As music educators, Meg and I are both familiar with things like Solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs. And of course, we feel the need to pass that knowledge onto our daughter. It also helps that Meg is a Rogers and Hammerstein fan. Check out this video (this is old, from May or so):
And just in case you are no familiar with Curwen hand signs, here is a chart to help you:
So the general thought is that there's no "right time" to switch a baby from a crib to a toddler bed. It's just when they start to crawl out of the crib themselves. My (Meg's) sister threw her leg up over the crib bar and turned escape artist at, I believe, 15 months? Correct me if I'm wrong, mom. Well Maddie decided to go an alternate route to crib escape. Instead of throwing a leg over, she liked to see how far she could lean out over, trying to touch her toes from outside the crib. I caught her on her way to the floor, head-first, exactly one time. And we decided it was time to "convert" her crib to a toddler bed. Oh, apparently a toddler bed is a crib with one wall removed, by the way. We got a bedrail. We installed it, she loved it, and she actually slept in it without complaint - and without trying to get out of her room when she woke up. In fact we've yet to find her out of the bed after sleeping. We do find her during the day, playing in her room, climbing up and down and up and down from her Big Girl Bed. So, for all your long-distance folk (and not so long distance folk, too) here's the Big Girl Bed in action:
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| Maddie's Big Girl Bed |
Ok, so every now and then on a tech or parenting blog I'll find something truly amazing. Usually an awesome invention, art project, or cool new book. Today, I found this, and let's face, stupidity must be shared. Clearly, for parents who should have just gotten a dog, I give you BabyToupee.com:
But she did win the gold for swimming in Barcelona, and I uh, swam for the Gettysburg Sharks...
Here are some pictures and a video from our recent trip to Aunt Laura's house in Brigantine for Pop's birthday:
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| Brigantine Trip |
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| Maddie July 2008 |
This was really one of the neatest nights to be a parent. We went to Sterling high School for the municipal fireworks display on July 3rd. A local string band played and Maddie danced and ran and partied and cried for more whenever they stopped. She named a lot of the instruments, too (music teacher parents = early introduction to instrument identification). "Geetaw!" "Vi-lin!" "Tuppet!" (Ok, there were no trumpets. They were saxophones. Same color, and you blow, that's all she's concerned with.) We talked about the fireworks all day, and by 2:00 she was begging for "fi-werks" every 2 minutes. When she saw them, we figured she'd be terrified. We brought the lovey and the paci for good measure, so as to not have to carry a wailing toddler back to the car in the dark. Of course, because we were prepared for terror, she was VERY into them. The only fussing came when the display was over. "No no no no no no MORE!" It was unspeakably cool to see her in her element, running around to the music on the grass.
Good stuff.
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| July 3rd Fireworks |
Ok, I'm a slacker mamma, and the milestones are just burying me. I'm going to post and link to them in the sidebar, so bear with this giant list, taking us from our kiddo's birth up to last March. And don't mind the number signs as bullets. I have no intention of fixing every one of those...apparently blogger thinks I'm just rollin' in free time and extra patience. So number signs we got.
#First Tooth! (At 15 months!) March 10th
# First walk in the snow - February 22nd
# Can REALLY walk - Feburary 19th
# Eats w/ a spoon (pretty well) - February 15th
# Takes first steps! - January 10th
# First ear infection (at 13 months, not bad!) - January 2nd
# Stands alone more than once (for over 10 seconds) without falling down! - December 28th
# Walks across the room holding one of mommy's hands only, without falling - December 20th
# Walks across the room holding onto walker toy - December 15th
# Words she speaks (meaningfully), as of today: Hi, wow, daddy, pretty, d-gee (doggie), tree, cheese, dees (this or what's this?) - Nov. 27th
# First real "sick" day - November 26th
# FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! Nov. 20th
# Points at what she wants - Nov. 19th
# Waves "bye" - Nov. 10th ish
# First Halloween! - Oct. 31st
# Last bottle - The tolerate/hate relationship is OVER - Oct. 31st
# Last dose of Zantac - Oct. 31st
# Started weaning off Zantac - Oct. 17th
# FIRST WORD! "Hi!" with a wave! - definite Oct. 15th
# Can (finally) get back down from a stand herself - October 6th
# Cruising around furniture - (around) October 1st
# Pulls to a stand alone at coffee table - September 13th
# Pulls to a stand alone in crib - September 13th
# Plays Peekaboo - September 10th
# Pulls up to standing (without our help) - September 3rd
# Claps her hands when you clap or sing to her - August 30th
# Goes from crawling to sitting - August 28th
# First bee sting! :-( August 23rd
# Pulls up to kneeling - August 20th
# Feeds herself a few rice puffs - August 20th
# Goes from sitting to crawling - August 13th
# Crawls forward - August 12th
# Pulls up to kneeling in crib: August 11th
# Creeps forward on hands and knees: August 11th
# Drinks a significant amount successfully from a sippy cup: August 10th
# Waves “Hi” intentionally: August 8th
# Dances side to side to music: August 1st
# Walks around the room with help (two hands): July 31st
# Grabs mobile above crib and pulls– July 30th (And up to the attic that goes!)
# First “piano”: July 30
# Scoots on butt: July 27th
# Big kid (convertible to toddler) car seat: July 24th
# Raises arms to be picked up: July 14
# Bops whenever music plays: July 4th
# Imitates sounds (sort of): July 2nd – “Hi!” to Aunt Laura
# First vacation: June 30th through July 7th – Ocean City, NJ
# Creeps backwards: June 21st
# Can take out and put back in paci on own: June 19th
# Up on hands and knees: June 16th
# “Reads” a book the whole way through: June 14th – More Spaghetti, I Say!
# First cold: June 13th
# Passes toys from one hand to the other: June 11th
# Creeps in a circle: June 4th
# Responds to name (definite): May 27th
# First time in the pool: May 30th – loved it, got cold though
# Sits alone: May 20th
# Protests when a toy is taken away: May 13th
# First fruit : May 12th - bananas!
# First concert: May 8th – Daddy’s school concert
# First trip to the shore: May 5th
# Sits in the shopping cart basket: May 4th
# First veggies: April 30th – peas, ate the whole jar!
# Gives hugs: April 25th – Daddy, when he picked you up from Shannon’s
# Rolled from back to tummy: April 10th
# First time all-day at a babysitter’s: March 28th – Mommy went back to work, staying with cousin Shannon
# First laugh: March 26th – laughed at Mommy saying, “whoops!”
# Finds hands: March 24th – and boy are they cool!
# Eats in High Chair: March 23rd
# Sits supported: March 22nd
# First solid food: March 20th – rice cereal (loved it!)
# Christening: March 18th: Very good girl!
# First Playdate: March 8th - Katelyn from MOMS club, also 3 months old
# Stands supported: February 28th – loves the view from up there!
# First babble: February 8th – “talks” to the birdies on the swing!
# Held rattle for the first time – February 17th – Granddad’s old rattle!
# First long car trip: February 17th – Traveled to Gettysburg to visit Mommy’s family
# Reached for a toy: January 30th
# Slept through the night (8 hours): January 21st
# First (definite) intentional smile: January 6th
# First juice: December 28th – for tummy troubles
# First time at church: December 24th – Christmas Eve Service – slept through it!
# Rolled from tummy to back: December 19th
# First time w/ ‘babysitters’: December 13th – Nana & Pop (Mommy & Daddy went to Mommy’s school concert)
# First time ‘worn’ in carrier: December 3rd – loved it!
# First time shopping: Grocery shopping at Sam’s Club – December 2nd – slept!
# First restaurant: Wendy’s! December 2nd – slept the whole time!
# First walk in the neighborhood: November 29th – screamed the whole time!
# First doctor Appointment: November 27th – 20 ½ inches, 8 lbs. 4 oz.
# First outing: November 26th – Nana & Pop’s
# First visit to a park: December 1st
# First home bath: November 24th
# First sneeze. November 22nd
# First yawn: November 22nd
# First holds head up herself: November 21st – 1 day old!
