A few weeks ago, a friend invited my son and me over for a playdate with her two-year-old son. The boys played and giggled while we caught up on some much-need girl talk. While we were talking, her son brought over a box of flashcards and motioned for me to go over them with him. We went through a few and I was shocked to discover how well he knew the objects on the cards. He brought a larger deck to his mom and as she flipped through them, he recited the names of the objects. There had to be more than 30 flashcards and he knew them all! I…

It’s never too early to begin baby proofing your home. When our son took his first fall, that was an indicator it was time to prepare our home for a baby on the move. Before, we could sit him in one place and know that he would be there when we returned. But now, there’s no telling what kinds of trouble he could get into—in just moments. The other day, I put him down for a nap in his Pack ’n Play and I went to take a shower. By the time I was finished, he was awake and giggling. So I took a peep at him and he had…

I’m convinced that the idea of losing out on sleep is a scare tactic used to discourage expecting, first-time parents because it sure scared us straight. We’d heard horror stories of babies keeping parents awake all night and we feared that if we didn’t take action, we’d become those sleep-deprived parents. We couldn’t wait until the time came for our son to sleep through the night.  While I was pregnant, I read tons of articles and books on sleep-training techniques. Of the books I read, On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep is the one that I studied and still reference from time to time.…