Budget Thursday: Breeze Sea Flip Flops 

Starting solids advice needed. I’m going crazy looking at all the conflicting stuff online and am not personally interested in being super hard-core about baby led weaning or anything like that.

My baby turned 6 months this week. We’ve been experimenting with solids for about a month and she’s very much still in the phase where she’ll eat a little but can’t possibly get much nutrition from it. Finger foods mostly go on the floor though she does bring them to her mouth as well. We’ve done bamba, sweet potato, avocado, bananas, baby oatmeal (with and without almond butter), strawberry puree, and apple sauce.

So I’m thinking about how to get the rest of the major allergens in given that she still doesn’t really like solid foods or chunks of things. Very soft scrambled eggs? Plain yogurt? It doesn’t seem like she’d do well with cheese yet. I also don’t think she’s ready for even flaked fish and honestly, I kind of refuse to puree it. Am I supposed to just give her a shrimp to suck on? I know there are powders but since she’s supposed to be trying new foods anyway I guess I’d rather do “real” food.

Also, how much variety do I have to be giving her and how often? I really feel like I am not up to another major logistical challenge right now.

Is there anything to do about this or is it a wait it out thing? Just turned 5 year old stopped wearing pull ups at night a year ago. Zero bed wetting whatsoever for approx 6 months. Wet the bed once, night before first day of preschool in late August, then no more accidents till this social isolation began – then he had one in April and now two this week. The early wake ups are so hard!! We already take him to pee around 11 when we go to bed. I’m flustered because it’s new and he was doing totally fine for so many months. Because of the timing I’m curious if it’s somehow anxiety related? Is this a “calm down and let him grow up” thing or start pull-ups again or a call the ped? If it had been consistent we’d just have kept him in pull ups – my sibling wasn’t dry at night till 7 or so, so I’m not generally troubled by it, just confused about the regression…

I am an attorney on a reduced schedule right now, and am supposed to transition soon to a 100% schedule next week (biglaw hours). My husband is not employed and is in charge of the kids (toddler and baby). I feel like I am going insane right now even trying to meet my part-time. I can’t imagine full time right now and it starts next week. At the moment my husband is on a bike ride with the big kid while the baby is supposed to be napping and I am supposed to be working. He isn’t napping; he is screaming insanely. I am not working. There are just so many things that stop me from working, it is always something. Even when I do manage to sit at the computer it is rarely good focused work. I don’t know how to do this and I know I am in a more fortunate position than most because I am not supposed to be sharing the childcare. Despite that, there is a screaming baby in my lap right now. I can’t work more hours amid all this!

Just needed to vent I guess. This is impossible for everyone.

Any ideas on things to do to make this weekend feel fun and different? I am thinking maybe going on a hike and making ice cream in a can. I have a 2 and 5 year old in DC. They seem to be living their best lives. Doing something fun and different would be mostly for me.

For those of you who hired part-time or full-time temporary sitters for the current situation, are you paying on the books? Are most of them ok with this? This is kind of a strange situation because most of the time, college or high school sitters are occasional and generally under the IRS limit, while full-time nannies typically fall over. Feel free to post anon, I’m not judging either way, just trying to get a sense of common practice.

Any recommendations for teething pain in the night? We’ve been giving our baby Tylenol before bedtime but he still woke up and screamed for an hour last night.