Washable Workwear Wednesday: Sleeveless Ponte Portrait Collar Dress

I want to like this dress, but I think that curved waist seam is going to take the tiniest hint of belly and make it look like a maternity dress. I really like the bright green color of the regular sleeveless sheath (linked under “cute”).

We successfully sleep trained my 4 month old w Ferber (last night, the third night, there was no crying–she chatted to herself for 20 mins, rubbed her eyes, and fell asleep). Naps are a different story. She’s cried for up to 25 mins, slept for 40, and then is done–she used to take 1.5-2hr naps. Do naps just take longer for them to figure out? Any ideas for how to make putting her down for a nap less of an ordeal and to have her connect the sleep cycles during the day? Would it mess up the nighttime sleep training to have the nanny put her down asleep or plug her w pacifier if she wakes up too soon?

I still have guilt about letting her cry even though I can see that it’s made such a huge difference at night.

RE; your question about piano lessons yesterday. I don’t have experience with this as a parent (yet), but I was your daughter. And I still take piano lessons and I still struggle with practicing, but for totally different reasons, so a couple thoughts.
1. As a couple people mentioned, consistency is key. Short practice sessions are better than nothing. Aim for more days with practice in them than not.
2. Call it “playing,” not “practicing.” As in, “go play the piano for a few minutes before dinner.” Even if she’s not practicing her lesson, the repetition of just playing will help.
3. Yes to other commenters’ suggestions of going to live performances, listening to recordings of piano music, etc.
4.. I actually somewhat disagree about picking her own music and/or playing popular songs. I have vivid memories of getting a book of Lion King piano music and arguing with my teacher when she tried to make me play what was actually written on the page rather than what the music sounded like in the music. The rhythms were a little different. Playing that stuff for fun is great, but I wouldn’t make it part of the lessons, and I’m guessing she doesn’t read music well enough yet to sight-read it.

What kind of curriculum is she studying? Suzuki or traditional? I started with Suzuki, the premise of which is that you learn music by immersion, so you get recordings of all the songs you’re going to learn and you listen to them a lot (my mom just played them every time we were in the car). You also learn technical skills through the repertoire, not by exercises, so it feels less like work and you have your completed song to show for the fact that you learned to do some scales. I think it helps to hear the music in its completed state , both for motivation and to develop a sense of musicality. If she’s playing music you can find recordings of, this might be a good tactic. If not, maybe you could make a recording on your phone, or ask the teacher to do it?

Does she like her teacher? Do you feel like the teacher is moving at an appropriate pace and putting an appropriate amount of pressure on her? When I first started piano lessons (around 5), I made really fast progress for a year or two and then totally burned out. From how my mom describes it, it was partly that i was an intense, type-a little kid who liked to be good at everything and partly that my teacher was feeding that rather than recognizing that I was stressing myself out. My mom let me “take a break” from piano for a few months over the summer, and then restart with a new teacher, who was much more laid back. (I took a break every summer, actually, but that one was longer). I’m not saying the power struggle over practicing went away, but the meltdowns about inadequacy stopped. You have to find the right fit. I’ve had 9 different piano teachers over the last 30 years, including two that I only worked with for a few months before it became apparent that they just weren’t good for me. It’s worth checking out a different teacher and seeing if the experience changes.

All that said, piano (like everything!) is not for everyone. But in my opinion you shouldn’t let her quit before she achieves enough proficiency to know whether she likes it or not for its own sake, rather than just because it’s frustrating to learn a new skill. I fully intend to make all of my kids take at least a few years of piano lessons. It’s like a subject in school — you might not like social studies, but you can’t opt out. :)

I really like this dress, but I already have a navy dress that I also really like. The pink is too Elle Woods for the office, right?

Looking for advice on biting. My 1 year old son has started biting me. Not in an angry or upset way, but as we cuddle before I put him down at night. It’s weird – almost like as he’s relaxing he just does it.

It’s been going on for 2 wks. I have been reacting loudly and letting him know it hurts with an “OW!” and “NO!” and he looks confused. Sometimes he laughs at that even. Last night’s bite left marks….

The thread about birth control on the main page got me thinking…what have you done for birth control once you have a kid if you struggled to get/stay pregnant? I think our issues are largely in that ginormous “unexplained IF” category. Looking back at the years I spent on BCP, it just seems so silly to get serious about preventing again (obviously I know that age could factor in, so it’s possible I could have very easily found myself in the accidentally pregnant category during those years). Also open to more kiddos down the line, and this journey has more or less stripped me of any notions that this is something you can “plan.”