11 months

Here is Thomas showing off one of his new skills: clapping. He joins in with any applause, be it directed at him, a clapping song at toddlers or church, or even clapping on the tv or radio. When he isn't clapping he is practicing his new sort-of words. Dadadada has been around for a while, but it has now been joined by 'mmmmmby' which I am taking to be Mummy and calling his first word!

Standing up is great fun these days, but Tom is showing no desire to stride out just yet. If you hold his hands and lead him he will happily walk with you, but will just as happily sit down again then head off rapidly in a crawl. But standing up means he can reach table tops and get at any food left there, or his sister's toys which she has tried to place out of reach. Tim hides his firemen around the sitting room every evening so they are ready to be discovered in the morning - it is a bit like a very small, very cute, Antony Gormley installation.

New favourite toys are things on wheels: Tom has worked out how to roll them backwards and forwards. He also likes dropping objects into a basket then fishing them out, and has started stacking bricks on top of each other. Totally standard for this age, but we are very proud of him none the less!

We are into birthday season for Tom's friends now, with several parties to attend over the next few weeks. And one of our own to plan for next month!

Ten months

My boy is beautiful. We think his blue eyes are here to stay, and his hair is showing signs of curl - especially cute is the little flicky curl over one ear, shown above. And his smile! Always ready to grin and coo at anyone who stops to say hello, but he reserves special smiles and excitement for his Mummy and Daddy.

Ten months old and Tom now has a mean turn of speed when crawling. Depending on the situation he either pulls up onto his knees, walks along awkwardly on hands and feet, or drops down and does his 'worm' commando crawl. When he reaches a wall or chair he pulls himself up, but is showing no signs of wanting to walk yet. One of his favourite games is crawling after his sister as she chases around him. Watching them giggle together and enjoy each others company is lovely, and makes up for all the times I have to pull Marisca off Thomas or remove Thomas from Marisca's toys!

Talking of toys and games, Thomas is currently loving toys with wheels and balls that he can roll then crawl after. He loves engaging us in 'conversation' and giggles his head off if we copy his head nods and clapping. His dexterity continues to improve, and he is putting this to great use at meal times. He is particularly good at handing us things: blocks, happyland firemen, his yoghurt spoon for us to refill... What a clever boy!

Nine months

We have a crawling boy! From slow but determined dragging along using his arms, Tom now shows a mean turn of speed using his legs to push and his arms to pull. He isn't up on his knees yet, but I am sure that will come soon. Now he is on the move no small, chewable object or choking hazard is safe from our mobile boy.

To help with the chewing, Thomas now has six teeth - two on the bottom and four on the top. The top four have come through in rapid succession over the last few weeks. As with the bottom ones, he hasn't really been grumpy or out of sorts, but there has been a lot of dribble. I can't see any more lurking under the gumline at the moment, so perhaps we are on a break before the next lot come through.  He is putting his teeth to good use and packing away the food these days: Tom eats pretty much anything you put in front of him and often demands more. Mind you, he has also recently discovered the delights of gravity, so is very keen on dropping food off his highchair then looking over to see where it has gone. When a loving parent retrieves it, he repeats the process...

The other momentous change this month has been moving Tom out of our room and in to share with his sister. We were cautious about doing this as he struggled to settle at night and was often up two or three times overnight: we didn't want him disturbing Marisca's sleep. But after camping trips and the Italy holiday when we all shared one room we were pretty confident that Marisca would sleep through any crying and that has proved to be the case. The unexpected thing is how much better Tom settles to sleep now: generally we put him in his cot and he drifts off to sleep with no complaining. We think it is because he can see Marisca settling to sleep in her bed, so doesn't feel alone. Long may this continue!

Eight months

Two thirds of a year!  As a celebration of turning eight months we have got out the 9 - 12 month vests, mainly to make sure they for over his chunky cloth bottom. Other clothes stay in the drawer until they are too small, regardless of label size: might as well enjoy them for as long as possible...

This has been a consolidation month. No spectacular new skills to report, but Tom is consistently improving on existing skills. He can sit for ages now and has started leaning forward over his legs and getting on to his front, a precursor to crawling. He can also flip from front to back and back to front now, as well as rotate around when he is on his front. Nappy changes are interesting as he flips to his front as soon as you put him down. Once he starts crawling I suspect I will be chasing him around rather a lot!

Tom has definitely got the hang of food this month. Mealtimes are still messy, but he will grab whatever is in front of him, chew and swallow it. Bread is still a favourite, but juicy fruit such as apricots or oranges run a close second. At mealtimes he and Marisca sit next to each other, grin and giggle together. They are going to be very cheeky and thick as thieves as they get older, and we are looking forward to it.

And what a lovely smily, giggly boy he continues to be! He is very ticklish and will giggle if you tickle his tummy and coo hello when he sees us. While this is lovely, it isn't great at 5 am when he decides it is morning. Tim and I take it in turns to get up with him in the early mornings, and this is one of my favourite times : he plays happily while I surface gradually with a cup of tea, then we have cuddles and play until Marisca gets up. When he sees her he grins from ear to ear and we are ready for another day as a family!

Seven months

Seven months and suddenly Thomas seems like a different person! Gone is the little baby who lay on his back and stared at the world. Now he is a little boy who sits up happily, grabs anything within reach and loves being played with.  We have set up a corner of the sitting room as his base, with treasure baskets and books and he loves spending time there. Everything is explored thoroughly, and everything goes in his mouth. Beware if you leave paper in reach as he will chew it until it disintegrates - I lost a pattern piece the other day when I turned my back on him in the spare room, so no more funky sun hats for Tom.

Thomas may not be talking, but he can make his likes, dislikes and wants very clear these days. Woe betide you if you try to eat something without him getting some of it. He has a good arching back movement when he wants some milk and will giggle and grin if you sing for him. He loves watching and playing with Marisca, and kicks with excitement when Tim or I come back after being away.

Meanwhile, two teeth have made their appearance this month. We didn't really notice them cutting through as Tom was no more grumpy tha usual, and his sleep was no worse. But there they are, showing through the gums, so he is learning about tooth brushing now. Hopefully the others will cut through equally easily, but we will wait and see!

Six months

Tom turned six months old last weekend. How on earth did he get to be that old? It seems only last week that we were making a rather rapid run to the hospital and saying hello to him for the first time. And yet here we are, half way to a year already!

New things this month? Sitting. He is still likely to fall forward or sideways at any moment, but can sit by himself for several minutes at a time. His favourite position is definitely standing, though. He loves being held up so he can support his weight on his legs, so his activity centre is his favourite toy at the moment as it keeps him upright and enables him to bounce up and down. And he love love loved having a go in Isadora's door bouncer when we visited her the other weekend!

Tom has also found his consonants. He burbles all day long, with lots of lip snaking, raspberry blowing and a variety of consonant sounds. It is all the precursor of talking apparently. If he is as much of a chatterbox as his sister it could be very noisy in our house in a few years time...

Six months means the start of weaning, and the associated mess. As with Marisca we are doing baby led weaning where we let Tom try to self feed from day 1.  So far toast and bagels have been very popular, fruit and vegetables less so, mainly because they are slippery so harder to hold. He is now determined to grab whatever we are holding, which led to an amusing moment at Church this morning where Tim had to hold the chalice of wine well out of his reach!

One thing Tom does not excel at is sleeping. By this age, Marisca was sleeping from 7p.m. to 6 a.m. with only one wake for a quick feed in the middle of the night. Tom is still waking several times a night, and really struggles to settle back to sleep each time. He usually ends up in bed with us, as he seems to sleep best there. While we are happy with this arrangement for the moment we are starting to think about the future... Any suggestions on moving on gently from co-sleeping will be happily listened to! For the moment we share the night time resettling as much as possible and take turns with early mornings. In the grand scheme of things we know this will be a short phase and he is still our beautiful smiling, gurgling little boy. We are enjoying all the cuddles while he still needs them!

Five months

In honour of the monthly post I got Thomas weighed today: 7 kg exactly, which is 15 lb 6 oz in old money. He is tracking nicely along between the 25th and 50th centile. People keep telling me he looks big, even though he isn't - he does look healthy and chunky, so maybe that's why people get confused! This photo is the first outing for 6-9 month clothes, including a pair of trousers made by me, which I'm rather proud of.

So what is new this month? Well, Thomas can definitely roll now, though he tends to get very upset when he manages it as it is not deliberate! He loves playing in his activity centre and will bounce up and down and reach for the toys. He also loves it when his sister plays 'role polys' with him or squishes his face into weird shapes - it is lovely watching them interact and seeing how much they like each other.

Of course the question people always ask is 'is he sleeping through yet?' We don't expect him to, which is good as night wakings are still very random. In the last week we seem to suddenly have a pattern for daytime naps, though: a forty minute nap a couple of hours after waking, a longer nap in the middle of the day and a power nap if required just before tea time. It is nice to see the patterns emerging and be able to plan around his needs, rather than hoping he will fit in with my plans.

Thomas is continuing to be a delight to have around: happy, smily, chatty and cute. What more could you ask for?

4 months

Chatting with a friend today, I commented there doesn't seem to be much to say about four months. We haven't reached any of the major milestones yet, like walking or talking so I can't tell you what a precocious genius my son is. That will come, of course! So what can we say about Thomas this month, aside from the fact that he is lovely?

Well, he has certainly learnt how to get our attention this month. Spend some time chatting to him and he will gurgle, kick, giggle and coo to keep you smiling. Sing to him and he is even happier - head, shoulders, knees and toes and the wheels on the bus are favourites at the moment. When he's not lying on his mat he loves sitting upright, so the bumbo seat is proving very useful, and he loves looking around from the cosy vantage point of the sling.

Thomas keeps us guessing overnight, as we never quite know when he will wake, and whether he will want feeding with Mummy or cuddles with Daddy. According to our new baby book 'the wonder weeks', every now and again babies have a mental development spurt which includes waking more, grumpiness and fussy feeding. One lasts from around 14 to 19 weeks, so we are putting any odd behaviour or broken nights down to him being wonderful. He has decided on a bedtime, though, of just after seven, and a morning wake up of between 5:30 and 6. We can work with that for now.

Oh, and did I mention he rolled over the other day? Just once, by accident, but it just goes to show my son is a genius.

3 months

Here is our three month old boy dressed in his Sunday best. These photos don't show it, but Thomas is a happy, smily, giggling, chatty little boy. When he is awake he loves nothing more than to gurgle and coo at us and will 'chat' away and giggle when you smile at him. If he is left to his own devices (which happens quite a lot with an older sister around), he will find his thumb and lie and suck contentedly. He even drifts off to sleep on his own sometimes!

Thomas is also starting to enjoy 'toys'. He will lie on his playmat and bat at the hanging toys, but his absolute favourite toy is the wicker basket next to his change mat. He loves lying there staring at the wicker and reaching out to touch it. Mind you, his favourite place to be is still in our arms which is good as we love cuddling him. He has just graduated from the stretchy wrap to the mei tai (at least when I'm carrying him) and is definitely into his 3-6 month clothes. But he is still 'teeny tiny' as far as his sister is concerned, and I agree with her. I can't believe we are at three months already!

2 months

The health visitor came and weighed Thomas the other day: he is now 13 pounds, which puts him on the 75th centile for weight. Ignoring numbers, he's obviously healthy (hospital visits aside) and happy. He has recently found his voice and will coo at us when he is awake - as long as he isn't sucking his fists! I think our boy is going to be a thumb sucker...

The obvious change this month is in Thomas' levels of alertness. When he's awake he is watching and taking in everything happening around him. This means he actually rather likes busy toddler groups - put him in a bouncy chair and he will sit and watch the action avidly! He has graduated from the carry cot to the bouncy chair in the kitchen and sits and watches us while we cook or eat. Mind you, he is still happiest being cuddled. He isn't keen on his playmat yet, and loves being cuddled to sleep. Interestingly, he stays awake after feeds and falls asleep later, which is a different pattern than we are used to. It is fun learning how he works and what his likes and dislikes are. He is starting to become his own little person now, and we're looking forward to seeing how he develops.

posted by Elspeth!

Four weeks

Thomas is four weeks old today: in some ways the time has flown by, while at the same time it feels like he has been part of the family forever. He has fitted into our family perfectly, and it feels so right to have him here and be a family of four.

People keep asking me if Thomas is an 'easy' baby. In some ways that's true, as he feeds well, sleeps well and is generally quiet with not much crying. But I think the real difference is in me and Tim - we are much more relaxed about caring for him, and I think that makes him a relaxed baby.

In the last few days he has started spending more time each day awake and looking around. There's always lots going on with an older sister rampaging around, and he copes very well with the hugs, kisses and cuddles he regularly gets from her, as well as the shrieking in his ears and helpful provision of toys in his face. He loves cuddles in the sling, rocking in his chair and being bounced on the yoga ball. He will tolerate baths but doesn't think much of them, and he hates getting his feet cold, which makes nappy changing fun!

Two

How is it possible that our little girl is two? It seems like no time at all since we brought home our little scrap of a thing from the hospital, and now look at her.  She can walk - forwards, backwards and sideways - run, sing, laugh and chatter away.  She has her own opinions on so many things and is determined to do everything by herself.  She loves her teddies and her books and her trains, isn't keen on noisy things like hand dryers and lawn mowers and sometimes takes a while to try something new.  But if she loves the new thing - be it a slide, a new game or a new food, she'll keep going back for more!

From a little baby who lived on breastmilk and cuddles we now have a girl who loves meat (as long as it looks like meat and isn't casseroled in any way), cheese, bread, hoummus, olives, fruit and so much more besides.  She can name loads of vegetables but is yet to eat any - give her time.  And cuddles are very much on her terms these days.  Be prepared to be flattened by her running towards you if she wants a hug, but she'll also run away if she isn't interested.

(Belated) Happy Birthday, Marisca.  We love you.

21 months

As always with the monthly posts, it's hard to find a photo - as always, Tim has nabbed all the good ones for other posts!  But here's our girl concentrating hard as she drinks from a big glass.  This is definitely one of her new skills: we have to be on hand to steady the glass as she's not great at putting it down afterwards, but there may come a time where we no longer need sippy cups...

The biggest thing this month is Marisca's new-found sense of independence.  'Marisca do it' is becoming a common phrase.  While this is lovely to watch, sometimes it becomes a little difficult when she wants to dress herself/climb the slide by herself/put the cup down by herself - while she really wants to be independent, she hasn't quite worked out her limitations yet, and trying to explain that Mummy really needs to help because your t-shirt doesn't go on your legs/the slide ladder is rather high/you're likely to drop the cup doesn't go down well...

And the words!  Marisca has new words every day.  She's turning into a little chatterbox, which so far we're enjoying.  It's lovely to know what she's thinking, and be able to hold a bit of a conversation with her.  Her current favourite game is to say 'bye bye, that way' and poddle off out of the living room.  After a few seconds she's back, to say 'hello!' and do it all over again.  And again. And again...

Twenty months

We've been having trouble finding sleepsuits for Marisca: not many places seem to do them for age 18 months plus.  So here she is in her new pyjamas (18 - 23 months).  There is plenty of room to grow into these!

After all the fun and excitement of Christmas it's hard to look back and work out what's new this month.  It's all a bit of a blur... there's been lots of building on the things mentioned last month - Risky can now climb up and down the stairs by herself, and sometimes does so if she particularly wants to be elsewhere (usually into the kitchen as she wants a snack).  She can also count from one to ten and recognise all the numbers.  We're not getting two words together yet, unless you count adding 'yes' to add emphasis, such as 'Milk.  Yes.' or 'Biscuit. Yes' Which translates as 'I want milk/a biscuit.  Give it to me NOW'.  But there are lots more words there now, and she often tell us what she wants.

One word we need to work on is 'share'.  Risky has started to use this when playing with other children, however what she means by it is 'give that to me, I want it, take the other child away, I do not want to play with them'.  We'll have to work on it's true meaning I think!

Fourteen months

We're definitely into summer here now: Marisca enjoyed toddling round the park this afternoon while we sat and enjoyed ice creams and the live music from the bandstand.  It gave us time to reflect on all the changes in the last month - she really is growing up now, but we know there is a lot more to come!

Aside from walking, Marisca is much more communicative these days.  'More' is a very useful sign, which she uses during meals to tell us when she wants more/something else/what we're eating (even if it's the same as she has), but also at other times to tell us when she's hungry.  She also signs for finished, but we have to ask first to get that sign...

If she wants you to read a book she'll bring it over and put it in your lap.  If she wants you to open a box of raisins she'll bring it over and put it in your lap.  If you ask her where teddy is she'll look at her cot.  If you aks her if she would like some fruit she'll look at the fruit bowl... the list goes on, all signs of a little girl who is learning to communicate with us.  Of course, she's also quick to tell us when she's annoyed: usually when we're preventing her from doing something she really wants to do like play with Mummy's phone!  I can see the tantrums looming, but she's not quite there yet.

This coming month is a big one as Marisca will start going to nursery two days a week.  It will be interesting to see how that affects her, and what she learns from the other children there.  She's loved her settling in days so I think my little girl is ready for a new adventure.

Thirteen months

There's a lack of photos of Marisca for the last month or so - I blame moving, but I've been blaming that for a lot of things recently, including my lack of updates of this blog.  I missed 12 months, but Tim posted lots of pictures so you could see how much fun we all had.  Now we're at 13 months!

Marisca is really turning into a toddler now - in fact, we're expecting the first toddling steps any day.  She can pull herself up and cruise round the furniture with no problems, and can even stand up from sitting without needing to pull herself up on anything.  Her favourite game is chase, where she crawls away from us, looks to see if we're following, and when we do she crawls away again.  Her favourite toys are books: she will drag them over to us to read them and has just started 'reading' them to herself, complete with pointing fingers and burbling commentary.  Her favourite foods are bread, porridge, yoghurt and bananas.  Her favourite sign is 'more' (related to food)!

Looking at her now, it's hard to believe she's the same little bundle we brought home from hospital just over a year ago.  But looking back over photos you can see the gradual changes that have turned her into the beautiful little girl we play with every day.  Let's see what the next year will bring!

Ten months

Here are Orla, Esta and Marisca being ladies who lunch (with their parents) yesterday - Orla (on the left) was born a few hours before Marisca so they actually met each other for the first time in hospital! That seems a very long time ago now.

So what's new this month? Well, Marisca now pulls herself up on everything all the time - she is just starting to 'cruise' along the furniture as well. Thankfully, she's very good at lowering herself back to the floor again so she doesn't get stuck very often. This month she has really started to take an interest in books, particularly ones with different textures she can feel. She now has her own library card so can borrow 'that's not my bear' and other such literary classics!

Favourite games at the moment include peekabo - either me or Tim bobbing up and down behind the sofa/bath, or Marisca rocking back and forward behind the door. She is also very keen on coming to 'find' us when we walk out of the room. Oh, and taking stacking cups out of each other and throwing them over her shoulder is also fun. Maybe next month she'll learn how to put them inside each other and we can start work on learning to tidy up...

Nine months

Daddy swiped the best picture of Marisca standing up for an earlier post, so here's one which puts it in context: this is the state of our living room after Marisca has been up for a few hours. Crawling? Pah, old hat now. She can get wherever she wants to be, pull her toy basket out from beneath the TV and pull out any toy she wants to play with. Shame she hasn't learnt how to put them away again yet...

Other new things this month: two bottom teeth, which finally arrived after a week of grumbling, and separation anxiety. Marisca doesn't like meeting new people at the moment, and definitley doesn't like me leaving the room. She's therefore learning how to make a cup of tea as she comes with me while I do that these days!

Eight months

This is a typical position for Marisca this month - under something. She's got the hang of getting up onto hands and knees, but then slides backwards rather than crawls forwards! I spend a lot of time rescuing her... she spends a lot of time getting frustrated as her toys seem to move away from her. More recently, she has also mastered the art of getting back into a sitting position from her tummy. Now she can slide, then sit, then slide, then sit and so on. Hopefully by next month she'll have added forward motion to the mix, although then my life could be more hectic!



Looking at photos, this one also shows a typical facial expression. Maybe this is Marisca's photo face?



Interestingly, the biggest change this month has been with me. A few months ago I couldn't think of going back to work as I couldn't believe that Marisca could survive without me. However, now she will happily go 4-6 hours between feeds, and will even take a bottle if I'm not around. Suddenly I can see time for myself being possible again! And now I want - and need - that. I love Marisca to bits and love being her Mum, but need time to be me as well. For various reasons I've extended my maternity leave to April, but am now jealous of my friends who are going back to work part time. Funny how life changes, isn't it?

Seven months

I'm late with this post - sorry. Marisca had a cold last week, and I got some yukky virus which meant I had no energy so blogging was not top of my list of priorities. Still, we're all better now:

It's been a fun month. Sitting is old hat now, no pillows needed for support any more! Marisca now gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but is showing no signs of wanting to crawl just yet. This is good, as it means I can still pop out to the kitchen to get a cup of tea knowing she won't have got into mischief while I'm away. Favourite toys at the moment are ribbons, an old necklace, juggling cubes and anything Mummy or Daddy are holding and trying to use. You will note there are no *actual* baby toys in that list...

And - whisper it - sleeping is getting better, with much less protesting. Or maybe I've finally got to the stage of coping with the crying! Marisca is pretty predictable with nap times, which means we have a routine of sorts to our days. It's not Gina Ford, but it works for us. The best bit of my day? Walking into Marisca's room after a nap and seeing the huge smile she gives me every time. Melts my heart :-)