I can't believe little girl will be 6 months in just shy of 2weeks from today! The magic age where she's old enough for sunscreen (FYI...not a fan of this idea yet but that Oklahoma sun is looking pretty spicy!), sitting by herself, the beginnings of crawling, and FOOD!!! Oh my goodness this girl just can hardly wait for the Dr.'s go ahead...She watches our every spoonful at dinner and even mimics the chewing (with her mouth closed! Teach 'em early). I felt so bad for her one hot day so I let her suck on my slice of watermelon...she was so grateful, she refused to give it back!
Little girl has been growing so much too!! Last month she weighed in at a whopping 17lbs 10oz! (I'll find out next week what we're up to now!) This week I went through her closet & dresser and moved up the 12m-18m clothes and put away most of her 6m sized outfits...when did this happen!?! Lately she's been getting better at rolling from back to front and vice versa...that darn arm keeps getting in her way! She has no problems at all going for toys she wants...rolls and squirms her way across the floor as needed! Not even crawling yet and already I can't turn my back for a moment!
FAMILIES FIRST
This will be a major jumbled mash up from the last couple of months!
• Babies develop from the head down. If you ever wonder what the next big thing your baby will be learning to do just take a moment and consider the above statement. 1-follow with eyes 2-smiles 3-holds up neck 4-reaches (hands) 5-rolls over (uses torso) 6-sits up (bum) 7-crawls (knees) 8-walks (feet)
•Family Practices & Traditions
I actually never thought to deeply about what our traditions are...it's just always been something we do! (ex: holiday gatherings/birthday parties/Christmas stockings/marriage & birth celebrations/etc...) It actually never really donned on me that these ARE North American traditions that I am passing on. Same goes for family practices...(swaddling/feeding/religious beliefs/who's allowed to hold baby/role of father/family lullabies & games/role of mother/role of grandparents) What practices are you bestowing on your child?!
•E-Parenting
I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this...most of us naturally do this but knowing that there are some major pay offs has me doing it with a purpose!
Empathic parenting is basically asking yourself what your child is experiencing and putting his/her feelings into words and then doing something to help/support them. For example: You are hungry! Lets get you something to eat. I know you are mad cause you have a yucky diaper...lets get that changed...here's a dry clean one. Look at you all happy...you like playing with daddy! ETC....
This kind of empathy will let the child know and feel that you understand what he/she is experiencing and that you can be depended on! Some payoffs would be: fewer temper tantrums as children develop "feeling word vocabularies"/develop good coping skills/will not bully/are able to pay attention and learn in school/more sensitive towards others/respectful/good self-esteem/ and much more!
Sounds good to me...not to mention that the more you talk the greater your child's vocabulary later on!
Finally I will leave you young moms with this...TAKE HEART...It usually takes me a week sometimes two or until the next laundry day to fold and put away our clean clothes! Despite having a dishwasher, the dishes still pile up in my sink. My floors are sticky from baby puke. Dinner is only on time if one of three things happen: 1-someone has a good suggestion as to what to make 2-Ike or Claudia makes it 3-Ike or Claudia looks after Sonya so I can make it!!! Finally...I, only in passing, pluck a weed here and there!! What can I say...I would far rather enjoy playing on the floor or going for an afternoon walk with my girly than do any of the above mentioned atrocities! Oh and I occasionally blog during her nap time instead of picking up!
