Search Results for: blog my baby is afraid of day care

Maternity Care in the U.S.

The recent birth of the royal prince cost $15,000.  That sounds like a lot, right?  It is, but it’s only half the cost of a birth in America.  That’s right: the average price of a birth — in a normal hospital, not a luxury wing — in the U.S. is $30,000.  That makes us, according to an in-depth article by The New York Times, the nation that pays the most for maternity care.  Yet, we also have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world.  It seems like these two things should counter one another, but in … Continue reading →

Baby’s Fears

Every baby has a fear. Sometimes it is the vacuum, the dog, or the blender. My baby actually doesn’t seem to mind the blender all that much, and he loves the food chopper. Weird. But, there are a few things that he is afraid of from time to time. While I don’t enjoy my child’s fear, it is sometimes cute to see what he is afraid of. One of the things that I have learned that he is afraid of is the car wash. In fact, I remember my oldest being scared of that, too as a baby. Now, she … Continue reading →

Living with Dogs Might Improve Baby Health

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a real reason to keep our dogs around our babies? Some people are terrified of the idea, thinking that it’s dangerous to let dogs around small children. At first it’s best never to leave dogs alone with babies, to make sure the animals know to be gentle around them. However, we pet owners know that some dogs are great with babies. There have already been some studies about how being around dogs in the first year of infancy can help reduce the chances of a child later developing allergies to dogs, but what about … Continue reading →

Baby Bullies

My son loves his daycare. He’s made lots of little friends and is learning social skills that he may not have learned otherwise being an only child at home. But lately I’ve been a little worried about him. He’s been coming home saying that one little boy in particular has been being mean to him. Little kids often get into little scuffles over having to share a favorite toy or taking turns on the swings, but when Logan started coming home from daycare with scratches all over him I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t switch daycares at … Continue reading →

Baby Sea Legs

There’s a family video I’m afraid to watch for fear of embarrassment. It is my son’s very first real bath. I was at my parents’ house and I decided to do it there for moral support. Only… there ended up being several family members and my dad pulled out the video camera. Suddenly the pressure was on. My son was the first newborn I had ever handled. He seemed so fragile and giving him a bath was pretty intimidating. I was mostly afraid that he would become to slippery and I would drop him in the water. I was also … Continue reading →

My Mommy Hung the Moon

My Mommy Hung the Moon. Do book titles get any better that? The only thing better would be if your kid actually uttered those five validating words… and meant it. Lucky for me, my child actually does… sometimes… when she’s well-rested, well-fed, and I’ve just played Guess Who? with her for the bazillionth time and agreed to endure combat “just one more little time, Mommy, please, please, please!” Okay, so the words, “My mommy hung the moon,” have never passed her lips, but when the stars are aligned just right, the sentiment is there, and she is not afraid to … Continue reading →

Clipping Baby’s Nails

Over the course of the past year and a half, the way I trim my baby’s fingernails as evolved quite a bit. Who would have ever thought a task so simple could become such a big deal, especially when the nails in question are so very small. When we first brought him home, his nails were soft and thin. They were so delicate, they reminded me of tissue paper. They were a little long, but I discovered that the excess would simply peel off with little effort. We did not need clippers or a file at first; all I needed … Continue reading →

My Favorite Adoption Book Reviews of 2009

Last year, I wrote about my favorite books I reviewed in 2008. Here are favorites from the children’s adoption books I’ve reviewed this year. (These are books which I’ve reviewed here in the Adoption Blog in 2009. They may have been published in prior years.) In My Heart, by Molly Bang, is a wonderful book for any child. It’s a story of her mother telling her child that throughout the various activities of their separate days, he is always in her heart—and his parents, friends and teachers are in his heart too. The child pictured looks Indian or Latino and … Continue reading →

How To Get Things Done With A Baby In The House

Living with a newborn can turn even the neatest woman’s house into a wreck if she’s not careful, but you’ll be surprised how much you can get done when you maximize the time that you have. Here are some strategies for keeping up with the housework when you have a baby. Baby Wearing Housework can be pretty entertaining for your baby when he has front row seats. Strap him on with a sling or carrier and do activities that do not require too much bending over. Hanging clothes, vacuuming and going through mail are a few things that are easy … Continue reading →

Is Your Daughter Afraid of Spiders?

The word “scared” doesn’t even come close to describing my preschool daughter’s fear of spiders. “Petrified,” “terror-stricken,” and “alarmed” don’t do her anxiety justice either. It’s nearly impossible to describe in a single word what happens when my otherwise fearless daughter catches sight of eight long black legs scuttling across the floor. Simply put, she freaks out. She screams as though someone was ripping out her hair with his or her bare hands. She can’t (or won’t) run away because she is paralyzed with fear, and she has a hard time uttering anything more than “sp-sp-sp-sp-iiiiiiiiiiiii-DER!” in between huge gasps … Continue reading →