Christmas Dinner, here I come!

Our aim has been for Munchkin to be able to partake in pureed Christmas dinner this year. He is as of Friday night, one step closer. Munchkin cut his first tooth on Friday night. His lower left incisor is through and it is SHARP!

We wondered when this would happen. Munchkin has been leaving trails of drool for weeks. You can tell where he has been and you can also tell who he has been with...as his victims are left covered in munchkin juice. In true Munchkin fashion, he took it in his stride and continued to be very good natured....this time. We are truly blessed.

To celebrate his tooth cutting, Munchkin was given a little drop of bordeaux on his lip last night. His father was proud to note that Munchkin smacked his lips and started wriggling, waving his hands and kicking his feet. No!! It was not an adverse "Are you trying to kill me?" reaction. We think he rather liked it! So it might be that he has a tot of red with his turkey....we shall see!

Happiness is....?

I have often pondered the answer to this question. I guess it depends where one is in life and what one needs at the precise moment in time to feel this emotion. So at the time of writing my answer is:

• the fact that the cat has not piddled on the floor by the front door
• there were no bills in the post
• it is not raining
• we have power (there was a power cut last night)
• Munchkin is sleeping
• the cats are sleeping
• we have nothing planned today...it is a duvet day
• it is nearly Friday and T will not be working silly hours anymore after that

Hmm....but what makes me smile?

• Eau de Munchkin when I hold him close to me
• Munchkin gurgles (and the cats meowing in reply)
• Munchkin laughter
• T's dancing
• Watching T and Munchkin together
• Seeing T at the front door in the evening when he gets home
• Seeing the cats on the windowsill welcoming us home from an outing
• Thinking about my parents and my beautiful Sister
• Thinking about Chief Oracle and her family in Texas

So I guess what I am saying is that happiness, to me is in my family (immediate and extended, feline and human) for without them it would be a cold existence!

Munchkin and the gang

Munchkin mullings:

Last week our mum's decided that we would all go to J's house for what they call "coffee and cake" As mentioned before, the latter features very high on the agenda in everything that our mummies do. They always blame us for their obsession with cake. They say it is because they have to use up so many calories feeding us that they need to keep their energy levels up by consuming huge quantities of the sweet stuff. This is all well and good. But they are not fooling us. They leave us to play (as illustrated above) and proceed to put the world to rights while topping up on their Cake-lories.

We do try to distract them though by doing things that make them go "Awwww!" The most popular "awww-tivity" is holding hands (as expertly demonstrated above by the boys and I). When this doesn't work, we take turns squeezing each other's hand a little too tight for comfort. This causes what we call the cry reflex. My particular favourite technique is the pushing out of my bottom lip initially, followed by a little whimper and then I turn on the tears. This usually gets some attention. If it doesn't we all start to cry in different pitches and volumes (to ensure that the whole audible range is covered). The pain and strife one has to bear just to tear them away from idle chatter about our bottom burps...I don't know!

Change

The transition from being us to be parents has been a relatively smooth one for us. We have been very lucky. The following is not by all means a comprehensive list but rather some observations along the way in our journey into parenthood.

You know you are a parent when:

1. Someone points out the baby sick running down your back and you ask "Is it just on the one side or have I got it down the other as well?"
2. Someone points out the baby sick on your top and you throw something convenient over it to hide it from plain sight e.g. a scarf, a bag strap or even your hair if it is long enough
3. You are never without a packet of wet wipes - never know when you will need one.
4. Leaving the house is a military operation in that the timing is crucial to the success of the mission
5. You trade your handbag in for a nappy bag
6. You have no qualms about sniffing your baby's bottom in public. Well....better safe than sorry!
7. You have no qualms about baring parts of your anatomy in public. Better that than a hungry, screaming baby
8. You start talking in a very strange singsong voice to your child and start referring to your other half as Mummy or Daddy
9. You pick out the baby's outfits for special occasions in advance. You wear what is clean on the day.
10. It ain't over till the little baby sleeps!

Still, it is an exciting journey. Every day is a little different. It amazes me how Munchkin manages to evoke such extreme emotions in us. He can make me very sad but more often he makes me ecstatically glad. He needs us and we most definitely cannot imagine life without him. People told us that things would never be the same again. What they didn't say was how much better it is and how you can hold the true meaning of happiness in your arms.

Munchkin and his Posse

Here he is holding court. His posse consists of our two cats and all his little dangly friends. His particular favourite is the bright yellow quacking duck.

When we brought Munchkin home, the cats didn't really know what to make of him. One of them took to walking up to him and hissing to register protest. The other just pretended he wasn't there. After about a fortnight, reality sunk in. He was here to stay and they would just have to get used to having him around.

This realisation sparked a turn in behaviour. Hissy cat started following him around. Everywhere he went, she followed. If he was asleep in his crib, she would settle herself nearby and fall asleep. If he cried, the cat formerly known has hissy would run up to him and meow until we came to comfort him. If anyone tried to approach him, they would be confronted by two feline bodyguards.

The bond is an interesting one. It will probably get more interesing now that Munchkin is starting to take an interest in touching things and feeling with his fingers. They have allowed him to stroke them to date. His stroking is controlled and supervised (i.e. I have hold of his hand and "help" him along). Ex-hissy suffers from Anti-toddler syndrome as a result of an altercation some moons ago but she seems to be tolerant.....for now.

Magic moments

Not quite that poster of man and child - well, there is a shirt covering the six pack (!?) in this case for a start but a special picture regardless.

Munchkin ADORES his daddy. This is no exaggeration. Whatever sort of day Munchie has had as soon as his daddy walks in through the door the little boy beams and grins. This weekend, they boys have mainly been dancing. Well, T has been dancing and Munchkin has been laughing, really laughing. Everytime his dad walks into the room Munchkin stops anything he is doing and just stares at him and smiles. Not a lot comes between the Munchkin and his food but his Daddy does. Munchkin would rather abandon his food than to miss the opportunity to smile at his dad.

We spent Saturday in T's man cave (the garage). Munchkin has now been introduced to hammer drills, oil stones and chisels. He has also had a peek down the cellar. He seemed quite excited about it all. T is talking about getting him a pair of safety goggles and some teeny overalls.

Ah my lovely boys!!

Mine's a pint!

Munchkin has been introduced to his cup. This week he has been drinking water out of it. Well, drinking is a slight exaggeration. Mostly water dribbles out of his mouth...rather like a bit of a quick rinse to get rid of any sneaky bits of fruit, veg or baby rice that has managed to get stuck in his mouth.

This morning however, he managed to keep most of it in. Perhaps we could give him a tot of red wine in it at Christmas to wash down his pureed sprouts and parsnips. The results could be EXPLOSIVE! Note to self: Keep Munchie away from naked flames.