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Friday, March 30, 2007

Purée queen

I've almost finished my marathon cooking session. I've been bulk cooking food to freeze for Michael. I've steamed, puréed and frozen pear, apple, carrot and sweet potato. Hopefully, along with some soft fruit like banana and avocado, I should have enough food for the next 3 weeks at least. Hooray!

When I started Michael on solids a month ago, I initially tried him with soft fruits for a couple of weeks. Because of his lack of enthusiasm I became demoralised, went for convenience and offered him a few jars. I felt very guilty about that. I'm giving him the best that I can with breast milk and it seems such a shame to then offer him tasteless commercially-prepared baby food. I can say with certainty that it is tasteless because I compared the apple and carrot that I made with their commercial counterparts.

Michael struggles with the texture of home-prepared food but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it in the end (please, please, please!)

Thursday, March 29, 2007

He still loves me

It has been a challenge to keep Michael happy lately. The teething pain reached it's peak last week (still no new teeth!!!) and this week he has been absolutely determined to stand at every opportunity. He has been interacting with us far less as his need to become mobile has been very single-minded. He can stand with support and his crawling is coming along nicely but he obviously isn't meeting his very exacting standards as he is frequently crying with frustration.

Before he could sit up or roll over I used to spend hours entertaining him by singing to him, pulling faces, telling him stories and just holding him. He used to nap nestled under my chin. He's so big now that he naps in his cot upstairs and the type of interaction we have is changing because he is becoming mobile. We play with toys together and play more physical games. I still sing to him.

Occasionally when Michael is so busy exploring his world I get a bit silly and start to wonder if he doesn't love me as much as he used to. This evening he reminded me that he still loves me. It was so wonderful and I basked in the glow of it. I had been sitting with him in the baby carrier for some time because he was unsettled. I then went upstairs for a shower whilst Phil gave him a wash and got him dressed for bed. I came downstairs and his face lit up to see me. His little arms were pumping up and down and he gave me a beautiful toothy laugh. He then kept leaning forwards for a cuddle. It is moments like this that make it all worthwhile.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Oops

Just realised that Michael might have liked the carrot better if I had heated it up. You live and learn...

My little Oompa-Loompa

I thought Michael hated banana. I was wrong. That reaction was pretty mild compared to the reaction that carrot got this afternoon. It is the first savoury food he has tried and he was absolutely disgusted. He swallowed a fraction of a mouthful, retched and started to sob. I tried him with another mouthful and he spat it out and then wiped his hand all over his face. So he was screaming, wearing a 'Santa's Little Helper' bib, and bright orange. It took quite a while to scrub the stuff off. My mother told me that when I was little she would purée whatever they were eating, add sugar to it, sit me in front of "Sesame Street" and shovel it into my mouth. I didn't like savoury food. I'll give it another couple of days and if I keep getting the same reaction then I'll add a little apple purée and see if he likes it any better. So, the list is now as follows:

Foods that Michael likes doesn't hate:
  • Banana
  • Avocado
  • Apple
  • Rice cakes
  • Carrot

Sleep!

For the first time in over a month, Michael slept through the night without needing a feed. He woke for a little cry at 5am but was back to sleep within a couple of minutes. For the past week he has been waking twice a night for a feed. Prior to that he was waking at least once. I'm in a state of shock and am in some small danger of my boobs exploding.

I don't dare hope that this is going to be a regular thing because of his teething pain but it has been so pleasant to have more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Unrequited love

Michael loves Ron. Ron is one of our European Burmese cats. Maybe he likes Ron's red coat, or maybe it's his quiet manner, but Michael saves up his best smiles especially for Ron. Sadly, Michael's natural curiosity leads him to try to make a grab for him. Nothing says 'I love you' like being prodded in the back by a 7 month old baby with the co-ordination to match and the hand size of a one year old. We've been very careful and Michael has never hurt the cats, but Ron still doesn't enjoy Michael trying to touch him.

If only he'd prod Harry. To Harry any kind of attention is good attention and he'd probably get a giddy little thrill if Michael started twisting his ears.

I guess I'm starting to get a bit repetitive, but the last couple of days have been tough. Yet another tooth seems to be poised to make it's way through Michael's gums so that makes a grand total of 5 that are waiting to burst through. He has been constantly whining and no amount of distraction will placate him. Apart from the dribbling, chewing and red cheeks, teething brings with it a number of other symptoms, including nappy rash, so it certainly makes for one unhappy boy.

I'm glad no one told me how absolutely exhausting dealing with a teething baby is or I think I would have spent the first months of Michael's life in total dread of what was to come. One of my books suggests that some babies deal with teething by being a little bit grumpy one evening and - bang - a shiny tooth is visible the next day with barely a whimper. Who are these super-human babies?!? You can probably identify them by the supercilious look their mothers wear when they are out and about.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Success and failure

Today was our last session at baby gymnastics. It was sad to say goodbye to Lillith and to the other ladies that I have followed through both pregnancy yoga and baby gymnastics. I hope to keep in touch with some of them, but as I live well outside Amsterdam I won't be able to make it into the city as often as I would like.

I got some very useful advice from Lillith on offering solid foods to a baby. She suggested that offering it when the baby is on your knee is less intimidating and offers more encouragement. Since Michael has seemed to hate solid food so far, we gave it a try this evening with some puréed apple. It worked a treat and he was willingly opening his mouth and trying to feed himself. I was thrilled. It makes a lot of sense, when you think about it, as his only experience of nourishment for 6 months was nestled up against my chest. The only down-side is that Michael likes to share his success by leaning into me for a cuddle and I ended up getting covered in apple purée too.

So... that was the success.

Now for the failure.

It took two hours to get Michael to go to sleep this evening. We followed his usual bedtime routine and he simply would not settle. Initially he wasn't crying or obviously distressed but he was wide awake. We told him a story - "Goodnight Moon" - and he lay happily on my knee alternating between leaning into Phil for a cuddle and then doing the same with me. After a while he started to cry and chomp on his fists and I gave him some Dentinox. That had no effect whatsoever and he became really distressed. About an hour and another breastfeed later he finally fell asleep and I carried him up to his cot.

For the last 24 hours he has been periodically nestling into me, closing his eyes and then sucking his thumb furiously. He does this for a moment or two and then rouses himself and bounces back into action. Then a few minutes later he is back nestling into me. I think he is getting quite overtired because we have been rushing around a bit and the teething has been interfering with his naps. He doesn't nap when we are out and about unless we are in the car. For the next few days I'll keep activity outside the house to a minimum and will encourage him to get as much rest as possible.

Now that the baby gymnastics class has ended, I think I will enroll us in a baby swim class in Hoofddorp. The 0-1 age group have a 15 minute session in the pool once a week and I think that we would really enjoy it. The times are quite good so I hope to persuade Phil to come along with us.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Latest stats

Michael had an appointment at the baby clinic this afternoon so here are his 7 month stats:

Age: 7 months, 1 week and 2 days old
Weight: 9.410 kg (20.75 pounds)
Length: 71 cm
Head circumference: 44.8 cm
Current temperament: Asleep
Current location: Upstairs in his cot

When it comes to taking Michael to the baby clinic, I have rather a negative attitude to the whole experience. When I was a baby, I was breastfed for the first two months and never regained my birth weight. After switching to formula milk, I gained weight well, and then for a long time gained no weight at all. It was very distressing for my mother, who did the very best that she could, and as a consequence she never took my younger sister to be weighed because she did not want to put herself through the ordeal for a second time. I don't blame her at all.

I am the one who makes decisions for Michael such as breast or bottle; when he will feed; what solid food he will have; how much food he will have and when; when his teeth are cleaned; what he will wear; when he will nap. You get the picture. As a consequence I take feedback on Michael's well being very seriously and can react forcefully to suggestions I don't agree with.

We saw the nurse today at the baby clinic. We usually see a doctor that I like very much. She is thoughtful and well informed. The nurse is a bit of a battle-axe. She was not impressed that I have been giving Michael paracetamol at night to help him cope with the teething pain. Jeez... it is not as if I am not trying other options first. My first option is to offer the breast. If that doesn't work I try Dentinox (local anaesthetic applied to the affected area of the gum). If that doesn't work I try pacing the floor, singing and offering a finger to suckle on. If that doesn't work then I will use paracetamol because I am a mother and not some kind of baby torturer. Michael enjoys sleeping and not being in pain. I'm quite fond of that too. The nurse suggested that I use a homeopathic remedy. I politely (I can do polite... honest!) told her that I think homeopathic remedies are quackery.

We also had a bit of a disagreement on solid food. She made suggestions that contradicted what the doctor had told me previously. I have been advised on numerous occasions to be cautious introducing solid food because of the allergy history on my side of the family.

I do take her advice sometimes and she was the one who spotted the lump above Michael's eye so I won't say anything too impolite, even though she rather annoyed me today.

Physically, Michael is developing very well. The nurse put him onto his back and he was raising his head and upper body in an attempt to sit up. He promptly rolled onto his belly and tried to crawl backwards off the mat. He does crawl forwards sometimes and - shamefully - the best dangling carrot is the remote control for the satellite receiver. That makes me sound like a terrible mother but the only TV he watches is "Bubble and Squeak" once a day. I still don't understand what he sees in that wizard but he is always totally engrossed in the show.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Solids

Foods that Michael likes doesn't hate:
  • Banana
  • Avocado
  • Apple
  • Rice cakes
The gag reflex is still pretty powerful because he was quite sick after putting a piece of rice cake in his mouth that was a little too large. He doesn't seem to like solids yet, really, but we will persevere.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Photos from Amsterdam

Here are some of the photos that we took in Amsterdam. Firstly, the baby gymnastics photos.


In the photo on the right you can see a little girl with fantastically spiky blond hair and blue eyes. Michael likes gazing at her and they were furiously flapping their hands at each other earlier in the session.

Here we are enjoying some late afternoon sunshine outside the Tig Barra.




Mmmmm.... cheesy chips with bacon and onion. Delicious!


Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Fun in Amsterdam

We had a lovely day today. Michael has, for the last week, been in a lot of teething pain but today he has had a mercifully pain-free day. He woke up at 10am and I fed him and put him back in his cot to rest whilst I had a shower. HE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!! I couldn't believe it! He slept for another hour and then played very happily on the floor for most of the morning with his poppity pop car. Phil then returned home from the office and we headed off to the baby gymnastics class in Amsterdam. Michael was a bit grizzly but joined in with most of the activities and I got a good few belly laughs from him when I started blowing raspberries. He also enjoyed the sing along session. I was grandstanding a bit in that due to my fabulous memory for nursery rhymes ;o)

After the class we wandered over to the Tig Barra, which is an Irish pub on Overtoom. It was such a lovely sunny day that we were able to sit outside and soak up the atmosphere with a cup of tea and a big bowl of cheesy chips. Michael was incredibly peaceful the entire time. He zoned in on a couple of gossiping Irish gals sitting behind us and regarded them sternly for some time with his thumb firmly in his mouth. They were oblivious to his presence which clearly marks them out as barking mad because he is so gorgeous! I never would have believed a year ago when we sat outside the same pub with me heavily pregnant that we would be able to do this very thing with a 7 month old baby. We've managed to mesh our needs very nicely. Sadly, we couldn't set foot inside the pub because it is always so smoky. I can't see a smoking ban hitting pubs and restaurants any time soon.

Inspired by the success of the baby gymnastics class I have been casting around for further fun baby classes. Apparently there is an English story time held at one of the libraries in Amsterdam on a Friday afternoon. That is perfect because Phil will be able to come along. I hope to be able to find baby sign and baby swim classes. Phil has a new camera that can take good underwater shots with a special waterproof case. I'm going to avoid playgroups for now because I feel that Michael is too young. He can sit well unsupported but every now and then he will topple sideways. I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off him if we went to a playgroup and that would make it difficult to interact with other mums. There is a nice playgroup in Haarlem so when he is one year old I will take him along there.

It would probably be overly optimistic to hope for an equally nice day tomorrow, but hey, I can dream!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Baby gymnastics

Michael and I started a 3-session baby gymnastics course today at the Active Health Center in Amsterdam. The course is run by Lillith Turk who led the pregnancy yoga class that I attended for the majority of my pregnancy. It was nice to see her again as I hadn't been up to Amsterdam for a visit since we hired the birth pool (alas, unused) from her some 7 months ago.

The course is for babies of sitting to walking age and was attended by about 9 babies and their mummies. I have never had the opportunity to observe Michael in a group before and found that he was very placid, perhaps introverted, and accepting of everything that we did without crying or getting distressed (except when he toppled sideways and bumped his head - he has a little red mark on his forehead that I feel very guilty about). We played all sorts of games and both got a thorough workout. Michael liked it best when I lay on my back with my knees up and rested him on them. That is very close to the aeroplane game that Phil plays with him at home. I'm going to take the camera along next week to get some action shots.

He slept very well in the car on the way back. We detoured via Noordwijk so that we could pick up my birthday cake from the chocolatier there. It is a Moët & Chandon cake and I can't wait to eat it! I'll take a picture of that tomorrow. We had a little walk on the beach and I alarmed a tourist by breastfeeding Michael in the car on the beach front. Well I was hardly going to feed him out in that weather - I'd freeze my boobs off!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

General update

Foods that Michael likes:

  • Banana

Better luck next week, kid! I can't decide whether to try baby rice or sweet potato next. At least the breast milk in the baby rice will make it vaguely familiar. My mother told me that I absolutely loathed baby rice and that most of it ended up on the walls.

Phil and I are absolutely exhausted today. Michael slept for 7 hours last night rather than his usual 12 and woke up howling twice. He had already had some paracetamol for the teething pain at bedtime so I couldn't give him anything else. I fed him, sang to him, and put him back in his cot on the occasions when he did briefly settle. By 7am we had abandoned the idea of getting him back to sleep so Phil took him downstairs whilst I tried to get a little more sleep. In total, Phil had 3 hours sleep and I had 5. I don't know how Phil is still functioning on so little! Today he has plastered and painted most of the bathroom and he is still going. He says he is running on fumes. I'm guessing he'll be practically catatonic tomorrow.

Michael is making great progress with his physical strength. He can stand with support now and is crawling... backwards... I have tried placing his favourite toys in front of him in an effort to get him to crawl forwards but he just squeaks with annoyance as he slowly moves away from his prize. I called Phil at work to let him know that Michael was crawling and at that precise moment Michael attempted to crawl under the television stand. Only his well-padded bottom prevented him from disappearing from view.

Note to self: Finish that baby-proofing now!!