Rainy AND Snowy Weekend

We had both rain AND snow this weekend. Someone needs to send Mother Nature a memo and let her know it's almost May. We kept busy this weekend doing lots of fun things inside.
Making muffins is always fun for Logan. After dance class, Logan helped by counting out the muffin liners and putting them in the tin.

He loves licking the spoon just as much as eating the muffins.
Tip: We use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffins up -great for toddlers and gets the perfect amount in! Logan now knows how to press the button on it himself.

We went to the larger library in the afternoon. Logan found a few books about dancing and even a book on Usher!

Reading the Dance book

Reading a book that Logan picked out called the ABC's of Art -it shows a famous painting for each letter of the alphabet. Logan even recognized a bunch of them from the Little Einstein videos.

We went on a "treasure hunt"; up the elevator to the top floor!

Logan spotted a painting on the wall: "Look, Mommy! It's an art show!!"

Logan's always excited to help out in taking care of his sister.

It wouldn't be a complete weekend without dressing up as MJ and singing and dancing.

Logan's been wanting a headset like Micheal has in some of his concerts. He has a microphone stand and a microphone but no headset! Oh no! He use to hold the microphone at the side of head for these parts. We looked at the toy stores for one and then Allan just took the XBox headset and tied up the cord for Logan --perfect!

Playing with magnets

Snack time!

Doing something a bit different for bath time...

We worked on some Mother's Day crafts. We were watching the show Calillou and we saw him make flowers out of paper and pipe-cleaners. Looked pretty easy in the cartoon so we gave it a try ourselves!

We used foam instead of paper and drew out flower shapes to cut. Logan was having some trouble cutting the shapes so instead I cut a circle and he put snips all around the edges.

Poke a pipe cleaner through and you have a very simple and easy preschooler craft for Mother's Day!

We also decorated a box for Uncle D.

Logan loves stickers and we have a bunch of these, so this was a good craft --plus it actually turned out looking very nice too!

Logan gathered all the books about babies and read them to Kalia and I.

In Logan's swim class they took the boat again to the deep-end.

This time they had the kids get out of the boat and stand at the side. Each one took turns jumping into the deep-end with their life jacket and then floating on their back and kicking. We're so happy that Logan is enjoying his classes and it's such an important skill to know too!

We also met up with Uncle D -to give him the box we decorated and to ask him to be Kalia's Godfather!

Sleep and feeding pattens from birth to two months

At the hospital they give you a piece of paper where you track feedings and diapers. When when got to the end of the paper, we decided to make the move over to Trixie Tracker.

We had used the online tracking for Logan starting around one month to six months. We found that experience interesting and we were interested in doing some comparisons.

Birth to 1 Month old

We only have data on this for Kalia. Her sleep patterns were actually really good for a newborn --I truly believe this is from following the Baby Whisper advice early.

In addition to putting her down when she is "sleepy but awake" and using a noise machine in her room, I really feel that the day time feeding is key to starting them sleeping better. I started feeding Kalia as much as she wanted to eat at regular times during the day: 7:30am, 11:30am, 3:30am and 7:30am. Given she is a new born I would give her extra feedings if she needed it and was flexible with these times by an hour either way. The first two weeks I was also breast feeding, which is not shown on these charts.

I'll use red to highlight the scheduled feedings. Once her day time feeding gets predictable and you get into a routine, the night time sleep/feedings start to fall into place too.

1 month to 2 months old

Here is where we can compare things between Logan and Kalia. Both are getting pretty much the same amount of sleep but the structure of that sleep is very different! Here is Logan's sleep chart at one month:

And here is Kalia's:
Clearly a huge difference! And if you look at their feeding charts you can see why.

I didn't put Logan on a feeding schedule until he was almost two months old:

And here is Kalia's at one month. At this point I could be pretty sure that I would have from 8pm to midnight free to "me time" and sleep! She would also likely wake up twice to feed after midnight. If I see that she is finishing her bottle each time, then I increase the amount I make future bottles. She can eat as much as she wants and I let her tell me when she has had enough. This routine is great for sleep and for planning our day --I know pretty accurately when she is going to start getting hungry and I can plan outings and packing of bags around this. I believe it's also the reason why she cries less; I know if she's fussing that I can rule out being hungry based on the time and attend to her other needs better.

Kalia is now into her second month and only waking up once a night for bottle. I'm also laying the work to correct an issue we had with Logan --no soother at night so I don't have to keep popping it back into his mouth all night.

Challenge: Go to the market for just one thing

So I'm no longer a Rookie Mom but I'm doing their challenges -this one is go to grocery store for just one thing. I've been wondering how to do this with a newborn in a car seat as I only went with Logan once he could sit in the grocery cart and it's too cold to put the baby in and out of a carrier in the parking lot. Going to the store for just one thing took the pressure off of me and I figured the worst that could happen is that I carry in the car seat, grab something and leave. Ready to brave the cold and go!

And why didn't anyone tell me this is the best way to carry a car seat? I was trying to hold the handle in my hand; resulting it in feeling heavy, it banging on my legs and me walking kind of lopsided. Pop the car seat handle over your arm like this and it's a breeze. Why didn't I know this before?

Tip: The parking spots by the entrance designated for those with kids are great but not so much if you have a cart. I always park beside the cart return so you can put the child safely in the car, unload, get rid of the cart and go. If you park close to the store but then have to walk across the parking lot to the cart return and back to your car with your kid, then that spot isn't so great.

I wasn't comfortable about putting the car seat on the top toddler seat so I was wondering if it was going to fit into the basket---I was happy to find out that it fits perfectly into the bottom basket spot! This grocery store has the toddler seat and little basket up top and then the full sized basket below with a lower edge around it. The edge around the bottom basket is high enough to keep the car seat secure and safe but low enough that I won't hurt myself trying to lug the car seat up and out of it.

It went so well that I ended up getting more than one thing! Grocery shopping with Kalia is do-able! Phew! Good to know!

Period of Adjustment

Yesterday Logan and I went to his daycare. We played there together for a bit and then his teacher suggested I leave for an hour and come back. When I came to collect him she said he screamed and cried when he realized I left the house not just the room . However once he was distracted with juice and some goldfish crackers he was fine -just like his Daddy! He was a bit clingy when I picked him up but seemed okay.

This afternoon we're trying it again. I brought him to daycare around 3pm and his teacher met me at the door. She suggested I just say goodbye there and see what happens. So I said bye and closed the door...and waited. LOL I heard the other girl and the teacher saying hello to Logan and some talking but no crying. I exhaled and went to the car and then it was me who started crying. It was only a few tears and few second -I'm not sad or worried about his well being. I really don't know. . Daddy has even blogged about little Loggie going to daycare.

I found this useful to understand things from Logan's perspective (the whole article is here):

"Developmentally, young children have a hard time with separation because they don’t have a sense of how time works and they don’t yet know the nature of families. For instance, babies and toddlers can only think about the present moment. If you leave, they can’t imagine you coming back, because they are not fully capable of thinking about the future. They also don’t yet know that you are going to be "their people" for the rest of their lives, so they don’t automatically assume that you will always come back...Children need to learn (through experience) that you will come back and that the people who are caring for them are safe, responsive and nurturing"

We're doing these things to help him adjust to daycare:

*We're leaving diapers, wipes etc. there and then packing a daily backpack with comfort items and change of clothing the will smell like home.

*In his bag we've packed his blanket for naps. Transitioning to napping away from home can be hard. We've noticed that Logan clutches his blanket and brings it up just under his nose when he is falling asleep so it will be nice for him to have a blanket that smells like home. And okay, I admit it, I slept with the blanket after I washed it so it would smell like Mommy. I know he's not a puppy but if it might make him feel better, it is worth a try.

*We've packed soothers and given the teacher the okay to use them if it helps. I've been cutting Logan's soother use down and since Wednesday he's only used it for naps. But we're in a 'period of adjustment' and if it will help him, I'm all for it.

*We've packed some Baby Einstein flash cards. Logan's likes to hold these while getting his diaper changed and has been really still the last week while holding these.
*We've left a bib and a sippy cup at daycare that are just like the ones used at home...again, just trying to make things familiar.

*I wrote up a little bit about Logan for the teacher to know what foods he is eating, what words he knows, what his current schedule is, etc. so that she can help him adjust.

*And we're easing into the daycare thing slowly.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Logan sharing his cookie with his turtle friend this morning...

Shock and Awe Hair Cutting

Logan's head was starting to look a bit fussy on top so I decided I would give him another haircut. I use the 'Shock and Awe Baby Haircutting Technique'....



The shock:

Put baby in the bath tub with NO water! To keep squirming to a minimum use a Bumbo seat too.

What's going on?!?!?

The Awe:

Give the baby a cookie!!!

A cookie? Yes!!!!

Now you might think that eating while there is hair being cut wouldn't work out -but here is Logan during the process. Note the cookie in his hand, the smile on his face and the absence of him grabbing and trying to eat falling hair.

7 Months: Morning Routine Review

Here is what a typical morning with Logan is like....



7:00

A lot of prior work has made Logan a good sleeper. He goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and wake up around 6am for his soother and his blanket to be put back around him. Then he sleeps until around 7am. A diaper change and then some play time with daddy before he goes to work!

Before I go to bed I boil water for Logan's bottles the next day and lay out the items for his breakfast. This just makes things go smoother. He gets a Mum Mum biscuit, cereal, a fruit (today was apple sauce), water and then he can top it off with his bottle. I give the bottle last as he is eating more solid foods and now doesn't drink as much from his bottle.

While I get this all ready and make coffee, Logan eats his vegetable flavour Mum Mum. This keeps him busy and the level of morning screaming has significantly gone down. Logan drinks water and apple juice from his sippy cup. I started with giving him water from a 'sippy cup' that just dripped when tilted and then once he got the hang of it, he moved on to the real sippy cup. He is just now trying to drink from it himself. I've tried to give him his formula from the cup but he won't have it. The plan is to give him whole milk later only from the sippy cup to make the transition away from the bottle. We'll see how that works.

After breakfast and his bottle, Logan plays in his jumper while Mommy eats breakfast and watches the morning news...basically I'm waiting for him to do his morning stinky.

8:30

Bath time! This is such an easier thing to do now that Logan can pretty much sit by himself. I just need to keep one hand on him at all times. Logan loves grabbing his toys and looking at himself in the mirror -he doesn't really splash around yet, thank goodness!

After bath time I let Logan touch the wind chime his cousin Justin gave us. I'm teaching him the word 'gentle', it seems to be going well..Before he use to grab the chimes and pull, now he knows just to softly hit them. Also, when he's banging his toys and I say 'gentle', he seems to know what it means.

9:00

After bath time Logan watches Baby Einstein in our room while I shower, blow dry my hair and change. After a month I figured out that Logan's routine has to accommodate my schedule too -otherwise it's noon and you realize you're still in your pjs and you haven't eatten yet. Logan use to sit in this chair beside the shower with a toy bar and look at his dangling toys, then he started swatting at them, then he started grabbing them, then he started ripping them off and throwing them. Now he sits and plays with toys in his lap and watches 'his show'.

9:45

If we're going out this is good time to leave the house because it's almost morning nap time. If we're staying in, it's floor time. Logan now loves his tummy time and is trying to crawl. This week we're learning all about farm animals as we're planning on going to the Markham Fair this weekend. Once he starts complaining, I know he's getting sleepy so it's time to cuddle and read. This book that you 'pet' the farm animals is his current favorite. When he gets restless we play 'hand games'; I count his fingers, we play Open Close (a Filipino favorite, he's not interested in 'Beautiful Eyes' yet LOL) and sing twinkle twinkle. Then I set him down in crib -sleepy but still awake. 11:30

I'm up! Let's play!!

Logan sleeps between an hour to two hours in the morning. During this nap I did a laundry did the dishes, got Logan's lunch and bottle ready, did the prep work for tonight's dinner, made an appointment for a daycare tour next week and checked my e-mail and favorite blogs.

We fit in a bit of playtime before lunch. What a great morning!