Year 2 - February

February 2006

Emma's Entry

Creature Comforts! Evan likes to have his pillows near by.

It doesn't feel like only a year ago I was a new mum doing the whole mother and baby thing going to my weekly weigh-in clinics to make sure that Evan was getting enough breast milk and developing as he should. Time really has flown by; sometimes I really miss it. This month has been a stressful month and it has taken its toll on all of us. Some days I just wish it wasn't such a rush and that Evan and I could once again just spend some quality time together. It doesn't seem right that Saturday and Sunday are the only days that we truly have to ourselves, I miss him dearly at work. I think the long hours and lack of sleep because Evan has had a niggling cough and cold that refused to abate attributed to my illnesses. It all seemed to happen at once and fortunately Caroline escaped it all so she was able to look after us. Evan and I had been battling between us to rid ourselves of the common cold bug that was going round with little success. I thought I was finally getting better when I fell ill with a gastric virus. It was awful, I had kept Evan home from nursery as well because he had had a fever and vomiting episode the previous day. I was so ill that day that I had to call Caroline home from University and I slept for the best part of 24 hours. Even when I have been ill before, I have been able to get up to Evan when he needed me but it was unfamiliar territory with this illness, I could here Evan stirring in his cot from his nap and I just couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. I was stuck and I was so glad that it would only take Caroline 20 minutes to get home. It was probably good that I kept my distance because I certainly didn't want Evan to get my stomach virus.

I took some more pictures of Evan into work this month as they get displayed by my screen saver when my PC is idle. I wish I had time and most importantly good day light to take more photos of Evan. I have roughly 600 pictures that were taken during the first 9 months of his life. In the past 3 months coinciding with my return to work, I have only managed to take just over 100 pictures! He's changed so much that it really does show when you compare the pictures.

Evan finally has a new tooth!! For months we have had only 6 (4 at the top and 2 at the bottom), but now we have a third at the bottom. I was expecting a few more to be honest as his teething has been playing havoc with his bottom and he's also been getting really hot and flushed around his cheeks.

Evan has changed how he plays whilst in the bath and shower. When he showers with us he now likes to try and drink the water as it sprays down. In the bath he likes to place all his cups and ducks along the edge of the bath, lining them neatly into a row before knocking off. He also likes to launch his toys out of the bath and he finds it increasingly funny when the toys still contain water and they land on one of his mummies! :)

Evan sitting on his stool demonstrating self-service.

Evan has started to lean up against things and he also likes to sit on chair like items like the stool or bathroom ledge. He still has a lot to learn though as he doesn't understand much about heights. He managed to launch himself off of the stool this month onto his head sending the whole of his body toppling over. I saw it all happening in slow motion but could quite stop it from happening, I caught him in mid air but I wasn't quick enough to stop the initial impact. He is showing a desire to walk forwards down the stairs, but again I don't think he is quite ready for that. He has managed once or twice to go down the stairs backwards, bum first.

I took Evan to an indoor soft play area this month called "Snakes and Ladders". I'd taken him to a smaller one a few months back and he was quite nervous and clingy but I thought that was probably because he couldn't walk when all the other children could. He was terrified and he absolutely hated it. I couldn't get him to set a foot onto the soft play mats at all, it was as if he hated the feel of it on his skin. He would sit on the carpet area and play with the ball pen balls or push the rid on cars around but as soon as I took him anywhere near the soft play structures he would stiffen his limbs and cling on to me for dear life crying his poor little eyes out. It was awful to see him so traumatised and I felt like this bad mummy. I thought he would love it, I just hope I haven't traumatised him for life. I couldn't even get him to like the ball pen area and I know he likes these because he played in the ball pen that Megan had at her house. The bouncy castle was a failure as well, Evan hasn't really like engine noises like the sound of a vacuum cleaner and that is what the bouncy castle sounded like. I placed Evan through the gap onto the bouncy castle and he freaked out launching himself into my arms and crying this really traumatised stuttered cry. We stayed for roughly an hour playing on the carpet and it felt really awkward because Evan was the only child who didn't like it and the looks I was getting from some of the other parents made me just want to hide under a rock. I'll leave it a few months before trying that again, my poor little baby boy.

Emma