I've just put you down and you are a contented little man this evening. You had a huge amount of solids and then a massive feed of milky. We have been so busy preparing for Mummy to return to work next year. You have been going to Childcare for increasingly more days each week and this week you will go for a total of 3 whole days. Friday is the Childcare Christmas party and Santa will be visiting you. I am very excited that I can share the 2 hours with you and I try to stop myself from thinking that next year I won't be able to attend as I will be working. I am getting all my jobs done while you are at childcare and you are my motivation to complete tasks. I know that if I stay on top of all my jobs I can have 100% focussed time with you when you are home. I sometimes get a mental image in my head of me wearing a hat that says 'work' and then driving to pick you up I change my hat to one that says 'Mum'. I want to feel good about working next year. In fact, I do feel fine with you attending childcare as our home is too small for your active mind and you absolutely LOVE the children, carers and activities at childcare. The truth is, it's not you I'm worried about - it's me. I can't believe I've spent all this time growing you and working out your little routine and getting you to a semi-independent stage so that someone else can spend the whole day with you while I teach other people's children. But my job as a Mummy isn't just to love you and share moments with you, it is to shape you into an independent adult, a good contributor to society and also to earn money to provide you with the means to achieve anything you wish.
When you wake you will be 8 months old. You are an old soul. You look at new things, scrunch up your nose and spend time absorbing the information but it only takes once and you seem to become an expert. Just last night you cried and cried so I picked you up and Daddy came towards us and you gave him the cheekiest grin. It was like you knew that you could have both of us at the same time if you cried in a certain way.
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| Your first rain - lots of nose scrunching! |
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| Learning about balloons |
We have turned your car seat around. You face the front now and we can see you watching the world go by while we're driving by looking in the rear-view mirror. When I'm in the passenger seat I can turn around and see you and your face lights up with a huge smile.
Just this past weekend food became less about playing and more about eating. You were asking me for breastmilk over and over again but every time I offered it to you, you pushed away and got frustrated. This went on until lunch time when we sat you down for your usual meal and you swallowed 90% of it. Then within 2 hours of that you were having some fruit and crackers and then a hearty helping of spaghetti bolognese for dinner. So we've increased your meals from 3 a day to 5 a day and you're loving it. You also seem to be more content to sleep longer as well.
On this same weekend I had to change your wardrobe over so you had all your size 1 clothes to wear. This might explain why you are so interested in food - you're a big growing monster.
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| Size 1 - (this is what nose scrunches look like) |
It's hard to believe but you are letting go while you're standing and spending 5-10seconds exploring the boundaries of your balance. I have a feeling you'll walk sometime over the Christmas break. Which brings me to the last thing I wanted to say. In less than a week you will be reunited with so many people that love and adore you. Most of them saw you last when you were only 3 weeks old and some of them have only seen you once more since then. It is going to be your first Christmas and you are such a lucky little boy to have so many people that are so desperate to share time with you. I am excited to purchase your first Christmas present from Mummy and Daddy and I can't wait to have a bauble with your name made for you. I have always wanted to design and buy a personalised Christmas bauble for my children.
You enrich our lives ever so much. You bring joy to Daddy and I every day. Thank you for choosing us to be your parents.
Oh and PS: You absolutely love water! Shower, bath, play pool - you don't care, you just want to be in it and splash it as much as possible!
