gave enough for two infusions. I am told I will probably be giving enough for three infusions soon.

Night-Weaning: Night Seven

Wow, it has been a week already. We have our ups and downs, but, overall, night-weaning is going better than I had anticipated. There have been very hard times, don’t get me wrong. There were many times when I second-guessed myself, felt like a selfish B, etc. But I am confident that this was the right decision for our family. Ari and I are already sleeping better. And my husband is back in bed with me! It is the little things in life…

Last night, I decided to lie down next to Ari, but on her bed, rather than bring her to bed with us. I was unsure about how this would work, but it worked quite well.

Usually, Geeky Entrepreneur puts Ari to bed, but she just was not having it last night. Eventually, I took a turn, lied down next to her, and she went to sleep. I wish I had put the man out of his misery sooner. All she wanted was to put her hand on mommy’s chest and go to sleep. She did not even ask to nurse before going to sleep.

Ari slept for 4.5 hours. When she woke up, I went in her room, lied down next to her, waited for a bit, and left her room after she had fallen asleep. This was around 3:30am. I could not believe how well things went. No crying, no asking to nurse, just her hand on my chest.

The next time Ari woke up it was 6:00 or so. I told her she could nurse because it was daytime. She nursed, we cuddled, and everyone got to sleep another hour and a half.

Yay! A good night! Can we have some more of those, please, kiddo?!

The rail for Ari’s bed arrived today. Abuela and I reassembled the crib and installed the Kidco rail. We finally have what I wanted: a bed where she cannot roll off, but can get out of safely. Now let us see how she likes it tonight. I don’t know if I can lie down on it with her. Not sure on the weight limit. 100-something pounds is much more than 25 pounds! Maybe I should do some research before bedtime!

She is fibbing already!

My daughter is outright fibbing to me! I have been telling her that it is time to change her diaper because she pooped. I ask her if she pooped. She says “no” and smiles! She keeps running away. She prefers to stand at the door and look outside, rather than get the poop off of her bum! That’s beyond me!

Different story… A while ago, Ari enjoyed running in circles around me. When she was standing in front of me, she would put her toy spoon in my mouth. That happened five or six times. Ari then switched to putting the spoon in her mouth and the handle in my mouth. Silly kid!

Lastly, Ari has recently become interested in going up the stairs backwards or sideways. I am unsuccessfully trying to talk her out of that.