Old Dada video

Here is Daniel saying Dada which didn't go up before. He still says dada and bababa but no mum mum. That's ok though because I'm sure when he starts saying it I will just want him to stop :-)

 

Get up, Go down

Yay! Videos seem to be working again :-)

I finally managed to get Daniel on video with standing up and sitting down. It is very cute how he just lets go and flops down to the floor. Our little dare devil.

He pretty much gets up all the time now when playing. He can reach the bottom shelves in the back room and the chairs and the gates. It's pretty cute watching him do it and he is very proud when he gets up. 

Proud boy

He loves music. He bops when we turn on the music when he starts to play. He does the clicking fingers action which is pretty impressive. He also loves playing his ukelele. He will stand up and get it out of the basket when he can.

Strum, strum, strum

Daniel has also started to make this very cute action. He started it on his own but he can do it when you do it first.

He loves playing in the washing baskets. Climbing in, climbing on and pushing it around.

 He has also started to pull out my Cabbage Patch Doll - Christopher - to play with. It's pretty nice to see him playing with toys that were mine.

Kisses for Christopher

He is such a happy little boy! Brings me lots of smiles.

 

More Standing

Most mornings this is how I'm greeted

Daniel is so proud that he can stand up in his cot. Most nap times he enjoys standing for a while before he gets tired and then lies down for his nap. Fortunately he doesn't really cry, he just chats and looks around and then goes to sleep. From what I hear from my mums group mums, we are very fortunate about this.

Now Daniel is all better after his sickness. He is sleeping properly again (with one wake up in the night) and is his happy self. At the start of the week he was still recovering. I had one morning where during a feed he fell asleep but he was so tired that he stayed asleep when moving him to his room. He then stayed asleep as I put him into his sleeping bag and then into his bed. I can't remember the last time I could do that! Normally he wakes up as I stand up. It was lovely to have some gorgeous cuddles with my sleeping bubba.

Asleep in my arms

Stayed asleep when put into his bed

Asleep in his cot with his new shelf above him. Monitor is now well out of reach

Each play time Daniel now climbs up on his toys, chairs, cupboards, etc. Most of the time he only pulls up onto his knees and enjoys bouncing and looking around but then other times he gets up onto his feet.

He now can get to sitting from being on his knees.

It is pretty sweet to watch him playing with his toys in a different way. He enjoys looking in his basket and getting out a different toy to play with. He likes reaching different blocks by standing up and stretching over. 

Just for fun I set up his walker. It's pretty funny to see that Daniel has no interest in walking at the moment. While I was holding him he would push the walker forward and just bend his back forward - no foot movement at all. It was pretty cute.

This morning was the first morning in a while where I chose to do no house work and instead just lay down on the ground and watched Daniel play and chatted with him. I know it is important to do, but I also see the dishes or washing that needs to be done and so choose to do that instead while glancing down at what Daniel was doing. It was nice to have him climb over me, play around with his toys and just explore. I love how he is very adventurous and independent but then is happy to come back to me and have a cuddle. He sure does make me laugh!

 

Sneezes and Standings

Poor Daniel has been quite sick the past couple of days. On Sunday he was quite unsettled, had quite a few short naps, had watery eyes and just didn't seem to be himself. We didn't know if it was because it had been a busy weekend or because he was getting sick. On Sunday night he woke up quite a few times from coughing but resettled himself. As the night went on he needed to have longer cuddles to settle and sleep. We decided that we should go to see Paul to check that he was ok. On Monday morning Daniel looked miserable! His eyes were quite red, his nose was running, his eye was tearing, and he just looked blah. He only lasted 1hr-1.5hrs each time he was awake but he was obviously very tired during those times. He also wasn't very keen to eat which is very unlike Daniel! Naps went for 2-3 hours each time in the day. Night times on the other hand were very hard! On Sunday night I was up around 4 times in the night. On Monday night it was quite similar but at around 3:30am I needed to just hold Daniel for around 1.5hrs as he just didn't settle. It was quite hard having him crying while in my arms, so obviously over tired but not able to sleep nor feed. Eventually after panadol at 5am (4hrs after his previous dose) he decided to have a feed and then slept for another 2 hours on and off. Then last night I was up to him about 6 or 7 times. It was just so tiring! I had a bit of a cry at night with James listening to me just basically saying that I didn't know what to do. 

When we went to see Paul he took Daniel's temperature which was in the normal range, just in the higher end, he listened to his chest and said it was clear, he looked in his ears and said they were clear, he took his heart rate and that was in the normal range, he checked his throat and said it was a bit red but no mucus on it which was good. He said it was basically a upper respiratory virus - not an infection which was good and his coughing at night would probably be croup. So he was just to have rest, and panadol and it will hopefully pass but if anything changed to give him a call and we'd be fit in. 

Today Daniel has been a lot better though. While his nose has still be very runny he has had a lot more energy and has been up for his normal times. He still hasn't got his appetite like normal but I am sure that will come back soon. James was wonderful this morning. As he has slept through a few of the wake-ups he decided that I could have a sleep-in this morning and he would look after Daniel as he was working from home. What a blessing! I got an extra 1.5hr sleep which was much needed after such a broken night. Hopefully tonight will be much better!

Sick bubba :(

Yesterday when I went in to get Daniel after a nap he had managed to pull himself up in his cot. For a while he has been pulling himself up to his knees but not any higher.

Ready to go

One hand up

Look at me Daddy!

Both hands up

 Then this morning he has been pulling himself up to the camera spot and looking into it. It is pretty cute! Definitely helped put a smile on my face even when so very tired.

Look at that!

Boo!

Hi Mummy

After the last photo Daniel then pulled down the camera - not so good. So this afternoon we went for a trip to the shops and bought a floating shelf to put the camera on. Now it is well out of reach from a cheeky boy :-)

Cheer, Cheer the Red and the White!

Today we decided to attempt taking Daniel to his first afl game - considering he is a member and he has his own special beanie and scarf. Also the fact that it was a 1:40pm game which meant that he'd still be home in time for dinner and to go to bed at a decent hour. After a quiet morning (thanks to James for looking after Daniel so I could sleep in and have a bit of a lazy morning after a lot of wake ups last night) we woke Daniel up so that he could get dressed and ready for the Swans.

Happy to be dressed in the red and white

 I don't know who is more excited to be able to dress him up - James and I or Daniel. Although the next photo may show that it is James and I. We were impressed though that he was quite happy to have the beanie on his head and also that the scarf didn't end up going into his mouth during the day.

Happiness didn't last

 We arrived at the game just in time to see the unveiling of the premiership flag and then it was walked around the ground. Daniel watched it carefully.

Watching the premiership flag being walked around the ground

 He then enjoyed having some cuddles with Auntie Jenny and Poppy so that I could eat my lunch.

After a nice chat with Matt and Sarah Hope (who were impressed that Daniel was at the game) he then had his lunch - yummy cruskits and grapes. He did really well with eating properly and feeding himself. It took roughly 2 quarters which was great as it distracted him from the fact that he couldn't crawl around. 

After watching a bit of the game he started to rub his eyes.

So I fed him some milk (while he kicked Auntie Jenny and Daddy) and then at half time we went downstairs to the food and bar section so that it was a bit quieter so Daniel could have a sleep in the ergo. I do love sleepy cuddles with my little boy. They do make me feel very loved. He did really well and slept for all of the 3rd quarter and then a little bit of the 4th quarter. 

We then went back up to our seats and Daniel watched the rest of the game with James. He may have a future as an umpire, or a vocal Swans supporter when he gets older as he could do the 'out of bounds on the full' sign.

Out of bounds on the full!

As the game finished the Swannies won which was very exciting! Daniel must be a good luck charm. :-) He wasn't very excited by the fact that we won, and he wasn't very excited to sing the song at the end - although James was quite excited.

What is happening?

'Cheer, Cheer!'

Both James and I are so proud of Daniel and how he went with the whole game. He didn't cry at all, he slept really well (even with cheering around him), he didn't mind not being able to crawl around the place and he even was happy to watch some of the game. Yay! We would be happy to take him to another game in the future. There are 2 other 1:10/1:40 games this season so maybe we will take him to those games. We are also thinking of going to a game at the MCG when we do our road trip at the end of the month. Only problem is that the games are 4:40 games which would mean a late night so we will see how we go with that. But yay for a good start to supporting the swannies!

Ready to head home

I do love that a new generation of Swannies supporters are starting (including Oscar who was sick so couldn't come to the game but is keen as to come to a game or 2 this year).

 

Up, up and stop

On Sunday it was the end of March and therefore the end of the March Photo Scavenger Hunt. While I didn't participate, I enjoyed watching everyone's photos being posted each day. James enjoyed playing the hunt and ended up coming 8th place which was very impressive as he wasn't in the top 10 for about half the hunt. The last day had a picnic where you could take a photo at the picnic for 70 points. We decided to tag along with James for the adventure which saw Daniel have his first train trip.

Very inquisitive about all that was on the train

Daniel enjoyed looking around and was very sensible and settled for the trip. He happily sat on our laps for the journey. We met a nice family from America who were very taken by Daniel and how cute and sensible he was. 

The picnic was at Milsons Point and it was a lovely time. The Howies were there as well as some other scav hunters and it was nice to chat with some people who I have known for ages but never really spoken to. Daniel enjoyed crawling around on the picnic mat and then hanging out on the grass. It was his first time of properly seeing the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House but he wasn't very interested in it. I can't wait until Daniel will take in the surroundings and we could do a city adventure. 

He loves waving at people

Oscar enjoys running in circles around Daniel and then falling down

Daniel finds it so funny when Oscar falls down and Oscar enjoys Daniel laughing at him

He was then very good and slept for the train trip back home.

Yesterday while we were hanging out in the back room I noticed that Daniel was trying to pull himself up on the toy basket. He was pretty proud of himself too. He was only able to get up onto his knees but that was a pretty good effort for a first go.

I guess it won't be very long until he is pulling himself up on things - although today he showed no interest in pulling himself up today.