The Sealife Center, Bye Bye Swaddling and Chuggington!

It has been a very busy week! We have been making the most of the sunny weather and visiting the park, yes the parasol got used finally...What a pain they are everytime you cross the road having to recover the baby with shade from a new angle it made me wish Bugaboo did a sun canopy. I am however in love with the shocking pink colour of it and Tabitha is slopped in a vat of factor 50 so the odd ray of sun will not do any harm. You may have read the story of the mother in Brighton who sat her 5 month old in this recent sunshine and they suffered 20% burns it was shocking, most shocking though that the police and social services have not prosecuted the mother as its a clear case of child neglect.

Another milestone was made this week by Tabitha her first Chugginton journey to Brighton to visit friends and see the fishes at the Sealife center. I wasn't sure she'd enjoy either but she loved the train especially the announcements and excitedly waved her hands and feet about. At the center she made all the right noises 'aaaah, ooooh' when looking at the tanks of fish so i was glad we made the effort. I'd say the whole day was a success except for the return journey where she decided to fill her nappy in a very crowded carriage and stink the whole place out! I was very impressed that i can take her out now knowing she is happy carted about for 9 hours from place to place without any strops at all, perhaps she has a little gypsy blood in her after all!

The HUGE news is she is out of the swaddling finally! She stunned me with her adaptability in the end. We had an evening where she seemed unhappy going into the wrap so i just went with it and used the sleeping bag. She instantly rolled over onto her front and fell asleep. I turned her over onto her back but she did it again..so i had to have a little chat with myself and leave her that way.....On reflection now i'm happy about it, she looks very snug with her arms out beside her head and her bottom up in the air. She is 6 months old and very active and able to roll over and lift her head with ease. Laying on her front stops her feeling funny about her arms flapping about and so far she has cut out the 3am feed and just had a 5 minute wake up where i've patted her back and shes gone back off the sleep snoring like a little bear. I'm glad we used the swaddling it gave us a very easy start in parenthood and eventually Tabitha told us when she was ready to say goodbye to it. I think thats the main lesson here for me, i've been beating myself up for a few months about the transition but she is in control of her development stages and she'll do it when shes good and ready.