...but I know what I like.
We kind of expected this, since in the run up to his starting a friend with a kid at the same nursery related how on her first day (at six months old) her daughter managed to come back with the Rice Crispy cakes she'd 'made'. Strange then, that I'm still so extraordinarily pleased with and proud of his first little masterpiece.
Recently in Youngster Category
During the lull in posting (and having been shamed by Webby's posting frenzy), Dom's added a few new routines to the repertoire
- Dominic and Evie sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G. Well, no trees really involved but in a major departure from his usual treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen schtick, he leant in to the little ginger floozy and kissed her.
- after being given so much stuff at Christmas, he's decided to be continually offering us stuff (usually the heart-shaped block from his musical tortoise shape-sorter). Sometimes it's an actual give; sometimes it's just to show you. The fun lies in guessing which. The clue is in the tantrum.
- when we shut him in the front room whilst we have our tea, he's decided we need keeping an eye on (1.4mb .avi file)
- after a determined amount of training from his Nan, beginning at age six weeks and with an intensive refresher course over Christmas, Dominic is beginnig to master the childhood classic 'Pat-a-cake'. Especially cute is, on my getting home from lunch, he'll storm across the room, pull himself up against my legs, look up at me, clap and go 'Pah! Pah!' until I 'sing' it for him.
- he keeps threatening to walk unaided and will free-stand to tease us for four or five seconds at a time. In this, as in all things, the score to beat is the over-acheiving Ellie "movable goalposts"* Bradbury who took her first steps at One Year, One month exactly. Match report to follow in March.
*Ellie does something cute, lets Dom catch up and do it as well and then, it seems, in that very instant move on to something even cuter and cleverer (see also, her first word : "cuddle!" / reaching up to Mum combo).
Dominic extends the repertoire to the other end (0.4mb .avi file).
Dom attended his first Christmas party with the toddler group he goes to. It was held at Brewster's 'Fun' Pub which was good because of the opportunities for adventure to be had in the play-gym but bad because Dom's first brush with Santa Claus was the very rubbish Bradley Bear in a hat. (Gallery, Slideshow)
Dominic's chosen career as intrepid explorer received another boost today.
For a couple of months he's been commando-manoeuvring around the room in search of his toys, paper that's available for shredding, the tasty webbing that lurks beneath the rug and the beyond-here-be-dragons unmapped territory that is Behind The Sofa. So effective was this method of propulsion that he only ever really flirted with 'proper' crawling, prefering to focus his energies on the tricky south face ascent of Mount Armchair. His initial joy at having pulled himself up to leaning against furniture only ever really had two outcomes. One, it was swiftly followed by one of us, having hurtled across the room to his rescue, catching him. Two, Dom falling back still victoriously smiling and waving his arms entirely oblivious to the 'bump' (and tears) that were going to ensue. Very Del-boy in the winebar. He soon learnt to bend and let the nappy take the battering.
The last fortnight has seen Dom re-evaluating the crawl on speed grounds. The rapidity with which he now moves around is only matched by the deepness and regularity of naps he's been requiring to recover his energy.
Monday was great. Being at work, I don't get to see many firsts but whilst running his bath Dom pulled himself up off the mat to watch the water rushing in from his vantage point half-way along the side of the bath. He then spotted his favourite sponge at the end of his bath and teetered his way along using the bath as a handrail. He misjudged the snatch-and-grab manoeuvre and the sponge fell into the water to float away up the other end and he calmly turned and made his way along, still grabbing the edge of the bath like a C-list jungle celeb on a rope bridge. Apparently, this is technically known as furniture cruising. Given his state of bath-readiness, I will always think of it as Dom's first moon-walk.
This lunchtime, I came home to find Helen and Dom looking very pleased with themselves. As I put my head around the door, she released the boy from his starting block position and he trundled up to me behind his Vtech walker shouting and smiling like he knew exactly how clever he was being. (Dramatic re-enactment (1.0mb .avi file) for your viewing pleasure). He may not be graceful but he's great, my boy.
First of all, he started blowing snot bubbles. Undeniably cute.
Then he worked out that if screwed his face into a picture of extreme concentration and snorted furiously like a bull about to charge, he could expel the snot from his nose by himself and leave his Mum and Dad to sleep through the night. Slightly off-putting but we loved him for it.
Then he realised the annoying excess of mucus below his nose could be removed by sucking it into his mouth. Helen thinks this may be because he's not really getting any salty stuff anywhere else in his diet. I just think it's disgusting.
Yesterday, he managed to expel and consume so much snot that he was able to blow an enormous snot bubble with the mucus in his mouth. This was somehow beyond disgusting. I nearly applauded.
Last weekend we grabbed the chance to make the most of the crisp day to trundle around Scammonden Reservoir. Not the most original of ideas, I'll grant you but we all enjoyed it. Anyway, you can see all the photos here (also available as a slideshow).
...we were bringing home Dom from the hospital.
