Sproglet

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 23:07:51 GMT

9 months old!

Mon, 03 May 2004 20:02:36 GMT

He was ina tired whingey mood, and refused to fall asleep, but it was a nice day anyway :)

Edible? Of course, everything is edible to 9month old babies.

Fun with Dad: Schlomping out for five minutes..

Being bribed to stop whinging with a shoulder ride..

Why pose for the camera when you can play with some boobs?

Ice creeaaammm...

Progress report!
Eats properly, eventually! He can't get enough now, and will even crawl over, climb up you, and make 'Give me a bit!' noises if you're eating anything. He pulled Nana's tomato soup all over her the other day, oops, haha. His favourites are pasta, bananas, pears, beans, cheese and bread.
Can play peekaboo by laying his head down to hide then sticking it up for the surprise, or peeping round a door frame
Crawls properly on his knees when he feels like it
Doesn't wake up or feed through the night as much, I feed him once during the night now, usually we can just pick him up, cuddle him, and then lay him back down to get himself to sleep.
Doesn't mind having the wind in his face - he used to start gasping and fretting!
Has become wary of noises like the hair dryer and noisy roads, and gets all clingy if they frighten him.
Recognises and smiles for extended family and friends
Loves playing games with anything that spins or rolls
Likes being read to
Can dance to music standing up holding onto something
Goes all loose when you try and hold him if he's having a paddy about something
Can drink (with help) out of a cup, and likes water
Loves being out in the garden looking at the different plants
Laughs with glee every time he sees his reflection
Holds his arms out to be picked up
Waves hello or bye-bye!
Practises laughing noises randomly
Watches and smiles if people kiss or hug near him
Tries to eat stones and pebbles - we have gravel in the garden so that's no fun at all.

Nearly 8 months!

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 23:26:47 GMT

Gosh, I'm terrible at updating this. I suppose that's because I spend all day in Mum Mode so when Leo hits the sack I indulge myself in other things.

Leo is a very efficient sniffer dog. By this, I mean you can put him down on the floor, and he will immediately slither towards the most dangerous object or substance in a 20 metre radius. I am sure he would be highly appreciated in an airport. Thousands of identical suitacases? Straigh for the one with the guns drugs and bombs.

He is very mobile now, not quite what I would describe as a crawl yet though. He pushes himself up, then hoists himself forwards into a flop. It looks a little like he's doing butterfly stroke on carpet. It's surprisingly effective. I am exhausted and a total bag of nerves, as he shows little interest in his toys, and is lured to things like wires, hot drinks, corners, small bits of plastic, carrier bags, cat food, miniscule dirt particles, etc. It's really shocking how fast he has learned to get around. He is so eager to explore everything too, he gets frustrated when I restrict him for his own safety and flops on the floor crying in hopeless defeat.

This leads me to the most important milestone in the forst year of a childs life for any new parent. Going to Sleep Alone. We didn't have a choice. The tactic of leaving him to cry is not one I have ever felt comfortable with, but it has worked. 20 minites of resigned crying for the first two nights, 10 minutes of quiet crying for the two after that, and Oh My Word. A different baby! He is so much more alert and happy during the day now that he's sleeping better at night. It's such a change from having his tiny body laid beside me all night, but it was just time to do it. He's become too big and wriggly to share a single bed with now and can escape it anyway. Plus it was disturbing his sleep to have me, his source of food constantly available right next to him. Most importantly, he doesn't hate me for leaving him in the morning, haha.

So, food! We had a bit of a struggle with the mush because even if he was hungry, Leo would stubbornly press his lips together and just stare at me trying to sweet talk him into opening his gob. I was hurt when he eagerly ate whenever Ross fed him, little traitor. But after a week of catching him in the right mood and hunger level, he is finally scoffing his face with whatever mush I offer him. I get organic baby foods as spending hours mashing parsnips was sucking my soul away. I was horrified to find that most big name 'Organic' baby foods are actually bulked up with nutritionless cornflour. So you fill the baby and they sleep well but aren't actually ebing fed a decent diet at all. Frightening.

I am noticing more and more that Leo is a very sociable baby. He loves other kids, animals, and most adults. He really doesn't like spending all day in the house with me, he gets so bored. Today, my Gran went to the physio and Leo wouldn't even look at me after a few hours, and nothing I did would please him! I couldn't take him out though as I had to get ready for Tea round Ross' parents house, where he was a little star infront of all his aunties and grandparents.

His dexterity is really amazing now, seeing him go from clumsily handling big things to being able to pick up tiny things is just wonderous. I still think he has such good hands because he nips, piches, rolls, squeezes and slaps my skin (any skin he can find) while I'm feeding him. He first practised his pincer grip on my nipple. Ouch.

For the past few months he has been rather quiet, which worried because at 4 months he could coo and gurgle, so I know he's capable. In the past couple of weeks though, he's gone noisy again. He adjusts his language to match yours if you start 'conversing' with him. At the moment we have:

F-ish (effish, or fish.) Making long and short F noises, perhaps with intermittentspit bubbles and raspberries.
Bubba - 'buh buh buh' He does this one quite loud and with different tones as if he is making a very important speech.
The Dinosaur - A blood curdling lizard like set of screeches, usually made in glee.
Fartese - Constant raspberries, either made with mouth only, on human flesh, or on own hands.
The B movie - Consant high pitched screaming, usually made in excitement
Coogling - A gorgeous, breathy combination of coos and gurgles that are usually reserved for early morning babbling as I wake up and the sun comes through the blinds to reveal Leo either calmly laying on his back playing with his feet, or cheekily wriggling over to attack me with flesh squeezes.

He has two teeth! On the bottom at the front. Cute but deadly. One pair of my sunglasses is covered in scratches now!

Leo still loves playing peekaboo, under the duvet, around the house, anywhere, it never fails to make him smile. He plays a talking game with Ross which is sweet to watch, Ross says 'Hello Baba' and Leo makes various noises back while gesticulating too.

Well, now I've got the important stuff out there will probably be more soon. I haven;t been updating due to 'homework avoidance' i.e, the amount you have to do builds up so much you dread doing it, so put it off, so it builds up, etc! Evil. I love doing stuff with Leo, and I know I'll regret it if I don;t kee a record but damn, the evenings are short and there's usually better things to do than sit at the computer doting on my little bloblet even more than usual :D

Long Overdue Pictures

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 01:59:13 GMT

4 months old and scoffing baby rice with Dad

1 week old, and 5 months old

I don't think I'm the only Mum to get a strange pining pang feeling when you see your baby that tiny!

Playing in his cot with all his new stuff after Christmas

Standing on the back of the sofa, 5.5 months

And again, on the same day.

*sigh*.

I forgot to mention that Leo spends all his time in his carseat staring out of the window now, which is cute because he used to just scream loads and require constant singingto/ face pulling. Now he isn't interested in me anymore, but the stuff outside.

6 months old!

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:05:32 GMT

He generally goes to bed between 7 and 8 which is heavenly, I remember the days when he would be crabby for hours before finally setlling (after pacing him around for an hour to music) at about 10.30. It was exhausting. This time of night would be the one I dreaded,

AHAHA. For some reason, Leo has started having some seriously disrupted sleep. I hope it is merely a passing phase as I am back to dreading the evenings. Now he has the strength the nip, scratch, headbutt and slap in a random unco-ordinated manner, handling him when he's tired and pissy isn't fun. He sounds like a well trained pokemon.

He's developing some great noises, the dictaphone is out a lot.
1. If you squeal at him, he squeals back. Some days he does nothing but squeal a lot.
2. He blows vocal rasperries on you when he doesn't want feeding or he's bored.
3. He does this huge grin with an accompanying squeal, an intake screech which sounds like a dinosaur
4. He does a fake cough when he's attention seeking
5. He can say 'hi' back to you if he's in the mood and you do it enthusiasticaly enough.
6. He gurgles and babbles, but only sometimes.

He seems to developing a certain amount of frustration at his lack of mobility. He can wiggle backwards and pull himself round in a circle but he isn't up on his knees or getting forwards yet. He spins himself round in cicles in his bouncy swing too, and gets bored quite fast.

Recently he goes beserk to music, screeching, smiling, laughing and flaling. Today we sampled the delights of Prodigy, Goldfrapp, and the Cramps. It's bizarre seeing a 6month old get wiggly to 'smack my bitch up'.

I was being quite slow with weaning him but he has started looking at our food like a hungry puppy, so I give him banana mush/ baby rice on a spoon for him to join in. He 'feeds' himself, he doesn't really like me doing it for him. I think he likes being high up in his new second hand high chair too, instead of down in the low one. That was getting stupid anyway, it bounced...trying to get food into the mouth of a non bouncing baby is hard enough!

He loves peekaboo and nursery rhymes, we play games through the hatch doors that go from the playroom to the kitchen while one of us is cooking, it's fun.

My Gran is super with him now, she's a real gem and a total calming presence on him. He's huge so she can't carry him round for long and she's too creaky to get on the floor and play with him but she's invaluble at times, like needing a poo or a shower or fanycing a solitary wander through the snow. She mesmerises him when he's crabby by opening and closing the CD slot on the hifi, it makes a satisfying noise.

Leo must be teething because he bites anything in sight. Chins and cheekbones are his favourite, and he kindof sings to you while he's doing it haha it's gross getting drool all over. He loves playing with anything that wasn't designed for babies to play with, being particularly interested in remote controls and mobile phones, with their ergonomic easy of holding, fun buttons and biteable ends. He turned the volume up to ear bleeding on the TV the other day, little git.

His sitting up is going really well but he gets annoyed when he shlomps over or is too tired and just wants to lay back. Everybody keeps commenting on how sturdy he is on his feet, which basically means 'ayas he's standing on my minge bone'. If you hold him infront of you while you're sat down he stands up on your lap, often kicking your tender bits when he starts dancing.

I have a lot of pictures from the past months, I'm going to put them in a backdated entry some time this week. :)

Nearly 6 months old....

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 01:56:23 GMT

^ leo pulls this face a lot. It's fun.

^ Token baby and Daddy shot

^ Leo being a camwhore!

^ Ross gets drool on is face. Good sideburn shot, mmmm.

^ Leo looking like a moneky, but Ross' 70's scarf steals the photo I think

^ Leo doing his best Fonz in his snowsuit.

^ Grinning. Again. :)

5 months

Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:42:22 GMT

Leo's first Christmas and New Year have been pretty good! Leo was spoiled rotten by the whole family, and seem to enjoy it as much as a 5 momth old can, just looking at everything and trying to eat everybody's presents and fingers.

He's doing stuff so fast I can't keep up. He loves standing up on the sofa holding himself up on the back of it. He bounces around in his doorbouncer like a frigging cybergoth, and can turn round in it when you call him, whereas before he would just rotate with the breeze. He is doing really well with his sitting up, balance and play with a toy like that for about a minute til he gets annoyed, or sooner when he loses balance and topples over.

I am trying to teach him to fall. There is going to be a lot of tumbles on the way so I'm trying to make them fun instead of an annoying defeat for him. Everytime he falls/ topples and looks dismayed I do really over the top enthusiatic 'woops' and smile at him and he just grins back and tries again.

He loves lying in his cot to play with his kicking keyboard thing and look at the mobile that I got him from Ikea, but he still won't bloody sleep in it! Co-sleeping wasn't working for us anymore though, everyone was irratable and sweaty, so tonight I've put the bedguard on the spare bed, and he's been in there sleeping peacefully since about 8. I go in and lay with him to feed him, then he goes back to sleep and I can do whatever I like instead of tiptoeing round my bedroom all night and waking him up anyway. I kindof miss cuddling him though, maybe I'll sneak him into bed in the morning. I figure that once he's sleeping through the night with no feeds I'll try and get him to go to sleep by himself in his cot. At the moment its just too disruptive getting up 4 times a night and stressing us both out when he inevitably gets disturbed and awoken by me picking him up and putting him in the cot. I see this as a compromise/transition, at least he's in his own room without me and not waking up crying because I'm not there.

We also hit a rut with trying to feed him puree. If I feed him in the morning, he wakes up having a cack at 4am. I've tried feeding him at about 4 in the evening but he just arses about, fights me and just sucks his own empty spoon. I suppose I'll have to catch him at about 1 or 2 instead, which will be hard because that's usually when I'm busy.

He's also grown without me noticing and is in his next size clothes. How the hell did that happen?

4.5 months...Oh No, Here We Go...

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:33:59 GMT

Well, as Ross reported, Leo is now rolling over easily, both ways. This milestone was the beginning of the 'Not being able to take your eyes off him for 3 seconds' phase, which will last about 5 years. *Groan* I discovered this when I was carrying him on my hip, walking round the kitchen making myself a sanwich. The next thing I know, he's gleefully waving a bottle of fairy liquid about, which he had swiped from bedide the sink. Lucky I managed to grab it off him before he ingested any, but it made me realise that he's losing his baby spazziness. Until this week there was a slight warning period of his little hands flailing in the general direction of whatever it was he was after. No more. He now confidently and without hestitation grabs anything within reach. Plates, eyeballs, bottom lips, hair, glasses of water, ANYTHING.

I am also beginning to hoover obsessively as anything he does grab goes straight into his mouth. I was horrified at the thought of him getting hold of one of my post-baby moulting hairballs and having to make him hack it up like a cat.

He can pass stuff from one hand to the other but it takes a bitof concentration most of the time.

He's been fighting off a sniffly cold this week so I gave the baby rice/ pureed carrot and boob milk a rest until he's over it. It's fun feeding him with a spoon though, I got some disgusting/adorable pictures of him grabbing Ross' hand to bring the spoon to him and slurping the mush off it and getting it all over his face.

Settling him for bed is less of a nightmare now. He still needs cuddling to sleep but I don't have a problem with that. It's kind of nice to have a winding down period together. I dno;t feel confortable leaving him to cry in his cot, it might be seen as spoiling him by parents who used controlled crying successfully on their kids but my Motherly Instincts don't agree with it. Me, my Mum (with Grace) and My Dad (With Callum) all 'attach parent' which I didn't know was a technical way of doing it until recently, but basically involves giving your kid loads of love and hugs instead of forcing them to be indipendent when they dont seem ready for it. Hopefully this will biuld a secure trusting relationship between parent and kid. Awwww.

So anyway. He generally goes to bed between 7 and 8 which is heavenly, I remember the days when he would be crabby for hours before finally setlling (after pacing him around for an hour to music) at about 10.30. It was exhausting. This time of night would be the one I dreaded, but now it's relaxing and time for reading/updating/Quality Time/ getting ready to go out/watching a film etc. He still wakes up for feeds but it isn't a problem as he goes straight back to sleep afterwards. Bliss.

15-17 weeks pics

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 00:14:55 GMT

15 weeks

The first time he let me put him on his belly to play without mashing his face into the floor and screaming! He's not smiling because he's concentrating, and got rather annoyed when I interrupted him with the camera, oops.

This is Leo looking generally gormless and bored in his bouncer before he found out what it did.

Go baby go! But not before I apologise for the presence of hideous carpet! Ok you can go now. Wheee...

And a happy baby hitching a free legride. I lay on my back and lay him on the front of my calves and do my excersizes, woo.

16 weeks

My nana bought a new sofa and it's totally sexy. You can't see it all in these photos, and they might be really dark unless you have your monitor brightness up super high.

And continuing with the seating theme, on my retro chair in my room.

17 weeks

The only ones I've uploaded so far. The other night Leo finally got his foot in his mouth, and chewed it for a good 20 minutes before we got in the bath.
He was ravenous.

Phew! I need a drink after that. Hello social services, I meant orange juice. Thanks.

What Leo can do today.

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 15:09:59 GMT

Right, this is dad reporting from baby central; Leo has, within the last 10 minutes, learned how to roll over from his back to his front. This was to the delight of Danni and me, however, this does mean that he can't be left to sleep on a bed without a guard anymore as he might fall and hurt his baby bonce. He has also eaten loads of sticky baby rice (or more specifically, got loads of baby rice everywhere and a bit went in his mouth), this was pretty good fun but as soon as the camera came out sure enough the smiles vanished. Nevermind.

The new ability to roll has led to difficulties in changing Leo and geting him dressed. Because he's on his back he wants to roll and so he fights with whoever is changing him, then he has a good ol' scream because he inevitably lost.

His grabbing of things has gone to the heady hights (no pun intended) of getting clumps of my hair, he trapped me in bed today by doing this; we were doing aeroplane belly raspberries and on one pass he grabbed the hair in question, I couldn't get to his hands because I was holding his weight off of my head. I was rescued about a minute later. Leo smiled.

Nana Carol has been entertaining him with over exagerated Incy Wincy Spider, she does all the actions and Leo is fascinated to the point of if she stops he complains at the top of his lungs. She is brillient at holding his attention while Danni does other things around the house. Danni and Leo are both very lucky to have her.

First Mush, splashing, rolling, Grace, angry cry, elastic necklace, thanks Ross.

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 02:13:44 GMT

Leo is sucking mush off a spoon! He has seemed to enjoy his last three helpings of baby rice mixed with boob milk, and polished them off quite nicely. After some initial gurning and 'bleh' type actions, he got the hang of it and Ross even had a go at feeding him, which was totally adorable, and successful I might add. A relief indeed, I'm the only one who has fed him for the past 4 months and it's nice to let Daddy have a go!

I was looking totally sexy today, mashing carrot and squishing it into ice cube trays to the tune of The Donnas. Oh and squirting boob milk direct from the udder into the bowl to mix with his rice, ahaha.

We're taking Leo swimming on Sunday, which I think he'll enjoy seeing as he's been enthusiastically launching himself into various splishing swimming positions in the bath with me recently.

What else? Oh, he likes belly time now seeing as he can do more stuff instead of just squooshing his face into the carpet. He rolled over a couple of times, accidentally when the weight of his massive baby head changed his centre of gravity while he was wobbling about. He does it intermittently but hasn't quite mastered contol of it yet. He seems pretty close to getting from back to front, he just needs that extra push to get all the way.

One thing he HAS mastered is his door bouncer! He goes mad, dancing all over the place. He's shouting and experimenting with his voice loads at the moment aswell. Still sticking his tongue out loads. He's also almost a total expert at grabbing stuff now, bottom lips and stray bits of hair included, ouch.

His cry has changed too, he does this angry shouty cry which sounds like a toddler having a paddy, it's really goddamn loud at 6 in the morning, he's been keeping some odd hours recently, much to our despair. There's a nack to putting him down, you have to keep a hand firmly on him and sometimes breathe into his ear til he relaxes!

Watching him and Grace together is amazing, they stare at each other, reach out and smile at each other and do little baby babbly noises together. Until one of them gets cranky anyway. It's going to be pretty crazy seeing my son and my sister grow up together.

One more thing! He nips and kneads me when I'm feeding/cuddling him and it bloody hurts so I asked Ross to get me a necklace suitable for wearing solely for the purpose of keeping Leo's hands occupied. He did, and it was ON ELASTIC. Yeah, I'll just be twanged to death instead, cheers. Retard.

Sat, 29 Nov 2003 20:31:21 GMT

Poor Baby! Last night he was up loads, temperature, sounding sorry for himself. I'm really glad Ross was here, for some reason Leo was settling with him better. So at 3 in the morning when he would only let Ross hold him, I was like 'See what it's like being the only one who can settle him?' He groggily grunted a noise which I hope singnalled understanding. It's hard. I had to walk to the park next to my house the other night and have a cig (well more like ahalf, I just needed to get out of the house and sit in the cold in my undies/ fur coat and look at the stars and the cartoon yellow cresent moon) because I'd just been permanently attatched to him all day and I was going mad. I was starving hungry and Leo wouldn't let me put him down and I was just exhausted. I felt better after a 5 minute break but when I came back Leo was screaming his head off in his cot while Ross sat looking helpless and sad. Sometimes I regret breastfeeding, it makes the baby so clingy that no one else can help you out much. Most of the time I'm thrilled I chose it but every now and then I just get so tired and weary...

We had to force some Calpol down the poor kid, which sorted him out eventually. He hasn't been himself today but he' been practicing his shouting loads!

It's bizarre talking to both my mum and my Dad about baby stuff. It's going to be cool seeing Leo and Grace grow up together though. Tonight I was discussing modern pparenting techniques with my Dad, and how his parents are always trying to get things done their way. My Nana being one of them, I know all about that! 'Get them on a strict routine, give them a dummy, bottlefed is better, let them cry it out, don't spoil him' etc. Then theres the new way of doing it, which is to basically let your baby dictate to you what's going to happen. Which works for some things but not others. Surely there's a happy medium somewhere? Sometimes I think parenting lessons should be mandatory ; learning for yourself is fine too and gives you a nice sense of accomplishment but the trial and error, and feeling totally clueless at times is difficult. Self education (internet, books) is all well and good until you realise there's a million different opinions on how children should be raised. So all you can really do is figure it out yourself.

Seeing Ross get more competent is nice. Once upon a time he wouldn't even change a nappy. Now he's well aquainted with stealth nappy changing and all aspects of baby poo. Leo crapped on him when I went out to the Crown last week, screamed for 2 hours and finally fell asleep on his bare chest. I hope that made him understand what hard work I do when he isn't about, but I suspect he probably just thinks he should have got a medal for babysiting that long, haha.

I'm alone tonight so I hope Leo is a bit better. He's asleep at the moment but we'll just have to wait and see.

16 weeks jabs, Crispybag, cookie and goddamn Parent Rudies detetction

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:59:05 GMT

I'm walking round with a bib down one boob and a sock down the other. I've run out of boob pads and unfortunately I can't switch my udders off.

Leo is upset and grumpy this evening, he just had his last injections and is not a happy bunny. The good news is he seems to want to go to bed for the night around 7 now, woohoo! And he wakes up at 7 in the morning, not bad at all. The bad news is he has finally developed 'Bad timing sense' where he wakes up crying if any hint of intimiacy might be occuring. Little sod, I thought I was lucky but no! Dammit.

You don't need to tickle him anymore to get a laugh out of him, just do stupid voices and waggle cookie monster at him a bit. It's too cute, totally addictive. It's a good job he gets bored after a while or I'd get nothing done all day.

Just tonight he started playing with the water in the bath instead of just laying there and chewing his hands, and maybe splashing with his legs a bit.

CRISPYBAG!I used my new sewing machine to make him something! Whee. He really loves crisp packets, you can't eat a bag of crisps if he's anywhere near because he just grabs it and mangles it, he loves the sound it makes and being able to squish it all over. But obviously crisp packets have sharp adges and possibly toxic deforming dyes to colour them (this particular packet was prawn cocktail luminouspink). So I bought some waterproof/droolproof froggie material and made a velcro closing bag to put the crisp packet it. Ta daa! He loves it. While other children will have battered teddies as mementos of their babyhood, Leo will have a raggedy crisp packet. Yeeha.

He's getting more stable at sitting and stuff too. A few weeks ago you had to hold him firmly with both hands at all times or he's randomly spazz out and a muscle he didn't know he had would excersize itself and he would zoom off in a random direction. Now you can pretty much stabilise him with one hand (unless he's tired or pissed off) and he's only a tinsy bit wobbly.

Oh and he's learning to stick his tongue out in response to someone else doing it! It's so funny watching him gurning.

Much to my relief, he is being less difficult when out and about. Hw was an angel in Ikea, just looking about at stuff and then going to sleep in his sling. He is also not so annoyed about being strapped in his carseat since he found things to look at out of the window!

He totally beats me up in the morning though! I have to cut his nails all the time cos he's damn strong. He boots me and slaps me in the face, or just rams his fist in my mouth to wake me up in the morning. Smiling of course, so I forgive him. But I have bruises, ow.

Some photos from last week.

Sat, 15 Nov 2003 22:54:22 GMT

An extremely rare moment for Leo; getting dressed but not screaming? Surely not!

I take loads of photos, it's just getting them up that's a twat. Leo went in his bouncy hanger thing for ages today, he was dancing all over the place, it was hilairious. He was concentrating so much he wouldn't smile, just like he does when he plays with his feet. I got the camera out this evening too, and he wouldn't stop staring at it. I wanted some shots of us playing together but he just won't look at me when the camera is around!

I ran the bath really depthis evening and got in with him and made him kick around and splash. We're going to start taking him swimming when his immunisations are finished and the last thing I want is for us to get there and him to turn into one of those screaming kids who act like they're dying if they touch water.

He's about one big last push away from going rolling everywhere. He gets around quite a bit with a combination of kicks and half rolls, slightly like that bit in Grease at the dance competition where Danny gets on the floor on his side and 'walks' round in a circle. Yep, like that.

He's bloeing raspberries when he remebers how to do them, which is about 3 times a day. He has quite good conversations with my Gran, rambling and squealing every now and again.

He's also started getting all shouty when he's tired. To anyone else it probably just sounds like any old baby cry, but to me he's saying 'ARGH I'm so TIRED my baby brain needs SLEEP!' SO I give him a special underchin wedge hug and he drops off pretty quickly. We've mastered laying down feeding which is lovely, it's a great opportunity to have a cuddle and it's better than watching tv while feeding him anyway.

Oh and he had 4 craps today. He usually has one huge one first thing in the morning, lovely to wake up to heh, but today he had 4. I was horrified/impressed.

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:06:09 GMT

Today, Leo found his feet. It was a picture that so needed to be taken. Alas, batteries in camera are dead. It was amazing. I sat him up and his face went deadly serious, as his little hands grabbed at one foot at a time. he was concentrating SO HARD. He got annoyed eventually because sdespite his best efforts, he couldn't get his foot into his mouth. Or his mouth onto his foot, as he leaned forwrds concentrating with his mouth wide open. Hah.

He likes playing peek-a-boo now too, instead of just being scared and confused at why the hell Mummy is putting her hands over our faces and squealing at random intervals.

He has random teething days, which are awful. He just cries and sleeps and has a red cheek all day. I was rund my Mums when he ha done last, we tried to go for a walk but he just screamed and screamed. He wouldn;t feed properly either, it was quite upsetting.

Oh and Drool is out in full force now. It's quite frightening how much fluid one bay leaks per day! Probably enough to propagate one whole drought ridden country with a bountiful supply of crops.

Bubblefro bathtime

Sat, 08 Nov 2003 23:22:30 GMT

Bubblefro. You make me feel like dancin, I wanna dance the night away...

Mobubblehawk. Notice authentic punk asshole grimace. Thats my boy.

Soapwad psychobilly wedge quiff..

'Because you're worth it'...oh darling, beautiful. L'oreal ad baby.

Now you see it,

Now you don't. Bubble alopecia strikes!

a goom glib shbleh foom shoob.

'I'm beginning to think you're ashamed of my baldness or perhaps trying to hide the hints of ginger in my freshly sprouted hair here Mum...'

13 weeks pics...

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 23:21:59 GMT

Okay this is me laid on my back and him headbutting myboobs and laughing at himself.

'Ahh, and when I have finished all that boobbutting I have this handy pillow to rest on!'

Chillling out on my boobs and scoffing his hand. Baby heaven.

Talking to the camera. Little camwhore.

us being stoopid...

And now all cuddles as he settles down for bed.

I keese your bald spot!

gerrof mam! He flails around a lot like this when he's trying to get to sleep.

This is his preffered sleeping place. The 'underchin wedge'. He's been like that since he was teeny. Look at those eyes getting sleepy and my 'Eventually!' tolerant smile, haha.

And now he is peacefully asleep in his cot. phew.

Today was fun.

Leo now loves having raspberrys blown on his feet, his feet being played with in general, having his nose beeped, being rolled around on the floor, sitting up with cushions, cuddling his teddy, watching me play bass, getting in the bath with me, having my hair swooshed over him, and chewing his elephant rattle.

Ross isn't here enough. Leo did this horrible scared cry the other day when Ross tried to play with him, and won't let him settle him for bed anymore, he just sreams. I don't think he knows who is half the time. Well, we have fun without him anyway, and I'm not going to nag Ross about it, it's his problem if he doesn't want to spend time with his son. His loss. He doesn't know what he's missing.

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 01:22:18 GMT

Bad stuff: Leo had his booster jabs, poor guy was SO pissed off for 2 days after, and I was ill with a snuffly snotty thing, so we just slept loads and when we weren't sleeping we whinged. I took some photos of us looking sorry for ourselves and laying in bed watching the fluffy clouds roll by on the blue sky. EeerghI felt so guilty and traumatised at the doctors because he fell asleep, and then of course had to be woken up screaming as his injections were done. Ooof it was horrible but he stopped crying as soon as I gave him a cuddle.

Good stuff! : He laughs! And not just when we tickle him either. He can pull himself up to a sitting position if you give him your fingers to hold, and if you blow a raspberry on his forehead he squeals and laughs. weirdo. He also appreciates verbal humour and can tell when I am being stupid. Dismissive 'stupid Mummy' laugh is different to 'I like you! Do that again!' laugh. He likes playing 'Baby rocket zoom' where he gets blasted of my knee wth a push of his legs, and has fun in the bath. I've started getting in the bath with him as it was really fucking my back up to lean over the bath every night.

He still hates belly time but I'm doing rolling excersizes with him, encouraging him to roll off his belly if he hates it so much!

I went out to town after he had his jabs, (he fell asleep in his papoose/sling/carrier thing) and bought him some new toys and stuff, one of which is a cot-side light/projector/lullabye machine. I love it, Leo loves it, everyone is happy. You can choose to have 'soothing nature sounds' as one of the programme settings, but after some frog ribbits and some splashing waves, this really ominous howling wind starts up! It's evil. Seriously, like somethingout of an old horror film We'll stick to twinkle twinkle little star thanks.

I was looking at mobiles and there was one for FORTY QUID! It was remote controlled and had elite classical music and super swooshy moving toys and stuff. I felt like a bad parent for just getting the cheaper thingy but all my worries vanished when he laid smiling at it and staaaring at thr lights for ages. And and and! Usually he takes like 2 hours of fussy bouncing/cuddling/dancing/singing/trying to get him to feed before he chills out enough to take a decent feed and drop off. NOT TONIGHT! Noooo, super brill new pretty lights and music totally calmed him down and he was in bed by 9.30. Which is just amazing and great. hooray.

Oh my god some strangers prodded him and stroked his face saying hoe lovely he was. He gave them filthy looks, and so did I. Infact I nearly fainted. Horrible dirty stranger hands, errgh.

11 weeks pictures and stuff...

Wed, 15 Oct 2003 14:27:38 GMT

Okay so now Leo has a million priceless expressions and I tried to catch a few on camera. I made a dictaphone recording of him talking to me and when he got fed up I said 'Okay, say bye bye', and with impeccable comic timing he did a massive very audible wet fart. Bless.

So. Progress!

About 3 weeks ago he started knawing his hands
2 weeks ago he started drooling
2 weeks ago he started smiling up and me, cooing, and blowing raspy spit bubbles when he's finished feeding
3 weeks ago his hair started growing back, and now he is all fluffy scalped, with a big bald band round the back and a little old man mullet thing underneath
This week he has started laughing out loud but it takes a lot of effort to get it out of him, lots of tickling which annoys him after a while
This week he has starting sleeping in his own basket/cot all night instead of sharing the bed with me and Ross
Last night my magical mummy B.O got him to sleep. He was fussing so I put my sweaty jumper near him and he settled straight away
3 weeks ago he started headbutting me! He realy flings himself around when he's pissed off.
3 weeks ago he started paying lots of attention to his toys and grabbing them as they dangled infront of him on his 3d playmat thing. last night he started staring at his hands while grabbing my pyjamas.
2 weeks ago he started becaoming very responsive to lullabies and general singing, they shut him up straight away.
Last month he learned to follow objects pretty accurately when moved infront of him, but he's refining that all the time
This week he's started turning towards a voice he can't see if we call him
2 weeks ago he started hating his carseat and pushchair, I think he has gone from being soothed by the womb like motions to just feeling restricted and bored.
Like most babies he hates me dressing him, but for some reason he loves having his nappy changed, and will smile his head off, especially first thing in the morning (which helps me with the evil tired-fog lifting).
He hasn't quite figured out not to hit himself in the face with his flailing exploring hands.
He generally doesn't cry for no reason, is easily settled and has easily readable cries. To me anyway.
He hates being on his belly, which is a little worrying as he needs belly time to make progress. But he just cries as soon as I put him down, has a paddy and gets nowhere. And then acts all hurt and sorry for himself when I pick him up. I've tried laying with him, singing, bribing with something interesting etc but he just hates it.
The colicky crying he used to do has stopped and he settles well most nights, going to sleep at 10ish and waking up at 8ish, with two or three feeds inbetween.

Things are generally good :) Just need to be braver with getting out of the house alne with him. Hard when you're breastfeeding, as I don't particularly want to do it in public in Middlesbrough, but I can't stay in the house forever. Bought him a frog chair for his bedroom even though he wont be able to sit on it or use it in any way at all for about a year. Heh.

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:18:11 GMT

Well, I'm very bad at updating this, but I figure it's better to be too busy looking after him to do it than leaving him sat starving in a rotting nappy while I type his latest acheivements into this little box.

He's in the bath with his Daddy at the moment (Daddy is making monkey noises at him) so I have 5 minutes.

The health visitor came round a couple of weeks ago and weighed him, he's 12lb something, whatever, it's good, he's right on track for his growth and all that. Then he had to have his jabs (ook) which was horrible. The day after he had them he kept crying like I've never heard before, so sorry for himself and upset. His legs swelled up pretty badly too. but then he was fine, phew.

Other stuff:
Behind his ears goes disgusting if you don't dry them thoroughly after bathing, eww.
He is starting to love being upright with his legs straight. He forces them out and won't sit on my knee contentedly anymore, he wants to bounce on his feet. So I'm nabbing my Mum's baby bouncer to put him in, I think he'll love it.
He has these little bells that he plays with too. He still hates 'belly time'. He's perfectly capable of pushing himself up, but gets pissed off very quickly. He really concentrates when I sit him in his chair infront of his toys. He hasn't quite figured out what his hands are for yet but he has inadvertantly grabbed stuff, including my hair and nipples. Ow.

Fri, 12 Sep 2003 22:58:07 GMT

Discovered that leo loves plants after watching Ross' sisters take him on a trip round the garden at his house. Thought it was a perfect excuse... Went and bought a shitload of plants and sexy pots for my garden. Took him out in his bouncy chair and planted them while he watched. Still have some to do.

He's started a vague routine.

6.30-/7am: wake up. Half feed. Whinge.
7.30 : Bath. happy faces. squeal, play with mum.
8.00 / 9 : get bored, whinge, go on Mums shoulder while she eats breakfast. Fall asleep.
10/11 wake up. be grumpy. Sleep and feed erratically
2/3/4 : afternoon nap for uncertain amount of time
6-7 wake up. play/feed/ whinge randomly in cycles
7/8 bath, play, whinge
9/10 feed, sleep.
12ish feed, burp, sleep
3 :same as above. maybe a poo if he feels like it.

Hope he keeps it. bed at 9 or 10 is great compared to his previous timekeeping!

Wed, 10 Sep 2003 23:01:44 GMT

He smiles! He gurgles! He curls his lip like Elvis!

From earliest to latest:

These last ones were taken today :) I wish I had time to write more for descriptions etc but nope. Bed calls!

Sun, 07 Sep 2003 22:24:46 GMT

Baby Deathwish #1: Crying for hours for no reason.
Baby deathwish #2: Flailing around and crying for hours for no reason
Baby Deathwish #3: Refusing to feed or sleep and flailing around and crying for hours for no reason.

Baby defense mechanism #1: Smiling. Prevents out of window hurlage.
Baby defense mechanism #2: Cooing. Glib, Goom, and Gah.
Baby defense mechanism #3: Sleeping. Looking angelic while being floppy like a doll. How cute and vulnerable. Quick lets grope before he wakes up!

Leo pulled a face in his sleep the other night and looked exactly like Ross. It was spooky. He requires feeding, must dash.

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 15:46:24 GMT

It's been a while since the last update because my sleep debt mounted up lots and any spare time has been spent sleeping. Although you kjnow when you go to sleep, and wake up hours later feeling like you've only dozed off for a couple of minutes? Well that's what my sleep is like, and has been for the last 3 weeks. *twitch*.

So, since Ross' birthday, Leo hasn't really done so much screaming. He has periods where he is right pain in the arse, and won't settle, but at least he isn't crying inconsolably. He had a bit of a whinge a couple of nghts ago though, which turned into a bit of a drama nightmare.

I was pacing him in my bedroom, but he was still crying, and this carried o for a good while. I had started crying myself, out of exhaustion and frustration, but I was generally coping. Now. One thing that really, REALLY pisses me off is when my Gran and Ross stand three feet away from me, staring silently and looking helpless while Leo screams and flails. It's distressing enough trying to settle a screaming baby without an audience making you feel worse. So, I had retreated upstairs so as not to make everyone frazzled with baby crying. After half an hour they came up and stood in my doorway. After reapeated pleas of 'Just go downstairs, leave me with him', they still stood there, suggesting things I could do to calm him (which is supremely agitating, (DO YOU NOT THINK I'VE TRIED FEEDING HIM YOU MORONS?!?). Something inside me just snapped, and I screamed at the pair of them to leave me the hell alone. Of course, instead of doing that they look pained, Ross rushed over and snatches Leo off me like I was going to fling him across the room or something, and they leave me in a sobbing hysterical heap on the bed.

I have since explained that Leo crying does not make me hysterical, I can deal with it. However people winding me up when my nerves are already frayed does not help. I have a pretty short temper already without sleep deprivation and baby stress adding to it. And then being made to feel like some kind of psycho just because I snapped at them for upsetting me.

Well, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It ended up being the first time Leo has fallen asleep/ let himself be settled by Ross. It took ages, so he probably would have just conked out nomatter who he was with, but I think it helped Ross feel all Dadlike.

And since then Leo hasn't been such a git. Not as much crying or headbutting. Yey.

Some babystuff:
*If I lie with him belly down on my belly, he will crawl up me until his big heavy babyhead is nuzzled into my neck/shoulder bit
*He stayed awake an alert for ages yesterday, was looking around a lot. I read him a Mr Man book and he seemed to like looking at the pictures while I amused myself doing stupid voices.
*He is losing his babyhair! His sideburns have totally gone, and he's receding more and more. There's a little delve in his moses basket where his head goes and its like a little bowl of babyhair.
* He LOVES getting a bath and floating about. He's only just started kicking and splashing and looking like he's having fun. It shuts him up instantly if he's been crying.
* He kindof shouts me if he's inhis basket and wants feeding. If I don;t come to him then he starts doing a more familiar babywail, but for about five minutes he does these little short 'WEH!' things, about once a minute.
*when I'm changing his nappy, when it gets to the bit where I'm fastening the velcro tabs, for some reason he pushes both his legs out straight until I'm done.
*He likes sitting up on my knee and looking around
*He is getting really good at holding his head up. Of it flops back down when the effort is too much.
*It is so cute seeing him resist going to sleep, and then just crash out in my arms.
*He gets annoyed if he is wrapped up too much, and sleeps with his arms up next to his head

Thats all stuff I'll forget about him if I don't write it down.

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 16:13:52 GMT

The helth visitor just left, she weighed Leo....

I THOUGHT HE WAS FEELING HEAVIER. He's had a total growth spurt, he weighs 10lbs now! No wonder it's been a constant cycle of feedpoofeedpoofeedpoo. This explains why my left arm is becoming rather muscley. I carry him in that one so I can do other stuff with my non-spastic right hand.
We're going to get him registered tomorrow, and maybe go to the doctors. His head was really battered from the way he was laying during labour, and he had this squishy lump of fluid on his scalp that has now turned into a hard proddable thing. The health visitor doesnt seem to have enough medical expertise to tell me what the hell it is, so we shall ask Ross' Mum, and if she doesn;t know than I'll have to take hi to the doctors. Eek

(I fucking hate our doctors, it's really hard to get to and the waiting room is hotter than the deepest pit of hell. And it's full of ILL PEOPLE. urgh)

Leo had a bit of a whinge last night between 9 and midnight, nowhere near as bad as the nightbefore. He was somewhat consolable this time, instead of just flinging himself all over the place and holding his breath and all those other horrifying 'baby paddy' things. So it looks like it was my fault for pigging out on all that chocolate and giving him a bad stomach. I now look at mars bars with a sort of resentful hatred.

I can't wait til Leo starts making some gurgly noises out of his mouth instead of his arse. Time for a nappy change.