Remember how I was just saying last month that there didn’t seem to be anything much new happening with Noah? Well, he must have heard me (or read my post haha) because this month has been very eventful for him.
I think the most obvious development for Noah would be that he finally plucked up the courage to stand on his own recently. He still needs support to pull himself up, but once in a while, he will let go, and look really pleased with himself that he is standing on his own, for like three seconds. We all make a big fuss of him whenever he does it, and he has taken to clapping for himself too. He really loves all the attention, I tell you.
Standing at Gymnademics
Noah also recently starting being able to point properly, and I must say that it’s quite cute. He sticks his little finger out at various objects, and waits for me to name them, never mind that I’ve done it many times. His favourite things to point at at the moment are, the ceiling (don’t ask me why), the fan, lights, birds, buses, lorries, vans… you get the picture.
My best picture of him pointing at something. It’s super blurry, I know, but he was waving his finger around so much!
He also often points at something, then signs, ‘Please’, but we can’t figure out what he wants. The pointing and signing gets more frantic, and he gets quite frustrated when we don’t understand him. It quickly becomes, “Do you want the car? The house? The cup? Yogurt? Biscuit? What? What do you want?”
I recently bought more flash cards for him, as he seemed to be bored of the previous ones, and he keeps asking for them now. He would point at the pouches I keep the flash cards in, then sign ‘please’. If I just hand him the pouch, he struggles to lift it up (it’s quite heavy) and tries to give it back to me, so that I can open it and run through them with him. He smiles and nods when I ask him if he wants the flash cards, pleased that I understand him, and is giving him some attention. His interest in books has waned in comparison, and he prefers his old books to the ones I just bought for him. The touch-and-feel books are quite a hit though, as are the lift-the-flap ones. He’s torn off a couple of flaps, unfortunately, but I guess it was inevitable. As you can see, I’m trying to be a lot less uptight about such things now.
Exploring the texture on his touch-and-feel book
He’s also into kissing people who ask him for a kiss, though he wants to kiss everyone on the lips, so we’ve been trying to teach him to kiss my parents on their cheeks instead. He loves kissing his toys too, and while C was away on his long (16 days!) business trip, Noah would kiss my phone’s screen repeatedly each time we had FaceTime chats with C.
His latest ‘trick’ is to hold his hand or various objects up to his cheek/ear when we say, “Hello?” to him. I love this shot I took of him, because of his Bambi eyes. How do you say no to this face?
Hello?
When it comes to saying no, this boy is a master at refusing to eat. His version of ‘no’ isn’t the word itself or the shaking of his head. Instead, he swings his right hand horizontally across his torso, like he’s swiping something away. If I persist, and bring the spoon of food near his mouth, he twists and turns to get as far away from it as possible, while clenching his lips shut, and trying to swipe my hand away. He cried so pitifully yesterday evening while I was trying to give him his dinner, signing for milk frantically, and crying louder each time I said ‘no’ to his request. He clung tightly to me, refused to sit in his high chair, arched his back, and stomped his feet, and I cried along with him. I felt so lousy that he hasn’t been growing (he’s only 8.5kg, and our PD says we should try to load him up with carbo, so that he doesn’t wake up every two hours for milk) and so upset that he refuses to eat. He eats Cheerios, biscuits, and yogurt drops, even after a proper meal, so I know he’s not full. I’ve tried giving him pasta, but he spat it out, and refused to eat it after that. Last night, I caved and gave him milk, and let him wander around while I followed him with the bowl, something which I said I would never, ever, do, but I was just so desperate. Each meal can take more than an hour, and my patience is really being tested.
The weaning has been put on hold, because we are leaving for Australia in two days. Our PD advised me to give him two weeks to settle in, before offering him fresh milk in a cup there. I’m praying that he will take well to fresh milk, and that he will eat better there, because my supply has definitely gone down.
The waking up every two hours thing is absolutely exhausting, and we can’t sleep train him, because we’re going to Australia soon, and also because he’s waking up due to hunger, not for no good reason. When I prayed for him to take well to breastfeeding, I had no idea he would be such a milk addict!
We have become reluctant co-sleepers with him, and my back has never ached so much before. Noah likes to sleep pressed up against my back, or on me, though he occasionally sleeps with his feet in my face. I’m already so uncomfortable on a king-sized bed, so I’m really dreading co-sleeping with him in Australia, because our bed in the serviced apartment is queen-sized.
This is how we sleep. I usually sleep where the black pillow is.
I’m looking forward to our adventures in Australia, and hopefully, Noah will have a great time there. He still hasn’t taken his first steps yet, but hopefully, the vast amounts of space there will motivate him to do so.
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