Being overly loving with your baby is a great thing and you should always be very loving to your baby. However, there is a point when it can be too much and lead your baby to not want to leave your side. If you are constantly holding the baby, hugging the baby, kissing the baby and you have separation anxiety yourself when the baby is independent, then it’s a given that your baby will pick up the same traits. Trying to help your baby become more independent will help you when it’s time to send your baby to day-care, pre-school, or leave your baby with a baby sitter, nanny, friend, or family member. Creating that sense of trust that you will be coming back is an important item and if the baby sees you worrying, it will only exacerbate the babies separation anxiety.

Leaving the house, many times when parents are around babies too much such as stay at home moms or stay at home dads, babies will get very used to having the parent around and when the parent leaves, it can be hard on the baby. Many babies get focused on toys, playing, and it may be good to create a situation where you can leave the house without the baby seeing you. Make sure the baby has someone to look after them and try to make your leave more subtle than this big departure as they may get upset if you make it out to a very big deal. However, when a baby gets a little older creating a good routine to explain to your baby or toddler that you will be coming back is a good thing.

If you leave for vacation for a while, you’re baby may go through some seperation anxiety issues as they are so used to have certain people around them. Make sure to pay extra attention to your baby and guide them through the times when you are there and when you may not be there through consistent schedules, routines, and ensuring the baby is getting activity, play dates and fun time with other babies and is properly napped.

Dads, if you’re looking for a way to bond with your new baby, this is it! It doesn’t take a lot of time but it provides many benefits for both you and baby. You can learn more about it in our new article:

Infant Massage – A bonding experience full of health benefits for you and your baby.

If you use infant massage on your baby or have in the past, please share your experiences in the comments!

My daughter started Kindergarten this year and my son is now in preschool. These were huge changes for the kids and a big change for me as well.

I was happy that my kids were getting a chance to play and interact with other children their age, but I was also sad when I realized how quickly it all happened.

My son is learning how to talk better every day and new words are always popping out of his mouth. The days of him saying things like “strawbies” instead of “strawberries” or “ladybuggy” instead of “ladybug” are over. My daughter can’t curl up in my lap like she used to because she’s getting so big.

They always say that “children grow up fast so you better enjoy them while you can”, but they were wrong. They don’t just grow up fast. They mature with lightning speed! Don’t just treasure each smile or each hug. Treasure every single second, even the ones where they’re screaming their heads off in the grocery store.

Take lots of pictures and videos. Save their drawings and crafts. Squeeze in as many hugs and kisses and cheek pinches as they’ll allow, even if they’re sleeping, because no matter how many you manage to get in each day, it’ll never be enough. And don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re spoiling your baby if you hold them too much. You can never hold them enough!

Every stage your baby goes through since they’re born has its ups and downs, but the ups always make the downs worth it.

Mommy “Growth” Time – Until recently, I haven’t had much interaction with other moms. I’m a work at home mom so I don’t get out much. Now that my kids are in preschool and kindergarten, I get to talk to other moms who have kids the same age as mine and I have to say that it’s a breath of fresh air! It’s amazing how it can make a positive impact.

Just Another Mommy Moment – Now I don’t feel so bad that my son farted in the drugstore and blamed it on me.

My son turned 3 in February and at the time, he didn’t have very many words in his vocabulary yet. I was worried because a lot of other kids his age that I know were speaking full sentences.

It’s been 7 months since then and now I can’t get him to stop talking! He seemed to develop a huge vocabulary overnight. My daughter (who is now 5 years old) was the same way. In fact, almost any baby I know is similar.

When it comes to development, it’s important to remember that each child develops at their own pace. Nobody is the same so it’s hard to judge when the right time is that they should be saying certain words or doing certain things.

As long as they’re healthy and continuing to grow and develop, everything should be fine.

To help your child learn how to communicate, speak to them all the time. When you’re out for a walk, talk about the things you see. When you’re at home, have conversations with them, even if it seems a bit one-sided.

Reading to your child often will also help them with their vocabulary skills. Dr. Seuss books have always been a favorite with my kids. They’re also recommended by teachers to help children learn how to speak and read.

Around 19-24 months, your child may be able to string a few words together to form short sentences. If they aren’t at that point yet, you can have your family doctor evaluate him. He may even be referred to a speech-language pathologist.

Just remember that if your child isn’t talking at the same level as another child who is the same age, it doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. They may just need a bit more time like my own son did.

Each Tuesday I’ll be posting a short but helpful tip that I’ve either learned myself through experience or through other parents. Parenting isn’t all about instinct. A lot of it involves trial and error. Something a lot of parents struggle with is sleep. I know I sure did. My babies slept really well but they both had stages where they would wake up extremely early.

If the sun comes up early and your child is up and ready to go even though you just got to bed, try using a timer on a nightlight in their room. Even if they’re very young, you can still explain to them each night that it’s only time to get up when the nightlight goes off. Eventually they will understand.

Many parents have had success with this and it has helped them add at least another blissful hour of sleep to their morning.

Can preverbal babies learn to read? And if so, how?

From as young as 4 months old, babies are capable of learning to read – and they do it by learning whole words. Whole-word reading describes the process whereby a person recognizes a word at sight, without sounding out the individual letters.

According to Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, coauthors of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, “[Whole-word reading] is simply memorization and has little merit beyond the performance.”

This conclusion is drawn at the end of an anecdote from Hirsh-Pasek about a reading toddler. The child read a set of words shown to him by his mother, but says Hirsh-Pasek, when asked to read some different words, he became flustered. Write the authors, “He had learned how to memorize words, perhaps from their shape… but he had not really learned to read.”

Critics of early reading tend to pit whole-word reading (“bad”) against phonics-based reading (“good”). Hearing their arguments, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a case of either-or. In reality, almost all children learning to read depend on both strategies. Whole-word reading is easier, so most children learn their first words this way, before they know the sounds letters make. Many kindergarten and lower-grade-school teachers teach some sight words before starting on phonics.

When children learn to read whole words at what is considered a normal age, no one criticizes them. But some people find it unsettling, “wrong” even, for a very young child to be reading – and so they attack the method in order to prove that the child isn’t “really” reading.

Whole-word reading is just the first rung on the ladder of learning to read – as we can see from an analogy drawn by another early-learning critic, David Elkind. Elkind compares reading whole words to understanding the concept of nominal numbers (numbers as names) – the first rung on the ladder of learning math. He compares reading phonetically (sounding out words) to understanding the concept of ordinal numbers (numbers as part of a sequence), and reading phonemically (recognizing that letters can be pronounced differently depending on context) to understanding the concept of interval numbers (numbers as abstract concepts).

There comes a point at which reading cannot progress without phonics – there are just too many words to rely on memory alone. Children must move on to phonetic reading followed by phonemic reading in order to become successful readers. But just as we do not criticize a child who reads phonetically but has not graduated to the phonemic level, so it seems unfair to pour scorn on the abilities of a toddler who simply has not graduated from whole-word reading to phonetic reading.

Another concern expressed by critics of whole-word reading is that children will not know to read words from left to right. When choosing a TV- or computer-based program for your child, be sure to select one that includes an arrow for indicating the direction of reading. If you’re using cards or books, it’s a good idea to run your finger under each syllable of every word as you read out words.

Amazingly, babies taught to read whole words often begin figuring out the rules of phonics for themselves – in much the same way as babies learning their native language spontaneously figure out grammar rules. A new teaching-reading system for babies includes a specially designed phonics program aimed at facilitating the young child’s natural ability at decoding words. More proof that when it comes to teaching reading, it’s not a case of either-or – you can teach whole words and phonics right from the get-go.

Please visit BrillKids.com to learn more about teaching your baby to read.

If you have an ice cube tray, freeze milk in it and keep it in your freezer so you can throw a frozen milk cube in the oatmeal to cool it off quickly.

If you don’t have time to freeze milk for hot cereal, toss in some frozen berries if you have them. My kids love eating frozen blueberries in their oatmeal.

For soup, frozen vegetables works wonders. It cools it off fast plus you can sneak in some extra veggies.

Both my children were very curious and had to touch and get into absolutely everything in sight.

The standard child safety mechanisms did not work at all. My son figured out the fridge safety lock before I could even put it on.

In this case, it’s time to get creative.

I remember my grandma putting wooden spoons through door handles to keep us out of the pantry. It worked too!

In my old home, the stairs doing down to the landing were at an angle which made it impossible to put up a baby gate. I had to lay a chair on its side to keep my son from falling down while he was in the crawling stage.

When my daughter was learning that she could climb on chairs to reach high items, we had to tie the chairs to the table with a rope. With a rope!

While wooden spoons stuck through cupboard doors and chairs laying on their side and ropes tied around the kitchen table are not exactly “designer” and attract weird looks from visitors, they work!

Don’t forget that these stages pass quickly and you’ll soon be looking for even more child-proof ways to keep your house from being destroyed or protecting your baby from injury.

Babies have a magical ability to move at lightning speed while you have your back turned, and contrary to popular belief, we don’t actually have eyes in the back of our heads.

You’ll also have to accept that you need to keep your eyes on baby at all times. Running to the bathroom for a quick tinkle was out of the question for me. I had to take my babies in there with me every time.

Now I can’t keep them out of the bathroom even though I beg them to give me some privacy, but I do remember those days of bathrooms full of babies fondly.

Even though you might be going insane trying to keep your own baby out of everything, don’t forget to savour those precious moments of their childhood because they don’t last long.

Nicole Balch, a blogger with amazing taste (read her blog and you’ll see) does this with her new baby. Check out the adorable-ness of baby photos. She even made those ribbons herself. How sweet!