Like Mother, Like Son…Apparently

Every day the Baby gets a little older, a little more independent and a little more able. It’s really fun to watch him acquire new skills. What is less fun is the frustration which is appearing more and more rapidly when he is unable to do what he wants.

A increasing pitch of ‘nyeh, nyeh, nyeh’s which eventually make the short jump to full blown screaming, is a fairly regular background track at the moment. These mini fits of hysteria can be brought about by a multitude of occurrences, from being unable to reach something he wants to being unable to force a square peg into a round hole.

Upon our latest bout of this rage the Mummy informed me, ‘Yes, he’s definitely your son.’

I have no idea what she could be referring to….

The Meanings of a Baby’s Cries

In one of the (many) baby books I read there was a chapter about a baby’s crying. The book informed me that I wouldn’t quickly come to know the difference between a hungry cry, a tired cry and a hurt cry. Did I heck.

We’re reaching the 1 year mark very soon and I am still none the wiser the majority of the time that the Baby is crying. Here’s what I have been able to discern:

1. The ‘ I am awake. WHERE ARE YOU?’ cry.

Could be hungry/tired/sick. Could have had a nightmare. More likely he’s just annoyed we’re not there.

2. The ‘Something is not OK. Have fun guessing what’ cry

A general noise of discontent which can make an appearance at anytime. May signal boredom, hunger, pain, a dirty nappy or many other things. We usually cycle through checking all of those things but don’t always find the cause.

3. The ‘Something didn’t go my way’ cry.

Perhaps he didn’t have a good chew of that expensive electronic item before the mummies whisked it away. Maybe he refused to nap earlier. There’s a chance he face planted. Correction, a large chance he face planted.

4. ‘The dog wont stop licking me’ cry.

The Dog’s licking can be annoyingly persistent, especially when the Baby is still wearing some of his lunch. In fairness she mainly applies this tactic in defense when being mauled by the Baby.

5. The ‘Pick me up NOW!’ cry.

Did we dare walk away to go to the bathroom or make some food? How dare we! Our transgression must immediately be fixed by carrying the Baby around, trying to do things one handed and stop him grabbing at everything within his ever extending reach.

 

Can you tell what your baby is crying about from the sound alone?

If you enjoyed this you can vote for me as a Top Mommy Blogger by simply clicking the link below. You can vote every 24 hours if it takes your fancy. Thank you! x

Sugar-Free Diet Insanity

A few days ago I decided to put myself on a sugar/dairy/grain free diet for a couple of weeks.

I’m a terrible calorie counter and I can’t cope with anything complicated or anything involving maths..or thinking (especially when I am hangry*). We’re pretty tight for cash so fancy paid plans weren’t going to work. Plus I used this diet to lose 3 stones in 6 month after University, which I didn’t gain back so I have a little faith in it.

The first few days are the hardest. I have written before about my snack addiction and it’s the sugar that I miss first. Especially when I have to watch the Mummy and the Baby scoffing something I can’t have (whilst silently cursing them and muttering under my breath).

I sit and fantasize about that Organix banana biscuit the Baby has tightly clutched in his fist. I want it soooo bad. It looks delicious and no one would need to know. I don’t think it even has sugar so it wouldn’t even be cheating…

 

Don’t worry, I restrained myself. The Baby’s biscuit is safe…today.

 

How have you fared with diets? What the most effective/easiest one you’ve tried?

*hangry: When one has reached the point of hunger which has a negative effect on their mood and causes them to behave irrationally and with bouts of fury. Hungry/angry- hangry.

Weird Baby Eating Habits

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the baby’s weird eating habits. Just when I think I’m getting my head around it, he throws me a curve ball.

There are the ‘Heck yes! Gimme gimme gimme’ foods:

These are the fall backs, the ones he will almost never refuse or waste chucking on the floor or sharing with the dog. Examples are cheese, Cheerios, raisins, plain yoghurt, tofu, rice crackers, humus and baba ganoush (I never thought a baby would go nuts for roasted aubergine/eggplant mixed with roasted garlic but ours is apparently special). With the exception of raisins there is a definite color trend among these foods.

Then there are the ‘No, nope, nut and never’ foods:

These may accidentally be scooped into the Baby’s mouth but will be immediately expelled with velocity, or stored but not swallowed in a rodent-like fashion. These include broccoli, meat (of all varieties except the processed kind), peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, egg and rice…so far. Again a colour pattern.

Then there are the ‘Keep you on your toes’ foods.

These will be gobbled up one day, disappearing faster than my Friday night cocktail but screamed at and launched the next. Examples might be mango, carrots, purees of any variety, spag bol, oatmeal, chilli, pesto, banana, watermelon and apple…again, so far. This category is the one that drives me bonkers. It get my hopes up, thinking he’s finally bringing a new food into the first group only to have him laugh in my face, chuck it at the dog and start looking for his egg tofu. *SIGH*

 

Add to this the Baby loves to steal food from his mummies’ plates, even if it’s sore-butt-spicy but refuses the same food offered on his highchair. He only eats food which is room temperature or below. He refuses to drink water from a sippy cup and will only drink it from a normal cup after swirling his food covered fingers in it. He will only eat food which has been marinating in his bib pocket for a couple of hours or that has been dropped on the floor a few times.

I miss the days when we only worried about bottles.

 

Fury

Something is happening to the Baby. I’m not thrilled about it.

Our sweet, smiling boy is slowly morphing into someone else entirely. Someone who spends large portions of his day absolutely effing furious.

Reaching things, objects which wont be manipulated in the way that he wants, mummies who leave the room, nap times, meal times, getting his nappy changed. Anything and everything sees his totally lose his sh#$ in a spectacular manner.

Often it’s out of the blue. We are frequently being our hilarious selves, enjoying his giggles and then out of left field he is raging on the floor, stampy feet and everything.

My parents got to witness a small taste of this over Skype. They showed their support through smirks and sarcastic mutterings of my ‘placid’ nature as a child. Try not to enjoy my discomfort too much, Granny and Grandpa, you guys are babysitting him in a few short months.

But it’s OK because for the last two days I have been in a rare mood where it all seems a little hilarious. Possible because tonight is going to involve this…

Tomorrow might see me in a different mood though. Someone please tell me this a phase that he will (quickly) grow out of.

If you like this could you be an absolute darling and nominate me for the MADS in the ‘Baby Blogs’ section? All you need is your email address and http://pooprainbows.com. Takes about 1 minute. Gracias, วิธีสมัครเว็บ, merci, danke, and cheers m’duck!