a Khéna update…

Khéna is now just under 5 months old… and he is such an amazing little person.

He almost never cries but he has found out that he can scream… he squeals when he is happy, or when he wants something, when he is bored or uncomfortable… he just loves making that high pitch sound…

EC is going very well… and though he often has a wet diaper when we potty him, he almost never poos in his diaper (average of once every 2-3 weeks or so… if that) We are still having a “problem” when we go out for the day though… he refuses to poo anywhere else than at home, so he holds it in all day… the last times though he hasn’t seemed too upset at the end of the day… however, the day after he does potty many more times…

I love EC though, I love the communication part of it, I love the fact that he never goes long in a wet diaper and never has to sit in his stool… I love the fact that we have listened to his cues since birth instead of ignoring him and teaching him to use diapers as a toilet, and then making him relearn later on… EC is so not about potty-training… it is about communication and the embracing the knowledge that babies can and do have knowledge of their bodies and elimination, however, if they are taught to use the diaper as a toilet they will lose touch with that knowledge.

I wish I would have known about it when Xavier was a baby… I am glad that Colin was ECed from about 2 months old, but I am sad that I didn’t persist during his potty strike when he was about 10 months old… but as I often say… when you know better, you do better…

Khéna has now started nursing a bit less in the day but still nurses quite often… However, he sleeps from about 8pm to about 5am, potties, nurses and will sleep for a bit longer… so his frequent nursing in the day is not a problem! He has also started to eye our food…but of course he still has a few months before he starts to eat…

I think he is finally stopping the rapid weight gain and at almost 5 months he is about 26-27 pounds… just about Colin’s weight and just about 10 pounds shy of Xavier’s weight… I can’t hold him for long in my arms at all, my arms and my back can’t take it, so the wrap, MT or Ergo are lifesavers, I don’t know what I would do without them! A friend came over with her 9 month old recently and not only is he way bigger than her in the chubbiness, he is also as long as her!

Though he can sit now, he still can’t roll over… he tries but he can’t get that last swing in to rotate his hips… a real little Buddha Baby!

Here is my amazing “little” baby….

Lounging on mama

big tummyKhéna

Excellent....

Khéna in the ErgoKhéna in the Ergo

I’m going to be a Soccer Mom!

OMG my baby’s growing up…
Last year he wanted to play Soccer but he was too young (it starts at 5)… this year though he is old enough and really wants to play so I went to register him tonight…
He was SO happy and can’t wait to start and while waiting in line I realized I’m going to be a Soccer Mom!!

Oh and he is going to be a “timbit”… lol

I needed to bring a pic so I took a few… they came out really well…

XavierXavier (pic for Soccer Registration)Xavier

I think it is now safe to say…

That Xavier has weaned…

When I started nursing my newborn almost 5 years ago I would have never had guessed that I would have nursed this long, I couldn’t even imagine it… Nursing a baby was so foreign to me, I had never really seen anyone nurse… however, I knew that Formula would never touch my child’s lips…

My original goal was a year… but by the time he was 6 months old I knew that I would be letting him wean himself.. I couldn’t imagine taking something away from him that was perfect for his health, that nothing else could come close to nutritionally, that was the perfect comforting tool and that he enjoyed so much. I couldn’t imagine weaning him to the milk of another species just because our society has put a taboo on breasts.

When I got pregnant with Colin I offered often even though it was painful at times… it wasn’t martyrdom to do so, I did so out of respect for his needs. My temporary discomfort was nothing compared to taking away the benefits of nursing… the pain passed and we both continued to enjoy nursing…. Colin was born and Tandem nursing became second nature…

Near the end of my last pregnancy, Xavier went down to nursing once a day and then started to skip days… With the arrival of his newest brother he started to skip days more often and went to once or twice a week and then continued to diminish…

Though he still came to nurse at times, at one point a few weeks ago he suddenly lost the ability to suck…

The last time he tried he was a bit sad because he couldn’t get any milk, but said that though he couldn’t get milk anymore he was still nursing… and then he then gave me big hugs… I think he knows that he is done, but just wants to make sure that he can if he needs to… and though I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks again I think it is now safe to say that we are at the end of our nursing relationship…

I am proud of the fact that I practice complete Child led Weaning… I could never do it any other way.

Of course there were ups and downs in the 4 1/2 years… but what great relationship doesn’t have ups and downs?

Though I have shared it many times before… here is my favourite nursing pic of Xavier and a memory that I will cherish forever… he was 3 1/2 here…

sitting pretty..

Khéna has only been on the floor for a few minutes a handful of times and I just started recently… he is mostly always in my arms or being worn or in Simon’s arms like I believe a young baby should be…

One of the things that I am really annoyed at hearing is that tummy time is important (it is of course if a baby is in containment devices all day), that babies shouldn’t be held too much, or the myth that they won’t learn how to sit, crawl, walk etc if they are always in arms or being worn…

well… I put Khéna on the floor earlier today and sat him down and here he is…


and a few pics just because he’s cute….

Khéna... being cuteKhénaKhéna big smileKhéna... being cute

stella the friendly ghost…

Yesterday morning started with Xavier wanting to bring Simon breakfast in bed, something that he had decided on the night before… Though I did help him a tiny bit by getting a plastic bowl and glass out, he did the rest… juice (diluted of course) and cereal were on the menu and he brought them to the room served on a strawberry tray..

Later in the afternoon they went for a walk and Xavier decided that he wanted to bring his babies in the toy stroller with him… he has been taking care of his baby a lot lately which is a lot of fun to see… especially when we went shopping and he brought his baby in the homemade pouch that I made for him….

Then, during the bath he told Simon that he sees a ghost and she is his friend…. in a short time it became Stella, his ghost sister that lives in the walls… she fell asleep on the couch next to him last night that ate ghost bagels at the table this morning… and then played with him and Colin in the playroom… he has even convinced Colin of her…

I like her… she is quiet…

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