To the pool!

It fined up today, and so I got to go for a swim in the pool! With my brand new floatie seat thingy. Mum's cousin and her kids came around and we had a fun time splashing in the water. Being older than six months I can slop as well as slip and slap. I'm now allowed to wear sunscreen. Mum covered every square millimetre of my body with the stuff. Some even got in my hair. There was no way I was going to get sunburnt. Each time I looked like taking my hat off, mum would distract me with a splash,and I'd concentrate on the water, and forgot all about removing my head protection.

We went to the shops tonight, and I did my best to grab mum and dad's tea while sitting in the food court. I didn't succeed. But I did manage two feeds before bedtime.

Happy sleeps

Sometimes before sleeps I get the grumps, but today I was in a giggly mood. Just as mum was putting me to sleep she noticed my singlet was bunched up under my gro-bag. She gently pulled it down and brushed my tumy, and I gave a little laugh. But stayed asleep.

Before my sleep mum read me a book of animal noises. I found the 'scratch' of the kangaroo hilarious; "Sratch, scratch, scratch goes the kangaroo". What a hoot!

The third giggle wasn't very funny for mummy. I bit her with my new teeth. Ow! She said "NO!" and gave a very stern look. I'm not used to stern looks, and thought it was a little funny. In the end mum thought my reaction was funny and she laughed. I laughed too. But someone once said 'don't bite the hand that feeds' so I better remember that...

Go away rain

Mum and I came with dad while he's working in the big smoke, and we get to hang out in the hotel. It has a pool!

Mum and I were all ready to go for a siwm, but it rained too much today.

We did go for a walk at one stage when the sun broke through, enough time to dip my toes in the water. I was a little hesitant at the start, but after a couple of seconds of orientation, I figured out I could splash even when I'm not actually in the pool!

To the big bath

I had a really quiet day today. It started with an extra long sleep-in, followed by quiet playing, watching the cricket with dad, and then another big sleep this arvo. I did have a bath in the middle of the day, I think mum and dad wanted to make sure I wasn't getting bored!

After tea I had a rusk. Sometimes I only nibble on the rusk a little bit before tossing it aside, but tonight I almost ate the whole thing. My two little front teeth were very busy. Rusk went everywhere. Mum took me off to get into my jammies and discovered rusk between my toes, under my singlet, and all over my face and in my hair. I had to have another bath. This time we used the big bath.

In my little bath I have a mission to grab the soap almost every night - it's an impossible mission, because my arms aren't long enough - but in the big bath I could scoot over to the side, get up onto my knees and reach the soap dish. Grabbing the soap was much harder than I thought. It kept slipping out of my hands, and it made me giggle.

Watermelon dummy

We woke up early, got in our fancy duds and headed down the hill to the church for the Christening.

It's the first time I've met my second cousin Rupert. He's pretty cool. Always smiling. They call him 'Roo' for short. I don't really have a nickname yet. We both were on our best behaviour during the service. We had a barbecue at Rupert's place afterwards, took lots of family photos and then headed back up the hill for another barbecue.

I had a good sleep in the car and was really hungry when it came time for tea. I ate all the food mum brought, and was still hungry, so I cried. And cried. A lot. There were lots of people around, so mum grabbed the closest bit of baby-friendly food on the table; a wedge of watermelon, and shoved it in my mouth! It quietened me down, and I seemed to really like it. Like a cold, fruity, soft rusk.

Hello Ladies

Mum and dad caught up with some old uni friends today who have a little girl my age. I've met babies before, but today I actually paid close attention to one. We stared at each other, smiled, and then laughed. And then we held hands, sort of. I was aiming for her hair, and I think she was aiming at my hair, and our hands met!

The parents shared all sorts of stories, and it seems I'm not the only one who enjoys a midnight snack. I think mum was pleased to hear that.

Grandma and grandad dropped by today, and they say I'm getting chubby.

We also went shopping for my second cousin's Christening present. It's tomorrow. Dad was Christened when he was a baby, we've got photos of him wearing a dress somewhere in an album, but he got baptised later on too. All bases covered! Our plan is to get me dedicated a bit later this year. Maybe on my first birthday. We're not sure. All this business with moving and finding a new church sort of put the plans on hold. Now, without getting into a big theological discussion, as far as I can make out Christenings seem to involve wearing a dress and getting presents. You can wear what you like at a dedication, but I'm not sure about the presents.

Open. Close. Repeat.

Mum and I were driving around today and she witnessed me trying out a new trick.

I held out my palm and then placed the thumb of my other hand on the palm, and closed my fist. I did it over and over again.

Then I replaced the thumb with my index finger. Open. Close. Open. Close.

Mum says it was fascinating to watch.

I don't know what it means. Probably that I'm a genius!

Don't forget my pants

Because mum's been working this week, dad's been hanging out with me in the mornings. We've got a little routine already. We have a bit of a wrestle in bed, usually after dad unsuccessfully tries to convince me to have a half an hour snooze. The he gives me some brekky. This week it's been mangos. Very sloppy. Great fun. Then he cleans me up, and plonks me in my cot to play while he has a shower. He keeps the shower short to make sure I don't get too whingy, and to save water too!

Then we have a play in the loungroom and head off to grandma's place.

Yesterday we must have played too long, because we had to rush over to grandma's place so quickly that dad forgot to put my pants on! Luckily he remembered his own!

When being sad is good

Mum was rather happy to see me a little sad today. I better explain, usually when she leaves me with grandma I'll happily go to her and not look back. Which is a very good thing. But mum still likes to know that I like to be with her, so when I grizzled a little bit, and it really was only a little bit, mum found it bittersweet.

Speaking of bittersweet, I've been finding nights in the Big Bed very sweet. But mum has been getting a little bit on the bitter side because I may be abusing the special priviledges I have. The first few nights of co-sleeping were very successful, but lately I've been waking up at the old times. So mum says if I keep it up she'll have no choice but to start on that new sleeping regime. Uh oh...

Slowly but surely

My milestones are coming a little slower than they used to. I think it's because they're a little bit more invloved, and take more practice. Take crawling, for instance.

It was only a short time ago we used the Big Bed for rolling over, and then sitting up practice. Now with those two moves tucked firmly under my belt, we spend time figuring out how to crawl. But it's taking a bit longer than those other things. Which is fine. Dad says the sooner I crawl, the sooner they'll have to move stuff a little bit higher - like preparing for a flood!

They're enjoying the fact that where they leave me is where they'll find me. For the moment anyway...

Leaving home

Mum packed me and my things up, and dad dropped me off at grandma's this morning for my very first 'baby sitting' day. Everyone was wondering how I'd go, and how mum'd go too!

I had a great day. It was a family affair. Grandma and I spent time being quiet on the couch - she has a sore back so is taking it real easy. I had a bash on the makeshift drumkit grandad made out of pots and pans in the kitchen and uncle Michael must have drawn the short straw, cause he had to change two pooey nappies!

When mum picked me up after lunch I was perched up on the couch with grandma with a pretty relaxed expression on my face. We all survived.

I only had a half hour sleep in my cot upstairs, so mum told grandma it would be ok for her to let me sleep on her shoulder for as long as I liked tomorrow.

Everyone's happy that I had a happy day, and mum's a little more relaxed about going to work tomorrow. But she's already looking forward to next week when it'll be us two at home...

The final countdown

Mum's going to work tomorrow. The first time since I've been born. She's a bit sad to be leaving me, although I'll see her a few times during the day...She says it's a bit hard to leave me after all the time we've spent at home, but the good news is that I'll have time with grandma.

Today we didn't spend much time at home; we were at church, then went out for lunch and then afternoon tea with nan. We then went to grandma and grandad's to stay the night (because dad was going to Sydney for work, but then got a call to say he's not going to Sydney, and then we discovered part of my cot got left behind, so we went back home!) All this to'ing and fro'ing got me a little emotional by day's end, but I had a good time visiting, and, like always, had a smile for everyone I met.

Four generations

We visited my great grandad today. Grandad was there too. And dad. And me. That's four generations. Te first time we were in the same place, so we took the opportunity to take a few photos at this historic event.

Everyone was quite excited to capture a little piece of history as the cameras clicked away.

Great Grandad had a few words of wisdom to share, including 'you spend two years teaching them to talk, and then the next ten telling them to shut up!' and I entertained everyone with my attempts to crawl.

I'm so very close to crawling all by myself, but on grandad's floor all I could really manage was reverse gear! At one stage dad held my legs and aunty Jenny held my arms and they showed me how all the bits work together to crawl. But it was a bit much for me, and I went back to shuffling backwards.

Moley, moley, moley

Mum discovered my first freckle/mole today.

On my tummy.

Being a genuine Aussie kid, it probably won't be my last. But mum was still quite sad to see a 'blemish' on my perfect skin. She loves my skin. She says it's so soft and snuggly.

We're always very careful when I go outside. I discovered I can take off my sunnies, so hopefully I'll decide to keep them on, because the 'putting on/throwing off' game is one mum and dad definately don't want to play.

Bananas, avocados and cousins

I met up with my cousin Ezra today. She's three weeks older than me and crawling around. We all had lunch at grandmas and while I was happy to sit on my own with a little toy, Ezra was happy crawling over to me to snatch the little toy out of my hands!

We had a fun time playing. Not really 'together'. We sat and played by ourselves, but right next to each other. I was fascinated with her hair. I'm fascinated with everyone's hair.

I've added avocado and bananas (mixed together) to my menu. We were all a little skeptical at that pairing, but after a quick test, even dad thought it was good, and proceeded to have some on his toast. It's the first time we've all had the same thing for breakfast. Mum likes the combo too, because you don't have to blend the food in the blender, jsut mush it up with a fork. Easy.

Why feel bad?

After feeling a little guilty about letting me sneak into the big bed from time to time, mum and dad have had a change of heart. They haven't stopped. They just don't feel bad anymore!

Co-sleeping happens to be quite popular in some circles. According to a mother-baby expert "Co-sleeping babies cry less, they're happier. They don't have to cry when they're laying next to their mothers to breastfeed. And so in this sense, both the mother and baby get more sleep."

I still go to bed in my own room after tea time. But if I wake up, I have a feed with mum, and she'll sometimes let me fall asleep between her and dad. I'll usually stsy asleep until seven o'clock. On the other hand, if mum insists on me staying in my own room I can wake up a lot and cry even more, leaving everyone grumpy.

So this week we're into co-sleeping.

Zeroes and ones. And a number two.

Mum and I visited dad at work today. He always likes our visits. I got to sit on his lap at his computer, and made a lunge for the keyboard. Before he whooshed me away I managed to type the following;

.l/[0.l.l.l.l.l.l.l.l jyuh
/ bn b:

The first bit looks like some sort of binary code. And I'm pretty impressed with the pattern.

I then sat on one of his colleagues lap, and lunged at her keyboard! She kept me entertained with some left over Christmas decorations on her desk.

Mum and I saw some more builders about the house renovations, and we visited the shops. I also did a couple of poos. I'm back to normal in that department, which is a relief to everyone at LLR HQ. We're blaming the apple custard baby food I tried for the first time a couple of days ago. Not that we have any scientific proof. But I only eat new things every couple of days to see if I react to it, and if I start with the beetroot faces and grunts, it's back to the plain foods and lots of liquids.

Don't forget your toothbrush

In celebration of my new tooth (which will be 'teeth' very soon - another one is ready to make an appearance) mum got me my first toothbrush today.

It's blue, just like dad's, but his doesn't have three ducks on it. Dad says our family toothbrush colours may have to change. He's always been blue, but is considering handing the 'blue mantle' to me, and picking a different colour brush for himself. You see, at LLR HQ, you can't have the same coloured toothbrush as someone else, otherwise things would get very confusing in the bathroom. But at the moment, all I have to remember is reach for the one with the ducks on it!

I went to playgroup today. Mum said it was good to see all the other kids my age and how they've been developing. One of the kids, who's a day younger than me, is already crawling and almost standing up and has his own scooter thing he rolls around on. Mum swapped notes with all the other mums and it turns out I'm one of the worst sleepers, but one of the most social and laid back.

Waterboy

I reaquainted myself with my sippy cup today. I'm still not quite sure how it all works, but I do understand where the liquid comes out, now all I need to do is lift it higher than my mouth so the liquid comes out!

The liquid in question was water. You see, It's been a little while since I did a 'number two', and mum and dad have caught me screwing up my face and concentrating hard for no results. So they gave me some water to help move things along.

Pianoman

We went for dinner at Grandma and Grandad's place and I had my first solo piano 'recital'. Dad propped me up on the stool and I sat up all by myself and banged the keys. I even decided to accompany myself with some 'singing'. Dad says it sounded a bit like 'spoken word jazz'.



After the music I spent a good deal of time learning to crawl on the nice soft carpet at grandma's place. At the house we're staying in at the moment we have wooden floors, so mum and dad took the opportunity to plonk me on the floor and test my crawling skills. I'm OK with the arms, it's just the legs that are causing a bit of a stumbling block. Literally. I keep one in front of me, and it's pretty hard to crawl with one leg in front...

Mr DJ

Right next to my playmat sit two shiny briefcases, packed full of CDs. It has been my mission these past couple of weeks to reach them.

Today I made it.

Firstly I flicked through them, just like someone would do at a record shop. Then I figured out how to get them out of the case and into....my mouth. Sweet music!

Dad had to rescue the CDs eventually because I still like to bang my toys against my other toys, and he says you don't bang CDs on other hard things. You apparantly can 'headbang' when you listen to certain types of music, but not bang the actual CD. So many rules!

Now that I've made it into the case after days of reaching and striving, dad says he might shut the lid to protect the music from slobbery hands. After all, I have plenty of real toys to play with, and kids these days are more into ipods anyway...

Mango vs sweet potato

If it were a boxing match mango would win in the first round. If it were a game of cricket, mango would win with an innings and 300 runs...I really don't like sweet potato. The unfortunate thing is, mum blendered a big lot of sweet potato and my little frozen cubes of veggies in the freezer are full of the stuff. Why did they call it sweet? It should be called bland potato. Mum and dad have jazzed my tea time up, throwing some broccoli in with the sweet potato, and if something can be jazzed up with broccoli, you know it must be pretty bad! When I eat it, I leave my mouth pen a bit, with an unimpressed look on my face, probably hoping that if I keep my mouth open while 'chewing' some of it might fall onto the floor, and not into my tummy!

I tried mango for the first time this morning. Dad says it's a very patriotic thing to do. It was mixed with farex, and a little watery, but I seemed to enjoy it. I still gave a funny face with the first mouthful, but that seems to happen everytime I try something for the first time.

You know what would go nicely with mangoes? My new tooth! Yes, that's right, after months of dribbling, I am produly sporting a new smile. It takes a trained eye to see it, but if you shove your finger in my mouth, you can definately feel it.

Forward march!

Car trips are a lot more exciting now that I face forwards!

We went to the Ambulance station today and they turned my seat around, because I'm heavy enough. Little babies have to have the seat facing rearwards, but when you hit eight kilos you can face the proper way.

Mum says it's quite a thing to see me in the back of the car.

Grandma and grandad got their car fitted with a seat today too. They got it so they can drive me around. It'll come in very handy when grandma looks after me when mum goes back to work one day a week.

Daysleeper

I've mastered the daytime sleep. The morning sleep is my specialty. The last two days I've slept two and a quarter hours! I then follow it up with an hour (or so) later in the afternoon. It's made for a much happier household.

Night times are a different story. I'm still a little erratic. All I can remember about last night is for half an hour around three o'clock dad and I had a sleep on the couch.

In totally different news I entered my first competition! And I need your help. It's over at Bonds - you know the company "for knickers and thongs", anyway go here;

http://www.bonds.com.au/bumpsandbaby/BabyPhotoGallery.aspx#

and find me (just follow the link and then sort the photos by name (gunders) or by latest photos (I'm sitting on a red check picnic rug, holding a blue plastic cup - the picture you see below). And then tell a friend to vote. And then everyone else in your office. And then....You get the idea. The theme is 'summer' and seeing we didn't get to the beach this year because of the terrible weather, our picnic the other day was the next best thing;

Eureka!

Archimedes had a good idea in the bath, and today I did too.

I let go of the sides and balanced with my legs, playing with my rubber duckie. But that's not all. I grabbed hold of the sides of the bath and got up on one knee. That's halfway to standing up! It's a big deal. And then, to prove I don't keep all my tricks for the bath, I managed to stumble my way to grab a toy a good couple of body lengths away from me. I rocked, and rolled, and before you can say 'I think he's going to crawl soon' I had that little bright plastic cube in my mouth. Eureka indeed!

Grizzle guts

"and mum and dad look forward to me having a big sleep right through the night..."

That's what most people would do if they were really tired. Not me, I woke up numerous times during the night - both mum and dad had tries getting me back to sleep. I ended up sleeping on dad's tummy for a couple of hours before being rolled very gently between him and mum at around 3am. I woke up as bleary eyed as mum and dad a few hours later.

After a pleasant enough breakfast things soon took a turn for the worse. I was still tired, and my mood swung quite erratically between big laughs to even bigger cries. I didn't want to play by myself at all. I didn't want to sit down on the couch with mum or dad. My plan was to be cuddled all day. And even when I was safe in mum's arms I still whinged a bit too much. My two daytime sleeps were very short too. I found it hard to sit up properly in the bath this afternoon, I was just zonked out. Dad explained the importance of sleep but I was in no mood for lying still.

I did manage to gnaw a rusk to bits this afternoon. My first teeth must just be around the corner, and that might be one of the reasons I'm a bit edgy. Mum put me to bed a little earlier than normal tonight and promises that this week, being the week dad goes back to work - the start of his working year - will be the week my routine is firmly established.

The grass is always greener

I played on the grass for the very first time today. Sure, I've been outside before, but I've always sat on a rug or picnic blanket, but today dad plonked me on the grass to have a bit of a play in the yard.

Dad inspected the yard for ants and other nastys and found a nice soft patch of grass for me to sit on. I sat happily for ages, inspecting the grass, and pulling at it. It was nice outside, so we got the picnic rug a bit later on and I had a marvellous time playing with the plastic cups.

We went out for tea tonight, and instead of falling asleep on mum's shoulder, as I usually do, I stayed awake the whole time - probably the longest I've ever stayed awake. I started the night in my usual gung-ho manner - smiling and joining in the conversations. As it got late, I quietened down, - dad says it was like my own 'standby mode'! I had a big sleep this afternoon ,and that might have been the reason for my extended awake time - and mum and dad look forward to me having a big sleep right through the night...

Head. Banging.

There was lots of banging at LLR HQ today.

I spent a good deal of time on my mat playing with my firetruck today. I took the little ball that sits on top of itand firstlybanged it on top of the truck. It made a good deal of noise. Then I banged it on the floor. It made a racket! Then I hit it on my leg a few times, and found out it doesn't make much noise at all.

Dad and I watched more cricket and my quest for the remote continued. He did let me have a good look at it, and even handed it to me at one stage, but I couldn't contain my excitement enough, and it headed straight for my mouth. He rescued it before I could slobber on it.

Now, dad was also downloading something from the internet while we were playing, and he turned around to see how it was going, and in that second, or maybe two, I managed to bang something else on the floor. My head. Dad got to me before I started to cry, but it gave me such a fright that I bawled. Dad got such a fright that he felt really sick; he and mum had only been talking this morning about how good it was that I haven't had any accidents in my time on earth. After a big cuddle I forgot all about my swan dive off the couch and got ready for my bath where I splashed and splashed more than I ever have before, totally drenching mum and dad!

Where's the remote?

Everyone thinks I must have found my volume control this morning, turned it up, and then broken it. I only had one volume setting all day; LOUD.

One of dad's old flatmates came for a visit. They found themselves having to either pause conversations or talking really really loud to drown me out. I wasn't crying. I was very happy. Just being loud. Big long drawn out 'aaaaahhhhhhh's.

Speaking of volume controls, I'm rather taken with the TV remote. Today I spent the afternoon lunging at it, while dad spent the afternoon watching the cricket and lunging away from me. Dad laughed that with all the toys I have, I seem to be much more interested trying to play with things I shouldn't.

Ungolden arches

I got a little frustrated when it was time for my morning sleep. I whinged and whinged. And when mum picked me up I leaned as far as I could, arching my little back - just like a backstroker launches off the blocks in a swimming race, arms fully extended. It didn't work as well as I hoped. I got put straight back into the cot. Apparently mum had heard of 'protest arches' before I did!

My daytime sleep didn't last for too long today, but I did settle down when we all went shopping. I fell asleep in Woolies, and did a poo at the tile shop.

Nothing changes on New Year's Day

Everyone was a bit bleary eyed at LLR HQ this morning - except me. They all stayed up and lit sparklers. I slept right through the neighbour's honking horns and loud wahooing.

Dad's home for a week and I've been enjoying having two parents around the house. Double the playmates!

I spent most of the day smiling. Until I was supposed to have my daytime sleep. And then I whinged.

Mum and dad have been talking about getting my routine sorted out once and for all. Again!

We went for a walk in the park. Dad used my baby carrier. As we walked past one family a little girl said 'look mum, that man has a baby on his back'.

At bath time this afternoon I didn't even need mum holding me up - I sat, and stayed sitting, for the whole time- hands firmly gripping the sides of my little blue bath.

I had a big sleep this afternoon. Bigger than normal. I wasn't very sleepy after tea, so mum plonked me on the couch next to dad as he was watching the telly. I lay down and stretched out my legs and kicked him lightly for a few minutes. Then mum walked in and noticed that I'd fallen asleep!