Deja vu

Apart from the fact that she's more chilled than her big sister was, young Emily is in many ways very similar to the way Isabel was as a baby. She has the same little facial expressions and gestures, and I sometimes feel like I'm reliving part of of my life over again. It's interesting, because there are some things I'm deliberately doing differently this time around. I think I made Isabel more clingy than she might naturally have been because my tendency when she cried was to try to stop it, usually by carrying her around. With Emily, I'm really trying to understand the reason behind her crying, and to solve the problem rather than just alleviating the symptoms. To date, there's only two occasions which really make her cry - when she's hungry or tired. If I think she's due a nap I leave her to grizzle for a few minutes in the Moses basket which I don't think I ever did with Isabel, so hopefully she will be a very good sleeper and able to settle herself easily as she grows older. Isabel is very good now at going to sleep, but we did have to go through a period of putting her down and letting her cry at night for what seemed like weeks (but was probably only a few minutes each night for a couple of weeks!) - am aiming to avoid that this time.

There are also some things I'm deliberately doing the same - for example, I just signed us up to do a baby massage class. It's a five week course starting next month, and I'm hoping to do it with some of the NCT girls, all of whom have now had their babies (leading Isabel to describe them as the pregnant ladies who aren't). Best of all, it's free, under a UK scheme called Surestart which more people should take advantage of - lots of activities for people with babies and toddlers. Must take advantage of these things before it's time to go back to work. Since Emily's one month old already, and I only have six months off, I can already feel the time slipping away...