Thank goodness for baby slings

We went to our Tiny Tots time at the library again. We love Fridays because we get to see Tony Chestnut, the monkey puppet my daughter adores.

She is becoming alarmingly comfortable at the library. During the story, Arianna is usually watching the other children. The boy next to us was drinking from a sippie cup and had a baggie of cereal (late risers, perhaps?). I had to hold her back by her shirt collar to keep her from appropriating the boy's snacks. He was rather upset to be ogled while he ate and I can't say that I blamed him.

Arianna is ALWAYS hungry. We feed her every hour or two, but if something is going around, she has to be in on the action. At least she is using her energy to grow up and not out.

While we're on the subject, I have been losing weight again. I was wearing my favorite red Lands' End 7-day pants, the only ones that semi-fit me now, and Andrew laughingly told me my pants were too big. I was rather indignant because that means one out of the two pairs of pants that I can actually wear apparently makes me look like a clown! I don't want to buy smaller pants. Once I stop breastfeeding, I'm sure to go back to my regular size. I have just never had this problem before. I am used to my weight being stable.

Anyways, back to the library. Arianna was thrilled because we stayed late and helped the librarian, Miss Kathy, put the puzzles away and she let Arianna hold Tony and use him as a puppet. She even gave "Miss Kathy" a hug. Today, Arianna kept on talking about seeing grandma at the library. She talked to my mom last night, so I thought she was referring to their conversation and got it mixed up with the library. Now I am wondering if she thinks "Miss Kathy" is another grandma? I should have known better, Arianna doesn't seem to mix things up like that; this girl doesn't miss a trick.

After we cleaned up, we picked out some books and got ready to leave. I had Arianna in my hemp ring sling that I made. I started talking to a graphic designer on the way out. He might be able to help Andrew with his advertising. Very nice guy. While I was talking to him, I was also juggling our 4 books, CD of toddler music, a huge piece of foil-backed sticky paper Miss Kathy gave us to take home, and Arianna, who was comfortably resting on my hip. There is no way we could have done it without the sling. We walked to the car without losing a thing.

Sometimes I feel bad for parents when I see them juggling bags and chasing kids around, or wearily carrying a toddler in their arms. I just want to whip out a sling and toss it to them, like a life line to someone flailing in deep water. I just don't understand why it isn't more culturally acceptable to "wear your baby."

My first time to that library was during their annual book sale a few weeks ago. $7 for a paper grocery bag full of books of your choice. We went a little crazy. I used the sling to carry one bag of books while I held the other bag with my free arm.

I think I should make an ad:
Baby slings -- not just for babies anymore.

Rebecca, who is feeling extra enthusiastic about finishing up my baby carrier e-book now!

Trying to be healthy, wealthy and wise

After watching a mediocre episode of Alias last night, I told Andrew we really needed to get organized. After losing the laundry card, we talked about the importance of having a system.

How can he have a successful at-home business if our home was in chaos all the time? We needed to have a system for keeping our home clean, neat, and organized.

Now is a great time to start ingraining these habits because we don’t have to worry about weekly cleaning (we have housekeeping service with our NH apartment). We can concentrate on our routines for being neat and organized and add weekly cleaning in later. That way we won’t be trying to do everything at once. Baby steps, as FlyLady says.

Here’s a copy of the schedule

	Andrew	Rebecca
8-9:00	Be with Arianna
9-9:30	Go for a jog	Breakfast, Unload dishwasher
9:30-11:30	Andrew works on real estate	Be with Arianna
Noonish	Arianna naps	Rebecca works
4:30	Be with Arianna	Make dinner
5:00	Eat dinner	Eat dinner
5:30	Clean kitchen and Start dishwasher	Declutter living room and bedrooms
6-7:00	Andrew works	Be with Arianna
7-8:15	Get Arianna ready for bed	Rebecca works
8:15	Andrew works	Put Arianna to bed
9-11:00	Andrew sleeps	Rebecca works on writing

We will see how it goes. Obviously, it is for the days when Andrew is not working. We tried to arrange it so we each had 3 hours each day to work on our writing, business ideas and/or education.

It's strange having a bedtime, which I am currently breaking, but I obviously need one or I am a zombie the next day.

Andrew liked the idea and we came up with the schedule based on what we enjoyed doing and when. He said that William Pryor Letchworth had a very strict daily schedule and he was extremely wealthy.

Hey, you never know....

Rebecca

Amazing Grace

I found it.

How appropriate for a laundry card to be IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET!
I checked our hamper but not Arianna's. I figured I had better sort it because it was overflowing. Don't ask me how it got in there. I'm just glad we found it.

"I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I SEE!"

Rebecca

Music to my ears...

Arianna is really starting to interact with her books now. We were reading her January 2005 issue of Babybug and she read the title of the poem, “My Cat” as soon as I turned the page. I wondered if she could do more, so I paused in front of a few words to see if she could fill them in. She could.

I also pointed to the "A" and "a" to see if she could recognize them in text, like she can on the fridge (and my socks!), but she couldn’t.

I am pleased that her memory for language is developing so well. Here’s the poem, I put the words she “read” into capitals.

MY CAT
By Marilyn Helmer

A rubber ball,
A piece of string –
My cat will play
With ANYTHING.

IN A DRAWER
Behind a CHAIR,
My cat will hide
Most ANYWHERE.

But when she wants
To take a NAP
Her favorite place
Is on my LAP.

Who wants it?
By Cindy Breedlove

A bear might GROWL. Grrr!
A wolf might HOWL. Arooo!
A snake might HISS. Sss!
So who might want my KISS?

She has also been saying, “thank you” when I hand her something or do something for her. I’m so glad all of that role modeling is starting to pay off. Lev Vygotsky really knew what he was talking about when he said that all learning is SOCIAL and culturally-based. I guess that's a nice way of saying, "Monkey see, monkey do!"

From one tree-swinging primate to another,
Rebecca

A.D.D. is expensive

My husband, Andrew, is a great guy. I am constantly amazed by his limitless energy (he can actually keep up with Arianna), his ability to think outside of the box, and the depth of his caring. If I ever told him that I wanted or needed anything, he would literally move mountains to get it for me. I have never met anyone like him before and I feel blessed to be married to such a pearl of a man.

We have recently concluded that he has a very mild form of A.D.D. which is exacerbated by stress. When he tries to juggle too much, something inevitably gets dropped. Like this week, he did two loads of laundry but he had to put some money onto our "laundry card" first. He was also watching Arianna, getting signs made for his car, and going for a jog at the same time.

Everything was done except now the laundry card is missing. We have searched the house and the cars and all of the dirty clothes. I even put on rubber gloves and dove into the trash can. (We agreed to keep the card on top of the fridge so the little gremlin wouldn't get it. The trash is right next to the fridge and it doesn't have a lid. I just had to be sure it wasn't in there. It wasn't.)

It costs $45 to get a new card and Andrew won't tell me how much money he just put on the card itself before it was lost. I'm thinking it was a lot. After freaking out about it and getting nowhere, I have decided to be thankful that something irreplaceable wasn't dropped instead.

It's only money, after all.

Trying to stand by her man,
Rebecca

Tantrums

Well, Arianna had her first tantrum today at 19 months. I think the poor girl is on overload. In the past 48 hours we have taken her to storytime at the library, gone contra dancing with her in the back carrier I made, and went down to visit our new niece in Boston. Plus, I was late in getting dinner ready.

She went to get a drink from daddy's water bottle and when she couldn't open the top, she threw herself on the floor and cried. When I asked if she needed some help, she said, "NO," and kept on crying. Very frustrating to watch -- she couldn't help herself but she wouldn't accept anyone else's help. After 7 minutes of this, I just grabbed her, took her into the bedroom, and nursed her so we could all calm down. Then I fed her and she seemed better, but washing the hair at bathtime didn't go over real well.

I am hoping this is just an anomaly in her behavior and not the beginning of something horrific.

Rebecca

Kidnapper revealed

We just had to get Rumples back, so I waited and waited and waited.

I got a call from the kidnapper. They demanded $500, a can of tuna with the label torn off and that I meet them at the corner of 3rd and 48th St. They must have been using some kind of voice simulator; it sounded like I was talking to a muppet.

I politely explained that I was new in Manchester and that I didn't know exactly where that was. The kidnapper paused for a moment and said, "Well, I prefer PayPal anyways, so you can just send it to my account at Rumples-the-Tiger@yahoo.com."

Then I knew what had REALLY happened.

We have a VERY clever, albeit mischievous, little puppet.

Rebecca

P.S. Thank you Aunt Sharifa and Uncle Ed for bringing our little wayward tiger home!

Ransom note

I received my first ransom note today.

You see, we took Rumples with us on our outing last Sunday. Arianna asked for him when we got home Sunday night, but we couldn't find him in the house. We assumed he was in the car, so we told Arianna that Rumples was sleeping in the car tonight and he wouldn't be too cold because he has fur. He is a tiger, after all.

We haven't thought about him too much since then. Until I got the mysterious e-mail.

The note said, "Do what I say and no one will get hurt. Stay by the phone and wait for further instructions." Arianna was thrilled when she saw the photo of her tiger. She didn't notice that his little red Christmas scarf was tied over his EYES and that he looked terrified. I don't know what kind of MONSTER would do that to a poor, defenseless puppet.

So, of course, I wait by the phone all day. I obviously left Rumples somewhere and now I am going to have to PAY to get him back!

Find out what happened to Rumples....tomorrow!

Rumples

Arianna has a special friend named Rumples. He is a white and black tiger puppet with a silly Santa hat and a scarf. Rumples and Arianna do everything together. When Arianna gets a diaper change, Arianna has to change his diaper. When she plays, Rumples has to chase her. When we put her to bed last night, we found Rumples nicely buckled into Arianna's feeding chair, apparently waiting for the next meal.

Tonight, Arianna brought Rumples into bed to have milkies. We tucked him under the covers behind her (the two of them took up half of the bed). Every 30 seconds, she unlatched herself, turned around, and said something to Rumples. I asked aloud if it was wise to have Rumples in bed with us because he is so distracting. Daddy came to the rescue and escorted Rumples to the toy box so he could sleep with his other stuffed animal "friends."

I will breastfeed my 19 month old, but I draw the line at stuffed tigers.

Rebecca

Story time at the library

Here's what we did at the library today:

Everyone gathered as we sang to a tape of the song, "The more we get together (the happier we'll be)."

We talked to Tony the Monkey puppet (who hates snow because he lives in hot, tropical weather) and sang Tony's song:
Toe-knee-chest-nut (point to various body parts as you sing, head=nut)
Nose-eye-love (hug self) you (point out)
Toe-knee-nose, Toe-knee-nose

Toe-knee-chest-nut (point to various body parts as you sing, head=nut)
Nose-eye-love (hug self) you (point out)
That's what Toe-knee-nose

If you have trouble with homonyms, here's another more meaningful version:
Tony Chestnut
knows I love
Tony knows, Tony knows

Tony Chestnut
knows I love
That's what Tony knows.

Arianna is wild over that little puppet and she loves the song.

Then we did Ring around the Rosy:
Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posy
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
The (cows, hippos, horses, whatever the kids say) are in the middle
Lying down and sleeping (head on floor, asleep, although sometimes we hear some animal noises!)
It's raining, it's pouring (drum hands on the floor quickly)
They all jump up (jump up).
Repeat with various animals.

We have a special fingerplay to help us get ready to listen to a story:
Open them (open hands), close them (close hands)
Open them (open hands), close them (close hands)
Give a little clap.
Open them (open hands), close them (close hands)
Open them (open hands), close them (close hands)
Put them in your lap.
Creep them, creep them, right up to your chin.
Open up your mouth, but do not let them in!

There's another verse I can't remember and we learned it as shut them instead of close them.

The librarian read a book called, "My nose, your nose." Nice little multicultural book about how we may look differently but we are also the same in many ways too.

She taught us a new song:
Laugh a little, laugh a little, ha ha ha
Sing a little, sing a little, la la la
Dance a little, dance a little, tap tap tap
Spin a little, spin a little, clap clap clap
One more verse, and then Rest a little, rest a little

I need to take notes or something, my memory is shot!

She read another story about an elephant's nose.

We did a fingerplay about elephants:

An elephant goes like this and that (stomp feet)
He's terribly wide (Use arms out at side)
And terribly fat (same)
He has no fingers (closed fists)
He had no toes (wiggle feet)
BUT, goodness gracious WHAT A NOSE!!!! (pretend arm is a trunk in front of nose)

She passed out colored shapes to each child (circle, square, rectangle, triangle).
She held up a large cut out of each shape and asked the children to come up and give her their shape if it matched hers. She introduced the heart shape for Valentine's Day.

Then we did an optional arts and crafts activity with shapes. We each took a sentence strip and some cut out shapes and glued them onto the strip, stapled the strip and made a headband of cutout shapes. We were given the option to take the materials home and do it there.

She also had handouts to make a shape mobile
www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/shapestakehome.asp?themeid=9
and an adorable valentine's elephant: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/melephant.htm

Last week, we didn't have an individual craft project, the children were given crayons and all helped color a playhouse made from a large box. We also ended with ring around the rosy and gave Tony hugs goodbye. The songs and fingerplays went along with the Three Bears book (Peas Porridge Hot) and another book about a mother and her three cubs.

Pease Porridge Hot
Pease porridge hot; (slap knees, clap hands together, slap partner's hand)
Pease porridge cold; (repeat action above)
Pease porridge in the pot (slap knees, clap hands together, slap partner's right hand with your right hand, clap hands together)
Nine days old. (Slap partner's left hand with your left hand, clap hands together, slap partner's hands)
Some like it hot; (repeat directions)
Some like it cold; (repeat directions)
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old.

"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear"

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn around. (twirl slowly with arms out to side)
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the ground. (touch ground)
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Show your shoes. (point toe forward)
Teddy bear, teddy bear
That will do.
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Go up stairs. (pretend to climb stairs)
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Say your prayers.
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Turn out the light. (pretend to turn out the light)
Teddy bear, teddy bear
Say good-night! (rest head on hands and pretend to go to sleep)

There is a program on Tuesdays, but it is led by a different person and Andrew really hated it. I think we'll stick to Fridays.

Was this totally boring to read? We had a blast and I thought the activities were fun and appropriate.
Rebecca

Poem for Valentine's Day

I have no idea who wrote this, but it sure tickled my funny bone. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Redneck Love Poem

Collards is green, my dog’s name is Blue
And I’m so lucky to have a sweet thang like you.
Yore hair is like corn silk a flapping in the breeze.
Softer than Blue’s and without all them fleas.

You move like the bass, which excite me in May.
You ain’t got no scales but I luv you anyway.
Yo’re as satisfy’n as okry jist a-fry’n in the pan.
Yo’re as fragrant as "snuff" right out of the can.

You have some’a yore teeth, for which I am proud,
I hold my head high when we’re in a crowd.
On special occasions, when you shave under yore arms,
Well I’m in hawg heaven, awed by yore charms.

Still them fellas at work, they all want to know,
What I did to deserve such a purdy, young doe.
Like a good roll of duct tape, yo’re there fer yore man,
To patch up life’s troubles and fix what you can.

Yo’re as cute as a junebug a-buzzin’ overhead.
You aint means like those far ants I found in my bed.
Cut from the best cloth like a plaid flannel shirt,
You spark up my life more than a fresh load of dirt.

When you hold me real tight like a padded gunrack,
My life is complete, Ain’t nuttin’ I lack.
Yore complexion, it’s perfect, like the best vinyl sidin’.
Despite all the years, yore age, it keeps hidin’.

Me’n’ you’s like a Moon Pie with a RC cold drink,
We go together like a skunk goes with stink.
Some men, they buy chocolate for Valentine’s Day,
They git it al Wal-Mart, it’s romantic that way.

Some men git roses on that special day,
From the cooler at Kroger, that’s impressive I say,
Some men buy fine diamonds from a flea market booth.
"Diamonds are forever", they explain, suave and couth.

But for this man, Honey, these won’t do
‘cause you too special, you sweet thang you.
I got you a gift, without taste nor odor,
More useful than diamonds,
IT’S A NEW TROLLING MOTOR !!!

Fear

Arianna has been acting very fearful lately. We have recently moved and I am sure that is partially to blame. We have also been talking and reading about emotions, but she's rather obsessed with fear lately.

Yesterday, she said, "Scare you?" in a frightened tone. I asked what was scaring her and she said, "Man, get Anna?" I assured her that the man we passed in the hall was not going to get her. Andrew and I told her we would never let anyone get Arianna or hurt her. She didn't seem very impressed.

Even before we moved, she would scurry into the nearest lap when she heard an unfamiliar sound outside.

My question is, "Where does fear come from?" Should I be thankful that she has a strong instinct for self-preservation, especially in this day and age? Is she picking up on our unconscious anxiety about moving to a new place? And how do you balance survival mode with becoming a social adept?

When we take Arianna to storytime at the library, she doesn't seem to have those fears about her peers. I am going to be on the look out for any more signs of anxiety, though.

Anxiously,
Rebecca

baby Seuss

Yesterday in the car, Arianna asked for "milky-dilky."
This morning she said her bib was "dirty-hurty."

Is this normal behavior for a 19-month old or are we taking the nursery rhymes a bit too far?

I fear I have a young Dr. Seuss on my hands!

Rebecca

Great minds think alike?

Okay, no sooner do I finish writing my article on play and what do I see in my email box? My monthly newsletter from BabyCenterBulletin which has an article on play written by Elizabeth Pantley!

I was surprised at how similar our toy buying suggestions were. It's kind of spooky. Luckily, my report has several other sections that she hasn't covered (yet). Hers is only the first in a series of articles on play.

Not sure if I should be happy about this or gnashing my teeth?

R

Help wanted

Hi everyone!

I just wrote an 11 page free bonus that I am planning to offer folks who fill out my survey. I was wondering if there were any willing volunteers who would like to read/proofread/edit the article before I uploaded it to my website for distribution. It's called How To Find Toys That Will Boost Your Child’s Brain Development.

I put it in PDF format and would be happy to email it to you if you are interested in reading it and sending me your feedback. I am hoping to upload this asap and the only semi-unreasonable thing I am asking for is a quick turnaround time, like 24 hours.

You can just post a comment to this blog and your request will be emailed to me.

Thanks for your help!
Rebecca Red Wolf

E-book on baby carriers

I am almost finished writing my first e-book. I haven't quite got the title nailed yet, but it should be something like:
Thriving Babies: How to Use Baby Carriers and Baby Slings to Promote the Healthy Development of Your Child

Whaddya think?
R

Welcome!

This blog is a chronicle of my daughter's growth. She is 18 months old now.

I will be focusing on attachment parenting, babywearing, and early literacy skills as we encounter them in our family life.

Enjoy!

Rebecca Red Wolf
www.ThrivingBabies.com