Last month I never posted an update for 17 months, but that was because things have been really rough here. It all started about 2 months ago when baby G got his MMR vaccination, and he got a terrible fever from that, then he started to puke, and I took him to the pediatrician (remember this time), and he was diagnosed with post nasal drip, and then DH and I also got sick and every time it looked like we were all better one of us got sick again. Most of the time it started with Baby G getting something and then we got it a couple of days later. I think Baby G has picked up a lot of germs at the creche, because last winter baby G was only sick once and he got over it quickly. This winter it feels like we have all been sick for about 2 months now. There have been times when I just felt too weak and tired to fight all this sickness, but thankfully we are all better again!
Also about 6 weeks ago DH suddenly lost his job, we knew the contract was going to end by the end of June, but DH went to work one Saturday morning and 3 hours later he was home with the news that they decided to let him go earlier. We got another shock when DH did not get paid at all for the 2 weeks or so he worked for the month, and other promises that were made to him also did not pan out. We sure have been under a lot of attack, but I truly believe that this is for the best and that DH will soon get another much better opportunity.
Sleeping: Baby G’s sleeping habits are really bad again lately. It was getting a lot better around 2 months ago and he would often sleep through 3-4 nights a week, but since he got sick for the first time it got worse and worse and worse. The last week or so we have had bed time battles, and he is not happy to be just put to bed at night. Some nights it takes up to an hour to get him to sleep. I think the poor sleeping is due to the fact that he got sick and since then it’s also been really cold some nights and I’ve noticed that he sleeps worse during those nights. We do have a heater and a humidifier in his room to heat it up, but the humidifier starts to make a noise when it runs on empty and I think that wakes him up. Some nights from about 4h00 I just switch off everything in his room and bring him to our bed. I’m just too tired by then to sit in the cold and nurse him back to sleep.
Eating: I must say baby G eats a lot better lately. He eats well at the creche and often he is still hungry when we get home around 13h00 and then I usually give him something like a whole banana to eat (and he will most often finish that banana) and then he wants to nurse until he is asleep. When he wakes up from his nap he will snack again and then eat dinner with us. He still nurses before going to bed at night, every time he wakes up during the night, and in the afternoon. He does not really nurse when he wakes up in the morning, but he often wakes around 5h00 or 6h00 and nurses then before sleeping a bit more until he finally wakes for the day.
Teeth: Baby G has 11 teeth now, the central incisors at the top and bottom, both lateral incisor at the top but only 1 lateral incisor at the bottom, and the 4 first molars. It looks like one of the top canines might be next, but still no sign of the missing lateral incisor at the bottom.
Favourites: Baby G loves to ride on his bicycle, even though he cannot reach the pedals yet, we have to push him around on it. He loves to play with his nebuliser, he calls it the brrrrr pssssst. So cute! DH brought some chickens home a while ago and feeding the chickens and playing with their food is also a big favourite.
Talking: Baby G’s vocabulary is getting really big now. His pronunciation is not always perfect but if one listen’s carefully you can hear a lot of words. He is speaking longer and longer sentences, like for instance yesterday morning he said to me, “Ek soek vir pappa,” (I’m looking for daddy) and he said to DH, “nee, ek wil nie hê nie,” (No, I don’t want any). He often asks, “waar is mamma/pappa?” (Where is mommy/daddy?), he says “gee” (give), “hoenders” (chickens) and koeldrank (cooldrink) which can be anything from milk, to juice or rooibos tea.
Milestones: Baby G loves to feed himself lately, and that is when he eats best. He loves to dance (even twirls in circles), sings and claps his hands to music. He understands instructions & reacts to things we say for instance the other day DH told him he could not go outside because it was cold and he ran off and fetched his jacket and insisted that DH put the jacket on. He points to pictures in books and says their names, like any woman is “mamma” (mommy). He does not like it when we scold him and he often cries. It looks like he will not need any spankings because if we just raise our voices a little he is already quite upset. I was also like that as a child and my parents never had to spank me at all. Baby G loves taking his shoes and socks off, and he also wants to choose daddy’s shoes for the day, he even brings 2 of the same pair, and lately he also chooses clothes for DH to wear, and he gets really upset if DH does not want to wear what he picked out. He has a good memory of where he last left something, can look for something that he left somewhere the previous day, and get it right away.
Firsts: We are getting lots of art from school and off course as proud parents we love to put it up on the fridge. Baby G also got his first report card from school and in general it was really good. Most of the categories he got a 3/5, 4/5 and even quite a few 5/5’s. DH is not happy because there were a few 2/5’s for things like holding on to furniture and walking, but he hasn’t done that since he started walking, so I’m not sure why he got such a low score on that, (maybe because he never does it?) The parent/teacher night was cancelled so we haven’t been able to discuss it with the teacher yet, but I’m not really bothered by it. I see the few low scores as things that I know he can do, but maybe the teacher hasn’t picked up on it yet, since he is quite new to this class (He was moved from the baby class to the toddler class during the month of May).
Keeping my eyes on Jesus... 