About cars and becoming mainstream-ish

Do you remember me whining about our son's love for cars a few months ago and about my struggle to buy him one? Well, a lot has changed since then.

First of all, let me clarify that I have totally nothing against mainstream parents (what is a mainstream parenting, anyway?), I just had this idea of being an extra-ordinary alternative parent who would be raising a "super-human baby". Sometimes I was wondering why all people don't want to have "super babies", but then I realized that if everyone was extra-ordinary, then it would become a norm...and not everybody wishes for their child to stand out, neither does the state wish that (most of the society has to be sheep-ish if we want the state system work, right?). But somehow I am also becoming mainstream-ish and there is probably nothing wrong with that, only maybe we might not have a son with super-abilities :)

So...back to the cars...

Teodor going to eat

My idea of playing with cars as an "useless" fun came from the book Montessori from the Start where the authors stated that an 18-month-old child doing zoom zoom (in our case: brm-brm) gains totally nothing useful from it. Having a 19-month old I can say it is not true (noticed some time ago, not only now). He learns how to push the cars, which one fits in the Melissa and Doug house (only 2, the other ones are just way too big and it really frustrates him), which one can go under the Grimm's rainbow arc, that Charlie wouldn't push the car back...

He still doesn't have a pile of cars, but in our opinion he has more than enough. He loves to bring them all to the dining table, park them on the other side than where he is sitting and then he tends to say "brm brm" and I'm supposed to know which one he wants to play with while eating. After he's done with eating, he brings them all back to the living room. Luckily, he no longer wants to sleep with them as it is quite painful to be unintentionally hit by a plastic car. Btw. the cars and Schleich animals are his only pure plastic toys. Fun fact, he had a peeing accident today because he couldn't choose which car he wants to take to the bathroom with him :) At some point it is cute, at some, really annoying. For example this night, at 4am, he said brm brm and went to play...

I would take a picture of all of his cars if I had a camera for you to see how many he has...I am pretty sure that most boys have more. But having around 7 cars is more than enough for him. 

I gave up on no screen time ever. It happened one weekend a few months? ago when we needed to clean fast and didn't need a helping toddler around, so we sat him in front of youtube and let him watch some songs. The youtube slowly creep-ed into our every day routine; he watches youtube songs in the morning for some time while I'm drinking my tea and slowly wake up and sometimes in the evening when I need to cook, he is hungry and tired, therefore very difficult to entertain. The end justifies the means (feed him asap and get him to bed), I suppose. I haven't noticed he would be falling asleep any worse than if he doesn't watch anything (it was written in different places that screen time before bed is not a good idea). 

I remember visiting a friend with a 2.5 year-old son at that time (Teodor was 4 months old) and she told me she let him watch some youtube for some time during the day to get some peace. I thought it was a stupid reasoning...now I get it. I really enjoy my 20 minutes of peace in the morning to drink my tea or just to lie a bit longer in bed (but mostly I'm sitting next to him and he's telling me what he's seeing). Another friend told me a few days ago that she watches TV with her daughter from time to time, they sit together, they talk about what they're seeing, they cuddle...what's so harmful about that, right? I sometimes feel like being the only entertainer together with a few toys is sometimes quite demanding job, even though he watches youtube very rarely during the day (like when I was really sick and needed to take an extra nap, I let him watch). 

The last thing I'm feeling like being a very ordinary person are his/our eating habits. He eats totally what I eat, so no more buckwheat, no more super-healthy stuff on his plate...just ordinary food. I'm a bit disappointed about it but not that much that I would really want to do something about it, like changing our eating habits because he wants to eat what we eat (no more salt in our food - even the dad is getting used to it). Of course, I don't give him cookies on regular basis (still try to keep sugar to minimum) or some really junk food, but you know, bulgur is not on menu very often any more.

The very last mainstream-ish thing, which has already been in our lives for some months, are disposable diapers. It all started when we were in CZ in June and since then I ditched cloth diapers, we used all those bio-degradable, but then I decided "screw it" and we use Pampers, the worst out of the worst for our environment. Fortunately, he is more or less potty trained, so we used them only for trips to the city and at night. 

Ach jo

Nesnáším listopad. Jako fakt to je ten nejhnusnější měsíc tady: šero, vlhko, vlezlá zima, úplně si umím představit, že bych celé dny ležela zalezlá v posteli, pila čaj a pospávala. Obecně teda co bych dala za to spát víc jak 4-5 hodin v kuse, třeba celou noc, to zní prostě jako něco, na co se v nejbližší době nemůžu těšit.

Batole teď pár týdnů (nebo možná že to byly fakt jen 2 týdny) spalo celkem obstojně, probouzelo se, když jsem šla spát já (psovi to většinou trvá než se uvelebí a dělá u toho rámus + mě se taky líp usíná s dítětem na prsu než bez něj), pak kolem 4. ráno, kdy se mu chtělo čůrat a pak až po sedmý - to byla prostě lahoda. Opatrně jsem si říkala, že směřujeme k prospané noci, a pak se něco pokazilo a on se opět budí každou chvíli, zase ponocujem...Kdyby to bylo proto, že prostě spát nepotřebuje, tak bych to snad i nějak respektovala, ale on se ráno probouzí protivnej, nevyspalej a já taky. Nehledě na to, že když se ho v noci snažím ukojit, tak se mi většnou strašně chce čůrat, ale neodvažuju se vstát a jít. Jak to budu dělat za pár týdnů netuším.

Protože je venku tak hnusně, dítěti se nechce ven. Respektive nesnáší oblíkání do gumových kalhot, to ho rozbije a pak řve až do doby než vylezem ven, někdy i potom, jindy se z něj jako mávnutím proutku stane reklamní batole, co se usmívá na všechny kolem (obecně pomáhá potkat nějakýho souseda/sousedku). A i když teda jsme venku, tak ho to tam moc nebaví. Ranní procházky se psem jsem zrušila, myslím, že to vyhovuje všem zúčastněným, ani tatínek neremcá, místo toho máme dopoledne volné na vyřizování pochůzek - jakmile si nemusí oblíkat gumový kalhoty, tak se nechá oblíknout celkem bez protestů. Když se probudí z poledního spánku (ten asi s letním časem zruším, usíná fakt pozdě), tak ho informuju, že půjdem ven. Strašně intenzivně kroutí hlavou jako že NE. Takže ho něčím zabavit a oblíknout. Po probuzení odmítá jíst, zato po procházce jí pěkně.

Před pár dny nás dostihlo období "ne", kroutí automaticky hlavou na všechno, občas si to rozmyslí a kejvne jako že "jo". Ale teda stále jeho "ano" a "ne" nemají velkou výpovědní hodnotu, je to spíš o tom to odhadnout.

A aby zpruzení z počasí a batolete bylo úplné, tak se mi rozbil foťák, paypal mi zablokoval peníze, domácnost se nám opět hroutí (ale aspoň máme co jíst :), hádáme se o jméně pro holčičku a o jejím příjmení...prostě už aby napadl sníh, začalo svítit sluníčko a bylo líp :)

My first blanket doll

Here it is :)

Stepping out of my role...raising myself

About a month ago I was reading an excellent book Sibling without Rivalry - very inspiring book, made me thinking a lot about a lot of things, and also about the roles I'm/was playing in my life.

Anyway, there have been a few people around who decided to start doing handcrafts out of the blue with no previous experience and their results haven't been perfect or had little flaws but still, they didn't give up. For some reason they became a huge inspiration for me and last weekend I decided to sew my first Waldorf inspired doll (lovey) and I was determined to finish it.

The thing is that we had sewing at elementary school - till grade 5, then I changed schools and went to the one which was meant for "smarter" kids who were not expected to be good with their hands, but with their brains- and I was fighting with every project and my parents would have "funny" comments about my struggles. So I had this feeling I am a totally useless when it comes to my hands. But lately I realized that most of my clothes is made by people who are not qualified and it's just about practice. It doesn't take a genius to sew something. It takes just a lot of practice to master fine motor skills (that I realized by watching Teodor - he can do his 5-piece puzzle now, btw.).

I decided to hand-sew it as my sewing machine is lent to a friend plus I am not friends with it much, not to mention hand-sewing gave me freedom of where I would work. So, I was sewing while doing sh-sh-sh to make my son play happily with his train set, I would sew while he was sitting on my lap doing whatever he was doing, I would sew while reading to him...you get the picture, right?

The doll has been finished today while he was napping. Of course it has many flaws and imperfections but to me it's beautiful. It's beautiful because I made it and mostly because I finished it. And it's really sad there is no working camera in the apartment, so I can't share a picture of it.

Drawing the line

Yesterday I was feeling ok about him waking up every hour at night and nursing, this night it was not fun any more. Teodor is officially ill, nothing serious, but you can hear he has mucus everywhere...

So, I made him sleep in the carrier, put him down on a pillow and he slept for half an hour. Coughed and started screaming. Babywearing, nursing for about an hour and he was back asleep. Then he slept an hour. The same scenario. The next time he woke up, I decided to go to sleep with him. It didn't seem like a smart idea, like at all. He was awake every minute, wanting to nurse, then he turned away, cried, latched, turned away, cried, nursed..and he would go like that for an hour. As I said before, I don't mind him breastfeeding unless it complicates my life. This was obviously not working.

Btw. the dad turned on the air humidifier when he came back from work and I could hear he was not waking up because of the mucus any more.

So I took the breast away. He was angry, he was crying, but soon gave up (I was lying next to him), then gave him his butt massage :) and he fell asleep.

I remember waking up at 1 with him sucking on my breast, me being all in pain from the uncomfortable position. I took the breast away and went to drink, I felt so sore. I don't have to mention how furious he was...so he decided to go to play. I remember him and his dad talking while I fell asleep. He woke me up an hour later (dad was asleep in the living room judging by the light being on), nursed, got his butt massage and didn't require hanging on the breast till the morning. Of course he latched a bit, he got a butt massage every hour because I think the urge to pee was waking him up (I have learned it is not a good idea to go to pee with him in the middle of the night, it makes him more angry than letting it be) - we slept almost till 8, it was nice.

The point is that I am fine with him nursing like a newborn but only to some extend (everyone is equal, but some are more than the others :)) - it cannot limit my comfort too much.

Btw. my camera is dead for real, so probably no pictures for some time.

Teething, cough, runny nose...and the magic breast

I suppose he's still teething (hot bump on his gum where the molar should be), but still no teeth has come out meaning he's still drooling like a St. Bernard dog + he enjoys spending most of his days in bed reading, playing and nursing - actually our days are slow and relaxed, probably thanks to the breast attachment, no big drama is happening around here. A friend of mine has a theory why he likes it in the bed so much: he gets most of my undivided attention and that's what every toddler wants, right? Plus he has almost unlimited access to the milk, which must be nice to be soothed by hot beverage every time you are in pain.

I have no idea how it happened but he caught a cough. Either from sweating in the stroller on Saturday when we under-estimated how warm the Stokke Winter Kit and foot-muff are - when he woke up from his nap, he was all wet (luckily, I brought change of clothes) or maybe from playing in the puddles the other day...

Today a runny nose also joined in. Teodor looks really sick, so there is def no way we are getting out of the bed any time soon :) I would expect him being sleepier, but no...that child has no time for sleeping.

This night was a nice example why I actually don't want to stop breastfeeding him (the breast seem to get used to the fact he's hanging there all the time, so the pain has been disappearing, thank goodness). He would wake up every time he coughed and needed breast to fall back asleep and he would also wake up every hour and was soothed back to sleep only with breast. OK, I suppose if you don't breastfeed, the child is a bit better at falling asleep on their own, but it could happen as well we would be up most of the night.

We no longer take our morning walks, yesterday, he required to be put in the stroller..I thought he would change his mind when he sees all the delicious puddles, no...he was happy sitting in...So, it's the dad who takes Charlie for his morning walks. Well, I actually enjoy it a lot, we can spend all the morning in bed :)

Using a wrap again

He woke up at 1am this night and was ready to play, so I had 3 options:
1) let him play for an hour or two and be awake with him - NO WAY
2) nurse him for at least an hour and suffer from the pain it would be causing me - NO
3) babywear him in Tula carrier, which wouldn't be comfy because, as you can see, my stomach has grown significantly in the last few days/weeks and then nurse him - no ideals he would fell asleep and stayed asleep whe put down - YES - Option nr. 3 worked exactly as I planned, only at the end before him falling asleep, Charlie decided he needed some attention, he made sure Teodor would wake up again, but he fell back asleep quite well and Charlie went to sleep somewhere else. Anyway, Tula was so uncomfortable, pressing  against my stomach too much, so it was obvious I will have to start using the wrap again.

Started my day with watching double-hammock tutorials, unfortunately our son didn't want to co-operate much, so I still haven't tried it till the end...and then came his nap time. Since his dad is at home, it is much more difficult to fall asleep just by nursing (still thinking how to stop breastfeeding and not to complicate my life), I had to put him in rucksack, so he would calm down a bit and then just "kill it" with the milk. He didn't know how to fall asleep in the wrap because he is used to the carrier hood to hold his head.