Kenzie is twenty two weeks old and it’s officially 2018! We spent the first day of the year at the beach with family. Her godmothers bought her the cutest bathing suits and hat, we couldn’t wait to get her into them! We also bought two packs of swim nappies so she can swim every day if she wanted to. Our little baby sure is a water baby from birth till now!
So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 43
Sleep: 91 hours
Feeds: 92
As much as Kenzie loves the water, we’ve learned that she hates cold water and unfortunately, the water at the beach was very cold. She loved being in the wet sand but as soon as a wave came in and the water crawled towards her, she cried and wanted out.
I have finally finished reading The Lion King and will be reading her Toy Story next. She only has a limited attention span when it comes to children’s books that aren’t picture books. The Lion King book only had a picture every 3-4 pages so she got a bit sick of looking at black writing on a white background. She still loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar and her new favourite is That’s Not My Unicorn as it’s got sensory pages for her to interact with. We read these to her every day. She just wants to grab all the pages and eat them.
We’ve increased her flash card learning as we realised we had done them incorrectly last week. I didn’t even know you could do flash card incorrectly! After doing some research, we’re supposed to only read and show a card for a second before changing the card to the next so that we keep her attention span and she doesnt associate boredom with the flash cards. Previously, I was taking too long with each card, losing her attention and having her get frustrated which then got me frustrated and we cannot associate frustration when doing flash cards. Who knew how hard it was to introduce flash cards?! According to some research, babies can absorb information within seconds and that is all it takes for them to associate a sound/voice/colour/letter/word/number etc. Flicking through the flash cards quickly helps a lot and she is fixated on seeing the next card come out. We only go through the pile once through before moving onto another activity. We aim to do it three times a day. We’ve started with the alphabet flash cards and will introduce a new set every two weeks.
Although we wanted to wait till she was 6 months, we have started Kenzie on solids via Rafferty Garden’s smooth baby food range. A friend suggested this brand as it had lower sugar levels than other brands. We started her off on vegetables only and she hates it. She will easily put a small amount in her mouth before spitting it back out again. We thought our laundry was already a lot but as soon as we started her on solids, our laundry doubled! She will only eat half a spoonful in the mornings and we are only using solids for her to taste and get used to texture. I must admit, it’s been hard and very messy. The baby food packet is so large, I really don’t know how she’ll ever finish a whole pack.
We found her tickle spots; under her chin her back and her armpits. We love watching her laugh and giggle. She still doesn’t know what the sensation is and sometimes it’s too much and she screams and smiles. She’s been sitting down more and more and can last longer before toppling over.
Her eczema is finally under control all thanks to MooGoo Mini Moo Bubbly Wash in her baths, MooGoo Eczema and Psoriasis Cream to treat her eczema once a day and MooGoo Soothing MSM Cream used first thing in the morning and before bed time to help keep her skin moist. It’s definitely not affordable and has been difficult to find as not all stores stock it. However, after seeing the results, we do think its worth it. We’re still on one income so spending $60 on 3 items just to test it out was a gamble but I’m glad it worked out for us.
Next week, everyone is back at work and I have been so used to having someone helping me with Kenzie during the day. Let’s hope I can cope!