Category: week in review

Week fifty. Getting ever closer to his first birthday, with all the panning out into the future that goes with that. People are starting to remind me that I’m no longer young, but that looking after a baby will keep me young. I have to agree: it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to make animal sounds with quite so much enthusiasm as in the last few weeks!

Puff has managed to master the difficult vegetables like peas (as we saw last week), but he’s now moving into this tendency to throw unwanted food off his food tray onto the floor. To try and add cuteness to this routine, he makes it look like this is all a surprise to him, and that he doesn’t understand gravity.

We had a church “day away” in Cronulla on the weekend, and so took him back to Grind (the first cafe he ever visited, when he was only four days old) for a visit. This time the cup was empty (though it didn’t take him long to try and start eating the cup).

We’ve also started trying to prepare him for crawling on grass. He’s more comfortable with it now, but if you leave him on grass for a little while, he has a tendency to lift his hands up away from the grass – even if he’s crawling on his stomach.

Most of his play takes place in the dining room. Watching him explore the room – each time fascinated by what should be familiar toys – is always interesting. He is more confident with the magnets, having figured out that they can stick not just to the fridge, but also to the dishwasher!

Though he can be quite distracted with toys that make noise, he is happiest with simple toys that he can chase around the room: at the moment, he’s starting to be more confident climbing up to things, and occasionally over them (if they’re low enough).

The biggest thing he’s worked out how to do this week, though, is to sit up by himself. He moves himself into crawling position (on all fours), and then crawls backwards to sit (he hasn’t worked out how to crawl forwards yet, only backwards… odd).

He doesn’t stay sitting up for long, but it’s very impressive to see him achieve it!

Oh, and one last thing: he’s starting to learn the actions to songs. If we sing “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”, he will clap his hands, sometimes in time with where the actions should be in the song (depending on tiredness… your mileage may vary).

Another week has flown by, and Puff has learned a thing or two.

Last Wednesday, Puff (and Mum) came into the city to have lunch with Dad. It’s quite a different experience to having lunch with an adult: there’s a lot more to do to make sure he’s eaten everything, and not quite so much catching up with the adult.

Though different, it certainly makes the day go more quickly, and some of Dad’s new workmates were happy to make Puff’s acquaintance.

He also managed a trip down towards the Quay to visit our friend Adam. Here he is relaxing in front of the sandstone.

One thing that Mum has taught him this week is how to take magnets off the fridge, and put them back on. This isn’t necessarily something that lends itself easily to photography, but I think you get the idea.

A visit to see friends who have a big backard (and 4 kids) led to a couple of new experiences. The one he enjoyed was sitting on a trampoline (with Dad only very slightly out of the frame of this photo) – he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but he was certainly happy.

The one he enjoyed less was trying to move around in the grassy backyard: He hadn’t had much to do with grass before, and despite a few tries, he seemed more intent on lifting his hands up and away from the grass, and starting to cry until removed from the situation. The next day, Dad tried a few more approaches with grass, and he seemed a bit happier. This is a pitfall with having a birthday just after winter – a lot of the learning to move around takes place indoors, to stay out of the cold. Rest assured that Puff will have a lot more time spent outdoors on grass in the future.

With many of Puff’s playgroup contemporaries starting to walk around, we’ve been trying to give him more opportunities to be upright, if he wants to be: an inverted bucket has been good for this purpose:

Further developments in eating have also taken place: he’s been eating more and more tricky food by hand. Only two attempts before this video, the peas were rolling back out of his mouth: by the time the camera was out, he had figured out how to eat them: we also show his newly learned association of the word “Yay!” with clapping his hands.

This week we’re starting to come to terms with Puff’s impending birthday. We can now refer to him as an “11 month old”: it seems he’s been a 10-month-old forever, but everything keeps moving forward.

On the desk here as I write this are photos of him when he was younger. This week, I saw a draft copy of the invitation that Kel has made for his upcoming birthday party… lots of photos of his face as it’s changed over the months so far. Seeing that evoked a flood of happy memories – this whole parenting thing is an emotional journey: more than I was expecting it to be.

Puff continues to evolve a personality. He answers the animal noise questions when he’s in the right mood: when he’s not, it’s because he’s looking around at the world, or distracted by something. He has more and more energy and desire to move around. If we put him down on the ground after carrying him for a while, he’s less likely to scream, and more likely to simply start playing with the toys that we’re always careful to make sure are within arm’s reach.

In an attempt to prolong his good behaviour in the cafe where we met B&K on Saturday, we brought his eating chair. He managed to stay there, and in a good mood, long enough for us to eat and have at least one round of hot drinks. After that, though, it was time to let him out of the chair and explore a little. When the environment suits, he’s starting to try and stand up: if not to stand, then at least to prop himself up somewhat.

On Sunday we went to a different cafe, and took the eating chair again: this time we had a bit more success. Even though he’d been asleep in the car moments before, he coped with the change in scene remarkably well, thanks in part to the chair.

If you’re picturing a perfectly well behaved child sitting motionless in a chair, perhaps this time-lapse video will help clarify what it’s like to visit a cafe with him now.

This week has seen a trip to Canberra (and back), a lunch with a friend, and Puff change (and hopefully reform) his sleeping habits: a couple of pre-8am wakeups have been less than welcome.

Puff continues to be fascinated with books: when he sees his current favourite (five little ducks), he will say “kwa kwa” to encourage whoever is carrying him to pick it up and read it to him. Depending on his mood, he will say “kwa kwa kwa” at the right part in the story, or just look forward to getting to the end.

Dad has been out a bit in the last week, and so Aunty Chan has had a chance to feed him dinner, which he seems to be really enjoying. Dinnertime can be a long slog (it takes about half an hour for him to eat everything), and so there are a few chances for distraction during the meal. In general, though, he’s a really well-behaved boy once in the “eating chair”.

Despite some minor mishap in getting ready to travel down to Canberra, things went smoothly for the most part. A three hour drive proved too long for his attention span, and he didn’t sleep as much as we’d hoped, but it was well worth it to spend time with old friends.

Watching him play in a house with a nearly-three-year-old was eye-opening. Unlike babies of a similar age, where they happily crawl over each other, there was a distinct difference between the age appropriate toys (our friends had a stash of them) and the toys for the older J.

J was very generous in sharing his toys: when Puff sat on the train tracks in the fashion of Godzilla, he wasn’t even upset (After this photo, Dad quickly picked Puff up again and re-arranged the tracks as they had been).

It’s something of a cliche that kids would rather play with the box than the toys that come in the box, but we saw some truth in it. Here is Puff sitting on J’s little couch, playing with the box that the wooden rings came in.

Update:
I should also point out that Puff has worked out how to make a clicking noise with his tongue (ask him what noise a horse makes when walking, or just make the noise, and he’ll copy), and he knows what a snake says (“ssssss” with a big grin), and (with less certainty) what a sheep says ( “babababa”).

Another week has flown by, this time with some extra travel for young Puff.

Lots of trips around the place, visiting people. Here he is enjoying some playtime in a food court while distracted by an empty soft drink bottle (somehow these work better than teaspoons at the moment, and even better than the toys that he’s too used to).

He also made a trip to a friend’s house. When in a new environment, he is a bit stressed for a while, wanting to be close to whichever parent he can get near. After a while, though, he calms down, and is happy to explore the environment.

The best part about visiting friends is playing with new toys. When confronted with a new toy, it’s really exciting for a couple of days, but then disappears into the fray, it seems. The toys he keeps coming back to are the ones that he can chase around a room.

On the weekend, we went down to Bowral markets, where we found the world’s friendliest dog. With Dad carefully placing him out of the danger zone, Puff was cautiously allowed to pat the dog: despite his expression in this photo, he seemed to really enjoy it!

In one of the stores in Bowral, we saw these toys on the wall in a little play area. He was too small to be able to play with them by himself (he’d need to know how to stand up), but he had a go at them once suitably propped up.

Overall, we were really pleasantly surprised by how he went when we took him away for the weekend: he was getting a bit tired and frustrated during the day, but managed a solid 12 hour sleep in the portable cot, and then a 3 hour nap later in the day. It was also fun for him to spend some extended time with his aunt and uncle.

In other news, he knows the answer to the questions “what does a duck say” (“kwa, kwa, kwa”, sometimes spoken, sometimes whispered) and “what does a dragon say” (this amazing growling noise). It’s great to see him understand language enough to answer questions, and to start experimenting with words.

On very rare occasions, he’ll try and pull himself up a little bit: not to stand, but more to get a better view of what’s going on. The hint of later tendencies to explore. Thanks to his sleeping bag, though, he hasn’t tried to escape his cot yet: this too, I fear, is only a matter of time!

This week was something of a first for Mum – she trekked in to Botany for an artisan baking course, leaving Puff and Dad at home to handle the evening routine. It all went perfectly, despite a few “mummummums” from Puff near bedtime, and some looking around, and then Mum and Dad feasted on the bread that mum had made.

But enough about parents.

This week marked Puff’s first trip to university, to visit Dad at his new work. Given the cold weather, we didn’t have a chance to pose him in front of any landmarks, but here he is sitting in a chair in a uni cafe.

We had a few trips to cafes over the weekend. After a whirlwind tour of the markets at Warwick Farm (we arrived at 11:45am, and they close at 12pm) where lots of stallholders told his dad how cute young Puff was (and asked “how old is he” – they always ask that, for some reason), we stopped for a nap at home, then headed over to Birchgrove to meet another baby.

This is the first time I’ve seen Puff interact with a baby much smaller than him: he was very curious, though didn’t try to hurt baby M, despite getting a little too close to the baby M’s eyes for Dad’s liking.

It seems like our days of being able to sit in a cafe while Puff plays contentedly with a teaspoon are drawing to a close. He remains quiet while he’s eating, but with the meal finished, a spoon only seems to hold his attention for a few minutes, before it’s thrown on the ground.

He’s also making leaps and bounds in feeding himself. Given a peeled piece of pear (say, an eighth of a pear), he will put it into his mouth, snap off a third of it and drop it down on the tray, then put the two thirds piece in his mouth and snap off half, chewing furiously. This gives him a third of a piece in one hand, and a third on the tray. This latter third he will pick up with his spare hand, and then try to cram more pear into his mouth with both hands. Only a few crumbs remain at the end.

The next step will be, of course, feeding himself with some table manners, and, indeed, with utensils, but this may have to wait a little longer.

This week we had some great news. A minor health problem that we’d been aware of from when Puff was very small was finally investigated by someone who could give a definitive answer. We now know that Puff is fine, and that everything is normal. I thought our days of being excited about Puff being average were already over, but it’s a good feeling.

He did really well, waiting patiently in the waiting room, and not causing either Dad or the doctor too much trouble by fidgeting during the examination.

On the weekend there were a few visits to different family members. Here he is enjoying a short session of TV watching (from memory, these were Michael Jackson video clips) after dinner and a sleep.

He is increasingly adept at getting around, and starting to take more risks in climbing up onto whatever he finds interesting.

As far as eating goes, we’re still feeding him the majority of his food, and he has the chance to feed himself now and again. He has his dad’s tendency to eat with mouthfuls that are too big: this piece of apple took quite a while to break up and swallow.

Lastly, a short time-lapse video of his efforts to get at his favourite book.

Another week and more exciting developments (at least to his parents) for Puff.

* he’s now ticklish: if you tickle him, he will reliably laugh
* he has picked a few phrases that, when repeated near him, will make him laugh (eg “bam!”, “pig pig pig!”)
* he is up to 5 teeth as of this evening.
* he can high five when the mood takes him.

When we took him to a cafe on Wednesday as part of some exam-study procrastination, we found that just the teaspoon wasn’t enough to hold his attention, so we gave him extra toys, and ultimately mum’s bag to play with. This saw him last long enough for mum and dad to eat *and* drink coffee.

A trip to the dentist for mum and dad in the last little while brought advice on how to get Puff ready for a life of looking after his teeth. We’ve bought him a 0-2 year old’s toothbrush that he can use as a toy. He puts up a serious fight if you try and brush his teeth with it, but left to his own devices, he tries it out from time to time.

We went to a friend’s 5th birthday party, and he had his first taste of party food! Sure, it was a carrot stick, but it’s a start. He’ll be eating cocktail frankfurts and fairy bread in no time.

Apart from this, the usual traditions and routines that we’ve established continue on as ever. We think that his 5th tooth was causing him some upset: he went from his usual 12-14 hour nightly sleep back to about 10 hours, and was pretty stroppy and short tempered for a few days, but seems to be back to his normal self again now.

Another week older, and Puff continues to explore the world in new ways.

This week, mum took him to a playground: his sitting is strong enough that he could even sit up in a swing by himself. He looks pretty small in the swing, though!

His main activity at home is crawling around exploring the dining room and playing with toys: this leads him to explore some unusual spaces. He’s strong enough to push the dining table around if he decides that the best way to explore is between the wall and the table leg:

And spaces that a grown-up wouldn’t think to explore, like under a kids chair, are fair game.

We bought him some new buckets to store his toys in: he seemed pretty happy being surrounded by them.

If he’s had a long day, and there’s still more driving to be done, Puff will sleep in the car: though he always looks a bit unhappy about it.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that Puff can do now is clap his hands and wave: we’ve been waiting for these for a while, and so it’s great to see him work out that he can wave to someone and they’ll wave back.

Another week has flown by. A long weekend where I tried to cram a lot of activity into a short space of time, and managed it with few regrets. I mentioned to someone at work that it is now quite odd to be out of the house after 9pm: part of wanting to be home with the family, rather than out trailblazing. Unusually, I saw a DVD at a friend’s house that had me out past this witching hour. Worthwhile, yes, but there’s always a sense that somewhere else I’m missing out on something valuable.

But enough regrets. On to the review of the week. A teaspoon continues to be an amazing tool for both distraction and entertainment, second only to whatever is going on around young Puff. Saturday saw us take a trip to Leichhardt markets (which are paradoxically in Lilyfield, not all that close to Leichhardt) where Puff managed some significant sight-seeing. From there, we went to Birchgrove for coffee and some lunch.

A very tired (by then) Puff was scooped back into the car for the drive home and a nap, before dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Hurstville. There was a bit of a wait for a table (outside, wearing a beanie) but eventually we made it into the restaurant where he wolfed down some vegetables, and then had the rare opportunity to spend time with a whole branch of the family tree at once – even a great aunt and uncle and a second cousin were there! Everyone had a chance to interact with him, and he remained in a spectacularly good temper.

Sunday was a bit more of a day of rest, although we managed a trip to grind and to the evening service of church. This week he showed his first inclination to crawl off the designated play areas at church and try and explore further into the building. Dad was there to head him off at the pass, though it’s a little sad to realise that the days of having him content to sit and play with toys have almost come to an end. Watching the other kids at church – those who are slightly older – with their attempts to walk and their even faster movements is sobering indeed.

Monday (we had a long weekend) saw a visit from uncle Mark, a roast chicken being cooked, and an attempt to take a photo with one of his soft toys – the cuddly monkey. Here’s our best effort.

Tuesday saw Dad coming home late after some important (?) shopping, and only catching the tail end of the bath. It’s cliche to talk about how different my priorities were before Puff arrived, but it bears pausing to observe the new challenges involved in choosing to spend time with Puff, or time in other pursuits. It’s really important to me to be the best Dad I can possibly be, and yet to continue working and learning and making a difference to other people. There are no easy answers, and even to consider the question takes time that could be spent on other pursuits. I suspect this challenge will never be resolved: all that can be done is to try and make the best choice, and keep improving the choices that I make.