Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Aww, she's just SO precious!
The last couple of nights Natalie has been really good about going to bed. We'll have our last nursing session for the day and instead of nursing until she falls asleep, she'll pull off, climb off of the bed, and walk over to the crib. I then pick her up, say "Mommy loves you and Daddy loves you too, and Daddy will see you in the morning," give her a couple of kisses and maybe a hug, let down the side of the crib, put her in with her Baby Big Bird and her bear, put her blanket over her, say "night, night," hear her repeat it, turn off the light, and leave the room. Both nights, she's gone right to sleep without even a whimper. Okay, so a lot of it probably has to do with the late nights this week because we've gotten off to such a bad start Friday getting her to bed late but with the fireworks tomorrow night (hopefully it won't rain), I figure keeping her on a later schedule will leave her in a good mood during the show. Still, it's nice to have such an easy time getting her down to bed and she's just so cute when she looks up at me, especially now that her bangs are shorter and I can actually see her eyes.I cut her bangs this morning after her bath when John was around to help me with the head holding. There was no way I was going to try and do this without some help. She was good for the most part but struggled at first before I got to the actual cutting. She just does not like to be held still. It's still on the long side and I'll probably be doing this again a month from now, if not sooner. I wish I could just take her in to a salon but it's just WAY too expensive just for a bang job. I've tried hair pieces and she just keeps pulling them out, even the ponytail holders. And barrettes? Forget it. I'm hoping someday she'll be more cooperative.
The nursing sessions are decreasing. I had planned to get her down to six sessions a day but she's only really taking five. She's not very demanding of the afternoon session which is great. I thought I'd have more problems during that time of day because that's when John is at work. But so far, she hasn't been too bad. She did ask a little bit later on but by then, it was close to her bedtime nursing anyway. The other thing I'm doing is only nursing her either in our bedroom or her bedroom. I no longer am nursing in the living room. This allows me to give her my full attention and make nursing more of a bonding experience for both of us instead of being distracted and somewhat resentful because she was after me the minute I sat on the couch or in front of the computer. This really only makes a difference for two of the nursing sessions since the other four that were planned would have been in either room anyway but this way, it emphasizes a boundary for nursing. Some people might find this unnatural but I think it helps her to have rules regarding this as well as a routine. I know that on days we are out and about, she hardly asks to nurse at all knowing that I usually do not nurse in public these days. This isn't really any different. My hope is she'll associate her bedroom with sleep, nursing, and diaper changes and the living room as a play area. It's all touch and go though and I'm sure things will need to be tweaked as time goes on.
| posted by Janeen at 12:31 AM
