Jack's crawling has picked up in speed and distance travelled. I can no longer duck out of the room for a couple minutes as he can crawl half way across the house in that time. He is enjoying exploring and makes excited noises while crawling about. He sets his mind on something and takes off. Downstairs he loves racing right through the entrance hall to a wizard statue and the front blinds (which he vigorously shakes all about). He sometimes peers into his dad's study and bathroom along the way and occasionally detours into them. He was particularly cute this afternoon, peering into his dad's study and saying 'da da'.

Upstairs, he goes the length of the passageway, looks both ways, and then quickly makes a beeline into the bathroom and the shower door to bang it open and closed. He certainly has a good memory for where things are. He also finds the air vents on the floors and walls to be of interest. We have also had to move the couch and chair in his general play area downstairs closer together and edge a soft toy in between to prevent him crawling through the gap to the blinds behind.

At Gymbaroo this week the instructors helped the babies to somersault for the first time. Jack also crawled all the way through a couple of tunnels for the first time. He gave me a big happy grin as he saw me waiting at the other end for him and charged towards me. He also now enjoys crawling along the 'foot steps' path, and on the netting (with bean bags and mirrors beneath).

Jack has had his worst cold to date this week, so has been extra snuffling, coughing a bit, and extra clingy again as a result. He has got quite upset a few times with his nose being either runny or blocked. As a result I decided not to take him swimming this week.

At childcare I stayed with him for 15 minutes then left him for a bit over an hour. He seemed ok when I was there and when I left. Apparently he then cried up until 10 minutes before I arrived back! As soon as he saw me he cried once again, then refused to look at me or at his main carer when she tried to say goodbye to him. I suspect he was worse this week due to not feeling well – I can only hope he starts to be happier there, particularly with only a few weeks now until I return to work.

We took Jack to another school tour yesterday. This school also looked a promising possibility. We were shown around by a student and we both commented afterwards that she models exactly what you would hope your child to turn out like. Polite, well spoken, interested, engaged and enthusiastic about her school and all the activities she was involved in (including the camps and extra-curricular options), and having a love of learning and trying new things. Of course that would have been why she was chosen to show parents around! I asked her what the best thing about her school was, and her answer really summed up for me what I see as the promise of private schooling. '”All the opportunities - that you can try all kinds of different things and then pursue whatever interests you, whether it be sports, music, drama, extra extension classes, languages, etc, or combination”.

A smile for his Dad has he passes by, heading for the front blinds again.

On the weekend Jack crawled past my study door, stopped, peered in, and said aloud “Dada, Dada?”

That makes you feel good in a way you cannot explain.

Al has let Jack crawl around the house exploring. She follows behind as he scurries from one side of it to the other. We have been surprised with how well he recognises the layout of the house from a position 25cm off the ground. Once loose, he has made beelines for objects and places out of his direct vision, but that were obviously in his memory.

He seems to have picked up his mothers memory, and his Dad’s sense of direction. Thank goodness it wasn’t the other way around…

We went to another private school opening on the weekend. We found it definitely worth considering. Jack, although tired, behaved very well. We had a student show us around the junior, prep and pre-prep areas of the school. She did an excellent job, and was articulate, polite and confident. At one point she referred to a program at the school that was used to support both those in need of extra help in a subject, and those who were more advanced at it. Out of interest I asked her if there was a stigma attached to those who might be in the program, but from her answer and expression she didn’t understand why there would be. It spoke volumes about the environment at the school.

One of Jack's favourite crawling destinations. (The hat rack in the background is one of a growing list of objects that are being moved into the spare junk room).

Yesterday Jack turned 8 months old. He had his 8-month check up at the district health nurse, which went fine. In recounting the visit over the phone Al mentioned the nurse had said Jack might be a hypersensitive baby.

A what?

Turned out the two nurses there had suggested it previously, but Al hadn’t mentioned it. I’ve been wondering of late with some of Jack’s behaviour – maybe this was an explanation? Hypersensitive is however a term with a hundred different definitions – to the point of making it meaningless.

In simple terms it means Jack might be more sensitive than the “average” baby. This could be to a variety of things, including foods and anxiety. We are certainly seeing some signs of that.

To be straight - I don’t see a problem. Jack is a top little bloke, and we are all certainly coping very well. It just means we should have a little more consideration for Jack’s environment and his reactions to it.

(What this really proves is that even professionals think Jack’s “Oh my god you are killing me” scream is particularly powerful.)

Oh yeah, the crawling has continued. Faster, stronger, longer distances. You think you know what that means before it happens - but you don’t. You have to experience it. Jack is less interested in his toys. He tends to bowl over them on the way to some distance room and item he has stored away in his memory.

There are a lot of things about having and rearing a baby that you can never – ever – understand until you go through it. Nothing and no one can truly describe them. Afterwards you half raise it to another parent and they go “Ahhh” and nod before you can finish. They understand.

My alarm went off at 4:45am this morning. I was dozing half listening to the radio when Al came in with Jack at 4:50am. She sat beside me and started to feed him. Every minute or two Jack would detach from the breast, lean back and look at me, and say “Dad Dad Dad”. I’d open my eyes, smile at him, and tell him to get back to his breakfast. This went on a while and through a couple snooze alarms, so I turned the radio off. Next second I’m awake, it is 7:30am, Jack is snoozing next to me, and Al next to him. Oops.

Jack woke up later extra happy. With the timing as it was, Al feed him and took him down to the childcare centre. He was there for two hours, 90 minutes of it without his mum. Since I found myself working from home, I went along to pick him up. Jack burst out crying as soon as he saw his Mum. The carer said he was upset on and off for most of the time, but that he had shown some improvement.

I think that was his fifth visit. The whole idea was for Jack to be able to get used to Childcare in measured amounts. Now the time he will spend all day there is rushing towards us, but we still don’t know if he will handle it. I don’t know if we have helped, or made matters worse.

“I don’t know”. I’m finding myself saying that a lot in reference to childrearing.

Things sort of went downhill from there. Jack had a couple short and interrupted sleeps, and spent the rest of the day in a state of over tired, or, very over tired. One or the other. Al’s shoulders slumped, she got a bag lady shuffle going, and by the end of the day had a temperature and was feeling crap. I spent my day with a headache and was also feeling average.

Here’s hoping for a great night sleep for all of us, and a better tomorrow.

A gummy smile as he scoots down the hallway.

 He now has the traditional crawl down pat.

Cooked and pureed broccoli about to be frozen in Jack sized half meals.

From the very negative reaction to his first taste however, I suspect little of it will be eaten.

Who invented the concept of drops and suction syringe to help clear a baby’s blocked nose? Was it an April Fools day joke? What a ridiculous, pointless waste of time trying to squeeze anything up the nose of an 8 month old.

The runny noses have continued in a sort of family frenetic game of tag, passing from one to another. Just when you think it is all over, you get tagged again.

We remarked only an hour ago that Jack seemed to be getting over his cold – and now we have him up and upset, seemingly caused by the flow of snot messing up his breathing and making him gag.

The two things that help him are showers and crying – both seem to loosen and get things flowing. He has been getting plenty of crying tonight.

We have had a couple excellent days with Jack. He has basically been in a great mood – has been taken shopping, out to a lunch, out to visit friends and family in Geelong, and to Childcare, and has been really well behaved for all of them. He has even spent stretches of over four hours straight sleeping in his cot the last couple nights. We have just started to give him some supermarket baby food – maybe when it says “organic ingredients”, it means “mind-altering additives”?

He has also recently seemed to get a greater understanding of the concept of specific noises to communicate something. I suspect he understands half a dozen things we say or more. In his own vocabulary, he has recently been saying “MmmBa” repeatedly. It happens primarily when he is a little upset – so wants to be picked up or fed. We know he is trying to say something specific – but are not sure if it relates to his Mum (we think it does), Boobie (another possibility since we have been using that term to refer to food for some time), or he is saying “get your backside over here immediately”.

I suspect it is being used to refer to his Mum. If I pick him up while he is saying it, he’ll continue saying it while looking over my shoulder and around. Once in his mum’s arms, he stops.

... My first half day. Feels odd being finished already. Feels odd not being a "full time employee".

We have had a busy few days of firsts. I spent the weekend away for the opening of the Duck Season. It was the longest I’d been away from Jack, which was an odd feeling. Luckily he is a noisy little mite, so I could hear him vocalising away in the background when I spoke to Al on the phone.

Al and her sister attended a Commonwealth Games Gymnastics session on Saturday night, and Grandma Q babysat Jack for the first time. That seemed to go well, probably helped by being at home in an environment he was familiar with.

Last of all Al and I attended a Commonwealth Skeet Shooting session today, and Jack spent half a day in Childcare. It was his longest stretch so far. He was upset on and off, but managed a couple short sleeps and some play sessions. He also didn’t cry when we dropped him off, or when I picked him up.

All told, there has been a slow but positive improvement in Jack’s ability to handle being cared for by people other than his parents.

Last of all, we noticed lots of little bruises on the front of Jack’s legs that we were puzzling over. That was – until we watched Jack playing this afternoon. He was sitting banging some of his toys down hard – on the ground, on other toys, and ... on his legs. He is a loud, and a strong little mite...

Surveying his downstairs play area. What to play with next...

Jack’s activities have been on a break for the last two weeks, so I have had an opportunity to catch up with more family and friends. This included Jack's first visit to a play centre last week, where he enjoyed the opportunity to crawl into some toy houses and through some tunnels.

This week has been the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, so I have enjoyed the opportunity to get out and attend a variety of events. This was all booked before Jack was born - back in pre-baby life where I had optimistically thought it shouldn't be too hard to get to all these events. (How life changes).

Up to now I had never missed a single feed of Jack's, so had never been away from him for more than 3 hours. Suddenly in a week I have gone to being away for 4 to 5 hours on multiple occasions, with a couple more times to go. Jack has been cared for by my mum for his first baby-sitting effort, 2 half days at childcare this week, and by Doug another night.

Thankfully overall he is getting better with his separation anxiety, and being left with other people. That is when he is feeling ok. When he isn't feeling well, it is still mum that he really wants. He went ok with the bottle for my mum and with Doug, but hasn't taken much at childcare. He also has only had minimal food there also, which is leaving me a little concerned. His diet is still very basic (I’ve been taking it slowly), so it may be awhile before he is ready for the types of meals provided. Overall however I am feeling more positive that he is adjusting more to being without me and will be able to cope with the time at childcare.

With the Commonwealth Games taking up my focus this week, the end of my maternity leave has crept up on me all of a sudden. I was to start next week, but I have to collect a laptop and go over work requirements, so I am now starting in the office tomorrow. My maternity leave has effectively just ended. I am feeling sad that my time at home being a full-time mum is now over. I am really happy however with how my maternity leave worked out. I have really cherished this time at home with Jack, being able to fully focus on him, enjoy spending all my time with him, watching his development, and developing a really strong bond with him. I will always be able to look back at the happy memories I have of this time. I have also accomplished most of the personal goals I set for myself. I feel that while we are not perfect, Doug and I have adapted very well to parenthood and all it entails.

I have some mixed feeling about returning to work. I do feel refreshed from the break, and in some ways it will be interesting to get back into it. (In particular the mental challenges it provides.) I do worry a bit how much I will remember and how long it will take for me to get back into the swing of things. From the sounds of things though it is very busy in the office, so I might not have too much time to sit around thinking on that.

In some ways it will feel a bit like returning to the 'real world' from the 'baby world' I have inhabited. It also feels a little like my 'old pre-baby' life is about to collide with my new 'mother and baby' life, and I am concerned with how I will go with juggling the two; balancing everything and not wearing myself out in the meantime.

I am happy that with the flexibility my job has provided in initially spending minimal time in the office, and mostly working from home. I will still be spending the vast majority of my time with Jack, and that hopefully makes for an easier transition period for us both. The change of Doug's working arrangements should also help all of us in this adjustment period.

So although not entirely looking forward to it, I feel ready to embrace this new phase of our lives. I am trying to approach it with a positive mindset and will do the best I can to make it all work out for all of us. I keep reminding myself also that it is a good thing in the long term to keep up with my skills in the workforce. Also by being able to contribute financially working will create more long-term lifestyle options for all of us.

With all that, the last few weeks have flown by.

Jack has been able to get up onto his knees for a little while now. Today I watched as he tried to pull himself up onto his feet using the bars of the security gate. He managed it once - for all of 0.3 seconds. The photos I grabbed are not the best, but they show the moment.

I'm not sure that this will be a quick process. Jack doesn't do a great job holding himself in a standing position when held. It is not a lack of strength, it is more the fact he tends to stay on the tips of his toes and deliberately jigs up and down like he is at some frenetic dance party.

Something I don't think I've mentioned before, but for quite some time now Jack has been helping when you try to lift him. It is more than the simple arm's being stretched out, for example when he is in his car seat he arches his back so you can get your hands in under him. He does the same in his highchair. It is one of the many things I had never considered a baby would do.

His play time has been getting louder - in particular the wilful and exuberant smashing of toys together, and throwing things at the ground. Along with those bruises on his legs, I expect we will start to see toy breakages soon.

Above Jack is waiting in his Highchair for food. Al mades a real effort to cook and prepare his pureed fruit and vegetables, but he seems to like the taste and smoother texture of baby food from a jar.

So I was wrong yesterday. Jack got himself into a standing position at the gate this evening, and held it for 15 odd seconds, even moving his feet to stand straighter, and doing a few seconds of jigging (which was his undoing). Later while in his Portacot I watched him stand twice again for 10 second bursts. I suspect from the lack of surprise and excitement on his face, Jack has been standing behind our back before.

In the space of a day, 10 seconds of standing has stretched out to 4 or 5 minutes. In fact, it commonly only finishes once his parents notice him getting shaky and pick him up, or put him back into a sitting position. Jack seems to enjoy standing - although often in a slightly nonplussed / nonchalant way.

The transition of horizontal Jack to vertical Jack seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. I find it hard to get my head around it – there is a touch of the bewildering in watching a baby developing.

Today I watched as Jack was using only one hand to steady himself while standing, shuffled his feet, stood on one leg only, and then put one foot up onto the security gate and looked as if he would try to climb it. Al said earlier she had watched him stand at the couch and try to reach some colourful cardboard boxes resting on it (holding some of his spare clothes.) Later Al let him crawl around - which he did at seemingly twice the pace of yesterday. (Until a door swinging excercise turned pear shape and crying ensured.) Frankly it is bizarre. How did this happen so quickly?

Jack loves crawling. If exploring the house and he senses that you are about to pick him up, he scoots away at a great rate. He seemingly tries to grab the floor as you start to lift him, and keeps the crawling action going until well up into the air.

He is also standing easier. Every time you look around he is up on two feet. Even the process of getting from standing to sitting seems to be well advanced – a sort of controlled half twist collapse onto his bum, using a sliding hand to steady himself on the way down.

It all still amazes me.

Al spent half a day at work last Friday. She then worked half days from home on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and worked a full day in the office today. As a result Jack has been in my care a couple half days, in childcare for almost a full day today, and was babysat by his Grandma Q on Tuesday. Early days, but it definitely seems workable.

I’m glad to have been able to ease into this transition. Jack isn’t over joyed with the changes, but is coping better than expected. In fact, he has surprised us in many ways. He can be quick to yell and cry, but when that doesn’t work, he will often adapt.

Al has been doing well on the work front, but has been losing a bit of sleep worrying after the changes for Jack. I think the transition sort of rushed at her, masked until the last moment by the Commonwealth Games events.