What's Going on With Laura?

I realize we have brought up a lot of issues on this blog that may seem unresolved, but in fact are settled or getting there - so let's get up to speed. Father B likes when I blog with headings, so here you go, Daddy-O.

Daycare
I think like a day after we posted about the quandary, we went ahead and paid a deposit to the one person we visited, thus reserving Laura's spot. In actuality I think I was more distressed about having to send her to daycare in general, rather than who she would be with. If she has to be somewhere other than home with us, I am happy about where we will be sending her. There are only 3 other kids there right now, and they are really nice and well-behaved. Laura has been very smiley with Kimm, the daycare lady, which I think is a good sign. Kimm has almost 20 years experience and has been great with answering my questions, returning calls promptly, etc. so I am feeling at ease.

I actually brought Laura to daycare for a half day this week while I was at school. Yes, I cried, and it seemed so stupid to me because I've left her with the grandmas plenty of times this summer with no tears. But it felt different and I knew this was the beginning of the end of our time at home together. However, Laura did great and had no problems eating or napping, so that made me feel a little better.

Sleeping

This is improving, but isn't great yet. We are trying the cry-it-out thing, but we're sort of cheating on Ferber's method. You are supposed to keep extending the time you let your baby cry until she gets used to settling herself back down. Well, Dad decided he doesn't want her to cry more than 10 minutes (Mom suspects this is because when Laura cries this long, he actually wakes up at night) before we go in and attend to her. We also replace her pacifier. On the positive side, I haven't slept on her floor since we got into this method. She does wake up about every 3 hours (the amount of time between her feedings during the day...coincidence? I think not.), but it's better because I only get up maybe 2-4 times with her.

Laura has also learned to nap longer than 30 minutes; some days she sleeps almost 2 hours! At other times, though, she still takes these tiny little naps. She has also accepted using a new pacifier (Nuk brand) instead of her round green Soothie (thanks for the recommendation Katie - it falls out a lot less at night!). I must admit I was a little sad about it - are parents always so sad about every little sign that shows your child is growing up?

Eating

Laura is proving to be a pretty adaptable girl when we throw new things at her. She took formula with no problems, and now has 2 bottles of formula a day. I am still feeding her the rest of the time, and I'm hoping to replace one more feeding with formula before it's time to go back to school. A question for the parents out there - what do you use for the water you mix formula with? Tap water, bottled water, filtered water?? My Baby 411 book has this big section about fluoride in the water and how getting too much from tap water can actually discolor baby's teeth when they come in. As of now we are using tap water.

Well, as the summer comes to a close, make sure you squeeze in the last few things you've wanted to do! For us, I hope that includes some ice cream, walks outside, and a date night for Mom and Dad!