jennifer

Who’s the Boss?

April 28, 2009

Like most people I know, I spent my adolescence longing for true independence. Though my parents certainly weren’t oppressive, I was always anxious to assume control of my own life. I wanted to decide for myself, everything from whether to become a vegetarian, to what I wanted to do with my Saturday afternoon or when [...]

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Breastfeeding Is Not Just For Babies! The Benefits of Breastfeeding a Toddler

March 11, 2009

I loved breastfeeding my daughter when she was a newborn. Her tiny body fit within the crook of my arm, and I treasured the feeling of cradling her there as she nursed. I loved seeing her take such immense comfort from me and my milk; nursing both soothed and sustained her. It was so peaceful [...]

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Attachment Parenting Is Keeping Us Up at Night: Why We Haven’t Gone the Cry-It-Out Route

February 6, 2009

Our daughter has never been much inclined toward sleep. A standard stretch usually won’t exceed four hours, and more frequent waking (like every hour) is far from unheard of in our house. As a result, my husband and I have yet to get a solid night’s sleep in the last 18 months. We have marveled [...]

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Baby, Give Me a Sign

January 8, 2009

Our daughter has a lot to say. She’ll chatter animatedly to any available audience . . . she just doesn’t include many recognizable words in her conversation. At 16 months, her verbal vocabulary includes “mama” and “dada,” “hi,” “baby,” “no,” “cat,” and a couple of close approximations of “belly button” and “nose.” Fortunately, she isn’t [...]

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Share The Milk

December 1, 2008

When she was about 14 months old, my daughter decided to give up the bottle, thereby relieving me of the responsibility of pumping milk for her to drink while we were apart . . . and just in time, since my supply had dipped sufficiently in recent months that I was only pumping about half [...]

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Shouldn’t We Invest More Thought In Our Parenting Than Planning Our Next Vacation?

November 10, 2008

The decisions we make for our daughter today may affect her for a lifetime in more ways than one, which, in my opinion, makes them some of the most important and far-reaching we will ever be faced with. And yet, it seems that many people are willing to put more time into researching vacation destinations [...]

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We Can Do This In Our Sleep! Being Present All Through the Night

October 14, 2008

Nighttime has confronted us with some of the most challenging parenting moments we’ve faced so far, but being present for our now 14 month old daughter at three in the morning is just as important as it is at any more reasonable hour. Though it isn’t always as easy, or as pleasant, as engaging her [...]

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Who Says Kids Don’t Like Curry?

September 14, 2008

The first time a friend offered Violet a veggie “puff,” I was puzzled. ”They’re healthy,” she explained.  “They’re made from vegetables.”  Why not, I wondered, just give her the actual vegetables instead? Western culture has an unfortunate tendency toward dumbing-down food for kids.  Whether it’s for the sake of convenience, or the mistaken assumption that kids [...]

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