Teeth and toes

13 July - After two days of super gringy-ness from Leila in the afternoons, we spied the first spec of white in her mouth this morning.  Months after we first thought she might be teething we are finally there!

16 July - Her bottom right tooth is really starting to come through now and you can feel it (if she lets you get your finger in her mouth!) all sharp and jagged!

27 July - Totally out of the blue we noticed Leila's top gum looking translucent this morning and by the afternoon (when we were able to get a better look / finger in!) we are pretty sure that her second tooth is coming through.  It's amazing that she wasn't gringy at all in the days leading up to this - and pretty funny to think her first two teeth will be 'one up, one down'!

29 July - Teething is in full swing now it seems as the bottom left tooth has been sighted ;-)  Here we go!

In terms of 'toes', since coming to the UK for the summer Leila has become more and more confident at 'walking'.  She has taken a few 'first steps' at all three grandparent's homes but it still feels like momentum that is carrying her forward when she is 'hands free'!

Leila started the summer insisting on 'walking' while holding on to us with both hands and leading her around, but after a week or so we found we could get her to walk holding just one hand as long as she had something else in her other hand to hold!

We have been trying to increase her confidence with the help of a 'walker' (thanks to 'Skip Hunters 110' for that find!!) but the problem has been that the flatest, and most even surfaces, are also the hardest! Hopefully carpet and grassy gardens will mean we can try to get her to take more and more steps on her own with a cushioned surface ready for the inevitable tumbles :-) 

Leila's ninth month

This month has been a month of change - change for Leila in her development, and change of scene for us all, as this month we started our summer holiday!

Development / Play
Leila  remains keen to 'walk' as often as possible and it is really hard on our backs! She can do one-handed walking quite well, especially if we give her a toy to hold in her other hand (as a distraction, rather than a balancing aid!)  This month she has taken some steps on her own.  These have maybe been more like stumbles between us, with momentum carrying her forward, but she is getting there.

This month Leila has been seeing adults a lot more and we really noticed this when we took her to a soft play area in a cafe in Buxton where there were other babies playing.  She went straight up to the other babies there and started to stare (!) and then 'talk' to them.

Leila is enjoying lift-the-flap books at the moment and of course daddy's guitar playing and singing.  We have also discovered a talent for musical egg playing!

Feeding / Eating

Leila is gradually reducing the milk she is taking but is still keeping the same number of feeds a day. She feeds in the morning and before each nap and before bed at night.

Leila is also diversifying the food she is eating at meal times and (sometimes) eating more. She still loves broc, but also is enjoying rice cakes, rusks, cucumber and potato wedges. A great new favourite food is corn on the cob - this keeps her busy for hours as she gnaws away at it with her gums and emerging teeth! We have discovered that if her favourite food is in front of her then that's all she wants to eat and she will ignore anything else!

We finally had out appointment with the specialist this month and were really pleased with how it went. He confirmed a dairy intolerance, but not a dairy, lactose or milk allergy (thankfully).  We can't do any tests at this stage, so what we need to do is gradually reintroduce dairy into my diet and see how Leila responds.  I am starting with butter and hard cheese - fingers crossed!

Sleeping

Leila is waking again for a night feed around 3am. We didn't think the 'sleeping through' would last so this might be a slight regression in that sense, but we also think the fact that we are constantly changing location this summer might be unsettling her. Leila has also been struggling to sleep.

Since being in the UK on holiday, Leila hasn't done many 'long' naps, so we are back to 35 minute breaks which is tiring.  This month though she has gradually changed from three short naps (morning, pre-lunch and afternoon) to just two (morning and afternoon).  This kind of makes lunch time a little easier to plan and gives more time for a morning activity after her first nap.

An added problem with napping and sleeping for Leila this month has been how light it stays at night in the UK (getting dark after 9pm instead of at 7pm in Cairo) and trying to fashion some makeshift blackout blinds to the windows to aid daytime napping.

Travel
So far this month we have been in Cairo, London, Buxton and Cambridge.  We have travelled by car, train and plane. We finally had a good flight with Leila as it was a morning flight and so she only needed to go to sleep for one nap.  Scott got her to sleep in the sling and then managed to transfer her to the bassinet - our meal arrived while she was asleep too which was a bonus!  The longest car journey she has done was the 90 minute drive to Cambridge from London and this was a push for her as she was starting to get gringy towards the end.  She is very happy with train journies as she can look out of the window and sit in the space between us.  However, we have been told that investing in a Family and Friends Railcard will make it cheaper overall for the three of us travel, plus give Leila her own seat, so we'll investigate doing this.

Playtime in the Pavilion Gardens (Buxton)