Friday - first spoon in the mouth!

Lots of things happened today!

We had lunch together, I sat next to Alina on the floor so she could see me eating with the spoon. I also gave her a spoon to practice. She has enjoyed it! The only thing is because I was sitting to the left of her, she moved the spoon into the left hand to copy me easier.

There is also a video on youtube

Then I put her on her belly in front of the mirror and she was seriously looking at herself for the first time! She was touching herself and the reflection.

Alina also practiced to turn from her belly onto her back, and enjoyed it! She was signing along with the radio as well

Click here for video

Latest update

Busy day today... first went to post-natal classes, where the subject was weaning (or introducing normal food). It's all a bit vague, basically they say WHO recommends to star giving solids from 6 months but it's up to you to follow this or not. They also introduced a concept "baby lead weaning" when you give baby finger food on a plate (cut fruits, boiled vegetable sticks) and let baby choose what to pick up.
After the class we went to weigh Alina, she is now 7.34kg which is more than double her birth weight of 3.56kg! She is doing so well, and still holds on 75th percentile. The weight gaining is slowing down now as she becomes more active during the day, which is normal.
Then we went to see grandparents. At first Alina was in a bit grumpy mood, didn't want to smile to granny. But then she cheered up, was smiling, talking and demonstrating how she can roll over from tummy to back. She can support herself so well on the front, putting all the chest up with arms straight!

Novosti vkradtse: hodili na klassy, segodnya obyasnyali kak i kogda nachinat davat normalnuyu pischu rebenku. Vse neopredelenno, skazali chto voobsche-to nado zhdat do 6i mesyatsev, no reshat vam. Davat mozhno s 6i mesyatsev vse, a do etogo tolko ovoschi i frukty. Yesche rasskazyvali o metode prikarmlivaniya kogda malysh sam reshayet chto i kogda yest', kormish ne s lozhki a kladesh na tarelku.
Vzvesilis, uzhe 7.34kg! rodovoy ves udvoili, idem strogo po krivoy.
Babushke i dedushke demonstrirovali kak mozhem perevorachivatsya i gromko pet'.

Turning around

Alina nauchilas povorachivatsya po krugu. Kak-to ona nogami i popoy dvigayetsya i krutitsya.. ya yeye polozhila na kovrik kak vsegda, golovoy okolo kamina, prihozhu, a u neye uzhe nogi okolo kamina.
A yesche Alina teper gromko poyet... my paru raz dumali chto ona krichit, no net, eto ona tak radostno igrushkam poyet.

Alina can now turn around in circle. She moves her bum & legs, and can end up with head where legs used to be. She also started singing very loudly to her toys, "squealing in delight" as the book puts it.

Jump!

We have also tried to put Alina in her new jump seat. She liked it, but it's still too big for her as her feet are not reaching the floor yet. We've put it away for another couple of weeks.

Nice weekend

The weather was so nice this weekend! Sunshine, blue sky, and the temperature was higher than in Barcelona according to the radio! It was a bit too hot for Alina in the evening, +24, she struggled to fall asleep the first night.
We went to Blenheim palace on Sunday, it's the home of Winston Churchill. They had food and art festival in the grounds of palace. Basically a lot of local artists and food producers had small stands in big tents. We tested some samples, and then settled for ice-cream & tea outside.
Then we went for a long walk around the gardens of the palace. I tried to show the fountains to Alina, but she was more interested in the toys.

Alina was very well behaved, and slept most way there & back in the car, and also in the pram... she also kept pulling her dress up, so everyone can see her bright tights.

butylka

Segodnya dali Aline pervuyu butylku s ruchkami, kak perehodnuyu k chashke. Ona ochen horosho za neye derzhitsya, tolko bulylka slishkom bolshaya, ALina bolshe v nos i v glaz chem v rot popadala. Ya yey snachala na kolenyah dala, a potom v yeye Bumbo siden'ye posadila i yesche chut'-chut' dala poigrat. A yesche my segodnya kupili pervuyu zubnuyu schetku, tozhe skoro prigoditsya.

Alina was trying on her first self-feeding bottle today. I gave her some water, and she enjoyed holding it, however it's still too big & uncomfortable to drink for her. She was trying to grab my cup yesterday and today, so I think she is more or less ready. We bought also a smaller cup on the web, it might be more comfortable.

Weekly girls meeting

Today we were meeting with girls & babies from NCT class. Alina does pay attention to other babies, and of course their mothers. She studies everyone so carefully. We went to Jenny's and after playing for a while she fall asleep in her pram. When she woke up I tickled her, and she laughed ever so sweetly. She is now enjoying sitting in her Bumbo sit for a bit longer, which is good.

Busy day!

Today was quite a busy day... first I have made the special cards for Alina as recommended in Miriam Stoppard baby games book. Basically it's 4 big cards, one has 1 big & 1 small triangle, 1big & 1 small circle, and 1 big & 1 small romb; all of these has small above the big. The 4th card has big triangle above the small. You show 3 cards & explain small vs. big, on the 4th card the child would pay extra attention. Alina did not pay much attention at all!
Then we went to the weekly postnatal class, they taught us how what type of illnesses there are and what to do. Especially it was useful for teething, as they showed some useful gels, and granules. Alina really likes looking at other babies, she studies them closely. She also paid some attention to Buffy, shenormally ignores the cat, but today followed her with eyes when Buffy walked in.
We also went to see granny & grandad for a cup of tea. We first played inside for a bit, and then went for a walk. Alina behaved ever so well, she now has a new habit of touching someone's face, studying it... here is the picture of her studying grannie's face :)

66cm long! tall girl

completely forgotten, i measured Alina yesterday, she is already 65-66cm long!

Vaccinations & cuddly toy video

Well, we just had our 3rd vaccinations, there were 3 injections in total. John came with us, and was holding Alina while the nurce did injections. Alina was very good, only cried a little bit. John comforted her, and even dressed her up afterwards - great dad!

Alina likes to hide her nose in the toys, it's really cute the way she puts them over her face... but then sometimes gets scared & starts crying. I've posted a video on youtube... if you click on the title it should take you there.

Segodnya hodili delat Aline privivki, 3 ukola... John byl s nami, Alina u nego na kolenyah sidela. Ona ochen snachala rasplakalas, no potom uspokoilas bystro.

Yesche Aline ochen nravitsya yeye myagkiye igrushki na nos natyagivat' :) yesli kliknut myshkoy na zagolovke Vaccinations & cuddly toy video, to srazu na video pereydet.

update

Well, sleeping continues to be fine... fingers crossed... Alina briefly woke up at 5, then at 5:30. but both times have settled herself.
She also turned from back to front 3 times in a row yesterday (it's all about practice!)
She also was blowing bubbles with her mouth and spitting at birds, really funny, shame I didnt have a camera in time. She now can hold a toy with both hands and likes studying it for a while. She can also hold 2 things with different hands.

Alina opyat' prospala do utra! Pravda prosypalas v 5 i v 5:30, no oba raza sama bystro zasypala. Tak chto poka (tfu-tfu) trenirovka rabotayet. Yesche ona sama 3 raza perevernulas v zhivota na spinu. potom pravda ustala i nachala plakat'... Yesche ona teper igrushki mozhet derzhat obeimi rukami, i po-dolgu ih rassmatrivayet. Ya vsera fotki snyala, vylozhu kak smogu

Alina is learning to laugh

Alina is trying to laungh when she finds something funny. It's usually just a short little giggle.
She likes when someone is making strange noises or blowing ruspberries, when you tickle her.
It's very difficult to cupture these moments on camera, as soon as she sees the camera she starts looking at it & becomes very serious.

Sleeping beauty

Alina slept till 7 a.m.! hey-ho!
Alina prospala do utra, okolo 5i prosnulas povorochalas i opyat usnula

Nogi v ruki (feet in hands)

Ochen Aline nravitsya nogi v ruki brat'. Kazhdoye utro kak prosnyetsya, srazu ih hvatayet. A yesche kogda podguzniki menyayem, tozhe srazu obe hvatayet. Inogda pytayetsya i do rta donesti, no pochemu-to vsegda kulak snachala vo rtu okazyvayetsya. Ya yey pomogayu inogda, no yey samoy interesney.

Stopy u neye uzhe dlinnye 8.5cm!

Alina loves to put her feet into her hands, especially when we change her nappies. Her feet are becoming really long, I measured 8.5cm. Can't measure her heighth as she allways clunches to her feet :)

Red tights

We started wearing the new tights from Next, they are so bright! Alina has so many outfits, and she grows out of them so quickly. So we finally started wearing her dresses with tights.

She really likes it when I put the tights on, mainly when the legs are done & I lift her bottom, she finds it so funny!

The stripy outfit we planned to wear for the weekly meeting of our NCT group, but Alina manged to puke on the dress, so I had to change it. The tights stayed clean!

Na pervoy kartinke polosataya koftochka i platye kotoriye nam tetya Valya podarila. Alina vrode seychas menshe stala voyevat kogda yey kofty cherez golovy odevayesh, i rukava pomogayet prosovyvat'. A yesche yey ochen nravistya shtany i kolgotki odevat. Osobenno poslenyaya chast gde nuzhno popu podnimat' i na zhivot natyagivat'. My i platya vse cherez nogi odevayem.

The first post on a blog

This blog is dedicated to our daughter - Alina Sofia WIlkins. She was born on 11th of January 2009, and already 4 months now. I thought it's a good place to write about the new things, developments, which happen almost every day. That is if I find time to do it on a regular basis. Will see...

Progress so far: Alina has managed to turn from her belly to the back 3 times last week! She also loves to grab her feet with little hands.

She managed to sleep all through the night on Thursday! That is from 10:30 till 7 a.m. ! So we decided to take a brave step and train her to sleep this weekend. On Friday night it was a real struggle, she screamed and screamed for half hour. Then we gave her some water with bit of sugar, and she finally settled. Last night was much better, she settled within half hour with only a couple of visits even without the water.

Uchim devochku spat' nochyu. Ne znayu poluchitsya li, no poka probuyem. V pervuyu noch ona s nami voyevala silno. Prosnulas v okolo pol pyatogo utra. John k ney hodil neskolko raz vstavlyal v rot sosku, no bespolezno. Nalili 50ml ukropnoy vody, ona u nego pit' ne stala. Togda ya poshla, u menya vodu vsyu vypila, povoyevala, to okolo 5:30 nachala zasypat. Prospala do 8i utra. Na sleduyuschuyu noch opyat prosnulas okolo 4:40, John paru raz shodil i ya odin raz shodila, samoye glavnoye 5min vyderzhivat mezhdu pohodami, ona sama nachinayet zatihat'. Vodu opyat naveli, no ona i ne ponadobilas, sama cherez pol chasa usnula. V 7 prosnulas.