More video

Managed to get some footage with a staged bit of walking (at about 1 minute in). Second clip has no walking in it at all. Except by the dog.

Addendum

Yeah, ok, so she walked for me. Cool. To be fair, it was easier to convince her to walk to me rather than crawl since she had a toy in her hand at the time and didn't want to drop it in dropping to the floor. Also, we were in the dining room in which she has been learning the walking recently. Her favourite routine is to get under the table and then push each chair to the side of the room.

Mobilization! To arms! I mean... Two legs!

Yep. She's walking. Only a few steps at the moment - five at the most - but that's much better than some grown-ups. She's only done this for Tasha so far. She has to be standing first. If she's sitting down she realises she's still much faster crawling across to see/grab/kiss/attack/taste whatever it is.

What else is she doing? Talking more and more - she said grandad the other day, apparently. Able to play with the dog to an extent i.e. if she's picked up one of his toys you can say to him 'Where's your bone/ball/rope/ring' and he will go and very carefully take it away from her as she holds it up. She finds this great fun. He's still chary of letting her grab huge hunks of his fur though. Not surprised. I've heard Tasha's screams.

Two videos below, neither of which naturally shows the aforementioned walking. But should show general changes. That said, already they're out of date as she's e.g. much more talkative as mentioned in post below.

Bog-standard playing in office in preparation for middle-class white-collar lifestyle



Mixture of playing in the office again*, being on her stroller and a tree house sort of thing at the bird sanctuary



*The vast amount of office play videos is partly due to the fact that this is where the video camera lives.

Monthly update

AGE She'll be 11 months next Thursday. Almost a year old already!

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES No idea of weight. She's mostly in 9-12 months clothes, with some 12-18 months and some 6-9 months. She got a bit thin when she was under-the-weather recently (a tooth coming through and possibly a bit of a bug, as well) when she wasn't really eating much solid food (was drinking (breast) milk for EnglandEurope, though), but is almost back to her slightly plump self again, now.

NAPPIES Still Huggies Size 4 Little Walkers, though think we may be moving up to Size 5 soon.

FOOD She's still breast-feeding a fair bit, and was doing so a lot when her second tooth was coming through. In the daytime she'll generally have 3 feeds in the morning afternoon and early evening, then she'll have one to get to sleep and a couple in the night. When her tooth was coming through it was akin to the growth spurts of her early months.

Breakfast: She still has fruit and crumpets, but also has some porridge now. Depending on her mood she'll:

• eat lots of it from a spoon held by someone else


• eat a fair bit froma spoon, grabbed by her, but mostly going straight in her mouth


• grab the spoon and play with the porridge.

Lunch: This varies depending on where she is and if there are left-overs from last night's dinner. An ordinary lunch will be some fruit and some toast and Philadelphia. If we're out, she'll have various different things, such as sandwiches, cheese on toast, pasta, tortilla, chunks of salad (e.g. cucumber, tomato, avocado, etc.), etc. etc. Left-overs she might have include roasted vegetables, omelette, tortilla, pasta, rice cakes (that's rice mixed with other things and formed into a patty, rather than the dry things you buy), etc.

Dinner: Generally some of whatever we're having, though occasionally we'll have something 'bad' like takeaway pizza and she'll have something like cheese and tomato on toast or Philadelphia sandwiches with cucumber and tomato, etc. We frequently have roasted vegetables now, as she really likes these and they're easy for her to handle. She'll take more things off a spoon now (with the same results as the porridge for breakfast - i.e. varying levels of actually eating it!) which widens what she can have. Last night, for example, I was having lasagne and Chris was having canneloni, neither of which were going to be ready in time for her to have before she was ready for bed, so she had a sandwich with the tomato and veg sauce and the cheese sauce, along with a few spoonfuls of Chris' beef stuffing and some of the tomato and veg sauce and cheese sauce off a spoon, as well as various bits of fruit (peach and pear fridge fruit, fresh banana, fresh clementine).

Snacks: She has various snacks during the day, especially when out in the buggy. Things she snacks on include: dried apricots and other fruits, roasted vegetables, spelt biscuits (no added sugar - sweetened with various kinds of fruit juice), Organix carrot puffs, croissants, fruit pots (will demolish most of a fruit pot in Costa Coffee), and whatever else is available and OK for her to eat. If we're walking round the market, we might get a small bag of cherries or grapes or something like that for her to eat while we walk round (cherries have to be split and stoned before giving them to her, though, which makes them a bit more awkward than some things).

Drinks: Mostly she only drinks water (apart from breastmilk, of course), though occasionally we add a bit of fresh juice to her water - at very low concentrations. She drinks a fair bit of water, depending on the weather (more when it's hot).

SLEEP

Nighttime: She tends to go to sleep around 9/9.30pm, though sometimes it will be closer to 8 and sometimes closer to 10.30pm. She usually wakes up once anywhere between 11.30pm and 2.30am and then again around 5am (probably because of the light and the birds singing, I think). Both times she usually goes back to sleep after a little bit of milk, though sometimes she won't go back in her cot and will come in with us or, if it's the morning, come upstairs and sleep on the duvet in the office. Occasionally she'll wake up more than that, but usually just requires a little bit of a cuddle/rocking to go back to sleep, rather than milk.

Daytime naps: She usually has a couple of naps during the day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon, though sometimes she'll have more, but shorter ones. Their length can vary from 30 minutes to 3 hours, though it seems they're more usually around 45 minutes-1 hour. If she hasn't managed to get much sleep during the day, she'll often (but not always) go to sleep in the early evening (e.g. 7.30pm) and stay asleep. When that happens, though, she usually has to come into our bed in the middle of the night (possibly because she thinks it's time to get up).

MOBILITY She's still not walking on her own, but she's getting very close. She can walk (run even) holding one hand and belts round the furniture in the living room. She can run with her walker toy now, as well. She did take a few steps at the start of June, from the chair in her room to her cot, but hasn't taken any since. You can see her thinking about it sometimes: she stands still and looks to where she wants to get you, sometimes even picking a foot up, but then she drops down to the floor and crawls instead. She has proper fitted shoes that she wears when she's going to be walking outside in the wet, or where there could be glass or sharp stones. For the most part we try to keep her barefoot, as that's best when learning to walk. She's pretty much got the pincer grasp sorted now (as evidenced by her picking up woodlice and putting them in her mouth far too often - our house does have far too many of the creatures, as well). She can almost stand up without anything to pull herself up on - she has her legs and arms completely straight, but hands touching the floor still. She dances in that position a lot and I think it won't be long before she pushes off a bit harder and ends up standing up.

COMMUNICATION She's added 'tick tock' to her vocabulary and says it whenever she sees a clock. She also says it when she's phones and lights, for some reason. She also says 'woof', though it's more just the middle sound without the w and f (but not oo as in hoot) - basically sounds more like an actual dog barking than 'woof'. She says 'dog, woof woof' a lot and points at dogs and says 'woof woof'. She's communicating when she wants food and milk (see below) and communicates when she wants to go to another room by bangning on the door. She'll also (but not always) put her hands to the top of her nappy to indicate that she wants her nappy changed. And she throws her food, cup, spoon, etc. on the floor when she's done eating (trouble is she'll sometimes throw them on the floor when she's not done, as well). She gives us cuddles and kisses now, too, which we (unsurprisingly) love.

LIKES & DISLIKES She loves going out in her buggy and giggles and squeals when she gets close to the door. However, she frequently gets very annoyed when being put in her buggy - especially when she's been out somewhere (e.g. in the park, visiting someone, etc.) and walking/crawling around. She loves music. She has various different books and toys that play music and loves dancing and clapping along to them. She also has different musical instruments that she enjoys using and, while she ignores most TV, she will turn round and watch when theme tunes or jingles come on. She likes playing Peek-a-boo in various forms - hiding behind furniture, hiding behind curtains, hiding under blankets, having one of us hide, etc. etc. She likes playing chase (e.g. one of us says 'I'm coming to get you' and starts running (quite slowly!) towards her and she crawls (pretty fast) away. She likes playing with the cat flap. She loves toes, and is especially interested in painted toenails (which mine never are).

FAV TOYS The toys she enjoys most are those that play music, or that will make noises (e.g. banging a couple of toys or items together). She also likes playing with non-toys such as remote controls and phones (she managed to phone Chris on the internal phone the other day, but fortunately, so far hasn't managed to phone the emergency services). She likes taking things out of boxes, baskets, off shelves, etc., but has recently started to enjoy putting things into boxes, baskets and on shelves, and so on, as well.

FAV BOOKS She has one particular book that plays music (one of the ones that has four options to press) and 80% of the time will pick the same one (She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain when She Comes). She really enjoys books that have extra things to do, such as flaps turn, tabs to pull, buttons to press, etc., but she also enjoys other books that just have pictures and words or stories. She still loves her dog book and can often be found reading it in the morning, after she's woken up. She has books in all the rooms she frequents (office, our bedroom, her bedroom and the living room - none in the dining room, actually, but that's generally only used for actual eating). She will pull them out and surround herself with books. We don't always (no-one's going to be hugely surprised, here) tidy away her things every day and when it comes to doing so, it's often because there are so many books out and all over the floor that it's not possible for her to crawl across it without crawling over books. (Of course, that may be less an indication of how much she likes books and morean indication of how many she has - over 100 now, we think.)

FAV TV PROGRAMMES She doesn't watch TV, though will look round when there's music on.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Clapping. Lip smacking when wants food. Doing the milk sign when wants milk (amazing considering I haven't used it consistently since she was a few months old!). Arching her back to indicate she doesn't want to do something (that's not so much fun, especially if you're trying to pick her up!)

OTHER INFO/NEWS

Teeth: She has two teeth now. The top two. The one on the right (looking at her - so on her left) is fully through and the one on the left still has about half way to go, but is completely through the gum. She has a toothbrush (funny thing that goes on my finger, though she also has another one that she just uses as a teether at the moment) and toothpaste and has a brush every night before her bath, which she really enjoys.

Bathtime: She takes the plug out of the bath when she's ready to get out. She doesn't like sitting down in the bath until the water is draining out. She loves splashing the water. Her favourite bath toy is still the thermometer, though she's quite fond of the duck and enjoys the bath book, too.

Clothes: She rarely wears vests now, and tends to wear leggings and a short-sleeved T-shirt as it's warmer and she can move around easily in them. A cardigan and socks and shoes will be added if it's cold/wet and sometimes her raincoat, too. She still won't wear hats, though loves playing with other people's hats. She usually wears leggings and a T-shirt to bed as well (generally knickerbocker-length leggings), though occasionally will still wear a cosy nightsuit if it's very cold weather.

Videos: Chris should be doing a video post soon and there are quite a few, I think.

Birthday: It's her first birthday next month. Obviously you are welcome to buy her whatever you want to (if you want to get her anything at all - there's no obligation!), but it might be an idea to check with us first in case it's something she already has or something we were going to get ourselves.

Photo post

Meeting up with Emily and Madeleine

For the first time since the girls were very little, we met up with Emily and Madeleine. Emily was my August Club 'buddy' and Madddy was born a few days before Rosemary in the same hospital. We had a lovely time playing in the play area at the top of Bisley Old Road (opposite the Parliament Street Family Centre), although it was a shame there was only one baby swing, so Rosemary and Maddy had to take turns.

Emily & Maddy 1

Emily & Maddy in the park at the top of town

On the swing

Having a swing (there's only one, so they have to take turns)

Maddy on the swing 1

Maddy enjoying a swing for the first time (I think?)

Maddy on the swing 2

Maddy enjoying a swing for the first time (I think?)

Maddy on the swing 3

Maddy enjoying a swing for the first time (I think?)

Saying 'Hi' to Maddy

Hmm, who's this? I think I'll say hello

Emily & Maddy 2

Emily & Maddy (+ Rosemary sneaking in)

Rosemary & Maddy 1

Looking at each other's mums

Rosemary & Maddy 2

Having a think

Rosemary & Maddy 3

Looking at each other

New dress from Grandma

We thought we'd make a point of taking some pictures of Rosemary in the dress that Gradma sent down. She does wear all the clothes, but we don't always remember to take pictures!

New dress 1

Look at my pretty new dress Grandma sent

New dress 2

I can kind of crawl in it, even

Hello there

Hey there, daddy!

Hmm, let me think about that

Hmm, I'm not sure - what do you think?

New dress 3

And I can stand in it, if Mummy helps

Eating something

We hadn't taken any eaiting pictures for a while, so thought we would. Can't remember what it is she's eating there, though!

Eating 1

This is yummy

Eating 2

This is yummy

Eating 3

This is yummy

Some pictures from going out with her Granny

Lead me up the garden path

Or the park path, perhaps?

This is cosy

Why are we waiting outside the door?

I can hide

Oh, we're playing hide-and-seek, are we?

The new comfy/nap area in the office

Rosemary now sometimes has a nap up in the office. Chris slept up there one night when she was teething, so she could sleep in with me, and we found the duvet really useful so have kept it up there. Sometimes, when she won't go back to bed in the early morning, we come upstairs and cuddle up and read stories, then she'll often go to sleep and will stay asleep if she just needs to be moved slightly, rather than the big repositioning of going into the cot. If it's very early, I might even lie down next to her and have a sleep myself! It's also handy for daytime naps, especially when she's under-the-weather, as she sleeps better if she's in a room with us. It's also much more comfortable for us when sitting on the floor reading or playing (and probably for Rosemary, too). And the dog isn't too bothered by it, either!

New cosy nap area

Sleeping on the duvet up in the office

The dog will nap too

And Wesley has a bed there, too.

Rosemary & Wesley napping

I'll just have a little snooze.

Random close-up

And here's a random close-up when Rosemary was too interested in the camera for me to manage to take any pictures.

What's that shiny thing in your hands, mum?

I'll take that, Mum. It's got buttons on it and looks like it might even make beeping noises!