Wow, 2012 already?

It looks like I got lazy. Or busy. Or something. My last entry here was from the day I went back to work after maternity leave...

A lot has happened since then. So here's a quickie update. Pingu has grown. A lot. He started barnehage (Norwegian version of daycare) in November and is doing very well there. He really needed it by the time he started. Not that there was anything wrong with hanging out with Pappa at home, but it was getting to the point where he needed more stimulation than Pappa or I could provide. In barnehage he interacts with other adults and small children. He was skeptical to everyone at first, of course, but he eventually relaxed with the adults and now he's playing with the other kids. Not too long ago, he got his first kiss (that Pappa witnessed) - one of the girls walked up to him and kissed him! That put Pingu in a great mood; he was very happy and all babbly when we took him home :-)

Of course being in barnehage means bringing home all kinds of lovely yuckies. It started with a tummy bug and escalated into colds that didn't go away and then ear infections. So for a good part of November and December he was sick, I was sick because he was sick (yeah, guess what happens when sick baby licks Mamma's face when Mamma gives him a hug?), he went back to near exclusive breastfeeding (dead exhausting when the baby is so big), blah blah... but everything seems to be fine again. For now. I'm sure the new round of whatever is just around the corner. We still have February and March to go...

The ear infections and a possible issue with his balance organ means that Pingu isn't walking yet. It seemed like he was on his way to walking before he started barnehage, but once the ear stuff started up, everything seemed to go downhill and he was even "off balance" when sitting. It's better now and he's up and taking lots of steps on his own again. He's more into climbing on everything and everyone though...

Pingu is also very eager to eat without my assistance. He tries to eat porridge on his own, with a spoon from a bowl and all, but his fine motor skills aren't quite there yet. He'll eat "real food" with his hands. Sort of. He usually stuffs food into mouth, tries to chew it but can't really chew, spits out food again, picks up spat out food and stuffs it into mouth, rinse and repeat... is this how we're supposed to go about it? I try to feed him (either with utensils or sometimes just by hand) in between his own efforts. He still wants to do it all by himself. Either way, it doesn't seem like he gets much in. But he doesn't seem to be starving, so...

Anyway, I'll update with more Pingu stuff later. And include some pics. He's changed quite a lot since the last pic I posted here!