Back to the first one! (Also, baby updates)

[ailbhe]

I'm currently mainly using my first ever sling, a purple batik ring-sling bought for me by ai731 when I was pregnant with Linnea. I found it had a shallow learning curve - that is, it took a long time to learn, and I wish I could remember who it was ranted about learning curves at me - so I didn't use it much when Linnea was small and I was ill. I started using it a lot when I was pregnant with Emer, so that I could tote Linnea around when she was tired, in spite of not having a waistline any more for her to wrap her legs around.

Now I use it to rock Emer to sleep in, because she's too big for the pouch slings now, except for a hip carry.

It looks great with jeans and a plain or purple top.

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Also, I need to see about more shoes for Emer. She needs something to protect her toenails when she's crawling. She outgrows things so fast, though! And socks just come off. I don't want to take her to a shoe-shop as they'll try to sell me rigid things.

ALSO also, she's nine months old and two days and still not walking! I WIN AT PRAYING! I don't mind when she does it now, really, because it's not as early as it might have been so I'll survive.

She's very communicative and determined and friendly. She loves music, clapping games, and crowds of people. And sweet potato. She knows what "Bye bye, back in a minute," means, and "Do you need a nappy?" and she understands the words and signs for milk. We need to learn the signs for nappy etc again so that she can tell us - though as far as I know she doesn't use the milk sign yet. She definitely signs "up!" in the universal, timeless manner of babies, and is very clear with hand gestures for "No, I don't want that."

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Linnea is a master at potty-use, though I do need to get her larger knickers, as the ones she has are snug enough to be tricky to pull down in a hurry. She's still problem-solving; she earwigs on my conversations with Rob and pops in with "I know! My have a good idea! We need a go to a shop and buy a smaller one!" or similar. There's no such thing as an insurmountable problem, as far as she's concerned - you just need to come up with more and more good ideas until you find one that works.

I haven't seen her draw much lately but she's keen on printing. She has been refusing to count, this week, from which I deduce that someone was testing her again - probably one of the carers in the creche while I was at my BfN lesson. It rained before we went out today so she had wellies and splashed in a puddle until her pants got wet under her skirt; that was confusing and hilarious.

Oh - toes! Emer has only two big toes, Linnea has ten big toes, and I have none. I only have NORMOUS toes.

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I don't want to take her to a shoe-shop as they'll try to sell me rigid things

Booo, they shouldn't! When I was a children's shoe fitter, we were strictly forbidden from fitting shoes on any child who wasn't walking with their feet flat on the floor!

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's a particularly inappropriate icon, under the circumstances...

[merryhouse.livejournal.com]

Nowadays they have special *crawlers'* shoes.

I don't know what's special about them, apart from the fact that the sole part comes forward and over the front.

When Christopher was in his second six months, they were just coming in and I thought "what a strange idea." Nowadays it's hard to read anything about children's feet without having them recommended.

Not happy about it myself, I have to say, but I haven't looked into it and it's possible that it isn't simply that someone spotted a potential paranoid-parent market [like the people who invented special exciting things to stop your baby rolling over onto its front so it doesn't suffer SIDS].

When Christopher was small we had little soft paddy things from Mothercare, with elastic round the ankles and polka-dot soles. They were quite cute, but I don't think I ever attempted to put a pair on Oliver.

Trying to think what we did do.... had lots of footed babygros, I think.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Linnea is a master at potty-use, though I do need to get her larger knickers, as the ones she has are snug enough to be tricky to pull down in a hurry. She's still problem-solving; she earwigs on my conversations with Rob and pops in with "I know! My have a good idea! We need a go to a shop and buy a smaller one!" or similar. There's no such thing as an insurmountable problem, as far as she's concerned - you just need to come up with more and more good ideas until you find one that works.

Liam is the master of good ideas too.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

How did you learn to use the ring sling effectively? I've tried several variants and got on with none of them after the first few weeks when he didn't wriggle much.

I always end up trying it, finding it too insecure, and switching back to one I can work with (previously mostly a Tricotti, but now more often a single very long scarf style Hug-a-Bub thing). And even with those I can't get the hip carry to work ... although I suspect part of my problem with that is that I lack defined hips.

[rmc28]

I have hips and can't do ring slings either. Tricottis are great, the Mei Tai is good and I'm becoming fond of the Peerie (but I got the Coorie in the wrong size and am rubbish about organising a return).

[ailbhe]

I found that having used a lot of other kinds, including large rectangles of fabric, and having had a second child, helped.

It's not as secure as a two-shoulder one for leaning forwards doing work, though. But I was able to do a hip carry - can you do a hip carry with a plain pouch sling?

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Not with any security, no - he tends to slide all over the place. If I've a hand free to hold him steady it's Ok most of the time ... but that loses a lot of the advantage of a sling in the first place :-)