Worth noting

Just a few things that I thought were worth mentioning, in case I haven't yet ...

1. Our Girl loves her pacifier. It will be a sad day for all involved when it comes time to get rid of it, which is really any day now. I may have mentioned way back that I had read about a perfect window of time where it is (relatively) easy to get rid of the pacifier, sometime around 6-9 months. I will say, in retrospect, that this was definitely true. She had a very "take it or leave it" attitude about the whole thing. We persisted, and now she is addicted. Oh well.

Another tip from a very wise Mom friend ... at bedtime, Girly gets one pacifier. We tried really hard not to play the "replace the pacifier" game, but until your baby has the searching skills to find a pacifier in bed and put it back in their mouth, you have somewhat of a dilemma. Once she could do it herself, we would load up the crib with tons of pacifiers, and she would proceed to throw every.single.one on the floor. Then scream. So, now she gets just one at bedtime. Later in the night, I go in her room to check on her and put several more in her bed. That is it until morning, when she throws every.single.one on the floor, as if to say "come and get me!".

2. We moved up to Overnight diapers a month ago or so. We never really had a problem with soaking through, but when it happened 2 nights in a row, I knew we needed a change. Cold, wet PJs and sheets don't make anyone happy. We are using the Huggies Overnights on a recommendation from a friend, but I know there are other types. She is usually in size 3 diapers, but these are size 4 because that is all they had at Target. I don't know if they make them smaller or not. It has worked like a charm! I have also known babies who wet through the Overnight diapers. If this is the case, I guess the next bigger size diaper might work, or I think you can also buy diaper liners that go inside the diaper for some more absorbency power.

3. Sippy cups. We are struggling with the milk-in-a-sippy-cup transition. I'll report back on my trials and tribulations, but in retrospect I might have done things a little differently. There are so many kinds of sippy cups and I think a lot of kids will have a preference for one or another. I started her on the Tilty cup at 6 months, and now she does very well with it. I picked this cup because it doesn't have a valve, so fewer parts to keep track of and more like drinking from a normal cup. We also use the Take and Toss cups because that is what she uses at school, and they are very similar. (Note: if your daycare uses one particular kind of sippy cup for all the kids, ask about that earlier rather than later. I had no idea until recently. It wasn't a big deal, but might have been nice to know). My point: Girly does great with these cups if the liquid inside is clear or purple. Not white. I know this really isn't because of the cup design, but I wish I would have worked harder with her on a straw, at a minimum, so we would have more options to try at this point. She won't drink from a sippy cup with a valve or one with a soft spout. In the long run, I think this will help her drink from a real cup, but in the short run it is driving me crazy.

The end.