Our CC week

I will try to blog once per week, which I should be able to do consistently.

The last few days, I found the following situations interesting in terms of TCC:

- We were in a park with large stairs. Dd wanted down so I took her out of the sling, put her down, and kept on walking (very slowly). She came down the stairs on her own, with caution and lots of focus on her movements. Two old ladies stopped and asked if dd was already able to get down the stairs herself.
I chose to be as honest as I could and said that I don't actually know, because this was the first time we really tried this. But that I have come to know dd as a cautious and and rather adept child so I wouldn't worry. It was nice to see how the old ladies trusted my judgement on this one. Plus dd was obviously fine and made it down the stairs all by herself.

- We get longer and longer stretches of sleep at night. We even had a night where we both must have slept 10 hours without any interruption. At least I don't remember any and my breast were full of milk in the morning, so it seems dd didn't nurse at night. Most often we sleep 5-6 hours in a row these days.
Dd naps once per day, mostly in the afternoon for around 2 hours on average.

- I tried a new ruck cross carry and find it very comfortable as dd's weigth is mostly on the chest pass and not so much on the shoulders. Dd must weigh around 21 dounds at the moment (almost 10kg) so I am probably lucky to have a rather light toddler.



stillen-und-tragen.de (thanks so the mother who uploaded this beautiful Picture!)


 

- I joined the facebook group "wrap jedis" and recommend it, tons of fun, and there is a lot of good advice on all the different carries. I love woven wraps for their versatility, and this group shows me a lot of new carries I can try.

- We went to our monthly cloth diaper meet-up, and dd climbed up the stairs to a little wooden house. She called for me when she wanted down. Which made me realize that she knows that she cannot do it herself yet (especially with lots of other children walking up and down the same small stairs). It's important to know that!

- Oh and an older boy beat her up. :-( When she was up in the house she suddenly started to cry and I was up there two nanoseconds later and pulled the boy off her. He totally did it on purpose and tried to hurt her. Seriously, seeing that broke my heart. Dd was fine some seconds later but I took it really hard! I need to watch out for her more when other children are around.

- I'm grateful for another little boy who just turned 3, and they are so sweet together. They make each other laugh, have lots of fun, and he often watches out for her. I've seen him tell other kids to take good care because she's still a baby. Heartwarming.

- I think that three hours of time spent ouside daily are a good compromise for us at the moment. It's a good base for dd and what I can do realistically on a daily basis.

- I have gotten a little better at doing my daily activities with dd. It's not always super easy to find an age-appropriate way for her to join in. But we're getting there. I'm having another skype session on this specifically with Alexsandra Burt tonight. How to keep dd happy inside.

Consulting session #4 with Alexsandra Burt

I've been wanting to write this blog post for a while now. Weeks have gone by since we've had our fourth session.

Every time I feel so relieved, reassured, and understood.

This time we spoke about some issues I have when we are inside a lot.

The most important message was: Carry on joyously what you're doing!

Quite often, I let myself get distracted by dd complaining or making unhappy sounds. Ok, every time I get distracted by that. I wonder if I did something wrong, why we're not in the continuum, and what not.

I practiced that a lot - just carrying on what I was doing. It was easy because I no longer feel bad if she complains a little. I just try to find a way she can help me with what I'm doing, or I find something she can do (things she has forgotten about), or I take her outside (that is almost guaranteed to work). Pretty much what I did before, but without beating myself up!

We talked about so much else, but this was the most important message for me this time.

Not to try so hard, but enjoy more. Not to take frustration over something dd cannot get to work right away for unhappiness.

Humor and joy

Some days ago I asked hubby if I should hold dd while he is doing chores at night (aering the room, packing his bag for the next day).

His reply was: "We're fully in the continuum, please don't disturb!".

I had a really good laugh.

He has a way of using the things I talk about in little jokes a few days later. I had told him about doing all our daily activities with dd, and apparently he got the message.

I had fun today, too, making fun of myself. It helps me to lighten up when I take this entire parenting thing too seriously.

A famous parenting author talks about how we should be "light houses" for our children.

I washed my hands and dd wanted to be picked up, and I wanted to finish washing my hands. Dd was grumbling a little and I said "Common, I'm the light house here". Had to laugh about my own joke and dd laughed with me.