Oooooh, so much to say but no time and no mental acuity with which to write anything coherent! A has reached new sleeping lows (I know!) and I’ve really struggled to find the extra gear needed to keep up with him, physically and mentally but I’m feeling somewhat restored after a truly lovely week away with Mr.J and A in Wales. We were utterly spoilt by glorious sunshine and blue skies all week and it’s been blissful. Mr.J has also earned himself a gold star for doing lots and lots to help and especially for taking A for an hour or so in the mornings to give me a bit of rest 🙂
I can’t think back to what’s happened since I last wrote but I can remember what we’ve done this week; it often involved a scenic drive for an afternoon nap for A! We’ve explored a lot of South West Wales; starting off by taking a scenic drive from where we’re staying in Nantgaredig into the Brecon Beacons National Park where we saw Red Kites as well as the rolling green hills which reminded us of some of the places we visited in North Island in New Zealand. On Sunday we went to Cardigan and then to the beach for lunch before we drove along the coast to St.Davids. Mr.J approved of the beach at New Port because it was flat, had wet sand and was big enough to play cricket (!). A also enjoyed his first time at the playground; he went on the seesaw, the roundabout, down the slide (with me) but his favourite was the swing.
We took advantage of the lovely heated swimming pool at our cottage and A enjoyed having a good splash as usual and we also had a scrumptious lunch out a local foodie place – Wrights Emporium. I’d highly recommend the homemade lemonade and also certify it very child friendly as they had the trusty IKEA antilop highchair and the staff were very welcoming and considerate by placing all items on the table out of arms reach of A! On Tuesday we walked up Pen Y Fan; the tallest hill in the Brecon Beacons at 886m. It was flipping hard work as although it wasn’t a very long walk, the first section (when I was carrying A) was very steep and it was roasting. A was great though and enjoyed being carried by us both and just smiling at all the people overtaking us or the people we were overtaking. We had another picnic at the top and A had a toddle and crawl around to stretch his legs a bit before deciding that he didn’t want to go down on Mr.J’s back and would much prefer my front so he could have milk and a nap!
We were both a bit stiff the next day to say the least so we had a more relaxed day on Wednesday and strolled around the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. A napped in his pram in the afternoon and he even stayed asleep for some short periods where we stopped and sat down on a bench and in the afternoon me and A went for another swim whilst Mr.J popped to the supermarket for supplies. On Thursday we went on a more leisurely walk along the coast from Porthgain. The views along the coast were beautiful and we saw a very secluded beach and a lovely blue lagoon.
As for A, here’s a quick summary now that he’s at the 9 month landmark:
Movement: He’s now speeding away at his commando crawl and nothing is safe. He’s also very adept at pulling himself up on things and coasting around now too. At times he’s uncertain and definitely wants a helping hand but at other times he’s much more gung-ho and just goes for it and tries to walk off! He’s not very confident at getting from a sitting position to crawling around though so if he gets sat down he gets a bit grumpy. He does do it occasionally so he can do it but he either just wants to be walking and not crawling or he has his own reasons for not doing it I guess.
Eating: There’s definitely a lot more food being digested now. We had a week where the only things he wanted to eat were orange coloured (sweet potato, satsuma, red pepper hummus and carrots) and at the moment bread is a definite favourite. He’s also showing off how dextrous he is too as he is picking up much smaller pieces of food such as sweetcorn and the pieces of food he’s half chewed. This week he’s been particularly enjoying mushrooms and apricots.
Sleep – crapola! The night before last was the best we’ve had for AGES and the longest continuous block of sleep we had was from 01.50am to 5.30am. On our first night in Wales we were up EVERY SINGLE HOUR from 11pm to 6am so we were pretty zonked the following day. It’s been a little better the rest of this week but not much.
Play: Moving around! Standing up, walking around, crawling around and all over me and Mr.J and zooming towards all the forbidden objects at ground level seem to be the best things to do right now. The red phone from the walker is also a big hit as is listening to Mr.J roar. The latter is my favourite play thing as it gets the biggest laughs.
Teeth: In addition to the front bottom two teeth, the top left front tooth has recently emerged. There’s no sign that the right front one is near to popping through but who knows?! Just today he has started grinding them together too. It makes a really horrible sound!
Communication: We haven’t heard any new sounds in the last few days really but we’ve gone back to having a few more ‘da’ sounds and also lots of crying when he’s sat down and can’t get himself going anywhere and it’s certainly clear what he wants. One of our favourite communication things is what we’ve termed ‘zoidberging’; and that’s when he babbles away with his hand in front of his mouth and looks a bit like Dr.Zoidberg from Futurama!
And, lastly, but by no means least – I had to share this picture of A with the most amaaaazing blanket that my lovely and wonderful friend Sarah has knit him. I’ve already explained pie charts to him this morning!
All things JenkinSunts! 