The following night, it took Conrad an hour to go back to sleep, using the same tactics. And the two nights after that, he actually slept through – there was a bit of a moan or a cry from him a few times during the night but he seemed to drift off to sleep again straight away and I didn’t need to leave my bed. The last couple of nights, though, I’ve needed to spend about an hour comforting him again though. But this could be partly due to a cold that he and his sister are suffering at the mo – Conrad’s got a bit of a cough and it seems to upset him. Conrad still hasn’t had any formula during the night since the night Thursday to Friday, and I’m very pleased about that – hopefully we’re generally heading in the right direction.
Conrad loves to walk about for little excursions around the ground floor (holding on to my hands still, of course) and to stand by the trampoline or a chair or the sofa, where toys are spread out. Occasionally he lets go of me completely to only lean on or hold on to the piece of furniture, but I still need to hold an arm behind him as he can loose his balance very suddenly. He’s walking with the trolley too now, but a bit jerkily on slightly wobbly legs, and I stay very close behind or have a hand on the trolley just to make sure it doesn’t run away with him (though he can get up to quite a speed himself at times…). He’s so much more aware of everything now. When he sits on the floor and wants to stand up, he very deliberately grabs for my hands – his right grabs my left and his left my right – and then starts to pull himself up. When he walks, he sometimes moves so quickly his feet don’t quite follow him, he really pushes forward. It’s fun to see him so keen. When he gets up on his feet, he usually giggles and looks really chuffed with himself.
Conrad isn’t much into books, apart from some with touchy feely bits, especially crinkly or shiny ones. He loves the glittery, rustling wings of a dragon fly in Jessica’s Meg and Mog book, reaches for the page with both arms and really leans into it, as if he’s totally absorbed by it, and runs his hands over it for ages. If he can get hold of a plastic bag or anything else that rustles, he’ll scrunch it and put it in his mouth as soon as he can (something we obviously don’t want to encourage). Lights attract him too; sometimes when I hold him he’ll lean right back so he’s almost upside down to see the lights in the ceiling.
Feeding is going okay. I’ve just introduced beans into his diet and he seems especially keen on mashed potato mixed with butter, milk and pureed kidney beans. Other dishes he likes are mild lentil curries, and broccoli and cauliflower with cheese. Unfortunately, as his napping can be a bit irregular, he can be too tired to eat and just cries when I try to feed him – he’ll open his mouth for a few spoonfuls, as he’s obviously hungry but then bursts into tears. As solids are relatively new and he’s only little still, eating, rather than just lying back and gulping formula, is probably still a bit of an effort. I feel really sorry for him – it must be really frustrating for him, and as I want to make sure mealtimes are a positive experience for him I’m a bit stuck sometimes regarding what to do. Once, after a few spoonfuls of his savoury main dish, which made him cry, I gave him his pureed fruit dessert, and he was happy enough to eat that. After he’d finished his fruit, I tried the savoury again, and this time he ate a fair bit of it. I’m guessing the fruit seemed easier for him to eat (maybe because it was sweet and more appealing…?) and once that had taken the edge of his hunger, he had more patience with the savoury dish. Sadly though, this doesn’t work every time. I just have to hope his naps happen before feeding times as often a possible, so that he’s rested and happy to try new things, and then eventually eating will be less of an effort.
Gabriella