Learning to Let Go

We got some books for Christmas, like "Which Pet Should I Get," by Dr. Seuss and "the Blue Zone." There was an unexpected surprise for us. It's a book we'd never heard of, by Marie Kondo called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. It's a small volume, pretty and well-worded. Marie Kondo does a great job of making discarding and tidying sound fun and portrays our belongings as having lives, too. As a matter of respect for our things, we should keep as few as necessary and those that bring us great joy.

For a long while, it's been apparent we had too much stuff. We moved in together from spaces larger than the ones we'd share, and especially since my father moved from his house to an Airstream on the road, I have had lots of sentimental .. well, baggage. Having lots of stuff is great when it's useful and easy to find when needed, but we were overburdened with our own awesome stuff, and it was taking a toll on our relationship. It's stressful to feel there's not enough space to play, not space to put down bags when we walk in the door, or to put a new book when we bring one home.

This new book has changed us. We are different just since perusing the pages... One cursory glance told us something about our lives would change, even if we did nothing. Hubby dear and I dove in. Last day of the year, first day of the next, we are doing it.

If you're curious, check it out. Below is a link to amazon.com (FYI I do not  make any money if you click this link, hmm, maybe I will learn how, but I don't currently.)

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Ten Month Update- and oh, how things have changed.

Well we are here at ten months. Somehow. 

Our LBD is cool as ever, and so much different than he was at eight, five, and two months...

Let's discuss some behavioral changes:

• LBD still LOVES "please chase me," and "I'm chasing you," but now wants to engage the Kitty in his games. He cries out "KEEEE" and crawls (or climbs) quickly after her. She is totally not willing to play.

• Our little fella is soooo close to walking. We're in no hurry. It's super fun to see him occasionally stand upright without holding something before he realizes he's doing it and plops onto his bottom. Then he looks at us excitedly, to see if we noticed.

• He just started eating more often (was just a few times a week, a few bites, here and there). He has picked up how to use his spoon incredibly quickly, just in about two weeks of a meal every couple days. He woke from his nap today and did the "more" hand sign, then dug a spoon into the blanket to show me he wanted food. Then he looked at the spoon as he brought it to his mouth, and put it in. Wow. We only gave him tastes of food til around Thanksgiving time and he's caught up very quickly in his eating skill set. Note: we're only feeding him fresh and cooked fruits and veggies. No meats, no grains, no corn, no dairy, no sugar, no beans nor soy.

• Our fella has totally caught on to our desire to please him and will cry and look at us disapprovingly if we don't do what he wants. Usually this would be when we keep him out of the cat food or litter, or when I take my keys from him.

• Also, LBD understands that milk is like food for him. He offered me his spoon at my nipple to see if he could get some milk. I filled the spoon for him with a few mommy milk squeezes and he totally ate it from the spoon. Kinda cool, probably not gonna happen again.

• He's lots less verbal as far as clear, easy to understand words (like milk) and talks so much more in baby babble. It's beautiful, though I miss thinking I knew what he was saying. It seems like as he began to crawl and climb and practice cruising (walking holding things) the verbal skills changed over to practicing vowels and consonants.

• He's wearing a size 18-24 "mos" now, or Euro size 80 and bigger.

• There are 8 teeth in our baby dude's mouth! Aaaaagh! And he bites, but as of today, he's consciously practicing gentle bites. We say, "be gentle, please," and "soft touch, LBD.

•  Co-sleeping is going great, if that's what we want. Though we're very happy with our son's level of comfort, the bigger he gets and the more space he takes, the more we look forward to him discovering his nearby big-baby-boy crib/bed. It's on the other side of the room now and he mostly uses it as a jungle gym in the day time... Not a problem, though, as we know that someday he'll be out of our bed for good, and that these counted days are precious.

• I'm still baby wearing him lots, especially before bed, at naptimes, and around large groups of people. He's so comfy this way, and doesn't pout very much, except when he's really, really tired.

•  LBD still is very happy to use his potty, but doesn't initiate it nearly as often as from 2-6 months.

That's all for now!