CherrickVille

Reagan - 6 Months Old

I can hardly believe that half a year has already gone by since we first met our little Reagan.  We continue to learn new things about her all of the time and look forward to learning much more.

What is she like? 

Reagan is:

• Very observant, always taking in the scene.
• Modestly Social, she smiles at strangers and always smiles by turning her head to one side.
• Loud noises and unexpected movements make her startle - she's a bit jumpy - not to tears, but gets wide-eyed and looks around intently when something loud or something moving quickly enters her line of sight.
• She is snuggly, but if she's too tired is best left alone because it seems she just can't get comfortable
• Will play alone for good stretches of time (15-30 minutes) unless she is tired or hungry
• Even Keel- she doesn't seem to get too excited on the happy side or sad side of life - she seems content and steady most of the time
• Plays with her board books most often
• Sits quietly while being read a story and likes to grab the pages
• Seems to like rooms full of people - she will just sit and watch everyone, usually with a smile

Reagan's 6 Month Stats:

Weight: 14.73 pounds (25th percentile)

Length: 25.59 inches (65th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.54 inches (37th percentile)

What's she eating (3 solid meals/day):

Organic Rice Cereal
Sweet Potatos
Yogurt
Plums
Green Beans
Avocado
Papya

 

Lovin' those ears and that teeny-tiny neck.

Look! And elbow roll!

Hey, give me the camera.
 
  

 

Video: Reagan's Latest Trick

Today at the gym, Reagan was practicing her own workout routine: rolling over back and forth.  We kept the hat on for good measure:

Reagan basic roll - NSCF 2-22-10 from Joy on Vimeo.

A Fuzzy Purple Hat

I love hand-me-downs for babies!  They are so gently-warn that they are like new.  Recently, a friend passed along a bunch of Baby Gap clothes to Ms. Reagan and I have been doing my best to get her into them before she grows out of them.  Thank you, Thank you!

Ms. R and I have been taking regular walks lately and I was able to squeeze her into this snuggly little outfit:

 She is studying the side of our apartment building.  How do those walls stay up?

 She is very serious about her walks.

 
Look at that cute little ear-flap!  Isn't that clever!

 
 

Scrumptious.
 

  

The Bib Club: Takes a Hike

It took be 20 minutes to get the girls ready for a 30 minute hike.  Well worth it, I'd say.

Here's the evidence:

 

 

The hat I found for Nora has the remenence of the flying nun - sorry Nora:-(

Nora's toys: Sofie and some links

Reagan: Just chillin'

See ya later!
 
 
 

What I Didn't Learn in School: The Japanese Internment During WWII

I don't know how this terrible piece of American history missed me, but I did not learn anything about the Japanese internment until after I graduated from college!  Upon finding out, I remember exclaiming with complete ignorance, "What?  We did this to our own people!?"  (I believe I was at the Smithsonian in D.C. for work spending my free time exploring the museums.)

Now, I wasn't to best student K-12 - I had a B average upon graduation from high school.  I didn't go out of my way to explore new bits of information or gain better understanding of the world around me.  I was much more concerned with the social education of my public school experience.

Regardless, it seems to me that this history should be taught alongside Adolf Hitler's tyranny.  Perhaps the Florida Public Schools were more interested in teaching me about the civil war, the Cherokees, Seminoles and Everglades.  Maybe we were so focused on the past happenings of the East Coast that this information didn't leak out.  Just as possible, maybe it was one sentence discussed one day and I was asleep.

Regardless, I am disappointed that there is not greater concern to try and prevent this type of racist treatment from being repeated in our history.

Here is a family with all the possessions they were allowed to bring into the camp.

One of the Japanese internment camps.

 
 

To learn more check out these great resources:

Smithsonian National Museum of American History (Japanese Internment)

Children of the Camp Documentary

Asian American Media

What I didn't learn in school: Secular Humanism

When I was in school, I remember learning about the Egyptians, Sparta and Troy, Aaron Burr, Honest Abe and plenty more.  I also remember looking in the back of my history book at the beginning of the year and hoping to learn about the Vietnam War, the Space Race and why was Reagan called The Great Communicator anyway?  We never got to the end of those books and then next year, I'd always seem to learn repeats of the previous year.  I didn't really think much of it, but now that I think about it, what a bummer!  So, periodically, I'm going to post about something that I was floored wasn't taught in school. 

To begin, let's look at a worldview that is very popular and also hard to define: Secular Humanism.  A worldview can be considered as comprising a number of basic beliefs. These basic beliefs cannot, by definition, be proved (in the logical sense) because they are axioms, and are typically argued from rather than argued for^[16].

Every worldview answers these questions:

1) Where did we come from? (and why are we here?)
2) What is wrong with the world?
3) How can we fix it?
Source

Secular Humanism is a worldview rooted in the idea that God is a superstition irrational people made up and now believe. 

They believe:
1. there is no god or God
2. this is the only life we have (i.e. no afterlife, no soul)
3. nature is all that exists
4. human life is a natural phenomenon
5. ethical relativism- the belief that no absolute moral code exists, and therefore man must adjust his ethical standards in each situation according to his own judgment.  If God does not exist, then He cannot establish an absolute moral code. Humanist Max Hocutt says that human beings "may, and do, make up their own rules... Morality is not discovered; it is made." - this is where the phrase "truth is relative" comes from

Have you ever heard someone say "truth is relative"?  This is a Secular Humanist worldview.  What they mean by truth being relative is that truth is "based on our best understanding" of the situation at hand.

To be clear, this is not the worldview in which I subscribe, but it is fascinating to me to have a greater understanding of where someone is coming FROM when expressing an opinion or holding firm to a conviction.

In conclusion, I think it is interesting that this worldview seems to be the one that public schools seem to communicate simply through the exclusion of any religion and the insistence on teaching evolution while being politically correct by saying that everyone has to decide for themselves what is true for them.  This is still teaching a religion.  The absence of religion is still the presence of some set of values and way of looking at the world... don't let them fool you.

 

It's the Journey

Everyday for Reagan brings more firsts and new adventures.  She will study a room full of people with a smile and wide eyes.  She will startle at new noises and smile at familiar faces.  She is on a great expedition, a photo-Safari, a voyage.  And where is she going?  She doesn't seem to care.  It's not the destination to her, but the journey that she is so entranced by.

 

Reagan... is that blond hair I see?

Reagan and I spent some time outside - in the WONDERFUL Arizona weather - and shot some pictures.  I was surprised to see just how much her hair look blond in the sunlight!  She might be a blondie like her daddy was!

 

 

Blogging tips for Bloggers

Hello fellow bloggers!  Isn't it wonderful that blogs allow us to stay connected and share life even when we are thousands of miles apart? (Hi Bonathan!)  Or possibly, we've never met, but if feels as though we have.  (Hi Tori!)  I've been doing some research (as usual) to figure out how to make my blog better i.e. more interesting, more concise etc... 

I stumbled across this article giving 7 Tips for Better Blog Posts.  And I thought my blog-writing readers would be oh-so-interested.  Let's get to it:

1. Clarity - be clear about what you are blogging about (my blog is a good example of some tangential blogging)

2. Know what your readers want -(which, I have to say, I don't.  My main purpose of this blog is to communicate with friends and family far and wide what's going on with Reagan - but I have other thoughts too that may or may not be relevant)

3. Edit Often - Ugh

4.Create Key-word Rich Headlines - I think this one is a skill that must be learned... and learning it is a process

5.  Write great first sentences - I will add - don't let this trip you up on getting started - you can always write the first sentence last

6. Keep it Short and Spacey

7.  Use bullet-ed lists - I like lists.  They are easy to read.

8. Have Fun! - this is my addition.  If it's not fun, or starts to get too stressful just take a break.

Here are two more articles that might be helpful:

How to write a blog

20 Ideas for Writing a Blog Post

Operation: Get More Sleep - Mission Complete (Moving from 3 to 4 hour routine, Making 30 minute naps 2 hours)

Welp, using the wonderful methods of the Baby Whisperer we have been able to move Reagan (5.5 months old) from a 3-hour routine to a 4-hour routine and turned her 30 minute naps into 1.5-2 hour naps while also improving her night time sleeping and taught her how to self-soothe.

Here's what I've learned in the past 8 days:

1. To move from the 3 to 4 hour routine - start by trying to extend the morning nap (using Pick Up/Put Down or placing hand on baby's chest)
2. Following a schedule can be helpful - but don't be too strict on yourself or baby about the times... I needed to focus more on getting her to sleep longer during the day - at one or two instances I woke her from her nap, which, in my opinion was just plain silly
3. Daytime sleep really does help sleeping at night.
4. There is a progression when teaching self-soothing.  I tried Pick Up/Put Down, which didn't work for Reagan.  Then we progressed to placing a hand on her chest and shhing.  This worked well to start helping her get longer.  After the first four days, she started to cry when we left the room, so we had to just let her cry :-(  But, I was okay with this because by that time I was starting to understand her cries better AND she started to cry again as we started to walk out of the room.
5. For a faster result - stay home - for your sanity - get out ;-)

Here's the complete log:

Day #1:Wake: 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:20 and up at 9:30am
We went to a birthday party, so I fed her and took her out - she slept in the car for about 30 minutes (oh, well)
Nap #3: Down at 12:30pm; I don't remember when she got up - but I know there was plenty of patting and shhing
Nap #4: Sorry, I don't remember this one either

Night #1:Bedtime: 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm - I fed her
Wake #2: 12:30am - Kevin soothed her back to sleep (around 15 minutes)
Wake #3: 2:30am - Kevin tried soothing her for around 30 minutes - I fed her
She slept until morning (no 5am waking:-)  
(Note: I went to bed and read the first night early - in bed and reading at 7:30pm and asleep at 8:30pm - I think this helped me a ton - even if Kevin did most of the heavy lifting this night :-)

Day#2:Wake: 7am
Nap#1: Down at 8:20am up at 9:30am - tried patting until 10am
Naps #2, 3 and 4: We went to church - so she didn't go back down for her second nap until 1:30pm
took three one-hour naps in the afternoon

Night #2:  Bedtime: 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm - I fed her
Wake #2: 12:45am - Since Kevin had to get up at 6 am, I was on-call.  It took me one hour to get her to go back to sleep.  At around the 45 minute mark, she just started staring at me.  I just left the room, I hear her talking to herself for a bit and she eventually went back to sleep.

Day #3:Wake 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:30am - woke at 9:20am (I got her up, but she was fussy and I should have patted her back to sleep, Oops)
Nap #2: Down at 11:30am - woke at 12:05pm (I didn't go into her at all.  She was talking to herself and whimpering a tired cry.)  Fell back to sleep around 12:20 and slept until I woke her at 1:15
Nap#3: Down at 2:30 - but asleep (and needed some help with the shhing and the hand on her belly) at 2:45pm - woke at 3:40 (had to shh and hand on belly but didn't go back to sleep)
Nap#4: Down at 5:30 - woke at 6:05pm

Night #3: 
She had a little bit of trouble going down at 7:15, but finally fell asleep by 7:45pm
10pm Dreamfeed
Wake#1: 5am - Can't really blame her - we were awake about 5 minutes before going, "Did she just sleep all night?"  I had trouble getting her to go back to sleep, but finally had success after I fed her around 6:15am

Day #4:Wake 7:10am
Nap #1: Down at 8:45am - up at 9:30am (hand and pacifier back to sleep in less than 5 minutes) - up again at 9:55am (back to sleep in less than a minute with hand and pacifier)
Nap #2: Down at 11:55am - woke up at 12:30pm (wasn't able to successfully get her back to sleep)
Nap #3: Down at 2:45pm - up at 3:20 (Hand/pacifier back to calm, but did not go back to sleep - even though she was clearly tired)
Nap #4: Down at 5pm (super sleepy:-(   I woke her (after great internal debate) at 6pm, fed her and put her right back to bed at 6:30

Night #4: Bedtime: 6:30pm
Wake #1: 9:50pm - Oh, well (not-so-dreamy feed)
Wake #2: 3:30am (shh, hand, pacifier back to sleep in 15 minutes for Daddy)
Wake #3: 4:45am - I fed her

Day #5:Wake 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:45am - up at 9:30am - still tired, but wouldn't go back to sleep
Nap #2: Down at 12:15pm - woke up at 12:45, but I didn't go in to her - she was making a fussy-tired cry - fell back to sleep at 1:15pm and slept until she woke up SO HAPPY at 2:20pm :-)   (this went against the "schedule, but whatever.  She fell back to sleep and that IS the point.)
Nap #3: THE TRAIN CAME OFF THE TRACKS EVEN MORE!!  Reagan and I were enlisted to complete a very, very important mission.  We took one for the team - well, she took most of it and I was just the tiniest bit grumpy about it.  Down at 5:45pm - YIKES - Up at 6:30pm

Night #5:Bedtime 7pm
Wake#1: 3:45am (Daddy hand for 10 minutes or so/then Mommy took over - once the crying stopped and the staring and talking took over - back to bed. She fell back to sleep at 4:15ish)
Wake #2: 4:45am - fed her --- hmm could this be a pattern?

Day #6:  Wake 7:30am - (oops)
Nap #1: 9:30am - woke at 10am and went back to sleep on her own at 10:30am - slept until 11am
Nap #2: 12:45pm - woke at 1:30pm but went back to sleep on her own at some point... woke at 2:40pm
Nap #3: 4:30pm - woke up super fussy at 5pm and wouldn't go back to sleep - early

Night #6: Bedtime 6:30pm
Wake #1: 9pm - back to sleep in around 10 minutes after a bit of fussing - we didn't go into her
Wake #2: 2:45am (she went back to sleep after about 30 minutes of fussing - still didn't go in)
Wake #3: 5am - I fed her

Day #7: Wake 7:30am
Nap #1:  9:20-11:30am!!!  HOORAY!  She woke for about 30 minutes at 10am
Nap #2: 1:45pm-4pm!  DOUBLE HOORAY!!  She took sometime going down - but I don't think she woke!

Night #7:Bedtime 6:40pm
Wake #1: 9pm (we were at a friend's home and she was in her Pack N' Play)
10pm dreamfeed
Wake #2: 3am (went back to sleep after Dad flipper her over to her back and gave her pacifier)

Day #8:Wake 7am
Nap #1: 9-10:30am
Nap #2: 1-2:30pm
Nap #3: 4-5pm

Night #8:Bedtime 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm (we were at another friend's home, so whatcha gonna do?)
Wake #2: 11pm (went back to sleep on her own)
Wake #3: 3am (went back to sleep on her own)