Блог обо всем и ни о чем…

We really are in a wonderful stage so don’t let the title of this post fool you! But like all parents, nothing is ever perfect. First of all, diarrhea was the name of the game with the antibiotic she has been on for the double ear infection. What did that result in? A truly terrible case of diaper rash. Cameron has had very slight cases over the last 10 months but this….this defies words. It it everywhere. And it’s not just red, it is truly a rash with the bumps and the swelling. Poor thing. She has been tolerating it well but aside from putting diaper rash cream on every day, is there something else you would recommend?

Another challenge with Cameron is her lack of napping at daycare. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record but it is starting to really impact our evening time. Cameron has usually been napping just once a day and an hour isn’t enough. On the weekends she sleeps 2 hours in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. 1/5 of her normal time is miserable for her, me and DH. DH whisks her home and put her right to bed, usually around 4:30 PM. Cameron sleeps for an hour and I go wake her up. Wake a sleeping baby? Damn right. I refuse to impact her 7 PM bedtime. I need downtime too! Cameron is clingy and whiny and doesn’t want to eat anything other than her bottle, fruit and goldfish. If I leave the room for a minute she starts full on bawling. It’s distressing. Any advice?

Cameron is also going through a big mommy phase. I am trying to mitigate it as much as possible by passing her off to DH but it’s harder in the evenings because of how tired and cranky she is. Has anyone successfully managed the mommy phases? I at least don’t want her to cry when passing her off!

Lastly we are starting to see the refusal and throwing of food off the highchair tray. I put some pasta down in front of Cameron the other day and she picked up the entire clump and threw it right down. I’ll also see her sneak her hand down next to her side to drop other pieces of food onto the chair itself. Smart, crafty little girl. I read Child of Mine and want to adhere to its recommendations that I as the parent provide the food and it is up to Cameron to eat. But I totally cave because I hate to see her eat nothing for dinner which is oftentimes what would happen if I didn’t put out more Cameron friendly food. How have other parents handled this? Keep in mind she’s only 11 months….is it really time to start those food battles?

It has been just over two weeks since Cameron was moved out of the little infant room into the Waddler room. I love that name because it is so apt. Ironic that pregnant women waddle too, isn’t it? The plan is for Cameron to stay there until sometime after she hits the two mark. So I had better really like the teachers and the curriculum.

And guess what? I do! I know, I will pause here where you all gasp in shock that I am comfortable and happy with our daycare situation.

I really like the main teacher, Miss Melba. She is extremely engaged with the kids and always on the floor playing or singing to them. There is also a more defined curriculum than the eating, sleeping and pooping that we experienced in the Infant room. They teach them how to eat on their own, sitting in little chairs at a long table with their own bowls and plates and utensils. How freaking cute is that? Cameron is in the high chair but she’ll be down there as soon as she starts walking. So basically any day.

Another adorable thing they have the the waddlers do is wash their hands after having their diapers changed. I actually got to witness this and I almost cried it was so cute. Miss Melba flipped Cameron over to her belly and had her move up to the attached sink. A dab of soap, splashes of water and a quick dry with a paper towel. I must try to take a video so I can post it here.

Cameron plays really, really hard all day long. Sometimes that means she only takes one nap. And guess what? I don’t stress about it! I know, another shocking revelation from the sleep queen. We still leverage the third nap as a tool to keep Cameron from being overly tired. DH loves that he can just pick her up, she almost conks out in the car and he puts her down for a 45 minute or hour nap.

I’m also convinced that the physical development Cameron has shown over the past week is due in no small part to watching and learning from the other waddlers. She absolutely loves to watch the «older» kids and emulate them. My little munchkin is growing up far too quickly!

Annoyance at having her picture taken. AGAIN.
I knew that Cameron would love playing with this enormous packages of toilet paper. Isn’t it funny how kids get enthralled with odd things?

A rare Cameron and Mommy shot.

Um, think it is time for us to baby proof? So far we’ve installed the interior latches for key (aka low) cabinets and drawers and also installed baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. That’s it for now. But I’m sure we’ll need to do more as Cameron starts really walking.

Tomorrow will be Cameron’s last day in the infant room. Sniff. My little baby at ten months old is moving up to the older infant room. Fortunately she already knows the teachers because she’s spent some time there. Plus, we will still drop her off in the same room as the older and younger infants are together until critical mass is reached and they separate off into different rooms.

This past weekend DH and I chatted about the timing for moving her to the next room and when I dropped Cameron off on Monday I spoke with her main teacher about it. Coincidentally, Miss Tanya told me she had been thinking the same thing…I guess great minds really do think alike! I wasn’t quite prepared for how quickly it would happen but Cameron is by far the oldest in the young infant room, by a few months.

I’m hopeful that it will help Cameron developmentally. She has plateaued a bit with her crawling and pulling up skills. All of the older infants are walking so I have a feeling it will serve as an inspiration to her. Not that we’ve even baby proofed yet! In speaking with one of her «new» teachers I learned that all of the kids go down for naps right after breakfast and a little bit after lunch. That meshes nicely with Cameron’s nap schedule so an added benefit could be longer naps. Of course the correlated effect would be dropping her third nap but I don’t know of many other 10 month olds who still regularly take a third nap, do you?

I know that every daycare is set up differently but for those of you who experienced the younger/older infant split, how did your kid(s) handle the transition? Anything I should be aware of or ask about before Monday rolls around?

Cameron has been sick all week. She’s been fever free since Monday but as I wrote in my last post she has a wicked bad sore throat. I’m allowed to say «wicked» as I hail from Massachusetts. DH and I have been layering her pain medications – Motrin and Tylenol. But still she will eat maybe 3 ounces in a sitting if we’re lucky.

I thought ahead and got a doctor’s note outlining the dosage of the two medicines. Go me, I thought, patting myself on my back. This way the day care will have to give Cameron her medicine. After all, I had a doctor’s note.

Nope. No deal. Apparently the day care will not give medicine unless it’s a life threatening situation. Not to put my crass hat on or anything but WTF? I totally get that they are trying to avoid liability but what if Cameron had an ear infection and needed antibiotics while in school? Is DH supposed to interrupt his day and make a round trip to the day care to give her the medicine? I say DH because he is much closer than me and would have to be the one to do it.

Has anyone else experienced this with your day care? Do I have any recourse here? Cameron still has a sore throat and I’m worried she will drink even less than she has been for us.