Can you believe that this is Reuben’s second to last monthly update? 🙁
I can’t get over the fact that it’s only a month until my child is one. The child that I gave birth to like last week. W H E R E does time go?! Where?! I think once Reuben hits a year old I’m going to start doing an update every 6 months, maybe less. I haven’t really decided yet but it seems a bit mad to do like a 12, 13, 14 etc monthly update? Let me know if you think otherwise. He’s learnt to do loads over the past month, he is developing like you don’t know what. He’s constantly exploring and learning, I love it!
New Things
I mentioned last month how Ru was getting better & better at standing, well he now stands all of the time on his own. He can fully lift himself up off the floor to stand without using furniture to help and he’s absolutely aced lowering himself down, we never have any falls. He took his first steps since the last update too! I saw him walk on his own out of the corner of my eye, it wasn’t even prompted. He’s still quite wary about doing it and relies on crawling most of the time, but he does keep practicing and taking steps when there’s something in his reach that he can rely on if he hasn’t quite got his balance right. He’s great at walking with me just holding one of his hands by my pinky finger, he really doesn’t need much support at all. I think it’s just a confidence issue he’s got where he just doesn’t trust himself to do it on his own. He’s always taking steps here and there and I think once he’s built his confidence up, he will be off!
We’ve started doing loads of baby led weaning lately. I’ve never been a fan of it due to the mess, but I just bit my tongue and gradually started introducing lots of solid foods to Ru to feed himself because he has to learn at some point. I tend to do a mix of BLW and feeding him myself as some meals he can’t eat very well on his own yet. He hardly eats anything pureed now, if I’m feeding him, it’s usually things I’ve cooked like shepherd’s pie or spag bol etc. For BLW, I’ve been giving him things like fruit, mainly bananas and pears when they’re a bit softer. He’s also had a mix of toast, crumpets, croissants and brioche for breakfast (not all at once, on different days lol.) I just keep introducing him to new foods really, the most recent meals that have gone down really well are chicken casserole (I fed him that one) and cheese on toast which he feeds himself at lunch time. It is quite a messy process and he is still very fussy, but I’m sure he will learn to eat whats in front of him eventually or he’ll just be hungry!
Something that he’s very recently started doing is growling. I’m not sure if he’s pretending to be a tiger or it’s because I chase him round the room growling at him pretending to be a scary monster and he’s just copying me! Whichever it is, it’s really really cute (like everything he does is) and I keep growling at him just to get him to do it back haha! Another really cute thing he’s started doing is playing peekaboo. I often hold up a blanket or towel in front of his face and go “where’s Reuben?” then pull it away and shout “there he is!” and he’s started lifting blankets up himself and hiding behind it so I’ll say it and then he pops his head up and laughs. It’s so frickin’ adorable guys. I can’t.
He’s said his SECOND WORD YAY. It came out of nowhere but one day I just shouted ‘hiya’ to him and I heard this little ‘IYA’ back, it was the cutest thing ever. I’ve only heard him say it twice since, but I ain’t letting go that easily, I will get him to say it again!! He also now has a third tooth, which I had no idea was there. One day he bit my finger and I felt it on the top and discovered he had a fully grown tooth on the top gum! You can sometimes see it when he smiles really wide and it’s so adorable, it’s really random because it’s on the right hand side, but nevertheless it is cute af.
Favourite Things
He’s ALWAYS dancing now, it’s his favourite thing to do. I don’t even know where it came from, nobody taught him how to dance. He just suddenly started bobbing along whenever there was music playing, and then it turned to full on swaying and twerking! He also started doing a dance using his arms where he twists from side to side with his elbows, I’ll have to try and video it because it’s so funny!! He starts dancing when he hears the split second of a theme tune he likes on CBeebies, like he actually knows the song that’s about to start and dances to it before it’s even started. He is so cute.
Something he now loves is basically anything that has wheels. He’s obsessed with the hoover and just pulling it backwards and forwards to watch it move! He’s such a boy isn’t he? He has a wooden toy with wheels on and he just pushes it around the room, it’s so cute. He also has a toy truck that he’s obsessed with as he can push that around too. I think for his birthday I’m going to buy him lots of toy cars and vehicles, and just anything with wheels because they are definitely his new favourites. I’m also thinking about buying him a rocking horse, either that or a slide, not sure which yet… I definitely don’t have room for both!
I read on the wonder weeks app the other day that he’s past the stage of destroying everything (he definitely isn’t) and is now at the stage where he likes to do the opposite and put things back together. It’s half true. I have noticed lately that he’s obsessed with trying to put lids back on things. I’ll leave his bottle of juice with him to drink whenever he likes and I’ll usually take the lid off as he can’t take them off yet, and he will sit there and put it back on again. He also sat happily for a good 20 minutes taking a lid off a bottle of perfume and putting it back on again. Even when he had the lid the wrong way around, he turned it over and put it on the right way. He’s such a little clever clogs!!
His little personality is just amazing now, he’s learning something new almost everyday and constantly changing. I can’t believe he’s grown up so fast even though he’s still only little, I sometimes miss the newborn days but I’m also so excited to watch him grow into a beautiful little boy. He looks more like a toddler than a baby now but he’s still got those rolls and those chubby cheeks – my fave!
