9 mths+
Drat
I've caught baby's chicken pox. Had aches and the chills on Wednesday; only just managing to drag myself to La Trompette (amazing gazpacho) for Alex's 30th birthday dinner. Poor Alex, what a 30th birthday, having to care for sick baby and wife and no party yet because one of our can't-miss guests also hasn't had chicken pox before and therefore now cannot come for another two weeks or so.
So far the chicken pox isn't too bad. The chills and fever finally eased today, after sleeping last night in track bottoms, a fleece, and under two duvets. Had several more naps today - thank goodness Alex had already taken today off to care for Boo - and now feel much better. But I've just looked in the bathroom mirror and the spots have multiplied three-fold since this morning. And there's one on the roof of my mouth. I think this could all turn very ugly...
Shame
Because I was really looking forward to taking Boo back to nursery so she could show off her much-improved mobility. In the two weeks that she's been home now she's learned to crawl and to move quite quickly from one point to another; and to pull herself up into standing position. She can also balance herself quite well when standing up now.
She's enormously proud of herself over this. She'll crawl over to the sofa, haul herself from sitting position to kneeling, and then to standing, and then beam at the person who's watching so that she doesn't fall over and bump her head. She used to cling on to items for dear life, but lately, she's started letting go a bit, to stand on her own two feet.
And so of course the number of bumps she gets a day are now numerous: crawling under and then sitting up under a dining chair; losing hold of whatever she's trying to climb up on; crawling off the mattress in the bedroom and missing a handhold. All result in very loud wails of dismay, but they don't last too long, especially if vigorous rubbing of the afflicted spot, lots of cuddles and soothing words are applied.
She's a funny bunny.
29 June 2006
24 June 2006
23 June 2006
Still 9mths+ (I need a new diary)
Pox update
What happens when you take your eye off a baby who can reach and open (how?) a bottle of calamine lotion
She's getting better. No new blisters seem to have come up in the last two days and the ones that are there are all crusted over. She's definitely not got as many spots as the other baby had, thank god, because he had about three spots per square cm, I think, wheras Boo has quite a few on her front and back, on her scalp, down the middle of her face and its sides, but hardly any on her arms and legs. She does, however, have a particularly large scab right in the middle of her eyes.
Nursery was very nice and called to see how she was (er I forgot to update them after first informing them she had chicken pox) and said the other baby's dad was very upset to hear he'd passed the pox on. Too damn right. But, I suppose, since they say it's milder in younger children, maybe it wasn't so bad anyway. Right, Pollyana?
Alex patiently pulled socks over her arms most nights but you know it's a losing battle when she's smart enough to wake up and be pissed off because there are these socks making her arms warm and flapping in her face when she's trying to scratch it, but not smart enough to understand 'don't scratch or you'll scar'. Or 'no'.
For any other parents reading this whose children have not had chicken pox, the oatmeal and bicarbonate of soda baths did seem to kind of help with the itching (ie you put porridge oats in a sock and swirl it around in the bath water and put three to four teaspoons of bicarb in the bath water).
Being a sahm
So my week with baby as a stay-at-home-mom has come to an end. Part of me is going boo hoo and another part of me is going thank god! It's hard to say which side I'm going with at the moment because Boo has been rather trying today. But I suppose there have been very many more moments this week when I sat playing with her and just thinking that I am the damndest, luckiest person in the world.
I also started remembering things that she liked - like dancing with me to music - that you wouldn't think I'd have forgotten so quickly. I only remembered the dancing today, after five days at home with her, having run out of other things to do.
I suppose part of her grouchiness has to do with the itching and not sleeping so well some nights because she wakes to scratch, but part of it also has to do with her increasing longing for independence and her being rather prone to tantrums. Yargh, where did she learn to tantrum?
Boo-hoos
Today for eg she did the yowling, back-arching and sliding off my lap in the restaurant at lunchtime, first because I wouldn't let her hold a piece of bread with salt on the crust. She only calmed down after I took off the crust and let her hold the rest of the bread. Then, another hissy fit because I wouldn't let her play with the sauce on my plate.
Actually, most of her hissy fits are currently at the dining table. She just has to play with all the food on the table and hold all the cutlery, which drives me nuts. Because I've gotten used to the idea she'll eat off her plate until she's full, then play with the rest of the food when she's bored. I've accepted that I will spend five minutes after each meal cleaning up the mess. But now - oh now she has to play with all the food. And she has to hold all the cutlery on the table. And hold her water bottle and bang it on the table, on her plate, and on her food.
Today at dinner, I brought a tray of roast chicken and tomatoes and a plate of sliced avocado, cucumber and boiled new potatos to the table. I put the most tender pieces on her plate and then put some of everything on mine.
What does she do? She eats her chicken drumstick a bit, eats some of her veg and messes with the rest and then pulls my plate over to her. Naturally I hang on to it, to make sure she doesn't tip it over on the floor or upset it over herself.
Result: Upside-down U mouth, tears and 'waaah!'
So I let her have a feel of the food on my plate but, when she starts taking bits of it to drop on the floor, I tell her no and pull my plate away.
Result: Upside-down U mouth, tears and louder 'waaah!'
I decide to be firm and deliver a growly, admonishing 'Boo...'
Result: Surprise, dismay, upside-down U mouth, tears and very loud 'waaah!', followed by her tearing off the napkin I've tied round her neck and running her hands - covered as they are in chicken fat, squashed tomato, avocado and potato - over her face and through her hair.
Then she had a little poo and calmed down after that. Shortly after bringing her back to the table and more tantrums I realised she was just really sleepy so I made her an enormous bottle of milk and put her to sleep. Ah peace and quiet.
I want to spoon...
So it's not so hard when you realise it's the lack of sleep that's the problem. But then at tea-time, for example, when she had a bowl of steamed egg with finely chopped green beans and chicken, first she insisted on playing with it with her fingers as I fed her.
After a while, she insisted on feeding herself and clamped her lips shut when I offered her a loaded spoon. Steamed egg is not easiest eaten by hand but she seemed to be managing albeit messily (nothing new), so I left her to it. But after another while she had to up the ante and wanted to use the spoon herself.
So I made my first mistake by trying to turn the spoon the right way round in her hand.
Result: Angry 'waah!', red face and tears.
After a little howling and apologising on my part she accepted the spoon and tried again to pick up egg with the handle. She was managing to, but wasn't doing so well on getting it to her face. So I made my second mistake trying to hold her hand to guide it to her mouth.
Result: Angry 'waah!', red face and tears, followed by Boo flinging the spoon on the table in anger.
After more howling and a successful attempt not to laugh on my part, she accepted the spoon and began trying to lift food with it again - again with the handle. So then I tried to show her how to do it with a different spoon.
Which was mistake number three because then she wanted to hold my spoon too. Gave up my spoon after some small protest as more tears threatened. So then she picks up some food with the handle of the first spoon and starts tapping it with the second spoon, her face breaking into a smile for the first time.
But as this is threatening to fling egg all over the nearby radiator and on the floor, I try to temper the tapping. Which, you may have guessed by now, was mistake four. Sigh. More tantrums. Boo flings spoon one on the table. Decides that's not enough to express her anger and spoon two follows.
By which time I don't know whether to howl with laughter at her or be horrified at her behaviour. The Supernanny in me is going 'Boo, I do not like you flinging things about in anger. You will sit in your chair facing the wall for five minutes.' But I am mostly wondering drat can you admonish a nine-month-old? Does she realise what she's doing? Will she understand if I scold her? Anyone got answers?
So in the end I washed the damn spoons again and gave them to her and decided to let her please herself and get on with eating my tea. And when she saw I was having cornflakes, of course she wanted some too. How the heck do they do it in nursery?
Pox update
What happens when you take your eye off a baby who can reach and open (how?) a bottle of calamine lotion
She's getting better. No new blisters seem to have come up in the last two days and the ones that are there are all crusted over. She's definitely not got as many spots as the other baby had, thank god, because he had about three spots per square cm, I think, wheras Boo has quite a few on her front and back, on her scalp, down the middle of her face and its sides, but hardly any on her arms and legs. She does, however, have a particularly large scab right in the middle of her eyes.Nursery was very nice and called to see how she was (er I forgot to update them after first informing them she had chicken pox) and said the other baby's dad was very upset to hear he'd passed the pox on. Too damn right. But, I suppose, since they say it's milder in younger children, maybe it wasn't so bad anyway. Right, Pollyana?
Alex patiently pulled socks over her arms most nights but you know it's a losing battle when she's smart enough to wake up and be pissed off because there are these socks making her arms warm and flapping in her face when she's trying to scratch it, but not smart enough to understand 'don't scratch or you'll scar'. Or 'no'.
For any other parents reading this whose children have not had chicken pox, the oatmeal and bicarbonate of soda baths did seem to kind of help with the itching (ie you put porridge oats in a sock and swirl it around in the bath water and put three to four teaspoons of bicarb in the bath water).
Being a sahm
So my week with baby as a stay-at-home-mom has come to an end. Part of me is going boo hoo and another part of me is going thank god! It's hard to say which side I'm going with at the moment because Boo has been rather trying today. But I suppose there have been very many more moments this week when I sat playing with her and just thinking that I am the damndest, luckiest person in the world.
I also started remembering things that she liked - like dancing with me to music - that you wouldn't think I'd have forgotten so quickly. I only remembered the dancing today, after five days at home with her, having run out of other things to do.
I suppose part of her grouchiness has to do with the itching and not sleeping so well some nights because she wakes to scratch, but part of it also has to do with her increasing longing for independence and her being rather prone to tantrums. Yargh, where did she learn to tantrum?
Boo-hoos
Today for eg she did the yowling, back-arching and sliding off my lap in the restaurant at lunchtime, first because I wouldn't let her hold a piece of bread with salt on the crust. She only calmed down after I took off the crust and let her hold the rest of the bread. Then, another hissy fit because I wouldn't let her play with the sauce on my plate.
Actually, most of her hissy fits are currently at the dining table. She just has to play with all the food on the table and hold all the cutlery, which drives me nuts. Because I've gotten used to the idea she'll eat off her plate until she's full, then play with the rest of the food when she's bored. I've accepted that I will spend five minutes after each meal cleaning up the mess. But now - oh now she has to play with all the food. And she has to hold all the cutlery on the table. And hold her water bottle and bang it on the table, on her plate, and on her food.
Today at dinner, I brought a tray of roast chicken and tomatoes and a plate of sliced avocado, cucumber and boiled new potatos to the table. I put the most tender pieces on her plate and then put some of everything on mine.
What does she do? She eats her chicken drumstick a bit, eats some of her veg and messes with the rest and then pulls my plate over to her. Naturally I hang on to it, to make sure she doesn't tip it over on the floor or upset it over herself.
Result: Upside-down U mouth, tears and 'waaah!'
So I let her have a feel of the food on my plate but, when she starts taking bits of it to drop on the floor, I tell her no and pull my plate away.
Result: Upside-down U mouth, tears and louder 'waaah!'
I decide to be firm and deliver a growly, admonishing 'Boo...'
Result: Surprise, dismay, upside-down U mouth, tears and very loud 'waaah!', followed by her tearing off the napkin I've tied round her neck and running her hands - covered as they are in chicken fat, squashed tomato, avocado and potato - over her face and through her hair.
Then she had a little poo and calmed down after that. Shortly after bringing her back to the table and more tantrums I realised she was just really sleepy so I made her an enormous bottle of milk and put her to sleep. Ah peace and quiet.
I want to spoon...
So it's not so hard when you realise it's the lack of sleep that's the problem. But then at tea-time, for example, when she had a bowl of steamed egg with finely chopped green beans and chicken, first she insisted on playing with it with her fingers as I fed her.
After a while, she insisted on feeding herself and clamped her lips shut when I offered her a loaded spoon. Steamed egg is not easiest eaten by hand but she seemed to be managing albeit messily (nothing new), so I left her to it. But after another while she had to up the ante and wanted to use the spoon herself.
So I made my first mistake by trying to turn the spoon the right way round in her hand.
Result: Angry 'waah!', red face and tears.
After a little howling and apologising on my part she accepted the spoon and tried again to pick up egg with the handle. She was managing to, but wasn't doing so well on getting it to her face. So I made my second mistake trying to hold her hand to guide it to her mouth.
Result: Angry 'waah!', red face and tears, followed by Boo flinging the spoon on the table in anger.
After more howling and a successful attempt not to laugh on my part, she accepted the spoon and began trying to lift food with it again - again with the handle. So then I tried to show her how to do it with a different spoon.
Which was mistake number three because then she wanted to hold my spoon too. Gave up my spoon after some small protest as more tears threatened. So then she picks up some food with the handle of the first spoon and starts tapping it with the second spoon, her face breaking into a smile for the first time.
But as this is threatening to fling egg all over the nearby radiator and on the floor, I try to temper the tapping. Which, you may have guessed by now, was mistake four. Sigh. More tantrums. Boo flings spoon one on the table. Decides that's not enough to express her anger and spoon two follows.
By which time I don't know whether to howl with laughter at her or be horrified at her behaviour. The Supernanny in me is going 'Boo, I do not like you flinging things about in anger. You will sit in your chair facing the wall for five minutes.' But I am mostly wondering drat can you admonish a nine-month-old? Does she realise what she's doing? Will she understand if I scold her? Anyone got answers?
So in the end I washed the damn spoons again and gave them to her and decided to let her please herself and get on with eating my tea. And when she saw I was having cornflakes, of course she wanted some too. How the heck do they do it in nursery?
19 June 2006
9 mths+
Poxes on their heads
Arrgh baby has caught chicken pox from the new baby at nursery. I knew his parents brought him back too quickly. I think he was only gone from nursery for about a week! He was all scabby last Monday; most of them fell off by Wednesday, and this Saturday we noticed the first spots on baby's face and scalp.
She's being quite good about it. She just has grumpy moods every so often; usually when I put her down to sleep. I think the warmth of the pillow then makes the spots on her head itch and then she tries to scratch them, succeeds and gets all irritated.
Last night she woke up in the middle of god knows when and proceeded to yowl loudly and unconsolably for about five minutes. Must have driven our neighbours nuts. I only realised this weekend that their bedroom must be right next to ours when baby woke early on Saturday and attempted to rouse her lazy parents at eight in the morning with a series of increasingly loud and indignant 'Maaaa!'s. I heard someone sigh the loud and annoyed sigh of someone who has involuntarily woken up earlier than they wanted to and realised if I could hear that baby must sound worse than a siren.
Anyway trip to the doctor's this morning confirmed the diagnosis so now we face a week at home with baby, smothering her in calamine lotion and giving her baths with baking soda and oats in socks swirled in.
What a pain, having to take a week off in the middle of the World Cup. Alex has offered to stay home instead of me several times, but I'm waiting to see if I've caught it as well as I've never had chicken pox before.
She crawls!
Anyway this has been an eventful week because not only did baby catch the pox, she learned to crawl! Specifically on 14 June, 9 months and 5 days old. Or rather, I think she's always known how to, we've just learned to entice her enough to demonstrate it. We did it by putting a few pieces of peach into a bowl and placing it on the floor far away from her.
One fruit has done more for her physical development than umpteen calls of 'Come to Mama!' and demonstrations of how to crawl.
Daddy on all fours: See? Knee - hand - knee - hand... Get it Boo? Get it? [In slow motion] Kneee - haaand - kneeee - haaand.
Boo: [Stare that says what are you doing, father?]
She started the old bottom shuffling that she's been kind of doing; ie she sits, then kind of leans forward onto her arms, straightens her legs and points her bottom in the air, then sits down again; then realised she could kind of just about move on her knees.
She was wearing pants so this meant she went slipping and sliding across the wooden floor of course, which was quite funny to watch, but managed to keep going with the purchase her sweaty toes were gaining.
She eventually made it to the peaches, and then proceeded to scatter them across the floor.
Poxes on their heads
Arrgh baby has caught chicken pox from the new baby at nursery. I knew his parents brought him back too quickly. I think he was only gone from nursery for about a week! He was all scabby last Monday; most of them fell off by Wednesday, and this Saturday we noticed the first spots on baby's face and scalp.
She's being quite good about it. She just has grumpy moods every so often; usually when I put her down to sleep. I think the warmth of the pillow then makes the spots on her head itch and then she tries to scratch them, succeeds and gets all irritated.
Last night she woke up in the middle of god knows when and proceeded to yowl loudly and unconsolably for about five minutes. Must have driven our neighbours nuts. I only realised this weekend that their bedroom must be right next to ours when baby woke early on Saturday and attempted to rouse her lazy parents at eight in the morning with a series of increasingly loud and indignant 'Maaaa!'s. I heard someone sigh the loud and annoyed sigh of someone who has involuntarily woken up earlier than they wanted to and realised if I could hear that baby must sound worse than a siren.
Anyway trip to the doctor's this morning confirmed the diagnosis so now we face a week at home with baby, smothering her in calamine lotion and giving her baths with baking soda and oats in socks swirled in.
What a pain, having to take a week off in the middle of the World Cup. Alex has offered to stay home instead of me several times, but I'm waiting to see if I've caught it as well as I've never had chicken pox before.
She crawls!
Anyway this has been an eventful week because not only did baby catch the pox, she learned to crawl! Specifically on 14 June, 9 months and 5 days old. Or rather, I think she's always known how to, we've just learned to entice her enough to demonstrate it. We did it by putting a few pieces of peach into a bowl and placing it on the floor far away from her. One fruit has done more for her physical development than umpteen calls of 'Come to Mama!' and demonstrations of how to crawl.
Daddy on all fours: See? Knee - hand - knee - hand... Get it Boo? Get it? [In slow motion] Kneee - haaand - kneeee - haaand.
Boo: [Stare that says what are you doing, father?]
She started the old bottom shuffling that she's been kind of doing; ie she sits, then kind of leans forward onto her arms, straightens her legs and points her bottom in the air, then sits down again; then realised she could kind of just about move on her knees.
She was wearing pants so this meant she went slipping and sliding across the wooden floor of course, which was quite funny to watch, but managed to keep going with the purchase her sweaty toes were gaining.
She eventually made it to the peaches, and then proceeded to scatter them across the floor.
11 June 2006
Boo in Italy
In front of some famous building; David in Florence; and a former Roman amphitheatre in Lucca (you can't tell? Neither could we.)
Visiting a castle in Poppi; Florence's Mercato Centrale (central food market) in search of the local roast suckling pig; and hiding from the papparazzi
Sampling the local food and watching mommy swim in cold water
With personal slave and entourage
Enjoying local baby entertainment: swings; fire built by daddy; scenery; neighbouring farmlife
In front of some famous building; David in Florence; and a former Roman amphitheatre in Lucca (you can't tell? Neither could we.)
Visiting a castle in Poppi; Florence's Mercato Centrale (central food market) in search of the local roast suckling pig; and hiding from the papparazzi
Sampling the local food and watching mommy swim in cold water
With personal slave and entourage
Enjoying local baby entertainment: swings; fire built by daddy; scenery; neighbouring farmlife
10 June 2006
9 mths old
It's boiling hot today. It's like someone last Monday threw the switch from end-winter/early-spring right into the middle of summer. I'm not complaining though. While we haven't exactly gone out to enjoy the garden, we have our living room doors open wide to it and the clothes that are hung outside in the morning dry in about two hours.
Boo has been dressed in England rompers that we had to buy following an emergency enormous poo session the last time we went out for a meal. This has made everyone we met today, who chose to tell me how cute she was, think she was a boy. But never mind. The women's footie group at work is slowly proving that you can be girlie and play footie too.
She was all hot and bothered when we came back from our walk - I decided to go shopping while Alex watched England's first game, on the hope that the streets would be empt -ish - but I managed to pacify her immediately with an enormous strawberry.
I've been buying cartons of English strawberries from a market stall on the high road. They are tremendously ripe and therefore usually quite squished, but at least they are usually also very sweet. Baby looooves strawberries.
It's boiling hot today. It's like someone last Monday threw the switch from end-winter/early-spring right into the middle of summer. I'm not complaining though. While we haven't exactly gone out to enjoy the garden, we have our living room doors open wide to it and the clothes that are hung outside in the morning dry in about two hours.
Boo has been dressed in England rompers that we had to buy following an emergency enormous poo session the last time we went out for a meal. This has made everyone we met today, who chose to tell me how cute she was, think she was a boy. But never mind. The women's footie group at work is slowly proving that you can be girlie and play footie too.
She was all hot and bothered when we came back from our walk - I decided to go shopping while Alex watched England's first game, on the hope that the streets would be empt -ish - but I managed to pacify her immediately with an enormous strawberry.
I've been buying cartons of English strawberries from a market stall on the high road. They are tremendously ripe and therefore usually quite squished, but at least they are usually also very sweet. Baby looooves strawberries.
06 June 2006
Almost 9 mths
As you can see, still no time...
... To either download her pictures from the camera (both cards are now full) or to blog some more. We are still unpacking the boxes and are currently awaiting the arrival of our new TV and a carpet for baby to roll on.
Because she is rolling all over the place now. She's discovered she can use her legs to propel herself forward and so she is not crawling. She springs, she leaps from one position to another. One minute she's sitting on her behind, the next she has turned round and launched her head at the nearest hard surface.
Fortunately she's not hit it too hard on anything yet but I think she's definitely learning the meaning of the word ouch. She's quite good though; doesn't cry, just looks a bit nonplussed.
Will definitely try to do more this weekend though. Might be hard: we have the World Cup matches to watch and, shock horror, an actual reason to support England other than a sense of humour; seeds to plant (otherwise they will flower next spring; of cornflower, Chinese lanterns and sweet peas in case you were wondering); more boxes to unpack; and a dining table to decide on.
Right must now go negotiate the jam home.
As you can see, still no time...
... To either download her pictures from the camera (both cards are now full) or to blog some more. We are still unpacking the boxes and are currently awaiting the arrival of our new TV and a carpet for baby to roll on.
Because she is rolling all over the place now. She's discovered she can use her legs to propel herself forward and so she is not crawling. She springs, she leaps from one position to another. One minute she's sitting on her behind, the next she has turned round and launched her head at the nearest hard surface.
Fortunately she's not hit it too hard on anything yet but I think she's definitely learning the meaning of the word ouch. She's quite good though; doesn't cry, just looks a bit nonplussed.
Will definitely try to do more this weekend though. Might be hard: we have the World Cup matches to watch and, shock horror, an actual reason to support England other than a sense of humour; seeds to plant (otherwise they will flower next spring; of cornflower, Chinese lanterns and sweet peas in case you were wondering); more boxes to unpack; and a dining table to decide on.
Right must now go negotiate the jam home.
01 June 2006
I can't remember how old she is!
We are back from Italy!
We had a great time and so, I think, did Boo! But no time to blog because we are still unpacking things in our house and ordering a new rug and furniture! Baby is growing like a bean though and is losing her babiness as her front teeth grow longer (and more gappy).
She had a whale of a time eating holiday food: pasta, asparagus, tomatoes, grilled courgette, strawberries - which she loves; bites into them and has juice running down her chin and arms, staining big patches on her chest and lap - mushrooms, tiny slices of tender beef, spinach, little bits of liver and lots of bread. Tonnes of bread. She even had biscuits and cake. Her back-to-normal healthy diet of no sweeties and steamed or boiled food must seem so parsimonious.
She's not complaining though. She had chicken wings, sweet potato, broccoli and ginger all boiled up for broth and bihun (rice noodles) for dinner last night and was happy as a pig in mud.
We are back from Italy!
We had a great time and so, I think, did Boo! But no time to blog because we are still unpacking things in our house and ordering a new rug and furniture! Baby is growing like a bean though and is losing her babiness as her front teeth grow longer (and more gappy).
She had a whale of a time eating holiday food: pasta, asparagus, tomatoes, grilled courgette, strawberries - which she loves; bites into them and has juice running down her chin and arms, staining big patches on her chest and lap - mushrooms, tiny slices of tender beef, spinach, little bits of liver and lots of bread. Tonnes of bread. She even had biscuits and cake. Her back-to-normal healthy diet of no sweeties and steamed or boiled food must seem so parsimonious.
She's not complaining though. She had chicken wings, sweet potato, broccoli and ginger all boiled up for broth and bihun (rice noodles) for dinner last night and was happy as a pig in mud.
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