Wandering Browns

His first bites of oatmeal Owen is five months old! This month, he started eating solid food! In the weeks leading up to starting solids, he was sleeping one four hour stretch, then waking up every 1.5-2 hours very hungry. After starting solids, he started sleeping a little longer at night and waking up every three hours instead of every 1.5-2! Success! We started with oatmeal for a few weeks, and he's tried sweet potato, butternut squash, green beans, bananas, avocado, apples, and pears. I think he likes pears the most, but he eats everything we give him! Owen is such a smiley baby! He is easily calmed when upset and loves to try to catch your eye and then do a big cheek-splitting smile. His cheeks fluctuate in size depending on if he's growing longer or wider- it is fun to see him grow. We were in California for his 5 month birthday and two weeks after, so I broke out the 12 month clothes to pack since 9 month clothes were starting to get a little tight. I though...

Now that I've learned what kind of parent I want to strive to be, and how to deal with outbursts/tantrums/bullying/hurting behavior, here are a few more rules and tips: Two rules of Love and Logic: 1. Adults must set firm, loving limits using enforceable statements without showing anger, lecturing, or using threats. This is hard for me- mostly coming up with enforceable statements and giving appropriate choices where I'm OK with either outcome. Sometimes, the choices are dictated by the kid's behavior. For example, if kid is having a tantrum and I ask if he would like to go to his room on his feet or by being carried, and he just continues to throw the fit, he has effectively chosen to be carried. Oh, it is exhausting, but it is better than getting angry and escalating the situation! 2. When a child causes a problem, the adult shows empathy through sadness and sorrow then lovingly hands the problem and its consequences back to the child. This means having a limited v...

Over the past few months, we've had great days and terrible days with Landon. If I disciplined too harshly or got frustrated, everything would backfire and the day would get worse and worse. If I didn't correct behavior, however, then Landon was winning in every way and not learning proper behavior. My patience was wearing thin due to sleep deprivation and trying to figure out how to split my attention between two kids. We were floundering, see my desperate mothering post here ...  and then I received the answers to my prayers in the form of this book- Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay. It addressed all of my main concerns, gave me great strategies that really work, and calmed my fears that I was a terrible parent. I realized I'm not a terrible parent, just another mommy trying to do her best to raise good kids. This book starts with a few scenarios that sounded all too familiar- misbehaving kids in the store, a kid running away in the airport, ...