Ergo hip carry

We're not sure about this one...

My mommy makes milk for me

My mommy makes milk for me,


I cuddle with mommy when she feeds me

Whenever I'm hungry she's ready to go

No matter where we are, she never says no.



Sometimes in public, we get lots of stares,

Some people even yell "oh no don't you dare!"

Don't know why they get so mean,

I'm only nursing is it that obscene?



It's the best milk for growing healthy bones,

Will make me strong without any hormones.

My mommy makes milk for me, her boobies are great

Better than cow's milk, it's like a high protein shake.



If you have a problem with nursing in public

Maybe you should stop staring or go grab a drink.

Cause nursing in a bathroom doesn't make much sense

Would you eat your meal at hygiene's expense?



When I'm in my mommy's arms it's always nice and warm

I feel safe from the world, a place where there's no harm

My mommy's scent is better than a rose

So let me be and I promise I won't impose.


(thank you to happy hippie mommies for sharing this)

Happy Birthday Mr Baby

Our darling Isaac, you are 1 today!!!!

The home education journey

It looks like we are firmly on the path of Home Education, it sort of follows from the Attachment Parenting and the Continuum Concept. I feel that 4 is too young for my children to spend 6 hours a day away from me and that no teacher knows them and loves them like I do. Even the best teacher in the world (and I was in this profession for 10 years) will have a classroom to look after and cannot consider what is best for my children alone, their needs and preferences will have to take second place to the needs and interests of the group and the national curriculum.
They are so lovely and have an amazing love of discovery and learning, it would be sad if this was taken away from them to force them to fit in with what the government has decided they should know and do at a certain age, I wish for them to learn at their own pace and enjoy the learning process, not think that learning is boring or hard work to be avoided at all costs.
I have found that there is lots for them to do socially in the area where we live, there is a thriving home ed community and we are friends with the people who run the local authority youth and play scheme, so there will be no shortage of occasions for them to make friends and meet with other children.

Mud Spice blog

Must share this jewel of a blog, I had come across this lady's drawings before but didn't know she homeschools and is big on attachment parenting, worth following.

http://mudspice.wordpress.com

Health Visitor

I am now very concerned at the advice that mothers with young children are being given. On Tuesday we went to the local health visitor for a meeting of parents with children who are turning one (as our mr baby is), I knew it would be difficult but I thought I'd go with an open mind and have a chat.
Needless to say I was rather shocked at most of the advice given, I don't even know where to start... the lady in question was very nice and friendly but not one word came out of her mouth that felt like she has mulled it over herself, it was all: government guidelines say... the guidelines say... with no respect for the individual or our different circumstances, you could see her looking at us and not really seeing us as individual people and babies, very weird!
Amongst the things that worried me were:

• Your one year old should not be waking up in the middle of the night, if he/she does you mustn't give them milk as it creates bad habits (should I even bother to comment? mr baby can have milk when and where he wants it thank you very much! And if he is so naughty to wake up in the night he will get a cuddle alongside his milk)
• You should give the under fives vitamin supplements (I was horrified at this, I kept my mouth shut most of the time but I had to comment when she said this, my child has been eating the same foods as us for months now and doesn't need supplements)
• At one year of age you should move them from formula to cows milk (no mention of extended breastfeeding or people like me who stopped breastfeeding but use toddler milk as this is more similar to breast milk than cows milk, which is for cows...)
• They should be in their own beds, when I mentioned that we still co-sleep her smile froze and she told me not to overheat him (I've only been co-sleeping with children for the last 3 years, what do I know?)

I'm sure there's more, one of the mums made me feel very sad as she kept apologizing for her daughter's bad habits (like being off her food and waking up at night), perfectly normal things for a one year old. It makes me feel like starting a revolution where women take back their role in society as the person who KNOWS her babies not some idiot who has to be told what to do.

Italy

Just wanted to share how lovely it was to spend some time in Rome with my family. Mum, dad, sister and her 4 children all live there so mr baby and mr toddler don't see them much, we all had a great time.

Less computer time

I haven't posted in a while and that is for a strange reason... Mr Toddler was famous for not sleeping well, he could wake up and stay awake for hours making us all very tired and miserable. My lovely partner linked this to the amount of time he was spending on my laptop (what he actually said was: either the computer goes or I go!!!), Mr Toddler had become a little obsessed with the alphabet to the point that at not-quite-3-years of age he had taught himself the whole alphabet, could sound the letters, distinguish between lower and upper case and even taught himself to sign the alphabet in sign language... As much as I admired his brilliance I have to say that the lack of sleep was getting to me, so we took the laptop away. Much drama and upset on the first day, then he seemed to forget about it (but not the alphabet, he's still well into that! He now uses more old fashioned work books) and, amazingly... he sleeps!!! Of course after that we looked into screen time and the research done and concluded that the television also had to be monitored and I can't say how amazing the difference is in this little boy. He now spends a lot of time writing, drawing, making things, engaged in fantasy play, we're doing so much I love it as well!
Unfortunately I cannot turn my laptop on during the day as I don't want to upset him, so this blog has suffered a bit, but my quality of life has improved!!!