Take me higher

After mastering the step from the loungeroom to the dining room at grandma and grandad's place I thought it was time to go higher.

Their house is two storeys, and I had a crack at climbing the steps up to the bedrooms today.

Grandma carefully stood behind me in case I made a wrong move.

I got to the seventh step!

It's grandad's birthday today so we all went back to their house for a celebration tea. We had a cake with candles and sang happy birthday, and when grandad blew out the candles I got a little fright and cried. Only a little bit.

After a cuddle I was back to my normal self, all ready for another trek to the top of the steps.

I was a lot slower, but I got way past the seventh step, nearly all the way to the top...My legs got a little wobbly, and my head got a bit heavy so I decided to have a rest. I laid down on the step. Everyone laughed. Including me. I never made it to the top. Maybe next time.

Behind the forbidden doors

Behind the forbidden doors lies a treasure trove of...Well, treasure. Of the food variety. It's the pantry. I love it.

I'm never allowed into the pantry, because mum knows I could make a big mess. And the things that live at my height in the pantry are probably not the best things for a little boy to eat.

Whenever mum opens the doors I'm on a mission to get inside. But she's always too fast, and the doors close before I can go 'shopping'.

Today I was closer than normal, and when she opened the door I was quick, and grabbed the first thing I could. An onion! Mum was quick to get it off me, explaining that it isn't the yummiest thing. I wasn't convinced.

Later, the doors opened, and mum wasn't so quick, while she was busy preparing tea, I made myself busy gnawing on a potato! Dad and I are big fans of potato. I usually eat it mashed, and after today's snack, I think I should stay to the cooked variety.

In the dark

I had a bath in the semi dark tonight.

It was Earth Hour, where people are asked to turn their lights off to feel all warm and fuzzy about the environment. Mum thought we may as well introduce me to candles sometime...So we turned off the lights and lit the candles and had fun splashing about as normal.

I didn't have a morning sleep, so I got rather tired this afternoon. So tired that I fell asleep on dad's shoulder as he walked me around. I don't usually do that. I ended up having a big afternoon sleep, so big that I think it messed up my night time sleep.

It's almost 11pm, and I'm wide awake, leaning over mum's shoulder, trying to watch the telly.

Tip top

I've got a top tooth!

It didn't come without a restless night, but now everything's cool, and my tooth count is up to three. The bottom ones are steadily getting bigger, and mum noticed another tooth on the top is ready to poke through the surface.

Dad and I have the sniffles. We might have caught something last weekend. I think I'm handling it better than dad is. He's taking cold and flu pills and I'm not, but I'm not letting it slow me down.

Escape from the change mat

I made a run for it on the change table this morning.

I got as far as the nappy basket.

I tossed out as many nappies as I could before dad restored order.

As much order as he could.

I've gotten into the habit of contorting myself in the weirdest positions when I'm being changed. It turns a simple job into a tricky one. And much longer too. Dad tried to explain to me that if I stayed put while my nappy was being changed it wouldn't take half as long as the battle we had this morning. But where's the fun in that?

I'm also wearing a new size nappy! 'Walkers'. But I'm not walking yet. They're probably a bit big, but I finished up my old box of 'crawlers' and we had a box of the new ones in the cupboard, so that's what I'm wearing.

Dad was home with me all day today. He wasn't feeling 100% so we both had a sleep on the couch for a couple of hours, and then had a walk around the backyard.

Fun with pegs

My favourite pasttime is pulling things out of things.

Shoes out of shoe boxes, washing out of the washing machine, pots out of the pot drawer. you get the idea.

Sometimes it's a short game if there's only two toys in the box, or two peek-a-blocks on my train, but today I discovered the jackpot. The peg basket.

I covered the kitchen floor in a peg throwing frenzy. I got my arm into a windmill rhythm. Like Pete Townsend with his guitar, I was rocking the pegs!

When it came time to put them away I lost interest.

Obstacle course

I'm loving being mobile. I prefer to spend my days climbing on stuff, over stuff, and through stuff.

We visited grandma and grandad for tea tonight for a family reunion. And I decided, not only to crawl under the coffee table, but to go through the narrowest part. And then I climbed over grandad's feet on my way to the kitchen. I had some nice cuddles with my aunty Lisa from Canberra. I even treated her to my only-for-special-people face-slobber game.

I am quite fast getting up the steps from their lounge to the dining room, but tonight tried to go the other way. I didn't figure it out. Going up steps is a lot easier than going down them. My plan was to go head first, dad told me it wasn't the best of ideas, but I couldn't seem to figure out any other way of getting down the stairs.

Chocolate!

I had a bath today.

I was so relieved to be clean, I relieved myself. In the bath. Yep, it's happened a few times now. But look on the bright side, I'm being environmentally conscious by saving a nappy.

I also spent the afternoon vocalising with new sounds, 'mumumumumum'. Mum likes it.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, but in our busyness none of us ate any chocolate eggs. So we fixed that today. I had my first taste of chocolate. Dad gave me a small egg. I grabbed it, rolled it around my high chair, and finally shoved it into my mouth. I smiled. Chocolate is good! I was quick to pick up any little bit that dropped onto the seat or my pants. My clean pants. Note to self, or more importantly my parents, don't dress the baby in nice visiting clothes before you give them the first taste of chocolate. Needless to say I had to get changed before we went visiting this afternoon. But it was worth it. Will I have to wait another year before tasting chocolate again? Mum says yes.

Sleep, bath, or rock 'n roll?

We haven't had a very relaxing weekend. It's been fun, but very busy.

I have been getting to bed a little on the late side, and waking up early.

I did have a little snooze in church this morning, but was woken up by some loud guitars at the end of the service!

I haven't had a bath since Thursday night. They're not very rock 'n roll. And we were rockin' in the park tonight. I wasn't originally going to go to tonight's concert. I was to spend the evening relaxing, and hopfeully sleeping, at grandma's place. But grandad wasn't feeling too good, so I headed back to the park with mum and dad for a big outside church service and a concert. It was good fun.

Both mum and dad took turns holding me and groovin' to the music. I got lots of smiles from the people around us. And there was lots to look at with the light show and the smoke and the crowd and the bands...

Rock and Roll!

We were excited about the music festival, and tonight's concert, but we started the day with more mundane activities; clothes washing.

But I tried to make it as exciting as I could.


Mum was loading the machine with clothes and left the laundry for a few moments to collect the washing basket. I took the opportunity to shuffle over to the door, pull myself up, and toss aunty Lyndall's shoes inside! Mum laughed, and quickly took them out. And was thankful that the washing machine at the new house is a top loader.

I donned my denim jacket for the first time for the concert tonight. Mum and dad bought it before I was born. It fits perfectly, and dad says I looked like a little rocker. Mum even stuck some of dad's hair styling stuff in my hair to complete the rockstar look. It obviously worked because during the concert the local TV news cameraman spotted me and came right up to shoot a close-up of me. How cool!

Good grief, I made a baby cry on Good Friday

It's a big weekend for our family. It's Easter. We've got lots of relatives coming to visit, and we've got a big music festival in town.

In preparation for the festival mum got me a pair of baby headphones for the loud concerts. Mum and dad didn't want my little ears blasted from the loud rock and roll. The headphones are the same as Apple Martin wore watching her dad's band play at a big festival - if they're good enough for a rockstar's baby, they're good enough for us.

We went to a Good Friday service, and I got a little squirmy so mum took me out to the parent's room. Belinda and her baby Zara were out there, and I got a little too excited to see Zara and grabbed her face. She did not approve. She cried. A lot. Mum felt terrible. She and dad talked afterwards about how and when we are going to approach discipline. Not that I was being naughty today, but it got them thinking...I already know the green cord is off limits, and I remember it 80% of the time...So learning how to play gently is my next lesson.

We went to the park tonight for a big concert. I wore the headphones, teamed with my new multicoloured 'hoodie', and had a great time.

Ice cream smile

Not only am I a good shopper, I'm a good shop entertainer!

Heading to the supermarket the day before Easter is probably not the smartest thing, but that's where mum and I found ourselves, along with half the city. We got all the necessary items and set up at the checkout behind a few other people with trolleys bigger than b-doubles!

I took it upon myself to entertain the waiting masses with my smiles and laughs. Soon I had all the people in our aisle smiling and laughing too.

To celebrate, or maybe to just relax, mum got herself an icecream. She thought it might be interesting to give me a lick. I don't eat much cold food, so I think she was wondering how I'd react. I liked it! So much that for the whole time she ate the ice cream, I tried to eat it too. I managed to get most of it on my face. Yum! Dad's wondering if now is the tme to introduce me to some soft drink. He thinks it will be fun for me to drink some coke, and watch my reaction.

Eating cakes....of soap!

I love bathtime.

My latest mission in the bath has been to grab hold of the cake of soap in the soap holder. I tried yesterday, but it slipped out of my hands and fell into the bath, and since I lost sight of it, I lost interest, and went back to playing with my real bath toys.

Today I tried again. I perched myself along the sides of my blue bath and stretched as far as I could to reach the elusive white cake...It was slippery. It kept sliding out of my hand, but I was determined. It took ages but I finally grabbed it. And what did I do? I shoved it straight into my mouth!

Dad thought it was hilarious and disturbing all at once. He reached over and grabbed it out of my mouth. I had a funny look on my face, gave a whimper, and went back to playing with my real bath toys. Mum heard all the commotion and came in to inspect her little soap eater. I had it stuck between my two teeth, so she washed out my mouth and told me that eating soap probably isn't the smartest thing to do.

Cruskets and water

Mum got me some cruskets today. They're crunchy, bland tasting biscuits. Not the most delicious things, but according to other mums they're good for teething babies, and much cheaper than rusks!

She also gave me a big drink of water today in my sippy cup. With all the solids I've been adding to my diet, we think it's good to add some boiled water to the mix. It might help keep those 'pop a vein in my forehead' poos at bay! Usually I prefer mum or dad to hold the cup for me, but today mum left it on my high chair, and walked back to the kitchen. So I picked it up and had a big drink. All by myself!

That's the good news. The not so good news is that I haven't been finding it easy to go to sleep lately. I've been too busy playing and laughing and giggling, and only got to sleep just before 11pm. That's four hours after I usually go to bed. I slept through last night, even with a late start to my sleep, so we're all hoping I'll stay asleep until daylight...

Quack, quack

Today I traded in my usual voice for a slighly deeper, slighty weirder one. Mum says it sounds just like Donald Duck!

When I 'talked' it made mum laughed, which made me laugh, which made everyone laugh!

I have been laughing and joking for the last couple of days, filling the house with joy. We visited Andy and Wendy for lunch yesterday, and usually I'll sit quietly and play but yesterday I was too busy crawling under the table and climbing up the chairs and waving to the dog out the window. And I played a new game of throwing myself backwards on to the couch. Great fun!

It took me a long time to go to sleep tonight because I was a bit too busy laughing and joking around with mum before I poked her in the eye. Ow! Sorry mum. She's OK now.

Bye mum!

I became a Tiny Treasure today. That's the name for the pre-sunday school group at church.

Mum took me into the room and signed me in, I got a sticker with my name on it, and then I got plonked down next to a Noah's Ark playset. Very nice. Very appropriate! It's the first time I've been away from mum or dad or grandma, so it was a bigish deal. But I took it all in my stride.

I sat by myself and played happily for most of the service. One of the ladies saw me and thought I could do with a playmate, so she had a bit of a play with me, and when she headed off to check on some other kids, I sropped my bottom lip in sadness. She picked me up and took me with her over to the other kids. Cry averted. New friends made.

Mum and dad said it was a little bit strange to be by themselves in church without me. Just like the old days, but they were veryhappy to see me after the service.

On hair

I really like hair.

When mum feeds me there's nothing I like more than playing with her hair. When I was little her hair was longer, and my little fingers got caught in it a lot.

I even play with my own hair when I'm having a feed. It still grows really fast at the front. I've had two trims already, but the back and sides don't grow very fast at all. Although today mum was inspecting the back of my head and wonders if the hair at the rear is a bit too long, as in 'mullet'! But it's nothing drastic yet.

Now on hair, when people pick me up I like to grab onto their hair, it seems to help me feel secure. Dad's boss picked me up the other day, and he's bald. So I had to improvise. I grabbed his collar!

Pool history

I kicked a few goals at swimming today. Well, not literally, because there are no goals in the pool - on a football field, yes - but that's something we'll get to in a moment.

I crawled across the mat in the pool today. It's a big deal. The last activity each week at swimming involves crawling across a mat that sits on top of the water. I usually stay put, no matter how many toys they put in front of me. But today I did it!

And I didn't stop there. We sing a song, "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands", guess who was the only one who clapped by themselves? Yes! And I even waved when we sang 'if you're happy and you know it wave goodbye"...All my new skills came together at the right time today.

Now, back to football. The season starts tonight and so does my tipping. Dad got me set with our tried and true method of tipping. Names on pieces of paper, the first one I grabbed would be my tip. It's my first full season of tipping. I only arrived halfway through last season, and even though he thought about it, dad decided starting my career as a tipper in the womb would have been a little hard. He was going to read out the teams and see when I kicked, but that was deemed too 'out there'!

Anyway, here are my tips;

Titans, Roosters, Eels, Sharks, Knights, Panthers, Tigers

Get on them!

A ripping good time

While mum was cooking tea in the kitchen I discovered the phone book in the dining room.

She saw me flicking through the pages, and since it's actually last year's phone book, she didn't mind if I crinkled a few pages.

I did more than just crinkle the pages. I ripped them clean out. Over and over again.

By the time she got to me I'd gotten through most of the 'motor mechanic' section.

It was great fun. But now mum and dad are wondering if they'll have to teach me to distunguish between the rippable books (of which there are a grand total of one) and non-rippable books - every single other book in our household.

Did you hear the phone?

I spent a good amount of time playing with Tupperware in the kitchen today. I even kept hold of a plastic bowl the whole time while dad was feeding me, only putting it down once. And that once was when dad did a little clap and I had to join in! I clapped most of the day.

But the big discovery of the day was when mum was inspecting the telephone in the living room. I had grabbed it sometime this week, and she noticed the ringer was turned off. Uh oh, I think that was me. I get a little excited when I grab things, like the time I propped myself up and grabbed the keyboard on the computer (in a couple of seconds I'd changed some of the viewing settings on Internet Explorer!) No wonder we hadn't had any phone calls lately! There were no messages, so we musn't have missed anything too important.

Clap your hands

I started clapping today.

I've been a fan of the clap for a long time. I often flash dad a smile when he claps for me. And there's his clapping song, "clapping is fun, I love to clap with dad and mum".

So today I decided I'd give it a go. Mum was clapping, and I did a few little claps of my own. She was mightily impressed. I think she gave me a round of applause! As the day progressed I clapped more and more. When dad got home I was ready to show him my new skill. He clapped in delight.

We all gave ourselves a round of applause. Yay!

Dad says it's quite amazing that one day I didn't clap, and the next I can. He's impressed with my little brain and all the things it's taking in.

Chasing cats is funny

Mum and I were in the backyard this afternoon, doing a spot of washing when we noticed a cat in the yard. We've been having a few issues with cats and the little surprises they like to leave in our garden beds, so mum yelled at the cat to 'get out of our yard'.

The poor cat got a fright and froze, so mum decided to chase it out of the yard, but it got confused and just stood at the gate. So mum had to walk over to the gate, open it, and then shoo the cat out.

It was only after she opened the gate that she realised I was laughing the whole time. It was very exciting...

Public poos and other people's toys

We went out for lunch after church to Michael and Belinda's place.

They have a high chair just like mine, so I was very comfortable at the table. Probably a bit too comfortable. I did a poo. One of those 'clench-your-fists-and-screw-up-your-face-and-push-so-hard-the-blood-rushes-to-your-head' poos. There were some very sympathetic comments, and a couple of laughs too - I mean, even I have to admit it's rather funny when a nine month old looks you in the eye, grunts, and relieves himself at a table full of adults.

Other people's houses are great. Especially if they have kids. Lots of interesting toys. And understanding parents. I wiled away the afternoon playing with some little plastic animals and banging a biscuit tin lid.

Shakespeare vs scrunching brochures

Mum and dad went to see a Shakespeare production tonight, so I packed up my stuff and headed over to grandma and grandad's place for a spot of baby sitting.

I had a lovely time. So did mum and dad, but during the first act dad admitted that he missed me, and thought of the things we would have been doing at home. Probably scrunching up brochures or rolling the tennis ball down the hallway. Mum thought of me during the play too.

After the show they came and got me, I stayed asleep walking down the stairs. I stayed asleep in the car. I stayed asleep getting into my cot. But I didn't stay asleep for long. I was restless most of the night, and by the time morning came we were all a little bit bleary eyed.

Bound to happen

I did a poo in the bath.

Back in the swing of things

I slept a lot better last night.

Had a good swimming lesson. I'm getting a lot more confident in the water, but I still don't crawl on the floating mat. All the other kids do. But I don't. I crawl on dry land just fine. And when we went visiting today I had no problems with internal stairs either.

I've added pasta to my menu. Mum reckons we'll be able to share meals soon. I have been having some weetbix for brekky this week. Mixed with warm water. And some fruit. Yesterday mum forgot to add the fruit and I screwed up my face with every bite. You try eating weetbix with just a bit of warm water. Eeewww.

The record breaking sleeping run is over

I slept through the night, not once, not twice, but seven nights in a row! Mum and dad have been very proud, and relieved. It's always a little annoying for us three to hear people say 'oh, my baby took three weeks to sleep through the night - those three weeks were terrible'. Three weeks? Try nine months, and then come and talk to us!

But the record run finished last night.

I went to bed a little late and woke woke up crying soon after. Dad instinctively got out of bed, got me out of my grobag, handed me to mum for my first-breakfast feed, and looked at the clock to find it was only half past twelve! I didn't settle down at all, I squirmed for an hour or two, and so after my feed dad and I went back to our old couch-sitting ways until daybreak.

I ended up having a really good day. Swimming was fantastic. And I practiced my 'waving'. And played with my tennis ball. And had a two-and-a-half hour daytime sleep.

Dad's hoping tonight I'll start another record sleeping run...

Waves

I started waving today. Sure, I've been waving my arms around a lot for the past few months, but it was today when mum noticed me purposefully waving. I'm still a bit wobbly with my waves, they're big huge movements that don't look a lot like a traditional wave, but I'm getting there.

Dad and I played the rolling ball game again this afternoon. I love it. And Andy and Wendy came around for tea, and I was only too happy to show them my new ball rolling and waving skills.

Mum and dad are amazed at how quickly I am picking up new skills. I'm not a little baby anymore...

Ball boy

I spent a lot of time with grandad today. He's a lot better now (thank you to all those people who've asked about him), and helped teach me to do stuff. Like playing with pots and pans. He's a psychologist, so he knows what he's doing. I was given a small pot and a large pot and they both had lids. And the plan was for me to put the right lid on the right pot. And bang them.

And then he showed me how to roll a ball.

When dad found out about the ball he was very excited.

He went straight to the sports shop and bought me my own pack of tennis balls. Official Wimbledon championship balls. Of course. And when he got home we set ourselves down in the hallway and rolled the ball to each other. It was great fun. I squealed with delight each time dad clapped my ball letting-go skills. We played and played. We both had a lot of fun.

Giggling kids and freezers

I kept my eye on a couple of kids playing at church this morning. They were laughing and giggling and I was mesmerised. Just like the time I saw a kid with a ball in the pizza shop we went to. She was bouncing the ball up and down and I stared at the ball the whole time. I like watching people.

I also seem to like freezers more than air conditioners. That's dad's opinion after a trip to the electrical store this afternoon. We were there to buy an oven and dishwasher, and while we were waiting dad took me on a tour of the shop - we peered into deep freezers and microwaves and air conditioners. But it was the freezer and the big door that was more interesting than the relatively boring air conditioner.

Dad looked after me later on when mum had to go out, and I was supposed to have a sleep. But I couldn't settle and cried and wailed and screamed for about an hour. I eventually went to sleep. In my rocking chair. I sniffled the whole time I slept (proof you can be sad and asleep at the same time) and I woke up the same way I went down; crying. I eventually settled down, and after some tea was back to my normal happy, albeit tired, self.

Me and dad

Dad and I have been spending more time together lately. Yesterday he took me swimming, because mum was at work. We had a great time in the pool, even if I was a little quiet - no splashing or other wild moves today - just a lot of concentrating.

Today we went to a bookfair at the showgrounds. Mum stayed at home, so dad donned the baby carrier and we had a great time wandering through the aisiles of books. It was the first time he's worn the baby carrier, but he got into the swing of things pretty quickly, and chatted to me the whole time, asking me my opinion on which books to get! He got lots of looks from passers-by. One lady told him it was a very special thing for father and son to be out and about like us. It made him proud.

We bought a few books, got home, had a feed, and then went and visited our new house. It doesn't have a bathroom or kitchen at the moment. I had the giggles while we were out, laughing lots and lots.

Learning to love trains

I got a big train for Christmas. It makes all sorts of noises, lights up, and even propels itself forwards.

Today I learned how to appreciate it. You see, a few weeks ago mum got it off the shelf plonked it and me on the floor and pressed the 'go' button. My reaction was not what she hoped. I bawled, and got the shakes. It freaked me out!

So the train went back on the shelf for a week or so. I'll happily play with the train when the power's not turned on, but as soon as the lights flash and the 'woot woot' sound of the train fills the air, I became railophobic (is that what you call the fear of trains?)

This afternoon dad decided it was time to conquer my fear. I was in the kitchen and he sat the train down next to me and explained that it was 'live' - that is, he had turned the power on, and if I banged my hand on the chinmey, the train would light up.

When it fired up, I stared, but didn't cry. I even crawled after it after a few goes. I then spent the rest of the afternoon with the train in my lap, pressing the light and sound buttons.

Job done!