Thursday 28 March 2013

Summer Wrap-Up: Weekend in Paraparam

In mid-December we decided to take a weekend mini-holiday. Sebastian was still little enough to be comfortably carried in our baby carriers for a couple hours at a stretch, and happy to sleep in them. He wasn't eating much solids yet, and he was good at sleeping in the car. He had been bed sharing with us long enough that we felt we could make that work easily enough in a hotel. And he wasn't yet mobile. We figured it was a relatively easy time to take him on holiday.

We booked a place on Paraparaumu Beach for two nights. Sebastian obligingly slept through the entire drive up. The day we arrived there happened to be having a craft fair, so we wandered through the stalls and also the various shops and also scoped out a good place to hang out on the beach the following day

The weather obliged with sun and warmth and only a little of the wind that can be quite strong on Paraparaumu Beach. That evening we ate dinner out for only the second time since Sebastian was born. He was just old enough to sit in a high chair and share nibbles of our fish and veggies.

The next day we set up our beach-tent in the sand and Sebastian got his toes in the ocean for the first time. He liked the sand, squishing it between his fingers and eating an alarming amount of it. The water was okay but the tiny wavelets scared him. After this adventure he got a wash off under the beach shower. After I dried him off and changed his clothes, we he had a nurse and a nice nap while Loren walked to the nearby shops to get us lunch. It was a lovely, laid back summer day at the beach. The tent was an excellent investment, as most beaches around here don't have much to offer in the way of shade.


Sebastian and Loren relaxing in our beach tent



Sebastian sampling the local sand

On the last day we had an early morning wander on the beach before heading home. One of the nice things about having a baby is it gets you up and out of the hotel early, and you get to wander the streets at an hour when most tourists aren't up and about yet.

It was all in all an easy, laid back summer get-away. We are low key vacationers and our usual M.O. involves a lot of wandering around our chosen location on foot. Sebastian spent a lot of time in our baby carriers while we wandered on the beach, and in and out of shops, and so on. He also took most of his naps this way.

These days he is crawling and getting very close to walking, and he's too heavy for me to comfortably baby-wear for any significant length of time. I'm sure he would still make an excellent traveling companion today, though perhaps in a very different way. But wow what a difference 3 months makes!

 
Walking along the beach with Sebastian asleep in his Ergo carrier.

Monday 11 March 2013

Nine Months


Sebastian, at nine months...




Sebastian is a very active little boy. He wants you to help him "walk" everywhere: holding onto your hands while he tears around the house/ yard/ shop etc. like there's so much to see and he must see it all right now! He's still very social when going out into the world, and will try to "make friends" with other babies as well, with mixed success.

His very favorite thing is to play a sort of chase/hind and seek game with one person holding his hands to walk and the other playing with him. You hide around a corner, he finds you, you shout "boo" and run away to hide around another corner. He gives a squeal and goes running after you. And repeat. If you instead shout "boo" but don't run away, HE will run away instead, tearing off in a random direction for a few feet before turning round to see if you're following or have gone to hide again. This is a lot of fun if you're the person hiding. But a bit exhausting for the person holding his hands!

He is still not a big fan of nappy changes; having a second person "entertain" him on the changing table is a big help. And an extra set of helping hands is luxury we often enjoy these days, as his grandparents are here!

The thing he dislikes the most is when you DON'T help him walk when he wants you to. How do you know he wants you to? Well, when he grabs your hands and slides out of your lap, assuming you've got him, that's a pretty good sign. he likes to do this move after a feed and while I'm still trying to do my bra back up. He gets very impatient when he has to wait!

There are so many little things to enjoy about Sebastian right now. The way he makes a little sigh that sounds like an unvoiced "hah!" when he grabs something he has never checked out before. The little gesture he does where he nods his head once while simultaneously blinking and going "aahk!" It usually means "give me that!" but sometimes it's just a general gesture of making a connection or getting someone's attention. The way he now peers over the counter/ around the corner/ around the napkin when you play "peek a boo" because he now realizes where you've gone when you hide your face. The way he makes a little high pitched "ack" squeak of effort when "scooching" across the carpet.

He's got three teeth coming in, and has been really laid back about teething discomforts, thank goodness. We missed his last check up (need to reschedule) but according to the bathroom scale he weighs 9.4 kgs!

One of the many many nice things about having his grandparents here is that I find these lovely photos of me and Sebastian on my camera....