Stool

I've been getting about with a stool lately.

No, not the kind that I usually write about! This is a sitting-on type stool. It's a little stackable one from Ikea - and I love to push it around the house - sometimes upside down too! I'll put stuff on top of it, and then I'll take stuff off of it.

My little red fire truck is still at grandma and grandad's place, and mum says we'll go and get it on the weekend - because if I'm having fun pushing around a stool, just imagine the fun I should* have with the truck.


*Of course, I'm prone to play with things grown ups think aren't as exciting as my proper toys.

Big swims = big sleeps

I had a swimming lesson today and a three hour sleep when we got home.

Dad joked that maybe I should have a swim every morning if that's what happens when I get home.

I was so worn out that I fell asleep on the change table.

When I wasn't swimming or sleeping I was busy standing up. I can now stay standing for as long as I want, and the thing that impresses mum and dad is that when I want to sit down, I don't just let myself go and plop on the floor, I slowly lower myself down. I was a cautious pre-crawler, and it looks as if I've kept that trait...Although when I woke up this morning I did get over excited and fell backwards out of bed - dad caught me halfway down. It certainly woke us both up pretty quickly!

Cupboard baby

I might have stayed in my pyjamas until morning tea time, but that doesn't mean I was lazy.

I busied myself with a packet of lef over balloons from my birthday party - putting them in, and then out, of a paper bag.

Then I decided to crawl into the kitchen cupboard.

I think crawling into cupboards is fantastic.

Let's play cards

Monday is grandma day and we had a great time playing. I didn't sleep much though. My current aversion to cots extends to my portacot in their spare room, so after a short half hour sleep I woke up a bit upset. Grandma decided to plonk me in her bed, to see if that would work. After all, it works when I'm in mum and dad's bed. It did work.

Later on, we visited grandma's mum and she gave me a packet of playing cards. 52 cards kept me very busy. We all decided we'd keep the cards at nanna's place, so that next time we visit I'll have something to keep me entertained.

I don't need cuddles all the time

Every time mum comes to collect me from Tiny Treasures at church, I'm in the arms of one of the helpers. You see, I love playing, but there comes a time (usually the twenty minute mark) when I decide I need a cuddle. And then I get comfortable in the cuddle, and don't really want to be put down.

But not today. Come collection time I was happily playing with a ride on bike. Yeah!

This afternoon dad and I did a bit of walking practice - I'm very close to standing up by myself, and with a bit of help am mastering the idea of walking up the hallway...It's only a matter of time...

A few of my favourite (food) things

The big news of the day, drum roll please....I had my first taste of coke!

Ta-da!

We'd just bought some plants for the front hedge and mum and dad shared a can of coke with their sausage sizzle - and dad said 'how about we give Noah some' and so they did, and I liked it. Yes, I squished my face up at the first mouthful, but after the initial shock of bubbles, I didn't want to let go of that can.

Here's a picture of me with the can, and five seconds later without the can...Can you see the difference? GIVE ME BACK THE FIZZY WONDERDRINK!!

We got home for lunch and I had some tuna and veggies. Well, I was served tuna and veggies, but I only ate the veggies. I picked out the yellow pieces of corn and green peas...I love veggies. I'm not really into tuna. And fortunately for mum and dad, and my teeth, by the time tea rolled around I had totally forgotten about a certain cola drink...

Night owl

Usually, if I wake up at 1:30 it means I've had a good long sleep, and am ready for a spot of lunch and a good afternoon play. It also means mum is really happy, because she had a chance to do some things around the house.

When I woke up full of beans at 1:30 I was met with none of that happiness.

Why?

Because it was 1:30...AM!

I eventually went back to sleep well after 1:30 - and when daylight rolled around we were a family of sleepyheads...

Figuring stuff out

Dad and I had our weekly morning together, and unlike last week, I decided to have a big sleep in the middle of the day, which was good, becasue it meant dad could get some things done around the house, and it meant I was in a good mood after lunch.

Such a good mood, that I wowed dad with my fine motor skills. I was playing with my train. I like to press the button in the middle that starts a little song, and also makes a little cog turn that a plastic box with a toy elephant inside sits on and spins around. The tricky thing is, if the box is on the cog, you can't press the button down. I seemed a bit stumped. but I soon figured out I could take the box off, press the button with my finger, and then shove the box on top of the cog and watch the elephant spin around. Dad said it was really something to watch me figure it out. We had a good celebration.

How to lose socks and impress people

We had a top forecast of 12 degrees today. Cold! Not a good day to discard my socks. Yet that was exactly today's mission.

My technique was to shove my foot to my mouth and then take the sock off with my teeth! It meant my socks got damp, which meant a little extra embarrassment when I flung them off at the library and had the librarian pick them up and hand them back to me.

I also threw my socks off at the swimming pool, in Kmart and in Myer, and finally flung one away, never to be found again, in Coles.

That carry-on did not impress mum very much, but my performance at the pool did. I crawled across the mat! I've never done that before. Usually I sit still and let all the other babies rush to their mums at the other end. Maybe the sock flinging helped my mood, because as soon as I got plonked onto the mat I was off like a shot, crawling to mum.

Learning to love my cot

Mum's called in the troops to help me learn to love my cot all over again.

Manni.

Yes, my teddy bear. He's started to come along on car trips and sleeping visits to the big bed, the plan being that when mum puts me in my cot he'll come too, and we'll have all sorts of adventures to talk about to keep my mind off the fact I'm in my cot. Or something like that.

After last night's episode, after my bed time bottle mum skipped a stage and put me straight in the big bed. All by myself. I fell asleep straight away. When mum checked on me she noticed I was sleeping on my tummy with my legs tucked under my body. Grandma says dad did exactly the same thing when he was a baby. Cool huh?

AWAKE!

No time for sleep today, I was busy playing.

I had a half hour snooze before lunch at Grandma's place - the funny thing was it took more than half an hour to get me to sleep...And that was it until 10pm.

That's a long time.

I refused to go to sleep in my cot after tea. Mum tried. And then half an hour later, dad tried. All the tricks were pulled out. None worked.

With both parental options exhausted, dad whispered to mum a secret plan - to take me into their room, all of us hop in bed, and for me to think it was bed time for all of us. Once I fell asleep, the plan would be for mum and dad to dive out of bed and go back to what they would usually do after I've gone to sleep. In this case it was unpacking boxes and watching telly.

Well, one of us did get sleepy. Dad!

I, on the other hand, partied like it was morning.

Pretending to go to sleep so that I would fall asleep only made dad sleepy, and mum cranky. They both did see the funny side, and laughed about it when I finally went to sleep. They resolved to get super strict with bedtime and never let me get over tired again. Uh oh...

Big bed > Cot

I've been waking up in the middle of the night quite distressed lately. After a few nights of pacing back and forth and unsuccessful attempts at putting me back in my cot, mum and dad have relented and let me sleep between them in the Big Bed.

I'm getting used to it.

Mum and dad don't seem to mind too much, especially when I don't sprawl out sideways and snore loudly. Unfortunately, I usually do spread out sideways and snore like a jackhammer.

To justify our week of co-sleeping mum and dad convinced themselves that;

a) in many culture, sleeping together is the norm

b) this is only a temporary measure (that's what they think!)

Deep down, I think they both like me coming to visit in the wee small hours. And I sure do!

Stand up!

We went to the footy tonight.

My first live game outside the womb.

And to celebrate, I stood unassisted for the first time. Right behind the 50m line at the Western end of Gabba. Dad was taking photos of me and mum after the game and she let go of me and I 'hovered' for a bit, and dad captured the historic milestone for your viewing pleasure. I stood for about a second.

I enjoyed the first bit of the game, but got a bit squirmy in our seats halfway through the first quarter, so mum took me for a walk. The first roar of the crowd gave me a bit of a fright, but I soon got used to it, and fell asleep despite the yelling and cheering and sirens. I got a bigger fright when the team mascot showed up and mum lined me up for a photo. There's something about an oversized lion with sunglasses that didn't seem right, and I did not want to go anywhere near it.

It wasn't all footy and crowds today. It was art and crowds too. We went to the art gallery and saw a Picasso exhibition. Very suave. I was a bit more interested in looking at the people who were looking at the art, than looking at the art myself. But I did point at one big Picasso made up of lots of little dots.

Not for babies

I heard a certain phrase too many times today.

Certainly too many times for an explorer such as myself.

"that drawer is not for babies"

We were in the kitchen, and instead of playing with one of the zillion soft toys at my disposal, I was interested in what was inside the cupboards. i started at one end of the kitchen, and as mum told me 'that drawer is not for babies' I'd make my way to the next one. Same story. Maybe I was hoping that at least one of the drawers was 'for babies'.

None were.

Not even the drawers at Shelley's place. We went for a visit today and while the others were all busy playing and talking, I made a beeling to the kitchen, parked myself in front of the pot drawer and prepared for a grand opening. Unfortunately mum foiled my plans.

More nappies than you can poke a stick at

Dad and I set off a nappy buying mission this morning.

One of the department stoes had $10 off our preffered brand, so we hot footed it over there to get us some. We were not the only ones with that idea. It was a nappy buying frenzy.

I started the mission in the sling, but it must have been set to mum's size, because when dad put it on it was a bit squashy, and I whinged just as we got to the nappy section.

It was only when we were standing in front of a sea of nappies and crazy women that dad realised he wasn't 100% sure of what size we needed. He knew which colour we needed. Blue. So he hedged his bets and got 2 of the biggest ones, and 2 of the medium ones. Turns out I'm in the medium size, so we are future proof!

We filled up the trolley with the nappy boxes, and then me, because I wasn't enjoying the sling - and seeing dad only has two arms - he thought the best place for me was riding 'shotgun' in the trolley. I laughed when we went over bumps.

I had a 5 minute sleep on the way home, but didn't have much more until much later this afternoon.

Diving back in

I had my first swim for ages today.

I skipped the last term of swimming because it was a bit repetitious. And it was getting cold too.

But after my recent aversion to baths mum and dad thought I better get back into the pool before I totally forget I can swim!

We changed swimming schools. my new one is closer to home, and cheaper, and we sing different songs!

I was a bit hesitant at first, but didn't cry, and I soon got confident enough to go under the water and everything.

I don't like Jatz, I love them!

You can keep your rusks.

You can keep your cruskets.

You can keep your rice crackers.

I want Jatz!

Soft toys vs cooking utensils

Mum and I went over to grandma's place today and picked up a load of stuff we'd left there. Various shoes and things, and a big basket of my soft toys!

There's my zebra, and my giraffes, and my centipede, my turtle, a reindeer and a host of other things.

But do you think I'd spend the afternoon reaquainting myself with my long lost toys?

No, I spent the afternoon attenpting to get into the bottom drawer in the kitchen. where the baking paper lives. It's not bright and colourful. It doesn't play a tune when you press it. But it's cool.

I also discovered I like Jatz crackers. I had a couple after tea. One in each hand, taking a bit from each. Brilliant!

Habit forming

My early morning trips into the big bed continue.

They're getting so regular that mum has put one of my toy trucks next to her side of the bed so that when I wake up I've got something to play with while mum and dad try and get a few more minutes sleep.

Mum woke up at one stage this morning and found me lying sideways across her pillow!

My visits usually start between two and four o'clock. I'll sleep for a couple of hours but I'm up before the sun is, and way before mum and dad are ready to play.

Hence the truck.

Today's menu

Breakfast;

1 weetbix with hot water and apple sauce
1 piece dry toast

Lunch

Baked beans and yoghurt (not together!)
A couple of spoonfuls of avocado (straight from the fruit!)

Tea

Soup and bread (just like mum and dad)

Various bottles of milk and water (some of which got dribbled onto my highchair tray and paddled in)

It was all yellow

Mum noticed a little rash on my tummy a couple of days ago. On closer inspection last night dad noticed it's lots of little red spots that looked like dry skin. Mum went to the chemist and showed them, they said it's nothing to worry about but gave her a bottle of Pinetarsal for my bath. It's bright yellow smelly stuff. At bathtime I had no intention of getting in. Mum hopped in with me, and I still cried and cried, but soon settled down when I saw all my favourite toys. We had a good play in the bath, and hopefully my irritated skin will disappear. The irritation. Not the skin!

I played for a long time with a yellow spoon in the kitchen. Mum was unpacking some boxes and I passed the time tapping the spoon against the inside of one of the kitchen cupboards. Every now and then I'd squeal in delight!

If at first you don't succeed

I found a hollow curtain rod on the floor today. I thought it looked quite interesting so I stuck my thumb in it. It got stuck. I cried. Mum helped me out. I picked up the pipe, had a good look at it, and shoved my thumb straight back in it!

This afternoon I did it again, only this time it was with a box. I climed on top of a new nappy box and couldn't get down. I cried. Mum helped me out. When I was safely on the ground I decided to climb it again!

It's cold!

It's cold today.

It was cold last night too.

Mum and dad put the heater in my room - so seeing it's the warmest room in the house, you'd think I'd be planning to stay there all night. No sir. At 2 or 3am (I didn't check my watch) I wailed and wailed and demanded a cuddle. So I was plonked between mum and dad and slept in their bed morning. Their bed in a cold room. I think dad was tempted to swap beds with me!

Today was a 4 layer day. I had a singlet, long sleeved t shirt, padded vest and grandma's knitted cardigan on. I was beefed up like the Michelin Man. I didn't sleep much today - and am still a little bit clingy still. When we visited grandma's house I made myself at home and happily played by myself, but as soon as we got back to our place I was all clingy again. Mum's pretty sure I think grandma's place is home and home isn't! I'm sure I'll get used to this place soon. As long as it warms up a bit!

Cling wrap

I've developed a bit of a clingy thing over the past couple of days, but today has been the best (or worst, depending how you look at it).

Maybe it's the new house. Maybe it's just a bit of late-set separation anxiety. Or maybe it's those antibiotics!

My most preferred position is perched in someone's arms.

Not in my cot.

Or in my bath.

I carried on like a bit of a pork chop at bathtime. It only lasted a few seconds. That's never happened before, but seeing I hadn't had a bath for a couple of days mum and dad decided it might be best if I had a shower. So dad jumped in and held me clse and we had a shower, but that only lasted a minute or so before I got the sads.

Earlier in the day mum was cleaning the loo, so she put me in my cot (which is in view of the toilet, if all the doors are open) but I still got the sads.

Pick

Mum discovered me discovering my nose today.

It's got two finger sized holes!

I had a good pick in the back of the car. Mum looked through the rear view mirror just in time to see my finger and nose become well aquainted.

We went out visiting today.

I picked my nose there too.

I met a baby who shares my birthday. She's one year younger than me, and I found her fascinating.

Fortunately, I didn't pick her nose.

Building desks and sitting in boxes

I get sleepy after busy days. Today was doubly busy, because not only did I help mum and dad build the new desk for the study, I was in entertaining mode this afternoon when grandma and aunty Lyndall came for a visit.

It only took one leg of the desk to be put together before I figured out how it worked and grabbed a screwdriver and shoved it in the hole where the screw went. Mum and dad were quite impressed. But they quickly whisked me away before dad got the electric drill out. I liked the electric drill. Dad didn't let me have a go.

When the visitors arrived I made sure to pull out all the stops. I wowed them with my standing-up-in-the-high-chair trick. Even after dad told me not to. A few times.

I showed them how I can climb into a cardboard box.

And I 'chatted' a lot.

After they left we went to pick up pizza for tea, and I fell asleep straight away. Until we got to the shops. Then I cried. When we got going again, and the car sped up, I settled down again. Dad thinks I must be built for speed!

Gardening

I didn't sleep in my cot today at all.

Not in the morning. Not in the afternoon.

But I did have a quick snooze while mum and dad were gardening. Dad was planting roses, and mum's job was to fill up buckets of water from the tank in the backyard and bring them out the front. My job was to sit in the baby carrier and have fun.

There's a big noisy dog next door - and he runs right up to the fence and barks when we walk down the path. He gives both mum and dad frights, but I don't seem to worried. I was so not worried that I fell asleep on mum's back after a couple of water gathering trips. It was the only sleep I got all day.

I finished up the day eating peas at tea time. I had fun picking them up one at a time,offering one to dad, then mum, then placing it carefully on mum's fork, and then popping it in my mouth!

Moving experience

We moved into the new house!

Finally.

Mum and dad are still sleeping on the floor, but my cot is all assembled and a good lot of my toys are unpacked. So I'm good to go.

My wooden change table is back in use again, for the last few months I've been changed on the portable cot change table. I've obviousyl grown a lot since the last time we used to proper change table - my legs dangle over the edge now!

Big poo

I did a really big poo today.

It was a new record.

Thankfully it stayed where it should until mum changed it.

She says she needs a gas mask.

She blames the antibiotics.

Dad blames the Sultana Bran I've been having for breakfast!

Helping

Mum and dad spent a few hours moving furniture around the house. The big job was to get the dishwasher, and all its hoses, in place.

It was a two person job. Many hands make light work, so I joined in the fun, but for some reason my 'helpfulness' wasn't as helpful as I thought.

Mum would plonk me down in the dining room, rush to the kitchen, do a few second's work before I waddled over and started grabbing stuff. It was a pattern I repeated for a good while!

We finally got the job done and then I had mum all to myself. We played. And I had fun crawling up and down the new hallway.

Antibiotics

I was supposed to have my MMR vaccine shot today, but when we got to the doctor's surgery, they gave me a check up and found that I have a bit of a throat infection and a sore ear too. So they put off the needle (yay!) and gave me a course of antibiotics instead (not so yay!). I have to take them three times a day, but it should clear up my little barking cough, and make my ears feel better. not that anyone around here knew about my ears. Praise God for attentive doctors.

This afternoon after work dad read me some stories and played with my stacking blocks. He grabbed the smallest two and threw them in the air and then proceeded to juggle them. He discovered he's not much of a juggler, but I found it fascinating, and stared with my mouth open at the blocks as they flew in the air. It was impressive. Even if they fell to the ground a few too many times for dad's liking!