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
- Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a bowl
- In a separate jug, mix the oil, food colouring and water
- 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.
- 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.
