Mr. Fussy

This fussy eating this is getting old. I think dinner time is the worst - he just refuses to eat practically anything I give him, and ends up spitting it all out. It's driving me nuts. Yesterday he actually ate something, but it was what I'd call "junk" food (homemade potato wedges and chicken nuggets - I'm never buying them again, mine are SO much nicer, and healthier!). I would love it if he ate veggies more, but I can barely get them down him. I'm making roasted parsnips tonight so hopefully he'll manage to eat some of those. It's worth a shot. I've made bolognase sauce, raviolli, risotto... all from scratch, and he looks at me like I'm poisoning him. Ugh. I give up! He can just live off toast from now on :(

Bathtime!

Had a bath breakthrough today!! He finally sat down and played for a while! HOORAY!! I had to put him in his baby bath though - it's plenty big enough for him to sit and play in (much bigger than my old American ones) so it will be good for a while yet. It's nice to see him not freak out at the sight of bath water. I want my waterbaby back again!! Hopefully this summer we'll be able to go swimming without a full blown freak out. Fingers crossed!!

As I sit here typing, I'm smiling listening to my baby boy babble away to himself on the monitor (when he's supposed to be sleeping, I might add). It's been a tough afternoon, but hearing that makes the day end on a happy note. I love my prince charming :)

One of those days...

... I got yelled at today. For an hour. Why? Because I wouldn't let him pull the tv over on to himself. I'm a terrible mother. This positive discipline thing doesn't work with a one year old!! Arg!

Happier things - he's learnt to feed himself with a spoon/fork now. The look of concentration on his little face is so adorable. He can spend ages just sat at the high chair carefully putting bits of food onto his fork and negotiating how to get it into his mouth. It makes a nice change from him stuffing food in his mouth as if there's a famine. He's also really starting to get great at mimicking. He will grab my pad & pen, sit on the floor and try to write with the pen in hand. Which inevitably means my favourite outfit of his is now covered with biro marks from where he's managed to write. I finally managed to get his carseat straps looser so I have a bit more time before I'll need to get him the next seat up, which is pretty expensive and I can't afford right now. I save a little every month, so hopefully it will be ours soon. I'm so excited to get it. It will be fabulous to be able to keep him rear-facing until he's 4 or 5. If I had my way, he'd still be RFing in college :D

Testing my patience...

Another bad mama moment today - Raf fell off the sofa, backwards, head first. It was awful, I still feel sick remembering the crack his sweet little head made :( We didn't have a great day - he was shouting all day long and refused to take a nap. In the end, I had to put him in his baby jail and take a shower, it was just too much. I love him to pieces but boy does he test my sanity sometimes. I always hate Friday nights because I know in the morning I'm going to have to leave him to go to work and I hate that feeling. Especially knowing I'm going to be dealing with idiots all day long...

Better news - Sarah had her baby girl!! I'm so beyond ecstatic for her, couldn't have wished for a better start to the year for her and Scott. Welcome to the world, baby!

Gender roles

I'm tired and will probably rework this at some point - for now it remains more of an internal monologue :)

I just read a really interesting article about gender specific colours - and how the switch from pink as a boy's colour (rather than our contemporary interpretation of pink as a girl colour) came around WWII and the Nazi rule. Interesting how a fascist dictatorship can influence gender identity in such a profound way. Which makes me all the more determined to dress my boy in whatever colours I choose. Relating to that - I don't understand why gender expectations are forced upon our children before they're even born. Why does society feel the need to impress suffocating ideals of what boys or girls 'should' be? Parents often treat their sons and daughters differently - the concept that girls naturally talk earlier than boys is often because parents of girls talk to them much more than they would to their sons. Exposure to language inevitably leads to earlier language acquisition. They also respond faster to thei daughter's cries, cuddle them more, and are more likely to allow their boys to try things out like walking or climbing. In fact, boys are more fragile in infancy than girls - so why are we more likely to be comfortable with our boys exploring? It's that whole 'damsel in distress' thing, right? Gender expectations. We are constantly setting our children up for the roles they will play in their lives and it is ultimately our responsibility to allow them to grow and develop into well-rounded human beings. Allowing a boy to play with a doll doesn't mean he'll grow up to be a sissy, or gay (I constantly roll my eyes at that assumption) - it means he will be adopting the role of care-giver into his being. Colour is just that - colour. And toys? They are creating a wonderful world for children to play in. I refuse to force gender expectations on my one-year old, he will be facing a lifetime of that. So now when people comment on him wearing pink, or carrying around his doll, I will feel secure in the knowledge that he is a loving little person without the pressure of gender specificity.