I’m not what some people (depending on their age) refer to as a hippie or a new age mom, basically I’m pretty uncool.
I don’t co-sleep with my baby. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s sleeping with your kid in bed with you. Well, I will admit that our reasons for not allowing Amelia to sleep in bed with us are 100% selfish. First, we like our sleep way too much and don’t need a wiggly jiggly baby next to us. Second, we’d like to have another kiddo someday and well a baby in bed with us isn’t conducive to those efforts. Don’t get any ideas…we’re a long way off from this, we’re back to ‘practicing’ mode.
I don’t walk around with Amelia on my hip all day. I put her down to play and in fact I let her cry sometimes…oh my, I’m a mean mommy! I used to jump the moment she made a sound. I got over that ummmm…maybe 6 weeks into this whole parenting thing. Now I look at my watch and figure out how long I’ll let her cry before she either A. passes out from exhaustion or B. I give in and pick her up.
I don’t use cloth diapers. There are few things in my life that I’ve encountered that are grosser than the stuff that comes out of my child. There’s no way I’m putting those things in the same washing machine that I wash my sheets in…ewwww!
Baby food is gross and I don’t make it myself. I’ve previously referred to it as squishy food and well, that’s basically all Amelia’s getting until she pops out a tooth or two so we had better get used to it. For the most part the baby food isn’t all that bad, but if it’s green…RUN! I love peas, I love green beans, but oh my what did they do to those poor veggies to make them taste so bad? Yes, I do taste everything I offer her.
I’ve offered Amelia peas only once because she had such a violent reaction to them. No, I’m not referring to a nasty red rash, though that might have been easier to deal with. I’m referring to the bright red face, shivering, crazy screaming fit, tears streaming down her cheeks, flailing arms and legs and peas being spit across the room. I figured we’d come back to them some day, maybe she wasn’t quite ready for green stuff just yet. I offered Amelia carrots this evening and she had a somewhat similar reaction to the peas.
Growing up we were told to eat what we were served so with that mentality ingrained in my head I thought I should ‘force’ Amelia to keep eating the carrots because that’s what was served. After a few bites and regurgitations I called my mom to see if I did indeed need to make her eat her vegetables. My mom being a fabulous source of wisdom and support told me that I didn’t need to force feed her and indeed it might be better if I held off and gave her the Real McCoy at another time.
So, it seems I may be joining the new age ranks after all and making some of my own baby food. Cusinart look out…you’ve got your work cut out for you!
Love and Peace to All,
Hippie Chick
