Sunday 7 September, Ian’s parents – Conrad’s farmor and farfar – came over to babysit Conrad and his sister for a few hours, while Ian and I went out for Sunday lunch just the two of us. Before we left, we tried to fill Ian’s parents in on everything we could think of regarding Conrad, as they had never minded him in our absence before. Then at 4pm – after our dessert but before our coffee – we realised that we hadn’t made up Conrad’s next feed, and with two different kinds of bottles in the steam steriliser, we couldn’t be sure that Ian’s parents would know which teat to match with which bottle, nor where Conrad’s milk was… So Ian stepped out of the restaurant for a quick phone call to his Mum and she made up the bottle whilst they were chatting.
On our return, Ian and I were very happy to hear that all had gone well and our two kids had behaved very well indeed. Conrad had even fallen asleep on his farfar’s lap and snoozed there for half an hour – something he never does with me (in fact, in the afternoon, Conrad finds it hard to settle for a nap, even though he obviously needs it, and I’m not sure yet how to help him there).
Conrad’s started doing a few more little things that keeps us aware of how he’s growing and developing. He now deliberately (if not accurately) bashes the toys in the baby gym, whacks the buttons on the control panel toy to play tunes (when it’s put in front of him within reach, of course) and giggles when lifted up high in the air. He responds well to a few of the rattles we have, when held up in front of or above him – the noise and look of them seem to fascinate him (and can distract him if he’s a little cranky).
And Jessica and Conrad have started interacting more, which is absolutely wonderful to see! Conrad will watch Jessica with great interest, and often when she walks up to him he’ll smile and giggle and make sounds. For a while now, Jessica has brought him toys or a blanket (though she often seems to prefer to put the latter over his head – on the other hand Conrad just laughs and doesn’t seem to mind at all), and liked to rock his baby bouncer for him (sometimes slightly too vigorously, so we have to tell her to go gently) – often when he cries, so it seems like she wants to comfort him.
And the last few days – this is the best of all and makes me so chuffed! – Jessica has crouched down next to him, so her face ends up in front of his, and chatted away. Conrad has responded by looking at her, smiling and making noises too. The siblings are already having ‘conversations’! The best bit is the mutual interest – although there still is the competition over our attention (more deliberately so on Jessica’s part, of course), they enjoy watching what the other one does and to take part in some way.
A few photos from our morning walk to the park (Ian is off this week, otherwise it’s normally just me and the kids):
Gabriella