The cat's meow

The best seat in the house

Sorry guys, we're taking a little break from John today. These are our cats, Bailey and Mary - they found one of John's blankets thrown in the laundry pile after tummy-time. They didn't leave it for the entire day. They learned pretty early on that the best things in life belong to John, including the softest blankets. They've really warmed up to John. They still slink out of the room if he starts to cry, but they'll come right up to him to be pet, even though that's mostly him grabbing handfulls of fur or whiskers, or tail, or ear, and pulling hard. They're very patient, and take it all in stride.

John's doing well. You can look forward to more pictures of him slathered in cereal in the near future - he's actually READY for solids now. (As opposed to just the minimum recommended age.) He's showing all the signs you're supposed to watch for - mouthing, well, everything; waking up when we eat dinner; lunging at our plates; grabbing at our food; watching intently as our fork moves from plate to mouth. Sometimes, his mouth even opens when ours does. He used to grab before, but this is different - before it was more just idle curiosity -now there's some serious intention behind it. And now, he's starting to wake up in the night for an extra meal or two. So, I'm feeling better about starting now. I humoured Mike and let him feed John earlier, but it was so obvious he wasn't ready. Except for a couple of open mouths the first time, his mouth was clamped shut for each bite, he'd turn his head from side to side, he'd spit nearly everything straight back out. He looked miserable. It was horrible. I mean, it was fun, but we were definitely the only ones enjoying it. I think it'll probably go a little smoother now. I just hope that rash wasn't related at all. I'm going to wait until Mike's work slows enough that he can be around. He enjoys it so much - he's kind of claimed solid feedings as his job. He doesn't mix the cereal, or clean up after, or even get John bibbed and ready (or change the yicky cereal-poop diapers). He just likes to shovel it in. But hey, it's something, right?

John's even taking a lot of interest in cups. Several times now, I've held him while having a cup of milk, and he grabs the rim of the glass, and pulls it to him, so he can look inside to see what's there, and then mouths the rim. If it weren't so heavy, I think he'd try to drink from it too - not because he's thirsty, just to see what I'm doing. I know the public health nurse said to start the cup around six months, but I'm so not ready to be replaced by a cup yet. Mike keeps joking that he's going to have to wean me off breastfeeding. He's probably right.