New thing to do with a nine month old!

I found something new to do with our son today! We have loads of books which we read to him at least three times a day, "Penguin" by Polly Dunbar  being his absolute fave!

From all sorts of good book shops,but  lovereading4kids.co.uk  is a fab website for children's books.

We do flash cards, we sing songs, we put him in a walker and although he doesn't walk, he at least is in an upright position and his feet can touch the floor and all it needs is the thought being there. We also sit him on the bed which acts as our floor for the main part and we spread toys around him. We try to put him on the floor at least for an hour a day because in the 20 mins it takes us to manage to get him on the floor, he may as well stay put for an hour.

Fantastic calm,kindly "Cbeebies" tv programme on at 6pm and on BBC2 10.50am.

We really don't like tv but I think we cut ourselves up about using it at points during the day. Our son has Waybaloo on BBC 2 followed by In the Night Garden around lunch time, then it goes off. Then we do more reading, singing, bed/floor time. However it gets dull, I'm going to be a bit honest and say that often parenthood seems dull when at baby stage of development. It is rewarding, the smiles, the chuckles, even the noisy farts and the look of complete content when he does it, all make my day and seeing him first thing in the morning makes my heart feel like it did as a child on Christmas day,every day.

Why is it dull? Well because it appears that it is your role as a parent to be a toy demonstrator which sounds fun but day in and day out, it gets a bit slow.This particular job description as a parent involves you showing off your brick building skills before the bulldozer (aka baby),comes along, you spin spinning tops, you try to play with the Xylophone before your child sticks it in his mouth etc.They watch you, try to copy, then get bored and grab something else, shove it in their mouths and its back to you to do more demonstrations.

Today I found baby massage. I gave him his mid week wash by putting him on his changing matt and giving him a bed bath. Afterwards I dried him and got him off his matt, onto our bed and on top of a towel. I dug out baby oil which lurks in the back of his drawer as we hardly ever use slippy lotions as for two people with very poor grip this stuff is hazardous, please use very little if you have similar difficulties. I put a drop of oil on my hands and gently moved my hand over his little feet, my hands are stuck in fist shapes and my fingers have grown weirdly and lean to the side in a walking stick shape so I can't actually do normal massage.However I gently used my back of hand to move the oil over his feet and legs which worked for him. Then he rolled onto his front so I took the opportunity to pop some oil on his back and rubbed it in, he nearly fell asleep.

If I can do baby massage then I should think any one can give it a try. Its about finding your own way, you don't push like you would massaging an adult, babies just need a gentle rub, its supposed to be nice for baby and bonding for you.

Anyway he loved it,I loved it, to all bored parents maybe give it a whirl. It kills a good half an hour so really it is a win win situation, moving the day on and entertaining! Chris has a glow in the dark star show that is projected from a turtles back, not only does it project stars on the ceiling but it also has a relaxing sound track of flute playing or sea and orchestral music so I put that on during the massage, you could almost have mistaken a sixties house in Gloucester for Bath Thermal Spa!

CloudB Twilight Turtle from Amazon uk

Happy days people. Keep positive, keep having the "I can" attitude guys but take care of yourselves too x