The Wonder Weeks Book Review- Guest Post

It's a BFBN trade day!  I'm over at The Moses Home today talking about why I try to maintain a normal schedule when my kids have a minor illness.  Here today I have Katrina from Mama's Organized Chaos!  She wrote a great review of the Wonder Weeks book.  It's amazing to learn how babies learn about the world around them!

-Kim

I remember it vividly- I was finally pregnant, and I happened to be at Target. I thought I'd stop by the book section and get a few pregnancy books. I couldn't wait to read about the bundle of joy inside of me. I love knowing facts and details. I bought two books. One of them was What to Expect When Expecting (an amazing book). The other book, I returned so fast, I don't even remember the title. It was the most negative book I'd ever read. It detailed every possible thing that could go wrong during pregnancy, along with all of the things I needed to avoid, etc. It was not something I wanted to read. I am all about knowing the facts, but I am also focused on staying positive and realistic. As the book was written it simply put unneeded and unwanted worry on expecting moms. When I returned the book, I also returned to the pregnancy book aisle. I found that many of the books focused on the negatives. So, I stuck with the one good book I'd found and did the rest of my reading and research online. About a month before my due date I realized I should probably start reading up on my baby, instead of just the pregnancy. I found two phenomenal books: Babywise, and The Wonder Weeks. I've decided to start doing book reviews of the helpful books that I find. So, today I'll be starting with The Wonder Weeks.

The Wonder Weeks concept and idea is just fascinating to me. This book outlines 10 developmental milestones that occur in a baby's first 20 months of life. The idea is that these developmental milestones actually occur at roughly the same time for babies (within a few weeks). With predictable leaps in babies development, this book is incredibly eye opening as a parent. The book details the earliest week that these leaps typically occur. You can literally look at a calendar and predict when they will occur for your child. During these leaps, your baby is extra fussy as they work through these life altering changes that are occurring in their brains. When the leap is over you'll be able to see your baby showing new skills!

My experience: I found that the app coupled with the book was an amazing combination. I detail below what each has to offer. The combination put my mind at ease. All of the sudden (literally out of the blue) Caroline would be extra fussy, and I had no idea why or what had changed. Without fail, 100% of the time, I would check the wonder week calendar, and Caroline would be entering or already in a leap. It was shocking to me how predictable these leaps really were! Once I realized that Caroline was in a leap, I'd read the chapter for that specific leap in The Wonder Weeks book. Reading about the skills she was developing put everything into perspective and allowed me to remove myself from the frustration of the "fussy period", and be more understanding that it wasn't my fault or her fault or anyone's fault...it was a normal mental development that was occurring. I was also able to read about the new skills that might be popping up, and see them happening right before my eyes. Truly amazing. Once I realized that the concept of this book seemed to really be on point, my husband and I would read about the next leap ahead of time so we knew what skills we were looking for. We enjoyed reading the chapters together every evening, and discussing our daughter's progress.

The App: I think the app is now $1.99. It is the ONLY app I've ever paid money for, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The app is a quick reference to keep tabs on where your child is in their developmental cycle. You can enter your child's birth date and track where they are in relation to the leaps that are outlined in the book. The app gives a quick summary of the skills that may be developing during this leap. I used the app mostly for the ease of the calendar and tracking.

The book suggests to base your child's development based on their due date. I entered 2 "children" into the app: Caroline based on her due date, and Caroline based on her birth date. I always found that my daughter entered leaps perfectly based on her birth date. I tracked them both for about 6 months, and once I realized our trend to be based on birth date, I stopped tracking based on due date all together. I'd recommend doing this to see how the calendar lines up for your specific child. 

The Book: The book is a must buy. It goes into a ton of detail about what is happening with your baby's development. There is a separate chapter for each wonder week (or leap). Each chapter consists of 4 sections:

• This Week's Fussy Signs: This section outlines what behaviors and clues to look for indicating that your baby is about to make a developmental leap.  There is a diary section where you can check off the signs you've noticed to help you keep track of things.
• The Magical Leap Forward: This section discusses the new skills and abilities your child may acquire during the leap. Again, there is a diary section with a checklist . This was probably our favorite part of the book! We loved reading about all of the new skills that our baby would soon acquire!
• What You Can Do to Help: This is an amazing section, that gives you ideas for games, toys, and even focused activities that are catered to each stage of development. This is also one of my favorite parts to read through and gave me some great ideas!
• After the Leap: After the leap, your baby will start to be happy, and more independent again. This section lets you know when to expect this. 

The chapters also have real life experience quotes from moms and dads, along with fun facts on things like brain changes, sleep tips, top toys, and more! As an example, in wonder week 12, there is a brain change fact that states "At approximately 10 to 11 weeks, the head circumference of babies dramatically increases". I just loved seeing everything put forward in such a positive light with lots of fun facts. Babies have a lot of ups and downs and it can be hard on parents when they don't know what's going on. This book really does help you to understand what's happening in your baby's development and how you can assist to make things easier on them. I highly recommend grabbing a copy! We'll even be re-reading this when baby #2 comes along one day- it was that interesting and there are way too many facts to simply remember for the next go around. It is definitely an in the moment read and well worth your time (even when sleep deprived)!

Other Posts of Interest:
The Wonder Weeks "Grey Period"- What is it?
Wonder Weeks- Leap 6
Baby Brains

Katrina is a mom of an almost 2 year old daughter (Caroline). She is a former engineer and high school chemistry teacher, turned stay at home Babywise Mama! Head on over to Mama's Organized Chaos to read more.

Rail Fair!

This weekend we attended an event that I think most little boys would love- Rail Fair!  I am so excited that we have a railroad themed park near by our new place!  This particular weekend had a big model train festival, and most of the park was free.  Score!

After the girls morning nap we headed out to see the trains!  As soon as we got there Ben was pumped.  He pulled Pat ahead with him while I followed with the girls.

I love the site of my boys having fun.

 There were a bunch of model trains set up.  Ben really liked looking at them.  A couple of them even had Thomas and his friends in them!  Those were big favorites with the little ones.  It is kind of crazy the things that interest you because your children like them.  I can't really say I've put a lot of thought into model trains.  But watching Ben be so excited and interested in them made me really like looking at them too.

He needed a little help to take it all in. 

They had real train cars set up to go through.  Sadly they aren't stroller friendly, so I waited outside with the girls.  They didn't mind missing out.  Pat said the cars were interesting to look at, but not super fun for little ones.  A bit too historic for Ben's taste, so I will wait until we go again to check it out.

Excited to be so close to a real train!

My sweet girls, just happy to be a part of the action. (Sammy L Ali R)

Ben was fascinated by all the model trains!  There was a small museum full of more models.  Again though, not stroller friendly.  Ben seemed really excited after he and Pat went through it, and Pat said it was fun to see.

So focused on the trains

We took a break to eat a little lunch at the park.  They have food available, so we splurged and got Ben the rail park 'happy meal' of sorts.  It came in a little train car and had a whistle.  I think getting to eat some chips was Ben's favorite part. ;)

I have to steal pictures when I can!

The park has two playgrounds, both train themed!  We actually only made it to one, but it was a good one!  

Time to run!

I think the highlight of Ben's day was getting to ride on the little train that went around the park.  He looked so proud and excited to get to ride on a real train with Daddy.

Ready to ride the rails!

This boy had a good day.

I think the rail park might be one of Ben's favorite things about living here.  We will for sure be visiting again.  The one bummer is that so many of the displays and things to do aren't stroller friendly.  But that's okay.  I'll get a turn to see everything when we go again.  Plus I have a feeling it is a place grandparents will really enjoy with the kids. ;)  We had a blast and we're looking forward to going again!!

-Kim

Friday Fun!

This week we spent some quality time having fun!  It is finally cooling off a bit during the day, so we have been able to get out and explore some new parks!  We tossed in a couple of library visits too. :)  No big stories, just lots of fun play time. 

Library fun!

Duck pond!

Ben loved the musical instrument park.

The girls were happy to be out and about too.

One park has a gazebo, Ben loved it!

Of course, no interest in selfies with Mommy.

So much fun!

I'm so happy we are finding fun places to play.  It still doesn't feel like fall to us, we're used to it being way cooler this time of year.  But I think we will really enjoy to warmer weather overall.  Ben for sure will love getting to go to the park more!

-Kim

Transitions: Moving from a crib to a toddler bed

One of the big changes that went along with our move was that Ben switched from his crib to his toddler bed!  Yes, he was three years old and still in his crib.  Every kid is different and I wouldn't change a thing about our transition.  Here are a few thoughts on how we did our switch and how it worked for us.

To start out, why did we have Ben stay in his crib for so long?  We had a few big reasons.

1) I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't mess with sleep.  If something is working, why change it?  Ben adored his crib.  He was happy and comfortable there.  He slept well there.  He never tried to climb out and didn't seem to mind that it was still a crib.  Why change something that was working?  I don't think age alone is a good enough reason to make a big change like this.  We bought Ben's crib because it converted to a toddler bed, and with twins coming we knew we would end up either buying a a new crib and a toddler bed for Ben, giving his crib to one of the girls, or we could buy two new cribs.  Almost all the cribs these days transition to toddler beds, so would cost us the same either way.  We would have to buy two beds, so why take Ben's bed, which he loved, away from him?  Keeping him in the crib just made sense.

2) I liked how safe Ben was in the crib.  Ben never tried to get out of his crib on his own.  (I know, I am very lucky and so thankful for this.)  He was contained all night and couldn't get into trouble.  We had planned to have all three kids sleeping in the same room for a bit at our old house.  I liked the idea that Ben couldn't get up at night and mess around, potentially waking up his sisters.  Our old house wasn't very big, so Ben's/the girls' room because a storage site as we got organized before the girls were born.  It also became a giant box zone while we were packing.  Ben being in his crib meant we could have these things in his room and he would still be safe.  Yes, this is a bit of laziness on my part.  But what can I say?  Ben was safe and happy in  his crib.

3) We had a lot of changes going on from when Ben was about two and a half to three.  First of all, the girls were born.  That is a huge change for anyone, but it is especially huge for a toddler.  The girls took a lot of my time and attention and I wanted Ben to have his literal comfort zone in his bed.  That was his space and his alone, no babies in it.  Besides suddenly having two little babies taking up his mommy's time, he also was no longer going to the office every day.  His entire routine was changed.  I wanted to keep anything consistent for him I could.  Then once we got settled into our new routine we up and move across the country.  Packing was chaotic and again, I wanted to give Ben what consistency I could.  I think it worked, Ben slept really well despite all that we threw at him.

4) Ben is old enough to really get what is happening now that we have made the switch.  Ben understands that he has to stay in his bed.  This isn't to say he couldn't or wouldn't have understood at a younger age, but at three years old he for sure gets it.  He knows he needs to stay in his bed and he understands consequences.  We really played up how exciting a big boy bed was, and we also spoke about how important it was to stay in the bed.  At three he is old enough to call out for us (loudly) at night, and he is old enough to understand when we say wait or just a minute.  Along with understanding the need to stay in the bed, he also was old enough to be really excited about the change.  This made moving more enjoyable for him, he got to upgrade his bed!  Anything that would help make him happy about our move was a good thing in my book.

 So why a toddler bed?  Why not a twin or other regular bed?  There are lots of options when it comes to moving beyond a crib.  We thought about several things and looked into different options.  But when it came down to it our decision was pretty simple.

1) It was the cheapest option.  We bought our kids' cribs planning on switching them to toddler beds as they got older.  As I said most cribs these days transition and are not a ton of money.  All we had to do to make Ben's crib a toddler bed was take one of the sides off.  We didn't need to buy a new frame or a new mattress.  It was really easy (of course I didn't put the bed together, so Pat may have other opinions. ;) )  We don't like to spend money we don't need to, so this was big.

2) We had an easy fix if Ben didn't stay in the bed.  If Ben gets out of bed too much in the short term we can just turn the bed around so the open side is against the wall.  Get out of bed, lose the privilege of the big boy bed.  So far we haven't had to do this.  If it gets too bad we can always put the side completely back on.  We would have to have some major issues to do that, but I like that we have concrete, relatively easy ways to have natural consequences to misbehaving.

3) It fit the space we had.  Ben has his own room at our new house, but that doesn't mean it is a huge room.  We could fit a twin in it.  The toddler bed is smaller and gives Ben more room to play.  We wanted this more than for him to have a bigger bed.  He isn't very big, he doesn't need a giant bed to sleep in right now.

4)  It was still Ben's bed.  Ben has always loved his bed.  This was still his.  So while he was excited about all the new changes we had going on, he still had a place that was familiar and his to sleep in.  I'm sure it can be scary to a little kid to be in a new room in a bed that suddenly has a big open side on it when it used to be enclosed and secure.  But this was Ben's own bed, a place he has always been safe.  That's a good thing.

I don't think there is one right way to make the change from crib to toddler bed.  Each child is unique and has his own needs in this situation.  But I am happy with how we handled Ben's transition.  I hope to keep the girls in their cribs as long as possible, but we will make that sort of switch as we need to.  Overall Ben's sleep has stayed solid, he made a great transition in the move, and he is happy.  That is the most important thing.

-Kim

September 2016 Book List

As soon as we moved into our new home I did the most important thing you have to do when you move to a new place- got my new library card.  :)  We're still getting to know our new library system.  It was hard to leave our last one, it was a really great library.  We miss our librarian friends and all the great programs and toys they had.  The new library is small, but it is a county wide system so I can still get a lot of great reads.  Here are some of the books I enjoyed this month. (This post contains affiliate links.  All opinions are my own.)

 Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner

This book starts with two kids meeting in a hospital.  Rachel, the girl, has a heart condition and Andy, the boy, broke his arm.  A few years later they get thrown together again and start dating.  They start dating, break up get back together, break up, the usual story.  But it is a sweet one.  The two of them grew up very differently, and it is interesting to read how those differences shape them.  What I liked about this story is that each character is challenged on their own, and we get to see how that impacts their relationship.  They have flaws.  Their reasons for separating weren't always huge, and were almost a little petty at times.  But that is what I think made it realistic.  They were normal people trying to do good in their lives, follow their passions, and find love.  I enjoyed this one.

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Riley grew up thinking that her sister had killed herself when Riley was almost two years old.  Her sister, Lisa, was a violin prodigy and the stress of all the performances caused her to become depressed.  When we start the book Riley's father has just passed and Riley is taking care of closing up his house and going through his things.  While trying to go through everything she learns that her sister had killed her former violin teacher and might have faked her suicide.  (Spoiler alert- she did.  But if the sister was dead the story would be pretty quick.) We go back and forth from Riley's perspective to her sister's.  The two sisters also have a brother who has a totally different perspective on how everything went down.  I liked reading how three different children could view an event from such different angles.  True, they were all different ages.  But how we remember our childhood isn't the same as how our siblings remember it.  We all have upbringings that are unique from our brothers and sisters.  This is one of those stories where no one is really 'right' per se, but you understand why they do what they do.  It was a page turner and I think I'm going to add it to my read again list.

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet

Okay, this one was not one of my favorites.  I think it just isn't a style I am looking for right now.  A couple go on a honeymoon to a tropical island, and yes as the title suggests they find mermaids.  The resort company tries to cash in on the mermaids, and the main characters work to stop it.  Honestly I found our main characters a bit grating.  I understand the author was going for satire and it wasn't meant to be a warm and fuzzy book.  But I quickly got tired of reading the internal judging of the world from the main character and her negative attitudes.  I don't want to say it is a bad book.  I always think it is good to read outside of my comfort zone and to think about life from points of views very different from my own.  I just could not get behind the skewering of total strangers the narrator did while thinking she is so superior to everyone she met.  Plus there is a twist at the end that just didn't fly with me.  Like I said though, it is always good to get outside of the usual reads, so I'm not disappointed I read it.  I am just very happy I got it out of the library and didn't spend money on it.

We Are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly



A couple, Ash and Pia, move to rural Vermont to live a more 'real' life.  After they move there a super storm develops that is bigger than anything anyone has ever seen.  Ash and Pia approach preparations for it in two different ways.  Pia falls in with a group of preppers, while Ash tends to align with the local government more.  While they are preparing for the big storm, their marriage starts to fall apart a bit.  The story is really one of how their marriage drifts.  It feels as though it would have happened anyway, but the storm is a major catalyst that can't be ignored.  Overall I enjoyed reading about how different people prepared for the major disaster.  I found it to be realistic and really cover many ways people face this sort of life changing situation.  It's really more about relationships than the disaster.  The storm kind of falls into the background.  I found it interesting and would recommend it.


Four new books to check out.  Okay, three new books and one I didn't like that much.  But that could be just me.  As always there are affiliate links in this post, but that doesn't mean it costs you any extra money if you chose to purchase them.  All opinions are my own.  I've already started a few new books to get ready for October.  Maybe I'll try to find something scary for Halloween...

-Kim

Eight month update and schedule

The girls have been go go go this month!  They are adjusting so well to out new house.  Moving couldn't have come at a better time- the girls have more room to roam around!

One of the biggest things with the girls this month is how much they are moving around.  They aren't officially crawling yet.  They keep trying to get on their hands and knees, but can't quite do anything from there.  They do army crawl and roll and scoot like you wouldn't believe!  Ben didn't start really getting mobile until close to a year, so I am a bit surprised by how early the girls seem to be doing it.  Of course they have Ben to set an example of what to do.  They also have Ben's toys to motivate them. ;)  They love getting into his stuff.  I fully admit I wish they stayed in one place a little bit longer.  But it is fun that they can get around a bit and play with each other.  They are getting a little frustrated that they can't get on their knees yet, but it will be happening soon I'm sure.  I am happy we set up this place to be super baby safe right away.  These girls are into everything!

The other big thing this month is solids.  We really picked it back up now that we are settled.  The girls had their first solids at six months, but really I don't think they were completely ready yet.  This was actually a blessing, as we got through the move without having to worry about giving them solids on top of everything else.  Now they are ready and super into it!!  The girls have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us most days.  They are so cute when they eat.  I love these early stages of solids.  The girls are just so happy to be sitting at the table and eating with us, they eat everything!  Of course it is ridiculously messy, but that is expected.  So far they have liked everything we have given them and are doing really well with the self feeding.  We have started giving them a little bit of water with their meals.  (This is important as they aren't eating purees.)  They adore trying to drink the water out of the bottles.  They end up wearing more water than they drink, but it is cute how much they enjoy it.  They currently eat most of their meals in just their diapers, so I don't have a lot of pictures of them eating.  I love seeing them try new foods, and I love that all five of us can sit together at the table at meals!

The girls still babble and frankly yell a lot.  They are so much louder than Ben ever was!  They just have a ton to say and want to be sure everyone knows it!  They are starting to 'talk' to each other more.  They actually look at each other and seem to be carrying on conversations sometimes!  It is so sweet.  I have no idea what they are saying to each other of course, but I love seeing them acknowledge each other.  They still like to play together and steal toys from each other.  Now that they are scooting around they can get into the toys more.  Ben is being pretty good about this.  He doesn't like when they play with some things, but he is learning to share more.

Ali is still the more outgoing of the girls.  She has a quick smile.  She is a bit of a firecracker, even at this young age.  She is quick to let you know she is unhappy.  But she is quick to bounce back to smiling as well.  She tries hard to reach her goals.  She is the one you can see reaching and trying to get on her hands and knees.  She is determined to get what she wants and keeps working until she does.  Sammy is still the quieter girl.  Don't let that fool you though, she is just as determined as her sister.  She makes this little face with her lips pressed tightly together and you know she is working on something.  Her efforts aren't as visible as Ali's, but you can see her thinking then suddenly she can do something new!  She also makes that little tight lipped face when she is trying not to smile.  Between Ali's early feistiness and Sammy's early determined nature I know these girls are going to give me a run for my money as they grow!

The schedule has changed slightly this month.  The girls get up a little earlier.  This is because they just weren't making it to 7:30 anymore.  I had been holding out on moving their wake time because I enjoyed having the early morning time with Ben, but I knew they would eventually be getting up early anyway.  So we went with it.  Of course if they are happy in their beds we wait until 7:30.  We have also added the solids as I mentioned before.  We are fully back in the time where it feels like everything we do revolves around food.  Meals take longer and clean up is way more involved, but we are enjoying it.  Here is the basic run down of the girls' day.

7:15am: Wake up
7:30am: Nurse
8 am: Solids breakfast
9-11am: Nap
11am: Nurse
11:45am: Solids lunch
1:45pm: Nurse
2-4:30pm: Nap
4:30pm: Nurse
5:30pm: Solids dinner
6:45pm: Nurse
7pm: Bed

Eating solids is going great.  Nursing is going well.  They are getting pretty quick at it.  Nighttime sleep is going well.  They crash hard at bed time.  I think that is in part because we have had a couple of rough nap times.  They are working so hard on crawling and they are teething, so I am trying to keep nap times consistent while being understanding of all the reasons they are waking early.  Overall they are doing pretty well though.  I don't want to make any major changes until we get past these big developments.

In other happenings Sammy has her first tooth!  Lower left is through the gums!  The one next to it is working hard to get through too.  Ali almost has her first one through.  I can see the bump on her gums, it just hasn't broken out yet.  Sammy and Ali can sign milk to me!  They have started to use the sign to indicate they are ready for their water at meal times.  I can tell they understand the signs.  They get all excited when I sign milk, and they start rubbing their eyes when I sign tired.  I am trying to use more and all done at meal times, but with three kids eating sometimes I forget.  I am so happy they seem to be getting the signs.  Ben did really well with them , and I really do think it helped curb tantrums when he was younger.  I love seeing them understand and try to let me know what they need!

Ali and Sammy are such delights.  Yes, they are loud and into everything, but they are so fun.  They love to laugh and play with us.  It is so fun to see them interact with each other and their brother.  They are determined, sweet, happy little girls.  We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

These girls are into everything!

Ali!

Sammy!

Ali!

Sammy!

We love these girls so much!  (Sam (L) Ali (R))

-Kim

Ben's trampoline

Before the girls were born I was worried about how Ben would handle being cooped up inside so much.  He is a busy kid.  Winter plus nursing newborns meant we were going to be spending a lot of time at home.  I thought he could get a trampoline to jump around on in the living room and burn off some energy right at home.  So I ordered one for him for Christmas.

This was a great idea.  In theory.  In practice it didn't work out quite as I had hoped.  I spent a lot of time researching, looking for one that would be safe and sturdy.  I wanted it to last a few years as he grew and maybe even be something the girls could use in a few years.  I found I liked that had good reviews.  It would hold Ben's weight for a few years and had netting and a safety bar around it.  It was perfect, so I ordered it.  I went with this one:
Skywalker Trampolines 48 In. Round Zoo Adventure Bouncer with Enclosure

One thing I did not even think about was how big the trampoline was compared to the space we had available in our house.  It was way to big.  So it sat in our basement for a few months.  A plus of our new digs is the year round warmer weather, so we can set up the trampoline outside.  And this weekend Pat did just that!

We didn't tell Ben much about the trampoline, and I am not even sure he realized we had it.  We took him outside when Pat was done putting it together and Ben was so excited!  He ran right for it and jumped inside.

He started running right for it!

Love at first sight :)

Bouncing boy!

He loves it!

So far it has been too hot to spend too much time on the trampoline, but Ben has enjoyed it!  I am excited to get more use out of it as it cools down this fall.

-Kim

(This post contains affiliate links.  All opinions are my own.)