Playtime learning

Daddy and Eve wearing their sunglasses, about to go on a trip to the park

We've had another lovely weekend with our gorgeous Eve. She's doing well being dropped off and collected in the pushchair and has got used to the fact that she won't be put in the sling anymore for journey's to and from nursery.

Sam collected her on Friday evening. When I saw this video, as Mum my first response was 'she's not wearing any socks!' - to which he replied, 'but look how happy she is.' Ah, hmmmm....

After playing in the lounge on Saturday morning, whilst I was cleaning the house, Eve settled down with Daddy to watch Sesame Street on the internet. As I pottered about it was lovely to hear Sam and Eve singing along to alphabet songs. Eve was particularly keen on Elmo. She made us laugh, as when Elmo came on she put her legs up on the table and lay back and watched him contentedly.

I took Eve out for the first time in her big girl car seat. Dad fitted it in the car, and off we went to Lidl to do the shopping. For the first time Eve sat in the pull out seat section of the trolley. She absolutely loved it, and was constantly pointing at things, asking 'what's this?'

Eve still has her morning nap - usually 2 hours. I tried changing the naps and realised it didn't make any difference to night-time sleeping so I went back to letting her sleep when she wants to. This is pretty much just in the mornings. She rarely ever sleeps in the afternoon unless we're going somewhere in the car. It's funny to change routines that have been in place for so long. I now realise that I have to go shopping with her in the car seat when she is not due a nap so that she'll stay awake to go in the trolley. As now she can no longer be placed on top of the trolley in the baby car seat.

Yesterday afternoon, after a trip to the swings we did some drawing in the kitchen. Eve was absolutely covered by the end of it, but it was great fun. Thankfully I had given her Crayola chunky markers so they came off her skin easily in the bath. Another great buy from the Pound Shop.

Of course she tried to eat the pens, but quite soon realised that they didn't taste that nice. Eve has also had a great time this weekend playing with new toys, as Daddy bought her a toy box of grocery fruit and veg. As she pulled out each item she asked 'what's this?' and we told her. She particularly likes the strawberry and carrots.

Eve's vocabulary is coming on really well and she's learning new words each day. Yesterday she started saying 'tick tock' after a song we sing that's on baby telly, and has also been saying 'choo choo' for quite a few weeks whilst she plays with her wooden trains.

Sleeping Beauty

Walking across a very foggy Bristol this morning I felt quite dazed after an eventful night, up at all hours with Eve. I think I've come to the conclusion that there is no magic formula, no golden recipe for getting a baby to sleep through the night, as much as we'd all like to think. 

I believe it's completely dependent on how they are feeling and whether they are ill, teething, have a sore stomach or are having bad dreams. Some babies/toddlers sleep more easily than others. There are so many variables conducive to sleep.

As mentioned in my previous post Eve had her best nights sleep in 9 months on Saturday night (she only had 1.5 hour nap that day, so nothing out of the ordinary). 

On Sunday she had a mammoth 3 hour nap, slept awfully on Sunday night, another mammoth 3 hour+ nap at nursery yesterday lunch time and slept really badly again last night. People say that if a baby has good naps they should sleep better during the night time. I'm afraid at the moment I don't see this happening for Eve.

Sam says that he is noticing more and more that she is reluctant to go down for her morning nap when he looks after her, though she rubs her eyes and looks tired. I'm thinking of pushing her morning nap later so that she takes it just after lunch about 12.30/1pm. We've been on one nap a day for about a month anyway, so I'm hoping that maybe having her one nap slightly later will help. Who knows? Let's see!

http://www.sockons.co.uk/products/mocc-ons/

Yesterday when I collected her from nursery she was very excited and waved and crawled over to me. She then pulled herself up on me and just stood there, beaming. It was the longest she has stood unaided and she looked very confident. I got very excited and the girls who work in the nursery all clapped, then Eve took a step or two towards me before going down on her bum. It made me very happy. 

The only footwear that Eve currently wears are Mocc Ons - which were kindly given to her as a present from our friends Duncan and Anne (great present, thanks guys!). The Mocc Ons are perfect for the cold weather and are the only things that stay on. She wears them every time she goes to nursery, as the floor is often messy there, plus she can't pull her socks off and get cold feet. 

Babies are supposed to learn to walk without shoes so that their feet can develop and strengthen naturally. 

When she's at home she roams free, but the poor Mocc Ons are getting pretty dirty from lots of wear at nursery so I've decided to take her to 'Jones Bootmaker' to have her feet measured for her first pair of 'real' shoes this weekend. She seems so close to walking and loves to look over the top of the bath on tip toes as I'm preparing it for her each night, so I'm hoping that this is the right time to buy them.

Clarks Genie Pumps

I've already been to 'Jones' to have a look at their shoes. They don't have much of a variety but there are 2 or 3 nice looking, sturdy shoes - such as Clarks Softly Rose Pumps, Start-Rite Mayflower or Genie Pumps and Clarks Little Linzi Pumps. I think it's worthwhile spending out on shoes that are well fitting and supportive (crikey I sound like my mum!)

http://www.jonesbootmaker.com/childrens/girls/start-rite-first-shoes-buckled-shoe-2011400450

Afternoon Tea

A walk through Arnos Vale Cemetery

As usual, hurrah for Facebook! An old school friend read my blog about the Joie Stages car seat and has sent me a link for a friend of hers who also runs a blog.  Have a look at the blog called 'A rear facing family' - there is a post about how to deal with short seat belts and the Joie Stages car seat:

http://erfmission.com/?p=1277

This is really good news as now I feel like I can go and buy this car seat and not be worried about having issues with it. The Internet is great - there's always someone in the world going through the same thing as you.

We didn't do much at the weekend, storms were raging most of the time so we just enjoyed pottering about at home.  The only time that we ventured outside was on Saturday afternoon for a stroll through the cemetery. Daddy carried Eve on his back and I had a great time with the perfect sized walking stick, from a fallen branch.  We stopped in the cafe in the cemetery and had a quick drink.  Eve shared a piece of lemon polenta cake with me and absolutely adored it. A tricky thing for her to hold as it was quite crumbly - needless to say her coat is a bit of a sticky mess now...

On Sunday afternoon I made a loaf of wholemeal bread (in the bread maker machine - I'm not super mum I'm afraid), so Daddy took a break from his music production upstairs in the studio and came down to eat fresh bread and drink herbal tea with me and Eve.  My dear muth had given us some natural Cornish honey at Christmas so I put some on Eve's bread. Due to government guidelines I've been a good mama and have waited patiently for Eve to reach her first birthday before trying honey (it contains spores of a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, which can germinate in a baby's immature digestive system and cause infant botulism, a rare but potentially fatal illness).  She investigated it for a good 5 minutes before finally thinking it was ok to try. Sam and I laughed when we saw her expression when she started eating it - her face seemed to say 'Wow! This is delicious, why have I not had this before?'

Eve looking very grown up here, with her hair clip in her hair

We're attempting a new strategy with Eve's sleeping at the mo, and are seeing if one nap per day (she has a long one in the morning, usually 2 hours) will help her sleep more during the night time. So far it seems to be working well.

Welcome to the world, Lamorna Violet!

I'd like to take this opportunity to say Massive Congratulations to my dear friends Jilly and Joe who have just had their first baby. Lamorna Violet Pridmore arrived on Friday 9th January at 18.52.  I've known Jilly since I was 12 years old when we lived in Cornwall and am absolutely thrilled about her little girl's arrival.  'Lamorna' is a fishing village and cove in West Cornwall.  Jilly is a proper Cornish maid so Lamorna is the perfect name for their baby.  Sam, Eve and I are really looking forward to seeing them at the weekend.  I cannot wait to have cuddles with this little lady.