She'll be 19 Months Tomorrow...

Wow! Time goes by fast. And I'm enjoying every minute of it. Well... maybe not every minute. There have been the frustrations of not understanding my baby, the nights when I wished she would have gone to sleep sooner and the worries when I shouldn't have because everything was fine. But there are so many joys! My baby is such a sweet girl and growing so fast. She know over 30 ASL signs, eats almost everything that I give her, and acquires new skills every week. She feeds herself, runs, climbs, and dances. I'm really proud of my baby girl.

She ate fish the other day...

Baby girl has come a long way since my last few posts. I did find a good brand of cheerios that are both low sugar and organic. She loves cheerios and feeds herself. Baby girl has mastered the pincher grasp. She enjoys all kinds of fruits and veggies. I try to offer her a few different foods every day. She doesn't eat more than a few bites but she gets to experience a variety. Some of her more recent foods have been kiwi, strawberries, persimmon, pineapple, olives, turkey and fish.

What I learned from my baby

What I learned from my baby. - She is really sensitive emotionally but physically as tough as me (or maybe tougher.) When she falls down she cries because she is so hurt that her mother let her fall not because the fall itself hurt. - She can be patient but if she’s tired all patience is gone. - She doesn’t understand why I leave her and disappear throughout the day (when I have to go to the bathroom). This makes her feel abandoned and so she cries terribly so I’ll change my mind and come back. - She doesn’t understand why I can’t hold her while driving. - I can do a lot of things with only one hand. - In a pinch I can use the restroom while holding her. - I’m not as embarrassed by things like her spilling water in my lap so it looks like I wet my pants. - She would rather nap in my arms. That way she doesn’t have to fully wake up to nurse. - She doesn’t need a crib. She would rather sleep with me. She feels warm and safe by my side knowing that I’m there to protect and feed her when she needs me. - If anything is wrong with either her or me or if the day is just being stressful nursing helps. Nursing is the answer for everything.

Cheerios

I've been on the hunt for a brand of cheerios that are sugar free. So far I haven't found any in the stores around here. I don't want to order online because baby girl won't eat that many. My mother used to bulk order cheerios that were sweetened with fruit juice. But there were six of us. I even checked the finger cereals that are being marketed to babies. They have sugar too. I think someone is trying to get our babies hooked on sugar so they will be addicted for the rest of their lives. I'm starting to really get annoyed at how companies market their foods as healthy when they aren't.

Rice Cereal

So I finally decided to give her rice cereal but now I'm regretting it. After about a week of rice cereal baby girl is a little stopped up. I've been reading online and I think I need to be giving her more water. I've been giving her a few sips after meals but now I'm thinking that I need to give her more. I also read that switching to oatmeal can help. I decided to re-introduce eggs into her diet. I hope that's not complicating things.

Prunes

Traveling makes it hard to keep up the introduction of foods. You don't want a fussy baby dealing with a rash or something. So we have just one more food. Prunes. It was her first food from a jar (except for applesauce). She liked them. I don't think I will make it a regular food though. I had bought a few jars of baby puree. They are really runny. I started feeding her way chunkier foods than purees. They are messier too.

A Few More Foods

Carrots, applesauce, eggs, zucchini, white potato and mango. She doesn't care for carrots but will eat them mixed into applesauce. I think she had a reaction to eggs and zucchini so I'm waiting a while and then reintroducing them. She had a bad rash after the mango so I'm going to wait a long time before giving mango to her again. I've been researching online about giving spices and herbs to babies as well as oils. I'm thinking of introducing olive oil and coconut oil soon. Then I'll start on spices.