The Pandas’ Top Ten Crunch-osophies

Welcome to the March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Natural Parenting Top 10 Lists

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared Top 10 lists on a wide variety of aspects of attachment parenting and natural living. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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Having a six month old is an exciting time.

Between deciding on which vaccinations he’ll receive, what foods I should be investigating, whose diapers are the best for his growing bum, and what’s for dinner, I am placed with an integral set of tasks ahead. I have been charged with an increasingly-cognizant being, absorbing information, yet unable to recount. Kola has been unresponsive until this point to my talking, reading, noise-making, singing. I can, however, tell he’s been listening. He smacks his lips and clicks his tongue when he wants something, staring it down and clicking more fervently until I figure it out (usually he wants in his Johnny-Jump-Up… crazy kid).

But now that I know that he’s listening… what should I say? We read books. He loves his bright board books, especially in his mouth. He doesn’t seem to mind as I ramble through short stories and novels by some of my favorites. I think he has “read” more Vonnegut than a typical college graduate. I feel that we need to start moving to relevant information, not just recreational speaking and reading. I know he is listening, and I want something good to say. I’m slightly more crunchy than many of my friends (although am considered somewhat soggy to some of the other crunchmasters I am fortunate enough to know). I think it’s best to start these lessons early in life, and with spring shyly peaking around the corner, what better time is there to reflect on the lessons I’d like to impart…

Home-Made Baby Wipes

At the Panda Residence, we are constantly trying to cut our daily costs through the guise of trying to go green. Case in point: baby wipes. We go through at least 10 a day, usually closer to 15, depending on how many poops we’re blessed with. If you figure that one package of about 70 costs about $3, I’m spending $3-6 dollars per week on wipes. That’s about $20 per month, evened out. Extrapolate out… $240 per year. Zoinks! For less than the cost of a large box of wipes (about $15), we’ve made some home-made wipes and wipes sauce to use at home (we’ll probably stick with disposables while we’re out and about… I hate traveling with Biohazards on deck).