Tuesday 12 February 2013

Eight Months

Sebastian, at eight months...



Just in the last week, it's like everything Sebastian sees is something to try to get his hands on. Even if it's across the room. Or on the ceiling. I had to take the mobile out of the nursery the other day because he was getting so distracted by it that he couldn't concentrate on breastfeeding. He has developed an appreciation for art, and he especially likes two brightly colored paintings of my mom's in the downstairs lounge, and the dragon quilt on the wall in his room. He will launch himself bodily at anything in range when sitting in your lap, usually things he's not meant to have such as water glasses or a remote control or my camera or my kindle. Especially my kindle. Just today I decided to give up on trying to read my kindle while feeding him, a habit I got in when he was just teeny tiny.

After a couple of days of this new level of wiggly fidgety restlessness we figured out he's pretty happy if you hold him up and help him practice standing. Which swiftly changed to practicing walking. And then, yesterday evening - the day of my parent's arrival back in Wellington - he was wiggling around on his tummy and finally figured out how to get his legs and arms working together in a way that makes him go forward. So far it looks like hard work, and he doesn't seem to realise he can get more than a foot or so with it - like to reach a remote control that's just a little bit out of reach, for instance. But I think he's not far off from doing something that could reliably be called "crawling." Watch out world, this boy is going places! It looks like his grandparents showed up just in time.

Sebastian still loves being held upside down, bouncing on your knee or in your arms, and any kind of light fabric waved around in front of his face. He's just developed a new thing where you put your face up close to his, and he sort of head butts you. Then I say "bonk" and fall back on the floor which he finds pretty funny. He doesn't like getting his nappy changed lately, something he hasn't minded in the past.

His last check up was at the end of January. He now weights 8.55 kgs and is 75 centimeters long. His hair is still light brown, and his eyes have gone hazel just like his dad's.



Saturday 2 February 2013

Parenting Resources Part 1: Blogs

I intend to make this a series of posts, outlining some of the resources I have found useful in pregnancy and parenting. This is in no way whatsoever a comprehensive list of useful resources. The intent is to write about some of the resources that I personally have found particularly useful.

Before Sebastian was born, I started looking for blogs. Although I very much wanted to have a child, the persona of "pregnant woman" and eventually "mother" were at odds with my self image as feminist, independent, and free thinking. Then I found a feminist parenting blog. Then I went on a search for others. Some of them I picked initially because the women were pregnant at the same time I was, and this gave me a sense of camaraderie when most of the women around me were not going through pregnancy and never had. The ones below I stuck with and still read regularly, because they are insightful, funny, and not afraid to talk about their personal experiences. These blogs have all in some way expanded my thinking about my parenting and my identity as a mother.

Blue Milk - An Australian blog, this is the one that started it all for me and I still very much admire the way she can break it down and tell it like it is. She's not afraid to talk about the dark side, the times when parenting is not all rainbows and sunshine.

First The Egg - How can you NOT love that name?? Insightful writing on the intersection of feminism and motherhood. Also good for book reviews (both adult and children's). Also, her dreadful pregnancy symptoms made me feel a lot better about my run-of-the mill pregnancy symptoms back when we were both pregnant.

Birthing Beautiful Ideas - In addition excellent and thoughtful writing on parenting, I also appreciate her irreverent sense of humor and willingness to mention sex once in a while (not to mention the recent informative and hilarious series of posts on her partner's vasectomy). Also reading about her baby's sleep issues has made me feel a bit better about whatever run of the mill sleep issues me and Sebastian are dealing with at the moment.

PhD In Parenting - An awesome Canadian feminist blogger. A blog with a bit of an activist slant, especially around issues of breast feeding and consumer rights.

I thought about point to particularly awesome articles from these blogs but I decided they belonged in a different post. Whenever I run across an article that really gets me thinking about parenting, or really resonates with my parenting, I bookmark it. I'd like to go back through those and pick the ones that really stand out for me, the ones that I still think about even if I read them a year ago.