eleventh month

today, my stunning, wonderful and incredibly fabulous son is eleven months old!!! I think I have been in shock all day - it just doesn't seem possible at all. But, possible and literal it is and thinking about the next month makes the mind boggle further. Of course, I still woke up at the usual 2.01am, but at that time of the morning, I never quite remember why I have woken up, so the toad 'helped mummy out' by waking her at 5.20am to think about what she'd done!

the eleventh month has had Many A Change Indeed. Gone are the days of placid, helpless baby and here are the days of a-wriggling, a-squiggling and general determination-related activities, so much so that mummy now has a pain in her back from restraining said toad after he had finished his bedtime minski this evening (he was trying to get to mummy's - sorry, HIS - laptop on the floor and crawled across her at great speed). She is also covered in bruises from the Toady Toes and scratches from the nails he refuses to have cut (but which mummy manages to do, several at a time and when he least expects it).

over the last month, mummy's bestest boy has changed in the following ways:-

* eating - food continues to be of great interest to the toad. However, the tastes seem to have developed further and now we definitely know what we like and what we don't. No longer tolerating of the lentil and vegetable mixes, are we so mummy has added a dash of Lea and Perrin's which seems to make it a tad more edible. Chilli Doritos (which he sampled after stealing one out of mummy's hand), anything tomato-ey, garlic, ginger and other strong tastes are ones that we love, as well as the increasing desire for bread (preferably in toasted form), cereal (and cereal bars), nabanas, fromage frais (which, when the pot is finished, makes us cry a lot), muffins and chocolatl still. But mummy has stopped giving him everything to try as he now thinks any food is fair game and she does not want him pilfering everything from her plate!

yesterday, I decided to make him scrambled egg, tinned (holy in mummy's eyes) plum tomatoes and toast for lunch. And yes, I know they say no eggs until babies are twelve months' old but one wonders, how, suddenly, does a child go from not being able to being able to eat something, just because it is then his birthday? Piffle. So yesterday it was. And we rather loved it, eating it from a fork (no longer do we use baby spoons; we have plastic spoons and forks for slightly larger english toads now), then deciding that we would only eat it if we could pick it up out of the bowl with our fingers and then put it in our mouth, then deciding that gravity's effect on it is far more interesting that chomping it so plummet to its doom it did!

minski is still loved but the mooseling seems to have decided that we only need three bottles per day and not four, most of the time. I think it's the habit of it that keeps it in the forefront of his mind. However, this recently changed as Harrington had his first nasty bug - a sickness and diarrhoea one in fact - which lasted just over a week and involved even throwing up water for the first day and a half and then the rest of the yuckiness for the duration. We would not eat anything at all for the first couple of days, preferring only to drink much water. Mummy was so desperate to get some food inside him, she even bought/made him rusks and juice (organic, no added sugar ones of course!) and anything else she could think of (mashed potato, several different types of bread products, ginger biscuits and plain tortilla chips). But, the worst thing was that the doctor said not to give him minski - I have never seen a child so distraught and genuinely so, when he was not given any at bedtime - it was so unbelievably horrible and Harry and mummy cried together. So she gave in and gave him watered down minski twice a day as nothing is worth making him that sad and upset for. And now he's completely better and fighting fit again. The whole experience seems to have changed his tastes slightly - maybe because he was without proper meals for quite some time - and he'd chomp away happily all day if I let him! The playing off against his carers continues though when it comes to food...he knows mummy takes no prisoners but still tries it on with others. Tsk.

* sleeping - just as mummy thought the two naps a day were the way forward, the toad decided otherwise and now sometimes misses either the morning or afternoon one which is NOT a good thing. I think it's to do with the tegglepegs as he is a red-cheeked beast again :(

* appearance - Harrington's hair has been on a major growth spurt recently and how his fringe (if brushed forward) is below his eyes with two kiss curls at the back - stunning :). His two bottom centre teeth are well on show although they have not grown as fully as they should just yet, but they are still partly functional and can often be heard being used on something that shouldn't necessarily be chomped (mummy's Benefit highlighter glass bottle, for one). The toadling has now been bought a pair of proper shoes made of brown suede with a giraffe on (obviously) and mummy is putting them on him every so often. Strangely, we don't hate them as much as the other things she has tried to put on his feet!

* moving - we're still almost at the same stage as last month with regards to movement. However, Sir Moose-a-lot can now get into the crawling position rather well, although is still not completely sure what to do with it when he is there. We're still flinging ourself around at a rate of knots and propelling ourself off things, into things and anywhere else the mood takes us!

standing up is still great fun and often results in squawking and laughing, bouncing on our legs and strange foot positions. He can take his own weight but requires the support of someone else otherwise he'd fall over immediately...and that would NOT be good.

sitting up is the most preferred position but can not be done at all times. Mummy and her supporters have been trying to help this along by allowing him to sit upright in the bath, unsupported (although, she is always right next to him in case there is an incident) and to play in a ball pool. These two activities have helped tremendously and today he fell over whilst sitting and didn't even cry, just got on with rolling around and causing mayhem!

* playing - well, apart from chomping, playing is the Best Thing Ever. The boy is ridiculously insatiable for books and will happily play with them for a long time. But, he knows exactly what book he wants and will go to great lengths to get them, often chuntering to them, pulling at them and getting over-excited.

balls are loved too...the best game is when he is sitting in an armchair with an adult-type device on the floor. He then takes the ball and pushes it off the end of the chair, to the tune of laughing and screeching, for the other person to throw it back. To say he loves this game is an understatement. And to be honest, anything that can be turned into a game is a major hit at the moment. Especially when it comes to throwing things on the floor. And I mean throwing - our new 'skill' which we simply love to practise. All the time. And with anything and everything, regardless of location.

playing in the bath is something guaranteed to make even the grouchiest toad happy. This seems to be one of his favourite times of day and he smiles away to himself, playing with cups, balls, rubber toads and chomping the sponge (will he ever grow out of that, mummy wonders...?). Last week, Harrington put one of the toads in a cup, bottom side up, and then couldn't get it out as it was rather a tight fit. The fingers and tegglepegs went in there to try and help but the toad stayed in there. Granddad and I thought that he would pick up the cup and shake it out, but the toadling had another idea in mind and kicked the cup until it came out. And, watching him do it, he knew exactly what he was doing and had worked it out. Watching him play is a truly remarkable and wonderful thing. The way in which he grabs items, transfers them from one hand or one location to another, puts it inside something and bangs it against something is amazing.

mummy is still insisting on using the playpen and encouraging the Harryphant to spend longer and longer in there without getting upset. If he forgets she is there, he is fine, but often decides to get grouchy and ask to come out. Of course, mummy doesn't always oblige, especially if he is crying to get attention and he now knows to stop doing it for effect. Although, he still tries it on, of course. But, I fear that that's something that's never going to change!

apart from the stacking cups, balls, noisy things and books, Harrington now pulls along toys on strings, puts things inside things, plays percussion instruments, knocks down stacks and goes on his rockingbug (on which he learned to make it rock, just today - which explains the bouncing motion he has been making whilst sitting down for the last few days).

* communication - for some months, Harry has been very good at communicating his needs/desires. He now understands several words including minski, nabanas, toast, water, penguins, mummy, granddad, kisses for mummy (at which point he blows her kisses which is truly the most stunning thing in the world :) and pussycats.

if he wants his nappy changed, he'll tap it (and undo it on the left side if it is a clean one that's just been put on - but that's another story!) and will either move towards what he wants (you have to hide the day's food now as he knows where to look and makes noises to demand it) or the hands will start going at a rather excited pace. In fact, the hands are going a lot of the time, for there appears to be so much that is worthy of such a thing!

we are still chuntering away to ourself but not so much with syllables at the moment, much rather preferring to see how far our voice can carry and to laugh. The toadling now has several different laughs; one for when he is being tickled, one for seeing ourself in the mirror and being generally excited and one for the pussycats.

it goes without saying that he gets more incredible by the day and that mummy loves him a little bit more every day. She feels like the luckiest person in the world to have such a fine and stunning boy. He's such a happy and clever child whose determination knows no bounds (the biggest understatement, I feel) and whose smile and gestures could and indeed does charm everyone around him (the amount of wonderful comments he gets from strangers is astounding!). I know I am biased - not that I care a jot - but he is the most wonderful child and I love him more than anything else at all...just one word - stunning :)