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October 9, 2002
Sunday, 29 September 2002
10 months 2 weeks old
On Friday we had some friends around for a South African dinner. A little while ago when I was chatting with Jenny it came up that she’d never tasted guavas, and I said I’d do a dinner where she could taste South African things. In the end her husband couldn’t make it but we had her and another couple come around. I served bean salad, butternut soup, bobotie, yellow rice, tomato bredie (all made from scratch) and tinned guavas with custard. Unfortunately the evening passed in a blur for me because I had a cold which was becoming worse with every second - by the end of the evening I was so ill, feeling awful, and I was actually really relieved when everyone left. Saturday I was really sick. Grant was a star and looked after me and Daniel and I got to rest a lot.
By Sunday I was much better. We went to lunch at the home of a family from church, and we were showing them how Daniel is starting to stand unaided now, and we planted him, let go and he stood for the longest yet. He seems to stand longer if he doesn’t realise that you’ve let go, or if he’s playing with something and lets go of what he’s holding onto. If he realises he’s unsupported he quickly sits down as he has no confidence in his ability to stand – although I’m sure it will come.
All of a sudden he’s grown about an inch! Just this last week. He used to cruise under our computer desk, holding onto me, and the underside of the desk was about an inch above his head, but now his head touches. His hair has also really thickened. He was born with quite a lot of silky hair, but it all fell out and he was bald as a boiled egg for a while, then it slowly started growing back. Now it’s very fine, pale blonde and so soft. It’s fairly long, about an inch and a half, but it lies so close to his head that he looks as if he has hardly any hair.
He is so happy playing by himself, but every now and then he comes to “check in” with Mommy – he aims his little face up and opens his mouth for a few kisses, or clambers on me for a hug then goes on his way again. He just likes to have a little cuddle or kisses every 15 minutes or so! Of course, I don’t mind at all!
My sweet boy is fascinated with the light fitting in his room. He always looks at it and I tell him, “That’s the light.” Now, when I say, “Where is the light?” he looks up and points. Same with his teddies. After his nap he looks at his teddy bears in a row on a shelf in his room, and the two cross-stitch pictures I did of teddy bears, and points and chatters. He just adores teddies. He gets so excited when Bear In The Big Blue House comes on TV (well he is kind of like a huge, live teddy bear)! He shrieks like a cockatiel and points at the telly.
He is getting much better about drinking from his sippy cup, which is a huge leap forward. He has always rejected bottles and cups of every sort, preferring good old “booby time”. But now he’ll actually take a few pulls and drink from his cup – now that I’ve started giving him half-water-half-juice, that is. He always rejected a weaker juice-water solution, and plain water was unthinkable. Today, at the end of the day, I offered him his cup and he drank so deeply and couldn’t seem to get enough, I figured he must be really thirsty, even though he had nursed not too long before. As he sucked on his cup I smelt a sour, rancid aroma. Kind of like apple cider vinegar. I took his cup from him (sparking a tantrum) and opened it – the apple juice had gone “off” during the day and smelt just like cider vinegar! But he seemed to adore it!! Funny boy.
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Sunday, 6 October 2002
10 months 3 weeks old
Last night Daniel had a nightmare. He woke up screaming blue murder and nothing would console him for ages. I cuddled him and he was so tired and his body relaxed, but his eyes stayed wide open, looking around the room as if in fear. It broke my heart to see him such distress from whatever dreams had disturbed his sleep. Eventually I put him back into his cot, and he went to sleep and slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
Speaking of nightmares, he’s been a nightmare about putting everything into his mouth – until now. He still wants to feel objects with his mouth, and taste them, but much less often and usually after a lengthy inspection. I’m so glad he’s passing out of the mouthing stage!
But something he still mouths is his fingers. He sucks the first two fingers of his right hand constantly. They are in a right state. The nails are thin and weak and ridged, and don’t grow as fast as the rest of his nails. The skin is also thin and his fingers are usually red. He sometimes even sucks them so hard and often that he gets big blisters on his fingers, but that doesn’t stop him! And he’s developed a new habit – when he sucks his fingers his left hand is playing with his left ear. He’s my organic boy – he doesn’t want a bottle, he wants the breast. He doesn’t want a pacifier, he wants his fingers. And he doesn’t want a blankie, he wants his ear. Problem is, as he gets older I can’t take his fingers and ear away from him like I could a binkie and blanket!
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Wednesday, 9 October 2002
10 months 3 weeks old
It seems Gloria Estefan is right – eventually the rhythm IS going to get you. Daniel has finally caught the beat! I had some music on and when I glanced over at Daniel what did I see but my little man bopping to the vibe! He was standing holding onto something and bending his knees and straightening them, bouncing up and down. Absolutely adorable!! I can’t describe how cute this is, and how happy he looks when he’s doing it!
A while ago Grant and I sent off £5 each to attend a Save-A-Life course through Mother and Baby magazine, who teamed up with Tesco (a huge supermarket chain) to offer the training. The course was from 6pm to 9pm last night, and it was really good. In three hour we learnt so much about CPR and first aid for babies and children. We got certificates at the end, and also received a goodie bag full of free things, which was nice!
I had been concerned about leaving Daniel with my mom for three hours without getting him to bed first, but we had to leave at around 5:20pm and so couldn’t get him down before going. I left a brief list with my mom of the steps of his bedtime routine (bath, brush teeth, get dressed, cuddle on the bed for a couple of stories, prayers, lights out and cuddle in his room for a song or two, then into bed) and said that if he didn’t go down it was fine, but if he was fussing she could try to get him down for the night if she wanted. This is how I thought it would go: Daniel playing, getting tired, getting fussy, my mom doing the bedtime routine, Daniel screaming because he wanted Mommy at bedtime (as usual). When we got home, though, we found silence in the house and my mom watching TV. I was so surprised when she told us that he had been playing, then had started rubbing his eyes and getting tired, she had done the bedtime routine and he had fallen asleep in her arms before she had even finished the third little song! I couldn’t believe it! I am so excited that he is finally reaching a point where he doesn’t demand me at bedtime. But not too excited, since I’m sure he only settled so well because it was with my mom, who he loves and trusts – and who is moving to Norway in November. I’m sure he won’t be quite as relaxed with another babysitter (we don’t quite know who we’ll find to look after him on the rare occasions when we do go out).
A milestone I wasn’t expecting is words. Crawling? Saw it coming. Pulling up? I expected it. Cruising? A natural follow-on. But words? From my baby? Wow, what a surprise! Well, okay, so maybe he isn’t saying “proper” words, but to me they are words. Besides “mama” and “dada” he says “doos” for juice, “zuz” for shoes, and “te “or “ted” for teddy. It’s so cute! It’s just so adorable when he says his little words!
Another thing I’m so proud of him for is how good he is with hair-washing. I know that a lot of babies hate having their hair washed, or water on their faces, so we’ve always been casual about letting water splash on his face and not immediately wiping it off, so he would get used to it. We used to wash his hair carefully by holding a toy slightly above him, and when he tilted his head up to look at it we would pour water on to rinse his hair. Now he is so used to the water that I say to him, “Are you ready? One, two, three…” and dump a container of water (we use a plastic bowl) over his head, then I immediately wipe his face with my hand. He is so good! He never complains when the water pours over his head and face, and is quite happy to accept that this is just the way things are done. It makes hair-washing so quick and easy! I am so proud of him.
I have found Daniel’s favourite drink (besides breastmilk) and it’s rooibos tea! He likes it more than juice and I like him having it. It is so good for him, plus I can control how much sugar goes in. Rooibos (red bush) tea is a caffeine free tea from South Africa, grown in a small area near Cape Town, and nowhere else in the world. I bought a box of teabags at a South African shop in London, but it’s also available at certain supermarkets here and at health shops. It can be drunk hot or cold, with milk or without, with lemon or honey or sugar, or nothing. For Daniel I make it without milk and with only a little sugar. I make a pint of tea with one teabag, and one spoon of sugar, and leave it in the fridge (can be left for up to 2 weeks) and he drinks it cold. It is completely pure and natural, with no caffeine, and is rich in iron, potassium, copper, calcium, manganese, fluoride, zinc and magnesium. It also has anti-spasmodic agents and is great for helping with colic, in young babies. It also has lots of lovely antioxidants. So there you go, something new for you all to try! I’m sure a health store near you carries rooibos. It really is delicious with a slightly sweet full bodied taste.
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Talk To Me:
What does your baby like to drink most of all?
How does your baby handle hair washing?
Anybody out there drink rooibos tea???
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