id, ezzo, and superego

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!! In honor of Daddy's birthday, Rachel woke up this morning with a dry diaper! Around 7:30am, Rachel and I woke Jarrad up with singing and dancing to the Happy Birthday song. He half-grinned (since he isn't a morning person) and then gave Rachel a nice tickle and a hug and kiss. We are so thankful to have kept Jarrad around another year! Praise God!

Rachel woke up in the early hours again, around 4:30am. She was wimpering quietly, but, because of the reading I had done last night (see Life Lesson below), I wanted to hold her and comfort her. So we had a repeat of yesterday morning, and she woke up for the day around 7:15am. I didn't mind.

PopPop and Uma took us all out for steak for Jarrad's birthday. Aunt Mamber got here just a few minutes before PopPop and Uma, and Rachel was glad to see her again. When PopPop wanted to hold Rachel, she clung onto Aunt Mamber! It's fun to watch her start to recognize people and show preferences, but I hope she doesn't become too dramatic in the future.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	5	4
poop	1	0

We were way off with pottying today. I don't know what made it happen, but we used FOUR diapers. I'm sure we'll be back on track after the crazy weekend we've got ahead of us!

	AM nap	PM nap
duration	1:20	1:10
diaper	dry	dry

cute moment

Kiss kiss!

non-toy toy of the day

Today Rachel played with a little circular piece of fabric padding I left laying around her room. She likes to put it in her mouth and carry it around while she plays with other things.

life lesson

Last night I did a lot of reading online (I think it's really weird that I can't get into reading books, but I will read and read and read online until the proverbial midnight oil runs dry). I was shopping around at The EC Store when I ran across a link with the caption, "Would you believe The EC Store was created by a former 'Ezzo family?' Here's the story of the Halletts' journey into (and out of) the Babywise lie." Huh?

Let me back up. When I was pregnant, many people we respect kindly suggested we should read the book On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo. They all proclaimed that their babies slept through the night at 8 weeks (or thereabouts). So we innocently purchased the book and read it. I wasn't entirely happy with Ezzo's tone in the book. His writing style is condescending and downright arrogant at times. His ideas don't seem well-researched, and he doesn't allow much breathing room for special cases, like colic or acid reflux. Nevertheless, it came highly recommended, and I catalogued the information for use after Rachel was born. After all, I reasoned, I am an unusually skeptical, critical person, so I am probably being suspicious just for the sake of suspicion. Once our bundle of joy came, I used the book many times as a reference, and the approach fit fine, with some personal modifications, because Rachel was an easy baby. But after about 3 months, I abandoned the book completely and opted not to buy Book Two. Many times I have regretted reading the book at all. I felt its ideas had replaced my own God-given instincts in some cases. I had plenty of experience with babies, and I think it would have been loads more interesting to figure it out for myself, seeking help only for mysterious problem areas like breastfeeding and sleep organization. Babywise has an entire schedule laid out for me, as if I can't think for myself. And the first time I tried to let Rachel "cry it out" at three weeks old (much later than the book recommends), I was devasted and gave in quickly. I didn't try that again until Rachel was about 6 months old, since every other source I'd read stated plainly that you cannot spoil a baby before 6 months.

Suffice it to say, I wasn't sold on the method, but I didn't research it either, since it was recommended by so many people we respect. I eventually just left it behind, vowing not to read too many parenting books that might cloud my judgement and what I know to be true, and, most importantly, what the Bible teaches (what other parenting book do I need, after all?).

So I read this story, very lovingly and humbly written by a mom, about her family who was completely sold on Babywise. She truly grieved the loss of her faith in the method, but feels the need to inform others. I perused the entire website, including the Timeline of Controversy, which turned out to be very enlightening.

It is unbelievable to me that people will use the Lord's name to promote themselves. I pray that people who don't know God will not judge Him, the perfect provider, the Almighty Creator, based on what sinful people do in His name (including me, because I KNOW I am not a perfect representative of my God).