Been a while, thought I'd catch up!!

Well, not sure where to start! In 5 days time my little baby will be a fully fledged 18 month old and I have no idea where the time has been going! She's such a funny little character and most definitely has daddy wrapped right round her little finger. She is extremely affectionate at the moment, especially with her big brother which is just lovely.

Her speech is developing every day and she has learnt a couple of new signs but we kind of stick with the same ones. Her latest sign is "Sorry" which is very cute!

Still feeding as good as ever. She sometimes has her moments if her teeth are particularly bad but this little lady loves her food!! I can't believe what a tidy eater she is now too. She uses cutlery fantastically and seems to understand there's a lot less waste if she eats smaller spoonfulls so she is quite dainty! However watching her eat yoghurt is hilarious!! She eats it beautifully all the way until the last couple of spoons she hasn't a drop of it anywhere but her mouth. She struggles with the last bit so lobs the spoon and gets her hands in! very funny!!

We've even started to introduce tomato based meals again, like spag bol. Now she is tidier at eating less gets spread on her face and it doesn't flare her eczema anymore.

We made some christmas cards the other week and she got right into it! really concentrating. Can't believe christmas is so close now! Will make sure I post some more christmas dinner photos!! She LOVED it last year!!

Chatty Little Madam

Since BB's speech is coming along a bit I thought I'd list her words (well the ones I can remember!)

Daddy
Jake
Mumma
Hello
Hiya
Duck
Woof
Thank you
Poo
There it is
Peekaboo
Shoes

OK So now I have a blank moment so may have to edit with more :o)

Edit: I have remembered some more:

Teddy
All gone
Nanny
Manma (Grandma)
No
One, Two, Three
Choo choo
Uh Oh
Oops

More Meat

BB has never been overly interested in meat. However, recently I have noticed she eats it a lot more than she used. Thing is I couldn't tell you when she started eating more of it lol! She has had a lot of new teeth in the last couple of months and maybe this has coincided with the fact she will eat more meats, more often.

I guess this fits in well with the BLW theory of how babies will eat when they are physically, developmentally ready, maybe now she has more gnashers she can manage a roast chicken breast more.

She did used to moisten her lamb or pork for a bit in her mouth and then take it out and chew it again, I suppose sometimes this may have been too much effort when she was hungry!

Yesterday, she appeared to start to get bored of her dinner. She's very keen on using forks or spoons though and was trying. In the end we decided to break the chicken up smaller and then she was able to spear and eat it really easy. She wolfed it down. I think this time instead of going off the meat she was probably uncomfortable (teething again) so little bite sizes were easier for her.

Apples are the new Banana

Well BB has decided she'd rather have apples as her mid-mornign snack then bananas! It's so funny because she does actually tell me that she doesn't want what I have offered (ie the banana) and then signs "please" for me to try something else lol! Each time she settles on an apple.

Every so often she'll actually sign "raisins" which is very sweet. Also biscuit, but we're out of the organix ones until I do the shop so I have to tell her they're all gone!

OMG where did that month go???

Sorry just realised after my last post that it's 25th June. BB is now 13 months old, so scarey how quickly they grow up, and BigBB is 8 years old in 3 weeks!!

She has done so much in the last month too. She now signs "duck" "milk" "sleep" "all gone" and twinkle twinkle little star... she even sounds like she sings it, very cute!!

BB has been trying to use a fork solo but not all that great yet. She will eat it happily when Daddy or I spear something first. Although she does try to spear it herself she hasn't mastered it just yet!

She is really into her books now and I mean for a longer moment then say, erm... 30 seconds! She will sit and flick through pointing and "chatting" away to each picture and page. She "counts" in her counting book, points at each object and makes noises that are very close to 1,2,3 it's hilarious!

Clever BB and Banana

Well we went to a birthday party yesterday and BB ate some party food and had lots of fun. I think she was distracted by the fun to eat much so she was hungry when we got home.

She was having a moan so I signed "eat" to her and she nodded and bounced (this is a yes) as it wasn't quite dinner time, I offered her a organix baby biscuit but she shook her head and moaned! I then pulled a banana out and she nodded again! It was so sweet! So she had a banana. It felt like a great achievement that we were able to communicate about what she wanted, she's so clever!

Proud Mummy :o)

Baby Signing... it's sinking in...

Well BB and I started signing but we've only had 2 sessions so far! However I have been really signing loads at home the words Milk, Drink, Eat, More just for the basics.

I knew BB understood when I actually said milk because she'd get all impatient and moan for it!I have been signing and saying "milk" for 3 weeks now and today I thought I'd do a little test and just signed it without saying it to see if she'd actually associated the two... and she did! She started bouncing (this is her yes for milk) and headed for the kitchen. I got her bottle and gave it to her smiling my head of!

I bought a fab book from Chelltune that BB loves and it's great for us to practice with. It also reminds me to sign as it's a big book and I can't miss it!

Can't wait for her to sign back to me!!

BB reading her signing book!! lol

BB "helping" Mummy

Being the lazy so and so I have been today there was a load of freshly washed and tumble-dried (t'is raining outside) nappies on the sofa, sat waiting for me to stuff them and then put them away.
BB decided to "help" and did so for about 20 minutes!! (it's not a 20 minute clip though lol)

The Art of Eating - Our Clever Babies

Not sure if anyone else has noticed this but thought I'd share!

I have a few times but after dinner at FIL's last night he had a bit of a panic when she shoved a massive peice of lamb in her mouth. Basically what she does is pop it in to slobber on it and moisten it, then she takes it out again to chew once it's softer!

When you think about it, it's really bloody clever for a baby! They're such amazing little things aren't they. Baby Led Weaning has given her this opportunity to learn to eat properly from 6 months and the more she eats the more clever she becomes. She does this with apricots too and has done for as long as I can remember (obviously she didn't to start with)

The whole pincer thing and learning to open their hands to eat whats left of veg stick. She also picks up raisins or sweetcorn with her hand and if she isn't satisfied that she has enough in her hand she holds them in a fist but with her pointer finger and thumb still free to grab another shoves them all in! porker!