Hello Mudduh Hello Fadduh: ILX Rolling Parenting Thread

I'm seriously up for another baby but I think we'll wait till she's a year.

Teeny, did you start on solids yet?

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The (American) book we have recommends rice cereal, something which they don't do at all here: they start with fruit and veggies. But they do recommend waiting until six months if you breastfeed. I don't know, I just can't wait that long. :-( Part of me worries but ah hell I was eating solids when I was 2 months old!

Apparently here, in Belgium, only 60 procent starts with breastfeeding. By six months only 15 procent continues and only 4 procent manages to do a year of breastfeeding! WTF!

American advice is very consistent about rice cereal to start because it's one of the least allergenic foods, but it's totally refined and then vitamins are put into it--nutritionally speaking it's not that fantastic because of the synthetic nature of the vitamins. But baby is getting most of her needs filled through mothers milk still, so it's not that important. One book I have recommends that breastfed babies start on banana because its sweetness is similar to breast milk.

You can totally wait until 9 mos-one year to start solids if you want, babies who have parents with food allergies should go that long (so they say) because it decreases the likelihood of those allergies developing. (although a lot of times docs will recommend vitamin supplements too.) But at the same time it's nice to get them in the habit of taking food from a non-boob source, I think that's why the six-month mark is frequently mentioned. I don't think there's any babies who didn't figure it out eventually though. ;)

Here's a page on breastfeeding rates in the US and around the world: http://www.kellymom.com/writings/bf-numbers.html

In the last couple of weeks she's started to really associate the word "puppies" exclusively with dogs whereas, previously, it just seemed to be a word she liked to say. She shrieks, "Puppies!" at dogs in the streets, in books, on advertising hoardings. Pam propaganda, I reckon.

I wonder how long my glee at peace and quiet will last. I reckon about 30 minutes.

"papa" (that's me!)

"agua"

and some others I can't remember. As much Spanish as English at the moment, but none of it particularly clearly.

And stuff like "cuckoo", "quack quack" and "woof woof", but they are from the animal kingdom.

He's also getting good at the "point to the cat/bunny/nose/door" game.

AWESOME

"Toast!" (pointing at frog)

"No no, that's the frog. This is the toast! Can you point at the toast?"

"Toast!" (pointing at frog)

"No, this is the toast! Here's the frog. Can you say 'frog'?"

[grabs stuffed frog, crawls across room, puts it on top of much larger rocking frog, points at them:] "Toast!"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/DSC00001.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/55/151091586_a19939d29c.jpg

she's a doll BTW.

Since no one has really answered Natalie's raspberry question upthread, here goes:

Raspberry= sticking tongue out and blowing in order to make a realistic fart sound.

Razzing=energetic, humorous displays of contempt, which may INCLUDE raspberries, as well as verbal insults, rude gestures and rotten fruit projectiles.

I didn't know Andrew had a kid.

happy fathers day dudes

Yeah, um...did I miss something?

Thanks, Beth, for explaining. :-)

aldo's kids totally have a 'just humoring dad' look on their face!

Two chilluns, one with the boogie (Miranda, age 2) and one like his dad with no boogie (Eric, age 5).

Neither of them like anything really interesting, though Eric was rocking along to Bardo Pond's BUFO ALVARIUS/AMEN 29:15 this afternoon, but he said "he didn't like the music".

We're still seriously thinking about a second baby. We've pretty much made up our mind. The only problem is that I'm already having panic attacks thinking sth will go wrong now. Silly, I know, but hell I'm a pessimist. :-( Also, I need to check with my OBGYN about when we can start trying to conceive. I don't wanna fuck up my body nor risk the baby's health. (Research has shown that having a second baby before a year has passed, can result in premature babies with lower weight.)

Ophelia has started to scream again. She loves to use her voice, shouting really loudly. Also when she's woken up and still alone in her room. I just let her do this for about 15 minutes. It's so funny. Then I come into the room and she throws her legs in the air laughing. Not laughing out loud just yet. She's on the brink.

She doesn't turn around completely. Her whole body flips over just not her one shoulder. So it's not official yet. hah!

Anyway, yeah, I am so fucking in love with Ophelia.

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She's skyping with my parents who live in Japan. They talk to her and she grins or mumbles a bit.

http://static.flickr.com/13/19322906_6a89267ed9.jpg

Hah! She's not biologically mine. She's my partner's daughter, but I call her my own for simplicity's sake.

I saw this today in the opticians waiting room. It made me feel sad somehow.

I haven't checked this thread for a while cos I've been too busy, but some of these pictures are beautiful. Fuck it, no, all of them are beautiful, what am I saying.

Targeting all fathers and men whose lives and perspective have changed as they’ve entered fatherhood. FQ is set to revolutionise the men’s lifestyle market by celebrating parenthood and lifestyle changes that come along with it. Solely catering for today’s modern man, FQ reflects the lives and aspirations of men who have grown out of ‘lads mags’ and require a more sophisticated read to suit their newly acquired tastes and interests.

I still can't believe it's not a spoof.

Incidentally, I was criticised (obliquely) by another dad on Sunday, because I was sitting on the ground at the playground. Apparently this is a bad example, because I would get my trousers dirty and have to wash them.

However, I am proud to fly the flag for punk rock.

And I'll tell you what, for some reason, nothing quite goes together better in photos than kids and artillery. Somewhere I have a picture of 9 year old me sitting in a Blackhawk helicopter (from an airshow). And one of my favorite pictures of my son (I'll try to dig it up from my parents' house this weekend), he is standing on top of a tank, pointing and yelling.

Yeah, next time I will kick Boring Dad's head in, the boring c*nt.