If you think you are strong you should try chopping a raw sweet potato into 1/4 inch fries, with a knife that hasn't been sharpened forever. Then the easy part, cover them with a little oil, salt, and cinnamon, and bake them for about 20 minutes on a cookie sheet, flipping them over after 10 minutes. They are delicious, and a great French fry alternantive. Also, if you think you are strong, try the Ferber Method with your baby. It is what we have been trying the past few nights. The concept of it is to let your baby "cry it out" at bed time to teach him to fall asleep independently. Up until last week our method of putting Drew to bed was usually me nursing him until he fell asleep, but if he was restless I would rock him, Trey would walk him around the house with almost all lights out, or I would push him around our house in circles in his stroller until he fell asleep. Now that Drew is approaching six months we realized he is emotionally capable of taking on a new method. It's for his own good, but let me tell you that it will test your strength as a parent. The first night he had his normal bed time routine, a bath, a feeding, he was still awake, so I left him in his bed and after 20 minutes of crying he was asleep. It was not a fun 20 minutes, but we were glad it wasn't longer. The next night was easy because he fell asleep nursing. The third night, however, was torturous. It took him 50 minutes of crying to fall asleep. According to the method you shouldn't pick the baby up but it is ok to quietly check on him and try to comfort him by patting or something. That didn't help. At least he eventually gave it up. From what we've heard and read it usually takes three nights of this before they will go to sleep on their own without all the crying, but it can take up to a week or more for some. We will see! Drew will be six months old this week. He is so much fun right now. He smiles and laughs at just about everything. He started sitting up really well last week. When you hold his hands to let him stand up on your lap he looks really proud and serious, then it's really cute and funny when he starts to wobble before sitting back down. He also started eating solids last week. He's been eating his usual milk mixed with whole grain, organic, brown rice cereal, which he enjoyed. He has also enjoyed some mushed up banana. It was fun for all. I tried uploading a video him eating but it was taking an eternity so I had to cancel it. I will try again later.
