Whose hand is it anyway?

Yesterday Charlie seemed to discover his hands for the first time. I caught him staring at his right hand while holding it in front of his face for a minute. Since then, his hands have been the focus of all his attention. It wasn't difficult to catch a photo of him doing it!

It's funny to think that until now, he probably just thought that they were a randomly appearing object, even though he was unknowingly controlling them.

The only downside with his new fascination is that if he moves his hand out of sight, he starts crying because he can no longer see it and doesn't quite have enough co-ordination to move it back!

11 weeks old today. Weight 14lb 12oz

Charlie's chair

Today we bought a Bumbo, which is a comfy chair for babies to sit in. We thought it would encourage Charlie to start supporting his own head. He seems to enjoy the experience:

Over a stone

Charlie is now 14lb 5oz, so he's well over a stone now. His illness hasn't had any adverse impact on his weight and he is definitely back to his usual self.

See below for the most recent photos. He now has quite a range of expressions. The photo where I am looking more gormless than Charlie is his first outing to the pub!

Charlie's favourite thing at the moment is for me to make a birdie sound by whistling while wobbling my lips. I learnt this trick from Dan, who in turn credits his dad for inventing it.

Nothing cures insomnia like the realisation that it's time to get up

As promised, we managed to capture some footage of Charlie waking up. It is usually a very long drawn-out process involving stretching, yawning, squirming, flapping, grunting and even sticking his finger up his nose. If we're lucky, he then wakes up with a smile. Often he'll drift back to sleep.

Get me to the church on time

Last weekend we went to Liese and James' wedding at the historic Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon. We all had a super time. Charlie and Lindsay got dressed up for the occasion and I had my hair cut.

Another baby at the wedding was also called Charlie which made things both easy and confusing simultaneously. At the church, the "other Charlie" hiccupped during one of the readings, making Liese think that someone had got drunk before the service. "Our Charlie" also sought attention by laughing whenever the Minister spoke through the echoing microphone.

Poorly little poppet

Charlie has been rather poorly for the last 3 or 4 days. the doctor tells us that he has bronchiolitis which makes him wheeze and cough a lot. The clinic still went ahead with his jabs today which has made him really miserable indeed. As a result he is going to spend the week at home resting on the sofa with lots of cushions, putting on a brave face:-

Hair Growth, Third Word & Latest weight

Over his first 7 weeks, Charlie's hair appears to have shortened (as well as thinning a little). I have been puzzling over this for a few weeks and have finally figured it out. It is because his head has been growing more rapidly than his hair, causing an optical illusion.

Yesterday we heard another little word from Charlie. This time it sounded like either "Audi" or "'owdy". We assumed it was the second one as we weren't near any cars.

Latest weight is 13lb 6oz which is a gain of 9oz. This puts him in the 91st percentile. A lady stopped Lindz in Sainsbury's yesterday to say "Ooh, what a lovely baby. Isn't he a fat one!". I think that is supposed to be a compliment.

I've attached a couple of pictures - another one on the playmat where he spends most of his free time these days and the other is of him having a power-nap. When sleeping he often holds his hands in the air like this.

Soon I hope to post a video of Charlie's morning waking up ritual. Usually he will squirm, yawn, stretch and gasp for about five minutes before deciding it is time to open his eyes. Sometimes, however, he accidentally falls back to sleep half way through.