No longer an infant

There is a lot of loose talk about grades of babies, there is a lot of confusion over the sub genera of the young.  Let me shed some light on this somewhat befuddling topic.  A baby is a baby is a baby, there is no difficulty with that.  One is a baby until one can call others a baby.  The first stage of babyhood is just being a baby.  The creche refer to the next stage as wobblers and the following stage as toddlers.  I'm not sure about infants, some backwards educationalists refer to senior and junior infants as the first two years of national school.  But for me the word infant means helpless, floundering, lying upside down on ones back arms and legs flailing like a flipped turtle in the hot hot sun.

Under that definition Max is no longer an infant.  He is flipping, rolling, sleeping on his front and wait for it, nearly crawling.  He can move, he can do a fine wounded soldier crawl.  That's like one of those sections of a war movie when they are all in basic training and they are crawling under nets.  He is exactly like that.  He is moving forward, ever mindful of the enemy guns.  As a result of this change in definition our world has also changed.  We are now worried about cupboards, plug sockets, nails and glass that we used to leave around.  Soon we will have to move any unsafe objects 'up-high' and tie everything else down.

He is in great form.  He is following the good days and bad days map like a true adventurer.  He is currently in a good phase.  We are nervously awaiting the 4 week cloudy period.  If you don't believe me check out http://theboatrightlife.blogspot.com/2012/02/wonder-weeks.html

In this perfect scenario Max is sleeping for two sessions of two hours a day and spending the rest of the time eating and crapping and learning to crawl.  He is also smiling a lot more.  Talking a lot more and flirting a great deal more.  Let me explain.  I put him into the sling and had a walk around town.  It was sunny so I bought him a sun hat.  He refused to try on any hats but when the cute shop assistant came along it was all he could do to try on every hat in the shop.  He very nearly winked.  Then, in his hat walking down Grafton St. he started to flap his arms and shout in a very loud voice. There were two types of people on Grafton St. that day.  One type thought that I was holding him against his will and the other type thought he was adorable.  He was protected from the sun but his father may not have been protected from the crowd if it turned ugly.

In this otherwise perfect world, Max has decided that he does not like semolina.  This is a blanket dislike.  He will not have it.  He occasionally refuses other foods but he hates semolina.  Otherwise, all good.

Max has also moved into his own room.  He does not seem to mind at all.  The room is darkened in these enlightened times and so far he is sleeping very well.  We are still using a monitor so his every squawk is still audible.  The slightly worrying thing is the nappy dilemma.  If we change him at 11pm to ensure a dry morning then he can be difficult to get back to sleep.  If we don't change him he can wake early and slightly damp.  I am torn on the issue.  I like the peaceful nights but dislike the early mornings.  The other option is just not to let him drink all day and feed him the milk formula in a powdered form.  So you're up to date.....