Hello!

My name is Isaac and I'm six months old. This is me just after I was born with Mummy:

I'm a bit bigger than this now. You can see more pictures of me in the Gallery. I will be updating this page when I can so there will be more news later. If you would like to talk to me then you can send me an email.

28.10.07

It's been a long time since I've written anything, so this is a brief summary of everything that has been happening over the past few months.

I now eat proper food, including spaghetti bolognaise, scrambled egg and paella. I have discovered that there are lots of different types of food and I like all of them in good sized portions. I still have a little milk but this is now limited to a pre-bedtime bottle.

The big thing is that I've learnt to walk by hanging on to the furniture and leaning on walls. As I am a perverse baby I developed my walking technique before I learnt to crawl. However I have now discovered that crawling is very useful for getting around between places to hang on to.

My Mummy and Daddy have bought me some things known as shoes to go on my feet - these enable me to go outside, and apparently cost some vast sum of money. I have no idea what this money thing is that my parents keep going on about. The shoes do seem to be being stuck on my feet at every available opportunity and I wonder if this has something to do with this money thing.

Oh and the really big thing is that I now have two teeth on my bottom gum. No top teeth as yet but this doesn't seem to make much difference to what I can eat, so it's all good. No doubt they'll turn up.

Ah but the really, really big thing is that I can now say a few words. My first word was "cat" which isn't surprising since there are four of these fluffy, running things designated "cat" in our house. Often I walk into a room and find one just lying there waiting to be played with. The cats don't seem to be interested in playing with me though and seem to run away when they see me coming. I did manage to catch one by the tail but it didn't seem to like this very much and Mummy made me let go. I was very disappointed by this and immediately had to go and find the cat exit and entry point, or "cat flap" as I believe it is called. I haven't mastered that one yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Cats do appear to materialise and de-materialise around the house in a semi-random manner, but they can often be found in the kitchen by the cat flap or food bowls.

I have a new piece of artwork to display too, but I have to wait for Daddy to scan it in so that you can see it. Watch this space.

14.6.07

I am officially an artist. I have produced my first piece of artwork and it is being proudly diplayed in the prestigious Fridge Door gallery. I have decided to produce abstract artwork for my first piece. It is currently entitled "Isaac 14.6.07", and was produced using the medium of metallic finger paint on green card. I was most upset to discover when I first visited the gallery that it had been hung upside down. This error has now been corrected.

1.6.07

I am now going to the baby prison on a regular basis. This is because Mummy now has to go to the same place as Daddy. It's some place they call "work". The baby prison is not that bad, though. There are plenty of toys to play with and I get fed on a regular basis. My nappies caused them a few problems in the early days, but they seem to have got the hang of my "proper" nappies now. I do get through quite a few changes of clothes most days due to my messy eating. I also have a sweet tooth apparently, since I seem to like fruit puree but won't eat vegetable puree. This baffled the nursery nurses for some time.

As much as I enjoy the baby prison, I am always pleased to see Mummy when she comes to get me released. I always give her a big smile.

25.5.07

I have been starring in a film. A nice lady brought toys for me to play with and then filmed me playing with them. Apparently she is going to take the film away and people are going to watch me playing. Mummy was in the film as well, but only because she was handing me the toys. It was all going very well until I decided that I was hungry and then I got all upset. I have been told that movie stars are often tempramental.

22.4.07

We went swimming for the first time today. This was very exciting. As I've mentioned before, I'm very keen on splashing in the bath and getting Mummy and Daddy very wet. The swimming pool is like a giant bath with lots of people in it, all splashing about. It does smell a bit funny and I'm not allowed to be naked in it, but otherwise it's just the same except that there's more of it. I have a little pair of blue swimming trunks that are like Daddy's and a special swimming nappy. I was not happy about being made to wear water wings, especially as they were a bit big for me. They made it a rather difficult for me to splash with my arms.

I also met two other babies who were swimming. They looked quite pleased to see me and Mummy had a good chat with their Mummies and Daddies. We spent quite some time splashing in the pool, but I got fed up after I let my head drop under the water and got some water up my nose. Daddy was there to catch me but I was quite tired by this point, so we all got out. The swimming was followed by less exciting drying and dressing.

I fell asleep in the car on the way home and spent the rest of the day being quite sleepy in general. Mummy is now thinking that taking me swimming is quite a good way to wear me out.

28.3.07

Mummy has been playing some songs for me to listen to. Most of them seem to make no sense at all. What exactly is a Hokey Cokey and why would I want to do it? One of them in particular is even stranger than the rest. Take a look at these lyrics:

Bananas in pajamas are coming down the stairs,
Bananas in pajamas are coming down in pairs,
Bananas in pajamas are chasing teddy bears,
Because on Tuesdays they will try to catch them unawares.

First of all, why are these bananas upstairs and where did they get the pajamas from? All the bananas that I have come across so far live in the kitchen and don't have any pajamas. I can only assume that they were upstairs because they were stealing the pajamas. It gets worse from here because then we find out that they are in pairs, so obviously these bananas are working in organised roaming gangs. Finally we discover that they are not only thieves but are also persecuting innocent teddy bears by trying to catch them unawares on Tuesdays. Why Tuesdays? Obviously they aren't going to catch anyone unawares if they do it on the same day every week. So to sum up, this song is about thieving, evil bananas who have got it in for the teddy bears - I'm not sure I'm old enough to be listening to this.

However not all of these songs are completely useless. One of them has some good advice about not smiling at crocodiles. I'm sure that will be very handy next time I see one.

10.3.07

Today I have been helping Mummy and Daddy in the garden. Well actually I slept in my pushchair while Daddy cut the lawn and Mummy pruned some shrubs. The cats seemed to enjoy this immensely and chased each other around the garden in a really silly manner. I am looking forward to being big enough to run around the garden myself but that will probably be a few months away.

I am now getting the hang of reaching for things, although I'm still not exactly accurate. I like toys which make a noise when I hit them and I'm also fond of things with squeakers. Mummy thinks that this does not bode well for future peace and quiet.

5.3.07

It is official, I am teething - well pre-teething anyway. This means that I am often in a bad mood because I have sore gums. My mummy has bought me an assortment of teething rings, no doubt at huge expense, when to be honest the best teether is one of her fingers. I also have my fists to chew on, which are now almost permanently damp. I'm also dribbling a lot, which makes my clothes damp as well. This comes at a time when I have been spitting up less frequently, but the constant drooling means that I'm still getting through several changes of clothes a day. On top of that I have been growing again and my old nappies are getting a bit small for me and leaking more because they are no longer absorbent enough. Luckily my parents are now the proud owners of something they call a tumble drier, which makes my clothes all fuzzy and dry in much less time than before.

My new car has also arrived. It is shiny and blue and a much more sensible vehicle for fitting all my stuff into. The boot can fit my pushchair, carry cot, toys and clothes in with room to spare. Daddy says it is a dee-zel, which apparently means it will be cheaper to run and therefore I can go more places or at least be bought more toys. We need to be careful now about how we feed the car because if we give it the wrong food it will have an upset stomach and not go anywhere - Daddy calls this "doing a grandad", I'm not sure why.

25.2.07

I went out in my pushchair for the first time today. This meant that I was able to take a good look around outside at all the trees and cars. Magic the cat followed us down the road for a little bit but went back home when it started raining. My pushchair had a rain cover which meant that I was nice and dry, unfortunately Mummy and Daddy didn't have rain covers. They decided to shelter in a pub and Daddy said that they couldn't shelter in a pub without buying beer. They didn't seem to be too upset by this. After it stopped raining we all went home again, but by this point I was asleep.

22.2.07

We had a busy day today. Mummy took me to her work where I met a lot of new people. Everyone seemed very pleased to see me. Despite my Mummy's fears, I did not throw up down her boss when she held me. I smiled at lots of people and they smiled back at me which made me very happy. There was a lot of talk about things that I didn't understand and sounded very boring, luckily the conversation soon moved back to discussing me. Obviously this was much more interesting.

After we left we went to see Daddy for lunch. We went to a nice restaurant which had more interesting people for me to look at. Mummy and Daddy managed to eat all their food before I got bored. This is only the second time that I have been to a proper restaurant, however Mummy says that, if I'm going to be this good, we may go again.

13.2.07

I have been practising some new sounds this week and now have a good repertoir of almost-words. This includes "araf" "erroo" "warra" and "eemoo". Despite continued prompting from my Daddy, I can't say "Linux" yet or "Open Source Software". I'm also doing especially well at holding my head up and waving my arms and legs about. So far I haven't started grabbing for things yet but will hold small things if they are put in my hand. My favourite toys are definitely the ones that make a noise.

Mummy took me to the doctor's again today. After last time I feared the worst and I was not wrong here. Another torture session. Two seemingly nice ladies stuck needles in me. I'm not sure why I needed to have this done twice and now I'm not feeling well again. Worryingly I'm sure I heard one of the ladies tell Mummy to make an appointment for next month and that it will be three injections next time!

10.2.07

Mummy and Daddy have been playing with different cars that aren't ours. They seem to think that our current car is not suitable for me to be travelling in. I have to say that I agree. It is rather dented and quite old, and I'm not sure I want to be seen in it. Even babies have standards.

My not-god-parents (long story about that which I will save for another time) came to visit and we all went off to look at cars that aren't ours. Mummy and Daddy left me with my not-god-parents for nearly twenty minutes while they tested out a car. Luckily not-god-father Darren was quite good with feeding me and not-god-father Dave was good at keeping me entertained. I had been a little worried for a minute there that I had been left with people that didn't know what they were doing. They didn't exactly understand what I wanted all the time but a process of trial and error seemed to get me what I was after eventually. Mummy has added them to her list of potential babysitters.

4.2.07

My readers will have noticed that I have not written an entry for last week, this is because I have been away visiting my grand-parents in Scotland. I enjoyed this immensely. Mummy and Daddy filled the car full of stuff for me and then put in a small suitcase for themselves. Mummy seemed to think that I would need lots of changes of clothes and, to be fair, she was right about this.

We set off very early and, contrary to my expectations mentioned in my last entry, I had slept until 6am which meant that we were all well rested, although my parents would have prefered a little more sleep. We set out and it wasn't long before I was asleep. The car was warm and I had had my breakfast. I awoke a couple of hours later to find that I was too warm and very hungry. Apparently Mummy and Daddy were also hungry as we stopped soon after that and everyone had lunch. I also had my nappy changed and a complete change of clothes since the feeding had ended up being quite messy.

We then drove on towards Scarborough where my Great Grandma was waiting for us with tea and scones (they were obviously not for me, as I don't really like tea and scones. I had some nice milk instead). She seemed to think that I was quite a nice baby and didn't mind me having my nappy changed on her floor. She had obviously not forgotten her baby feeding or holding techniques either.

We left Scarborough when I fell asleep and went to Scunthorpe where Mummy and Daddy got lost trying to find my Great Aunty Catherine's house. It's new and not on any maps. There was also some discussion about how good the directions were that we had been given. We had to phone Great Aunty and she told us where we had gone wrong. We arrived in time for me to eat again. Great Aunty Catherine liked me a lot and definitely wanted one like me of her own. Nearly-Great Uncle Paul seemed less enthusiastic about me but made some nice food for Mummy and Daddy. Once again I slept, literally, like a baby and didn't wake up until 7am.

The next day we drove all the way to Scotland with a brief stop for lunch with a lady called "Mary at Craster". We arrived at Grandma and Grandad's house in time for tea and everyone was all worn out and we all went to bed early.

I spent most of the week being held and shown to new people. Everyone said how beautiful and cute I was. Daddy took some new pictures of me to make sure that there was proof of this. I was also able to thank some of the people who had sent me nice presents for Christmas. I was in a good mood all week and did lots of smiling. Mummy and Daddy went out to a restaurant one night with Grandma and Grandad and I made the night of one of the waitresses by smiling at her when she gave us the bill.

The most exciting bit of the week was when I was taken on a train into Edinburgh. I really liked going back home over the Forth Rail Bridge and looking at the girders as they flashed past the window. I wish it had been less windy and cold outside though as we didn't get out as much as I would have liked.

I also met another baby called Jadon. I was however not impressed by this other baby as he did less things than I do and didn't smile at anyone. He did have really good hair though which stuck up even more than mine. I wish my hair would do that. Mummy would like me to point out that Jadon is several weeks younger than I am and a beautiful baby. Personally I think I'm still the better baby.

Mummy and Daddy did abandon me for an afternoon with my Grandma and Grandad. I had thought about causing them so much trouble that I would never be left behind again, but it would have been too much effort. As time wore on, I was worried that Mummy and Daddy might have decided not to come back for me. They were gone for several hours. Eventually they did return and reclaim me. Grandma seemed happy to give me back although she said she hadn't minded looking after me.

So after a really eventful week it was time to go home. I have been so tired lately that I have continued to sleep through the night and that meant we were able to get on the road early. Once again my Daddy loaded up the car with all my things and their one suitcase, and we headed home. The week had really tired me out so I slept most of the way home with only a very short lunch break. We were greeted by our cats when we got home who had definitely missed us all, even me.

24.1.07

Yesterday was bath night. This is a regular thing when Mummy and/or Daddy dunk me in some warm water and scrub at me with a flannel. I actually quite enjoy this as I get to splash around and kick my legs in nice warm water. The washing part is less fun especially when they put shampoo in my hair, but the bit I really hate is the drying afterwards. It's very cold in the bathroom and I don't like being rubbed with a towel either. Luckily bath time is usually followed by me being fed.

After that it was bed time. I was especially tired and I slept for a long time. Mummy and Daddy seemed extremely pleased about this and they were woken by their alarm rather than by me. Apparently this means something important but I'm not sure what it is. I don't plan on sleeping so long tonight.

18.1.07

It has been very bad weather this week which has meant that I have mostly stayed inside. I think that this is a good thing because it was very windy today and cold. However I have been getting quite bored and eating and sleeping is no longer enough to keep me occupied, so Mummy and I have been watching television. I particularly like the bright colours on a channel known as MTV, although some of the music is not to my taste. I prefer things that have a well defined beat but aren't too loud.

Mummy has been telling me that we are going on a long trip soon to somewhere called Scotland. She seems to be looking forward to this. We are going to see my grandparents, who have already been to see me when I was very small. They are going to get a big surprise when they see how much I have grown. I have already started wearing some things for 3 month old babies, but Mummy thinks that baby clothes sizes are a bit random so this doesn't mean much.

On average I get through three changes of clothes per day. This is mainly because I am a messy eater but occasionally I have a leaky nappy. Often Mummy needs to change her clothes as well, which she doesn't seem too pleased about. I don't understand this because she always has clean ones to wear and so do I.

12.1.07

Today we went back to the doctor. I thought this was strange as I wasn't sick and I'd already been poked and prodded. I soon discovered that Mummy had brought me back to be tortured when a lady stuck a large needle in my thigh and then she did it again on the other side. I thought that there was no need for this and made it known to everyone just how unhappy I was. Obviously this made them decide not to do it again because Mummy took me home after that.

Later that evening I started feeling a bit miserable. Neither Mummy or Daddy seemed to be surprised by this and they had some medicine to give me. This made me feel slightly better although I didn't feel much like eating, but I was able to fall asleep. This made Mummy and Daddy very happy because they were very tired by this point. I slept until the middle of the night and when I woke up I felt much better.

5.1.07

I went to the doctor for the first time today. I didn't enjoy this very much at all, especially being undressed so that I could be poked and prodded. I decided to show my displeasure when the doctor took my nappy off and he got a bit wet. Mummy seemed to think this was very amusing, but the doctor was less amused. He did give me a clean bill of health and said that I had a good pair of lungs. I now weigh over ten pounds.

Yesterday we had a very busy day because Mummy had lunch with Daddy in Oxford and she took me with her. Mummy has a new sling to carry me in which is a long piece of cloth that she wraps around herself and seems to hold me very snugly. I am nice and warm inside it on cold days like today.

Later however we went round the supermarket and I was less enthusiastic about this. Mummy seemed to go very quickly with the trolley and lots of people were looking at us. Some people definitely thought I was being stuck with pins and others obviously wanted me to be quieter. A few ladies gave us understanding smiles.

22.12.06

My favourite things to do are sleeping and eating, which I do a lot of. I am beginning to be more interesed in things that are going on around me and I can now grab hold of clothes and long hair. Daddy thinks that I smiled at him, but Mummy thinks I just happened to be looking in his direction when I smiled.

People have been sending me lots of presents, which has been fantastic. Mummy has told me that I need to write my thank you letters but I'm having trouble holding a pen, so Mummy may have to write them for me. Mummy is very busy as it is something called Christmas, but she says she will get around to doing them soon.