Squish is officially walking — everywhere, all the time.
She said her first grammatically correct (if rather brief) sentence the other day as we were leaving the playground: “Bye, park!”
Elsa’s growing independence, humour, tantrums and sweet charm are all daily reminders that we are about to have a one-year-old in the house.
Being the father of a toddler came at me fast. Before the next big phase arrives, it’s time to slow down and reflect on four simple things I have learnt during Squish’s first year about some parenting basics.
Toys
Maybe we have very generous family and friends, but from the day we became parents right up to the present, we have had an overabundance of toys for our baby.
We recently had to pack up our apartment in preparation to move countries. My wife Angie had the difficult task of separating what to keep from what to sell or give away. She remarked that almost none of Elsa’s toys were bought by us, which was a huge blessing.
If you are about to welcome your first baby into the world, my advice would be to hold off on buying toys until you really need them. By the time you do, most of what you need will likely already be filling your closets!
Related to this point, during Squish’s first year of life, many everyday objects have doubled as toys — whether leaves or rocks outdoors, or everyday objects indoors, such as (safe) kitchen utensils and Tupperware containers. Like a sponge, a baby wants to study and absorb everything, and they care little whether each object is officially a toy or not!
Screens
My wife and I thought we would have no need for screens during Elsa’s first year. To be sure, we don’t use screens for her very often, but we are also not the purists we once considered ourselves to be.
Life as a parent is demanding, and there are short periods when it is difficult, if not impossible, to complete a pressing task while holding a baby or keeping them out of mischief.
Our solution for these admittedly limited moments has been to let Squish watch an educational video of our choosing, usually with a strong language focus. Not all babies are interested in screens but Elsa has studied these shows intensely and repeated many of the words she has learnt back to us.
Let me be quick to warn parents against using screens as a babysitter. But as a tool in the toolbox for strategic moments, we have found certain educational videos helpful for us and for Squish.
Having said this, if you choose to stay away from screens altogether, all power to you!
Food
My wife and I consider one of our big wins with Elsa to be in the area of food. From the very first day she ate solids, we fed her basically everything we ate (besides the standard list of exceptions).
We blended the leftovers of our meals and froze them in cubes ready for use at any time. We shared our morning smoothies with her. As she began teething and learning to chew, we continued sharing our meals with her, being careful to cut the food small enough to avoid any choking hazards.
Because Angie and I enjoy a wide variety of cuisines, Elsa might have one of the most diverse baby palates on the planet. She is yet to reject any food we give her unless, of course, she is not hungry. Even better, by avoiding sweets and treats, we haven’t turned Squish off of all the other flavours she has come to love.
I hear that a child’s tastes change beyond their first year, so watch this space. But so far, so good!
Sleep
Sleep is a precious commodity once you become a parent. Unfortunately, it is also something Elsa does not need a lot of compared to most babies.
Under the best conditions, she will sleep 12 hours through the night and three hours worth of naps during the day. But this can vary wildly — whether as sicknesses come and go, teeth push through, or even according to Elsa’s own unpredictable desires. There are nights she has woken every few hours battling some pain or another, and days when she has refused to nap but for a grand total of half an hour. She also resists sleeping in the car unless the conditions are perfect.
The only lesson we have learned from this particular struggle is to manage our best no matter the circumstances. Sometimes, this means tag-teaming for our own afternoon sleep. Other times, it means keeping our calendar flexible or leaving certain events early to make our baby’s nap schedule work.
With that said, I’m off to take a nap now!
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Image courtesy of Unsplash.