posted by Andrew on May 30, 2009 |
Once upon a time, a child turned and said, “Dad, why is that every time Mommy gets tired I have to take a nap?”
That story generally brings a smile to our faces because it helps us see an interesting facet of life: parental logic. A child may never understand, but the need to take a nap will depend occasionally more on the energy reserve of the parent than that of the child. Why? Because when the parent hits the metaphorical brick wall and has to get sleep for sanity or other health-related reasons, that sleep can only be restorative when there is secure knowledge that the child is safe. That is parental logic at work, and it isn’t as crazy as we might think at first.
Sometimes, though, the logic doesn’t really seem to work. I’ve been pondering one of those cases for much of the last month. When Elisa goes down for a nap, sometimes she gets mad, throws a fit, and cries. Sometimes, she sees the swaddling cloth, gets antsy, and cries. Sometimes she seems to know exactly what is going on and just drops off to sleep. In all of these cases, I conclude, with parents’ logic, that she was ready for a nap.
In the first case, I simply state, “Since she gets mad at a little thing like being put down for a nap, that is evidence that she is way too tired. She needs this nap.” In the second case, I reason that since she is unsure of what to do or how to react to something she has done hundreds of times, she must be too tired to cope with the world. The time has for a nap. In the last case, I simply figure that since she isn’t fighting it, she must know that she is tired and needs a nap to feel better. In other words, all circumstances lead to the same conclusion: she needs a nap.
Once we, as parents, have determined the time has come for her to nap, down she goes. We use the circumstances surrounding her going down for the nap—whatever they are—as part of the reason for putting her down to sleep. That is parental logic at its best. I’ve summarized it to myself as, “Napped if you and Napped if you don’t.” Isn’t parental logic great?
posted by Kristin on May 15, 2009 |
Monday Elisa had her nine month check-up – a very exciting one since there are no shots!
Here are the stats (up to the very inaccurate measurements possible with a moving baby):
Height: 28-1/4 inches
Weight: 18 lb. 4 oz.
Here are some non-conventional stats:
Three teeth
Favorite food: Almost anything, but really enjoying finger foods like pears, grapes and flavored puffs
Favorite sounds: She says “ma-ma” and “da-da” without knowing what they mean, but mostly say “WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH” – in capitals because it is loud and she opens her mouth up wide for each syllable.
Favorite book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Well, at least it is the book she always picks off the shelf and she seems to actually listen to it. ..at least until the last page when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. 
Perhaps she doesn’t realize the caterpillar and the butterfly are the same?)
Favorite toys: almost anything she can bang – especially her rattle. However, she does love her bunny and is learning to be gentle with Ink (yes, to her, I’m sure the cat is a toy!)
And of course, our cutest baby yet!!
posted by Kristin on May 15, 2009 |
It has been a few weeks of continued rapid development. A few weeks ago, as she was starting to move more, we got her a truck to walk with and she immediately took it for a brisk walk the length of the family room.
Tuesday, May 5 Elisa took her first unsupported step. She was probably as surprised as anyone! She has let go before and stood for a second or two before grabbing hold again or getting down on hands and feet, but this time she let go and moved toward another person and then realized what she’d done, stopped and got down. Friday May 9 , she also got up on her hands and knees – the first time she actually got her knees under her that we’ve seen. Of course, she didn’t just rock back and forth but immediately moved forward one “step”! She’s done each of these once or twice more in the past week. This week, on Wednesday (May 13), she started pushing up to hands and feet. To prove that this wasn’t an accident (the way the first step and crawling might have been), she spent the afternoon and evening repeatedly getting up onto hands and feet and has continued to do it.
Today (May 15), for the first time Mommy came into her room after a nap to find her standing in the crib! With Mayterm, Elisa has been with the babysister until 1 and doesn’t seem to like napping there, so we have had nice long naps every afternoon this week – which is providential for mommy as she has a week’s worth of material to prepare for every morning! Today Mommy was having a nap herself when Elisa woke up earlier than usual (after only 2 hours…). Mommy awoke to Elisa laughing in her gleeful overexcited way. Although she has become much more content as she wakes up – probably because she is able to move more – she doesn’t usually wake up laughing! So it wasn’t a huge surprise to find her standing. The picture was an attempt to recreate the experience – but she wasn’t very happy about the dramatic recreation.
We continue to expect that she could take off running at any moment – and not just horizontally!
posted by Kristin on May 15, 2009 |
Yesterday (Friday, May 8), Elisa learned to take pots and pans out of the cupboard. Mommy was cooking and heard a sudden clatter at her feet and found that Elisa had a saucepan lid in hand. We put it back…only to have it leave the cupboard again and again. The third time it was followed by a metal pie plate and a heavy glass pie plate was in hand before Mommy got across the kitchen. Therefore we moved out of the kitchen for a bit, bringing the lid and metal pie plate along with a wooden spoon for some fun! The wooden spoon was a little long for good banging, but she learned to choke up on it eventually. (She has since liked the wooden sppon well enough that she has taken it with her in the car – it is a little disconcerting to see a wooden spoon waving in the back seat!) Later in the afternoon, she managed to get into the dish cupboard in the dining room (a glass carafe) and the entertainment center (cords and batteries) in the family room. 
We will be installing latches ASAP… We’ll see how soon she starts to enjoy removing books from shelves!
Earlier, Elisa enjoyed the vaccuum cleaner hose. She has vaccuumed with Mommy a few times while riding in the Snugli. Her other experience with the vaccuum cleaner is getting her nose sucked out (and in general she really doesn’t like it and starts crying when we sit down next to the vaccuum). However, she is able to leave this experience behind her and enjoyed the vaccuum cleaner hose when it was in the living room. She really enjoyed picking up the hose and working her way along it to the nozzle…which of course she wanted to put in her mouth!
Elisa does get involved with laundry. She happily grabs laundry out of the basket and helps dirty it more by putting it. She also rides down to the basement in the laundry basket with mommy – and frequently laughs since she enjoys this – and then has enjoyed watching the washing machine go around and around and around. I don’t think baby entertainment was one of our criteria in picking a front-loading washer…but we’ll take it as a happy side effect! When mommy folds and hangs clothes in the bedroom, she frequently walks along the edge of the bed – and also tries to get around mommy to cords from the alarm clock and bedside lamp.
She also longs to help care for the plants - but her methods of caring mostly involve picking the flowers, whether she is inside or out. At least today she didn’t immediately try to put the grass she was picking in her mouth, but just threw it away – because that’s always what happens when she tries to put it in her mouth anyway!
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