Sniffly Sniffles!

Last night was interesting as I heard some coughing and crying from my 20 month old daughter I thought was sleeping.  Getting up and going in to get her, the poor thing just collapsed into me as I picked her up.  She was terribly congested, cranky and in need of a little TLC.  I brought her out and fed her peanut butter & jam sandwich.  She actually seemed impressed, seemingly because it was way past her bedtime and here we were snacking.  Compassion doesn't even come close to what I feel when my daughter is sick!  We hang out like there's no time.


I gave her some chamomile tea brewed with lemon and ginger, watered down.  Fixed the humidifier up to par, rubbed some vaporub on her chest, and tucked her into bed with a night light on.  We slept until 6am, so I was really GRATEFUL for the long sleep!

 Today marked a quick trip to the doctor for some children's advil and a pat on the head that said she had a viral cold.  How simple could that be?  We get home, she has an hour nap.   For the afternoon, we snacked and drank tea.  It was fun to put her in the playpen, turn a dvd on and just take it easy.

If she wakes tonight, I'd not be surprised.  Tired perhaps, but certainly not surprised!

The art of time outs

 I’m having issues with my 19 month old daughter biting!  She does this out of frustration when she doesn’t have the words to say what see needs.  I then tell her to say “help please” in hopes that she’ll remember next time.  Sometimes yes, other times the concept seems lost!

Biting her back is a method I’ve heard that I don’t agree with.  Using violence for discipline is not going to be a long term deterrent, it’s just a short term remedy which reinforces violent behavior.  That means she react just the same way when she’s stressed later on.  I have tried to use the time out method with good success.  She gets a 1 minute time out and she realizes the consequence.  There are arguments that this subliminally sends the message that the place of time out is a bad place.  There are obviously bad places to do this in such as a crib, because that’s where she sleeps!  I’ve concluded the crib should only be used for sleep times; therefore, I have the playpen setup with blankets, stuffed toys, and placed in the living room corner just in case the need arises for a time out.  By the time she’s tall enough to climb out, we’ll have a strong foundation of boundaries established.  Like no biting!

Hello from Maple Ridge, B.C.

I became a single mother at the peak of Spring 2010. The details are too numerous to mention with the intention of protecting all that were involved.  I have deep respect for my daughter’s genetic background which allows me the luxury to declare “I left the relationship so that she would never have to hear me disrespect her Father again”.  Her father is completely up to date with payments owing to her care.  He loves to hear about her early progress with motor skills so I won’t pop his bubble.

Jumping through the administrative hoops after the breakup was a timely process dealing with the State to acquire subsidy child care, subsidy housing and the ability to stay at home until my daughter is 3 in the Province of B.C.  This involves researching the best places to acquire low cost food deals such as a local food bank, local farmer’s market May to October and the latest deal on diapers.   Everything is second hand from visits to the local thrift store or Craigslist.  I do tend to be a stickler about my daughter’s milk supply because of all the added pharmaceutical products added to conventional milk so I buy organic milk (or milk that says its organic anyway!).  I just drink coconut milk!

I do have a terrific babysitter because I’m human and I need a break to carry out some necessary tasks each week that doesn’t involve my daughter.  My daughter has endured the milestone of departing from me and my sitter which I’m grateful for.   This week I advised her that my daughter wasn’t sleeping through the night .  It just so happened that my sitter was going to the local aquarium and park this week, so thankfully my daughter was extremely tired after a day’s adventure with our sitter and her 2 children.  Thankfully, sleeping through the night proved no issue for her last night thanks to the trip she took to the park yesterday while I did yoga and cleaning.

Cleaning can be an issue because it seems there is just so little time for exclusive cleaning with a little one running around.  Maybe I'm mistaken, but after de-dusting my baby’s room yesterday, I think that took care of the allergy to dust issues she usually gets around dusty bookshelves.

By the way, it’s absolutely essential to have a library subscription when you live 2 blocks away.  The experience is at least a weekly event for us, and an easy way to give my 19 month old a quick boost of exercise.  

Thanks for dropping by! May my stories inspire the uniqueness in your own lives so feel free to share with me in the comments section.