Sunday 11 April 2010

13.5 months old

This wonderful spring weather, combined with being on holiday from school, is perking me up beautifully. That's in spite of a dreadful night recently which ended with taking G to the NHS drop-in centre first thing in the morning and her being diagnosed with a perforated ear drum. I felt very very guilty and upset that I didn't take her earlier, as she's had waxy ears for a few weeks. As she was behaving totally normally and didn't seem in any pain whatsoever, I just assumed it was a leftover symptom from the virus she'd had, and would clear up on its own. Horrible to think I could have prevented it getting worse but didn't. She's fine now and is on her first ever course of antibiotics. I'm glad she managed to avoid them for her first year at least.

G is now incredibly vocal and I've lost count of the words she regularly attempts to say. 'Mama' and 'Dada' are now as clear as a bell and (at long last) always used correctly. No more calling all the men in the post office 'Dada'. As well as the words mentioned in previous posts we now also hear: wer (flower, shower), tah (tap), ba (ball, banana, bounce), nah (snap - when pointing at a crocodile), etc etc and she will babble incoherently for minutes on end especially when looking at books alone. The babbling is sounding more like real talking even though it's not real words. A favourite noise at the moment is a stream of 'doidle oidle oidle' which cracks up Adriano and me and sounds a bit Irish to our ears. She also uses a lot of signs, usually of her own invention, e.g arm flapping means 'round and round' after pointing to the washing machine on spin cycle. She points and exclaims at all kinds of things, sometimes saying 'dat!' e.g. aeroplanes, lights, moving text on the train, other children. She is getting really sociable with other kids and sometimes even plays with them a bit. She looks at her books so intently then copies what the people in the pictures are doing. She can point to her head, nose, mouth, chest, tummy, and toes, when asked (if she feels like it).

When I pick her up for a cuddle she pats me on the back which is sooo endearing. My mum taught her that and it's stuck. Love it.

She's very strong and if she wants to wriggle off during nappy time you really have no choice but to go with it. Occasionally it works to distract her with something to play with but it had better be something very exciting that she has never seen before or you've had it.

Adriano is working very hard with various job applications and keeping amazingly motivated. I'm very proud of him, probably much more than he realises. He still manages to have energy for G when he gets home after work, and usually makes dinner for us both too. (Here I feel like listing all the things I do, but I will resist). I think we need a holiday but various things are stopping us for now, so we're trying to have days out instead. It definitely helps. On Friday the three of us went to a local 'urban farm' and created some lovely memories of G seeing her first 3D sheep/goats/alpacas etc. Now she knows they are not just pictures in a book :)

G now has her first pair of shoes although I only ever put them on her when she wants me to walk her around outside. She is not yet walking solo, though every day for about the last 6 weeks I've been thinking she's just about to do it. She looks so steady when she stands, and has started to climb a bit, to our alarm. I'm sure it'll happen soon enough. I'm excited for her; the freedom is going to be amazing, and great that it'll be in time for the summer. Hopefully the great British weather won't let us down and we can have lazy picnics while she toddles around nearby. Ha ha, who am I kidding, we'll have to watch her like a hawk and probably keep her on reins.

The struggle for enough sleep continues. She has taken 1 nap of just 30 minutes twice this week, and seems none the worse for it. Her night-times sometimes shrink to less than 9 hours, which is just not right for a growing baby. People whose babies nap for 2 hours and then sleep 12 hours at night do not know how lucky they are. My body still can't seem to relax properly at night and I haven't slept through the night myself since discovering I was pregnant. G sometimes goes right through, and also frequently wakes once or twice, often staying awake for up to an hour and occasionally more. It's a form of torture alright. Having said that, it's nothing like as bad as it used to be in the first 6 months. (And then there was another bad period of it for a couple of months around 11 months or so but that's another story).

Blah blah, I really must shut up and go to bed.

I do have other things in my head but as usual I can't be bothered to let them out. Gah.

About Me

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* proud new mother * last child * youngest daughter * tallest sister * favourite auntie * honest lover * furtive photographer * diary writer * compulsive dancer * tree hugger * mooncup promoter * chocolate taster * house plant murderer *