Harrington and I have had a lovely day together today :) There are some days that just seem fantastic, even when not much happens...

...it started with a lie-in until about 8, when I awoke and went to get my recently slumbering boy from the MooseRoom. I was greeted with beaming smiles and arms reaching out to get me. After many cuddles and a bit of playing, we had breakfast where the Harrington for once preferred to eat his porridge rather than slather it all over himself and everything else in the vicinity. Then he went for a snooze; after finally giving in to sleep (and after rotating himself like the hands of a clock again!) for TWO WHOLE HOURS!!! This is unheard of at the moment and he was all the better for it, I can tell you.

we then had lunch without fuss too - and he would have eaten a lot more lentils given half the chance. However, his New Favourite Thing is to chomp his socks whilst they are on his toes and he is in the middle of the meal. This results in what is known as 'lentil sock'

and appears to be a growing phenomenon when it comes to the HarryMoose...anyway, he then helped me prepare mine (have you any idea how hard it is to prepare a jacket potato, un-messily open a can of tuna and chop salad vegetables whilst holding a small english toad?) and tried some tuna (yum) and some spinach (yuk - it must die by being thrown to the floor. But it is okay cooked, apparently). A bit more playing (particularly with a straw and mummy's phone) and posing ensued when the eyelids began to turn purple, indicating that a small snooze was required.

however, the HarryMoose had other ideas and I had to go and get him ten minutes later as he seemed to have found a second wind and beamed at me and the pussycats (he has been looking for them a lot today and when the target has been located, much talking, grinning and laughing has been hurled their way).

so, off we went to visit Auntie Mavis for a lovely cup of Earl Grey for mummy and a bickiepeg for the toad as well as some more playing! Then to town on a fashion mission we did go.

Harry is in another clothes transition stage, still fitting tops but not bottoms as I don't particularly wish to squish his tummy. 9-12 months trousers are too big and lesser ones too small. But, I am determined to not be beaten so I managed to find him some new fabulous trousers and a Very Stylish jumper and tee-shirt combination. After a few more purchases, my boy and I stopped off at a Coffee Emporium for refreshments. He was more interested in my small frappucino and when I put the straw to my lips, he then proceeded to grab it and put it to his. Cheeky.

whilst I was feeding him his afternoon baby rice (he still loves it and opens his mouth widely for more), he stopped many times, whilst sitting next to me, to shove his sock-covered toadie toes in his mouth

which resulted in 'rice sock'.

How on earth does he bend like that? Determination, I guess! After some charming of the women, we departed home, with Harrington talking to me for the entire journey.

later, when granddad was getting him ready for his bath, he was doing his usual thing of kicking his doting grandfather to which he replied by moving out of the way as if pushed and laughing in a Santa-type fashion. Harry thought this was the Best Thing Ever and chuckled away for absolutely ages and was utterly insatiable. That laughter is magical and spurned us on, of course :)

so, all in all, a fabulous day has been had not really doing very much at all. But they are often the best days, even if I have probably bored you all by writing all about it...

today, Harrington is most obsessed with his hands and how the fingers can curl around one another. Fabulous.

oh, and he has been grinning and speaking to Pteppic the pussy-kitten (the top one) this morning, also,

but, being a cat, he is not very interested at all. I'm sure Harry will 'reward' him in future with a chasing round the house and a pull of the tail!

yesterday, whilst Harry and I were out shopping, Harry decided to shout "mama" at the top of his voice after having been quiet and contemplative for a time. Stunning. Plus, it made the other people in the shop smile and giggle.

my son always knows how to cheer me up :)

in other weekend news, Harrington really has not been himself and has cried more and slept less, even fussing when eating his Very Favourite baby rice. I have a strong feeling that this is all to do with new routines of sleeping through the night, still adjusting after Christmas visitations and teething like a beast (there are now fleshy bits on top of some of the teeth so surely it can't be that long now???). Plus, he is very good at picking up what is going on around him...hmmm. Extra cuddles, kisses, songs and mummy time seem to be helping a lot. That, and playing with many different toys all at once (including some that he, of course, shouldn't)!! Bless him...

Harry's chuntering is really starting to come on now...as well as screaming - and not the type of screaming where he is trying to point out that he is not at all happy - he now babbles away to himself, making all sort of sounds. Favourite ones "wer", "ber", "mer" and, well you get the picture!

but after saying something that sounded like "Vera" yesterday, he could very clearly be heard saying "mama", repeatedly, this evening. And even his grandfather heard it so it must be true.

I'm not sure if he knows exactly what he is saying but I choose to believe otherwise, especially with the nastiness of the day...but we did have a lovely lunch out with granddad (where the moose sat out in a highchair and tried some pear and almond tart with custard!) after mummy started crimble shopping. Oh, the joy!

this last weekend was spent with Granny and GrandP who came to visit, despite their busyness and disasterous journey!

they still seem to be very much in love with the HarryMooseling and who can blame them?! He, of course, was on a charming mission and once he had got used to them, was more than happy to play with them and smile at them too. Many times.

unfortunately, they did not get to see eachother on the friday night as they arrived far too late and his lordship was snoozing away. Although, when I went bed, they sneaked a quick look - I think Granny was more concerned about her perceived evilness of his illuminated BunnyRabbit!

saturday was a lazy day and whilst Harrington was snoozing, us three adult-folk snuck a naughty fried brunch wossiname (I was trying to take them to the shop to get lovely, healthy soup but they dragged me in the kicking and screaming!). Next door to the caff (cos that's what it was!) is a charity shop where a pair of lime green dungarees (FAR nicer than they sound. Honestly.) and a couple of tops (oh, and a toy moose) were purchased. Handy places those! Then more laziness and playing ensued...

...and then dinner for all the family, including Granddad, whilst the moose was in bed. A lovely evening was had by all.

after going to the supermarket to buy coriander chickie (mummy's favourite Madhur Jaffrey recipe from her yoof) ingredients, we set off for Potter Heigham. It was definitely out of season and very rainy so one had to take solace in a shop. It really was the only option ;) I bought Harry a pair of fluffy pram-boot things (and Auntie Julie has just come back from Thailand with a tiny pair of blue Croc things - sooooooo cute!) which are also a lot lovelier then they sound, I promise! And some sockles as his feet continue to grown on a daily basis and it is really hard to find ones where the elastic won't dig into his legs (I see so many children with socks on that are far too tight - very sad). We then went for a meal at a local fish and potato restaurant where Harrington decided that he would rather like to try a piece of Granny's fishcake thank you very much! And that was after eating a whole pot of mixed vegetables - pig boy! He didn't spit it out but didn't wolf it down either, rather preferring to savour the taste...

...we then returned home with the promise of watching the new Jungle Book DVD that had been purchased earlier that day, but some b***er had stolen it out of the box :( Mummy practically howled with tears as she has NEVER seen the film, despite being promised to many times since she was born. It's too elusive to function. More cooking and supervision thereof...

...and another family meal which mummy rather enjoyed, especially as she got to eat it with everyone else (Harrington took a lot of soothing the night before when he was put to bed and was also unconsolably crying when mummy went to bed - too many changes to his normal routine I think).

then monday arrived again and off we all went...Harrington to Auntie Mavis, me to work and them back home.

t'was a lovely weekend :)

the weekend has flown by again in a whirlwind of domesticity , seeing friends and rain. And as for the clocks changing...I remember when I could sneak in an extra hour of snoozing but not now! Someone - whose name we shan't mention - hasn't really figured out that that's what it's for. It has upset his minski intake timing though, making it more like I had originally planned it.

for the last three mornings, Harrington has started and finished his whole daily pot of baby rice, as opposed to having it split into thirds and given for his three main meals. In fact, he has demanded it which has rather shocked me, bending forward from sitting in the corner of the sofa to get it. And today he has finished all his minski, even the bedtime one which is also unheard of, so hopefully he is getting better (we both have our third cold since he was born - bless the air conditioning at mama's work). Plus the tegglepegs are looming although I have been told/warned that it may take about 1-2 months before I can see a pearly white. Hope it's sooner than that for his sake, as well as mine!

He really is a fretful toad at the moment and does NOT like it when I leave the room, worrying that I will never come back, even though I continue talking to him. I've read that babies often start having 'abondonment issues' at around seven months, where they suddenly realise that the people closest to them, be it one or two parents, have gone and that they feel very unsettled by it (maybe all to do with growing up - he is on the pinnacle of several major things at the moment). I have never raised the mooseling like this, to be with me 24 hours a day. Even though when I am not at work and with him, he has been encouraged to play on his own as well as with me and, more importantly, he has always wanted to do that as well, but not now. Whether it's because he is teething or because of that, I don't know, but I wish I did...it's affecting every part of our lives at the moment. Poor little man...

...the good news is, though, that Harry now tolerates a bedtime story and seems more interested in books than he was - chomping them, mostly. So, last night, before bed, I read him 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' whilst he sat on my knee. It was truly wonderful :)

last weekend, Harrington, granddad and mama went off to sunny Basingstoke to see Great Aunt Ros

and Great Uncle David.

We thought it about time that they were all properly introduced!

the journey was many hours long, interjected with a spot of shopping and lunch in Bald(rick)ock. And when I say shopping, I mean for the mooseling and not his mother, of course...although, she may or may not have purchased a christmas decoration...and she had to stop herself from buying the child a black babygro with a skeleton print on it...

...anyway, the journey went well - both ways in fact - and when His Royal Mooseness wasn't snoozing away next to mummy, he was grinning, playing or looking at the world around him, fascinated and taking everything in (some would call it being nosy, others may just say that he is being inquisitive - I know which one I'd choose!).

when we arrived, granddad stole him from mama and went to knock on the door, with a very proud look upon his face. It would appear that he hasn't bonded with his grandson at all - terrible. Of course, he charmed them instantly and there were cries about his gorgeousness which I wholeheartedly agree with of course!

as well as humans, there was the matter of introducing Harry to a dog, a West Highland White Terrier called Holly, in fact. Now, the moose has met canines before but they have tended to be docile creatures. Holly is a gorgeous and lovely dog but likes to run around and play. This did not result in happiness when Harry was playing on the floor and Holly thought that it would be really nice if she joined in. Crying then arrived and a horrible night of sleep for mama followed; she had less than ever before, even less than at the beginning :(

some friends of the family also visited on Saturday evening and brought with them lovely presents for Harry (spoilt toad!) and had to be physically restrained from going and waking him up - it's a good job he woke up of his own accord and decided that yes, he would indeed make a brief appearance. Probably just to get his hands on the chinese take-away, though...food is so exciting to him these days, especially the weekend introduction of breadsticks and rice cakes that he could be heard crunching.

we had a really lovely weekend, full of good food, conversation, wine, woodland walks and cuddles/smiles/general fabulousness. It really did bring home how important family are and even though his great grandmother was no longer there, she was definitely part of it; Harry often looks so much like her, it scares me.

I really hope we can all see eachother again soon...

the weekend has gone quickly again, as it always seems to do...

...my friends, Cat and Rich, stayed last night after helping one of their friends move to sunny Norwich; he looked a little trepidacious when they left. I told him he could come and see us whenever he wanted and play with Harry's toys too (he seems to like them - boys never grow up, in my experience!)

I decided to perform an experiment last night. Normally I put Harry to bed in his cot in his room and then when he wakes up at approximately 9:30pm, I go and get him and he co-sleeps with me. This started again as I got tired of having to go into his room and help him get to sleep, especially knowing that I had to be up very early the next day. It seems to work better for us and we sleep more comfortably. I do wonder if I am making a rod for my own back though but also if maybe we will go (as in sleep) our separate ways when we both feel that the time is right...anyway, after we had all finished our yummy indian take-away and gorgeous fair-trade wine, we were relaxing for the evening. Harry had been fantastic and had fallen asleep without lots of fuss but duly woke up at 9:30pm. I could hear him gruntling and slamming his legs down but decided to leave him and see what happened. It all eventually led to a more dissatisfied noise and resulted in me going up to see him and put his dummy back in his mouth (he can do it himself when he really tries but that's only occasionally and probably just because he likes to chomp everything!). I then came back downstairs and was lulled into a false sense of security with ten minutes of quietness. He then started to call me, getting more grouchy with every noise, so to bed I did go, which was okay as I was exhausted anyway. I guess he needs half space and half mummy time...and there's nothing like those smiles you get when he first wakes up so I guess we'll just take it as it comes...

after they had left this morning, the mooseling fell asleep and I finally got the chance to plant the bulbs and re-pot the plants I have been meaning to do for the last month. And Harry slept just long enough for me to finish the job which was Very Unusual Indeed. We then had some minski (well, he did and not a lot of it) and he had some naked bottom time on his changing mat, to the tune of mummy's new CD. He was grinning away - maybe he recognised the music as he was in my tummy when I recorded it earlier this year. After that, I picked him up and was swinging him around, much to his great amusement, and he started to laugh. It really was the most gorgeous sound in the world :)

and as for weaning, we're not having any of it thank you very much. He wouldn't open his mouth for the spoon this morning and when I snuck it in (which I wasn't going to do), he promptly spat it out. I think I will try some fruit and vegetables next. He seems very interested in other people eating and isn't drinking nearly enough minski but he is still all rattley in his chest so maybe that has something to do with it...although it has been several weeks now. There's too much going on for him to be interested in, other than food. Maybe I should try giving him a

* songs of the weekend: 'Tears dry on their own' - Amy Winehouse/'Warning' - Green Day

Harry had his last lot of jabs this afternoon and there were three, yes THREE of them in his leg. He was very brave, although did cry, but probably because I had to wake him up for the purpose. But it does mean that he can now go swimming, which I am very excited about! Judging by his ability to make huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge splashes in the bath, he may rather like that activity. Or not, depending on what day it is!

I also tried him twice today with more baby rice. It seems that he lulled me into a false sense of security the other day with the 'appearing not to hate it' face. Today, there were many grimaces but he did eat a tiny bit. Perseverence, I feel...that and the new hand blender I purchased today (along with some soya beans, but they are for me).

oh, and the playpen has been ordered - not sure how I feel about that but he is a Very Moving Creature (demonstrating his learning to crawl technique earlier today, for granddad) and I fear for his safety if he was allowed to roam the house, untethered.

* album of the day: the CD that Cat bought him where every song has his name in it (my favourite is 'Dougie the Dancing Hound'. I don't at all play it several times a day. Nope, not me... :)

the HarryMoose has developed another yucky cough over the last few days (which I now have) and you can hear it rattling around in his chest. So, I cancelled his last lot of immunisations yesterday as I didn't want to traumatise him further (there are three separate ones this time, each containing several nasty things that should keep him disease-free) and I have been going to bed extra early as he can't get himself to sleep and wants his mum near him - and her comfortable bed!

over the last few weeks, he really has gone off drinking the minski and has missed a bottle nearly every day. This worries me as he needs his food, although he doesn't appear to be a size zero yet so I think he's fine. I remember when minski used to be the only good thing in the world and now there are for more interesting things to get a boy's attention. Most of the time, a feeding session ends when he remembers he has a tongue and that it's fun to play with it...anyway, I digress...

...today I decided that I had to be brave and start on the weaning thing - this is something that I didn't really want to do just yet, at least not until he had a full bottle at every feed or until he could sit unaided (which hasn't happened yet but I doubt it will be long, knowing him!).

so, I tried it this evening, after his bedtime routine (I had showed him the spoon when I was getting his milk ready, as he pulled granddad's beard. Surprise, surprise, he chomped it) and he managed a bit of a spoonful but duly cried as he was so tired and a coldy 'ole mole. He then, of course, proceeded to throw it up on my dress when I went to calm him down later...lovely.

still, at least it's started and something that we can keep working on. My boy is growing up...

* song of the day: 'Hey, Big Spender' - Shirley Bassis

today, we have had a very social day...

...it started off going into town with granddad and then shopping for a new Grobag (as he has now outgrown the pre-six month one and, despite my many attempts, will not sleep inside his blankets, preferring to kick them off as soon as they touch him) and some more toys as he is playing differently now - growing up, I guess.

he really seems to be on the cusp of something big at the moment. I think he may be teething again (maybe it's sympathy pains with mummy as she has been visiting dentists recently and has to go back on monday where drills and needles have been mentioned - aaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!) and he is desperately trying to crawl

which frustrates him terribly as all ( I say "all", but I am so proud of the way he has learned to move. He's definitely well ahead of his months in movement) he can do is shift himself forward on his tummy every few minutes or push himself backwards when laying on his back.

but, whilst we were with Sarah (who I haven't seen for years) and Martin, the toadling managed to sit up, unaided, for more than five seconds before toppling. Wow, this really is progress. I think the playpen I saw in John Lewis today will need to be acquired soon...