Thursday, February 26, 2009

7 Months...All Sorts of Big Girl Stuff.

I can't remember a previous month where I have noticed so many new developments with Avery. She is blooming into the most precious sassafras ever known to man!

1. She has another new tooth. That brings the grand total to 3. Sadly, she likes to use her mama as a teething toy so I'm trying to gently teach her to not injure her food supply.

2. Speaking of food supply, she continues to be very dramatic with solid foods. She will not be fed with a spoon. Period. She feeds herself whole bananas, avocado chunks, steamed carrots & potatoes when we have a roast and whatever else might be in the kitchen. She shutters, gags, leaps and squishes her nose with every bite. I suppose she gets her sensitive taste buds from me.

3. Naps are becoming a fight. It is amazing to watch a strong will emerge before your eyes. She challenges me daily and I try my best to lovingly win the battle. During said battles, I repeat to myself: "You are her mother and you know what is best for her." All of a sudden, I have become very aware of the strength we will need to discipline our sweet girl in her toddler years. I so desire that Avery will obey without question God and her parents!

4. She is WAY into books! She is quiet and thoughtful while we read to her. This makes her library-obsessed mother very proud.

5. She is sitting quite well unassisted and rarely stays in one spot. She travels the living room by rolling. In the last 2-3 days, I have noticed a lot of knee movement. She's getting close to crawling....you can see it in her frustrated eyes when a favorite toy has gotten away!

6. It doesn't really sounds like "mama," but she has started calling for me with a particular babble. I think words are coming soon.

7. Her favorite part of the day is when Barry comes home. She leaps up and down and smiles at him, forgetting all about scolding me for whatever it is I do wrong every afternoon about 4PM.

8. And the most exciting...Avery has been using the potty. I heard about elimination communication (EC) a lot when I was pregnant, but dismissed it as an unnecessary chore that I didn't want to add to my plate. But then I heard about the great success a couple of my friends were having with EC and out of curiosity I read Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer and was intrigued by many points. This one caught my attention.

In the 1950's, most children were completely diaper free by 18 months. These days the average age is between 36-39 months. Why? Most "experts" recommend a relaxed approach to potty training, where parents wait until their child shows signs of readiness. My mother also reminded me that children weren't in daycare 8-10 hours a day in the 1950's, which means that their mothers could be consistent about the potty. When I read the signs of readiness, I found them to be silly. Demonstrates a desire for independence - Is in a generally cooperative stage, not a negative or contrary one - Understand the value of putting things where they belong. What? Why is it so complicated? Babies cry because they don't like to pee or poop on themselves but we think they aren't capable of learning to use the potty before 2, 3 and even 4 years old? I'm not suggesting that my child is going to be completely free of diapers next week, but I do think that she can learn to use the potty sooner than most experts suggest.

So, we got a cute little potty (thanks, Coco and Noog) and she has used it several times a day since we began this experiment. I'll keep you posted!


P.S. No Ducky Friday this week. We're headed to Austin to watch Jake wrestle!


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3 comments:

Lesley said...

She looks like she has got a little devil smile going on!! I love it!!
Have fun this weekend--Go Jake!!

Anonymous said...

Yay, you got a little Pinky!!! AV looks like she's having fun!

Whittney said...

Yep...having fun and definitely has a devil smile!