Orange food – I like it but only if I can feed myself

Orange is my least favourite colour of all time. I can’t stand it. I will reject items that are orange just because of the colour. Sets of multicoloured interlocking plastic rings designed to hold toys on to the pram have the orange rings removed and discarded. That’s how much I hate orange.

Benedict quite likes orange things. Orange stacking ring from the set is his favourite. The orange one of the stacking bath toys is of course, his favourite. Mostly this doesn’t matter.

Benedict's new chair

The new phase of eating is going well. Benedict is enjoying a range of food, baby porridge, farex, apple puree, pear puree, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots. Lots and lots of orange vegetables. It seems most things that puree well are orange. Even commercial baby food is predominantly orange.

Orange things are nutritious. No doubt. Some orange food is delicious. But an orange food is very very difficult to get out of fabric. At the beginning of the new phase of eating Benedict was happy just to open his mouth and let the food come in. Then he decided one day last week that he would only eat if he could hold the spoon. When I say hold I mean have complete control of the eating experience.

This new-found independence is a fantastic accomplishment. A sign of a strong mind. It also means what last week took 15 minutes now takes up to 30. It also results in a thin film of orange over every surface Benedict’s hands come into contact with. This thin film covers him: his hands, his face, his hair, his bib, his clothes, the face washer, my hands, sometimes my hair, the chair and the table. That’s a lot of orange everywhere! And a lot of washing and soaking of orange food stained clothes.

Maternity leave – the six month review

The six month review

When I was still pregnant and thinking about being on leave I made some plans. Not plans about being a mother but rather plans for what I would do. Emphasis on the I.

Like any chance to change the way you do things that has a lead in time, I planned some of the things I wanted to do and achieve during this life changing experience. Other than have my life changed, of course.

Here’s the review of the plans and how I am progressing

1. Starting at the National Gallery and spiraling out, see the galleries of Canberra – all of them.

Total number of gallery visits – 3. Number of galleries visited – 2. Hmmm. I did however experience the great masters from the Musée d’Orsay with Robert and without queuing.

2. Try not to eat like it’s going out of style so I can go back to work looking better than when I got pregnant.

Afternoon tea anyone? Toast in the middle of the night anyone? Oh look my fridge has six (count them) types of cheese in it as we speak.

3. Keep the house tidy and really get stuck into the garden

Tidy house worked for a while till my arm started to hurt. So it is tidy but not exactly clean. I am allowed to do a bit of fey dusting and wiping. Garden? Well I planted some rocket and spinach and I planted out two lots of flower seedlings for our seasonal display. But as for a huge vegetable garden – well not really. I did however sort out the compost.

4. No daytime television

Well in my defense – Parliamentary Question Time and In the night garden – 5-30 to 6pm, a blissful thirty minutes of happy calm and distracted infant.

5. Catch up on the New Yorkers and then stay caught up

See entry on this point ‘The New Yorkers are piling up’ with the pile piling up. It’s still piling up.

6. Walk everyday

Next!

7. Cook

Moderate success. I have made several batches of biscuits for mothers’ group, a few cakes, lots of middle of road dinner and even some good ones.

8. Write

I am. Slowly.

There were more crazy plans and expectations. Mothering is a tremendous freedom from the usual constraints of one’s life. It is coupled with meeting the demands of someone whose needs know no temporal, physical, emotional or mental bounds or limits. Everyday I try to do my best.

Of course I have an email address

@me baby

After Benedict was born Robert and I composed a nice email to send around complete with photos. Of course before we did this – have Benedict I mean – we should have made a consolidated list. We didn’t. So we scrambled around trying in our ‘we just had a baby’ fog to remember everyone and their addresses. While we were doing all this, I set up Robert’s new email account. At the same time we made one for Benedict. It’s important as a 21st century baby to be connected.  It is equally important too that you get the address on gmail you want – helps if you were an early invitee like me or if you have an unusual name. So you can email Benedict anytime you like.

Sitting, sitting, sitting

Sitting pretty

Benedict has been good at sitting since he turned four months but now he can sit and sit for up to half an hour. Steady and completely relaxed he just observes and passed his toys from hand to hand or hand to mouth. Eventually his ideas will overreach his capacity and he will gently lean to one side and then move onto his hands and knees.

Benedict’s first cold

We are laid low this week. Benedict succumbed to his first cold on Friday and has been a snotty snuffly little baby since. Apart from Friday night which was rough on Robert – who rocked and shushed a lot while I gratefully slept on – Benedict has been mostly cheerful!

Now of course I have the cold. Grrrr. I managed a sleep today after a round of yoga nidra – I did the short one and then didn’t turn off the CD – by the middle of the long one I was sound asleep. I woke 2 hours later to an awake baby lying quietly in his bed gazing at his new wall freeze and smiling. Sweet!

Wide eyed boy