Attachment Parenting

finished a book on Attachment Parenting the other day. Basically, AP involves breastfeeding on cue, baby-wearing, and co-sleeping. I first learned about this when I was pregnant, but I didn't really think I'd raise my baby like this until she came and it just felt so right.

The idea is the babies are the most helpless kind of humans and they need to be watched over and cared for continually, having their needs met as soon as possible. They say that by wearing your baby, sleeping with it, and having the breast readily available you ensure that your baby's needs are heard and met more quickly and more easily then they might be otherwise. Also, nursing should not be thought of a just a means of sustenance, but as a bonding practice between mother and baby and a way to sooth and nurture a tired, scared, or upset little baby.

It was nice to read about all the benefits of this kind of natural parenting approach. I think too often people think it will result in clingy, needy children, but the authors say that it actually allows your child to move confidently from one stage of development to the next. If you rush a child into independence or into some sort of preconceived schedule too quickly, they might actually become more clingy and insecure.

I don't think I will follow all recommendations in the book (i.e. nursing until around age 4), but I think what they said made a lot of sense and they had some good research and anthropological evidence to back up their claims. I don't really have the time to write out all the interesting little things from the book, but you can always ask me about it sometime and I'll share more.

Earthquake

A belated post. I had this all typed up on the 18th, but didn't get a chance to publish. Here goes:

I never thought I'd experience an earthquake living in the Midwest. These parts are where tornadoes happen or sometimes flash floods, and I've seen warnings for lots and lots of those. But it just so happened that today I felt the first major earthquake in the area in 200 years!

That's right, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Wabash Valley fault system in Southern Illinois at 4:30am and then we felt a pretty big aftershock at 10:30am. It was pretty scary the first time around - the bed was shaking, the closet doors were rattling, and we had no idea what was going on. The second time around, I still hadn't heard it was a earthquake, but I was feeding Taylor in bed and everything started shaking again. She just looked up at me and gave me the widest milky little grin. :) I think she thought it was a pretty neat trick I was doing, shaking the bed like that. I don't think Phoebe reacted at all, silly dog.

See the ABCNews story, Wikipedia, or articles on STLToday.com.

It's a miracle!

Through my research on cloth diapers, I learned if you put stained diapers out to dry in the sunlight they turn out spot free.

Well, today I tried it and VOILA my diapers are miraculously clean and bright. Yay for the sun! Creation is so amazing. I'm excited. I'm definitely going to be using this trick on stained whites in the future.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Taylor, Phoebe, and I went for another walk today. The weather was gorgeous - sunny, breezy, and warm. The trees and flowers are starting to bloom all over the neighborhood and at least some people have beautiful, neatly trimmed, green lawns.

My goal is to have us walk 30 min everyday. That way Taylor gets her Vitamin D from the sun and doesn't have to take supplements, Phoebe gets to let out some of her pent-up craziness, and I get to lose some of this leftover baby fat. The daily cookies (that I'm munching on as I type) aren't helping my goal, but they are oh so good. It just means it'll take a tinsy bit longer to reach my pre-pregnancy weight.

On the paper towel front, this week has been a success! Mark and I didn't use any paper towels...until yesterday, that is, when we discovered that Phoebe has continued using the basement as her personal latrine. I suppose we'll always use paper towels for doggie clean-ups, which isn't bad in my opinion. We also need to really focus on retraining that dog not to relieve herself in the house.

Next Tuesday is Earth Day and I figure that I should do something extra special, considering my new zeal for eco-friendly living. Any suggestions? Maybe Mark and I should actually get around to raking our leaves, mowing the lawn, and bundling our fallen branches!

Fashion Faux Pas

It is criminal not to have your baby wear every item of clothing it was given, and I must count myself guilty.

Today, I discovered a few unworn newborn/0-3month size shirts and pants in Taylor's dresser that were hidden under larger-sized clothing. And I had already started putting some 3-6month clothes on her - for shame! I also think back to all those times she wore one little sleeper day in and day out.

Thank goodness I'm not too late! She'll still gets the chance to wear these outfits a few times before she really outgrows them (of course, with cloth diapers that expiration date comes a bit sooner). I have laid out a schedule of her unworn clothing, making sure that the cutest outfits are featured when we're out in public and people can glory in her cuteness.














Here is a sample of today's selection - not perfectly color coordinated, but pretty darn cute, I must say. The shirt reads, "Free Kisses with Every Cuddle."

No More Paper Towels

Yes, you read that correctly. The Synowiec household, inspired by Andrea's sister and The Knot's Eco-Friendly Family message board, have decided to forgo paper towels to reduce waste and help preserve the environment.

We used to use paper towels

• to wipe down the kitchen and bathrooms
• to clean mirrors and windows
• to cover food in the microwave to prevent splatter
• as napkins

Now we'll use our many washcloths for the kitchen and bathrooms, newspapers for the windows and mirrors (supposed to be better for a streak-free shine anyway), silicone splatter guards in the microwave (on sale now at Sur La Table!), and cloth napkins for meal time!

There is the start up cost to consider of the splatter guards and napkins, but I think we'll break even in a few months...definitely by the end of the year. We still have a big stash of paper towels in the basement if we can't handle going cold turkey, but we've done fairly well over the last year with our other eco-friendly living goals (recycling, non-toxic cleaning agents, cloth diapers and wipes) so I have high hopes.

If this venture goes well, I have a lot more ideas for the future! Maybe starting a compost pile? Getting low-flow shower heads? Investing in more efficient appliances? Trying to actually keep indoor plants alive this year??