- I stopped working my old job. Thankful for that...however, had awkward 'end' w/ one of my coworkers. Sad, but sometimes it can't be helped. Glad that stress is over.
- We flew to friends house for Thanksgiving. The flights were very stressful w/ a one year old. She didn't want to sit/be contained...she did some screaming, a woman covered her ears. She did not sleep on either flight. Tired/exhausted mama---and baby. However, the visit w/ my friends and their family was just fabulous/amazing/heart-warming. They embraced my daughter like she was one of theirs.....she was the highlight of the show. It's exactly what I would have ordered up for her. My friend's Dad getting on the floor and playing w/ her.....his mom reading a story to her...grandma wanting to hold her (although baby kept going other direction). I was so happy for her/us that we got to experience a thanksgiving like that. I've come to realize that my extended family is quite cold. They don't hug, aren't very friendly. It's not to say they are bad people, it's just so different from what we just experienced. Makes me want to go back there every year.
- I am working w/ Dr.'s office to start embryo transfer medication/process Dec 19, transfer to be mid-january. Way later than I expected....I didn't realize the process was so long. I thought it would be like 2 weeks......nope.
- I am flying to my new city to house hunt this Thursday....for second time. We drove over before--the two houses I liked went pending. At that time I was still waffling about 'should I go, shouldn't I'...and now that I've decided to get on w it and AM going......I'm still mourning the loss of the one house because I could have totally seen us living there.
- We went to the park this past Saturday for Winter Party and saw Santa! We got our pic taken the year before w/ him and it was 80 degrees and I sweat the entire time. This year is was freezing, but baby was so into the people, bouncy house, homemade snow, and santa, that we stayed for almost an hour.
- Nanny officially stops working for us this Friday.
- I pushed out my start date until almost end of January. Have to figure out what I am going to do w/ baby for the next 2 months.
- Working on finding nanny in new location. So not happy w/ the options for daycares, so I am still reaching into my network for options. I just got an email back from a contact who has been a teacher for last 7 years but wants a career break. She is waiting tables and is very interested. I am very hopeful on this one...will meet her when I go over there Thursday. I was worried she would be turned off by salary, but she seems still interested.
- I decided to keep my house instead of sell and will rent it out. Think good financial decision, but the rental process could make me rethink this decision.
Here is a pic of baby at the park...I may have to start calling her by her name because baby girl isn't quite so applicable anymore :)
In her world....what occupies my mind is worrying she is bored. I think about her routine w/ the nanny and a lot of time is spent playing w/ toys. Nanny takes her to the park once a day, reads to her, teaches her little things like blowing kisses, etc,.....but I guess I feel like that's not enough. She seems to 'get' a lot of things, her language is increasing.....she LOVES when she is around other little kids.....we went to Dr. office and she laughed hysterically at this other little boy patting his hand on the bench.
Even on the weekends I worry....I usually take her somewhere on one or both days...either the Y, shopping, play date, etc. but downtime is at home and she spends a lot of time playing w/ her toys and 'exploring'.......some other things we do are: walking outside, read a lot of books, just started coloring, pulled out playdo, tried sticker pages, got her a slinky.
Perhaps that is exactly what she should be doing.....I guess for me I'd be bored wandering around picking up stuff and playing w/it. She isn't fussy for the most part, so maybe she is happy doing this....and it's just my thinking that I'm not doing enough for her, I should be stimulating her much more.....maybe that's it. I think she needs more stimulation.
This is where it starts getting harder....is it just me thinking we always should do/be/have/more.....OR, do I really need to do more w/ her?
Good questions. My son is 19 months and he does spend most of his waking hours going from toy to toy. But I work full time and can't afford a full day preschool program with more structure, so it is what it is for now.
ReplyDeleteWe read stories every night before bed, look at photo albums and name family members during the day, and add new activities like coloring as he's old enough. I think as long as they're content, learning and progressing, we must be doing it right!
I was in a few child development classes back in college, and have worked with children for many, many years. Play is how they learn best at this age. Even if they aren't using a toy for the proper/intended reason, they are still learning. For example, my 17 month old has a Little People barn with farm animals....sometimes he plays with it as intended, and sometimes he uses it to stand on to reach other things (a problem solving skill), sometimes he just throws the animals around the room, and sometimes we hide the animals and he finds them and we talk about the names/sounds of the animals. All of those activities are good for his brain in different ways even though they all involve the same toy. We recently spent a half hour just playing with a pair of socks and both of us had fun! Don't worry, you are doing great!!!
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