What do you think I am? A baby?

It's 7 am, and I've been up for 2 hours. YIHAH! OK, so I don't feel like the most popular baby this early in the day, but who cares? Did I mention it's Saturday?

When I wake up, I get Mama milk first, then I play, we read a book or 2, and then I get some toast and some non-Mama milk. Life is good!

Speaking of food, I think I've finally weaned Mama off purees and spoons. Well, it took ALOT of hints, but now I'm getting proper food. Mama says it's not easy, seeing as I don't have any molars and still gag on lots of stuff. Pff! Where's her sense of adventure? She was so worried about me not eating, that she asked everyone for advice and they all said the same: the wee one will eat what she needs, just don't stress about it. I could have told her that!

My new favourite is pita bread with melted cheese, some grated veg (like carrot or courgette) and a dash of spice (so far mild curry and ras-el-hanout). When I say favourite, I mean that I actually take a few bites. There's only so much time you can spend sitting still and eating, no matter how delicious the food. Funnily enough, Mama and Far seem to think the opposite. They can sit for HOURS and eat!

Baby skills are like buses...

... nothing happens for a while, and then they all come along at once!

So, 4 weeks ago, there I was, doing nothing. I couldn't crawl, as you'll remember from the previous episode, and I wasn't compensating by being able to add sums or speak latin or something equally useful. And then, BANG! On the day of my naming ceremony, Mama puts me down on the floor for 5 minutes and I'm off. I don't know what got into me, but suddenly it was 'By Jove, I think she's got it!'

And then a few days later, as if of their own volition, my hands are able to meet and CLAP CLAP CLAP. Oh, that's about 1 day after I finally managed to wave back to people. I'm telling you, there's no stopping me!

What else? Well, I can stand when I hold on to things, then sit down again carefully. Walk when someone patient holds my hands. Put one cup inside a bigger cup. Drop things in a box (Mama abuses that skill and makes me tidy up my toys before I go to bed...). Sit on my knees.

And... I can feed myself with a spoon. Which nobody would believe I could, so they didn't let me try. And were wondering for weeks on end why I refused to eat. OK, I didn't reach out for the spoon either, but do I have to do ALL the work? A girl needs to keep them guessing, keep them on their toes, so they don't get complacent and think that now they've got it all figured out. Right? Of course I'm right.

And after finishing this, I'll go down to my new bed. As of Sunday, I have been upgraded to a cot bed, instead of my lovely Amby-Baby. Well, it was lovely until I wanted to sleep on my stomach and Mama realised that I could almost climb out of it. I'm not quite used to this new 'sleeping on a flat hard surface' yet, but once I'm asleep, BOY do I sleep well! It has completely changed my sleeping patterns day and night. Did I mention that I like to keep them on their toes?

I would like to thank...

• Mama for launching the 'HELP' appeal to help me learn how to crawl
• Far and Morfar for getting down with the kid on all fours and showing me how it's done (kind of...)
• My lovely fan-club for all your encouragements. You know I love you too!
• And last, but not least: Birlou-the-Dog for making me realise that you can actually be mobile on all four limbs AND look graceful. Now I just need to figure out how to wag my tail...
  

Help! I need somebody!

Calling all experienced crawlers! How the **** do you make all 4 limbs work at the same time AND keep your tummy off the ground AND go forwards? No matter how often and how long Mama leaves me to practice on this very beautiful Afghan rug... NADA! NIET! NIENTE!

Do you know how frustrating that is? I mean, I'm not even trying to walk, as I've heard that 'You should crawl before you can walk'. I can't see why, but I pick my battles, ok. Well, apparently, this battle is proving a liiiittle bit too much for me. I'm either stuck in Neutral or Reverse. I have succeeded 2-3 times in a little rabbit-hop where both feet advanced at the same time, but that was DAYS ago.

Mama and Far eventually took pity and started crawling around on all fours as well. The neighbours loved that scene of our family life, I can tell you! Then yesterday a well-meaning soul suggested that Mama slip a towel under my tummy to lift me, so I had one less thing to coordinate. I just felt extremely stupid, that's all. Especially as she decided to try the new tip straight away, with her scarf at the drop-in playgroup. WOOSH! That was the sound of my street-cred disappearing into thin air.

And then they wonder why I'm in a bad mood. Have they tried to learn something major recently? I didn't think so... I'll keep you posted on progress at this end, meanwhile if you have any tips and tricks to help me (without making a laugning stock of me), please forward them or leave them in the Comments section. Greatly appreciated, thank you.

Long Time No See

Hello there! Where've you been? Oh, I was the one who was not here... right!



Well, let's recap, shall we. After all, it's hard to catch up on almost 2 months' progress, so we'll make it short'n sweet. Just like me.



I've been on a long holiday: first 2 weeks with Mama at Nonna and Morfar's (not so much a vacation for Mama as for some unfathomable reason I just couldn't sleep very well. At all). I couldn't really remember Nonna and Morfar that well, but we became great pals this time! I can't wait to go back!

Then 1 week on the French Riviera with Mama and Far. Now that was fab! Except Far was quite sick, but it did mean we just stayed in the house for a week, doing nothing and loving it. It did the 3 of us a world of good, I can tell you. Although I still couldn't sleep at night... I guess it had something to do with my tummy not really liking solids. Ouch! But on the upside, I suddenly realised I could sit up really well on my own and play with toys in a whole new way. WEHE! I'm not sure who of Mama or me is most pleased with this new development.



Safely back in London, I was finally reunited with my beloved hammock-bed. I do love that bed! So I started sleeping through the night again. Just like that. And digesting. And crawling backwards. And rolling over on my tummy. And all that just in time to show off in front of Farmor who came to visit and brought lots of Far's old toys. Goody!!!



I hear you: 'Is there nothing this girl can't do?'. Well, let me think... Nope, nothing comes to mind. Maybe just because I am still blissfully ignorant and I just take life as it comes.



And I just realised I COMPLETELY forgot to share the good news with you: I have a new future playmate - Rosalie. She was born on 11 February and I just can't wait to meet her! Of course, she can't do very much yet, as she's still only a little baby (unlike me - I'm a Big Girl now), but trust me, that won't last!



Spring is slowly arriving in London and with longer days, has brought a new rhythm to my life: Far now comes home almost every evening in time to give me a bath, and boy do we have fun!!! We've even invented our own bath song and he lets me splash to my heart's content! What more can a girl ask for?

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it

It's a steep learning curve. Being a baby, that is. And a new mum, or so Mama tells me. Apparently you sometimes need to offer a baby the same solid 14 times before they accept it. 14 times!!! That's 13 times too many if you don't like it! And my Mama ain't got that kind of patience, so I spare her and eat most things she offers me. I LOVED the Spinach-Parsnip- Basil stuff the other day, but now that she has this fancy BabyCook thingamagig, she's started cooking her own. Well let me tell you that Pink Lady Apple Puree with Vietnamese Cinnamon is yummy! That's more my kind of Yummy Mummy, I can guarantee you!

Enough about me. Mama has finally realised something essential, but does not exclude making the same mistake again. And again. And again. And... well, you get the picture. Now, she loves new-fangled stuff and trends as much (or a bit more) than the next person, and likes to be - maybe not a pioneer, that's too much trouble - but at least in the wagon just behind. Until she realises why everyone else can't be bothered and does the same as everybody else, glamourous or not.

Here's how it goes:

1. "Disposable nappies pollute too much. We'll use the re-usable ones" - Except what with not sleeping very much and all that, she never even got round to figuring out which kind she would use, and so the garage is full of disposable nappies on offer, albeit 70% bio-degradable

2. 'My Baby will never have a dummy' - I wish I could remind her of that whenever she tried to make me stop crying by forcing a piece of rubber into my mouth. It was fun for about 2 weeks, but then I got bored. So Mama's baby doesn't have a dummy, but not for want of trying...

3. "Swaddling a baby? But that's a horrifying, medieval form of torture only used in Chinese orphanages" - yes, or when your baby can't sleep in a foreign cot because her arms are thrashing about and you suddenly realise that you can make your baby nap as well by doing this. Admittedly, I have now grown out of that, so no need to call Amnesty International

4. "Baby-Led Weaning is the way to go. Spoon-feeding is SO last season" - until you find out that your wee one loves being spoon-fed and it means you can start cooking for them much earlier.

4bis "The experts say to start with veggies, so the babies don't get a sweet tooth" - Was that apple puree I just had for breakfast?

5. "We'll NEVER put our baby on a routine. I stayed up until my parents went to bed, so will my baby" - But I'm not her. And I like my routine, even if it does mean that Mama and Far can't go out in the evening anymore. No, falling asleep somewhere else is not an option: I WANT TO PARTY!!! But I just can't cope with the hang-overs...

6. "I'll wash my baby twice a week and only with water" - except the bath is now part of the bed-time routine and the Neal's Yard baby bath oil is so yummy!

Aaah, the things you learn once you have children... So maybe I'll end up being in a push-chair until I'm 5 years old, sitting with a coke in one hand and a packet of crisps in the other and Mama will be wearing an old tracksuit... Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!!!

PS: yes, Far has his share of input as well, luckily for me. And his learning curve is steep too, I can assure you!

Constance-Led Weaning

I don't know how to count yet, but even I can see there's a discrepancy somewhere! The WHO recommends weaning little people like me at 6 months. That's 2 weeks from now, wehe! But the health visitor from the NHS calculates 4 weeks to a month, so I should have been weaned 2 weeks ago. And how about just asking me if I want to be weaned???

Mama and Far read about this thing called Baby-Led Weaning, whereby you wait until the baby can pick up their own food and then you leave them to first lick it, then chomp on it and finally days or weeks later, swallow it. Choking risk? Schmoking risk!

So it started well last Sunday with a piece of avocado… Except it was slippery like the road to a certain hot place! But it was still mighty good fun. Then later in the day, I graduated to a broccoli ‘tree’ and carrot ‘branches’. Even better fun! But it was lucky I wasn’t hungry, ‘cause nothing got past my yet-to-appear back-teeth.

By Monday, I could tell Mama was getting impatient and questioning the whole thing. She wasn’t worried, oh no. Just wondering how long it would take for me to actually eat the food she had prepared. Because you see, my Mama prides herself on being a good cook, so I guess she appreciates when her food gets eaten and now just smeared behind the ears. Anyway, there was one avocado left, so this time she mashed it roughly and resorted to the utensil she had sworn never to use: the weaning spoon! And it went much much better, although I could tell she was feeling like she was letting the BLW side down and all because she has the patience span of a gnat.

Well, it paid off Monday afternoon when she mashed some more avocado with some lime and fed me again. This time, I chomped it to a fine puree and then swallowed it! Yummy! Can I have that every day? Well, it turns out I can’t as we had run out of ripe avocados, and so the menu today was a lumpy mash of potatoes and sweet potatoes (no salt) and that was even better! If I had known how to hold it, I would have licked the bowl!

Mama is disappointed with herself, I can tell. She says she’ll still give me finger food so I can accustom myself with it, along with the mash. And then she hopes that I’ll soon get tired of being fed and will want to do it on my own, like a big girl. Well, who knows what the future holds… All I can say if, I don’t know why she would prefer a method which is so much messier, but I get the best of both worlds: lots of good food to eat, and fun food to play with!

PS: it didn't make it better that Mama met our Aussie neighbour today who said that she shouldn't listen to the health visitor and just trust her instincts: babies can live just fine on breast milk for the 1st year. Well, does that mean I'm not getting any more sweet potatoe?

A little TLC* saves the day

* Tender Loving Care

I don't know what is happening at the moment, but I'm all out of sorts. During the day, I switch from Happy Smiley Baby to Evil Demon Baby in a matter of seconds. Nothing makes sense and things just seem too much suddenly. So sometimes I'm not as nice to Mama as she deserves... May I state for the record that I'll make it up to her with breakfast in bed as soon as I can: 1) walk, 2) prepare breakfast and 3) carry a tray?

So yesterday was particularly tough ( Mama would say it might have something to do with me not sleeping enough...), and there I was standing on her lap, when suddenly I start lashing out and with no control of my arms, I can only witness my little hands grabbing at Mama's cheeks and hitting her. Understandably enough, she yelled 'Ouch' and then, I don't know where it came from, I just KNEW I had to kiss it better, so I leaned in and gave her a wet kiss on the cheek.

For good measure, I gave her a good morning kiss this morning when she took my out of bed.

I think it worked... Friends again?

Starting solids

That Mama of mine has some very peculiar ideas... Apparently, she wants to try baby-led weaning when I'm 6 months old. Well, anything where I'm the leader, I'm all for.

But I just don't get her 'transition package'. The lid from a can of tuna in olive oil? Is that supposed to make me like fish or somin'? As you can see from the picture above, I'm quite puzzled by what exactly I should do with it, so to humour her, I play with it and throw it on the floor a few times.

That being said, I can't really blame her. It all started at christmas when Nonna ran out of ideas of how to entertain me one morning and decided to kick off the weaning with the lid from a Bonne Maman jam jar.

Jam? Tuna? I couldn't say which one I prefer, as they washed the lids very thoroughly before handing them to me. So how's a girl supposed to acquire taste, then?

Godt Nytaar, Bonne Annee & Happy New Year!

Yes, it's a bit late, but Mama says we have all kinds of good excuses.

First off, we were both sick in the first 2 weeks of December, coinciding neatly with the first time we were all alone, Far being away in Malaysia for 5 days. Mama caught a nasty cold & cough in Denmark, passed it on to me where it became worse and while nursing me, she neglected her own, which jumped through the window of opportunity right into her sinuses. Apparently, that was very painful especially when I screamed. Who knew?

But we both got well enough to travel to France on our own. Boy, do I love travelling! So much to see, I didn't know where to look. And forgot to blink, as usual. It was great to see Nonna and Morfar again, but tough to be separated from Far so soon again after his return from Asia. Luckily he arrived just a few days later, looking very tired.

I don't remember much of christmas and new year, as I slept through most of it, but I'm told I had a great time, wore beautiful red patent leather shoes and got nice gifts that I can't use yet. I hope next year is more interesting...

The best thing about my holiday was having 4 people (and a dog) to entertain me all day long. So I did the only humane thing, and entertained some of them at night to show my gratitude for all their efforts. It's tough being back in London now, with just Mama who does what she can to keep me stimulated, but I can tell she's running out of ideas. Although there is one particular game I love. No, wait, 2.

They both involve a harness... The first one is tied to the ceiling, and I can stand up like a big girl and jump around to my heart's content. It's tiring, but such a thrill. Maybe I'll try it with my head down when I'm older?

The other one is a high chair, so I am now at the same level as Mama and Far when they eat. And speaking of eating... The best bit of sitting in the chair (after playing with my 'Tuna in Olive Oil' lid - washed thoroughly) is sipping water. Tastes horrible, but VERY fun to swallow and to spit out. I still prefer my Mama's dish of the day, but she tells me I'll have to move on one day. Soon. She can't be serious, can she?

Anyway, to cut a long story short: lots of happy wishes from the 3 of us for 2008. I hope I'll meet ye'all this year!