Day 9 - Dec 15th, 2010

Saw an interesting debate on twitter today about immigration into Australia after it was reported that several people died in a boating crash trying to gain entry into Australia. I have always thought that one of Australia's key global competitive advantages is it's low population density. This affords the country a high standard of living as the wealth is able to be spread more evenly amongst fewer people.

It then got me thinking about my contribution to the population with our new born. It used to be said that parents should have 'one for mum, one for dad and one for country'. Of course this was while Australia was trying to build up it's population and skill base after WWII. Now it's a slightly different story. Australia is looking for skilled labour. The days of opening the country to the dislocated and therefor poorer, low skilled labour are gone. We have plenty of low skilled labour of our own now. And for the record I think two is enough. My wife is not so sure, but that is another discussion ;-)

I have observed in the past that immigrant family's that came to Australia in the 50 and 60 worked hard to give their kids everything they never had. But (and at the risk of stereotyping, I generalise here) their off-spring thought life was easy and so never worked too hard, either participating in anti-social behaviour or relying on welfare in some way shape or form.

So how do I stop my kids from becoming that way inclined? (Although I was born here, my parents immigrated from the UK in the 50's as kids) This is a key question of parenthood for me. I want my kids to be better and more successful than me - I believe that this is something that drives humanity forward. Early learning is, for me, a key method of attaining this. By instigating a love of learning at an early age I hope that my children will want to actively learn and be part of the community, bringing new thoughts and insights to help which ever part of the community they choose to be involved in.

And so this is how my modern family looks tonight, as Anneliese looks on while I blog.

Day 8 - 14th Dec, 2010

Had a day without the eldest today - she was off at day care which was nice. It gave me time to get a few things done around the house, get on with my business and a little bit of Christmas shopping too. It also meant that I could spend a bit more one-on-one time with Anneliese. Mind you changing nappies at 3am and helping my wife with the breast feeding is plenty one-on-one. I think not having to worry about 2 kids for a few hours is (daycare) money well spent.

In terms of early learning nothing new to report. We gave Anneliese some tummy time to help her with her neck development and displayed some monochromatic pictures to help with her visual development.

For those who are interested I have attached my first powerpoint presentation which is basic shapes in black on white. I will create a reverse of this in the next day or so. I will start using this on Anneliese tomorrow. The plan is to keep at it for 1 week and then change to the reverse. There is no theory behind this, other than repetition. As she gets older these slide shows will get more complicated and detailed - program like Tweedlewink, Baby Signing Time, etc...

My wife also found an interesting article on early learning from a dad's perspective. It is written by Larry Sanger, one of the co-founders of Wikipedia. An interesting read.

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.

Day 5 - Dec 11th, 2010

Well, been a bit busy over the last couple of days dealing with the first born. In terms of early learning for the new girl, Anneliese, we have been continuing the black and white visual stimulation. One of the books that we have is Art For Baby by Outset. They have collected a bunch of contemporary monochromatic art that is designed to reflect the real world. They also have freezes that you can hang up or, in our case, line up around the cot in the hospital.

There was an interesting comment by one of the artists featured in the Art For Baby book He said that they noticed their newborn was fascinated by a black and white painting that they had in their house. The other art work did not seem to register, but their newborn would stare at the black and white piece for long periods. So they started researching and found that this is a common trait for babies.

I also have been wearing a red shirt for the days that we have been in hospital. I think worked, as today, when my wife checked out, Anneliese seemed to identify with me more than any other males that have been in and out of her short life so far (grand parents, doctors, pediatricians, etc...). Now that we are home I don't think i need to do this any more.
 
Now that we are family at home I see my immediate job at hand is two fold: 1) Manage the expectations and reactions from Sophia (the first born) and 2) build a new routine with two daughters. I am giving myself a week to build this new routine. I think one of the first changes is getting my wife to put Sophia to bed so she can rebond with her. Kimba thinks that spending a week away from home has changed the relationship with our eldest. I can see what she means why Sophia's interaction with her mother - it's not quite what it was. We'll see how that pans out...

Day 2 - Dec 8th, 2010

A bit tired today. I got about 4 -5 hours sleep but it was broken up pretty heavily. With Anneliese waking for feeds, then getting too cold because my wife needed the room temp really low (I had three blankets and was fully clothed in bed and was still cold!) and therefore not sleeping after her 3am feed, and nurses coming in and out to do various tests I feel rooted. It is now 8pm and I see an early night for me.

Today was about getting the routine going with the new daughter and then spending time with the eldest so she doesn’t feel left out. The early learning for today was fairly simple – reversing the images that we have set up around her. We are using a fold-out book called 'Black & White' by Tama Hoban which has been great. We used it with the eldest too. I also spent time with the youngest today getting her to grip my finger and talking/singing (badly) to her so she can get used to my voice. She can definitely track to a familiar sound, albeit without much muscle control.

The other thing I did today was ensure that I was wearing the same coloured shirt that I had on yesterday (red). I did this because I had to leave the youngest and thought that the colour (shading) of my clothing might offer some consistency and therefore familiarity to her. Not sure if it worked, but them seems no harm in trying. Of course she can’t see colour yet, but certainly shades of grey, which is how red mostly likely appears to her at the moment.

Day 1 - Dec 7th 2010

Today our second child was born – a beautiful girl named Anneliese. She weighed 3.69 kg and was 51 cm long and is healthy – scored 8 then 9 on the Apgar rating. So the first part of any early learning was complete – we had a child!! Obviously at this stage she is very young and still coming to grips with being yanked out of the uterus. But the early learning has started. As you can see from the image we have placed black and white images around the crib for our daughter to look at.

We got this idea from an information session at our local Montessori school a few year back before our first daughter was born. The idea is that the black and white cones on the retina are the first to be engaged by the brain, so by providing black and white images we are stimulating the brains information processing development.

At this stage we will rotate the images from white on black to black on white each day, to add some variety. At about 6 weeks, or when she starts tracking with her eyes fully we’ll start adding in colour. But that is a few weeks away. I should also not that she did actually track with her eyes a bit today. Focusing on my finger her eyes followed it to her nose. But not regularly. Yet.