Christmas Presents

Christmas day can be an overwhelming day. But it's not so bad if you have a baby-rocker from which to enjoy proceedings.

It has all the dangly-bits and rocking-features that a baby needs to unwind. Things swing, things velcro-on and -off, things recline.

(Cousin Shem also rather enjoys it).

Two's Company

A lazy few nights away with cousins afforded some tandem-playtime.

Shem and Noah are both old enough to enjoy putting toys into their mouths and grab at one-another's hands. Thankfully, though, they are too young to argue over those toys, or anything else for that matter. Blissful cooperation.


Bath-time is also much more fun with two. Well, sort of...

Noah is a very strong kicker in the bath. With every bath he totally drenches something: the walls, the floor, a parent, or - as in this case - an Uncle Luke and a comparatively placid cousin.


Noah's going to be seeing a lot more of his cousins in the coming year... Hoooooorahhh!

Do you put your toys in your mouth...?

Toys, it would appear, are no longer just for randomly hitting and occasionally closing one's fist on. Toys are for your mouth.


The best type of toys for mouth-duty are those that hang from the little frame over your play mat. Simply have a parent adjust them to the right height, reach out, grab hold of the toy and put it in your mouth for five minutes at a time.

There are times when Noah can't be bothered with reaching to grab the toys, so he just opens his mouth and cranes his neck toward the toys; this method is met with only limited success.

It is, however, very cute.

The Ashes

We'll talk more soon about one of Noah's recent discoveries: the bright, loud box near his play mat (a TV). But there's one picture that can't wait.

Noah's introduction to watching cricket with Dad: the Ashes, the second test (probably the third day if my memory serves me correctly - hence the facial expression).


May there be many more of these days to come :)

Bathing the Little Boy

Bath time remains one of Noah's favourite times.


He's recently figured out splashing, especially with his legs. He kicks frantically in the water, but only for short stints (like a cheetah). Kicking is usually accompanied by a rather gleeful smile.

His theme music for bath time is "Row, row, row your boat".

Who knows, perhaps his bath-times for the next little while are numbered. Hopefully in Sydney he'll have a bath to play in... perhaps shower-time might become the next big thing.

Smiles by the dozen!

Noah's smiling nearly all the time, these days. Smiles have been all the rage for about 8 weeks or so...


The change-table is a great place for smile-viewing. Perhaps it's because there's plenty to smile about: Noah arrives at the change table whenever he's eaten a big meal and it's the place where the vibrant contents of nappies are removed from his person - never to be seen again.

Bliss!

Stripes for Every Occasion

The versatility of a wardrobe of stripey clothes is almost limitless. Take, for example, the following things that can be comfortably enjoyed while wearing stripes:

1. Bonds stripeys are great for sleeping in.
2. Short-sleeved Bonds stripeys are great for not-sleeping on hotter days.


3. But Bonds isn't the only brand of stripes - other stripes are perfectly suitable attire for some thumb-hunting. (Noah didn't manage to find his thumb on this occasion, it seems his fist was satisfactory).

4. Stripes are great for play time. Noah is staring at a colourful star that has flashing lights and fancy tunes - kids' toys these days!

Several Recent Discoveries

Lions! - In recent weeks Noah has learned to follow the motion of his mobile as it whizzes-around above his sleepy little head. He watches his four friends, Mr. Lion (pictured), Mr. Cat, Mr. Puppy and Mr. Giraffe, as they keep a constant vigil over the Savannah of his bedroom.

Dad's ol' Bed (the cot) - The bassinet can no longer comfortably sleep our growing, young lad. It came time to roll out the old Cane-Family Cot last week. Noah is satisfyingly piling on the kilos at the moment; in fact, there's only one boy, Charlie, at Kate's mum's group who weighs more than Noah - and he's four weeks Noah's senior!

A Thumb in the Mouth is worth Two on the Hands - Noah discovered his thumb the other day, quite unaided by his folks. He's yet to find it a second time, though he'll often slurp on his fist when nothing better can be found.

Favourites

Firstly, a favourite for Noah's parents: this outfit. I love those little boots. They were the very first thing Kate and I bought for the little guy.


Secondly, a favourite spot... for discovering things! Noah probably learns all sorts of things when Dad's got his back turned... could this be where it will all start?


Finally, everyone's favourite: bath time! Noah loves splashing around and wee-ing in the water and all the nice warmness and weightlessness. But when he gets out and is all wrapped-up he reveals his true identity as the cutest little guy the world has ever seen.

Smiles :)

Gosh, smiles are hard to catch on camera!

For at least two reasons:

1. He's quick.
2. He's so great to watch when he's happy you don't want to spoil things by shoving a camera in on the moment.
   

Here's probably the best photo we've taken yet of the little smiler in-action.


As soon as we get a better snap, we'll post it here for all to see :)

Master of Disguise

Thankfully Noah has a bear jacket, so he can circulate undetected amongst the local bear community.

A huge thanks to the girls who conspired together to buy "the best baby item you can own" for Katie... err, I mean, Noah.

The bear (pictured) is named "Cocoa, the Bear". He usually loiters around the change-table but has a habit of jumping into the stroller or the car whenever Noah's going somewhere interesting.

When he's not sleeping, feeding or crying...

... he's usually surveying the new world.

Noah's becoming more and more expressive. Among his latest moves are:

• A rather daddy-like 'concerned' look (Kate says it's 'stern').
  
• The Smile - coming soon to a blog near you
  
• Coo-ing
• A complex repertoire of face-pulling that accompanies his wake-up stretches.

Near-expressionless sitting and staring at our faces (see below) also passes the time :)

The Boy at Play!

Playtimes aren't exactly riotous so far.

We make sure he gets some tummy-time when he's awake (kids need to be slept on their back, etc.) On this particular occasion he stayed awake for... oooh, about 5 minutes. (His play rug - Noah's Ark - is a gift from the Canes).

To be fair, the above picture is actually a couple of weeks old. These days tummy time does actually involve a fair bit of lifting-the-head, wriggling and looking at things... even ostriches and lions.

Sleeping Skills

Noah is proving rather accomplished at sleeping (and rather cute at it too).
Occasionally he wakes only once (for food) at night (say, 3am)... that is, so long as you don't consider midnight or 7am to be 'night'. We reckon we're pretty fortunate when that happens :) Praise God for giving us such a sleepy little boy!

As you can see, one of his special tricks is being very sleepy during the day too. People come to visit and seem to expect him to have Tonka trucks out shovelling sand. Let's just say his playtimes aren't quite so complicated... (more on that next post).

Aaarrrrr!!!

Look me in the eye and tell me we haven't given birth to a pirate ;)

Facial expressions are all the rage at the moment. There's:

1. The Pirate (pictured)
2. The Pseudo-Smile (more related to bodily function than a true smile).
3. The Sleepy Philosopher Man (while sleeping, an expression intimating that he has just arrived at the meaning of life).

Introducing Noah Thomas Cane

Noah's adventures began on the 16th of August 2006.

Praise the Lord!