The Tenth Month

We finally saw the return of our smiley, happy baby in her tenth month. Sure, she still cries and gets frustrated, but she is slowly learning how to handle those emotions and I am getting better at recognizing them. It helps that her two front teeth have now come it - they were tough ones and seemed to really bother her a lot. As Kaitlin approaches her one year birthday I can see more and more toddler in her every day. She is becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler - and as cute and fun as it is, it makes me really sad too. She is becoming more and more independent and I know once she starts walking I'll be lucky if I can grab her for a few seconds for a quick cuddle. I'm really taking in these last few "baby" months and trying to enjoy every minute of it.

This truly is the golden age of babies. Kaitlin's personality continues to emerge and shine through a little more each day. She is starting to really laugh and come out of her shell, even when we are around other people. She loves to "talk", especially while eating or in the car - Brian says she sings along to the music on the radio. She shows true pleasure and displeasure from playing with a toy (or when a toy is taken away from her).

Her top two middle teeth have finally come in, and although it took a couple rough weeks of skipped naps/tons of drool/chewing on EVERYTHING, she is finally back to her normal self. That makes a total of SIX teeth as of today. And the road to walking continues. She is so much more confident on her feet now than she was a month ago. There is no piece of furniture that she can't cruise on and she easily moves from on piece to another. She crawls super fast too, zooming around the house to get to whatever she wants to play with. She's discovered that she can open cabinets and drawers, and could spend endless hours in the kitchen and pantry pulling things down and playing with them. No hand towel is safe from being pulled down and thrown around the room.

I love how calm and relaxed she looks in this picture - just chillin' at the grocery store!

Kaitlin is also starting to become one smart cookie. Long gone are the days when I could hide something from her so she wouldn't play/drool/chew on it. Now when I hide something from her (usually my iPhone or the remote) she goes right for it - whether I hide it behind my back or up on the chair - she knows where I put it and tries to get it. And you can't just shake another toy in front of her face and hope that it distracts her long enough for her to forget about it. Believe me, I've tried. She basically gives me a blank stare long enough to say, "Seriously mom? Is that the best you've got?" and then goes right back to trying to get whatever I've "hidden" from her.

Another exciting thing that has been developing over the last month is how much Kaitlin loves to play on the playground - and not just the swings. Sure, she still LOVES to swing and is still obsessed. But now that she can climb up stairs and stand easily and crawl like a crazy person she really enjoys going on the play set/jungle gym (what are they called these days?!) She crawls up the stairs, loves to "drive" with the wheel and even go down the slide! And I think most of all she loves all the other kids that are playing too. She is constantly observing them and watching what they are doing. You can see the little wheels in her head turning trying to figure out if she can do it to and how much she wants to play with them. I think its great for her to be around slightly older babies/toddlers to watch them walk and play, hopefully it encourages her to take those first steps. Although I'm sure as soon as she does I am going to regret saying that :)

I had to think pretty long and hard about what I've learned this month. While I am always learning more about being a parent, I feel like those monumental, big realizations and lessons have slowly tapered off and aren't popping up as often as they used to. Either that or my head is so full of nursery rhymes, diaper orders and nursery school applications that I just can't remember them. Alas, I managed to scrounge up a couple of nuggets of lessons learned this past month...

Sometimes, showers are overrated...

As you may or may not remember, one of the first lessons I learned after becoming a mom was that a nice, hot shower will make you feel human again. I still very strongly believe that. However, I used to need to take a shower to make me feel more like myself, and to give myself a break from the baby. But now...now that I have a better handle on things and we are in more of a routine and I am a lot less frazzled by being a mom (but still frazzled, let's be real here), I feel less of a need to take a shower every single day. And let's be honest - who has time for that $h*t?! Now that my business is starting to pick up and with tons of house projects that always seem to be lurking on my to-do list, sometimes I feel much better and much more sane NOT taking a shower. Sometimes I just don't want to waste one of the two breaks I get in a day (ie, nap time) taking a shower and getting dressed. Dude, embrace the yoga pants and a pony tail and get on with your day!

Routine, routine, routine

If you have read this blog for any length of time you probably know that naps are not Kaitlin's strong suit. Other than that, she's a really good baby. One thing that I have learned - particularly over the last month - is that routine matters. What's that old saying - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink? With all the obstacles and growing pains that babies go through it is imperative to have a stable routine that they can depend on. Whether or not Kaitlin ends up taking her two naps a day, that's anyones guess. But the important thing is that I put her down for those naps at (roughly) the same time every day. She knows that we will have her solid breakfast an hour after she wakes up in the morning. If we haven't made it out of the house all morning she is crawling over to her stroller in the afternoon wanting to go outside and take one of our walks. Babies are smart and even if you don't think they remember certain things it's amazing what they will surprise you with. Also, when they are going through rough times of change - think teething, growth spurts, cognitive leaps - it's important for the rest of their life to stay stable. I am convinced that if you stick to your routine during these times of change (as much as you can, of course, and afterwards you might need to tweek your routine depending on what milestone has just passed) it helps them get through them faster and easier.

DIY Finger Paint

Now that Kaitlin is a little older (ten months tomorrow!!), has more dexterity to her and can focus on one activity for longer (and by "longer" I mean five minutes) I have wanted to do some "arts and crafts" with her. Truth be told I can't wait to bust out the coloring books and craft supplies and get to work, but I know she's still a little young for that. I wanted to find a sensory activity that would be a lot different than her normal play activities. Randomly I came across a photographers blog that had recently done a first birthday shoot and used finger paints as the theme/prop. It was genius! I knew it would be perfect for Kaitlin. She loves to play with her food, she could play with the goopy paint and mix it all together to make different colors.

My only problem was that I didn't want to use conventional finger paints. We are still at that stage where EVERYTHING goes in Kaitlin's mouth. There is nothing safe from escaping her drool. Even though most children's paints are non-toxic I still didn't feel right about her possibly ingesting them. So I set out on the internet to find a safer, more natural version. And once I did find them my wallet cried. Some of the ones I found were upwards of $30 for four small tubs of paint! Granted, they were tinted with things like beets and turmeric instead of dye/food coloring, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much on paints that she may or may not even pay attention to. So, back to the internet I went, this time to find a DIY version. 

I found quite a few versions out there, mostly based on either flour or cornstarch, which all seemed to be variations of the same recipe.  I read a handful of them and then kind of created my own. A lot of directions and recipes that I found were not very clear and were very vague on everything from measurements to cooking time. I've included my recipe that I used today at the bottom of the post. 

And the verdict? It went over a treat - Kaitlin really seemed to like it. And yes, she did end up putting it in her mouth. I can't say she liked the way that it tasted though, because she only tried it once and made an awful face and started blabbering on in a not very happy tone. One of Kaitlin's little friends came over to play with the finger paints too and I think he also liked it! All in all it took about 15 minutes to put the paints together and the babies probably enjoyed them for the same amount of time. But luckily I only spend about $1.00 making the paints rather than $30 buying them ;)

DIY Finger Paint

The original recipe that I used for these was posted on Momtastic. It didn't give a measurement for the salt, so I used the same amount as the sugar. Next time I make it I might try and reduce it to 1T so that it isn't so salty - it's probably fine for kids but little babies aren't supposed to have any added salt to their diet, so if they do ingest some of the paint make sure to give them plenty of water to flush it out.

2 tablespoons sugar

1-2 tablespoons salt

1/3 cup flour

2 cups water

food coloring of choice

1. Mix the dry ingredients into a saucepan with a whisk

2. Add the water and whisk until smooth, try to get as many of the big lumps out as you can (but don't go crazy)

3. Turn the heat to medium and whisk regularly until thickened. I whisked continuously for the first 4-5 minutes and then every 30 seconds or so, so that the mixture didn't stick to the bottom. It took me 10-12 minutes for it to thicken up properly - you want it to look like slightly thinned out pudding. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

4. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool in the pan. Stir or whisk every few minutes to help it cool down and to stop lumps from forming.

5. Once the mixture is cool divide evenly between cups and add food coloring as needed to reach your desired shade. I used blue, red, yellow and green. Next time I think I will leave out the green as it was kind of a pain to wash off.

6. The paint will continue to thicken over time. If you let the paint sit before using, give it a stir before you dig in, ours got a bit gloppy.

Tips

*I suggest doing this activity outside if you can. I bought a roll of paper from Michael's and spread it out on the sidewalk. If you have to do it inside I would lay down some newspaper underneath the paper first, so that it doesn't leak through to your floor. 

*Dress your baby/kids in old clothes that you don't mind if they get ruined or undress them down to their diaper and let them get nice and dirty. I put Kaitlin in an old white onesie and it is completely covered in paint. I have yet to wash it but I don't think the food coloring is going to come out. 

*I had no problem getting the paint and dye off of Kaitlin's skin with some soap, water and a washcloth. I also threw her in the bathtub as soon as we were done, so it didn't have time to sit. It will also depend on what kind of food coloring you used (I used gel) and how much - but I suggest hosing them down as soon as you're done just in case.

*Please note - even though this is edible finger paint that doesn't mean that kids should eat it. It contains a fair bit of salt which can be dangerous to babies. As always, please keep a close eye on your children while they are using the paints*

Watch Me Grow - Week Forty Three

Can we all pause and take a moment to notice how clear and sharp this weeks picture is? Thank you. I forgot the power of an iPhone. Genius.

Last week started off cold and ended pretty warm - Kaitlin was dressed in everything from a winter parka (OK, I might have over reacted to how cold it really was) to a bathing suit and didn't seem to mind at all. These last couple of weeks have been more of the same thing - lots of crawling, standing and cruising. No walking yet but I swear she is close. Oh, and there has been lots and lots of talking. Ok, more like screaming/blabbering/screeching, but you get the point. Kaitlin's personality is really starting to come out and we are loving what we see so far. She has been so much fun - laughing and playing - this truly is the golden age of babies. 

She loves to be chased around the ottoman and scared - peek-a-boo is still her favorite game. She loves to be flipped upside down by her dad and "thrown" down onto our bed in a pile of pillows and blankets. More and more she wants to crawl on top of and over things, so I have started putting pillows and cushions down on the floor for her to crawl over (as much fun as it is to have her climb on top of me all the time, it's nice not to have her grab onto my hair to pull herself up sometimes).

She's still only saying one word - more and more "dada's" - but this weekend she started saying, "mmmmmmm" when she's eating. That's the first step!! So now I'm on a full court press to teach her how to say "mama". Watch this space ;)

Notes on Baby Led Weaning (BLW)

Now that we have been doing "real solids" (aka baby led weaning or BLW) for a few months there are a lot of things I have learned. And, in my usual Tracy fashion, of course I have to share with you all (some might say I am a chronic over-sharer). Also, I have had a lot of questions from family and friends about baby led weaning, and I hope these thoughts/tips might help someone else some day.

First off I just want to clarify - baby led weaning is really nothing special. I think its a pretty fancy name for just giving babies table foods instead of purees. Most doctors recommend starting table foods with babies around nine months, so we just got a bit of a head start. So for anyone that has a baby who is 9+ months you are probably learning very similar things. Ok, with that out of the way, here we go...

1. Trust your kid - giving Kaitlin mostly solid foods has taught me, in many ways, to trust her. Trust her? She's not even a year old! What is there to trust her about? Well, it turns out quite a bit. My little squirrel puts A LOT of food in her mouth. C'mon, you've seen her cheeks, she can fit a lot in there. At first I was super concerned about how much she was putting in there. I would try and fish some of the food out, which only made matters worse - she would cough and gag and the food would end up being pushed further back in her mouth. Also, babies choke and cough A LOT. Their gag reflex is super far forward in their mouth/throat, especially compared to an adults. It's like that for a reason, so that they don't choke. Every cough does not mean that they are choking. At first every time she coughed I would tense up and hover right over her asking if she was ok. Again, it didn't make things any better. After much practice, I have learned to trust her and the food she puts in her mouth. I realized that she was actually using the excessive amount of food in her mouth to help break it down (she mashes it together with her tongue and cheeks and the next thing I know she's swallowed it). And all that coughing? Sometimes she's coughing to get a reaction out of me - surprise! To a seven month old making a coughing noise is REALLY exciting and fun. What a hoot. I still watch over her like a hawk and don't leave her alone with food just in case something does happen, but I have learned to relax and trust her more when she's eating.

2. Food needs to be really, really soft - Once Kaitlin got the hang of eating solid foods I had a field day. I was giving her everything under the sun. And then I started noticing that she wasn't really eating that much. Sure, she would chew and play with the food, but I found most of it on the floor or in the pocket of her bib. Even tried and true favorites weren't being ingested. At first I thought it was a phase, then I thought it was because she was eating too much formula and wasn't hungry enough. Finally I realized that her food wasn't soft enough. I was so excited that she was eating "adult foods" that I stopped cooking them as long, so they were more firm and harder for her to eat. It wasn't that she didn't want to eat it's just that she couldn't. I was cooking food for my taste rather than hers. Once I started cooking foods to her taste - soft enough for you to mush it between your fingers - her appetite magically returned.

*I know the whole premise of BLW is to feed your babies the same foods that you and your family eat. And that's true, but you have to make sure it is adapted for babies. Making sure foods are soft enough for them to eat also makes sure that they won't choke on anything too firm. And remember - you have a full set of teeth, they don't*

3. Its OK to give them baby food at the same time - Around the same time that Kaitlin stopped eating as much as she usually did (see above) I panicked and started giving her pureed baby food. I wanted to make sure she was still getting some solids in her tummy -  not to mention that she is crawling and climbing like a maniac and burning a lot of calories. At first I actually felt like a failure - sounds extreme but it's true. I guess it's like any parenting "goal" - you start off with the best of intentions and when it doesn't work out perfectly you get disappointed. But as I started giving her pureed baby food I actually found that she started eating even more solids than she used to - which was great. I usually keep a few pureed vegetables on hand in case she isn't eating as much or if a new food is a bust (let's just say it took eight tries to actually get her to eat broccoli rather than throw it on the floor). Back when I was only giving her purees I had such a hard time of it because she always wanted to grab and play with the spoon. But since her hands are already occupied with solid food I can easily swoop in there with a bit of puree and she gobbles it up. And I don't limit it to pureed baby food - now that she can have dairy I also do it with yogurt, which she LOVES, and have even done it with hummus.

4. Try spice - One thing that I keep reading over and over again is that you should offer your baby a wide variety of foods with different tastes, textures and smells, so that they don't become picky eaters. Once I know that Kaitlin likes a certain food (say oatmeal or hummus for example) I like to mix it up and add variation by adding some spice. Now I add cinnamon to her oatmeal, paprika to her hummus and pepper to her chicken - just as a few examples. I'm not adding crazy amounts of chili powder or curry sauce but just enough to kick it up a notch and turn an otherwise boring food into something fun!

5. Don't force it - Let's face it, some days are awesome, some days are not so awesome. As frustrating as it is when I fix a meal for Kaitlin and all she does is throw it around the room and mush it into her highchair, I have stopped trying to "force" her to eat. It's not fun for her and it's not fun for me. I don't want to create a negative connotation with eating either. So if she's having an off meal/day and not wanting to eat that much I try not to force it. I think this is a tip I am going to have to pull out as she gets older and busier and less willing to eat. Gotta love those toddle years, right?

6. Keep it interesting, but keep favorites on hand for difficult days - As I mentioned in #4 there is a big emphasis on feeding your baby new and exciting foods. I try to mix things up for Kaitlin as often as I can. I even buy foods that I would never think to eat myself, such as papaya. One thing I have to keep in mind is that it can take up to ten times for a baby/child to start eating a new food. She isn't going to like and eat every new thing that I put on her plate, even if it's as simple as pasta. I like to keep some of her tried and true favorites on hand for days when the new food on the block doesn't make the cut. I always make sure to have ripe bananas at the ready and a big tub of oatmeal in the cupboard.

7. Water can help - Kaitlin LOVES to drink. Long gone are the days (thank you lord) when I had to struggle to get her to finish her bottle. Especially now that she is so active she loves to have little sips of water in between meals. I started giving her water at meal time to help to her swallow and digest the food. Many babies don't need any additional fluids besides their normal feedings of formula/breast milk. But I find that it helps Kaitlin get down that mouth full of hamburger that she has managed to pack in there. A lot of times her cheeks will be exploding with food and I'll offer her some water. The next thing I know she has drank half of her sippy cup and all of the food is gone and she's ready for more. Without the water she would sit there and struggle to get all the food down for another ten minutes.

8. Food doesn't have to be fresh - Frozen foods might just become your best friend. The reason I like frozen foods for babies is because when they defrost they are usually pretty mushy. Frozen broccoli and butternut squash are favorites of mine because I can quickly heat some up for Kaitlin, without having to prep and cook the entire vegetable. Berries not in season where you are? Defrost some strawberries or blueberries and there you go! Often times these foods are frozen during their peak season so vitamins and minerals are locked in. Nowadays you can get almost any fruit or vegetable in the frozen food section and find an organic version as well - bonus! I can't tell you how many times I have had fruit and veggies go bad waiting for Kaitlin to eat them - remember she only eats a couple of TABLESPOONS at a time. I will also prepare a full recipe of hamburgers, meatballs, pancakes, etc and freeze all the extras. That way I can pull out one or two at a time and quickly reheat them for her meal. The more time I can save while still giving my baby wholesome, nutritional and organic foods, the better.

9. It has encouraged me to eat more healthy and whole foods - There are a lot of foods that I want to feed Kaitlin that would be so easy to just pick up at the store and give to her. Since she can't have salt and I am trying to keep as many chemicals out of her food as I can, I have learned to take the hard route to preparing her food - ie making it myself. I have started making sauces and dips at home. I try and cook dinners without added salt so she can have leftovers the next day. I'm making soups and stews more often. I am buying organic red meat and chicken (as often as I can), as well as fruits and vegetables. I know - it sound expensive, right? Especially when you add in all those organic items. But it in the end I haven't found it THAT much more expensive. Turns out, when you cut out all (ok, ok - most) of the other stuff you end up saving a lot of money. I have even started making my own hummus at home. That way I know exactly what is going into her little, growing body and for once I know exactly what's going into mine.

I tried coming up with a final, tenth tip but just couldn't do it. And besides, this post is long enough already don't you think?!

Do you have any tips for feeding your baby/toddler whole foods? I'd love some new recipes and tips for after Kaitlin's first year!

Watch Me Grow - Week Forty Two

Do you know what this post means? It means that there are only TEN WEEKS until my baby turns ONE.

TEN WEEKS!!!

I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

Yup, I had to resort back to the bottle of medicine to get her to lay still. Lady acts like she's got ants in her pants! I have really been slacking on these weekly updates - hindsight tells me I should have stuck to more manageable monthly posts rather than weekly, but we've come this far I can't back out now! 

Kaitlin is coming further and further along with her attempts at walking. She's started taking her stroller for walks - she holds on to the basket underneath and pushes it along. I have to help, otherwise it goes flying forward, but it's a fun little twist on our usual walks. She can make it as far as the neighbors house and then she usually sits down (which is when I put her in the stroller seat and we continue onward).

Last week she also learned how to point to things. From what I can tell only some of the time she is pointing to something that she wants/sees, the other times she is just pointing indiscriminately. She is also lifting her arms and reaching upwards when she wants to be picked up. It is super cute right now, I wonder how long the novelty will last.... ;)

Watch Me Grow - Week Forty One

Truth be told - I nearly forgot to post this this week. Monday night came rolling around and I didn't have anything prepared, I hadn't even thought about it all weekend!

Remember when I said that we hadn't baby proofed our kitchen yet because Kaitlin hadn't figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets? Well, that all came to a screeching halt last week. She has figured out that all of those lovely doors can open! She also figured out that if she holds onto the top of the door instead of the handle her little fingers will get pinched - ouch! She is also figuring out how to open drawers (mainly on the dresser in her room); I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before she starts trying to climb those drawers! So I will be busy baby proofing the kitchen and her bedroom this week. Having child proof locks on every. single. cabinet. will drive me mad, so I plan on slightly rearranging the cabinet contents and only putting locks on a few. That way if she wants to pull out pots and pans (and other items that won't hurt her) she can go right ahead, and I don't have to worry about her getting into the plastic bags and knives.

Kaitlin has become a couch cruising pro! She easily "walks" along all of the furniture and is even moving from one to another. I am slowly moving them further and further away from each other to encourage her to take bigger steps and rely less on holding on to the furniture. Naps and night sleep were majorly disrupted last week and I think a lot of it has to do with teething. Just when I am nearly at my breaking point, though, it seems to get better. We are starting to get back to her "regular" schedule (whatever the heck that means) and naps are slightly improving. Her top front teeth are coming in quickly - it's so cute to see her with (almost) a full smile!