Birthday and Shopping

[ailbhe]

It was my birthday yesterday - thanks for all the greetings - and Linnea was 6 months old on Saturday, so we celebrated by going to Kew Gardens on Sunday. It was lovely - sunshine and lunch on the grass. Linnea had a crawl on the lawn and we found that the Canadian moccasins Jan sent us are excellent - she can't kick them off very easily and they are soft and weatherproof, exactly what you want in a baby shoe.

On Monday she started cruising on the safety gate - only one or two steps sideways, but enough to be alarming. Today she pulled herself up to standing on her toy steam engine, made by Rob's grandfather and father, so that has to be kept out of reach unless we're in the room from now on; far too much risk of her pushing it out from under herself and bopping her chin. I've been wondering whether a plastic walking toy would have some sort of control on the wheel speed?

Andy came around and brought gifts and cake from himself and Ellie - lovely warm long stripy socks (which I wore today and they are fab) and home-made cake, which he baked to Ellie's recipe. It was gorgeous! I have saved some for today and tomorrow.

Today I went to Mothercare World and Clarks to see about shoes for her when she outgrows these, because she will need them if she's cruising around cafes and shops while I'm out, and anyway, it's getting colder and colder. Apparently the softest ones are "crawlers" which I thought were pretty hard, and the next ones up are "cruisers" which I wouldn't be awfully keen on putting on her until she's really walking, they're so hard. They're also sixteen pounds a pair, which seems very expensive for something I'm not comfortable with buying, which doesn't come in a pattern I like, and which she'll outgrow in 4-6 weeks. And anyway the crawlers only just come in her size; apparently a 4 is the biggest you can get.

This morning was scarily productive - put dinner in the new slow cooker (bought yesterday). I'll let you know if it's edible. Cleaned the bathroom. Tidied downstairs, which was a little chaotic as we had a guest so I didn't do anything yesterday. Fed myself and Linnea. Washed some dishes - very easy, as our guest washed lots and lots yesterday evening. Checked email.

Comments

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday :)

Kate wore little soft leather shoes initially once she was crawling around, which my friend makes. She moved up to Clarks cruisers once she was crawlking / crusing in the back yard as the concrete was too hard on the soft leatehr of her mocassins :(

Yes, I agree £16 is terrible as Kate had to have a new pair every 4 - 6 weeks. We spent a fortune on them.

[liadnan]

Happy birthday for yesterday. Sorry I missed the day, life getting on top of me a bit at the moment (says the bachelor to the mother of a babe in arms...)

[sshi.livejournal.com]

and happy birthday, too :>

[k425.livejournal.com]

When you mention a plastic walking toy, do you mean one baby pushes? If so, no, they don't have a speed controller. YB has learnt to collapse onto his knees if it gets away from him, but he's 6 months older than Linnea. Mind, he didn't start cruising till he was 11 months, so maybe Linnea would get the hang of a walker faster.

Shoes. Look out for bootee-type shoes in Mothercare or the Blooming Marvellous/Jojomamanbebe catalogues. Also look out for ToeZone shoes - you hold the shoe up to the child's foot and there are zones on the sole - if the foot's in the green zone the shoe fits, if it's amber it's too bit and red is too small (or similar, the instructions are on the packets). I found them in Matalan for about a fiver and they suit crawlers and cruisers as well as walkers.

Next has nice soft shoes that come in bigger sizes - I know this because bopeepsheep has lent me a few pairs in 3 and 4 for YB. That he has yet to grow into. Give them and Boots a try after you get Linnea's feet measured next.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday! I'm glad you had a good day.

(And goodness, cruising already? Bet she's walking by eight months. Whee!)

[k425.livejournal.com]

Belated birthday wishes - my social skills are fading or I'd've said that last time...

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Have non-slip pull-ons for babies and toddlers so you might find something you feel more comfortable with. I wish I'd thought about this before getting YB a pair of Clarks' crawlers - they're heavy and pretty chunky so he really only wears them at church so he doesn't get cold on the stone floor. Otherwise he wears socks or goes barefoot, even at nursery. He's only recently been cruising and pushing a walker around so I don't want to get proper shoes and felt moderately unhappy with the crawlers. I think I'll go with leather pullons next.