1st camping trip

At 13 months, Nico took his first camping trip to Whananaki.

It was infinitely more fun than his first ambulance trip to Middlemore A&E.

Camping with a baby is really different.

First there's the bags. I packed a bag for Nico so big he could have fitted in it. And we used only 1/3 of it. I am definitely glad we got a solar shower bag (even though we used Byron & Tina's, but this isn't relevant) and brought the inflatable pool that Barbara gave for Nico's 1st birthday.

Then there's the sensory overload. I don't think he's seen that big a swimming pool before, and it's moving too! He's never been that clingy before, and spent a lot of time in Daddy's arms. There was a lot of father-son bonding time, which was great to see.

Video of Nico on a swing here.

Mummy got some one-on-one time, but only when I had an interesting toy (Daddy's iPod Touch) in my hand.

And then there was the sleeping.

Wouldn't sleep in the tent.

But will sleep in Tina's arms.

Before the bedding is removed.

After the bedding is removed.

And the food. Wouldn't eat the meal that I went through the hassle of preparing and chopping, but will attempt to eat a whole tomato.

It was only 2 days and 1 night, but at least it gave us a nice dummy run for the real thing in Noumea in December and at Kai-Iwi lake in February.

Happy 1st Birthday Nico!!!

Woohoo! We made it! Exactly one year and 12hrs on, and here we are, alive with all our limbs and toes!

This has been a really interesting journey - like Vaughan said, the great parenting conspiration is about everyone telling you how fun it is and no one speaking of the hardship. Because if they did, the human race wouldn't survive for too long. It is true on both accounts, I wasn't quite prepared to have my heart swelling at the sight of this gummy smile, my bum bruising from all these falls down the stairs due to lack of sleep, my zygomatic muscles getting sore from smiling proudly at some achievement, and my nostrils clogging up from the stench of a carnivore's nappies.

So many things are happening at the moment, events and milestones.

Birthday parties are plentiful (there must have been nothing interesting on TV at the beginning of the year), and Nico's is this Saturday. We're having a BBQ at Oma's. For his 1st present, Mummy and Daddy got him a wooden rocking dragon which he hopefully will enjoy for the next 5 years.



I'm starting work on 3 November after a one-year parental leave (don't think it qualifies as a break or a holiday) and will take on a role with less responsibilities, as I will only be working 3 days a week, with the Wednesday from home.

This means that Nico will stay with Oma on Mondays, with me on Wednesdays and at daycare on Fridays.

We both went to daycare for an hour or two yesterday, and after his little cry for a cuddle, he settled down to explore. Wasn't too bad. Now to leave him on his own.

Swimming lessons are still going, and on his third lesson we went underwater. Judging from the panicked look on his face, the answer to 'Nicolas, are you ready?' was a no. At least he didn't cry.

We were planning on moving Nico down to his own bedroom after we come back from our holiday visiting Ong Ngoai and Ba Ngoai in Noumea. But he sped up the process by deciding to stay awake at 1am despite being informed that Daddy needed to wake up early to go to the airport. So he's been sleeping downstairs by himself for the last week and a half now, and all is going well.




He's able to feed himself using his fingers, however the use of a spoon is a very messy exercise. My only hope of saving the food is to hold his hand and keep the spoon upright. Can't imagine teaching him the use of chopsticks.

He's reached the stage where boxes can now contain objects and any toy with holes can now fit onto his stacking tower. This means that before putting/throwing anything away, we have to check first whether there's a plastic car or a wooden ring inside.

Walking? Nope... Standing upright? Not even that... He's crawling up the stairs quite well though, especially when Naliah's at the top.

Bring on the next 17 years. If we've survived thus far, we can go through anything.

Splash

Nicolas is 11 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old today.

On Monday I took him to Hilton Brown Swimming Pools in Onehunga for his first swimming lessons. The reason for that is because Oma will be looking after Nico on Mondays when I start work in 2.5 weeks, and she's quite keen on taking him for a dip.

Things we needed to bring:

• A baby, preferably the one taking the swimming lessons
• An adult to hold the baby
• Swimming suits for both
• Water-friendly nappy, such as Huggies Swimmers or cloth swim nappy
• Towels
• $115.65 for the 10 lessons (30 minutes each)
• $2.50 per visit for the baby

It was pretty warm in there - pretty much the first time I've attended a swimming pool in New Zealand and it was a good start. There were about 5 other babies with their mums and the one dad, all coached by two instructors.

We learnt to paddle and kick and float (face up) and do the monkey walk (don't ask) and dive. I think Nico enjoyed himself, he certainly slept well during his nap. It was all done with songs, sometimes with squirt toys and a foam mat. Nico didn't get dunked straight away - first-timers just get splashed on the head, right before they pull a funny face.

His eczema flared up again, I'm guessing because of the chlorine in the water - looks like we won't be doing that too often.

Almost there...

... Tadpole is 11 months and 4 days old today. We are so close to the one-year milestone!

Life pre-Nicolas seems so far away now. 11 months ago if I visited Yahoo! Answers I'd go to the Computers & Internet section and look up interesting questions. Now I just go to the Pregnancy & Parenting section and seem to be able to answer any of these questions.

I'm vaguely panicking at the idea of resuming work (2 days in the office, 1 day from home) and having to leave Nico for two days. After a whole year with him, it'll be like re-surfacing to the life of the living. I took him to First Steps Parnell day care and left him with the carers for a little bit while sorting out the paperwork and they returned him to me with tears on his face... I have the feeling that this is going to be a bit harder than I expected.

Geek and petrol head

As you can tell from the tardiness of this post, days with an inquisitive and very fast baby can be incredibly short and unproductive. Add to that the fact that he's grumpy from his cold, and the teething, and my working hours are drastically reduced. Especially since Nico started developing a fetish for my laptop's keyboard. Or the dog/cats' biscuits and water. Or Daddy's already dying pot plant.

Look Mummy, I'm about to cause trouble!

His eczema is playing yoyo, but is kept under control as long as we baste him in creams.

I just can't decide whether I want to ignore that milestone thing or not. So anyway, things Nico is up to:

• Says 'Mama' and 'Dada' to the correct parent. I think so. I hear a lot of Mumumums but I don't know if Daddy gets the equivalent.
  
• Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo. Not sure what they mean here. He enjoys it when I play peek-a-boo, but I haven't seem him hide behind his hands and do it himself... and he high-fives.
  
• Stands alone for a couple of seconds. I don't think he wants to, Daddy reckons he really likes it when I let go of him and catch him before he falls, so we don't see any real effort to remain standing.
  
• Cruises...
  

Oh, stuff it. I don't like that milestone thing, makes me anxious. Nico's fun, he's cute, he's healthy, and if he's a bit slower, it's because he's a boy and quadrilingual and not surrounded by other kids to learn from, and that's too bad. I'm sure he'll learn all that stuff one day before he reaches his teenage years.

He's helping me tidy away the dominoes by putting them back into their box, then closing the lid. That there are still dominoes outside, or Mummy's fingers are on the way is just a trivial matter. Here's to hoping he will grow up to be a tidier individual than messy me.

Loves the dog (I caught him poking Loki's balls today. Maybe he'll grow up to be a vasectomy surgeon) and Aicha, has a peculiar fixation for Naliah. Dislikes sauerkraut, hates day time napping. Enjoys having his teeth and hair brushed and funnily enough stays still for the nasal aspirator.

If this isn't motherly love...

... then I don't know what is.

Nicolas, at 10 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old, can now brag about being the sole person on earth who's managed to keep me from eating chocolate for over a week a now.

He's had some mild eczema on his face and arms. I took him twice to the GP and they prescribed hydrocortizone, Lemnis fatty cream and aquaeous creams. While his condition improved, it never really went away and after two weeks of trying each treatment, I ended up going to this dermatologist that Jillian and Amanda recommended.

The wait was an hour long - there was no appointment, and the clinic was full of coughing, sneezing and snorting people. Trying to sit as far away from them as possible and subtlely shielding Nico in his sling proved to be a challenge. Thankfully he didn't get any bug.

His new treatment now consists of:

SOAPS TO USE

• Sunlight bath soap
• Simple soap

No perfume soaps

CREAMS TO USE

We got a Beta Clomazol mix, which is a moisturiser and anti-fungal cream, applied twice daily.

MEDECINE

The syrup seems to be an antihistamine; I am glad that it has got a taste that Nico tolerates, I still remember my days of trying to get ferrets to swallow bad-tasting medecine.

FOODS TO AVOID

A. Most commonly likely to cause allergies:

• Tomato sauce (or any combination of tomato + preservatives)
• Crisps (these chips in packets)
• Cocoa, chocolate and derivatives (life has become a lot less fun, all of a sudden)
• Peanuts & peanut butter
• Salty noodles (I'm assuming instant noodles. Great, I just bought a cartonbox of them)
• Lollies
• Fizzy drinks

B. Commonly likely to cause allergies:

• Eggs
• Citrus and derivatives
• Pumpkin
• BBQ sauce
• Pineapples
• Chilli sauce (Wow this one's going to be hard. Not.)
• Canned spaghetti

C. Least commonly likely to cause allergies:

• Raw fish
• Prawns
• Canned fish (in oil)
• Yoghurt
• Some infant formula
• Curry
• Ice cream

We've been pretty good and sticking to the treatment, and the results were visible within a couple of days. The skin on Nico's face is now almost as smooth as his bum and he completely stopped scratching.

Obviously this isn't a sustainable diet, so I will have to experiment with re-introducing foods back in our diet so we eat something other than bread at each meal. Unfortunately I'll be starting with the foods that are on the bottom of the list, try for a week, then work my way up. This means that by the time I get to taste chocolate again, it will be four weeks or so (yoghurt, citrus, eggs first).

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it once again. If Master Nicolas Thien Son Martens ever turns out to be an ungrateful child, I swear there will be hell to pay.

What's up Doc?

Happy 10th month birthday Nicolas!


At 9 months and 2 weeks, Oma first noticed a white slit in his gum, about to become his first lower central incisor. The second one's just appeared 2 days ago. They are so sharp! Might come in handy when I need to have some Sello tape cut out. I can't wait for his whole set of teeth to appear so he can eat more exciting stuff, but on the other hand I'm a bit apprehensive about losing this gummy smile of his.

3 days later, he waved bye-bye for the first time. First to Amanda, then to Aunty Babiche, then to Oma, even to a stranger at the supermarket. Categorically refused to wave to Mummy & Daddy though! Well, when I say wave, I meant this arm movement that these Asian lucky cats do.

Our little speed demon has discovered movement and the joys that come with it. Between crawling to Loki's water bowl, standing proudly, rocking back and forth while on the change table, driving his plastic car, cruising around his playpen and riding Daddy's shoulders, he doesn't spend much time lying on his back any more. I hope he doesn't end up a boy racer.




Most of the time he's quite happy just playing around the lounge while I work - sometimes happily munching on my socks. Must remember to introduce him to blue cheese.

I know I said I wasn't going to visit the Milestones webpage again, but I just had to. So here's what Nico can do so far:

• Waves goodbye. To anyone but Mummy and Daddy. Not waving hello yet, though he definitely knows when I'm saying hello to Naliah as he frantically looks around.
  
• Picks things up with pincer grasp (that would be with the finger and thumb). Favourite things to grasp are food and nostrils (mine, that is).
  
• Crawls well. Too well.
  
• Cruises. Cruising refers to walking around while holding onto furniture. Or people. Nico has gotten pretty good at it but still favours crawling as it gets him further faster.
  
• Says "dada" and "mama" to the right parent (is specific). I'm not convinced, but other people think that he does.
  
• Responds to name and understands "no". Yes he responds to his name, and he certainly is not showing any sign whatsoever of understanding 'no'. Maybe he's just ignoring it. Or maybe we just don't use this word.
  
• Indicates wants with gestures. Hmmm... I have managed to decipher the meaning of "Epp", which I think means "More food, now!". Nothing else. I've been trying to teach him NZ sign language (different from baby signing) using a book that Mike gave me, but I guess I need to be more consistent if I want it to sink in.
  
• Drinks from a cup. Sure, only if I want to create a mess!
  
• Stands alone for a couple of seconds

Crouching Tigger, wagging Dalmatian

Nico is 9 months, 1 week and 6 days old today.

I popped him in his Tigger costume and unleashed him on the floor. What a handful, he seems to be attracted to Loki's food and water bowls like a magnet, won't keep away from the pile of DVDs and is on the lookout for Naliah. I've resorted to attaching bells on his wrist so I know where he is at all times.




Random thought - I sure hope Loki didn't fart.

Freeeedom!!!

Tadpole is 9 months and 6 days old today.



The belly slither has become a proper crawl on Wednesday.


Incentive: apple & cinnamon muffins baked by Nic. Forget about Plunket's advice on putting his favourite toys in front of him, this baby is motivated by food! Time to baby-proof the house and put Loki's biscuits out of reach.


Soon I'll have two bums poking out from underneath the curtains (one spotty and wagging a tail), waiting for Daddy to come home.





These two are going to have lots of fun together when Nico grows up. Loki's registration tag already makes a great in-built rattle.

Hopefully that'll be the only prison bars Nico will ever hold.

New URL!

I thought that 15march is kind of hard to remember.
I couldn't remember it myself, so I can imagine it would be a bit harder for others.

So here's the new blog: http://tadpolesrus.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to update your RSS feeds or e-mail subscription if you use them...

Happy 3/4th birthday Nico!

Nicolas is 9 months old today.

Just when I thought we were blessed to have such an easy baby, hardship kicked in.

Meal times have been a struggle for the past week or two, with Nico always kicking up a fuss and starting to cry as soon as I put him in the high chair. Except for breakfast, which goes through quite smoothly. He must like my yoghurt. I certainly hope that it's because of teething, at least I know it will end one day. He is quite happy feeding himself finger food such as pizza crusts, carrot sticks or banana slices. I've become a bit more brave since getting the messy mat that goes under his high chair, and have invested in more plastic bibs. The ones with the pocket underneath are great!!!



Things are starting to happen quite quickly too.


Nico started making some sort of motion forward on Friday. I'm not sure it can qualify as crawling as a lot of belly was used, maybe we can call it slithering for now. Though not as gracefully done as snakes.
He especially likes to head towards poor Naliah. But that evil cat always moves just out of reach, tantalising lying just centimetres away from him.
She'll be sorry the day she doesn't look and he decides to stealth to her.

He's also able to remain standing on his own, holding onto the bars of his playpen.


Ma-ma-ma sounds have been replaced by ba-ba-ba sounds, directed at anything and anyone.




Nico's a lot more aware and observant of his environment, noticing everything from the small fruitfly buzzing around to the big spotty thing boucing towards him.








Daddy and son are having a lot of laughs together. When Daddy comes home from work he gets an open-armed welcome (from Nico that is, not from me) and from then on Daddy's shoulders become the best toy in the whole world. He'll get fit again in no time! We won't mention premature baldness - strands of curly blonde hair are sacrificed every day.



Nico can do high-fives! OK granted, it's a bit more of a touch-Mummy's-palm-and-watch-her-clap-herself-silly, but it's a start.


I got a piano/xylophone toy from the Toy Library and Daddy showed Nico how to play with it. Seconds later, Nico grabbed the drumstick to show him how it's done.
We also pop him in front of the piano at Oma's place, and he will quite happily bangs on the keys.


Oh and I've also changed the website address for this blog to http://tadpolesrus.blogspot.com/. I figured since I never remembered 15march, other people would have even more trouble.
So if you're using RSS feeds or get e-mailed updates, you may need to do this again with the new website.

Ooo's a clever boy den?

Nicolas is 8 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old today.

Nico and I have been practising casual Elimination Communication for over a week now.
Elimination Communication, or EC for the friends, is used by caregivers to know when to take their babies to the toilet (or wherever - basin, container, hated neighbour's rose bush etc), for pees & poos. It's been working really well, I've had to deal with only three dirty nappies over 8 whole days, and the stack of nappies lasts a lot longer.

I was most surprised when Nico urinated in the toilet bowl the first time I cued him. Fluke, I thought, I must have caught him at a good time, how are babies that young supposed to have control over their bodily functions? And then he did again it the time after. And the time after that. And before I knew it, I spent the whole of last week basking in pride and glory whenever I see my son peeing and pooing in the toilet. Must be part & parcel of the glamour of parenthood.

How does EC work?

Well, it's based on four principles:

1. Timing. Nico is more likely to pee after waking up, and after a feed. So it was just a matter of working out when I should take him to the toilet and wait for him to do his business. Sometimes I'd take him every half-an-hour, and got to know the toilet bowl even more intimately than when I had morning sickness.
   
2. Signals. That's when the little smiley face goes from yellow to red, followed by grunts. Or when there's sudden silence and a glazed look. Time to dash to the change table to remove nappies.
   
3. Cueing. The cueing from parents varies. Most use psss and grunting; I used pipi and caca, to inform Nico that now was a good time. Perhaps it wasn't such a wise choice of cues.
   
4. Intuition. Yeah. Apparently "an extremely reliable component" for some, as for me I think I'll stick to the clock.

Why was pipi and caca such a bad choice of cues? Because earlier today, I thought 'Hey, it must have been a while since Nico went to the toilet', so I took him the change table and gleefully informed him that "C'est l'heure de faire pipi"! As soon as the P-word came out of my mouth I regretted it.
Less than two seconds later, a little yellow fountain confirmed that indeed, it was time to go pipi...

Dat's me!

Nico is 8 months, 1 week and 5 days old today and said Mama for the first time today.

At first the cynic in me thought that it was just a fluke and/or my wishful thinking, but he did it again.

Awwww...

Happy 2/3rd birthday Nico!

Nico is 8 months and 6 days old today and has already slept in 4 different cities. He's such a jet-setter.

To celebrate his 8 month birthday, we went to Melbourne and Sydney for 5 nights.
OK, maybe not to celebrate. More like to save my sanity while Daddy is away in Australia on business.

I normally enjoy travelling, and even when it's for business I've found flights, transfers, accommodation, meals, transport etc quite fun. Well. I wouldn't use the word 'fun' for this latest experience. There was no drama, but life certainly is more restricted when travelling with a baby. A LOT more. But I'd like to think that I have learnt from it and have drawn some lessons for future travels:

Booking:

• Ask the travel agent to reserve a bassinet in the plane. This is a request, and not a confirmation as priority goes to the youngest baby, not the prettiest baby. Confirmation is done at check-in.
  
• Check that the hotel can reserve a cot. Our first hotel tried to give us a fold-out couch.
  
• Travel during the week, when planes aren't so full. This way, we're more likely to get an empty seat next to us and not have to worry about pulling apologetic faces.

In our suitcase:

• Nappies (day and night), and don't forget to make sure there are enough wipes. And bring some extra nappies. And extra wipes.


• Toys. Lots of toys. Rattles, cuddle rugs, blankets, you name it. Anything to keep Nico busy was a god-sent. His stuff took 3/4 of my suitcase space.
  
• Baby food. Australia and New Zealand both seem pretty relaxed, and the tins, rusks and baby cereal went through without a problem. Unfortunately I picked flavours that Nicolas didn't like, so I had to drag them back home because it was too much hassle to feed him in an unfamiliar environment like a busy restaurant. At least now I know that Auckland Airport customs haven't got a problem with baby food.
  
• I didn't need to take our bag with an in-built nappy change mat, all the Parent rooms we visited were very well set up, some even had mats, microwave, TV, armchair, play pen etc.
  
• Light pram. We picked a 4kg pram which was a great replacement for our bulky Mountain Buggy. Don't forget sheepskin if it's likely to get cold, and a storm cover never goes amiss.


• Pack at least two of everything. I managed to misplace the only two items that I didn't have two of (plastic bib and baby spoon). Mind you, it was an excuse to retun to Target so can't complain.
  
• Portable high chair. The Dinky Diner that I got off Trademe was so handy when some restaurants didn't have high chairs. Or when the waitress didn't bring it as requested. Not that I'm still bitter.

At the airport & on the plane:

• On check-in, ask for the bassinet for long flights. For short flights, ask for the front seats anyway.
  
• Feed on take-off, landing, and on demand. Breaking the routine and impersonating a dairy cow for a few hours is a small price to pay for peace.
  
• Looks like some airports (at least the Sydney one does) will loan prams out until boarding. Or maybe they hire them out. Knowing airports, they probably hire them.
  
• Sling. It was great when we needed to carry suitcases at the airport. I guess frontpacks will also do the trick, but with this one Nico was able to snuggle up to Daddy for some quality marsupial time.

In hotels & restaurants:

• Beds - the bouncier, the louder Nico will giggle.
  
• Surprisingly enough, it wasn't difficult to put him to sleep, the long days spent exploring the city tired him enough and as long as we had his book, blanket and a couple of toys from his cot, there was no struggle.
  
  




• Meals - always order a meal that I can share with Nico - mashed potatoes, mince, peas, raisins, bread, steak, etc.


• Forget about trying to feed him his tinned food, my plate is far more interesting.

Getting around:

• In NZ and Australia, babies must travel in car seats. Taxis are exempt from this obligation, however some will have one. It takes time to find one, so it pays to book them beforehand.
  
• Some companies will rent out car seats. The car seat will cost an arm, the cost of delivering it to the airport will cost a leg. Or have a resourceful friend who will borrow one from a colleague. Thanks Ken!
  
• Aquariums are great fun for a baby. Added bonus, it's dark so they'll fall asleep and stop grizzling and/or dribbling.
  
• Rusks. Do not forget to bring them, ever. Biscuits will not do, as they get soggy and break up.

Random observations:

• It's almost worth having a baby just so we can queue-jump when checking in and boarding.
  
• Baby clothes shopping is fun. Especially when the Target store has sales.


• AU$150 to buy baby clothes isn't enough. Especially when the Target store has sales.


• Nico likes pork dumplings.


• Feeding a baby with chopsticks is much easier than with a baby spoon. I got cramps after a while though.
  


"Nope. Don't want it..."

"What is it anyway?"

"Ewww it's dead pig"

"Hmmm... Think I'll have shome more pleashe.
Now.
Oh, you want the chopshtich back."

All things considered, the trip wasn't as bad as I expected. No one gave us any dirty look in the plane, Nico didn't cry much at all, and all the excitement during the day meant that he slept through at night time.

I've just realised that I'm sounding quite negative about it. Don't get me wrong - it was a really worthwhile trip and it was nice to take Nico out and about and have some fun time with him and discover things together. I've come to think of him as my PPES. Personal Pocket Entertainment System.

So, at 8 months old, Nico is quite well travelled. He has also been able to sit well on his own for a few weeks now, and will eat almost anything that I feed him. Still can't get him to drink water.




And I've just come to a decision. I'm going to completely ignore this page. It's making me nervous.

The good, the bad and the messy

Nico is 7 months, 3 weeks and 3 days old today.


I was in the middle of going through an article in Little Treasures titled 75 great things about being a parent and mentally ticking off the ones I agreed with, when Nico threw up some milk on my newly washed black jumper.

It took all my strength not to think of another 74 not-so-great things about being a parent.


Some of these things (the great ones, that is) are:

1. Watching your child sleep and just melting inside
2. For a few short years, there's someone who thinks you're absolutely perfect
3. Not being pregnant any more (at least for a while)
4. The feeling of a fuzzy little head under your chin
5. It puts an end to wondering whether you are fertile
6. Your relationship with your own mother and father improves
7. A good night's sleep never felt so good
8. Finding out you can do most things with only one hand
9. You're never stuck for things to do
10. All that soft, perfect skin for you to kiss
11. Birthdays become a real cause for celebration
12. Holding little hands
13. You find out you have more love to give than you ever thought you were capable of
14. You can talk endlessly and animatedly with any other parent of young children
15. You realise how much your parents love you
16. You've got something to contribute to all those fascinating and graphic discussions women have about what it's like giving birth
17. The smell of a new baby
18. When your baby smiles at you
19. Carrying a little baby in a baby sling or front pack
20. Having a rest from thinking about your own needs and wants
21. You don't have to agonise any more over whether or not you should have a baby
22. Your parents stop nagging you about when you're going to make them grandparents
23. There's a real point to keeping the planet tidy
24. You become much faster at getting showered and dressed
25. Blowing raspberries on your baby's tummy
26. You can sing, hum and dance funny without being criticised - at least until they're three
27. Watching your partner bath your baby makes you realise he hasn't really lost his caring streak
28. You've got someone else to blame for your messy, grubby house
29. Lots and lots of lovely cuddles
30. After years of slugging it out in the tough, competitive workplace, you rediscover your sentimental side
31. If you breastfeed, you can have a second blueberry muffin and tell yourself you're doing it for the baby
32. Watching the sun shine through leaves with your baby. His wonder makes you look at the world with fresh eyes
33. You learn to share - your time, your money, your thoughts and ideas
34. You can justify getting takeaways more easily
35. Kids make you get some exercise, even if you weren't really intending to get it
36. You drive much, much more carefully
37. You have 100s and 1000s in your cupboard again
38. Until he's learned better, your child won't point out that you're having a bad hair day
39. You know who you belong to

Happy 7th month Birthday Nico!

Nicolas is 7 months and 1 day old today.

He's grown to be a lot more interactive and fun to be with, but I still miss my 8 hour-long sleeps.

Bath times with Daddy can get really noisy between playful screams and giggles.

He's taken to waking up twice a night now, once at around midnight when we go to bed, and once again at around 4 or 5am. Apparently it's a normal thing at 7 months old, but there's a risk that he'll grow used to waking at these times so Daddy's mission over the long week-end is to settle him to sleep. While I'd love to (really I would, honest!) , I can't because he might smell the milk on me.

So what's he doing now?

• Mastered skills at 7 months:
  - Sits without support. Sort of; after a few seconds he will still go sideways like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hopefully he'll get there in the next couple of weeks but I'm not holding my breath, seen his track record.
  - Drags objects towards himself. Check. He's shown a clear preference for his activity triangle, and seems to enjoy pulling my plates when he sits on my lap during meal times. That's just a carpet stain waiting to happen.



• Emerging skills:
  - Lunges forward or starts crawling. He does rock forward and backwards when on all a crawling position, but his hands and knees seem glued to the floor/cot/quilt.
  
  
  
  
  - Jabbers or combines syllables. Well the range of vocalisations has extended beyond the raspberry. We've heard ear-ringing screams as well as endless strings of ba-ba-ba and its variations. The change table seems to be his favourite place to talk; maybe there's a correlation between the fresh air on his butt and the use of his vocal chords?
  




• Advanced skills:
  - Bangs objects together. Yes, if you consider banging his hand against the table. He likes to bang on my laptop's touchpad and make me click on things I really didn't want to click.
  - Begins to understand object permanence. The understanding of the concept is demonstrated when a baby clearly enjoys playing peek-a-boo, which Nico loves.

Melanocytic nevi

At 6 months, 4 weeks and 1 day old, Nicolas has shown further signs of having Melanocytic Nevi, which are skin lesions with the potential to turn into skin cancer.

He's got a Compound nevus on the inside of his right forearm, about 1mm in diameter.

Put plainly, Nico's just had his first beauty mark.

Note to self

Do not reply to Katja's e-mail while feeding a baby.

Nico is 6 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old today.

I have finally figured out how to produce movie clips of a quality good enough to see what is going on, but light enough to be uploaded to websites, e-mailed to family etc. By now we have oodles of footage, the latest one filmed yesterday:

Sitting and babbling

Nicolas is 6 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old today.

Since Lele's visit, I have been trying every day to sit Nico between my legs to provide him support while he tries to grab his toys slightly out of his reach. I felt a bit mean teasing him at such a young age, but 10 days later, he can now sit for a grand total of two seconds unaided. Holding on to his activity triangle and he can sit on his own for quite some time, though he reminds me of these old people on the street who walk while leaning these walking frames.

He's also started babbling, saying fascinating things like 'Ba', 'Va' and 'Uh'. And to think one day he will manage to mutter things about Brontosoruses and Pterodactyls without even stammering or blinking.

So as of today, he can sit and babble. As soon as he learns to drink beer he'll be ready to go fishing with Daddy.

Preview into the future

Nico is 6 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old today.

The past two weeks have been rather interesting, with Ba Ngoai visiting from New Caledonia. We looked after Kulani (3 1/2 y.o.) and Taaroa (1 1/2 y.o.) who came over with their parents.


Because Mana and Lola are social butterflies, we had both kids staying over at our place for full days and/or nights. These episodes were really insightful, as I was given the opportunity to observe for a full 48 hours how kids behave, and how to interact (or not) with them. It was like fast forwarding our lives to one year and three years later to see what life with toddlers would be. Daddy had cowardly ran away to Australia for the week. Though I got mouth-watering chocolates from Australia for my first Mother's Day so he can do it again.

It certainly struck me as to how much work three kids are. I don't know how Brent & Karen do it with six of them.

When we got home the first evening, all three were sleeping in the cars. Then my first moment of panic struck when I found that all three were crying. Kulani wanted to see her little brother, Taaroa wanted to see my mum, and Nico wanted to see a boob. That was easy enough to deal with.

I couldn't believe how hard, yet how easy it is to keep a child entertained. Whoever created Dora and Limewire, I am so thankful for them. And for playdough. And pens and papers. And spare computer keyboards. And beanbags. And bubble solution and dalmatian puppies.

At the end of it all, I have taken out one valuable lesson: bribery, distraction, coercion, negotiation and white lies are all necessary parenting tools and techniques. And I am so glad for the parenting articles I've been reading and keeping aside in a folder.

Going to the zoo or the aquarium, or doing simple things all take a different meaning when seen from the fresh eyes of a toddler though, I guess as adults we don't really appreciate fun as much any more.


Nico is also slowly learning to sit. He's leaning over to reach toys, or to watch them fall on the floor. Lele from PAFT came to visit, and it looks as if he's not lagging behind. Although I'm slowly starting to adopt the point of view that it's not a race. Nico came out ahead of a million others in a previous race, so I guess he deserves a break now.










Bas got me a fancy Panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder for my birthday. Like he said, we lived for ages without one, and all of a sudden everything is being filmed. Now if only I could figure out how to decrease the file size so I can put some of the footage on here.

Happy 1/2 birthday Nico!

Nico is 6 months today.
Wow, half a year already.
15 months ago, on 15 March, I was staring at a grinning Bastiaan with a positive pregnancy test in my hand.
No, wait. I was already 6 weeks pregnant then, so that was around 13-14 months ago.
This means that 15 months ago, we started this amazing race of more than a million participants and Nico came out the winner.
And at the risk of souding cliche, he's grown so fast!

He's become a lot more interactive and chatty and I've noticed him passing objects from one hand to the other. And it is apparently fun to pull Mummy's hair close to his face to get a kiss. He does it so often I started feeling like these pecking birds that fill up with water and tip over on a regular basis. Time for a shave I guess (my hair, that is, not my beard or legs).

Ba Ngoai has come over from New Caledonia for two weeks and he's been loving the constant attention he's gotten so far. The little devil certainly knows how to pull the cute look to avoid naptime in his cot and get more cuddles so he can sneakily fall asleep in her arms.

He's also managed to catch his first cold, which makes him sound like a little snorting piglet whenever he feeds. Must find out how this flashy cordless electric nasal aspirator works, and take him to the GP tomorrow if it's still bad.

Here we go again with these milestones:

• Mastered skills at 6 months:
  - Turns towards sounds and voices. Check. Unfortunately Nico also does it during a feed, which last twice as long as they should do. After all, he's inherited my attention span.
  - Imitates sounds. Nothing here. I've managed to get him to repeat an 'uh-oh' or two, but not on demand. We do hold extensive conversations on the change table, but no exchange of meaningful information took place.
  - Rolls over in both directions. Fat chance, with his track record. He's only rolled from front to back twice. The rest of the time he'll just stay on his front and grizzle or fall asleep.
  
  



• Emerging skills at 6 months:
  - Is ready for solid foods. Whoops. Been doing this for a month now, readiness signs or not.
  - Sit without support. He can sit when I pull him by the hands, but he has to hold onto my hands and he's shaky like baby-shaped jelly. But there's help here.
  - Mouths objects. Check. He'll mouth anything that he can lift or bring his mouth to, and even gums it. My thumb has been the victim of his gum attacks, and it's not pretty.
  - Passes objects from hand to hand. Check. But just once today.
  



• Advanced skills at 6 months:
  - Lunges forward or starts crawling. No way, we'll be lucky to see some forward movement before 8 months.
  - Jabbers or combines syllables. Hmm. I'm not sure what constitutes jabbering. I don't think Nico's discourse attempts on the change table count.
  - Drags objects towards himself. He has reached objects I've put in front of him and pulled them to inspect them, so I guess we'll count this.

The C seal of approval. Part V.

Nico is 5 months and 4 weeks old today.

I've learnt yet another trick lately. Make Nicolas laugh and, faster than a speeding bullet, shove the spoon in his mouth. Make sure that the spoon is full. Some of it is bound to trinkle down his throat before he gives me his best betrayed look and raspberries the unswallowed stuff out onto my glasses, which he likes to inspect every so often.

Trick or not, it seems fruits are decidedly tastier than vegetables.

• Wattie's Pear & Banana. Sweet smell and taste which was very easily eaten and I didn't get much leftovers from this one, barely a spoon to lick. Definitely on the buy-again list. If not for Nico, then for me.
  
  
  
• Wattie's Carrot & Rice. It's also got a pretty solid consistency, like chocolate mousse. OK, the mousse doesn't have to be chocolate. Anyway, I got overhopeful (or maybe I just didn't care any more) and served Nico half the container. Because it was so solid, the Traitor technique (see above for ste-by-step instructions) wasn't successful and the food just squirted out like orange toothpaste after some gagging. The rest went to our L'Organic Kollector I (tm) food disposal system, also known as L.O.K.I. Will get Ba Ngoai to coerce some more into Nico if she can.
  




• Wattie's Pear, Guava & Strawberry. I didn't get to taste this one much, Nico ate it all. I can tell I'm going to have some competition over the good foods (namely chocolate) when he grows up. Maybe it was the pear, maybe not, but Daddy got treated to an explosive nappy that traumatised him for a few hours. It's a bit like the ringing in your ears when you hear a really loud sound, except that this particular explosion and its lingering effects were olfactory and visual.

So I still have lots of that Farex baby rice in the pantry, I may mix it with some apple to give it a bit of taste. Donna & Phil gave me a link to http://www.greenmonkey.co.nz/, which has got an interesting range of products and a really useful chart which will be hanging on our fridge shortly.

And by the looks of it Nico has worked out a trick himself; before each meal, he will clench his lower lip, making it impossible for me to push a spoon between his lips without spilling the contents all over the place. Only then will he taste whatever landed on his lips and decide whether he'll carry this on with the next spoonful, or open his mouth if it is deemed edible.

The C seal of approval. Part IV.

Nicolas is 5 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old today.


I read in a 1997 Little Treasures magazine that Plunket don't recommend starting solids before 6 months unless necessary. However most discussions I've had with Plunket recommend starting between 4 and 6 months before the 'window of opportunity' is gone. The window of opportunity referring to the baby's willingness to try new tastes. 35 years ago, mothers were advised to start their babies on solids at 6 weeks.


This reminds me that there is so much conflicting advice out there, than I'm bound to have screwed up somewhere. Thankfully, neither of our families has got a history of food allergy or intolerances, so I have a good margin of error here.


I've decided to keep going with the solids but without being too rigid with it. If we come across a difficult day, or a yucky taste, I won't stress too much about it. I'm also supposed to try and time this with our family meals so here's yet another change in lifestyle for us. Regular meal times.


New flavours this week:

• Farex Baby Rice. The way it works, is that I'm supposed to have 1tsp of the rice (which is like milk powder) for 2 tsp of boiling water/milk. However I ended up with something the consistency of ice-cream (OK, maybe not ice-cream but I've been obsessed with icre-cream for the last few days now so I can't think of anything else) so I added a lot more water than prescribed to obtain a consistency similar to the baby food. I couldn't smell anything at all.
  Well, that was a waste. Nico spat out most of the two teaspoons I gave him, and pulled out his best martyr look. After I tried some, the rest ended in Loki's bowl. That was the most tasteless food I have ever tried. Even pumpkin & sweetcorn was tastier. It doesn't taste bad, it just doesn't taste at all. It is in dire need of some ketchup. And now I have a whole pack left, plus some already mixed in the fridge and what am I going to do with it if Nico still doesn't like it the next time?

I've also learnt a trick. Don't be afraid to feed Nico when he's crying. Because his mouth is already wide open.
If he keeps on crying, it'll be easier to feed him.
If he stops crying, well it'll be harder to feed him but at least he stopped crying.

Hair loss

When I was pregnant, Rebecca warned me that while my hair was looking all nice and shiny and plentiful, I'd lose most of it in the few months after birth.

(Rebecca's all doom and gloom isn't she, she also warned me about painful let-down reflex, and soggy breasts, and Nico's flat head, and other stuff as well...)

Anyway, I had just attributed this to either hormone fluctuation, or to my blood volume going back to normal.

Now I know that it was neither.

The C seal of approval. Part III

Nicolas is 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old today.

Solid meal times are actually quite fun. I was dreading them because I thought tears, chaos, swear words and a happy dog would be involved, but each solid meal only takes about 15mins or so. Depending on the flavour.

• Nutricia's carrot. This one is the most blend-smelling baby food so far. Naturally tasty, the label reads. Nutricia must have starved the taster prior to tasting. At least the consistency was very runny so it was a lot easier to just stuff it into Nico's mouth and hope that some will trinkle inside him. But, and this is a big but: he hated it. Screwed face, pleading looks, gagging noise, grimacing, shuddering, spitting, he gave me the lot. I gave up after two spoons. Will try again in a few days' time.
  

Feeding Nico with the carrot this morning was rather trying, with the responses I got. So I decided to clean up and try later. I stood up and thought I was going to faint. I had been needing sleep, had been losing weight in the last few days, and now was starting to see orange spots!

Then the penny dropped.

That's what happens when a baby sneezes a mouthful of mushed carrot onto your glasses.

The C seal of approval, part II

Nicolas is 5 months, 1 week and 6 days old today.

I've been keeping up with solids after most meals - unless it's at night time. Or I'm out. Or I forget. Or I'm tired/busy.

We've tried two new flavours, and it looks like Nico is accepting solids easier than he used to. Then again I haven't tried to feed him pumpkin & sweetcorn again.

• Wattie's Pear. Nico took it fairly well and unfortunately for me he finished all of it. Note to self: unless glasses come with window wipers, do not attempt to feed baby with food while he/she is blowing raspberries. Full nappy but nothing faintness-inducing

If I'm feeling brave I might try pumpkin & sweetcorn again. Not that I sound traumatised.

Raspberries

Nicolas is 5 months, 1 week and 6 days old today.

We visited Tina & Byron, and after a while Nico got tired so he got into a bit of a grizzle.


Most unfortunately for him, he decided to express his displeasure using a very ineffective method: blowing raspberries.



So much for sympathy.

The C seal of approval. Part 1.

Nicolas is 5 months, 1 week and 1 day old today.

I have been giving him solids (and by solids I mean runny mushy stuff) after his daytime feeds for a few days now, and with mixed results. The only constant is that the usual glitter of hope in Loki's eyes turns into a full-blown supernova. Oh well. We know that Nico will become Loki's new best friend as soon as he starts to hold a spoon.

I initially decided to be brave and try cooking the food myself. While I ended up with a reasonable quantity, there were three downsides to this: it takes ages to make (maybe I was using the wrong technique, I can always put through the Magic Bullet instead), and I can neither taste it nor give the leftovers to Loki. Because of the breastmilk.

Nico scrunched up his face at the very first try but still ate a good 2 teaspoons, and our carpet is still its original colour (creme with brown pawprints).

So off I went to Pak N Save and got two cans of Wattie's baby food. Apple & peach and pumpkin & sweetcorn.

Apple & peach went down fairly well, but pumpkin & sweetcorn might just end up in Loki's bowl. After tasting them both, I just can't blame Nico. Pumpking & sweetcorn was disgusting.

And because I don't want to feed my baby some vile-tasting substance, I'm going to record all this here and add to it as I go. I've bought all the different brands and flavours under the sun. Except for fruity apples and fruity pears, I just couldn't find the difference between those and standard apple / pear.

• Wattie's Pumpkin & Sweetcorn. Smells pumpkiny, tastes sweet corny. Was reluctantly taken by Nico on his first two meals, the third meal ended up being spat out and the rest went into Loki's bowl. I haven't decided yet whether to torture Nico with some more of it later.



• Wattie's Fruit Salad. It really tastes like the fruit salad that you find in cans! There was more face scrunching but less spitting than the pumpkin & sweetcorn. Full & foul-smelling nappy. I'm starting to think that I should blame it in the apple.

Sleeping like a baby

Neil and Janita have just welcome little Fletcher into their family last week (Congratulations guys!!!)

I got a call from Neil today and it seems that they have learnt, the hard way, that the term 'to sleep like a baby' is a misnomer. Just like most parents have, I suspect.


So I thought I'd list here the list of steps we undertook to help Nicolas learn how to sleep and self-settle.

• Bed routine. Each and every baby info site emphasised it. Especially the ones that sell massage oil or bath products or pyjamas. Whoops I've started to sound cynical already... Our routine (as of today anyway... not that we change it that often) starts at around 5-6ish, when Nico starts to grizzle. It goes: breastfeed >> burp >> solid feed >> play/watch Mummy & Daddy eat >> bath >> massage >> read >> bed. He's normally in bed by 7:30pm.
  
  
• Environment. During winter, we turned the heater on a few mins prior to putting Nico to bed, just to take the chill out from the bedroom. I also used a wheatbag to warm up his spot in his cot (yes it was removed before we put him to bed). In summer, I left the windows open during the day. We left a salt crystal lamp on so I could check up on him whenever I woke up, but I guess a dark room is better. I also turned the radio on and tuned it to 92.6 which was the classical channel, and left it on snooze - that's 59mins of background music, though some people have recommended just the white noise. During the day, we left radio, TV, phone, conversation on at normal levels so he'd grow up getting used to noises while sleeping. I also leave stuffed toys in his cot just for a bit of security, and in case he needs to go for a sleepover at Oma's. At the moment he's got Jazzy the lion, whose mane he always grabs before going to sleep, Mukluk the husky, and his bear.
  


• Swaddling. Interestingly enough, this practice is not widely known in Europe any more, though it is an ancient way to help babies sleep. It was something that we learnt at the antenatal class and again during my stay at hospital. There are lots and lots of ways to swaddle and some will work with some babies, some others won't. There are little Houdinis out there who can wiggle out of almost anything, so some clever companies have come up with swaddlewraps. We just use the standard square cotton nappies and leave one hand out for Nico to suck on. We stopped at one point because he managed to free himself, but we had to resume doing it as it made a major difference. The trick that worked for us in the end was to swaddle him pretty tight like a giant pink spring roll.
  


• Rocking. Most of the time we didn't pick Nico up when he cried, which was pretty difficult. We did rock the cot to get that rhythm going, which babies like so much. Our Portacot's bassinet floorboard can be lightly swung from side to side.
  
  
  
• Shushing. Another rhythmic thing that we did was making a shhhh... shhhh... shhhh... sound. Not to tell him to shut up and sleep already, but because it reminds them of the sound from the womb.










• Literature, baby. Never too early to start reading novels. Daddy read H.P. Lovecraft, and I read Dean Koontz. Lucky babies can't understand just yet else they'd have nightmares of rats behind walls and killer clowns. Bas would sometimes take over and softly talk/read to him. I think it's because of the lower, deeper voice. Not sure that it works on babies other than Nico, but he said Dutch stuff like gouda, komijn kaas, edam. Beats me why and how it worked but who cares, it did!!!
  
  

• Peace of mind. We had a timer on my computer which I started as soon as Nico started crying. Every time it reached 5mins, we'd take turns going upstairs (we are so lucky to have a 2-storey house so at least we could distance outselves from our siren... Maybe buy earmuffs for all the people in the house would be an alternative?) and checking up on him, rocking him, pattting him etc. We avoided (well, most of the time) picking him up and it used to take a good 3/4 of an hour for him to cry himself to sleep before the time gradually decreased. The sure-fire way for us to tell that he was OK, was to pick him up. That was the magical Off switch, which confirmed that everything was physically fine with him and he just wanted to be picked up.
  

We'd take the steps above only if we were sure that Nico was fine - checked by touching the back of his neck that he wasn't too hot/cold, that he was properly burped, his nappy was dry, his tummy full, he wasn't sick, etc. There were times when all that failed and he overtired himself from crying, and that resulted in either him falling asleep, or just got grumpier and grumpier, in which case I resolved to give him a cuddle to settle him and 'reset' his mood before putting him to bed again.