Spring is Here... I Think

Well, after a long, freezing, wet, yucky winter, I think I can safely say that spring seems to finally have arrived! I am definitely fed up with the cold, that's for sure. In fact, winters like this make me seriously consider moving to a warmer climate. Nevertheless, the flowers are starting to bloom and my tree and magnolias out the front are looking really pretty.
Reuben is growing and making lots of talking/babbling sounds these days. He has also discovered that it's fun to move around in his cot and kick off his covers when he's supposed to be going to sleep. I have gone in on several occasions and either found him upside down in the cot or lying sideways with his feet pushed out between the bars. In the evenings I have to put him into his sleep sack (like a baby sleeping bag) to prevent him from moving around so much. His appetite is growing and I am enjoying experimenting with all the foods I can give him now that he's reached 8 months (at this point he can pretty much eat what I can eat with the exception of egg whites and honey.) Yogurt is a huge favorite and he really likes marmite on toast (for the American readers, marmite is a yeast-based spread that is very popular in NZ and Australia but has a very distinct taste and if you're not exposed to it at a young age, you most likely won't like it later on.) Another bonus of the warm weather is that I am able to give Reuben more varieties of fruit so we've experimented with pineapple, nectarines, plums, oranges, and kiwifruit as well. He seems to find the kiwifruit somewhat bitter but the others he loves.
He still isn't making huge strides towards crawling at this point but his fine motor skills are quite developed and his pincer grasp is pretty well established now, meaning he can pick up pieces of food or other objects with just his thumb and forefinger. Textures are still huge and so I'm always looking for new things for him to feel, touch, and taste. Our cats continue to be a neverendng source of entertainment for him and he gets incredibly excited whenever he sees them - or any other animal for that matter.
Well, I suppose I should post a couple of pictures and then get ready to go and get Reuben's new car seat fitted (it has to be attached with an anchor point which means I have to go get someone else to fit it in the car for me.) Hope all the readers are doing well and having a great week. Until next time...

Fun at the Gardens

This past Sunday was a beautiful day and we decided to take Reuben to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens and photograph him amongst the daffodils. When we got there, I swear every other family in the area with children under 5 had thought of the same thing as there were people everywhere! Reuben thought the flowers were pretty cool and I think he even took a couple of bites of daffodil petals when we weren't looking! :) I'll upload a couple of nice shots that we got (our friend Natalie got some nice photos of us too but we haven't had a chance to see them all yet and I didn't want to wait to add the pics so I'll choose from what we have so far.) For those of you who are on my 'friends' list on Facebook, I have put quite a few photos up of the day so feel free to check them out as well.

8 Months and Growing...

Well, our little Mr. Reuben has reached the 8 month mark and I can't get over how quickly the time is going. Part of me is excited about all the new things he's learning and part of me just wants time to slow down a little so I can absorb it all. I can understand how parents say that one minute the children are tiny and next thing you know, they're off to school. I'm actually glad there is another baby coming along soon because then I won't be so sad that my 'baby' is growing so fast because there will be another one for me to enjoy all these milestones with.

Speaking of milestones... in the past month, Reuben has cut 5 teeth (4 top ones and another bottom one) which gives him a grand total of 7! He likes to pull your finger into his mouth and have a bit of a 'chew' on it but now it is actually starting to hurt if he bites down too hard so I am trying to teach him what 'gentle' means. He is also learning how to express different emotions -excitement and frustration being just a couple that have really become more apparent in recent weeks. These emotions really show his emerging personality which is neat to watch. Sometimes when he is frustrated I can't actually figure out why but other times it will be because he can't reach something he wants or he wants something he isn't allowed. :) His excitement is usually over seeing other people -especially other babies/young children or someone he knows. He has just started 'waving' - i.e. opening and shutting his hand when you wave goodbye to him. I don't think he totally knows what he's doing, it's more copying what he sees someone else doing. We've also just taught him how to 'give me 5' which is really cute!

He is babbling a lot and 'babababa' is a common sound I hear him make. I also hear him expreimenting with different noises like squeals, grunts, and other sounds I can't really describe but I am guessing this is his way of 'trying out' new speech patterns in preparation for talking.

Fine motor skills are still more of a focus for him than the gross ones and he seems content to feel textures and try to pick small objects up rather than try to pull himself up on furniture. Secretly, I don't mind too much if he doesn't walk 'early' because as soon as he's mobile, I'll have my hands full on a whole new scale!!!!

Well, I'm about to head off to bed as it's after 10 which seems to be way past my bedtime these days. It was Father's Day today here in New Zealand which was really cool as it was Nathan's first one. We had a great day together as a family and even bought Reuben a new car seat (he's getting too big for his infant capsule that he's had since he was born.) I'm just sad the weekend is over already - they seem to go way too fast!

Fun With Paints

I take Reuben to a play group every Tuesday morning and each week we cover different topics ranging from emotional and social development to feeding and nutrition. I really enjoy getting out of the house and I think Reuben loves the interaction with other babies and mothers. We often sing songs and have various activities that the babies can engage in and today, we introduced finger/body painting! I have been looking forward to it for the past week because I thought it would be something new and exciting that Reuben hadn't experienced before. The 'paint' was made out of cornflour, water, and food coloring so when the babies chose to eat it (which they did) at least we knew it wasn't toxic! I must say I was surprised at some of the reactions to the paint. Several babies didn't like it at all and even Reuben shed a few tears at first but I think it was because he was sitting on a cold surface in only a nappy (diaper for the American audience!) and he doesn't like being cold. As soon as I put a towel under him, he was a lot better and I have some photos of the experience that I will put on so you can see. We tried to get some hand and footprints but getting a baby to hold still while you smear paint on their foot and then push it into a piece of paper is easier said than done. :) I'm sorry I haven't posted more recently but I will try to upload some video I took of Reuben in the bath the other night if I can figure out how to do it as the video is on my cell phone and the last time I tried to upload from it, I couldn't get it to work - so fingers crossed! I am also now officially heading into my 3rd trimester for baby No2 so I will keep you posted on that as well but so far everything is running really smoothly and the baby is kicking lots!