Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Telekinesis baby

We've had a busy Easter weekend, and I took two extra days off, so it's been a good long break for me.

We went to the first birthday party of the child of some friends on Saturday. It was a two hour drive away. We'd not had ThingOne in the car for this long before, but apart from a little noise on the way back ThingOne behaved well for her anxious parents. It was odd to see a one year old and babies of various ages, as it gave me an indication of what ThingOne might be doing in the months to come. (Anne sees lots of babies during her days, so it was less of a revelation to her.)

It was good that ThingOne wasn't bad in the car, since on Chocolate Egg Sunday we drove up to Lincolnshire (another two hours) to see Anne's mum and step dad. We stayed there on Sunday and Monday night, and on Monday traveled to Bridlington (Yorkshire) and back to see Anne's grandparent (ThingOne's great grandparents, obviously).



ThingOne has shown a new talent in the last few weeks - telekinetic powers. I know it sounds like a parent's boasting, but really - she has found that she can move her hands using just the power of her mind. She stares at her hands in awe as she moves them through the air. It's fun to watch. (Fun for me, as her dad. For most people it'd be pretty dull.)

Anne spent a small fortune on a handmade wooden rattle. I took the mickey a fair bit but it turned out to be a timely purchase. ThingOne started hitting hanging toys and grabbing things a few weeks ago, and has been able to hold some of her soft toys for short periods. However, she has been holding and shaking this rattle quite well and for prolonged periods of time. Here's a photo of her in her Bumbo seat her Auntie Lindsay bought her, weilding her rattle like a light sabre. The force is strong with this one.

Not as clumsy or random as a blaster...

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Three months on...


ThingOne's nearly three months old (three calendar months I mean, she hit the three lunar months mark on Wednesday). Has it really been that long? Yes. It has.

She's changed a fair bit recently. Lots of nice smiles and now grabbing at things. She started to go down very easily in the evenings, which meant Anne and I would get a pleasant evening together without worrying that she'd be awake and crying soon. Fairly consistently she'd be up once in the night for a feed, at some point between 11.30pm and 4am. Consistently unpredictable.


Then, around the ten week mark, she dropped her night feed and was sleeping from 8pm through to sometime between 6am and 8am. It was amazing! Anne and I really hoped it would continue, and it did. For nine consecutive nights.

Last night though it fell apart a bit. She wouldn't settle at 8pm, and then was up at 3.30am for a feed. In addition, Anne was ill all night, which may have been connected. Perhaps ThingOne was off her game due to her mum being ill? She took a fair while to settle tonight too, so I'm expecting another night feed tonight (though it'll be Anne giving her the feed, not me). Let's hope the previous NINE NIGHTS weren't a fluke and we get back to the bliss of a good night's sleep soon.

In general, ThingOne's being a little angel. She's very pleasant to be around, and is a pretty happy baby. That makes it sadder when she cries and cries and cries, since we think something must be wrong (whereas before we just accepted she'd cry for no reason some times.)

All the other babies from our ante-natal class are giggling already, and ThingOne isn't. ThingOne's the youngest, but only by a few days. Anne and I are desperate to get a giggle out of her, so we've been looning around a lot to try to make ThingOne laugh. A friend suggested that perhaps ThingOne is more highbrow than us, so I'm going to start reading her some Oscar Wilde quips. I should at least get a wry smile from her.