We also went to the Butterfly festival at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell. We got poured on about 10 minutes after arriving. And Claire was hungry but too distracted to eat and it was close to naptime. So it wasn't the best experience ever. But we did wait out the rain enough to get into the butterfly enclosure.
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| Checking out the butterfly on the sponge Daddy is holding |
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| Ooh, I see it! |
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| Looking for big birds on display |
Claire also got more experience in the pool this month. This seems to be the only place where she is cautious! Each time she gets a little more comfortable. She no longer just clings to me with arms and legs in the big pool. She'd still rather sit on the steps and play in a few inches of water though. Or ride around in her boat shaped float! Her comfort level in the 1 foot deep baby pool in our neighborhood is improving as well. She stays right by the side in the beginning but the longer we are there, the more she will move around in the water. The biggest change is her reaction to the splash pad. The loud noise of the water pouring off the mushroom shaped structure and the fountains of water scared her. But now she will play in both! She needs adult company to play in the mushroom cascade but will play in the fountains on her own.
Other developments:
Her kissing evolution continues. She will kiss your palm if you hold it out. She will sometimes kiss my chest if she's sitting in my lap. She will very occasionally kiss a cheek. She still bends her head down for a kiss.
She has finally figured out pull toys! Much to our ears' dismay as her little xylophone pull toy makes quite a racket! She's also starting to explore puzzles. They are still well beyond her capability but she loves pull all the pieces out. She will take a stab at putting a piece back, but with no planning behind the action (matching up the piece, orientation, etc). So she loves it when I line up a piece in the right spot and let her push it in the last few millimeters.
But the best toy she discovered is reusable grocery bags! One morning as I making potato salad to take to the Schulze gathering at Chris and LeeAnn's, Claire wandered into our pantry. Usually we keep the door closed to keep her our of mischief. But since I was busy trying to get stuff done, I let her explore a bit. She started messing with our pile of reusable cloth grocery bags. Figuring those were pretty harmless, I pulled them out into the kitchen to let her go at it. I think those bags bought me a good 30-45 minutes! Amazing! She had a whole little routine. She would try to get the handles of each bag on her arm/shoulder. There were probably 10-12 bags. So it took quite a while to get all those handles to stay up. Then she would try to walk around with all the bags. But of course some would fall. And when she would bend over to put them back on her arm, more would fall. So she'd have get those all situated before moving again. Very entertaining for her apparently and definitely so to watch.
In the ordinary objects as toys category, she also has a good time with canned goods. She went into the pantry and gestured at a chicken soup can. When I gave it to her, slightly bewildered, she sat down with it and played with it for a while before starting to peel the wrapper off. Another time she wanted the case of little chicken broth containers (think juice box type containers). She seemed proud to be strong enough to carry them around. Then she enjoyed the challenge of trying to get the containers out of the cardboard case.
As her motor skills continue to develop, she loves seeing what she is capable of. Stairs? Yes, please she seems to say. Climbing on chairs? Fun stuff! Picking up heavy stuff? Hey, I can do that. Carrying around large/heavy objects? Watch me do it! So yeah, she can now climb on the kitchen chairs. The kitchen table is no longer a place safe from little hands.
In an effort to get ahead of the game a bit, I ordered a couple parenting books mostly related to discipline. I also ordered Bringing up Bebe, which is an account of an American mom living in Paris. She notices how much better behaved French children are in restaurants than her toddler and seeks to figure out why. Of course there's no magic formula, but the sociologist in me loved reading about the differences she discovered. Food things were a big one. French children get 3 meals and 1 snack a day. That's it. If they buy a treat while out in the morning, they wait until snack time in the afternoon to eat it. Babies are expected to "do their nights" (sleep through the night) much earlier than Americans seem to expect. To help that, French parents respond to the babies crying with a "pause." Waiting a few minutes to pick them up while observing the baby to figure out what is going on and what they might need. Do they really need to eat again or are they just waking up between sleep cycles?
And something I took to heart: when French parents say no, they expect that their child to obey. French parents try to create a "frame" of firm limits that they are strict about and then within that the child has a lot of freedom. No is said firmly but kindly and calmly. This pointed out to me that I, like many others, often give half hearted no because I expected that the child would just keep right on doing whatever they were doing. So I'm trying to make sure I'm firm but kind and expect in my head to be listened to. And pick what I'm going to say no to and stick with it. And it seems to be working!
In general, French moms seem much better able to take time for themselves and to expect their kids to be able to entertain themselves a bit with so much less guilt. I was already halfway there on those issues, so that just gave me a little push to really let go of that guilt.
So just interesting overall. Nothing like a different perspective to make you think about how you do things.
And finally here's something I wished I had documented all along.
Claire's schedule:
7/8 am: Wake-up, diaper change, cup of milk (5 oz)
8:30: breakfast
12:00: lunch
12:45: cup of milk, then nap
1-3/3:30: nap
3:30/4: afternoon snack
6:00: dinner
7:45: cup of milk and bed
It's been this way for months now, since just after she turned 1, with the exception of nap. We've moved nap time around a bit trying to decrease the crying before going to sleep at bedtime. Early on we were going until about 1:30, then we moved it up to 12:30 for a while. Now we head upstairs around 12:45 to change her diaper and drink her milk. She's usually asleep by 1 with very little crying. (Bedtime is another story!) We're a little more flexible if we are out and about and we can push it until 2 or 3 if we have to.
And more pictures!
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| Double fisting the teething rings |
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| Mmm, cold |
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| Getting used to the life jacket |
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| Entertaining herself at Target |
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| How adorable am I in my new helmet that fits? |
July was a pretty awesome month! And 16 months has been a great age. I just told Jeff the other day that if it wouldn't hurt so much, I'd rather give birth to a one year old!
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