It’s amazing, watching them go from sitting with no assistance to crawling to standing on their own and progressing to walking and aren’t they the most independent little things you could ever want??!! And watching their personalities emerge each day – now there’s the fun part!

So…now that they’ve gained this new found independence, you have to look at safety…..these little tykes will hold onto anything and cruise away! What we have to ensure is that the pieces they hold onto are sturdy pieces that will not topple over on them whilst they are pulling themselves up.  Do a ‘spot’ check around the room, are there any objects in his pathway that he may trip over? After all they don’t quite yet understand the whole ‘space’ thing, in their beautiful eyes nothing’s ever really in their way!

Our little guy also loves to climb….(as if the cruising thing wasn’t giving me a good workout already!) he simply wants to climb on everything in the house…I admit, it’s also cute watching him try So throughout the day what I’ll do is to set up a mini obstacle course, I’ll throw a few pillows down for him to crawl over, some empty boxes for him to crawl through and whatever else I can find around the room that I can improvise.

Now if only I can bottle the energy, innocence and enthusiasm my little tyke has!

Sometimes I think I get more excited than my kids! What do I get excited about? I love seeing my kiddos open up their goodies come Christmas morn’, I love secretly hiding and wrapping the presents, I love to watch the anticipation on their faces as ‘The Big Day’ draws closer, I love talking about Santa and all his helpers (I personally think I’m his biggest helper) I love singing Christmas carols at the tops of our voices while we’re driving along in our minivan, I can go on about what I LOVE about Christmas time… I love telling my kids the story of how Christmas came to be over and over again and why it’s such a special time of year, I thank God everyday that I’ve got my family with me to celebrate the season, I just LOVE the warmth of the season and all that it represents!

I have to say, some of the best tips I get are from my mommy friends.

Here’s a good one….

When packing the diaper bag always carry ziploc sandwich bags with a fabric softener sheet enclosed. I can guaranteed you ‘ll have to change a diaper (or two) while you’re out and about. And if you have to dispose of it in an uncanny place, the scent from the fabric sheet will replace the ” smelly diaper “.

My ‘mommy advice’ goes something like this..Being a parent is a lifelong learning experience, no kid comes with a manual! I always say labour and delivery is the easy part. As a parent it’s so very easy to second guess ourselves, especially if we haven’t done it ‘by the book’ – did I make the right decision? But guess what..if it doesn’t quite turn out the way you thought it would, learn from it and forgive yourself, and know that you made the best decision you could at the moment.

Now if someone could post a tip on keeping your 10-month old from crawling away while changing a poopy bum that would be great!!

That’s why I think it’s such a great idea to sit down and actually chat with other mammas, get to hear all their different experiences, see what worked for them and what didn’t. Whose baby ‘cut’ a tooth by three months and whose baby ‘cut’ that same tooth at six months! Who walked early and who didn’t.

It’s all about what works for YOU!