Alistair Lattimore » Family

Evie, No More Bottles

Al — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:59:57 +0000

Over the last couple of months, Claire and I have been adjusting Evie’s bottles.

According to the formula, her age and weight she was meant to have two 250ml bottles a day however that rarely happened and she seemed more comfortable with around 200ml.

During September we thought it was time that she moved on from formula and onto cows milk so we made the switch. Of course that didn’t go down all that well, so we reverted to formula and started weening her off it by reducing the amount of formula per bottle from four scoops to three and then to two.

While all this was going on she was quite inconsistent with her bottles as well, sometimes she was drink all 200ml and want more and the next time she would protest after 50ml. As we got down to two scoops of formula in 200ml of milk, we thought it made sense to reduce the volume down to 100ml as well.

Not that long after we were down to a single scoop of formula, started introducing cows milk and Evie was happy as a lark. Next we stopped adding the scoop of formula all together and Evie didn’t seem to mind to much but another month or so later and she decided that she’d had enough of the bottle all together.

Claire and I miss giving Evie her bottle but they can’t stay little forever. Now we give her a sipper cup with milk in it and she is happy to drink smaller amounts of that periodically throughout the day and in the evening after she has had a bath.

Now it won’t be long before she is out of the cot and into a big girl bed!

Hugo: “I Did A Poo”

Al — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:10:51 +0000

When Claire and I embarked on the toilet training process with Hugo, other than the obligatory accidents that were going to happen along the way, I never thought it’d be that big a deal.

It turns out that when you’re a three year old child, who has been happily going to the toilet in a nappy for the past few years – changing that behaviour is a big deal.

We’d been telling Hugo that since he is big boy now and wearing undies, that he needs to use the toilet and that doing it in his underwear wasn’t appropriate – which he understood.

For the first phase of the toilet training and getting him to do a wee or number 1 on the toilet, we’d been asking him regularly if he needed to go to the toilet. Of course, in virtually every instance he would tell us that he didn’t need to go to the toilet but we persisted.

After Hugo had done a number of wee’s on the toilet without a lot of fuss, out of the blue he came up to Claire and simply said that he needed to go to the toilet – Claire nearly fell over. We realised at that point, that we just needed to stop asking him and let him tell us when he needed to go and that has been working great.

Now that he was a professional wee’er, Claire and I started asking Hugo if he wanted to do a poo or number 2 on the toilet. We asked and Hugo would say that he didn’t want to do a poo. We prodded him about it and he’d reiterated that he didn’t want to do a poo. We tried convincing him to stay on the toilet a little longer, without success. We discussed with him that his little body needs to do a poo, that everybody poo’s and that it is normal but we got nowhere fast.

Hugo held onto his first poo for a number of days until one morning, just before I was about to head off to work – it came out, in his undies and I think he was devastated it’d happened. He knew and wanted to do one in the toilet but it just didn’t pan out that way and I think it scared him a little. That was the beginning of him stonewalling Claire and I on every single attempt to even discuss him doing a poo on the toilet – he wasn’t interested at all.

Over a week had passed and still no poo from our little man. We tried a few different types of foods, Belinda suggested pear juice, Claire tried prune juice and a strawberry milk – all without any success. We persisted and continued to ask him semi-regularly like we’d been doing trying to get him to do a wee and prompted him every time he was on the toilet but still no luck. Then one day, Claire convinced Hugo that he should have another go, she was sitting on the floor of the toilet for support, which he wanted but then insisted that she didn’t watch and plop, his first poo on the toilet!

We thought that now he has done his first poo on the toilet, it’ll be like what happened with doing a wee on the toilet, he’ll be an old hat at it in no time. Turns out that wasn’t the case and he held onto the next one for several days & then on Boxing Day another present arrived in his undies.

Not to be disheartened, he’d be going to the toilet for a wee like an absolute champion so we just kept asking him from time to time if he needed to do a poo, but he wasn’t that interested again. At this stage, we were hoping it wasn’t going to be a repeat of the previous time where he held it in for over a week.

This afternoon we were rewarded with an absolutely amazing big boy act, he told me that he needed to do a wee. I helped him get organised for that and left him be and then I hear a plop followed by an excited voice exclaiming “I did a poo Daddy, I did a poo!”. I nearly couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t sitting with him in the toilet, I didn’t ask him while he was on the toilet and it just happened.

Claire and I are so proud of Hugo for doing a poo on the toilet, especially since we didn’t even need to help him out this time. Hugo is really proud of his achievements as well, he asks Claire and I if we’re proud of him and if Grand Ma, Grand Dad & Granny are proud of him also – it really is a delight to see such enthusiasm and excitement on his face and in his voice.

Now we just need to keep at it and with a bit of luck, it’ll begin to happen on a slightly more regular schedule and next thing we know – he’ll be a professional poo’er as well!

Hugo: “I Did A Big Wee”

31st Birthday

Al — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:13:39 +0000

Wholly schmolly, I’m now officially 31!

My birthday started with with Claire, Hugo & Evie greeting me in bed. Hugo ran into the room and wished me happy birthday for the first time, which is more than a little bit special.

Claire found some beautiful paper and ribbon to wrap my presents in, it was a shame to unwrap them really but you’re forced to on your birthday – hehe. I was incredibly spoiled for presents from the family this year & received:

a brown denim pair of shorts & a pair of nice shirts
Steve Jobs biography
Mission Impossible 3 & The Social Network on DVD
Lindt chocolates
iPhone dock

After presents it seemed reasonable to bring our weekend ritual of McDonald’s for breakfast forward a day, which while Hugo doesn’t understand days of the week yet – he was more than happy about.

Unlike virtually every other year, we broke tradition and didn’t visit Hogs Breath Cafe for lunch and instead made our way down to a new, local cafe called Luv-A-Coffee not to far from our place. Sterle, Lorraine & Jean joined us for lunch which was great, especially since Sterle was feeling under the weather. I’d only been there once before for morning tea but the coffee & cake was delicious. Lunch certainly didn’t disappoint, I had a ‘small’ serving of spaghetti bolognaise and it was more than I needed for lunch.

After lunch we rolled our way back to our place, enjoyed a chocolate cake that Claire made and Hugo decorated with purple sprinkles & fire fighting candles to top if off. The cake was really nice, Hugo & Evie certainly enjoyed it yesterday and today.

For the afternoon we stayed at home, watched Robots on DVD which is one of Hugo’s favourites at the moment and mucked around at home. Late last night I ventured out to the movies with Shea to see Tower Heist featuring Eddie Murphy & Ben Stiller which was a good watch.

A quick thank you to all my family, extended family & work colleagues for calling or sending me an SMS and also to everyone that dropped me a line on instant messenger and facebook as well – well wishes on your birthday are fantastic.

Onward and upward, 32 next year!

Hugo: “I Did A Big Wee”

Al — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:08:30 +0000

A few months ago Claire and I thought we’d begin the toilet training process with Hugo. At the time, he was quite interested in it but despite our best efforts and Hugo generally wanting to participate in the whole exercise, we didn’t make it very far.

After putting toilet training on the back burner for a couple of months, this week Claire thought she’d give it another go and see how Hugo responded this time around. Off with the nappy, on with his tiny undies and the toddler toilet training had begun.

We have a potty downstairs and a little ladder with a smaller seat attached upstairs. I was thinking if he was going to make any progress early on, it’d be on the potty. To my surprise however, Hugo has taken to the normal toilet with his ladder really well.

During the week I got a call from Claire, where she was so excited she nearly jumped down the phone line to tell me that Hugo had just done his first wee on the toilet. Claire gave the phone to Hugo and he proceeded to tell me that he’d done a “big wee” several times.

Today Hugo has been without his nappy and in his underwear virtually all day, in which time we’ve had two big wee’s on the toilet. We tried to persuade Hugo that maybe he should think about doing a poo as well but that was a bit much at this stage.

I’m so excited about the whole thing really, our little boy is growing up.

Paper Towels Are Not Created Equally

Hugo Learning To Ride Three Wheel Scooter

Al — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:20:05 +0000

For Hugo’s 3rd birthday, he received a fantastic three wheel scooter, helmet and sunglasses. Initially he wasn’t too sure about the whole thing, then it was all the rage and then it went out of flavour again.

Recently it is back in his go to toy list again and he’s been scooting around the house on it and I’ve been encouraging him to push, scoot and glide instead of constantly pushing in an attempt to get him to build his balance.

On the weekend, we popped over to the park near our house to give Hugo a go in a bigger space. To start with he was just happy riding his scooter across the width of the basket ball court but then I suggested that he ‘chase’ me around the outside edge instead – success!

Every indicator at this point is that Hugo will be right handed. However, oddly he was riding his scooter goofy with his right foot on the scooter and pushing with his left leg. While we were circling anti-clockwise, everything was a-okay. When we switched to go around clockwise, Hugo was unsteady as I expected as it is a little harder to turn the same direction as the leg you’re standing on. He stumbled a few times and fell off once but got straight back up and kept on going, which is the main thing.

Next step, hooning & the beginnings of a simple trick!

Having trouble viewing them embedded video, watch Hugo Lattimore Learning To Ride A Scooter on YouTube.

Evie Learning To Walk

Je m’appelle Evie

Al — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:30:53 +0000

One evening recently while getting Hugo changed, Evie was playing in the room with us.

Evie loves exploring all of the nooks and crannies in the bedroom, opening cupboards, draws and unpacking virtually anything she can get her hands on.

One of Evie’s favorite things is hats, they make her smile every time she or we put one on her. Of course, a hat to a toddler is a very flexible concept & is quite easily interchanged with undies as needed.

Hugo, 3 Years Old

Al — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:03:25 +0000

On Sunday, Hugo turned three years old and we celebrated in the usual fashion for our household with presents first thing.

When I went upstairs go get Hugo from his bedroom, he initially wanted to run downstairs to our bedroom to say good morning to Claire. I had to convince Hugo not to go downstairs (we had his presents set up in the lounge room) and to come and say good morning to Claire as she got Evie out of bed for the morning festivities. Hugo made me laugh as he walked down the stairs, saw the pile of presents wrapped up and said ‘ohh, parcels!’.

Claire, Evie and I sat around Hugo while he took great pleasure in opening all of his little presents. Hugo received a few different types of presents from some books, a cricket bat & ball, Cars DVD but was particularly interested in his new three-wheel scooter, helmet and sunglasses.

For lunch we dared to venture out to the Coffee Club at Oxenford. Claire called to check if we’d need a reservation and they didn’t think we would; fortunately for us when we arrived while it was busy, it wasn’t manic. To my surprise and delight, even though it was quite busy, the food was served in a very reasonable time – so congratulations to their staff for getting through everyone’s orders.

Between lunch and mid afternoon while Evie was sleeping, Sterle, Lorraine & Jean came back to our place ahead of Hugo’s ~~party~~ small gathering of people. This was a great opportunity for Hugo to receive a present or two from Sterle, Lorraine & Jean – a work bench with tools and a wooden toaster – my goodness he loves them to pieces! After the present, he realised it might be a good opportunity to get a head start on some party food, try out some of his new toys in greater detail and generally have a good old time.

With near perfect timing, Jude, George, Emily, Oliver & Milla arrived to get our small gathering of people started. Last year Hugo had a barn yard party but this year it was time for a dinosaur party. There was a fantastic dinosaur cake, fierce dinosaur figurines and cool hanging dinosaur decorations for Hugo’s dinosaur themed birthday party. Claire assures me that while the delicious dinosaur cake looks quite straight forward, it was actually quite a challenge to make – particularly getting the different pieces to stick together and the icing to look pretty!

The little people had a fantastic time playing with one another, charging around the house, playing with the new toys, eating plenty of party food all the while trying their hardest to stay out of trouble.

I now have a new found respect for parents who have climbers for kids. I’ve heard plenty of stories from Emily about how fast Milla is but I really didn’t appreciate it until I saw it first hand – she can practically run. While speed is definitely one of her strengths, fearlessness and ninja-esque stealth definitely play a huge role in her ability to get into mischief.

Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to Hugo’s 3rd birthday party, phoned, sent emails and SMS’d us and especially those that traveled; it means the world to Claire & I. Hugo had a fantastic day hanging out with his extended family, was spoiled beyond belief with some absolutely beautiful presents and was completely exhausted by the end of it.

Next up, fabulous four!

Hugo, Mini MasterChef

Al — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:14:22 +0000

I’ve mentioned countless times before that Hugo loves to help and be involved in the various activities that happen in our household and one of those activities is cooking!

Hugo certainly doesn’t need to be incentivised to take part in baking chocolate chip biscuits or making pikelets, however with his new chefs hat and apron he sure does make a cute mini MasterChef.

A few other action shots:

Evie Learning To Walk

Al — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:44:12 +0000

Evie has been thinking about walking a lot recently.

For Evie’s first birthday, she received a walker with adjustable breaks to give it some resistance so it didn’t scoot away. We never bothered with a toddler walker for Hugo and he learned to walk without a problem, so I wasn’t sure if it was really going to make a difference. However, to my surprise, as soon as we convinced Evie to stand on her own holding onto the walker, which she was very nervous about, she relaxed and soon tried taking her first steps with it.

Having trouble watching the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore First Steps With Walker on YouTube.

Within a short few days, those tiny little first steps turned into her hooning up and down our living room. Of course she couldn’t steer and has no concept of stopping once she got her momentum up but that is what walls and couches are for afterall.

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore Confident Walker Walking on YouTube.

Evie’s use of the toddler walker was actually quite short lived and before we knew it, she was taking those same tiny, shuffling steps unassisted. Naturally as soon as she took a handful of shuffle steps, enough to move 10cm, she would sit back down. Claire and I were willing Evie to take bigger steps and then more steps, which seemed to peak at 8 steps for a few days and then a light bulb went off for her – if she doesn’t sit down, she can just keep on going like the Energizer Bunny!

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore Walking on YouTube.

Since the video above was filmed a week or so ago, Evie has nearly stopped crawling completely and is instead, walking around constantly. Looking at her expression as she cruises around the house, it is quite clear that she is as proud as punch that she can walk. Most importantly I think, she can keep up a little easier to her big brother Hugo – who she absolutely adores.

Evie 1st Birthday Party, Ladybugs Abound

Al — Sun, 22 May 2011 02:05:24 +0000

Yesterday we celebrated Evie’s first birthday with a bit of a do at our place, it kicked off at 10AM and we closed up shop around 1:30PM when the candle was well and truly burned down with most of the little people in attendance.

Claire decided that a ladybug themed party ought to do the trick and set about creating a whole swag of items to boot, starting with cute handmade ladybug invitations, leaf garlands featuring tiny ladybugs, a not to scale ladybug cake and much more – very cute!

In attendance we had:

Andrew, Belinda & Ben
Anita
David & Karen
Emily, Will, Oliver & Milla
Lorraine & Sterle
Lucy & Michael
Nigel, Trudy & Noah
Phil, Tammi & Grace

Everyone spoiled Evie beyond belief with some of the most gorgeous presents getting around. We’ve been really lucky actually, only the other day Claire and I commented to one another that Evie doesn’t really have that many purely girly toys. After her 1st birthday, that has changed with some beautifully unique looking dolls, knitted toys and much more.

The boys had a great time playing together and between them managed to pretty much disassemble the play area in the living room and all of the toys. Suffice to say, it looked like they’d had fun! Watching Milla & Noah toddle off around the house was great, little people have such cute walking styles! It was nice to catch up with everyone, however briefly and have a quick chat. I think we need to find a way to do it more regularly that doesn’t revolve around a birthday, they don’t come frequently enough.

Thank you to everyone that was able to make it today, Claire & I really appreciate it and realise that you all needed to drive a distance to make it. A special thank you to Phil & Tammi for attending, they brought baby Grace along for her first birthday party and she is only a tiny we dot of a girl and around 10 weeks old.

Next up, a whopping second birthday this time next year. If we end up going down to the park again like we did for Hugo’s second birthday, we’re bound to have a great time again.