8 months

This little guy is growing up. If all I had to do was look after him, I would be pretty busy. And tired. And looking after him is not exactly all I have to do!



He's still a very enthusiastic smiler.

He plays like mad. Sometimes frantically. The hosepipe was fascinating.

He's a pretty good napper. He mostly falls asleep pretty quickly with a quick snuggle or a bottle, and if we are out i pop him into the baby carrier and he sleeps. He wakes up a lot at night though, but to make up for it he usually sleeps until after 7. And that dummy is a pretty good friend of his.

He started creeping at 6 months, now he scoots everywhere. He can crawl on his knees a bit but he still chooses to scoot. 

He's at that "let me see if I can fit in here" stage.

This entertainer thing takes up precious space but it's worth it!

Food face - Mr A was the neatest eater ever. I hardly ever even put a bib on him. Baby J needs bibs and likes squishing his food. He likes his food, though!

Not quite big enough for the swing

Bucket of baby

Shoe cupboard joy - dirty old boots are the best toys ever!

So at 8 months Baby J can scoot on his tummy, crawl a bit, go from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting, kneel up against something, stand against the couch if I put him there, say mimimim, eat lumpy food, pull off his socks and turn over dustbins to eat the contents. He has 4 teeth and his hair is growing into a mohawk.  Oh yes, and if there was a wriggliest baby in the world competition he might just win!

Homeschool

Two whole terms of Grade One are finished! We finished a week before Mr R's school did - I was so done and really needed a break. I have enjoyed the work and enjoyed teaching my girl. I have struggled to juggle the baby and Mr A and there were a few days when not quite everything on our list got done. However, things are getting easier now that baby is older. He is more happy to crawl around and play, and his naps are more more predictable. I had imagined that my helper would help more with baby during school time but it never works out that way. On the days when she is here she mostly does the housework and babysit when I need to do grocery shopping or lift the big kids.




Here's Miss J doing Maths in the garden! Yes, her numbers were pretty messy but no more than they usually are :-)

 

Doing a worksheet with our littlest pupil - Mr A is not happy to go and play while we start school. At first he used to watch some TV but that was a disaster - he would scream for more when it was over, and Miss J could hear the TV and was very distracted. So now (if I am organized) I get a few worksheets for him to do with us, and I leave some puzzles or lego or playdo out for him to "find". If I say, "Why don't you go and get your blocks?" the answer will always be"NO!" However, if he happens to SPOT the tub of blocks on his own he might actually start playing with them! Then after a while he'll get bored and go and play outside, and by the time he's had enough of that we're done with school for the morning. Well - that's a good day. There are less successful ones of course.

 

Painting in the afternoon. I still find it so stressful to have paint flying around my dining room and dream of a sheltered outside area with a scruffy table where they can make as much paint and glue and glitter mess as they like. Maybe one day!

 

What's going on here ... yup, it's raisin incentives. One per sum when she hits the moans towards the end of the lesson. It works better with chocolate chips though!

 

And below you can see the biggest challenge to homeschooling: this little dude. But he is rather gorgeous :-)