Never fly with a one year old! (and the reasons I'll never fly American Airlines again)

Due to my hubby's family all being thousands of miles away, it was inevitable that we were going to have to take our little one on a plane eventually. Ever since he was born we've been debating over the optimum age to take him to the states to meet the rest of his family.

Well, we finally did it and I can safely say 14 months old is certainly NOT the best age for long haul air travel! The cheeky monkey decided to learn to walk during our travels and so during our five hour lay over in Chicago all he did was run around the airport non stop! He ran into areas he wasn't allowed, stole some guy's phone, unplugged one kid's Nintendo DS and tried to run off with one lady's suitcase.

Flying with a kid is certainly a lot different than flying without. Usually I'd watch at least two films on the way to the USA but with little J constantly turning my screen on and off it took me nearly 4 hours to watch one film. And if you thought it was difficult to eat your dinner on one of those tray tables normally, try doing it with a small child on your lap who insists on sharing it all with you.

In the last three weeks we have been on 5 flights, two 5 hour bus journeys and two 4 hour car journeys. The boy has coped pretty well considering and we have learnt a few things along the way that I thought I would share with you.

1. Sticking to normal routine was really helpful. I was dreading how Josiah would handle jet lag and sleeping in weird places. We managed to book flights that worked well around his nap time, took his teddy bear and used breast feeding him to sleep as my ultimate sleep aid. (Breast feeding during take off and landing also stopped him from yelling due to his ears popping.) During the travel, I kept to his usual nap routine according to UK time and then when we got to USA I kept him awake until his normal bedtime by USA time. The result was he slept all the way through the night from day one instead of waking up at 2am like I expected.

On the way home we had an over night flight and little J was awake for all but the last hour of it! We arrived in Heathrow at 8am all looking pretty shocking and red eyed. Even though we all just wanted to sleep, we instantly reverted to normal UK routine and went for breakfast. We kept Josiah awake until the start of our 5 hour bus journey home which nicely coincided with his usual nap time. We all slept on the coach home but were still so tired when we got home that we had no trouble falling asleep at our usual UK bedtimes.

2. Take plenty of snacks. We all get grumpy when we're hungry right and eating is a great way to cure boredom too. I took what I thought would be way too many snacks and the boy munched through them all. Don't give too much sugar to a small child confined on a plane though! On car journeys I found the best snacks were ones he can feed himself (bananas, fruit pouches, oaty bars) to save keep reaching over to him.

3. Book 'sky cots' way in advance. We were told to just ask when we checked in. When we got there we found there was only one sky cot available on our flight of over 200 people and it had already been booked! If you're wondering if your child is able to use a sky cot, they are usually fine up to 24lbs, but check with your airline to be sure.

4. Pick the right airline. During our travels we flew with three different airlines. Before having kids all airlines seemed much alike to me apart from some having slightly better movie choice. This time around I noticed a massive difference.

British Airways gave us seats near the front and over to the side so we had more space. They even moved the lady who was supposed to sit next to us so Josiah had his own seat. As soon as we arrived at the gate they ushered us through to priority boarding and got us on ahead of everyone else. US airways were equally good at allowing us to board early and offered us sandwiches for Josiah even though we hadn't paid for a seat for him.

American Airlines however, really don't know how to handle kids! No announcement that passengers with kids under 5 years old can board first (though when we did push to the front on the recommendation of another passenger the lady did let us through). Our seats on both flights were shockingly bad. First flight we were right at the very back, furthest away from any fire exits and last to get off. The engine noise was really loud and we were totally unable to hear any announcements (not sure they even did a safety briefing!). The second flight was an 8 hour over night flight and for some reason they decided the best place to seat a wriggly one year old would be in the middle of a row of 5 people so he can annoy not only his parents but several passengers either side. The poor guy next to me was trying to sleep and Josiah was trying to lean over and poke him and work out what the face mask he was wearing was all about. The seats all had TV screens in the back and Josiah wanted to lean over and see what the other passengers were watching too. It was a very looooong flight!!

Next time we fly I will definitely ask for more details about where our seats are when we check in and try to switch if needed. To find out about the layout of your flight and the best seats for your family, you can use this handy little site.

Despite all the challenges of travel with a little one, we did have a great time. Little J had all kids of adventures - riding tractors, chasing puppies, meeting new friends, staying out past bedtime and running around getting used to the freedom of walking. It was definitely worth the effort :)

You know you're a momma when...

During a rare moment of peace, I was browsing the net and found this fun little article about motherhood. It made me giggle so thought I'd share it with you all and share my thoughts on a few points too. So here goes:

7. FREEDOM! As a mum, any time to yourself is bliss, even if it's doing something as dull as shopping.

10. Momma's have an in built baby sensor that detects the slightest sound/movement of any child. For this reason I make hubby sleep with the baby monitor next to his head. He can sleep through anything, while I hear as soon as the boy makes a sound. When he was still sleeping in our room I woke whenever he rolled over!

12. Sad but true - sleep is what momma's crave most, even more than sex. Pre-baby our evenings went along the lines of put dinner on, do chores while it cooks, eat dinner in front of the TV, go to bed and enjoy naked time with hubby. Now, by the time we get to bed I'm shattered and often fall asleep before I've even got my clothes off. Began to realise we needed to come up with creative new tactics to fit our new lifestyle. Most recent tactic is to plan evening meals where you shove everything in a pan and throw in the oven for half hour. We put the boy to bed, one of us preps dinner while the other does chores, and then while dinner is cooking........ ;)

13. Same goes for a bath without rubber ducks/boats/other bath toys or a small child trying to push your head under the water when you try to wash your hair.

14. Yeah and if you thought pooing while someone is chatting to you is bad, try pooing when a small child is trying to shove your bum off the seat so they can look behind you and see what's going on!

15. And use wet wipes to wash on mornings when it all goes to pieces and you don't get time for a shower.

18. YES!!! I understand the boy is just discovering food and keen to try new things but I just want to be able to eat something, anything, without having to share it with him!

21. I'm working on it

24. Yep. In those first few weeks I dread to think how rarely I showered/brushed my teeth!

So if you want to bless us momma's, give us some child free time to lock ourselves in the bathroom, take a long soak in the tub and eat chocolate to our hearts content.

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled and the........

Autumn is officially here and winter is hot on its heels. Weather like this always puts me in the mood for pyjama days, baking, home made soup and mulled beverages. Thanks to hubby taking little J to Who let the dad's out this morning, I had plenty of free time for baking. I finally got round to making the cheese and ham muffins I mentioned the other week and can report they were a success.


I did however learn that forgetting to grease the muffin tin is a major error as they are now glued to the cake cases!

Way more exciting than the muffins is the very autumnal apple cake that I made. I thought I would share the recipe with you all, so here it is:

Apple Cake

125ml vegetable oil (original recipe says double that but I found it way too much and experimented a little)
2 medium eggs
200g caster sugar (original recipe says 250g but I found it too sweet. Extra sugar gives it a nice crust though)
275g plain flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp salt
500g apple (peeled, cored and diced)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Mix the oil and eggs until they go white and foamy
3. Add the sugar, flour, bicarbonate, cinnamon, vanilla essence and salt and mix it really well. You'll end up  with a super thick sticky mixture.
4. Fold in the diced apple. (Might be a bit of a challenge cos the mixture is so thick - certainly will work those arm muscles!)
5. Put it in a 20cm x 30cm tin that has been greased and floured. I didn't have one that size so used a 10 inch round tin instead and it turned out just fine.
6. Put it in the oven for about 40 mins and go put your feet up with a cuppa tea.
7. Check it's cooked through and then leave it in the tin for 10 mins before you take it out. (Just enough time to make another brew ready to enjoy with a nice warm slice of fresh cake!)

For other great baking ideas, check out my beer bread recipe or Christmas cookies recipe.

Happy baking

The things we do for our kids?!

I think if people fully knew what parenthood involved ahead of time no one would ever have kids. There are certain things that you find yourself doing as a parent that are just gross. For example:

1. Clearing up sick.  Went down to get little bear up from his nap the other day and found him totally covered in sick. He was sat chatting to his bear with sick all down the side of his face, all down his front, all over his sheets and his poor bear was drowning in it! Yuck. I think I handled it pretty well - stripped the boy's clothes off, lifted him out of bed, bundled it all in a heap inside his bedsheet so I wouldn't have to look at it and shoved it in the washing machine. Phew, done!

2. Clearing up poo. Changing nappies is pretty gross but you kind of get used to it. Poo floating in the bath though, that's another story. I'm not so bothered if it's just him in the bath but we often have family bathtime where we all jump in together and splash around. The other day the bath was full of bubbles, we were all having fun. Then the boy started squatting and pulling 'that face'. By the time we realised it was too late, the damage was done. Trouble was there were so many bubbles we couldn't even see for sure what he'd done. You knew it was there but couldn't tell exactly where. Was that a rubber duck that just touched my foot or was it.......the POO!?! Hubby jumped out of the bath lightning fast and I wasn't far behind him.

3. Touching/eating gross stuff. Little J loves his food and loves to try new things - especially things on other people's plates. Recently he realised that sharing is a two way thing and that he can let other people eat his food too. He's started offering us fistfuls of his food every now and then - a half eaten rice cake, a cheerio that's been on the floor, some pasta that's been in his mouth and been spat out again. As a parent this leaves me with a dilemma. I really want to encourage this new found desire to share with others......but I really don't want to eat that stuff. In the end I decided to just grit my teeth, smile and say 'thank you hunny' as he shoves his slimy little handful of food in my mouth. Yuck!

So why do we have kids?! It's not all bad. In fact, there are some great moments. Play time with little J is amazing. His laughter is addictive. Today he discovered how fun slides are and squealed with enjoyment every time he hit the crash mat at the bottom. He even discovered how to go down on his own on his belly. From now on trips to the park will involve something more than him insisting on playing on the swing for the entire time - hooray! 

Playing hide and seek with a one year old is also awesome. J thought he was so clever hiding under a blanket while I pretended to not see him and look everywhere else in the room. He couldn't even contain his excitement at how clever he was. As I pretended to look behind the coffee table he giggled with glee thinking "silly mummy can't find me". So Cute!!!

More lunchtime snacks

Just thought I'd share with you my latest finds on my quest for a more exciting lunch.  First up is this recipe for cheesy chive eggy toast. Quick and easy to make and gets little J some extra protein. As you can see from the smile on his face, he loved it.

My other great discovery is frittata. How did I not discover this great portable feast sooner?! Frittata is basically a big flat omelette that's cooked in a frying pan then topped with cheese and finished in the oven. Today I cooked this great cherry tomato and pea frittata. In my case I don't have an oven safe frying pan so I just cooked it in an oven proof dish instead - fried onions on the bottom, eggy mix poured over, cheese on top and then put in the oven at 200C for about 45mins or so until it had cooked through. It's a great way to use up any leftovers in the fridge as you can put just about anything in it.

Less toys, more fun

I'm starting to realise that having less toys helps J to grow more.

The other day we got home from a busy day with friends and both the boy and I were super tired. I'd hoped we might both have a little nap but it soon became clear J wasn't gonna go along with my plans. I got him out of his cot and brought him into our bed. As usual, he instantly started climbing over me and exploring the things my husband and I have left on the bedside table.

J got hold of an almost empty loo roll and amused himself for ages tearing off the last few pieces and shredding it, using it as a telescope and pretending it was a trumpet. Then he started dropping bits of shredded paper over the side of the bed to watch them flutter to the floor. One simple household object allowed him to work on imagination and both his gross and fine motor skills. Who needs toys, eh?!

A few weeks ago I started rotating J's toys so he has only a handful of toys and books out at a time and I've really seen him learn so much more in a short space of time. I read this article the other day about the benefits of not having too many toys and I'm finding it to be so true. We want the best for our kids and it's so easy to think that involves letting them have every cool toy out there but just think about all the things they will miss out on learning if their little lives get too cluttered. Less really is more!

The best thing we could ever do...

As parents we all have our different styles of parenting and different ideas about what to allow our kids to eat/watch/play/wear etc. We try to do our best to protect our children from things that could be potentially harmful in some way. I think, particularly as first time parents, it's easy to get tied up in knots worrying about what is safe for our kids.

Do we have enough smoke detectors/stair gates/fire guards in the house? Will he become obese if I feed on demand/let him snack between meals? Will he get skin cancer because I only used SPF 30 on him that one time? Will he have a low IQ because he watches trashy TV/ I didn't make him listen to classical music/ I forgot to take my folic acid once or twice during pregnancy? Will standing near the microwave give him brain damage? Perhaps I should only let him wear velcro fastening shoes so he won't trip over his laces and hit his head and die........

Today, it suddenly occurred to me that no matter how hard I try to protect J, he will never be invincible. I can smother him in sun cream to prevent skin cancer, teach him to look before crossing the road to avoid getting hit by a bus and make him eat only organic food in the hope it will make him extra healthy and live longer but the simple fact is that death is a part of life.  There is nothing we as parents can do to change that. Well......maybe there is one thing I could do....

The best thing I can possibly do for J is to introduce him to Jesus and pray that he will come to love and trust Jesus for himself. The Bible promises that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will not die but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) What a great gift to give to my child - to live in a loving relationship with his Maker that will continue for his whole life and on into eternity! Death will still be a part of his life but, by trusting in Jesus, death will not be the end of the story.

Has anyone ever introduced you to Jesus? If not, why not try reading a biography about him? There are four to choose from in the Bible written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Don't worry if you don't own a Bible - you can read online here. Investigate for yourself and see if you think Jesus is worth introducing your kids to. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Lunchtime snacks

Do you ever find yourself running out of ideas for things to give the kids for lunch? Bored of eating the same old sandwiches? Why not give these savoury cupcakes a try - they make great finger food for little people and you could even get the kids to help make them.

Cheddar and sweetcorn cupcakes

1 small tin sweetcorn, drained (I used sweetcorn leftover from dinner the night before)
190g self raising flour
55g grated cheddar
good pinch of paprika
1/2 tsp baking powder
55g unsalted butter (I used margarine)
2 medium eggs
120ml milk (I used full fat milk as J is too young for semi skimmed yet)
4 spring onions, finely chopped (I didn't have any so missed this out and they still tasted good)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 6 and line a cupcake tin with paper cases.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 40g of cheese, paprika, sweetcorn and baking powder.

3. Add in melted butter/margarine and mix well.

4. In a measuring jug beat the eggs and milk together. Pour into the flour and cheese mixture and stir well.

5. Spoon into cake cases and sprinkle over the remaining cheese and a little paprika and bake in the oven for 20 mins until golden.

Here is another variation on the recipe that I haven't tried yet - cheese and ham muffins.

Happy lunchtime!

Lazy roast dinner recipe

I'm a big fan of meals that I can cook for the whole family instead of having to cook something different for our one year old. I'm also a big fan of meals that have minimal washing up. When I discovered this recipe that fits both those criteria I knew it would be a winner. We had it for dinner tonight and it was great - just like any good roast dinner but so much simpler and less messy. It only took five minutes to cut up the veg and throw it all together in one pan and then I had 45 mins to enjoy relaxing with my husband while waiting for it to be ready.

Child's play - part 2

Do you ever find that despite your child having loads of toys they would much rather play with anything other than their toys?!

Recently I noticed J was barely touching his over flowing box of toys and was getting into all kinds of mischief. Then I read this great article about toy rotation and decided to give it a go. I split all his toys and books into three boxes and put one in the lounge, one in his room and one in our room (to keep him occupied when we want to stay under the duvet for longer on a Saturday morning).  Each box contains at least one ball, a soft toy, a shaker or noise maker, something textured and something that is a bit of a puzzle (stacking rings, shape sorter etc) as well as a cloth book, at least one textured book, a book with flaps or similar and a variety of other books. Every couple of weeks I rotate the boxes.

The difference has been huge. Now J loves playing with his toys and can easily see exactly what is in the box without having to pull everything out. He's playing with things that he doesn't usually play with, reading his books more and amusing himself for longer periods of time. It also means I don't end up reading the same couple of books over and over at bedtime!

I also sat and wrote a list of all his toys and split them into categories like the blog suggested. It really did help me to see where J had a lot of similar type toys and was perhaps lacking in other types and has helped to influence what we buy him for Christmas.

While we're on the subject of child's play, we discovered a great game to play on rainy days stuck at home - HOME MADE BOWLING! We grabbed some empty plastic bottles from the recycling pile, set them up in our long narrow kitchen, got a soft ball from J's toy box and began to bowl. J is too little to know how to throw yet but, as I knocked the bottles down and whooped with joy at my achievement, he squealed with excitement and handed me the ball to throw again.

Why not give it a go? :)

Food fight's

Our little boy is growing fast and so is his desire for independence. Part of the out working of this is his desire to feed himself and have more control over what he eats. While we were unpacking the shopping the other day he was sat on the floor holding a bunch of bananas out while wearing his 'can I have some' face. When I told him 'in a minute, hun' he saw that as permission, pulled one off the bunch and started trying to bite through the skin.  This morning as I opened the fridge to get milk out for my cereal he squeezed past me, grabbed a yoghurt and held it up to me to ask me to take the lid off for him. I thought raiding the fridge for food was just something teenage boys do - not one year olds!!

He's been feeding himself finger food with great success for a long time but now he wants more - he wants to learn to use cutlery!! I have found myself approaching dinner times with a sense of dread as I wonder how much of his dinner I'm going to be wearing by the end of it (never mind giving him a bib to keep clean, I need something to cover my clothes!) and how many fights there will be. At first J was happy for me to hand him a preloaded spoon for him to shovel in his mouth but now he wants to load the spoon himself. Some days he will let me help him and other days, despite his frustration that he can't really do it, he refuses all offers of assistance. This results in shouting (often from both parties), snatching and much food flicking. I used to think of myself as a patient person before I became a parent but at dinnertimes I now find my patience often wears dangerously thin! I don't like the parent I have turned into at dinnertimes and so last night I found myself praying for extra patience and for wisdom to know how to handle this challenge.

Tonight was another standard evening. Dinner was a chunky pork and veggi casserole with plenty of sauce for J to make a mess with. At first he let me spoon feed him but he soon wanted to join in. At one point as he tried to load the spoon he accidentally flicked a big dollop of mushy sweet potato at his forehead and I couldn't help but laugh. He thought that since it brought me such joy the first time he would do it again. This time I did not laugh one little bit as he flicked bright orange casserole on my nice clean, brand new, white shirt!! Not only did I not laugh but I wanted to shout at him and take the food away and send him straight to bed.

But then I stopped my self and thought what did he actually do wrong? Why am I really angry? He got my clothes messy while trying to make me laugh. He was trying to master a difficult new skill and made some mistakes along the way. He got frustrated that learning new stuff is tough and expressed that by shouting a bit. Can I really be angry with him for that? Surely instead I should be giving him the freedom to try and to fail messily and be cheering him on for his efforts.

I took a deep breath, thanked God for stain remover and offered him the spoon again. There were still a few times that he flicked food in anger and at those points I took the bowl away, calmly told him not to do it and once he had calmed down let him try again, all the while cheering his successful attempts. Things went better from then on and I have resolved to wear my dressing gown over my clothes at dinner so I won't get so uptight about him flicking stuff in the first place!

Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

I love reading biographies about interesting people and have recently been loving reading this book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For those of you who don't know who he is, he was a German church minister who was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. I've found the book fascinating on several levels.

Firstly, hearing about how his parents raised him has given me inspiration for how to raise my children to follow Jesus and make their mark on the world in a positive way.

Secondly, I've really enjoyed reading about the events surrounding the Second World War from a much different perspective that year 7 history lessons. I've gained a better understanding of how Hitler pulled the wool over everyone's eyes until it was too late and Germany's fate was sealed. Reading Bonhoeffer's journey towards involvement in the assassination plot has also shown me that ethics are not always black and white and that obedience to God's calling moment by moment is more important that obedience to a moral code.

Lastly, reading about the things he did while running 'illegal' seminary schools reignited in me a desire for regular times of prayer and reflection. At his seminaries the students were all encouraged to meditate on a Bible verse and spend time in prayer every morning and evening at the same time. Taking time out to hear God speak daily is vital to building a relationship with Him. Also, the practice of doing it daily at the same time as other brothers and sisters in Christ builds a great sense of community.

When I was working for a Christian charity many years ago they too taught a lot about 'spiritual disciplines' and daily rhythms of work, prayer and praise. Back then everyone in the organisation, located all across the UK, would take 2 minutes to pray at the same time every day. We also were encouraged to cultivate daily Bible reading and times of reflection as well as learning about Celtic Christians and making use of ancient Celtic prayers. I found it so refreshing and it brought new life to my relationship with Jesus. As time has gone by I've lost those rhythms and my life and relationships are worse for it. It's been great to be reminded of those things again and at the same time I've discovered a great book of Celtic prayers with Bible verses, prayers and reflections designed for every morning and evening. I'm excited to find a new and better rhythm to life again but struggling to get started and wish I had others doing it with me to encourage me.

Will you join me? Will you hold me accountable and give me a kick up the bum if I don't stick to it?

Through the eyes of a child

As an adult I don't find shopping all that exciting. Once upon a time I used to shop for fun but now I try to avoid it as much as possible. I think there are probably a lot of other things in life that I used to find fun as a child but now as a grumpy, cynical, eternally busy grown up I rarely take time to see the fun and the beauty in simple everyday things.

Today I went shopping with my 11 month old son. We spent an hour in one department store and bought nothing but we had a great time. While hubby browsed the coffee machines and kitchen gadgets, we smelt lots of different scented candles and talked about their colours. Next we headed for the furniture section where J had great fun banging on a big metal coffee table that looked  like a giant steel drum. We tested out sofas and pulled funny faces in mirrors and opened drawers to see what was inside. While hubby and I looked at towels and bedding, J crawled around and tried to get under the beds. At one point he crawled into a gap under a couple of display tables and started using it as a den!

J sat in a rocking chair for the first time and grinned and giggled as he rocked back and forth. Then he climbed down and crawled off into the soft furnishings section where he found lots of cushions with different textures to feel. From his point of view the store was like a giant sensory adventure playground. Thinking about it now it probably was a really good learning experience - chance to use his different senses, develop his spacial awareness and grow in confidence as he explores new surroundings.

Why not try taking some time out today to do something just for fun and try to see life through the eyes of your childish self again?

2ft 3inches of pure chaos!

When your little one learns to move around the difference to your life is HUGE. Suddenly our baby bear is into everything - nothing is safe from his chubby little hands and he leaves chaos in his wake wherever he goes. One minute he's scattering our DVD collection across the floor and the next minute I'm telling him to STOP LICKING THE TELEVISION! 

This morning after he'd finished having his morning feed in our bed he just climbed down out of our bed all on his own and started exploring our room. When he was done it  looked like a bomb had hit it with papers and clothes and shoes and books strewn all across the floor.

We can't put drinks down any more cos he just picks them up and helps himself. I'm not sure whether to be proud he's learnt to drink out of a proper cup or annoyed that he keeps drinking my drinks! He also loves to help himself to other people's food. The other day I was having sausage and chips for lunch. Once Josiah had spotted the food it took him only a matter of seconds to climb up on the sofa, lean over and swipe my sausage and then climb back down and start eating it. 

Last week we were at a party with lots of nice food. The lady next to Josiah had a yummy looking fruit salad so he leaned over and helped himself to a handful despite having never met her before! He's lucky he's cute enough to get away with it!

Yesterday we were in town and decided to let Josiah go for a little crawl while we browsed Next cos he was getting a bit fed up in the buggy. He quickly spotted another little boy crawling around the store and began chasing him. He kept stroking the kids hair, patting his face, climbing on him and generally terrorising the poor kid. Thankfully the boy's parents found it highly amusing.

Josiah's Diary - August 1st

This afternoon was fun. I went into town with mummy and daddy and went to play in the new play area in the shopping centre. There is funny fake grass and footballs and building blocks. I tried to play with the blocks but Daddy kept taking them so he could build a tower so I decided to go exploring. I spotted Costa Coffee and started crawling that way but mummy grabbed me and told me I'm too young to go for coffee. I seem to be too young for all the good stuff.

Mummy said I'm not allowed to go off on my own in the shopping centre but she let me hold her hands and go for a walk together. I love being able to move around and go where I want. I'm so glad I made the effort to learn to crawl. This week I learnt to climb the stairs too and as mummy and I were walking around I saw the coolest thing - moving stairs!! As soon as I saw them I headed straight for them, dragging mummy behind me. Some people were laughing at me and I didn't understand why. Mummy explained it was because I was trying to run up the 'down' stairs whatever that means. Mummy picked me up and carried me up the correct stairs instead. When we got to the top mummy put me down so I could walk again so where do you think I went? - straight towards the other moving stairs. Mummy still wouldn't let me ride the stairs alone. She says I'm not allowed until I'm big enough to hold the rail. What if I never grow that big?! But it was still fun riding down as mummy carried me. When we got to the bottom I tried to run up the other moving stairs again but mummy said that was quite enough of that game so we went to play in the toy section in Mothercare instead.

Josiah's Diary - 24th July 2013

Today is mummy's birthday. She's really old - so old she forgot it was even her birthday. I helped her open her presents and had great fun playing with the wrapping paper and bubble wrap. She got some pretty cool stuff including some funny tea bag things. I'm not sure what they do but they smell good and the packet is fun to shake about. I tried to take some of her chocolates as she seemed to have plenty and I didn't think she would miss one little packet. I was wrong - mummy is pretty smart.

After work mummy dragged us into town to go spend some vouchers she was given. After a couple of minutes clothes shopping with mummy, daddy and I decided to bail and head for a bookshop instead. I found a great book on basic English grammar but mummy said I couldn't have it as I'm not old enough yet. I think she underestimates me.

After the book shop we headed for coffee and milkshakes at a new place mummy wanted to try. I love when we go to new places and meet new people. I instantly hit it off with a man sitting at the table next to us and we had great fun pulling faces at each other. Then I discovered the coolest thing ever - if you blow raspberries on the leather chairs it makes a farting noise!! Everyone thought I was hilarious so I kept doing it for ages to make them laugh.

Daddy ordered a massive milkshake that looked really good so I decided to crawl to the bar and get myself one too but I couldn't seem to get the barman's attention. I decided to give up and share daddy's instead but when I got back to our table he had drunk it all already!

A day in the life of a working momma

6:30am - I hear the boy stirring over the baby monitor. Hubby climbs out of bed and goes to get him and brings him into our bed. Sleepily attach kid to boob and try to fall back to sleep but fail cos he keeps kneeing me in the belly.

After milk, sit the boy between me and hubby, hand him one of his favourite books, roll over and try to fall back to sleep again while he uses my face as a book rest. The book keeps him amused for all of 5 mins. Boy begins patting my face, pulling my hair and climbing on me to try to reach things on my bed side table. Have to repeatedly prevent child from diving head first off the bed.

7:45am - alarm goes off and I drag myself out of bed. Make a cup of tea and jump in the shower. Hubby appears in the bathroom a few minutes later and puts the boy in his walker while he goes to make breakfast. Spend most of my shower playing peekaboo round the shower screen. Chat to the boy while I get dressed and he excitedly honks the horn on his walker.

We all head to the lounge where hubby feeds the boy his porridge and I run around finding my socks, packing lunch and putting on jewellery. Eat my breakfast in a rush and manage to down half my lukewarm cup of tea before running to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Say a hurried goodbye to my two boys before running out the door with no make up on and having done nothing to my hair.

8:30am - Time to start work. Make the teas for everyone to get the day off to a good start. Then it's head down and work like crazy until 2pm comes round.

2:05pm - Run out of the office and head home to finally get lunch. Fold laundry while hubby does dishes then help him to finish making food.

2:30pm - Finally sit down to eat lunch while checking emails and writing our food menu for the next week.

2:45pm - Boy wakes from his nap and wants to play. Spend time being climbed on, reading books and holding the boy's hands while he practises walking round the house. Feed him some milk then a quick nappy change before heading into town to pick up a few things. It's a nasty one - pretty obvious he had chilli for dinner last night! The boy doesn't want his nappy changed and so keeps trying to roll over and crawl away resulting in poo being spread all up his legs. Lovely!

4:30pm - Get home from town, rush in the house to put things away, then head to the park. Hot weather and no shade hinders our plan to go on the swings so instead we go sit under a big tree. The boy isn't happy with sitting - he wants to be moving. After a little crawling practice he grabs my hands, pulls himself up and begins walking away. I have little choice but to follow as he charges around the park chasing pigeons. One male pigeon is trying to get his game on with a girl pigeon and the boy totally ruins the mood by rushing at them both.

5:15pm - get home from the park, heat up some homemade pasta sauce and make spaghetti. While hubby feeds the boy his spaghetti and sauce I make a batch of baby carbonara to put in the freezer. After dinner there's time for a little more play before.....

6:00pm - family bathtime. We all pile in together and have fun splashing and playing with stacking cups and rubber ducks. While hubby gets the boy dressed I shave my legs for the first time in a week.

After bath time we pray together and say goodnight to daddy. I get the boy in his sleeping bag, read him a story and feed him some more milk. Then I put him in his cot with his bear, say good night and head upstairs to see how hubby is doing with making dinner. Tidy up a little and do some online banking while baby bear chatters contentedly over the baby monitor.

Hubby serves up a lovely dinner and we sit and eat while watching West Wing which is interrupted every 10 mins by one or the other of us going down to check the boy isn't trying to climb out of his cot or anything silly. He finally falls asleep just after 8pm - phew! Time for a quick bit of gardening followed by a cup of tea and some leftover Christening cake while we look at flights to the USA to see the in laws.

Finally about 9pm we settle down for some proper 'mummy daddy time' by which time I'm shattered!

Quiet time book

For years now I've been hoarding old cards, scraps of material, wrapping paper and other such things waiting for the day I might need them. Finally that day has come - that day was today.

Today Josiah and I had a craft filled afternoon. I quickly made him his own guitar to keep him amused while I rifled through my craft box to find materials to make Josiah a new book.  I has a load of leftover blank cards from when we made our own wedding invitations which were ideal as nice strong double thickness pages. Next I had to think of ideas for what to put on the pages. Here's what I came up with:

 Soldiers with glittery textured hats.....

Lumpy bumpy bubble wrap....

 Bright coloured stickers with simple pictures drawn on....

 A variety of different textured hearts....

 Felt letters....

 Bright textured paper in one of his favourite colours...

 Bright smiley faces and a character with googly eyes....

I hole punched the pages and tied them together with ribbon and then it was time to give it to the boy for his verdict. In all the book took me about 20-30 mins - really very quick and easy. What did Josiah make of his new book?.....

He instantly loved it - result!!!

I am the music man...

There is nothing that catches Josiah's attention quite like music. Theme tunes have him stopped still and when daddy plays guitar he's totally mesmerised. He likes to reach out and touch daddy's guitar and try to join in but daddy's not such a fan of grubby little hands on his pride and joy.

Well now Josiah has his own make shift guitar and can join in with daddy any time he likes. He loves banging the strings and it doubles up as a great drum too. Who knew you could have so much fun with a loaf tin and some elastic bands.

Child's play

So I finally found a use for that out of date box of risotto rice at the back of the cupboard...

I remember when....

I remember when morning snuggle time was peaceful and relaxing. The boy would wake between 6am and 7am and I'd bring him into bed with us where I'd lie there and feed him and doze a little as we snuggled peacefully. After he'd had his milk I'd lie him in between hubby and me and give him a toy or a book and he would happily amuse himself while I snoozed for another 20 mins or so.

Oh how things have changed!

This morning started out much the same as it always used to - boy woke at 6:30am and came into our bed to have some milk. As I lay there trying to doze as he fed, he fidgeted and kicked me in the leg repeatedly. Once he was done I put him between hubby and me and handed him a couple of toys. He waved his teething ring in the air as if flying a spaceship and then decided to 'land' it on my head. He noticed I had my eyes shut so decided to pat my face repeatedly to make sure I was paying attention to him. Then he decided to amuse himself for a while by pinging my bra strap - thanks kiddo!

He soon got bored of me and decided he wanted daddy to play so leaned over and patted daddy's face. He then grabbed daddy's hair too for good measure. This resulted in grunts from the husband as he flung a pillow over his face to shield himself from the boy's advances. School boy error - a few weeks ago this would have worked but now that Josiah has learnt the concept of "hide and seek" it only served to make things into a game.  He giggled as he pulled the pillow from daddy's face and grinned as he patted daddy's face some more.

Something tells me that it could be a very very very long time before hubby and I get another lie in!

Isn't it funny that when our little ones are tiny and unable to move around we find ourselves wishing they were more active and could 'do more fun stuff'. But once they can move we find ourselves wishing they couldn't!

I do love watching Josiah exploring the world now though and love helping him to learn about his environment. I've been pinning all kinds of ideas on Pinterest for creative play but here's a quick one I stumbled across when trying to amuse a grumpy boy one morning.

I had my sewing box out looking for something and Josiah was fussing and grumpy. I noticed a bag of ribbons and said to hubby 'they might be fun to play with later'. Sure enough, I come home later to find hubby had given Josiah the ribbons to play with and he loved it. So many different colours and textures to play with and it's a nice calm activity (as opposed to banging stuff together and making lots of noise like the boy does with most other things).

Dinner time fun

I love food.

Josiah also loves food.

But he's just started getting picky about what he eats and now he wants my food. If we're eating something different to him he wants what we have and is not afraid to help himself! So I've pretty much abandoned baby purées and begun trying to find ideas for things that we can all eat. Tonight Josiah had potato, leek and sweetcorn soup with some homemade pizza toast. I made pizza toast as a snack for me and hubby too and we sat round the kitchen table and ate and talked together.

Pizza toast is so quick and easy. Make some toast, spread it with some red pasta sauce, sprinkle with a little grated cheese and toast under the grill. It can be cut into easy to hold pizza fingers.

Here's the recipe for the potato, leek and sweetcorn chowder. (NB In babies with dairy sensitivity this recipe can produce explosive results - as we just found out!)

Homemade baby food

The past few days I've been busy filling the freezer with home made baby food and thought I would share with you a couple of favourite recipes...

Red Pasta Sauce

I put some diced red pepper, sliced carrot, red onion and a handful of leftover baby tomatoes in the oven for half hour at 220C and then blitzed the heck out of them with a hand blender. Made a really yummy pasta sauce that the boy loves as the pepper and carrot give it a natural sweetness.

Baby carbonara

Cook up some baby size pasta or spaghetti broken into small pieces. Drain the pasta and stir in 15g (1 slice) of diced ham, 3 table spoons of Greek yoghurt and a spoon of grated cheese and warm through. This was another instant winner and hubby really liked it too!

Anyone got any other good recipe suggestions I can try?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

What a day! Spent the morning at The Bakery having brunch with friends and their kids and then a baby shower in the afternoon.

Due to the boy's recent sleep trouble I decided to walk into town from Royal William Yard in the hope it would help him get a longer nap. As we strolled along in the sunshine, the boy fast asleep, it seemed a crazy amount of motorbikes were out in the sun too. I had never before noticed just how loud motorbikes are!! As we came to traffic lights with a motorcyclist sat nosily revving I just wanted to say "shush will you - you'll wake the kid!" Thankfully he kept on sleeping.

Once we got close to town we had another challenge to the boy's sleep - a whole selection of emergency vehicles screaming past. But still he kept on sleeping.

Next we arrived in the city centre to find huge crowds of people and lots of events going on, meaning lots of noise. I tried a whole host of alternative routes through town but it seemed everywhere I turned there was a live band or trumpet player or some other such racket. As I turned down one street I was greeted by a full on marching band coming straight towards us. You've gotta be freaking kidding me!?! I quickly dived down an alleyway and into a car park to avoid them. And still the boy kept on sleeping.

Finally (after taking an hour to do a 30 minute walk due to all the detours) we arrived at the baby shower. Josiah was still soundly asleep and having the best nap he's had in weeks and weeks.

And then Ella-Sophia came to say hello and poked him in the face. Ooops!

Never mind, he didn't seem bothered and had a fun afternoon meeting new friends.

Sleep is for the weak!

Sigh....it's been another one of those weeks.

Nap transition + sleep regression + growth spurt + learning to crawl + obsession with his door bouncer + a whole lot of chattiness = very little sleep in the Gallagher house hold!

The 8 month sleep regression is the WORST. Just when it felt like things were going well - BAM!! And it's not like a growth spurt that lasts just a few days. It's been over a month now of wondering if the boy will ever sleep again. I am now realising how much I took for granted Josiah's good sleep habits. I'm finding it really hard to go from having a kid who keeps to a pretty similar routine each day to not having a clue when he might sleep, how long for, or if I'll ever make it out of my pyjamas again let alone the house! Also, I'd got used to getting up once a night to feed him, being back in bed 10 mins later and then not hearing from him again until 7am. Now he's waking at least once before we've even gone to bed and is feeding 2 or 3 times a night. It feels like we've taken huge steps backwards and is frankly depressing.

Last night I found myself googling "8 month sleep problems" - not to find advice but simply to read about parents having an even worse time of it than us so as to cheer myself up!

As I sat bleary eyed scouring Google for signs of hope, I came across a couple of great websites that helped me to see the funny side of things. I thought I would share with you my favourite articles and hope they make you smile too.

Baby no sleeping
The Cult of Motherhood
Good times, bad times

Things I wish I'd known - Part 2

Welcome to part two of my series on things I wish I had known sooner about parenting.

Today's topic is TOYS!

When buying toys before Josiah's birth we didn't really know what we were doing and just got what we thought would be good. As time has gone by we have been surprised by what toys have and haven't been a success. For example, we got ourselves a Blossom Farm Sit Me Up Cosy thinking it would be better than a standard play mat. Josiah loves the animals that come with it and enjoys their sounds and textures and how easily the legs fit in his mouth. However, the sit me up cow bit has been very little use at all to be honest. Whenever we used it to help prop him up while learning to sit he just fell sideways and got his head wedged between the two rings! For our next child I will definitely be investing in a play mat with hanging toys above it instead.

Now, instead of me telling you what toys aren't good, let me tell you which ones have come out as favourites. Here's my tops toys list:

1. Stacking cups. Josiah has a set with holes in the bottom making them fun for pouring water out of at bathtime. The bright colours, building towers and knocking them down, learning to put them inside each other and being able to pretend to drink out of them all make these a huge success in our house.

2. Wooden spoon. Great for teething, for banging things during the 'learning about noises' phase and generally just fun to wave around to work on spacial awareness. Be sure to only give your child an old well worn wooden spoon so as to avoid splinters.

3. Teddy bear. This is Josiah's bedtime bear. He loves cuddling his bear as he falls asleep and now he's a bit older he falls asleep chatting to his bear (cute but kinda annoying at 4am). The knot in the hat is also great for sucking on and teething. The bear is so light and soft that he has been able to pick him up and throw him around the cot from a very young age and I have no fear of him accidentally being smothered by the thing. I've had to go out and buy a spare bear so I can wash the original as it's been so chewed and well loved.

4. Books. Josiah loves books and now at 8 months old is really loving ones that have different textures he can feel. He also has a couple of cloth books that he loves because he can turn the pages by himself and the pages make different noises when he turns them. Some favourites we have found are...
Squishy turtle and friends - a cloth book that has an octopus with felt legs, shiny fish, an oyster to open and various other textures to feel.
Poppy Cat's Farm - a board book with cut out windows that teaches animal noises while playing hide and seek.
That's not my snowman - there's a whole range of these board books with different textured bits on every page.
Baby Touch - Rainbow - he doesn't actually own this one, just gets super excited looking at it in the book shop while daddy reads boring books. It's a brightly coloured board book with textured bits on each page. It's part of a series of textured books teaching things from animals to vehicles.
Baby Teether Book - a board book with a chewy teething bit and rattle. Great for taking when you're travelling as it's like 3 toys in one.

5. Textured soft toys. Josiah has a toy dog that has to be one of the best designed toys he owns. It's got different colours and textures, a mirror, rings round its ankles that make it easy to grab and teeth on, a jingly sound and skinny legs he can easily grab. He loves this thing so much he's almost chewed the poor things ear off! Here's a video of when he first got the dog for Christmas last year.

Lamaze do a great range of these brightly coloured, multi textured, noise making toys.

How about you? What toys would you recommend?

Things I wish I'd known - Part 1

As parents we are learning all the time. Let's be honest, we just make it up as we go along and hope we don't kill/maim/psychologically scar the kid. There are so many things I wish I had known before instead of having to find out the hard way so I thought I'd write a couple of posts about what I've learnt.

Today's topic - food.

We're well into introducing solids to Josiah now and he loves his food. One of the biggest difficulties is deciding what to give him. I think one of the main things I have discovered along the way is that food companies may seem like they want to help give my child the best but really they just want my money. What makes me say that? Here's a couple of things:

Food companies sell a whole variety of foods claiming to be suitable from 4 months old. They send samples of these foods to parents from before their child has even reached 4 months. Is this because feeding solids from 4 months is good for my child? No. (Health professionals all advise waiting until 6 months) It's because they want to get us to buy their products from as early as possible.

Do not be naive enough to think that because something is designed for babies it will be more healthy than adult food. I was horrified to discover how much sugar and salt baby cereals have compared to some adult cereals. Heinz baby porridge has 23.5g sugar and 0.15g salt per 100g and Cow and Gate porridge has 0.12g salt and over 38g of sugar per 100g! Compare this to Weetabix with only 4.4g sugar per 100g (but 0.26g salt per 100g so the baby cereals win on that one). The clear winner though has to be Ready Brek with only 1g sugar and less than 0.1g salt per 100g. So why exactly am I buying over priced baby cereal?!?

Several baby food companies send their own 'guide to weaning' type leaflets to parents. Some of them just blatantly try to push their products on you but a few seemed actually helpful with recipes for home-made purées and lists of suggested first foods to try. All the food companies suggested baby rice as a great starter food and sent plenty of vouchers and free samples. In some ways it is a great starter food - smooth texture, simple flavour. What they failed to mention is that it is one of the top causes of constipation in babies. Others in the list of top 5 poo stoppers include apples and bananas which are found in almost all shop bought fruit purees. The first meal we introduced Josiah to was breakfast and we began feeding him the sample packs of rice cereal we had been sent by different companies. Sure enough (just as we had him sleeping well at night and even a couple of nights with zero night feeds) he got super constipated, didn't poo for almost 2 weeks and couldn't sleep properly day or night from the discomfort. Almost 2 months later we are still trying to get him back to the great sleep habits he had before! Thanks a lot Cow and Gate baby rice :(

For unbiased advice on foods that are good for your baby try this site

Do you have any weaning advice to share? I'd love to hear your comments.

"You are my sunshine...."

I'm sat looking out of the window at a gloriously sunny evening and wishing so much that I could go outside (but I'm guessing leaving an 8 month old in bed home alone while I catch some sun would be considered bad parenting). I LOVE sunshine and this past week has been like a breath of fresh air to me. It's amazing how much difference a little sun can make. Instead of staying in my pyjamas as long as possible and avoiding going out of the house I've been dying to get outside at any and every opportunity. As a result I've made so much more out of my week than usual.

As well as the sunshine, there has also been much more sleep this week. Josiah is finally taking good daytime naps which has helped my stress levels no end. He is such a joy to be around when he's happy and well rested. It's insane how grown up he's getting - he's a proper little boy now and his personality is really coming out. He plays games, laughs at jokes, reaches out to be picked up, initiates kisses, asks for juice (by reaching for his cup) or more food (by yelling and pulling a grumpy face), tries to make conversation, talks in his sleep, tries to 'read' things, reaches out for things in shops (note to self: beware accidental shoplifting!) and chats to anyone who will listen.

I feel I have so much to be thankful for this week so I'm going to take this opportunity to praise God for:

• Catching up with friends I've not seen in a while
• Trips to the park
• Family walk in the sunshine before bedtime
• Sleep!
• My wonderfully supportive husband
• A child free morning and coffee with a friend while Josh and Josiah went to 'Who let the dad's out?'
• Singing worship songs while Josh played guitar and Josiah sat transfixed
• Sunny afternoons spent on the roof terrace
• Improptu meet ups with friends
• Time to relax and enjoy my husband in the evenings instead of him being out lots
• Watching Jesus Story Book Bible DVD together as a family and discovering new insights 
• Tea and toast time - sitting round the table together and taking a break before bedtime routine begins
• Lots of smiles and laughter - seeing our boy happy and healthy

What about you? What are you thankful for this week?

I think his sleep function is broken!?!

The last week or so suddenly sleep has become a big issue in our household again. I'm starting to realise how much I take Josiah's good sleep for granted. For me, having to try for half hour to get him to sleep only to give up and attempt another nap an hour later seems a huge deal and is really frustrating. I forget that for a lot of parents it is just a normal day in their household. I am very blessed to have a child who takes a nap for an hour just after breakfast so I can get dressed and do chores and then sleeps for an hour or two around lunch giving me time to eat in peace. When he suddenly stopped sleeping I got really fed up of being stuck at home spending the entire day (or so it felt) trying to get him to sleep. I got nothing done and lived in my pyjamas for days on end cos he never stayed asleep long enough for me to shower and get dressed. I felt gross, stressed and a little resentful. Then it dawned on me just how much is going on in Josiah's life right now. He's learned so much recently he must be buzzing and, like a student revising for a test or someone preparing for a big event, he must find it really difficult to switch off and sleep.

In the past 2-3 weeks he has learnt the following:
1. Rolling over in both directions
2. Drinking from a sippy cup
3. How to say Dadadada (as well as a variety of other new sounds)
4. Turning the pages and lifting flaps in books
5. Getting in the correct position to start crawling (no crawling yet though)
6. Relearnt how to drink from a bottle (been so long since he tried he had forgotten but he's mastered it again and now can hold the bottle himself)
7. Using his hands to splash water everywhere in the bath (who knew so little water could cause so much mess?!)
8. Circling his wrists
9. Playing hide and seek (so cute and he thinks it's hilarious)
10. Biting and chewing food
11. Opening mummy's ipad case
12. Turning on the playstation controller
13. Pressing buttons on the TV remote
14. Playing on the swings and holding on properly so we don't lose him! (he giggles and squeals with excitement when you push him higher)
15. Wiggling off the sofa to sit on the floor and reach things he wants on the coffee table
16. Remembering when his favourite bit of a song is coming up and giggling just before you get to it
17. Understanding what light switches do and trying to turn them on as he goes past (not strong enough yet, thankfully)
18. Putting his arms up towards us when we reach out to pick him up
19. Giving kisses (even gave a kiss to someone other than mummy and daddy today and without any prompting either)
20. Taking his bib off
21. Reaching out to hold hands with other kids when playing together
22. Robbing toys off other kids when playing together
23. Putting his feet in his mouth
24. Drinking out of a grown up cup
25. Standing while hold on to furniture

I'm sure there's more but you get the idea - so much to process it's like me trying to fall asleep when I have lists of chores and errands and random thoughts going round my head (i.e near impossible to get to sleep and then you wake up in the middle of the night thinking 'did I remember to.....'). I really need to learn some patience, cut the boy some slack and remember he wants to sleep just as much as I want him to sleep.

The weaning adventure continues...

We're a few weeks into our weaning adventure now so I thought I'd share how it's going so far.

In the beginning it was so simple and carefree - just occasionally handed the boy a bit of what I was eating if I happened to be eating something healthy for him. He loved food from the start and is keen to get his hands on things and explore.

A few weeks on we began introducing one regular meal a day - breakfast. Things began to get a bit more hard work. No more breast feeding him in bed and then rolling over and falling back asleep again - now I have to get up and make cereal. The plus side is I now eat breakfast myself a lot more often. Most nights I was expressing milk to make his rice cereal with the next day so that made it seem even harder work. Thankfully I soon discovered 'just add water' cereal varieties that are much nicer than the boring baby rice. We also discovered that baby rice causes constipation so that box of cereal has now been retired to the back of the cupboard for the treatment of diarrhea only.

One of the major challenges so far has been dealing with belly ache. There's nothing worse than spending 45 mins fighting to get a kid to nap cos he's got bellyache from eating too close to bedtime. Actually, the worst was when he didn't poo for nearly a week. One night his belly was giving him so much trouble that he woke every hour for the first 4 or 5 hours of the night. We're slowly working out what effects different foods have and when are good times of day to eat.

Another challenge is coming up with ideas for what to give him. Breakfast is pretty easy as there's a wide choice of cereals and yoghurts out there. Then we began introducing things like fruit and toast with fruit puree at lunch time. Dinner is taking a lot more thought. I'm not a fan of giving him dinners from a jar and he certainly prefers 'real' food over purees. I've been trying to work out which of our 'grown up' meals he can share with us. Yesterday he had some stew (made with extra low salt stock cubes) and today he had some of our spinach and bacon pasta (minus the bacon and tomatoes so really it was just pasta, creme fraiche and spinach). He absolutely loved both of these and cried when he'd eaten it all which I take as a huge compliment to my cooking!

We've been using a mixture of purees and 'baby led' weaning and found the boy really loves feeding himself, trying new things and getting to share what the grown ups eat. It's great to see him loving food and growing in his confidence and ability to feed himself. He's so confident with food he now assumes it's all for him. We went out for milkshakes with a friend the other week and when a huge milkshake was put on the table in front of him check out his reaction...

Without skipping a beat he just leaned forward and grabbed the handle and began reaching for the straw. He was most upset when he was told it wasn't for him.

So, my only question is this - now we've taught him to eat 'grown up' food, how do we teach him not to steal food from people?!

Josiah's Diary - 7th April

The other day my friend Oskar came round to play. Do you know what he did? He sat in my chair! If there's one thing my daddy taught me it's never let anyone sit in your chair. I tried to politely drop hints to move by tapping him on the foot but he wasn't getting the message. Next he started playing with all my toys! I tried to take them back from him but mummy told me not to. She said that I'm supposed to let him play with my toys - it's called sharing. I really don't understand this sharing thing yet. The other day when I tried to take one of Oskar's toys from him mummy told me not to. And when I tried to take some pizza off some kid's plate at church the other week mummy said no as well. So it would seem that sharing means everyone is allowed to have all my stuff but I'm not allowed to take anything from anyone else. That doesn't seem right - I must be missing something.

Yesterday morning me and Daddy went to 'Who let the Dad's out?' It was nice to have a boys morning out and play with friends. The food there is always good too. I was hoping someone would share their bacon butty with me but they never did. Instead daddy gave me these new things called rice cakes. They are amazing - easy to hold, yummy to taste and good to chew on.

In the afternoon daddy had to go to work so it was time for me and mummy to hang out. We went for a walk by the sea and looked at the boats and the seagulls and everyone playing in the sun. Walking home through town we saw some people dancing in the street. Mummy decided to stop and watch but the music was SO LOUD! I really didn't like it so I cried very loudly and mummy soon got the message.

When we got home it was nearly time for dinner. I got a bit bored waiting so mummy came up with a fun way to entertain myself. Here's what I did...

Usually I just have milk for dinner but this time mummy let me have some of her homemade stew for dinner. It was so nice to have real homecooked food instead of some of that pureed stuff from a jar. My only complaint was the portion size - more food mummy!

Josiah's Diary - March 17th

Ugh, my gums hurt. Mummy says I'm teething which means I will get teeth soon. I think getting teeth is supposed to be exciting but I'm not too excited right now - I just want the pain to go away. My cheeks are hot and red, my gums hurt and I've got a sore rash on my chin from all the dribbling I've been doing recently. The pain is making me grumpy and some days it's hard to concentrate on playing cos all I want to do is poke my gums and chew on stuff to try to find a way to ease my discomfort.

Mummy's been looking on the internet to find ideas for things to help with the pain so she keeps handing me all kinds of weird things to chew on. The other day she suggested we try some stuff called teething gel.  When she showed me the tube I had a good old chew on it but apparently that's not how it's supposed to work. Next thing I know mummy had her fingers in my mouth poking my gums and putting some horrible tasting stuff in my mouth. My mouth felt weird, I was swallowing all this funny stuff and I just really didn't like it. I cried and cried and cried so we haven't tried that stuff again since.

Another time mummy gave me a frozen wash cloth to chew on while I tried to fall asleep. It did help a bit but when I woke up it was all unfrozen and my bed and sleeping bag were wet so that wasn't so good.

Chewing on people's fingers is really good and it's fun putting lots of different people's hands in my mouth to find ones with just the right size fingers - but daddy said I'm not supposed to try to eat people I don't know.

Once mummy gave me an old wooden spoon to chew on and that was quite good. I've also found a rattle with chunky plastic squares that seems to help. I think my favourite so far though is chewing on the edge of tables. It's great when I find a table just right to get my whole mouth round the edge and have a good chew - ah relief!

Josiah's Diary - March 12th 2013

Guess what? I now have my very own bedroom! That means no more being woken up by mummy and daddy coming to bed and no more listening to daddy snoring while I have my night time milk. My room is a bit darker than mummy and daddy's room but it's ok cos mummy lets me have a night light on. I let teddy share my room with me so I don't get lonely and so I have a friend to play with when I wake up in the morning. Daddy says that when Uncle Dan comes to visit in a couple of weeks he's not gonna be happy with me cos I've stolen his bedroom. Never mind, I'm sure if I flash him a super cute smile he will soon forgive me.

My daddy is pretty awesome and can do lots of cool stuff. We have lots of fun play fighting together. Today he did this magic bird thing with his hands that I just couldn't work out how he was doing it. Mummy got it on video...

See - my daddy is pretty amazing eh?!

Josiah's diary - March 10th 2013

What a busy few weeks I've had - so much to see and do and learn.

A couple of weeks ago I learnt how to sit up all by myself without mummy and daddy helping. It's so much easier to play with things and reach stuff I want now. And if I lean forward far enough I can touch my toes and even put them in my mouth - amazing!

The last few weeks mummy and daddy have let me try quite a lot of food. It's so much fun trying new things and I like that they let me hold it myself cos it gives me chance to practise my grip.  My favourites so far are pineapple, strawberries, banana, bread and grapes (though mummy won't let me hold those myself yet). I also really like sharing mummy's yoghurt but she thinks the one I ate the other day might be the reason I projectile vomited in such spectacular fashion in the back of the car.

We've started having breakfast together as a family every day now. Mummy and daddy have their porridge and I have mine and we all curl up in bed together and eat and have snuggles after. Mummy keeps trying to feed the porridge to me and I keep trying to tell her to just give me the spoon. I'm a big boy now, I'm sure I can manage a spoon by myself!  This morning at breakfast mummy handed me a spoon and I thought 'finally, she got the message' and began excitedly waving it around. But my spoon didn't have any food on it and mummy had a spoon in her hand that did have food on it. Well, as soon as I realised she had the one with the food I dropped my spoon and grabbed the one in her hand - mmmm, yummy.

Last week I went on holiday with mummy, daddy, grandma and grandad. We did so much in just a few days - it was pretty intense!

One day we went to the zoo and I got to see monkeys and zebras and a giraffe and llamas and .... so many animals. I got to touch some of them too. Sheep are really nice and soft but I didn't like when they licked me. There was also a great play park at the zoo. Daddy really loved playing on the slides and sometimes he even let me play on them with him. Slides are lots of fun. I think my favourite was the ball pool - being surrounded by all these colourful things that are great to chew on.

Another day we all went out for lunch with Auntie Laura and Uncle David. I was supposed to be taking a nap while they all ate but I didn't want to miss the chance to try everyone's food.  I had some really nice bread and tried this stuff called cucumber too. It's easy to hold so that is good but it doesn't really taste of much so I didn't bother eating it.

By the end of the week I was pretty exhausted and grumpy. In fact if I'm honest I've had a pretty cranky few days since we got home. People don't seem to realise how tiring it is learning all this new stuff - it's a lot of hard work! Mummy has this annoying habit of waking me up if she thinks I'm sleeping too much in the day which didn't help either. Plus I slept badly in the car on the way home from holiday too. Thankfully mummy cut me some slack yesterday and let me catch up on some sleep so now I feel well rested and ready to go learn some more things. Bring on play group tomorrow!!!