Under The Tree and Dreaming

The Discovery

Gifts I Hope to Give Avery

This list came from a post from Community of Mindful Parents

What we wish someone had taught us:

• The importance of showing up reliably, doing your best
• To take advantage of great opportunities
• How to turn a traumatic experience into something to grow from
• How to trust your own instincts (not override them)
• Making mistakes is important
• That I’m good enough. Self-esteem. Self-love
• You don’t have to change the world to be successful or happy
• Communicate what you feel and not what you think someone wants to hear
• Appreciate the wisdom of your parents and elders
• Appreciate the present moment rather than focusing on the future or the past
• Everything always works out
• The power of saving money and compound interest
• There’s value in being patient rather than rushing through things
• Enjoy your present company and the relationships you have
• It’s okay to be sensitive
• Empathic capabilities
• How to handle conflict
• Not to be fearful. To try
• To trust internal wisdom
• Fiscal responsibility
• Confidence
• Include yourself on your list of people you love
• A grateful heart
• Courage to go for your dreams
• Courage to accept when you don’t achieve your dreams
• Follow your bliss and enjoy life
• There are no stupid questions
• Listen from the perspective of who you are communicating with.
• How to calm yourself when agitated or stressed.
• How to spell!
• How to be empathic and careful and conscious of the consequences of words.
• Be present – in the moment you’re in.
• Encourage first, teach second.
• How to sort through thoughts and emotions.
• How to figure out what I really want.
• That emotional intelligence is just as important as cognitive intelligence
• How to think ahead.

I wanted to share a day in the life of Avery!

Here is the first video. It seems she's trying to figure out how to eat her fingers and the ball at the same time.

Here she is practicing raising and lowering her voice.

I realized while making this next video that it didn't feel very right to me to use the bubbles with Avery.  There was just something about her maybe not grasping the idea of the bubbles popping and disappearing like that. It seemed too confusing.  The other thing that bugged me was the ONE bubble that managed to make it too close to her face and when it popped, it startled her. I don't know if I am making too big of a deal, but I know it made me rethink how I chose to interact with her using bubbles. What do you think?

This last video is a long one, but I love it because it shows just how much she enjoys her play time!  She played, uninterrupted, for over 13 minutes! Towards the end you will notice a change in her vice, signaling to me she was done and needed me to interact with her.




I remember taking a video of her when she was just over a month old, letting her just be with herself. It was over 10 minutes, too! I will post it later. I love the idea that giving our children uninterrupted play build their concentration.  Check out this blog post from Janet
Lansbury about building focus and lengthening attention spans. 

New Eyes

This begins my new category of posts here on BabyDear. Since my RIE training last June, I have eagerly awaited Avery's arrival so I could put to use the methods that I learned in my RIE training. Most people don't know too much about RIE so my new goal is to help you see the philosophy by noting how it works during Avery's development over the next few years.
Magda Gerber, a co-founder of RIE, was a child therapist and infant specialist, who showed the importance of respect for infants and giving them the
trust to develop in their own natural way. She uses the statement, "seeing infants with new eyes" to remind us that an infant is a person, just like us, that is worthy of respect and should be treated that way. To me, it means treating infants the way I would like to be treated. Think of it this way, right now, as an adult, imagine having to have some one change your diaper. How would you want to be handled? I know I would want to be treated with care and respect. How would you feel to be the infant tossed up and down by uncle or constantly interrupted while you worked? Infants have the same feelings and deserve for us to respect that! The next time you see an infant, stop and think about how they'd like to be treated, or what they need BEFORE you make a move. If you do, you'll be on your way to a trusted and respected relationship with the infants in your life.
There is a new website about Magda Gerber. Click hereto check it out!
I will be posting many links to other blogs that go hand and hand with the RIE method. I will also post about books and videos that can help you understand how to use RIE in your life. Lastly, I will be posting images, stories and videos of Avery in hopes to show and demonstrate some topics RIE covers.
This blog will challenge you to practice these methods not only with the infants in your life but the adults too!
I hope you become inspired by the posts to come!