This post is for week ending Sunday 26th October 2008.

Another busy week for the Warren family...George has starting to grab and hold onto the various toys on his activity mat and chair as well those that you dangle over his head. Jo and Phil are lending us their exersaucer so that will give him a different perspective and range of toys to latch on to!

His big development milestone is that he's started to roll over - from his back to his right side. He gets frustrated when his arms get stuck underneath him and he can't make it onto his tummy. All you need to do is give him a bit of a nudge and then he's right.

We're starting to find him all over his cot. As a result his bald patch is not showing any signs of repairing. He's also doing more smiling and has just started to giggle. He seems to like having a bit of a "party for one" at 3am - lots of talking and laughing in the middle of the night in his pitch black room!

We've broken out Joseph's summer wardrobe and he's worn shorts and t-shirts to Bear Park all week. He really likes wearing t-shirts with animals on them and the purple elephant one from Rebecca in Cambodia is a particular favourite at the moment (he even wore it to bed last night).

Here's a shot of me and Joseph taken on Friday night after our fish and chip dinner. Joseph is eating a gingerbread man and wearing a tshirt with a snake on it!

It has just been Labour Weekend here and Dan took Joseph to the zoo on Monday...here's a picture of them just before they left (Joseph is wearing a t-shirt from his Godmother, Vicky).

Final picture of the week is of the brothers.

This post is for w/e Sunday 19th October.

George had a big morning sleep last Monday and woke up with a whole new vocabulary...he has been talking up a storm, very busy telling me what he's up to. He loves to suck his hands and wave them around in the air. We have noticed that he is starting to connect and hold onto objects that are hanging over his head on the activity mat. The other thing he has started to do is suck his thumb (and only the right one). He doesn't do it all the time and most often when he is going off to sleep. I am now feeding him every four hours during the day and the last few nights he has slept from 7pm - 3am...I think we are getting closer to sleeping through the night!

Joseph and I have been reading "The Three Little Pigs" and on Thursday I made him a house with a chimney. I got to be "Mummy Wolf" and he was one of the pigs. We had a great time re-enacting the story together.

On Friday night, we had Robert and Patricia stay (Robert is Kate's (my sister) brother in law). They were quickly adopted by Joseph as new blood to read him unlimited stories. Here is Patricia and Joseph reading the Richard Scarry Dictionary (one of the current favourite books).


Saturday morning saw Joseph and I head off to the YMCA for our first gymnastics class...we're doing a nine week course. I haven't got any pictures of this (yet) as the parent helps the child do the activities and Dan was at home with George. There were only about six children there and Joseph was the only boy. All the girls had been last term so they knew what to do - I am sure we will learn quickly! They set up the gymnasium with all sorts of activities (ladders, ramps, slides, tunnels, trampolines etc) and then the children can explore everything at their own pace. Joseph enjoyed the trampoline and the balance beam. After that Joseph and I went to the library to refresh our book stock.

The weather is getting warmer and I've started to break out some of Joseph's new summer clothes. Last night he wore his new shortie pj's - here is his doing his best shark impersonation.

And then from this morning, Joseph in new shorts and purple tshirt from cousin Rebecca in Cambodia (he specifically asked for his purple tshirt - I'd selecte a green polo but he wasn't interested!). George is in hand-me-down clothes from Joseph! But Joseph was so much bigger that he hardly wore these!

This post is for w/c Sunday 12th October.

George was still recovering from his immunisations - evidenced by upset sleep and feeding routines. I ended up taking George to Plunket for a weigh in as I was worried he wasn't feeding enough. However, he'd put on 330gm since his weigh in 10 days previously (he's now 6.5kg). They did however recommend pushing his feeds out to every fours. I started that last Friday and it has taken a few days to get things sorted. We've also stopped wrapping George when he goes to sleep - so he's had to adjsut to have his arms free. Dan has also started giving George a bottle about 11pm - we're trying (very hard) to get George sleeping a bit longer through the night. That's still a work in progress!

He's going great guns with his tummy time and he loves sucking his hands. We were wondering if there was a tooth coming through...I'm not entirely sure but it does feel quite suspicious down on the gum line!

Here's a picture of George and I taken last Friday - he's got a cute (new) suit from Grandma Milly on.

Joseph is in a bit of a "tidy tidy" phase and likes to have a cloth on hand when he eats, dislikes crumbs being on the table and likes to line up his trucks and cars. Here's evidence of this - downstairs on the table and then upstairs in bed. He likes to take various vehicles to bed and Dan is often dispatched downstairs to fetch a "missing" car or truck before he will go to sleep.


He also had his haircut on Saturday (photos next week) - this was the first time that he didn't cry and we got a better hairtcut as a result. After the haircut, Joseph and I went to Kelly Tarlton's (the aquarium) with Finn (and his Mum, Megan, and Finn's brother, Myles). Joseph has been talking about the "train" we went on and also the whale (a mechanical orca's head that comes out of the water at the end of the train trip (the train is a little motorised wagon that goes past the penguins in the antarctic section).

Finally, here's a variation on the usual brother photo...

Joseph looks enormous in comparison to George!

This post is for w/c Sunday 5th October.

Poor old George had his three month injections on Monday...it was a long week! Poor sleeping and poor feeding (although now he's making up as he's feeding like a demon!). It is also a week since he's done a poo so I'm sure he's got a sore tummy as well. I am not looking forward to the poo when it does arrive (ie it will be massive and probably very smelly!!). He has however been quite smiley and happy in between times and I managed to capture his cute wee smile last Wednesday (you might recognise the outfit and the chair from Joseph's early days!).


When we drop off/pick up Joseph from Bear Park, I usually take George in with me (so he can get used to the noise and the kids/teachers). He's a big hit with all the girls and usually gets quite a bit of facial attention. Joseph tends to bust in after a while with some comment about how George is "his" brother.

Joseph has had a really good week - we did some "tough love" on the sleep front and he's been sleeping through from 8pm - 5.30am. He also started doing some "swimming" on his tummy in the bath (being a whale he informs us) and, miracles of miracles, asked to sit on the toilet and wear undies! Here he is on Friday night with the remnants of his tiger painted face. I think he looks like a coal miner!


It was Heritage Week in Auckland and we went on the boat tour of the Port of Auckland on Saturday morning. Joseph really enjoyed it - boats, cranes, flashing lights, trucks, ships - many of his favourite things.


After that we went to a cafe for brunch - Joseph enjoyed my toast and hot chocolate!