Happy Anniversary.

P.S. All parents suck. All parents make mistakes. And in my experience, all parents who bother to worry about how much they suck, are actually good parents.

Kids have a way of bringing out all that we need to work on, LOL Sounds like your doin a fine job, just the fact that your asking questions out loud says it all. I worry about the ones who think they have it all figured out.

First, congrats on the sobriety milestone. Told Steve who said ‘cool’ too. He’s deep that way.

Funny, I could have written this part of your post:

I want to ask them, but on the other hand the last thing I want to do is ask them for parenting advice, and yes my reasoning behind that is irrational, I know it. I feel like I cannot ask anyone about parenting because it proves that I am not fit to be a parent, and the minute someone finds that out, someone will be knocking on my door to take my baby away.

I was terrified to ask anyone for advice esp. DS’s bfamily b/c then they would realize they gave their child to an incompetent boob. Thank God they snapped me out of that one, and it became a place we bonded – something we could all relate to. I still call Auntie T at times for a “what the heck is this all about?” session every few months or so. Boys are strange creatures, have I mentioned that before?

Oh, and right now vid in general isn’t good for baby’s visual development skills, but don’t stress it too much. There are parenting Nazis who will tell you no Video until age 3. Yeah, good luck with that. I think like most other things it’s OK in moderation. I will say the Baby Einstein videos are profoundly stupid and have been shown now to actually slow language and social development so skip them (mostly b/c they’re profoundly stupid).

At about 9 mos to 1 year I’d start to really watch content though b/c there’s a ton of credible research on the negative impact of violent programming on children’s development on world view. DS JUST got to see the Star Wars series (we started him properly on Episode IV of course) and he’s almost 6. We noticed at age 2 when he watched violent scenes in movies like A Bug’s Life he would then mimic and become more demonstratively physical – so it’s not just the research I base my thoughts on. Toddler’s brains are not mini-adult brains, their nervous system is very different, among other things.

Loud nosies startling her means she can hear and is perfectly normal. As for content, right now she’s not comprehending much.

Oh and I’m with Larisa (surprise!) in that I still periodically check on DS to make sure he’s breathing. See above for his age. Also, I love to watch him sleep – perfectly at peace, and looks almost exactly like he did when he was a baby. Welcome to the world of Loving a Person More Than You Love Air.

Above all, hang in, and enjoy every moment. Those 5 years my Dad spoke of go by like lightning.

Regina

Always get parenting advice, and then weigh it against your own common sense. Your daughter is probably too young to be scarred by TV just yet, but you will be able to see when the tone of words on TV has an effect on her just like your own voice has an effect on her now. The stuff you worry about turns out to be easy, the real problems are usually where you didn’t expect to find them.

And Yondella — I used to feel the exact same way. Sometimes I stiill do (and I’m well into middle age now). I think a lot of people feel that way. In fact, the older I get, the more disturbed I am to realize the extent to which most people have no idea what they are doing most of the time.

Congrats on a year of sobriety, that is a real accomplishment!

Oh, and we still sleep with a baby monitor to hear him breathe and he’s friggin’ four years old.

No worries.

And congrats again on the sobriety. That is awesome.

(oh, and all those parenting moments are likely to forever having you questionign what sprogs parents did. in my experience, having another child made me think of my daugher lost to adoption more – not less. hugs to you all)

After my first kid was born I sometimes had this irrational thought that I was going to get “found out.” I was going to be arrested for impersonating an adult, have the job, husband, house, and kid all taken away and be sent home where I was to be grounded.

Happy anniversary.