Bug = 2 years 12 days
Bub = 10 weeks 3 days

Ready, Go!

One of Bug’s cute activities at the moment is that at random times, he’ll entertain himself by standing still, saying “Ready…”, then saying “Go!” and running across the room or through the house.

He’ll also do the same thing with throwing things in the air. I find it sweet and lovely and sad that he looks SO high in the air as he prepares to throw something, but when he throws it is completely fails to reach such stellar heights.

Radio On

We often have music playing for Bug (such as his much beloved “Adies”), and at other times we have radio or podcasts playing. I try to turn his music off when he’s not obviously engrossed in it, so that we don’t all get sick of it. With this in mind, I’ve got into the habit of asking Bug to turn the radio off if we’re about to read a book together. I’ve also sometimes had to ask him to turn it off when I’m about to answer the phone.

Now I don’t even need to ask anymore… as soon as the phone rings or someone suggests reading a book, Bug will go and flick the radio off.

(Unfortunately his memory isn’t his strongest quality… he tends to ask US 10 minutes to turn it on again, forgetting that he turned it off and can turn it back on himself.)

Polysyllabic

Bug is getting much better at handling more than one syllable at a time. Since he started repeating words after us, he has tended to only echo the last syllable of what we say. But this has changed…

About a month ago, I mentioned that Morningtown Ride was one of Bug’s favourite songs, and that he called it “morning”. Well I was surprised this morning when I asked him what song he wanted, and he very clearly said to me “Morningtown Ride”. I don’t know if Daddy has been intensively training him every bedtime or if he’s just picked it up on his own.

Faking Sleep

For a few months Bug has been familiar with the concepts of “awake” and “asleep”. Basically, if your eyes are open OR Bug wants your attention (e.g. Daddy on Saturday mornings), you’re “awake”. If your eyes are shut, you’re “asleep”, so lots of animals in his picture books are unjustly accused of being asleep just because they have their eyes closed to grin or sneeze or cry.

Yesterday while Gaga was visiting, Bug was very cutely pretending to sleep. He threw himself down with a thump onto the baby change mat and shut his eyes. After 10 or 20 seconds, he’d open his eyes, jump up with a grin, and declare “Awake!”. He even went as far as to cover himself with a blanket.

Bug = 2 years 12 days
Bub = 10 weeks 3 days

This isn’t really related to the kids, but this morning was very strange. It took me AN HOUR to realise that it was Friday (i.e. panic-get-Dad-fed-and-off-to-work day) not Saturday (i.e. relax-and-don’t-bother-getting-dressed-for-a-couple-of-hours day).

So I hung around in bed, then got up and casually changed and dressed the kids while wondering if we could manage bacon and eggs for breakfast. Meanwhile Bob washed dishes and made porridge for the family (“He’s very active for a Saturday”, I thought).

At 8am I turned on the radio to listen to Kim Hill, but was surprised to hear Sean Plunket instead. And then it clicked.

I blame it on Leap Year!

Bug = 2 years 12 days
Bub = 10 weeks 3 days

The Tooth

Bub has the very early stages of a tooth showing on her bottom gum – it’s just a tiny white dot that may not properly erupt for another six months (like her brother’s).

I wish I’d recorded this when I noticed it, but I’m sure it was at least three weeks ago, i.e. before Bub was two months old.

Oozing

Bub had surgery five and a half weeks ago, and most of the wound site has healed. However there’s a small section at one end that hasn’t, and I noticed in the weekend that it looked slightly red and scabby, so I made an doctor’s appointment. (That night I also noticed a little pus coming out of it.) I’m usually hesitant about going to the doctor, but I figured that if I caught it early it might be the difference between needing and not needing to dose Bub with antibiotics.

So the nurse and doctor looked at it, and I was pleased to hear that it wasn’t anything to worry about and didn’t need any antibiotics or even ointments. I just have to keep it clean and covered and changed the Band-Aid every day.

Nose

Bub has had a stuffed-up nose for at least the past week. It’s probably thanks to the big sloppy kisses she gets from her big brother, who’s also had the sniffles. It doesn’t seem to interfere much with her feeding, just makes her even more snuffly and snorty at nights.

Eyes

Bub’s eyes are still occasionally not lining up properly (although the vast majority of the time they do). When she gets her three-month Well Child check, I think I’ll get the doctor to give her an eye exam.

Mouth

Of course since I victoriously announced last week that Bub was smiling, not a lot has happened on that front. The very occasional smile she grants one of us is still so fleeting that in hindsight we wonder if we imagined it. Even flapping her lips with our fingers while saying “biddy-biddy-biddy-biddy” in a high-pitched voice doesn’t get a big reaction – she tends to look very slightly confused, then very slightly angry, then faintly amused. But if that doesn’t make her smile, I don’t think anything will!

I’m not really worried, though. She definitely sees well (turns towards light, tracks movement, etc.); she gazes at as and reacts when we pull funny faces; and her eyes seem to smile at us a lot of the time.

Bug = 2 years 5 days
Bub = 9 weeks 3 days

Over the past couple of days, Bob has been away on business and Bug has been in Mosgiel with his Granny and Pop-pop.

Perhaps it would have happened even if the circumstances hadn’t left me with lots of time to chat to Bub, but at long last she has started smiling at me.

Stay tuned for a photo… her smiles are very fleeting at the moment, but hopefully I’ll manage to capture her beautiful grin on camera in the next couple of weeks. And with any luck I’ll also manage to work out a reliable way to make her smile.

Bug = 2 years
Bub = 8 weeks 5 days

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG!!!

Today is the two year anniversary of the start of life as parents for Bob and me.

Birthday Event

I decided that this year we’d have a relatively quiet birthday event for Bug. Last year we did a big barbecue for ALL our family and friends that lasted all day and into the night. Because we’ve got a newborn and because Bug is still young enough to not know too much about birthdays, I thought a nice family lunch would be a pleasant and easy way to celebrate, so that’s what we did.

I had considered doing a big picnic at Woodhaugh Gardens or another barbecue like last year, but when I woke up yesterday morning I was glad I hadn’t gone down that road – the torrential rain and high winds would have put a damper on that!

Luckily the appalling weather didn’t do our pot-luck lunch any harm, and the ten* of us had some wonderfully healthy food (we had cheerios and fairy bread in spite of the absence of any guests under 20!) and a wonderful time.

Bug awoke from his nap to find almost the whole family here to celebrate him, and he loved the attention, the food, and the presents.

Pressies

The gifts Bug received were:

• jeans and overalls (from Aunty Andi and Uncle Matt);
• a wooden garage with petrol pumps, mechanic, truck and trailer (from Nana);
• a small pull-back car and trike (from Nana);
• a toddler’s back-pack full of Golden Books (from Aunty Claire and Uncle Kyle);
• a stand-up blackboard and whiteboard (from Granny and Pop-pop);
• a bucket of colourful wooden blocks (from Granny and Pop-pop).

The vehicles were probably favoured by Bug on the day, but he shared his time across all the toys. (He didn’t muster any interest in the clothes, but I enjoyed marvelling at how big they were and how he was nearly big enough for them!)

You might notice that a present from Mummy and Daddy isn’t listed above. That’s because we weren’t organised enough to have assembled his present for the Saturday event, so we figured we may as well save it for his actual birthday today. We bought him a little tricycle. Daddy put it together this morning and we gave it to Bug after lunch. We were delighted at how delighted he was by it, and hopefully within a few days he’ll have learned to use the pedals instead of Flintstoning it along!