Disco Knitter

Andrew the Fairly Odd Mother bought this for Inigo a few weeks ago, and I finally got a picture of him in it. Lucky I did - about 30 minutes later it was drenched in my morning coffee, I had a lapse of concentration due to missing my morning coffee

Hoyden about Town has a great post about Salma Hayek, who is “still” breastfeeding her daughter at 13 months.

I always thought I’d stop breastfeeding when the kid grew teeth, I certainly never thought I’d still be breastfeeding when he turned one, and I never dreamed I’d be feeding him for two years. But that is what the World Health Organisation recommends, and it’s particularly relevant for kids with allergies in the family. It’s what the paed recommends, so that’s what we’ll do.

And I hope that my experience adds to the general acceptance of breastfeeding beyond 6 months.

In typical slapdash Lara fashion, I’ve just gone through my address book and facebook contact list, and randomly sent invitations. Of course, this means that I will have forgotten some important people, and there are also some people that I don’t have current email addresses for.

So if you haven’t received your invitation yet, leave a comment (and I’ll get your email address), and then I can rectify the situation.

Apologies in advance.

Get yourself over to Fe’s blog - she has posted some gorgeous pics from our visit last week.

The favourite game this week, is flinging himself over, forwards, backwards, sideways, whatever.  Someone is ALWAYS there to catch him - he is a very secure child.

But sometimes, he gets distracted mid game, and forgets to fall over - and we see a few seconds of actual unaided standing.

This morning, he even took a step before the fling took full effect!

P.S. We popped in to the clinic this morning, weight ticking along nicely, head slowing down, another 2cm long, and “very advanced” verbal development. Apparently all that yelling is a good thing.

Climate change answers in our own back yards



Inigo Nettle declared today that we must look for climate change solutions in our own back yards.  “We must employ appropriate technologies,” he said,  “that is technologies that are sustainable and mirror the processes of nature”.  He was examining the use of solar powered lighting that can be used in backyards and in industry.

Ted looked after Inigo for a few hours yesterday - thanks Ted for the babysitting, and the laughs

You brought him over again???

Let’s see how he looks with a hood ornament.

It’s been a big week.

Saturday morning Mark took him to his second swimming lesson, and then we went to a party for James’ first birthday. On Saturday night, there was no sleep. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but none of us got much.

And in the morning, there was a tooth.

We had to hold him upside down to get the picture, but he likes that a lot, so it’s all good.

On Sunday, we caught up with my dad’s extended family for a christening, and he charmed one and all.

On Monday, there was crawling.

Tuesday brought clapping, and pulling up to stand in his cot, all the better to hear the echo of his screams when the evil mama confines him.

On Wednesday, today, there was another tooth - popping out between his 2 hour morning nap, and his 2 hour afternoon nap.

He is adored by one and all, and getting more and more adorable by the second.

Stay tuned for the 11 month update, in the meantime, here is his latest fashion statement. Fabric found by the fabulous Emily at Spotlight (in the quilting section (((shiver)))).

I put Inigo in his Pastafarian Onesie (that he got from Adam and Sarah for Christmas last year) after aqua aerobics today, and we have had a small miracle.

We left him with Bev for a few hours this afternoon, and when we came back, she informed us that he was definitely on the move.

So out came the mobile phone, and here he is exploring his new powers.

I hope he uses them only for good, but I have my doubts.

The Theme to the “Muddy Mudskipper Show” from Ren & Stimpy.

Who’s the greatest mudskipper of them all?
Who can skip thru the mud with the greatest of ease?
What kind of wonderful guy?
Who can crawl like a dog without scraping his knees?
Who’s got seg-ment-ed eyes?
It’s Muddy Mud-Skipper!
It’s Muddy!
Mud-Skipper
It’s the Muddy!
Mm-ud Ski-pper show!!

So far, his favourite songs are “The Philosopher’s Song“, “Galumph Went the Little Green Frog”, and “Happy Together”. Happy Together was the song that Mark sang to me as I walked up the steps of the Rotunda at Observatory Hill to get married, so it’s special to both of us. The Philosopher’s Song has always been a great favourite of mine. It may not be orthodox to introduce the kid to a drinking song at such a tender age, but it should do wonders for his curiosity about the history of philosophy when he is of an age.

And we’ve been able to calm him when he is having a fit of pique since he was about six weeks old by singing a rousing chorus or two, so I think a little philosophy won’t do any harm.

This is a new business, but it seems like a great idea - loan a range of nappies for your baby to try them out, and see what works for your kid before making a huge investment.

Great idea, I wish it had been around when we first started with cloth.

Inigo is nearly 11 months old, and all the kids we know around the same age are already crawling. Even William, who is 2 months younger than Inigo started to crawl last week.

I’m not in the least bit worried, he’s still completely within the normal range, and my gorgeous nephew Alex didn’t crawl till he was almost one.

Inigo is confidently picking up food and shoving it into his mouth, he’s waving, he’s babbling, he’s engaging - he’s on or ahead of the curve in most things, so I’m confident that there isn’t anything to worry about.

You can see forward motion, but it’s not exactly orthodox…

Yesterday, I went to a Cloth Nappy Advocacy event in the city, and felt like a complete outsider. Most of the people there lived in the inner city, and many of them knew each other already. I tried to start conversations with a few people, but just felt like the new kid in the funny clothes.

There were a few people that I knew from other events who were friendly, but busy, and a couple of unexpected meetings. I recognised Harriet, the daughter of two friends we hadn’t seen for years. The kid has a very recognisable face, so when she and Cass sat across from me, I knew it had to be her. It was lovely to catch up, if only briefly.

A little later, Meg introduced herself to me as a reader of the blog - chatting with her really lifted my spirits, we both had a little laugh about how odd it is to meet a blogger you’ve been “following” for a while, but never met in the flesh before.

Today, our little playgroup resumed after a two week break for school holidays, and I went from being the new kid who dresses funny, to being the cool kid that everybody wants to talk to. Liz (one of the mums from my parents group that I really connected with) has found an aqua-robics class at the local pool, so a group of us are going to go on Friday and share child minding. We’re also going to go to Weight Watchers (usually referred to at Granville Grange as “Club Lard”, and sometimes “Fat Fighters”) together - with the hope that we can support each other and keep each other on track.

And when I got home I got an email form another new friend, who is going to come over to our place for a play date next week.

And all of a sudden, I am part of a community.

This kid has ZERO conversational skills! Do I really have to play with him?

Bib on backwards and he thinks he’s a superhero - he can’t even undo a zipper!

Do as I say, or the bunny gets it!

Scotty, one to beam out.

Use WYD Backpack for new nappy bag?

Priceless.

(This is not a pisstake on Catholicism. It may be a wee dig on the commercialisation of organised religion, but I honestly didn’t apply a lot of deep thought to the issue. Really, it came down to “garish colours, want!)

The kid is still cute.

So expect a few random picture posts in the next few days…

Lee reads the 2008 Ikea Catalogue

Avocado with a balsamic reduction? Yes please!

Note errant curl on top of head - it’s doing the freaky child thing again.