Optimism to a Fault

The eternal optimist.  When Cece woke up at 4:42 and couldn't be coaxed to sleep just a smidge longer, I decided it best to take advantage of our early start and go for a run and watch the sun rise.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  Halfway through (so as far away as we were going to get) Cece started...not screaming, but I would say yelling.  Then I checked my phone for the sunrise time only to find that it already happened, ten minutes prior.  It wasn't all that spectacular.  So to all of you who were still sleeping, you didn't miss much.

Baby Dentures

A question we are asked quite frequently by family, friends, random passersby..."So how many teeth does she have now?"  To which we reply, "None."  Incredulous look, "None, not one, no teeth at all?"  That's correct...what do you think this is a game?  That I joke about my daughter's complete absence of teeth.  Well, I do... but not when answering a direct question for goodness sake.  

We've been expecting a tooth since, oh, four months.  That's when we were first told that a tooth was surely coming.  So, at this point, we've been waiting for a tooth as long (9 months) as we waited for a whole baby.  In reflection, when I heard that she would be getting her first tooth at 4 months, I was afraid of that situation, so looking back, it's all fine and dandy that she's going to need dentures (just kidding).  She's been able to eat everything put in front of her (that she WANTS to eat).  It hasn't hindered her ability to blow raspberries or drink from a cup, so really - what's the point of teeth anyway?  She drooled like a maniac around that four month mark, why - who knows?  The drooling stopped after she started wearing her baltic amber necklace (not saying it's a causal relationship, just saying).  

And every time I thought a tooth MUST be coming because she was acting like a lunatic, i.e. fussy, not sleeping, feverish, NOTHING happened.  NOTHING...which means, our daughter is just a lunatic sometimes.  GREAT!  For more reading on toothless babies, check out my friend, Rory's blog post on the same topic.  I really was planning to post this as well...great minds think alike!  And I figured I'd get this up before she (Cece) went ahead and got any teeth, thereby making this a far less amusing post.  I also hear that when she does get them now they'll be fast and furious.  That sounds like a really fun amusement park ride that I DON'T want to go on.  Come on, people - aren't we friends?  Why do you try to scare my pants off?  On the positive side, I hear she'll have better dental health the longer her teeth are delayed.  Well, yeah - there's a lot less chance of cavities if there are NO teeth to get the cavities.  A little obvious, no?  Sure does make for a great smile though!

Ruuuuunnnn

After thinking about Cece's fears, I recalled a race that I signed our family up for back in the spring.  It was called the "Black Sheep" 5K and it was called so for people running with strollers, running with dogs, or running with ear buds.  I thought this was a great opportunity to take Cecelia for a run in our jogging stroller donated by a class parent.  It was not until that day, upon arrival, that I thought, hmmm...perhaps this was not my best plan as I looked around at what seemed like millions (not really) of dogs.  Did I mention that Cecelia doesn't like dogs.  At this time she was still bursting into sobs when she saw a dog move toward her.  Now, always looking at the positive - this may have made me run faster, in an effort to stay ahead of the dogs so that she wouldn't see them and she'd never know they were there.  She did do well, especially since we swiveled the stroller around any time a dog was near.  The trouble with this particular fear is that dog owners don't always realize the fear that dogs can strike in the hearts of 9 month old babies.  But it was manageable, and Jeff won this cool hat.

Oh, and that was fun, having the organizers announce our names (uh, starts with a z...) not once, but three times.  Jeff won a prize in the category for running with ear buds and I won a prize in the category for running with a stroller.  I got third.  There were three women running with strollers.  You do the math.

Top Ten Irrational Fears

Here are a list of a few of Cece's irrational fears, which in reality aren't all that irrational when you're 2 feet tall and 17 pounds...

1) Loud Noises: vaccuum cleaner, hairdryer, food processor, blender, um, and other loud noises
   a) Except for fireworks and sonic booms created by air show jet pilots which she has consistently slept   through.

Cece sleeping through the 7th inning of the baseball game during which fireworks celebrated a home run.
Bonus: Jeff stuffing his face with popcorn!

1.    b) Are we seeing the irrational yet?

2) Animals: mostly pets i.e. cats and dogs...Cece shrieks and throws herself at the closest person.  As her pop-pop says, "Any ship in the harbor."  When she was even younger, she would visibly shake when an animal appeared.  She seems to be getting bolder.  She's very interested in what the animals are doing, but if they approach her all bets are off.

3) Stuffed animals: Cece does not reserve her worry to animals that live and breathe, but a stuffed animal can send her into a tizzy as well.  Nana likes to play a game with her monkeys where she tosses them to Cecelia and she runs (in her best toddler-esque running) from the room.

4) Action figures (animals here too): Nana brought over some small plastic (not too small, all you choking hazard folks) for Cece to play with and, again, she shook with fear.  I found this to be a good deterrant when we went to visit her cousins and she was trying to attack their plates while they ate lunch.  I put a dinosaur on either side of them and she did not approach again.

5) Some toys that make noise independently, sometimes: We have a fridge farm toy.  Sometimes Cecelia LOVES it when the song plays.  Sometimes she looks skeptically at it as if to say, "But how does it know?"

6) Your favorite and mine...the carseat:  I gave myself the blogging Murphy's Law kiss of death when I indicated in an earlier post that Cece was beginning to tolerate the carseat.  Wrong-o-wrong, wrong.  Now, we do our best to time any long car trips to correspond to nap time.  Two birds, one stone.  But if she wakes up on the way, or if she's in the car during an alert time, all bets are off - could be good, could be very, very (very) bad.  I've gotten better at tolerating such shenanigans.  In the early days, I ALWAYS pulled over to check on my baby girl, to get her out of that evil seat, and rock her, nurse her, love her, because she clearly NEEDED me.  Now, I call back, "eh - you're ok." And on we go.

7) Water: Again, not all the time, but she's not a lover of the pool.  She will be though, if it's the last thing I do that girl WILL love the water.

8) Sand: Such a girly girl, when her feet extend to sand, she recoils in disgust.  When I plopped her in the sand to see if "immersion" might do the trick, she proceeded to pluck sand from her tootsies one grain at a time.

9) Grass: As with sand, she just won't touch the stuff with her feet.  at. all.  So, silver lining here - if I put her on a blanket in the midst of either sand or grass, she's not going ANYWHERE.  Even though she's a fully mobile unit now, I can trap her on her very own island and know that she's not going to make a jail break.

10) Certain relatives: Sometimes she loves 'em, sometimes...not so much.  All in good time :)

Oh wait...did I mention the balloons?

Parent Proof

Yep - darts with daddy.

Safety net

Since my mind's been wiped and, in general, has been a bit hazy all year long, forgive me if I start to repeat myself in blog posts.  I've had lots of blog post ideas swimming around in my head all year and often did not have the time or internet access to post promptly while those ideas were fresh in my head.  So, onto parent proofing the house.  I recall last spring, while I was still pregnant, a friend's sister coming over to our house.  She took one look at our house and nearly had a panic attack just thinking of all the "necessary" changes we would need to make to our home in order for it to be safe for a baby/toddler/new person.  Let me walk you through our home and discuss the "changes" we actually made.  I read a book (well, actually listened to the audio book while driving in the car, but I digress) called "Free Range Kids" by Lenore Skenazy.  She has been dubbed the worst parent in America and wears this title proudly.  The reason she wears said title proudly is because the title is ridiculous and, of course, untrue.  She allowed her son to ride the subway by himself, to let him figure out how to get around, because he asked her to.  She let him go.  She let him figure things out.  Terrible, I know (note the sarcasm).  Skenazy cites research having to do with the actual rate of child abduction (quite low, but well publicized), the occurrence of razor blades in apples on Halloween (never actually happened, just theorized by Dear Abby), and other widely believed scare tactics designed to get people at most vulnerable points in life (for example...new parents) to buy more stuff.

Where's the chalk?

We'll start with the obvious - stairs.  We did get a gate for the top of our stairs, which turned out to be the most dangerous item in our home.  Our stairs have a metal railing on one side and a wall on the other, but without making modifications, we were having difficulty finding a gate that would be truly secure at the top of these stairs.  We bought one that was designed to screw into the metal railing only to find that it was too tall as it was an "extra tall" top of stairs gate.  We returned it.  We also bought a pressure mounted gate with this in mind for the top of the other stairs (sprially and scary to all except for we who live here and love it to bits) and office entrance.  As it turned out, that one was too wide for that area upstairs.  We did measure.  Anywho, we tried the pressure mounted gate at the top of our stairs and would squeeze it in there and once Cecelia was on the move (crawling) she was obsessed with it.  All she wanted to do was go to the gate.  I swear if there was no gate there I don't think it would have occurred to her to approach the top of the stairs but that was a gamble that even I was not willing to take.  Once she was pulling up, the gate was even more desirable as it was just the right size for her to hold on to and rock.  Now, we removed her from the site of potential danger.  But once, and I was right next to her, she was too fast.  I had decided that if supervised, she could stand at the gate because my thinking was that she would get it out of her system, all this gate loving, and move on to some other part of the house to be obsessed with.  She pushed and she pulled and she pushed and she pulled and the gate gave way.  I hate the gate.  I promptly decided that the pack and play we never use was just the right size to blockade the top of the stairs and has resided there ever since.  This was my first thought before getting any gates, but we thought we'd try it out.  Now, a pack and play might not work in every home, but for us, it has been the perfect fit.  We can move it easily, but Cece can not move it easily.  She can still see through it when someone is coming up the stairs (fun) and she can still stand up near it with no chance of it being used as a sled for the stairs.

Working on my core muscles.

As for the other stairs (spirally), there are two ends to contend with - the bottom and the top.  At the bottom, I wanted Cece to experiment with climbing stairs so originally there were no impediments.  And experiment she did.  She was able to get up and promptly would try to get back down by sitting on her bottom.  Mom fail.  So, the toy box moved to blockade the bottom of the stairs.  We have since moved it out of the way to practice climbing stairs and back again when Cece is playing.  Did I mention we practice on these stairs and she is a master spiral stair climber.  I'm right behind her when she does this, don't worry.  At the top of the stairs, we've utilized that lovely pressure mounted gate leaning against the doorway since it's too wide, but once Cece could stand she would have just pulled it on top of herself anyway.  What I found is much more effective, if we're up there for an extended period of time, is to use the printer cart.  Our computer printer is on a rolling cart from IKEA.  It's carpeted and does not roll at all easily (i.e. Cece cannot move it) but easily enough for me to slide it in front of the doorway/top of stairs gap.  It is just shy of the width of the opening, but perfect for blocking access.

No, we didn't turn it on...

Onto chemicals and other Mr. Yuck sticker worthy items!  One simple solution is to get rid of all the chemical cleaners in your home.  We try to clean with only natural items like vinegar, baking soda, olive oil, lemon, etc.  Past that, we keep cleaners (even those natural ones) in a caddy in the outdoor closet that Cece does not have access to.  In the kitchen, everything that was under the cabinet (soap, dishwasher detergent, etc) was moved to the cabinet above the sink (well out of reach of Cece, and Jeff and I :) and moved all tupperware and storage type containers under the sink.  This is one of Cecelia's favorite places to explore, so why deny her the pleasure?  Pots and pans are also at baby-level and there are drawers next to the refrigerator with paper plates that she can pull out and have a ball with as well as plastic utensils and straws that she adores.  She enjoys pulling items out of our recycling bin which does reside in the kitchen, so we make sure things are well rinsed.  I've begun to just turn the trash can around so that the open end is facing the wall.  It's still easy enough to deposit trash, but (at the moment anyway) a conundrum not worth the time to a one year old.  Similarly, metal mixing bowls are on the bottom shelf of a wire rack and cookbooks are accessible for her to peruse.  Because...why not?

Sorting plastic and glass

Mrs. Clean

We did remove our table cloth because Cecelia, being the problem solver she is, realized that if something was on the table, all she had to was a swift magic trick to get it back down again.

Power tools are a must.

Navigating the bridges of life

As for sharp corners, we moved our coffee table out of the center of the room.  Our fireplace offers a fun challenge.  There is one REALLY sharp corner and edge, so we took a body pillow and laid it around the edge of the fireplace while Cecelia was learning to crawl.  Once she was steady, we removed the pillow.  Because Cecelia has always had the fireplace there, it's no longer such a novelty.  She does, at times, like to play with the mesh, or touch the edge, but she's never tried to crawl in (yet) and she's never knocked her noggin on that edge.  I'm not ruling it out as a possibility in life, but I think because she's been around it, it's a non-issue.  We did remove the fireplace tools because, well, who needs the weaponry, am I right?  Same thing with the tv stand edges and corners - pillows do wonders.

I was told there would be candy in this basket.

The bathroom is one of Cecelia's favorite places to hang out.  Under the sink there, I've made sure there are plenty of things for her to pull out and explore and anything I wouldn't want her near is either above the sink, completely gone, or way in the back blocked by all the fun baskets in the front.  She loves brushes.

Yes, please.

But I needed it!

  

We don't have any locks on drawers or cabinet doors.  I figure cause and effect - she opens a drawer, she learns how a drawer opens.  She closes a drawer, she learns how a drawer closes.  She pinches her fingers, she learns not to stick her fingers in a drawer and close it.  Cause and effect.

Mom, this is NOT amusing.

Ta-da

And, everyone's favorite: electrical outlets.  We don't have outlet covers.  Why?  They are plastic (bad for you and bad for the environment) and one friend told me that they could be a choking hazard.  I can guarantee that if we had outlet covers, Cecelia would make it her mission to pry them out.  Then she steps on them, ouch, the outlet would be uncovered anyway, etc.  Now, I'm going to be blunt here - if you don't give your child a metal object that he/she can stick into an outlet, then there should be no problems.  If you do give your child a fork, knife, metal coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter), or other small metal object, then they might stick it in an outlet.  Don't let them do that.  Keep all coins (another choking hazard) out of reach and same thing with metal cutlery and voila problem solved.

Playground-proof

I'll just plug this in here...

I'm sure that I'm forgetting some other "essential" baby proofing products - there are so many out there, baby knee pads...don't even get me started...but off the top of my head, this is how we evaluated our home.  Another thing to think about is your individual child and your individual family.  For example, I observed when Cece was learning to sit and once she became more steady.  I would seat her with cushioning around her on the side she might roll to.  When she started to crawl, I could see if she was likely to bobble or how steady she was, and likewise, with pulling up and, now, walking.  I am certain that new challenges will surface and it is important to keep your child safe.  But, it is also important not to bubble-wrap them and assume that you can protect them from everything.  If children aren't given the opportunity to explore when they want and need to, they'll find a way.  It's in their nature, and it's an important learning process.  You also need to know your tolerance level.  If you won't be able to handle having EVERY container pulled out, then you should probably lock that cabinet drawer.  Know yourself and know your kid.

Just add bubble wrap.

Ba(b)y-watch

Mind Wipe

And the mind wipes (this term is not from MIB, but rather from the Artemis Fowl series which I am reading...and loving now) are complete.  Yesterday, I held 4 week old Anna and had that moment that I saw play out so many times when others held Cece at this age and younger where I thought to myself...I don't remember Cece ever having been this small.  And she was.

Baby Accessible

I never gave much thought to the accommodations of many places as regarding family-friendliness prior to having a baby myself.  The first time these particular thoughts crossed my mind was when I went out to lunch with friends of ours who had recently had their first baby.  His dad took him to the restroom to change his diaper, but returned to the table because the restroom did not have a changing table facility.  And so, the baby's mom took him instead.  I remember thinking to myself, well, in today's world, there should be a changing table in the men's room too.  What if dad had been out to lunch or dinner with baby by himself?

When I had a baby of my own and was confronted with such realities on a daily basis, it was quite eye opening.  I wanted to share some of what I found in regards to the family friendliness of different facilities and what makes them more (or less) family friendly.  Any time there is a family restroom, that is generally best because mom or dad can take baby there, any time that family restroom also has a chair for nursing even better.  And the all star is most impressive.  In the world of malls, Neshaminy (surprisingly) has the best facility - they have a whole suite!  The first time I went to Neshaminy Mall with Cecelia was in the morning for a One Fit Mama class and I went to the women's restroom and was appalled to find it had no changing table and it was quite difficult to navigate a stroller even into the restroom.  An employee who just happened to be in there (thank goodness) informed me that there was a (really nice) family restroom area.  I found it after class to check it out.  There were two family restrooms with changing tables, two changing tables outside the family restrooms, and a nursing room with three or four chairs.  Impressive.  Another good feature was the door-less-ness of this area, so you don't have to maneuver opening a door while either backing up with a stroller or pushing one forward.  Neshaminy gets the all-star in my book.  Montgomery Mall also has door-less restrooms, but are more traditional in that there are bathroom stalls and then a changing table at the far end.  The changing table is very nice and built in with a pad and a dispenser to lay down a paper liner.  Tricky thing here is getting your stroller all the way to the end - can't even imagine if the restroom was full and I have run into the situation where others are waiting since there is one changing table per bathroom.  As a mom of an EC baby, I even prefer to have the changing table as a drop down inside the handicapped stall so that you can discreetly undress baby, potty baby, and re-dress without having to go in and out of a stall.  Willow Grove mall's bathrooms have a door making them least friendly in the mall department.

Ikea has a super friendly set up, which is no surprise because it's Ikea and they're pretty awesome at most things.  They have a nursing room and changing table connected to a kid-friendly sized bathroom.  Only thing is, again, that there's one chair to nurse in, one changing table, and one bathroom, so there could be a line if it's a particularly family busy day.  Whole Foods has a nursing bathroom with a comfy chair in the corner and also has a changing table.  Now the trick is, I can't remember which one - one has it and one doesn't and I'm thinking of North Wales and Jenkintown - will have to check back about that.  Babies R Us, not surprisingly, also has a pretty good set up with a nursing room with comfy seating and two changing tables.  This is entirely separate from the bathroom, which is good in some ways but a minus for an EC mom.  Fortunately, there is also a changing table in the bathroom as well.

Another surprise to me was places that were just plain lacking a changing table.  It seems like a pretty inexpensive addition to make a place all the more appealing to a person with kids.  Off the top of my head, the park in Horsham where we had Cece's birthday, Everybody's Playground, has no changing table in the bathroom.  Also Baja Fresh (random, I know, but fresh in my mind).  And our condo association pool, where they indicate you must take baby to the bathroom to change a diaper.  Well, guess what - until they put in a changing table, I'm not taking her there to change her diaper.

I've gotten quite adept with changing her on my lap when needed, but to the chagrin of anyone who's witnessed the phenomenon and think Cece's going to launch off my lap and crack her skull.  She's totally fine and we've done it a million (well probably not a million..) times.  I realize that you don't always need a changing table to change a baby, but it is nice.  I do wish that so many weren't made of plastic, but I'm not sure what the best alternative would be there.

Being a mom with a stroller made me all the more aware of the wheelchair accessiblity or lack thereof of many places.  It also made me grateful that I had the option to sling my baby rather than using the stroller all the time.  While in a department store in the mall or at Target or Kohls for example, (oh - Kohl's also has a chair in the bathroom for nursing - purposes as does Macy's) it is much easier to navigate the racks with baby in a sling instead of a stroller.  You can't even get through the aisles with a stroller, so I have a tough time imagining what that might be like in a wheelchair.

Throughout the post, I've mentioned places where one might nurse a baby as well.  When Cece first arrived, I was very conscientious of being discreet while nursing in public.  I've gotten to the point, personally, where I find it more discreet to just feed her when needed (which isn't often in public at this point anyway).  She covered the area better than any cover might and most people do not realize what is happening unless they are waiting for me to feed my baby.  With that said, it is nice for places to offer a private and comfortable area for mothers, especially when baby is young and might eat for 45 minutes or more.  To sum up those places: Ikea, Whole Foods, Babies R Us, Neshaminy Mall, any Motherhood Maternity store, really any store with a fitting room, Kohl's bathroom, Macy's bathroom (both of these were just a regular chair in the corner - better than nothing), any department store with a "waiting room" just inside the bathroom - with a comfy couch or chair.  And really, remember you can nurse your baby ANYWHERE...by law.

And thus finishes my rant - this is a post that had been brewing in my brain for quite some time and I'm glad to have "gotten it down".  Hopefully it is a help to someone.