Week 46

6th -  12th November 2005

Emma's Entry

Evan proving how difficult it is to photograph him these days.

We've had some major achievements this week with Evan. He can now stand on his own without holding on for long periods of time. This has happened ever so quickly, at first it was just a second or two before flopping to the floor. By the end of the week he was able to stand for 22 seconds!

I think sometimes he doesn't realise he is doing it. He'll be holding onto the table or me playing with a toy. He will then grasp the toy with both hands, standing alone. He then has this startled look as he suddenly realises he is not holding on. It's as if he then tells himself that his legs can't do this because he suddenly falls forward onto me or just drops onto his bum. He is much more stable in general these days. He can quite happily lower himself slowly to the floor from a standing position.

He did attempt to walk this week. We were in the bathroom one evening running the bath. He was watching the bath fill as he always does and he turned around and looked at me. He suddenly just launched himself towards me but for some reason his legs didn't quite do the walking and I ended up catching him!

Evan's grandma bought Evan a musical xylophone last month but I think Evan was a little too young for it back then as he was more interest in eating the wood - yuk! We decided to get it out a week or so ago and he is really getting into it now. He knows exactly what to do and his coordination with the sticks is great. He's not the next Mozart yet and hits them really hard so it usually makes you want to wear ear plugs. His other mummy doesn't appreciate this kind of noise when she is studying, especially when he gets bored and decides to whack the sticks on the laminated flooring instead...

Evan eager to get into the bath!

Another favourite toy of Evan's at the moment is a tennis ball. He rolls it along the floor and just chases it around giggling as he goes. It makes a cool sound on the laminated flooring in our study and it travels really fast.

Evan started licking his lips this week! We had chicken fajitas earlier in the week and Evan kept pulling himself up onto his feet next to the table grizzling. I soon realised that it was my food he was after. He had already eaten his dinner at nursery so he doesn't eat with us when we get home. I gave him some guacamole, but he wasn't too impressed with that. I then tried him on some crème fraiche and he loved it. It went all over his mouth and he surprised us both when he stuck his tongue out and started licking his lips.

We have a new trick at feeding time now. For a while now we have been giving Evan a spoon to hold whilst we feed him because otherwise he can be really difficult to feed. He's always putting his empty spoon in his mouth but this week I started saying "give mummy spoon" and then opening my mouth for him and he turns the spoon round to me and pushes it into my mouth, well sometimes the aim is a little off and he ends up jabbing my cheek or nose. I then say "yum yum" and he loves it. I am not sure he'll be feeding himself anytime soon as he doesn't really have the concept of gently doing anything just yet so I'll just continue to let him practice on me.

Emma