SHE DID IT

Harlyn is the most strong willed baby I know. At fifteen months and with legs that make her hover over most other kids her age, can I hardly call her a baby anymore?

Doesn't matter, I will anyway.

My baby, she officially did it, she has stopped sucking on her fingers and has refrained from hair pulling. Two struggles I foolishly feared would last clear through her high school days. But not this girl, she's too determined for that.

If your child suffers from either of these habits, I hope our methods can help you, help your child through this phase...

We helped her stop finger sucking by wrapping her finger in medical tape during the day, and put her in a night shirt with the sleeves stitched closed while she slept. She made quite the effort in removing the tape all throughout the day, but I was persistent and would reapply it continuously until she understood that I too meant business. After a week of that game, she hardly noticed the tape there at all. And a few times, when I forgot to tape her fingers, I noticed as she would pull her hands to her mouth and decide against it... she truly is my strong willed baby.

As for the night, I figured breaking the sleeping habit would be the hardest because she finger sucked as a form of self soothing, especially when she was tired. I foresaw her waking up through the night with the inability to put herself back to sleep, but happily that wasn't the case. The first night she was obviously upset and confused, but fell asleep after only 15 minutes of tears and didn't wake up until morning. And it only got easier from there.

Because finger sucking and hair pulling went hand in hand for her, as one habit was broken the other slowly went away as well. I haven't even seen her attempt to pull her hair even though it has slowly begun to grow in.

 It has been about 3 months since we decided to shave her head, and I can't believe the progress she has made. I may be hasty in proclaiming this habit of hers broken, but truly it doesn't matter. For her, right now, within this moment of her life, she did it. She found other ways in which to express herself, to sooth herself and to communicate her emotions to us. Hasty or not, I am incredibly impressed by her.

Bald or fuzzy haired, she is our beautiful little baby with a will that makes us proud.

A LESSON FROM KHAGE....

Khage: Me and sister and Daddy have popped boobs.

Me: What?

Khage: Me and sister have popped boobs and so does Daddy.

Me: Oh ya?

Khage: Ya, and you have blown up boobs.

Me: Well, okay then.

Nice to know that, to him, were all just walking around with balloon boobs on our fronts. All at various degrees of inflation of course.

IGNORE THIS

No seriously, you should ignore this.

This isn't one of those don't look, even though I am secretly hoping you'll be intrigued enough to look moments. I really think you should skip this one... unless your name is Harlyn.

After all this post is about her first birthday, the same one that happened over TWO months ago.

Told you. You should have ignored it. But now I am hoping that since you came this far, you might as well take a little walk with me. Oh how fun memory strolling can be... especially when its long over due.

We don't have to hold hands, but it could be nice.

Harlyn started off less then pleased to partake in a day dedicated solely to her. My kids are funny like that, they never want the spotlight.

They get that from their Daddy.

She loosened up once the food came out... that she gets from me. We served hot dogs, with plenty of fixins to create delicious dogs from Chicago style to chili cheese, tator tots, pasta salad and coleslaw. Nana baked her beautiful lemon cakes, we decorated with cheery hues of yellow and pink, and I displayed her monthly pictures which only made me want to cry. We planned pot painting and flower potting for her kiddie guests, and it became pretty necessary to hose them off in the sprinklers soon after.

She was gifted with everything a little girl could ever hope for: a purse, baby pram, cradle, tea set, clothes, a doll house, and books. She was spoiled rotten and I think she knows it. Her Tete Cole even made her a dress, just about the cutest thing you will ever see. We are still waiting for this scrawny chick to grow into it, but beware when she does she will be modeling it for all to see.

In true girl fashion, she didn't dive into her cake. She sampled a few licks before she realized it was sugary goodness and then all refinement went out the door. Nothing the sprinklers couldn't handle.

It was a wonderful day, celebrating our little sunshine with a bunch of family and a whole lotta love.