Day 7 - Dec 13th, 2010

We've been home for two days now, or more specifically, two nights. The first night sucked big time! I think I got about 2 hours broken sleep. Last night was definitely a better night - I think I got about 5 hours broken sleep. We got up 3 times during the night to feed Anneliese - 11pm, 1pm, 4pm. It's now 6:49 am and she is still asleep (as is my wife). Shame number 1 got up at 5:55...

From an early learning perspective I am planning on making some powerpoint flash cards for Anneliese to use in the next few days. I am going to do basic shapes in black on white, and white on black. I am thinking of things like triangle, circle, oval, square, rectangle, etc.... I will post the file here for those who would like to use it.

Yesterday we lay Anneliese on her tummy on the floor. Most books and standard thinking suggest that lying on the back is better. It is certainly safer in the sense they the baby can't control her neck muscles yet, so it reduces the chance of SIDS death. But more contemporary thinking by Glenn Doman and others suggests that spending time on their tummies is great for neck muscle development and also helps the baby learn to move. The flailing of arms and legs can actually propel the baby along the ground - a form of early crawling!

Obviously do this supervised. The only issue we had yesterday was Anneliese banging her nose twice when she lifted her head, but then couldn't sustain it. A little ouch! I don't think she'll do that too often...

We taught our first born from a very young age that when she falls over she has to get back up and brush herself off. Works a treat - she hardly ever whinges about falling over, and I don't have to go and 'rescue' her either! We'll definitely be doing that with Anneliese.