Posted by: katiefarm on: December 12, 2008
My daughter tells us when she is ready for something new simply by her actions. Such was the case with her high chair use, or lack there of. It started more subtly when she would throw a tantrum in the middle of her meal; pulling her hair, slamming her head against the back of the chair, and refusing to eat.
She looked like she was having a meltdown. At the time, due to its infrequency, I wasn’t sure the cause. I did know that it was getting old quickly and growing on my last nerves. As time went on, my daughter simply refused to eat. She would just sit in her high chair for a few minutes and then start her tantrum.
Initially I thought that I should not give in by pulling her out, maybe it would pass. Nope, not with my daughter. It just got worse. She’s 19 months and I’m 6 months pregnant…you can imagine how my lack of patience and her head strong behaviors did not match up well.
I decided to quit the high chair. Apparently it was too restraining for her – a child who is a mover, likes to dance, takes breaks from eating, and overall tends to graze all day, does not want to be cooped up.
Meals are not all that fun in our house, although I can totally understand…when not pregnant, I share similar eating habits. Now we put out a mini table and chairs for her. She may sit down for a few minutes and eat her food, with a lot of prompting and “helping” to focus. Then she jumps up, dances around, and sings. Her fits have decreased, which is a blessing for me.
Posted by: katiefarm on: December 4, 2008
It wasn’t just the lack of sleep that caused me to forget the days of the week, dates of the month, and times of the day. I used to be the most proactive professional who took great pride in accomplishing things extremely quickly.
With my daughter taking over my life, it now takes me months to accomplish a simple task. The other day I really thought it was Tuesday and when my mother called to say she was on her way over for Friday night movie, I thought she was kidding. I lost track of everything outside my living room – I only see the daylight and night time.
Outside this, I know when its getting close to specific holidays by the commercials playing on tv, and the cards in the store. I imagine this is common for stay at home mothers, but I don’t want to assume. This is just my version of the story.
I really can’t comprehend how mothers go to work. I mean not from an emotional point of view, just literally how can they do it all? I tried to set the alarm a few times just to go to the gym and couldn’t even function. Perhaps I am not a true multitasker. I really don’t know what you call it, but whatever makes the rest of the world work, I don’t have that skill.
Posted by: katiefarm on: December 4, 2008
In the beginning, my husband and I became the street loners. We hitch hiked our way through the house, smelled like foul uniforms after a baseball game played in 120 degree weather in AZ, slept like smokey and the bandit (I just like how that sounds, it may not actually be applicable), and ate like scowering wolves, emaciated from days of starvation.
We were on sabatical in the living room, the couches became our new home, as we watched and waited for this tiny being to make a sound from her bassinet. Nobody told me that newborns make all kinds of noises when they sleep.
I believe 20 minutes of sleep was impressive for me at that time. I remember my friend told me that we should put her in the other room so we could get some sleep. This horrifying thought almost killed me, I swear. What if she cried – oh god, the thought was so tormenting.
What if she was scared, cold, or hungry. Okay, so again, 20 minutes of sleep…. Occasionally she slept on my husband’s chest, which I had to watch while he slept too. My God, what if she fell off!
Gradually, we moved her into her crib. I started off letting her play in her crib for a few minutes. I was so scared to leave her there alone – what if spiders crawled all over her?
It was so hard to bear the thought. But, I did have my handy dandy video monitor to spy on her constantly. The poor child will never feel abandoned, but possibly overburdened. It took a while for my husband and I to actually meet back in the bed. It was like we just met.
We had to get used to a body next to us and all the extra sounds that come with this. I think we were on the couches for 3 months…long enough to leave indents and stenches of our bodies.
