she always wants to bring a baby, a rubber ducky, an elmo, a something with her
i always try to hold her hand to make her walk faster and always end up with her baby, rubber ducky, elmo or whatever in my bag where i already have her water, diapers, wipes, snacks and so on
Now that Lily is a toddler and no longer in her crawling or learning how to walk stage, I would like to talk about baby proofing (or the lack of) without feeling like jinxing myself.
Some of you who visit here have smaller babies and I would like you to know that the only baby proofing Will and I did was cover the electric outlets.
We both believe that children should be taught to not touch everything, and should have barriers and limits.
Both my brother and I were raised that way and the same with Will and his siblings.
Our moms never moved anything out of way, never rounded the sharp corners of tables, never locked cabinets, never put up baby gates.
When it came to baby proofing, we decided to take the old school approach we were raised with.
Children should know that tables have sharp corners and be aware of it, they should know that glass breaks, they should know that an item is mommy’s/daddy’s and they have no business touching it.
To me, there is nothing worst than a child who goes over someone’s house and touches everything because everything has always been moved out of her/his way.
Will and I also strongly dislike all the gimmick stuff the baby industry makes for parents to spend their money on.
Seriously, so much of it is unnecessary.
When comes to it, I think it’s part of parenting, and if you are not afraid of saying the word “NO” to your child, it works.
Like my mama friend Min said here, children need to hear the word “NO”, it’s good for them.
How do you feel about baby proofing?
What approach did you or will you take?
Lily’s room however is a free for all. It’s her room, she can touch whatever she wants
Lily had her 12 month check-up yesterday.
She is now 30″ long (75 percentile) and 21.7lbs (65 percentile).
Dr. Salinas was happy with her weight. I guess she was expecting it to have dropped since Lily started walking.
I was happy that she was happy since I’ve been feeling like Lily has just basically gotten a lot longer and skinnier. (she seems all legs these days)
She also got her MMR shot (please no crap about shots, again, it’s a personal decision) and had her TB skin test.
She continues to be SO good at her visits.
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oh! and we also had a successful urine test. finally!
The gang was reunited at the park yesterday morning.
Lily, Sofia and Dylan. YAY!
All three of them changed so much in one month.
Dylan is now walking just like Lily.
Sofia finally got teeth (2 on the bottom) and is such a fast little crawler!!
Lily was so happy to be at the park again with her friends.
She was all smiles. 🙂
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the gang
Lily
Lily is totally walking.
Just a few days ago, if she fell, she had a hard time getting back up on her own without our help or the help of an object.
She accomplished getting up on her own yesterday. 🙂
She’s all good to go now!
Here she is walking in the park in Beja, Portugal two days before we left.
Well, after another very long flight (you only slept 2 hours out of the 9 but yet you behaved so well), here we are back home in Miami.
I must tell you that you became quite the little person in that month we were in Portugal.
2 weeks after we were there, you started walking and you also became way more vocal.
You are quite talkative these days.
You now say “da” (give in Portuguese) and “agu” (agua, water in Portuguese).
It must have been the fact that you were surrounded by people who spoke the same secret language that only I spoke to you up until then.
You felt comfortable.
You were friendly and easily took to everyone.
Your avo Carmo and avo Ricardo fell in love with you the moment we walked out of the airport gates.
Every morning when you and I would wake, we would go into the kitchen where avo Carmo would be already making coffee.
You would get the biggest smile on your face as she would make a silly morning dance for you. 🙂
After breakfast, you already knew that it was time to get you washed and dressed to go get coffee with avo Ricardo at the neighborhood cafe.
I had never seen my own father that way.
I can only imagine that he was the same way with me but, it was deeply moving to see him in a whole different light.
You adapted so well to the every day routine we had in Portugal.
I feel guilty (and a bit sad) that we had to take you away from it. (at first we introduced you to it and then we took you away)
But, such is life Lily.
Everyone has their different lives and unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world where we can all live in the same place.
I know your avo Carmo and avo Ricardo miss you so very much already as I’m sure you miss them too.
We will see them soon, I promise.
Love you always,
Mommy
P.S.- Here are some sweet moments of you and your avos.
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oct. 14 2010. the day we arrived. it was love at first sight
oct. 16 2010. you and avo Carmo feeding Faisquinha. your favorite dog in the neighborhood
So, Lily is basically walking. (sorry Will 🙁 )
Now, she will every once in a while let go of my hand, stand by herself and then take a few steps on her own.
She has become more confident therefore she is letting go.
It’s bitter sweet really.
Of course I’m excited for her (she has been wanting to walk for so long!) but, my baby is totally growing up!
And as you can see, she is a babbling fool these days also. 🙂
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Cousin Sebastiao turned 9 on friday and had his birthday party yesterday.
Lena (my cousin, his mom) did such a great job with all the drinks, cakes and games she had for the kids.
Lily had a wonderful time playing with cousin Sofia and watching all the older kids run around.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather.
It was a great saturday.
OH! And speaking of lil miss independent, Lily will most likely be walking soon. She is feeling quite confident these days. She got a lot of solo walking time between tia Tete and me at the party.
Lily is 11 months today.
That’s only 1 month away from turning 1 year old!!!!
Where has time gone?
It has all gone by too fast.
Time never went by this fast before.
At 11 months, Lily is almost 22lbs, I’m not sure what her height is these days but she is TALL, she is almost walking, she goes to bed at 8pm with no problem and sleeps 10 hours straight, she has 4 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom, she takes 1 nap during the day, books are her favorite, she still loves water, she has a quirky sense of humor that both Will and I love…
She is just the best and although it breaks my heart a little that she is no longer really a baby, I cannot wait to see what an amazing person she will turn out to be. 🙂
We LOVE you Lily!!!!!
November 22 2009. Lily just 15 days old
October 04 2010. Lily almost 1 year old
Lily is almost walking.
Almost.
It’s all she wants to do but she still needs a hand. Literally.
She walks really well by holding on to just one hand. The left hand more so than the right.
The two of us are leaving for Portugal in 9 days. 9 days!!
Will is meeting us there 2 weeks later.
Lily has 9 days to start walking by herself.
I would hate for her to start walking while we are in Portugal and have Will miss it. (I might have to push her down if she does)
No pressure though Lily. 😉
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