I’m baaaack! I actually didn’t go anywhere and have no good excuse for not writing these past few weeks. I think one part of me was embarrassed because I totally caved and started giving Leni her bedtime bottle again only a few days after writing about my semi-triumphant success slash acceptance of the new early wake up. I now give her two teeth a little wipe with a wet cloth post-bottle and that’s that. I am weak, what can I say?

The past few weeks we’ve had all sorts of other sleep adventures. The result: some foolproof new methods for guaranteeing the kid sleeps. Rocking her for 30-45 minutes into a coma-like state is one really ingenious innovation of late. And it totally helped for a little while. She slept, we slept, everyone was happy. But sometimes she wouldn’t let us put her down in her crib without a melt down no matter how long we swayed and bounced and rocked. One night I found Jose and I discussing (in all seriousness) how her legs should feel limp and her fingers should slip easily from her mouth (she sucks her fingers) before lowering her into the crib and I realized we needed to make some changes.

So I’m basically now helping her relearn to self-soothe at bedtime. We weren’t doing her or ourselves any favours by letting her rely are all these particular variables in order to get to sleep. It actually went without a hitch last night and during naptime today so that was encouraging. I just need to try and be as consistent as possible.

What else? I’ve started to use the side carry position on the Ergo after being mommy shamed by a random stranger for still carrying her facing my chest (Yep. I was pretty annoyed. But I decided the nosey b was right even though she was wrong in the way she expressed it). I had actually used this position once before, but found it really awkward. This time around I spent extra time tweaking and adjusting the straps and now find it much more comfortable and secure and, most importantly, Leni loves having a wider panorama of the world.

Last week I ran into an old acquaintance from high school. Turns out she has a 15-month-old son and just so happens to live around the corner from us. What luck! She told us about this amazing drop-in down the street that has been a complete godsend. For example, this morning L climbed up onto the couch and managed to shimmy up the wall and nearly pull down some of the artwork (she’s just so darn fast) so I threw her in the carrier and we spent the morning at the drop-in. It was just so relaxing to be able to let her play and explore without worrying about the only décor that I haven’t yet packed away from curious little hands (ha).

She’s also transitioning to one big nap from two, leaving us with lots of time in the morning for activities so it’s great timing for that. At first I was a bit heartbroken that I didn’t know about tis place sooner (given how close it’s been all this time). Last year I had some very lonely moments, as I’ve shared. But, after checking it out I realized that most of the kids (outside of Leni and a couple others) are walking, so it’s probably the ideal time for her.

Leni is now 13 months and change. It seems like she’s developing at hyper speed. She’s really starting to mirror language more lately and she’s constantly testing boundaries. That is basically a vague way of saying she’s tearing, pulling, climbing, spilling, eating, getting into etc. everything you don’t want her to and losing her shit when you try and stop her. But it’s also super exciting seeing her endless curiosity and seeing the world through her eyes. Parenthood is a trip.

To all you mamas out there: Happy Mother’s Day!