Just Say No!

My baby is almost a toddler. In three more days, she will be celebrating her first birthday! When I saw my friend's baby who is 2 weeks old, I realized how "old" my baby is already compared to her. Gone are the days when I would have to carry her across the room (she just roams around the house on her own). Most moms would love to be in my shoes since they say, the older the babies get, the easier it is to manage them. But, in reality, the older she is... the more I "have" to do.

First and foremost, I need to start baby proofing the house (watch out for my next post on some tips). Baby is now strong enough to close the door (and hurt her fingers), tall enough to reach the bookshelf (and pull everything on the floor), and fast enough to walk into the kitchen (and seriously hurt herself). Forget all the nice and expensive flower vases, antique figurines and other accident-prone items for the house. If you have an urn with grandma's ashes in it, I suggest you pass it on to another family member if you don't want baby playing with them later.

Now, is the time when I have to say NO (being Filipino, this is not something I am used to)! I couldn't count how many times I say it during the day... since she touches everything she sees, eats everything she can grab her hands on and walks as far as she can go (I tell you that's exercise for me). Disciplining a child starts at this age and if she does not know the difference between right and wrong, I could be setting myself up for some bigger problems later on. (A bit tough since I am not really a disciplinarian at heart) There's this show on BBC called Supernanny which shows families with misbehaved children and oh they could be a handful!

They say babies her age do not necessarily obey yet at this stage but can tell the difference of tone in our voice (if we are mad or just kidding around) and have a good sense of cause and effect already (she touches something hot and takes her hand off it but it does not mean that she won't do it again). It's also important that she starts understanding the concept of respect for parents and elders in her little way. Sometimes my daughter would follow orders or instructions from her daddy and not when they are from me! Hmph! Also, the things she is used to doing at home like walk into other rooms or play with the DVD player, she tends to do also when she is in a friend's house which says a lot about how she is brought up at home. I

I admit I have yet to learn to deal with these issues and I am still learning as I go along. So I can only share my experiences but not exactly give the best advice. I am itching to get a book on bringing up toddler's now so I can start reading about more tips. Of course, it helps that my hubby (who already has an eight year old) is more experienced than me! Although he says that my baby's older brother was so different from her and he just stayed in one place, not touching things that aren't his. I guess there are no rights and wrongs of bringing up baby but I could surely get some good advice. I guess it's time for another yummeemommy lunch with some mom friends... another excuse to eat yummy Filipino food like crispy pata. Wanna join?