Baby Led Weaning

I knew when I was pregnant with Jack that I would use a baby led weaning approach to starting solids this time. With Claire I made all her food and started her with things like millet, oatmeal, avocado, and banana instead of the traditional rice cereal from a box. But it was still all pureed and fed to her from a spoon.


This time we waited until Jack was developmentally ready to pick up the food and eat it on his own. Jack has been eyeing us eat for months now, but his ability to grab something small and put it in his mouth had gotten really good in the last few days, so I thought we would give it a go. Last night we had chicken and veggies for dinner, so I gave Jack some and he dug right in.

And today I gave him some avocado to try. It was pretty cute watching him try to pick up a piece because it;s so darn slippery. But he did manage to get some in that mouth of his. 

I love BLW because I know his body is ready for solid food, and he's controlling how much he's taking in. Probably not very much is actually going in right now, but that's okay. For the first year of life, food is meant for fun and exploring. He's still getting all the nutrition he needs from breast milk.


Here's a couple videos of Jack eating. So cute!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures done this weekend. I was a little bit nervous since I don't really like being in front of the camera, but the photographer Nikki was so good at making it relaxed and fun. She also did an amazing job working with Claire who is in a 'refuse to look at the camera' sort of stage.


Check out the sneak peak here. I just love how these turned out. And Nikki loves comments as much as I do, so please feel free to leave a comment on her post. 


If you are looking for a photographer for your family, might I suggest Nikki at Bittersweet Photography. You can find all of her info here. She can also be found on facebook here

Thanks again Nikki for capturing these moments with my family so beautifully! 

Love

I know I've said this a million times, but I can't get over how much Jack loves his sister. Just look at his face when he sees her...

Preschool Update

Claire has been in preschool for over a month now! I knew she would have a hard time separating from me. She was in day care for about five months when I worked to get another mat leave. She cried all day, every day for almost the entire five months. It was really hard on both her and I, and left both of us a little traumatized. Her teachers were really good, but Claire was only 18 months old. She just wasn't ready yet. Fast forward to my almost three year old, and I can't believe how far we've come.


When we talk about preschool, she gets very excited and will even ask to go on non preschool days, but when we walk into the building, the tears start flowing. She's started saying she needs to go pee when we get there, which I know is a stalling tactic because she has just peed before we left the house. I'm not quite sure how to handle that one. She will just sit on the toilet, but not actually pee. When I tell her it's time to go to her class, she says, "I'm not ready yet".


Once we get into her class, I try to make it pretty quick. She's usually clinging to me, and the teacher has to pry her away from me. She has attached herself to one teacher in particular which was helping, but that teacher has been away for over a week now. I was pretty impressed with her teachers because they anticipated Claire missing her favourite teacher, so they arranged for me to drop Claire off in the second class with the other teacher, picking up on the fact that Claire does better when it's quieter, and less people around.


This morning when I passed her off, she went willingly, instead of clinging to me. I heard her say to her teacher, "I'm sad". As I walked out of the school, I peaked in on her through the window, and she was already happy and playing. I almost think the tears are more of a habit than anything.


So, even though the drop offs are hard, they are getting better, and the fact that she stops crying right away, and enjoys herself is huge! She always comes home with lots of crafts, and singing new songs. I really like her teachers too. I can't wait for the day where there are no tears at drop off. That will be a big milestone for her.

Thanksgiving

What a beautiful thanksgiving weekend! We headed up to my parent's trailer in Sauble Beach on Saturday. This was the last weekend up there until spring which is always a little bit sad. 

Jack woke me up nice and early on Sunday morning, so we got to see the sun come up. The trailer is right on a little lake. It is just so beautiful.

We got to hang out on Sunday morning, and we took advantage of the opportunity to put Jack in the little ottoman. We have pictures of Claire in it at the same age. Jack loved it, and we got some cute pictures of him in there. He is a seriously beautiful baby if I do say so myself.

 Jack loved playing with my parent's dog Lars. Lars adores both Claire and Jack and has from the day they were born. It's sweet how gentle he is with them.

 We watched Claire entertain us, which she was quite happy to do. She sang, and danced, and jumped, and spun. She is so funny that beautiful girl of mine.

 Then we headed to Wiarton to have thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's beautiful property.

 We were greeted by their labs, Bear and Clover.

 We relaxed with drinks and family.

 Claire discovered jelly and decided it was the best thing on the face of the earth. She took huge spoonfuls and put them on her cracker, which she would then eat off the cracker and repeat without ever taking a bite of the actual cracker. And we let her because it was cute, and funny, and why the heck not?

  We played, and explored and enjoyed being outside on such a beautiful day.

 Claire found a decorative rooster that she fell in love with. That girl loves animals regardless if they're real or not.

We all went on a leisurely walk through the trails with drinks in hand, stopping for pictures, and to enjoy the scenery.

 

We also stopped for an impromptu play in the leaves.

And Jack fell asleep on daddy's chest

 

And then we all sat down to eat a delicious turkey dinner. Good food, family, a beautiful fall day. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I have a lot to be thankful for.