Daddy's Girl

     This week Laura and Daddy have done some bonding. Laura is becoming more and more proficient at "using her words" (especially when reminded to as she starts having a fit) and, though she is unintelligible probably 90% of the time still, it is becoming easier for Josh to understand her needs.

     A few weeks ago I decided that I would continue nursing Laura before bed, but I would not be going back in if she was crying before she fell asleep, as every time I do it she only ends up crying harder when I leave again. This was now going to be Daddy's job. In a few short weeks he has become amazingly good at calming her down and getting her to go to sleep. I guess she knows that Daddy means business when he comes in and tells her it's bedtime. It's awesome.

    This week, however, she invented a new game that involves throwing all of her stuffed animals out of her crib, and then calling out mournfully, "Daddadddaaddadaa". He smugly goes up there to comfort her, because, after all, she is calling for him, only to find that it's because there are stuffed animal casualties all over the floor. He picks them all up for her and tucks them back in together. Five minutes later, repeat. lol. The other night she did it three times. He started seeming less smug about her calling for him at that point. :)

   
     Anyway, it's nice that they are able to share more moments like this now, and that Josh is happy about becoming more involved. I like that. :)

O Canada

     We had a glorious Canada Day long weekend here. Weather was great and we got to spend some quality time together as a family. <3 

     Friday morning we went berry picking. Josh generally isn't an outdoors kinda guy, and he also hates all fruit, so needless to say, he was less than excited about the idea. Once we got there though, he decided it was less awful than he had anticipated. "It smells like candy out here! I wish I liked strawberries." 

      We proceeded to pick one large basket of strawberries (and it only cost $6!) with which I'm not quite sure what we are going to do I ended up making pie. mmmmm. And Saturday morning we had crepes with strawberry/peach puree that were amazingly delicious (although Josh didn't like them and Laura threw hers on the floor for Chester. :S)    

     After berry picking we went to the beach for a little while. Laura has always enjoyed the water, and the few times she has been in the lake this year we were at a rocky spot that is not easily maneuvred by a one-year-old. So I had been wanting to take her to the sandy beach where she could play and run around freely. The water was a little cold, though, so we didn't spend much time swimming. I think she still had fun.

Daddy showing Laura how to make sand castles

      We came home in the afternoon for a BBQed lunch (what would Canada Day Weekend be without a BBQ?!) and so Laura could nap. I also took the opportunity to grab a snooze. I was laying on the couch wishing I had a blanket (but was too lazy and comfortable to go get one) when I realized Chester would do just as fine a job keeping me warm. So I invited him up and we napped together on the couch. <3

       I also used Laura's nap time to make some Canada Day cupcakes and cut up our haul of strawberries. (I can get so much done now that she finally naps well!)

   

mmm freshly picked strawberries :)

     After Princess Laura awoke, we took a family bike ride downtown to check out what was going on. Unfortunately, it appeared as though we had missed most of it, so we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things instead.

     We came home and had meatball sandwiches on garlic bread (buns) for dinner, at Josh's request, and then headed down to the park to watch fireworks in the evening. Laura seemed really interested in watching them this year, unlike last year when she slept through the whole thing. ;)

     The rest of the weekend we just kinda laid low and played around the house enjoying good food and each other's company. Sometimes it's just nice and refreshing to have a long weekend together where we were not stressing about going somewhere or about entertaining guests. <3

Mama Bear

     Hear me roar.

     Sometimes I get very protective of my baby... like when we are out shopping or something and she says a friendly "hi" to someone who doesn't reply... it kind of makes me want to run over to them and give them a shake, "Don't you know that my adorable little daughter just said 'hi' to you?! Say hi back!!"

     It's bad enough when strangers give her the snub, but when people who are supposed to love her do it, it sends me into a fiery rage. I won't go into details, but it will suffice to say that I am quite upset with a certain someone today.

     God help the first boy who breaks up with her.

New Skills

In the last month or so Laura has been learning and practicing some new skills/ games:

1. Peek-a-boo in the curtains

2. Peek-a-boo with her hands

 

3. Walking backwards

4. Going down the slide

 

... and this is what happens when we take her diaper off! :)

Homemade Bath Paint

     It's Friday!! ... and it's been a lonnng day.

     It has been rainy for the last few days, and I am getting a bit of cabin fever; it's officially summer now and I want to enjoy the outdoors! Also, Laura has been pushing her bedtime further and further back, going to bed around 9:30 the last few days, and frankly, I would prefer her asleep earlier than that. And because I am the parent, I get to decide these kinds of things. So today I didn't put her down for a nap to see what would happen, but that coupled with the cabin fever was perhaps not the greatest combo. She wasn't too bad, but I found it draining trying to keep Her Moodiness entertained and happy for the entirety of the day. I was racking my brain to come up with a fun activity to get us through the last hour before Josh got home, when I remembered a blog post I read by my cousin-in-law, Jen. She got the idea for bath finger paints from this blog. Isn't blogging great? I love idea-sharing. :)

     We still have about a hundred bottles of baby soap that were given to us when Laura was born (clearly people were worried we weren't going to bathe her), and everyone has cornstarch and food colouring on hand, right? So, although I didn't find the post with the recipe until after Josh was home, I was still able to quickly whip up a batch while I was making dinner for some post-dinner, pre-bedtime fun. :) Too easy.

I think she liked it :)

     Jen's blog also inspired me to go to the dollar store for some retail therapy (and to get more supplies to have on hand for rainy day activities) after Laura was gloriously in bed at 7:15.

Blueberry Princess

     It's been a while since I've posted because, sadly, my laptop has passed away. RIP. You will be greatly missed.
     I now have a much crappier, but new, PC laptop that I am still getting used to. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have a computer at all, but I had a very deep and serious relationship with my Mac, and I feel like we've broken up or something. It's like the end of an era. 

 

     Anyway, on to the real post: (Do I do that a lot? lol, seems like it)

cooking up steamed salmon & asparagus,
avocado & mango, chocolate tofu pudding,
and pureed squash & potato with coconut milk

     Today I decided that I am not going to worry about what people say about Laura's eating/ weight gain issues anymore. No more stressing = happier mealtimes for everyone. Since her check-up three weeks ago we have steadily been progressing towards different eating habits: 1) nursing after meals and snacks instead of before, and 2) trying to incorporate more calorie-rich (but healthy) foods.

 
     I went to our local breastfeeding group today and was given an awesome little booklet called "Eat Right, Be Active: A guide for parents and caregivers of toddlers 12 - 36 months" put out by the Ontario Public Health Association. Score. Amongst much other useful information, there is a page that contains information on what serving sizes should look like for 12 - 24 month old toddlers specifically (as opposed to 24 - 36 month old toddlers, for which the recommendations are slightly different). They even have a toll-free information service where you can speak to a registered dietician.

It says:
     Offer your toddler a variety of foods from each food group in Canada's Food Guide every day. For toddlers under 24 months old, there is no recommended number of servings for each food group. However, you can use the following chart as a guide on how much to offer. Let your toddler decide how much of it to eat:

Vegetables & Fruit: offer dark green and orange vegetables every day

• 1/4 - 1/2 medium vegetable or fruit
• 1 - 4 tbsp cooked, grated, or chopped vegetable or fruit
• 2 - 4 tbsp (1 - 2 oz.) 100% juice  

Grain Products: offer whole grain products every day

• 1/4 - 1/2 slice bread
• 1/8 - 1/4 bagel, pita, or tortilla
• 5 - 15g dry cereal
• 2 - 8tbsp hot cereal
• 1 - 4 tbsp cooked pasta, rice, bulgur, couscous, etc.

Milk & Alternatives: offer 2 cups of homo or breastmilk every day

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup (2 - 4 oz.) homo milk
• 15 - 25g (1/2 - 1 oz.) cheese
• 2 - 8 tbsp yogurt

Meat & Alternatives: offer beans, lentils, and tofu often, and fish at least 2x/ week

• 1 - 4 tbsp cooked fish, poultry, or meat
• 1 - 8 tbsp tofu, lentils, or beans
• 1/4 - 1 egg
• 1 tsp - 1 tbsp nut/ seed butter

      I have previously looked for this kind of information online, but never found exactly what I was looking for. As per this guide, Laura was eating about 6 - 10 servings of solid food per day (not including breastmilk) before her last check-up (I had a few days documented for the doctor). This guide says they should be having at least 13 - 15 servings per day. So we have been making efforts to increase her solid food consumption: when she asks to nurse, I offer her food first. It seems to be working in getting her to eat a little more, and she will still ask to nurse when she is done if she wants a drink.

     She is still a picky eater, and doesn't like meat of any kind, really. Chicken? No. Beef? Nope. Pork? Only in the form of ham. Sometimes. Fish? Maybe if it's undetectably pureed into something else she does like. She won't even eat eggs. So, she eats tofu a couple times a week, and we try to give her lentils and beans and things with other sources of proteins like cheese and nut/ seed butters. She isn't big on vegetables, either. I can coax her to eat them if they are pureed and being spoon-fed to her, but if I cut them up and put them on her tray they end up being pitched over the side to the dogs. She doesn't really like bread, either. So she gets her grains in the form of oatmeal, pasta and rice, oh and of course goldfish crackers. She does like cheese and yogurt, but if there is one thing she is really good at eating, it's fruit. Especially blueberries.  

"All gone!"

Today's Post is Brought to You by the Letter L

L is for Lightweight

     Laura had her 15-month check-up last week. She has only gained a few hundred grams since her 12-month check-up, which is not enough. She has severely fallen off the bottom of the growth chart. It would be one thing if she were just small, but she has barely been gaining any weight at all, which is not normal. This has actually been going on since she started solid foods. She was small when she was born, but did a good job catching up in the first few months when she was exclusively breastfed. Once she started on solid foods though, her weight gain started tapering off... a lot. The doctor has finally decided it is time to be concerned about it, and suggested we stop breastfeeding so often (she still nurses about 8 times a day) so she would be hungrier for food. He also suggested giving her two bottles of full-fat cow's milk per day in place of feedings. From what I can tell, there is no reason why she needs cow's milk when she can have breastmilk. It doesn't have more calories than the rich hindmilk, and breastmilk is produced specifically for her. Giving her milk from another species, a species whose digestive system has relatively little in common with the human digestive system, seems odd to me. Cow milk is for baby cows. And, as such, I am not resorting to that yet. She does get (organic) cow's milk a few times a week to provide variety, like any other food I give her, but it's not something I would like her having every day, let alone in place or something I can make for her. For now, I am trying to cut out her 'snack nursing' so she is hungrier at mealtimes, and make sure she takes a full feeding when she does nurse, so she gets to the fatty hindmilk.
    And on the topic of the doctor's visit... I mentioned that Laura seems to have 'lost' a few words (thank you, baby, all done, etc.) that she used to say, which seemed strange to me. He replied with, "Oh, are you worried about Autism?"
     Ahhh!

     "No... it hadn't actually crossed my mind."
     "Oh, okay, well I wouldn't worry about it for right now, then."

     Hmmm, okay great. Like I'm not going to worry after you go and say something like that! :/

     After we got home I went and researched symptoms, and alarmingly, Laura did seem to match up with a handful:

• Does not consistently respond to his/her name.
• Doesn’t follow directions.
• Seems to be deaf at times.
• Seems to hear sometimes, but not others.
• Used to say a few words or babble, but now he/she doesn’t. Okay, she still talks, but she is missing words that she used to say, which is apparently a big red flag.
• Has odd movement patterns such as flapping arms or shaking body, especially when excited.
• Seems hyperactive much of the time; is always “on the go.”
• Is often uncooperative or oppositional during daily routines.
• Seems to prefer to play alone.
• Is very independent for his/her age.
• Walks on his/her toes. (Sometimes)

      No one else seems to share my concern, and honestly, I hadn't thought of it until the doctor brought it up. Please, other moms of one-year-olds, tell me your kids do some of these things too! I'm sure she's fine, but still something to keep in mind, especially since the younger they are diagnosed, the more likely treatment is to be effective. And the other thing is, is that Autism occurs as a range of severity, so it's possible she could just have a mild case. 

L is for Laughing

     On a lighter topic, Laura has recently developed this horrible-adorable Fake Laugh. I mean, she uses it when she is happy or excited about something, but it just sounds so forced and ridiculous. LOL

L is for Lawn

BEFORE

AFTER

      Yeah, we have one now. It's sweet. L is also for Letting the Dogs in the Yard Again. Willow was soooooo happy to have her stompin' ground back.

     We still have a strip at the back of the yard that is "au naturale" (read: weedy) because the yard is sloped there and we are still hoping to build a retaining wall to level off the sloped part. So we are currently trying to teach the dogs to do their business there instead of on our beautiful new grass.

L is for Legumes

     Okay, maybe this one is a bit of stretch seeing as I'm pretty sure we didn't actually plant any species of legumes, but legumes is French for vegetables, and this weekend we finally got around to planting our vegetable garden! I'm really excited and have no patience to wait for the seedlings to sprout. We planted a few things early in the house, all of which died except the peppers. I gingerly transplanted our mostly-dead tomato seedlings, but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to make it, especially since, despite my best efforts to be gentle, Laura thought she would help by squishing and smashing the mud bombs (aka tomato soil pellets) on the ground. :/

L is for Line-dried Laundry

     (See what I did there? Two L's. If we were playing Scattergories, I'd get double points.) :)

Last summer when we were taking down the old shed, I almost got rid of our clothes line. Now, I am sooo glad I didn't! We could really stand to save a few bucks at the moment, and now that it is finally nice enough, drying our clothes for free outside is a great way to do that! And it's way better for the environment, too! Brings me back to the good old days when we lived in Australia and our house didn't even have a dryer... mmmm crusty towels <3

L is for Lack of Laptop

     This weekend my laptop spontaneously died while Marisa was using it. It is currently at the computer hospital, and though it was looking grim, I'm hoping for good news later on today or tomorrow. Please pull through, we're all rooting for you!