Leila's eleventh month
This month, what with all the too-ing and fro-ing at the end of the summer break, we forgot to take a family portrait on the 21st. So instead of the usual family pic, here are a couple of others from that time.
Development and Play
Since getting back to Cairo Leila is just walking all the time now. A real advantage of living in a flat! We have fenced off a large area of the living room as a 'safe' zone, but as she grows in confidence we're just letting her walk all around the flat with us. We don't let her in the kitchen and we keep the doors to the spare room, spare bathrooms and laundry room shut, but otherwise she is a free range baby!
As the month has passed she has been falling over less and less and can really balance well. She has started to enjoy steps up and down which we let her do (holding our hands) on the ukulele case. She is also now able to get to standing from sitting by herself. This gives her a lot more freedom (and keeps us on our toes too!) and real independence. Leila also enjoy playing 'chase' and she's so good at not loosing her balance when she wobbles now. She can go on tip toes to try and get things (usually technology or when she really wants to be picked up).
Leila has started to learn about 'in and out' now and will put things into her box (and take everything out of course!) She sometimes does this with her food at the end of meals, but her preference is for dropping that on the floor still. She will give us things if we ask for them and hold our hands open.
Leila still absolutely loves music, daddy playing guitar and her books. Leila will clap and jiggle to music when it is playing, but she also will walk around clapping if she is happy. She is getting loads better at strumming her ukulele and whenever music is playing she can recognise dad's songs from the other 'baby friendly' music we have on the playlist. She is back into her chewing phase with books and I spend a few evenings each week selotaping spines and flaps back into her latest read.
Leila doesn't really have a number one favourite toy. She played a lot with Chimp over the summer and so likes to walk around holding him by the hand (or leg, or tail, or ear). Since coming back to Cairo she recognised the Were Bears (even though we had a baby Fang in London and a large Fang here, she still recognised him) and is perfecting her "raagh!" Leila does have some favourite books though; Dear Zoo and I Went to the Zoopermarket. Both are lift-the-flap books and we attempt some animal noises with them that she is starting to imitate (well, she only imitates the 'raagh' really!)
We've been going to all our usual 'social scene' now we are back home of Baby Group, Bounce and Rhyme and Toddler Club at the BCA on Saturdays. It is really funny to see Leila 'shy' again after a summer of being very outgoing. Although we tried to get her seeing other babies over the summer it was mainly adults that she saw, so it takes her a good 15 minutes to get comfortable at the start of each group. Her shyness isn't too bad, it's just that she wants to be close to me when we arrive and wants to quietly look at what is going on before she joins in.
Feeding/Eating
Leila has her good and her off days for food at the moment; sometimes eating lots and sometimes just eating one or two things from the range we put in front of her. Courgettes are still out, but cucumber is in, as are peas (frozen peas we love you!). She loves mash and porridge and pasta.
When we got back to Cairo we realised that Leila was refusing the bottle - mainly out of preference because she had become so used to breastfeeding over the summer. This cause a bit of a nightmare week as we tried to reintroduce it ready for me going back to work. She is OK taking a bottle with the (new) nanny, Ella, now. Sometimes it will be in a few 'sittings' or Ella will give her an ice lolly of breastmilk as a back-up.
Reintroduction of dairy into my diet continues to go well. It's hard to have dairy in my diet when I'm also trying to eat the same things as Leila, but I try to have a yoghurt in the evening now and cheese sandwiches when I am at work etc. We had a few nappies that looked like they could be mucousy, but we're not 100% sure so we're keeping going 'as is' until we see anything else.
Sleeping
Thankfully Leila remembered her own bed once we were back in Cairo and has been fine back in her own room too (if anything it took me longer to adjust to having the background noise of AC when trying to sleep and using a monitor again!)
She still wakes once or twice in the night. This can be as early as 1am or as late as 4am. I am trying to wait at least 5 minutes after I hear her call out before I go in, as sometimes she doesn't really need feeding and can just settle herself again.
Back in Cairo Leila has remember how to do a 'long nap' although she doesn't take a long one every day. It's amazing that some days she will nap for just an hour or so (2 x 35min) and other days can approach 3 hours (2 x 1.5hr)! We keep trying to have the same routine for naps and bedtime, but trying not to get too uptight about it either.
Teeth and Temperament
I would say that 'Leila's teeth continue to come' as it feels like she has been teething again here - biting, chewing, red cheeks etc, but there is no sign of her getting her sixth tooth yet. She is wonderfully gappy at the front now that her other front tooth is coming through. The 'Pennington Gap' is alive and well in this one!
Sometimes Leila will bite at the end of a feed. She knows that she shouldn't as she always does it gently and slowly and then turns to be with a grin on her face. I say 'no biting' and then take her off, so hopefully she will stop it one day.
Leila has become a little grumpy pants on occaision now and likes to get her way. If she is upset about something then she can really strop out and wails the house down whilst jiggling on the spot (she can't quite stamp her feet yet, but when she can I'll bet she will!). It's hard to find a balance between not wanting to give in all the time, but also having some rules (such as not in the kitchen and no mobile phones to suck.
Leila is gradually getting used to the new nanny, Ella. I think the hardest thing is her getting used to not having us around, rather than getting used to Ella, as she has had two solid months of 'mum and dad time'. I am in work all day Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday mornings. Leila tends to always cry on the Sunday when we both leave for work, but by the Tuesday morning she is just about OK about us leaving. It's nice to be back at work and teaching again, but it feels harder this year to balance home/work as it feels like there is always so much to do for both.
This month, what with all the too-ing and fro-ing at the end of the summer break, we forgot to take a family portrait on the 21st. So instead of the usual family pic, here are a couple of others from that time.
 |
| Exploring the kitchen at MVR |
 |
| Selfie! It's so hard to take a picture of Leila now as she is obsessed with technology! |
 |
| Dad and daughter. |
Development and Play
Since getting back to Cairo Leila is just walking all the time now. A real advantage of living in a flat! We have fenced off a large area of the living room as a 'safe' zone, but as she grows in confidence we're just letting her walk all around the flat with us. We don't let her in the kitchen and we keep the doors to the spare room, spare bathrooms and laundry room shut, but otherwise she is a free range baby!
As the month has passed she has been falling over less and less and can really balance well. She has started to enjoy steps up and down which we let her do (holding our hands) on the ukulele case. She is also now able to get to standing from sitting by herself. This gives her a lot more freedom (and keeps us on our toes too!) and real independence. Leila also enjoy playing 'chase' and she's so good at not loosing her balance when she wobbles now. She can go on tip toes to try and get things (usually technology or when she really wants to be picked up).
Leila has started to learn about 'in and out' now and will put things into her box (and take everything out of course!) She sometimes does this with her food at the end of meals, but her preference is for dropping that on the floor still. She will give us things if we ask for them and hold our hands open.
Leila still absolutely loves music, daddy playing guitar and her books. Leila will clap and jiggle to music when it is playing, but she also will walk around clapping if she is happy. She is getting loads better at strumming her ukulele and whenever music is playing she can recognise dad's songs from the other 'baby friendly' music we have on the playlist. She is back into her chewing phase with books and I spend a few evenings each week selotaping spines and flaps back into her latest read.
Leila doesn't really have a number one favourite toy. She played a lot with Chimp over the summer and so likes to walk around holding him by the hand (or leg, or tail, or ear). Since coming back to Cairo she recognised the Were Bears (even though we had a baby Fang in London and a large Fang here, she still recognised him) and is perfecting her "raagh!" Leila does have some favourite books though; Dear Zoo and I Went to the Zoopermarket. Both are lift-the-flap books and we attempt some animal noises with them that she is starting to imitate (well, she only imitates the 'raagh' really!)
We've been going to all our usual 'social scene' now we are back home of Baby Group, Bounce and Rhyme and Toddler Club at the BCA on Saturdays. It is really funny to see Leila 'shy' again after a summer of being very outgoing. Although we tried to get her seeing other babies over the summer it was mainly adults that she saw, so it takes her a good 15 minutes to get comfortable at the start of each group. Her shyness isn't too bad, it's just that she wants to be close to me when we arrive and wants to quietly look at what is going on before she joins in.
Feeding/Eating
Leila has her good and her off days for food at the moment; sometimes eating lots and sometimes just eating one or two things from the range we put in front of her. Courgettes are still out, but cucumber is in, as are peas (frozen peas we love you!). She loves mash and porridge and pasta.
When we got back to Cairo we realised that Leila was refusing the bottle - mainly out of preference because she had become so used to breastfeeding over the summer. This cause a bit of a nightmare week as we tried to reintroduce it ready for me going back to work. She is OK taking a bottle with the (new) nanny, Ella, now. Sometimes it will be in a few 'sittings' or Ella will give her an ice lolly of breastmilk as a back-up.
Reintroduction of dairy into my diet continues to go well. It's hard to have dairy in my diet when I'm also trying to eat the same things as Leila, but I try to have a yoghurt in the evening now and cheese sandwiches when I am at work etc. We had a few nappies that looked like they could be mucousy, but we're not 100% sure so we're keeping going 'as is' until we see anything else.
Sleeping
Thankfully Leila remembered her own bed once we were back in Cairo and has been fine back in her own room too (if anything it took me longer to adjust to having the background noise of AC when trying to sleep and using a monitor again!)
She still wakes once or twice in the night. This can be as early as 1am or as late as 4am. I am trying to wait at least 5 minutes after I hear her call out before I go in, as sometimes she doesn't really need feeding and can just settle herself again.
Back in Cairo Leila has remember how to do a 'long nap' although she doesn't take a long one every day. It's amazing that some days she will nap for just an hour or so (2 x 35min) and other days can approach 3 hours (2 x 1.5hr)! We keep trying to have the same routine for naps and bedtime, but trying not to get too uptight about it either.
Teeth and Temperament
I would say that 'Leila's teeth continue to come' as it feels like she has been teething again here - biting, chewing, red cheeks etc, but there is no sign of her getting her sixth tooth yet. She is wonderfully gappy at the front now that her other front tooth is coming through. The 'Pennington Gap' is alive and well in this one!
Sometimes Leila will bite at the end of a feed. She knows that she shouldn't as she always does it gently and slowly and then turns to be with a grin on her face. I say 'no biting' and then take her off, so hopefully she will stop it one day.
Leila has become a little grumpy pants on occaision now and likes to get her way. If she is upset about something then she can really strop out and wails the house down whilst jiggling on the spot (she can't quite stamp her feet yet, but when she can I'll bet she will!). It's hard to find a balance between not wanting to give in all the time, but also having some rules (such as not in the kitchen and no mobile phones to suck.
Leila is gradually getting used to the new nanny, Ella. I think the hardest thing is her getting used to not having us around, rather than getting used to Ella, as she has had two solid months of 'mum and dad time'. I am in work all day Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday mornings. Leila tends to always cry on the Sunday when we both leave for work, but by the Tuesday morning she is just about OK about us leaving. It's nice to be back at work and teaching again, but it feels harder this year to balance home/work as it feels like there is always so much to do for both.
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