Showing posts with label Feeding Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feeding Time. Show all posts

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Watching our baby blossom...



There is nothing more special as a parent than the connection with your baby.

When Chris went to pay the DirectTV bill online, he saw that they were offering a series of engaging, educational programs designed to providing you with new opportunities for learning and playing together.






BabyFirstTV goes above and beyond traditional TV – it is an educational tool that provides a positive learning environment and an engaging experience for both you and your baby. Their programming features original new content including “Rainbow Horse”(hello... they really know how to target gay dads, don't they? Not sure which I like more, the rainbow horse or the rainbow flower they use as their logo), “Sandman,” and “I Can Sign” to name a few, as well as new tools that help parents better understand the developmental benefits for their baby with each of the programs.

With your baby’s safety and well being in mind, they offer content specifically tailored to meet the needs of babies and toddlers up to three years of age, in a safe and positive, commercial-free learning environment.

Kensington just loves the channel... though I'm not sure what to make of Tec the Tractor. I know that this is based off of a popular children’s book, and the book with a farmyard setting itself maybe great for kids, but the show freaks me out. His eyes seem to follow you no matter where in the room you are. Not to mention, no ones mouth moves.

Shushybye Baby has short series of songs, stories, healthful sleep tips and much more – all designed to encourage your toddler to look forward to nighty-night time! Not sure if it actually helped tonight - - Kensington has fought her naps all day today. We have a '20 minute rule' in our house (put her down for a nap, not letting her cry more than 20 minutes without calling it quits and letting her stay up). In 7 months, we've only have to get her once because she's cried more than 20 minutes. Until today.

We all know Kensington loves food. As mentioned in the past, she's been called an 'aggressive' eater by many, and one can easily tell by the photo's online (for those reading this on Facebook, check out our blog http://itsdaddiesplural.blogspot.com) that she loves being held. When ever ANYONE reaches out their hands, she will go to them.

Tonight bedtime was a hoot and a holla. Yes, I said holla.

Kensington was in her explorer gym and Chris walks in with her bottle and asks me if I want to take her up for bed time. Sure. This should be a piece of cake considering how much sleep, or lack thereof, she's actually gotten today.

I reach out her and instead of reaching for me, she grabs a toy and starts jumping up and down in her spring chair. I start laughing. "Come on Kensi, lets go to bed." Nadda. I clap my hands a little and she turns (the seat can go 360 degrees around the activity center). "Chris, She knows it's bed time and she's not wanting to go." I walk around to her and reach out again. She turns. Chris tries and gets the same response. We're now both laughing uncontrollably.

Here's the kicker... we show her the bottle, and she doesn't even reach for it. This is a child that when in school, they have to feed the other kids in the opposite side of the room from where she is because she wants to steal their food - even after she just finished hers. The same child that thinks any bottle (coke, mustard, salad dressing) is hers and will let you know that she stakes her claim to it. She didn't want it because she knew it meant going to bed. Needless to say, she cried the entire trip up to the room. After her bottle, a few minutes of rocking her and singing to her in my best Beyonce impersonation, she went out.

Hopefully the Shushybye Dream Band will have better luck tomorrow night. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Be Aggressive! B-E Aggressive!

The chants and screams of a cheerleadering squad are among the most treasured (ummm... vomit-inducing) sounds of our high school years. With pom-pom shoe laces, extremely short skirts & bloomers, tight ponytails that cut off the blood circulation to the brain and a frighteningly high degree of pep, the four most awkward years of our lives just wouldn’t have been the same (less mentally scarring) without the glory (horror) that was our pep squads. And yet... I find myself in the dawn of parenthood with my hand in "blade formation" (okay... I'm a gay dad, and I have five nieces - forgive me for knowing the terminology), chanting "Be Aggressive! B-E Aggressive!" when it's feeding time.

From the moment we left the hospital with our little chickpea, feeding time has always been a hurried experience. Meaning... Kensington is a very aggressive eater. Each time she takes a bottle, it's like it's the very first time she has eaten, and she can drink anyone under the table. The pediatrician has told us that we have nothing to worry about, she's eating plenty and we're not starving her... she's just 'aggressive'. When we picked her up from school on her first day, the teachers told us, with smiles and a look of sheer puzzlement, that she was an 'aggressive' eater. In earlier post I've mentioned that after they feed her, they have to either put her down for a nap or place her across the room for an activity so she doesn't see the other kids bottles, but she wants it - and is very vocal about her needs.

We've read numerous articles that talk about transitioning a baby from formula to solid foods, and how it could take anywhere from 4-12 times before it becomes a desired taste. Ummm... not for our child. If it's on a spoon or in a bottle, she'll eat it! From rice cereal to oatmeal, sweet potatoes to green beans, our little Kensington wants it. And she wants it NOW.

Yesterday I had her in her Baby Bjorn and I ended up getting a bottled coke from a vending machine. Now that she's able to reach out and hold her own bottle, she's reaching for mine. When I didn't want to give it to her, she loudly informed me that my bottle was HER bottle. I ended up handing over the closed bottle to her so she could hold it up to her mouth in order to calm her down.



Please excuse her little bedhead :)