She and I agree on most things and rarely have conflict. It’s not what I expected of my first teenager, and I’m so so grateful! I keep expecting things to change any day, but we really do just get along. We like most of the same things and can basically read each others’ minds. She wants a car and even knows exactly which car (a very old and “cute” Honda CRV), but she’s not ready to get her driver’s license or even start driver’s training! Her favorite movie is 50 First Dates (mine too!), and her favorite TV show is Parks and Recreation. She doesn’t like watching sad or scary shows or movies EVER.

Ava still does not like sleep, and often struggles to get enough although she doesn’t fight about it. She loves to run, but has been struggling with a very slow healing injury sustained halfway through the cross country season and had to miss the entire track and field season. She is very committed to healing and does her physical therapy regularly. She hopes to be all better for the start of the next cross country season. Long distance is definitely her thing, and she loves being part of a team. Her favorite foods are frozen blueberries and sushi.

School is a place she doesn’t hate to be, although she does sometimes get tired of the work and can get easily annoyed by her peers after a long week. A full day of school definitely drains the small amount of extrovert energy she has, and she loves her alone time to recover. She’s an excellent student. I never have to tell her to do her homework or study, and she has been getting all A’s in high school so far. I think she’s finally starting to believe that she’s a good writer and enjoying that. She has a WONDERFUL English teacher who is giving her lots of inspiration and confidence.

Ava is an animal lover, an artist, and a really good person. I’m so lucky to have her as my daughter!

The post Sweet 16 appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

Now that he’s 13, he has officially gotten taller than me. I’m now the shortest human in my house, and that is a very strange experience. I still sometimes offer to reach for something on a high shelf for one of my kids before realizing that I should be asking them for help!

Some of the typically teen things I’m seeing from Daniel…

• He eats way more than I can keep up with.
• He has been going through a “workout” phase where he wants to do lots of pushups, pullups, and situps and spend a lot of time at the gym.
• He has a particular hairstyle that he maintains with a lot of swooping and swishing, crunching and curling.
• He is outgrowing shoes every few months, and has much bigger feet than I do now.
• He is definitely rebellious and disobedient. He does NOT like to be told what to do. Unfortunately, I love to tell him what to do, so that’s kind of an issue.
• He wants to constantly wear ear buds and listen to music or podcasts in them.
• He is way too interested in video and computer games.
  

However, here are some teen things he has NOT succumbed to……

• He does not smell bad.
• He does not have a messy room. In fact, he has recently cleaned it out so well that it’s nearly empty!
• He does not have to be told to do his homework and is making really good grades.
• He LOVES puppies and kittens and is so helpful when we volunteer with our favorite animal sanctuary.
• He does not like to hang out alone in his room and is constantly finding someone to talk to.
• He is not good at texting or calling people and often misplaces his phone.
• He’s really good at going to sleep at night and still loves to wake up early!
• He’s a great cook, and will do it pretty much anytime! He even perfected a fried chicken recipe for his favorite teacher.

Daniel is extremely intelligent, sometimes too much for his own good. He loves to argue, often WAY too much for his own good. He loves computer keyboards and mice. He has used his money to purchase MANY of these for himself just so he can hear them make clicking sounds! He does a great job training our dog, Angel, and can spend hours with her showing her new tricks or obstacle courses. He still adores his big sister, although he will NEVER admit it. He also tries very hard to annoy her, and is most always successful. We can now watch some of my favorite movies and TV shows together, and I love that he actually likes my favorites! He’s into action/adventure movies and anime, but he also loves rom coms and comedies of all kinds. He can get very emotional and enjoy dramas too. He loves to pose and make funny and dramatic faces. He just learned how to whistle and does it CONSTANTLY!! His favorite shoes are Jordans and he has become ultra fixated on getting these and keeping them looking white and new. He is still playing soccer, although he’s wanting to play basketball now.

He’s been at a new school which is VERY academically rigorous and is doing an AMAZING job of keeping up with his work on his own and is making excellent grades. Even though he’s truly enjoying his teachers and some things about the school, he really wants to go to a school with more kids and lots of sports, so we’re working on that for next year! My hope is that Daniel’s extreme independence, passion, and debate skills will serve him well someday. Until then, I’m hanging on tight and trying to enjoy the wild ride!

Parenting is teaching me that we never know how things will turn out. We think we understand how to be a good parent, but it’s really more about how to be a good parent FOR THIS PARTICULAR KID. Daniel and I are not alike, and I have trouble understanding him. My daughter is the opposite. We are so alike that I sometimes have to stop and remember that we are not the exact same person. With Daniel, I have to stop so often and recognize that I just don’t get it. His motivations and reactions are SO different from mine. We have to communicate carefully, and I often have to backtrack and try something different. But I never get bored, and I’m grateful to be learning and developing new skills everyday. I am so proud of this kid and look forward to what comes next.

The post Another teen appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

She has some great friends, which I am so very thankful for. Our kids get to an age when they want to choose their own friends. That age came A LONG TIME AGO for my kids. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath waiting for one or both of them to choose friends that I don’t like. Ava is wise and thoughtful about who she spends time with. She might initially be attracted to a kid for the wrong reasons, but is quick to figure out who her real friends are. I tend to like them a lot! She is very wise and mature in so many ways, but she is also still playful and silly. Ava complains that kids at lunch spend too much time just talking or looking at their phones. She would honestly love to play tag or frisbee or DO something!

She loves to shop for clothes and knick-knacks more than just about anything. She loves thrift stores and the mall alike. We sometimes disagree about how much shopping is too much, but otherwise we get along pretty well. I’m thrilled that I still truly enjoy spending time with my teenager. It’s not just because she’s my kid and I’m supposed to. She’s just plain delightful. I’m such a lucky mom.

We finished watching The Office together and she’s a super fan. She even listens fanatically to a podcast about the show! Our new favorite show is Parks and Recreation. We really do like so many of the same things. We find plenty to talk about, and bedtime snuggles are still a MUST.

She cleans her own room, does her own laundry, and is now even doing the yardwork! She is a great babysitter and petsitter to many of our neighbors, and has even taken a job as an assistant at the martial arts camps hosted by her martial arts school. She will be starting a real steady job this summer working at a dog kennel. She is still very much a dog lover although she’s not as obsessed as she used to be.

She’s so funny although she doesn’t believe me, and she’s still a great writer. She still loves to paint and create art, and I’m hoping she’ll finally get to take a real art class at her new high school. Her school is wonderful. She has made a lot of good friends, and really enjoys so many of her classes and teachers. This is her first year to have grades. At first, she thought it was really fun and exciting, but the excitement is starting to wear off. Even so, she may finish the year with straight A’s! She’s hoping to join the cross country running team next year. We found out recently that Ava has scoliosis, but as long as some physical therapy can help making running safe and comfortable for her, she’ll be able to do that.

She’s wonderful, but not perfect! She can be a grumpy teen big sister and gets easily annoyed with her little brother. She can definitely be spacey sometimes, forgetting about plans or where she put something. Most of the time, she loses things only to recover them just a little later.

My wish for her is that she is able to see how lovely and strong and magnetic she is. I love how thoughtful and considerate she is, but I also want her to know that people like her just the way she is, and that she should always be herself without second guessing. I don’t miss being a teenager because of all of the self-doubt and insecurity. I can’t decide if I’d like to keep her close just the way she is right now, or if I can’t wait to see what she will do next! I guess parenting doesn’t change all that much as they age after all.

The post Ava is 15 appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

I have a teen and a pre-teen and I still sometimes catch myself thinking about how to get childcare for an event or wondering if I need to start their laundry even though they do their own now! My littlest baby turned 12 last week, and it feels surreal. Twelve is a big milestone! No more ordering from kids menus, no more free admission anywhere, no more kids shoes sizes and prices (for mine at least!), and a lot of times no more kid-like behavior. This is true for my Daniel in a lot of ways. He doesn’t want to watch any movies that are rated G or even PG. He wants to be able to go places without me, take on more responsibilities and privileges, not be told what to do. He’s not quite as snuggly as he used to be, and he is definitely too large to carry or hold in my lap. However, he does still want hugs, and wants me to read to him, and sing him a song when I tuck him in at night. He begs for all of us to read a story together like we used to, and he still likes to play with Legos. He is still EXTREMELY chatty and wants to tell me everything about everything every day. He still doesn’t care much about his clothes, although his hair is as important as it always has been. He still loves to play games…..anything with a ball, and recently decided to learn to play sand volleyball on our beach vacation. He got to celebrate this birthday on an island in the Caribbean this year. He was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the usual kind of birthday celebration, but then he embraced it, because it meant he got to be with his extended family AND do all the “extras” that he’d been hoping to do. He got pulled behind a boat on a tube for the first time. He got to participate in an escape room. He got to make everyone play putt-putt golf with him AND go to a water park.

His favorite interests right now are soccer, making things out of leather, his knife collection, and playing games on his computer. He purchased the computer himself and would like to be playing on it a lot more than he is allowed. He got a phone for his birthday. It’s not a smart phone, but still a great tool for communication, so he is now spending a significant amount of time texting and talking to his friends and family. This kid is still tireless and strong and adventurous and stubborn. He’s an entrepreneur, although his summer business making breakfast tacos for neighbors stressed him out so much that he decided not to do that again. He is also still so sweet when he wants to be. We watched Groundhog Day recently and he got so emotional about the homeless man who dies in the movie. He’ll think about it sometimes still and burst into tears about the unfairness of it. He recently realized that our little parrot, Petrie, is getting old and we may not have a lot of time left with him. There were a lot of tears after that realization, followed by a very urgent need to make plans. He decided that the birdie should have more time everyday doing things he enjoys. He made a schedule so that everyone in the family can participate and take a shift giving Petrie a great life. He has been sticking to his schedule and those two are closer than ever. I often find them snuggling on the couch or playing Petrie’s favorite puzzle game. He has a lot of determination, and I have no doubt he will do whatever he decides he wants to do.

The post Daniel is 12 appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

So, when she said she wanted to take her best friend to the Museum of Ice Cream and then do some shopping for her birthday, I cringed a lot on the inside, and then realized I could and should let them do this by themselves! My mom and I took them through the Museum of Ice Cream so we could take lots of pictures (a very surreal experience), and then set them loose at an outdoor mall with some money to shop. While they did that, we went into a couple of stores until I reached my max (probably about an hour), and then we sat at an outdoor restaurant and had great food and great coffee. That is now how I prefer to supervise a kids’ birthday party. There are perks to having teenagers.

She also got to take a couple of school friends to get bubble tea, french fries, and hangout after school on her actual birthday to celebrate, and we went to a drive-in movie to see Grease as a family. I think this was her perfect birthday.

Ava is now officially taller than I am, and borrows my shoes and even my clothes sometimes although she’s a lot narrower than I am. Her hair texture has changed, and she decided to try a curly haircut after some convincing from me. Now she loves to experiment with her new curls, and with makeup and clothes. I remember doing this exact same thing. It’s so strange to be witnessing it from this side.

She loves to have alone time after school. She tends to be pretty fried after socializing all day and cherishes this quiet time to unwind. She has many friends at school and gets along with everyone, but unfortunately the school itself has been very uninspiring and I hear daily complaints about something or another. She has applied to a high school for next year that she is very excited about. She found out on her birthday that she AND her best friend were accepted. It’s hard to believe that my kid will be in high school next school year, but the time does just keep passing.

She still loves her puppies, especially her little soulmate, Bear. They both spin circles and light up when they see each other after a long day at school.

She has a dumb phone and is using it a lot more to chat and text with friends. I know she would rather have a smart phone like most of her friends do, but she NEVER pushes or complains about it. That is amazing to me. I think she either recognizes that phone obsessions don’t look good on her friends, or she just really doesn’t care all that much.

She still spends so much of her free time drawing or painting and is really producing some beautiful work. She got an old camcorder for Christmas and has been making short recordings of all kinds of things. I’m not sure what the plan is for these, but she’s very committed to it. The school she hopes to go to next year will finally provide some art instruction and plenty of outlets for her creativity.

She says that her friends at school have nicknamed her “Mom” or “The Therapist Friend”. She can’t quite decide whether she likes this role, but I tell her it’s because they trust her and she makes them feel nurtured and valued. It’s a high compliment, and I agree. I actually asked her to help me make a tricky decision recently just to see what she would say, and she gave me EXCELLENT advice! It was hard (sort of) to tell her that HER mom also had the nickname “Mom” in high school!

She has a wicked sense of humor and we’ve been watching some of my favorite older TV comedies together. We started with The Office and are now laughing together over Kimmy Schmidt. We love to sneak into the TV room after her brother goes to bed and giggle on the couch together. She still gives me great big hugs every night in her bed before I say good night.

I’m so happy to have such a smart and centered 14 year old daughter. She helps me remember to find my own balance and makes me so proud. Happy birthday, Ava!

The post Happy 14th Birthday, Ava appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

He was so happy that his best friend, Milo, was able to come this time. Because of COVID, he only saw his best friend twice last year. It was so hard, but I was very proud of him for moving on and making the best of things. Overall, he has been able to do this and I’m so glad. I know that not all kids were adjusting quite as well. He’s even made some comments that he doesn’t remember much what things were like before COVID. That seems a little sad, but I know that a lot of kids are likely going to have that experience. It might make things a little easier, I suppose. They can stop resenting the inability to do things they were able to do before. We’ve all probably learned to do with a little less, and I can’t think that’s altogether a bad thing.

Daniel has been at a new school for a couple of months which is a relief to both of us. Homeschool was something I’m glad we tried, and even more glad we finished. He doesn’t like taking orders, but I really like giving them. He’s still not a very cooperative kid and has VERY strong ideas about how things should be done, and he is also still funny and sweet and getting better at noticing when other people are upset.

He’s still very noisy and active and sometimes rude, but I’m starting to see a little more maturity. His new school is great. It’s a very small community with a lot of focus on tolerance and kindness. He’s discovered that he likes ALL of the kids in his class, even the girls. This is surprising and a big relief! He used to say that he didn’t play with girls because they didn’t like playing the things he played and that generally they didn’t like him. I could see that, although there were a couple of girls over the years that he was able to make good connections with. At his old school though, he tended to be a little intense and rough, and most of the girls usually avoided him. The fact that he’s friends with all the kids in his class is a BIG positive sign of maturity. He has also made some younger friends, and even a younger friend with a pretty severe speech impediment. I love that he barely notices it. Mostly, he sees that this kid is nice and fun and they have a lot in common. He would never make fun of him, and he usually waits very patiently while he finishes speaking.

One of my favorite things about Daniel is that he plays so well with younger kids, even VERY tiny ones. They love him, and he is so good at doing just the right things with them. His younger cousins are a great example. He’ll push his 4 year old cousin around in a little plastic car for SO long, or push a ball across the floor, or do anything he wants to do……..very patiently.

He very easily does his homework and even seems to enjoy it sometimes. He looks forward to going to school every day.

He’s even more excited about wilderness school now too. He’s working on getting a knife certification and a saw certification. He spends hours carving in his free time at home and is getting better at building fires without using a lighter or a match. He takes a lot of pride in these accomplishments and looks forward to his weekly wilderness school days.

He’s still playing a lot of soccer although he seems a little less enthralled. I think it’s getting a little too competitive and lot less fun, although he does take a lot of pride in being able to teach kids at school how to play during their free time. He takes his ball with him to school most days.

He has now decided to trust Petrie completely and they hang out together often, snuggling and getting treats and talking. It’s so sweet and I love how gently and correctly he handles him. He even chose to take him to school when he had a turn to “show and share”. He took him around to meet all the kids and taught them how to give him a treat and ask him to talk.

I’m able to trust him to be on his own a little more now, and even though I’m working from home a lot and we still spend much of that time together, he’s managing to limit interruptions and avoid doing things he knows he shouldn’t do more.

He still eats just about anything and it seems like the amount has nearly doubled. I feel pretty sure that next year’s post will include something about a big growth spurt!

I love this sweet kid. Happy birthday, Daniel! Life is never dull with you. You challenge and delight me every day.

The post And Now 11 appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

Big physical changes and emotional upheavals are very real entering the teen years, but again, she’s handling things very gracefully.

For her birthday, she decided to spend some special time with her two best friends. With our next door neighbor, the plan was to be allowed to bake apple pies and eat them! They made beautiful pies and had a great time.

With her best friend, she asked to spend a day running around town having a photo shoot. We bought matching pink hoodies and planned out all the stops. We got pictures at Mayfield Park with the gardens and peacocks, pictures with the Mount Bonnell views in the background, great shots in front of some favorite murals and the big ATX sculpture downtown. We had bubble tea along the way and finished with sushi for dinner.

She said these were better and more meaningful celebrations than she might have had with her typical non-COVID birthday parties. I’m so proud of this beautiful girl. She has such a big heart for animals still and such wisdom for her age. She is able to understand SO much more about human behavior, emotions, and relationships than I did at her age. She’s definitely finding a lot of interest in the teen things too and would love to spend a lot more time shopping and talking about hair and makeup than I’m willing to do. She spends a lot of time drawing and painting, and I don’t think it’s just a passing phase anymore. Without any training or education, she is learning to make beautiful art through dedication and a BIG commitment of time. She loves to listen to podcasts now, and I think she regrets making fun of me for talking about podcast episodes so much. She’s messy, but appropriately apologetic about it. She loves to eat good food and still likes the healthy stuff. She’s about to be taller than me……sniff.

I love you, Ava. Happy Birthday!

The post Time for a Teen appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

He was very sad that his best friend wasn’t able to come at all. His family had recently gone through a COVID scare and they were buckling down for awhile.

First, his neighbor friend came over and they spent time outside playing in the treehouse and in the street. We actually managed to set up his favorite video games with a big screen in the treehouse so they could play! He planned a favorite lunch to share with that friend and got to have a candle on a cupcake to blow out with him.

The first friend left after a couple of hours, and another friend came over. They spent time playing video games and jumping on the trampoline. We had a buffet of some favorite snack foods and another candle on another cupcake to share with this friend.

His final friend came over after the second friend left and they were able to have LOTS of outside dark video game time, a dinner of Daniel’s favorite seafoods including mussels and oysters, and ANOTHER candle on another cupcake to blow out.

This time has not been easy. Raising kids during a pandemic can be tricky and often a little sad, but we’ve been so fortunate and are trying to benefit from the positive side of things. Daniel and I are doing homeschool which had been the plan even before we knew about COVID and in some ways our relationship is improving. He doesn’t complain much about doing math even though we are struggling to finish all of the school work I hope for.

With so many free and easy mornings, he has become one of our family chefs and is learning all the ways to make eggs. He is making breakfast for us most mornings now and is really good at it! He even cleans up after himself.

He is getting more responsibilities around the house which he does PLENTY of very loud complaining about, but often completes the tasks well.

He gets to see kids a few times a week at wilderness school and soccer practices which has been SO appreciated. The outdoor time and getting to be a kid with other kids is vital for this little boy. He is such an extrovert and thrives when he gets to be around other kids more.

He is also improving at getting on his sister’s nerves, or maybe it’s just more obvious because we are all home together so much.

He loves his puppies and is working on training Angel to jump through hoops and do obstacle courses. He is also starting to trust our parrot, Petrie, a little more and is developing a bond by spending so much time in Petrie’s space playing legos and listening to audiobooks. He has also discovered podcasts and will sometimes listen for HOURS!

He is reading the Harry Potter books and we have agreed to watch the movies together as a family as he finishes the books. He reads SO MUCH now and is really enjoying it.

He is so good at soccer and loves playing it. He wishes he could go to practice every day. He also has been learning a lot more this year at wilderness school and will talk endlessly about his instructors there and how to carve sticks, identify edible plants, make fires, and basically survive in the wilderness. We did a short homeschool theme piece about survivalists which led us into a conversation about the cold war and bunkers and he got SO into it. He’s pretty sure he could survive in the wilderness alone if he needed to. We even made our own toilet paper to see if we could. That was right after there were a lot of toilet paper shortages due to COVID. The toilet paper did not look like something anyone would actually want to wipe with, but it was fun making it!

He is getting so big, but can still give the best snuggles and hugs.

He turned an old kitchen table into a ping pong table and begs us to play constantly. He’s actually getting pretty good at it. He’s still hell on wheels, preferring those to feet a lot of the time….hoverboards, rollerblades, skateboards……

He is a good friend, athlete, foodie, kitchen helper, and caretaker. I’m so proud of his strengths and accomplishments and am looking forward to watching him grow more every year!

The post Daniel is 10. Double digits BABY! appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

So what is she like?

Did all of my worst fears about preteens suddenly come true? Is she rude and demanding?  Or distant and shallow?  Has she started using bad language and obsessing about her looks?  No! And I’m starting to realize that many of the preteen children I’m getting to hang out with are actually pretty cool too……go figure.  Somehow, I have a sweet girl child who loves to craft and create beautiful things with pencils and markers.  She IS obsessed with her new Cricut machine (click here if you don’t know what that is). It’s a pretty amazing tool.

She spends hours making beautiful stickers and t-shirts to give away and keep.  When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted me to take her to the craft store and let her ask for anything she wanted.  She didn’t say she wanted me to buy her anything she asked for.  She just wanted to be allowed to ask.  Here’s why that could make sense.

Normally when we shop, I have a very specific list with clear expectations about what we’re buying, and my children are not allowed to ask for anything else.  Of course they do, but the policy at the store with mom is that if you ask, it’s an “automatic NO”.  So, she wanted to be able to ask for everything she wanted and have a budget for some YESSES.  We spent almost 2 hours at the craft store buying everything from Cricut accessories and paper, to tiny glass bottles and jars for decorating and yarn for knitting. It’s was exhausting, but she was delighted and came home with the cutest assortment of stuff I could imagine for a 12 year old girl. 

It’s all about the puppies

She has a very severe obsession with dogs.  Her little soulmate is Bear, a tiny chihuahua who shakes all time, is afraid of nearly everything, and LOVES Ava.  She spends a good amount of her own money on outfits and accessories for him.  He has an assortment of winter coats and sweaters, costumes, bowties and onesies.  She asks next for a chest of drawers for storing all of his stuff. She also has many doggie t-shirts, stickers, earrings, magnets, calendars, etc. It’s adorable.  

Ava writes beautifully.  She also loves Shakespeare now that she will be playing Celia in her school’s performance of As You Like It.  She hates to brush her hair, but loves to wear earrings shaped like dog paws because she just got her ears RE-pierced.  For exercise she climbs, getting her workouts in at the climbing gym surrounded by her dad and a bunch of serious climber men WAY older than she is.  She has lots of good friends and ONE very super special friend who she misses now that they go to different schools but still sees AT LEAST once a week.

Ava gets really annoyed with her brother about almost everything, but sometimes remembers to kiss him goodnight very sweetly.  She wants to start babysitting but would much rather have lots of pet-sitting jobs.  She loves to bake, probably because it means that she gets to eat some sugar.  Her sugar obsession is severe.  Otherwise she makes pretty healthy food choices, preferring salads to pizza and sushi to chicken nuggets.  At her request, we went to a revolving sushi bar for her birthday dinner.

And on top of it all…..

She’s a good student, although she claims to hate math and lectures.  She loved reading until she finished the Harry Potter books.  After that, she decided that all other books were ruined for her and she gave up reading for many months.  I just recently found a series of books “For People who Loved Harry Potter”, and now she loves reading again and begs for quiet moments with her book.  She guards her room more carefully now, and sometimes locks her brother out, although he’s figured out how to get the lock open.  To solve this problem, her best friend bought her a surveillance camera for her birthday!  Now her entryway is well monitored. 

I love this big kid that I have.  I can just barely rest my chin on the top of her head when she gives me one of her big amazing hugs.  She does still ask for lots of hugs, and she loves to snuggle.  She’s strong, sensitive, compassionate, kind, has such a strong and secure sense of self, and has such a calming and peaceful energy that she attracts many small children to her fan club.  I am so honored to spend life with this person.  Keep being amazing, my sweet Ava. 

The post Ava’s Birthday Blog appeared first on Joyful Beginnings.

How can it make our lives better?

It nourishes our babies, it feeds the bacteria and flora in their intestines so that they can be healthy, it gives them immune system support, comfort, and customized nutrition.  I’ve nursed my babies through sleeplessness, pain, discomfort, sickness, vaccines and plane rides.  The boob was the ultimate fixer of all things in my house.  Of course we can find lots of other ways to fix and comfort our children, but there’s more……

When my oldest was about 4 years old, she had a very strange wart-like bump on the side of her hip. It got really big, then started spreading. When I finally took her to the pediatrician, there were dozens of tiny wart bumps on her hip, bottom, and the side of her upper leg.  Of course I looked it up on Google first.  I wasn’t worried that it was something dangerous, but I was hoping for some insight for how to get rid of it.  The doctor said the same thing I had read.  You just have to wait and let it run its course. There were new bumps every day for weeks. They looked yucky and were a little itchy, but otherwise harmless.

And then what?

I did finally read a fringe article that suggested putting breast milk on them.  So, since I was still nursing my second child, I had some to experiment with.  I squirted some onto a cotton pad and wiped it onto the bumps.  The next day they seemed like they might be a little better, but I definitely couldn’t be sure.  I did it again.  The next day they were noticeably better, and within a few more days there were hardly any bumps left.  I told the pediatrician about it when she asked at her next checkup.  I hesitantly admitted to her what I did, and she actually said that she wasn’t surprised!

That’s my best breast milk story.  In addition, I’ve heard:

• it can cure pinkeye and ear infections
• it can soothe sore throats and insect bites
• it can heal diaper rash, other skin irritations, and acne
• it can prevent or fight infections in cuts and scrapes
• it creates hydrogen peroxide when mixed with baby saliva
• it changes it’s formula to first feed and help colonize baby’s gut flora
• it adjusts it’s formula to meet baby’s most current growth and health needs
• and more……

Amazing!  Scientists are studying breast milk in labs.  Unfortunately it’s not getting as much attention as tomatoes or erectile dysfunction according to Katie Hinde, a leading lactation researcher.  I guess it’s not a super lucrative endeavor to study breast milk.  Watch her TED talk HERE.  They are discovering new amazing attributes of and uses for human breast milk all the time.

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