Wednesday 29 December 2010

boys just wanna have fun

We are looking forward to our little boy arriving in April, it'll be a whole new experience for CK as she does not have any brothers, the closest she gets to "the little boy experience" is the big do's my family have, like the one we just had on boxing day.

We got there first and so were there to answer the door to my nephews, who came bounding in and immediately wrestled me to the floor for some play fighting.

They did this again of course to my brother when he arrived and again to my brother-in-law, "is this what boys are like" said CK, "yes", I said, "oh..", said CK quietly....

Wednesday 8 December 2010

mad dash

It's rare that CK gets a night-out, so when CK went off to a concert last night I couldn't be more happy for her.

So there we were, me trying to be a good parent feeding baby, when the phone went, "can you look on the fridge" CK says, yes, I say, and find myself looking at the tickets CK left behind.

A few minutes later after unsuccessfully trying to remove mashed potato and baked beans from her hair and face, AG and I where driving up to the o2 (a huge concert venue).

It was a bit of a mad dash, but AG wasn't too late to bed and CK got to her concert so everyone's happy!

What a crazy evening!

Thursday 2 December 2010

little distractions

We've had railways in the UK since the 1800's and in their time they would have seen a fair amount of snow, however, without fail, an entire country's infrastructure can grind to a halt with the slightest hint of the white stuff.

This is what has happened over the last few days, daddy is stuck working from home, and whilst it is lovely sharing my lunch time with my family it is somewhat distracting when someone is pressing their face against the glass door of the room and shouting hair-o! if you are to ignore her calling you can hear her toddling around to the other door of my room where she'll start bashing on the door and shouting hi-ya!!

Actually, it is really cute and makes me smile.

Now, how can we get her out of her new "fingernails down the blackboard" habit of grinding her (six) teeth together?

Wednesday 1 December 2010

geek girl

I sat AG in front of two laptops, one running a Microsoft operating systems the other running a Linux operating system.

Which did she choose to play with? of course it was Linux! clearly she is going know her way around computers and is making good choices!

The weirdest thing though is, I have realised she may never physically buy a piece of music and will think her parents are old and weird for ever having done so!

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Bull in a card shop

This is probably a little belated, but AG is loving the birthday cards she was given a couple of months ago.

She has found them in a drawer in her room and not a day goes by that she doesn't take one out has a good look, then gets out another and another and another..

It's very cute to see but does mean after a few minutes the floor of her room looks like a bull has been rampaging in a card shop.

Monday 29 November 2010

walking and a talking

AG is changing so fast now.

She chooses to mostly walk around now rather than crawl, is often found chatting away he own made up words or songs and can take basic instructions such as "pick up that toy and give it too daddy".

I am so proud of her.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

thunk thunk

AG crawled up to me, pleased as punch with herself.

She had something in her hand and I wasn't sure whether she was trying to hand it to me or about to use it to make thunk-thunk noises on the floor.

A few seconds later to my horror I realised its our backup drive full of photos, videos and various memory's that she's managed to get out of its hidey-hole.

I think I'll have to change where I keep it!

Sunday 14 November 2010

in and out

We've just back from our Sunday morning swim, it's a really special time, just me and AG.

One of the most joyous things at the moment is how hilarious she finds everything, today it was climbing out of the pool (almost) unaided, then jumping back in, she'd plop into and under the water and I'd then fish her out with much laughing from her, then she'd head back to the side of the pool to do it all again!

fun, fun, fun

One new thing though, was at one point I was making her practise somthing she wasn't so keen on, so she turned to me, looked me in the eye and shouted NO!!

I knew was coming at some point but still came as a suprise, I going to have to think about tactics now....

Friday 12 November 2010

Three steps forward

She's getting better at this walking lark, she'll now happily take three or four steps without prompting, she also has a better styles of walking as previously she was not bending her legs.

I want to have a little bet with myself how long it will be before walking is her primary way of getting around, my guess is within four week.

Strike that, I've just had news she's done 21 steps in a row.

Time to take baby-proofing the house up a gear methinks

Sunday 7 November 2010

bruiser

AG is sporting what looks like is going to be a black-eye.

So how did she get it? Well it was she happily going down a slide in the playground when she decided to slam the brakes on with her grippy shoes, the graceful slide become an ungainly tumble followed by a huge wail and when we picked her up we saw a a red mark under her eye.

I don't think she'l do that again!

two steps forward

AG has just taken two steps on her own, hurrah!

Saturday 6 November 2010

vampire show stealer

AG has more teeth on the way, and in time for Halloween it's her vampire teeth are pushing through.

It probably because she's been wearing Auntie G's Halloween pyjama's all week.

Sunday 24 October 2010

fun at the swimming pool

Every Sunday morning I take AG for her swimming practice ahead of her lessons on Monday, I must confess through I didn't really fancy it with my serious bout of man flu.

However, by the rules on "competitive parenting" you can't skip practice so off we went.

It started off pretty well with her doing one of her dives into the pool, what wasn't expecting for her to grab two great big lumps of my chest hair on the way past and for her to be left hanging in mid air, whilst my eyes watered.

In the pool we met one of her little friend that is the same age, her daddy then proceeded to show how great she was at recognising words for body parts.

On the way out we used the communal changing room, I got the manager to open it and I put AG inside in the playpen, then went out to get our stuff from the locker, what I didn't realise is the lock wasn't on the latch which resulted in her being locked in the room.

Panicked, with arm full of clothes I end up running after the manager shouting for him to open the door again.

Finally we are home safely and I'm now repeated singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" to AG (as per the rules of competitive parenting).

CK points out it looks increasingly like I am in a fifties American family sitcom, I can't disagree!

Tuesday 21 September 2010

hairo

Last night AG had the second of her party's this time with just CK's father and his partner.

AG got the perfect present, her very own 80's style toy mobile phone, she must of spent twenty minutes having conversations on it and handing it around the table.

Tonight she has found a new game, when she spotted we both had ice-creams she started crawling back and forth between us, looking trying at each of us in the eye in an attempt to see who would give her some ice-cream, when we didn't succumbed to the puppy dog eyes she would crawl back to the other and repeat.

I can't help feeling she will keep practising this game till she gets exactly what she wants(for the rest of her life).

Monday 20 September 2010

Birthday chums

I knew AG has a lot of friends but I wasn't aware how many there were till her birthday party yesterday for her friends.

There were wall-to-wall babies and toddlers everywhere and into everything, one even protested my choice of party music by turning the amp off!

AG and one of her friends decided to use the cover of the general hubbub to mount a climbing expedition of the stair case, another covered the living room floor with lemonade and the garden slide probably has never seen so much action in its thirty years of existence.

One boy took an interest in the pine-cones that litter our garden, so I challenged him to fill a big builders bucket with them, and he did, so I found him a bucket four times the size and filled that also, unfortunately he had to go home before I could challenge him to fill a wheelie bin.

All in all a great party, but needless to say, after a big clear-up, we had an early night(and went straight to sleep)

Friday 17 September 2010

Oh what a beautiful morning

AG slept in till 7:20am this morning, yeah!!

To celebrate, when she came in our bedroom she gave us the kind of lovely cuddles where she rests her head on your chest, ahh bless.

Then as if to top in all, to amuse herself and daddy, she gave CK's nose some good long honks (for which I had to provide the sound-effects).

What a lovely way to start the day.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Raspberry's

AG was up and bouncing at 6:30 this morning, all ready for her day at nursery.

First things, first though, as soon as she was out of the cot she was crawling at a break-neck pace toward our bedroom to see mummy.

Now, it would be easy to assume she was looking for a cuddle and a kiss, but no, her object of attention was mummy's tummy, where she spent five minutes playing with it, singing to it, kissing it, blowing raspberry's on it and sticking her tongue in CK's belly button.

The raspberry's in particular were a great source of amusement for us all as it indicate her sense of humour is going to be just as silly as ours, hurrah!

Tuesday 31 August 2010

hair-o

AG is now started to makes sounds with her actions, when she waves (which she does all the time) she often says "hair-o" or "bub-bub". She has also taken too picking up random items then holding them against her head like a mobile phone and going "blah-blah-blah".

Surely she can't be commenting on the inaneness of my telephone conversations?

Monday 30 August 2010

blanket turtle

we have just returned from a long weekend camping in a tent by the sea, AG's first time under canvas.

we all had a lovely time, helped in no small part by our "support crew" CK's father and partner in their caravan.

The least fun bit though was the cold nights sleep, we took a thermostat with us and AG's sleep compartment got down to 9 degrees Celsius!

By the the last night we had piled every warm thing we could find around her, making her look like the bed at house party where everyone dumps their coats, with only her head poking out she looked like a turtle!

A fun time was had by all and we all feel refreshed, same again next year "support crew"?

Thursday 26 August 2010

More Norman than Rudolf

When we close one of the gates to stop AG getting herself in trouble, she likes to stand up and hold on to it, which then stops us going through the gate ourselves.

So the solution is to step over the gate, I'd like to say I do it with the style of Rudolf Nureyev or at least Louis Spence but its probably more like Norman Wisdom

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Monkey bum

Changing Nappy's is rarely fun and now she is moving around even less so.

When we first started off, wherever you put her she would just lie there and the contents of her nappy would be just be something uniquely babyish.

Now, you lie her down to change her and before you've even cleaned her she's spinning like a break-dancer and trying to grab everything around her, further more, now she is eating solids, there is no doubt in what the nappy's contents are.

To make it even more "interesting" because of teething or reacting against things she can get rash-y, for example, currently below the nappy line she resembles a cross between a baboons rear-end and a warshak test, thankfully the rash cream is helping her.

Apparently at about a year and half they come out of nappy's, oh what a happy day that'll be.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

pink bear

An interesting thing has happened since she has started nursery, she has adopted one of her toys as her best friend, even cuddling it in her sleep.

I didn't realise just how strong the bond was till I lifted her out of her cot without it and she started crying and staring at the bear and only stopped when I got it for her.

Seeing her playing with this bear makes me realise our little baby is becoming a little girl.

Now how can her makes choose something non-gender specific or at least maybe more or a scientific/engineering bent? maybe if I dress the bear as a geek?

Monday 23 August 2010

11th Month

We are entering AG's eleventh month and she is changing almost day on day.

She can climb the stairs quickly and with no regard to safety or parents blood pressure.

She is now in nursery three days a week and is getting great report cards every day

She can speed around the room on all fours but when she gets to her destination more often than not she'll pull herself upright, she's even started pulling herself up on to her walker and started stumbling around.

When given food she likes she will feed herself (in the messy-ist, noisiest way possible).

She makes hisses, ma-ma-ma and da-da-da sounds constantly

She's had a sleepover at my parents without us.

She's started sleeping through (hopefully she'll keep at it this time).

And given that everything 80's is currently in vogue, her mullet hairstyle must make her very fashionable indeed. (though we do hope she grows it out into something more sensible for my sisters wedding in six weeks time).

Friday 13 August 2010

Teeth

Teeth, they're great aren't they, little shining monuments to our Omnivore past.

err yes, unless they belong to some horrible little toddler sinking his into AG's hand on her first day of nursery earlier this week.

Or when yesterday AG bit her lip for the first time and spat out blood on mummys nice top.

So what are teeth good for? ah yes, demolishing the cone after you've eaten all of autie m's icecream just by yourself, yes, that what teeth are for.


nom nom nom

Monday 9 August 2010

another milestone

Another weekend whooshes past.

We started out with a date-night as CK's mum was baby sitting, which was a nice way to start the weekend.

Then Saturday morning started early when AG decided 6am was the time to rise and shine. I had plans to help out at the local theatre that day but the plans where quickly brought to an end when AG decided to climb then tumble down a couple of steps in the few seconds our backs were turned.

Cue a dash to the shops and the rest of the day spent fitting stair-gates(which I should of done when she first started climbing, bad dad, bad dad), as compensation for my tattered plans AG now says "da-da-da" which I obviously interpret as a indication of great linguistic skill and the start of a clear career path to being a celebrated poet.

Sunday started with her normal practice session for her swimming lesson (being an Olympic swimmer is part of her career path) where she was playing catch with one of the other babys (well I say catch, he would throw the ball, she grab it and try to eat it at which point I'd flick it back and he would throw it again, very cute)

We then went to my parents for a walk with my mum and had dinner with my brother and his expectant Spanish wife, they were in the area as they were collecting a super fashionable pushchair system they had bought on ebay.

After such a busy day we all collapsed asleep that night.

This week should be interesting because as well as AG hectic social calender she will be going for her trial sessions at the nursery as next week, CK returns to work. CK return to work will be an interesting change for us and I think going to nursery will be really great for our sociable little girl.

Sunday 1 August 2010

Born Climbing

AG was growing inside CK when we and a group of friends climbed the highest mountain in Scotland, Ben Nevis.

It looks like she picked some tips then as this weekend, her casual interest in scaling the stairs became a full blown attempt, and yes, she made it all the way to the upstairs landing.

10 out of 10 for climbing ability, 10 out of 10 for ability to send parents running to the nearest sellers of stair gates.

Sunday 25 July 2010

Post the porridge, a game for two players

AG has a game we have to play several times a day.

What you need to play, is two separate food dishes, one should be something nutritious and well balanced, and the other something she actually likes to eat.

The game is, whilst she noshes on the yummy dishes, you try to post in the nutritious.

AG's part of the game is to stop you by closing her mouth in time or spitting it out with bonus points for covering people and surfaces with the unwanted food.

I'd like to say it's fun game, but all I can say is it's a game.

Now, what's the best way to remove dried food from walls without removing the paint?

Saturday 17 July 2010

girls just wanna have fun

AG like most modern girls has a gym membership, it allows mummy to have some time in the gym to herself whilst AG chills out in the crèche.

The other thing AG uses it for is the soft play area in which accompanied by whatever relative is to hand she climbs, tumbles, eats and throws herself around.

Often she meets up with other children she knows, however we're going to have to keep an eye on her as last time we found her kissing one of boyfriends, with tongue!

I thought you didn't have to worry about this till she was a teenager?

Well, as the song goes ...girls, they just wanna have fun..

Wednesday 7 July 2010

The price to pay for a nice long sleep

Ck had a long trip out to the countryside yesterday, whilst AG had hours and hours of sleep during the long journey each way.

sounds a blissful way to travel with a child? well, there was payback.

AG didn't settle last night until an hour after normal and this morning was wide awake over an hour and a half earlier than normal.

At this rate of sleep deprivation Auntie G won't have any problem sleeping on the plane on the way home tomorrow!

Monday 5 July 2010

Should I be cycling now I'm a dad?

Normally I cycle to work, today I didn't.

On my way to work, on part of my cycle-route to work, I heard, then saw, a cyclist seriously injured by a motorists who wasn't looking as he crossed the opposite traffic flow.

Luckily, for him, the ambulance station is close and my fellow commuters immediately rallied around to help, though I can still hear him crying "my neck, my neck".

My question to myself is am I being fair to AG by continuing to cycle and putting the fate of her father in motorists hands?

It reminds me of the poem

Here lies the body of Thomas Grey/ Who died defending his right of way./ He was quite right as he sped along,/ But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Like bambi on ice

Our house now looks like we are preparing for a flood, anything that AG may find interesting has either been raised off the floor or blocked off.

Obviously AG sees this as a challenge so has started to pull herself up to a standing position so as to allow her to renew her access to things she shouldn't have.

Given this turn of events we are re-formulating our battle whilst quietly chuckling at how much her attempts to stand up in the bath look like the scene from the film Bambi where the deer is trying to stand up on a frozen pond.

Monday 21 June 2010

Fathers Day

I've just had my first Fathers days and it was great.

AG got me a card that she had personally chewed the corner of, I'm now brushing her two little teeth and she is now experimenting with making sounds, her current repertoire is ma-ma-ma na-na-na but not da-da-da (which of course is the one I am waiting for)

The best present of is that by Brother and his lovely Spanish wife are going to have a baby, another little cousin for AG, it's fantastic news and I wish them all the best.

Despite me being very butch and manly I must admit I shed a tear at the news.

AG's little Spanish cousin is due mid January '11 time is going to fly by!

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Gotcha

I came home last night to find CK's mother skwinting-at, and crawling-over the living room rug, this is because of AG's latest trick.

Like a miniature Siren she'll draw you too herself with her cute-ness, then once you are up close she will either blow a slobbery raspberry or make a grab for nose's, hair or in CK's mum case her necklace, sending it scattering over the floor in many little pieces.

As ever, we'll have to watch this one!

Thursday 3 June 2010

cold feet and hands

AG's been to the hospital this morning about her cold feet and hands, nothing to worry about it turns out, just poor circulation which lots of baby's have (apparently).


what a relief!

Pincer grip

A pincer grip is that thing you do when you put your thumb and forefinger together to pick stuff up and learning to do it is an important milestone in a babies development.

AG demonstrated this to us in the bath by pulling the plug (and then trying to eat it)

No problem, I thought, as chain is already broken I'll just reduce its length so she can't get a good grip on it.

So out came the trusty cutters and I made the chain 10cm long.. she still was able to pull the plug out

So out came the trusty cutters and I made the chain 2cm long.. she still was able to pull the plug out

So out came the trusty cutters and I removed the chain completely.. she is still able to pull the plug easily.. but we can't

Tuesday 1 June 2010

like gristle in a rasher of bacon

CK bounced into the room, with a big grin on her face, AG's got a tooth.

Now, to be fair, it doesn't look nice a nice shiny gravestone, instead it looks like a piece of gristle in a rasher of bacon, but it's still rather exciting for us as new parents, for the next ten minutes we had fun and games trying to take a picture of it to send to family, but eventually we managed it!

Friday 28 May 2010

come to daddy

My arrival home last night was joyous, what made it so great was that though AG was in the living room and as soon as she heard my key in the door, she started crawling towards me along the corridor, it felt wonderful, and it was interesting to see that rather than crawling commando style, she's starting to crawl properly using her knees and so is getting even faster moving around the house, nothing is safe and I wouldn't have it any other way

Monday 24 May 2010

Five years of staring at packets

Yesterday, started like any other weekend, nice swim with AG (she now has her "Starfish 2" swimming badge), home to mummy then breakfast.

Her breakfast tha morning was boiled egg white which she wolfed down, however a few minutes later she had rashes all over her face and arms as if we'd rolled her in stinging nettles.

After phoning NHS direct we found she is almost certainly allergic to egg and will normally grow out of it in five years.

But it's not really a problem it just means for the next five years we have of staring at ingrediant lists and make sure no medicine she is taking is bulked out with egg white.

Maybe we should just raise her as a vegan!

Pleased with herself

I went to get AG out of her cot the other day to find her very pleased with herself, she had worked out that if she lifted the cot bumper and reached through the bars she could just about reach the table where her changing equipment is kept.

She was particularly pleased with herself as it enabled her to fill her cot with plastic nappy sacks that are approximately the size of her head.

Needless to say I wasn't as pleased as she was.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Feverish with blue feet

I came home last night to find AG cuddling CK, this is very odd as AG is a very independant kid and would normally be up and off than cuddling someone.

Turns out she'd been out of sorts and a quick jab in the ear with the thermometer showed she had a fever, it was disconcerting when I then took her for her bath that she just lied there rather her normal splashing up a storm.

Thankfully after a night of " calpol" and wearing less bed clothes than normal she was almost back to her old self, waking CK by grabbing lumps of  CK's hair and giggling.

Not wanted to be "new parent-ish" we debated  taking her to the doctor but in the end CK took her to the health-visitor's clinic, though the health visitor was not worried about the fever she did notice AG blue-ish hands and feet which we've never particularly worried about and sent us off to the doctor.

The doctor in turn is sending AG to the hospital after somehow managing to put the unlikely combination of "probably nothing to worry about" and "Heart murmur" in the same sentence.

I don't think it's a big deal as its an ordinary apointment rather than an emergency and it might be because AG wouldn't be quiet and still for the doctor to use a stethoscope on her,  however I can't help but worry a little (but then again I am a new dad)

Friday 7 May 2010

clever feet

During AG's bath last night all the water started unexpectedly draining away, the clever little monkey had managed to pull the plug by grabbing the chain with her toes.


I don't know what career a skill like that may lead to, but its an impressive trick!

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Out-smarting the adults

I came home to find CK has bought an giant inflatable doughnut for AG to sit in, it's designed to to keep active baby's happy and in one place.

Whilst we finished our dinner we left her in it and noticed she was being quiet, we turned around to look at her and too find her trying out a few different escapology ideas, the last of which plopped her out on the carpet upon which she started smiling, and clapping and generally being very happy at her escape!

So here we are as grown-ups (sort of) being outsmarted by a seven-month old! we're going to have to be "on our toes" with this one.

Oh, and expect to see the "un-escapable" inflatable doughnut back on ebay!

Tuesday 4 May 2010

One step forward and two steps back

She is really mobile now, which is great for showing her off (you just put something down she shouldn't have and off she goes) but means when changing her nappy she doe's an impression of an eighties break dancers with leg and arms spinning everywhere.


She also picked up a cold and with her constant runny nose has made her bedsheets look a snail has been in there with her, she has also reverted to not sleeping through the night.

But, we've managed to secure the house a bit, have fitted a blackout curtain and thanks to its creche CK can now get down the gym so on the whole we're wining!

Friday 30 April 2010

crawling her way into trouble

The good news is she's started crawling.

bad news is she used her new found skill to head for anything she shouldn't, DVD's have been pulled off shelves, shoes have been licked and work passes have been munched.

Time to baby proof the house methinks

Thursday 22 April 2010

She slept through again

The litle genius did it again, she slept through, admittedly she did wake at 5 ish so we fed her at 5:30 and then she went back to sleep.

Tonight I'll try again to blackout the room, my first attempt was rubbish and involved draping a thick sheet across the window in the most dodgy fashion, tonight, here comes the cardboard, scissor and sticky tape!

Wednesday 21 April 2010

is she, or isn't she?

Two days on from my proud announcement that she slept the night and I thought I'd give an update, the night after she was up three times but last night she slept through again.

Obviously she's trying to keep us on our toes!

Oh, and to add to our sleepyness she's waking with the start of dawn which is currently 5:30am, time to invest in blackout curtains methinks!

Monday 19 April 2010

she did it!!

light the lights, strike the band, start the fanfare.

AG SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

Hurrah!

(I must admit though, I did tip-toe in halfway through to check she was okay ;-) )

Saturday 17 April 2010

german bl**dy measles

We all had a horrible night, AGs skin last night resembling corned beef, she didn't sleep a lot and not at all from 3am onwards.

Our final solution to give some rest, after baby medicine, boob, cuddles etc was to bring the pram upstairs and have bleary eyed daddy pushing her back and forth down the corridor (which has left tracks on the carpet)

The good news this morning is the redness has gone from  her skin (I guess she has my talent for self repair) but it still has a rough texture, she also also cannot be around children her age or the pregnant for the next week.

and daddy, well he feels knackered, no change there then and guilty that he as been trying to get her to sleep through the night when she's was brewing up the measles(it would of happen for a few days before it showed).

Friday 16 April 2010

she looks like a can of spam

I come home to find AG looking like a can of spam, the cause of this rash-y transformation is probably German measles, I don't what this means for her apart for us having to avoid other baby's and the pregnant.

project sleep-through day four

day four..zzzzz oh sorry where was I

eeerr...zzzzzzz.......right okay last night I went to bed before the grown up programs started, she woke four or five times and so I still woke feeling I'd been run-over by an elephant

this process should be done by the end of the weekend, this long, long, long weekend

she does have hair now though...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thursday 15 April 2010

project sleep-through day three

She was awake three of four times last nights can't remember wish, my mind was mush last night.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

I didn't need to be awake, but I was

Its day two of our attempt to encourage AG to sleep through, and the little darling only got me up once early on.

Unfortunately because I hadn't heard her my inbuilt daddy alarm kept me in a light sleep, I had to stop myself from checking her and potentially waking her.

So now the ladies in the house look well rested and I look and move like a zombie(no change there then).

but I am very happy, its a small price to pay, I hope tonight goes as well (if not better)

Tuesday 13 April 2010

cry it out baby

Yesterday was the first night of trying to get AG to sleep through the night. The reason we have actively do this now is that in this point in her development if we don't get it sorted in the next few weeks it can turn into a long term sleeping issue.

The technique we are using is called "controlled crying" and is based on the theory at her age she is using feeding in the night as a comfort rather than food. Emotionally it is quite difficult for the parents as even though you are there for the baby and keeping them reassured, you basically have to let them work out their feelings for themselves (despite your every instinct wanting to lift them out the cot and quickly comfort them).

So last night instead of sleep I was up and down like a frog on a trampoline and it no doubt be the same for the next few days, wish us luck!

Sunday 4 April 2010

Bored of the boob

AG's interest in food has stepped up a gear, we now can't eat or drink a thing without her eyeballing it and licking her lips.

top favorites are sliced tomato and avocado and whilst most of it ends up on the floor, bib or face she is eating some of it.

the downsides are the contents of her nappy's are a bit more "grown up" now and she doesn't find breastfeeding as interesting and is more easily distracted than Imelda Marcos by a shoe sale.

This means that she is getting hungry at more random times and when she goes to feed she's not really interested.

It can be hard work this baby malarkey

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Contentment

I creapt into the nursery this moring before I set off for work to watch AG quietly playing with her toys.

It gives you such a feeling of contentment just to see her learning and growing

Wednesday 17 March 2010

AG does an "Exorcist"

I came home last night to find CK looking like she'd been through the mill.

It seems that AG must be feeling a little poorly as she is throwing up anything she has eaten and is doing so in the style of The Exorcist

I do hope they both have a better day today!

Tuesday 16 March 2010

mothers day presents

AG's surpassed herself!

Not only has she dropped the piercing scream, she's just slept through the night.

hurrah!!!!

Sunday 14 March 2010

I've seen the future and it's my nephew in a dress

We just come back from my parents house where we had a mothers day celebration.

Towards the end of the day my mum came in with a photo of AG, the twist is, it wasn't a picture of her instead it was a picture of my 5yr old nephew when he was her age, he looked identical.

This means that either all baby's her age with similar genetics look the same irrespective of genders or that in a few years time they'll be like two peas in a pod!

Friday 12 March 2010

Wriggle monster and the mummy

Being still for any length of time has never been a talent of mine and now AG is the same.

If you lie her down she'll flip herself over, hold her in your arms and she's looking round to make sure she's not missing out on anything, try to change her nappy and she's stretching out for everything that she can possibly get her hands on.

However even with all this going on I was slightly shocked this morning when I looked in her cot to find her happily asleep with a muslin sheet completely wrapped around her face and head.

I didn't even stop to take a picture before unwrapping her and putting the muslin out of reach. :-)

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Burnt parsnip 1, Apple 0

Our food experiments had a slight setback the other other day when thanks to our super fast induction cooker AG's parsnip mash got burnt.

Being the evil scientist type I of course made her taste it and to my surprise she wolf the entire lot.

With growing confident in her tolerance of food the next day we tried to treat her to apple purree, well I think if we'd tried to feed her dog biscuits we got a better response, she hated it.

being left a little confused by this I don't know what to feed her next, but one things for sure, the experients shall continue.....

Saturday 6 March 2010

evil experiments

What good is being a dad if you can't perform a few evil experiments.

AG has been threatening to crawl for a while now but is also quite adept at calling for help, so I wondered is her not crawling linked in some way to her skill at getting us to do her bidding?

I set her done on the rug with her favourite toy (a colourful model of an atom) a couple of inches out of reach whilst I hid.

with a few grunts and stretches she managed to get the toy!

as soon as she realised I was still in the room she reverted to her normal pattern of monitoring us whilst making a range of noises to see if one them would succeed in us doing her bidding.

the experiments shall continue

Friday 5 March 2010

little bits of food

AG's taste adventure continues, carrot, potato, mango, pineapple, sweet potato and her favourite, spinach!

the faces she pulls when we give her tastes if fascinating!

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Animal magic

I come home to find AG mesmerised by a documentary on the Animals of Yellowstone park, bless!

Thursday 25 February 2010

finger sucking good

we're on the final countdown till AG can start on solids, to give her a taste of things to come we've started dipping our our (clean) fingers in liquids she can have, letting her taste and seeing what she thinks.

so far she has tried apple, mango, pineapple and plum, quite the little gourmet!

Thursday 18 February 2010

latest trick

I do not like AG's latest trick, she has perfected a 10,000 hertz  piercing scream.

It goes right though brick, concrete and puts your glassware at risk of exploding, still I guess we no chance of losing her with a scream like that!

Friday 12 February 2010

Bathtime

Bathtime is my job and I love it, I get to tell AG all about my day and watch her happily splashing away with her powerfull kicks.

What's especially nice is sharing the bath with her, however  I found another disadvantage to being a man the other day when she planted one of her kicks powerfully and accurately right between my legs.

Still, at least for the first time since puberty I was able to sing soprano!

Thursday 11 February 2010

Language begins

It's lovely to see AG changing, she's starting to have her own language now, admit-idly its only two phrases "pick me up" indicated by her throwing her hands up in the style of the popular dance YMCA and "I'm frustrated" indicated by a weird grunting noise similar to that you would expect from a small mammal that had trapped its head in a bucket.

Naturally I am very impressed by this and am convinced she is the greatest linguist ever known (though I may be biased)

Saturday 23 January 2010

not the solid food we had in mind

This morning CK and I were talking about when AG will go to solid food, the conversation was started by AG's latest trick which is to bite CK in the middle of a feed, sometimes there are advantage to being a man!

However little did we know that later on AG would take the solid food question into her own hands by swallowing a sticking plaster  she was wearing, thankfully after a trip to A&E we've been assured that nature will take care of it and in time we'll see the plaster again!

oh well, lessons learned, lessons learned!

Tuesday 5 January 2010

busy new year!

Happy new year!!

Well we've had a busy one, now we have a place big enough, we are enjoying having people visit and or  stay over.

It's really nice having people stay over especially as our guests tend to “slot right in” and become part of our life.

AG is changing, she loves sticking her fingers, hands and any nearby toys into her mouth, this combined with her constant dribbling might mean teeth are on their way.

She also getting up more during the night, I don't know how CK is coping !

She's outgrown her “moses” basket and is now in the cot, she holds her head up herself and can twist her body around you can't turn your back on her for a second!

She also hardly fits in her little bath now, so its time to investigate alternatives.

I'm coming to the end of my Christmas break now and tomorrow return to work, it'll be really strange after our busy little break and being constantly around my  little family.

So my last holiday approaches we'll start with a visit from our friends L and E and their family, then I'm off to see a Panto then when I return the Thuggets will visit.

Auntie G's visit is also coming to an end, it has been really special her being here for Christmas, AG and her have really bonded and she has been a great help with childcare, it'll be weird to see her returning to being a face on a video call, however she is going to return in the summer for a long trip which will be here before we know it and before she goes she will baby sit for a night so we may have a night out together, we are going to see a play I did a lighting design for.

busy, busy, busy

Friday 1 January 2010

christmas 09

I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face.

Life is great, Alice's “Auntie G”  arrived Okay, we've had a lovely Christmas in the new house, lots of guests and lots of fun.

We had one minor mishap when CK mum due to a miscommunication turned up in the the snow when we were out, luckily a couple over the road took her in and fed her mince-pies till I arrived!

The house is working really great for us and the trains at the back are no trouble at all, the other day the famous “Orient express” went by pulled by the famous steam train the “Flying Scotsman”.

We are also looking forward to the new year as  AG's swimming lesson's are booked in, she entered the world swimming and will start the year doing the same!

I have a lovely partner, family and daughter, and so far I'm handling being father okay (even if I do say so myself).

Happy, happy, happy