why it's almost as if babies are people!
Mim is almost eight months old and is now separation anxiety and stranger anxiety city. I never had a big issue with either with Pippa so this is new territory for me, and it's kind of a terrible time for this to start, because I'm hoping to take my volunteer training course in just a few weeks, and while they offer free childminding I'm not sure what will happen if she just screams the whole time.
It's interesting to see how she's different from Pip was at the same age in terms of interests. Pippa always wanted to move, get places, grab things. Mimi doesn't really crawl; she does this sort of rotation thing that may or may not get her where she wanted to go. On the approach/retreat axis for new stimuli she's definitely more retreat.
I tried to go hunting back in my journal archives to see if I was already having biting problems with Pippa at this age. I couldn't find a smoking gun but from passing comments here and there I'm pretty sure I was.
Mim bit me exactly once, about a month ago. I screamed in pain and surprise and momentarily stopped nursing her. Then a few minutes later we went back to nursing. She hasn't bitten me since, so that proves that all you have to do is...
oh wait, that's exactly what I did with Pippa, isn't it? And her biting me when nursing took months and months of warning, stopping nursing every time, sometimes putting myself in time out to cool down etc to resolve. And then we STILL had issues with her biting in general even after that.
A friend (the dreaded Friend With Only One Kid who gives you advice based on what worked for that one kid and assumes that it will work for everyone) gave me the "Oh, he only bit me once, and all I did was scream and put him down, and he never did again. You just have to be firm!" line and externally I smiled and said "Well I'm glad it worked for you" but internally I was "I'D LIKE TO BE FIRM WITH YOUR FACE AGAINST A BRICK WALL".
But it's nice to have confirmation that you can indeed be the exact same person trying the same approach with two kids and have it work for one and not the other. Nurture can't get along without considering Nature.
So I'm now the dreaded Friend Who Has Two Kids and Knows It All now I guess.
I'm going to put some base facts behind a cut for when I want to know "what was my last kid doing at this age" in the future:
Biting: Bit once nursing around six months, never bit since.
Pinching: Sometimes she pinches and she has quite a grip. She used to do it more actually. She tends to go more for grabbing at clothing, accessories, hair etc now whereas before she would get your skin.
Sitting: Like a champ. Mostly she likes to sit, hold something and look around.
Crawling: She tends to crawl most when you are NOT looking. In some ways it seems like there's no way to encourage her to crawl, because if you place something interesting out of her reach she's more likely to regard it with caution.
Eating: Mim <3 food. All the food. Especially yogurt though.
Napping: No nap schedule at all. I can't even tell you how long her naps are and when she takes them. She's generally napping on my back while I do toddler stuff. I would guess three naps a day still?
Sleeping: Waking four to five times a night I think? Goes to bed later than Pip did. Pip would go down at like 6pm. Mim is more likely to go down between 7:30 and 8:30. If Mim called the shots we would be bed sharing 100% of the time (whereas Pip was much more fine with the sidecarred crib arrangement).
It's interesting to see how she's different from Pip was at the same age in terms of interests. Pippa always wanted to move, get places, grab things. Mimi doesn't really crawl; she does this sort of rotation thing that may or may not get her where she wanted to go. On the approach/retreat axis for new stimuli she's definitely more retreat.
I tried to go hunting back in my journal archives to see if I was already having biting problems with Pippa at this age. I couldn't find a smoking gun but from passing comments here and there I'm pretty sure I was.
Mim bit me exactly once, about a month ago. I screamed in pain and surprise and momentarily stopped nursing her. Then a few minutes later we went back to nursing. She hasn't bitten me since, so that proves that all you have to do is...
oh wait, that's exactly what I did with Pippa, isn't it? And her biting me when nursing took months and months of warning, stopping nursing every time, sometimes putting myself in time out to cool down etc to resolve. And then we STILL had issues with her biting in general even after that.
A friend (the dreaded Friend With Only One Kid who gives you advice based on what worked for that one kid and assumes that it will work for everyone) gave me the "Oh, he only bit me once, and all I did was scream and put him down, and he never did again. You just have to be firm!" line and externally I smiled and said "Well I'm glad it worked for you" but internally I was "I'D LIKE TO BE FIRM WITH YOUR FACE AGAINST A BRICK WALL".
But it's nice to have confirmation that you can indeed be the exact same person trying the same approach with two kids and have it work for one and not the other. Nurture can't get along without considering Nature.
So I'm now the dreaded Friend Who Has Two Kids and Knows It All now I guess.
I'm going to put some base facts behind a cut for when I want to know "what was my last kid doing at this age" in the future:
Biting: Bit once nursing around six months, never bit since.
Pinching: Sometimes she pinches and she has quite a grip. She used to do it more actually. She tends to go more for grabbing at clothing, accessories, hair etc now whereas before she would get your skin.
Sitting: Like a champ. Mostly she likes to sit, hold something and look around.
Crawling: She tends to crawl most when you are NOT looking. In some ways it seems like there's no way to encourage her to crawl, because if you place something interesting out of her reach she's more likely to regard it with caution.
Eating: Mim <3 food. All the food. Especially yogurt though.
Napping: No nap schedule at all. I can't even tell you how long her naps are and when she takes them. She's generally napping on my back while I do toddler stuff. I would guess three naps a day still?
Sleeping: Waking four to five times a night I think? Goes to bed later than Pip did. Pip would go down at like 6pm. Mim is more likely to go down between 7:30 and 8:30. If Mim called the shots we would be bed sharing 100% of the time (whereas Pip was much more fine with the sidecarred crib arrangement).