babyboba

The last few weeks have been full of developments in our Torito, so much so, we can barely keep up with all her discoveries. She has graduated from the rolling everywhere, to now doing her version of an army crawl. Low to the ground using her elbows to get from one place to another. It started slow with an occasional reach that would propel her forward, but now she can go from the sitting position down to belly and then mobile. The times we revel in this is when she sees us across the room and will make her way over to our laps and crawl into them so we can help her stand and she’ll wrap her arms around our neck. How can you not love that?

She’s also on to our sleep plan. We’ve been putting her on the mattress next to our bed, and blocking her exit with a box. But now when she wakes up from a nap or during the night, she’ll get on her belly and look towards the door, hoping that we’ll come in. And while I don’t know if it’s possible, I swear that she will look straight into the baby monitor and give us her most forlorn look. As she’s become more adept at going from sitting to belly, she now can get herself sitting up. This morning I woke to her sitting up and pounding her hands on the box beating a tatoo like a drum.

Hand eye coordination is improving. She is now an expert at eating cheerios, and avacado and banana and apple and whatever else we put in front of her. Her pincer grasp, with her finger and thumb has improved dramatically and now she is working on controlling her arms. When she gets excited now, her arms will wave like little airplane propellers and often she’ll do it when daddy gets home or when we’re saying goodbye to the nanny. We just need her to learn how to open her tightly closed fist now.

And the smile, the best part of any childs repertoire. When your baby smiles at you, you just melt and our little one smile with her whole face. Her eyes will light up, the nose will get a little scrunched and we’ll see the 2 little bottom teeth as she’s waving her arms. To top it off, we’ll occasionally be greeted with little kisses, as she smacks her lips together. And it is at that point that she has us wrapped around her little fingers and we are putty in her hands.

I have a problem.. I like strollers, they are my new purse. I use it every day, when people walk by I see what stroller they have, and when I get comments on my stroller, I secretly am glowing at my conversation piece. But my baby is getting bigger, and while I love our Quinny, and still plan on using it till the wheels fall off. I am also thinking about getting another one for our daily walks. One with a cup holder and a basket. Because I’m tired of carrying everything and spilling coffee every time we get caught on a pine cone. Poor Tori will often be holding the mail, my purse, and an empty cup while I’m trying to open the door. Oh and the recline, I have a feeling she’s going to like to recline.

I’m in the process of deciding what to get. These are my options. The Delta doesn’t have a cup holder but for some reason I’m drawn to it. Not many reviews online, so I’m torn. The Graco and Chicco are both standard baby strollers, so I don’t think it really matters. It’s all about what my credit card points can afford. Since Tom won’t actually let me buy a stroller. So all my spending for the last year and helping me here. Thoughts?

Graco Metrolite

Delta Pearl

Chicco Cortina

The Case Against Breast-Feeding - The Atlantic (April 2009)

One day, while nursing my baby in my pediatrician’s office, I noticed a 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association open to an article about breast-feeding: “Conclusions: There are inconsistent associations among breastfeeding, its duration, and the risk of being overweight in young children.” Inconsistent? There I was, sitting half-naked in public for the tenth time that day, the hundredth time that month, the millionth time in my life—and the associations were inconsistent?

Now that we have started Torito on solids, we have also started to introduce finger foods, like Gerber puffs and the best childrens cereal of all time, Cheerios. Torito loves them, puffs or cereal, if you put some in front of her she’ll grab it with both hands and start stuffing them in her mouth. It’s quite funny because she is just learning to bring food to her mouth. She’s pretty good with her right hand now, though she still tends to miss a lot. But her left hand, she’ll grab a handful in her fist and keep that nice and tight till the rest of the cheerios are gone. Then she’ll use her right hand to help open the left hand and stuff whatever remains in her mouth that way. I love watching her eat.

Hooray for Cheerios!

So what if I have a Cheerio on my chin

Can you do this?

Ways to Help Prevent a Tragedy - washingtonpost.com

Always put something you’ll need for work — cellphone, handbag, employee badge, etc. — on the floor of the back seat, near the child.

Keep a large teddy bear in the child’s car seat when it’s not occupied. When the child is placed in the seat, put the teddy bear up front in the passenger seat. It’s a visual reminder that anytime the teddy bear is in the passenger seat, the child is in the back.

Make arrangements with your child’s day-care provider or babysitter that you will always call them if your child will not be there on a particular day as scheduled. Ask them to always phone you if your child does not show up when expected.

bumGenius cloth diapers by Cotton Babies

bumGenius cloth diapers are designed to make cloth diapering easy for every-day people - like your babysitter, grandparents and even dad!

Cloth diapering used to involve folding, scary pins or a dizzying array of snaps. With bumGenius cloth diapers, it is just like using a disposable, but you don’t throw it away! Just wash them and they’re ready to go again.

bumGenius diapers are available in a variety of styles and colors - from the ultra-customizable one-size cloth diaper, to the incredibly simple
all-in-one, or the super-soft bamboo fitted - there’s a bumGenius cloth diaper you will love to use on your little one.

gDiapers - Environmentally friendly diapers for a happy planet.

For the last 40 years there have been but two choices in diapers. Cloth or disposable. That’s it. Now gDiapers offers a third option. Flushable. gDiapers puts waste where it belongs, in the toilet. Not the landfill.

gDiapers have no elemental chlorine, no perfumes, no smell, no garbage and no guilt. In fact, our flushable diapers are so gentle on the Earth you can even garden compost the wet ones in one compost cycle, approximately 50 – 150 days. Just think of the standing ovation you’ll get from the planet.

My baby has teeth! It took 7.5 months before they broke their way through the gums, but there’s definitely a little white dot that when I put my finger on is hard and sharp. We had a great weekend, where the grandparents came down to see Torito. They doted on her the way only grandparents can, and got to feed her. After all my mom says about not overfeeding, she was the ongoing source of puffs and cheerios to my little one. And when I wasn’t looking even gave her some noodles and oranges. Though she claims that the orange, Torito grabbed and refused to let go. I’m not sure if I believe her. We’ve been working on sleeping and as a result, there has been lots of crying, but on the plus side, after about 15 min, the little one will nap on her own. And she’d been falling asleep better at night. We are working on the 3 am feeding now. If we can get that to go away then I’ll be happy.