Letting Go

It is interesting to watch a person learn to walk. That is one of my favorite parts of child development. It is such a huge milestone to see your child take those first steps. I love it. My daughter walked just a couple of days after her first birthday. I just couldn’t believe how quickly she progressed from that first baby step, to full blown walking everywhere. My middle child walked a few days before his first birthday. And, his walk was hilarious. He would hold one arm out to the side and sway it back and forth wildly, while … Continue reading →

A Day in the Life of Your Baby

Sometimes, I look at my baby and wonder what he is thinking. After all, I have so much control over his day to day life, and he has hardly any, and I wonder if he is ever puzzled by what is going on around him. In fact, I don’t really need to wonder, because I know he is. But, if you look at it from his perspective, it has to be kind of strange. He is pulled out of bed and gets to crawl around on the floor for a bit. We hop in the car to take Daddy somewhere, … Continue reading →

Baby Loves

I am a very lovey dovey kind of Mom. I hug and kiss on my kids (especially when they’re babies) all the time! So, one of my favorite things is when they start to “give loves” back to you. It is the best. Well, I first noticed my baby giving loves to a stuffed animal the other day when my niece was visiting. She gave him a stuffed animal, and he put it up next to his face and snuggled it between his head and his shoulder. It was adorable. One of the best feelings is when they can wrap … Continue reading →

Early Potty Training Tips

Early potty training used to sound like a completely unnecessary hassle to me. I’d read articles about mothers trying to read their babies cues as early as 4 months of age. They developed the ability to know when their child was about to pee. About to pee? How did they do that? It’s not like a baby grunts to go number one. And yet, there was something appealing about having a 2-year-old who was completely potty trained. Still, I didn’t plan to do it with my kids. As children begin eating solids, it becomes very obvious when they are about … Continue reading →

Potty Training: Start ‘Em Early

There’s been lots of pooping on the potty going on at my house lately, and no, my husband and I do not have the stomach flu. I’m talking about our 1-year-old. Yep, you heard me – she’s pooping on the potty. Before you start rolling your eyes, calling me one of “those crazy moms who starts potty training a week after her child is born,” hear me out. I didn’t plan to be an early potty trainer; it just happened naturally. One day, when my daughter was about 11 months old, I was sitting next to her on the floor, … Continue reading →

My Baby: A Bottomless Pit

These days, I’m convinced my 1-year-old has some extra storage space in her stomach she’s hiding from me. She’s not a big kid. She was huge at 6 months of age, then completely thinned out. In fact, I’m pretty sure her weight has stayed the same from 6 months until now. You’d think that a little peanut like her would have the appetite of a bird. No siree. That girl can pack food in like nobody’s business. A month ago, we’d eat breakfast together, and she’d consume a small amount of my daily bowl of oatmeal. Now, I have to … Continue reading →

Old Enough to Talk, Too Old to Breastfeed?

There was never any question in my mind as to whether I would breastfeed our children. I always knew it was the perfect food for a baby. The more I read about it, the more I was amazed at just how many benefits there are for both baby and mom. My mom breastfed my siblings and I for about a year and a half. That sounded like a pretty good number to me before I had kids. Now that I have a baby and am loving breastfeeding, I realize that I might breastfeed much longer than that. Before becoming a … Continue reading →

Toddler Language Development

Language development explodes during toddlerhood, with new words being acquired daily. For example when your your reaches eighteen months, his or her vocabulary should increase up to five times the amount that it was when he or she was only fifteen months old. First words The first words that a baby says are usually mama and dada. We see this across cultural lines, and it isn’t surprising that these first words are usually reserved for the baby’s parents. After that, the first word could be anyone’s guess. The word “more” is a popular first word, as is the name of … Continue reading →

Naming Body Parts

By eighteen months of age, your baby should be able to name most of his or her body parts. Here are some ideas and fun games to play that will encourage this learning. Start with the basics Facial features are the most fascinating things to your baby, so they are good places to start when teaching body parts. The nose, the eyes, the mouth and the ears are all easily recognizable and accessible. Hands and feet also seem easy for most babies to learn first. Play the where is it game Start with one body part, such as the nose, … Continue reading →

What the Average 12-Month-Old Should be Doing

Many of the requests that I have gotten lately for topics in this blog are guidelines as to what the normal development is of certain ages. For a long time, I have hesitated to talk about this for a few reasons. Each child develops differently, and what may seem behind could actually be perfectly normal, and babies who were born prematurely have different schedules related to age than do babies born full term. There is even a normal speech delay with bi-lingual children, who may not talk as quickly or with as much vocabulary because their brains are busy learning … Continue reading →