1m2aSandbox

 This week’s poll is up and running:

How will you (or
did you) spend your child’s first birthday?

Remember, you
don’t have to be a registered user to vote –so speak up! We’ll talk about
it next week.

I’ve got the results of last week’s poll – “When did you move your baby to
a crib from either a bassinet or co-sleeping?” And the voters say –

There’s
no right answer!

Fully a third of the voters moved to a crib right
a three months, while a few kept baby in bassinet or bedside co-sleeper
until baby outgrew it. The rest of the votes were evenly split between
starting baby right away in the crib, allowing the child when to decide to
move to a crib (which is often drawn out and traumatic for the whole
family, according to those who have done it), or co-sleeping for at least
a year.

My girlfriend Abby repeatedly says that the first year of
your baby’s life is all about sleep. You spend all your night hours
wishing you were, and all your daylight hours obsessing over the right way
to handle your child’s sleep habits.

It’s official – the new American Idol winner has been selected.

 A few years ago my girlfriend Abby and I got together at a friend’s house for some introspective girl time. Abby’s first son Isaiah was maybe a year old and she was enjoying a rare afternoon off from chasing an active boy. We were sitting on the floor of our friend’s apartment talking about weighty matters and fell into a comfortable, contemplative silence. I turned and looked at Abby, who was staring deeply at the floor.

“What are you thinking?” I asked, certain she was going somewhere great.

She blinked slowly. “I’m thinking,” she replied, “that there’s a penny on the floor and it’s a choking hazard.”

 Madeleine’s hit this great stage where, despite her almost crippling
stranger anxiety, she’s incredibly interested in other kids and babies.
Anything under four feet tall qualifies, and you don’t even have to be
there in the flesh.

Walking down the baby aisle at the grocery
store is a meet-n-greet for my verbal kiddo; she waves and chats happily
with all the babies on the diaper boxes. She points excitedly at each one
of them – “Duh dah!” – and leans urgently towards the container, straining
to touch the baby. She grins back at me, making sure I saw the entrancing
stranger and am waving in a friendly way to the new baby. Do I go along
with it? You betcha. It’s just easier.

 I had a few people request that I write down the tips on organizing your
kids’ clothing I spoke about on the internet radio broadcast last week
(see previous
post), so here we go.

When you’re trying to stay on top of
a house full of clothing you can get overwhelmed. When some of the
clothing is smaller than my first paycheck (and believe me, that’s tiny)
it can be insane. How are you supposed to keep track of all those teeny
tiny socks? And as cute as the matching outfits are, you find yourself
overrun with hats and accessories that go with exactly one dress. So
finding little ways to keep the clothing beast under control can mean the
difference between a livable house and one you plant a “For Sale” sign in
front of just to avoid dealing with it.

Last week’s Mommy poll was all about the germ phobia: how long did you
wait until you let people hold your baby without washing their hands?

The
poll was somewhat evenly split; a few of you said you were on germ patrol
less than two weeks of your baby’s life, while the rest were vigilant
until somewhere between the time baby had her first shots and her first
birthday. No one confessed to going over the top and disinfecting your
child’s world with no end in sight.

I admit I struggle with
how much to protect Madeleine from germs; on the one hand, I want to keep
her from getting sick (partially for selfish reasons – if a baby’s sick
and doesn’t sleep, no one else sleeps either!). But on the other hand, I
acknowledge that I can’t keep her in a bubble her entire life; she’s going
to be exposed to germs at some point in her life. At least by the times
she gets to her college dorm.