Playing and Swimming

Daniel is such an entertaining bub. He makes me smile and laugh lots. I love seeing him be entertained by such simple things, like a cardboard pole.

Hours of entertainment! 

We also enjoy playing with the blocks. He loves pulling down what I made and chewing on the different parts.

He continues to love swimming and playing in the pool. The other day Oscar and Jens came around to hang out and as it was a hot day I asked Oscar if he wanted to play in the pool. He said he would like to so we filled it up and played away. Daniel enjoyed watching Oscar play and Oscar seemed to enjoy playing with Daniel, and of course Daniel's ducks.

 Then today we had our first swimming lesson. One of my friends at church came up to me on Sunday night and told me about a program that is being run at Carlile Swimming School at Cherrybrook (where she works). For February they are offering free swimming lessons for Mothers' Groups so you can get a feel for the lessons, see if the bubs enjoy it, etc. So I asked the other mums and some were keen. We headed off to the pool for an 11am lesson this morning. Daniel wasn't too pleased when I woke him up to go, but I was sure he'd snap out of it, which he did.

We did lots of activities in 30mins. We sang some songs and moved around in the water, did Humpty Dumpty, Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, Hokey Pokey, Sing a Rainbow. With Humpty Dumpty you pull them off the wall into the water and then have them turn around and head back to the wall. We then did some different stations - pouring water over their head, floating on their back, looking for toys in the water and trying to pick them up, kicking legs towards mummy. Then they used a foam piece and the bub using tinkle toes to walk over it and jump into mummy's arms (with the help of the teacher). None of the bubs were upset during it (until toward the end when they were all quite tired) which was great. The teacher was actually quite surprised. We are looking forward to next week now. I would love him to continue doing the lessons but it is a lot of money so he probably won't continue. Will wait and see.

The mums and bubs

When we got home we had a quick lunch (which included a first taste of lamb which he loved) then had a bath to get all clean (more water, so much fun!) and get the chlorine off him. I had a bit of fun while drying him, playing with his hair.

Spiky hair!

He was tired but not enough to go down so I put him into the washing basket with towels around him to pad it and support it as well as some toys to play with it. This was so I could have a shower too. He loved it!

He has now been asleep for almost 2 hours. Such a tired little man!

Because we have a tooth I'm starting to get Daniel used to the feel of a toothbrush. After his feeds I use the washer to rub on his tooth but after dinner I get the toothbrush and rub it over his tooth as best as I can. As you can see he isn't too convinced about it but I'm hoping it will be like water which he wasn't too sure about but now he loves it.

What is this thing?

It's a bit better

Daniel has started to learn how to wave. He still isn't too sure how to do it, but he gets it sometimes. He knows he needs to do something with his hand and often his fingers twitch or hand moves a little bit. It's pretty cute. This video was taken a couple of days after he started to 'wave'. He does get distracted by the cot too. Speaking about the cot, the little goose has gotten his hand stuck between the bars and the wall a couple of times (including last night). Obviously he isn't very happy when it happens. I hope he works out that it isn't a good idea to put his arm in between the bars next to the wall.

 The last thing from me is that my knees are playing up at the moment. I was getting a little bit fit by going for walks each morning and going for a little jog (very little). My knees started to hurt but I was pushing through, thinking that they would get better as they got used to it. Wrong! They hurt. Mum spoke to her chiro and was told that I should stop running, that I should stretch before going for a walk and a couple of other things to do. I hope they get better very soon. They are sore after swimming this morning... Not so fun. Hopefully they will get better quickly.

Knock, knock... Who's there? A Tooth!

Daniel has continued to be quite mobile. He now moves from room to room, under tables and chairs, around the couches, pretty much everywhere! He has found doors and our doors are great as they have a stopper which sticks out on the base, perfect for grabbing and pulling open and close.

Knock knock. Can I come in?

As I mentioned, he is now crawling under everything. He is just the right height to crawl under the chairs and tables and he loves doing it. It's pretty cute watching him explore and try to solve problems like getting stuck under a chair and how to get out when he keeps bumping his head on the sides, but he gets there. He is also becoming faster (when he wants to get to something in particular). 

Where should I go?

 He loves moving to the oven (the one thing that we are not wanting him to move towards) so often it is him crawling there, then us picking him up, saying a firm 'No Daniel. It can be hot and hurt you' and then putting him back down on the mat. I'm not too sure how much is going in, or when he will start to understand but I am hoping that consistency is the key. The rest of the places basically in the house are fine for him to move about in (besides the music room/study which we will keep the door closed to). 

Almost there

Through the tunnel

Checking all is clear

Hooray!

On Friday I went with some of the mums from Mothers' Group to the soft play which is just down the road. It is lovely to see the babies growing up and slowly starting to interact and be more active and involved. It is a great set up and only $4 for unlimited play. There are jumping castles, a ball pit, cars and bikes to ride on (they have the car ramp which Maddie has that I love watching her play on with Ryan! Sadly Daniel is too little and unbalanced to go on it yet). They also have a lot of soft play pieces, cubby houses and heaps more. We mainly stuck to the soft play area.

Exploring

Daniel and Zoe are the only 2 bubs on the move at the moment through crawling. A couple of others like walking around holding their mum's fingers (I'm glad that Daniel is more independent in his movements). Most of the bubs had a great time. I think it was a little bit too much stimulation as he (and another bub Lachie) got quite unsettled after a 1.5hr nap and milk (about 20mins into playing) but I'm sure that is just because it was a different setting.

Crawling over to Eddy, Daniel and crawling away from Lachie

After sussing out the place he was keen to move around. One problem was that he crawled up to one of the other bubs who had a dummy in her mouth, attached to her bib with a chain. I guess this looked nice for Daniel so he crawled over to her and pulled on the chain to pull the dummy out. He then tried to put the dummy into his mouth until I pulled it out of his hand. The other bub wasn't very impressed. I found this interesting as he doesn't use a dummy, but I guess he does like putting things in his mouth and this looked like the perfect thing!
He had a go on a bike (a little bit wobbly)

There was a bucket cart which I put him in and pulled him around in. He loved it. A couple of the other mums followed suit and did it with their bubs too.

Just cruising

Hmmm... what to do?

'Playing' with Daniel and Lachie

 Yesterday we had another first. After a bit of a restless Sunday (did not have a nap in the morning and didn't settle as quickly as normal at night) on Tuesday morning during a 3am feed I noticed that he had a tooth just starting to poke though. Fortunately this wasn't because of him biting me, but instead me feeling his bottom gums and feeling a bit of a spike on his right side. So I have gone back to putting on the amber necklace (it can't hurt) to see if that helps the pain go a bit for him. Now we need to get him a toothbrush. He doesn't really like me cleaning it after a feed but I guess it will grow on him. 

I think the tooth is that little white dot on the left (his right). He really doesn't make taking photos of it easy!

 I am still loving watching him grow and explore new things. He is such a cutie and makes me smile each day, even on the hard days. I thank God for him each morning while feeding, even when he wakes me up at night.

My little angel. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!

Cutie boy!