Day 176 23/12/11 Wrapping presents

WE went out this morning to take the photos to our countersigner fro Rocio's passport application. Michael was not very happy in the car which is unusual.




Michael helped Rocio wrap presents today. He enjoyed tasting the paper and grabbing everything. In the end Rocio had to make him sleep to get it finished.
In the afternoon Michael was getting very upset and Rocio had to take him for a long walk up and down and up and down the stairs to cheer him up. He hasn't wanted that for a long time now. It's like when he was little!

Day 175 22/12/11 Lidl and Videos

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of Michael today. So here is an extra from yesterday.



In the morning Michael and I had a fight over the computer. He likes to come and sit on me as I watch my regular youtube videos but after a few minutes of watching electronics and ukuleles he gets frustrated and wants to grab the keyboard and mouse and get on with the "In the night garden" show. As soon as it comes on he sits peacefully watching the episode until the final music when he get bouncy again and wants to go to his mum.
Mandy Michael and Rocio went shopping today at Lidl. Mikewas not very impressed with it but he did have a good time charming passers by. One memebr of staff asked if she could have Michael as a present for christmas. I think Rocio said no. You do have to think about the loss of chiild benefit.

Day 174 21/12/11 Christine, Basil and Mrs Christmas

This morning God Mother Christine and Uncle Basil came to visit with Chirstmas presents for Michael. It was really good to see them and Michael had a good time bouncing on them both.





It's a pity I don't have much time on a work day and they soon had to go. Then we went straight to the pee-a-boo Chistmas party. I had to leave Rocio and MIchael there and go off to work but I'm told they had a good time and Michael got a present from Mrs Christmas.

Day 173 20/12/11 Bad News more Delays

We got bad news today. The passport office has rejected the photos we sent with Rocio's passport application saying that they are not recent enough. How they know this I don't know. So we need to send them some more photos, re-signed by the person who signed the originals. They haven't rejected her application yet but we do need to get the new photos to them as soon as possible and the Christmas holidays will make even more delay in doing this.

So this morning we had a trip out to a photo booth for more official photos and took them to the man who signed the originals, who wasn't there, and left them for him. We really hope to get this done quickly. Eventually we will have to go to Peru without her British passport and get that when we get back, which would be a waste of money and a shame.

Day 172 19/12/11 New Words

Michael is learning to speak. He hasn't said any recognisable words yet but the babbling he does is getting more and more 'wordy'. He often says whole sentences of babble and has a whole range of complicated sounds. I can't tell yet if he is tending towards just English sounds or more likely English and Spanish sounds. I am really excited to hear him learn to speak.

It's a Jenkins thing

I got some nice pictures of me as a baby and of my nephew Bob from Mum this weekend.
I think Michael looks more and more 'Jenkins' as he is growing. He doesn't look like a twin of Bob or me but you can see the family resemblance.

Day 171 18/12/11 Shopping again

Michael had a huge breakfast today. He is still getting through he boiled veg Rocio made for him and froze in little pots. He has had bits and pieces of it before but never very much at a time. Today he was desperate to eat it and was grabbing the spoon and dragging it to his mouth not giving me time to get any food on it. He had the whole little pot with hardly time to take a breath and looked very disappointed when it was all gone. He finished off with a good feed of Mummy's milk too.


we went to buy Rocio's surprise Christmas present today. This involved going around lots of electrical shops and trying the iPod docks. Michael was really at his charming best and made friends with lots of passes by. One woman on a check out said she saw Rocio coming into the shop with Michael on her back and thought it was a doll.
We had our traditional posh coffees and Michael made more friends. He's often having a conversation with the people behind if he's on Rocio's back and we're not paying attention.

Day 170 17/12/11 Christmas Shopping

Michael was desperate to go out shopping today. He cried and shouted and caused as big a fuss as he could until we were finally ready in and got out into the car. We went to the toy shops in the city centre and let Michael choose a couple of toys. He chose and small rattle with bells on (although eh already has one quite similar) and a plastic toy key ring that play 10 tunes. He spent the rest of the time in town accidentally dropping the key ring and letting me pick it up, a game I guess he would call "Fetch". Town was very busy of course but we didn't really have any problems. No-one tried to bang my baby's head with a metal stick this time, so no-one had a sudden visit to casualty.

I had a very nice cup of posh coffee and Rocio gave Michael a couple of tea spoons of her hot chocolate and squirty cream. The first time he has really had cows milk. He loved it and we had to distract him with a piece of bead to chew. He eats more and more each day and always wants what we eat. I have to be particularly careful with my extra hot lime pickle sandwiches.

Day 169 16/12/11 Weighing Michael

We woke up early today because the nursery nurse came to check Michael and weigh him. We haven't been along to the baby weighing drop-in for a few weeks and they kindly come out to us sometimes. He is now 7.90 Kg or 17 Lb 6 Oz very slightly above the average weight for his age but well within the "Perfectly Healthy" range.

Michael decided to join in today when Rocio was washing her hand. He took the soap and put it in and out of the water and got it all over his hands. After he had had enough he dried his hands on the towel. He always surprises us with how much he understands of what is going on around him, and he really likes to join in.

We are using re-usable nappies most of the time now with Michael. At least when he's in the house and Rocio says she is enjoying it. The nappy we won at the Nappuccino is excellent and we are thinking of buying some more. I guess we won't be using disposables at all in Peru so we need a good supply.

Day 168 15/12/11 Gripping hands

I remember when I used to worry about Michael not griping things. Those days have definitely gone now. WE have to be very careful when we're carrying him about because he is always on the look out for things to grab ( and hopefully suck to see if they have milk) He got hold of a Christmas tree the other day and nearly pulled it over. He loves Christmas decorations and often gets fascinated by them hanging from the ceiling in the shopping centre or wherever.
We have to be careful with hot drinks of course and also with plastic bags. Michael always gets there first when I try to pass Rocio something whilst she is carrying him. He is very fast and perfectly accurate in his arm movements. He's not perfect yet at organising his finger to hold and manipulated things but with all the practice he's getting it won't' be long.

Here's the cheeky chappy reading his Hungry Catterpillar

Day 167 14/12/11 Nappuccino

We made it to a Nappuccino today. These are events held monthly in the library in town for parents using real nappies. We are trying again to use these but a little professional help is always good. We have been trying to get to one of these for a few months but it's never been convenient. We chose the right one to got to though as it was their Christmas party so it was food sharing and "Pass the parcel" and a raffle (not a rifle Rocio says) We won real nappy which is even better than the ones we bought from Boots. Everyone was really friendly to us and we had a really good time. Rocio even did a demonstration of how to use the Manta to carry a baby.



He had a good time on the floor with his ginger bread "baby in nappy"

Day 166 13/12/11 New Laughs

Michael is getting very good at rolling about now. He can roll himself from his back to his front easily and the other way with a bit of difficulty. He is getting nearer to crawling too he can more or less manage it on me. He comes to watch his Tellietubbies sitting on me in the mornings but always gets distracted by crawling about on me and seeing if he can pull my lips off or wash my hair in saliva. We will have our little rug rat soon.
He laughs more and more too. he has always done a lot of laughing with shining eyes and his mouth wide open but not with much noise. Now he has a good range of noisy laughs which is mush better for Rocio.

Day 165 12/12/11 Peek-a-boo Christmas

Michael went for the Pee-a-boo Christmas party today. He had chocolate and biscuits and they sang jingle bells with every baby holding a bell-rattle. We were given a calendar too with a picture of Michael on it taken last week.

Day 164 11/12/11 Cooking

Michael helped Rocio with the cooking today. He played with the potatoes whilst Rocio mashed them and got covered with flower during the bread making. He loves to be involved in whatever Rocio is doing and if it involves food even better. He likes nothing better to put in his mouth than our food unless it is a plastic bag. We have to watch him for that!

Michael extra

Michael has written his first update himself. Here it is.....

..'?ff f=-'[;, m 080piob m m, mmklk645 , , bn m['[

Good lad !

Day 163 10/12/11 The Very Hungy Caterpillar

I've started reading to Michael and I think he likes it. We read his Very Hungry Caterpillar book every day during the times when Michael is supposed to be having a quiet time. The book comes with a soft toy caterpillar for Michael to chew n whilst we read which he loves. The book it altogether too exciting for him to keep his hands off whilst I read and he grabs the pages and makes it hard for me to turn them but this is all part of the fun. We count the fruit that the caterpillar eats and have a big dramatic pause at the end before the butterfly appears. It's always great fun.

Day 162 9/12/11 Rolling Over

We went to Bumps and Babies today so Michael could spend some time with his species (as Rocio calls them ) It's a good marker of Michael's progress going there every few weeks as each time he is more capable then the last time an each time there are new little babies to make us realise just how big he is getting.



Here is Rocio with Michael and his twin baby Elizabeth



Michael spent a lot of his time there on the mats on the floor practicing his rolling over. He has managed to roll from his front tto his back or the other way a few times now though like his sitting up I don't think he know he can do it. It'll be a great thing for him once he realises as he is getting more and more frustrated lying on his back all the time.

Day 161 8/12/11 Sitting up

Michael can sit up when he wants to now. I don't think he really has the idea as he seldom does sit up but when he want to he can do it.



He loves to sit on my lap when I'm on the computer and he loves to bash the keyboard. He gets really desperate and bashes away at the keyboard with great determination. I think he has worked out that you must bash the keyboard if you want to get Telletubbies on. As soon as I put something interesting on for him he stops the bashing and watched intently. Clever boy.

Day 160 7/12/11 Garibaldi

We have been calling our baby Garibaldi for a while now. It's just one of his nick names he has many (He often gets Gary or Garibaldi or Oscar or Monkey Creature or others) It was after a favourite Scifi character Michael Garibaldi so we called our boy Michael Gary Hairy or Gary Hairy for short but now he does seem to be going a bit bald.



He has patches along the sides of his head andat the back which no longer have his thick dark hair but rather this thinner short hair. He looks well and there is no sign of any rash or anything on his head. Obviously as it's along the sides of his head it's not to do with how he has his head when he lies down.

I did a bit of research on the interweb and found lots of mentions of mixed race babies starting life with one type of hair and loosing it at around Michael's age and having another type and colour of hair from then on. I hope it's nor like that becaue I love Michael's strong black hair.

Day 159 6/12/11 Citizenship Ceremony

It was Rocio's citizenship ceremony today in the council house in the city centre. Unfortunately she was only allowed two guests so that was Michael and me.
We spent ages getting our posh clothes ready and cleaning my wedding hat. Michael wore his linen shirt and christening outfit (as it's very nice and it won't fit him much longer) and he was carried in the manta for best effect.



There was a long queue of new Britons signing in when we got there and a large hall full of people for the ceremony. I didn't realise how many people would be with us. The ceremony was officiated by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham Michael Wildgust. After a long wait for the event to start Rocio and all the others took their turns saying the Oath of Allegiance and the pledge and one by one the new Brits went up to receive their certificates and shake the Mayor's hand. I went up with Rocio and holding Michael and got us into the photo. After that we sang the national anthem. Michael really enjoyed the singing and was singing along at full volume. He is always a real charmer at public events like this. That was it for the ceremony except the tea and biscuits and the scrummage for the photos from the nasty, rude and very slow official photographer. Ten pounds per image and no chance of having the origional files. Here's the scan of the official photo.

Day 158 5/12/11 Christmas Party

Mike had a nice breakfast of veg and pear juice (With milk as usual)
He was very enthusiastic at first and ate a lot of the solid food. Then he suddenly got angry with it and cried and cried until he was given the pear juice which he loved and drank nearly all of it straight away.



In the afternoon we went to the Christmas p[art for the drop in centre play group. This was at a local soft play centre and was great fun for Michael. It was very noisy and lots of people to talk to and we had two goes on the soft play climbing frame. We went right ti the top and down the long slide. Michael was squealing with joy as we took him around and up and down and through the different parts.



Michael got two presents from Santa and slept like a baby in the car on the way home.

Day 157 4/12/11 Making Friends

We went to Mothercare today. A very expensive shop with startlingly few clothes for boys who are no longer new borns but not yet ready to go to school. I see that there are racks and racks of little girls clothes for all ages. We didn't manage to buy anything.
Here is Michael being forced to pose in a Santa figure. We thought is was funny I don't think he did.




Michael is getting more confident with people. He has always liked to go out and see things and meet people but has never really liked to be away from Rocio and me for very long. Today we went to our favourite cafe with Michael again and Michael was whinging and throwing himself around, really not very happy so I took him to have a walk about and maybe show him the monkey-boy in the mirror (That usually makes him laugh) but he took it all as an opportunity to introduce himself to all the other customers. He is very charming and very generous with his smiles. He made on particular friend called Steven who held him and played with him all the time Rocio and I were eating.



Steven has long dreadlocks as I once had and here he is showing us what Michael could look like in a few years when he grows his own!



Apparently he will have a huge left hand.

Day 156 3/12/11 Michael's Attitude

I didn't see much of my little boy today. I don't usually work on Saturdays but I did them a special favour this time. It was a really crap day but best not to think too much about that. Best to remember Michael's attitude in the morning

Day 155 2/11/11 Juicy

Michael gets very excited when there is food or drink around now. He loves to hold his bottle and try to drink from it or at least chew the teat like mad.
We made him some very dilute fruit juice today and he had a great time playing with it and actually drank about a quarter of the bottle. There is a moment when he first gets a taste and he screws up his face and gives me a look like "What the flippin' heck is THAT!" but then he goes on to drink it so it can't be all bad. Just a surprising taste I guess.



Here's the video evidence

Day 154 1/12/11 Grumpy Shopping

Rocio, Michael and volunteer Mandy went shopping today. Just up the road at the coop. I'm told he didn't like being in the shop itself but enjoyed the walk home afterwards. Perhaps he would have liked even more walking because when he got home he cried and cried until he fell asleeep. Later Michael was in the manta on Rocio's back for a long time quite contented whilst Rocio did jobs and made bread.

Day 153 30/11/11 Crawling

Rocio tells me that Michael is learning to turn himself onto his front and can sometimes crawl bit now albeit backwards. I'd never see this though so I tried him today. I put Michael on his front and gave him a favourite toy to look at. He got very upset almost straight away and that was the end of that. My boy is very sure of himself and if he realy doesn't want something there's no talking him into it. Here's a picture I managed to get before the shouting began.

Day 152 29/11/11 Night Garden

Michael really likes to come and sit on me at the computer these days. We usually find something to watch. At the minute Michael likes "In the night garden" It's really taken over from Tellytubbies. We watch in Spanish of course and Michael sits rapt for all of it except the Pontipines. These seem to bore him and he gets distracted. I guess most of the rest are things he can see as people but the pontipines are little wooden pegs and don't look like or move lite people at all. That's my theory when he doesn't watch them.

We had another successful go at giving Michael solid food. The operation is quite messy but fun for us both and he does eat something. There is also some evidence that Michael digests it too but I'll not talk about that here.

Day 151 28/11/11 Marrow

We didn't take Michael to his peek-a-boo group today as he still has a bit of a cold. It doesn't seem to bother him at all except he can't feed so well. He seems to choke on the milk quite often and he snores at night. It must mean he can't breath well. He has still got a bit of a snotty nose but there is no way he will let me pick it for him !



Rocio's Mum recommended us to give him marrow as his first food and after a bit of searching we found one yesterday and Rocio cooked it today. She served it up into lots of little plastic containers and froze most of them. I gave Michael some sitting on my lap. He really enjoyed it I think. He was very excited about the spoon and kept grabbing it and making the whole thing much more difficult. It was very hard to get the spoon to his mouth without him interfering and if I gave him the spoon the marrow would fall off. We worked out int he end that if I held the spoon Michael could pull my hand towards him when he wanted the food and that way it all worked out well. It was still very messy and he still spat a lot of it out and probably only swallowed a few tea spoons worth but he enjoyed it and ate some so that's a success.

Day 150 27/11/11 Walk in the woods

We went for a walk in the woods again today. Michael well wrapped up in the papoose and Rocio and me with our walking boots on this time. We were trying to get to a wind farm next to the woods as I really wanted to stand under the big wind mills to hear then spin but we couldn't get near. This things are much bigger than I thought and so further away then I realised.
Like last time we went for a cup of coffee and something to eat before walking. This is not traditional I know but we never make it out of the house very early and if we waited until we had gone for our walk to cafe would be closed. Again Michael had a little bit of bread to suck on and enjoyed sitting up at the table with us whilst we ate.



When he got a bit bored I took him for a stroll around the gift shop where he grabbed the most expensive wind chime in the place and didn't want to let go. We have to be more and more careful with what he can grab these days. He's got a long reach and strong grip when he wants.
The walk went very well and Michael slept for most of it in the papoose. We did get lost on the way back to the car as it was getting dark. All my fault for taking a shortcut through the woods with no path. We had to follow the sounds of the main road to get back which took much longer than it took to get there.

Day 149 26/11/11 Cold and cakes

Michael has a cold. He probably doesn't know he has a cold but he is not his usual self at all. He's never had a cold before just the little illnesses he had after having immunisations. He's got a snotty nose and he snores when he's sleeping and he's just not as bouncy as we are used to.
We went into town today to do our regular Saturday wandering about shopping and we did get a few things done but Michael didn't want to be in the pushchair he wanted carrying all the time and even then he wasn't having any fun. We did go to a cafe in the market and Michael shared our toasted tea cakes. He was very very keen on holding the bits of cake we gave him and managed to get quite a bit into his mouth for sucking on too. He is definitely ready for a little bit of solid food.

Still in general he wasn't having ab good time and we felt a bit sorry for him and went home earlier than usual.