Random musings while Rosemary chases Christmas decorations

Rosemary has very kindly allowed me to catch up with some household paperwork. Not that it's all out of the way, but some letters I've been wanting to write for a long time have been written. They just have to be posted now, of course. The computer is busy saving 230 PDF pages to JPG, so I can't do much with it, therefore it's time for a mini-update.

Falling asleep

On Thursday night, Rosemary fell asleep in my arms, but not nursing. To many people this would not be particularly momentous as many babies do this all the time from birth, but it hasn't really ever happened before with Rosemary. She's fallen asleep on Chris once and she falls asleep plenty in her buggy, but never on me without nursing (except maybe when she was only a week or two old). It hasn't happened since, so I don't know if it's meaningful in any way, but it did feel quite strange and actually a little sad. Logically, Rosemary being able to go to sleep at night without nursing could mean that Chris and I could, some time in the reasonably near future, go out for the evening, which theoretically would be nice. But emotionally, it means that it's the start of her not needing me. I let her out my sight (reasonably happily) during the day for an hour or two. That was a pretty big step. Leaving her at night time may take a while longer and so I'm quite happy (mostly) if she wants to continue nursing to sleep for a little while longer, thank you.

Sugar rush

Yesterday, I (finally) made a trifle. We had dinner a bit earlier than usual and then Chris bathed Rosemary, while I cleared up the kitchen. Rosemary didn't go to sleep straight after her bath as she would normally do, so she got to have some trifle. And that's the last time she's having pudding so near bedtime again. She was really hyperactive. Chattering away, crawling at top speed all over the bed and bouncing and wriggling all over the place. She did go to sleep, pretty exhausted it seemed, at 10.30 (about an hour/hour and a half later than usual), thank goodness. Of course, it might just have been having something to eat after her bath that confused her and woke her up. But I think it was the sugar.

Tot groups

We've now been up to Parliament Street Family Centre 0-2 morning twice and I think we'll be going regularly. Rosemary is really quite interested in the other babies/tots now, which is lovely to see. It's important to keep an eye on her, though, as sometimes her desire to hug/stroke other babies can get a bit overzealous and lead to an exploration of eyes and noses that can't be very pleasant for the babies concerned!

Both times we've been, she has fallen asleep just before snack time, though last week she woke up in time for some of the songs. Last week she made a beeline for the book corner almost as soon as we got there, though she just wanted to get all the books out, not actually sit and read any of them. She then played with a shape sorter (which involved putting the pieces in her mouth) and said hello to a little boy who she met when she was very small.

Most of the mums and staff were quite surprised at how mobile she is for her age, though there was one 8-month-old little girl who was as mobile as Rosemary and could even stay standing with no support for a few seconds. There was also a little boy who was quite a bit older than her, but apparently had been that mobile at her age as well. The thing all three of them have in common is that they're small babies (on the bottom centiles), which is interesting. Anyway, we're going to try to go every Thursday morning, if we can, as it's a really nice group.

Shoes

Rosemary has some shoes. Unfortunately, her feet are still too small for proper shoes, so she can't really wear them very often. I bought them so that she has something to wear if she needs to walk outside and can't do so in bare feet. That's really the only time she should wear them, as bare feet is still best for learning to walk. But they are so very cute, that it's difficult not to put them on all the time! Chris had to remind me the other day, when I was taking her out in the buggy, that I could just take them in the rucksack. I didn't have to put them on her 'just in case' she needed to get out and walk at any point.

How to lose weight

One of the things I've been looking forward to in light of the amicable settlement of the vegetarian issue* is being able to share my cooking on a regular basis with someone other than the dog. Tonight, however, I received a chilling taste of the future as Rosemary held my smoked haddock baked in spicy tomato sauce to ransom. Throwing away her other food, she demanded all of mine in a voice like (squeaky) thunder, so much so that by the end I was licking the plate clean and eyeing the drop area around her chair hungrily. It's nice for one's work to be appreciated, but I wasn't expecting to be making double portions this early.


*Essentially, Rosemary is not vegetarian except for when Tasha's doing all the cooking. And even then I might pass her some beef jerky under the table. And later, if she decides to be vegetarian, I don't complain. This puts me under some pressure to prepare fantastic carnivore meals for the next 11 years so that the thought of dropping meat from the curriculum is anathema.

Communication, sleeping, eating

Words, sounds and communication

Rosemary appears to be discovering the letter D at the moment. She is now regularly saying:

• dog
• duck
• dad/dada/dad-dad

and some D sounds that don't really seem to mean anything:

• do
• daw
• diddoo
• doddy

She also seems to be saying:

• good
• Ned (who on earth is Ned? She seems to really like him, anyway)
• lid (she referred to Eva's hat as her lid, though I think it may have just been a coincidence)

She's hardly using the M sound at all now. It's all daddy this and daddy that. The other morning, when Chris came into the room, she waved and said 'Dad, dad, dad!'.

She's waving hello and goodbye now. She waved at the video of herself yesterday. She also understands when I'm going to be going upstairs to work. Yesterday, I started to say 'I'm just going to go upstairs to do some work, but I'll be back down later.' (she was with her Granny, I wasn't just leaving her on her own in the living room or something!) and she was waving bye-bye before the third word. She's even waving good morning to the dog, now.

Sleeping and rolling

While asleep, she's now rolling all over the cot. She woke up 3 times last night having rolled so much she'd scared herself. But she's also rolling around without waking up, or waking up but being able to go straight back to sleep. When I peered in at her this morning, she'd rolled round so much that her head was facing the bottom far corner of the cot and she was lying diagonaly so her feet were almost poking out of the bars. She's almost always rolling straight onto her side when I put her in the cot, it seems, now.

Eating and feeding the dog

We think she may be wanting attention while she eats now. She eats a bit at the start of the meal and then tends to throw the food on the floor, as well as her cup and so on. This used to be an indication that she was full, but it's happening earlier now. Last night when we'd finished, we started clearing up the food in her chair and she decided to start eating again, and had pretty much a whole meals worth, while I sat chatting and smiling to her and offering her different items. She also seemed to enjoy taking food out of her bowl, which we haven't really used for a while - tend to just put the food straight on the tray of her chair, because otherwise the food would just get tipped on her head. The other possibility is that she's trying to feed the dog, because she quite often says 'Good' when she throws food on the floor, so perhaps she's offering him some treats for being a good dog! I'm going to try giving her food in her bowl a bit more, now, and see if that makes a difference, and will make sure we offer more food when we've finished eating, too, in case that's what it's about. (Incidentally, she's been naturally increasing her milk intake when she's getting a bit less solid food, so she's certainly not starving, in case anyone was getting worried!)

The Standing, Staring and Falling Flat On Your Arse Film

Three videos, all in Tasha-O-Vision. The first two show Rosemary playing in (and making (more of) a mess of) the office. This is very exciting as it theoretically means we can both work at the same time for periods while she amuses herself, although there are always caveats to that.





The final video shows Rosemary standing (!) at the window looking out at the world around, and then falling flumpily. Not out the window though. But that's one of the caveats, that if she's a) standing and b) standing near what is, more or less (give or take some melted sand) a hole three stories up it's hard to concentrate on rasterising PDFs.

Sleeping

Rosemary has recently developed the habit of sleeping on her side. She doesn't always do so, but it's probably 70-80% of the time sleeping in her cot now. The first few times she rolled onto her side when I put her in her cot, I tried to roll her back, because I thought it was an accident and she would wake herself up. Oops. Of course, trying to roll her back woke her up most times!

One thing that does sometimes happen is that she rolls a bit too far and presses one of the buttons on her cot toy - usually the one that plays a nursery rhyme. Sometimes that wakes her up, but sometimes she doesn't even stir. Occasionally, she rolls right over the other way while sleeping and that wakes her up. Other times it causes her to stir and cry out briefly but she goes straight back to sleep, during which time I have crawled out of bed and made my way to her bedroom door, only to find I'm not needed.

It feels like she's growing up very fast. I'm not sure why I associate sleeping on one's side with growing up, but I definitely do. Now when I peer in at her sleeping in her cot (which Chris, incidentally, thinks is a creepy thing to do; I find it completely natural) I see a little girl more often than I see a little baby.

Some random meanderings

So when I went to get Rosemary up this morning, she was lying on her back holding the book about dogs up open (albeit upside down) saying 'Dog, dog.' OK, it sounds more like 'Dud, dud', but she definitely means 'dog' because she uses it to refer to Wesley. She shouts it when he comes in the room. She says it when she seems him curled up on the bed. She says it when she hears him bark. It really does seem to be a proper word, referring one thing.

I'm sure someone (maybe her Granpa?) predicted that her first word woulb be 'Wesley' - well, almost. Of course, se also says 'Dad, dad' and 'Mum,mum,mum', but those words are used in other contexts: 'Dad' = 'I've got what I wanted and am happy'; 'Mum' = 'Give me that. I want that'. They do sometimes actually mean 'Dad' and 'Mum', too, but mostly when we equate to those other meanings!

And, yes, I'm quite chuffed that she was looking at a book. But not just looking, she had opened it up. And that she recognised that the pictures were dogs and it's not just Wesley who's a dog.

We bought an Ergo baby carrier, which arrived yesterday. It's brilliant, though so far I've only done the front carry, not the hip or back. The back carry looks a bit challenging, though apparently after a few goes it becomes really easy. I took Rosemary out in it this morning, with the dog (one of my main reasons for wanting one) and it was very comfortable. We had to come back before we made it to the park, though, as it started pouring with rain, and I hadn't practised putting the hood up and couldn't seem to work it out.

The new carier is much more comfortable than the old one (which is far too small now, but it was never very comfortable). It's also pretty simple to get on. I do want to get the back carry sorted out, as I think she'll like that a lot. I actually managed (very easily) to feed (nurse) her in it last night, too, which could be quite handy.

Of course, now I want the back pack and pouch, too. And maybe the papoose coat as well, though that might be going a bit far!I'll wait and see how much use it gets before buying any of these accessories, though. Just in case it gets used loads for a week or two and then is left to gather dust.

She's just fallen asleep on my lap. I guess an early morning walk, however brief, is very tiring! The dog is also asleep. It's a shame we don't have the summery weather that was here a week ago, as we could go for a long country walk. Instead it's raining so hard that you feel wet just looking at it.

Monthly update

AGE 9 months tomorrow (38 weeks tomorrow)

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES weight = 16lb 1oz; clothes = a mixture of 6-9 months and some 9-12 months. Her new hat is 0-6 months as the next size up was huge on her!

NAPPIES Size 4 Huggies Little Walkers

FEED Breastfeeds = 5-6 per day (rough times = 3am 6am, [8am], 12noon, 5pm, 9pm); very occasionally more during the night, if she's having a bad night; the one in brackets she's often cutting out and just going straight to breakfast, though then has the 12 noon one a bit earlier.

Breakfast = half a banana, some fridge fruit or fresh fruit; crumpet with Philadelphia. If we're having breakfast out, she'll have some fruit and a croissant or something similar.

Lunch = toast and Philadelphia, cashew nut butter, tartex, or other pate; fruit; sometimes left-over vegetables or dinner food; sometimes a cheese sandwich or similar. If we're out, then a bit of what one or both of us is having (e.g. had some tortilla and some risotto the other in the Angel).

Dinner = Whatever I am having and sometimes some of what Chris is having, if he's having something different (e.g. a fish finger, some bolognese, some sausage, some ham, etc.). She has a piece of fruit to start and finish and sometimes a frozen fruit penguin (shaped ice cubes made with fruit juice). I make sure there's a good balance - vegetables, protein and carbohydrate and try to vary it from night to night, though don't manage as much variety as I'd like.

SLEEP Tends to sleep from about 9pm through to 3am, when she wakes for a feed, then goes back to sleep until 5.30 or 6am, when she wakes for another feed and then sleeps through to 7 or 8am. 4am or 5am, when she wakes for a brief breastfeed and then goes back to sleep until around 7am. During the day, she'll have a number of naps, usually one in the morning, one in mid-afternoon and one in the late afternoon/early evening. The exact time varies and she'll sleep either in her buggy, on our bed or in her cot (though the latter not very often).

MOBILITY She's crawling around really fast now. She's pushing up onto all fours. She's able to sit up herself now from a lying down or crawling. She's pulling herself up on furniture. She can walk, and even run, when we're holding her hadns. She's still enjoying her bouncer, especially with music to dance to. She's got a walker, but she's not quite ready for it, as it goes a bit fast on our floorboards. She'll happily crawl around in the office or living room and amuse herself for ages, though obviously one of us needs to be in the room keeping an eye on her. But she doesn't need constant adult attention anymore. (That's not to say she doesn't get plenty, of course!)

LIKES She likes everything, practically. She's a very cheerful baby and smiles and chatters away when we're out and about. Chris has been doing something recently that I can't describe - it's kind of a dance and song, made with nonsense words, but that doesn't really get it across properly - which she finds absolutely hilarious. She's really enjoying her bath in the evening and especially likes playing with the bath thermometer. She loves going out in the buggy and has a big grin/giggle when you open the door.

DISLIKES Not a great deal. She gets a bit impatient in her high-chair when waiting for food. She can get a bit grumpy when she's tired. And that's about it. She doesn't like it when she hurts herself, thogh quite often she'll have a little tumble or bump but not be at all bothered, while we're expecting her to start screaming.

FAV TOYS She really likes her cot toy. She's recently discovered some Christmas baubles and loves chasing them round the office. She got a little car with a dog in it that barks and likes pushing that along the floor.

FAV BOOKS Her favourite book at the moment is 'If you see a cuddly kitten', which is a library book that has been renewed a number of times. If you start saying the words and the book is in the room, she'll often go over to it.

FAV TV PROGRAMMES She doesn't really watch any TV. Occasionally, she'll sit on the bed in the early evening while one of watches something, but usually she'll be playing with her toys or us. She'll occasionally glance up at an advert or the football.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Cruising, sitting up herself from lying/crawling/etc., pulling herself up on lots of things (I predict walking by the end of May), amusing herself for considerably long periods of time (with one of us in the room).

SPEECH She's very vocal, and we've all almost heard words, or heard almost words. She says Mama and Dada a lot, but we're never entirely sure if she's referring to us. Ma often seems to mean 'Give it to me.' and Ma-Ma often seems to mean 'I'm tired and want some milk'. Da-Da-Da often seems to mean 'Yay! This is fun!'. This morning she sat talking to her little lion mirror (or to the little girl in the mirror!) for about ten minutes. She's also started doing conversations - i.e. pausing for you to say something back. She's still doing the Ah!Ah! shout anywhere where it's going to echo.

OTHER INFO/NEWS She had her 9-month check on Wednesday and the health visitor was very happy with her. before weighing her she said that she clearly looked very healthy and happy. She weighed her and measured her height and head circumference and they're all between 2nd and 9th centile, so she's perfectly proportioned. She made lots of comments about how happy and alert she is (which a lot of people do, actually, so I guess perhaps she's more cheerful/alert than others her age?).

Loads of photos