Parenting and what not

I am so amazed at how fast Jackie is learning and growing and how good of a baby she is! She is always so happy! The only place we have problems with her is at church and thats because her nap time is at one and church is at one, and lets face it toddlers with no naps are cranky! But lately we have been bringing her bottle and stroller and having her take a little nap at church, it helps some but she usually gets woken up by some little kid, but still i cant wait for January for 9 am church and nursery!!! Jackie has found the nursery room and really wants to go in and play....i hope this continues when its really time for her to go to nursery. I know i know who would have ever thought i would be excited for 9 am church??? lol but i am excited that Jackie wont have to take her nap 3 hours late, and that we will be able to get a nap and we will have some time before we have to head of for family dinners!

Jackie used to throw little tantrums but those are gone (for now i am sure we will see them again) When she threw them we would ignore her until she was done and then talk to her and tell her we love her and give her hugs. We have found for Jackie if she does something wrong all you need to do is talk to her sweetly and help re direct her she will usually will stop. Jackie never really has a day when shes is a brat or is hard to be around she really is just and all around sweetheart! Sometime she will just want attention and will want us to hold her or just be near her while she plays, but really that is not a bad thing. :)

I dont know i know a lot of people put one year olds in time out, but i just dont think they are mentally ready for it, and understand why they are in time out nor will they remember what they did to get there, and well all the research out there agrees with me too (lol i read a lot of parenting books online) so i will continue that for now. Plus she is so good there is not much she would need to go out in time out for, she is a one year old who loves to explore, luckily in our house she is free to explore what ever is in her reach we just never had stuff out that kids cant play with ( I did not change my house for my daughter, we just keep things cleaner so its safe for her to play). Or maybe we are just tolerant people because i dont care if she gets into my pots and pans or pulls my Tupperware out. I think its all part of being a kid and exploring and learning. I guess i get that from growing up in a home with little kids. I don't know i think that all kids are different and need different discipline based on their personalities. Really though I think that parents just need to do what is right for their kids, no one can know what is right for another kids. And lets face it kids will be kids especially toddlers they will have times when they don't do what they should and when they make your life hard but you teach them and move on.

I have also decided that we just are not paranoid parents, but we both grew up in homes with parents that were not paranoid and i think that is why we are that way. When Jackie was born I did not mind if people wanted to see her or hold her, as long as they were not sick and would wash their hands. In fact i loved the visitors! It really helped us make the transition to know we had support from friends and family. I was one of those moms that went to church soon after too. We took Jackie when she was 1.5 weeks. I know allot of people wait because they dont want their kids to get sick, but mine didn't. I figured with nursing they are so protected from their mom that she would be okay, and she was.

When Jackie started to explore we let her we let her touch things and put things in her mouth. This one was a little hard for me but her doctor told me as long as its not dangerous she will be okay, he told us that is how the learn, grow, and build up immune systems. ( lol he said that kids of paranoid parents tend to get sick more....lol or maybe they just bring their kids in more...i think some of both) I must say it worked because she really has only been sick once and that was when she had just turned one and she caught it from me.

We were not paranoid when it came to food either. Jackie did not like baby food so we gave her table food. A lot of people freaked when they heard this, but baby food is really food with water. And her doc said it would be fine as long as you avoid foods they are not supposed to eat. We would just mash it up and let her eat it. It worked well for her she loves all food now and will eat anything! I dont know i just did not think it was worth the stress to be paranoid I wanted to take time to enjoy my time as a mother. I have seen to many people stess out so much with everything they don't enjoy it. I say take a breath and enjoy being a mom! Keep your kids safe but know they are pretty resilient and can handle exploring and discovering the world around them!

But anyway i know all parents are different and know what works best for their kids this is just what worked well for us so far, i know we have a lot for to learn as Jackie grows and as we someday add to our family!

Lets face it this is what happens when you get board at work lol