The one where he walks and gets more teeth

James is seventeen months and finally he walks! He gradually made the transition from crawling to walking during the course of the month and now he's probably walking 95% of the time and crawling just 5%. I still haven't got over the novelty of seeing him toddling along. I'm really enjoying him walking, there are lots of places I couldn't let him crawl but I can let him walk.

And after all that teething we finally see the results: all four premolars have now come through, and those missing two incisors have broken through. That makes 12 teeth: more than halfway there!

This month James mostly seems to have been ill. He has endless colds, coughs and gunky eyes. I knew his first winter at nursery would be like this and I am dosing him up with vitamins but it doesn't seem to help. Oh well. He seems to need lots of sleep when he's ill - he often sleeps 15 hours out of 24 if he's unwell.

He's still not got very many words - daddy, mummy, up, uh-oh, babby (not totally sure what that means). He's very chatty and babbles away but it's hard to make out any real words. We got home today and he stood in the doorway yelling at the cats. We think it sounded like 'baddy cats'.. sounds about right.

Current favourite toy: his rocket shape sorter. He plays with it endlessly. He has got much better this month at putting the right shape in the right hole. I'm looking forward to an influx of new toys for Christmas!

James is very much a toddler now, tantrums galore. He's not sure what he wants but he knows he wants it right now. He's hard work! But then he smiles and it's all worth it.

Sixteen (and a bit) months

James has been doing more exciting new stuff this month as compared to last month!

Those pesky first two molars came through, and he's about to cut his other two bottom incisors (I hope). So he'll then have ten teeth - halfway there.

James still prefers crawling to walking, but he's gradually transitioning to walking. It seems like he isn't going to suddenly one day start walking - instead what's happening is that he is gradually each day crawling a little less and walking a little more, and one day we'll realise he isn't crawling at all any more. The nursery staff commented today how much he was walking compared to earlier in the week. He is still very pleased with himself when he walks - although the nursery assistant did say when she went to get the camera to take a picture of him walking he sat down and refused to walk any more!

James still loves reading books. When he reads The Gruffalo he now makes a hissing noise when he sees the snake, and says 'owl' when he sees the owl. He is also joining in much more with nursery rhymes. Recently I wondered why he was rocking backwards and forwards and then doing pretend screams, until I realised I was humming Row row row your boat - he was doing the actions! Then as I was getting him ready for bed tonight I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and he did some great twinkling and made a diamond shape with his fingers. He's also taken to flinging himself backwards when he sees Iggle Piggle doing so at the end of In the Night Garden.

This month James has figured out how to climb onto his ride-on toy, how to go backwards and now how to propel himself forward on it. Hours of fun. He also loves his rocking horse and constantly asks to be lifted onto it. Other toys he's currently enjoying include stacking rings, a mailbox and cars - he loves pushing cars around. He gets very, VERY frustrated when toys won't do what he wants them to do. He has proper tantrums - flings himself on the floor and kicks and screams. I had to take him home from someone else's house early yesterday as he wouldn't stop tantrumming.

Pictures of James in his Hallowe'en costume and at a christening are below.

Fifteen months

Not so much new to report this month. Still no walking, though he's not too far off - he can walk holding onto one hand now, and traverse quite big gaps between pieces of furniture.

No new teeth - I can feel the edge of a molar just beneath the surface. I wonder if it will have come through this time next month? He's been teething like mad for months (and still almost three-quarters of his baby teeth to come through).

He's generally sleeping fairly well - quite often he'll wake for a feed at 5.30 or so and I feed him and put him back in his cot for another couple of hours. On Thursday he'd had a bad night but then kindly let me have a lie in - I only woke at 9.10, and had to wake him! He's had a nasty cold this week and so has been sleeping more than usual - 12-13 hours straight overnight, apart from Wednesday night, when it was 13 hours but spread over 15.

James is getting better at stroking the cats gently. He likes to lay his head on Marmite which is very cute. James now has his very own little chair he sits and watches TV in - but Marmite thinks it's her chair.

He's getting a bit more fussy about food now, which I believe is typical. He's not so good at eating vegetables. I think I'm doing OK at not making a fuss about how much or how little he eats. I think he has a pretty balanced diet overall.

We spent a lovely weekend with James's maternal great-grandparents this month, where he enjoyed crawling around the house and garden in unseasonably hot weather. Photos below.

Summer's over

Only three years till James will be starting school... eek!

James is now 14 months. Still not walking, which I know is perfectly normal, but we keep meeting 9/10-month-olds who have been taking their first steps. Ah well, he won't be long - he can stand fairly well on his own now and only needs a couple of fingers to lean on gently while he walks.

He's obsessed with doors: opening them, closing them, going through them. And repeat. And getting cross when he closes them and then can't open them again. I've bought some doorstops to keep doors which should be open, open, and he is not best pleased about this. He enjoys closing the kitchen stair gate but then gets cross because he can't open it again. If he forces his way is allowed into the kitchen he loves to open and close the washing machine.

Talking - the current favourite word is 'Uh-oh', sometimes used in context, sometimes not. He can say 'Cat' and 'Bye-bye' and various other things that might be words. He loves singing songs and can do some of the actions. At the end of the song he squeals and claps.

James has (finally) made the transition from two naps to one, and it's usually from around 11-12.30ish. It is so much easier to get him to sleep for just one nap, especially as he's very tired by then, than for two. He won't sleep on me any longer which is nice in a way but I miss the enforced lie downs...

Nursery is going well. Most days I have to sign at least one accident form and take home at least one set of dirty clothes. I guess this means he's enjoying himself. He loves to go on the climbing frame there. He enjoys playing with his friend Alba there.

Term has started so all the regular activities are on again. Our typical week looks something like this:

Monday
AM nursery
PM meet friends in the park/play at someone's house

Tuesday
AM nursery
PM meet friends in the park/play at someone's house

Wednesday
AM swimming
PM parent and toddler session at the children's centre

Thursday
AM Gran looks after him
PM Go shopping/do something with Gran

Friday
Nursery all day

So it's a bit more restricted than it used to be, but we still have a chance to meet up with friends and play in the park.

That fourth top tooth finally broke through on holiday. Now he's teething again and really suffering with it, poor boy. I think it's the molars this time (rather than the missing lower incisors) and they ain't much fun.

Holiday! James enjoyed his first proper seaside holiday in Devon with his parents, paternal grandparents and great-grandmother. He paddled in the sea, which he wasn't sure about to begin with, but soon decided was fun. He played in the sand (lots). He went for bracing walks on the cliff path carried in the backpack by Mummy, or Daddy, or Granny. He scooted backwards along the kitchen floor. He played with all the tourist leaflets in the cottage. He slept terribly every night. He ate ice creams. He got up close and personal with pigs, sheep, horses and chickens. In general a good time was had by all.

Thirteen months

So this month James has started at nursery and I've started back at work. He really likes being at nursery; he bounces with excitement when we arrive. There are now usually a few tears when I actually say goodbye but they don't last long, apparently. When I pick him up he's pleased to see me but equally would be happy to carry on playing. His keyworker Renee is really nice and he seems to like her, and all the other staff are lovely too. Just as well since I've cried in front of them all more than once! But I'm enjoying being back at work and having a break from James - I enjoy my time with him all the more. Working part time seems like a good balance. James also gets looked after by Gran on a Thursday, and they seem to be having fun - though James knows Mummy's around and sometimes only Mummy will do. But that's OK - that's the advantage of being able to work flexibly from home, I can be there for my baby if he needs me. So far it has rained on each of the three Thursdays, but hopefully Gran can take him to the park soon!

James can now stand without holding on for a few seconds at a time, and only needs one finger to balance most of the time. He can push his walker along but doesn't really see the point, so only really does it with plenty of encouragement. He can climb the stairs. He can also climb onto the bed and the sofa, and is getting better at getting down backwards.

Daddy's electric guitar and amp provide an irresistible attraction. James can now switch on the amp, fiddle with the settings and play notes to see how they sound. This provides endless fun. Other fun things to do include throwing all his bath toys into the bath, opening and closing wardrobe doors and pulling all Mummy's jumpers out, and posting things through the cat flap. We have got out his trike which he loves, he rides along on it with a very serious expression on his face and protests loudly when taken off it.

Teeth situation: still the same as last month. That fourth top tooth is still just below the surface. Nursery keep saying they think he's teething; I can never really tell.

The big event this month was James's christening and birthday party on 31 July. The baptism itself went well, with Ginge and Jess as godparents. Then we all went to the park for a picnic. The following of James's relatives were there: his mother, his father, two grandmothers, two grandfathers, two great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, one aunt, one uncle, one uncle-in-law, two great-aunts, two great-uncles, three cousins once removed. Plus quite a few of our friends too. The sun shone, cake was eaten, cricket was played and a good time was had by all. James got lots of lovely presents too.

We also had the NCT group first birthday picnic this month. It was lovely to see how all the babies were doing - a couple were walking, a couple not even crawling yet, and the rest, like James, somewhere in the middle.

Birthday boy!

My little baby boy is one year old. In some ways it has gone quickly, but in other regards it has been the longest year of my life - it seems an eternity ago since he was born. He'll never grow or change so much in just one short year again.

James is still sleeping through the night fairly reliably, hooray! He normally goes to sleep at about 7.30 and wakes up anywhere between 5.30am and 7.30am. Since last week I have taken to feeding him when he wakes up and then putting him back in his cot (with some toys), and more often than now he actually goes back to sleep! We have had three mornings where he's slept till almost 9am. He is just transitioning from two naps to one nap, so he's making up the sleep in the mornings (just what we wanted!). It still does seem like a huge amount of sleep - last night he slept for about 13 hours, and he has been asleep for over 1.5 hours so far this afternoon. I guess he must need it. [of course he woke up as I typed that]

James is now crawling at top speed, and has not learnt about going round obstacles - he finds a way across every obstacle in his path. He also pulls himself to standing on anything which stays still long enough. Tonight he took his first wobbly steps with the baby walker; it won't be long till he's speeding up and down the corridor with that.

We have more teeth! Three little top incisors with the fourth not far behind.

Still not quite dropped that lunchtime feed - in fact over the last few days since an attack of gastroenteritis James has been subsisting rather more on milk than on food. I am very proud to have made it to a year still breastfeeding, and I was very grateful to be able to breastfeed him when he couldn't keep anything else down last weekend. I spent a day at work earlier in the month and James was fine without a feed without me around, so I'm not too worried about how he'll cope at nursery.

Current favourite toys: stacking cups (as ever), electronic things that make noises, shape sorters, blocks and things to bang. Current favourite games: posting tapes and videos through the stairgate bars, posting remote controls, toys and other random household items through the cat flap, crawling races with Mummy or Daddy.

Words: mama, daddy, dat, cat, hiya (sort of).

Things we did this month: met two tiny babies of friends, bought a new front-facing car seat, packed away the Graco travel system and started just using the little Maclaren.

Next month: how close will he be to walking? Will he have any more words?

In which he finally sleeps through!

Hooray! At 11 months James is now crawling and sleeping through the night. In fact he's sleeping an awful lot at the moment - yesterday he had had 12 hours' sleep at night, then a 30 minute nap in the morning (woke him by moving him, he would have slept longer) and a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon (I woke him by getting something from his room, again he might have slept longer). I suppose he's using up tons of energy, plus he's had a cold and now has conjunctivitis so he probably needs lots of sleep to recover from that.

He finally slept through the final night he slept in our bedroom. The next day we moved him into his own room, and since then he has slept from 7.30am-6.30am or so most nights. He has woken up in the night maybe three times in those three weeks. We were on holiday for a week of that and he still slept beautifully there. I'm beginning to miss having him sleeping next to me in bed, that never happens any more!

His own room is very successful; he is happy in his cot in there, and he has lots of space to play and crawl around. He can pull the box of toys off the lowest shelf, and his books are also accessible to him on a low shelf so he can pull them all out. He absolutely loves turning the pages of books and reading them to himself. This month he has particularly enjoyed books with flaps.

James finally started crawling on holiday in Ireland. It was ideal, we were staying in a two bedroom lodge with vast expanses of empty carpet and not very many things, unlike at home where we are constantly having to remove tempting items from him, such as Andrew's guitar cables, bins, coins, coat hangers etc etc. We have been doing some serious baby proofing, boarding up the balustrades, putting up stairgates at the top of the stairs and in the kitchen doorway, moving small items off low shelves and so on. James is really enjoying being able to explore the flat and go to things which interest him. The cats' water bowl and the cat flap are of particular interest. The cats are not so keen on this development: they have had to learn to jump over the baby gates and they preferred it when James wasn't able to chase after them.

James is also pulling himself up on the furniture, though not always very successfully. He seems to have a permanent bruise on his forehead (and all over his lower legs). I suppose the next few months will be full of bumps, bruises and grazes - oh joy. He can stand holding onto one hand, but hasn't yet figured out cruising round the furniture.

Still just the two teeth, but he has had teething symptoms recently and I think it won't be long before the first upper teeth come through. He is continuing to eat well, feeding himself most of the time now, and is down to three milk feeds a day (morning, lunchtime and evening). We'll probably try to drop the lunchtime feed during the next month or so before I return to work, though there will only be one day each week I'll be away from him all day, so he can always still have a feed on the other days if he wants one. After that we'll be down to just morning and evening and we'll keep those going as long as we both want to.

James has just started pointing at things in the last few days - it's very sweet. He loves waving at people and posing for the camera.

I start back at work in six weeks time, and James starts settling in at nursery in four weeks today (on his birthday). He's going to be going there for two half days (8am-1pm) and one full day (8am-6pm), and on one other day he'll be looked after by Gran (though I will also be around as I'll be working from home). I'm not really looking forward to going back to work, but it will be nice to have some money coming in again, and to think about something else other than the next meal time and nap time.

That's all till next month... when my little baby turns one! Not such a baby any more.

Now we are 10 months

It seems no time at all since my post a month ago - time is going so quickly now, we're on the countdown to James's first birthday and my return to work.

Weekends this month have been busy (and will continue to be so for the next month). We spent Easter with Andrew's parents, then James and I spent a weekend with Jess in Windsor, then we had a surprise baby shower for Jess in Chelmsford, then last weekend we went to a wedding in Cheshire. The weeks have been quieter, but still busy: Monday mornings is swimming, Tuesday is baby sign, Wednesday is singalong, Thursday is baby group and Friday is buggy bootcamp. In the afternoons we tend to go to friends' houses, go to the market, go to Sainsbury's or just go for a walk.

STILL no crawling - but it really isn't far off now. James had a few days of being incredibly frustrated with not being able to move. Now he tips himself onto all fours (though normally with his feet still tucked under him), then collapses onto his tummy, then rolls onto his back. He has only really started rolling over these last few weeks. It is good as now he doesn't cry every time he ends up on his tummy.

James is now eating three good meals and two snacks every day. He's down to four milk feeds and we have finally managed to drop the one in the early hours. The next one to go will be the 11pm feed, but I can't really drop that till he's in his own room as he wakes when we come to bed. He still wakes at 4am every day but we can now settle him back to sleep fairly easily. How long till he actually sleeps through?!

Still only two teeth and no sign of any others on the way. They are useful now for tearing off bits of toast. He loves having them brushed and opens his mouth with a giggle when he sees the toothbrush coming.

James now claps his hands (though one hand is still a fist, he hasn't got the hang of having them both flat). He likes to do this when anyone else claps, or when he is feeling happy. He waves to anyone who will wave to him. I've started giving him options at mealtimes ("James, would you like a kiwi fruit or a plum?") to encourage him to make decisions and to point. He giggles when he hears anyone else laughing. After his bath Andrew reads him a story, and if he isn't there when I'm getting James dressed James will say in a questioning tone "Dada dada dada?". If he's a bit grumpy and wants me and milk he will say "Mamamamama". So I think he is now using the words in context fairly consistently.

Nine months old

This is a few days late now, we've been travelling the country visiting relatives.

James is now three-quarters of the way to his first birthday. He's not quite mobile yet - if there's something really attractive he thinks forward really hard, bounces up and down and propels himself on his bum - but he hasn't quite figured out how he does it yet and can't do it at will. I'm in no rush for him to get mobile as it's very handy knowing he will stay where I put him. He enjoys shaking rattly toys (he uses both hands) but he is also enjoying the kind of toys with buttons to press and lights and irritating electronic noises. He holds his hands up to be picked up. He can't yet clap his hands, though has been known to clap his feet instead.

James now has two little teeth at the bottom. He likes to spend ages investigating my teeth with his finger, as if figuring out what these sharp pointy things are and whether everyone else has them.

I had James weighed a couple of weeks ago - he weighed 10.32kg, just over the 91st centile line. He is not a chubby baby - he seems to have grown length-wise recently. He's into nearly all 12-18 month clothes now. I've just bought a new sling which is rather more supportive than my old stretchy wrap sling.

We've been trying to cut out the feed in the early hours, but with limited success. He wakes up and is by no means desperate for milk, but it's how he knows how to go back to sleep. He keeps being awake for 1.5-2 hours at a time in the wee small hours, which is hard going. After about 10 days he finally did it and slept from 12-7 - but unfortunately it was only because he was coming down with a bug. He did that last time he was ill. Since then he has been ill, and then we have been away, so we haven't stuck to not feeding him between 12 and 7am. Oh well. Hopefully this month we'll be able to finally move him into his own room and at that point we will get tough.

James giggles at cats, dogs and guinea pigs. He is beginning to understand what 'No' and 'Gently' mean, but sometimes he forgets. He likes to pull people's hair and has recently discovered that he can pull his own hair. It looks painful.

We have been doing a baby signing course, but I am rubbish at doing the signs. Never mind, he enjoys the songs. I don't think we'll sign up again. We're about to start swimming lessons which should be fun.

Eight months today!

So I've parked James in front of Chuggington while I write this - top notch parenting or what! But he is practising his waving at the TV so it can't be all bad.

I think James is teething, though no teeth as yet. He's been dribbling far more than usual and has been really grouchy for the last few days. I can feel a definite bump under the surface when he'll let me have a feel. He's just started using his hands to bat my hands away from his face. He's also doing it when I try to spoon feed him so I think we might be making the move to just self-feeding fairly soon.

Still no moving around, but seeing friends with crawling babies I am very grateful for this. He's beginning to want to move a bit more - when sitting down, if a toy goes out of his reach he will lean towards it until he tips over, and then gets stuck and cries to be set upright again. He's fairly reliable about not toppling backwards these days but it does occasionally happen.

James will now sleep in the travel cot when we go away, which is great! Hope I haven't just jinxed it - we're in Windsor for the weekend so I hope he'll be OK in the travel cot tonight. He's still sleeping in the sidecar cot at home. We'd like to move him into his own room - hopefully it won't be long till we can have a rearrange. He still wakes up in the night for feeds, and has taken to waking up at about 6am, probably with the light. On a couple of mornings this week Andrew has had to get up early for work so he's taken James through to play in the other room, giving me a much-needed extra hour's sleep. This morning James kindly went back to sleep after an early feed, until 7.30am. I think it's my turn to get up with James tomorrow morning and let Andrew have a lie in.

This month we had a lovely meal out on Andrew's 30th birthday while his brother and sister babysat. James stayed peacefully asleep all evening, hooray!

James at 7 months

I don't seem to be doing a very good job at updating this, do I? Oh well, once a month is better than nothing - just wish I'd started earlier!

James is now a big boy, sitting up fairly reliably and eating three good meals a day. He's settled into a fairly fixed routine which is really great as it means I know what's happening, how long he's likely to sleep for, etc. It goes something like this:

7am wake up, breastfeed
8am get up, have breakfast (half a weetabix, bit of toast and fruit)
9.30am breastfeed, morning nap (30-45 minutes)
10.15am go to activity - singalong, baby group etc
12pm home, lunch (leftovers from our dinner the previous night, or half a jar/pouch of baby food, along with finger food veg/rice cake, followed by fruit/yoghurt)
1pm breastfeed, nap (1.5-3 hours)
3.30pm go out for walk (can always find someone in the park to wander with!)
4.30pm breastfeed
5.30/6pm tea (nursery tea such as scrambled egg, cheese on toast etc followed by fruit/yoghurt)
6.15pm bath followed by story (currently Andrew usually reads either some poetry or The Gruffalo)
6.45 pm into bed, breastfeed, normally asleep by 7.15pm
11.30pm breastfeed
3.30am breastfeed

So he's still having a lot of milk, though I no longer feel the ravenous hunger I used to which probably means he's taking less. I'm probably going to need to introduce a snack at about 11am as he gets hungry then but won't feed if we're out and about as there's too much going on. I imagine the 4pm feed will also be replaced by a snack before long.

James seems to love all the food we've given him - he hasn't refused anything so far. Particular favourites include banana, broccoli and yoghurt. It's been difficult sometimes to work out when he's full - I actually think I could probably start giving him a bit more than he's been having.

James can now sit up perfectly well but isn't too keen on doing it for long - he'd still rather lie on his back and kick his legs. We keep his baths shallow enough that he doesn't need to be held - he can just lie down and kick and giggle and giggle. Today I took him swimming and he had a lovely time kicking his legs. Shame it messed up the routine though - he fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for 30 minutes or so before waking up for lunch and a feed, by which time he was wide awake... he had a 10 minute nap at 5pm but mean mummy wouldn't let him sleep any longer than that. Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight.

He's beginning to enjoy toys that have buttons to press and make noises (oh joy). He also likes rattles and things that make interesting noises when you shake them or bang them. A particular favourite is a bottle of paracetamol... don't worry, we think the lid is fairly well childproof and we don't let him play with it unaccompanied.

James now settles to sleep with very little fuss, which is just so nice after the situation until a few weeks ago when it would take up to two hours each night to get him off to sleep - repeatedly feeding him, rocking him, using white noise, etc etc. Now I can just feed him and put him down still sleepy, and nine times out of ten he goes off to sleep without a whimper. Now, if only he would sleep through... I think he's getting there, he has done a couple of six hour stints recently and things are going in the right direction.

No teeth yet, and still no sign of rolling over, let alone crawling as some of his contemporaries are doing.

James is a wonderful happy smiley baby who loves being around people and playing peekaboo. I can't wait to see what exciting things he does this month!

I can't seem to add pictures but will add some when I can.

James at 6 months

James turned 6 months a couple of days ago. It feels like a bit of a milestone as there's lots of things you are 'allowed' to do from 6 months - start weaning (though we did that three weeks ago), move him into his own room (no plans to do that imminently), transfer him from the pram to the pushchair bit of his travel system (did that two months ago) and so on.

James is still really enjoying eating solids - he's enjoyed curries, bolognese sauce, scrambled egg, avocado, banana and much more. He doesn't seem to have had any bad reactions to anything so far.

He is sitting up unsupported for longer periods, not for very long so far but getting better at it. He's still not really rolling, though he did roll from front to back once at baby group on Tuesday - but not since. He's still not sleeping brilliantly - last night he went to sleep at 10pm, woke at 12 and was hard to resettle, then woke at 2.30, 4.45 and then up for the day at 7am. I feel groggy!

We've just bought him a jumperoo but it is HUGE and I'm not sure how happy he is in it.We'll see!

James seems to have settled into quite a fixed routine now, though of course it keeps going out the window if something changes. A typical day might go as follows:

7.30am wake up, feed
8am get up, breakfast, get dressed
9.30-10am sleep
10am go out to a morning activity, feed at some point
12pm come home
12.30pm lunch
1pm-3pm feed followed by sleep
3pm play etc, feed at some point
5.30pm tea time
6.30pm bath time
7pm feed, then asleep by 7.30/8pm

Things we've done this week:
Sing and Rhyme at the library
Baby group at the children's centre
Singalong at the children's centre
Walk to Sainsbury's and tea in the cafe with S and A
Baby group at the church
Tea and cake with my group of mum friends at L's house
Private view of BIL's exhibition in central London
Might go to Tots Waterworld today

Food, glorious food!

We've just started weaning, amid lots of worrying that he's not quite six months yet, but he certainly seems ready - he can sit well in his high chair, pick up food, take it to his mouth, and the tongue thrust reflex has certainly gone as he is more than happy to swallow food. I had planned to do baby-led weaning (BLW) which is where you offer the baby finger foods from day one and let him feed himself. However we started mashing the odd thing and giving it to him on a spoon so that he could get the idea, and he loved it. He likes being spoonfed, though he also likes being given a loaded spoon to feed himself with. I guess we'll do a mixture of traditional and baby-led weaning.

So far James has had banana (the best thing ever, apparently!), baby porridge, carrot, broccoli, swede, spicy parsnip soup, carrot and coriander soup, salmon, red pepper, and has had a crust of bread to chew on but not really eaten any. Here's a couple of pictures of him eating his tea last night (mashed banana and porridge, with sticks of banana):