Things I (Thought I) Would Never Do

I’ve heard there is a book titled “I was a really great mother before I had children”. I think this book is about me. Not just because of all the things I used to be judgmental about when it came to raising children, but because of all the things I swore I would never do if I ever had kids that I find myself doing now.

Here is a not-so-short list from this week alone:

1. Change a baby on a table where people eat. I always thought this was gross, but it was only a pee diaper and it was the end of the day and there was nowhere else to do it.

2. Pick my child up every time she whines. Yes, I swore that I was going to let her cry if I knew she was fed, etc. but when she whines, even for attention, I pick her up.

3. Carry my child in a carrier around the house. The other night I made dinner with Fiona in the ERGO. She was cranky and whiney, it was just easier than putting her down and listening to her cry for no apparent reason.

4. Let my child sleep on me. Every single day. It’s how we nap.

5. Buy toy after toy. I haven’t made any toys that she plays with. They all came from a store and have “Made in China” stamped on them somewhere. And almost none of them are made of wood.

6. Buy her toys after I see another baby playing with them at a meet up. Yup, if Little William or Little Lyla has one, Fiona probably will too. For the record though, she has far fewer toys than any of the other babies we know. I felt sort of bad after going to some of the other moms’ houses and seeing how much stuff their babies had. All of Fi’s toys fit into a small square, collapsible cube.

7. Let other children put Fiona’s toys in their mouths and let her play with other children’s toys. I think I’m playing with fire on this one.

8. Let her play with children who are not vaccinated.

9. Compare her growth and development to all the full termers her age. Just not a good idea, but I can’t help it. At least I do it mostly in secret.

10. Wait to sooth her when she cries at night. At bedtime, we sooth her but do not pick her up. This has resulted in Fiona going to sleep with very little protest at the same time every night. This is not to say that we close the door and let her cry it out.

11. Not letting her cry it out. Before Fiona was born I swore I was going to do Babywise. She was going to be scheduled from 2 weeks old. Right now, we have a morning routine and a bedtime routine. She eats when she is hungry. She sleeps when she is tired. I hold her as much as I can.

Well, that turned into something a lot longer than I thought it would. Here are some photos from this week. She is getting sillier and sillier:

 

And those little shoes she’s wearing in the top left picture? She decided they worked better as chew toys so they now live in her toy box. At least they were free.