19 Weeks

Is that right?? I know she's getting older, because I no longer think of Kalaya's age in terms of weeks. I had to look at the calendar and check to be sure!

Not a terrible amount to report this week, but I'm trying to get better about posting regularly again! Kalaya has discovered her toes this week! She plays with them the most when they are bare, which isn't as often any more, since the weather has turned cooler. She puts them in her mouth on the changing table or during bath time. It's a nice replacement for her fingers, which she tends to have in her mouth any time she is awake and not eating. She has gotten better at it, but still gags herself occasionally, which never ceases to freak me out! It's a horrible noise. At least she hasn't made herself throw up in a few weeks, thank goodness!

Kalaya is such a happy, content baby! She rarely cries at home and when she does, we know each other so well that it's usually very easy to figure out what she needs. She makes babbling, humming, silly noises constantly throughout the day, it's so cute! She has very obvious signs when she's tired, she yawns, rubs her eyes and buries her head in my shoulder (so sweet!), so I have been able to put her down and have her fall asleep for naps on her own, which has been a huge step at our house! She used to nap on me each time. I already miss it, but I'm glad she can fall asleep herself. There are still times when she is too tired and needs to nurse to sleep and then stay on me, but the naps on her own are getting more frequent. We are not parents who believe in baby crying it out in order to fall asleep. I know there are many out there who think otherwise, and if that works for you, great! However, there is a huge difference between allowing her to fuss as she falls asleep (which she definitely does some times) and letting a baby scream and cry themselves to the point of exhaustion. You can definitely tell the difference. If Kalaya is really upset, we rock her, or soothe, or nurse, which calms her and then put her back down awake and she then falls asleep on her own. Very rarely do we have to completely let her fall asleep and put her down totally out. We've done a lot of research on different opinions of how to raise her and we feel the most comfortable with the attachment parenting method. There are so many things about it, between co-sleeping, baby wearing, exclusively nursing and not letting her cry it out, that we completely agree with. It feels so natural to us and after 4 months of practicing these methods, we feel like we know Kalaya so well and are able to meet her needs so much better than if we'd tried scheduling her, putting her alone in her crib down the hall, forcing a bottle on her, etc. Again, I completely support whatever method each parent chooses for their own child, but this has worked so well for us!