Saturday, 21 August 2010

Baby cuddles

Is it true that baby boys are much more affectionate than girls? My little boy is so sweet and cuddly and I just can't get enough of it. He loves to hold me around my neck and hug and cuddle with me and also tries to give me kisses, which actually are just very wet open-mouthed licks or nibbles on my cheek or nose (which is where I kiss him) whilst grabbing my face with both hands.

Mummy's boy? I think so!!

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Teeth update

Two more teeth have just appeared. We have a fourth one on the bottom row, and the second top tooth. That makes six and counting.

I still can't get used to my baby having teeth at all!

Sunday, 8 August 2010

Milestone madness

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Baby and I have been keeping busy - him growing fast and hard and me trying to keep up with him. At almost eight months now he is concentrating mainly on sitting up, trying to crawl, and talking, all very cute.

He is now able to sit unaided but is still a little wobbly and has a terrible habit of throwing himself backwards which has caused him to hit his head a couple of times. I can't wait until he gets a little stronger at that so I don't have to worry about that anymore.

He has always been very vocal but is now really trying to communicate and engaging in the cutest "conversation". He has also started calling for me but only when crying! It goes "Ma ma ma maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". The first couple of times I assumed it was a new sound he was practising but when I was out one night (on one of those extremely rare occasions!) Hubby said he was refusing his bottle and looking around for me while calling "Ma ma ma maaaa! Ma ma ma maaaaa!" and he was convinced he really was calling me. Right after that he started making lots of dadadada sounds as well as lots of general conversational babble.

As far as crawling goes he's not moving yet, there's just a lot of swimming on land action. He's shuffling around pretty well and trying to get up on his knees but isn't managing to combine them and doesn't seem strong enough yet. He really wants to do it though and we get a lot of tears of frustration as he gets really mad at himself for not being able to. It's funny because he's very strong when you hold him standing up and seems happier doing that, but not so motivated to crawl. I feel quite guilty that I probably don't give him enough time to practise too, we don't have a huge amount of floor space right now but are in the process of downsizing and babyproofing so we can make some room for him.

His fine motor skills, however, are top notch and I put that down to Baby Led Weaning. He is really good with his hands and already has a good pincer grip. He grabs and holds stuff very well, is able to pass things from hand to hand and knows how to adjust a piece of food in his hand when he's nibbled it all the way down to his fist. He's also very good at grabbing my hair, which is not so great!

My little baby is growing so fast, I can't believe how big he is now and how much he's doing.
*sniff*

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Flipping heck!

After a few weeks of complete lack of interest or motivation in rolling, Baby has suddenly become incredibly active and starting shuffling, spinning and rolling around in his bed at night. I keep hearing bangs and crashes and go into his room to find him with a leg up on the bars or him sleeping on his front (often also facing a different direction than I'd put him down in). I've been flipping him back over onto his back when I find he's turned over as I'm nervous about leaving him sleeping on his front. The advice is conflicting so I'm not sure who to listen to. I know generations of babies slept on their tummies and are fine and many believe if they've turned themselves over it's ok to leave them but I can't help but worry when you hear others say it's not safe to let your baby sleep on it's front. I guess it's more sleepless nights for me until he gets stronger and I get less neurotic!!


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Monday, 12 July 2010

Holy sh...

This is going to be a TMI post and anyone who is particularly squeamish about number twos should stop reading right now.

Baby had to be CUT OUT OF HIS CLOTHES yesterday. Yes, you heard me right. We had a toxic leak so toxic and so leaky that I saw no way of dealing with it other than screaming at Dad (who was thankfully home at the time) to get me the scissors and I cut up a brand new bodysuit which was covered in hazardous sludge literally from top to bottom. Oh yes, it went all the way up and across his back up to his neck. Oh. My. God!!!

Friday, 2 July 2010

Weaning fun

Well, we finally recovered from the jet lag after about a week or so. And then bravely embarked on weaning adventures. Baby has been interested in food for quite some time, watching us eat and reaching for food, so we knew he was ready for solids and once he reached six months we celebrated his half birthday with some real food.

I'm following Baby Led Weaning, which gets mixed reactions but seems to be working for us. We've discovered that our little monkey hates being spoon fed but likes food as long as he gets to play and explore and feed himself. And he's good at it too. It is very cute to watch. So far he's been eating some fruits and vegetables as finger foods but when I attempt to give him yoghurt, fromage frais or porridge he acts like I'm torturing him. However, if I give him the spoon he will attempt to feed himself and then it's not so bad. It's cute but messy and takes forever. I pray for the patience to continue with this once the novelty has worn off and the willpower to fight off the urge to just pin him down and shovel mush into his mouth (which is the whole reason I chose to go the BLW route instead of the traditional phases).

Let's hope we don't have to repaint the walls soon!

Thursday, 17 June 2010

Time zone madness

Baby is still on California time. Check out the timestamp on this post. We've been back a week and are still suffering from severe jet lag. If you thought sleep is a problem with a baby, try living with a baby who is jet lagged. He's up most of the night wanting to play at the moment then finally goes to sleep around 4am which is bedtime in Cali. This means of course he sleeps until lunchtime, wants a feed and then wants to sleep again. It's not just him though, we're all suffering and it seems quite unusually persistent this time. I have had a few nights of not sleeping at all until morning. This morning I managed to wake us both up and get out if the house early to try and help us adjust back but poor little guy was just dazed all day. And sleepy. I hope we get straightened out soon.


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