Big red tricycle

I have many things to talk about today, so I will list them by number:

1. I bought a tricycle. It is just like a kids tricycle, only bigger. The purpose of buying this tricycle was to have some way of doing the equivalent of going for a walk. Right now I have a recumbent bike and my scooter, and neither one is really like going for a walk. The tricycle requires about the same amount of effort as walking to go at walking speed, and I sit higher up on it so going for a walk with someone else is better – it is easier to walk and talk. This thing is quite heavy, and wide, so it's not perfect, but it is a way for me to feel stable and comfortable and get a bit of exercise. The biggest draw is that supposedly it works in the snow. The wheels are pretty heavy duty, so I think it probably will work. This is my attempt at finding a way to get outside in the winter :-)

2. Daycare is starting to go better. The first few days were amazing, and Maren had a super fun time. She wasn't upset and all after we left, and she just played. Then something happened, maybe she caught on to the fact that we were going to keep leaving her there, and she started to be very upset. She cried the entire time she was there (about two hours) twice. We were told by a couple of people at the daycare that we were not bringing her at a particularly good time, since people were going on break, it was right around lunch so everyone was busy feeding the kids, and we were told that breaking her in the morning early would be better. But we were concerned about naps, so we were bringing her between naps. But after a couple of days of having her cry the whole time, we decided that it was better for her to not nap and perhaps have more time to get to know the staff. So last week on Thursday and Friday we brought her in for the whole morning, from about eight fifteen until twelve fifteen or so. It went much better. The first day we did this she cried for the first ten minutes, and then was okay, and the second day she cried as we were leaving, but then didn't cry the rest of the time. On the second day she even had a half hour nap! So now we are going to start bringing her every morning, as having a consistent routine seems to help with these changes. This means that even though I did not really plan on going back to work until about two weeks from now, I am back at work. I thought I would be pretty sad about it, but being back at work is kind of fun and stimulating. The only thing I am sad about is being away from Maren for hours at a time, but knowing that she is in good hands and that she is doing okay makes it easier :-)

3. I think Maren may be starting to use her first words. It is confusing, because she has been babbling for a long time with the same sounds, and she isn't super consistent yet, but it seems like she is saying mama, dada, duck, ball, and hat. This video is not perfect, but gives you an idea:

4.  Sleep. I am feeling very ambivalent about our sleep coaching plan. It has taken us a huge amount of time, and we are starting to see some results.  Maren is now able to go to sleep in her crib within about five minutes at night, with  little to no crying.  Last night, amazingly, she slept the entire night without waking up ( this is not necessarily expected – as part of the plan, she is still expected to potentially wake up for a feed one time after I go to bed).  I did a "dream feed" where I fed her just before I went to bed without waking her up,  and then she didn't wake up again until just before 7 AM.  So that part is going extremely well. The part I am feeling ambivalent about right now is naps. Right now she is crying for 20 to 30 minutes before each nap. I feel horrible about it!  I understand that maybe it doesn't sound that bad, but she really doesn't cry that much or for that long, except occasionally in the car. It upsets me quite a bit to see her  so upset. I am hoping that naps get better pretty quickly, because it seems so stressful for her, and it is definitely stressful for me!