Baby Blog

My baby boy has entered a second phase of separation anxiety. As we haven’t dealt with this in months, it’s come as a bit of a shock. My little boy wants me to hold him, his hand or sit beside him 24/7 and I’m having trouble dealing with it.
It came on so suddenly and with so much other stuff going in his baby life I kind of hoped it would take care of itself. Silly mommy.
So why now and what do I do about it?
It seems that despite getting over his early separation anxiety and understanding that when I leave I am coming back, Nik may still be having problems with the idea of object permanence. He loves playing peek a boo so maybe that’s a clue. I need to find ways to reassure him and ease his discomfort.
I think a lot of the anxiety’s intensity comes from the fact that Nik has recently weaned

There are only a few species on the planet that use tools. As far as I know, it’s human and apes. Despite the fact that baby Nik has had an early introduction to such things as pens and paintbrushes, he has left them alone. Except of course when he was banging them off the nearest surface or hitting the cat with them. Things they are a changing.
In the last few weeks Nik has gone from putting toothbrushes down the toilet to brushing his hair with them and then finally pretending to brush his teeth with them. There seems to be a lot going on with my baby all at once and I’m trying to keep track of all these milestones. Using tools has got to mean my little monkey is on his way to becoming a toddler right?
His fine motor skills came in a little earlier, around eight months. His pincher grasp has seen him

In recent weeks my darling baby boy has become increasingly mobile. He swaps between crawling and walking and he keeps trying to run. His well of curiosity and exploration runs very deep and if he can get to it, Nik will take it apart, dissect it, dunk it in water or flush it down the toilet, depending on where we are. Keeping him close to me at home or out and about town has proven to be quite the chore. But I’m learning.
Here are just a few of the ways I have learned to keep my little guy close but feeling independent (avoiding tantrums).
Distract, distract, distract. As Nik begins to wander away, I try to hold his interest by pointing something out to him that’s close to me or directing him towards someone (“Go see Grandma”) rather than letting him run loose. Everything seems to interest baby Nik so it’s just a matter of making

I love my son more than anything else on this planet but looking after him can be more than exhausting. There are days when I feel capable of anything and there are other days when getting out of bed makes me tired. I have learned in the last year how important it is to make time for me so I can be the best mom I can be everyday no matter how much sleep I’ve had.
Taking an extra five or ten minutes in the shower is a chance to really unwind, relax your muscles and pretend you are free, single and still 18. Well, perhaps don’t go that far into fantasy land but certainly enjoy the alone time. In the shower you can’t hear what’s going on in the other room as your husband tries to feed your fussy son. For just a few minutes the world can disappear.
I know its sounds crazy but on

My best friend is getting married. I live in windy Wyoming. She lives in sunny California. I am leaving my little boy with his dad for four days as I join my favorite gal pal to see her safely through the rites of marriage. But what about me? How will I get through the rites of leaving my baby for the first time?
They say when you leave your baby for the first time it should be an overnight trip to lessen the anxiety for both of you. Well, I couldn’t bear to leave my son until I had no choice. I will be leaving on Thursday morning and coming back on the Monday night.  It’s not the ideal amount of time to leave him for but there really is no choice.
I’m leaving baby Nik with his father so it’s not as bad as leaving him with distant relatives or a babysitter right? I hear the

We were told to purchase one of those crib mirrors when our little guy was still a very little baby. In fact the mirror was on many of my baby books must buy lists. But it hasn’t been until recent months, since Nik turned about nine months, that the mirror, his own reflection and interacting with the glass has been anything more than a passing fancy.
Now, he’s become a little obsessed. So what does it all mean?
Well, the most important and interesting image to the newborn baby is the human face. It’s a human thing I guess. Looking at the human face allows the baby to take his first steps towards personal identity and understanding his place in the world. Looking at faces, especially his face, teaches important physical skills such as eye focus and concentration.
Hmmm…my son waves and talks to himself in the mirror. I don’t think focus is an issue at this point.

My husband is paranoid about giving our baby boy spicy food. We enjoy a lot of herbs, spices and sauces on our food and now the little one is off the bottle, shouldn’t he enjoy them too?  The more research I do (and look for something anything for my banana obsessed child to eat) the more I find, a little spice is really okay. The solid food for babies rules are changing.
So according to the folks over at babycenter.com, the tasteless solids we feed babies in America are nothing like the little ones in the rest of the world are enjoying. There is no scientific fact or particular health reason to avoid spicy or flavor rich food when feeding babies. Rather, it seems the more spices and flavors a baby tries, the more open minded and less fussy their food preferences will be.
You can add cumin and curry powder to squash and mash potatoes, feed

Yes I know this is a baby blog but that baby wouldn’t be here or thriving if it wasn’t for mom right? Ever look at your house since your baby was born and think what the heck happened? I do almost everyday. But there’s only so much you can do these days. I have learned over the months a few tricks for keeping things a little less chaotic.
Use empty diaper boxes as temporary nursery storage. I have a box for coat hangers and one for items that no longer fit the baby. This way, his clothes come off the hanger onto him, into the laundry or the donation box and the hangers stay safely in one area until I need them.
Get yourself a mommy chest. Mine is a footstool that holds magazines and the like. If I want to keep something safe but accessible it goes in here. Baby Nik doesn’t even know that it

I probably couldn’t say when my baby boy started walking exactly. This is because sometimes he still crawls and more often than not he lands on his bottom when he tries to cross a room. I would say he was still in a transition stage and couldn’t officially be said to be walking until all the bumps and bruises and returns to hands and knees are over. But even this transition stage has caught us out a little bit and sent dad scrambling for the drill.
You see, I have a confession. I bought all the cupboard safety latches months ago, probably the first time the pediatrician mentioned it was time to baby proof the whole house. They went in the cupboard with the fridge lock, toilet seat latch and outlet covers. We would get to it later we thought, you know when Nik could walk. It wasn’t like he was ever left unattended right?  It

It never stops. My son is a giggler. Everything is funny. And, if something isn’t funny he’ll find a way to make it so. This can be very frustrating for mom but it is something I have never seen to this extent in any other infant. So the question becomes am I raising the future president of the United States (every mother’s dream) or the next late night stand up comedian?
If he has had a good night, baby Nik wakes up smiling, singing or giggling (I have been serenaded over the baby monitor before).Life itself seems to amuse my boy. I love watching him laugh at himself and the world around him. If the cat walks too close to him, Nik will hit the floor and sit there laughing hysterically as the cat looks on in wonder. If his food is an odd color, you can forget getting sense out of him for