We’ve already been back in Shanghai for over a week now and after the first few jet lagged days where I felt like I was just floating around the place with a spaced out smile on my face, the reality of being back in Shanghai hit me hard and I didn’t like it at all… and on top of that the whole family caught the worst cold ever… Anyways now we are getting healthy again and after complaining a lot I think I can start again to be pro active about finding fun stuff to do with Theo who is getting more and more fun and needs a way to get rid of all that energy.
I miss the pizza, the food, the wine, the beach, the view of the mountains, my mum, my brother, bread, focaccia but apart from that Shanghai is just fine ; )
Theo loved the bread so much that he was constipated for most of his holiday (it had never happened before).
His eating is still a bit irregular and a lot of the food I offer him still goes on the floor, on his hair and pasted on the high chair. I have started feeding him with a spoon for really messy stuff such as weat-a-bix and yogurt but I’m still trying th BLW way.
I would love to hear from other mothers who are doing this.
Anyhow the sun is shining and Theo even took a nap today so all is good.
Mothering lately has had its challenges, I think it will always have but the trick is using these challenges as another opportunity to learn about myself, work at what we like to call “issues” in my life, it’s all yoga really!
Updates…
After a lot of indecision and trying out some pureed food and spoon feeding I decided to stick with BLW (baby-led weaning). I’m feeling more convinced about my choice and hav e found an excellent blog that inspired me to keep going. Maybe is just me being positive but Theo seems to eat a lot more, it’s still all about getting him at the right time but think it’s a really good idea and anyhow even with the spoon he wants to grab food off the spoon and play with spoon so looks like he’s making the decisions here.
Sleeping is not really going too well, not sure what it is. I’m still partially co-sleeping, as in Theo spends some time in his cot (which is by my bed) and most of the time in bed with us. The only thing I don’t understand about co-sleeping is that you clearly need a bigger beg and I thought that the whole idea was to sleep… he still wakes up loads..
I was just checking out the Shanghaimamas group (really wish I had chosen a different name for my blog as so many people get us confused… if only i had discovered it before i bought my url…anyhow it’s a great group and always read great stuff on it, well done shanghai mamas!!) and found out about this great site about bringing up babies diaper free, it is so cool!! I was toying with the idea and had already asked my ayi how she did it… Might try it out from tomorrow, would be great to not have to wash poo off the diapers, and is surely the most eco way out there.
Off to get some mummy time or maybe write up more posts on info I gathered recently… wish I had more time for this site..
Since my last post I have kept up the BLW in a pretty relaxed way.
Theo seems well and really active and think he is def getting enough nourishment from my milk so I’ll continue feeding on demand and keep enjoying my trips to Paul (the yummy bakery in Xintiandi).
Yesterday I tried offering two veg, broccoli and pumpkin. He wasn’t interested at all, think he was too tired so didn’t really mind. I did “help” him put it in his mouth once just to see but he took a bite and spat it out and looked really unimpressed so that was that.
Later in the day I steamed a carrot and gave it to him, he was enjoying munching on that and by the time he was done with it, the carrot looked like a little mouse had been biting away at it. Today I found carrot in the nappy. I never found any broccoli from the other day… When is he actually going to start digesting things? Need to read more.
Today I decided to let him try a pear. I first gave him a quarter and then half. He seemed to enjoy getting the juice out of it and was making really fun biting-crunching noises. As it was pretty slippery business I had to keep picking pieced up off the floor (covered by my sneaky shower curtain ; )). He seemed to chew quite a bit but the contents of his mouth did regularly fall out on the bib. Later on in the day when I was eating a pear myself I just held it in front of his mouth and he took a bite, followed by a pretty funny face. I think I will try avocado again tomorrow.