In praise of bassinetworking

I'm rapt with our mum & baby group. It's taken us a few sessions to get to know each other and relax, but the core group are becoming very comfy, and it's lovely to see the babies grow up a bit each week.

I am a bad person for admitting it, but I'm also quite relieved that Momzilla has not returned after her initial session, and I think this has also helped the overall mood.

At the second session I noticed we were tending to sit in exactly the same spot each time, so at session #3 I got there early, and sat on the other side of the circle. This threw the oncomers into a bit of a tailspin at first, and everyone ended up shuffled, but as a result discussions then went across the circle (engaging everyone) instead of little arcs of muted conversation. I didn't do it for this reason, but hey, it turned out rather well. I did it because Braeden has been fascinated with little Sam since day 1, and this was our opportunity to let the boys sit together.

Braeden is very much enjoying interacting with the other babies, although I am ashamed to say my son is a total thief! He reached over and snatched away little Sam's book and toy, even though I didn't think he could lunge that far. I returned them with apologies to Sam's laughing mother, and it's going to be an ongoing battle to keep my son's sticky fingers to his own toys.

It's not as if he was short of playthings.. four chew toys, two foam books, a bear, a purple squeaking cow (rather see than be one) and two rattles were spread around his playmat, but no, he had to have Sam's precious hoard. Braeden would say (if he could) that he can play with his stuff any old time..

I am again reminded of his "type" as predicted in the Baby Whisperer book where she advises that spirited babies are the first to steal other babies' toys!

The tooth has FINALLY arrived! Yay tooth! And without much fuss or fanfare, when it came down to push & shove. The second tooth is now doing the dance of the reluctant virgin. There's a swelling next to the tooth, and Braeden keeps tugging on his left ear, and is still drooling oceans.

Braeden now disdains any tummy time as a waste of time, preferring to sit upright and bounce. It started as rocking back and forth, but now he gets that padded bottom a good inch or so off the ground with every bounce, and can travel a few inches in a play session.

Sleeps are slowly improving, especially as he's better at keeping his dinner down and now has 200 ml every feed, about six times a day. He's presently down for nap #3, and went happily to bed after two stories (one is never enough, sometimes we need three), and there wasn't a grizzle or cry to be had.

Wayne tells me bubs is awake (per the monitor) so it's time to make his dinner and feed him. What a lovely baby he is; every day I fall deeper in love with him. I really should have done this years ago and had a tribe ;-)