working on some parenting skills

Tonight is night one of our “cry it out” plan with our baby girl.  We planned to start on Thursday, but, for whatever reason, we decided to give it a go tonight.  Probably because someone in the family has been sick for the last 3 weeks (First Evie, then Mommy, then Maddie, then Evie again, then Mommy again – 

Really?!  Seriously?!  

We’re all done being sick!)  This was the first night everyone felt somewhat normal.  It’s now 3am.  I’m up – but she’s asleep.  Day one seems to be a success!  I’ll give you the official word once the sun is up.

We followed the information from an article on Baby Center.  You can find the link here.  We followed the crying guidelines for when to go in and soothe.  We did a 3 minute, 5 minute, and three 10 minute waiting periods.  The first couple sessions she was only crying mildly.  By the 10 minute period she cried the whole time.  By the end of the 3^rd 10 minute period, she was asleep.  It was somewhat torturous, but not that bad.  And if we all get some sleep (especially daddy), then it’s totally worth it.  Good for baby girl, hard for mommy and daddy.

During my down time being sick, I’ve also been trying to read up on some other parenting issues in our house.  The first, and most challenging for us, is disciplining Madeleine.  This girl is fantastic when she is good, but when she is bad – watch out.  We’re a non-spanking house (nothing against those who spank, we just choose not to).  But choosing not to spank often means back and forth arguments with our 3 year old to the point of exhaustion.  Our exhaustion usually – she can go on forever. 

This was one option that I came across, thanks to a suggestion from my mom.  It’s a “mind jar” or a “calm down jar.”  The point of it is rather than time out they watch the glitter fall to the bottom of the jar and calm down.  While that sounds great, I will likely use it as a time out timer as well as a calming down tool.  I got the picture from the Creative Little Daisy blog.  You can find the link here.  She also links to where she found the idea.

This little basket is part of a “calm down box” or “calm down corner.”  Your supposed to send them to it when they get upset to allow them time to calm down from a fit.  I love the idea.  Of course, there will be times for time outs and times for the calm down corner.  While I love the idea and think it’s great for some situations, I also think there are times that she needs to have consequences for her actions.  Punishment is an important part of learning boundaries.

I’ve been reading up on what to feed Evie.  You would think I’ve never done this parenting thing before.  I’m not sure why, but feeding solid foods is the only part of this parenting thing that seems completely unnatural to me.  Everything else came so easily, but feeding solids, I feel lost.  I don’t remember anything about when or what we started Maddie on when.  Probably because the lovely RyAnn took care of all of that for us. 

I do remember with Maddie I used to make her own food.  I haven’t done that thus far for Evie.  Mainly because we had been on WIC when Steve was laid off and they help to cover the cost of pre-made baby food.  While I would love to make all of Evie’s food, sometimes the situation just doesn’t allow for that.  Now that Steve is working, it’s time to start cooking.  :)

I found a fantastic site with all sorts of information about feeding baby – and so healthy.  I think Melody posted a link to this site a long time ago on facebook.  It's wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com.  I’m sure a lot of you moms out there have been using this for a long time, but it’s new to me, so I figured I’d share.

We printed out the food chart (on what to feed baby at certain ages).  It will be very helpful!

I’m been starting to look for some different lunch ideas for Maddie.  This girl is made of casadias and PB&J.  What happened to my little girl who used to eat everything?  Who loved vegetables?  Oh, the terrible 3s (the twos were pretty wonderful – full fledged Miss Attitude didn’t hit until 3).  I’m still hunting around for good ideas.  Anybody have any tips?

I’ve also been looking at some things to help stimulate baby Evie when we’re at home.  I don’t feel like she’s getting enough stimulation or learning just sitting and playing with toys.  I found another great web site with month to month baby play.  It is www.sixtysecondparent.com. It has some really good information.  I’m also planning to post the 10 month “what to do with baby” list on the fridge.  That way, when a feel like I’m at a loss on what to do with her next, I can take a look at the list and try something new.  Is it because I’m so preoccupied with school that I don’t know what to do with my little girl, or is this a normal problem for moms?  Moms out there, do you have this issue?

Maddie is pretty set on things to do.  She now has her ballet class, gymnastics class, swim class, and two days a week of preschool (and of course, lots of free play).  I never seem to be at a loss on what to do with her.  And when the weather gets better – soccer!

I’ll end on some pretty exciting and scary news  in our house in the last couple of days.  Evie is crawling!  Baby proofing time!  :)