Is your 3- to 6-month-old baby grabbing everything she can get her hands on? Your necklace? Your hair? Your earrings!? While this may be bad news for your ears, it’s exciting news for your child! She is now developing enough dexterity and fine motor control to grab things that interest her. Because your child is better able to hold things, it will be more important than ever to be aware of the objects she can get her hands on. Her curiosity will have her grabbing for everything, and as we all know, babies love to explore items with their mouths! So, you need to be especially aware of choking hazards.1 How can I help my baby improve dexterity and fine… [Read More…]
Do I Really Have to Invite the Whole Class?
“Was your son invited to Wyatt’s birthday party?” I was asked by a mom I ran into at the playground. “Yeah, a pool party, should be fun,” I naively responded. She quipped back with, “We won’t know. My son wasn’t invited.” Oh. Didn’t see that coming. “Do you know why?” she awkwardly asked me. “Ummmmmmmmm……..,” was literally the only thing my sleep-deprived brain could come up with. “I thought they were friends,” she went on. “Ummmmmmmmm……..,” is all I could say. (And I used to be a “professional talker” for a living. Baby brain, forever.) Fortunately, another friend, who had obviously had more sleep, interjected, and saved me with, “It’s probably just an issue of space.” “I just don’t see… [Read More…]
Boost Your Baby’s Brain Connectivity with Bilateral Movement
We often hear how some activities are “right brain” and some are “left brain.” But it’s actually the connection between these two sides of the brain that determines our abilities to do many activities. The stronger his connection between the two halves of his brain, the better your child will be able to process information and perform tasks.1 Developing bilateral skills is the key to success in performing many cognitive tasks, such as reading, and physical tasks, such as jumping, too.2,3 Bilateral skills require coordinated movement and action from both sides of the body. You can help your baby develop these skills by performing cross-the-midline activities event right from birth! Cross-the-midline activities encourage your baby to reach from one side… [Read More…]
Top 10 Signs You Don’t Want Any More Kids
After four kids in five years, I’m done having babies and can say that without an ounce of sadness. Here are the telltale signs that affirms you are absolutely done having kids: You see a glowing, radiant pregnant woman walking across the parking lot, rocking her maternity jeans and cute, little baby bump… and the only feeling you have is sympathy for her hemorrhoids, bacne and uncomfortable sleep. You have convinced your husband that it’s only fair that he gets a vasectomy. But, then you secretly get an IUD. Just in case. You find out your neighbor’s cousin’s co-worker is pregnant, and you race to her house, barely introduce yourself, and drop off your baby gear faster than your postpartum… [Read More…]
Speaking Your Child’s (Love) Language
“OMIGAAAWWSH, will you please come home and wrestle with our son!?!,” I huffed to my husband over the phone. My husband had been out of town for two weeks, and my son kept coming at me with his foam sword. When my husband travels, I feel like I pretty much have this solo parenting thing down. Except, I always notice my son gets more aggressive when my husband is gone for a while. My son hits me with his sword, wants to battle me with his light saber, and is constantly on the verge of being able to take me down in some 1980s-era-off-the-ropes-Hulk-Hogan-move. “I don’t want to wrestle,” I whine to my son, as I dodge his blows, and… [Read More…]
Five Things Deployment Taught Me About Marriage
I’ll never forget the day it became official. I was waiting for the service station to finish an oil change on my car when my husband forwarded me the email. His orders had just come in. He was going to Afghanistan for six months. I started crying right there in the waiting room. We knew it was coming, but this made it real. Three years later, I can look back on his deployment with gratefulness. I feel like his deployment made our marriage so much stronger because it taught us things I should have known all along. 1. Change Your Perspective My husband works a lot. Like seven days a week, 12 hours a day, a lot. He’s a neurosurgeon and when he’s not working… [Read More…]
How to End Swimming Lesson Meltdowns
Expect your toddler to cry at swim lessons. There. Have we set your expectations low enough? This is a group of people who freak out when their banana is sliced. So, a loud, wet, new environment is certain to cause a meltdown. “It’s normal. If they don’t cry, it’s almost weirder,” says Jamie Owen, the director of the Davis Aquadarts Racing Team (DART) Swim School in Northern California. Her program teaches children from 18 months to 10 years. She finishes her thought with, “But, it’s always nice to give them experience in the water; the younger the better.” Owen recommends that you persist. And she says there are a few things you can do to make the experience easier for… [Read More…]
Your Baby Is on the Move!
Now that your baby is 9-12 months old, she is ready to be on the move. Crawling, walking, and even running are right around the corner! At this age, she is developing more advanced movements in three areas of controlled movement: stability (balance and posture), locomotion (the ability to move forward and backward), and manipulation (manual dexterity). The better she gains control over these areas of movement, the better she will be able to control her body so that she may walk and run on her own! That’s why it’s important to make sure she gets plenty of practice moving every day!1,2,3 How can you improve your child’s Controlled Movement Skills? Encourage her to crawl. Crawling creates brain connections and… [Read More…]