Week 30 - The Game Changer

Week 30

So big news in Paddington's baby journey...we have a crawler!!!!! Now the fun really begins, right?! This week Paddington seems to have gone from being a fairly containable baby who really wants to be on the move, to a suddenly completely mobile and able little guy who is moving around like he has been doing it all his life!  He is confident, inquisitive, fast, adapting super quickly to his new found freedom and movement and thoroughly pleased with himself for opening up his world to a whole host of new adventures and areas to explore.

He is really enjoying crawling on different textures as he has mainly spent his play time on a variety of soft mats and blankets so far, now he is a mobile baby, I have put the foam squares out on the floor which he loves the feel of, and he has ventured on to the hard wood floors and the carpet and the rug, all of which are a sensory delight.

He is so happy to be able to get around now and can cover some good ground, so its eyes in the back of our heads time!  No more sedentary, immobile baby, we have entered the world of mobility, and boy is it fun!

This week was a week of milestone that have changed our lives, and Padster's too, for the better!

1. The Game Changer.

Our little man has been putting in the legwork, so to speak, over the past couple of weeks, desperate to get moving, and I have admired his tenacity and perseverance, thinking it would take at least another month or so until I needed to worry too much about baby proofing etc... well, my boy only went and started crawling on Friday didn't he, like the absolute trooper and legend he is. His hard work trying and experimenting with movement has paid off and he is a confident little crawler too.  My pal Laura knew he would be crawling soon when we visited her a couple of weeks ago and she saw Pads doing his press-up yoga pose.  She said 'now, he can do that, he'll be crawling within a couple of weeks I bet', and she was spot on!

He first crawled on the bed in the morning when we were having some lazy play, then he didn't bother again in the day so I thought it was a fluke. That evening, on his play area he just rolled on to his front and rather nonchalantly started crawling forward towards me with super cute splayed fingers and very precise placing of his hands and knees. I was so excited I gave him a huge round of applause and lots of praise, and he gave me such a happy and satisfied grin as if to say, 'look, mum! I did it! Crawling rocks!'.

I wanted to see if he could do it again, and of course try and capture it on camera for his dad, so I scooped him up and put him back where he started, on his front, then I sat in front of him at the other end of the play area and put his beloved Sophie la giraffe in front of me. With lots of encouraging 'come on good boy!' and 'you can do it' style cheering on from me, he just began crawling quickly forward again, like it is something he had always been able to do.  I had it on film and he was just as happy as before to have mastered this new, exciting skill. Suddenly, Pads whole world has just opened up and is full of possibility and ripe for the exploring!

I have now had to begin baby proofing pretty sharpish, starting with putting his foam squares down on the floor surrounding his padded blanket area as the lovely cushion border I had been using to contain him, just won't cut it now he can crawl past or over them!  (He has also figured out how to basically army commando roll over cushions and obstacles so nowhere is safe from him!). This really is a game changer, as now he knows he can crawl, that is all he wants to do and each time he wants to go further and explore new surfaces and parts of the room he hasn't been before.

It is pretty cute to see the joy and wonder on his face as he crawls around and surprises himself with how far he can go, and he looks up at me for encouragement and reassurance still, which is so rewarding.  It takes quite a bit of effort to crawl so we are still getting a lot of effort farts and it tires him out too, so often he will just stop with his head on the floor for a little rest mid crawl or start rubbing his eyes or getting frustrated and grizzling.

Watch out world, Paddington the destroyer is on the move and he is coming for your toys/mobile phones and remotes mainly! (I think its time to set up his travel cot play pen methinks!)

2. Bassinet be gone.

This has been a real week of milestones, and proof that my once little baby boy, is growing up FAST! Pads has now upgraded his carry cot pram to a sportier parent facing seat model, in keeping with his new, grown up crawling baby status. I was quite sad to dismantle the bassinet as its been a big part of Pads little life so far, and means that he just isn't a small baby anymore.

Luckily, our buggy comes with a parent facing seat option which is what we have gone for whilst he still wants to see me when we are out for a walk, and luckily, he still falls asleep easily in it, which was a concern of switching from the cosy bassinet! We have had quite a few lovely walks in the new pram set-up already this week, including a gorgeous sunny meander along the river Wye that then turned into a wet and miserable trot back to the car through puddles and mud (for me anyway, Pads had no idea of the sudden weather change as he was fast asleep under his rain cover, which he is totally fine with in the new seat position thankfully!). He loves the new more upright position as he can see out and look around more easily, but he can also still see me and when he is ready to see more of the world, and fed up with my face, we can upgrade again to the front facing seat.

3. Chatter box

Pads has really found his voice as well this week, and is communicating and experimenting with a wealth of new sounds. 'Ra ra ra ra' and 'ya ya ya' are his favs, and it almost sounds at times like he is taking the mick out of how I speak and very nearly saying 'bla bla bla'! He has long conversations with himself, and us, with these new half words and gets quite expressive and shouts when he wants attention or wants anything really! He definitely knows what he wants and how to get it!

He is also fond of a 'ga ga ga' rant or sometimes it really sounds like he saying 'hello' or 'yeah', and I say it back to him for him to repeat and it sounds like he is repeating it, but am sure its just a fluke of similar sounds at this stage. Basically he always wants to have a chat or babble away or practice making new and more sophisticated sounds at the moment and it is adorable. I love to hear him nattering away to himself in the morning or in the back of the car, if this is anything to go by I think he'll be a chatty little chappy!

He also does this hilarious wide mouthed face when he is really chattering away, that reminds me of a Creature Comforts animal, not quite sure where he has picked that up from but it is very cute!

4. Gone with the Wind.

Solid food is definitely causing some impressive wind from my boy. How such a peachy little bum can produce such loud and long pumps I don't know, but boy do we know about it now his diet has changed. Stinky bum should be his new nickname and the nappy contents are quite potent these days, often with little specks of evidence in them, such as a bit of broccoli or spinach. Gone is the canary yellow poo of yore that we worked so hard to get, and in its place is a darker, thicker, smellier beast. All part of growing up I guess.

He is also definitely finding it harder to pass solid foods and often sits in his high chair making little straining sounds and pulling really concerned and urgent straining faces, bless him. It can't be easy going from breast milk to a pile of veggies and fruit and then full blown meals. I am trying to make sure I keep giving him plenty of wind removal massages after each nappy change and before bed to help the little guy out, as quite often he will wake in the night due to wind I think and let out an almighty parp or belch which gives him great relief.

5. The fish hook.

Breast feeding time is now basically just explorative hand play time for Pads and he is freakishly strong. He has been doing the 'oral hygienist' as my Daisies baby class teacher brilliantly called it for some time now, where he shoves his whole hand in my mouth and feels and pulls at my teeth and gums. But he has stepped it up a gear and started doing something another friend suggested we call the 'fish hook'. It is as it sounds, he hooks either a few fingers or his whole hand just below my lower lip and yanks as hard as he can. And it bloody hurts! He is so strong that he can drag my head just with a couple of fingers. That coupled with the boob scratching and pinching which comes as standard makes feeding a bit of a battleground at times.

He also chomped down a few times with his gums on my nip and his teeth look like they are about to cut through finally, so help me when they do! A friend of mine suggested the best way to deal with biting and chomping to nip it in the bud, was to try and have the mind to push my boob further into his mouth when he does this, rather than pull away as is the natural instinct ,so that he is forced to release, to try and teach him that that is not a cool move. My boy is so strong and so inquisitive and so wilful and so into everything that it does become a challenge at times and when he hurts, he really hurts! This baby is a strong one.

6. Weaning adventures continued.

We really stepped up our food explorations this week as Pads is just so interested in food and wants to try everything he sees, which is fab. He has been brilliant with all the vegetable and fruit purees and finger foods I have given him so far, so this week, now he is used to the idea of eating and holding his spoon etc... we went baby led and started cooking from scratch properly again so we could make salt and sugar free meals that our son can share.

Here's what Pads had on this week's gourmet menu:

Chicken thigh meat cooked in a little paprika and thyme - he liked sucking this.  His first taste of meat and we went baby led giving him a good strip to hold and investigate.  He also had a green bean with it and half a potato which was excellent for smushing in his fist.

Mushroom - this was a total surprise hit.  It was a warm, cooked sliced mushroom and I think he mainly used it for teething on, squeaking it against his gums, but seemed to also get really excited by the umami taste, kicking his legs excitedly and he wouldn't let the piece of mushroom go.

Pan fried tenderstem broccoli - clearly a discerning foodie. This was easy for him to hold and keep popping in and out of his mouth so he was happy to play and chew on this for ages whilst we ate our dinner and he ate most of the floret too.

Steamed asparagus spear - another winner because it was fun and easy to hold, though it was a little stringy when he did manage to tear a piece off so he spat those bits out.

Banana pancake sliver with pear purée and a halved strawberry for Pancake Day - he loved this, after an initial surprise at the texture of the pancake, and his first taste of anything with egg in it, he sucked away on it merrily and really loved the sweetness and juiciness of the strawberry and his favourite, the pear.

Homemade hummus - total winner and I had forgotten how easy and yummy it is to make your own. He has had this on toast, bread, cucumber sticks, my finger, a spoon..he is a hummus kind of guy.

Chilli con carne - I puréed some of this to give him and also kept some big chunks of beef and a slightly mashed kidney bean back, so he could do a combo of baby led and spoon fed on this one to get the maximum experience. He enjoyed sucking the beef and the sauce was clearly a taste explosion that my little man relished - that's cumin, coriander and chilli flakes in there and he went for it so enthusiastically he had a Joker style red sauce smile all over his lower face. So proud!

Porridge with half cows milk half water - He made a face like Gollum for this one.  Not sure about the texture of sticky oats I guess. I tried it with some of his beloved pear purée mixed in it and that went down better but still not a fav.  He was also a little sick afterwards, so I think that may be the cow's milk.  I also tried natural yoghurt with some stewed plums and again he was sick after this, but the next day I gave him Ready Brek made with water on its own, and then with some stewed plums and he was fine and lapped it up like it was breastmilk, so I am going to give cow's milk and cow's milk yoghurt a miss for now.

Porridge fingers - These look like skinny flapjacks and he really seems to like holding them and sucking out little bits of oats.  They are jut made with porridge oats and water (I didn't use milk, see above) cooked on high heat in the microwave and then sliced while warm and left to cool and harden, so not particularly tasty I don't think, but great finger food and they have really helped him get to grips with his grip.

Spinach and cheese muffins - I also whipped up a batch of really yummy muffins (get me!), using a mature cheddar and fresh spinach leaves.  I made big ones for me and Jon and mini ones for Pads, and they have been a huge hit.  I wasn't sure they would go down that well with him as are trickier to hold than a stem or a porridge finger, but he can handle the odd round shape, and mush it up in his hands and nibble small pieces of the eggy muffiny mix off.  He has definitely been ingesting the spinach - his nappies have been proof of that, and when I opened the box I had stored them in to get myself one for a snack, he saw it and started reaching out with both hands and making a grizzly 'give me one mum!' sound so he definitely likes them.

I am really enjoying setting Pads off on his culinary journey and discovering what foods he likes and watching him really quickly develop new feeding and eating skills.  He seems to get real enjoyment from food, from the taste to the whole experience of sitting and eating and taking his time over exploring what I put in front of him, and so far, he has tried everything and mostly, liked everything too.  It has given me a revived interest in cooking again too and reignited my passion for food, and it is forcing me to make healthier choices for us as a family as Pads is pretty much just eating what we eat now.

7. The return (sort of) of our evenings.

This week, we reclaimed some of our evenings back after a long time of me just going to bed when Paddington did to just basically survive! We had our first proper evening in a very long time, after putting Pads down after a play, a bath, a feed and a cuddle at around 8.45pm. He woke up twice (once due to wind and then because he had managed to get himself diagonal to the bottom of the cot with his head on the corner and yup, bopped his bonce on the bars again). Jon and I managed to watch Alaska: the last frontier (a guilty pleasure of ours), and snuggle up on the couch like we used to do with a cheeky glass of wine and a chocolate or 10. It was really lovely to have some down time as a couple and just unwind together for a change.

The next 2 evenings weren't quite as successful, with Pads taking longer to settle off to sleep. I went up to put him to bed at 7.30pm and didn't come back down until 9.30pm (man was I hungry for dinner that night!), and the next night I came downstairs at around 8.30pm after settling Pads off, then had to go up and down the stairs another 3 times as he kept waking, and spend a good 15 minutes getting him settled again each time, that I just got too tired myself and toddled off to bed around 9.45pm (which felt REALLY late!), leaving Jon to watch action movies by himself, which he was more than happy to do!

8. The 2nd game changer of the week.

This is huge for us - we are now a 2 car family.  And this could not have happened at a better time as our old routine of me having to take Jon to the station every morning for work at 6.45am and pick him up every evening between 6.30-7pm was not only getting really boring and annoying, it was also starting to affect Paddington's 'routine'.  If he was asleep in the morning when we had to leave, we had to either wake him to bring him in the car with us, or if my mum was around and not working the next day, wake her up and ask her to watch over him for 15 minutes. Not ideal for anyone. And bundling a sleepy/cranky/just woken up baby into a car at stupid o clock in the morning in the cold and the dark, when everyone is tired and a bit cranky, is not fun.

Likewise, in the evenings Jon's train would always get in just when Paddington was ready to go to bed, so I'd have to ignore his cues and bundle him back in the car which of course, just made him even more tired and start to nod off, only to be woken up again when we got back home, and send him to over tired grizzly town. Well, those days are now over as we are the proud owners of a 13 year old Renault Scenic which we have lovingly, and rather fittingly, named Sophie la scenic, after Padster's beloved teething toy. Welcome to the family Sophie, you are about to make our lives so much easier.