Tag Archives: development

Attachment parenting and the most important year

attachment parenting

I can’t stress enough how lucky I am. Sure, I have plenty of ups and downs and real life and troubles like everyone else, but I am incredibly lucky – I work from home. While it’s a lot of hard work, and I’ve struggled to find a balance at times, it has meant that I’ve been able to work and take care of Harley at the same time. She hasn’t needed a nanny or a creche; I have been her primary caretaker, her teacher, her entertainment, her jungle gym, her bed, her food source, so in a word – her mommy.

It hasn’t been easy, and I often felt like I was failing. Especially when Harley was even smaller than she is now, I wondered if it was enough to just hold her during the day while I worked, I would get frustrated when I didn’t know what was wrong or when I felt like I couldn’t help her. It’s gotten so much easier as she has gotten bigger and easier to understand, and a big part of that is because we both know that I can take care of her, even when I’m not totally sure how. But the more I read about attachment parenting, the more it sounds like what I’ve done with Harley naturally, and will continue to do cognizantly. Continue Reading

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Activities for baby development – 6-9 months old

Harley at 6 months

I’ve written before about my desire to help Harley develop. It’s not just about making her a genius, which would obviously be great, but also about making her a well-rounded person with all the motor, cognitive, emotional and social skills she’ll need to thrive as she grows up. But it’s really weird with a baby. I mean, on the one hand, they are sort of like blobs who can’t really do that much, but on the other hand, their brains are developing faster than they ever will. They are learning so much all the time, even if it doesn’t feel like it, and there are all sort of things that we can do to help them.

I’m enjoying Harley a lot more now. She is so much more engaging – she smiles when we do things, she loves to see me and interact with me, and she is so much easier to read now. Plus, the activities that we can do together are much more fun now, too. Sure, the 3-6 month activities were pretty cool, and the stuff we did when she was 0-3 months helped so much with bonding, but now it feels like we do things together instead of me doing all the work. Continue Reading

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Why I think singing to my baby will help her

singing or headset

I’ve been exposing Harley to music since she was in the womb. No, I didn’t play Mozart at her in utero, but simply made a point to listen to some of my favorite songs every day so that they’d be familiar to her. I’ve continued to play them, albeit less regularly, since she was born. I knew music calmed her from an early age, and really that’s a reason enough to continue with music in her life. However, there’s more to it.

I noticed it when my mom was visiting, singing songs and playing games with Harley. It reminded me of the songs we used to sing growing up, and how music has the unique ability to stick with us. I still know all 50 states in alphabetical order because of a song I learned in what, fourth grade? Songs from my childhood can come on the radio and I still know every single word, even if I haven’t heard it in over a decade. There’s a power to music, and it makes more sense the more you look at it, making me know it’s the best thing I can do for my baby. Continue Reading

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Why Tummy Time matters and how I keep it interesting

Tummy Time

When I was still pregnant, I started reading about tummy time. I knew it was good for babies, but I wasn’t quite sure why. Especially in the early months, it seemed a bit useless and impossible, but I did it anyway. Now I’m seeing the results, and I can’t recommend it enough. But what is tummy time and why does it matter. And even more importantly, how can you make sure that you and your little one enjoy it?

The first thing to always remember is that babies are advised not to sleep on their tummies. By putting your little one down to sleep only on her back, you vastly reduce her risk of SIDS (aka Cot Death). Tummy time isn’t about sleep, it’s about active, attended time for playing and developing. In fact, tummy time is incredibly important for development – by holding up their heads babies develop their neck, shoulder, back and trunk muscles, all of which are important for turning over, sitting up and crawling. Harley loves tummy time, but that’s probably because of how I introduced her to it and how we keep it fun. Continue Reading

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Being “normal” as a preemie

breaking the normal mold

I was not expecting to have a preemie. It was not part of my plan, but it was medically necessary. After I got home from the hospital, I started reading up on preemies, and it was pretty scary stuff – there were so many articles and books about the challenges that are common for premature babies, and I was feeling so sad for my little princess. It was hard enough to see her so very tiny, filled with tubes and sensors in the NICU, but the idea that her struggle would continue long after she was home… it just broke my heart.

When she was still in the hospital, I remember a physiotherapist came in the one day and started chatting to me. She explained that premature babies do eventually catch up, but that you need to adjust for their age – instead of sitting by six months it would be six months from the due date, etc. That wasn’t so bad, and that’s how I thought of Harley for a while – as her real age and her “adjusted age”. But I’m not sure I need to keep doing that. Continue Reading

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