Age = 6 months 5 days

Linus has had a bottle (of expressed breast milk) only about four times. So far it’s always been Nana who’s given the bottle and – apart from the first time, which was just for practice – it’s always been while Bob and I were out of the house.

Now, however, I’m hoping to go out to a quiz night every couple of weeks, which means leaving Bug and Bob home alone together at bedtime. Bug will need a feed during the three hours I’m away, so Bob has tried practice bottles last night and tonight.

It hasn’t gone well. We think one problem might be the teats we’re using: one is for a newborn and is probably flows too slowly for a six-month-old; the other is for babies over six months old and is probably too fast for a baby who isn’t used to bottles. I think we’d better get a medium-flow teat before tomorrow night.

Two lots of EBM have now virtually gone to waste, and while tonight went a little better than last night (Bug was in a slightly better mood tonight) he didn’t really get a feed. (Tonight, for example, he probably had less than 25mL).

I’m resigned (with the inherent bad-mummy-guilt) to the fact that me going out like this will mess with Bug’s bedtime routine, of which I and my breasts are an integral part.

I hope we can get it to work out and it’s not too upsetting to either of them. I’d like to think it will be a good experience for them both, but as I listen to him (Bug, not Bob) screaming in the other room right now, I have my doubts.

Age = 6 months 5 days

Do you see a resemblance? (Click picture for a larger version.)

The left one is me, the right one is Linus.

Age = 6 months 5 days

Well yesterday Bug was just plain weird. Over the course of the day from 7:30am to 10:00pm he probably had just one or one and half hours’ sleep in total, so I thought I was in for a horror evening. But no… he would not go down for a sleep, but instead of being fractious and grizzly he was a dream. He smiled and stared and me and Daddy and Nana for hours, and made it almost impossible to resist playing with him and talking to him.

Nana thought that it might mean he’d either a) be up all night or b) have a big long sleep, but neither happened.

Today, however, he’s been very grumpy and impossible to satisfy. Ah well, I have the fond memories of yesterday to comfort me.

Age = 6 months 1 day

I downloaded a neat piece of software from the WHO website. OK, it’s not so much “neat” as “free”, but the point is it’s a nice way for a computer-centric mum (me) to record the measures from a baby’s Plunket visits. It lets you keep weight, length, and head circumference, plus milestones (crawling, walking etc.), and lets you make (rather crude) graphs of them.

Age = 6 months 1 day

Yahoo! Pool!

Today Nana, Aunty Claire and I met at Moana Pool to take Linus for his first ever swim (not to mention my first swim in a long time!). We all had a great time… Nana did most of the tending to Linus in the toddler pool while Claire and I played in the wave pool.

Linus didn’t seem to enjoy himself exactly… but he seemed puzzled and bemused by the whole situation, and experimented unintentionally with splashing us and dunking his face in the water occasionally.

I’m keen to go again, although I doubt very much that I’ll venture there on my own. Getting changed and dressing a wet, screaming baby is a pleasure I can live without. Next time I go I’m sure Nana and Aunty will be keen, or I might invite another Mum and bub along.

Note to self: must get new togs!

A New Era

The solids began tonight, and Linus seemed quite keen on them. Starting solids is a big deal! For the last 15 months this little boy has been created and nourished by me alone (apart from Bob’s minuscule input), so for him to start to get sustenance from other sources is to me the biggest milestone he’s hit to date (apart from birth itself – I guess that qualifies as a biggie!).

Sleep

More notes on Linus’s sleep “routine”: For the last three or four nights Linus seems to have set his own bedtime. Just as in the past he seemed determined that – no matter when we started “bedtime” – 11pm was his time to sleep, he now settles properly at 8:45pm, whether we start putting him down at 6:30pm or 8:00pm. So be it. It suits us.

We’ve also learned only lately that while holding Linus up on one’s shoulder is good for getting his wind up, it’s LOUSY for getting him to sleep. It’s astonishing how he cries while on the shoulder, but when you shift him to cradled in your arms he instantly (no exaggeration – instantly!) falls asleep. The only trick then is getting him into his cot. He tends to cry quite often when his head hits the mattress, but after a quick pick-up and cradle we can usually get him to settle (although sometimes the process needs two or three repeats).