Milestones of the First Year

Just as a public service announcement, here are some milestones I have found to be mostly, if not universally true, that you will not find in many parenting books. In fact, there have been times that I've predicted the age of a kid in the grocery store based on what they're doing, and the parents look incredibly relieved when I say I do daycare and this behavior is completely typical. It's frustrating to have this baby/toddler that you think you can predict, or have all figured out, and then all of a sudden they start doing something where you think, I have failed as a parent. WHY are they doing this?

Two/three weeks old: Ginormous growth spurt. They want to eat every 45 minutes or so and take at least half an hour every time so you feel like a milk cow or hooked to a bottle or something every minute of the day. They also tend to randomly projectile vomit every three days or so, for no reason that I've been able to figure out, but especially if you're nursing, it can bring you to tears because they want to eat all the time and it may still be in the stage where it hurts to nurse, and then the ungrateful children have the audacity to throw up everything you worked so hard to give them. I hear many people quit nursing at this stage because they think it will be like this forever. Most of the time it isn't like this forever, but you gotta get through it if you want to keep nursing. No matter what your feeding method is though, if it happens to you, just know it's temporary. :)

Four months old: Your child's salivary glands begin to function. They have been inoperable up to this point and now they kick in. Until the baby learns that they should be swallowing all this extra spit they're making, they drool like nobody's business. They'll be wearing double bibs all the time and still be wet. Almost everybody comes in at this point and tells me that they think the baby has begun teething because of the drool. Some kids do get teeth at this stage, but more often it's just insane amounts of slobber due to them not knowing what to do with it yet.

Five months old: GRUMPY. Holy cow grumpy. Sometimes for the whole month. They're not sleeping as much as they used to when they were tiny, but in most cases they can't sit up unassisted and so they get bored very very easily. They're getting heavier so you don't want to carry them around constantly like you might have when they were a teeny snuggly bundle. They are happy for ninety seconds at a time and then they want a change of scenery. But what do you do with them at this age? They really can't do much on their own and they are angry about it. Usually this will resolve itself, either when they learn to sit up, or when they are strong enough to hang out in an exersaucer or play with toys on the floor, or just something to occupy themselves.

Twelve-fourteen months old: Napoleon complex. Real bad. Once they start walking, they tend to get incredibly aggressive just for a month or so. They're the smallest ones in the playroom, but by golly they can WALK! They can reach the shoulders and faces of those big kids they hadn't been able to catch before! They can HIT those kids and then RUN AWAY! This is the best thing ever! I cannot count the number of times I've had a three or four year old come to me sobbing because a baby hit them. They are hugely perplexed by this. The big kids have learned by now to be nice, to use their words for the most part, and to not hit people- especially a baby who's so much smaller. They have no idea what to do with it and it breaks their hearts every time. "Baby Simba/ Aurora /Bianca/whoever... HIT ME!!!" yeah. Not so much a baby anymore, huh? :)

More to follow.....

Friday Focus- Stitch

Ms Stitch is generally the "still waters run deep" type. You don't hear the high-pitched shrieking from her that we get from a lot of the other Pink Ladies and she's not as vocal here. Her family says she talks up a storm at home but at school there's a lot of expressive eyebrow movement and sign language instead. She definitely gets her point across though. It's just a quieter point for the most part.

Speaking of quieter, Stitch is the younger sister of Lilo and the two couldn't be further apart in terms of personalities. Stitch only seems to be loud when in an argument with another Pink Lady over a toy or buckle chair whereas her sister seems to be more vocal over many other things. In addition, Lilo is all about princesses and pink and Stitch is all about running and climbing. She is fearless in her climbing ability and is often found in one of the baby saucers in the playroom or on top of the couch. It only takes a second but there she is, just smiling away. And if it's a baby saucer, she can climb IN but not OUT, so she plays and then hollers in her hilarious raspy alienesque voice for us to get her out. STUUUUUUCCK!!!!!


She loves her food and eats with great joy and gusto. She's also a milkmaid of the first order- would drink it all day long if we let her and likes to carry it around before we catch her and make her take it back to the kitchen. Actually, we haven't been able to find that orange cup of hers in three days and I'm afraid. Before too long the smell would lead us to it- if it belonged to anybody but her. With Stitch you can be sure that thing is empty. I'm still not looking forward to opening it though when we do find it.

It makes me laugh that she never actually says the word please~ she always signs it. You sign please with your flat palm against your chest and rub in a circle. She uses both hands and rubs all up and down her shirt furiously, which is problematic when she's asking for a third helping of the casserole she used her fingers to eat. It's a good thing her mom never brings her in fancy clothes. :)
I can't even think of any cute captions for this picture but I really love it. She's so cute.

Fabulous Article

I love me some Mary Poppins. I so wish she lived closer so I could see her setup and meet her daycare kids. I think her philosophies are awesome. This article hits it exactly right, I think. Check it out.

Friday Focus- Bianca

Miss Bianca.... funny, there are some kids who sneak up on being "grown up big kids" where you don't really notice a big change, and then there are the ones like our Bee, who start doing so many new things all. at. once. that it's a bit shocking. :) At not even 18 months, she can jump with two feet. I've never seen anybody that young be able to jump with both feet off the ground at the same time. It's one of the 24 month milestones they look at and a lot of kids can't even do it then. She climbs constantly, and loves to steal food from the big table when I'm not looking. I'm still not used to the idea that she can haul herself up on the chair, and in a split second she's on top of the table calmly pouring O'Malley's yogurt all over herself. Many clothes changes are necessary. Fortunately she has more cute outfits than the law allows, complete with bows and sandals and accessories galore, so it's never a problem.

Right now she is all about the sensory experience, using all five senses. I didn't catch a shot of her with this bucket on her head, but you see how closely she's watching Silvermist here. A few minutes later she had the bucket completely covering her head and was charging around the kitchen like a madwoman, crashing into people and falling over and laughing hysterically.


She makes a beeline for mud the second we step outside. She loves to sniff people's heads. I took that picture of her up against Mr. Daycare's head months ago, and she still does that to the kids. I'm not sure why, but it's really funny. Her babbling is extensive and elaborate and mostly unintelligible, but she's definitely got something to say and she wants us to know it.

As far as her words, the funniest thing to me is that every once in awhile she comes out with some complicated word that's absolutely perfect, just repeating something that Kanga or I say. The other day I was getting O'Malley ready for his baseball game and Bianca was watching and listening, and I got "woeithaslkhgioasd'fjdsdfj sunscreen! asldoweht sunscreen!" It's hilarious to hear a word like sunscreen so clearly from her. She just throws that kind of stuff in every now and then to keep us on our toes.

Bianca and Stitch... they may look like they're finishing their breakfast, but really these two are plotting a coup d'etat...


Counting down the many days until I get the real keys to Daddy's car.... this one will have to do till then...

C is for Conifers - They Might Be Giants

Friday Focus- Stitch

Darn. I did it again- posted empty. Today has been SUPER CRAZY and I haven't been able to get pictures pulled together. I will get this written soon and update it!!

May the Fourth Be With You

Because it is. Because that's the date. Yes, I am a geek. I don't like Star Wars but my kids have forced it upon me.

Anyway. We are puny and sickly and injured over here. Several kids are home sick with various things, Kanga is still working on recovering from having Tigger the Elephant and is not up to par yet, and I fell down in a major way yesterday while out walking with the kids and tore up my elbow and nearly ripped off a fingernail. We're moving slowly and gingerly. It's pretty pathetic.

Luckily we're doing letters of the week now, and today is a great time to discuss Big Bloody Boo-Boos and Bandaids. And also Barf, in the case of the kids at home. Find the silver lining where you can, right?