Thursday, 27 September 2007

The parsnip kid

Charlie has been progressing in many ways again recently. He is now really enjoying his solid food - consuming rice, sweet potato, parsnip, carrot and pears, sometimes all for one meal!

He has been babbling quite a lot too and has a really lovely little voice, even when it's at 5.30am.

He has also started propping himself up on his arms and quite enjoys looking around from a different perspective.

He has started going to a new baby group where they sing songs and play musical instruments. All the other babies get grumpy half way through, but Charlie keeps on laughing all the way to the end (and beyond). He's getting the hang of swimming now and has started splashing instead of sitting quietly.


P1010488.JPG
P1010502.JPG
P1010503.JPG
P1010508.JPG
P1010516.JPG

Sunday, 16 September 2007

Jaws vs Babe:Pig in the city

On Friday we finally made it out to the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham. It was one of our first proper Family Days Out, made even better by the fact we did it for free using Tesco vouchers, including lunch at Cafe Rouge!

The first creatures we came across weren't fish though. On leaving the village, we came across two pigs in the road which I had to usher out of the way. They scarpered pretty quickly once they saw me coming with a camera.

The Sea Life Centre itself was really enjoyable and worth every penny we paid! They had lots of strange creatures, including some sort of massive eel that stares at passers by. There were many fish called Ray, some sharks, a massive spider-crab, sea-horses and two turtles. Lindsay liked the look of the sea bass so much that she decided to have one for lunch. I decided against the gammon....


IMG_0816.JPG
IMG_0819.JPG
IMG_0829.JPG

Wednesday, 12 September 2007

Gnashers

Sorry for the lack of blogging recently. I'm on holiday now, so I can catch up a bit.

No sign of any teeth yet but Charlie's hand is never far from his mouth. He's discovered a new sound which is a high pitched screeching noise. Sometimes he makes it continuously for 30 minutes.


We tried him in a door bouncer last week. At the moment, he doesn't do much bouncing, but he did take the opportunity to try to wander off while on his feet (probably trying to get away from the stupid noises I was making).



This week he has started on solid food - baby rice, pears and carrots. As expected, he loves his food and can polish off a bowl of baby rice in a couple of minutes without spilling anything. He doesn't quite understand the concept of a spoon yet; He expects a continuous flow, like breastfeeding, so he whinges impatiently in between spoonfuls.



On Monday we went swimming (my first time with C.) with about 30 other babies. One mum swam off with Charlie's swimming seat (he wasn't in it at the time).
Today we took him ten pin bowling, where he enjoyed all the bright lights and loud noises. It was funny to think that he is now heavier than any of the bowling balls! Tomorrow we hope to go to the Sea Life Centre to see what Charlie makes of it.

Latest weight tomorrow - by which time he will probably be the weight of 2 bowling balls.

P1010454.JPG
P1010457.JPG

Sunday, 26 August 2007

What makes him smile?

Is it the orange octopus?
Is it mummy's voice?
Is it the football score?
Or could it be his Yaiya and Grandad?

Whatever makes Charlie smile, makes us all smile with him.

Liverpool's Newest Fan

Charlie enjoyed the Liverpool victory over Sunderland this weekend. In particular, he thought that Sissoko showed great determination.

We had many visitors - Yaiya & Grandad, Manfred & Gertie, Amy, Matsmith, Rachel, Fabrizio and Olivia. So, it was a very eventful weekend.

Charlie has made some new discoveries. He licked a piece of pineapple today and seemed to really relish it. He has started efforts to roll himself over from his back. Finally, he tried a door-frame bouncer, which amused him moderately.

We've taken lots of video footage recently, but until I can sift through it, here are some photos from yesterday, including a close-up of a bee for good measure. (Thanks to dad for his photographic contributions).

Latest weight is 16lb 9oz.


P1010382.JPG
P1010380.JPG
P1000252.JPG
P1000253.JPG
P1000258.JPG
P1010417.JPG

Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Fun time and latest weight

I haven't posted any video footage for a while, so I've added a short clip below from earlier today, showing Charlie enjoying some fun time with Mummy and Daddy. He laughs all the time. Either he is easily amused, or we are very funny looking parents.

Warning - if you suffer from sea sickness, do not watch!

Latest weight is 16lb 5oz. A gain of 9oz since last week.

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Bookworm

For several weeks we have been reading to Charlie as part of his bedtime routine. Usually he wouldn't pay much attention to the book and preferred to gaze around the room. Yesterday however, he suddenly took a major interest in the books and has started to hold the book, stroke the "Touchy Feely" pages and even turn the pages (accidentally?).

On his current reading list are:

Tractor guess.jpg gruffalo.jpg
farm.jpg car.jpg robot.jpg

If I had to guess his favourite, I would say it is the tractor one because he gets most excited by the tractors!

We measured his height today. He is 65cm tall which is 91st percentile, like his weight. He has put on 1cm per week over the last 7 weeks. If this trend continues, he will be roughly 15 metres tall when he is my age.

The last few days have also seen some development in Charlie's verbal communication. One of the books says that he will start experimenting with volume and pitch. He has certainly started doing that. He is continuously making sounds from low level gurgles to loud high pitch squeals.

Hand-eye coordination is also noticeably improved. Now Charlie is able to open his hand, reach for a toy (or spectacles) and then hold on to it for a few minutes.