My first entry

I was inspired to start a blog after finding "Chasing Cheerios".  I love reading her blog, and thought it would be fun to start my own.  My daughter "Pookie" is now almost 18 months.  While pregnant with her I did a lot of reading over at mothering.com and my eyes were opened to natural parenting, which I knew was right for us.  We hardly used a stroller in the first year, instead we used various baby carriers, which she still enjoys riding in.  We co-sleep which I love.  I am planning to let her self-wean from breastfeeding when the time is right.  We had such a hard start.  It was extremely painful for the first couple of months, but we stuck with it and it has been wonderful every since.  

Elimination Communication 

When Pooks was 7 months I was so fed up with her horrible diaper rash.  We mostly used cloth, and changing to disposables didn't help.  I had read about elimination communication before but thought it was only for really crazy hippies, so I never considered doing it.  With the diaper rash being so bad I knew she needed more diaperfree time.  I decided to give "EC" a whirl.  It was really frustrating that first month.  I didn't try very hard and it was next to impossible to get her to pee on the potty.  Then something changed and suddenly she started peeing on it when she would wake up.   We did the sign for potty and by 1 year she would sign "potty" when she needed to go... some of the time.  In the summer we really slacked because we were so out of schedule, but once September came around I decided to put her in undies during the day.  We had a few accidents the first week, but since then she has been so amazing.  If we are home all day, or just go to the play centre she is in the same underwear come bedtime.  The first time I took her out in underwear was a little stressful but now I can safely take her out for short errands.   She has 5 squat potties around the house and is really good at using them.  For the record you can get ones just like the Baby Bjorn little potty for $2.99 at IKEA!  She is able to pull her pants down now so we are definitely entering a new phase.  It will be interesting to EC our next (and last) baby from birth!  Here she is at the free Play Center, not that you can see but she is in underwear. 

Thoughts on Toys

Before Everly was born I never put much thought into toys.  I knew I didn't like some... like toy guns.  Now after doing lots of reading I have a different perspective.  First of all I really don't want to have a huge amount.  Luckily I am pretty frugal (to a fault my husband complains), so we don't buy her much.  Sometimes I see something I just have to get her.  I recently bought her the Melissa and Doug Latch Board, which she really enjoys, and JJ (my husband) got her a wooden pull toy from Plan Toys.  I try to keep as many of her toys made from wood as possible.  Most of the plastic ones are hand-me-downs.  Before Pookie I didn't even realize plastics were bad.  We only have one toy that I can think of that is battery operated and it plays music.  I have avoided toys with all the whistle's and bells.  I guess I want toys that stimulate her creativity and curiosity.

 I am hoping excited that this blog will inspire me to take pictures of our daily lives.  I think tomorrow I will post about our Montessori-inspired home.