Saturday 4 February 2012

Work work

The 10-month mark has come and gone in a whirlwind of activity. I've been back in full-time work for four weeks now and it really feels like I never left.

Looking after Sprout
The Sproutling has been looked after mostly by Dad, but also by his Nanna. He doesn't seem too bothered by this - he is occasionally a little upset when I leave for the day, but is still sleeping and drinking his milk with no problems during the day.

Sprout has been to day care twice now, just for one day each week. The family day care co-ordinators at our local office found us a lovely local lady, and the small group size (no more than four children at once) means that I don't feel quite so guilty about leaving Sproutling with her. That didn't stop both him and me from being really upset when we left him the first time! It's important that he has this time to learn to play with other children and to be away from familiar faces for a little while. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

Work
Going back to work has been really tough. For the first couple of weeks I was like a walking zombie - the lack of sleep really caught up with me and to top it off, Sprout was waking up an extra time during the night. He's settled back into a sort of routine again now though, which makes me slightly more energetic at work.

I get up early and pump milk, then usually get Sprout up for a feed before leaving for work. I like to catch the train early so I can be home early-ish. I pump milk once or twice more during the day and store the milk in Medela freezer bags. I'm not sure what my colleagues think about all this, but I'm sure they all know by now that the buzzing noises coming from the bathrooms aren't suspect. In the afternoon I get home to a very happy and hungry little boy, and usually a worn-out Daddy. There's usually time for a couple of hours of playing before dinner, bath and bedtime for Sproutlings.

I'm coping okay with it all at the moment, but I do miss Sprout terribly while I'm at work. I also miss our music lessons and days with the mums' group! Hopefully we'll get a few opportunities to catch up with them soon on the weekends.

Why read just one book?
Progress
So, ten months in and Sproutling is crawling, climbing and generally getting into every cupboard he can reach. I've seen him stand up on his own for a few seconds a couple of times, but he's still very wobbly so I think proper walking is still a way off. He'll happily babble on to himself all day, but he does actually seem to say "num num num" when he wants milk. We are still trying to teach him to use his "dadada" and "mum mum" to refer to us, but he mixes them in with "gok" and sounds starting with "b" so I just think he's making up his own language at this stage.

He loves to read books, but he's still a bit violent with them so he's only allowed the cardboard ones for now. He seems fascinated by turning the pages on his own, not really paying attention to the story or the pictures!

He's still drinking plenty of breast milk and I'll keep pumping and feeding him for as long as he still wants it. He has finally just cut his top front teeth, and I'm expecting this to make eating solid foods a bit easier so perhaps he'll start actually eating more rather than just biting chunks off and spitting them out like he has been doing. His motor skills are very good now so he can eat dinners involving rice quite well, even if they do end up all over the room!

That's pretty much it for this month's news!