Big steps

Last night the boy barely slept, so I sent the man into the spare room until 4am for some good rest, at which point I swapped with him and got about three hours solid sleep myself.

This morning, the boy woke a hugely advanced little boy. He is now crawling rapidly all over the place, with such delight on his little face as he can get around and see what's going on ALL THE TIME without having to wait for one of us to find him squawking, stuck in a corner somewhere, and pick him up. He's also pulling himself up to grab things off higher surfaces, so his world has now expanded into 3D - he's incredibly excited about this. He had his first visitor (with his new skills) and - once he'd ascertained the visitor was safe - he crawled into his lap and flapped his arms at the visitor's legs, with obvious delight at this ability.

I am excited, yes, but I am also tired. I have moved the bin and hidden it; I have moved many items of furniture to hide various things he shouldn't get into; I have moved things from half a foot off the ground to one foot off the ground (and know they will all soon be moving higher, when I have a chance to find new homes for these things). I have rescued him from crawling on concrete (and hurting his little feet) and I have tidied the garden. I know I will soon find him eating my herbs (ok) and soil (less ok). I find myself worrying how I will cope on my own with my normal days, without tying him to a chair leg or sticking him in some sort of cage. I am also slightly concerned for my olive tree and wonder if it will soon need a new spot.

With his huge leap in movement he seems to have got hungrier. Today he has demolished a few spoons of porridge, baby sweetcorn, courgette, tomatoes, carrots, orange slices and mushrooms...and played with spaghetti. He didn't seem too keen on my cheese and courgette muffins however. That'll teach me to make something special for him! At least his daddy enjoyed the chocolate brownies I made. :-)

I'm hoping the extra food and movement (as well as his swimming session today) will have worn him out and have an impact on his sleep too, but we shall see. He was fast asleep by 5.50pm, a new record for him, so fingers crossed. I shall report back very soon!