“Potty-training” sounds like a program for apprentice plumbers, not babies.

The baby-biz lingo, “toilet learning,” conjures images of skipped classes, Fonzie jackets and smokin’ in the boys’ room.

For toddlers and the bathrooms that await them, the key word is “readiness.”  Most children are not ready to learn this complex process until about halfway between their second and third birthdays.

There are plenty of parents who insist (hope?) otherwise. And sure, some tots will offload cargo if you help them pull up to the dock at just the right moment. But that doesn’t mean the kids are “trained” — it means their parents are.

In yesterday’s blog post, I reminisced about how to use lighter-weight blankets.

Thick blankies will be today’s focus. The bumpy ones, the ones with fringes and mysteries stitched in.

While a versatile blanket will support your baby’s overall development, a blanket that offers interesting textures will specifically stimulate motor development, body self awareness, and intellectual development.

Twenty-one years ago, I discovered that my 5 month-old was ready to play hide and seek.

I didn’t mean to.  Really.

My teaching colleagues in Panama had gifted my new baby with an assortment of of hand-appliqued blankets (sheets, actually — this was a tropical birth).

Five months later, back in the US, and past her swaddling stage, my daughter used to enjoy looking at the brightly colored ducks and ginghams that bordered the sheets.  She also spent a lot of time on her tummy, reaching for and touching the embroidery stitches that illustrated the layette.

Sometimes baby just needs a hug.

Some babies need constant hugs.

And sometimes Mommy just needs baby to sleep.  For a little longer then she did yesterday.  Please?

You and your baby want the same thing: contentment.  For baby, the ultimate contentment, the ultimate hug, was what she experienced when she lived in her own apartment, (aka “the womb”).  Since your newborn can’t go “home” again, her new neighbors (aka “family”) will just have to find ways to help her settle in until she learns how to comfort herself.