Holistic Mommy

I took baby out on the deck yesterday for our daily dose of vitamin D. She found a flower pot full of dirt to explore... ...diggin' away, ...puttin' some on the dog, ...and some over there, ...all done!

Holy cow, has she ever just hit a total language growth spurt! OK, so I've been trying to teach her sign language right? She'll let me know she's hungry and I'll sign and say, "hungry!?' And then I'll teach her the food she's eating (OK, so I only know, apple, plum, and banana right now) and other words (ie: "more" "food" "wait" "finished"). Well yesterday, in her highchair, she signed "more"... YAY! And now everytime I need to change her butt, I say "diaper!" and go get her. Yesterday, she relied, "di-pa" in the cutest, sweetest little girlie voice EVER! I thought I was hearing things so I had her say it again... And then again! AND THEN...  When she is getting her butt change and trying to crawl away, I tell her, "stay on your back" and hold her with my hand. So yesterday, I tell her "stay on your back" and what does she do? She mutters something along the lin...

Molly's first birthday is coming up! I just finished making the cutest invitations ever! Yes, I have enough time on my hands these days to enjoy the finer things in life such as arts and crafts... Her party is going to be short and sweet: pool, cake, and goody-bags, yeah! About seven of her closest friends are invited. Yeah I know... At this age 'friend' is a very loosely used term that means any kid under the age of six whose parents are friends with your parents. I've looked up a sugar-free cake recipe. I have yet to do a trial run to see if the cake is any good. I even looked up natural food colouring for the dye because my baby's not getting red die #3 -- no way! And for those of you who are rolling your eyes right now (cuz I know some of you are) check this out: http://www.cspinet.org/new/200808211.html

She crawled up the stairs yesterday! In our basement there is a hallway with our bedroom at one end and the staircase at the other. She has been hanging out at the bottom of the stairs a lot lately. Well, yesterday I was in the bedroom and she was playing with toys at the bottom step. I would peer down the hallway to check on her; I could see her legs at the bottom of the stairs. At one point, she started to make quite a fuss. I looked down the hallway and there were no legs! I ran down the hallway to find her on all fours on the first stair; she looked so darn cute! I cheered for her and she laughed. I sat back as she continued her way up. She made it up three stairs! Today, Grammy came over so I had to show her. My sister came home early (we live with my sister) so I had to show her too. It's like she's at an excercise class with all the stair repitions we're making her do! She is so iddy biddy and to see her tiny body moving up the huge staircase just look...

The sun is here and we have been spending so much time at the beach! Our record so far is five days in a row! We go with Grammy (my mom). We have our shady spot where we can always be found. As the day goes on the shade recedes and we just move our blanket back to follow it. When all the shade is gone, then it's time to go home.

Summer is here! We've been to the beach three days in a row now! I spent $20 on sunscreen for her - Ombrelle Kids is what is widely recommended in this neck of the woods. Her Aunty bought her the cutest little red polka dot bikini. It was fun to watch her experience sand for the first time. On Saturday, our first day at the beach, she would take it and try to shove it in her mouth (of course). When she crawled over it she wouldn't let her knees touch the ground - just like the first time she crawled over grass! We figured our challenge all summer long would be keeping the sand out of her mouth! But yesterday, her second day at the beach, we noticed the sand wasn't going into her mouth so much. Instead, she would dig her little hands into the sand and scrunch them up over and over again (like she was squishing one of those stress balls!). At one point, she would take a handful of sand, and dump it on my chest. She did this over and over again. Today the sand was old news a...

I took my nine month old to baby massage today! A baby store here in town offered massage lessons for parents. So I put her in her fluffy pink robe, hopped in the car -- and when we walked in the door announced, "we're here for our massage!" The massage was a lot of fun. I enjoyed getting out and trying something new. There was one other baby being massaged at the same time. The massage therapist had us slather coconut oil all over our hands and then, starting with babies legs, she went through teaching us proper techniques. I can't tell if she liked it or not! With her being a crawler and with so many neat distractions in the store, massaging her was pretty challenging! The other baby was not yet mobile and I was a little envious of her parents! The massage therapist explained that while adults get very relaxed and sleepy during a massage, babies tend to get quite fussy before they 'crash'. I though that was quite interesting and good to know for whe...

We came up with a new game today. It's called "Charge!" We are staying at Little One's Aunty and Uncle's house this week. New places always excite her and yesterday, when she was crawling around the floor checking things out, she got a burst of energy. She looked at me, let out a holler and then crawled as fast as she could across the room. It looked like she was a charging bull! It was too cute. Then today, as she was crawling around, I wanted to see if I could get her to charge again. I got down onto all fours, on the opposite side of the room, and hollered, "CHARGE!" I crawled as fast as I could toward her. She thought it was so funny. I did it again and she laughed her little toosh off. I kept doing it over and over. She laughed so hard she snorted! Haha, I love not being at home because then I have so much time to spend with her and make up dorky little games together.

Separation anxiety is here! Yikes! I'm very well aware of separation anxiety; I've learned a ton about it in school as well as talked to many parents on this phenomenon but, wow! They really do cry - no, wail - almost every time you leave the room, go around the corner or even duck behind furniture. It's tough! I warned my husband that this would happen around nine months of age. He understands why it happens but still feels bad, and often takes it personally when he can't calm our baby himself. It sometimes makes him feel as though he hasn't bonded with our baby. The other day I had to bust out one of my child development textbooks to remind him why no one but myself can calm her down. We read that this is a really scary time for babies as they're just realizing that they are separate from their mothers (or other main caregiver). They don't understand that the mother will come back; they're scared that they're never going to see them again. It...

So, I’m in the local thrift store looking for housewares for our home renovation project when I come across an Evenflo Snuggli babycarrier. It’s in fabulous condition but with no price tag. I took the carrier off the shelf, brought it up to the counter and asked the cashier for a price. She looked it over, thought a moment and then said, “how about one dollar?” I nearly fell over. Keeping my cool I said, “one dollar sounds good”. I handed her a loonie, tucked the carrier under my arm and got out of there as fast as I could before she could realize she just let me rob her. That was yesterday. Today, I’m in my favorite store of all time – Value Village. I’m scanning through different fabrics and what do I stumble across, mixed in with my future kitchen curtains? A ‘Baby Wear’ sling looking brand new and wanting so badly to go home with me. How much? Three dollars and ninety-nine cents. At this point I’m starting to think someone’s playing a prank on me. I mean really, two sl...

Oh my goodness she has become so squirmy; diaper changes have become nearly impossible! There is just so much going on around her that distracts her from the task at hand that our once intimate diaper changes have since become battles! There was a time when I'd lay her down for a change, we'd make eye contact and she'd smile back at me. I'd go through all her favorite songs and before you knew it, she was dry, happy, and ready to go. These days however, it is a different story. I lay her down and she'll often let out a wail; she doesn't enjoy being on her back. So, I pick her up bounce her up and down until she laughs and then try again. It usually takes three tries before I can lay her down and have her be OK with it. If she is OK with being layed down, she'll immediately flip onto her side reaching for anything she can get ahold of and, as a result, stretching her little body to the point that she's turned herself into the letter 'C'. I t...

We've finally gone in and set up an education fund for our baby. We sure wish we had education funds because we're still paying off student loans! I think she's going to be an engineer. She's so pensive... She'll be bouncing up and down in her jolly jumper, getting huge air then all of a sudden she'll stop. She'll look up at the spring and other parts above her as if she's thinking, "hmm, how does this work, what are the physics behind this, how can I make it better?" Even in the Exersaucer she be springing up and down, then suddenly stop as she turns her focus to all the gadgets thinking, "how does this all go together, what do each of these parts do?" When she was in the womb, we swore she was going to be a soccer player, or a dancer, or a Ninja! She was always active - all the way to the end. On day one she lifted her head and on day eight she did four pushups on Grandpa's chest! Who knows what she will become. But, I can't...

I just finished round three of trying to get my baby to nap in the crib. Since she's started crawling, I'll hear her wake up and run in to find her flipped over onto all floors happily crawling around the bed. I've been propping pillows all around her to keep her in the middle but, as of yesterday, these are just more obstacles she's learned to overcome! I've decided our mattress is going on the floor but until my hubby gets home tomorrow to move the bed, I've decided the crib is the safest. Oh the crib... Who invented the crib? I mean really, what is the history of the crib? And at what point did we, as a species, go from sleeping on a dirt floor together as a family, to deciding this is dangerous practice and babies need to be in their own beds (in their own rooms nonetheless) or we'll risk rolling over them? I understand that our society has come a long way from sleeping on the ground and have moved into big beds with comfy mattresses but, what about th...

My little girl started crawling this week! For the past month she has gotten herself up into the crawling position, rocking herself back and forth, pushing up onto her tippy-toes, and moving herself backwards. She would get stuck in corners and under furniture. But, as funny as this stage was, I just wanted her to crawl! We were visiting friends this weekend and promised them that she was going to crawl. This weekend was going into the baby book! Then one evening, we were all hanging out in the living room and baby was on the floor. She was full of energy so I put her slipper just in front of her and sure enough out reached her hand, fingers spread and ready to grab. I brought the slipper back a little farther and forward slid her knees, one by one. Her other hand reached out and onto the floor. It was cheers all around as my baby had just made her first crawling step! I continued holding the slipper just out of her reach as she slowly and cautiously she began to crawl across the floo...

Hello! Let me introduce myself. I am a licensed Early Childhood Educator gone stay-at-home mom. My _______ and I have an 8 month old baby. Together, we take a natural approach to parenting. Although he was a little, err...a lot, skeptical about this approach at first, through lengthy discussions, research, talking with other parents who share the same philosophy, experience, and seeing the positive effects it's had on our daughter, I am happy to say he now gets it! When we have a question, I'll often close my eyes and imagine, "what did we do before cribs, Tylenol, and Exersaucers?" And then we'll go from there. This approach has gotten us through many situations quite successfully. We have been told time and time again about how content, secure and just plain amazing our little one is. Some people say we're lucky; I like to take more credit for it :) I have created this blog not only to document the joys of parenting but also to vent the frustration I feel...