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April 30 She'd look good in blackUrs thought Katie would look good in black.
And then she thought she should set up a website to sell black baby outfits.
www.babygoth.com would be a good web address, she thought.
Except it's already gone, as she discovered.
But she's very impressed with its range of clothing.
Shipping is likely to be costly as it's a US site but she does like the item whose thumbnail is below - click to view.
Child's playKatie's attention span is getting longer quickly.
She will sit and let us read to her for longer periods (even if the two books combined have a total of six words in them - the pig did it in the Farm book and it was the Cat in the Pets book, sorry if that's a spolier), which is fun.
And she is spending much longer on the activity mat, which is fun particularly when I let my imagination get the better of me.
Pinky Parrot (as I have named him) is one of the characters who plays on the activity mat with Katie and I have to say I'm impressed. He started off reciting the first three elements of the periodic table to Katie, then managed five and is now up to number 11, sodium.
As regular readers of this blog know, I've decided that by learning the periodic table Katie will avoid becoming a member of the Asbo generation and will be well prepared for answering questions on University Challenge, the two most important issues facing the youth of today, as I'm sure you'll agree.
No doubt Katie is taking it all in from Pinky and will start reciting the elements herself soon.
You could accuse her of learning Parrot-fashion but that would be a crime against quality humour.
In years to come she'll have a lot to thank Pinky Parrot for.
PS
Pinky Parrot reminded me that he's actually a flamingo.
Too late, mate, you've already been named. Sofa so goodOur new sofas arrived today.
Comfort at last!
And they'll be a lot easier to sleep on as well, although I will still sleep on the floor I suspect.
Katie has slept better for the past two nights but we know we have some way to go.
I can sympathise. It's so much lighter now. The curtains in the lounge don't stop much light and the sun shines through the windows of my train to and from work, making for no sleep while commuting.
Roll on winter.
I love winter.
Let's face it, I'm a creature of darkness... April 28 Lounging aroundWe both ended up sleeping in the lounge (for a while) last night.
We're trying to get Katie to go off to sleep of her own accord.
She doesn't like it and kicks up a fuss.
It's hard not to just pick her up and comfort her but she won't learn to go to sleep any other way if we do.
At least the lounge has a nice new comfortable carpet. April 26 New weightGot a text yesterday: "Hello Daddy. I now weigh 10lb 1.5oz. I've put on 3.5oz in a week. I'm putting on weight so slowly because I'm not sleeping during the day. Love Katie x" April 22 Two dads discussHere are edited highlights of a Messenger conversation I had with colleague from our Dublin office:
Him: have you just become a dad? We're busy moving stuff around the house so the carpet fitters can lay the carpet tomorrow. Urs is trying to nail down all the creaky floorboards too.
By the way, last time we went to Disney (2003) I went on the magic teacups.
And here's another nice photo of the youngster: April 20 Nothing to be sneezed atI tried to take a quick video of Katie doing one of her gorgeous smiles.
Here's the unfortunate result:
And what's more I noticed an apostrophe error on her jumper.
Grr. Falafel kerfuffleKatie's sleeping at night has improved since Urs stopped eating beans and pulses.
When I went shopping yesterday I decided to buy some falafel - we hadn't had it in ages so it would be a nice change, I thought.
And it went down a treat.
Until 6am today when Katie was crying and we remembered that falafel contains serious amounts of chick peas.
Oops.
Urs will be paying the price for that error today as Katie probably won't settle much, which I don't feel too good about. Experienced dad's nod of approvalI had a day off yesterday and took Katie out in the sling for a walk.
A dad on a bike with two daughters riding thier bikes alongside him stopped at a pedestrian crossing I was about to use. "Oh yes, slings are great, aren't they?" he said. "We used them a lot. We have another litte one due in a few weeks and we'll be using a sling after that too.
"So many different varieties of sling too, aren't there?"
Yes.
Probably.
Anyway, Katie enjoyed it. Somehow she slept for four hours in it as I wandered around charity shops admiring all the bargain educational toys I'd love to buy for me, er, I mean her when she's a bit older.
I didn't quite have the sling in the right place so my shoulder was rather worse for wear after four hours.
Ouch.
April 18 Only one ounce heavierGot a text message: "Hello Daddy. I've put on only 1oz in the past fortnight because I've been poorly. They're sticking nails in me this afternoon - I'll be brave. Love K x."
Which means she's having the regular injections that little ones are supposed to have.
I expect she'll be braver than me when it comes to needles and injections. April 17 A viral infectionWhen you visit the doctor and s/he can see you're unwell but has no idea what it is except that it's not fatal, what do they say?
"You've got a viral infection."
And so it was when Urs took Katie to the doctor yesterday.
The poor little one had gone very quiet, rather limp and wasn't feeding - for a loud, strong and hungry baby that was a little odd.
And rather worrying.
She had hardly slept for a day or two.
And nor had we.
The doctor decided it was all due to a viral infection.
Say no more.
Katie's improving a bit now but has a way to go.
And she's sleeping in my bed while I sleep on the floor downstairs. Oh, the sacrifices we make, blah, blah, blah. If it helps Katie sleep and get better then it's all worth it.
I was really tired yesterday but stayed up to help out our homepage editor cover the terrible events at Virginia Tech late into the night.
I finished at midnight but couldn't get to sleep til 1:30am.
So tired I couldn't sleep. Rather like a little girl we know and love... April 15 In a slingUrs bought a sling for us to carry Katie about in.
It was working so well this week she phoned me at work to tell me all about it and to listen to our daughter sound asleep in it.
Well, I had to have a go.
And take a video at the same time.
It's at a weird angle because I'm looking directly down on her so I've made the video larger than I normally do when resizing (all of these Katie videos are hosted on MSN's video player called Soapbox - it's rather good, do give it a go). Worth playing with the sound on to hear her 'snoring'. In fact, frankly I think it's only worth it if you have the sound on!
April 13 Childcare: time to get paranoidThere was some report out this week warning that nurseries and daycare groups are creating "anti-social" children. Oxford University researchers found toddlers become more disruptive the longer they attend, particularly if it is for more than 35 hours a week.
Cue media columnist discussion about child development, the importance of close parenting 24 hours a day etc etc.
It's enough to turn any parent who plans to use a day nursery (although for less than 35 hours a week) rather paranoid.
So as well as talking to her and playing with her and, er, everything else we do maybe it's time to teach Katie the periodic table of elements - presumably some more grown-up intellectual stimulation will keep her out of mischief. Let's face it, I am clearly holding back her development and encouraging her to be anti-social if I don't help her discover the joys of the Lanthanide series (very handy for answering questions on University Challenge) before she reaches eight weeks of age.
By the way, the report had some government department funding it - that'll be the same government that offers very generous tax breaks on childcare costs. Sleep, sleep, sleepA good seven or eight hours last night.
Previous two nights had been a little more challenging but I am starting to believe - dare I say it - that we may be making some serious progress on the sleeping front.
I slept quite well too - the four (or was it five?) pints at a colleague's leaving do had nothing to do with it.
Should be a fun weekend, looking forward to it. April 12 Reach up for the starsShe's definitely reaching out for things. Urs has noticed it too.
With me she reaches out for the stars that are on the bathroom wallpaper.
It's an exciting stage in her development. New mattress updateOK, it's definitely working.
Although last night we had made the bedroom too warm and Katie wouldn't settle.
As soon as I took her out of the room she was asleep in my arms in an instant.
A nice moment. April 11 Legendary bottom burpNo, not Toxteth O'Grady (see the first episode of the Young Ones for details).
Urs put Katie down on the bed this morning only for her (Katie not Urs) to launch an absolute ripper that came out of her sleepsuit, onto the bed sheet and even through onto the mattress protector.
And to think she was wearing the special 'I love my Daddy' oufit. April 10 A meeting with the orange bearThis is a key moment.
Let me explain.
Urs' mum has an old black and white photo of Urs when she was a lot younger. It shows Urs and her bear (called Ossie). They are almost the same size.
Since that day Ossie has shrunk a lot.
Or maybe Urs grew up. Hard to say.
Anyway, here is Katie posing with Ossie.
A new mattress and seven hours asleep - coincidence?Yesterday we bought a new matress for Katie's Moses basket thingy. The old one was quite thin and we thought she might sleep better with a new one.
And we were rewarded with seven hours of sleep.
Going into Luton on an Easter Monday (easiest branch of Mothercare for us to get to) suddenly doesn't seem so bad. |
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