Leila can tell that things are bit up in the air at the moment and although we are pretty well settled here (well, nearly!) there are constant slight changes to her routine.
Ever since we got here meal times have been really variable. Some days she will sit and eat loads, but most meals she is keen to get down from the table and wander around. We're not sure what is fueling this, but it isn't that she is neccessarily 'full' as she will pick away at her food for a good while after getting down. She will often then come back and sit on our laps and eat from our plates, or her own again, or will sit on one of the other two dining chairs and reach up to eat from the table. We don't feel that we can do the whole 'once you get down from the table you can't have any more' approach, and so we are letting her eat where she wants, but are trying to be consistent ourselves by not leaving the table to play with her until we have finished eating.
Mornings obviously started very early with the two-hour time difference kicking in, but we gradually got Leila back to a 6-ish wake-up time. When she was waking up though she was saying that she was hungry, but we weren't keen to move breakfast into the 6-7am slot, so were offering her a slice of toast in the bedroom before going down for breakfast. Gradually though she has shifted her morning wake-up later and so we can now avoid the snack before breakfast. Today she has shifted herself so far that we were both awake and it was 7am before she woke up!
Nap times, like in London, were pretty consistent in terms of timing and routine. Unless she's really tired out, it will be 1.30 that she starts her nap and she has managed a numnber of 2-hour naps here although recently is back to being an hour and a half. Going down we often remind her that it is nap time and offer her a 'sleepy biscuit' a.k.a a quarter of a rusk! We'll then have a story or two in her room, a drink of water and then she is put into her cot and tucked in with her blanket. The cellular balnket is very much part of her sleep routine now, but doesn't seem to take the role of a comforter (yet?!) as we are easily able to wash and change between the two blankets that we have. We do have to be really careful about coming home in the buggy after a morning out as the combination of heat and buggy in the walk from the bus stop mean she is prone to letting her eyes glaze over!
Bed times have been gradually changing this summer in terms of routine and timing. We always used to aim for 6.30 starting bathtime and 7pm bedtime, but Leila's actual bedtime has shifted to be 7.30pm and bathtime starting more around 6.40pm Leila has always enjoyed the bath, and even though the bath is smaller here (we use our shower cubical to save water!) she still enjoys splashing about, pouring, kicking and squirting with her toys.
Part of her routine has always been a final feed before bed, and with the slow addition of dairy into her diet, I was reluctant to try and stop this feed. We were also reluctant to try and force a stop to this feed with so many changes taking place this summer (new home, new baby), but decided we would see how things went. In reality this stopped being a 'feed' a little while ago, but she still takes milk from me, followed by a drink of water and some stories all together. The change that gradually has taken place these last few weeks has been her wanting to finish the desert snack that she was having before her bath, and her 'breaking off' more during the 'feed' to talk with me about her day. I tend to ask her what we have been doing and so she breaks off to tell me about the park and the swings, or the people we have seen. Once she is fully distracted she is very happy to climb onto the bed for a story together whilst she munches a final piece of apple.
Leila often will mention 'boob' when she gets out of the bath, and we'll reassure her that yes she can have some, but that it's really for babies. She seems to get this idea, as in her main 'New Baby' book there are lots of drawings of the baby feeding, but the 'big girl' eating food.
Two nights ago it was the same; Leila asked for 'boob' and so I settled down with her and reminded her it was for the baby, and that Leila can have lots of different food, but that if she wants to have some boob then it's OK. What happened though, was that she was swapping side to side and not able to get anything much out, so I suggested to her would she like a glass of milk instead. She said 'yup' and so I called down to Scott to bring one up. So she then drank her milk (and asked for more!) whilst sitting with us for her stories.
Then last night when we get back from the bath she got herself so distracted playing her matching/finding game with her Egyptian ABC that she forgot to ask for 'boob' and was happy to just drink her milk and water instead. So for the first time in nearly 22 months she didn't feed from me! She settled happily into her cot as normal at 7.30pm and then we didn't hear a peep from her until nearly 7am this morning!
Of course this feat wasn't repeated tonight as I messed things up a bit with bathtime (which shifted earlier because she wanted to go upstairs early and then we lost water half-way through filling the bath, so started bathtime early) and then as I put her nappy on after the bath she remembered about 'boob'. She only had a little bit from me and was soon distracted enough to grab her glass of milk and do some reading and matching. She was crying as we left the room though, so we'll just have to see what tonight and tomorrow brings.
Ever since we got here meal times have been really variable. Some days she will sit and eat loads, but most meals she is keen to get down from the table and wander around. We're not sure what is fueling this, but it isn't that she is neccessarily 'full' as she will pick away at her food for a good while after getting down. She will often then come back and sit on our laps and eat from our plates, or her own again, or will sit on one of the other two dining chairs and reach up to eat from the table. We don't feel that we can do the whole 'once you get down from the table you can't have any more' approach, and so we are letting her eat where she wants, but are trying to be consistent ourselves by not leaving the table to play with her until we have finished eating.
Mornings obviously started very early with the two-hour time difference kicking in, but we gradually got Leila back to a 6-ish wake-up time. When she was waking up though she was saying that she was hungry, but we weren't keen to move breakfast into the 6-7am slot, so were offering her a slice of toast in the bedroom before going down for breakfast. Gradually though she has shifted her morning wake-up later and so we can now avoid the snack before breakfast. Today she has shifted herself so far that we were both awake and it was 7am before she woke up!
Nap times, like in London, were pretty consistent in terms of timing and routine. Unless she's really tired out, it will be 1.30 that she starts her nap and she has managed a numnber of 2-hour naps here although recently is back to being an hour and a half. Going down we often remind her that it is nap time and offer her a 'sleepy biscuit' a.k.a a quarter of a rusk! We'll then have a story or two in her room, a drink of water and then she is put into her cot and tucked in with her blanket. The cellular balnket is very much part of her sleep routine now, but doesn't seem to take the role of a comforter (yet?!) as we are easily able to wash and change between the two blankets that we have. We do have to be really careful about coming home in the buggy after a morning out as the combination of heat and buggy in the walk from the bus stop mean she is prone to letting her eyes glaze over!
Bed times have been gradually changing this summer in terms of routine and timing. We always used to aim for 6.30 starting bathtime and 7pm bedtime, but Leila's actual bedtime has shifted to be 7.30pm and bathtime starting more around 6.40pm Leila has always enjoyed the bath, and even though the bath is smaller here (we use our shower cubical to save water!) she still enjoys splashing about, pouring, kicking and squirting with her toys.
Part of her routine has always been a final feed before bed, and with the slow addition of dairy into her diet, I was reluctant to try and stop this feed. We were also reluctant to try and force a stop to this feed with so many changes taking place this summer (new home, new baby), but decided we would see how things went. In reality this stopped being a 'feed' a little while ago, but she still takes milk from me, followed by a drink of water and some stories all together. The change that gradually has taken place these last few weeks has been her wanting to finish the desert snack that she was having before her bath, and her 'breaking off' more during the 'feed' to talk with me about her day. I tend to ask her what we have been doing and so she breaks off to tell me about the park and the swings, or the people we have seen. Once she is fully distracted she is very happy to climb onto the bed for a story together whilst she munches a final piece of apple.
Leila often will mention 'boob' when she gets out of the bath, and we'll reassure her that yes she can have some, but that it's really for babies. She seems to get this idea, as in her main 'New Baby' book there are lots of drawings of the baby feeding, but the 'big girl' eating food.
Two nights ago it was the same; Leila asked for 'boob' and so I settled down with her and reminded her it was for the baby, and that Leila can have lots of different food, but that if she wants to have some boob then it's OK. What happened though, was that she was swapping side to side and not able to get anything much out, so I suggested to her would she like a glass of milk instead. She said 'yup' and so I called down to Scott to bring one up. So she then drank her milk (and asked for more!) whilst sitting with us for her stories.
Then last night when we get back from the bath she got herself so distracted playing her matching/finding game with her Egyptian ABC that she forgot to ask for 'boob' and was happy to just drink her milk and water instead. So for the first time in nearly 22 months she didn't feed from me! She settled happily into her cot as normal at 7.30pm and then we didn't hear a peep from her until nearly 7am this morning!
Of course this feat wasn't repeated tonight as I messed things up a bit with bathtime (which shifted earlier because she wanted to go upstairs early and then we lost water half-way through filling the bath, so started bathtime early) and then as I put her nappy on after the bath she remembered about 'boob'. She only had a little bit from me and was soon distracted enough to grab her glass of milk and do some reading and matching. She was crying as we left the room though, so we'll just have to see what tonight and tomorrow brings.
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