Note

Isaac is reaaly interested in lights, textures and colours. He sits and strokes things quite a lot, particularly blouses that Clare is wearing or duvets. It will be interesting to see if this continues to interest him, maybe the next Alexander McQueen. But hopefully slimmer.

Dadadadada

Isaac is about 6.5 months old now, and is a happy little chap most of the time. We went around to kate and pep's for an early xmas dinner last night, and he was a bit grumpy when he went to bed, but other than that had a great time playing with Oscar's toy toolbox.

He is sitting really well now, doesn't fall over very often. But when he does fall over he has no inclination to roll over yet. The bets he does is to grab his toes and make silly noises, eventually crying till Mummy picks him up. He started mimiccing noises this week as well - Dada types noises he can sort of copy which is exciting! He is pretty good at amusing himself as well now that he can sit up solidly.

Food is becoming more and more interesting - he loves eating. His favourites are now apricot, mango, apple and banana. He eats bananas direct from the skin, although he tends to bite of a bit too much sometimes and gags a bit. He eats about 12 or 14 cubes of food a day now, and drinks 4 feeds of 180ml formula. He's about 72cm long and weighs a metric ton. No but seriously, I think he's about 8.3kg or something.

He was doing something else a bit different just now, he sat there and raised his arms above his head and then dropped them down. Clare was showingg him how to do this yesterday, so it seemed like he was practicing or at least remembering something he'd been shown.

He still sits there in his high chair with his arms out like he is flying the whole time!

end of the breast

NB to Jamie's entry just now - we officially finished with the breastfeeding a few days ago :( It kind of dried up so had no choice, but still feel sad about it as we both really enjoyed it and it is the end of being the most important person to him. Now he drinks formula, eats pumpkin and says 'dada'. Hmmph

He also says 'cat' though, so at least Jamie has to share his newly won specially status with Georgie and Sybil!! hahahaha

I was trying to teach him how to pull up earlier, using the rings of the babygym that Kate and Pep leant us. He kind of got it after I showed him, but appeared incapable of figuring it out on his own! He has figured out plenty of other things, but apparently what his arms are for seems to have evaded him.

He is still teething bady - has been for weeks but no show. I think that maybe quite a few are lining up to come through, as his top gum is very hard and you can feel the profile of all his front teeth. I hope they come soon, preferably before Christmas.

Family life

Isaac is watching the weakest link, Clare is doing a Su Doku puzzle, and I am reading about forex trading. Hmmmm, happy days. Clare and I are fairly quiet, Isaac is blowing the odd bubble.

food glorious food

I think a lot has happened since we last made an entry - oops. Isaac got his first tooth 2 weeks ago, after about 5 days of misery. Then 4 days later he got a second one. He is very proud of his two little pearly whites (bottom middle)!

He also started having a bit of babyrice at lunchtimes around 2 weeks ago, and then last Saturday (5th November) he had his first 'real' meal - pureed pear (mixed with babyrice). He LOVED it - ate loads more than he ever did of the rice alone. Sunday he had the same again, and today he had pureed pumpkin, which he loved too. God knows what we will find in his nappy after that, but was worth it for the comedy value alone. I 'choo chooed' it into his mouth, which he found hilarious, and he got it everywhere. He put his hands in it and smeared it all round the highchair, but I think playing iwth it is just as important as actually eating it at the moment (except pumpkin probably stains - ah well).

Also, about 2 weeks ago he rolled over from front to back for the first time (by accident, and not done it since) and nearly the same time, started being able to balance for a short while sitting up. Now he is still very wobbly but gradually getting better so sometimes he can sit for a few minutes, as long as he is playing with a toy. As soon as he realises what he is doing it seems, he falls over. Will be a little while yet I think!

For the past month he has been sleeping 12 hours straight through at night - it is AMAZING! Even when he was teething he still slept through once he got to sleep. Still not expecting it to last, but looking like he MIGHT really be quite a good sleeper. Small mercies..

Ugboo

It's been probably well over half of Isaac's lifetime since I last wrote a blog entry, so thats not very good at all. He has probably developed quite a few new skills since last time, and he's certainly packed on a few more pounds. I think he is about 7.6kg.

We just got back from lunch with the baby gang, I met a few of the people that have just been names until now. Colwyn and Gavin were very agreeable people. Gavin is making a video diary of Duran Duran which sounded pretty fun. Following Duran Duran around the world witha video camera, hmmm thats hard work.

Anyway, Isaac showed off by grinning and giggling at everyone - out of the group he seems to be the most socially engaging. The others have their skills of course but Isaac just beams at people all the time (as long as he is in the mood). He also sat in one of the high-chairs that they have at Cafe Amsterdam and ate a bit more baby rice!! Then after lunch Clare changed him, after which he did an enormous poo and I went to change him again.

We had a babysitter last night, and got nice and drunk at Kate's (from Kate and Pep) birthday. Was nice to get out and leave the tinker at home for once.

Now I have to read about investment funds, as we have a financial advisor, i mean, Wideboy, coming round on Monday night to tell us some interesting stuff and dodge questions.

I forgot to list Isaac's injuries today so far: Banged head on floor while sitting with Clare on rug; got his leg caught bent back under me whilst sat at lunch; got his leg stuck through the bars of his cot just now. He is officially 'in the wars' for the first time.

3 more weeks have gone by

well yes, 3 more weeks have gone by. We went to France for a week with Kate and Pep and little Oscar (18 months) - had a really lovely time. It was a bit of a taste of what is to come - he is very high energy and demanding, but also a very sweet, lovely little boy. I can't imagine Isaac actually running around and talking though.

Developmentally, he learned to suck his thumb last week. He was exploring his mouth with his fingers, and I guess he must have realised his thumb was rather tasty. The only problem is he splays all his other fingers and keeps poking himself in the eye! He is also getting stronger and sits up better (with support). We bought him a highchair at the weekend and he can sit in that well for 5 mins or so. He also sits and plays with his play cube if I have him wedged between my knees - he is beginning to learn about balance I think. He also rolled over for the first time last week. He did it accidentally, as I had showed him how if he lies on his side he can reach his toys with both hands, so he started doing that and then suddenly flopped on to his belly - and then cried as he hates 'tummy time'! He hasn't done it since.

We tried to give him a bottle when we were in France, as I wanted a couple of nights of uninterupted sleep. We discovered that some time in the last 2 months he has decided he doesn't like bottles :( We have tried to give him one every day since, first of formula and now of breast milk, but he just played about with it and cried until 2 days ago when he drunk 60ml from Jamie holding it. But then yesterday he refused again, and tonight he took 30ml from me but it took 30 mins! I hope we can convert him soon as I can't really go out now. And I am thinking of going back to work quite soon too.