Monday, March 6, 2017

Tiny Human, Tiny House-- Raising a Baby in Our Tiny House.

It’s 5:42am and my nose is being grabbed by impatient little fingers. I’d say this blasted me awake, but the baby babble has been in business for fifteen minutes and only now has quieted because Adventure Babe’s mouth is presently full of hair. My hair. I see a mischievous little grin by the light of my illuminated watch and, once I yank my frayed follicles from her toothy mouth, explain that I’m not getting out of bed until that first number is a “6”. Of course she has no idea what I’m saying and if I’m lucky she’ll spin around and start “Dadada-ing” while patting James who, wisely, has turned his back on this new morning ritual. The dog has now heard that we’re awake and his tail is thumping excitedly against the pocket door to the bedroom. I’m stubborn so we sit there for awhile until the clock strikes 6 and I roll out of bed, maneuvering pillows to form a barrier against the babe and the edge of our super tall bed. Snatch her up, dodge the pooch, and out we go to begin our day.



I get asked all the time what it’s like to have kids in the tiny house and, at least with a baby, our set up is pretty great. There is so much daylight that comes in that we don’t feel too cooped up but we are also lucky enough to be living on property that allows us to get outside as much as the February weather will allow. Babycakes, who is now 10 months of age, is an army crawling, standing-at-the-sofa, high chair-sitting machine so the containment of the tiny house is really nice for keeping tabs on where she is and what she could possibly be sticking into that mouth of hers (seriously, this kid is going to be one of those that eats furniture and rocks. Sigh). 

She has graduated out of the bulky swings and rockers that take up SO much space and which I previously vowed to keep out. All I had read of attachment parenting gave me the impression I was going to be snuggling up with my beloved child basically every hour of the day. Of course, after about a month of holding out (and holding her non-stop) I relented and let my mom bring over a baby swing she found at Goodwill. The first four months were a constant intro and exit of bulky baby gear. The minute she grew out of a swing, it was gone, either to storage in Grandpa’s basement or consignment. This quick turnover of “stuff” as it falls out of our “need” category is key to baby life (and life in general) in the tiny house. A couple other big goals for tiny house baby-life are how to keep the consumerism bug in-check when society says there are so many baby product needs, and methods to promote our zero waste goals. Also we really try to make the house baby-friendly while not having it wind up looking like a McDonald’s play place. This means nice design for her things that do need to be out and proud and being able to put away the rest with as little fuss as possible.  Balance!

Stella rocking out with Bowie in the first round of bulky baby gear (which, even with its size, was worth it!)


The second iteration in the background, plus one of the first uses of the high chair!

Since this is a pretty big topic, and in an effort to crank out more than one blog entry every two months, I’m going to hit you with a few different topics over the next couple weeks that all fall under the auspice of “Tiny Human, Tiny House”. Some are goals and methods chosen to keep our small space doable with a little one and others are parenting choices that work to keep our house a happy home, size being no object.


Keep your eyes peeled for:

Minimalism with Baby!
Co-Sleeping for Sanity (and cuddles)
A Tiny House Baby Registry
Feeding This Kid
Cloth Diapering and Other Zero Waste Wins
Babes in Nature. 

See you in a week! For real this time!