03-8-2009 - where's your sock?

My mood while writing this blog: proud

Hi everyone, my little boy is getting closer to his first birthday. I am really excited about it. He is exactly 10 1/2 months old today.

What has he been up to? Well, he loves opening and closing doors. He does this to the shower door, the pantry door and any cupboards too, so I got him a toy from the toy library that he can open the door and then get in and shut it again.

He loves to put things in the cupboard or behind the door and then close it again and then take it out and then repeat the whole thing over and over. He has become very playful and now he can crawl very fast. Sometimes he will crawl by lifting up his arms first so he slams them down on the ground and takes off. He also drops his head down like an animal grazing while he crawls. He is very particular now about who he wants to be with and sometimes it is me sometimes it is Daddy. Daddy always thinks it is me that he wants but the other day he would cry unless he was in Daddy’s arms, which gave me a bit of a break. He has a swing which hangs from the patio and he absolutely loves the swing. He loves going really high too. He gets really excited and squeals and draws his breath back like you do sometimes when you laugh. The other day he did it all day. And then if one of us does it he will do it again and it is like a game to him. He loves to take his socks off and gets very frustrated if he can’t take them off. Today, I said to him “Where’s your socks?” and he put his foot up. I was so proud of him, he is actually starting to interact in a noticeable way and he understands. He has begun to clap his hands now too, which I have been trying to teach him for a while now. He claps a lot, even in the middle of the night when I am feeding him. It is really cute. Speaking of night times, I used to bring him into bed with us when he woke up in his cot. But a few times he has woken up after falling back to sleep in my bed and become very restless. He wants to sleep but can’t get to sleep and struggles to find a comfy spot, so I have been forced to pop him back in his own bed. He doesn’t mind though and goes back to sleep by himself. If I remember to, if he sleeps all night in my bed, I don’t mind. But the last say 3 weeks he has been biting me on the nipple whenever he is finished feeding. He does know how to be gentle but he prefers to bite as he is getting off. So this combined with the restlessness at night time, led me to make the decision to let him sleep in his own bed all night. The first night was two nights ago and I was exhausted from going to bed late then having Hadley all restless, so we went to bed at 12 or so and he woke up at 7.30. I had a shower first and then went to check on him and he was still fast asleep! I was so proud of him. I am not sure why it happened that one night when I had decided that was the night and warned everyone that he might cry. Maybe I was just so tired I didn’t hear his tossing and turning, but we have been leaving the heater on really low and I have been dressing him extra warm but this morning (after going through another night of sleeping on his own) he got up at 6 and was crying, his feet were cold, so I put socks on him under his outfit. It was still dark and I didn’t know what time it was so I told hubby to go and check on him and if he needed a change to bring him in but otherwise just put a dummy in his mouth and go out again, but I thought he did well to make it to six am. But he sleeps maybe once at 9ish and then again at 1ish and maybe later at 3pm before bed. today for example he went down at 10.45 and got up 45 minutes later. He rubbed his eyes after lunch so I put him down again but he did not want to know about sleep so I got him up again. But my point is, I know he is EXHAUSTED by the time night comes around he can barely eat his dinner and welcomes sleep. I am enjoying this phase very much and hope he continues. I think I am one who needs to behave differently and that is that I don’t go to him when he tosses and turns. I usually operate on automatic pilot and go to him.

I have discovered that Hadley likes porridge! I made it in my rice cooker and he wanted some – cheap, easy and tasty hot breakfast for him. I used to give him cooked apples, cereal and yoghurt. I might try mixing the fruit in with it. then he has a yoghurt, a piece of bread, or a sandwich, grated cheese, a dry biscuit, avocado, banana, or whatever I eat. Then for dinner he will have these little dinners I make him with vegies, rice or pasta and some chicken –either tenderloins that he can hold or nuggets or recently I made him some little chicken rissoles that I cut up and put into a whole bunch of containers and froze. He likes his food quite hot. When he has what I am having he will eat it quite hot (as in from the oven etc) He loves oranges I have discovered and will sit in the high chair and munch on some. I have tried to steer clear of baby food and keep him on home made food. It isn’t that hard just takes a bit of fore thought. the other day apples were really cheap so I bought lots and made a heap of apple puree to put in the freezer for his breakfasts. So proud of myself! I wish I had more time to experiment and make him more food. There are so many recipes on the internet I would like to try.

He loves to spit, by blowing raspberries very quickly, sometimes in your face. he scratches and bites too. Sometimes he whacks you with an open palm sometimes with a closed fist, although that doesn't happen too much.

On the other side of all this anti social behaviour is the people he connects with. Everywhere I go, he sees people and makes eye contact with them. I will be doing my own thing and then I realise that someone is busy engaging with him and there is usually a few minutes when we talk about him. Oh,the ladies he has swooned.

Hadley gets very excited about going outside. He loves being outside and will squeal in anticipation. Sometimes I give Hadley a shower by himself and just squirt the water on him. Sometimes one of us get in with him. WE have been taking him swimming every weekend. he loves the water and spends so much energy kicking and moving. Hadley is interacting alot more now with the children I mind and always wants to do what they are doing.

In other news, I just had 2 weeks off and spent time with him. We stayed home and played together sometimes and sometimes we went out. It was awesome to be with just him but I think he missed the other kids as well. That is all I have for now.......