Saturday 17 January 2009

10 Months

Well I'm very glad that Mum happened to mention Baby JoJo's age on her comment to my previous post as I had completely missed the fact that he turned 10 months today! Already! Fortunately I have a couple of hours left to blog it and what better way to celebrate than with...
a photo from my camera which just arrived today! Hurrah!

That is another story in itself - it arrived on a huge truck and the lady driver asked me for €30 in Douanes charges - what!!!!! We discussed it for a while before I paid up. It reminds me that when we collected our shipping stuff in September we had to pay an unexpected customs charge too. Basically it is to make a bit of money for the island, as I guess they lose out on tax or VAT etc when people (wisely!) bring cheaper things in from abroad rather than buy them on the island at their extortionate prices. The annoying thing was that if you are coming to work here then you are exempt, but as we didn't know anything about it and hadn't prepared the documentation we had to pay. On the plus side, Bertie negotiated a 50% discount with the man on that occasion!

As to where the camera has been all this time, well that remains a mystery that the lady was unable to unravel. Perhaps sitting in Customs...although the paperwork she gave me says that it came from the USA so perhaps it detoured through the States first...Anyway, it is ever so nice to see it here again and a big thanks to the family for sorting it out for me!

But I digress as this is supposed to be about Baby JoJo. He is doing very well right now, still spending as much time as possible on his feet but I don't think he will be walking in the next couple of months as he is not steady enough. He loves racing to the balcony whenever he gets the chance and getting soaking wet out there. Lovely! In fact he loves racing (on his knees) anywhere, and if we chase him or he chases us he is very happy. And we are definitely at that stage when we just can't leave the room or he will burst into tears and come crawling after us. It is always sad when they make the effort to find you and then you have to go somewhere else so they have to make all that effort again!

Baby JoJo is also a noisy little boy, loving trying out his vocal cords with screeching and a funny sounds like he's constipated but he's not really noise. Whenever he sees his Papy he gets excited and gurgles to him, probably cos he knows that whether or not anyone else gets anything, there is always a little treat from Pika for him. It is always the biggest one too! (Can't quite understand why the smallest of us gets the biggest fruit! Perhaps as he needs to grow more....) This week we are delighted to see the return of the caramboles and mangoes, which JoJo managed to devour. Those 5 teeth are great for eating most anything now but I'm not quite sure he has got the idea of self feeding, as half his food goes in his highchair and he much prefers to hit it and squash it than eat it!

His routine hasn't changed too much - awake around 6.30am, has a sleep around 9am, then another one after lunch perhaps around 1.30pm for a couple of hours. I have been getting him to bed by 8pm which is nice, and I have been trying to get him to sleep without needing to feed for his two daytime naps which I think has helped his night time sleep as he hasn't been waking as much. There is always someone awake though - usually CassCass a couple of times, but last night it was unusually LissaLou falling out of bed! He is still being fed early morning, mid afternoon and before bed but I am trying not to give the before lunch feed anymore.

What else...the girls remain a source of joy and entertainment, especially when they are playing with him and making him laugh. Unfortunately he is still very unpopular when they play with Happyland - he even had the bedroom door shut on him today poor boy! Oh, and he just loves tv! Look at these little tv addicts here (enjoying Dora)
That reminds me - his favourite game is crawling to the tv and pulling out the pen lid that we use to keep it turned on (it's a bit broken!). Perhaps it is all the more fun when the girls squeal JoJo! in anguish as Dora fades from their screen at the most inopportune moment! He also enjoys chasing a passion fruit around the verandah, banging pretty much anything, watching me sing to him, trying to eat the books I am reading to the girls, throwing things on the floor so you can pick them up and he can throw them...(yes, that old game. But new to him!)
As for me, I am mourning the fact that my baby is shooting up and those baby days are fast passing, whilst enjoying immensely watching him discover the world and its inhabitants.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a big boy he is and cuter by the hour! Sons are indeed a blessing from the Lord.I find it very hard to imagine that only a few months ago in a London hospital he entered this life. Now he is about to start walking. May we enjoy every single moments.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I was waiting all day for this blog!
Isn't he gorgeous!
I don't mind Guadeloupe having the money, as long as it wasn't for her. I am still regretting the loss of Mamie's confiture.
That means mangoes are back in season? Thats good news.
Have you changed the position of the TV - I felt they shoul be looking the other way!

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous children! Why do they have to grow up so fast?! Elleroo was 10 months when we moved and now she's a little girl running around and speaking in sentences!! Treasure every second with JoJo's last baby moments!

Lots of love for you all!

Hevs said...

Nice to hear from you folks!
Mamie will get some more confiture for you mum so no worries there - and you will be fully armed to put it in your case this time!
They were actually watching the DVD on the computer which is currently based on your bed. Tho the DVD player is now broken too..
Elleroo walking and talking already! How did that happen! Give a kiss to the beautiful girl for me and DO send a photo sometime!