Amazing !! Whistling baby !

I've recently begun whistling to Jemima when I need her to concentrate on finishing her food or if she's feeling a little grumpy with her teeth, it always catches her attention and cheers her up. Since yesterday I've noticed her making a very pronounced "O" shape with her little mouth and blowing. I thought she was copying her father who takes delight in blowing gently in her ear or on her cheek as it causes her to giggle and coo. Nothing so out of the ordinary there. Well, no, I was wrong. She was copying me and the whistling. Today I heard her produce a little whistle and was completely gobsmacked but thought it was just a coincidence, copying her dad and blowing and by coincidence producing a whistle. I thought that until her father told me he saw her sblowing through a tight little "O" shape and making a whistle !!

My nearly 7 month old baby decided she wanted to whistle, practised and did it !!! I'm so impressed. I know babies learn by copying and this baby not only copies but works at it (and she's always concentrated and worked at it, hence crawling early etc). Bless my baby !

Special moment

Although Jemima and I spend most of our waking time together and are completely bonded, there are moments when I can see that she is a person and not just a baby. I mean... she's everything she's ever going to be packaged up in a little bundle of baby and her potential is just unfolding. Last night in the bath she was lying on my front (she has a habit of righting herself wherever she happens to be including the bath) and had concluded her nightly investigations of the side and edge of the bath. As she looked at me from a few inches away, she came even closer and very very gently nipped my nose. She pulled back to look me in the eye for a response and I grinned at her. She came back in and nipped my nose again, very gently (and believe me, I know how hard she can bite) and pulled back for a response. This time I chuckled as I knew she was making a joke. She came back in once more to nip my nose and I laughed out loud and grinned at her.

She held very very still as she looked me in the eye and I had a profound moment of looking into the eyes of a humorous, intelligent person. It was quite amazing and I was very moved.

Beaker of independence

I am trying to introduce the baby to a drink other than milk. She's onto food so I could theoretically drop a milk feed but I don't want her to miss out on fluids. Well, Mama bought a lovely little beaker with a soft spout with a valve so the fluid must be sucked rather than tipping out. Nope, Jemima just wasn't keen on a beaker of water. So next I tried diluting some pure fruit juice in case that did the trick - Jemima is an afficionado of sucking dry a satsuma and loves fruit - but again, not really interested.

So....yesterday I thought I'd just leave her with the beaker to play with and become comfortable with it. Well lo and behold, madam decided that she would put it to her mouth and drink for herself thank you very much, no assistance required !



She is also very good at standing on her feet with hands on the floor and is moving into this position several times a day. She can do it from the lower step in our sitting room too. Oh dear.

Mama and I took Jemima shopping today and she had her first ride ever in a trolley ! She was a little wobbly and needed propping up but looked so sweet...

A lovely first today was taking Jemima to "Rhyme Time" at our local library where parents and babies go to sit in a circle, babies on laps, singing traditional rhymes and nursery songs - adorable ! Jemima was given a rattle with a bell inside which she relentlessly rattled and she actually started bumping up and down and singing. She obviously gathered that the big people were producing sounds of some sort and she decided that she could play at that game too. One or two familiar mums but sadly most seemed openly unfriendly, perhaps I wasn't looking haggard enough but then I don't turn up anywhere not looking as good as I can. And neither does Jemima. We will be going next week anyway because the most important thing is that Jemima experiences as many different enjoyable things as possible.

Jemima loves her new piano - I rate Vtech oh yes I do !




Tonight Jemima conducted a serious and thorough investigation of the edge of the bath and the outside of the bath. She smacked, tasted, scratched and felt all possible surfaces within reach and seemed very interested in te concept of *outside* and *inside* the bath. One was cool, smooth, shiny and reasonably dry. The other was warm, splashy and full of mum. Interesting, she said.

First banana

I thought I'd give Jemima a little of my banana as she was staring at it very intently and looked like she might make a dive for it ! She did not of course eat the whole bit that I gave her but enjoyed the new taste and holding something.

Little Lady Standing

Jemima's favourite position in the world now is standing ! She tries to stand from being on all fours, pulls herself up off steps and absolutely loves being helped up. She takes tiny little steps and bounces around and is very very sweet.

Second swimming class

I'm so pleased I booked Jemima into swimming lessons... she did two submerssions today and is happily righting herself in the water ! There are younger babies and older babies but we try to keep to roughly the same age groups and have coffee after. Wow there is so much to talk about, laughing about husbands and sleeplessness and breastfeeding and having one child or more - I love it ! Jemima is such a happy and relaxed little lady that she makes outings a complete pleasure and I'm looking forward to baby group and swimming again next week.

I've also been working on my website this week, I have finalised the content, now to make it really punchy with the help of a friend with a copyright background then off to my Dad for uploading. I am determined to build a business whilst being at home with Jemima so fingers crossed we can do this !

Oh and before I sign off, I found out today that we will be taking underwater photos of the babies before the end of the course so they'll definitely be on this blog !

Lots of firsts

Today we went to our first baby & toddler group and after thinking we were going to be the only ones in the baby section, a few more turned up. Even better, a girl from my antenatal class arrived and we had a chat. All the young babies' mothers decided that the place wasn't well controlled enough, for instance when Jemima fell asleep on my lap a toddler threw a toy at her head !!! He shouldn't even have been in the baby section but their mums weren't really paying attention. So we're finding an alternative and all going together. Also today, Jemima's walker turned up. She's practising and getting and better at moving around. She loves it ! She's so determined to move this gives her some freedom.

And most surprising of all... Jemima discovered the step at the mezzanine level of our sitting room and pulled herself in a standing position. Well, as close to standing as she could given how low the step is. I am soooo going to be in trouble soon ! (Sorry - so annoying I can't turn this around in editing !!)

More teeth !

Jemima has her two middle bottom teeth and one upper tooth, not her middle tooth but just to the side, just to be different. I can now see at least three if not four teeth pushing at her gums to pop through, her two lower canines and an upper tooth or two........ this girl can't wait can she ?! Pictures as soon as they're through.

Granny Greek's magic works again !!

We've been trying to teach Jemima to wave hello and goodbye for weeks, familiarising her with the hand movement every time we greet her and say bye-bye. Today, my parents came up to see their treasure - sadly that just isn't me any more !! - and as they were leaving, doing the obligatory crazy voice/manic waving routine, Jemima decided to waggle her hand in return !! I managed to catch the 2nd or 3rd go... how sweet !

Jemima telling mummy... something !

Today Jemima started burbling "bababababa mamamamama" - her very first continuous syllables !!



It's so exciting seeing a baby develop, all that potential slowly unlocking, bless my little flower xxx and I'm sorry I got frustrated today, I was ill, she forgives me I'm sure xxx

Feeling better but overcome by cleaning frenzy !

I'm starting to feel better, still not much appetite but able to play with Jemima and I prepared her fresh food for the next few days. Mama always makes lovely soups with her roast meats for us and I blend them with fresh sweet potato or organic white potatoes and ta da !! We usually make 4-6 portions this way.



I am wary of relying on one food source or another so I mix it up, lunch is usually a prepared organic jar like Hipp and dinner will be homemade, I kinda think I'm covering all bases that way. BUT madam has recently made the entertaining discovery of blowing raspberries while her mouth is truly full. *sigh* I've tried saying "no" firmly to absolutely no avail so now I find myself making very very odd noises and expressions to try to distract her from spraying me liberally with her food. Hasn't been fab whilst feeling ill I can tell you !

Anyway, I'm now triple cleaning everything and found myself caught in a vortex of cleaning my hands then cleaning something else then cleaning my hands again....... fingers crossed it's just me eh ?

Ill and guilty

I've caught a bug, apparently this bug is on the news as it's closing down hospital wings (norovirus), and I can only have caught it on food containers etc that hubby brought back from the supermarket as I've been snowed in and haven't gone anywhere myself !! How annoying ! Anyway, I've been incapacitated for nearly two days. Yesterday was like purgatory, throwing up and looking after the baby although - luckily - not ever at quite the same time... I was no fun for her though. I have been a boring mother because of it and even though I know it's not my fault, somehow I'm feeling guilty for not interracting with her as much as normal.

Great. Vomiting and self-flagellation. Rock and roll !

Mummy's ill but that doesn't stop Jemima !

This girl's in a real hurry to move ! I've spread out a quilt as you can see, so she has her own play area and can move from one side to the other in seconds... it's not always clear how as she's not crawling properly. Or is she....

11 January 2010 Snow baby

My beautiful baby always looks lovely in her woolly hats and now seems to associate the camera with smiling !!  I have a feeling about this girl...

She wasn't sure about the snow itself, I think she's probably a little young to appreciate that there is something quite different about the world outside but we will take her out again this afternoon, after her nap, and see if she wants some fun with it.

Snow angel !!

10 January 2010 bath bucket

This is the first successful bath Jemima has enjoyed in the baby bucket, she's more than capable of keeping her head up and seemed to quite like it....but she's now almost too long for it !  She was folded up like a little preying mantis, knees and feet everywhere, so I don't know how long she'll be able to take her baths in it.  Oh well, who's complaining, nothing wrong with a leggy daughter !

10 January 2010 - Preparing to crawl !

I will post the other videos of Jemima moving but for now we have noticed that she is bouncing around on her knees, sometimes launching herself towards the toy she wants rather than making the caterpillar towards it. It also looks like she's going backwards at times but I don't think that's on purpose....yet. I think we will shortly be in rather a lot of trouble !

9 January 2010 - First Winter and we're snowed in !

I wanted to record our first winter with Jemima, not only did we have snow before Christmas but also for weeks after. In fact, the country has had so much snow that the councils have run out of salt to grit our roads, London shoppers are coming to Kent to buy supplies as supermarkets have run out of essentials in some of theirs and only the Impreza can make it out so we were able to stock up on some of our own including nappies !