Sproutese

Okay, I realise it's been ages since I've posted here - I'm sorry about that. Sproutling is the grand old age of seventeen months now, and running around making mischief like a little whirlwind.

I just wanted to post a little snap shot of what Sprout's vocabulary is like at the moment, since he makes me laugh every day with his words for things. He's a real little parrot too, so we have to watch what we say around him now!

Anyway here's a bit of Sproutese. Many of these have only appeared over the last couple of weeks, but he's adding more every day! I'm trying to write them sort of phonetically, so pardon the spelling.

Food

• Bo-bo - Strawberries (your guess is as good as mine)
• Nana - Banana
• Tayto (sometimes ma-tay-to) - Potato
• Dee-see - Kiwi
• Ah-nee - Orange
• Oh-tsee - Oats
• Bee-bis - Weet-bix
• Meeee - Meat (of any type - will sometimes say chicken but not often) 
• Ben - Bacon
• Seeees - Eggs
• Cheee - cheese
• yo - yoghurt
• ma-no - tomato
• bum-ba - cucumber
• bickie - bickie (biscuit)
• ma-ha-moo - mushroom

Animals

• Minnie and Boo-ey - Minnie and Bluey, our cats
• bunny - bunny
• sssss - snake
• woo-woo - dog
• ka-ka - duck
• neeil - snail
• puckoh - octopus (not to be confused with pucka, jumper or bucka, butterfly)
• bucka - butterfly (see above)
• bish or bishy - fish
• see-saw - seahorse (he has one in the bath)
• di-cah - crocodile
• can generally say a lot of animal sounds, but not many actual names.

Other things

• Home (sometimes "go home")- home
• da care - day care
• Shoh - shops
• Boo - book
• puta - computer
• *blows out of his mouth* - hot
• pucka - jumper  (not to be confused with puckoh, octopus or bucka, butterfly)
• shoooo - shoe (actually one of his first words)
• caaar - car
• pen - pen
• paper or pepper - paper (refers to anything that isn't a book, eg junk mail, letters, daddy's study notes, etc)
• beckul - buckle (in the car)
• too-too! - train
• boh-too - bottle (water bottle)
• cookie - cooking
• poo - spoon

No matter how many times I try to get him to say words properly (eg Me: "say kiwi, ki.. wi... " Him: "dee see!"), he persists with the Sproutese. Oh well :)

There are lots more, but these are all I can think of at the moment... I'll update as I think of more!

How you doin'?

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! 

Sprout's Christmas

Happy New Year, one and all!

The Sproutling is now nine months old and has been out longer than he was in. He's growing up so fast and getting better at things each day - it seems like just yesterday he was tiny little helpless creature, but now he's a real little person!

The last two months has seen a big change around here. Not long after posting at the start of November, Sprout learned to crawl properly and shortly afterwards to pull himself up to standing. Thus began the Big Babyproofing of 2011.

The weeks around Christmas was a whirlwind of family activities and parties of every type. Meeting so many new faces was rather overwhelming for the little guy, and for a few weeks there his sleep routine was rather disrupted by late nights and unusual activities. I am very relived that he seems to be settling back into sleeping through most nights - I would rather not be up all night once I'm working again.

Sproutling now has a list of things he likes to play with if they are not locked down. If the wooden door on the TV cabinet is not closed, he will head straight for the stereo inside it. He also loves, in no particular order: The TV remotes, iPhones, paper (especially advertising junk mail), cat toys, opening drawers in the kitchen, standing up at the screen door and banging and/or licking it, and climbing the stairs (a gate came out pretty fast) - in fact pretty much anything that isn't actually one of his toys. He also loves to play at the cat door, although he hasn't quite worked out how to get through it yet.

Watch out, Bluey!

One of our cats runs away if he comes near her, but our ginger one is very patient with the fur-pulling and tail-munching. I am trying to teach Sprout to play gently with him but he just doesn't understand just yet. Poor Bluey.

On the language front we are now hearing all sorts of different sounds, but no real words yet. At home, he keeps up a pretty much constant stream of babble. He can be quite shy around other people.

Sproutling will eat pretty much anything we give him these days, although I don't trust him with a bowl and spoon just yet. Finger foods are the way to go, with fruit and chicken being firm favourites. I'm still mostly breastfeeding him and will try to pump some milk when I go back to work so that we can keep that going as long as possible.

The next month will be an interesting one as I am about to go back to work five days a week. Mr Ang is still on holidays for a couple of weeks but once he starts classes again, the Sproutling will be looked after by his Nanna on two days.  The third day will (hopefully) be at childcare. We're still trying to organise this, but if all else fails we have back ups.

Please, wish us luck on the next phase of the journey!

Feverish

Enjoying the beach

The seven month mark has come and gone and I've been a little slack with the updates again... oops!

We've been cruising along over the last few weeks - nothing new or out of the ordinary. Sproutling's still growing quickly. He has outgrown all his size "00" clothes and even the "0" ones are starting to be too short. They were supposed to last for another five months! He's going to be a tall one, that's for sure.

Sproutling has been munching on whatever food we're eating, including some interesting things like beef curry and fish (but no chips!). I haven't yet found anything that he hasn't enjoyed eating, but there's plenty of time for him to develop fussy tastes. He's a big fan of watermelon and mango, making a contented "mmm-mmmm" sound while devouring it.

Feverish
Things started to heat up again, so to speak, over this weekend. The Sproutling had a fever and a bit of a snuffle on Saturday evening, but when we try to give him childrens' paracetamol he just projectile vomits it back up again. He went to sleep eventually but had a very restless night.  In the morning I went out and got some strawberry-flavoured Nurofen (ibuprofen) which went down much more easily, and the poor little munchkin was feeling better in no time.

I had been telling people he had a cold, since he was quite snuffly and sneezy. I didn't think to check his mouth until someone suggested that it could be a tooth coming through, as apparently that can often cause fevers and cold-like symptoms. Sure enough, one of his bottom front teeth is starting to make a break for it! No wonder the poor little mite has been so grumpy the last few days!

On The Move!
Besides being a little out-of-sorts with teething, Sprout has discovered how to propel himself around the floor. He has been getting up on his hands and knees for a couple of weeks now, rocking back and forth before flopping down again, but this last few days he's actually managed to inch-worm his way over to toys that were out of reach, and attempt to throw himself off the couch if he's sitting with someone. He'll also launch himself towards the TV remotes if he can see them - I guess those male habits start early, eh?

We're still enjoying our music lessons and now that the weather has warmed up we're going to start swimming lessons this week - something I'm really excited about since he loves splashing around in the bath. We also love going to our mothers' group meetings on Wednesdays and hanging out with the other mums and bubs!

There's only a couple of months left until I start work again now so I'm trying to enjoy this fun time as much as I can.

Halfling

The Sproutling is six months old now, which makes him a halfling. Here's the latest on what we've been up to.

Developments
Sprout's personality is starting to show through a little more now - he can be quite animated and noisy at home, but he's quiet and shy around people he doesn't know. Sometimes though, if they smile at him first he turns on the charm and goes into full-on cute mode.

He's just learned to sit on his own in the last week or so. It was quite amazing - one day he'd just fall straight over again, the next he would sit for about 10 seconds, and now he is able to sit for quite a long time without any support from me. Of course, every now and then he'll faceplant into whatever surface is nearby but I guess that's all part of learning to balance.

He still isn't rolling around much yet. In fact after a few times in his cot, I haven't seen him do it again for weeks. I guess he'll start doing it again when he's ready. He seems more interested in playing with his feet and sucking on his own toes. Still no sign of teeth.

Travel things
Thanks for all the suggestions after my previous post about strollers! We ended up just going with the cheap option of a Babylove Snap n Go umbrella stroller. We'll upgrade later if we think we need to but so far it's been just fine for pushing around the shops and around the block a few times.

Now that Sprout is 9.5 kg we've certainly outgrown the capsule! We've replaced it with a pre-loved Safe-n-Sound forward-facing seat, also replacing the mouldy old cover with a soft new one. Sprout seems to really enjoy facing forwards so that he can see me driving and look out the window a bit more.

Foooood
About halfway through the month I couldn't stand the waiting any more and started giving him some baby rice with expressed breast milk. At first most of it ended up spat out again but he's learning quickly and now spoon-feeding is pretty easy. We haven't done a whole lot of spoon-feeding though since I'm trying out the baby-led weaning approach and just handing him bits of fruit and veges to munch on, which he is absolutely loving. We've tried a wide variety of fruits now but his favourite seems to be strawberries. Unfortunately we're just about to go out of strawberry season so he'll have to find a new favourite, but mangoes and stone fruit are about to start so there's plenty more to try! As you can see from the picture, watermelon seems to be a strong contender.

That's pretty much all there is to tell about Sprout's world at the moment! There's still lots of growing and learning to be done, but it's completely amazing how far he has come in just six months. I am so proud of my little Sproutling!

Eat All The Things

Another month gone... how the time flies!

Sproutling is five months old now and, while he hasn't learned any new skills in particular since the last update, he's getting better at those he already has.  He's more and more observant every day and his favourite thing is to grab all the things and put them in his mouth. Nom!

He seems much more interested in what we're eating lately, so I've been letting him nibble on fruit that I've been eating such as apple, pear, watermelon and strawberries. Today we even tried a bit of mango - the first in the season around here! I'm not planning on officially giving him solid foods to eat for a few more weeks, but I thought it would be good to let him try a few different tastes. By the way he grabs my hand to try to shove that strawberry in, I'd say he's just about ready already.

The last week or so has been a research time. We have been hiring a "travel system" Babylove car capsule and pram set from Hire for Baby for the last 5 months and it's almost time for it to go back. We acquired a car seat from a family member before Sprout was born so we've got that part covered, but we need to get a replacement pram or stroller in the next couple of weeks. Incidentally the Babylove travel system has been brilliant - I'll be sad to see it go.

There are so many strollers to choose from, and none fit our requirements perfectly. The "umbrella" type strollers look so lightweight and manoeuvrable, but they have very little space for nappy bags or shopping. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the big prams are just enormous! It's turning out to be a tough compromise - I have a feeling that we're going to end up with a big pram for full day trips and a small umbrella stroller for crowded places and around the shops.

If any of you lovely readers have any suggestions for a brand of pram or stroller you loved, please let me know! The Sprout will give a special Grin Of Cuteness to get you to spill the beans!

Nappy Hunting

Just a quick note tonight to let you know that the Great Nappy Hunt has begun for September 2011.

Aussies and Kiwis, just visit the Diaper Decisions site and register to take part, then go hunting for the icons for chances to win loads of prizes.  There are also plenty of discounts from all the sponsors during September!

There's also a North American version of the hunt - the Great Diaper Hunt.

Happy hunting, and I promise there will be a Sproutling update post soon.