Happy 5th month birthday Nico!

(because Happy 1/2.4th birthday Nico really sounds weird)

Nicolas is 5 months and 1 day today. A few nice things have happened lately, which are slowly erasing my fears of ending up with a toddler lying in his cot on his back all day long, waking up three times a night to demand his feed.

I have felt oh-so-relieved when Nico turned around from back to tummy. And I know it wasn't a fluke because he did it three times. Good. That's another milestone to check off his list. He's also managed to shuffle himself and wedge his head under his fleece blanket with his butt up in the air, doing a great impersonation of an ostrich. Guess now is the time for us to be extra vigilant.

We have also started solids on Friday. We went to the Plunket discussion on solids last week which was quite useful. I mashed up a small apple and cooked it with breast milk. I think we managed three small teaspoons, half of which ended up on his bib. The other half hung around his general mouth area so I'm hoping at least a speck entered his mouth. Daddy tried today, and it was a success. Well there were no tears, screams or grimaces, so this constitutes a success for me.

On Easter Sunday, in Auty Babiche's arms and getting his first exposure to real solids (chocolate)

It's ok Nico, Mummy's not too impressed with the bunny ears either... But you will be even less happy when I pull this picture out at your 21st birthday do.

He's also started sleeping 6 hours straight, with his night feeds being 5-6 hours apart.

A while ago, Uncle Thijs suggested that we take footprints and handprints so he can cast them into bronze, which in theory is a grand idea. Practically, this cost us blood, sweat and tears because the stuff I bought off Trademe was setting in too quick for it to be of any use. So yesterday I found a playdough recipe and had a go. Here it is:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar (don't ask me, I don't know what it is, or what it's for)
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tbs food colouring
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a bowl
2. In a separate jug, mix the oil, food colouring and water
3. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir well. If it is runny, don't add extra flour. Keep stiring until it leaves the sides.
4. Turn out and knead until pliable.

The hand and foot prints worked out pretty well, but now it's sitting in the fridge and I have no clue what to do with it. Can't even bake and eat it, I didn't put any cocoa in it.

I've also slowly started using modern cloth nappies on Nico. I have a selection from a trial pack, and they look really neat. The only reason why I've dared using MCNs on him was because he now goes for days without a dirty nappy, which makes things a lot nicer to wash. So I'm hoping that the times I'll have a dirty nappy will be when he's got a disposable on. It's a bit like Nappy Roulette... We've only got 4-5 nappies, so I will be buying more as soon as we can afford it.

Let's check out these milestones.

• Mastered skills at 5 months:
  - Distinguishes between bold colours. Don't know how to check...
  - Plays with his hands and feet. Semi-check. He does clasp his hands and then studies them thoughtfully, but he hasn't learnt to reach his toes yet.
  


• Emerging skills at 5 months:
  - Recognises own name. Check. Well, I'd like to think so. Whenever I call his name (Nico/Nicolas when I speak French to him, or Thien Son when I speak Vietnamese to him), he will eventually turn around and look at me.
  - Turns toward new sound. I'll have to try that, he does like to hear new sounds and gives big smiles whenever I can come up with new sounds but it's always been while he's already looking at me.
  - Rolls over in both directions. Check. Wooot!!!
  


• Advanced skills at 5 months:
  - Sits momentarily without support. Nowhere near it. Whenever I try to let him sit on his own, he wobbles for half a second then starts falling over so I end up catching him. Something tells me he'll take his sweet time with this one.
  - Mouths objects. Check. I really don't see why people tell us to sterilise stuff, anything he can get his hands onto goes in his mouth. My fingers have gotten very slobbery as a result.
  - Separation anxiety may begin. Oh no, please no. I really hope he won't get separation anxiety as he's been to Oma's on his own at least 3 times now, and I try to encourage other people to hold him so he's used to being with people other than Mummy and Daddy.

FINALLY!!!

At 4 months, 3 weeks and 3 days old, Nicolas is finally turning over.

Just from front to back and not really at will, but at least this is a start.

I read somewhere that boys develop slower than girls, so I guess this is his excuse. Blame it on the testosterone.

Daddy's first day alone

I had to take the whole day off to do some work running away from monsters, so at 4 months, 2 weeks and 3 days old, Nicolas was booked in with Daddy for the entire day.

Since I had to show up at 6:15 (woe is me!!!), I gave him a feed at 5:15 before heading off, leaving him to daddy to burp. I think they both fell asleep in the process.

Fortunately we were so good we finished well before the agreed 5pm and I got home a little bit after 9am, just on time to snap these pictures:

We went to Oma's for lunch time, who gave us a half-dome tent, so Bas set it up on the deck and there we were:

PAFT visit #2

Nicolas is 4 months, 1 week and 6 days old today.

Lotoifale from PAFT came around, to share entertainment and development ideas for Nico's next few weeks. Some of these are really neat and visually attractive.

1. Take the plastic bag of a wine casket, stuff it with a few toys and fill it with water.
   You can even have several themes (colours, seas etc) and one mixed.
   I really like this idea. It's an excuse to make sangria this week-end, and the week-end after till I have all the required number of bags... Maybe I'll have a bag for each of the colours of the rainbow. And lots of themes. All that in the interest of Nico's development, of course.
   Suitable from 5 months and up.
   
   
2. Take a small bottle of soft drink (I was very tempted to instinctively write Coke... the power of marketing), pour some boiling water in it and fill it with a few toys, or garland bits.
   The reason for the boiling water is to give the bottle an interesting shape, and maybe make it easier to hold.
   She didn't specify, but I assume we should wait for the water to cool down first before giving it to the child.
   Suitable for 5 months and up, as well.

She also suggested asking a lot of questions (though I'll have to answer them myself and risk sounding like I'm having a monologue like these crazy people you see on the streets) about what he sees around him, so he has a think about the answer and gets used to hearing questions for school.

And apparently the $2 shop in Papatoetoe sells kids' books. Will have to check them out. I'd rather spend $20 and get 10 cheap, small books than $20 and get one single, flashy book.

Christine the Plunket nurse also came to visit this morning. Nico's lost 10g compared to last Wednesday, which she attributes to normal weight fluctuations. Could be that he had just filled his nappy before getting weighted yesterday. She said nothing to worry about. She suggested giving Nico a bottle of cool, boiled water as he has been very unsettled after his 5ish AM feed, and I tried that today at 18:30 which wasn't too successful. At least now I know that water and (human) breastmilk taste differently, and my stuff tastes better *flexes*.

Wah-waah-WAAAH

Nico was particularly grizzly on Sunday afternoon, and after getting him ready for his bath, I left father and son to sort each other out so I could finish doing the laundry and get some respite for my ears.


"CHERIIIIIIE!!!"


Bas' voice was so full of anguish that I was persuaded that Bas had dropped Nico, or that his little infection had deteriorated, or worse, Bas got peed on, so I rushed to the bathroom.


Nico was fine.

Bas' pants were fine.

He wanted me to get him a pair of earmuffs.