Leon: 9 months
Dec. 15th, 2012 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julietI haven't updated here for a while, but Leon is growing apace and being generally awesome.
He's pretty mobile now but hasn't quite made the leap to standing alone (for longer than a second or two) or walking. But he can pull up, cruise, use various objects (stool, cardboard box, laundry basket, rolling laundry hanging thing, even actual push-along walker with furry dog) as a push-along walker, and crawl at high speed. He started commando-crawling at just under 4.5 months, which was a little terrifying, and pulling up just past 6 months; so on the one hand we more or less skipped the "can be left to entertain self safely without moving" stage, but on the other hand we also skipped the "massively frustrated because cannot yet crawl" stage.
Like the dog (so at least we're used to it), he leaves a trail of chaos behind him. A particular favourite currently is pulling all the CDs off the shelf. We have 3 full bookshelves worth of CDs, there's no obvious way of babyproofing them all, so we're just letting him have at it & will replace any broken cases once he's done. Ditto all the books, which he has been pulling off shelves and staring happily at since he could crawl. I don't know if it's the contrast that appeals to him, or just the fact that PRINTED MATTER is clearly IMPORTANT as he is surrounded by the damn stuff on all sides. He likes reading his own books as well as staring at the grown-up ones, and can very nearly turn pages entirely unassisted now. (Which is to say: he *can* do so, but sometimes turns several at once by accident.)
Musical things are also of great interest currently: he picks at the strings on my guitar, shakes the various shaky things we have, bounces and coos happily when I sing to him, and stares intently at the speakers when I put music on. Taking things out of boxes also a big hit; and he can open cupboards now so likes to empty those. Putting things back in again not so much yet.
Lots of babbling, which is lovely. Mostly the *very loud* shrieking has subsided, which is nice as it was a bit embarrassing on buses. He may have developed a few words, but they're not in English, and we don't speak Leon, so we can't tell. He is certainly trying to communicate things with the babbling. (I do wish I knew what was going on in his head.)
We're still using slings, which is handy as he is very reluctant to be put down right now (developmental leap / teeth), so I spend much of the day putting him in and out of the ring sling (I don't like it for more than a few minutes at a time, as it's single-shoulder, but it's great for leaving on all day and putting him in & out of with minimal faff). I was vaguely thinking that as he got heavier we might find a pushchair easier, but so far that day has not dawned. Wrapping and mei tais are still comfy and way more convenient.
He's getting steadily better at feeding himself, but happily for Sidney plenty of it still hits the floor. We went the baby-led weaning route, pretty much in the full-on "stick some of what we're eating in front of him & let him have at it" version. I don't think I've made anything specifically for him at any point, though I have been making more effort with my own lunches, since I didn't want to give him wall-to-wall hummous sandwiches; and cooking without salt. So far I don't think we've found anything he won't eat (he's not having dairy (intolerant) or meat (my moral principles)), though he got a bit upset by an accidentally very spicy bit of curry aged about 6.5 months. His pincer grip is good enough now to handle chickpeas and rice, which is quite impressive. It's worked well for us; I'm far too lazy to faff around mushing things up, I like being able to eat alongside him, and the presence of the Sidney-hoover minimises cleanup afterwards. He's still having plenty of milk too, mind.
We're still doing part-time EC (ie with nappy backup), which is working out way better than I expected. I was pretty sceptical when a friend mentioned it when I was pregnant, but by now Leon seems to actively prefer using the potty at least some of the time, and will even deliberately 'tell' us sometimes. Fewer dirty nappies to deal with = a win IMO, & in general it hasn't been anything like as much faff as I expected. It's definitely something I'd recommend someone expecting a baby to look into.
He continues, broadly, to be a sleeper, which is to say that, most of the time, he only wakes for feeds at night, and dozes straight off again afterwards. We've had a few 3am wide-awake moments (associated with developmental spurts), or 5.30am up-for-the-day experiences, but really, in the grand scheme of things, few & far between. Having said that, if we had different expectations we'd likely be tearing our hair out. He doesn't go to sleep on his own (feeds to sleep or is slung to sleep); he doesn't nap or sleep on his own (in bed with a parent/in the sling/on a lap/on the sofa next to someone); his naps vary massively in length from 30 min to 2 hrs dependent on I-don't-really-know-what; his bedtime varies between 6.30pm & 9.30pm depending on what his naps have been like. Happily we're not that bothered by any of that, so as far as we're concerned his sleep is great ie it HAPPENS which is more than some folk I know can say of their tinies. But if we were lighter sleepers or were bothered about routine or even wanted more guaranteed baby-free time, it would be tricky.
More generally, I think I personally would be struggling with this whole thing a lot more were doop not doing so much of the heavy lifting; in that from the start he's been on Baby Duty (i.e. everything-but-feeding) Thu-Sun. So I do get baby-free time, albeit in lumps of 45-60 min (Leon is still something of a snacker, though if I'm out of the house he'll go for longer now), and I think that, for me, helps massively in being more relaxed about everything else. I'd get much more aerated about bedtime or naps if that was the ONLY time I was getting any time off, no question. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with Leon, but even if all I'm doing is hanging out while he plays, it's pretty full-on in terms of concentration required.
As it is, I'm still finding parenthood to be a lot of fun (whilst also sometimes immensely frustrating). Watching Leon develop skills and preferences and personality and a whole BRAIN is fascinating. He laughs at things! He is pleased to see me! He snuggles & then climbs off to go to something else! He can spend fifteen minutes looking at a cork! He is best friends with the Mirror Baby! (If a bit confused by the Mirror Mummy.) I was expecting to find this first year more of a slog, and to start enjoying it more as he got to the talking stage. In fact it's been lovely, and fascinating, and also kind of knackering, though even that, less than I expected.
I still don't feel like a parent, though. I mean, I'm responsible for this tiny human? Surely you want a grown-up on board for that. Baffling.
And finally: things Leon has been to in the last few months: the Olympics, the Paralympics, a Leonard Cohen gig, Waveform (hippy psytrance festival; we stayed in a TIPI and it was ACE), N Ireland to visitdoop's folks, Aberdeen to visit my relatives (this involved ferries, trains, a flood, and some epic train/taxi taking to get around the flood), the Birkbeck Babylab (three times, for BABY SCIENCE). Um, doubtless some other stuff. It's been a busy few months.
There are some photos on Flickr from doop and me, should you be interested in baby photos.
He's pretty mobile now but hasn't quite made the leap to standing alone (for longer than a second or two) or walking. But he can pull up, cruise, use various objects (stool, cardboard box, laundry basket, rolling laundry hanging thing, even actual push-along walker with furry dog) as a push-along walker, and crawl at high speed. He started commando-crawling at just under 4.5 months, which was a little terrifying, and pulling up just past 6 months; so on the one hand we more or less skipped the "can be left to entertain self safely without moving" stage, but on the other hand we also skipped the "massively frustrated because cannot yet crawl" stage.
Like the dog (so at least we're used to it), he leaves a trail of chaos behind him. A particular favourite currently is pulling all the CDs off the shelf. We have 3 full bookshelves worth of CDs, there's no obvious way of babyproofing them all, so we're just letting him have at it & will replace any broken cases once he's done. Ditto all the books, which he has been pulling off shelves and staring happily at since he could crawl. I don't know if it's the contrast that appeals to him, or just the fact that PRINTED MATTER is clearly IMPORTANT as he is surrounded by the damn stuff on all sides. He likes reading his own books as well as staring at the grown-up ones, and can very nearly turn pages entirely unassisted now. (Which is to say: he *can* do so, but sometimes turns several at once by accident.)
Musical things are also of great interest currently: he picks at the strings on my guitar, shakes the various shaky things we have, bounces and coos happily when I sing to him, and stares intently at the speakers when I put music on. Taking things out of boxes also a big hit; and he can open cupboards now so likes to empty those. Putting things back in again not so much yet.
Lots of babbling, which is lovely. Mostly the *very loud* shrieking has subsided, which is nice as it was a bit embarrassing on buses. He may have developed a few words, but they're not in English, and we don't speak Leon, so we can't tell. He is certainly trying to communicate things with the babbling. (I do wish I knew what was going on in his head.)
We're still using slings, which is handy as he is very reluctant to be put down right now (developmental leap / teeth), so I spend much of the day putting him in and out of the ring sling (I don't like it for more than a few minutes at a time, as it's single-shoulder, but it's great for leaving on all day and putting him in & out of with minimal faff). I was vaguely thinking that as he got heavier we might find a pushchair easier, but so far that day has not dawned. Wrapping and mei tais are still comfy and way more convenient.
He's getting steadily better at feeding himself, but happily for Sidney plenty of it still hits the floor. We went the baby-led weaning route, pretty much in the full-on "stick some of what we're eating in front of him & let him have at it" version. I don't think I've made anything specifically for him at any point, though I have been making more effort with my own lunches, since I didn't want to give him wall-to-wall hummous sandwiches; and cooking without salt. So far I don't think we've found anything he won't eat (he's not having dairy (intolerant) or meat (my moral principles)), though he got a bit upset by an accidentally very spicy bit of curry aged about 6.5 months. His pincer grip is good enough now to handle chickpeas and rice, which is quite impressive. It's worked well for us; I'm far too lazy to faff around mushing things up, I like being able to eat alongside him, and the presence of the Sidney-hoover minimises cleanup afterwards. He's still having plenty of milk too, mind.
We're still doing part-time EC (ie with nappy backup), which is working out way better than I expected. I was pretty sceptical when a friend mentioned it when I was pregnant, but by now Leon seems to actively prefer using the potty at least some of the time, and will even deliberately 'tell' us sometimes. Fewer dirty nappies to deal with = a win IMO, & in general it hasn't been anything like as much faff as I expected. It's definitely something I'd recommend someone expecting a baby to look into.
He continues, broadly, to be a sleeper, which is to say that, most of the time, he only wakes for feeds at night, and dozes straight off again afterwards. We've had a few 3am wide-awake moments (associated with developmental spurts), or 5.30am up-for-the-day experiences, but really, in the grand scheme of things, few & far between. Having said that, if we had different expectations we'd likely be tearing our hair out. He doesn't go to sleep on his own (feeds to sleep or is slung to sleep); he doesn't nap or sleep on his own (in bed with a parent/in the sling/on a lap/on the sofa next to someone); his naps vary massively in length from 30 min to 2 hrs dependent on I-don't-really-know-what; his bedtime varies between 6.30pm & 9.30pm depending on what his naps have been like. Happily we're not that bothered by any of that, so as far as we're concerned his sleep is great ie it HAPPENS which is more than some folk I know can say of their tinies. But if we were lighter sleepers or were bothered about routine or even wanted more guaranteed baby-free time, it would be tricky.
More generally, I think I personally would be struggling with this whole thing a lot more were doop not doing so much of the heavy lifting; in that from the start he's been on Baby Duty (i.e. everything-but-feeding) Thu-Sun. So I do get baby-free time, albeit in lumps of 45-60 min (Leon is still something of a snacker, though if I'm out of the house he'll go for longer now), and I think that, for me, helps massively in being more relaxed about everything else. I'd get much more aerated about bedtime or naps if that was the ONLY time I was getting any time off, no question. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with Leon, but even if all I'm doing is hanging out while he plays, it's pretty full-on in terms of concentration required.
As it is, I'm still finding parenthood to be a lot of fun (whilst also sometimes immensely frustrating). Watching Leon develop skills and preferences and personality and a whole BRAIN is fascinating. He laughs at things! He is pleased to see me! He snuggles & then climbs off to go to something else! He can spend fifteen minutes looking at a cork! He is best friends with the Mirror Baby! (If a bit confused by the Mirror Mummy.) I was expecting to find this first year more of a slog, and to start enjoying it more as he got to the talking stage. In fact it's been lovely, and fascinating, and also kind of knackering, though even that, less than I expected.
I still don't feel like a parent, though. I mean, I'm responsible for this tiny human? Surely you want a grown-up on board for that. Baffling.
And finally: things Leon has been to in the last few months: the Olympics, the Paralympics, a Leonard Cohen gig, Waveform (hippy psytrance festival; we stayed in a TIPI and it was ACE), N Ireland to visit
doop's folks, Aberdeen to visit my relatives (this involved ferries, trains, a flood, and some epic train/taxi taking to get around the flood), the Birkbeck Babylab (three times, for BABY SCIENCE). Um, doubtless some other stuff. It's been a busy few months. There are some photos on Flickr from doop and me, should you be interested in baby photos.
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no subject
Date: 2012-12-17 10:31 am (UTC)I hadn't heard of EC before but it sounds like a great idea.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-17 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-18 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-18 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-16 04:39 pm (UTC)Have you thought about doing a bit of babysign? 9 months is getting in to top age for it - they have better motor control for sign than for speech (which requires really complex interplay of very fine motor control when you think about it) for quite a while. Results vary - **FIXME took to spoken language without really doing much sign, but **TODO used a bit more before he got verbal; I've friends whose kids were fluent signers and swear that it really helped with reducing frustrated rages. Something that really clocked in my head when I did it with mine was that all babies and toddlers sign (two hands in the air and a supplicating face is almost universal for 'pick me up', 'frinstance, and you can say a surprising amount with just facial expressions and pointing), it's just that some parent/child combos develop a broader vocabulary than others. It was striking how easy it was to develop a shared made-up pidgin for things where my very-scanty BSL drew a total blank. It was also occasionally handy for one parent to be able to talk to the other about things like 'milk', 'nappy change' or 'medicine' without needing spoken language.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-16 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-16 05:26 pm (UTC)Just this week he's started doing something that looks like "milk", which i fogrot to mention above but which is fab. And as you say there's a certain amount of communicative sign (we get "pick me up" now) anyway. I should look up a few more signs and do them a bit more consistently. I use "rain" and "sun" and "boat" sometimes, and sing a couple of songs with signs. He is still only sort-of waving and not clapping yet, so I suspect it'll be a while longer before we see much more, but I figured it would be worth it if it was only a little bit likely to reduce toddler rages.
I do wonder though if he'll be less inclined to use it without another small person around - everyone around him is very verbal rather than gesticulatory. Anecdotally it seems to me like kids with elder siblings make more use / sooner use of sign. But that might be also to do with adults knowing more / using it more consistently.
We've used "milk" and "asleep/awake" between adults quite a lot :)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-16 09:47 pm (UTC)We went to classes. The local classes happened to be really good and have a nice bunch of mums at them. They did mean that I knew lots and lots of signs ready for when he did get into signing seriously and I'm not convinced that we'd have done more than a few signs had I not been to them.
By the way, Owen (who was an early crawler but not as early as Leon) had 7 months of cruising confidently around the furniture before he finally bothered to learn to walk, so you may have a while to go yet. Early crawlers have a reputation for being late walkers!
no subject
Date: 2012-12-17 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-18 04:28 pm (UTC)It does seem that his motivation re moving around has diminished a bit now, in that he was obviously DESPERATE to get moving and to get up on his feet. But now he can get around at high speed and stand up (& climb up &...), so I don't think he's quite so bothered about walking. doop walked early, but he never crawled at all. Having said that Leon is clearly moving towards standing independently (if only by accident, iyswim, as he gets more stable), and his crawling is mutating into a bizarre kind of semi-crouched Gollum-like thing, so...