a long saturday for a little girl
We had a fundraiser on Saturday at the Safeway gas station. The fundraiser was for the girls conference that we are going to in a few weeks with some of the girls from youth church. It was fun, but poor Mayah was longing for a real nap. She was all bundled up and warm and I wore her in a sling for a while, then I held her, then I went to the car and let her lay on the seat.
I knew she was truly tired and ready for a nap when she just went right to sleep! This really tied me to the car, for obvious reasons. I couldn’t walk around and help the girls with the fundraiser, so it was hard to just have to sit and watch from my car. The girls were doing great, and the leaders that were there were a huge help, I just like to be a part of it normally. But, little miss Mayah needed her nap, so there I was, in the car for a while.
Later on, I took Mayah over to the yarn store for someone to meet her. I got the great idea to leave Mayah with my mom for the last 45minutes to an hour of the fundraiser. She thought that would be fun, so Mayah stayed with her. She was just a few blocks away from me, so if something went wrong, I felt ok about getting there to help. Mayah was pretty good for a while, then decided to show Grammy how loud she can be. I think that just lasted for about 10 minutes, then she fell asleep. I am used to Mayah just being a crier sometimes, especially when she is tired and ready for her nap. I felt bad for my mom though, although I know she can handle it. 
I was back to get her shortly after she fell asleep.
We went back to Safeway to count the money and give the portion to them for breast cancer awareness. Then, it was of course, time to eat again and start our routine all over. I am learning that it is so nice to have a routine with Mayah, I could comfortably leave her with my mom, knowing that she had been fed and wouldn’t be hungry for another couple hours…it is nice to have some predictability for both Mayah and I.
This leads me to tell you about my new book I am reading. It is “Secrets of the Baby Whisperer” by Tracy Hogg. This book compliments the routine that I learned from Babywise. She goes a lot more in depth at learning to understand your baby’s cues. I have liked using Babywise, but have lacked understanding in the area of really knowing how to read Mayah’s cues to know what she is trying to tell me. She is a very vocal baby, always grunting, cooing, fussing, or screaming. I have really gotten a handle on knowing if she is just making noise or if she is really upset. I feel though that I could always use more improvement in paying attention to the cues.
So far, I have read about knowing what type of baby Mayah is. There was a little quiz to help show what temperament she has. It is interesting, because I am so skeptical of quizzes truly showing what a person is like, but I did it anyways. As I answered, I started noticing a pattern and even tried to break it (by rereading questions to make sure that I was really choosing the right one). In the end, Mayah was almost 100% in one category of baby temperaments! I was amazed. The paragraph about that type of baby is Mayah almost perfectly!
Now, I know, I don’t ever want to put her in a box and say that that is how she will always be, but it does help to have an idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if she changed the rules on me though, making me reevaluate all my answers. Regardless, it is so nice to begin to understand her cues in a different way. I think this is the missing link that I was looking for. I have been happy with our routine with Babywise. I have enjoyed the routine idea, making sure to not treat it like a schedule with specific times. I don’t force Mayah to go a certain length between feedings, but I do pay attention to that length and if I feed her early, I pay attention for any patterns or reasons for that. The big thing I have done is stick to a routine of eat, wake, sleep…spreading over about 2.5-3.5 hours. It has been great. WIth that routine down, now I am jumping into using Baby Whisperer techniques. They use the same routine, just called EASY. Eat, Activity, Sleep, You.
The one thing that grabbed me as I started to read her book was simple. Babies need respect (which is fairly obvious and logical). We need to respect them by talking with them, not at them or to them, by telling them what we are doing (like changing clothes, diapers, etc..) not just abruptly doing it, by respecting their space and not just juggling them around. It is simple really, just treat them the way you’d want to be treated. Beyond that, Tracy Hogg goes into more detail. I am looking forward to learning more, not just to be using a certain technique, but more to make me a better mom and give Mayah the things she needs in her life and help me to understand her needs better.
I know there is no fix-all, but there is nothing wrong with always learning how to do things better. It is trial and error many times, but at least I’m not just sitting and letting life pass me by with no real progress.
So, I am excited to finish the book. I have heard that Babywise and Baby Whisperer really go hand in hand. A lot of people use the two together and are very good at it. I regularly read the Babywise mom’s blog, and she talks about both Babywise and Baby Whisperer stuff. I suppose I will write more about it later on, as I find my way. I am not about using everything these books say, just the parts that are a fit for Mayah and me. I am not stuck on doing it all one way, but rather doing what is best to help Mayah be a happy, well-rested baby who knows that she is loved and taken care of.
