Can you believe it? The littlest monkey is already 10 months old. Of course I intended to write regular updates on him here, with snapshots of his life at each stage. So instead, here are loads of photos all from one month. Never mind...
With both boys we have been taking photos sitting on the sofa every month 'birthday'. I thought it would be fun to see how they've grown and developed, with the sofa there every time as a measuring stick. T looks quite happy sat there, doesn't he? I was ready to leap forward and catch him if he attempted to crawl off though...
He's been pulling himself up to standing and cruising around the furniture for a while now. He uses the kitchen chairs as a walker, pushing them round until they get stuck somewhere. This evening he was doing it while K was sitting on the chair, attempting to eat this dinner! He's also now mastered standing up unaided from sitting on the floor, grinning proudly and lowering himself back down again. Our job is to look on and applaud enthusiastically.
At the (deserted) children's culture centre the other day, T demonstrated his high-speed escape crawling. After this brief pause to look back at me, he was away and out the door.
No recognisable words just yet, but T is becoming quite the chatterbox and is set to rival K for his preschool 'loudest voice' award I think. With both of them around I can't hear myself think at times...
Putting things in his mouth is a popular activity at the moment, especially plastic beakers and Bob the Builder Duplo (usually Bob, Wendy or Pilchard). Since he needs his hands for crawling, he holds favourite toys in his mouth and sets off like a little dog...
T has a lot in common with K at this age. He eats tremendously, even more than K did. Like K, he'll eat anything we offer him, and with great enthusiasm. At the moment he eats 3 substantial meals a day and usually has 3 or 4 breast-feeds too. A typical day's menu might be porridge with fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, cheese sauce pasta bake with tuna and vegetables for lunch and meat and veg stew with rice for dinner. At the end of each meal we say 'Gochisou-sama-deshita'; if he's had enough he smiles and claps his hands but if not he immediately starts crying. He's very easy to understand. If he's still hungry it's not unusual for him to polish off a whole banana as dessert...
T has a lot in common with K at this age. He eats tremendously, even more than K did. Like K, he'll eat anything we offer him, and with great enthusiasm. At the moment he eats 3 substantial meals a day and usually has 3 or 4 breast-feeds too. A typical day's menu might be porridge with fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, cheese sauce pasta bake with tuna and vegetables for lunch and meat and veg stew with rice for dinner. At the end of each meal we say 'Gochisou-sama-deshita'; if he's had enough he smiles and claps his hands but if not he immediately starts crying. He's very easy to understand. If he's still hungry it's not unusual for him to polish off a whole banana as dessert...
We're very lucky that T is also a good night-time sleeper (touch wood!). He usually sleeps from 8.30 or 9 until about 7.30 in the morning, occasionally waking up at late at night but usually settling again pretty quickly. However, he hardly ever naps. If we're out in the car or pushchair he might have a little sleep but if we're at home then the best I can hope for is 20 minutes in my arms after lunch, waking up if I attempt to put him down...
As well as giant Lego and stacking beakers, T likes his Scooby Doo toy (thanks Georgie!), bricks and whichever of K's instruments he can get his hands on. T likes to look at books, and already has clear favourites. I've seen him pulling countless books of the shelf until he gets to the one he wants.
He ignores all the teething rings I offer him in favour of his own thumb, and likes to clamp down on my leg too. He often crawls up to me and lies his head down on my lap or leg, which is very sweet. A favourite game is Get Mummy To Lie On The Floor And Then Climb All Over Her, one which K likes to join in with too...
Most of the time, T is a happy, smiley little boy, as long as I'm with him. H's mum looks after him twice a week while I work, for less than 2 hours a time. He starts screaming as soon as she arrives and doesn't stop until I get back or he falls asleep exhausted, whichever comes first. Even when I'm at home with him, if I leave the room for a moment he starts to cry and, on a bad day, even stepping into the kitchen (where he can still see me but not follow) or simply turning my back on him as if I'm about to walk away is enough to set him off. I think it's getting a bit better lately, but it can be quite wearing...
So sometimes T is a little demon...
...but most of the time he's our little angel...
As well as giant Lego and stacking beakers, T likes his Scooby Doo toy (thanks Georgie!), bricks and whichever of K's instruments he can get his hands on. T likes to look at books, and already has clear favourites. I've seen him pulling countless books of the shelf until he gets to the one he wants.
He ignores all the teething rings I offer him in favour of his own thumb, and likes to clamp down on my leg too. He often crawls up to me and lies his head down on my lap or leg, which is very sweet. A favourite game is Get Mummy To Lie On The Floor And Then Climb All Over Her, one which K likes to join in with too...
Most of the time, T is a happy, smiley little boy, as long as I'm with him. H's mum looks after him twice a week while I work, for less than 2 hours a time. He starts screaming as soon as she arrives and doesn't stop until I get back or he falls asleep exhausted, whichever comes first. Even when I'm at home with him, if I leave the room for a moment he starts to cry and, on a bad day, even stepping into the kitchen (where he can still see me but not follow) or simply turning my back on him as if I'm about to walk away is enough to set him off. I think it's getting a bit better lately, but it can be quite wearing...
So sometimes T is a little demon...
...but most of the time he's our little angel...
*Did you spot the deliberate mistake?
One of those photos of T is actually a photo of 10 month old K.
Can you guess which one? I'll add the answer here in a few days time :-)
Hmmm, after much back and forth and comparing eyes and hair, I'm going to guess K is wearing stripes and sitting on the couch. I've always thought they look alike!
ReplyDeleteSorry Janine, I never got around to coming back and telling you the answer did I? I was hoping more people might have joined in...
ReplyDeleteNice try, but no! The picture of the sleeping baby is K :-)
People who know them well generally got it right (I showed it to a few people in person), but only after I *told* them that one of the photos was K. No-one found anything out of the ordinary until then!
Thanks for joining in!