Dominic and the cat

Recently Dominic has become quite obsessed with the cat, and she is surprisingly tolerant of his attentions. If she's sitting on the sofa or nearby she lets him stroke her, and has even licked his hand a couple of times. Remarkably, she doesn't bite him even when he grabs a handful of her fur!





We even got footage today of Dominic attempting to lure the cat to him with his sweet siren-like call. OK, actually he just yells some baby grunts at her and as cat-cam shows, it is not entirely successful. The bumps in the footage are from Austie rubbing her head against the camera.

More fun with food

After many days of chowing down on the pureed fruit, Dominic has moved onto trying out some veggies. First was kumara, which he loved, however, the results were somewhat more messy.



After liberally coating his face and bib with a couple of spoonfuls (OK, he did actually swallow some of it as well, it just looked like he was trying to apply it as a face mask), Dominic decided he might go straight for the source of the kumara rather than waiting for spoonfuls.



Much mess and fun was had.



Dominic seems to be becoming more confident with eating these days. He even smacks his gums together in a chewing-like motion despite not having any teeth. However, he has also decided that he should be entitled to try to have anything that I'm eating or drinking. Recently he has tried to take a piece of toast off me as well as grabbing at any cups I have. I'm reduced to quickly guzzling hot drinks and food when he's asleep or Matt is around as it is the only time when I can safely chow down without a baby trying to seize my snacks.

Of course he is not all about the taking. He has decided to start trying to shove things in my mouth as well to be fair and share. I have had his chewy fish toy rammed in my mouth a couple of times and he is quite keen on making sure his mum or dad eat and/or wear whatever food he is eating.

Dominic versus Solids

So as a strapping 5 month old baby, Dominic was sent forth by the Plunket nurse to start the adventure of eating solid foods. Apparently this generally starts as an experimental stage where babies try to discover how much mashed up and pureed food they can spread over their face, hands, clothes and other surfaces.

I dediced to start Dom on banana as he had already grabbed a banana I was eating and tried to suck on it, so I figured he would probably like the taste.

Well, he loved it. As with most things in life he pretty much immediately seized control by grabbing the spoon and sticking it in his mouth for himself. He actually hoovered down a fair amount of the mashed banana goo happilly chewing and slobbering away on his cow spoon and making grumbly noises when there was no banana left on his spoon.

Anyway as the photos show, Dominic definitely conquered the banana, and was surprisingly quite neat and tidy in the process.







Solids tally to date:
Dominic 1
Banana 0

In which I get misty-eyed and clucky.

Aw, the little one is 5 months old today. I decided to look back over his newborn photos and found it has filled me with enough soppiness that I could probably start composing squishily sentimental poetry for Hallmark cards.

I'm already starting to panic that he is growing up too fast. While today he may be content to play, gurgle and blow raspberries, I have the very real fear that any day now he'll be asking for the car keys, staying out late and threatening to move out of the house.

However, in the interest of not becoming some smothering maternal nightmare out of a Hitchcock film, I shall embrace his development and celebrate his growth rather than sob into a tissue that my little boy isn't smaller than the cat any more.

Behold the following photos and witness the wonder that is 5 months of Dominic:



Here is Dominic at only 10 minutes old being weighed.



This is Dominic on Day 2 being held by me. Aw, back then even in newborn size clothes the little sleeves had to be rolled up.



By Christmas he was proving to be quite the inquisitive little baby.



At about the age of 5 weeks he declared himself Caesar and ordered a triumph to be held in honour... well, not really but he did start to really enjoy showers...



... after a vigorous workout on his swiss ball.



At three months his love of the Guitar rattle and listening to music was clear...



... as was his enjoyment of hamming it up for the camera.



Now at 5 months he still grins if he spots his dad creeping up on him with a camera.



I suspect he also fancies himself as a fashion model. Not only does he 'look fierce' for the camera, he also tries to draw attention to his clothing by pointing out features of interest in the garments.

Timing is everything

This interesting series of photos was taken exactly 1.2 seconds after Dominic did a cute Dr Evil pose. Baby photographers have to be fast :-)