Out and about

Regular readers here will know that Jake is a true outdoorsman and likes nothing more to spend hours looking at the trees. I'm still not sure what it is that sends him into the calm zen state that being outside does. Maybe it's the hypnotic movements of the trees, maybe it's the feel of the breeze on his face or maybe it's the sheer number of things to look at. In any case, it's a sure fire way to keep him happy, and as he grows I'm always on the lookout for ways to be outside with him.

Christmas time saw two new purchases to help feed his outdoor action. The first was that of a running stroller (an American term I know, but I prefer it to running pushchair and I'm in a situation to pick and choose!), a three wheeled pram specifically designed to go running. The front wheel is able to completely spin through 360 degrees meaning that it will never get stuck and allows the runner to make tight corners. Jake sits in a semi-reclined position with a nice big sunshade over the top (which has a flap that I can lift to check on him). One of the best features is that it has a huge amount of storage underneath meaning that it's perfect to run to our nearest shop (a mile away or so) or for his diaper bag on longer journeys.

After a lot of research, we found it online and with Christmas money from my Gran (thanks Gran!), we've taken to the streets, including doing my beloved 5k parkrun for the first time since Jake was born. It's a little harder to run with it as your arms are in a static position the whole time, plus you've got a 20lb weight to consider on the up and downhill sections. Despite that, I'm loving being able to combine my two favourite things at one time.

The other purchase (actually a present from my wife's parents, thank you!) is a baby backpack. This wonderful device is like a regular backpack with a gap in the middle for Jake to sit in. This replaces our old front bearing baby carrier which whilst useful was also starting to cause us back problems (and gave me an insight into what it felt like to be pregnant!). Jake's still slightly unsure when he sees the backpack, but once he's in it, I get an earful of cheerful burbling over my shoulder. It's meant that we could take him out into the snowy woods near my wife's parent's home and allows us to explore Leeds a little more.

Knowing that we were going to get this for Christmas, I wanted to find a good test for it. I had seen signposts for the Leeds Country Way in various places before and decided that this was the right time to make a start. It's a 62 mile loop around the whole of Leeds and rather than filling up this blog with the details, I've started another one at http://walkingtheleedscountryway.blogspot.co.uk/ to record each of the 12 legs and to put up the photos as we go.

In short, these two items have made a big difference to the way that Jake and I spend time together. I like being able to take him outside, show him beautiful parts of the world and know that we'll be doing this for decades to come.

Food glorious food

We're getting used to Jake's development coming in fits and bursts, such as the week when he suddenly decided he could sit up by himself for ages, pass things from hand to hand and reach for things.

His approach to food is no exception. Up until a week ago, we were feeding him 6 bottles of formula a day, including one in the middle of the night that was almost killing me. Last weekend we decided to try and break him of this habit (result - one night of no sleep and a week's worth of 12 hour night sleeps...fingers cross that continues!) he's suddenly decided that eating real food would be much more fun than milk. To be fair, we tried starting him on purees and baby rice a while back, but it wasn't realistically until we got to the US in December that we tried to feed him baby food in earnest.

The big problem that we've found with shop bought food is that a lot of the savoury dishes are either really sweet or really bland. Jake is very clear when he tastes something that he doesn't like, and he now passes everything for a quick lip test before sticking it in his mouth. For the most part, the shop bought stuff doesn't pass inspection, though there are some surprises as to what he'll enjoy (a rice and green bean mixture that tasted foul to us was apparently acceptable...maybe he was just starving at that point!).

A better solution all round, especially given the cost of ready made baby food, is to make our own. I have traditionally done the lion's share of the cooking as I find it a soothing and calming activity after a day's work, but my wife has stepped up to the plate in the weeks since we've been home which is in part due to the fact that she enjoys making food that Jake will like. It's a much cheaper approach and both of us like knowing exactly what's gone in there. We can also tailor his diet so it resembles the meals that we eat the most and that he will grow up eating with us. We have found a use for the shop bought stuff in that it gives us empty bottles to sterilise and refill with our own purees and blends.

Feeding Jake is one of my life's great pleasures. The timing on an evening works out well so that he's ready for dinner as I step through the door. I get greeted by my wife with a kiss and a bowl of baby food and Jake with a smile and an open mouth. It's a great feeling to feed him, watching him learn about different textures and tastes, knowing that we're able to care for him in a way that formula doesn't seem to provide. It's also a fun experience because he manages to get it everywhere as he's constantly kicking his feet in excitement, moving his whole body to get closer to the spoon.

Jake's also learning about finger food, and our approach is to give him bits of whatever we're eating, as long as it's not too salty or spicy. He feeds himself a lot of bread (pizza crusts included!) and it's amazing watching the difference between a couple of months ago when he would just chew on it for fun and give you back a masticated lump of goo and now when he chews to make it easier to swallow. Anything that is smaller than his hands is fair game to eat in his eyes, so we like to experiment with different fruits and vegetables in particular to see what he likes.

The final upshot of all this development is an unexpected but very pleasing evening routine. My wife and I are very much TV dinner people, choosing to talk about our days once we've eaten and zoned out for a little. Feeding Jake makes us both stay in the kitchen and more often that not we eat earlier so we can sit at the table with him. It makes me flash forward to many years of family suppers together, and I can begin to see why my parents take so much pleasure in having the family together around a dinner table.

Genetics

The human reproduction process is bizarre at the best of times. The whole birthing process has still yet to be sorted out by evolution and the sheer amount of time it takes babies to learn about their own bodies, let alone about other people, is a constant source of amazement to me.

Added onto this is the craziness that is human genetics. Many people who have met Jake are aware that he has bright blue eyes, with some small patches of brown in his right eye. However, neither of us have blue eyes, and it's only my mother and an uncle on my wife's side who do. It amazes me that this is still a possible combination. Fortunately, he is in the 98th percentile for height so it's clear that some genes are stronger than other given the number of 6 foot plus men on both sides.

The reason why I've been thinking more about genetics than normal is that Jake is now able to sit up unaided for extended periods, meaning that his hands are free to start grabbing at things (and generally putting them in his mouth!). At first, he would grab with whatever hand was closest and he would flail around until he managed to grab it.

Now, however, he's showing strong tendencies to reach for things with his left hand first, and only uses his right when his left is already full. We've tested this a little things by putting things in the middle of his vision, and he grabs with his left. We've even put things next to his right hand and he'll twist himself round to grab with his left. Again, neither of us are left handed, but my mother, maternal grandmother and older sister are. The family theory was that the first born was left handed, but my niece isn't. It's just interesting watching Jake develop this and wondering whether, like his eyes, it's a permanent part of who he is. If it is, I'm going to have get some help teaching him to write (more than if he's right handed!)

Gender stereotypes

At last I have a new laptop and a free weekend, so I'm aiming to write a few posts given that I only managed one for December, and none so far for 2013! This first one will be relatively short whilst I get my thoughts in order for the next ones.

Jake is a very outdoorsy baby, as I've noted on here before, and he's also a very physical baby. By this I mean that he enjoys being thrown around, tickled, raspberried, turned upside and just about any other form of rough and tumble you can think of. The big gummy you get when you pick him up upside down or roll with him from side to side makes me laugh as well. His latest trick is being able to sit up in the bath and splash the water around, which he did for 20 minutes today, gurgling all the time.

During one of my rough and tumble sessions with him over the Christmas break (there were many of these!), my mother in law, as a joke, asked me if I would be doing the same with a girl. My instinctive answer is to say yes, absolutely, but I wonder if that's true. I mean, I absolutely hope that it's true, that if we had had a girl instead (or if we have a girl next time round) and she showed such clear delight in being thrown around, then I would be doing the exact same thing.

It was an interesting question though, as my wife is one of three sisters, I only have sisters and the only friends I know with boys live so far away that we never see them. I like to think that we act in accordance to Jake as an individual, rather than as a gender. For example, he still detests tummy time (despite being almost able to roll his way back on to his back) so we don't do it very often. Whilst I don't think it's something that I'll lose sleep over, I will definitely be checking in on myself and my wife to make sure that we're not falling into gender stereotypes (or at least, any more than we can avoid!) as Jake grows up.