Fun on the farm

I’ve been to Washington DC (well, Arlington, VA) twice in the last month with work – both times at short notice. This has meant leaving Anne quite literally holding the baby (ThingOne). And I’ve missed the monkey. And I’ve missed ThingOne too (you see – I was calling Anne a monkey).

Each time I’ve left for the US ThingOne has been ill, and wanted to sleep on one of us all day. When she's like this she seems very much like a small baby again. It’s been sad to leave, but while I’ve been away Anne has been sending me photos of a seemingly different girl – now confidently walking around and interested in everything.

It was great to come home last week to a well baby and as the weather was nice on Sunday we took her, along with some friends and their baby of a similar age, to Wimpole Hall Farm not far from Cambridge.

ThingOne’s been interested in animals recently, but mainly sees dogs, cats and garden birds, so it was good to show her some pigs, cows, goats and chickens. Mainly though she enjoyed the playground and especially being pushed around on a toy tractor.

Somehow we’ve created a fearless girl. She was trying to touch the snouts of HUGE pigs through the bars and didn’t seem fearful of any of the animals. Mainly, ThingOne wanted to walk as far as she could away from her mum and dad. I don’t know how far she’d have gone if we’d let her just walk and walk, but we let her go pretty so far and she didn’t show any signs of stopping.

ThingOne had a pretty poor night’s sleep after her trip to the farm. I think we may have over-stimulated her, poor lamb.

A wandering Bean

ThingOne's taken to walking more than crawling in the last couple of weeks, and seems to be having a whale of a time. Given she's also been pushing through four molars in the last few month that should probably be "wail" of a time. See how I play with words?


She's learning a few words. She says bye-bye a lot when we leave the room, when she WANTS us to leave the room (charming!) and when she hides a crayon in her truck. She also says hiya.

She's said mama a few times, but not necessarily aimed at Anne. It more usually means she wants us to show her this, her favourite YouTube video (yes, she will have a minuscule attention span, I know).

No sign of her calling me dada. She used to say it a fair bit, but seems to have stopped. Maybe she'll call me Stephen in the style of Bart Simpson. (Bart Simpson calls me Stephen.)

ThingOne does impressions too. She can do a squirrel eating a nut, and a fairly good lobster (odd, I know).

She's become obsessed with clocks in the last week, I imagine because she's taken by the idea of the unstoppable passing of time. SHe mainly shows this by pointing at clocks a lot and chanting tick tock. It doesn't sound much like tick tock but is in the same rhythm as I say tick tock to her in when she points at a clock, and she finds it very funny when I say this. I like an audience that's easy-to-please.

Since turning a year old ThingOne has become a lot of fun. There's lots of smiling and laughing, and, illnesses and teeth aside, she's generally a happy little one. She'll generally entertain us and stop us from doing any chores we ought to be doing. He she is stopping Anne putting the washing away by wearing a pair of my boxer shorts on her head:


Meanwhile, the little free time I have has been spent installing Ubuntu on my laptop (dual booting with XP). This is the popular Linux-based operating system, and I'm enjoying the geekiness of it. I'm also rediscovering the joy of computer games, having installed a few simple shoot 'em ups on it. Ubuntu's Beryl desktop manager can give Windows Vista a run for its money, though I find a lot of the effects gimmicky, so turn them off usually. (I turn them back on when I want to impress people though. Now I just need to find someone who'll be as impressed as I am with a whizzy PC desktop. Ahem.) Here's a video of someone playing about with Ubuntu. That's right - look impressed!

Party girl

We had a party for ThingOne yesterday afternoon, along with two other babies who turned one this week. (Are one year olds still babies?) We hired a church hall, and a load of mums with babies turned up for some food, frantic play and surprisingly few tears.

It's interesting for me to see ThingOne amoung other babies, and to see what Anne gets up to in the week (parties, food and drink by the look of it). It's also good to see what other babies of ThingOne's age are doing. We tend to like to think ThingOne is very advanced but of course what different babies can do at one varies wildly. ThingOne's lack of hair makes her look very much like a baby still, whereas other one year olds are looking like little boys and girls.

ThingOne was a bit grotty (teething? we always say that) but I think she enjoyed herself, that is assuming enjoyment can be measured in the number of breadsticks she ate.

I'm giving Picasa web albums a try, as they look pretty good, so click on the photo below to go to the album. There's a good slideshow option. There are far too many photos on here, so don't feel you have to look at them, especially if you don't know the people in the photos!

2007-01-12, Hannah, Jake and ThingOne's first birthday party

The year of the ThingOne

We're feeling pretty happy today, thinking about the last year. Our lives have been pretty different to before, and we've had an amazing time watching her grow (not that it wasn't difficult and tiring at times!) It's hard for us to imagine what she'll be like in another year.

We've bought her a push-along trike for her birthday, and she'll be having a party with some of her baby friends on Friday.

To give Anne and me a chance to reminisce, here's a four-minute video (with sound) of ThingOne's first year (assuming YouTube isn't down, as it was when I first tried to publish this).

Thanks go out to our friends and family for being supportive and putting up with our exhaustion in the last year.



Happy first birthday ThingOne!

She walks!

I don't know why I've not added video to the blog before, but I haven't, and now I have.

ThingOne's started trying to stand last Saturday, and on New Year's Day took a few steps. She's not entirely steady, but has been doing a lot of practicing and seems to enjoy it. Here you can she she even dares peform a quick spin!

A seasonal message

According to our contract, as relatively new parents we're obliged to take this kind of photo on ThingOne's first Christmas. We're off to Anne's mum's now. Have a good one.

Long time no post

It's been a busy time. ThingOne's coming on leaps and bounds, though her leaping and bounding aren't coming on very well at all. She keeps teasing us that she may walk soon, but then she's been doing that for a while now.

Anne and my mum were in a shop a month or so ago and Anne got a push-along trolley off the shelf to see if ThingOne liked it (by liked it I guess I mean did she go towards it or crawl away screaming). She certainly did like it, as she stood up against it and ran away from Anne, pushing the trolley across the shop! Anne was astounded and nearly moved to tears. It must have been quite a sight (though she's been cruising along the furniture for a while we'd never seen her do this). My mum bought the trolley (spoiling her granddaughter!) and she and Anne took great pleasure showing me the new trick when I got home.


ThingOne's saying a few words, notably "duck" ("Du!") and "Dada" (which I love, but she says it to the washing machine as well as to me). More so than her talking though her understanding of words is coming on well. She knows what "din-dins" is (are?), and understands "bye bye" (she waves) and hello. She obeys "clap your hands", "touch your nose" and "nod your head" (when she feels like it) and waves goodbye to the Teletubbies at the end of an episode. We have a magnetic sheep toy which we call Bepjabbah on our fridge, and we realised the other day that ThingOne now knows Bepjabbah by name. What rubbish are we teaching the poor girl?

As we near Christmas, ThingOne seems to have got a virus called "Slapped Cheek". She's very coldy, and has bright red cheeks. She's also falling asleep a lot and wanting lots of cuddles (not like her at all!) Poor thing. If she doesn't get better in a few days her first Christmas won't be much fun.

The second nine months

ThingOne turned nine months today. We often remember and talk about 11th January - it was an amazing day for us and our lives have changed a lot since then.

We've been a bit knocked out recently by illness (Anne was so dehydrated she was delerious on Saturday night - not something I'm in any hurry to see again). Being ill, like much else, is so much harder when you have to look after a baby. The rewards are, or course, just great. We have so much fun seeing ThingOne play, crawl, climb, laugh, clap, dance (a kind of freaky head-banging she does) and interact with us.

Someone sang "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" to ThingOne today, and ThingOne clapped her hands. This is a bit surprising for us, since it's not a song we've ever sung to her. We do sing a couple of "Clap your hands" songs to her though, so it seems she now understands the phrase "clap your hands", where we'd just thought she just recognised the tunes and knew to clap. Weird! I guess we'd better stop saying inappropriate things around her if she's starting to take in words.

The next few months will, I suppose, see more changes as ThingOne turns into a little girl - a transformation we can already see starting.

Maybe consistent sleeping will come with that? We can hope.

The Four Toothies of the Apocalypse

Through our haze of tiredness, it's great watching ThingOne change and become a little person, with personality and wants. She's starting to get annoyed if you take a toy (or , say, a leaf that she's decided to eat) away from her. That's not going to be a fun trait to deal with, but it's interesting to see it, and everything else, develop. She's moving around confidently now, standing against things and climbing at every opportunity.


ThingOne's got yet another cold, and it's coincided with about four teeth coming through at once (perhaps the culprits in the small matter of our poor nights' sleep since the start of August). These join the one tooth (well, half-a-tooth really) that's already there, and have made her very clingy and grotty. Anne had been dealing with a grumpy baby for most of Friday when she found the freezer had defrosted as we'd left the door open. A lot of food lost, including about two weeks of meals Anne had made for ThingOne. A disaster. The cost is bad enough, but worse is the time Anne has spent and will have to spend again. Spare time isn't something we're rolling in at the moment, what with needing to be in bed by 10pm most nights due to exhaustion.

I had a stunning victory today though, when I saved a fair amount of money by braving the NCT Nearly New Sale. Here, lots of parents off-load baby-goods. You can save a fair bit of money on reasonable stuff, since babies tend to grow out of things before the wear them out. I got some clothes, but the main buys I heroically fought other desperate parents off for were:

- a stair-gate to stop her getting into the hall (she hates this - she looked through the bars as though we'd chucked her into Guantanamo Bay);

- a sit on walker thing (a bit battered - it's clearly been "pre-loved" but there's no guarantee ThingOne will take to it and Mothercare wanted £50 - ten times what I paid - for a similar bit of plastic);

and
- a metal framed baby-carrying backpack.

The last item was a good find, and when we put ThingOne into it and walked her into Cambridge and back we knew I'd made a good choice. She was looking everywhere and beaming with joy much of the time (not a look we've seen much in the last few cold-laden days).

On the way back, about half a mile from home, ThingOne's appreciation manifested itself in physical form when she threw up down my back. Nice. Such is my resigned demeanour, my spirit beaten down into acceptance by almost nine months of parenting and bodily fluids, that I just carried on walking, and haven't yet changed my shirt. I'm sure ThingOne will appreciate my sacrifices in years to come...

Holiday at home

I had the last week off work. We'd thought about going on holiday somewhere, but weren't up for the organisation and upheaval that going away with a seven month old would involve. A couple of months ago we were feeling more confident, but ThingOne's sleeping has taken a turn for the worse. I think staying at home turned out to be the best thing we could have done, as I wouldn't have wanted to be in a hotel and up all hours trying to get ThingOne back to sleep. So we got the grannies over a few afternoons and one evening to babysit and Anne and I had some time on our own. Anne had her first evening out in over seven months!

We'd planned to go to a zoo on Monday, but the weather was pretty dire so we made a snap decision to go to Bluewater shopping centre instead. Whilst there are people who would consider this a good day out, Anne and I aren't two of them. Generally we shun shopping centres. However, we figured:
- it's an hour away so ThingOne can get some much-needed sleep in the car;
- we'd be indoors and dry; and
- there are coffee shops there.

ThingOne seemed to enjoy looking at everything. I think she may have been a bit over stimulated though.


We spent the day doing very little shopping, walking around trying to keep ThingOne as calm as we could, and drinking coffee. In one coffee shop I noticed ThingOne was getting more out of the sports section of the paper than I ever do:


My mum had bought ThingOne a helium balloon, which ThingOne has been having a lot of fun with. A few times we've seen the balloon coming before we see ThingOne coming, so with her now mobile we figure tying a helium balloon to her will help stop us treading on her (I nearly did the other day when I wasn't looking where I was going). This, I suppose, is following the principle used in Jaws when they harpoon some barrels to the great white so they can see where he is in the water. At least the shark wasn't threatening to pull their laptop onto the floor by the power lead.


Her "crawling" is pretty funny to watch. She can do a few "steps" on her hands and knees, but finds it much faster to lie on her front and drag herself along with her hands a la James Caan in Misery (after he's had his knees shattered by Kathy Bates).

Seven months on : ThingOne Beta

Release notes

It was seven months ago yesterday that we released ThingOne into the public domain after nine months of private development. Following some testing, we're pleased to announce that she is now officially in Beta release. Whilst ThingOne Beta is not entirely stable, she has several exciting new features.

New Features:
- Sitting Mode. Now relatively stable with little falling backwards.
- Dental Module. Installation of first tooth subroutine mostly completed by this morning. We're hoping to install more teeth over the next few months, but this one took so long to install and the installation caused a lot of issues with Sleep Mode (see Known Issues)
- Crawl Mode. This new mode has been developed over the last few weeks and it's still tentative, but ThingOne is able to move around a room and get what she wants (e.g. her developers' coffee cups - this is likely a product of faulty Java). Bugs still need to be ironed out as ThingOne tends to get quite frustrated and fall on her GUI (face) a lot. In addition, directional parameters need work as there is much crawling backwards leading to ThingOne moving away from her intended target. Note that this mode may require some upgrades to the operating environment (see below).
- Climb Mode. This bonus mode has been developed at the same time as Crawl Mode contrary to standard development procedures. ThingOne Beta has a high chance of crashing when entering this mode, especially when near the Futon Module as if the Climb routine is not completed ThingOne's GUI (face) will often collide with the desktop (floor).
- Improved search algorithm. ThingOne Beta will now look round corners to find people or things she suspects are there. Whilst not an impressing sounding feature, it should be viewed in relation to the primitive search facility she had during alpha development.
- Sound. ThingOne's sound module has received some upgrades, though no true functionality has been achieved. We've managed to enable several new babbling sounds, but though we may imagine she is purposefully saying "Dada" and "Mama" we suspect this is just a product of the randomiser algorithm.
-Hair. We've introduced some more hair in this release, though not a lot. Whilst this is really just an upgrade to the front end, and does not achieve significant new functionality, it can be quite a fun feature since it can be molded into amusing styles and ThingOne's developers can laugh at her and take photos.

Operating environment:
- ThingOne Alpha would happily operate (though with limited functionality) in most operating environments. The introduction of Crawl Mode and Climb Mode has meant that there are some environments in which it would not be advisable to operate ThingOne Beta. These are mainly due to security concerns. A firewall (also called a stair gate) will soon be needed, and various drivers may be needed to secure wiring, sockets and cupboards.

Known Issues:
- Sleep Mode. During alpha development we thought we might have had this mode fairly stable, but the introduction of new features seems to be conflicting with this. There have been nights recently where ThingOne has been exiting Sleep Mode much more than is acceptable. Many times we have been unable to initiate Sleep Mode, even after attempting for extended periods of time. Often, Wail Mode has been activated by mistake and this can be hard to shut down. Sleep Mode has been shown to be especially unreliable during the day.
- Wail mode. We're looking to tone this mode down and reduce its occurrence. A Calpol patch has been released which can sometimes help, but we're told that this patch should be used sparingly. Suggestions of a gin patch have not yet been taken up.

Central Parcs

On the weekend following my mum’s surprise sixtieth birthday we went to Centre Parcs. The choice of destination was largely determined by not knowing where to go with a baby. We didn’t fancy being in a hotel room with ThingOne, having to be quite so as not to wake her up and not being able to stray far when she’s asleep at night. Some friends recommended Centre Parcs, and we’d never been so thought we’d give it a try.

It worked out well. With my mum, sister and brother-in-law there we had five adults to entertain ThingOne, which kept her fairly happy, and there was a fair amount for us to do. Anne even got a morning at the spa, which I think is the most time she’s had off in six months. We took ThingOne for a swim each day, which she loves. Anne takes her to the local pool each week for a baby session, so it was nice to be able to do it myself. ThingOne didn’t really make the most of the facilities. Her bike riding is rubbish, and her abseiling woeful, but I think she enjoyed herself.

She’s just starting to notice animals. A few months ago I showed her some ducks and swans and she didn’t react (until a swan got angry at her and ThingOne started crying). I don’t think she registered them as unusual. Now though, she’s fascinated. When we arrived at our chalet/cabin there were loads of ducks and ducklings outside and ThingOne was happy to look at them for ages. The view from our lounge window was like a scene from a Disney cartoon, with ducks, squirrels, rabbits and birds looning about. (Not sure which Disney cartoon I mean, but it was more Bambi than Aladdin.)


My mum and I took ThingOne out in a pedalo while Anne watched a football match (an England World Cup game). We thought ThingOne might find it cool being on the water, but she was more interested in watching our feet as we peddled. She looked a bit ridiculous in her life jacket, so at least we had a laugh at her expense.

La jour de le pere de la pear

My first Father's Day (as a dad), and ThingOne was kind enough to buy me a book ("Freakonomics") and a mug with a picture of the two of us on. Good girl.

Anne had started giving ThingOne some solids a few days before, so on ThingOne on Father's Day I got to feed ThingOne some mashed up pear. She seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, and even managed to get some of it in her mouth (the rest was coating my shirt and trousers, ThingOne's face and clothes, the chair, and my mum's patio).

Part of the reason there was so much pear sprayed everywhere was ThingOne wouldn't let me feed her. She insists on grabbing the spoon and putting it in her mouth herself. She has a pretty good hit ratio, though also likes to take it out of her mouth and wave the spoon around after. My mum, the proud granny, said "She's feeding herself - how many five month olds can do that". Her cousin Jan, who has five grandchildren of her own, tactfully said nothing. She probably knows as we do that ThingOne would anything you gave her straight into her mouth, so it's not too amazing for her to put the spoon there. If ThingOne had been handed a worm she'd have put that straight in her gob and my mum would have been less impressed.

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.

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.

Lotsa ThingOne

There haven't been many photos of ThingOne posted recently. This is because we had my mum's diggy camera on loan for a few weeks and managed to get some good shots. Since then I've only had my diggy camera, which isn't as good and the photos don't seem as good.

I keep meaning to get a reasonably decent diggy camera, but I can't seem to find the time to read up on them to figure out which one to get. There are so many variables. I don't need a top of the range one - just 4-5 megapixels. That should suit most needs shouldn't it. The important thing is it needs to be able to take decent photos without a flash more often than my current ones. I keep upsetting ThingOne with the flash.

Last weekend Anne's sister Kerry visited with her boyfriend Mark. Mark has a very good camera, and we got some nice shots of ThingOne. So here are a few.

ThingOne likes looking over people's shoulders, so this is a view we see a lot of.


She looks wise beyond her weeks in this one below.

ThingOne seemed to like looking at Mark a lot. Given that she was similar with my brother-in-law, Chris, I reckon she must have a thing for beards.


This one isn't done with Mark's camera. You can probably tell by the quality. However, it shows how much ThingOne likes the new mobile we bought her last weekend.

Logan's Bum

Oh dear, ThingOne's losing her hair. She had lovely blonde/brown/red hair, and it's falling out. The top of her head is now mostly bald, and she has a bald patch round the back too. She looks slightly ridiculous, I have to say. Poor ThingOne.

ThingOne has more nicknames than you could shake a stick at. Well, several, so I guess that depends on the size and weight of your stick.


-The Bean, or Beanie, or Beanster. Obviously.
-Logan, as she looks like Michael York in Logan's Run when she's in one of her white sleep suits.
-Baldy Baby. See above.

I had a fright the other day when Logan did some projectile pooing when I was changing her nappy. It flew across her change table! Amazing. Anne tells me of a friend who knows of a baby whose poo once squirted six feet, so now I'm getting competitive. Come on Baldy - you can do it!

There IS still good in me...

I got to have a short cuddle with ThingOne this morning when Anne nipped to the loo mid feed (I generally don't get to see much of ThingOne before I leave for work). Her (ThingOne's, not Anne's) bum exploded mid cuddle, so I gave her back to Anne and said I had to leave for work. I am a terrible father.

Throughout Anne's pregnancy I would say to her tummy, in a booming voice, "I AM YOUR FATHER BEANIE. JOIN ME AND TOGETHER WE CAN BRING ORDER TO THE GALAXY!"

Like Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, obviously.

I suspect ThingOne enjoyed this while inside, but the fun is multiplied now (by a number greater than one). First, she sometimes cries like a baby like Luke does in that scene. Second, initially her sleep suits were too large for her and her hand wouldn't be protruding from her sleeve, making it look like it had been lopped off by a lightsabre.

I then tend to throw her in the vast expanse of Cloud City where she may or may not fall through some tubes and get rescued by the Millenium Falcon. (Of course I don't really do that last bit. That would be silly.)