Every few days Charlie has a brain burst of epic proportions, which result mainly in more new words. In summary; colours, shapes, numbers, nouns, and songs. He does requests now; Row Row Your Boat, Wind the Bobbin Up, See Saw Marjory Daw (I think I sang that about 100 times yesterday), Baa Baa Black Sheep, Postman Pat, GiggleBiz, The Tittifers and the Jeremy Kyle theme tune (don’t say a word). This afternoon in the supermarket he was pointing and shouting numbers, ‘2, 3, 4, 5, 6′. He recognised the numbers on the aisles! Obviously I tested this several times over and he was consistent. Clever thing.
Charlie has had 1 daytime nap between 12ish and 2ish for some time now. My preference is that he’s home in his cot. Charlie is not one for falling asleep at the click of my fingers. In recent weeks he’s not napping as much. He plays quite nicely in his cot (he can now unclip both sides and is working on levering the side bar down), so has some quiet time before I give up and get him up again. I would say he’s now napping once every 2 or 3 days. I use his nap time for cleaning, eating, prepping, ironing, mowing, telephone calls; so it’ll be interesting to see how that pans out when the naps finally end. For now, he still needs them, but just doesn’t think he does.
I’ve finally established a new eating regime to end the stress that dinner times had become. Every meal at the table and if he refuses, we do something else and come back to it later. I’ve stopped offering lunch as a picnic meal and stopped offering cereal and toast if he refuses the meal prepared. It took a couple of days but he’s now eating better and more consistently than before. His food repertoire is by no means huge, but I’m more confident that he’s getting a healthier diet and I will persevere!
And so free will begins to establish itself. There have been practice runs over the last few months, mostly indoors, but more recently they have graduated to public places, accompanied by fervent ‘no no no no no no’s’ (not from me). I have noticed free will expressed facially, verbally and physically. Sometimes all at once. Facially, Charlie does his ‘upside down’ expression, normally with noisy tears for good measure. Physically it’s the stereotypical lying down, kicking and screaming move. Verbally it’s yelling, no’s, or crying. When it’s ridiculous I ensure he’s safe and generally ignore him. To date he sorts himself out pretty quickly. I’m learning to pick my arguments as I need to ensure consistency and follow through with decisions.
But I do Charlie an injustice, because for the main part he is a joy. Whenever possible he runs everywhere, with an exaggerated bend of the knee for good measure. We’ve started Mini Kickers at the local sports centre. He doesn’t exactly do as he’s meant in the activities, but has a nice enough time running the coloured lines of the various courts and playing with the hula hoops. His speech is bounding along and he can just about say his name, although having not got to grips with the ‘l’ sound yet, it comes out more as ‘Chi Chi’ than Charlie. This begs a nickname, methinks and Charlie seems pretty pleased with it.
In the last couple of months Charlie has begun to take an interest in drawing. He loves to scribble and use his crayons. He’s not so keen on finger paints for the minute, he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, but I persevere and he is starting to find it quite funny if nothing else. Interest in numbers and letters continues unabated, which is fabulous; and he cannot get enough of books and cars and shapes.
Eating remains an issue. I have no idea how to proceed, but try to intersperse favourites with different foods, and default to cereal and toast if it’s a point blank refusal. I don’t make an issue of it, try not to react and just clear away any mess without a word. I don’t know what else to do and try not to get too panicky. He is well, active, full of beans and growing by the minute. I’m not sure how Weetabix and air sustain one so small, but it is obviously working.
I feel like a proper parent! I am so all over Christmas this year that I remembered to make mince pies and sandwiches for the Toddler group Christmas party, to bring treats for the Soft Play Christmas party, to dress Charlie in smart clothes for said parties (well the latter one) and even to make mince pies for the nursery nurses at Charlie’s nursery. I’ve sewn 12 santa sacks for children and am quite embarrassed to give them as gifts. I don’t think it’s because they’re awful (perhaps the first few), but because they’re handmade and we’re so bound up with cardboard packaged, plastic tied toys that a uncoordintated, coordinated santa sack is probably not high on the wish list (the materials are intentionally clashing).
Meanwhile the Charlie-speak lexicon continues to expand. He has started counting to three, ‘Bit, dop, bat’ before falling to his knees in a ‘dramatic’ stage fall. He does this repeatedly before spinning around on the spot and falling into a piece of sharp furniture. ’Gogo’ means ‘for you’ and he likes to give things; (toy motorbike, credit card, sticker) to then get them back again immediately. This is repeated ad infinitum until he returns to falling on his knees and breaking his face on furniture. At bedtime if he wants a book reread he’ll say ‘Dit’. There are only certain books he likes to hear twice; ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’ is one of them. In the last couple of days he’s started to stand by the door and say ‘Bye bye Daddy’ because we see Daddy off to work in the mornings and watch him until he’s out of sight. Then we return indoors and trash the place.
Eating continues to be problematic. I’ve introduced some washable toys at the dinner table which has held his interest to some extent. Tonight I gave him a pasta dish in a lipped bowl. He refused me feeding him, but when I left him to it he ate well over half himself, using his spoon and the bowl sides to help him. Naturally this is the first night and I only count it as working after three, but it’s a start.
I broke my toe on the stair gate a couple of weeks ago. It hurt quite a lot and has put the kaibosh on high heels and dancing the fandango over the Christmas period (although I do my best). However this has precipitated my encouraging Charlie to go down as well as up the stairs himself. We’re on day 3 of this now and he managed to get down stairs several times today (backwards, feet first) at quite a lick. I want the stair gates off before I break any more toes.
This month’s new phrase is, ‘Up we go!’ said with a slight Scottish lilt and usually in reference before climbing stairs or going out. Where this comes from neither of us know, but it remains endearing. Charlie also has words and noises for the ‘In the Night Garden’ characters, that he has refined himself over the last couple of months. Again this is very sweet, although can be alarming for people who are not familiar with the more guttural noises he makes.
Charlie is becoming much more interactive with other people and this is demonstrated in his initiating peek-a-boo; hide and seek, tickling and chasing games. It is all good fun and I don’t think there are many things better than the sound of our son laughing his little heart out with glee. When very excited he runs around randomly beating his chest. In the last couple of weeks he’s also started dancing to music and spinning around on the spot. I’m not sure where this is going, but he’s really enjoying himself. He has a friend at nursery, who is a lovely, gentle, pretty girl (a real ‘Pears’ baby). They also go to a toddler group together and have started to greet each other with a hug and a kiss.
Charlie is fiercely independent and we’re happy that he is this way. However it does mean that frustration rules supreme in both child and parents more often than not. The naughty step is identified and has been used on a couple of occasions. How much meaning this has to him is not yet apparent, however removing him from certain situations (hair pulling, vertical blind tampering) has seemed to work. To balance this, I do make sure there is a lot of positive reinforcement when he is good. I can already see it is a tricky tightrope to walk and only hope that I don’t make a hash of it.
My god and he can talk! Charlie’s latest word is ‘bugger’, pronounce ‘bouger’ which he repeats ad infinitum, wandering here, there and everywhere. I think it’s his relaxed mantra, rather than venting any frustration. The latter he displays by lying on the floor, arching his back, and stamping his feet. I have begun to wonder whether he is modelling behaviour, or like smiling, tantrum displays are innate.
A few months ago I started hunting for a non-silicone ’soother’ for Charlie. He has a dummy for naps and times of high distress, but there will soon come a time when the dummy pirates arrive to steal them away. At birth, Charlie was given an embarrassing amount of cuddly teddies, yet hasn’t shown much interest in them. After some discussion with my mum, I decided to search for a cuddly duck for Charlie - as he is somewhat obsessed with ducks and I found one by Jellycat (http://www.cuddlykingdom.com/jellycat-bashfuls-duck-31cm-p-3759.html). Charlie loves his Gak Gak and clings to him tightly. It is very sweet and Gak Gak has already become a little homely and loved.
In the past x weeks, we have had about 5 days of clear, good health. The rest has become a never ending run of viral infections, teething, ear infections and coughs. I would say that it looks like 3/4 eye teeth have now broken the surface and that was true hell. The cough that lessened a couple of weeks ago is back with a vengeance now although today Charlie seems a little more at ease with it, if not me. It’s going to be a long winter.
In August 2008 I joined a Slimming World group in Southampton. Post pregnancy, I wanted to lose the 5 stone I’d gained and stop feeling like an out of place Humpty Dumpty. To begin with I did really well, lost 2 stone and then moved to Dundee at the end of the year. I rejoined Slimming World locally at the beginning of February 2009 and have spent the year yo-yoing around a further 10lbs loss. After yet another blip I returned to my club last week to find that I was slightly fatter than on my arrival in Dundee at Christmas. Unable to blame it on ‘just having had a baby’ any longer, it is now time for action.
I am now into my first week ‘back on track’. Perhaps I’m consuming more gin than I should, but otherwise I’m feeling pretty positive about the whole thing. Over the next month I would like to lose 7lbs and gain my Bronze Body Magic Award. I think by considering achievements on a month-by-month basis, I should be able to keep on the straight and narrow. Over the past few months I’ve been frustrated by my slow weight loss, but taken over a 4 week period, 6-7 lbs loss is realistic.
I have started following the Extra Easy (EE) Plan to vary what I’ve had in the past (red and green days). The downside of EE is that I am limited to one A (dairy) and 1 B (bread, cereal) Healthy extra choice per day, rather than 2. Initially I found this difficult because I tend to have cereal for breakfast, but realise that I can vary this and have other stuff (omelette, boiled eggs, fruit, yoghurt, beans, etc etc etc) instead. Week 1 and it’s working well to date…let’s see how I fare over the next few weeks…
Walking is the norm. He spends time at home perfecting his moves and then trials them in public. Over the month he has practised turning, which could put a runway model to shame and progressed to eliminating Frankenstein’s Monster mimikery, by keeping his arms at the side and bending his knees. Crawling occurs in patches, but is certainly yesterday’s news.
New levels of tiredness reach me each week. Charlie and I have a busy schedule and it wears me out! We have started swimming lessons nearby on recommendation. Until last week I hadn’t taken Charlie swimming and was not quite sure what to expect. He loved it and is a proper water baby. The swimming nappies are SOO cute. He loves to splash, prefers being on his front to his back, doesn’t mind going under water and generally has a very nice time.
Charlie is a fussy eater. He eats a limited amount of foods and has periods where he seemingly fasts. To me, these last an eternity. I try a variety of foods, keep on introducing new things periodically and celebrate when he does eat. Over the last few days he has refused to be fed by me and only eaten on his own. Frustratingly at nursery (he now attends one day a week) he eats anything and everything. I’m not convinced how far peer pressure will run once he’s back at home. When I first started weaning I spent hours furiously blending mundane to exotic purees. This doesn’t seem to have had the desired outcome currently. However give him anything chocolate and it will disappear without trace. Like his mum then…
Walking continues, but it is a torturous process. I do believe that once he can get himself to stand unaided, there will be no stopping him. But for now he walks with increasing ease around the house and when comfortable outdoors. Teething also continues unabated, it seems. We’ve had the most massive tooth (incisor?) through, which appeared in 2 parts and seems to take up his whole mouth. Just now he has 2 similar teeth coming through, either side at the top. Ouch. Thank god for calpol, ibuprofen and rusks.
When weaning I slaved over a hand blender for hours creating all kinds and flavours of puree for Charlie to sample. These were met with varied success and as he has got bigger, so his tastes have become pickier. I am pleased to announce that he’s started eating carrot (as long as it’s hidden in any fish or chicken concoction with pasta or potatoes and a creamy, cheesy sauce). Tomatoes, red meat, rice, couscous, apple, oranges, grapes, mango are still off the menu. He does seem to like green vegetables though - spinach, broccoli and courgette in particular. I persevere and celebrate when he eats something new. He does not have the biggest appetite in the world, but is happy, healthy, a good weight and full of beans (jumping, not baked).
Meanwhile my objectives have altered slightly. I now want to run him into the ground daily to ensure a good night’s sleep. We’re out and about morning and afternoon. There’s lots of walking and climbing to be done, at home, in a park or soft play. Then there’s the buggy where he can take in everything around him. Not forgetting social activities, lone play, shared games. I’m shattered. I have just got him into a local nursery one day a week. I practically broke down with delight when they said they had space. Shortly I will have a day free to do extreme housework rather than run backwards and forward making sure he’s not getting himself into trouble, while I try and keep things on an even keel at home. I don’t think I’ve ever been as active as I am now. No wonder I collapse into bed in a heap by 10 most nights!
One way or another Charlie has been independently mobile since he was 8 months old. It began with a complex rolling manouevre and has steadily progressed to new found walking skills. I realise that every baby is different, but had assumed that he’d suddenly just walk. I didn’t appreciate how slow the transition from crawling to walking would be. Truly it didn’t detract from the WOW factor when Charlie took his maiden voyage a few days ago.
Charlie has been walking aided for several months now: people, furniture, walkers - all have been fundamental in this learning curve. There has been a gradual change over from two hands to one hand held; from distances reached between items of furniture; from the ability to control mono-directional baby walkers. More often for short distances I have just held Charlie’s hand and he’s walked, rather than bother with the pushchair. Recently he’s taken to climbing; stairs, sofas, chairs, tables, bookcases, pushchairs, toys. Fortunately he’s quickly learned to climb back down backwards - although how, I have no idea.
In the last few days Charlie has let go and taken his first, staggering steps; arms out for balance, knees locked, tongue out. He applauds himself as he totters the length and breadth of the living room. I was agog with amazement. How clever, how stunning! He still keeps this new found skill at home, but is gradually extending his walking repertoire to the hallway, landing, spare room, kitchen, bedroom. General toddling is days away I feel. This time in a fortnight and he’ll have found his sea legs. Life will take another major adjustment!
Yesterday we celebrated Charlie’s 1st birthday, somewhat belatedly, at home. As usual I over prepared buffet size needs and managed to get most adult guests neatly lubricated on an estimated cocktail of Pimms. Fortunately they didn’t appear to mind, as they were all getting their ‘five a day’ in every glass. Initially grumpy, Charlie brightened when his pals pitched up and had a fun time playing in the garden and eating pink wafers and chocolate brioche.
With Pimms comes the inevitable break in routine, so Charlie finally fell to sleep around 10.30 pm, hindered only by his drunk mother and friends keeping his vested interest in playing, rather than sleeping. Needless to say Charlie is sleeping soundly now and rather hungover I am keen to re-establish routine and a more sensible eating pattern immediately.
The party was a great success and it was lovely to see new friends together and getting along nicely. The children created an unprecedented chaos, which was liberating in it’s essence. It was a lovely way to celebrate his first year. Some friends also acknowledged my own journey into motherhood and the bumpy ride it’s been - that was a welcome, appreciated surprise.