One of the real advantages to living in our housing co-op is our wonderful courtyard where the neighbours gather to chat, share a meal, or catch up on the latest news (read: gossip) from the neighbourhood. The kids also spend hours playing together, it is not unusual for Rob and I to have one or two come to our backyard during an evening to retrieve a wayward ball.
We have been taking Grace out to the courtyard pretty much daily, which has served two purposes. First, and perhaps most important for us, it gets us out of the house and interacting with other people. There are lots of parents in the co-op who are more than happy to share advice and information with us - and take some time to hold the baby to give our arms a break. The second advantage is that Grace absolutely loves being outdoors and we have learned that if she is fussy, stepping outside for a short spell will calm her right down. She will either fall fast asleep or will go into a quiet alert (a state where she is stone quiet, wide awake and just taking everything in). Luckily we haven't had a major bout of fussiness to content with yet where she is absolutely inconsolable, but hopefully being outdoors will do the trick then too (until later this fall when it will be too cold - then we'll have to find something new).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Max was the same - he was instantly soothed by the outdoors. Max and John kept up the outside routine well into the winter months with some creative sling and jacket combos. The cuddly/moby wrap is especially good for this - you don't have to dress the baby in much with the body heat of dad and a big jacket. Then if she falls asleep, you may be able to do a successful transfer from sling to another place to sleep. It was often an early evening nap or meal prep time for me. I hope your first day sans Rob is going well - thinking of you. I'll be over soon. Picking up the boys from their West Coast adventure later tonight.
ReplyDelete