This is a multiple topics post…

We went to a baby’s first birthday party today and it really made me realize how different the 12 month old is from the 15 month old. Jack (the birthday boy) was born exactly three months after Little Bug. Three months ago Little Bug was still a baby. Now, at 15 months old, there is no baby left in her. It’s remarkable really. Jack is a baby today, but come November 27th there will be no baby left in him.

All this reminded me that months ago I intended to write everything I learned from Babywise during Little Bug’s first year so that I will readily have that information available to refer back to when our second child comes along. Then, I was looking in my post drafts on my laptop and found many of these posts I intended to write partially written but never published! So, all that to say… Those posts are coming. I’ll label them all “Babywise” and then I’ll share every “trick” I learned all the way that made life with an infant as smooth as possible.

Here are two photos for you to compare for yourself.

Little Bug at 12 months old:

Little Bug at (almost) 15 months old:

There is a HUGE developmental leap from month 12 to 15! A baby becomes a TODDLER within 90 days.

Might as well do a nap update …

Like I said, we went to a birthday party today. Little Bug skipped her morning nap. By 12:45ish she was sitting in her stroller with a blank stare on her face as we were walking out of the zoo. She was tired, very tired. But there were no meltdowns and overall she was fine. However, she loves the zoo so I am sure the zoo was a huge distracter to the fact that she was tired. I gave her a cup of milk and laid her stroller back around the time that she would normally lay down for her morning nap. I thought there was maybe a 2% chance that she would fall asleep in her stroller and take a little catnap at the zoo. Yeah, I was right. She would sip her milk and then sit up in her stroller to make sure she hadn’t missed anything in the two seconds she had actually been lying down in her stroller. She doesn’t want to miss a thing. Not a single thing. (I love that about her!)

Anyway, we came home, she got a bath and was laid down for a nap. She was out like a light. Tomorrow is Sunday (her usual day to skip the morning nap because of church) so it will be interesting to see how she does tomorrow with two morning naps skipped in a row.

Last week I mentioned she was taking her morning nap one day and then skipping it the next. Well, this week she took a morning nap every morning and also took an afternoon nap. I laid her down at 10:30 each morning and by 10:45 she was asleep. I woke her up every day at 11:30 so that she would be tired enough for her afternoon nap at 3. Every day this week she laid down at 3:00 and was asleep most days between 3:15 and 3:30. I woke her up at 4:30 each day to make sure she would be tired enough for bedtime at 8:30.

The plan for next week is to continue with the two naps and reevaluate each week. I’m not going to push for only 1 nap until I see that she is consistently not sleeping for one of her naps.

This method of transitioning from 2 to 1 nap is really working well for us. I feel there is still much predictability about her schedule and I feel she is getting the rest she needs to be my happy girl!

Independent Playtime …

It’s not happening this weekend because of the party and church. Which maybe is a good thing? Maybe the break will bring back the novelty of it on Monday morning? One can only hope!

I had been doing IP closer to her naptime and after a walk outside, but I am thinking this week I will do IP right after breakfast. It is suggested that IP be done when a child is most happy. Little Bug is always eager to get down and play after breakfast because it’s her first opportunity of the day to play. So maybe she would do IP better if it was done during this time. We’ll see next week, I suppose!

- Elaine