Or at least, Baby Free Friday Afternoon.
The nanny came over after the morning nap to see the girls (Calliope and our nanny share baby, Eleanor), who hadn't seen her in two whole weeks. Calliope was clearly a little confused at first, but once she was safely hoisted up on my hip, began waving joyously at Nastya. She didn't cry when we left, and seemed fine, though after my return, completely lost her sh*t when I went into a different room. Oops.
Calliope also waved cheerfully at every single passerbye while we were out for coffee way too early this morning. Mommy, meanwhile, was staring, dull eyed, into space. Yeah, it was a rough night.
Mysteriously, while we were out, Calliope ate more for lunch with Nastya than she has been eating with me in an entire day. So now I'm left wondering what I am doing wrong?
I really don't want to make food a battleground, as I know those early battles can plague someone, especially a girl, throughout her entire life. So when she shakes her head emphatically "no," to a food, I don't force the issue. I might offer it again later in the meal, but I respect her answer and never force food on her.
But maybe I am doing something wrong? Calliope ate a half a jar of tomato/carrot mixture for lunch today, something that lately with me, she will only take mixed with yogurt... with Nastya, she gobbled it up by itself. With me, she's been taking much less yogurt, rarely more than 2 ounces and sometimes, like this morning, only a few bites. With Nastya, she took at least 4 ounces!
Nastya didn't even try to give her a bottle after such a big lunch, which I was a little disappointed about because I was curious if she would take it after all this time. Of course, that meant she was very eager to nurse when I got home. And since I hadn't pumped while I was out, I had lots of milk. I also drank Mother's Milk Tea yesterday, which always bumps up my supply the following day, and have been drinking herbal iced tea by the gallon in an effort to boost my hydration and thus my milk supply, because it's been feeling like it's been dwindling in the later part of the day.
Last night and the previous night, Calliope was up three times during the night, all in quick succession. I attempted to mollify her with a quick mini nursing session the first time, then to just rock and snuggle her the second time, and finally gave up and gave a full nursing with the third wake up. Because she would go back to sleep after the earlier attempts, but then wake up again a few minutes later. So I felt like she was just hungry.
And I know I could once again teach her to sleep through the night with some cry it out training, but her cry has suddenly gotten a lot louder and a lot more persistent. And I just don't have the psychic energy right now. I have mentioned that I cannot wait to move into "my" (hopefully) new two bedroom apartment!
I had my co-op board interview last week, and was supposed to hear back early this week, but a full week has passed with no official word, though unofficially, everything is fine. Once I get the official word, I can work on scheduling the closing... but I can't get through to the bank to find out what we need to do to close.
Have I mentioned that this process sucks???
Anyway, during my baby free time, I visited my chiropractor. I started seeing him at the end of my pregnancy, on my midwife's recommendation to help turn the baby so she wasn't sunny side up, and just fell in love. I had been so deeply suspicious of chiropractors, after hearing stories of rogue neck-crackers, but he is great. It's more like a massage and a friendly chat with some weird contortions towards the end. I love it. And it's covered by my insurance, save a $10 co-pay, so better than a massage in that sense!
After that, I went to one of my favorite lunch restaurants with my nanny-share partner, Amy, for lunch. We managed to not talk about our kids for at least a few minutes, which felt like an accomplishment! And after that, we went to see a movie, Moonlight Kingdom, which was silly and sweet and totally entertaining. It was perfect summertime decadence. I recommend it!
And then it was lovely to come home and see my girl again. I'm very, very grateful for this time off this summer to be with her every day... though it was wonderful to get a break as well.
Finn eats very differently with Nanny M than he does with me, too. Less so now, but in the beginning it was a significant difference. He'd eat two whole yogurts for breakfast with her, and I could barely convince him to eat half of one. He did MUCH better with me with finger foods - in fact, I started with the finger foods with him way before Nanny M did. It's gotten much easier since he weaned so I'm thinking he would look at me trying to feed him and think, "Mommy, you've got the good stuff, why are you trying to feed me this goop?" LOL
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovely day! I hope the rest of the apartment buying process goes much more quickly and easily!
I definitely took the same stance as you in not making mealtime & food a battleground & I always allow Elena to decide how much she eats. Both our dr & the public health nutrition nurse gave very good advice that children won't starve. As long as we give them plent of choices & opportunity to eat, by allowing them to be in control of how much gives them a sense of control that is good for them. It has worked for us...Elena went through a phase where she wouldn't eat anything unless it was dipped in yogurt, including her chicken & other meats!!! Sounds gross (& was!!!) but at least she ate & now she eats like a champ!! Keep on plugging, you'll find your groove, just try not to worry too much about it.
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