All Hail the Holey Baby

Elspeth had her 12 month vaccinations today - yes, even though she's 13 months old. I left it a little late, but finally got around to it. She got three jabs - one in each arm, and one in a leg - and she yelled! But she recovered fairly well, considering she's got a cold as well. I got the doctor to check out her hips too, just to make sure they were developing fine, and there's no problem there. So apart from the snotty sniffles, we've got a nice healthy baby now!

No More Afternoon Nap

At 13 months of age, Elspeth has dropped her afternoon nap. It got harder and harder to get her to sleep, and it wasn't for long, so now I simply don't put her down. That means she spends from about 11.30am until 8pm awake. She seems to handle it well, with only limited irritability towards the end of the day. Me, though... I didn't know how much I valued that short afternoon break until it was gone! Yesterday I lost patience and punched a wall, oops. Hand and wall both ok. I will do my best to improve my patience - perhaps some wine might help?

Over on Kidspot I've joined the CRAP mothers group - Creative Relaxed Approach to Parenting. We CRAP mothers don't watch our children like hawks, we let them eat a little dirt now and then, and we punch walls in front of them.

Broom broom!

I had hoped to delay this moment for about 16 years or so. But Elspeth has discovered the joys of cars already! She saw this little beauty sitting up on a shelf, pointed at it, and said "Car!" So what could I do but get it down for her to play with? We'll call it a kind of birthday present; she turns 13 months old today!

We bought her one of those backpack/leash things yesterday. I didn't really want to, but she's learnt to walk much sooner than I anticipated. I originally thought that by the time she was walking she would also be communicating and able to understand to stay close to me. But this is not the case! Her independence is growing faster than her common sense, so next time I'm down at the Plaza she will be harnessed to me with a cute doggy backpack!

Elspeth's Sudo Adventure

It was a cranky day for the baby today. So while I was practicing piano this afternoon, I was very glad that Elspeth had clearly found something to play with which kept her quiet and happy. She was sitting right at my feet, but immersed as I was in Meat Loaf's Heaven Can Wait, I did not glance down for a while. When I did finally look down, I saw what it was that had kept her busy: she had found a tub of Sudocrem, a thick white ointment used for the treatment and prevention of nappy rash. She had been happily engaged in spreading said cream all over her face, hands, clothing, and the floor! I was going to photograph it, but felt that cleaning up was a bit more important! Instead I took a photo of the tub after she'd finished with it. Needless to say she required much cleaning and a complete change of clothes, about which she was not happy. However she did look lovely for my parents when they arrived very shortly afterwards!

Back Again!

Babies are adorable. They are cute, gorgeous, clever, sweet, and all sorts of other nice adjectives.

They can also be a pain in the bloody neck.

They can be clingy, cranky, sore, tired, hungry, poopy, and any combination of the aforementioned.

Elspeth is currently both clingy and cranky. She also seems to be going through a phase of not wanting to lie on her back. Try to change a poopy nappy when the baby won't stay still and keeps screaming at you! It also causes inconvenience while attempting to dry her after a bath, and put clothes on her. I've always tried to make these chores as fun as possible for both of us, but this seems to be failing right now. I shall persevere - what choice do I have?! - but I begin to get frustrated...

Well BASSically...

Those of you who know me probably know that my husband Aidan plays bass guitar.

Elspeth has a new game.

I was trying to get a photo of her doing it, but every time she sees the camera she comes towards it.

She sits in front of his amp while he plays and pulls the plug out, switches it off, or twists the volume knob!

She'll send herself deaf one of these days!

Studying with a Baby?!

I must be mad! Open Universities Australia is awesome, a very convenient way to study. I successfully completed two units while Elspeth was much smaller and didn't seem to need as much! But now... what on earth possessed me to sign up for another unit now that she's a toddler? When I have time, I'm too tired to concentrate. When I'm not too tired, it's because she's still in the process of exhausting me! I must be mad.

Like Taking Candy from a Baby

Babies, I am discovering, are remarkably strong. I was just feeding Elspeth and she grabbed the spoon to push it away - not hungry, apparently. So I figured, fine, I'll just take the spoon away from her so she doesn't fling food everywhere. Easy, right? Wrong! Her grip was vice-like, I had to prise her fingers open one by one! What baby wants, baby really really doesn't want to let go of!

I have noticed similar unexpected strength in her grip on me, sometimes. She had a habit, for a little while, of grasping the skin of my cheek and squeezing as hard as she could. Needless to say I cut her fingernails as soon as she started doing that.

So I conclude that anybody who uses the phrase "As easy as taking candy from a baby" clearly hasn't tried doing so.

Forgotten Consonants

Elspeth has added two new words to her repertoire - almost!

She points at my nose and says "no".
And she plays with her plastic duck in the bath saying "du".

It seems that finishing words properly is something for adults to worry about!

Screamypants

Poor little Elspeth must be feeling the tooth-pain pretty badly tonight. She's been grasping her jaw and cheek all day, and now I've put her to bed and she's just screaming, even after having some panadol. She even has a nice cold teething ring in the cot with her. I'm listening to her yell, watching the clock, waiting for either silence or the next time I should go in to comfort her. Yes, evil of evils, I leave my baby crying sometimes. End sarcasm. The poor girl has been in pain all day, and on days like this often just being hugged will make her feel better (or at least stop crying). Most of today hugs have worked; I try not to give her panadol too often. But in the evening before bed is my exception, because I do actually want her to sleep all night! ... Approximately 8 minutes after starting to write this, she does seem to be winding down - fewer screams, quieter, and more time in between. I think she's alright.

Words So Far

Elspeth has quite a few words, for her age, and they are as follows:

Woof means dog.  

Nom nom nom means food.  

Book. 

Car - which at this stage means everything.

Those are the words she says frequently herself, but she also understands a lot of what I say to her - for instance, when I ask her where a particular toy is or body part, she usually looks, points, or goes straight to it. I'm sure she understands "No" but chooses to ignore it!

Oh god, the DROOL!

Where does it all come from? I could carry her outside and water the garden, I could hold her over the bath and float a small boat, she could save a third-world country with all that!