Countdown to Real Food

So much to say, and such little time in which to type it.. Hmmm.

The boy is almost 6 months, very roll-y, rolypoly, and sits up wonderfully straight with the occasional tumble onto his head. (I am thinking of making him wear a protective turban, but given that he has now developed the manual dexterity to take off a hat, I think a turban might not last long, and would follow every other object in his life -from his father's nose to bits of flooring - into his mouth). He has a basket of toys (actually he has about 6 baskets but let's not quibble)and loves to pull it towards him and sort rapidly through the many brightly coloured, jingly plastic toys within, looking for the latest favourite- a process repeated every five minutes because with Jack, trends last only four minutes and then they are OVER, Rover. He loves to say Ba Ba and blow raspberries (although he loses the latter ability ever second week for a week) and definitely engages in (admittedly limited) conversation with us.

He slept through the night! Once! Freaking three weeks ago!.. and then we went on holiday and he began to wake every hour, and almost drove me mad. We were sharing a cottage with other people so I ended up sleeping with him in the bed, and he nursed all the time, and I couldn't sleep, but could hear others laughing below in the incredibly poorly sound- insulated cottage (the bedroom walls did not reach the ceiling, and there were streams of light through every knothole every time the lights were turned on in the room next door, reminiscent of Shallow Grave and Blood Simple), and every creak woke him up again, and, I was reduced to self-pitying tears and then a homicidal rage.. fortunately this passed soon and no one died, and really we did have a fun holiday, just very little sleep.

I realized that there is a very different track for the breastfeeding mother- I had to go to bed early, not drink much at all, stay home while everyone else went on fun outings, I basically had a much quieter holiday than everyone else. I remind myself that this is just a few months out of a hopefully long life, and not worth worrying about, it's an observation, not a complaint.

This Thursday he will be six months, and we will start administering rice cereal, avocado and formula like there's no tomorrow, all in the hopes that he will start to sleep better. After our holiday he is back to two feedings a night, which is a lot better than being up every hour, but a lot worse than No Feedings.

In other news, I am feeling a bit at loose ends, worried that I have no major passion in life other than reading, which I'm not sure counts. In a quick survey of friends, these common passions turn up - cooking, yoga, watching soccer, swimming - and for a lucky few their work is their passion.. I am thirty freaking six and no great talent or hobby has emerged- am I condemned to be a generalist??