Starting Early with the Parenting

Hello all!

Let’s start off with a quick update about the baby. I’m 39 weeks pregnant, and little James is due on May 7th. I’ve been having contractions on and off (some prodromal; some Braxton Hicks) since the first week of April. I keep thinking James is going to make an early appearance, but it doesn’t look like it. We’ll see, I guess. Basically, no baby just yet. But, my selection of pants is getting smaller and smaller – I’m down to 2 pairs of pants at the moment.

So, that’s the baby update. He’s likes to be on time and practice for things, so I can already tell that he has a good dose of me in there.

Now, on to why I named this post “Starting Early with the Parenting.” James hasn’t even been born, yet, and I’m already trying to teach him things. We had a “math” lesson a few days ago. I say “math,” because math was in there, but so was so much more. We “cooked” up some instant chocolate pudding. I used 1/3 cup measure, and we needed 2 cups of liquid (it calls for milk, but we don’t drink cow’s milk, so we used powdered milk and water – that would be critical thinking). It took 6 scoops (in the 1/3 cup measure) to make 2 full cups. Then, I had 3 food containers to put the prepared pudding into. We used the same 1/3 cup scoop, so I was showing James how it took 2 scoops of pudding in each container to fill up all 3 containers (because 2+2+2=6(original scoops of liquid added to the bowl)). That’s critical thinking, math, basic cooking, and reading (since I read the recipe on the box). I was even thinking how we could count in Spanish for a language component, but that also seems like it could be a bit much.

I also learned recently about elimination communication. In a nutshell, it’s potty training for infants. The parents help them, and the babies learn to use the toilet when they’re tiny. I feel like this would end up being too much to accomplish 24/7, but I plan to give it a go as soon as I feel confident in my ability to hold the baby over the toilet. I wouldn’t want to drop him. It’ll be years before he’s able to take himself to the bathroom and go by himself, but I like the idea of starting him off learning early. Even though I also plan to utilize cloth diapers for the most part, the fewer diapers we end up having to clean and the less time the baby has to sit in his mess, the better.

The things I’m doing with the baby may seem crazy (definitely to some), but that’s my plan. Wish me luck! And hopefully we’ll get to meet this baby soon!

Metta