Ten months old

Hi everyone,

I know I am terribly late with my updates - but it seems the more I have to write about, the less time I have to write in! Updates will be monthly from now on - though you will get two this month, as I am behind - this one is of Wombat at 10 months old. In the next one (which I will hopefully get out before his birthday - next Friday - on the 23rd) he will of course be 11 months. This one is a real marathon update - I seem to have taken a huge amount of photos of Wombat this month, and of course, they are all so cute that I can't resist showing them to you!

Soon after Wombat turned 10 months old, I bought him a pair of kneepads from Snazzy Baby. They proved to be fantastic, and he loved them immediately! Now he could crawl across all the hard, rough, hurty surfaces which previously held him back. His world instantly expanded!



In fact, he liked them so much that I had to buy a second pair so I could get them off him to wash them.



I also wrote to the lady who sells them, and sent her a few photos. This proved to be a good move, as she thought he was so cute, she threw in a free messy mat (the packaging had been damaged, but it was otherwise perfect). The messy mat is printed with Australian animals and birds, and is great for crafts, and under the highchair, and even for putting on the deck on wet days, so we have somewhere dry to play



Wombat put his new-found confidence to good use, learning to ride the 'cornpopper' Steff and her family gave him for Christmas.



He prefers me to push him around on it, rather than propelling it with his own little legs, which is rather hard on my back - but I have worked out a way to push it with my foot, and we have travelled all around the yard on it. Wombat even became adventurous enough to take his first few 'independent' steps using it!



Cornpopper has also been joined by a number of other wheels. Yeti bought him this elephant, which has a lower centre of gravity than the cornpopper (which tends to tip up if he leans on the back). The elephant was easy to tip over too - until Yeti drilled a hole under the seat and filled it with gravel.



I bought him this Heffalump - it converts from a ride-on to a rocker, and has buttons on the handles which play music, while Heffalump's trunk waves in time.



Wombat, being Wombat, likes to stand in the saddle of both these elephants. Luckily he hasn't fallen off yet! It is questionable whether we will replace Heffalump's batteries when they wear out, too... as Wombat likes pressing buttons - without waiting for the song to finish - so we hear the first bar of "Winnie the Pooh" over and over again until he gets bored with it ;)

As with all children, the more moblile he gets, the more he wants to explore... and much of this exploration can be problematic for his parents! The phone is an endless source of fascination...



and we have to be constantly on guard to stop him launching himself head first down the stairs! I can see a barrier appearing there in the near future, as it is just too tempting to chase the cats over the edge. He has no fear of heights, and if the adults can walk up and down the stairs with ease, so can he!



You remember my worries about him falling off the change table, when he first started rolling over? Well, now he has days when he absolutely MUST climb off the change table onto my dressing table to investigate the cd player, and the clock, and all the other amazing things there... a nappy change becomes a battle with me constantly hauling him back out of danger! I have worked out that saying "No" and dragging him back just results in a baby tug-of-war, whereas asking nicely for his co-operation: "Please help Mummy put your nappy on now" works almost every time!



He is getting more independant (so long as it involves him moving away from me - if I move away from him, full-blown separation anxiety kicks in). Here he is out on the deck, exploring a rainy night...



and here he is pretending to shut the door on Mummy so she can't follow :) giggling the whole time.



After I mentioned my difficulties working out when Wombat wants to use the potty (in a previous update) a friend suggested I try teaching him sign language. I have had variable success with this. It will work really well about one time in 10! We had it all worked out and he was using the sign to tell me he needed to go, so I thought "Great - he knows that sign now, let's teach him some more." Unfortunately, that just confused him, as some of them looked too similar, and I probably wasn't consistent with them, and we were back to square one. Since then he has worked out his own sign which he tries to use when he remembers (unfortunatley, usually in situations where I can't really acknowledge it - like in the car), and I am getting better at reading the other signs in his behaviour. We bought him a new, more comfortable potty and while we still have wet nappies, it is very very rare to have a dirty one (in fact, they only occur when I am busy with something else, and ignore the signs - naughty mummy).

I bought him his first pair of shoes this month. He absolutely screamed when I tried to try them on in the shop, so I measured the soles against his feet and brought home the pair that seemed closest in size - a whopping size 4! I couldn't believe needed shoes THAT big! I got sneaky, and when he was in a sleepy, cooperative mood, I tried them on him with a pair of socks - they only just fitted! But he soon decided he loved them, and when I took him back to get the next size up (since his toes were pushing out the top of his first pair before the week was out) he was very interested in trying them on and choosing the ones he wanted.



The thing that amazes me is the huge difference between size 4 (the middle pair) and size 5 (the two outside pairs)! He has no room to move in the 4s, but the 5s are so much longer it took him a while to work out how to walk in them without tripping over the toes! (He is doing a lot of walking around holding onto my - or Yeti's - fingers. He loves it so much he never wants to stop, even when he's so tired he can't stay upright!)



I think it was the socks that made all the difference to his attitude!

In addition to socks, Wombat is also developing a fascination with rocks :) I took him walking into the bush on his own (not-so-little) feet and when we got to a rocky part of the path, we had to stop every few steps while he chose a nice stone... and then swapped it for a nicer one... tasted it to see if it lived up to expectations... and so on.



He is quite the budding mechanic, and seeks out wheels wherever he can find them, studying them closely to see how they work. (oops... sorry don't have time to fix that photo at the moment... you'll just have to turn your head instead!)



Walking around the house, he loves to stop and play with the sprinkler. I have to be quite vigilant to stop him either poking his eye out with it, or sucking all the dirt off the pointy end



Mitch, the long-billed corella, is spending more time wandering outside and climbing the trees these days, and I have hung some of his toys underneath one of the garden chairs. Wombat, of course, thinks this is wonderful. Mitch is not quite so sure about Wombat playing with HIS toys.



However, Mitch has his revenge. I gave him one of Wombat's old rubber 'chompy-bear' teethers (when it was time for Wombat to have a new one). Mitch throws it across the ground, spinning it, chasing it and having a great time.



The action shot only just gives the idea, so here is something which is well worth entering in Australia's funniest home videos! (I just have to work out if I can save it in the format they require - I'm not sure my camera is good enough.)



While Wombat is quite insistent that he would like to get to know Mitch better, fluffybutt parrot seems to think that a young human is even more dangerous than the cats. Everytime Wombat comes near him, Mitch runs as far away as he can get! It may have something to do with the way Wombat rattles the door of his cage and growls in an entirely friendly but easily misunderstood manner ;P

Wombat has also been trying hard to make friends with the cats. They are slightly more tolerant of his advances than Mitch, though they still like to watch him from a safe distance.



I keep telling him he would have more luck with his pussycat hunting if he didn't squeal with delight BEFORE making contact!



Yeti is still doing well with his ebay business, buying balsa model aeroplanes from the US and selling them here. Every now and then, a little bit of the profit goes into something he and Wombat can enjoy together. This speedy Gonzales is nitro-methane powered and Wombat has a great time watching it buzz around the yard at top-speed.



Here it is standing still, for a better view.



Yeti and Wombat are getting on very well together. So much so that I have started teaching as a volunteer catechist again at a local school on Thursday mornings. I enjoy the interaction with the kids and my friend who co-ordinates the catechist classes in this parish had several classes for which she could not get a teacher. At first I was worried about leaving Wombat for two hours, since he is going through a real Mummy-separation-anxiety stage, but he really enjoys his Daddy mornings, and the two of them wander all around the property together.



They are both very happy to see me when I get home, though, which I must admit is reassuring ;D

Remember a little while ago the community nurse asked if Wombat was talking? This month, after seeing Kaelyn and enjoying the family interaction at Christmas, he has suddenly started saying MumMumMum almost non-stop. He also says BubBubBub.



I do admit that since the nurse put the idea in my head, I have been encouraging him. I have also been teaching him to brrrmmmmmm after I heard another little boy doing it. He caught on very quickly!

This next video of Wombat playing Peekaboo really should come with a cuteness-overload warning... but then maybe I'm just biased (the poor quality of the video detracts from it a bit, I'm afraid)! I have had requests for more videos, so here you go..



Another new development this month is Wombat's habit of giving me big sloppy open-mouthed kisses - with teeth - the kind that only a mummy can really appreciate - and I love them!

Wombat's favourite food at the moment is peaches :) He has one every day after lunch. Sometimes, at morning tea time, he will pick one up from the fruit bowl and sink his little teeth into it, if I am not quick enough to give him his milk and biscuit or other fruit.



He has started eating chunks of food this month (rather than mash). I started him on white bread, but he didn't like it very much. What he really likes is Rye bread! He also likes porridge for breakfast most days.

I think this photo of Wombat and I together is really interesting, as it shows something I had read about, but not really believed - a baby's face is the same size and proportion as an adults, even though the head still has a lot of growing to do! Did you know that a baby's eyes are already full size? No wonder babies seem to have such gorgeous big eyes!



I have been experimenting with different ways of carrying Wombat, in addition to our Chinese carrier. This is called a wrap-style of carry and versions of it are used by women everywhere from Mexico to Tibet. I tried it using an old silk sari that I had stored, as it was the only length of fabric I had that was long enough. It worked very well and Wombat was comfortable, but the silk was just a little too slippery for my liking. I need to get some light cotton, but I will definitely be trying again, as this is such a versatile way to carry a larger, heavier baby.



Since he is now getting a bit too heavy & wriggly for me to carry him easily through the bush, we have started using the pram more for our walks. The fantastic suspension on the Emmaljunga pram we bought via ebay will manage the bush track, but it is asking a bit much of it, so Wombat and I have started taking our walks along the road. You would not believe how changeable the weather has been this year - one moment it is freezing cold and raining (despite being summer, Wombat's llama jacket is still getting a LOT of use)



and the next it will be boiling hot again! The scowl in this photo is for the next lot of teeth which are giving him trouble - little turtle nearly had his head chewed off on our walk!



For those who haven't seen where I live, this is the road we walk along. I managed to get some great pictures of it all wet and shiny after a rain storm. This is near the causeway at the turn-around point on our walk...



and this is outside our property - we are on the right. There are some good hills in the street, so I am getting quite a bit of exercise pushing Wombat around!



It is generally a very quiet street, and most of the neighbours are pretty good about slowing down and waving as they drive past. I always pull the pram off the road when I hear a car though, as visitors tend to be a lot less considerate. I was amused that after seeing Wombat and I out and about, a number of other reclusive neighbours started coming out to walk the street as well... In addition to the cars, I also have to watch out for dangers like this fellow - a young red-belly black snake. There are a LOT of them about this year - I have seen four around the house at various times. I am not complaining though as they are not territorial and generally are more interested in running away from you - this little guy couldn't get off the road fast enough! They are still deadly and deserving of respect, but I am glad we have them and haven't seen any Brown snakes or Copperheads so far.



Ok... I am coming to the end of this very long-winded update now... but before I go, here is a photo of our little pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow...



and here is his cute little dance of happy babyness ;D



I promise the next update will be shorter, if for no other reason than I have been so busy holding his hands as he learns to walk that I haven't had a free hand for photographing him! I will try very hard to get that next update out this week, and I am hoping our shonky internet connection will hold long enough for me to get the videos uploaded.

Until then, my love to all,

Schelle