Mary: 2 Months

The days go by so fast right now, but I'm enjoying that Mary is getting older because these passing weeks bring new developments that are so fun. She's now smiling at us (and finally smiling at ME!), holding her head up, tracking objects, and coo-ing. She even did the fake-rollover move where she props up on her arms and then the weight of her head causes her body to roll over. It's pretty darn cute.

She's still nursing well enough, so no changes there. She's off the silent reflux meds as of this week so we're hoping that's all behind us now.

She goes through cycles of bad sleep habits, but thankfully right now we're having a great week where her naps are nice and long and almost all of them are done in her crib. Last weekend that was not the case! Right now she takes 3 full naps about 1.5-2 hours long and then an evening catnap around dinner time (often in her infant seat at the table with us). She's usually down to sleep by 8:30 at the very latest and then I sneak in and feed her around 11pm but she basically nurses and then conks back out. She then sleeps through the night until around 5-6am when she usually lets our a holler. Kyle goes in to offer her the paci and that usually is all she wants, and then I fed her at 7am when the house wakes up for the day. She's learned the sleep routine really well - I turn off the lights, turns on her fan and white noise machine, get her wrapped up in a swaddle, put the her Lovie near her face and her binky in her mouth and sit down to rock her while I sing her a song, and by the second verse of the song she's usually already nodding off! So then I just say a quick prayer for her, kiss her forehead, deposit her in her crib and leave the room. I'm dreading the 4 month sleep regression, but hoping that this solid sleep routine will help us in the long run!

During her wake times we do family time, sibling playtime in Drew's room, tummy time on the play mat, reading books, and even some independent play time where I'm in the room but not in her line of sight so she gets used to mom not always being right there every second she's awake.

At her 2 month check up, her pediatrician noticed that she has mild plagiocephaly - which is doctor speak for baby has a flat spot on her head. Mary has a preference to turn her head toward her right shoulder, probably because both her crib and her changing table were set up to cause her to turn to her right to look at us. Her ped thinks it's completely fixable by us just taking care to help her turn her head both ways while at home, so I came home and changed her changing table and crib around to cause her to turn her head to the left if she wants to look at us.

She also had her 2 month shots yesterday and had a pretty afternoon because of it. The same happened with Drew at his 2 month shots; I don't know what it is about that set of shots but my kids just don't do well with them. Fortunately Papa took Drew to the beach in the afternoon so I was able to snuggle up with Mary for a nice long nap. She woke up from that nap in a much better mood, which made my mother's heart very happy!

Between her and Drew's daily schedule, things are pretty routine around her. About as routine as I can handle - and that's saying a lot coming from me! I am much looking forward to the days when my kids are older and we can fly by the seat of our pants a bit more. But that season will come in due time!

Guest Post: Science with a 2-year-old

It's BFBN Guest Post Day and today Kim from Team Cartwright is sharing about teaching science to a two-year-old. Kim has some really simply ideas on how to encourage a curiosity for science in a toddler. I do a dedicated table time with Drew twice a week and I can't wait to incorporate Kim's ideas into that teaching time with him!

(Kim's post is also fitting because today I'm sharing over at Emily's blog about toddler table time.)

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Science with a 2 year old. I know, it almost sounds crazy. A lot of people flash back to high school biology or chemistry when they think of science. No way is a parent going to sit a 2 year old down to dissect frogs or try experiments with a Bunsen burner. Fortunately, it doesn't take much to get toddlers into science. By nature little kids like to explore and are always trying to figure out how the world around them works. Oh sure, it is annoying when they are constantly throwing food off their dinner tray. Sometimes they are just being difficult, but they are learning about the forces of gravity pulling items to the ground and cause and effect from watching the items splatter around the floor. As a parent we may be learning the art of counting to ten before reacting. Instead of tossing dinner, here is a list of a couple of other ways we can focus on science with young toddlers.

1) Magnets. Kids love magnets. Grab a cookie sheet and some refrigerator magnets and let them push them around at the table. They can be similar to stickers with the placing them, but you can remove them and do it again. Grab some household items to see if the magnets will attract them. Paper clips are a good one to try, though supervised to make sure they aren't swallowed. You can try anything that is metal and magnetic. Once your child gets used to the idea that magnets can pick up other objects, try adding some that aren't magnetic. Erasers or just pieces of fabric are great to show not everything sticks to the magnets. You don't have to go into a full explanation of how or why magnets work, the kids are learning about how the world works just by doing it. If you want to take it a step further, pick up some bar magnets from a hobby store. You can try to push the like ends together and feel them repel, then flip one over and see how they attract. Just supervise carefully with any small magnets. We all know swallowing them can be super dangerous.

2) A tub of water. A tub of small noodles or rice would work as well for a lot of this. Give your child containers of various sizes and let him fill and dump them out. Try pouring from one container to another. If you pour from a large container to a small one, does all the water fit? What happens when you pour the water out of the cup and back into the tub? Do the containers float? What happens if you push them under the water? Can you sink one of the containers? These are all things kids do normally when given a chance to play with water. What are they learning from it? They are learning about differences in sizes and volume. They are learning about buoyancy from pushing the cups down. They are learning about surface tension by trying to make cups float. They are learning about waves by watching drops of water fall. You don't need to lecture them on it, the lessons are sinking in just by playing.

3) Take a walk. The fall is a great time to encourage your child to learn about nature. What happens to the leaves? How have they changed from the summer? Do you see any animals running around? How do squirrels climb trees? Let them toss some rocks or sticks into a pond. Collect a few items to take home and look are more closely. What is the difference between a stick and a rock? These are all basic questions that as adults we know the answers to and don't wonder about. But kids are still learning, making this sort of thing new and fascinating to them. And again, even without giving a dissertation on how chlorophyll works and the difference between types of rocks and organic materials, your child is learning. They are seeing the way our world actually works. In time they will learn that this is a cycle, and it will build into an understanding of how and why this is happening. Talk about different animals you see and how they look different. Birds have wings to help them fly, squirrels have big tails to help them balance in trees. How are they different from humans? They are learning about anatomy and animals just by observing animals, something most kids love.

These are just a few ideas as to ways to build science into your days. I think the easiest way to help kids love science is to encourage them to ask why. It won't take much, we all know kids have an insatiable curiosity about the world around them. Ask them what they see. What do they think is happening? What do they think will happen? Ask them to answer their own questions. Why do they think the magnets stick to the cookie sheet? Why do they think leaves change colors? Another big tip is to not worry if you don't know an answer. Not knowing makes adults uncomfortable. We naturally tend to shy away from what we don't know. I honestly feel the whole point of science is that we don't know. It's the search for answers, and, well, there can be no answers if there are no questions. Let your child see you not know something. There is no shame in it. Help them learn that it is okay to not know, and that you can find out the answer together. Google is a quick resource to try. With 2 year olds try taking them to the library and looking for books on topics that interest them. Most of all, let them try things. Let them look around and observe what is going on in their world. Yes, it can make a 20 foot walk take half an hour, but think of all the knowledge they are absorbing on the way. You just might start your own love of science and discovering the world all around.