baby wayne

Hello!

Apologies, dear reader, for our absence from blogland; a terrible cold has passed through babywayne headquarters, and we have only just emerged from the fog of mucous. In this time a number of exciting things have happened – Otis has some new skills.

As Napoleon Dynamite says, ‘Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills’ and we are keen to develop his repertoire.

#1 skill – Otis waves hello

To begin with Otis’ waving didn’t seem to bear any relation to the situation or circumstance; he would just flail his arm about when it suited him. Then, one day reading Maisy (oh how he’s crazy for Maisy – but that’s another post) he lifted up a flap, under which was Maisy’s panda. I said ‘Hello, Panda’, and Otis started waving! Now Otis loves to wave hello and goodbye to friends, family and strangers alike.

#2 skill – Otis crawls; well, sort of

In the last few days, Otis has started to crawl. He’s just starting out, so its more like dragging his legs along, than crawling, but he still manages to get around, albeit very slowly. Now that he’s capable of independent movement, it’s a whole new world, for all of us. Cupboards, shelves, and washing baskets that were previously out of reach are now fair targets, and Otis takes great delight in reaching into them, and leaving a trail of debris behind him. Luckily, we bought a baby gate on ebay a while ago, and it lies in wait, ready to be installed once Otis starts seriously motoring.

Otis crawls away

Hey, I like your skills

it would seem that the lack of solid food has not inhibited otis' enjoyment of life (although he did let me put a spoon of food into his mouth twice tonight, before expelling it as quickly as he could!).

over the last few weeks he has started to demonstrate little elements of personality in a more active way. the most consistent (and by consistent i mean highly repetitive) manifestation of this is otis' engagement in games of peek-a-boo. this can happen at any time and can involve hiding behind a book or a toy until the question "where's otis?" is put and then, sometimes with a pause for extreme dramatic effect, otis emerges from behind the prop with a smile all over his face.

where's otis? (before we go on it is important to explain the presence of the freaky nude doll sitting behind otis. eric was acquired on the recommendation of betty the speech pathologist and is to be fed in the same way that we might aspire to feed otis. this seems to be having some impact as otis was attempting to feed eric a piece of mummy's lunch earlier today.)

peek-a-boo!

of course, otis also plays this game by turning his head away from you as he has not quite grasped the whole hiding element of the game just yet. this is most clearly seen when he "hides" by putting his arms above his ahead and just looks at you until the magic words are uttered.

where's otis?

peek-a-boo!

fortunately, he isn't a one trick pony and his other favourite activity is to fall backwards, wait to be lifted up and then to fall backwards again, and again, and again.

where's otis?

peek-a-boo!

there are also definite signs that otis is learning to wave, although the action employed is probably more accurately described as somewhere between a flop and a wave. still, it's always exciting to get a flop/wave hello or goodbye from otis.

Otis, back when i had your grandad his first solid food was a product called farex perhaps you could ask mum to try this mixed with a little of her milk or even "ordinary milk".

Let us know what happens otis, its worth a try, looking forward to your reply.

love
Great Grandma Laurence

dear Great Grandma Laurence,

thanks for your question – I wish I had a new toy for every time I was asked this!

My parents first gave me rice cereal (farex) many months ago when babies are supposed to start eating solids. Every now and again they offer it to me again, sometimes mixed with milk, sometimes mixed with apple, sometimes mixed with water, but I just don’t like it.

These last few months I have been seeing a very nice speech pathologist called Betty. Betty says that I have something called oral hypersensitivity, and this means that my mouth, and senses of smell and taste are a lot more sensitive than those of a normal adult or baby (about 200 times). So everything smells and tastes really overwhelming and yuk to me, even really bland things like rice cereal and milk. Betty says no-one really knows why some babies are hypersensitive and others not, and the only way that I will get over it is by being desensitized. This involves mummy and daddy putting all kinds of different foods in my mouth a few times a day, so that eventually my senses will get used to it. I usually cry and whinge, and when the food is in there I don’t like to close my mouth or swallow it, I just hold my mouth open and try to spit it out. Betty says I will gradually get used to all the different foods, and that it will probably take many many months for me to get better.

Mummy and Daddy like and trust Betty a lot. Before we met her they were very stressed about getting me to eat, and wondering what was wrong with me. Betty says she sees babies like me all the time, and that I don’t have any long term developmental problems, so they’re a lot happier.

It’s my birthday in a few months, and maybe by then I’ll be desensitized and ready to have a piece of birthday cake!

Love Otis xox