The little things in life...: the wonder weeks

Well... I don't actually know how to cope with them. I thought I would ask you lovely lot to help me out!!

I'll start from the top. Daisy is generally a very content, happy little baby and always has been. She sleeps well, feeds well and gives lots of big smiles all day. However there are certain weeks where this is all turned on it's head, and it all turns into a little bit of chaos.

I asked some fellow mummy bloggers and mummy friends why it could be and they suggested I check out The wonder Weeks app. Go get it if you don't! I haven't looked back.

It's basically a timeline from when your baby was due (not born!) and what stages of their development they may be going through at certain times. I can picture a few of you rolling your eyes now, being all sceptical and thinking babies are babies it's just what they do. However so far Daisy has followed the pattern they suggest and when a leap is suggested you can be sure she is difficult.

The Wonder Weeks is based on years and years of research by Dr Frans Plooij. He basicay says babies don't only have growth spurts but these development leaps also which are a sign of progress in their mental development. Although babies are all unique and will show different levels of intensity the pattern in which they follow is the same. It's all very interesting and worth a read anyway, even if you are sceptical.

At the minute she's going through leap four, and do we know it!!! She tends to cry a lot, for no apparent reason and is very sleepy. Getting her to sleep is difficult and she's just generally quite unpredictable! All completely out of character for little miss Daisy.

As you can read we have 22 days left of this leap, 3 weeks????!!! Shoot me now! Although in past leaps she has only be a trouble for a week or so and we are already a week in- fingers crossed.

As I write this I can hear her giggling in her cot, happy chappy! How is that possible yet it gets to around 4pm and all hell will break loose just before Ben gets home! Last night I was walking around the block at 7pm just to chill her out and hopefully relax her into going bed, thankfully it worked nicely. But I'm not sure if I should be doing that every night??

I think the leaps get more difficult each time and this time there seems to be so much for her to get her little head around, I feel it's leaving her a little over whelmed and incredibly knackered! The week before she started all this screaming in an evening and napping more she seemed vacant, she would just stare into space- exactly like the signs of this leap. Another sign she is showing is her thunderbird impression- she is very wobbly again and needs to be supported at times. In fact every single one of those signs Daisy is displaying at the moment.

All very interesting, and frustrating at times! But all part of being a baby!

Lots of love,

Hayley xxx

4 months??? Seriously slow down time! It feels like only yesterday I was writing the 3 month update.

It doesn't feel as if on paper much has changed really but as a little character so much has developed even this last week. So a few little notable changes and traits:

- her chatting is a real little conversation now, she's quite the chatterbox. She tells us all about her day and exactly what she thinks, we have to guess what she's saying but still! What's even cuter than her talking to mr lamp or curtain is when she spots her daddy all of a sudden, he gets the biggest smiles and loudest coos!

- thumb sucking is a development. It's no longer by chance but deliberate and she often uses it to settle herself, including to sleep twice this week. Do thumb suckers get sore thumbs??

- I think I can spot a tooth coming at the top, it's as if it's broken through the tiniest amount. I thought the bottom teeth always came first though?? This could explain the constant dribble and rosy cheeks!

- she is still wanting to stand or sit up all of the time, hates being lay down something's. Although she can lie under her baby gym for half an hour or so at a time now, just enough time for mum to get a cup of tea!

- her hair has started to sprout and us still in between curly and straight, I think it may go straight eventually, she's very fair too.

- she is almost out of most of her 0-3 clothes now :( and is pretty much wearing 3-6 months now, as sad as it is at least it means a new wardrobe! And every girl likes that!

- she really notices things now like patterns and eyes on her toys, she stares at them for ages.

- in a morning now she stays in her cot (yep she's in her big girls bed!!) chatting to her friends, she seems very content in there. She is still sleeping very well at night, although this last few nights it's been 7-2 and then 2.30- 6.30/7 ish. When it's before 7 I feel like a zombie but I know how lucky I am really!!

- she still loves her baths and goes wild in them. Although I now have to try and do it earlier and earlier as she is getting tired earlier at night and we can have tears and a tantrum when I get her out just because she is so tired

- she is still breastfed and it is still working for both of us, especially night time when I can't even think about making up a bottle! She does take a bottle though and is happy to if needed.