Eleanor's routine

Just posted this on my Babyworld October club, and thought it might be of interest (to maybe a grandmother out there?):

Eleanor usually wakes some time between 6 and 7 am, generally after Rosemary has woken up, which means I often get some one-on-one time with Rosemary and get her breakfast sorted before Eleanor wakes up. When she does wake, she usually goes in her chair for a bit, while I eat some breakfast and/or tidy up a bit. Then she comes upstairs with me (and often Rosemary) to watch me (us) have a shower. We all get dressed and then Eleanor has some milk, while Rosemary watches a bit of TV. (The order of this can change quite frequently, depending on what time Rosemary wakes up and what she's doing - playing, reading, watching TV, etc.)

Eleanor usually comes on the 'school' run, either in the buggy or the sling, though sometimes she'll stay with Chris. She often has a small nap then (30-45 minutes), though now and again will sleep all morning. Two mornings a week, my mum then plays with her and takes her out for a walk, while I do some work. Otherwise, either Chris or I will play with her/take her shopping.

She'll have some more milk between 11 and 12.30, depending on whether we're picking Rosemary up at 12 or not and if we have somewhere to go after. If we go out, she'll often have another little nap (30-45 minutes), otherwise, she'll normally stay awake in her chair/on her gym/sitting on people's knees/etc. until about 2pm, when she'll sometimes have another small nap and sometimes have a big 2-hour nap.

She usually has some milk around 4pm, then the evening routine commences - dinner is cooked and we eat at 5pm, bath pretty much every other night (which she usually has to share with Rosemary), get changed into bed clothes, read stories with Rosemary until she (Eleanor) gets very shouty, then Chris takes over Rosemary's stories and Eleanor and I go through to our bedroom and have milk in darkened room - I tend to read or check twitter and facebook, etc. on my phone - down to sleep (half the time, she's asleep already, and the other half she'll put herself to sleep with her thumb - occasionally I have to use the sling). She'll be properly asleep some time between 7 and 8, occasionally by 6.30.

Often, she wakes around 10 or 11 for a feed, though she is cutting this one out more often now. Then, usually, she'll wake at 3ish for a feed (though sometimes, if she didn't have the night feed, she'll wake at 1am then 5am) and get up some time between 6 and 7...

Evenings/nighttimes we have down pat, thanks mostly to a fairly rigid routine (which helps with Rosemary, too, I think). The daytimes are less predictable, probably because there are different things happening on different days, so she can't really fall into a set routine.

She is a very happy baby, though, which is lovely. When I take her out in the buggy or the sling I spend the vast majority of the time with a huge grin on my face. And when I'm working and my mum or Chris has been playing with her and I come downstairs to get a coffee or something, she gives me the biggest smiles and says hello (squeals). Wonderful.

Can I whisper something in your ear?

Rosemary has recently started reporting to us when she has done something wrong, whether on purpose or by accident. She whispers it in our ear. So, the words ‘Can I whisper something in your ear?’ cause to think ‘Oh no! What’s she done?’ Sometimes it’s a little something, like not flushing the toilet, and other times it’s something bigger, like breaking something or pouring juice on the floor.

The trouble is, it’s so darned adorable, that it’s really difficult to be cross, or even just firm. The majority of the time, I end up with a big grin on my face, which is not the way to admonish someone for taking their baby sister’s Taggie away from her.

It is very interesting, however, as it does show that she really is getting to grips with what we do and don’t want her to do. Yes, she’s testing some of the boundaries, but she’s also writing her own rule book, it seems. And it seems to me that, as she does this, the actual intentional wrong-doing is getting less and less. Which has got to be good.

But, mostly it’s just terribly cute!

O My Best Beloveds

I have a long list of books I want to read to Rosemary and Eleanor, or have them read themselves. And I get a little impatient. So I was very happy to be able to semi-cross one off the other night, one that I've tried a couple of times already, when we went through The Cat Who Walked By Himself. Slightly cut-down version, but they kept some of the language. All places are alike to him. Not 'He can go wherever he jolly well wants'.

There's a response you get when reading something truly poetic to a child. They go very quiet as it works on them. They're no longer just wanting the story. The pictures disappear to them, because now the pictures in their head are better. Something deep within them is moved.

So it was nice.

So different, yet so the same

I was reading some old posts from this blog the other night – from when Rosemary was about the same age as Eleanor is now. You can take a look, here.

And it struck me how a lot of things were actually quite similar at that time. For example, I had a busy work period where I decided it would be much better to be a stay-at-home mum (SAHM), rather than a work-at-home mum (WAHM), just like I did recently. Rosemary was spending large chunks of time under her gym, which is something I recalled her not doing for more than about 10 minutes at a time. Rosemary was getting good at sitting up (with help), shuffling on her back on her play mat/changing mat, being all chattery (though with different noises, interestingly).

And then there are the differences… If you look at the photos, there’s one huge difference, in that Eleanor has tonnes of hair. Their noises were different. Rosemary was apparently sleeping through a lot at that point. Not sure when she stopped doing that, because my memories of her sleeping habits are all about being woken up in the night loads! Eleanor is not sleeping through yet, but she goes to sleep pretty well and much earlier. Rosemary’s bedtime was generally between 9 and 10pm, whereas Eleanor’s is generally between 7 and 8. Rosemary was almost entirely fed to sleep. Eleanor is able more and more to put herself to sleep in her cot, with the help of her thumb and her Taggie. Rosemary needed a lot of attention, whereas Eleanor is quite happy to sit/lie quietly and look around at the world. Not that she doesn’t love a chat or play, of course!

And, of course, it goes without saying that they are both the cutest girls in the whole world and quite obviously absolute geniuses.