Schedule? What Schedule?

With all the moving about, scheduling Chase's naps, meal times, bottles, etc. has been literally impossible. I've been forced to trade in my highlighters and Franklin Covey for what I like to call, a relaxed parenting style (I can hear all those who know me laughing - because my relaxed style of parenting is anything but relaxed).

Today, I dug out Ruth Yaron's "Super Baby Food" book - one might call it a little tradition. At the beginning of each new month, I open it up and read a couple pages to get a sense of where I'm succeeding and where I'm failing miserably.

Okay, so what am I, the relaxed parent, focusing on this month?

1) Food: I can introduce tofu, watermelon, apricot, okra, tahini, bewer's yeast, powdered kelp, natural cheeses, dessicated liver (yuck!). It is also recommended to start introducing meat, but Ruth doesn't believe in that, so she poo-poos it and gives vegetarian options to create complete proteins (given we're moving to China, I'm thinking that's not such a bad idea). Ruth also tells me it's time to print out the food worksheet (oh great, something else to become obsessive about). I'm also supposed to start offering dairy (yogurt or cottage cheese). And I'm supposed to start weaning Chase to a cup. Okay, I reassure myself, all of that is totally doable.

2) A schedule: It would be great to put Chase on a schedule (so she naps, eats and plays at the same time each day). All the books tell you to do this from the start. But the books also tell you that each child is different, and Chase never really liked the whole schedule-thing, and unfortunately our lifestyle hasn't really allowed for her to ever get into schedule. Which brings me to have a "my daughter is going to need therapy when she is older" moment.

3) Brushing teeth: I went out and bought a baby tooth brush and baby tooth paste. Should be a piece of cake, right?

4) Teething: This is so hard. It is way harder than people make it out to be. Chase wakes up all the time, in the middle of the night. She used to be able to fall back to sleep, but now she needs to be cradled and rocked and loved. And she's getting heavier. She needs to be able to put herself to sleep by herself, but I can't leave her there screaming in pain. I'm at a loss. I'm going to keep rocking her to bed. I'll probably pay for it dearly - but I'll worry about that later.

5) Crawling: She's almost there. She is SO close.

6) Walking: She loves it. She is also getting good at kicking an tiny, soccer ball I bought her.

7) Talking: I predict she will start talking in sentences this month :)

8) Swimming: She loves this too. Gotta keep it up.

9) Socializing: I've got to find some kids for her to play with!

I'm pretty close to stopping moms on the streets of Singapore ... "you don't know me, but..."