10-7-2009 - update on baby

My mood while writing this blog: happy

Hadley is almost 10 months old now. He is crawling fast, can balance on his side, can stand by himself for short periods and can kneel. He has his little games - like getting away from me when I change his nappy (he hates nappy change) and he copies things I say, like 'eh, eh, eh' means 'give some to mum (or whoever)' he does it back to me. He is clear on who he wants to be with and will lunge toward whoever he wants to be with. Sometimes we give him a bath and sometimes a shower with one of us or a shower by himself. He loves all three. In the bath, I will often feed him his dinner, or give him some watermelon to munch on, which he gets in the bath of course. He sucks on a face washer and sometimes tries to get out of the bath.

He gets very frustrated and will sort of growl in frustration. He has become very bitey and bites my kids faces, our fingers and even has bitten me on the boob which hurt. But he doesnt do that too often. He loves the other kids I look after and I have come to realise that if I didn't do my job, he wouldn't necessarily be disadvantaged but life would be less fun for him I am sure. There are toys everywhere and we do art activities every day and go to the park and I facilitate their play so all day is fun and there is plenty of interaction during the day with the kids and then more when my kids get home.

Food wise, I am yet to give him something he doesn't like. In the morning he has cooked apples which I make for him with yoghurt and farex - mixed cereal, then I swirl it together not mix it completely and he loves this. Then later he will have the rest of his yoghurt, cheerios, or toast. Then at lunch, he either has some jarred food or some home made food and the same for dinner plus he will eat what we eat for dinner usually. Hubby used to buy a few jars a week of baby food but I really objected to it, no matter how convenient it was. I always tried to give him home made. The jarred stuff tastes foul or has no taste and the texture is just eww. To me it isn''t real food. he loves food I eat, he loves taste! So I made him some chicken, pumpkin, peas, vegie stock, cut up pasta, that kind of thing and froze it for him and he loves it. I would eat it - it tastes great. I feel much better about it.

He is still breastfeeding several times a day. STill sleeping with me at night when he wakes up between 2 and 4 usually after going to bed exhausted about 7. He is an excellent sleeper. Sometimes he sleeps for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and sometimes only 45 minutes but most always sleeps when I put him down. He has a bit of a routine. Sleep at about 9 - 10 then again at about 1, then maybe a long sleep and up til bed or a short sleep and down at about 5. He has become used to a dummy when he goes to bed. there is one in his cot which he puts in his mouth when I check on him later.

That's it for my update for now.