Baby Blog

One of the double edged swords of being a baby is not knowing the difference between reality and fantasy. This can work in your favor though. I have discovered that if I want Nik to put his toys away or take a bath, I have one of his puppets tell him instead of me. Hey it works.
Puppets are a great tool for little ones. I found this out when I took Nik to see a puppet show when he was only five months old. I didn’t think he would be able to follow along but he was laughing in the appropriate places and absolutely fascinated by the characters.
After the puppet show I picked up a few puppets for Nik and used them to hold his attention at story time. Of course my son doesn’t listen to me but if a shark, crocodile or a pig tells him a story, he’s all ears. It’s funny though;

In the last few weeks I find myself shadowed by a toddling sometimes crawling baby boy with some form of infant Tourettes syndrome. Without warning or practiced whispers my son will repeat random words. I’m learning to watch what I say and understand what I hear.
Everyone warned me that when you have children you really have to watch what you say. And of course, the obvious stuff is well, obvious: no curse words. I mean who needs their infant son yelling expletives from the grocery cart right? That was easier to cutout than I thought it would be. It’s more the things you don’t realize you say that catch you off guard.
At story time last week I had baby Nik sitting on my lap, trying to get him to concentrate on the narration when he begin talking over the story teller. This isn’t unusual, he’s a baby learning how to talk and isn’t quite aware

My baby went to bed early today and I was hoping that meant a nice quiet evening. He woke up two hours ago throwing up. He had vomited his dinner all over his crib and well, the smell and the tears and the whole thing was a bit overwhelming. My little breast fed baby doesn’t get sick really. Now that he’s smiling and trying to get out of going back to bed I have a few minutes to assess the situation.
It’s hard when your baby is ill. I remember back when Nik was just a few weeks old and he got a really odd viral rash covering his whole body. The doctor said it was his immune system kicking in but it was scary as there was nothing I could do about it. Since then we had a few days of the sniffles which was probably teething and that’s been it.
Until tonight. Seeing baby Nik

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