2009

Forward Motion!

Monday 4th May 2009Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

Éowyn’s development is coming on leaps and bounds and her personality is becoming more defined with each passing day. She is very curious, slightly vain (she likes to look at herself in the mirror – although that could be due in part to curiosity), puts in just enough effort to attain her goal, loves her food and finds silly things highly amusing. Above all she is most precocious, a family girl and likes her routine. This week she has demonstrated all of the above.

Wednesday marked her cousin Maddy’s 7th birthday so a roast dinner and birthday cake was in order around Nan and Granddad’s. Éowyn joined us at the kitchen table and enjoyed her own (liquidised) roast dinner, a little bit of chicken breast and a selection of vegetables. She also impressed Nan and Granddad with her new skill: Crawling forwards!

For a number of weeks, she has been able to crawl backwards, but over the last weekend that has developed into forward motion. Initially it was a couple of tentative steps (if that is the right word) followed by a 180° turn and the easier backward crawling method. So with an air of training mom and dad encouraged the forward motion with the carrot of a bottle of milk. Taking after her parents the promise of food was all the encouragement she needed and forward motion was achieved. Now there is no stopping her, and we have discovered how un-childproof our house it. She is into everything, and whatever is in reach is instantly tasted to see if it is edible. She, however, only exerts just enough energy to achieve her goal. If she is crawling after something lying on the floor, she will crawl to within 6 inches or so of the object and then dive forwards, stretching her arms out to grab it and drag it back towards her, rather than crawl all the way.

Thursday is Songs, Stories and Rhymes at Egham Library. Although Éowyn does enjoy her nursery rhymes (especially row, row, row your boat and head, shoulders, knees and toes) this week she seemed a little non-plussed by some of it, preferring instead to show off her new found skill, crawling around the other mothers to have a look at the other babies.

Friday was the wedding of friends of mine Nick and Kirsty (you can link to their blog under the ‘Sites of Interest’ column on the right, The Whirly Wheelers). So that we could attend, Nanny Fran kindly agreed to take a day off work and baby-sit for her. It has been a while since Mom has spent so much time with her, and obviously she could see how much that she had not only grown, but also developed. Éowyn was very content to play with her Nan and show off her new skills. In marked contrast to Nanny’s Fran’s last visit when Éowyn seemed to be upset that Nanny Fran was in her house rather than in West Bromwich. That I think was just part of her growing awareness and trying to associate people with places.

I think that Éowyn was aware that something was happening, though and as mom and dad got ready and Nanny Fran tried to get her ready for bed she began to cry. If we went into her, she would stop but would start again as soon as we left. Mom assured us that she would be alright as she could see the obvious concern in our eyes and as we left the house Éowyn gave up the struggle and succumbed to the arms of Morpheus. It was one of the hardest things to do, to leave your crying daughter to go out and enjoy yourself, however Mom put our minds to rest with the aid of a picture text message of Éowyn peacefully sleeping in her cot. Thanks Mom!

Nick and Kirsty’s wedding was excellent, Kirsty looked beautiful but I think that she was upstaged by her son George who held court on the dancefloor (see photos below). Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the live band were excellent, only topped by the hog-roast! We wish Nick and Kirsty all the best for their future lives together.

Love and peace

Baggie!

Berry funny!

Trying to look like daddy

I’m hiding!

Cousins!

Nanny Fran’s feeding me!

Cheesy-Peas!

Kirsty and Nick

Dancing George

The first dance!

A week away

Sunday 26th April 2009Sunday 1st January 2017Baggie

As avid readers will have noticed it has been nearly two weeks since my last update, this has been mainly due to the fact that I have been out of the country for the last week but more of that later.

As you will recall, Lucinda’s cousin, Alex and his wife, Sally and daughter, Isobel were over from Australia; they have now returned back to ‘Down Under’. However the night before they returned, there was a big family send off at one of Windsor’s finest Chinese restaurants. It was a good turn out from the family but unfortunately, since I had been working during the day, I arrived late. It seems that Éowyn had been a little agitated before I arrived, however being the daddy’s girl that she is, she soon cheered up when I walked through the door. It is amazing how quickly one learns to eat food, and perform other tasks, with one hand when you have a child in the other, but the beauty of chop-sticks is that is makes it significantly easier. Éowyn was in one of her clingy moods where she didn’t really want to go to anyone but her mommy and daddy however she did have a cheeky smile for the waiters, perhaps she thought that if she smiled they would bring her food. We took Alex, Sally and Isobel for a walk along the Thames and a spot of lunch before they were due to fly back on the night. It was good seeing them and now it is our turn to take Éowyn to visit the relatives in Australia, although I do not think that will be very soon and definitely not as Éowyn’s first flight. We need to see how she behaves first on a much shorter flight; for our sanity as much as the other passengers on the plane.

It was then my turn to travel: to Las Vegas for NAB2009 the annual broadcast convention. It is interesting to note that there are two such shows a year, NAB in Las Vegas and IBC in Amsterdam, not sure what that tells you about the TV industry. Las Vegas is a unique place, I do not particularly like it but neither do I dislike it. The money that has been spent there is phenomenal, if not vulgar but it is a spectacle; it is a Disneyland for adults!

I had feared that Éowyn would forget me or perhaps sulk or be wary of me on my return but there were no such fears, she is still her daddy’s girl. She has grown so much in the past week, it is really noticeable but thankfully I have not missed any major developments, she is not crawling forwards, or walking or talking. She is getting stronger though and is readily in the crawl position as soon as you put her on the ground. Daddy did buy her some presents from his first trip away, which will no doubt feature in photos in the weeks to come, including a couple of pairs of Robeez soft leather shoes, elasticated making them difficult for little fingers to pull off. I don’t think that Éowyn was too bothered by her presents though, more interested by her daddy, and that’s the way I like it, although how much longer does that last?

Love and peace

Baggie!

Alex, Sally and Isobel

Megan pushing Isobel

Ready to go out

I like my food

And I’l eat anywhere

I never did it

Our hotel in Vegas

Caesar’s Palace

Fountain display

Éowyn's first Easter

Monday 13th April 2009Baggie

It seems with each passing day that Éowyn changes, develops or learns some new trick and this week has been no different, but more of that later.

I was working over last weekend, Thursday through to the Sunday but this week has been my short week, working only Wednesday and Thursday. However with Éowyn’s latest regime it means that I don’t actually get to see her on the days that I work. Yes, Éowyn’s sleeping regime is still working. She goes to bed about 1900-1930, takes her dream feed of hungry baby milk at about 2230 and has been sleeping through the night until at least 0600 and sometimes later. There has been a couple of days where she has woken earlier, but on the whole that is the routine. As you can imagine we are delighted, for a disturbed night to be the exception and not the rule, means that we can go to bed relaxed in the knowledge that, in theory, we should get a good night’s sleep.

Good Friday saw a visit from Nanny Fran, Auntie Liz and Auntie Mary. Apart from Nanny Fran’s brief cuddle at work last Wednesday they hadn’t seen Éowyn for over a month, so they saw some big changes in her appearance and demeanor. Obviously she has grown quite a bit, but also she is mobile and far more aware of her surroundings. Her crawling is still in a reverse direction, although she now lifts herself into the classic crawl stance, with legs tucked under her body; but still hasn’t worked out how this translates itself into forward motion.

Unfortunately, and why we still are not too sure, she wasn’t happy sitting on either Nanny Fran’s or her Auntie’s laps. Perhaps her growing yet under-developed cognisance could not reconcile the fact that Nanny Fran and her Aunties were in her house, usually she goes to them; perhaps she just didn’t want to be cuddled, there were more interesting things on the floor to play with. It is possible that it is because she hadn’t seen them for a month but we don’t think that it is because the next day she did the same thing to her Granddad when he and Nanny came to visit and she sees them quite regularly. Then again, perhaps she is just going through one of those phases. Obviously it is something that we will have to keep an eye on because it is a little upsetting to see her crying when she is being held by her grandparents.

Easter weekend has also seen her take a couple of steps forward. She has begun to eat three solid meals a day, and eats whatever we give her with gusto, including her newest meal: Cauliflower Cheese. She eats from her new feeding chair that Nanny Fran bought her for Easter, so she sits a little more upright and you don’t get into quite the same mess as when you have her sitting on your lap. We have also given her some ‘finger food’: a little bit of Easter Chocolate, a little bit of cheese and most importantly, the finger food that no baby around town should ever be with out: a Farleys Rusk. She thoroughly enjoyed sitting, chewing her rusk, taking after her dad who even now would quite readily eat one.

One last trick that she has learnt this weekend, started out of the blue on Friday and was mastered by Saturday is the crawl-to-sitting manoeuvre. She begun to tuck her legs in front of her on Friday and by Saturday morning she was in full sitting stance, as you can see from the photos below and on the Flickr page. She is so precocious that sometimes we have a job to remember that she is only just 6 months old. We are wondering whether this latest manoeuvre is a precursor to bum-shuffling. Stay tuned to find out.

Please enjoy the photos

Love and Peace

Baggie!