Well I can’t believe it! Tomorrow Baby Z turns 6 months old! Half a year has come and gone.
As I have mentioned before I have not done as much as I could have the first month or two due to postpartum depression. Once I got that under control we started full force.
My intentions were to start the HSIYB program. But soon decided it was better to use it as a reference instead of a step by step program. Following my mommy gut seems to work better for us.
Tummy time is hard. It is even more important for Baby Z because he has a condition called right torticollis. However when your baby has his height and weight in the 3rd percentile and then his noggin is in the high 90’s, it proves to be difficult. If we do tummy time without a c pillow(boppy pillow) he just flips right over on to his back. His head is so heavy. But since using the boppy and doing tummy time while watching Sparkabilities we have noticed a huge improvement. We have been having physio appointments at Children’s Hospital and have ben making huge improvements. INCLUDING completing a goal she had set for us for January 2013 after only one visit. She said he’s hitting physical milestones of a 5 month old, which makes total sense for him because he was nearly 3 weeks early and only 5lbs 15oz at birth.
My kiddo LOVES Doman Dots! I have heard so many kids hate them, but there has been a few times where my little one will be crying and I pull out the dots and he squeals with joy! We also do LM when we have access to a computer and an app called Baby Doesn’t Count.
Either while I was pregnant or shortly after Baby Z was born, TmT and I had been talking and she came up with the idea of counting to 100 every day to baby. To me this made total sense. How many of us remember nursery rhymes our mom’s sang to us as children? So at least once a day(usually while I’m rocking my little one to sleep for the night or for nap), we :
Count to 100
Count to 100 by 2’s
Count to 100 by 5’s
Count to 100 by 10’s
Count Backwards from 100 to 0
Now when my little one is fussy I just have to cuddle him and start counting and he usually starts to settle.
We are also showing his once a day YBCD. Which he will sit through the entire epidsode.
I love the Miracle Music Math System. It is so darn easy. Just play the DVD in the background and carry on with your day. Hubby on the other had says it makes him want to kill himself or stab his ears with a razor blade to make the sound stop. That being said I personally find it soothing, as does my daycare parents who hear it when they come pick up their children. Tomorrow we switch over to Disc 2!
As for reading. We us iAccess and do LR every day. Which at first he would only watch a bit. His attention span wasn’t their just yet at 3 months old. But slowly he lasted longer and longer and now he can watch the whole lesson no problem! He especially loves the phonics lessons at the end.
We are also doing Doman Red Word flash cards. We do one set of 10 2-3 times a day and retire them after he has seen them 15 times. Usually we are retiring 5 at a time.
As well we are using theYBCR system. However I’m thinking that Wink To Learn Speak and Read system strikes me as a better program. So we are only doing one DVD for one month, and we will switch over to the Wink To Learn program. I think Baby Z is getting a lot of overlapping since we are doing LR, Doman’s program, and then WtL, there is no point in making him watch the same video for 2 months at a time.
I would love to learn more about what PokerDad is doing with voice imitation. While my hubby thinks I’m silly for doing all these little program with Baby Z, he loves to sit there and get him to babble and imitate. We swear we have heard him imitate Boo, and Daddy. Also we count one, two and wait and he usually will fill in with a babble, trying to say three. There is no doubt Baby Z is a lot chatter then his brother Wesley. But Wesley was a lot more physical, already pulling up on furniture at this age. Its amazing how different they are!
Some non-EL updates.
Baby Z still has not had a disposable diaper touch his butt since he was 6 weeks old. I would love to do EC with him, but since I’m working out of the home I have decided to pick my battles.
Baby Z started solids. Besides baby cereal I’m making everything this time and not buying jarred food. I talked to our local nutritionist and she suggested just buying a good quality, organic cereal instead of trying to make it, because they are fortified with iron. Something I can’t add myself.
Last night I spent the evening coloring dots, I’m hoping to really start our music program with both the boys soon!
If you want to read more about our journey, be sure to check out my blog!
That’s a great update! It appears as though baby Z is conquering the hurdles of life with little resistance.
A few thoughts:
With the Music Math system, it is soothing but I’ve grown tired of listening to it long ago. We still listen everyday as I have it playing in the background. I secretly wonder if Cub does what I do which is habituate or stated another way learn to ignore it since it’s playing almost all day long everyday.
The torticollis sounds like it would set back any baby’s physical development but it makes sense if the body is small and the head is large. Regardless, I think you’re doing great having him do tummy time on the boppy while watching a DVD. That seems like an awesome solution.
As for voice imitation, well… hmmm… Cub has stopped imitating for quite some time. I was just talking to the Mrs about this the other night, I miss it really. I’m not worried that he doesn’t do it anymore, but I do wonder if it’s good or not for him to stop like he has. He was able to imitate entire words (though small single syllable ones) but not anymore. Now he just babbles and comes up with his own sounds. I think the skill has to still be there. How could he imitate so well at a few weeks old but then lose the ability? So, I think (and this is an uneducated opinion with no experience to back it up) that babbling instead of imitating helps him more by going independent and exploring sounds… even if in my own head I think learning a language would be faster just imitating… so this is what I’m telling myself to feel better!!
There is a chance that he’s stopped imitating due to me not forcing the issue. Perhaps this is something I’ll try out this week to see if he starts it back up. We’ve just been more focused on labeling items in the house (which LR is awesome at doing just naturally)
Overall, it sounds like you’re doing great and I’ll be sure to drop in on your blog more frequently.
I don’t think our conscience brain is suppose to listen to the MMMS. Its really suppose to be played in the background and the right brain is suppose to absorb it. I often leave it play during lesson time, play time, nap time. Its just background sound designed to nurture the right brain. Or atleast thats how I look at it. Come to think of it I have to start playing it again at night time for my 7 year old again. I noticed when we first started playing it at night for him, his language exploded. I guess only time will tell, but I wonder if it is the reason Baby Z is so excited for his math programs?
As for the sound imiation keep us posted! I tried to find that book you reccomended in another post about early language. But $50+ is a bit out of my price range. That being said, maybe I should invest in it. My oldest has always struggled with language, I want to do everything possible to have Baby Z avoid this.
Thank you for your kind comments! I just noticed you have a blog in your signature. I’ll have to add it to my reading list
waterdreamer - you have a great programme running for your little baby, well done! Tummy time on the pillow while watching Sparkabilities is an excellent idea.
We are following a fairly similar schedule to you so I’ll be interested to see how you get on with Wink to Learn.
As for MMMS, I like it, which is a good thing as I play it all night for baby R which means I have to listen to it too. I’m sure I’ll be looking forward to CD2 when he turns 6 months though.
Have you considered just doing part-time EC where you offer your baby the potty at certain fairly reliable times like after waking, on getting out of the sling/buggy/car seat, & at every nappy change? You can also try watching for his signals when you are at home. That’s what we are doing (after being encouraged by pokerdad’s success with little cub) and it’s working really well.
pokerdad - I think you’re probably right about cub focusing on making his own sounds. I think it is a more advanced skill to produce your own range of sounds rather than imitate. Baby R has imitated some words but he seems to much prefer when I imitate him rather than the other way around.
seastar- Honestly, no I’ve never thought to do it part time. Maybe I should… I mean even if its just to get him use to the potty in hopes he will be potty trained before 3. Then again I have to becareful not to compare. His older brother had major digestive issues due to an intolrence to dairy and gluten. So once he was 3 and a bit we got it under control and he trained very quickly. http://www.smartpottytraining.com/book.html I have this book, so perhaps I should read it again.
And maybe take a look at the Diaper Free Baby book http://www.amazon.com/The-Diaper-Free-Baby-Training-Alternative/dp/0061229709. This is the EC book I read & the author has a very low key approach where she says some EC is better than none, even if it’s only one ‘pottytunity’ a week. She says the best time to try is the first pee of the day after waking up. Try that for a while. Then, once you are comfortable with that, add another fairly reliable time, such as right after a feed. This is how we started. Some days are better than others where I feel we catch around 90%, other days the figure is much lower. But knowing that we are aiming for part-time helps me be more relaxed about those busy days. I feel he is much happier since we started ECing and he always smiles when he uses the potty & appears delighted with himself afterwards.
Edited to add that he signals for the potty buy squirming, becoming a little agitated or stopping feeding. Also, he will generally pee on cue if I give him a pottytunity before we head out somewhere. My toddler loves cueing him when he is on the potty (ASL & ‘sss’ sound) and she also puts her dolls on a toy potty & cues them - very cute.
Too tempting to derail another thread into EC advocacy… my thoughts are
couldn’t imagine going without it at this point
we part time it - meaning that we use diapers 100% of the time, but give him opportunities and are very successful
he likes it, he knows what to do, we can word label it “pee… poop…” to the point where now I can ask him to do one or the other
sometimes it alleviates
This weekend, Cub’s 25 month old cousin was in town. I was startled to see him wearing a diaper (my apologies, I’m a first timer so I lack any frame of reference) but then my jaw hit the floor when he walked across the room to mom “poo-poo mommy”. I thought, “oh cool, he’s telling her he needs to go!” but then mommy says “you went? Okay I’ll change you” An hour later he did it again right there in his pants and went to tell his mom.
Wow. What a different world. Definitely recommend introducing it. I just updated my blog and at the end I talk about a friend that’s into unschooling… well, her little (almost 4) year old isn’t potty trained. He even says “I’m not potty trained yet”. The problem is he’s afraid of the potty apparently (that’s what she told me)… again, wow, different world.
Well its something to think about for sure. And another thing to add to the list of crazy things I do for the hubby to make fun of me for LOL.
What kind of potty do you use? I have to go buy one anyways because one of my daycare kiddos is ready to share traditional potty training.
We did it partially also. I think it helps that James was cloth diapered with Fitteds and prefolds. So he certainly felt wetness early on and he let me know his distaste for it.
We started by what I call “catching pee and/or poop” I would just put James on the potty before bath and before bed. And after meals and after waking. Eventually he just started letting me know when he needed to go.
Poker dad: My husband was in shock when I told him that most 2 year olds wear diapers, drink from bottles, have binkies and sleep in cribs. We have always promoted sufficiency with James. My husband was even more floored when I told him tha most 3 year olds are also. It is the norm in America.
I’ve tried the toilet a few times and find it challenging… but I’m probably not doing it correctly (I think most ECers have the child face the back)… but to answer the question, we have the baby bjorn potty chair in his room and the baby bjorn smart potty down stairs. The smart potty is what fits him at this age, he can touch and stand up off the seat if he wants. The potty chair is too large but if I want I can lean him back and let him sit on his own while I read or feed or whatever. Both types have the same removable inner part for cleaning, which I like. If he were two years old, both of these would likely be far too small - but then again Cub is very large for his age.
EDIT: Korrale4kq, Cub’s 25 month old cousin uses a pacifier which I found odd. It’s normal I suppose… I remember sucking my finger for the longest time. Cub just doesn’t use a pacifier but he does have his fingers in his mouth a lot, so that’s something I’ll have to deal with down the road… but good news is that with less pacifier use comes faster language acquisition, on average of course.
My son is still a thumb sucker. But he ONLY uses it when he is in a stressed out situation and to go to sleep. Many kids will scream and fuss when scared or upset. My son just sucks his little thumb harder and faster.
I have noticed a big decline in thumb use now that James is approaching 3. He very seldom does it in public. In fact I can’t even remember the last time I saw him suck his thumb when not putting himself to sleep. I don’t push the issue. I figure he will continue to drop it. He has no other transitional or comfort item.
Oh and he was initially a finger sucker before fixating on his thumb.
Oh and James has a tiny potty. The same size as the bjorn little potty. It still fits him at almost 3. Though James is super petite. It is a good back up potty in a one toilet house. It stays in his room and he has access to it at night when he needs to go. Mostly he uses the toilet. And he still sits on that backwards. He just climbs up and goes whenever he needs to. No fancy seat. For a while he was “peeing like daddy” standing up, but his aim was horrendous. I told him he can practice that again when he is 3.
