Baby in a bag

Oooo-ba--maaa

Aoife woke up Sunday morning chanting :ooo-ba-ma. Yes, she's calling for change we can believe in. Aoife herself is changing fast and learning a lot of new sounds. Sunday morning she practiced her que, ba, bo, and ma sounds. Tim said she sounded like a little African baby. Our week was pretty busy. I started a new session at school, and Tim stayed up late working on his experiments for his paper. We are so glad that the Olympics are over as the late nights were catching up with us. Wednesday was a nice break for Tim; Dorrie suggested taking the both of them to Tilden Park since Tim didn't have to go to work on Wednesday morning. They took Aoife to the petting farm and Aoife stroked a cow. After a couple ounces of milk, Aoife fell asleep in the carrier while Tim and Dorrie took a walk around the park and talked. Tim had a great time even though the late nights at work left him with little energy. Aoife got a little too hot in the carrier, but Dorrie said she loved looking around at the trees and up at the great big blue sky.
One major development that we have been going through this week is learning how to use the potty. Yes, you read correctly. Many cultures around the world actually "potty train" their babies; it's also known as Elimination Communication (EC), diaper free baby, or potty whispering. Grandma Rachel once asked me what mothers used to do before we had diapers. I just assumed that they used any old material to catch the waste, but they didn't and still don't. Mothers around the world besides most western civilized countries listen to the cues of their babies and squat them over a bowl. Apparently babies are from birth attuned to their need to eliminate and send signals. As a newborn, Aoife would often pee whenever I took her diaper off, and I would purposely let her lie naked for a while so that she could pee. I could mostly tell when she was about to poop, but I just let her use the diaper as a toilet. When we used to use cloth diapers, Aoife would immediately get fussy whenever she felt the slightest wetness. Training in this method is possible up to the age of 6 months but is more difficult after this age. I have to admit at first I scoffed at the idea when I encountered it as a class listing in a pamphlet taught by a Berkeley woman named Willow Lune, but I decided to give it a go after doing some research. One of the things that attracted me to it is being more in tune with Aoife's needs. Also, think of all the money we could save on diapers! First of all I figured out when Aoife is most likely to pee. This meant that I kept her naked with a towel under her butt so that I could tell when she peed. She pees two times soon after she feeds, and after she wakes up from a nap. So, I take her and hold her over a bowl with her back against my chest while lifting her legs. Then I make a "hsssss" sound. The first time I did this, she smiled really big and peed in the bowl. I was so amazed! After that we had many accidents and I misread her cues, but now I'm pretty in tune with when she needs to go. She gives me a look before she needs to go and makes a little grunting noise. This ability to communicate is similar to when she tells me she's hungry. She does a high pitch "hehehe" sound when she wants milk. A few times, I've intuitively felt when she has needed to go. I managed to catch her poop once too. We've been doing it on and off for about a week, and Aoife seems to appreciate not having to be wrapped up in a diaper all the time. I feel like she knows what I am trying to do with her, and she gives me a look that says, "thanks for listening to me mom!" It makes me sad to know that our society has drifted away from natural child raising to c-section births, fear of birth, bottle feeding, sleeping alone, not being carried or held as much, and being trained to use diapers as a toilet. I'm glad to have been exposed to alternatives which is why Berkeley is starting to feel a little more like home to me. Tim thinks I may have turned a little Willow Luney myself.
On Saturday, we took another trip to San Francisco. The weather here has been so beautiful all summer, and our real summer hasn't even come yet. San Francisco was crazy since it is high tourist season there. The streets are covered with people from all walks of life. Aoife stayed pretty chilled in her stroller and seemed to enjoy being out again. I'm so glad she is enjoying our trips.

Here is Tim in front of our house with a new carrier that we got. This is a Baby Bjorn carrier with extra support for the back. Aoife has grown out of her sling, and so we needed another quick carrier to put her in.

I heart San Francisco

Aoife and I had a great week. She is really starting to come out of her shell now and is less afraid of the world. She is growing so fast right now; her legs are long and she's growing out of clothes fast. The good thing is that she's growing into the clothes that family have sent and is also growing into the knit clothes that both gramma's made! She looks fabulous in them.



Tim and I have been very tired this week. We are completely addicted to the Olympic games. I don't know why, but because we live on the west coast coverage starts at 9pm. The good stuff doesn't start until 10:30pm, so we're up until 1:30am most nights. It's really bad, but it's only once every four years! I'm pretty tired when I teach though. It was the end of the session at school, so a bunch of us teachers went out for some beer. Aoife came along and enjoyed the ride very much. She enjoys being held against my chest when I carry her, finally. She's starting to become a more cuddly baby. I do this thing where I lift her up in the air and rock her side to side until she comes down to my chest. She makes a huge smile and cuddles me when she lands. I really love it when she cuddles me. She is also standing very well with very little assistance from me. This completely astonishes me. She giggles when she stands and points her toes like a ballerina. While I hold her at her waist, she stands all by herself! Another thing she likes is when I put her pacifier in my mouth (not the nipple part) and put it in her mouth. She then takes it out of her mouth and puts it in mine. One thing that amazes Tim is how graceful she is able to grab things and touch them. He doesn't like the way she grabs his lips with her sharp finger nails and squeezes for dear life. She is really good at letting me cut her fingernails, but they are still very sharp!

Dorrie came over to look after Aoife again, but I think Aoife gave her a more difficult time this week. Dorrie took her for a walk and was commenting on how she thinks Aoife seems to be frustrated with her limited abilities wanting to do more than her body is allowing her. Poor thing! Dorrie brought us some cut lavender wrapped in a cream bow from a garden that she tends to. I love lavender; it reminds me of farming in Italy.

This weekend, we took Aoife to her first trip to San Francisco. I had not been to San Francisco in five months. First of all we went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I have to get my daughter into the art museums as early as possible! There was a famous exhibit on one of my favorite artists, Frida Kahlo. We got to SFMOMA and was told that there was a waiting list and we weren't able to go until another hour and a half later. So, Tim and I took off for Union square (where all the expensive shops are). It was Korea's independence day, so there was a festival going on. I ate some food, and we listened to some drummers, and watched some dances. We then headed back to the museum, and on the way, Tim wanted to go to the apple store, but it was impossible to get into because there was a zombie march. I have no idea what the purpose of this march was. There must have been at least fifty zombies marching around San Francisco; there was even a zombie baby. Aoife could have joined the back with her zombie voice! It was so much fun. Anyways, we got to the exhibit and were allowed to cut in line to get ahead. It was amazing to see all of her work; she's truly an amazing and important woman artist of our time. Tim even had fun at the exhibit. We also took some time to see the Contemporary Chinese art exhibit which I also thoroughly enjoyed. Aoife fussed a little but she fell asleep in the moby wrap. We really enjoyed our day out, but we were glad to get away from the city and back to our peaceful neighborhood.

Mama

Today Aoife said mama repeatedly for the first time. She's been saying it now and then, but now she can cry "mama mama" many times. Tim's jealous! Yesterday, she very clearly said "dada" once. I'm so impressed with her. She's saying a lot of consonant sounds this week and is having fun practicing them. She's also trying to sit by herself. Look at her above wearing G-nanny's shirt "lucky charm".



Aoife puts up a fuss every evening if I don't take her for a walk. As I put on her green moby, she pouts her lips and flails her arms vigorously while making excited noises. She loves her evening walk. She especially loves to look at the trees blowing in the wind. One day, she was captivated by the telephone lines. Whenever she hears a bird, she turns her head to find it, but she never does. Above are pictures of Aoife underneath my favorite flower in Berkeley. These are huge yellow bells which have the most beautiful aroma which you can smell from quite far away. There's Aoife pulling one towards her face; it was a struggle to make her let go.

A couple of weeks ago Dorrie had mentioned that Aoife was fascinated with the pocket on her shirt, so I decided to cut out pockets from old clothes and I placed them in places around our house. I stuffed each one with an animal for her to pull out and play with. She's a little young to enjoy it now, but you never know when she might catch on to it.

Even though it was Dorrie's birthday on Wednesday, she still came over to look after Aoife, so I baked a blueberry cake for her. Dorrie decided to share her chocolate cake with Tim and I which we consumed with rolled eyes and "mmmmm's". Aoife and Dorrie had a great time together. Dorrie's mother used to sing a hat song, and she introduced it to Aoife. Dorrie took her over to our hat rack, and put the hats on. To celebrate Dorrie's birthday, her and Dave are going to the green gulch farm Zen center. I had never heard of it before, but I really want to go. It's a Buddhist practice center in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition offering training in Zen meditation and ordinary work. Its mission is to awaken in ourselves and the many people who go there the bodhisattva spirit, the spirit of kindness and realistic helpfulness. It's buffered up between a mountain and the ocean in the most beautiful area close to where we live. I love Marin county.

Tim and I had a pretty quiet weekend. We decided to stay home and relax! We went to a few garage sales and picked up some handy things. Tim and I are trying to eat more healthy these day, so we bought a juicer for .50cent; what a deal. It works great and we've already made a couple litres of juice. Tim baked some zucchini bread while I made our favorite trail mix.
1 part roasted pumpkin seeds
1 part roasted sunflower seeds
1 part roasted salted soybeans
1.5 parts dried cranberry
1 part crushed crystallized ginger
1 part chocolate chips.
6.5 parts deliciousness!!!

Creative-Bun

To spark my creativity, I ordered a few books online and received them this week. The first book is "Creative Play for Your Baby"- it has Steiner Waldorf expertise and toy projects for babies 3 months - 2 years. I love this book. I made a simple doll for Aoife using an old fleece blanket of hers, some yarn I had, and a cat toy with a bell in it which I turned into the head. This is one of the simplest dolls to make. It is perfect for her age because right now she is interested in faces which is all this doll really has. Tim thinks is looks like a wailing banshee, but I think it's cute. Aoife didn't pay much attention to it until I started to play with it, and then, she couldn't keep her eyes off of it.


The other book that I got was "The Creative Family" about how to encourage imagination and nurture family connections. This book isn't too useful until she's about a year old, but it gave me some inspiration to come up with my own project. Monday night, Aoife was patient enough to let me trace around her hands, and she watched me color them in. She loved the bright colors and wanted to chew the final result!
Dorrie came by again on Wednesday to care for Aoife. It seems as if they had another good time with each other. Aoife took a long nap for Dorrie, and afterwards they played with Aoife's feet. Aoife put her foot into her mouth all by herself. I knew she would be able to do this soon and was happy to see her do it later that night. Gramma Rachel knit Aoife a colorful ball, and Dorrie said that Aoife would place it on top of piggy, and she would try to knock it off. Aoife is grabbing things that she wants and putting them into her mouth now. I'm learning a lot from Dorrie on how to be a more mindful mother. Dorrie always seems to be in the moment which seems to be a difficult state to be in. I rush quickly during the day at work, and when I get home, I have to let myself unwind and become mindful. I've completely dedicated my time from 1pm -8pm just being with Aoife. After 8pm and during naps I tidy up, cook, lesson plan, read, watch a show on TV, and pump many many times. Wednesday night I was pumping when all of a sudden my pump suddenly stopped. Tim and I did all we could to get it to work again and soon I started to panic. I was glad that I had pumped enough milk for her by then. The next day I had come home with my pump dismantled and sprawled across the living room floor: my pump was broken. Tim had called the hospital for me so that I could rent one until he "fixed" it. Aoife and I took off to the hospital the exact path I had taken when I was in labor with her. I told her my birth story again and was excited to go back to the labor and delivery floor. I saw a couple of new moms with their babies, and it really hit me that these past four months have been a time of great growth within myself as well as the growth of Aoife's body. The lactation nurse was very happy to see and outsider come to her with a big baby. She talked enthusiastically to Aoife and Aoife would give her a sheepish smile and look away quickly then she would look back at her to see if she was still there: cute!. The lactation consultant commented on how bald Aoife was just like her little babies. I guess I didn't pay too much attention, but she is still very bald. Check out her wig below! Well, I ended up buying a new pump; a much better pump. My new pump is portable and has a let-down feature which I love. It makes pumping more pleasurable.

Aoife's making funny new noises this week. She is grunting, and not because she's trying to poop but because she likes the noise. It's a strange noise to hear. I think she is definitely teething now. When I look at her lower gums, I can see two little white buds. She likes it when I rub her gums with my finger, so we got her a blue non-toxic rubber teether the shape of a fish. I guess she's been doing this a while, but Aoife sucks on her lower lip too. I think that's probably going to be a habit she'll pick up for many years to come.




Also this week, I got my first magazine from Gramma Rachel (Thank you!). She subscribed me to "Mothering"- a magazine for natural family living. My parenting philosophy and issues follow very close to this magazine, and I enjoy reading about moms who are similar to me. Dorrie said that she used to get this magazine when she had Ansel and Chenoa. Another magazine that I am reading is "Brain, Child"- it contains a bunch of essays from moms who are professionals. These essays are funny, sad, entertaining, enlightening, and so on. I like this magazine because it doesn't seem to have an agenda- just a collection of stories from all types of mothers. Sometimes it's good to expose oneself to other points of views. I've already got both of them read! One article I especially liked was called "a summer to savor". In America, it seems to be typical of parents (who can afford it) to send their children off to camp, and pack their summer with many classes and cultural enrichment activities. This article was written by a woman who decided, after much protest from the kids about an overloaded summer, that for that summer they would do nothing. She said it was one of the most cherished childhoods the kids remember having where the kids would go swimming in the lake, climb trees, make crafts, read books, make popsicles and pies; simply do nothing- time flowed like honey.


So, a question to you out there; since it is now summertime, what is a favorite memory from your childhood summer that you'll never forget???