Almost...

... Christmas! Where has the past month (or year!), gone? I thought I'd better give an update before we descend into the mayhem of Christmas day and the holidays, and I forget all the things that have happened since my last post.

Ella has just turned 6 months old (yesterday). She cut her first tooth almost 3 weeks ago, without too much fuss. For the past few months she has been very dribbly and wanting to chew everything in sight, so I had wondered if a little tooth was on it's way. It came much sooner than expected - Oli was nearly 9 months old before he got his first tooth. Ella looks very cute with her tooth showing when she grins. :)

She has found her feet now, so she likes to grab them and shove them in her mouth. Ella enjoys grabbing anything she can get hold of... feet, hair, noses, toys, jewellery. She is also learning to sit very well - she's not ready to be unsupported, but she enjoys leaning forwards and then rocking backwards when supported by the Zoo pillow. Sitting up also allows her a better view of the room and she can watch what everyone is doing. Ella is nearly rolling, but she sometimes prefers to just lie on her side! She has rolled from her front to her back a few times... but it might be more of a 'tip' than a roll.

Ella is not sleeping through the night consistently yet, but she's getting close. It helps if she can stay wrapped up all night and not get an arm free from her wraps. She goes to bed at 7pm and will usually wake after 5am for her first feed.

I started Ella on solid food a couple of weeks ago. I gave her baby rice mixed with formula, but she had a rough start and got a very upset tummy, giving her lots of burps and making her uncomfortable. I stopped for a couple of days, then started again with fruit and vege based foods. So far so good. She is very keen to feed herself, grabbing the spoon and cramming it in her mouth.

Oliver has made the move from the highchair onto a booster seat to eat with us at the table. It has been a bit messy, but he really enjoys being part of the family at the table. He is now off all formula, baby cereal, etc and is eating like a 'grown-up' toddler.

He has entered a "no, it's MINE" phase, so everything in the house belongs to him, as and when he likes.

Oliver is learning to count now. He can sometimes count to 6 before reverting to random numbers. He is also quite keen on singing songs - Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twikle Little Star, Mary Had A Little Lamb, and of course Jingle Bells. All sung quite loudly in a deep monotone 2-year-old voice!

We've been to a couple of kids Christmas parties - one at Lollipops Playland and one at Minogue Park. Oliver was delighted to find bouncy castles at both parties! He also got to drive a car with Dad, go on a huuuuuuuggggge slide with Mum (or without Mum, as the case may be!), ride on the model trains, and eat some yummy food.

Oli is gaining confidence in himself all the time. Although, his climbing skills (and his parents) failed him the other day, when he lost his balance and toppled off the barbeque table, landing on the bench seat, and then the concrete - on his head. He made quite a 'clonk' noise, and then wailed... moreso for the fright of falling and indignity of it all, than from any damage. I couldn't even find a bump, just a slight graze. Lucky.

I have managed to get a couple of rides in lately. One got cut short when Ella woke up early, so I had to quickly ride back to the car and drive home (took about 30 minutes!). My second ride was on Sunday evening. It was nice to get out in the coolness of the evening, with plenty of light still around. I took my night light, but didn't really need it. It was uselful in the few tree covered sections, and climbing the hill up from Pukete Rd looking into the setting sun. I'm starting to get my mojo back... albeit slowly. I was planning a Christmas Eve evening ride with a friend tonight, but the weather has packed in a bit. I don't fancy riding in the wet.

I've got my eye on a few upgrades for the bike. You know singlespeeding is just the first stage of the disease, right? It eventually progresses to blinglespeeding, where you have to have the best of everything on your bike. I think I need new brakes, new (lighter) tyres would be very useful, and suspension forks would be very nice to have. And those three upgrades may well double the value of the bike! I can't really justify it at the moment, with the limited amount of ridig I'm doing. We'll see.

A big congratualtions to Pip and Brownie, for the safe arrival of their baby boy, born on 22 December. Have a wonderful first family Christmas and holidays together. We hope to catch up with you in the New year, once bubba has settled in to life on the outside. :)

I gave the blog a facelift a little while ago, but forgot to mention where I snaffled the parsnip cartoon from. I did a google image search, and got it from here: http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/

Merry Christmas to you all. Happy holidays, and stay safe.