'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2016.'
You have spent two nights and three days staying at Granny and Grandad's house without us this week. This is the longest time I have ever spent away from you, and we have missed your lovely presence in our house. You caught two buses and three trains to get to Southbourne from Bristol, and told us on Facetime, 'we went on ALL the trains!'
Spending time at home with you being away makes me realise how much time we spend talking, talking, talking every single day. You are so intrigued by the world and ask a lot of questions to make sense of everything. Here are some notable conversations from this week.
You: 'What did you do?'
Me: 'I just cleaned up Jude's sick from the floor.'
You: 'Why?'
Me: 'So that we don't tread in it.'
You: 'So it doesn't go mouldy?'
On our walk to the park:
You: 'Where do cats live?'
Me: 'In people's houses, but they like walking outside a lot.'
You: 'Have they got paws?'
Me: 'Yes, they do!'
You: 'Why? Can't they wear sandals?'
You are fantastic.
All my love,
Mummy xxx
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Dear Jude,
About a month ago, you started sleeping on your tummy at night time, purely of your own volition. This week, we finally decided to try a different approach to get you to sleep for your naps (which you have fought since you were tiny), and much to my surprise and delight, it has worked! When you start showing signs of tiredness, we put the white noise app on, lie you on your side or tummy, depending on what you are most comfortable with, then jiggle you gently until you fall asleep. You consistently flip from your side onto your tummy to settle into deep sleep, keeping your left arm tucked under your tummy. I love seeing how peaceful you look when you are sleeping. I realise that I am talking about sleep quite a lot here, and I imagine you reading this as an adult thinking, 'seriously, what is the big deal. Mum?! Why were you so bothered about sleep?' If this is what you're thinking then you probably haven't had your own babies yet. The topic of sleep suddenly becomes all consuming and perplexing in a way that it never has before when you have your own children. Sleep is so fundamental to our well being, and it is unbelievably hard when babies don't sleep well. Anyhow, it has made the world of difference to our week, now that we have found what works best for you, and I am thrilled. You seem to have turned a corner in every respect this week. You laugh a lot these days, and are so much calmer now. I am loving getting to know you, little one.
All my love,
Mama xxx
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