As always, we’ve been busy, and I’ve neglected the blog – apologies! Feels like a lot of things have happened, although when I sit down at the PC to tell you about them I forget at least half… Jessica is well, though, and is still VERY keen to practise her walking – still with our support but getting more and more confident. She stands supporting herself for longer now, has pulled herself up on things with one hand supported a bit by Ian and I’ve been putting chairs together with strategically placed toys to encourage Jessica to move in-between furniture. She’s enjoying it so much: emits the cutest high-pitched shrieks of delight when she’s on her feet and especially if she’s heading for, or standing at, the highchair – we haven’t figured out why that one in particular is so fascinating…
Ian took a couple of days off at the beginning of the week, so that the three of us could spend some time together. On the Monday (8th October) I had arranged to go and see a nursery we’re thinking about registering Jessica with for when I go back to work in February. We’d seen it before, but on a Saturday when there were no children around. This was the opportunity to see the place ‘in action’. On the Saturday, the lady who looks after the babies (6 to 18 months) hadn’t been there, so I was also looking forward to meeting her. “I’ll bet thoughâ€, said Ian as we were walking over there, â€wouldn’t it be typical if she phoned in sick?â€. And guess what? Almost the first thing the manager told us after our arrival was that this very lady unfortunately was ill today…! Which means, of course, that I’ll have to arrange to go back again. Even if the rest of the staff, the premises and the other children (there were no other babies there at the time, although they currently have three on their books) seemed great, I do need to see the lady who would be directly looking after Jessica.
After going home to change a nappy and get stuff together, Ian drove us in to Woodhatch, as I had a meeting with my two managers to discuss my return to work. Ian took Jessica for a stroll into Reigate while I had my meeting. I wanted to discuss the possibilities of cutting down my hours and working some of the remaining ones from home, as priorities naturally have changed for me now – I need my work to fit around Jessica’s needs and I also want to spend as much time with her as I can. At this point it was more a case of me letting my bosses know my preferences; I will still need to wait a couple of weeks before I can find out what the company is prepared to agree to (and hope that the nursery doesn’t get booked up in the mean time…!).
On the Tuesday (9th October) there were no meetings booked, just family time. In the morning, after Jessica’s second breakfast, we went over to the local swimming pool. Ian hadn’t been with Jessica in a pool yet and I had only been with her in a pool during lessons, so we decided it’d be fun to just splash about a bit. As it was early on a week day, the big pool had school classes in it and the small pool was empty, so while she was splashing about there weren’t any other toddlers or babies for Jessica to look at. She was very happy moving her arms and legs, though, when Ian and I took turns supporting her so that she could ‘swim’ from one end of the pool to the other. We braved it and dunked her under water a couple of times too, which she didn’t seem to mind.
In the afternoon we drove over to Tilgate Park, a nature centre with different animals, which we thought Jessica might enjoy seeing. Unfortunately it was chucking it down; there was only one car in the car park when we arrived and only a few members of staff about. Bravely we decided to go for a stroll around anyway. Under a little roof there were a few hens walking about, so we got Jessica out to chase them around for a bit. In a little house there were tanks with fish, snakes and lizards, so Jessica enjoyed looking at fish there for a while. But that was about the extent of what could be looked out without getting soaking wet… We got Jessica out from under her rain cover to look at some impressive, big cows, but she was much more interested in the brolly I held over our heads. As it was nearing Jessica’s afternoon milk feed, we went over to the café to see if we could grab a coffee and feed her there, but they were closed (due to the weather) so we gave up at that point; fed Jessica in the car and headed back home. It was nice to have done something new, even if it wasn’t a roaring success. We’ll just have to go back some day when the weather’s better.
I’d said before that it didn’t seem like Jessica was noticing animals. She’s improved a lot in that now – apart from the swans at Earlswood Lakes (see September 6th entry), her farfar (paternal grandfather) told me a few weeks ago that Jessica tracked one of the robins (there are two, I’ve noticed) with her eyes as it flew across our garden at some speed (Jessica’s farfar was impressed with how well she could follow it). And last weekend, when we went over to our friends Phil and Anna to give a birthday present to one of their kids, Jessica studied the fish in their tank for with some time and when she spotted Bramble, the family’s springer spaniel, she started walking towards her (holding on to my hands) with a big grin on her face. It was quite funny to watch the dog back of a few steps every time Jessica took a few steps towards it… Anna and Phil told us that Bramble was wary of little children, as in her experience those don’t always have the gentlest of approaches.
We’re still waiting for that first tooth. Speaking to a few of the mums from the post-natal group, who were here with their babies on Wednesday afternoon, most other babies in that group have at least a few now. Still, that’s one of those inevitable things, isn’t it, that will happen sooner or later. Jessica’s gums must have been sore yesterday, because she didn’t really want her lunch or dinner, both solids. She opened her mouth as if she was hungry and keen but cried when she had the food in her mouth. It was all things she’d had before and been happy to eat. And to show that it wasn’t that she’d suddenly gone off the flavours, she could after a while be persuaded to open her mouth again but only with the same result. I’d hoped that the fruit, being cold straight from the fridge, might be more pleasant to eat, and she had a bit more of that but not much. I gave her a rice cake afterwards, which she gnawed at with a different attentiveness than usual. Later in the day at times she chewed her hand and cried, so I gave her baby paracetamol and teething gel, which did seem to help.
Jessica claps her hands quite often now – has done so maybe for a week now – sometimes just for her own benefit, sometimes looking at us and smiling. It doesn’t make any sound, really, but the movement is that of a proper clap. We tend to smile at her and clap too when we see her do it; maybe our appreciation is part of why she enjoys it. For also about a week or so, she occasionally says ‘bababababa’, ‘dadadadada’ and blablablabla’ quite loudly (though loud for Jessica isn’t always loud by other babies’ standards) and enthusiastically. It’s great to hear her expanding her vocabulary. She’ll talk to us, say ‘bababa dadada’ as if she’s having a conversation with us – it’s adorable! Ian of course every so often tries to encourage her: “Say ‘daddy’, can you say ‘daddy’?” whereas I go: “ma-ma, ma-ma” in a prompting voice…
Gabriella