On the bookshelf...

At the mo I'm reading The Discipline Book by Dr William Sears and Martha Sears.

In many ways it's seems a bit early to be thinking about discipline with Adele but Marianne and I were having a conversation about discipline the other day so I thought I'd get a head start.

Plus, as soon as she started crawling I've noticed myself saying no, a-ah, not for Dellie a whole lot more!

Oh yes, and one day while boggling on the interwebby I stumbled across the concept of 'No punishment parenting'. Oh, no, I thought. Another crazy idea I'll latch on to to make my life more difficult for myself. (I'll never understand why I can't just do things the normal, easy way!)

So, The Discipline Book. I've read the first section which is about setting the environment for positive parenting. The Sears' say the the role of parents is to help the child feel right so that they will act right. Discipline is best if it is internally motivated rather than externally. So the kid should want to be good because it makes them feel good and makes their parents happy rather than behaving because they're scared of getting in trouble.

Some of their ideas include:

• understand where the child is developmentally - what are they capable/incapable of doing and understanding?
• create a 'yes' environment so that you don't need to say no all the time (baby-proofing etc)
• ensure good nutrition
• practice attachment parenting
• use alternatives to 'no'
• build self-esteem
• help your child to express themselves safely

One other cool thing they talk about is that the ultimate goal is not independence. It's interdependence. First is dependence, then independence then interdependence. The last stage is recognising that you could do something on your own but that you'll get a better outcome if you get others to help.

I'm just now moving on to the section titled "Correcting undesirable behaviour". Sounds fun...

More cuties!

Marianne and Joanna came over the other day. Joanna and Adele had a lovely time standing up all over the living room and Marianne and I enjoyed a catch up. 

Adele introduced Joanna to one of her favourite spots - the gate! And Joanna taught Adele how to stand up at the toy box and reach inside (no photos yet but Marianne took a few so hopefully I'll get them sometime).

Ever since, Adele has been having a wonderful time getting in to the toy box for herself. And she can now pull herself up just by putting hands on the wall. (Proud mummy smile.)

Adele's gorgeous bible

I just had to share these beautiful pictures from Adele's new baby bible. She received it from her Aunty Larissa and Uncle Richard for her baptism last month.

Adele loves turning the pages and I love looking at the pictures.

In case you're interested it is The Baby Bible Storybook for Girls written by Robin Currie and illustrated by Constanza Basaluzzo.

I think the pictures say it all

A Little Vintage

Jennie from A Little Vintage makes these wonderful dolls from lovely fabrics. You can even get her to custom make a doll for you out of a sentimental piece of fabric and then you choose the eye and hair colour!

They're just divine. I might just have to save up for a little red-headed one for Adele one day. Perhaps wearing one our favourite baby outfits...

In the meantime, she's having a giveaway! Suggest a name for this stylish lady and you might win her. Or maybe you shouldn't cause I want her!

My suggestions were all names meaning gold because I was inspired by her kowhai on her dress: Orabella (Italian), Xanthe (Greek) and Aurelia (Latin).

Oh, and take at look at her gorgeous Easter bunnies too - I want!

Double trouble

Check out these two cuties.

Adele had her mate Lily over for a play today. Oh and her mum Elia came too!

Babywearing

Adele and I seem to be babywearing a lot lately. Since she started crawling (proud Mummy smile) she's been far too excited all the time to want to sleep or even feed. So getting her to settle down, relax and get sleepy has been really difficult.

So out comes the green wrap sling. She lived in this when she was a wee one. Every daytime nap for the first few months was in here. I figure she'll settle down again soon so until then I'll just enjoy the cuddles! And the massages from Mike in the evenings are a bonus too! (She's about 11kgs - my poor back can testify.)

More babywearing triumphs: at Susi and Rob's wedding last weekend Miss A didn't want to go to sleep, but did want to be carried all the time. We'd forgotten the wrap sling so I simply picked up a picnic rug tied the opposite corners together, threw it over my head and voila! A sling. Saved my arms and made for a happy baby. Just quietly, I was pretty chuffed with my 'attachment parenting' skills!

Creation a week # 8

This week's creation is a book for Adele's birth-day cards.

Creation a week # 7

My very first softie!

It's a dinosaur-dog-horse. I made it for my neice Abby for her 2nd birthday. It was so fun and totally easy to make. I just drew a rough shape on a piece of paper, cut out the fabric (green polar fleece) popped some blue acrylic felt in for a mane and stitched it up. Easy peasy. I plan to make more!

Adele had to try it out before I wrapped it to sent to Abby! By the look on her face I think we can safely assume she approves.

Nella Cordelia's story

I came across Kelly Hampton's blog last night and read Nella's birth story (along with thousands of others - there are almost 2,000 comments on this one post alone!) Mike came out to find out why I wasn't in bed to find me glued to the laptop - tears streaming down my cheeks.

This is such a beautiful, heartwrenching, honest, loving story. I had to share it.

Welcome to the world Nella Cordelia, you are in the best of hands and are much loved.

I'd like to put up some of her gorgeous photos of Nella but feel a bit weird about using photos of someone elses child. So please do go and take a look at her site.

Adele is almost crawling

My clever wee cherub is so close to crawling that we'll call it that. She can go pretty much in every direction except forward. I have to admit it is pretty excruciating watching her. "Go on, you can do it girl, thats is, just one more step... oh, you gave up and collapsed on to your tum... but you're having a great time!"

Here is a vid from a couple of days ago.

Creation a week #6

Back after an absence! Busy week - colds, birthday, lenten blog taking up lots of my free time...

So I missed a week of creating. I did bake a ginger slice which is pretty yum but seeing as it is a recipe I've done a few times before I didn't think it counted.

This week's creation however is something new!

Caramel popcorn

It is sweet, and caramelly and salty. I think I'll be making this a lot. And taking it out places when I need to take junk food to share cause it is super dooper cheap to make :)

Here is the recipe. I googled Caramel Popcorn and found it on nzfavouriterecipe.co.nz

4-5 cups of popped popcorn

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 T butter
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda (press down on it break up any lumps)

1. Put the popcorn into a large lightly oiled heat resistant container.
2. Place the sugar, water, butter and salt into an, at least two cup capacity, heat resistant glass jug (the jug should be uncoloured as you need to keep an eye on the colour of the caramel).
3. Microwave the mixture on high for 2 min, then stir it until all the sugar is dissolved.
4. Microwave on high, watching carefully, until the mixture turns a light brown (in my microwave this takes 3 - 3 1/2 min). Be vigilent, it can burn very quickly after starting to turn brown!
5. Add the baking soda and quickly stir to mix well.
6. Immediately pour the mixture over the popcorn while still bubbling, and mix well with a large spoon to coat.
7. Break the popcorn up into another bowl while still quite warm.
8. Store in an airtight container when cool.

Yummy yummy scrummy!