And now Rose on 19th September 2011 :

As I mentioned last week, Rose is completely bear obsessed at the moment, so the perfect present had to be a trip to Build a Bear so that she could make a bear of her own:

“What do I do with this?”

“Be careful with her!”

Bear!

Today we are having spotty chocolate cake:

So if you’d like a slice, please form an orderly queue.

(This post is also to hide the fact I have nothing remotely interesting to post about knitting today. )

It’s very hard to get Rose to stay still, even for a photo to mark the day she is exactly a year and a half old.

Today we went for a wander in the park and examined stones and grass and dead leaves and fun was had by all (especially at the café afterwards, where there was cake).

Now is stage of learning a million new words every day and Rose’s favourite is, of course, “no”.

There were birthday cupcakes:

and a new toy to whizz around the room with:

(Note Mr B in the background, sporting a pair of knitted socks!)

And the realisation that somehow without me noticing, my little baby has turned into a toddler. This past year has flown by and I’m glad I have the monthly posts to remind me that she was little once!

Crawling is no longer good enough. Rose is pulling herself up on everything she can and edging around the room like a baby on a mission! Probably not that randomly, her feet have suddenly grown too, and I get the feeling it won’t be long before there’s a post about her first visit to buy shoes.

She can babble along quite nicely now. Occasionally the “mamamama” or “dadadada” is directed to the right person. She also squeals when she sees someone she recognises, like her big brothers. She can clap her hands:

and point to things with her index fingers. She loves mealtimes although eats very little as most of it ends up smeared on her face or in her hair.

It’s scary to think that the next of these posts will be celebrating her first birthday. I don’t know where this year has gone. I’m so glad I have these updates to look back on to see just how she has progressed. And possibly to embarrass her with when she’s older.

This month’s photo is a small cheat as the picture was taken yesterday. But I thought it would be a nice one to have as the 10 month photo as it was also Rose’s first trip to the seaside. She spent most of the time on the beach trying to eat pebbles. The small person in a green t-shirt in the background is Oscar (DS2) who managed to get his jeans soaked despite rolling them up to knee height!

(As an aside, I took this picture with the camera on my new mobile phone and am pleased/bemused that it actually looks better than than some of the pictures I take with my proper digital camera. I think it’s time to look at replacing it!)

So much has happened in the past month. Crawling is now perfected and she’s zooming around the house at a scary rate. So we’ve started some child-proofing of the most baby-unfriendly areas, but she still makes a beeline for the tangle of wires under the pc so I think that’s the next area to sort out.

Her top two front teeth are starting to come through now. So far she’s only had one grumpy morning with them and fingers crossed it’ll be less of a drama than the first two! Her babbling is getting more varied and she has developed her own distinctive laugh which sounds regrettably like Nan off of The Catherine Tate Show. So much for a gentle girlish giggle.

I love this age. It’s impossible for me to do anything on my own now, and I have to have eyes in the back of my head, but it’s lovely to see Rose developing her own personality and becoming a little person in her own right. And also very scary that in two months’ time, this will be the first birthday update..!

Everything in the mouth at the moment. I’ve tried all day to get a photo of Rose showing off her brand new teeth, but to no avail. So maybe next monthly update!

Crawling is ever so almost there. It’s tantalising when she leans forward as if to take off in one direction and then gives up and flumps onto her belly. She prefers to cruise along by holding on to the edge of the sofa.

There are now words, too. “Ba ba ba ba ba” mainly, with the occasional “ma ma” for a change. This has been a month where so much has happened and it’s as if she’s suddenly grown up a bit. Though she’ll always be the baby.

Managed to get a photo of Rose doing her latest new facial expression, when she smiles and then crinkles the top of her nose.

Can’t believe how time is flying. I desperately want it to slow down as the baby period is so short and before I know it, she’ll be at school! Crawling is still not quite there, but she’s getting better at pushing herself about and reaching for a toy that she wants. She is also now aware when people enter or leave the room and sometimes randomly starts wailing when someone leaves the room, even if she wasn’t paying any attention to them when they were in the room in the first place!

Rose reaches the grand old age of seven months today. Her sitting up alone is pretty near perfect, although after last month’s push-ups, she hasn’t shown any interest in crawling, so is not going to be a child crawling prodigy after all. Everything she holds is going into her mouth, and she’s becoming more vocal. Now she’s trying other foods out as well as milk, although she’s not that bothered about eating and will sit happily gnawing on the empty spoon. Generally, she’s a happy little soul, as long as she is the centre of attention, which she inevitably is!

This afternoon, enter one very nice but clearly unobservant cat-sitter (we’re going away for a few days over the Easter Break).

Rose: *makes cute faces*
Cat-sitter: Oooh, who do we have here? What’s his name?
Me: *through gritted teeth* Rose.
Cat-sitter: Oh, it’s a girl, is it?
Me: Hmmmphurrgh.

I think I need this holiday.