We were right about at least one thing!

When we were choosing a pushchair for Ainsworth, we really only had two main criteria: it had to lay completely flat for when he was tiny and it must be able to be used so that he would be facing us when he was in it. The problem with the latter choice is it simply ruled out all the cheaper options - only the most expensive models had a rear-facing capability. But we were adamant, so we spent the extra.

And now we see we've been proven right! Research published last week has indicated that babies who spend time in rear-facing pushchairs are happier and less prone to stress.

Proud Mummy-Moments!

If I'm not inspired to write something here today, then I never will be!  Someone asked if they could share a 'proud Mummy moment' with me the other week and I thought then what a lovely turn of phrase it was - and I want to share such a moment with all the world right now...

Ainsworth peeled and ate a clementine all on his own this evening!!  Now, this may not seem like much, but he has not liked citrus fruit so far and the route to eating clementines has been slow.  It started a couple of weeks ago with him licking a segment of mine, pulling a funny face then giving it back to me.  He did this every day for a few days then he progressed to biting into it, pulling an even funnier face and giving it back!  He ate a whole segment about a week ago, but did not want anymore.  Today we bought another bag of clementines and he had a segment of mine, then asked for more.  He watched me peel him one then ate it all, and asked for more!  So I got him another one from the bowl and before I could peel it he had taken it out of my hands and started peeling it himself... Trevor and I both watched in amazement, expecting it to become a soggy mess and in need of rescuing if any of it was to be edible, but no!  He peeled the whole thing and ate it all - then signed finished, just for good measure!  How amazed were we?!

At bath time he really made me smile when he took off his trousers, socks, shirt (once Trevor had undone the buttons) and vest (once Trevor had helped him take his arms out of the sleeves).  And I was astonished to see him lay himself down on the mat because Daddy had spotted poo in his nappy and wanted to clean him up before getting in the bath!  And miracle, of miracles, he  told me when it was time for me to clean his teeth and he lay back on my lap to let me do it - astonishing, given the agro we've had some nights!

And then at bedtime I watched him do a new puzzle from the Toy Library and carefully put all the pieces back in the bag.  When it came to putting the base board away, it wouldn't fit in easily, so he took all the pieces back out, put the base board in and then loaded the pieces back into the bag before carefully zipping it closed - amazing!

Children really are fantastic :o)

All his own work.

All my own work
Originally uploaded by Trevor Coultart

Today Ainsworth surprised us by building this track without any assistance from either of us. He surprises us most days at the moment. It's amazing.

Noooo!

Just looked back at the last post. I seem to have forgotten to mention that he's also saying "No". We're hearing that one a bit too often for my liking!