Mini-Christmas

We spent the end of May Bank Holiday celebrating birthdays - mine and my Mums, and Kalebs. With the amount of people around the house (and the amount of food and presents going around) it was like a mini-Christmas. 

Kaleb's Words

Kaleb has been getting on really well with his words recently. He started with a single syllable version of longer words, but is now starting to spread them out into two syllables (like "track" into "track-ta" for tractor). 

He has also started putting two words together. Some of them are animal names and noises, like "cow moo" and "quack duck". A number are various chocolate variants; "choc bar", "choc pot", "choc moo" [Chocolate Milkshake] and "choc cake". Also food related, he does say "cheese please" and "more cheese", as well as the more general "more please". Recently he has started saying "tee tie" [tea time]. 

One of the double words I have taught him is "oh no", which is usually does alongside putting his hands on his cheeks in a mock shocked face. 

Helping out his sister, when she is crying he sometimes lifts up his tshirt and says "bay milk" [baby milk], and of course "bay cry" [baby cry]. This is sometimes followed with "poor bay" [Poor Baby]; repeating me as I sometimes say that after repeating him saying baby cry. 

Kaleb sometimes lets us know if he needs a change as he'll say "change nappy" (he usually does the makatan sign for this at the same time). He has recently had a seemingly uncontrollable urge to wash his hands as he'll point up at the sink saying "wosh hans" [Wash Hands]. 

Last week my mum was visiting and got him settled in bed for the night. In the morning he said a three word sentence for the first time "where nanny gone?". 

Of all the words he's said, the ones I remember the most are when I helped drop him off at nursery after Evelyn was born. I don't normally but was on paternity leave so had the time off. Trying to leave him in his room he said "don't go" in a little upset voice. As usual once we actually left he had a great day at nursery. 

As the weather has been getting nicer recently, we have been going for short walks. When he wants to go for a walk, Kaleb will come over and say "wall ken" [Walk Kenny] - Kenny is the name of his little kangaroo backpack that he wears while walking so he can't get too far away from us. 

While walking, Kaleb will often point at a car and say "car", and if it is moving and drives off, it will often be followed by "car gone". There is a little park near us, Kaleb lets us know what there is there: "swing, slide". 

As we all seem to sit in the same place while eating, Kaleb points out whose chair is whose, even if we aren't sitting in it; "mummy chair, daddy chair, bay chair" [baby chair] - Evelyn's chair being a little bouncy chair she sits in sometimes while we are eating. 

At nursery recently, he was holding a toy car and walked over to another child and said "car share", which was very nice of him. 

He has been repeating number "wan, too, tee, for, fie, sics, nie". Sometimes he will attempt to say seven and eight, and sometimes combines them into one number. I'm not sure whether he understands that these are number or what their significance is yet. 

It is very interesting watching him increase his vocabulary so much so quickly. I'm looking forward to him learning more and more, and hopefully soon he'll say his first four-word sentence. 

Kaleb: Big Brother

We've had a week of life with Evelyn now and it is going well. Kaleb gets on well with her which is great. 

He can sometimes be over-exuberant without meaning to, but is getting better at interacting with her. Early on we would put her on his lap with one of us holding her underneath, but switched over to putting her on a pillow and putting the pillow on his lap so she is more stable. 

Often when he holds his new sister, Kaleb can appear very protective of her. Sometimes when she cries and we try to comfort her on his lap he will say "no" and push our hands away. One of the first times he held her, when we started to move her away he grabber her leg and arm and puller her towards him (this was one reason why we switched to having her on a pillow). 

Kaleb likes to point out the different parts of Evelyn's face - he can point out his eyes, ears, nose and mouth on his face and likes point at her face too. We keep on telling him to be gentle when he does this so he doesn't poke her too hard.  

He is very affectionate with his little sister too. He likes to give her little kisses on the head when she is on his lap or when he is getting ready for bed. He comes over to her Moses basket or pram when she is sleeping in it and points at her saying "bay" (translation: "baby"). 

Henley Holiday 2013

We got back from our holiday in Henley on Thames yesterday. Kaleb has had quite a week, as he had a sleep in and a very long nap today. It was the first holiday we have had with Kaleb, and two years since me and Liz last went to Henley.

As I knew we had a lot to bring along with Kaleb, I wanted to make sure we had everything we needed, so quickly threw together an app for my tablet to keep track of everything we wanted to take with us, whether we had packed it, and whether we brought it back with us when we returned. I tinkered with it while we were on holiday as I had my netbook with me, and might put it on the Google play store at some point.

The plan was that I would go to dad's club as usual and be picked up from there, with Liz and my Dad putting everything in the car, but we were running late so I helped pack things into the car before heading off and getting a pub lunch on the way.

Not as late as my cousin and brother, however, who took the same wrong turning as last time...

We did a wander around the local supermarket after getting there and unpacking a bit, Kaleb was asleep so he went around in his car seat. We got a BBQ and fire pit as the concrete ones had been removed, and our plans for Sunday needed a BBQ.

Preparation for the Sunday BBQ included constructing the BBQ, putting up the gazebo, and clearing some of the garden of goose droppings so Kaleb could crawl around the grass a bit. My dad stayed for most of the day, but went home that evening for work that week.

We slept in for most of the morning on Monday and Tuesday, having a big breakfast each day, but it did mean we didn't do much until after midday, having a wander around Henley each day. We did discover that it was a bit chilly in the mornings, but as we only had pyjamas for Kaleb and not a sleep suit, we fashioned our own by tucking socks into his pyjama legs, which seemed to work well.

Another BBQ was planned for Wednesday, which was a lovely sunny day. We got Kaleb's paddling pool inflated for him, and after the initial confused look wondering why he was suddenly wet, he had fun splashing around in it.

On Thursday, me and Liz went to Reading for the day, to look around some of the shops there. At the last craft fair we went to, we found out about another one in Henley while we were visiting, so went to that on the Friday, after which we started to tidy up the house so we had less to do the morning we were leaving.

After a final evening fire, with marshmallows, we went to bed quite late, so it was a good thing we didn't have too much to do the next morning.

We all had a lot of fun that week, I think Wednesday was my favorite day. Kaleb seems to have enjoyed himself as he had a big sleep the night after we got home, and a very long nap this afternoon.

Kaleb

It's amazing to think that it's been one year since Kaleb was born already. We had a little family BBQ to celebrate.

Liz's family arrived early and we had a little bout of opening presents, as to not overwhelm Kaleb at once. My dad and brother arrived with the BBQ to set to while I was pushing Kaleb around in the trike we got him.

Around lunchtime once everyone had arrived I started making a mango curry, mainly for Kaleb as he couldn't really have much of the BBQ food, plus I had some too as I don't make it very often. I did make sure I had some of the BBQ ribs when they were done however, before my cousin ate them all ;-)

Into the afternoon, my brother spent some time trying to inflate the bouncy castle my dad got for Kaleb. As he can't even stand yet, let alone bounce, Kaleb crawled around on it a bit while some of us bounced the ground near him.

Liz had made a lovely cake for Kaleb, a nice bear shaped one, so we sung happy birthday to him with it. The candle was relit so everyone could then sing to me, and relit again for my mum.

It was a very pleasant day, the weather was nice - it was a great way to celebrate a year of being with Kaleb.

A very fun year, I have to say. It's great having little Kaleb around, watching him grow and develop and become not-so-little. He had such a zest for life and is seemingly always happy, which I think is a great mindset, and hope he continues as he is.

Relative size

(Found this in a draft folder from last month, posting it now as I hadn't then apparently)

Thinking about it, I should find it odd that I think two opposite things at the same time, but it makes sense to me.

Whenever me and Liz talk about Kaleb's size, I think he is both big and small. It's all relative to various factors though. Compared to other children his age, he is quite tall, and compared to when he was a newborn, he has grown a lot.

However, when he's sitting on the floor, especially if I'm standing up, he looks so small (and when he's crawling across the floor I wonder where he stores all that energy).

One minute I can see him clapping his little hands with his tiny fingers, and the next I'll be wondering how long it's been since he could reach the top of the table...

Wedding

A few weeks back, we went along to visit Liz's family in Lincoln for a few days, to attend the wedding of Liz's sister.

On the day of the wedding, I was on Kaleb duty while Liz and her mum got ready. We got a taxi to the church and were the first people there. I carried Kaleb around showing him the inside of the church, taking him over at one point to read some of the children books in the corner of kids stuff. More and more people started arriving and we got to our seats ready for the wedding to start.

The ceremony was lovely, and Kaleb mostly behaved himself but did want something to drink during it (luckily we had planned ahead and had some with us). We then went to the hotel near the castle in Lincoln for the reception, where we also got photos done before the meal. We all got an egg cup Jayne had hand painted every guests name on, including one for Kaleb that we're keeping specially for him.

We got an extra plate of food for Kaleb during the meal, which he enjoyed. Afterwards, there was some dancing, and Kaleb got to have the second dance with the bride. He also had a bit of a boogy on the dance floor, mainly shaking his arms up and down, occasionally shuffling across the floor a little bit.

After a few hours we got Kaleb dressed into his sleep suit so, if he went to sleep, we didn't have to wake him up changing him. He didn't fall asleep in the end, as there were too many people, in particular people saying how cute he was, which he always enjoys.

Starting to get late, with Kaleb looking tired, we went to our hotel room and got Kaleb settled for the night.

It was a long and busy day, and a tiring one for Kaleb, but not tiring enough that he slept through breakfast...

Shoes

Kaleb got his first pair of shoes yesterday. We got into St Albans for 9am (no thanks to the trains), and learnt about baby foot development before measuring up Kaleb's feet. His size are around the smallest that they do shoes for, and we got a nice pair for him to wear to his Aunty's wedding.

He was happily rolling around the floor, being popular with the staff (standard Kaleb really), but got a little upset when he tried a pair on and I held him up to see whether they fit ok or not.

The second pair he tried on didn't seem to bother him as much, so we kept those on and brought them.

We got a little photo of 'baby's first shoes' too, and a card to track his feet sizes.

Transitions

The biggest transition I've gone through recently is going from not being a parent, to becoming a dad. Pretty big transition. Kaleb is only 9 months and he has been through many more bigger transitions than my one.

Aside from the obvious huge one of living inside Liz to becoming his own entity, he has had a number of major changes in his life - drinking only milk to also eating solid food, not being able to move to learning to roll over and then crawl along the floor are quite massive changes to go through. Having no teeth to having some pop out your gums is probably the most painful transition I've seen him go through.

Learning all these new things aren't all major changes, some are small on their own, but together indicate a big change. Earlier today Kaleb was having fun crawling round his room. He's still doing his "commando" style crawling instead of the conventional style and for a while has been able to go from sitting to laying on his front to crawl. Today, however he went from crawling to pushing himself up so he was sitting again. Before he could only transition the one way, but now it turns out he can do both. A fairly small change, but part of the bigger, and still ongoing transition of starting still to moving about on his own.

One thing I am glad about is that I don't see being a dad transitioning away from being interesting any time soon

Baby show, one year on

Last weekend, Liz, Kaleb and myself went to the baby show at the Excel center in London. I had been to this one before with Liz while she was pregnant with Kaleb, so this was the first time for Kaleb to come along too.

We went with a similar set up to the last baby show, me carrying Kaleb in a cloth wrap, him facing outwards so he could see where we were going. We brought a big rucksack too so wouldn't hurt our hands carrying too many carrier bags.

We went on a Sunday this time, so have now gone to a baby show on each of the days of the week it is on. We got the train from Flitwick, noticing one benefit of a Sunday trip to the Friday one was the ticket prices being half the Friday fair...

Into London and a couple of tube rides later, we arrive, discovering due to train announcements that there is a beauty convention and a comic convention happening at the same time.

Starting our first walk round the stalls, we learnt from our last trip that while marking down which stalls to go back to at the end so we're not carrying round a lot of bags all day, we should use the map in the guide and not the map that becomes part of a competition entry, so we don't risk not having the map when we want to use it (again).

We marked down a couple of places and then Liz entered a raffle, winning a fairly decent prize which was lucky of her. We signed up to some child development research from a uni that was there, and continued making places.

First round done, we got some lunch and reviewed our stall markings, putting extra stars next to the ones to go to first. Liz went to feed Kaleb, so I had a quick wander on my own, finding something else to look at later.

We did the second round, picking up what we wanted pretty quickly. Some reusable face wipes, gates for the stairs and kitchen door, swim towel, and a cape style towel with a hood and felt spikes down the back so the wearer looks like a dragon. Hopefuly Kaleb will like that when he is old enough to wear it.

Liz was starting to struggle with the bag getting heavy (she came down with the flu the next day which might explain it), so we got our final purchase that I spotted earlier - a cheap stroller. One benefit of the Sunday seemed to be extra discounts on the special show prices. We wanted to get a spare pushchair that folded up a lot smaller and was easier to travel with, and I had found one that looked alright and was quite cheap, so we brought it and asked one of the stall assistants to help up unpack it as we couldn't take it boxed, so Kaleb got a ride home in it.

I think he liked it, and enjoyed the day overall as he was a little tired on the train home...

Nine months on

Just at the end of February, Kaleb turned nine months. He's still happy sitting on his own, and seems to have settled on a commando style crawl as a preferred method of getting around by himself.

His feeding is getting on well; he even stated letting us feed him for a change (he has always wanted to feed himself), although that is mostly for yogurts which he can't pick up with his fingers all that well...

He started going to nursery so Liz can go to work one day during the week and enjoys himself there. We went through all the clothes for the next size up people have brought him and it looks like we have most things we're going to need which is handy. It's currently in a pile in his room ready to replace his current clothes when they start getting small, but as some are still fine now, it'll likely be a gradual replace when things get small.

Liz got him weighed the other week too, a good 8kg, and apparently  about as tall as a one year old so he had to sit on the scales instead on laying as he was too tall.

Recently we went to the baby show again to get more Kaleb related items, notably some items to Kaleb-proof the house, now that he is more mobile...

Kaleb's second Snow

We had a little bit of snow recently, which was Kaleb's first ever experience with it. The recent snow now is the second time he has seen it, and it has certainly stuck around.

When it first started snowing and settling, we took him outside so he could experience it first hand. We wrapped him up in multiple layers and took him into our driveway where we sat him in the snow for a little bit.

He sat around smiling at us (although he does that a lot) but didn't interact with the snow that much. Probably due to all the layers as that might have restricted how much he could move, but I suspect he had noticed it was a little chilly too.

Apart from the one snow play outside, he has mostly been experiencing snow while in his buggy, I'm not sure if he's noticed that the ride isn't as smooth as usual, or just that it's particularly cold outside recently.

7 months of growth

Kaleb turns 8 months at the end of January. I'm sitting here wondering where the time had gone already...

My last Kaleb related post was back when he was 3 months old, and a lot has changed since then. He soon learned to roll over and hold things in his hands. Rolling over meant that he was no longer going to always stay where you put him, and it was exciting to see him being able to pick something up to interact with it.

At 6 months we started weaning him - waiting till then meant we didn't have to mess around with mushing things up quite so much and could give him solid food straight away. We did have him practicing dinner time beforehand by letting him play with a plastic spoon while we were eating, but he seems happier to just grab food with him hands directly. We've attempted to spoon feed him a few times, but he mostly prefers feeding himself.

We found out early on that he seems to like bread sticks. I think he was starting to teethe and having something he could crunch a little bit with his gums might have helped him. They're also a good shape for him to be able to hold onto. We've tried out a range of different things for him, even cooking a couple of meals that we know he can eat so he can be eating the same as us, usually changing one or two minor bits to make it more Kaleb friendly.

Speaking of teething, I discovered on Xmas eve that two little bottom teeth had poked out (he bit me...), which has changed his eating minorly; if we give him a grape he can now split it open before spitting it out, and he crunches up some food a little faster now.

Most recently he has been able to sit up on his own, which I see as a pretty big step. I found this out while he was having a bath and though it took a couple of wobbly days he can now usually sit up unaided and not always topple over if he reaches to grab something nearby.

Sitting on his own has shown that he is starting to practice to shuffle around on his bum, giving him more ways to get around. This way is a lot slower than his previous method of rolling over to cover a distance, and rotating on the spot to aim himself, but I think he likes sitting up for the time being.

He's not been crawling properly yet, mainly just rolling around, but I have seen him move along on his stomach like a little army commando crawl, so he might just sick with those. I guess only time will tell...

We have been playing peekaboo by hiding his face with a thin cloth - he finds it hilarious when it gets pulled away. So much so that he taught himself to grab it and pull it down himself.

It's crazy to think that he'll be a year old in a couple of months, I can't wait to find out what he will be able to do then!

2012 (plus top 3 events)

Looking back on the previous year blog post, I can certainly say that 2012 was very different. Instead of having no plans, we had a couple of major things in mind and for the most part managed to keep to them. It certainly was an exciting year. 

Christmas 2012

A lot of the last month or so had been spent preparing for Kaleb's first Christmas. We were having the grandparents over so had a lot to get ready.

The holiday I had taken off work in December had been split in two; a few days at the start and the rest at the end of the month. We started off by going to London for a photoshoot that we had organised at the Baby Show. There was a bit of an issue getting there as the trains were in chaos, but we made it eventually. Kaleb was wonderful for the whole session, even after the longer than expected journey. The photos are great and we're glad we got them.

Baby Show (this time with added baby)

I took most of a week off work recently, and instead of resting like most people do when they have time off, I was busier than usual. One of the events keeping me busy was going to the Baby Show in London.  Me and Liz had been to the Baby Show earlier in the year, however Liz was "carrying" Kaleb that time as it was before he was born, and this time he came with us (and I did most of the carrying,). 

Things are going swimmingly

I took some time off on both sides of this bank holiday weekend, partially to spend more time with Kaleb, and partially to get as much unpacking done as we can.

So far, its going well. We've put a couple of bits away somewhere instead of just shuffling boxes around, and the conservatory has more room to walk around in which is nice.

We took Kaleb swimming too for the first time, as the designated baby/parent session is during the day while I'm usually at work. It took a little pre planning (mainly ensuring Kaleb had a feed an hour before we went in), but we got there in time for the start of the session, and slowly took him into the water.

Holding him, I sat down in the shallow end so his feet got submerged, then shuffled along until he got further underwater himself. His reaction was fairly neutral throughout. He didn't giggle and smile, but didn't cry at all either, so at least he doesn't hate it. I got him floating too; holding his head and bum, letting him lie on the water, then let go of his bum so that floated and I only held his head. Right before we got out, I let go of both for a moment so e could float on his own. A fairly successful session, the only crying I can remember was when we tied to dress him afterwards.

The second day was also swimming. It started earlier (and we woke up later) so we got there at the end of the session (it is general swim after so it didn't matter). Kaleb was more active this time, kicking his legs as I held his head so he could float. It did mean that he dunked his head under when I tried to get him to float on his own, but he was fine after a little cough and a cuddle (the latter being probably unnecessary as he didn't seem bothered by it at all). We got a couple of smiles out of him too.

Hopefully we'll be able to go swimming with him more often, we may have to find some time when i can come along too around work, probably in the general swim session.

I did spend the last two days thinking it is the weekend, so it is nice to have it only just starting. I think we'll be able to focus on unpacking a lot more now, and hopefully make some more good progress.

Time and time again

I've mused about time and our perception of it a couple of times on this blog before. Sometimes thinking it for a by quickly without really noticing it, and maybe about how I felt I had a bit of spare time and not much to fill it with.

Luckily, the latter is no longer a problem. Between moving and looking after Kaleb, my hands have been pretty full. My only complaint here is that unboxing stuff seems to be taking ages, and I would rather be playing with Kaleb, which is a lot of fun.

My other observation, that time seems to pass by quickly, has also changed somewhat. While Kaleb has only been here about 2 and a half months, it feels longer. And the time spent together doesn't seem to zoom by quite so much, which I am happy about :-)

Injections

As Kaleb turned two months, we took him along to the doctors to get his injections. He had two at the hospital, the first being a Vitamin K injection just after he was born (the first time he cried actually), and the second time was a BCG injection (he didn't cry that time). So going into the doctors, his reaction could go either way. 

And the little one said...

Kaleb will be 7 weeks tomorrow, and its surprising how fast he's growing. Grew out of newborn clothes a few weeks back, and we can see him taking up more and more room in his Moses basket. Yet when I hold him he still seems tiny, so he's now growing too fast yet.

Developmental wise, he had a further advancement the other day. I had got back from work, send put him face down on his playmat for some "tummy time". After a bit of a wriggle, he managed to turn himself over! Laying there on his back, looking around. Liz was having an excited squee, and I tried to get a video of him doing it again, but he didn't seem up for a repaying performance.

He did the reverse later on. Sort of. I lifted his legs up to put a new nappy on and he flipped himself over onto his front. I kind of helped with that one though...