Baby Martin

Bronson at 18 Months Old is 90cm tall and 14.5kg.  He has amazing comprehension but still doesn’t have many words, but has a lot to say.  He points to things in books and tells us all about it, but we’re not quite sure what he is saying yet! We can recognise some words/sounds to be:

digger, tractor, dark, all done, my turn, kiss kiss, dance, jump, shoes, sit sit and the new favourite word is ‘NAH’!

Bronson is an excellent swimmer after spending heaps of time in the pool over the summer.  Bronson was in the pool teaching himself how to swim while Magnus was absolutely performing and refusing to do his swimming lessons –  ironic isn’t it!  Keryn and I can put Bronson on his tummy under the water and he will kick and flap his arms to get from one of us to the other, or he can reach out for the side of the pool and pull his head out of the water.  He loves to hold the bar at the side of the pool and push himself under the water and then pull himself up again.  We are rather impressed!

Bronson is running really fast everywhere and has just learnt how to jump, demonstrated by about 5 jumps in a row while saying ‘jump jump jump’.  He can do perfect roly polys and his favourite thing to do is wave and everyone and everything. He is much better at sitting and listening to stories, but they have to have animals in the book, cats, dogs and farm animals are his favourite things. He can’t go past a dog without giving it a pat and just loved having our friends’ little dog Oscar stay with us for a couple of weeks.

Bronson is getting into the train thing and plays nicely alongside Magnus, which is a much calmer alternative to just pulling apart Magnus’ train tracks. Big bro has taken to playing a lot of rough and tumble and poor wee Bronson often gets pushed to the ground and jumped on. But he has definitely learnt to scream loudly and will perform even before he’s hurt.

We have had a couple of trips away and had lots of fun outings over the summer hols. Bronson loves the beach and digging in the sand (or mum’s garden) is a favourite. He is still really happy to sit in the buggy for walks or at the mall, so that makes life a bit easier, Magnus was well over the buggy by this age.

Keryn and I often say that Bronson seems to be much easier at this age than Magnus was, or maybe it’s just that we are more relaxed second time around. We really are enjoying this stage and think Bronson is just the cutest little thing! xxxx

Check out my running style at 14 months!

The first good bump on the head from running into the door

Check out the bird on my head at the Lamb and Calf day

My first day at Creche (Sept 09), dressed up as a Lion

At the Dorothy Show with Dada and Magnus

 At the Zoo

Brothers in their new wetsuits to brave the cold water at Karehana Bay

A quick stop at Rangatiki River on our way to Taupo – Throwing stones into the water, one of my favourite things to do!

Some shots from our short holiday in Taupo:

With Leanne, Shane and Summer

Bronson and Summer

The Damn release in Taupo

Family shot at Huka Falls

Wow, Bronson is 1! And what a gorgeous, lovely and fun one year old he is!

Weight - 11.6kg and Height 84cm (in comparison: Magnus weighed 12.5kg and was 83cm at 1, so Bronson might be a slighter build)

We had a lovely, low key birthday celebration on the 1st of July with family.  We enjoyed the morning opening presents, well big brother Magnus opened the presents and Bronson played with them. His favourite pressie was a simple dump truck (with no bells and whistles) from Mum and Dad that he pushed around the lounge for about half an hour. We had afternoon tea and birthday cake with Mama, Granny, Aunty Nic and Riley, G. Aunty Diana and Cathy.  Bronson was just the cutest when we sang “Happy Birthday”; he was very coy and obviously knew it was all about him and almost fell off his chair (Mum caught him )  Bronson also managed to blow the candle out all on his own – what a clever boy! He then preceded to very delicately poke his finger into the cake to try it out. Of course he then was loaded up with chocolate and cake to hoe into and make a royal mess out of (pics below).

So, at one year, what can Bronson do???…

• Words – da da (for Dad and Dada for Denis), mum-mum-mum (for Mum), yum (when he likes something he’s eating)
• Favourite things – bedtime doggie, playing with anything in the kitchen cupboards and drawers, throwing clothes into the washing machine or out the catflap, swings, singing Old MacDonald has a farm
• Favourite books - Bronson seems to prefer to get the books rather than read the book! He brings a book over, sits up on our lap, stays for one page and then gets down again and goes to get another book, and does it all over again! But if he does stay to read, he loves Farmer Jones and Old MacDonald has a farm and a BabyTouch Playbook.
• Favourite food – watermelon, mandarins, hot chips and icecream in a cone

Bronson’s special ways and tricks:

• Walks amazingly well, very steady and cautious, he’s walking all the time now. Bronson is an expert at going down stairs backwards (thanks to Dada’s patience and teaching), and he can now reach right up and open internal doors in our house so loves being able to follow me around
• Kisses – he walks from Mum to Dad and back to Mum and back to Dad giving kisses, blows kisses, especially to doggie when we get him up from a sleep
• Dancing – walks around with his hands in the air when there’s music on
• Gives ‘high fives’

So that’s our Bronson at one!

Bronson happily having water dumped on him by big bro on the eve of his birthday

Length 82cm

First Steps – Bronson took his first steps on the 23^rd of May, a birthday present to Daddy!  We really set him up to walk between Mum and Dad and he happily threw himself at us… getting a couple of steps in before we caught him!  He can now take up to 12 steps but is still mostly crawling.

Bronson is the cautious one (not like his big bro!) and doesn’t like to do something he doesn’t think he can.  He will sit at the top of the stairs and think about crawling down, but most of the time waits for someone to come and get him.  He loves to clap hands and loves singing and dancing.  The hands flap like crazy when we put a Wiggles DVD on and he bops away!  He loves to climb already and often climbs up onto his highchair, stands up and just hangs out, or he’ll climb into a box or up onto tables.

So we’re gearing up for the big 1 Year Birthday next month, can’t believe our baby is almost one!

A cuddle for my big brother for giving me a push on the swing!

It has been a busy month with lots of new and exciting things.  We’ve had Bronson’s first Easter, his first haircut and he cut his front teeth on his 10 month birthday, we’ve had the 6 Cameron Grandchildren all together and we had a little holiday in Wanga-vegas.

Bronson stood on his own for the first time on the 19^th of April, for just a few seconds!  But he’s getting more confident at it and is very good and cruising around the furniture, but not quite ready to take a step on his own yet, despite some coxing!

We had a little Easter Egg hunt on the back deck which consisted of Magnus finding the eggs and Bronson crawling around after him getting his hands on any eggs that were left behind.  Bronson loves chocolate and now well recognises the coloured foil to mean that there’s something tasty inside!

We had a fun weekend with all the 6 Cameron Grandchildren together, including the 2 new editions, Nicola and Stephen’s 2 month old Riley and Rebe and Matt’s new daughter, Grace.

We went off to Wanganui to stay with friends Pete and Maryanne and their 3 little ones. We had loads of fun and laughed at how things have changed when we are saying Wanganui is actually a great place to holiday!!!  Bronson decided that he wasn’t happy at all about sleeping in a new place so ended up being up quite late each night, which isn’t like him. Bronson had his first ride on a boat; Keith took us up the Wanganui River and under a few bridges which was fun. While we were there Bronson cut his 2 top teeth and had a haircut, so he doesn’t look like a baby anymore at all! Mum was quite devastated to see the hair go and it took me a few days to get over it! 

MY FIRST HAIRCUT

Before shots

I sat nicely for the first couple of minutes, but then it was a bit of a struggle to keep you still…there was so much hair to cut!

After Shots

The official Plunket check stats at 9 months are:

Weight – 9.7kg (so not as heavy as we thought he was) and Height – 77cm

Bronson is very mobile now, crawling and pulling himself up to standing and cruising around.  He has started to walk along pushing things and will tussle with Magnus for a toy. Magnus has taken to pushing Bronson when he gets in his space, so that is not so fun for either of them.  Bronson has quickly learnt how to turn on the tears any time Magnus even looks like he’s going to push him! So ‘Mum’ has to be careful to not baby him too much (so Dad says!)J Apart from the pushing the 2 boys interact a lot now and that involves lots and lots of giggles!

Bronson is proving to be a quietly patient and persistent little one.  He is probably going through the ‘clingy’ phase and follows me around everywhere and needs lots and lots of cuddles.  He is always at my toes and keeps following me until I pick him up, but he doesn’t complain if he has to wait.  Such a good boy!  He is also very persistent when playing with shapes and can sit with me for ages working away at the ShapeO.  I am often so impressed at how long he will sit and play with one toy.  He has taken a liking to touching the DVD player and has the cutest little giggle when we try to tell him ‘no’! It’s amazing how quickly they learn when they are up to mischief and turn on the charm!

Ambulance Ride!

On the 21^st of March Bronson had a severe allergic reaction to egg so we had an Ambulance ride to the hospital, but all was ok. We tried to give Bronson a small piece of omelette which he spat out and wouldn’t even take a second look at.  5 minutes later Bronson came up in a rash all over his chin, neck and chest and another 5 minutes later his lip swelled up. So I quickly rang 111 and called Keryn to come home (from the petrol station). It was more a precautionary thing has Bronson was still pretty content, I was just worried what would happen if the reaction continued.  As it was, the swelling didn’t progress and it appeared it was just the area of his lip that touched the egg that swelled up, so it was fortunate he didn’t eat it.  The ambos were the loveliest people and were really reassuring and said we had done the right thing.  They took us to hospital where the Dr gave Bronson some meds and sent us home again.  So we are a ‘no egg household’ until we find out more about this allergy (which a blood test has confirmed).

Bronson also had a plane trip up to Auckland with Mum to visit Aunty Rebe and Uncle Matt and meet his brand new cousin Grace, what a treat!  So it has been a busy month! Lots of pics of Bronson below, his hair is getting pretty long and I think he looks just gorgeous!

Bronson with Grace (10 days old)

74cm long and still around 10kg

Well, we weren’t far off the mark saying Bronson was ready to crawl at 7 months old…just a couple of days later on the 8^th of February Bronson started crawling, text book style.  So he is now a much happier baby being able to get around.  Magnus however, is not so keen about his little brother being in his space a bit more and is learning to adjust to that.

 At about 7 ½ months Bronson pulled himself up to standing while in the bath, so much of the bath time is spent standing up holding onto the side of the bath.

 Bronson definitely loves his food!  So quite a bit of my time is spent making batches of meals that would probably feed a baby for a month but Bronson demolishes in 1 week.

 One of Bronson’s favourite things to do is explore in the pantry and try to climb in – too cute!

7 Months Old Stats:

 Weight – 10kg and Height – 72.5cm

It’s amazing how quickly Bronson has gone from showing no interest in solids to being a hungry little boy who can’t get enough food!  He went from a teaspoon a day to 3 big meals a day in the space of 3 weeks, and now even needs an afternoon snack! He eats all his fruit and veg and lambs fry and his favourite is wine biscuits. His little hands twist back and forward (like he’s ridding a motorbike) when he’s waiting for the next spoonful. Bronson is an expert at holding a sippy cup, turning it around to get the spout and tipping up the cup to drink his water. I thought that was quite impressive for a baby who has never had a bottle and only started drink water a couple of weeks ago.

Bronson is so ready to crawl and is getting pretty frustrated with not being able to put it all together.  He can roll to get places but doesn’t seem interested in doing that, now he just wants to crawl. He can get from sitting onto all fours and then sways back and forward, puts one arm fwd and falls onto his tummy – so it won’t be long now and he’ll be on the move. 

The current favourite game is playing catch with a big beach ball – and he can catch it!  He’s still very particular with his hands, touching and exploring next textures and he always manages to find a crumb on the carpet… even when i’ve just vacuumed 5 mintues beforehand.

Bronson continues to be a contented little baby and just so easy! Check out some shots of the last month below. xxxx

‘The Cracker Monster’ – Bronson loves to plain crackers and wine biscuits!

Trying to eat cake with Granny, but had to settle with fruit salad

At Aunty Nic’s 30th birthday party

7 months and I can drink all by myself

On the cable car with Dad and Magnus

Good times in the shower with my big brother

Bronson and his bedtime doggie