Your Baby Can Read - Week 2

Your Baby Can Read - Week 2 - 1/23/2012 to 1/29/2012

I am now reporting our son's second week using Your Baby Can Read. He just turned 13 months old and has been using this early reading system for 9 days as of 1/29/2012 (he only watched the video and used the sliding word cards for two days on the first week). I will post these reviews on Tuesdays, so that I can share the information during "Teach Me Tuesdays" when I have the time. If you missed my first blog post and video, you can read my last report / review on the Your Baby Can Read - Week 1 Review page. Here is the 2nd week report and video based on his using the sliding word cards and watching the video 5 days.

END OF WEEK 1 SUMMARY & WEEK 2 RESULTS

On Monday, January 23, 2012, I made a 1st Week Video of our baby's previous weeks results. He said "Hey Baby" and sang "Clean Up" while fidgeting, though did "clap" on demand by the end of the video. That was a summary of the 1st week's progress and started our second week with results to improve upon. WEEK 2 RESULTS- Your Baby Can Read has helped add "cat" and "dog" to his vocabulary. He also growls when he sees a picture of a tiger and perks up when he sees an elephant. Our baby will sometimes lifts his arms when I say "arms up" (which we have been teaching him since he was a few months old, but he would not do it until this week) and he has started clapping on demand a lot more now. He already knew how to say "hi" and "hello", but now he says "hi" whenever we come in the door or a room. He does not always wave when saying "hi", though sometimes when he wants our immediate attention.

WEEK 2 YOUR BABY CAN READ VIDEO OF OUR BABY



VIDEO NOTES: If you listed closely, he replies "a dog" to my first attempt and I totally missed it because I was trying to have him say "cat" in this video. He says "a dog" once when he had the yellow toy to his mouth (as if he thinks them in order" and then he repeats cat several times; one time saying "a cat" because when we ask "what is that" (when reading an animal book) the reply would be "that is A cat" opposed to "what does this word say" where the reply is "cat". I mistakenly called Caillou's cat "Rosie" instead of Gilbert. He still went to the TV to see, though typically will touch the TV screen when I ask "Where's Calious's cat Gilbert". Either way, "cat" is a word that he says all day long and gets excited to see in books or when we do the sliding word cards.

SLIDING WORD CARDS & COMPREHENSION

I have noticed that our baby REALLY enjoys the sliding word cards. He looks at the words as intently as he does the pictures. He sometimes laughs in anticipation of a picture being shown and / or gets really excited. In fact, he seems more excited to have us understand him on the few things he says more than anything. If he catches us look at him, he will say one of his new works and the say "clap" while clapping (as if to say YEAH!). It is really cute and encouraging; therefore, I am anxious to see what his vocabulary and enthusiasm for learning will be like in a few more weeks because even his focus while reading and playing on he mat, with me, has improved. For example, he sat and stacked rings on his own the other day. He never slowed down enough to do that before. He also opens and closes the animals on his Playskool Busy Basics: Busy Poppin' Pals. He was not doing this a week ago. * I am not saying that Your Baby Can Read definitely made these improvements in him; MAYBE it did help stimulate his understanding / comprehension (logic).



As I mentioned last week, our baby does better at watching the Your Baby Can Read video when he is sitting in his high chair and when I am not participating during that time. I did test this again one day. He started out well by watching the video while sitting on his boppy pillow. He eventually stood up and started walking around the room, though sat there for about 1/2 of the video. While walking around the room, he did turn to watch Your Baby Can Read at certain points in the video. He turned to watch the 2 songs and he watched the portion where Your Baby Can Read asks the baby to choice between two words to determine which is the correct word.

Want to try this program with your infant or toddler? Visit this Your Baby Can Read page to learn more!

Let's compare notes! Are you finding Your Baby Can read useful for your child? Do you have a blog post or video to share with us? Please feel free to add the link and let us know what you think of Your Baby Can Read!


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Your Baby Can Read - Week 1

Your Baby Can Read ... Can Our Baby Read, Too?

Watch 1st Week Video Towards The Middle Of This Blog Post

I am embarrassed to say that I am addicted to infomercials and do watch the commercials between shows. I'm not as bad as my mother who buys from the TV, but I have been more than grateful for the Swivel Sweeper, Chopper and other great As Seen On TV products that she has bought me over the years :) My personal favorites are the Baby Bullet, Wen, Bare Minerals and Your Baby Can Read commercials. The funny thing is that our baby watches commercials on Sprout, too. He will "stop short" to watch the ones he likes and ignores me until they are done. Here I was thinking that the companies were advertising the Baby Bullet and the lunch packs to me, but my little guy likes them, too.

I supposed this is a case of Like mother, Like son ... LOL.

Anyways, I have been addicted to the Your Baby Can Read infomercial for years - YES YEARS!!! It started way before I met my husband and had our baby. I was amazed when I first watched the infomercial one 2:00 a.m. and the excitement has followed me all the way up to when I made my husband watch the infomercial when I was pregnant, and to this day. I began stalking their website when I was about 6 months pregnant. My husband did not get hooked on the Your Baby Can Read commercials until after our baby was born. He has been rather adamant about our buying it for months now. I have not agreed about buying it until now.

I have finally given into my curiosity and bought the Your Baby Can Read system. I feel as though we have a need for it.

I've had reservations about buying Your Baby Can Read until now. I was worried about wasting money. I also worried about rushing our baby into learning "sight words" too soon. He is just learning his ABCs ... Now that our baby has turned 1 year old and gets excited over counting, singing the ABCs, reading books, as well as watching certain educational shows like Super Why, Moose & Zee, Zoboomafoo etc., I decided that it was time to get started with Your Baby Can Read for these reasons:

1) Our one year old baby is starting to talk and he says more than the standard "Mama", "Dada", "Hi". Our 1 year old baby says "Clap", "Hey Baby", "Duck" "Quack", "All Done", "That", "This", "1, 2, 3" and sings "Clean Up, Clean Up" if I stop singing the Barney "Clean Up" song while picking up his toys. He might say more words, but this is all that we have understood and our baby has validated with excitement if we repeat him correctly.

2) Our baby is starting to get frustrated that we do not always understand him. He screamed "Mama Eat" the other day after he had been saying it and I did not understand. It was an extremely loud "EEEEEEEEEEE-AAAAAA-T" that finally got my attention and then his laughing hysterically and running to his gate, so that I could pick him up, that confirmed that he wanted to eat ... WOW was it dramatic and I felt so sorry for not understanding him!

3) He sits to watch his favorite shows. As a new walker, our baby runs laps most of the day, but he does sit down on the mat when certain shows catch his attention or I have just turned the TV on for him. I am in hopes that skills learned from Your Baby Can Read will help him understand more of what he is watching.

4) Our baby talks to himself all day long. It is SO CUTE, but I obviously only undertsand a few words he is saying.

5) He gets excited when I count for him; he sits so that I can set up the alphabet blocks and then goes over them 3 times before wanting to play; he loves to learn and is trying to say his numbers and letters.

The only thing that our baby does consistently is come to me for a diaper change when he poops. He does this on demand every time. I find it hard to believe that he can say all of these words / 2 word phrases and dislikes a poopy diaper so much that he understands to get his diaper changed, though he has stopped doing the other things I ask on demand. I know that he understand what I ask because he has said or done these things when I have asked at other times ... For this reason, I swear that my baby has been ignoring me and have turned to Your Baby Can Read thinking that it can help!

Here are a few examples of how I know our baby is ignoring us: 1) he used to clap on demand, now he claps at random times that he feels like it, 2) he used to touch his ear whenever I said ear and now he just looks at me like I am crazy 3) he used to lift his arms when I asked him to, so that I can put the high chair try on. He stopped lifting his arms on demand, too. He is starting to ignore when we call his name or when I ask him to pick something up. THE BIGGIE is that he has started having temper tantrums when he wants something and no one in our family understands what he is saying. He is also starting to have temper tantrums when we say "NO" ... (Can you believe this? He is already getting mad when we say no?). I decided to buy Your Baby Can Read and get it started now, so that I can add the Signing Times program along with it.

I am going to post weekly videos and / or notes on how the Your Baby Can Read system works for our baby Max.



YOUR BABY CAN READ - WEEK #1 - BABY IS 1 YEAR 3 WEEKS OLD

• Purchase Day & Notes - I bought the Your Baby Can Read Volume 1 on Friday, January 20, 2012. Volume 1 came with came with the 1st Multi-Sensory DVD, 6 Sliding Word Cards, 1 Wipe-Clean Word Car and 1 Erasable, Non-Toxic Pen.
• Day #1 - I sat our baby in his high chair and turned on the DVD. He remained engaged with the program through the whole lesson and was positive about doing the Sliding Word Cards with me; we did them twice, he smiled, though did not repeat anything with me (not even the clapping which is one of his favorite games to play with me).
• Day #2 - I sat our baby on my lap to watch Your Baby Can Read. I started interacting with it as the video said to say or do things. This kind of irritated our baby, so I will not interact with it from now on. Additionally, our baby did fidget a lot today and wanted to walk around a bit. I will not hold him while watching Your Baby Can Read. I will put him in the high chair from now on. I did watch our baby touching his nose at that portion of the video. He did it one time and very quickly ... This HUGE because I have been trying to get him to do this for over a week. He liked doing the flash cards.

Week #1 facts & opinion(s) of Your Baby Can Read:

Your Baby Can Read is not as animated as I expected. It is rather cut and dry words, animals and clips of children providing examples in comparison to what my baby is used to from watching Super Why or Sesame Street. I can see this being a problem for older babies that are used to more animated and technological learning (like V-Tech). My baby was OK with watching Your Baby Can Read and doing the Sliding Word & Picture Cards so long as he was sitting away from me and in a containing chair (high chair). For these reasons, I would RECOMMEND preparing a child to sit and watch these DVDs before they become mobile (the Volume 1 box says as early as 3 months). You can do this by sitting your baby on your lap to watch Sprout for about an hour each day or buy Your Baby Can Read and get started at 3 months. If I had to do again, I would have started our baby around 6 months opposed to a year old.

WEEK 1 RESULTS WERE POSITIVE

- Our baby touched his nose on the second day / 2nd time watching the DVD.
- He started clapping on demand again.
- He pays attention to the video; especially the animals and "which word"portion.
- He sit for and enjoys the sliding word card more than I expected.

if you want to try this program with your infant or toddler? Visit this Your Baby Can Read page to learn more!

It's your turn to share! Did you find this blog post useful? Are my notes similar to yours? Have you tried Your Baby Can Read? Let us know!

In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Watching Him Grow

The Five Minute Friday word of today is "Grow" and many memories come to mind ...

The most profound is when my oldest son was just a few weeks old. My step-father, mother and I had just finished dinner. My parents got up from the dinner table and headed into the living room where my son was sleeping as sweetly as the newborn baby that he was at the time. I cleared the dishes from the table and was ready to help my mother clean the kitchen, so that I could get back to my baby. My mother never made it back into the kitchen, so I ventured on out to the living room to see what she was doing.

As I walked into the room, I could see that my step-father was watching Jeopardy. I looked towards my mother and she was squashed into the corner of her huge sectional. I walked a bit forward to see that she had my newborn baby in her arms. I said "Mom, what are you doing? Don't you want to clean the kitchen?"

She looked up slowly and said "I AM WATCHING HIM GROW" ...

I was a very immature 21 at the time and really didn't understand what she meant. I thought that she was being smart with me because my mother is on the cynical / sarcastic side at times. I was REALLY upset the whole time that I was cleaning HER kitchen while she was holding MY baby ... LOL :)

5 1/2 years later, I gave birth to my second son. I had matured a bit, though the "watching him grow" experience hit home a little bit when my 2nd son was a newborn. Now that I think back, I was very selfish about the time that anyone spent holding him because I was trying to "watch him grow" as I had seen my mother doing that day. In fact, I tried to carefully watch my first and second sons growing up, but I find that I forget a lot of the stuff my 2nd son asks me about when he was a baby "what time was I born?" ... "what was my favorite baby food" ... etc.

As a single mother of two boys, it is not always easy to watch your children "grow" in the same way that a happy nuclear family or grandparent can see because there are obstacles; many that others overlook and do not understand. They can distract a watching mother at times.

Regardless, as I sit writing this Five Minute Friday blog post (where we write freely for 5 minutes based on one word), I am overwhelmed with the opposite emotions that I felt 18 years ago when my mother said, "I am watching him grow". My 3rd child is almost 11 months old and I am just a few years shy of the age that my mother was when I gave birth to my first son. As I watch this little baby grow, I am flooded with love, joy, sadness, pride, hurt ... a potpourri of emotions that I possess for all 3 of my sons and how it felt watching them grow, but that oldest son is a young man that has moved off on his own.

It is hard to remember that we do not raise our children for ourselves; we raise them for God. Our reward is that we get to "watch them grow" spiritually, emotionally, physically and then they are off on their own with God to continue to watch over them.



In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child


This blog post was inspired by
Five Minute Friday: Grow

10 Month Old Baby Milestones

1) If he is really tired, he will fall asleep on his own at nap time.

2) If his TV shows are not on and his brother is playing a game or it is quiet, he will sit and play with his toys for hours. He talks to them (says "Hi", babbles, sings).

3) So long as we are in sight view, He will play in his matted play yard for hours.

4) He started saying brother more clearly.

5) Fine motor skills are much more developed. He is picking things up more quickly when using just his pointer and thumb; he is not dropping an 8 ounce bottle or cup as much as he used to fumble them; he can grab my jewelry and hair much more easier than in previous months :)

6) Non verbal communication has become more clear as well. He is shaking his head yes and no; making faces when frustrated instead of blank crying; he does not look as confused in general

9 Months Old | Baby On The Go

9 months old is such an incredible age. I am praising God for blessing me
with 3 sons and for not having to be a single mother this time around.

Nine month old babies are so active and personable that you would think they are toddlers, but they are not. At 9 months old, these babies are still infants with developmental needs that keep them our sweet, cuddly, little babies for months longer. I thank God because it is so hard to watch them grow up so quickly. We so enjoyed our baby's 8th month, but this blog post is to share some of the developmental milestones that our baby had during his 9th month; I am posting this information for other moms to use as a guide, as well as in comparison to the 9 month baby milestones that the baby experts give us. I have included our daily schedule in hope this will be helpful.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 18:10

Max did Yoga with Nina (Sprout's Goodnight Show)
The highlight of this 9th month occurred on October 5th, 2011 when our 9 month old baby lifted his arms for the yoga stretch with Nina (on Sprout's Goodnight Show). He did it twice when she instructed and we could not believe it! I made such a "whoop-ti-do" that our baby crawled to me, right afterwards, and excitedly stood up so that I could put him in my lap. I think that he was proud of himself, too, but maybe he was proud of me for noticing - LOL. It is so exciting to know that he understands what to do when he watches that stretching / yoga segment. I really struggle with his watching TV, but know that it helps with certain things as well.


Babbling / Repeating / Talking

• Would you believe that our 9 month old baby started talking to me this month He tugged his ear and said eeeeaaaaaaah a few times. My heart melted while realizing that he was talking to me. It took a few second before I realized that he was on a roll. He clumbsily touched his face and said "eyes" and "nose". It was mushy but I knew this was what he was saying because the exaggerated tone was just like when I teach him these things, therefore I touched his nose and said "Noooose" and touched my eye and said "Eye" ... He got extremely excited and kissed me as if he was rewarding me for understanding what he was talking about.


• On October 14th, our 9 month old baby said "hello" on prompt at the harvest fest at our church. It was so cute because he looked down shyly and said it just once. He is not much on saying "hello" or "hi" when we ask him to; just when he wants, therefore this was a big deal for us.


• Our baby starting singing to himself at 9 months and it was the sweetest sound that I've ever heard in my life because I love to sing (my other two boys did not do this) ... Max has a very raspy / horse voice. He sang "OOOOOOOOOOOOOh, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh". It had different tones. He made facial expressions and sometimes rocked his body back and forth as he sang. Sometimes, he shoke his head and started laughing while singing. It was almost as if he was laughing as he caught himself singing because he would stop after the head shaking part. It was so innocent and instinctive that I would stop doing anything that I was doing to watch him sing and dance.

Watching / Noticing More Things & Sense Of Humor

• Our baby found his belly button on 9/9/2011. The funny thing is that he found mine a few days earlier while we were laying in bed (we had just finished nursing). He giggled both times (probably because of my reaction). It was too cute :)


• He laughs and growls at his own fart (we call them toots).


• He loves Moose and Zee puzzles / matching games on Nick Jr. He has certain shows that he watches and likes a lot. This 9th month, he started getting cranky (sometimes growling) if we talked during his shows.


• We had to child proof a few months ago, but this month he started going for things like dirt in a crack on the ground, we patched a piece of the wall for painting and he noticed (I caught him standing at the wall picking it with his finger) and if I forgot to sweep the tile, he would spot /try to pick up anything. He swooped quickly as if he were playing Jacks.

Physical Development

• Max stood for the first time - without holding on to anything - on October 16. He is walking with the aid of furniture, legs and his walker, but has not starting walking yet (as of 10/31/2011). It looks like it will be soon.


• In addition to lifting his arms during Yoga time, he will sometimes lift his arms for "UP" when he wants us to pick him up from the high chair, crib or play area. We are trying to teach him to do this w/out fussing / crying, too.


• He waved "Hi" on prompt, but ignores us about this too. (I think we got on his nerves).
  
  
• On October 17, he started clapping on his own (without us telling him to) - saying "glaaa glaaa" (clap clap) - when he does it.


• He loves to sing and dance (rock back and forth on his own). All 3 of us (mom, dad, brother) clapped and danced with Maxwell. It was great. While dancing, he clapped when we clapped and bounced his bottom on the floor and rocked to the music. Unlike saying "hello", he will clap upon request sometimes because he loves music and dancing so much.
  
  
• At 9 months, he spends even longer periods of time in his walker and has excellent back up, side and forward control. He has an awesome 3 point turn at this age :)
  
  
• He fought us each time we changed his diaper. He has actually been doing this for months, but we started giving him his tooth brush so that he does not take off like before. He started grabbing his private area every time I changed his diaper. I was as non challant as possible but he would growl and / or laugh when I asked him to move his hand so I could close the diaper. This was not a lot of fun when he had a poopy diaper :(
  
  
• He sat nicely in his playpen / pack n play and matted play area. Every once in a while, he throws a fit to get out, but can lay alone for over an hour sometimes.

Food / Eating / Drinking

Our 9 month baby has stopped eating green beans (he even refused them even when mixed with some chopped up french cut green beans). That is one baby food down. On the contrary, he has developed a HUGE appetite for spaghetti, crackers, water in a sippy cup and just about everything he can get his hands on around the house. He tried to use his spoon at 9 months, though still preferred that we feed him. He does still nurse (mostly first thing in the morning, if he wakes at night and once or twice a day if he gets really cranky and digs my shirt), but he likes Soy formula and drinks water in his sippy cup.


Daytime Schedule / Night time Schedule

Since he finally started sleeping through the night, a decent schedule was developed by 9 months. He sometimes gets up for a bottle or to nurse around 4 or 5:00 a.m. but could sleep through the night until around 7:00am if I put him to bed around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m.

Our typical daily schedule:

• Get up between 6:30 and 8:00 (typically around 7:00 a.m.).
  
  
• He likes to watch Baby Einstein (Disney Channel) or The Sunny Side Up Show on the Channel. He likes Barney if we start later. He sometimes wants a bottle at this time if he did not want to nurse as soon as he woke up; other times he just wants to relax alone and watch this show.
  
  
• After this time he is ready to eat and start playing. He has usually pooped just before or right after breakfast). He plays hard for hours. He plays well alone and with us. He is extremely physical during this time, therefore he uses the walker, crawls out of his pack and play or matted play area, walks along furniture and I sometimes walk him outside.
  
  
• He is ready for a nap between 11:00 a.m and 12:00pm (usually after Sesame Street on PBS and / or Sprout). He typically wants rocked to sleep.
  
  
• He gets up between 1:00pm and 2:00pm, and is very pleasant.
  
  
• He likes to play or watch TV again before he eats. This is not long because he is usually ready to eat lunch soon after waking up.
  
  
• After lunch, we will play for hours. He reads with me for short periods of time, he is very physical, so he uses his walker and likes crawling, walking along furniture and sitting to play with electronic toys. Max enjoys walks in his stroller or just sitting outside and watching cars.
  
  
• He usually naps again between 3:45 p.m. and 5:30pm. This is usually not a long nap (about an hour; sometimes two hours). Diaper change again.
  
  
• He is ready to eat and play again. I keep him up until 10:00pm - 11:00pm (sometimes 9:30pm), so that we have a better possibility that he will sleep through the night. I found that it helps if I take a bottle to bed. He will sometimes take that instead of wanting to nurse again (anywhere between 3:35 and 5:00pm). He will go back to sleep and is up for the day around 7:00 a.m.

OK, so there you have it. This was what our baby did at 9 months old.

At 9 months old, our baby was an energetic bundle of joy that kept us busy daily. Although my husband and I work from home, my husband picked up a temporary job to supplement our income, so that I was not stressed about the holidays and needing to increase work. With our 9 month baby being so active, I was not able to take on any more clients these past few months; just retain and maintain the accounts that I had. This was great for my existing clients because they got all of my extra work time. I knew that it would be like this because I've had children before, therefore I did eliminate some inconsistent accounts a few months ago. Yet, I really appreciate that my husband wanted to make sure that we would not struggle during Christmas, New Year and Tax season because we will travel to see family / friends during these times. It is likely they will visit us, too. I never had this type of support or potential for a "cushion" when I was a single mother, therefore I work my business diligently during the times that Max is napping and / or playing well alone, as well as when my husband is home from work.

I praise God for making all things possible that I never could have imagined nor believed that I wanted in life (a husband, another baby, living in a new state, homeschooling, etc). I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and that it is helpful to moms that are looking forward to their 9 months baby milestones. Please feel free to share your experiences and comment below :)

In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Pictures of Mariah Carey Babies | Baby Twins Roc & Roe | Abc News 20/20 Interview and www.DemBabies.com - #dembabies

All I can say is "Thank you, Barbara Walters" for the awesome interview with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon. It's about time! Alyssa Milano, Tori Spelling, Christina Applegate and other Over 35 celebrity moms did not wait this long to let us see their little angels ... I know that celebrity moms are just as protective of their children as we are (probably more), but #DemBabies are 6 months now and, aside of my beautiful Baby Max (big smile), the Carey-Cannon twins) are some of the cutest babies I've seen this year. I am thinking that Mariah probably wanted to take off some of the baby weight first because this is exactly what I would want to do, too. Anyways, here's the 20/20 interview with Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon, Roc, Roe and Barbara Walters. Mariah Carey shares how difficult it was to lose their first baby by miscarriage and then the challenges of getting pregnant through fertility hormone therapy and then staying pregnant with twins because it was hard on her body. Lets face it, pregnant with twins at 41 years old is not the norm nor easy on a body, but the Lord continues to bless Mariah Carey abundantly; this time with a boy and girl baby twins. Praise God!!! It is just incredible and so exciting to see how the celebrity couple are enjoying their twin babies:



Wait! It gets better ... Nich Cannon and Mariah Carey launched a website of the babies - http://www.dembabies.com and it has a ton of adorable pictures of Mariah Carey's twins. Check it out! I could not put on this site because the publish rights are for sale and funds contributed to Fresh Air Fund's Camp Mariah that helps inner city kids explore career / educational options while in a fun filled camp environment. It looks like a really nice program.

Congrats again to Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon on #dembabies. Your twins are adorable. I look forward to watching how they develop and what talents they will share with the world.


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Wang Yue / YueYue Has Died | China Beyond

"Beyond" for Five Minute Friday Blog Post

Beyond the refuge of my little life, is a family that is mourning the loss of their child because of negligence, lack of empathy and honor. 2 year old Wang Yue / YueYue died today. Her poor little body to weak to fight; her brain dead from the traumatic incident of being run over by 2 vehicles and left for dead by 18 people that were afraid to help the child.

Afraid to help a child .. WHY ???

Her body laid there until one compassionate old woman stepped up and did what was right for that child. My heart is so burdened and my thoughts are far beyond my daily activities as all I can think about how devastated her mother and father must feel exactly at those times that I am thinking of this situation.

I watched the video and my heart broke. I hugged my little baby and wondered why the Chinese people live in such fear that they will not help an innocent child ... a toddler ... someone's baby girl abused and left out in the street?

I cried. I prayed. I blogged.

Others cried. Others prayed. Others blogged.

God's wisdom puts me at a loss for words when I understand that this is just one example of how people - all over the world - neglect their social responsibilities - spiritual responsibilities - humanitarian responsibilities - all of the time.

The "lack of morals in modern society" that the Chinese people feel they've lost, because of fear, is not far from where the United States and other countries have been for years as well. The difference is that they were noted for their Chinese honor code where our morale fiber has never meant much to the rest of the world.

Will we all ever get beyond this shame?

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37 (NIV)



In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child


This blog post was inspired by
Five Minute Friday: Beyond

Wang Yue "Yue Yue" | Wordless Wednesday

YUE YUE ... WHY THIS PICTURE?


Are you here for Wordless Wednesday? Great! Please comment here and not on the Prayer & Thoughts page. Thank you so much!

"Why this picture?" Join the discussion started on the Prayers & Thoughts blog post.


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

2 Year Old Chinese Baby Hit By Two Cars & Left To Die | Please Pray For This Little Girl

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Moms, this blog post is dedicated to prayer for the family of Yueyue (Wang Yue). She is the 2 year old baby, that was hit by a van and truck on October 15, 2011 in Guangzhou Foshan China. Both of the drivers and 18 pedestrians left this toddler to die on the street (well, one pulled her out of the street towards the trash). Unfortunately, her mother was doing laundry in the building and did not get to child until well after these horrible incident occurs. Alas, the 19th person was the one to save Yueyue life. It was an elderly trash collector named Chen Yianmei that came to her aid. Ms. Yianmei could only cry as she explained Yueyue's condition when she found her. This 2 year old is in now in a deep coma and on life support in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

WATCH THIS VIDEO FROM CNC CHINA NEWS

If you are having a hard time understanding the Chinese video, try this YouTube video.

18 people passed this poor little girl on the busy street in Foshan City and did NOTHING to help her. The 3 that stand out the most to me are the following:

1) Man stopped his motorcycle to look at her and drove off without helping.

2) Mother walks past with her child and does not do a thing.

3) Woman from the store pulls the fractured toddler out of the street and leaves her.

It is just heart breaking to watch this poor child brutalized like this, though we need to understand and take note of why these Chinese citizens did not help her. As explained by CNC China video, the Chinese public wanted to know why there was no "empathy from the passersby" and about the "lack of morals in modern society". Many explained that they are due to the many cases where they were accused of hurting elderly people when they were really trying to help them. Some people state that they have “lost their faith in human nature” because of such situations.

What happened to the 2 drivers that hit the little girl?

The truck driver (2nd vehicle) was arrested, but they could not get the license plate number of the van (1st driver) from the surveillance video. The police asked witnesses to help, so this prompted the van driver to call Yueyue’s father and say that he would not turn himself in to the police, but would give the parents money. The driver also explained that his plans were to leave his wife and children, go into hiding for the rest of his life and make less money from jobs out of the city. He was finally arrested yesterday, October 17, 2011.

UPDATE 10/21 - PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS POOR CHILD'S FAMILY. SHE DID NOT SURVIVE AND WE ALL GRIEVE THEIR LOSS.


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

9 Months Old Baby Milestones

• Most 9 month old babies can sit well; developed balance.



• Most 9 month old babies can crawl well; stand by holding onto furniture or your leg; some babies start to walk by this age.



• Some drink from cups and can feed themselves finger foods and use a spoon with help. They are eating more solid foods at this time; maybe refusing baby foods that are too fine (have no texture or chunks).



• They can hold toys and move them from hand to hand.



• Likes to play games with you like peak-a-boo, and might let you read to him / her.



• 9 month old babies can pick up small things (food, toys, etc) with pointer and thumb.



• They love music and "dance" to it. NOTE: Our 9 months old baby rocks back and forth to the background music on his Super Why tv show even if it is slight because the characters are speaking. He sings with music and we sometimes hear him singing on his own ("aaaaaaaaaaaa, oooooooooooo").



• Smiles and responds to his / her name. Recognizes family and friends; may shy or be afraid of strangers.



• It is common for 9 months babies to have teeth or experience teething during this time.



• Babbles (makes nose with mouth as if talking) and repeat sounds. NOTE: Don't feel bad if your baby does not repeat! We thought that our baby Max was underdeveloped in this area until one day we were out in public and told him to say hello to a friend. He put his head down and said "hello", but would not say it again when asked. In fact, he repeats when he feels like it, therefore it might be the same with your baby at 9 months old.

Baby Max - 6 Months Old

I Can't Believe It ... Our Baby Is 6 Months Old ... 6 Month Milestones

Where does the time go? It seems like I gave birth to Baby Max just a month ago, but today marks his 6 months "almost birthday" and I am just in awe over our incredible little baby.

1) He showers us with kisses all day long.

2) He has been eating food for months now.

3) He rolls all over the place while playing on his floor mat.

4) He has just about figured out how to get his bottom up to crawl / starting to crawl.

5) Max can walk a 60 foot porch BACKWARDS in his little walker and he did this 3 times.

6) If I feed him a bite of peas after giving him a bite of apples, he will spit them out at me.

7) He goes crazy after he makes a #2 and then fights us the whole time we change his diaper.

8) He sleeps about 10 minutes when I want him to take a nap, but konks out completely when I do not want him to nap.

9) He has become a textbook case for "separation anxiety", so I dare not leave him alone too long at all.

10) He also started nursing roughly and pulling my hair and laughing.

Our baby still throws up all of the time, but it is getting better. I breastfeed mostly, but do use soy formula when we are out and about. It was worse when I used regular formula. I watch what I eat (reduced dairy, no spicy foods, etc) and it seems to help, but the doctor says this has
nothing to do with it. That it's just reflux because of the stomach muscles.

I want him to stay 6 months forever ...

Here is a complete list of 6 months old baby milestones:

• Babies are starting using receptive language at around 6 months. This means that they start associating words with objects. Your baby might point to things when asked.
  
  
• Your baby still needs and loves physical contact with you. Although not newborns, 6 month old babies are still changing and learning so much. Your physical love is comforting to them and maybe even needed more this month.
  
  
• 50% of babies are babbling one syllable sounds / word over and over again. For example, "ba ba ba ba" or "da da da da". The repetition helps them learn, plus it gets attention!

Two more details about what our baby is like at 6 months old:

It sounds like Max can already say "Hi" and "I love you". It is so cute to hear him say "Hello" to Elmo, Caillou and his brother. I love having a 6 month old; they are so cute and start to understand more each day.

Our baby has also developed quite a little temper. He kicks his feet and suishes up his face when he is upset. I know that part is that he is frustrated with not being able to communicate with us, but sometimes it is because he wants picked up (after we have already held him for a while) or a toy that we have in out hands. We are thinking that this is the age to start catching and redirecting those bad habits, so that he is not "spoiled". Regardless of his little temper, I still love having a 6 month old baby. He is just one precious little boy and we are so grateful to have been blessed with such a loving and incredible new addition to our family.

In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

4 Month Doctor Appointment

Picture of Baby Max - 4 Months Old - April 2011 - Sits up with support, plays with toys, smiles / laughs out loud, eats cereal, coos, loves watching the Sprout channel.

Max just had his 4 month check up and it went well. I have to admit that I was not thrilled about having to take him to get his immunizations (his father handled his 6 week well baby appointment). I hate to see them hurt my baby with those vaccination needles, but I was excited to see how much he has grown over the past 2 months.  The bitter sweet reality is that parents are so excited to help their babies develop and hit milestones, but they grow up so quickly that we are sad when we realize that they are not our babies anymore. I have to admit that he did look so cute wile drinking the Rotavirus. It also showed me that babies can drink from a cup if the flow of liquid is reduced. Max also performed for the nurse and doctor. He smiled and laughed for them. I don't  know why he liked the examination table so much, but Max got so excited that he looked like he was swimming the back stroke for them. It was comical.

Anyways, Maxwell is now 15 lbs 2.08 oz and 24.5 inches long. This puts him in the 58% for weight and 36% for height. His head circumference is 16.37 inches (33%). I think my jaw hit the floor when the nurse told me his weight was only 15 lbs ... I could have sworn that he was 20 lbs by now. He looks so much bigger than when he was 6 weeks old. He was 10lbs and 22 1/2 inches at his 6 week check up. I am surprised because he looks like a little butterball to me. Max is so round and compact; his chin, belly and thighs are chubby. Plus, Max is out of his newborn, 3 month and some 3 to 6 month clothes! I guess it is just that he is short in comparison to his weight, so he looks bigger than he is.

I guess Max's frame will be similar to my middle son. He was always right on track with age and clothes size (so he wore 3 month clothes when he was 3 months old and 12 month clothes at 1 year old). My older son was always in the 90% to 95%. I hate that I look forward to seeing if I am right, but as I mentioned above ... the bitter sweet reality is that parents excitedly help their babies develop and hit milestones (even push them sometimes), but our babies grow so quickly and it sad once we realize that they are gone. I look at Max's newborn pictures and see how much he's changes and it makes me kind of sad.

I am over 35 years old and this is my 3rd child ... I love that Baby Max is developing, but I wish that I could keep him my little butterball a bit longer. The few inches and pounds made a huge difference in just a few months. Ces't la via! Next will be his 6 month appointment.

BTW: Aside from sleeping a little more than normal, Max had no side effects from the vaccinations.


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

6 Week Doctor Appointment

Picture of Baby Max - 6 Weeks Old - February 2011 - Shows interest in his toys.

Max just had his 6 week doctor's appointment and it went well. I was a nervous wreck because his father took him for the well baby check up. This is the first time in my parenting life that I did not have to take a child to the doctors, so I was extremely uncomfortable and relieved at the same time. I was grateful not to have to watch them stick my baby with needles, but nervous that his father would not know to comfort Max just as soon as the nurse was done giving the vaccinations and that he would have a hard time dressing the baby. He later told me about the experience and I was relieved while listening to his father explain how he comforted our son. Thank God! He was also extremely protective and empathetic once Max got home. He even picked up the baby's eye medicine and Triaminic Fever Reducer before he got home, and made sure we gave it to him as soon as Max started showing signs of discomfort. What an awesome new dad! I was able to get some rest while they were gone, so that I could do another night of breastfeeding and broken sleep :)

The baby doctor gave Max his 2 month immunizations at this 6 week visit. They checked our son for everything (hearing, vision, feeding information, hips, back and answered questions about his irritated eyes, (ended up being an infected tear duct for which they prescribed Erithromycin eye drops). I was impressed to learn that they went over car set, tobacco smoke exposure, back sleeping, family and developmental milestone information with Max's father, as well.

Max weighs 10 lbs (25%). He is 22 1/2 inches long (50%). 15 inch head circumference which puts him is the 25 percentile. He was only 7.7 lbs and 19 3/4 inches at his 1st doctor's appointment.

BTW: Max was a little cranky and slept a lot, but had no negative reactions to the vaccines.

We will see how the eye drops and massaging his tear ducts will work for the conjunctivitis. The doctor says this should clear up on his own. I sure hope so! Looks like our little bundle of joy is right on rack with where he should be. I am relieved and excited that he is developing well. It seems like Max can see is better than the websites explain infant sight to be. He is alert and has started following things with his eyes. He can already hold his head up when we carry him. He is such a snuggly little baby. We love him so much! I can't wait until his 4 month appointment. I bet he will be so big!


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

1st Doctor Appointment

Newborn picture of Baby Max - January 2011

Max had his 1st well baby check up and I sure had mixed feelings about it. One part of me hated our medical system and the insensitive health officials that say that we should take our babies to a doctors office a week after they are born. Sick people go to doctors ... it should not include newborn babies. On the other hand, I was anxious to confirm that our baby is healthy and ready to take on life. It was bitter sweet ... you will read / hear say this often ... as if we bring children into the world to expose them to contradiction that we cannot explain, nor ignore, any more than "this is just how it is".

Regardless, our baby boy has put his 7.7 lbs birth weight back on (it is common for newborns to lose weight while in the hospital). Both the nurse and doctor say that Max is just fine; a healthy baby boy. Both his father and I are grateful that Max is healthy. I just cannot believe it!

First of all, I am well over 35 years old and never could have imagined that I would have one more child. I am jumping for joy, but still in disbelief by it all. I was a single parent for so many years ... I never would have though and am thanking God every day. My two sons love Baby Max so much. How could they not? They just about helped me deliver him.

They told me that Max should have a 6 week check up next, but my immunization chart says 2 months. I am confused, but am taking all in stride since it has been so long since I've had a baby. He had the 1st Hepatitis shot in the hospital and will need his 1st set of immunizations at his next appointment. I am nervous about those 1st shots :(


In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child