Family Fun Series-Cincinnati Museum Center

Fun For the Family

A lot of people really complain about Cincinnati. They say there's not much to do. Nowhere to go. Yahta, yahta. I must say, I really disagree. While I've always loved it here, raising a child here as been a really great experience. I think it's a very family friendly city. Phil and I love it so much, in fact, that we've gone a little crazy with purchasing memberships that allow us to have unlimited visits at the aquarium, children's museum, and zoo. This is all in addition to the wonderful children's bookstore, toy store, and library all within walking distance from our house. I thought I'd give tidbits of our experiences at these places. For today, I'll just focus on the children's museum.

 

The Cincinnati Museum Center is our current favorite. We just picked up our passes last week and plan on going every Saturday throughout the spring. The museum center is a gorgeous 1930's building that houses a natural science museum, children's museum, and Cincinnati history museum. There's also a historical library. The children's museum is a ton of fun. There's a 4 and under area with sand play, puppets, climbing apparatus, slides, wheel barrels, ride on toys, Legos, puzzles.....you get the picture. Our first two visits we never made it out of this area since it held Noelles attention so well. Today, however, we decide to branch out to the rest of the museum. They have an entire little town complete with a play kitchen, diner, baby care area, veterinary clinic, doctors office, grocery store....and I'm probably forgetting others. Noelle was apprehensive at first but eventually found the baby doll area which didn't have too many children. She loved it. She's just now getting into baby dolls. She liked to take them all out of the crib and hug them. Eventually she started trying to sit the babies on the chair and push them up to the little table but the chairs kept getting stuck when she tried to push them in. She was getting so frustrated, so I went and grabbed a doll high chair that. Saw earlier in a different area and brought it to her. Her face lit up when she could put the doll in the "right" equipment. She's not super into feeding or changing the dolls yet, but I think that's just around the corner.

Next, she ventured over to the construction site. What a neat area. It is strewn with rubber "rocks" that you can shovel into wheel barrels. The main attraction is the crane. You can load a big red soft sided container with all the "rocks" and the child operating the crane can steer and dump it. It's definitely not intended for 15 month olds and eventually I had to guide Noelle away because there were so many older children that she was in danger of getting trampled. She also kept trying to get in on their wheel barrow action, which some of the older children did not appreciate. She did however love it and I bet if we were there during a week day shed be able to explore even more.

We finished out the visit with lunch at the museum food court. She had an hour or two of vigorous play and completely conked out on the way home.

I didn't get too many pictures because I was having so much fun watching and playing with her that I kept forgetting. We will go back plenty more times though, so I'm not too worried. I did capture this one in the baby play area.

 

 

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15 months!

Noelle turned 15 months today! Well, I guess if you want to be super technical, she will turn 15 months in 4 hours since she was born at 10:50 pm.

I thought I would break this down by developmental area, since that is how we view the world in early intervention. It's easier for me to remember things that way.

Cognitive: she is making all sorts of associations now. She walks over to the drawer where we keep her hat after we put her jacket on and points to her head. She can put round shapes into a shape sorter. Being able to get the square in isn't too far off. She loves to really inspect how things work.

Adaptive/self help: she finger feeds herself very well. She can use a spoon to feed herself yogurt and applesauce. She likes to practice with the fork and understands that it is supposed to pierce the food, but can't quite get it yet. She helps dress herself by pushing her arms through the sleeve. She tries to put her diaper on. She can successfully take her diaper off, including ones with snaps.....yikes! So not ready for that. She sleeps from 7:30/8:30-6/6:30 and has been taking one giant 3 hour nap. The time of the nap varies a bunch.

Communication: Noelle says mom or mama and dada. She also says cat (her favorite!), dog, more, cup, milk, ga for grandma, car, sock, and has attempted cracker and banana once. She signs milk, more, all done, eat, sleep, horse, and I think she signed fish once also. She waves hi and bye. She understands everything. She walks over to the shoe cabinet if you ask her where her shoes are. She goes over to her high chair when you say "time to eat." She looks at family members when named.

Motor: She has been walking since she was 11 months. She can walk very quickly. You can almost call it a run, but not quite. She climbs onto anything about 18 inches off the floor. She is pretty short so she can't climb up on the couch yet, but has the skills to,do it if it weren't for her height. She uses a neat pincher grasp. She can grasp a crayon and scribble.

Personal-social: last but certainly not least is personal social. She smiles and laughs. Gives the best hugs and kisses. She loves to try to sit in the lap of older little girls, including strangers at story time. It's hilarious.

She is moving into mostly 12-18 month clothes, but still wears some 9-12.

That's Noelle in a nut shell at 15 months. Her well check is next week and I will find out her height and weight then!

 

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14 months

I'm so bummed. I just typed an elaborate 14 month update, with all the great stuff Noelle is doing separated into all the developmental categories. I went to post, and it completely vanished. Sad, sad panda. I don't have the energy to redo all that, so I will settle for posting a couple cute pictures from our walk to library story time.

Loves her little push car!

She was so excited when we got to the room!

 

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Quarterly Update

Why hello, woefully out of date blog. I guess it's time for a quarterly update huh? I really want to blog more, but continue to struggle with finding the time in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I am posting this with Blogsy, an app that allows you to easily post, edit, and add pictures from your IPad. I'm really hoping this will help me become a more active blogger.

We went sledding today! Noelle wasn't sure what to do at first. She was quite serious. Eventually though, she perked up and LOVED it. Phil and I realized how out of shape we are while running back and forth with her. I was hesitant to buy a sled because we've had such mild winters the last year or two, and even our normal winters only result in one or two good snow falls. When I saw the sled on clearance for $7 bucks at Target, I couldn't resist!

Noelle is now 13 and a half months old. She has been walking for about 2 months. She continues to amaze me everyday by doing new and exciting things. She loves to walk with a phone up by her ear and say "hello!" She walks up to you when she wants you to read a book to her. Cue, heart melting.
Sleeping has improved quite a bit. She slept through the night for about 2 weeks straight after she turned a year. Then we had one or two bad weeks during teething, but the past 4 nights have been pretty good. I'm really hoping she will continue to sleep through the night! Months 8-12 were pretty tough in that regard!
Here's a bit of a photo dump from the past couple months!

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42 weeks in, 42 weeks out!

Well, it's been exactly 42 weeks since I gave birth to my beautiful girl. That means she has been outside as long as she was inside! I wish I had a better picture of my last day pregnant with her. My friend made me take this belly pic to send her, otherwise I'd have none at all. I guess at 42 weeks pregnant, I wasn't feeling terribly motivated to photograph myself.

Babywearing

I am an avid babywearer.  Without question, my favorite carrier is the Ergo Performance.  I've tried out a bunch of different carriers, though, and thought that I would review them here.

Ergo Performance:

I've already stated that this is my favorite.  I love that you can wear on the front or back easily.  Phil loves it too.  It has a great pocket to store my phone and keys when I am just taking the dog for a quick walk.  It is SO comfortable!  It's easy to use, can adjust so anyone can wear it.  I can't go shopping without the Ergo.  Noelle does not do very well in the carts in the store and I far prefer to wear her on my back instead.  Perhaps one downside to back wearing: you can tell in the second picture that Noelle is considering pulling on some hair.....

Moby Wrap:

This was my favorite carrier in the newborn days.  I haven't used it in quite some time though.  However, it was absolutely worth the money.  I loved it in the newborn days because it was so snuggly!  She also loved it.  It's awesome for a winter baby.  Before I left the house, I would wrap it around me, then put my coat on.  Since it was already wrapped, all I had to do was take her out of the carseat, pop her in and wrap my coat around her without having to take my coat off at all.  Very handy.  I also managed to successfully nurse in this carrier a time or two, thanks to the help of various YouTube videos which demonstrated that task.

Maya Wrap (Ring Sling):

In my research of babywearing, I discovered that a lot of people really love ring slings.  The idea seemed attractive.  It was reported that they were easy to use, easy to nurse in, and fit compactly in the diaper bag.  Only the last of those was true for me.  I had a terrible time getting a good fit.  Surprisingly, I found the Moby much, much easier and quicker to put on because of all the fumbling I had to do with the ring sling to get a good fit.  It also was not as comfortable since there is only support on one shoulder.  This was not the carrier for us.

Infantino EcoSash Mei Tei:

This style of carrier is a blend between a wrap and a soft structured carrier (like the Ergo).  There is one piece of rectangular fabric, with waist and shoulder straps that you tie in order to secure the child in the carrier. You can see a picture of this carrier here:

https://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=les;&gs_nf=1&tok=uncuH9XUtgcyKWHxwxabGg&cp=12&gs_id=1nj&xhr=t&q=infantino+ecosash&pf=p&biw=1920&bih=883&sclient=psy-ab&oq=infantino+ec&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d4867127953e69ad&tch=1&ech=12&psi=OsBhUIe9BMjj0QHSiYCICA.1348583482385.1&cid=17218644164282900714&sa=X&ei=UMBhUJ29AenH0AGIyoEg&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QrQQ

As a carrier, I like this okay.  I got it on super sale off the zulily site.  I like keeping it inside in case the ergo is in the car and Noelle is very fussy and needs to be held.  Thankfully, that does not happen too often.  The straps are too cumbersome to use on the go since they will fall to the floor when tying it.  It is not the most customizable style of mei tei out there.  It's also does not come from the most reputable brand as far as babywearing goes.  I think I would probably like the BabyHawk Mei Tei better, but chose this one due to the significant cost savings.  This was a good choice for us, since the Ergo really is our go-to carrier.  It did come in handy when Noelle was much smaller to do a high back carry (before she could go on the back in the Ergo).  If you are wondering how on earth you strap a child to your back in the first place, you can see BOTH Phil and I accomplish this (EASY) task in my vlog post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_tl1ya9iII&feature=plcp

I hope this post was helpful if you are looking to wear your baby!

Recommitting to Blogging. Happy 9 months Noelle!

I've decided I really need to make blogging more of a priority and decided what better day than today, Noelle's 9 month birthday!

So, what is Noelle up to these days?  Well, she is a whirlwind.  She crawls.  A lot.  Just shy of 6 months, she was up on all fours rocking.  She practiced that for a good month, and then just before she turned 7 months she started full on crawling.  She had kind of a funny scoot before that.  Not exactly army crawling, more like doing the worm.  She would get in all fours, then go on her belly, and repeat.  That was how she propelled herself forward.  We are also in a Movers and Shakers class at the Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center.  Each class starts out with a circle of parents and babies, singing songs and bouncing, then it's off to explore "stations."  Noelle loves the center and I feel so blessed to have this resource in Cincinnati.  It's truly an empowering place for parents, with a vibe that screams attachment parenting.  Suits us very well.

We are in our second session of signing class at the enrichment center as well.  At signing class there's lots of reading stories and singing songs that incorporate signs.  Each class has a different theme.  Last Saturday, we learned the signs for different foods.  Noelle seems to recognize a lot of signs, but has not started signing back yet.  Sometimes, it looks like she is signing "all done", but other times, I think she might just be playing with her hands and waving.  Speaking of waving, she does do that, and it's the cutest thing ever.

We had a couple really exciting one time outbursts of words also.  One day, Phil was playing with Noelle, lifting her up in the air and she said Daddy plain as day.  I really think it was the real deal.  She hasn't done it that clear since, but she does sometimes say "dada."  The other exciting word was her saying "doggy" perfectly clear, while petting the dog.  Again, we've only heard it once that clearly, but she says "doe, doe" a lot when the dog is around.  It's so fun to witness her learning and growing each and every day.

Breastfeeding continues to go well.  She nurses like a champ.  My pump output is not great, but I usually am able to pump just enough to meet her needs.  Except for those random times when I don't, which result in a comical display of me driving all over the city to drop off more pumped milk for her.  Luckily that's only happened twice.

At 9 months, Noelle is 18 pounds, 7 ounces and 26 inches long.  She is in the 43rd percentile for weight, and only the 7th percentile for height!  She dropped off her height curve a little bit, but the doctor thinks that was due to the subjectivity of how they measure.  She is usually in the 25th percentile for height.