Rewind - January 2013

 

It has been 7 months since we arrived home after visiting the USA side of the family. I have to admit I got extremely nostalgic looking at the photo's of the last month of our visit there as I prepared to put together this post. I would love it if Australia and the USA were just a little closer to each other, and that our little John could grow up with both sides of the family close by.

What was also apparent to me when looking back at these photo's, was just how much John has grown and developed since we've been home. In January, he was still just learning how to move around, dragging his little legs (with considerable effort) just to move a foot or two, learning how to knaw and pick up food, rolling around and developing his cheeky little sense of humour. Now he can run, laugh, point, throw balls, babble, eat like a horse...but more of that later.

January in NC.

I haven't been around a lot of snow in my life. I grew up in the lower blue mountains and while it got quite cold there, it never snowed. Adelaide is right on the coast, so also no snow. I went to snow fields a couple of time as a teenager/YSA with family friends and church groups, and of course it snowed the first Christmas I spend with John in NC. So seeing it so rarely,snow is kind of a novelty for me. A week or so after Christmas we were lucky enough to get some snow while we were visiting, and so it was John G's first time seeing it, which I was super excited for.

 

 

 

And despite the snow, there were also some warmer days in January - we went to the Outerbanks with our boy to enjoy the sunshine and coast:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We also took a trip to the Aquarium at Manteo with Grandpa. It was freezing cold that day. John G was fascinated with the fishes.

 

 And of course, John just continued to be cute:

 

 

 

We're baaaccckkkk!!!!!

I know, I know, it's been ages...I've been busy...and slack...but we are still here, and I'm *hoping* I'll have a chance to do a massive download in the next week or so to capture all the stuff I've missed so far this year.

Our little family has been doing well since we got home from our massive trip the states for Christmas, John Geoffrey is growing so fast and every day he can do more and more things. I've posted the above video but it's pretty representative of what life is like at the moment. John is just the cutest little thing ever, and loves to play games with us...only he gets frustrated SOOOO easily if things don't go quite his way immediately. For instance, he loves to play with doors, especially the sliding door to the kitchen, and he loves peek-a-boo too, but just watch his instant reaction when he pushes the door too far and can get it back out. Sometimes it grates on your nerves (after a while) other times it's pretty funny. I couldn't help but laugh at him this time (and yes, I did get up and help him after).

Anyway, the reason I might have time to sit down and update the last few months is that I'm going in for an operation on Wednesday to have my gall bladder removed. I'll be at home on bed rest for a while for recovery, and John G will be at daycare during the day, so, it's possible that I'll be bored out of my brain, and possible that I might be able to go through the zillions of photo's on my camera and phone and update the blog. I know if I don't do it soon, some of those precious memories are going to be forgotten, and I really don't want that to happen.

6 months old!

Can you believe it? Our little boy is halfway to his first birthday! Time sure is flying. We still haven't found out where to get him weighed to check how chubba he really is, but he has grown and is now 68cm long! (perfect growth based on his length at birth).

This month has seen some major milestones in our little boys life, with two very exciting developments:

No. 1.

Yep, that's right! John now has two little teeth! The first one appeared on the 20th December, with the second one cutting through the next day. He looks so cute with his little teefers (as we like to call them). He's such a big boy now! PS. Sorry for the bluriness of the photo, it's the best I could do with a such a wiggly worm for a son.

No. 2.

We have started John on solids which for me is really fun (although I hear the excitement wears off pretty quick and it turns into just another thing to do, but for now, I love it).

As you can see, I'm not giving him any puree's or spoon-feeding. I had resisted feeding John solids (puree's) before 6 months as I really wanted him to have the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding up to then. One of the additional benefits of waiting til 6 months to introduce solids is that we can skip the whole puree thing altogether. This is because his co-ordination is developed enough that he can start feeding himself, and he is interested in learning how to chew (instead of just sucking or swallowing). This type of eating is called 'Baby Led Weaning' or BLW for short.

Avocado, mango and brocolli day - what a mess!

A gnawed up piece of apple

From all the reading I have done, the truth is he doesn't really need to eat much (if any) solid food at all just yet. Yes, at 6 months a baby does need need more nutrients than he can get from breastmilk alone, however, the need is very small and grows quite slowly - it develops about the same pace as his skill at getting food into his mouth and his body's ability to cope with it - so there is no reason to rush the introduction of solids.  John does have a store of nutrients he can draw on while he is learning to eat real food, the six month mark is only the point where most babies begin to need extra nutrients (they still have their full store or nutrients from birth at this stage - they haven't even started drawing on them yet) so the first couple of months of BLW is about exploring food - learning about different textures, shapes and sizes, and developing those chewing skills, eventually learning how to push food back in his mouth and then eventually swallowing it. So, by the time John actually needs to eat more (between about nine months and a year) he will be able to feed himself a wide variety of foods, and his eating will become more purposeful. In the meantime, we will just keep breastfeeding as normal.

I could go on and on about BLW, but I won't just now, only to say that it is just a philosophy about introducing solids that really resonates with me. Every mother has to adopt an approach that they feel comfortable with, and this approach may not suit everyone, but it is one that I really want to give a go, so yep, we are trying it :)

Other milestones for John this month:

John is still rolling absolutely everywhere. He has learned how to roll over and around things, often extricating himself from his playmat bars, and navigating through the gap between the couch and rocker chair, or over to the Christmas tree. He can turn himself on his tummy and his back to change direction. He still gets stuck sometimes (like this time where he had rolled himself way under the couch).

John is able to fully stretch his arms when lying on his tummy, and lift his upper half of his body off the ground, but he still hasn't worked out how to crawl yet. If he is on his tummy when he gets excited (i.e. if Daddy comes into the room) he'll lift his hands and legs off the ground and kick his legs like crazy - it looks like he's trying to swim. He can lift his bottom off the ground, but often ends up just rolling over rather than being able to push himself forward. When he is on the tiles he can push himself backwards.

He can sit up straight when leaning against something (like me if he is on my lap, or when he is the high chair, on the couch or the rocking chair in the mother's room at church).

He can pretty much grab anything he wants, and can manouvre himself to get what he wants. For example, one morning he rolled over to the book I had left on the floor on the other side of the room, and then, before I could stop him, he had pulled out the sheet of paper I had been using as my bookmark (thanks sweetheart, now I've lost my place!). Seriously though, he is a clever boy and I'm proud of him. He can also move objects he's grabbed from one hand to the other. If he drops things, he can pick them back up, even without looking at them. A few days ago, he dropped one of his toys when he was lying on the bed. He had dropped it up next to his head, so he couldn't quite reach it with his arms while he was lying on his back, so what did our clever boy do? He rolled over onto his tummy, picked it up in his mouth, rolled back onto his back and took it out his mouth with his hands. Clever, clever boy!

He loves to play with chip packets (loves that crinkley sound) and boxes. We also gave him cold carrots to munch on when he was teething.

He likes to touch faces a lot now. He'll pat my face and pull on my lips and hair while nursing now. He also loves Daddy's facial hair too. If he grabs your hand he will try and pull it into his mouth too.

He has started trying to blow raspberries with his mouth - its a feeble attempt at the moment, but so so cute.

He can eat his toes!

He really enjoys story time. John bought him a particular book for Christmas which includes a lot of animal noises as part of the story - this gets him giggling and gurgling and cooing every single time. It's adorable. He likes to hold the books after we have finished reading.

He can understand what some toys do. For example, he knows that the piano Grandma gave him for Christmas makes music if you press the buttons. He likes to do this both with his hands, but also with his feet :)

He also enjoys the extra room in his cot (compared to his bassinet at home). I often find him in weird positions when I go to pick him up after a sleep (sometimes he's even on his tummy trying to crawl).

He is also getting stronger, and will just roll straight over the bars on his playmat so that the whole thing collapses on top of him - he'll then play with it while it's lying on top of him. Crazy kid.

And...he just continues to be cute: