So, Ben can do this now...

7 months.  Already pulling himself up to a standing position.  Holy shit.  This is not good for my stress levels. Luckily Chloe has been trained to holler "Baby Ben is trying to stand Mama!" if he starts up when I'm out of the room.  It works, most of the time.  However, considering his head-donk rate even when I'm in the same room, it probably doesn't make much difference.  Like this day, for example.  I was taking pictures of old baby clothes to sell, my back was turned.  I turned around to swap some clothes and there he was.  Standing.  So what did I do?  Well, I think the picture speaks for itself.  I took a picture.  He looked so cute I took a few more:

Can you see where this is going?  In my defence he looses his balance remarkably fast for a 7 month old.  Hey, at least I didn't snap off a pic before going to pick him up.  I mean, I thought about it, but I didn't do it. 

Chloe's New Party Trick

Chloe kept looking at me strangely, mumbling something to herself and then laughing.  There was something about the eyes....  

And then I heard it, "Two Mamas!" It all became clear, to those of us not seeing double.  

Making it seem like Fun!

As an aid to facilitating getting Chloe ready for the day - the childless among you may not realise the time and effort that can go into just getting a pair of socks onto a small pair of feet - I introduced a new concept to Chloe.  As she stood snacking on some rice cakes one morning whilst watching Barney on YouTube (Oh, the parental shame!), and telling me she was "just too busy" to get dressed I had an idea.  I summoned up my voice of enthusiasm.  You know, the one that is all sweetness and light and rainbows?  Oh, You don't know that one?  I can't possibly think why....  Anyway, out it came:

"Chloe, do you know what it is called when you do more than one thing at a time?  It is called Multi-tasking.  Like right now, you are eating rice cakes and watching YouTube - multi-tasking.  Why don't we see if you can do three things at one?  You can eat rice cakes, watch YouTube and get dressed.  All at the same time! Won't that be FUN?"

It worked like a charm.  Granted, we did spend rather a lot of time that day seeing just how many things she could do at once but it was a small price to pay. I now whip out the multi-tasking card when we need to get things done, like, yesterday.  Most of the time it works.  Most.  But regardless of how cooperative she is, she has well and truly absorbed the concept.  

"Granny, Granny, I want to play the iPad"

"The iPad is charging right now Chloe, why don't you play a game on Baba's phone instead?"

"No.  I want to play iPad and play on Baba's phone.  I want to multi-task!"

Cue a huge burst of laughter from the Granny who wasn't aware her not quite three year old granddaughter had "multi-task" in her vocabulary.  

As we all know, my love of babywearing stems somewhat from its practicality.  A concept Chloe seems to have picked up on:

When you wrap your new friend "Blah Blah", you can have both hands free to play Cut The Rope on the iPad!