*Edit*
There are a few posts prior to this one that I just uploaded the photographs for, and they were finally published, so if you read this one first go back and read the others too!
So it has been over 4 months since our little girl made her way into this earthy way of living and she has kept Tod & I busy.
We wanted to make sure that we started her relationship off with our dogs right. During pregnancy I played baby sounds for them and put up some baby stuff (play mat, play yard), and carried around a cabbage patch doll (only a couple times) so they can become familiar with the different things that would happen/be around when the baby arrived. Then while I stayed in the hospital for a couple of days after Miranda was born Tod took home a couple of swaddle blankets Miranda was wrapped in and laid them around the baby things at home to introduce her scent to Ringo and Banner. The most important piece I feel was the swaddle blankets, since dogs are so scent oriented, they could "meet" Miranda before she came home.
Ringo did an amazing thing when we did bring Miranda home, we let the dogs sniff her and then Ringo darted over to one of the swaddle blankets that were laying out and sniffed it, then came back to sniff Miranda again. It was great to see the dogs recognized her smell and connected the scent filled blanket with our baby and understood that she was part of the family.
Banner has become quite the nanny dog. He comes over to Miranda from time to time, sniffs her from head to toe, and will give her kisses on top of her head. Some times he gives her kisses on her hands or feet. He's very gentle with her. Ringo seems to like her too, he's respectful and hasn't acted jealous, and he's not "nannyish" like Banner is. As she has been reaching out more and more they have been very tolerant of her baby like way of petting, which mostly consists of a slightly open fist waving around and occasionally hitting their fur.
We learned in the first month that she very much dislikes a wet diaper, doesn't cry often but when her schedule was interrupted she had an opinion about it, and disliked smelly parents who missed their showers for the day.
In her second month she started to smile socially.
In her third month she started to giggle and roll on to her tummy!
In her fourth month she is mastering the art of beat boxing (makes lots of smacking/gurgles/bubble noises with her mouth) and i have been trying to capture a video! Every time i whip out the camera she stops beatboxing.
There are a few posts prior to this one that I just uploaded the photographs for, and they were finally published, so if you read this one first go back and read the others too!
So it has been over 4 months since our little girl made her way into this earthy way of living and she has kept Tod & I busy.
We wanted to make sure that we started her relationship off with our dogs right. During pregnancy I played baby sounds for them and put up some baby stuff (play mat, play yard), and carried around a cabbage patch doll (only a couple times) so they can become familiar with the different things that would happen/be around when the baby arrived. Then while I stayed in the hospital for a couple of days after Miranda was born Tod took home a couple of swaddle blankets Miranda was wrapped in and laid them around the baby things at home to introduce her scent to Ringo and Banner. The most important piece I feel was the swaddle blankets, since dogs are so scent oriented, they could "meet" Miranda before she came home.
Ringo did an amazing thing when we did bring Miranda home, we let the dogs sniff her and then Ringo darted over to one of the swaddle blankets that were laying out and sniffed it, then came back to sniff Miranda again. It was great to see the dogs recognized her smell and connected the scent filled blanket with our baby and understood that she was part of the family.
Banner has become quite the nanny dog. He comes over to Miranda from time to time, sniffs her from head to toe, and will give her kisses on top of her head. Some times he gives her kisses on her hands or feet. He's very gentle with her. Ringo seems to like her too, he's respectful and hasn't acted jealous, and he's not "nannyish" like Banner is. As she has been reaching out more and more they have been very tolerant of her baby like way of petting, which mostly consists of a slightly open fist waving around and occasionally hitting their fur.
We learned in the first month that she very much dislikes a wet diaper, doesn't cry often but when her schedule was interrupted she had an opinion about it, and disliked smelly parents who missed their showers for the day.
In her second month she started to smile socially.
In her third month she started to giggle and roll on to her tummy!
In her fourth month she is mastering the art of beat boxing (makes lots of smacking/gurgles/bubble noises with her mouth) and i have been trying to capture a video! Every time i whip out the camera she stops beatboxing.
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| Her little hand resting on daddy's thumb. |
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| all swaddled up. |
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| tummy time |
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| Working on turning her head. |
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| "why did you put me here?!??! I don't like this one bit" she says. |
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| Suffice to say we haven't done much tummy time for the first few months. Not gonna make her do something she doesn't like. When she's up for it we'll try again. |
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| We do a little thing called elimination communication, "EC". It's giving a baby the opportunity to go to the bathroom instead of peeing/pooing on herself in her diaper. It's not potty training, it's just showing her that if she chooses she can go to the bathroom. There's no negative for her if she does not use the bathroom vs the diaper. It can be started at any age so we started her first week os life. Whenever we take her to the bathroom she gets the biggest smile on her face. So we know she likes EC. Apparently children who practise EC learn to use the bathroom on their own earlier. I haven't seen any research on this but I wouldn't be surprised, since using the bathroom instead of the diaper isn't a new concept. |
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| Proud daddy! |
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| She loves her playmat. |
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| cute little ear print left from resting her head on mommy's arm. |
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| mmmmm, milky coma. |
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| nap time on the mat. |
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| nap time with daddy at work. |
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| look at that smile! |
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| nomnom, fingers... |
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| baby blue eyes |
