26/52

This week, it's Mr I Love Standing again. But now, with his first pair of shoes!



Before anyone says it - no, babies Jamie's age should not be having their feet moulded into shoes. They should be barefoot or at most in socks/tights and soft bootees when it's cold. Quite apart from allowing the feet to grow, having feet in contact with the ground makes balance easier and is a sensory experience and so on... I know that, and 99% of the time Jamie's feet enjoy glorious freedom.

However, Jamie is no longer content to just toddle about on the picnic blanket when we go to the park. And the first time he insisted on stepping *off* the blanket, I had a sudden visual shift, where the park changed from a lovely carpet of fresh green grass and flowers and dappled shade of trees, to a horrific vista of twigs, splinters, discarded peanut shells, urinating dogs, cigarette ends, broken plastic forks from deli lunches...

So. For walking around outdoors, shoes. We went to Clarks, and he was measured as a size 2 1/2 F. At first he was very confused by his shoes. I think maybe he felt like the floor was coming with him as he stepped. But he soon got the hang of it and now, as long as he has a willing minion to provide fingers for him to hold, he can walk metres and metres. It's brilliant and scary, all at once.

25/52

With Father's Day tomorrow it seems appropriate that this week's picture is Jamie and Daddy.




We had a sling consultation as a family when Jamie was just one week old. I ended up with the ring sling, and Steve... well, he was confident about *me* having tiny Jamie strapped to my front but never quite got there for himself, opting instead to use the pushchair.

At 8 months old though, Jamie is stronger and heavier and a lot more awake than he was at that first consultation, so we finally revisited the idea of a baby backpack. As you can see, it looks like it will work - he is comfortable enough to fall asleep in it and when awake, he likes the novelty of being tall. We don't plan on him spending hours in it, but hopefully an occasional walk around the block for some fresh air and father/son time will be achievable over the summer.

24/52

Almost half way, and this week's picture echoes the picture from Week One.



Same bed, same pillow, same baby. But! I love looking at the two pictures and seeing just so many similarities and so many differences.

23/52

This week's photo was taken at Batsford Arboretum, where we went on the basis that Jamie likes trees. It was a really idyllic family afternoon out.



Yep, Jamie is mobile. It's still not quite a full traditional crawl with the arms and legs alternating sides. Instead he gets up on all fours like this, and launches forwards, rinse and repeat, making about three inches progress each time. In this manner he is able to reach all of the toys in his play area, which is great because we finally get to see what he wants rather than making our best guess of which toys he might like within reach.

His "cruising", which is the term for walking along hanging on to furniture, is also coming on slowly but surely, causing some people to speculate that he may skip the traditional crawling phase in favour of being an early walker. We'll just have to wait and see!