Car Seats

The Latest

Published August 30, 2010

We’re still traveling, so I’m not taking as much time to write here, but I still have many thoughts swirling around in my head, and Annabelle continues to grow and change on a daily basis.

Annie has started saying “dad,” though just as with “mama,” she doesn’t seem to be attaching any particular meaning to the word yet. Also, now that she is sitting up so well, she had begun trying to sit straight up in the car, too, and thus began to look rather uncomfortable in her infant car seat. I switched her to a convertible seat on Friday in hopes that she would be more comfortable.

Here she’s just playing around, not safely buckled in, but you get the idea. We went with the Britax Roundabout, which seems to be a great seat so far.

Recently, Annabelle also got to meet (and I got the pleasure of reconnecting with) the most amazing Montessorians I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Just look at this beautiful table of passionate, certified Montessori teachers! Each one held Annabelle for a bit and we all enjoyed some delicious Ethiopian food together. It was definitely a highlight of our visit!

As Annabelle is getting close to six months, the time to start experimenting with foods other than breast milk is drawing near. Originally I had planned to practice Baby Led Weaning, beginning to offer table foods from six months onwards. More and more, I am hearing moms talk about waiting until a year to offer any solid foods at all, however. At the moment, I’m busy researching the various schools of thought on the subject to see how we’ll proceed when we get home. I would love to hear about when you started offering foods other than breast milk to your child(ren), and what influenced your decisions!

Posted in Annabelle, Car Seats, Infant Feeding, Milestones, Travel | 2 Comments

Music and … Success!!

Published July 15, 2010

I’m not much of a fan of car seats or car seat photos, but this one is beautiful, and if you read the Car Seat Saga, you know why! We had to run some errands today, and those errands involved no less than four stops, instead of the usual one or two I try to limit our outings to and there were no tears whatsoever – not one! I’m glad we seem to be out of that awful, awful phase, but I still can’t wait to be living someplace where we can walk to get our errands done (or maybe use public transport!?) again!

One thing we do in the car that seems to make the ride more peaceful is sing. We sing all day, really, but it seems most helpful in the car. When Annabelle had her days and nights mixed up during the first month or two of her life, I made a conscious effort to expand my repertoire of lullabies – I needed more! One of my favorites has long been the Celtic lullaby “Dream Angus,” and in searching for it online to get a refresher on how it goes, I found this wonderful, wonderful resource: Kist O’Dreams. The project focuses on traditional Scottish lullabies, but also discusses the value of lullabies in many aspects of children’s development and they have beautiful lullabies available for download and a cd for purchase. It’s lovely! I am all about passing things down from generation to generation as well, so I talked to my mother and grandmother about lullabies they remember singing. A favorite from the list my grandma sent is the classic “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I have added “All the Pretty Little Horses” to the mix as I just love that one. My mother in law has some lovely ones from hubby’s side of the family that I’ll have to make a point of learning a bit better when we visit as well.

We certainly don’t limit our singing to nighttime and the car, however. Annabelle loves it when I sing songs that involve sign language. Starting in with one can calm her instantly when she is overtired and frustrated during the day – I suppose it’s the combination of visual and aural stimulation. We generally sing a slightly more peaceful version of “Way Up in the Sky” with the true ASL signs at some point each morning. There is another that we love and I can’t seem to find the lyrics to online, so I suspect it may have been written by the incredible teacher who was my mentor during my Montessori internship. If any Montessori (or non-Montessori!) teachers or parents are looking for new songs to add to your repertoire, I cannot recommend her cd enough. All of my favorite songs, I learned from her and the other teachers at Giving Tree Montessori School. In Annabelle’s favorite among them, we declare our love for dad : ) I also love signing show tunes with her. Her favorite is, “A Few of My Favorite Things” and in the interest of keeping family tradition alive, we also sing, “A Bushel and a Peck,” which is one I remember hearing from my mother and grandmother as well. Of course there are also my two favorite songs to listen to while pregnant, which I now enjoy dancing with my girl to: Feist’s “Mushaboom,” and the Be Good Tanyas’ “The Littlest Birds.” Annabelle is beginning to sing along with me, too, which makes it that much more fun.

What are some favorite songs and rhymes that you share with your children (or that they share with you)?

Posted in Car Seats, Music | 4 Comments

The Car Seat Saga

Published July 10, 2010

Unlike the oft’ seen baby whose fussy spells are brought to an abrupt end by the oh-so-soothing ride in the car, the car seat makes Annabelle furious. She has hated it from day one (or day, two, as it were – she screamed all the way home from the hospital), and every time I think she has adjusted, she shows me otherwise. When she was teeny tiny, she slept enough that I could make all my trips with her asleep, and she was undisturbed by being taken out and put back in. As she got older, this was not so much the case, but I was able to reach back and give her my finger to suck on for comfort when she got upset. When that stopped working, I found that I could reach back with her rattle in hand and shake it in time with one of her favorite songs to calm her down. That no longer seems to do the trick, however, and her hatred seems to have intensified. Now she doesn’t even wait till I begin driving, but screams as I attempt to buckle her in sometimes.

Since I have no one but the two of us to worry about right now, I see no reason to leave if she’s screaming, or to keep on driving when she is extremely upset, so lately I’ve found myself taking walks in random neighborhoods between our home and destinations I need to reach. At night, my standard stop is the grocery store, as it’s the only thing open. Thank goodness there’s one right off the main road in every village! I either hang out with her in the car until she seems calm enough to go on, or wander the aisles patting her and trying to get her to sleep. Recently, I managed to get her to sleep in the parking one seemingly endless night, but she woke up again when I put her in her seat and became quite upset, so I – really and truly, leaned over the seat and tried to nurse her back to sleep without getting her out so that we wouldn’t have that problem again. I’m sure that was an interesting sight for any passersby!

One of the worst nights was the 4th of July, when I didn’t finally get her to sleep and peacefully home until midnight. Here she is just before I took her out of the seat, which woke her right back up!

Since the 4th, I have literally left the house two times, and both times I regretted it! We’ve been enjoying a whole lot of time at home! I suppose that’s good for her sensitive skin, because home time = naked time! Here she is today.

I am hoping that as she begins to hold onto toys and really engage with them, the situation will improve, because I can give her something to play with during the ride. We’ll see. Until then, who wants to come over and visit!? ; ) I can’t wait to live somewhere where we can safely walk places again!

Do, or did your babies enjoy riding in the car? Any tips for making the ride more relaxing?

Posted in Annabelle, Car Seats | 7 Comments

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