Evie's 40th Week

The big 4-0.  In just 12 weeks, our kiddo will be one year old.  I have probably said this before (it's hard for me to remember from week to week), but time has just flown since Evie turned 6 months.  I don't know if it's because she became much more independent or because she (and therefore, I) started sleeping through the night at 7 months or what, but the first 6 months seemed to drag on and these last 3 have passed in the blink of an eye!

To that end, it occurs to me that Evie's routine will certainly be changing soon, as she grows and gets more active, and I thought I'd write down what a day in the life of Evie is like right now, if for nothing else than my own reference should we be blessed with baby #2 in the (far) future.

Evie wakes up around 7:30 or 8:30 usually, has a warm 6 oz bottle, a diaper change, and then plays her little heart out.  She goes back and forth between crawling on the floor and playing with toys to pulling up on furniture or on me to cruising in her walker.  We let the dogs out and watch them play in the backyard (when it warms up, maybe we'll actually go out there with them!) and let them back in when they're done.

About 2 hours after she gets up she starts looking a little sleepy again, so I feed her her breakfast.  Usually this is a container of yogurt, or it could be a jar of mixed fruit.  Then we go upstairs and rock while I hum or sing to her.  She rests her head on my left shoulder and snuggles in.  After about 4 songs, she's ready to sleep and I move her to the crib.  She is a tummy sleeper, so I put her down on her tummy and pat her on the back for a little bit.

She sleeps for about 2 hours and then it's up for a diaper change, 3 oz bottle and another jar of food: fruit or veggies.  Then play, play, play for another 2 or 3 hours, when she'll start looking sleepy again.  Another rocking session and she's down for another 2 hours.

In the evening, she gets a 6 oz bottle after her nap, plays for a couple of hours, then gets dinner.  Usually it's a jar of veggies or veggies & meat.  She is particularly fond of the BeechNut brand ham/pineapple/apple/rice mix (which predominantly tastes like pineapple) and she loves green beans too.  Then we play, and if it's a bath night (which I do every other or every third night so we don't dry out her skin), then it's a bath for about half an hour before she's ready for bed.

Bedtime routine is that Daddy puts her in her pjs while I heat up her bottle.  He tells her good night and I go upstairs and feed her her bottle while I read aloud.  When she's done with her bottle, we rock some more and I hum songs to her until she's zonked out.  Then a gentle transfer to the crib and she sleeps through the night.

I'm very much a scheduler - not much in my day (or life) is left unplanned.  I tend to take a vacation from planning only when I'm on vacation.  So having a schedule for Evie that seems to work so well for her makes me really happy.  And I think she does well understanding what's coming next.  Not to say we don't run errands or do anything different, but I do try to stick very strictly to her naptimes and eating times.  Of course, I'm only REALLY in control of her schedule on the weekends, but both Seth and Sydney know the routine and also follow it, when Evie cooperates.

I also thought I should make a list of all of the songs I sing or hum to her, just for my own nostalgic needs.  I feel like these kinds of things are things that I care about way more than other people, but I know I've loved remembering songs that my Mom would sing to me when I was a little kid, and I wish I could remember them all.  So...

• Puppet on a String (which I sang to her every day when she was in utero)
• On the Front Porch
• Lavender Blue
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus (this has been my last song of the night ever since Memmaw passed away)
• Shalom Rav
• Hashkiveinu
• Of the Father's Love Begotten
• This is My Father's World
• Swing Low, Swing Chariot  (I do not sing it in this octave, though)
• Amazing Grace (If I'm singing it, I change "wretch" to "Krech", in honor of my Grandaddy)
• The King of Love My Shepherd Is
• Be Thou My Vision

Anyway, on to what's been going on with Evie this week...

She learned a new sound: "b".  Yesterday she was saying "ba ba ba ba ba" a lot, interposed with "Mama" (which will always be my favorite).  She's becoming quite independent, pulling up without help and easing herself back down, holding her own bottle, feeding herself finger food, and even attempting to climb the stairs! We are now in the process of baby proofing the house - baby gate on the stairs, latches on the cabinets, plugs in the outlets... 
 
Disclaimer: In some ways, I'm reluctant to write anything about my parenting style/decisions because I know people parent differently and I've already heard some criticism of Seth's and my views about certain aspects of parenting when it comes to character development.  But, the fact is, at the end of the day, she's our kid and these are our decisions.  And we're going to do what we think is best for Evie.  And the purpose of this blog, in addition to being a way to share Evie's life with our loved ones who live in other cities, is to give Evie a log of the events that were going on her life and the journey we are taking as parents so that she can look back on it when she becomes a mother herself.  So, I'm going to include my thoughts about parenting on occasion, and I suppose that if any readers disagree, then they can raise their kids differently than I do mine.
 
I am trying to focus on letting her explore as much as is safe, and using diversion tactics rather than saying "no".  Not in all instances, obviously, like when she wanted to touch the oven yesterday.  But I admit that part of me wants to simply discourage her from doing things that might be unsafe or might hurt something (like my glasses, which she seems to want to take off my face all the time), and I don't want her to constantly hear "no" from me.  I notice that my Mom (who, if I could emulate all the time, I'd feel 100% confident in my parenting skills - she is magic and wonderful!) will attempt to find another way for the child to do what he or she is wanting to do or to distract them from something that is unsafe.  She'll clap her hands and sing a song or offer a new toy or play peek-a-boo or encourage the child to go in another room...  And I think this is a great tactic for the age Evie is at right now.  It's not like I could reason with her and say, "Sweetheart, Mommy needs her glasses to see and they are very expensive so please don't rip them off my face and put them in your mouth."  Turning her to face the mirror instead is a good option, I think.  And I let her crawl up the stairs, even though it scares me.  Of course, I'm right behind her, but I admit that I'm terrified of her falling (that would be Krech worrying gene at work).  But I don't want to discourage her exploration.

Anyway....

Evie is also shaking her head "no" these days.  Perhaps this is another reason I'm conscious of how I redirect her...  But in this video, it's pretty cute.