Introducing THEN AND NOW

Acceptance - ability to be with people, situations and things without the need to force, change or alter them.




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Welcome to the first edition of Then and Now. When I decided to start this blog a piece of me was a little sad that I hadn't begun when Sweets was first born. I started to think about how things were when she was first born and how things compared with now and I found the whole thing a bit melancholy and sweet. Moms LOVE to talk about how things were "back then." Heck, I don't know about you, but even three years later, put me in a group of moms I haven't previously met and we'll all be talking about our birth stories within minutes! This meme is designed to give us a reason to remember and chronicle our favorite stories. Pick a favorite THEN and compare, contrast or just wax philosophically about the differences between THEN and NOW.


I had planned a little "on topic" (for acceptance week) post about Potty Training for my first time out but my essential video is not working. I will try to have that for you next week! Instead I will launch THEN and NOW with my favorite baby topic: Baby Wearing.


In this case, the THEN of this story would be the entire first two years of Sweet's life. Before she was born my friend Joanie sent me a wonderful book, The Vital Touch by Sharon Heller. In the book I learned how essential touch was for a small baby and it was recommended that a baby be "worn" as close to the parent's skin as often as possible. Before reading this book it had never occurred to me to wear my baby. I figured that I would get a stroller and all sorts of other baby toting accessories and everything would be great. After reading this book an ah ha moment clicked for both my Sweetie and I. We wanted to have our girl close to us. 

*THEN*

Wrapping her next to us also turned out to be an incredible convenience. We didn't need to carry a whole bunch of baby stuff because our baby was being ported right on us! We were living in San Francisco when she was first born so we could hop on and off cable cars, climb big hills, wander narrow paths and never worry about run away strollers or having a free hand. Baby wearing is also hands free!! Your child is safe and you can actually get change out of your wallet, carry a drink or caress their cheek all without worry. 


This baby wearing became a way of life for us. So much in fact, we never bought a stroller that whole first year. We finally did pick one up, second hand at a garage sale, because Sweets did like to climb into her friend's strollers at the park but it wasn't until she was more then two that it become a standard conveyance for her. Given her druthers The Girl would always choose "Uppa Uppa" over any other means of travel.

*NOW*

Flash forward to NOW and The Girl still requests to be wrapped on a fairly regular basis. We don't always bring a stroller because at three she mostly prefers to walk  (or run!) but when she gets tired or just wants a little attention she asks for an "Uppa Uppa."  She even still uses her baby-speak term for it. As you can tell from the scroll at the top of this blog Sweets does not have any difficulty with communicating but when she wants to be carried she is once again my little baby. At 30+ pounds she isn't the easiest thing to tote but nevertheless I try to oblige as much as possible.  As we segue away from daily baby wearing I am certain the closeness it has fostered has laid an incredible groundwork for our future relationship.


If you have a baby or can borrow one for a while (speaking to grandparents here! LOL) then I highly recommend it!



If you would like to participate with THEN and NOW this week, (or any other!) Please link up over on this blog.  I will keep the Linky Information "live and available" all week at the bottom of this blog (scroll down to view) as well as include it in the weekly THEN and NOW post. If you are participating, please post the button (at top of this post) in your sidebar OR as part of your THEN and NOW post and provide a link back to my blog's THEN and NOW post for the week (Mine will always be the first link listed in the Linky).  If you want to add the LInky too just go ahead and grab the code!

Next Post - Some type of Friday Fragment but probably not on Friday!

My Thirteen Virtues of Great Parenting are:Fun, Discipline, Creativity, Love, Wonder, Listening, Curiosity,Compassion, Trust, Acceptance, Empowerment, Humility and Flexibility