figuring out milestones

Sometimes parenting seems like such a strange, magical thing. Realizing that so much of it is just figuring it out as you go along makes it a lot less intimidating.

But I've been thinking ahead to toilet training and I just want to run up to every parent on the street whose kid isn't waddling around with an enormous diaper butt and grab their hand and ask, "How do you do this???"

Every milestone is like that. Every milestone ups the ante a little, so what seemed complicated before (like nursing) now feels automatic and totally convenient compared to the next stage (like feeding solids-- what, I have to remember to *bring food with me* when we go out??)

When Paloma started acting hungry, we started her eating solids- even though I really wasn't sure how to do it. (If you ever pick up the book Super Baby Foods, which is very informative, take a deep breath and forgive yourself if you throw it across the room a few times because you're fed up because you can't turn the pages because all your fingers are holding other pages that the author suggests you turn to and so you never actually finish the book....)

So I skimmed that book, looked up Dr.Sears' advice (which is quick and readable) and went for it. Now I have a little one who loves yogurt and whole wheat bread bits and-- POOH!! Have I started her down a road of unavoidable allergies??? But but my ped said she could have everything except egg whites and shellfish. I'd love to hear what others have heard from your peds and what you've done.

And speaking of milestones, I'm convinced that *traveling* is the way to jumpstart her brain. We flew to MA, she came back crawling. We went camping, she came back with much less stranger anxiety. So the big question is, how far do I have to go to get her toilet trained- Tibet? Maybe Hawaii? :)