Monthly update

AGE 8 months on Thursday (34 weeks, 3 days)

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES weight = somewhere around 16lb, I think, from a very unscientific weighing experiment at her granddad's (i.e. I stand on the scales; I then stand on the scales holding Rosemary and substract the latter figure from the former); clothes = mostly 6-9 months, some 9-12 months (looks like she'll be moving into 9-12 months vests very soon) and a few 3-6 months.

NAPPIES size 4 Pampers, Active Fit; usually 4 or 5 changes a day, but occasional 'pooping days' mean more nappies.

FEED Breastfeeds = 6 per day (rough times = 5am, 8am, 12noon, 3pm 6pm, 9pm); occasionally more during the night, if she's having a bad night.

Breakfast = fruit (if I'm eating breakfast with her, it'll be a variety as I'll have a fruit salad myself so, for example, banana, apple, pear, plum and grape; if I'm not eating breakfast, it'll be some of the 'tub fruit', which is fruit in a plastic tub from Waitrose, kept in fruit juice, with no added anything), crumpet with Philadelphia or just butter, and occasionally last night's dinner, especially if she's missed it by sleeping through it (which has happened maybe twice!).

Lunch = toast and Philadelphia, cashew nut butter, tartex, or other pate; fruit; sometimes left-over vegetables or dinner food (e.g. had some lasagne for lunch the other day); sometimes something different if we're having lunch out (e.g. had some croissant stuffed with feta cheese and caramlised red onion the other day in Star Anise).

Dinner = Pretty much what I am having / we are having. I now think about Rosemary when deciding what to have for my dinner. Chris will still sometimes have things that she can't really have (e.g. meat that she can't really chew) but, for example, we always have vegetables that she'll be able to hold (e.g. steamed carrot, brocolli; roasted Mediterranean vegetables cut in sticks) and some kind of protein that she'll be able to hold (e.g. vegetable fingers, fish fingers, sausages of veggie or non-veggie origin, cheese, omelette, macaroni cheese, etc.). Almost everything she has is 'finger food' and she feeds herself. Sometimes there's something that's not easy for her to pick up (e.g. mashed potato, baked beans) and then we load up the spoon and she feeds herself with it. She tends to dislike us trying to actually 'spoon feed' her. She's ocassionally used the spoon to get something herself, but not with any real control. I have no idea when 'normal-fed' babies are supposed to start using a spoon/fork themselves, but it feels like Rosemary will be doing so quite early.

SLEEP Tends to sleep from about 9pm through to 4am or 5am, when she wakes for a brief breastfeed and then goes back to sleep until around 7am. (The start and end times can move around an hour or two.) She will sometimes have a bad night, when she's waking a lot and last week, she was mostly waking once at around 1 or 2am, as well. Sometimes the waking seems to be tooth-related, though there's still no sign of any of them, and sometimes we think it might be indigestion, or just a mini-growth spurt (e.g. last week's waking an extra time).

MOBILITY She's now crawling, though it's still mostly arm work (i.e. pulling herself forward on her arms, with ocasional boosts from her legs/feet). She'll take loads of steps when being held by her hands or waist, though can't balance on her own yet. She can hold herself upright against a piece of furniture and just about pull herself upright, though not very often. Not started cruising yet, which gives us a bit of breathing space. We've just managed to clear space in the living room for her to crawl (it was full of the contents of our basement, which is flooded and has been since January) and it will be good to have a week or so before we have to worry about making all the furniture stable for potential cruising! She's loving bouncing in her bouncer now, especially with some music on. She particularly seems to enjoy it when one of us dancing along!

LIKES Talking, singing, the slide at the park, chasing things round the room (especially, it seems, the dog's toys, despite all our best efforts!), going out for walks in her buggy, her Granny (and auntie Eva and Granddad, but she's been spending lots of time with her Granny, and is particularly attached to her, which is lovely), toys that play music, making sounds herself with objects (e.g. banging things, shaking things, etc.), bath-time, her mummy and daddy (of course!), books (especially into the 'Roses' book at the moment, and still really likes her 'Peek-a-boo' book that her great-great-aunt Stella gave her), remote controls, phones and many other 'grown-up' things!

DISLIKES Being bored (though she doesn't get much chance of that!), getting stuck on her back (most of the time she remembers that she can roll over and get into crawling position, but sometimes she doesn't and gets frustrated), waiting for food (she's really very impatient when sitting in her high-chair, unless there's food in front of her!), having her nose wiped, being tired but not able to fall asleep.

FAV TV PROGRAMME She hasn't really been watching that much. If we're watching something she's usually more interested in playing with her toys or 'talking' to us. She tends to look up when there's a song (especially in a musical) and also when there are adverts on. She's hardly had the baby channel on at all, as she has far too many other things to amuse her now that she's mobile.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Crawling, waving bye-bye (but only seems to want to do so to her auntie Eva!), saying 'hello' (maybe?!).

SPEECH She may have said her first word yesterday. She came in from the park with her Granny and Granddad and I said 'Hello' to her and it really seemed like she said 'Hello' back to me, twice. But we couldn't get her to repeat it, so it may have just been coincidence. She really sounds like she's saying Mama quite often - particularly if she's upset at night. Apparently the M sound is an upset sound, though, while P and D sounds are happy sounds, so it might just be that. She's really vocal now, and mixing up the sounds a huge amount. When she's spent a lot of time with her Granny or her Daddy, she spends ages telling me all about it. She'll sometimes talk for half an hour. She also sometimes does the same after a big sleep, and it seems she's telling me all about her dreams. She frequently talks/sings when in the buggy.