Baby messy play and messy meals!

I feel like a washing woman!

Niblet really seems to have found his appetite at the moment, and is making the most of the wheat - he ate THREE baby weetabix this morning - the serving suggestion is for one!  He then had quarter of an apple - making the most of his newly sprouted bottom teeth.

For lunch, we had seeded wraps, with ham and salad. He had some of the Redwood Cheezly Soya Free, which he seemed to enjoy. I tried a bit, and couldn't get past the chemically flavour that it had. I've yet to try it heated though, so I'm hoping the flavour might improve! It looks and feels like a Cheshire cheese, rather then a Cheddar. Coming from an area of Devon renowned for it's Cheddar, I might be a little picky!

For supper, following on for the wheat fest, we had lamb and mint burgers from our local butchers. They are lovely, but have rusk in them, so we haven't been able to eat them for months.

But what does all this have to do with washing, I hear you cry?! Well, the mess... his eating goes everywhere, in every inch of his body, in every crevice of the highchair and the table, on the carpet, the cushions and probably on the light fittings if he could reach... He doesn't mean to, but it just goes everywhere in his enthusiasm...I should buy shares in Persil for all the washing I have to do! (Not to mention the fact that we are using real nappies, so are having to wash them too!)

Messy Messy Messy

I decided that as I had so much washing to do, I should just make some more! I wanted to do some messy play with Niblet, and have seen some great ideas online. My favourite at the moment are some of these:

These great ideas come from Growing a Jeweled Rose, which is a blog about messy play, and ways to make it more approachable... My favourite of her ideas is doing messy play in the bath or sink, to reduce tidying up... so simple, yet so effective - it made it much easier to do messy play, and helps me to be less reluctant about it. Her website is: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/

One of my other favourite sites is The Imagination Tree, which is about more than just messy play. It covers all sorts of things to do with your little one, from arts and crafts, through to sensory play and discovery boxes / treasure baskets. It's another of those sites that you read, and wonder how on earth she finds so many amazing ideas whilst being a Mummy. Her website is: http://www.theimaginationtree.com/

One idea that keeps popping up online is making goop, gloop, sludge, whatever you want to call it, the mixture of cornflour and water (with colouring sometimes added). It makes use of the fixatropic nature of cornflour, allowing it to appear solid when prodded, rolled or poked, and then liquid afterwards. It's a great substance, but not so great when your baby has a corn allergy. I ummed and ahhhed for a while about what I could use instead... My original idea was rice flour, but they I thought that might be too grainy, and not smooth enough. So, I looked in my cupboard and spotted the potato flour... It has the same texture, so I thought it might react in the same way... I was right! It did! It was great....

 In a nice big bubbly sink, discovering the tap, and learning how it works!

 Yum! What's this gooey pink stuff? Shall I eat it? I know I've just had my lunch Mummy, but I still want more....

 Now, if I put the whole bowl into the sink, and add bubbles, how does it taste? Hmm. Pink. What about if I add the sieve to the mix?








Niblet did spend most of the time trying his best to eat it, but he also really enjoyed grabbing handfuls of it, and watching it run away again. I'm so glad I found a corn free alternative to make gloop!

He's a double fatty!

He's done it!

Niblet has now managed to double his birth weight today - I am so pleased. Things have been hard work recently, but since (thanks to some super feeding overnight) he has managed to gain 4oz. In the preceding four days, he gained 5oz, which makes up for the 5oz he lost the previous week!

I'm really glad that he has gained well.

No more weigh ins?

The health visitor has suggested that we are no longer benefiting from the weekly weigh ins - for most babies, by 43 weeks, they would at most be weighed every couple of months. I agree that he doesn't get any bigger for being weighed, but I worry that we will miss him failing to thrive again if we don't keep measuring him. Am I getting too obsessed with his weight? I suppose it won't matter one jot as no-one does anything in reaction to his weight loses anyway. Maybe if we do monthly, we will just see gradual gain, instead of the standard three week cycle of gain, gain, loss.


Better feeding = a better night?

It will be interesting to see, but Niblet fed better and slept better during the day today. This ties in with our normal cycle, it just seems to take such a long time to come around each time. I am shattered. For the past two weeks, we have been on four or five wake ups per night, and a maximum of an hour's sleep during the day. It's not really enough for me to feel rested and relaxed. I am struggling to get back to sleep after the wake ups too - any ideas?

The health visitor offered to help us with some sleep training if we wanted, but didn't think it was a great idea to try to drop the night feeds until we are more certain what is going on. Thank goodness he at least is a sensible man who listens to mums. Every mum I speak to about him says that, so I am not alone in being glad that I agreed to having a male health visitor.

A frugal supper to finish off

Tonight we had a lovely meal - liver with bacon and onions, with carrots and boiled potatoes. It's one of my favourite meals, and is a cheap one too, as there is often reduced price liver (as no-one else seems to appreciate offal!)

Oh, and to make my day...
The health visitor said that he really liked the chocolate cake, which has got even better today - the flavour has improved a lot since the first day...It's like a ginger cake that just needs time to mellow... yum. There's none left now though!