Now that Damien is becoming more of a steady walker, we are going to attempt to get a little more consistent with this elimination communication / infant potty training ordeal.
I am not crazy (I keep telling myself). Worldwide, 50% of babies are potty trained before their first birthdays. My goal is at least by 18 months, but this is new territory for me, so I will see how it goes.
As he continues to become more of a walker and less of a crawler (currently, he still chooses crawling as his main mode of transportation, but he CAN walk and is walking more every day), he will be able to take himself to the potty when he needs to go.
And I am really trying to figure out how I am going to dress him in the meantime.
We will probably opt for diaper-free most of the time. Good old bare-bottom freedom. We will probably still use diapers for a while when he sleeps, or while traveling.
But what about those other times? What about when he's mostly potty trained, but still might have occasional accidents? When it's not appropriate for him to go bare-bottom, but he needs just a little something in case of a leak?
Did you know that it is near impossible to find underwear that fits my 10-month-old? Especially because he is small for his age (he just grew out of his 3-6 month clothes). And also, it would be great to find underwear that is somewhat absorbent.
I have been looking online. Several times. For several months. And I am still not coming up with anything fantastic. The smallest sizes are usually 18 months.
The solution I have currently come up with - swim diapers. The reusable type. They're not perfectly leak-proof, but it seems to do the trick for what I am looking for.
They are cheaper than cloth diapers (usually around $10 or less each)
They are easier to pull on and off than cloth diapers
They're not as absorbent, so the "sensation" that one just went in ones pants is still strong
They're not bulky - kind of like underwear, just more absorbent
My main hold-up is the leaking, but I guess the only way to get around that is to just straight up put a diaper on the kid, and that kind of defeats the purpose.
Anybody else been through this? What did you use for your little one while accidents were still prone to happen?
"And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty..."
Deuteronomy 15:13
I have shared my system for organizing our year-round school schedule before here, but today I wanted to touch on it again, this time with a visual I created to help simplify my explanation:
It really is simple, but with all the different jargon out there to describe portions of academic calendars, I thought this little chart would help to put into perspective what I mean when I am talking about the way I organize our year. I use four keywords to describe different portions of the year - the school year, the semester, the unit, and the gap.
School Year - Our "school years" begin in the summer, followed by "graduation" the next spring. I intentionally coincide this part of our calendar with traditional schools, mainly to give other people a point of reference (when they ask Hunter the ever-famous question, "What grade are you in?") I consider Hunter in whatever grade he would be if he were in school (currently, 1st grade) but that doesn't dictate what level of work he does (he is above grade level in almost all subjects)
Semesters - The second level of organization is "semesters". I keep it really simple and just have one semester per season. The summer semester goes from June through August, fall semester from September through November, winter semester is December through February, and spring semester covers March through May, in general. Since the beginning of each week doesn't always coincide with the beginning of each month (obviously), the semesters will sometimes slightly overlap into other months (for instance, this year the "summer semester" runs from May 27 - August 25).
Units - The third level of organization is units. I make lesson plans for two-week periods, also known by me as units. Each semester has six units.
Gaps - Also within the third level of organization is what I refer to as "gap" weeks. There are fifty two weeks per year, and if you divide fifty two by four (semesters) you will end up with thirteen weeks in each semester. Since units are two weeks each, that leaves you with six units per semester (twelve weeks) and one week left over. That extra week is what I call a "gap", and I leave it free of lesson plans, allowing us to use that week to catchup, review, or take a break.
Why This Planning System Works Well For Us
1. Schooling Year Round Gives Us LOTS of Flexibility - A traditional school calendar goes for 36 weeks, or 180 days. With planning flexible lessons 48 weeks per year (and using the 180 days as a "guide"), that gives us 20 days per semester - 80 days per year - to take off for an impromptu day at the beach, visitors, sickness, no-motivation days, holidays, or vacation, if we need to.
2. I Plan More Fun Things - Just because "Winter Unit 3" overlaps December 25, doesn't mean we'll be doing math worksheets at 8:00 am on Christmas morning.
Throughout the year, I plan based on the season, holidays, and known events. For example, in the unit that goes through Christmas, I might plan only a bit of math review to do a few days during the unit, while using Christmas books for our literature and poetry, and postponing our normal history studies to talk about Christmas traditions around the world or to learn about the birth of Christ.
Summer involves a much lighter work load, and many more fun activities and field trips are planned into our units.
Planning lessons year round allows me to take a "school as life" approach to education and to lighten up all around. Knowing that I have flexibility makes it easier to incoporate the fun things.
3. The Flexibility and Fun Means We Don't Need Large Breaks - The rigors of traditional schooling make a good case for giving kids a much-needed summer break to relax, rejuvenate, and just enjoy being a kid. But homeschooling, particularly in this way (with flexibility for days off whenever needed, impromptu vacations, and incorporation of joyous activities and varying workloads throughout the year) makes such a break unnecessary.
In addition, being able to skip the summer vacation also means being able to skip all the downfalls of this giant break in learning, too. In the spring, time ends up being wasted because the end-of-year testing takes place a couple weeks before the end of school, making the last couple of weeks before school lets out somewhat of a "dead zone" where not too many new skills are being learned. When school resumes in the fall, it is well-known that the first several weeks are spent on reviewing forgotten material from the previous grade, as well as getting back into the old routine and readjusting behavioral standards. I would estimate that this equates to at least 3-6 weeks of school completely wasted due to summer break.
How This Organizational System Helps Me Plan
The School Year - As mentioned, the "school year" is more for other peoples' point of reference, but it does help to have a definite beginning and end to describe the goals I want to accomplish each year.
Semesters - Dividing up the year by the seasons (or semesters) helps in terms of goal simplicity, too. I am better able to define what I want to accomplish during each season, to see how much I have actually accomplished each season, and to plan our topics of study based on the seasons (for instance, lighter workloads in the summer, or holiday and seasonal lessons).
Units - The units are the key players in my lesson planning grand scheme, and were the beginning of this whole schedule in the first place.
I used to plan in one-week increments, but ended up spending most of my time feeling behind, discouraged, and guilty because we were never able to accomplish everything I wanted to get done.
Making my plans last for two weeks has brought beautiful benefits to my family. I don't feel so rushed, there is room for error and "life", and even more importantly, we can cover topics in much greater depth than we were able to before.
Gaps - The gap weeks don't always happen the week following unit 6 (in fact, they rarely do). If we take a week-long family vacation during what would normally be in unit 2, the gap week just gets switched around and all the other units get bumped down a week. Guilt-free flexibility!
I hope that this post has been informative and useful to some of you. Perhaps if only to get a glimpse at how life works around here, or maybe as some inspiration if you are considering adopting a year-round school schedule in your own home.
I should also mention, that even though I have only talked about Hunter's schooling so far in this post, I plan Damien's (10 months old) activities and lessons on the same schedule - in two-week units, with no-plan gap weeks, and goals divided by year and season.
I would love to hear your comments!
"All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern." 1 Chronicles 28:19
Hunter is 7 years, 1 month old (1st grade) Damien is 10 months, 2 weeks old (grade "KB")
There was a time in my life where I used to read Hunter three chapters out of the Bible at (close to) every single meal.
The idea of trying to pull that off now seems comical.
To say the least, we haven't been getting much Bible reading in for a while. That is, until I discovered this neat little trick, and its simplicity is leaving me to question why I never thought of it before now.
Rather than trying to keep everybody at the table after we're all done eating (very difficult with a 10-month-old), we have started listening biblegateway.com's free audio bible while we eat.
Laptop on table, audio rolling, listen away while we chew.
And what is even more, we can get a good 3-5 chapters in during a typical meal, and it only takes the time that we were already spending eating.
I am trying to be intentional about our listening, to make sure that it doesn't become "background noise". Keeping our conversation to what is being read helps too. I try to comment here and there about what is being said, and after mealtime is over and we're cleaning up, to really discuss more about what we listened to.
This has been wonderful for my goal of quantitive Bible reading. That is, reading scripture, over and over, in large quantities. Exposure. Immersion. Long-term repetition. At the rate of 9-15 chapters a day, that is getting us through the Bible three to five times per year. That's approximately 50-90 times of reading through the Bible in 18 years, and all in the time we were already spending on eating. Talk about productive multitasking.
I still am making it a point to do other types of Bible reading, too. For instance, even though we are loving the audio, I still believe it is important for my boys to actually hear me reading the scriptures, and in Hunter's case, to actually read them. So our bedtime routine is currently involving reading of the Psalms and Proverbs.
The Bible is also incorporated into regular school hours, through memory verses, history, character studies, and stories. Not that all of this stuff happens every day. But we try.
And believe me, I am no roll model. Our family and personal Bible reading has fallen by the wayside lately, in a way I would describe as dismal. But we are picking up and moving forward. And I'm hoping our little laptop companion will get the ball rolling again.
Because I know how important it is.
P.S. How does your family like to read the Bible (ideally)? Do you find audio recordings of all sorts to be useful in other ways for multitasking and teaching kids? I would love to hear your comments.
"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15
Hunter is 7 years, 1 month old Damien is 10 months, 3 weeks old
At what age can you introduce puzzles to your baby?
While even simple puzzles have generally been deemed as an activity for the toddler and preschooler domain, there are lots of great options nowadays that can bring the benefits of puzzles down to babies under a year old.
When is my baby ready?
What are some good things to look for to see if your baby is ready for puzzles? For starters, if your baby:
Picks up small objects with one hand
Puts things inside containers
Manipulates objects, such as trying to open containers, cabinets, or locks
He will probably be able to handle simple puzzles. Most babies are able to do these things well before their first birthdays.
How to Introduce Puzzles to Babies
1. Get the Right Puzzles
Find some good "inset" puzzles, the kind where puzzle pieces fit inside cut-out spaces in a board.
Try and find some puzzles with as many of the following characteristics as possible:
Have large, easy to grasp knobs
Have only a few pieces, 1-3 is best to start
Have a little wiggle room and are easy to put in
Have simple shapes (circles are the easiest)
Have matching pictures under the pieces
A few "ok" options:
Some of our personal favorites include this 3-piece jumbo shapes puzzle previously available from Melissa & Doug, and this set of Garanimals puzzles (which Damien is pictured playing with) from Wal-mart (available as a 3-pack in the baby section for $6). It would really be ideal to find some "perfect" starter puzzles, such as a one-piece puzzle with a circle shape, but so far I haven't been able to find any. Have you?
2. Put Puzzles in Baby's Play Area
I have had puzzles out in Damien's play area for a while. He has mostly enjoyed dumping them out, banging them together, mouthing them, and doing all of his other dozens of "scientific experiments" with them.
In the process, however, he was able to truly learn about their shape, texture, color, length, diameter, weight, thickness, curve of the edges, sound they make, balance, and many, many more characteristics babies are discovering in their play.
3. Play Clean Up
After letting baby play with the pieces, teach him to put them away.
I believe that if a baby is old enough to dump toys out, he is old enough to put them away. So as with other clean up activities, guide his hand in putting the puzzle pieces in the correct place and then putting the puzzle away on the shelf. He will get a feel for where they go and how they fit and will very quickly attempt to do this on his own during playtime.
4. Scaffolding - Play Puzzles with Your Baby!
"Scaffolding" essentially means giving your baby as much help as he needs to advance to the next level of skill, but not more help than he needs.
For introducing puzzles to baby, it might first mean guiding his hand in placing the pieces in the correct spot (as in the "clean up" activity above).
The second step might mean putting the puzzle piece almost in the right spot, then guiding him, "Put the puzzle piece in" and letting him "do the rest", essentially only moving the piece a little before it falls into place.
The third step might mean giving your baby a puzzle piece, making sure it is oriented correctly (not upside down or sideways) and pointing out the correct spot while encouraging him to put the piece in.
And so the game would continue, with each time giving your baby only much help as you feel like he needs to succeed, then stepping back and watching him figure out the rest on his own.
Damien is currently somewhere in between the second and third step mentioned above. We have only recently started playing with puzzles more often, and he really seems to enjoy it. His focus while trying to put the pieces in is intense!
Puzzles can be a great addition to your baby's playtime. Always remember when playing with your baby to keep in mind the principles of teaching tiny children - specifically to keep it brief, fun, and stop before he wants to stop.
P.S. I would love to hear about your experiences of introducing puzzles to your baby or toddler, as well as any recommended beginner puzzles you have found!
"He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left..."
But then reality sets in, and there is pretty much nothing that is going to motivate me to go swimming when it is 40 or 50 degrees outside, no matter how "mild" that is in comparison to some of the other winter climates in the country and world.
So trying to be realistic, our swimming lesson season runs from about April through October, giving us a good 5 to 6 months a year, 3 to 6 days a week.
On our first day of swimming earlier this week, it was encouraging to note that Damien took to the water like a fish (which I know is totally cliche). In fact, the first day we went swimming, I had planned to just let Hunter swim and we were going to watch. Ha. Nice try, Mom.
Damien was so enthusiastic about the water that I couldn't keep him out of it. I ended up giving up the battle to keep him poolside, and we waded on the stairs after stripping him down to his diaper. He splashed and kicked with gusto.
So, as our swimming season began earlier this week at the first sign of warm weather (it's been in the upper 70's and 80's, finally), I would like to share with you some goals I am hoping to accomplish by the end of the "summer" (October) at which time Damien will be 16 months old.
These goals might be lofty, or they might be underestimating him - who knows. Whatever doesn't get accomplished this summer, we will pick up next summer (or maybe even during the winter if we could ever find an indoor pool).
Swim 3-10 feet underwater independently
Float on back independently
Jump into water (from sitting or standing) and then swim back up to surface to adult or edge of pool
Swim to edge and hold on
Climb out of the pool from stairs
Dive for objects at bottom of pool (in very shallow water, body height or less)
Roll over in water from front to back
Swim and come up for breaths, either by sticking head out of water or flipping on back to breath/rest, as in here
Water safety (do not enter pool without adult, do not enter after swim time is over, careful jumping, more)
Damien's current skill level? He splashes, kicks, eagerly puts his face in the water, and (sometimes) holds his breath underwater momentarily. He used to do well floating on his back in the bathtub, but currently is not too fond of it. I suppose he is out of practice.
Hunter's goals (age 7) for the summer are a bit more extensive and deserve a post of their own (next week). Wish us luck!
"And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim..." Isaiah 25:11
Damien has a new toy in his diaper bag, a little early learning gem which I instantly fell in love with - the Munchkin Traveling Flash Cards.
I originally picked it up for its appeal in teaching Damien the uppercase alphabet and their sounds.
Here is what I love about this little book:
Bright red uppercase letters with thick, simple font.
Twenty six animal pictures for each letter, but on cards separate from the letter, so you can show the letter and picture separately (ideal), or both at the same time if you want to.
Great quality, clear, real-life animal pictures.
Clear, bold words below the pictures in English and Spanish
Variety of animals introduce some fun and interesting new vocabulary, like U for [sea] Urchin.
But wait, there's more! I actually didn't realize until AFTER I brought this home that it is not only an alphabet flip book, but also includes
Numbers 1-10, represented by groups of fish pictures, the numeral, and the word
Shapes, including heart, square, star, rectangle, circle, and triangle (wish there were more, but these are good starters)
Colors (on the shapes), including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (again, there could be more, but still nice)
All of these are in English and Spanish as well
The design is amazing, in my opinion.
The cards are laminated and durable.
The thick plastic and rubber handle makes a great teether.
It's small - about 3in x 3in and less than an inch thick, it fits easily in the diaper bag for travel or at home.
Some minor cons:
Cards are sometimes slightly difficult to turn on the plastic rings.
Would have preferred some more shapes (think diamond, hexagon, etc.) and colors (brown, silver, etc.). However since I purchased it for the alphabet portion this is not a big deal.
The mirror on the cover gets scratched up and dirty easily.
So in one little flip book, you can teach your baby
26 alphabet names / shapes, 26 letter sounds, 26 animals (+26 in Spanish), 10 numerals, 10 quantities, 10 number names (+10 in Spanish), 6 shapes (+6 in Spanish), 6 colors (+6 in Spanish), for a total of no less than 168 bits of information clearly and simply presented.
I am pretty sure that this is the best $5 I have spent in a long time. Sure, I could have made something homemade, but it wouldn't have been nearly as durable, portable, or cute, and would have likely taken a couple of hours to do so.
Are there any early learning gems you've come across worth sharing with other Doman Moms?
"My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly."
Early last June, sitting in a hospital bed holding my tiny newborn, all wrinkled, blotchy-skinned, and helpless, it was hard to fathom that in just a little over 200 days he would be creeping [crawling], standing, "talking", understanding, and charming at the level he is now.
Seven months passes by in the blink of an eye.
Seven months is also another benchmark age on the Developmental Profile for the average age for babies to achieve stage III brain function (using the midbrain and subcortical areas).
"The time schedule is highly variable and depends, not upon genetic factors, but rather upon the frequency, intensity and duration of the stimuli provided to the brain by the child's environment, which is notably and most often his family."
The idea is that the brain grows by use, not by some biological alarm clock. Opportunity, frequency, encouragement, and to a lesser decree, personality will determine development. Our goal is, of course, to give our baby as much of these things as possible and do all we can to help him, not hinder him.
Damien, 5 months, pauses his creeping adventures for a smile
1. Stage III Mobility: Creeping on hands and knees, culminating in cross pattern creeping
Age achieved: 5 months, 2 weeks old
Description: "Creeping" is what most of us know as "crawling" - that cute little hands and knees movement that typifies the picture of babyhood. "Cross pattern creeping" refers to the cross pattern exhibited when a baby uses his opposite extremities simultaneously to move while on his hands and knees - right arm and left leg go forward, then left arm and right leg go forward.
Damien achieved the official "cross pattern creeping" at five months old. He has been "crawling" in other formations - more or less scooting, hopping, lunging, twisting, and rolling - since four months. He has had movement on his stomach (pushing his legs off the ground and propelling himself forward) since birth.
His most current interest is pulling himself to standing, which he does essentially all day, every day, creeping around the house finding different pieces of furniture that can act as a support frame for his vertical position.
Damien, at four months, babbling on
2. Stage III Language: Creation of meaningful sounds
Age achieved: 1-2 months
Description: "Creation of meaningful sounds" is when the baby essentially begins to make noises, beyond a basic cry, that have meaning attached to them. He begins to be able to communicate not only his needs, but his wants, moods, feelings, and preferences. These are not necessarily first English words, but words for him nonetheless.
Damien began creating meaningful sound at about 1-2 months old. He began to coo when he was happy, "yell" when he wanted attention, and whine when he was tired.
At four months, Damien said his first English word - "dada". He still attaches meaning to that word and says it when he sees pictures of his dad. His second English word, "more" (which comes out more like "muh" or "mah") began the day he turned seven months old. Ever since then, he creeps up to me and says "muh" when he wants food, or while we are eating and he wants another bite. (So he has achieved stage IV language development, "Two words of speech used spontaneously and meaningfully", an average 12 month milestone).
Damien, at six months, practicing using the prehensile grasp with small objects
3. Stage III Manual: Prehensile grasp
Age achieved: 3 months
Description: The "prehensile grasp" is when a baby is able to voluntarily pick up objects using his whole hand. The four fingers and palm are mainly used, while the thumb is usually not.
Damien achieved the prehensile grasp at around at the end of his third month. The first object that he was able to easily grab and pick up were some of Hunter's nerf gun bullets. He is now working on the pincer grasp (picking up objects with thumb and forefinger) and has nearly mastered it (an average 12 month milestone).
Damien, at two months, had grown tired of his detail board and was looking around the room for new things
4. Stage III Visual Competence: Appreciation of detail within a configuration
Age achieved: 1.5 months old
Description: At birth, babies can see only light and dark. Soon after, babies begin to see outlines. The next step is being able to see "detail within a configuration", for example the details of mother's face within the outline of her head.
Damien achieved this stage of development at approximately 4-5 weeks of age. He began to smile in response to facial expressions (without sound). He began to study detail on his daddy's camouflage uniform, or the patterns on his bouncy seat. By two months, he was studying details from across the room.
By 5-6 months, he had achieved the next stage (level IV) of development: depth perception. At seven months now his depth perception is quite good - he creeps quickly and easily without running into things much anymore, and reaches well with good accuracy.
Damien, seven months, quite happy with himself that he is no longer afraid of the vacuum
5. Stage III Auditory Competence: Appreciation of meaningful sounds
Age achieved: 2 months
Description: Baby listens to many sounds in his environment from birth, and will soon begin to understand their meaning. For example, the bathtub water running, the door opening, and mother's voice. In family members' voices, he begins to understand the tone of voice and their meanings.
Damien began to be comforted by a soothing voice at around two months old. He started laughing at silliness, and being scared by upset voices. He was deathly afraid of the vacuum for a while, now he seems to have proudly conquered his fear.
Between one and four months, he also achieve the next stage (level IV) of development: "Understanding of two words of speech". At four weeks he began to understand the meaning of the word "nurse". Other words soon followed, including "potty" (and other words associated with it) and "up".
Damien at two months, laughing with a tickle
6. Stage III Tactile Competence: Appreciation of gnostic sensation
Age achieved: 2 months
Description: "Gnostic" comes from the Greek root word for knowledge, "gnosis". Gnostic sensation means, literally, "knowing sensation". At birth babies cannot feel very well - they may not respond consistently to pain, hot, or cold. Soon they begin to respond to these more intense sensations quickly and instantly. The next stage is to be able to respond to more variances in sensation and be able to appreciate them - for example, the subtleties of cool and warm, the peaceful calm of a soothing massage, or the humor of a boisterous tickle.
Damien achieved this stage at about 2 months old. He began to respond to tickles, enjoy his infant massages, and notice the differences in textures and what made him comfortable or uncomfortable. At four months, he achieved stage IV, "Tactile understanding of the third dimension in objects which appear to be flat". This is when he started to notice small things (like specks on the floor), or things that clearly looked flat (like a piece of paper) and started feeling for them and trying to grab them.
Summary
So in summary, this is what my notes on Damien's little Developmental Profile look like (in the back of my How Smart is Your Baby book) for him at seven months, one day old:
Motor:
Sensory:
He is still perfecting his stage IV (green) areas, but overall is doing very well. Environment really does make such a huge difference!
By the end of next year, this little crawling monster of mine is going to be an eighteen month old, talking-running-hopefully reading, full-fledge toddler.
Oy.
There are also a lot of other changes coming up for our family next year, although I can't really discuss all of them on this blog. They will be big, though.
So here are a few little thoughts on things that I want to do and accomplish in this next year. (I might add to this more, later).
1. Start our running program as a family again
2. Build a new brachiation ladder (monkey bars) for Hunter's room
3. Blog regularly and increase readership with good, useful content
4. Read at least 10 "high level" novels aloud with the boys
5. Work with Hunter on improving his penmanship and composition
6. Teach Damien how to swim independently
7. Have Damien reading simple sentences and home-made books
8. Teach Damien (and Hunter) at least 1000 bits of intelligence (flash cards), (in: art, biology, general science, geography, history, human anatomy, languages, literature, mathematics, music, and scripture)
9. Potty train Damien
10. Build own website
11. Learn how to develop apps
12. Start online business - thousands of free downloads and a few material things to sell
13. Learn more about Montessori activities, specifically for infants and toddlers
14. Touch up on my Spanish - be able to hold a simple conversation again
15. Help Damien understand simple mathematics and numbers
16. Complete our studies of ancient history and move onto the middle ages
17. Read through the Bible with the boys at least once
18. Read through Proverbs with boys at least 10 times
19. Visit all museums in local city
20. Have Hunter ready to begin algebra and geometry by end of year (Math 8)
21. Have Hunter working at at least a fourth to fifth grade level in most subjects
22. Inventory, declutter, and simplify school supplies
23. Teach Hunter to play piano beyond beginners level
24. Take the boys to Yosmite
25. See the Grand Canyon with the boys
26. Resume "Word of the Day"
27. Go to bed every night with a clean kitchen
28. Keep a simple homeschooling journal for each boy
29. Touch up on Hunter's geography skills
30. Eat homemade dinners 6x a week - limit processed food and eating out
31. Wean Damien from pacifier (by 12 months)
32. Limit sugar to once a day - less regularly for the boys
33. Learn at least 200 words in American Sign Language and use regularly with Damien
34. Take pictures every day
35. Have Hunter baptized (he voluntarily asked if he could be last December)
36. Smile. Be patient. Enjoy each moment.
"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."
Proverbs 16:9
Hunter is 6 years, 9 months old Damien is 6 months, 3 weeks old
But this picture wasn't taken today. Or even this weekend. It was actually taken in the beginning of December.
Originally, the idea of choosing to celebrate Christmas several weeks early due to Daddy's military obligations was kind of a bummer.
I mean, it would have been "better" to have Christmas on, y'know, Christmas, right?
But this Christmas season turned out to have a million little hidden benefits accidentally twisted in. And I wouldn't trade the lessons I learned for the world.
You see, knowing that we were going to celebrate Christmas early, meant that everything else had to be done ahead, too.
Throughout the fall, we purchased the boys' Christmas gifts here and there. A little something one day and a little something another, as we were doing our regular day-to-day shopping. In the end, all of their gifts were all bought and wrapped by mid November.
No rush, no stress, and coincidentally, no big hit on our budget since it was spread out and gradual.
After Thanksgiving, when the actual Christmas celebrations started rolling out, we kept it simple.
No stressing out about perfection. Just enjoying our family, together.
And then, "our family Christmas" was over. But that's when the magic started happening.
For the rest of the world, they chaos called December began. Stressing. Worrying. About the lines at the stores. The crazy drivers. The money. The late night gift-wrapping marathons. The question of what to get who. Forgetting something followed by hectic last-minute store runs. So much to do in so little time.
And do you know what we did? We watched.
We watched everyone worrying and hurrying and stressing and fretting and... We drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas movies.
We played board games under the Christmas tree.
We built graham cracker houses and painted ornaments and took pictures with Santa.
We read books, and sang songs, and really thought about the reason for the season.
And it was incredible.
It wasn't perfect, of course. We missed Daddy, and that was hard.
But the accidental gift of having to have every obligation done early, was priceless.
Christmas was peaceful. Christmas was stress-free. Christmas was everything it was supposed to be.
The secret, one that I already knew, was one simple thing. Early. Ahead.
I've known that little trick for a long time. But never got to experience its magic until now.
So next year, when we will hopefully be exchanging sweet gifts and commencing festivities on the 25th, and maybe even enjoying it with extended family, I hope that I will always remember the magic that was this year.
And have everything ready before December rolls around. So I can once again enjoy the peacefulness that Christmas is supposed to be.
Merry Christmas!
May your celebrations be filled with peace, whenever and wherever they occur!
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
He starting sitting up completely independently this week
Daddy came home after being gone for a month. We learned that he definitely understands object permanence and has a semi long-term memory!
He loves to try and put his entire fist in his mouth
He blows "raspberries" and squeals a lot
Motor
(Mobility) Damien continues to spend a great deal of time on the floor, rolling, twisting, and making clumsy, adorable attempts at scooting. However, on most days he spends an equal or even greater amount of time being held, or carried around in the sling. Since learning to roll over 1+ month ago, he doesn't spend much time in his track. (2+ hours day opportunity to move on floor)
He recently loves to practice "push ups", where he lifts his whole upper body off the floor with his hands. He usually switches between "push ups" and " air swimming", where his tummy is on the ground but his legs and arms are lifted off the floor.
Every once in a while, he makes attempts to crawl ["creep"]. He gets up on his knees and elbows, but not yet on his hands and knees. He gets frustrated easily!
He still only rolls over to the left side! He will only roll over to the right side if I help him.
Stuffing his whole fist in his mouth is his newly developed frenzy
(Manual) Damien spends lots of time reaching for objects and can get ahold of them with a pretty good degree of accuracy. When you put something in front of him, he grabs for it with both hands. Everything goes straight to his mouth!
He still seems to have a preference for his right hand. He still only puts his right foot in his mouth, although he plays with both feet.
He can support his entire body weight while hanging from my fingers for a good ten or so seconds. Usually when I pick him up, I let him grasp my thumbs and he hangs on while I lift him up to me.
His fairly recent development is to constantly chew on his fingers and try and shove his entire fist into his mouth!
Shortly after turning four months old, Damien surprised me
by deciding he can sit up independently
(Balance) Damien learned how to sit up this week! Although most of the time, he doesn't really care to sit up, for the first time he showed me that he can, with no support and for a good 10 seconds.
For some reason I am still terrible about doing the Doman balance activities. But he gets rocked, moved around, and carried in the sling, so that counts, right?
(Swimming) Right now we have been getting about 1-2 bathtub swimming sessions per week in. We mostly do floating on his back, going under water, and just relaxing. He has kind of learned to go under water, if it is very brief, and at least he doesn't breath in the second his face touches the water anymore!
Sensory
(Visual) We have not really been doing the Doman sensory activities. Along the lines of visual stimulation, a couple times this week we looked at reading words for "Mommy", "Daddy", "Hunter", and "Damien".
(Tactile) No Doman tactile programs lately, but we have done a few massages per week, and he gets to play with lots of differently textured toys and other things.
(Auditory) Our auditory activities currently include lots and lots of talking and singing (more on some days than on others), some occasional music, and pointing out environmental sounds ("Do you hear the sound of the water running?" etc.)
Social
Ah, this boy is such a joy! He is extremely social, loves to talk, smile, and be with people and see what they are doing! He gets bored after not very long.
(Language) Damien laughs, blows raspberries, gurgles, squeals and screeches, and makes a lot of vowel sounds with a few consonant sounds. He is quite the conversationist and talks a lot throughout the day.
We have recently begun "journaling" with him, while he "tells us about his day" and we write down or video record what he says. He also recently got his chance to make marks with a marker in his journal.
(Sign Language) I have introduced him to the signs for are "Mommy", "Daddy", and "potty".
Sleep, Eating, Elimination
(Sleep) Damien's sleep has not been the greatest as of the past few weeks. He doesn't seem to get enough naps during the day, which can make him grouchy. They are unfortunately often interrupted. Thankfully most nights he sleeps from 7:30 PM until 7:00 AM, waking up to nurse usually a couple times in the early morning still (between 4:00-6:00) but since I sleep with him it isn't a big deal.
(Eating) Nursing is going well. He is still exclusively breast-fed and we don't plan to introduce any solids until closer to the six month mark. He seems to nurse frequently a lot lately.
(Elimination) Damien goes potty on the Ikea potty sometimes a few times a day, sometimes not at all. Lately almost every time I put him on it he pees within a few moments, which is encouraging. He seems to "get" what it is for, at least!
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."
Luke 2:4
Damien was 4 months, 1 week old [18 weeks] this week
How much can a three- to four-month-old really comprehend about deployment?
Daddy is here. Every day. Playing with me, talking to me, taking care of me.
Then he's not.
He disappears for a quarter of my post-womb life.
I wasn't sure how Damien would handle this separation. After all, aren't babies this young supposed to think that if something is out of sight, then it no longer exists? (aka object permanence)
Do three-month-olds even remember someone or something they haven't seen for a month?
Well, Daddy came home this week.
It wasn't a true deployment - he was gone a month. He left not too long after Damien turned three months old.
The homecoming was beautiful.
Damien had just woken up from a brief nap. Slightly dazed, we waited under a tree while a sea of people in blue digital uniforms flooded past us out of the terminal.
When Damien saw his Daddy come kneel down in front of us to say hello, first a huge, shy smile covered his face.
Then he laughed. He laughed nearly every time he looked at him for the next half hour.
Finally, we got home. Daddy went to say hello some more, and Damien reached out towards him with both hands. He put a hand on each of Daddy's cheeks. Then he pulled his head towards himself and started kissing (er, licking) Daddy's face.
It was perfect.
And, babies are amazing.
"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant"
I read a little something that encouraged me in my decision to go the route of traditional [early] potty training.
Not that I was planning on changing my mind. But more so that I no longer feeling that I need to be embarrassed by it.
Or that it is "weird" or "crazy".
I mean, I'm not the one that is unusual. Early potty training is the global and historical norm.
So anyway, it was nice to get a little encouragement and affirmation.
Encouraging thing number two:
Damien went in the potty four times today.
He pooped once, and all the other times I put him on the potty (three) he peed in it as soon as I set him down. Even though I wasn't trying to catch his pees.
So it would appear that he definitely gets what it's for. And has at least some control over his elimination functions.
Encouraging thing number three:
I read to Damien from the Bible today for the first time in quite a while.
And it made him stop fussing.
Mr. wiggle worm himself relaxed on my lap listening to me read the Psalms.
And it just made me smile.
And...
On a side note, I got flowers. From a ship. And a text message.
He scoots down his track on his tummy, but also, especially lately (over the past week or two) has been getting around on his back.
He likes to kick a lot when he is on his back (especially kicking me to get my attention) but sometimes he actually lifts his bottom off of the floor, or pushes off of things to do sort of a "backward scoot" in the supine position.
Hence, putting him on his back to limit his mobility (such as when I don't want him to go anywhere, like for diaper changes) is not exactly all that effective anymore.
Once baby is seeing more details (rather than just outlines), a great way to encourage them to use their vision and give them something interesting to look at and explore is to make a simple picture board.
In How Smart is Your Baby, Glenn Doman recommends adding different colored silhouettes of various objects to your baby's checkerboard, and rotating them regularly so that they don't become "like old wallpaper: beloved but not very stimulating".
There is the recommendation of course but not really any guidance on how to build this rotatable checkerboard.
Here was my solution:
I printed out the colored silhouettes and attached them to black and white squares, then laminated them. My original idea was to stick velcro dots on the back of each one along with velcro dots on the board, but with as many squares as there were it would end up not only being costly in velcro but also difficult to store all the now-bulky cards.
My solution was to make clear pockets on the checkerboard where the squares could be slid in, using clear contact paper. This tutorial will show you how to make those pockets.
Materials
The materials you will need are:
The checkerboard (a piece of foam board with 5-inch black squares glued on - tutorial here)
The picture cards (printable color silhouette version available here, as well as a stencil [ink-saving] version here)
12-inch wide roll of clear contact paper
Scissors
Pencil
Yard stick (or ruler, straightedge)
1. Cut a piece of contact paper that goes about an inch over each end of the checkerboard.
2. Cut that piece in half, to six inches wide. The piece you will use for your pocket should look like the one above.
The next step is to take that piece of contact paper, and fold part of it over so that it sticks to itself and creates a clear, non-sticky plastic pocket.
3. Use yardstick/ruler to make a straight line that is 2.5 inches away from the edge, then fold at that line, backing-side up, and crease with your fingernail.
You will then have this (above): a 2.5 inch "pocket"with one inch of sticky contact paper on the bottom to secure pocket to board.
4. Next, cut a piece out of the ends where they will wrap around. This part will secure to the back of the board.
The end result will look like this (above). It is important that you cut out this rectangle about a quarter inch past the end of the board. You don't want any of the sticky part of the contact paper to be on the front of the board - if there is, the picture cards will stick to it when you slide them to the edge.
6. Take the contact paper and very carefully fold it over so that the "pocket" section sticks to itself. Start in the middle, at the edge, and carefully smooth out little by little towards one end, then go back to the middle and smooth out towards the other end.
Note: you will notice from the above pictures that the contact paper was actually folded "backwards" when it still had the backing on it.This is very important to do because then it will "stand up". If you fold it the other way, as soon as you take off the backing the entire thing will stick to itself and will not be smooth at all.
Your end result should look like this.
7. Flip over the pocket you just made and line up the bottom of the non-sticky part with the bottom of one row of boxes on the checkerboard.
8. Smooth out pocket so it sticks securely to board.
9. Pull on end pieces as hard as you can to make the pocket lay as flat and tight as possible, then wrap around and attach sticky ends to back.
The end result (after you've added all of your pockets) should look something like this.
The folding and sticking the contact paper to itself is the hardest part - I actually had to throw away three different "pockets" due to incurable bubbles and wrinkles that happen when the contact paper sticks to itself too soon. Try not to be too worried about perfectionism, though - the point is to grow your baby's vision, not win any kind of award.
10. After you've made your board, get out your cards, slide some of them into the pockets, and enjoy!
It's as good idea to change out your cards and/or move them around daily. Keep baby visually exploring and, in turn, visually growing!
"Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see..."
