16/52 2017

Perhaps an unusual picture this week. A friend asked how we go about cleaning Jamie's teeth and I felt it wouldn't be inappropriate to include it as a snapshot of everyday life in Jamie's photo record.

We started cleaning Jamie's teeth as soon as the first ones appeared. At the time, he couldn't stand unaided - and even now, although he stands well, he's not tall enough to lean over the bathroom sink even with a stepstool. We don't have a bathroom counter he can sit on, and there's no way I can stand and hold him.



This is our solution. The chair is a cheap plastic booster seat designed to be strapped to a dining chair - the sort of thing you might take on holiday or to grandparents' houses when a full-size high chair isn't available and/or would take up too much room. It's stable enough to be safe sitting on the floor, has enough of a harness that the child would at least take a few moments to escape (call no thing childproof), and is lightweight enough that it can be very easily picked up and moved.

I put a muslin cloth around Jamie's neck and then prepare both our toothbrushes, and we clean our teeth together, me kneeling or sitting on the bathroom floor facing him so that he can copy. After a while we swap hands - I hold his toothbrush in his mouth and give his teeth a last quick once-over, and he holds my toothbrush in my mouth and moves it around.

Then I rinse the toothbrushes and we use them to brush away the excess toothpaste. We do this a couple of times. Jamie mostly just dribbles it out onto the cloth - I'm not sure he's old enough to understand swilling and spitting a mouthful of water into the sink.

I think the thing I like most about this is that it gives me a chance to clean my own teeth!

15/52 2017

This week's picture skims the wire for being "this week" as it was taken last weekend on the day of wonderful sunshine. But I love it and I really wanted it to be part of this record.



The hat was purchased on holiday, on the day of the trip to the beach. If you ask Jamie where a hat goes he will proudly clasp his hands to his head, while saying something that might be "hat" or might be "head" but is certainly in the right ballpark. However there's a difference between understanding that a hat goes on your head, and actually keeping one there. Winter hats are fine, but I think he finds it hard to see the point of a summer hat. What with the vast increase in his mobility I think assisting Hat Management may have to be added to my PAs job description.

14/52 2017

This week, we were on holiday in Cornwall, and Jamie had his first ever trip to the beach.



Warwickshire is landlocked and a beach day trip would be no small undertaking. Jamie's experience of sand so far has been small sandpits full of kids, and a sand/water play table in our yard. So having a large area of sand all to himself was a joy.

Not, however, a joy in which I participated. Steve took this picture. I was tucked up in a nearby spa, having three whole hours completely OFF. No household chores to get on with. No trying to get as much as possible done before putting the mummy hat back on. No attempting to relax while knowing that at any moment a plaintive "mama! mama!" will bring things to an abrupt halt. Just a chance to unwind in the knowledge that although I could be contacted via the spa in a "get your clothes on and rush to the hospital" way, I wouldn't be interrupted for feeds, nappies, grumps, teething, tiredness, or boredom. It was the first time in 18 months and it was lovely.

13/52 2017

Daddy and Jamie, going on a little adventure. We live not too far from Chesterton Windmill, and for years it's been a place Steve likes to go and take pictures. I can't get up there - impossible to walk and rather too off-road for my wheels - but with Jamie in his bright yellow raincoat, it's easy to spot them while I wait with the car.



Jamie enjoys sitting in the parrot position but I think he impressed Steve with how much of the distance he was able to walk. The biggest problem is convincing him to stay on the path!