Topmost in my mind right now is the fact that Adrian now stays at home with Eric and not me. This means less breastfeeding, the introduction of a bottle, and a general disruption of “how life used to be”. He also has a bad cold, and the days before that he was teething. With all this going on it is hard to say how he is taking the change – we will see in a few days.

When I was at home with him, he’d always smile at Eric when he got home from work. It is pretty nice to be on the receiving end of that smile. It usually takes him a few moments: when I get in he doesn’t notice me at first, and then when I call his name he looks at me, thinks for a moment, and then smiles and leans and stretches himself towards me.

His favourite activity is watching people do stuff. The best thing we can do in the afternoon/evening (now that both Eric and I are at home at that time of the day) is for one of us to cook and the other to hold Adrian so he can watch. When I did it on my own, I’d often have him on my hip most of the time, and put him down only when he was obviously incompatible with the task at hand (such as pouring boiling water). Often he will try to lean far forward, to get closer to the action and to try and grab whatever I’m working with.

It is much less fun to be sitting in a highchair next to us, with some kitchen utensils to play with.

Toys are generally of little interest. He can spend a little time chewing on a wooden block, or fiddling with the tag on some soft toy, or banging a wooden spoon against the table. But he tires of that quite quickly. The only “toy” he likes is paper that he can chew on, but since that ends with me digging out a gooey lump of wet, chewed paper from his mouth, I don’t like that activity very much.

Eating has gone from play to serious work. He seems to get less enjoyment out of food, doesn’t explore it with as much interest as he used to, but on the other hand he is very interested in eating it. I used to have him join in our meals – now I join him in his. If he doesn’t get food, he complains, and then wolfs down the first few handfuls he is served. Bread, pasta and dry cereal are his favourites, and he will usually eat some veggies, too. Kiwi fruit, sweet potato, grilled bell peppers, courgette. Liver paté was rejected and meatballs are not of much interest, either. He can pick up small cubes of about a centimetre or so, but cannot manage peas or rice.

When done eating, he will start rocking his body and slapping the tray. He usually doesn’t like to be removed from the community around the dinner table so I take him on my lap. He then proceeds to try and grab my fork, the edge of my plate, my glass or my food, so I have to move it all and eat from a safe distance. His arms may be short but his reach is long, because he puts his whole body into it.

This is something I still forget sometimes, which makes things “fun” at the supermarket for example – I have to take care to park his stroller far away from anything grabbable. He also likes to grab people’s hair when he gets a chance (which Ingrid isn’t enjoying much). He likes touching and exploring my face and my ears, too. And my nipples: after nursing he will sometimes sit in my lap and look at my nipple, poking at it and trying to pick it up, all the while making very contented noises.

Breastfeeding has become somewhat less important but he still gets much of his nourishment from breast milk, and nurses regularly and thoroughly. At some point he pretty much stopped throwing up milk. We used to always have a washcloth at hand to wipe him clean, and never put him down directly on a carpet. Old habits die hard – I still have a blanket for him on the living room carpet.

Last month he was fond of sitting; now standing up (holding on to someone’s hands) is the new thing. It is hard to put him down sitting; he will land standing instead. Sometimes he accepts being put down on his tummy, but more often he will hold out his hands and legs so that he lands on all fours instead. He doesn’t really know what to do in that position and soon lets his legs slide out from under him, ending up on his tummy anyway. He then pushes with his arms so that he moves backwards, or turns in place like the hands of a clock. Usually he gets frustrated with this pretty quickly, although some corner of a blanket or a carpet may entertain him for a few moments, but for some reason he can be pretty happy on his tummy in bed, just after waking. It’s not because the floor is too hard – I’ve tried putting him on his tummy on the changing mat but that was no better than the floor.

He sleeps from roughly 7 in the evening to around 6, plus/minus 30 minutes, in the morning. If he wakes before 5:30 I refuse to get up and keep him in bed until he falls asleep again, otherwise his daily routine gets too messed up. During the day he sleeps pretty well in sling, stroller or bed. He falls asleep most easily in the stroller, but the longest naps usually happen in bed. Most days he still has three naps. When he sleeps in the stroller he will spend a good while taking out the dummy and then getting all upset about losing it. The way around it is to either hold his hand, or to put his hand on the bar of the stroller that he can then hold onto.

He now has four teeth fully out (top and bottom middle incisors) and three more visible and palpable (that eye tooth that made its appearance a month ago, unchanged, and the next two top incisors). He grinds his teeth; it sounds awful. We’ve started brushing his teeth. At first he had no objections, now I make some token brushing movements for a few seconds and then hand over the brush to him.

He does not like nappy changes. He is ticklish, especially around the neck. He does not like singing games where I tilt him backward, like “Prästens lilla kråka” – instead he struggles to remain upright. He did not like the door bouncer I bought for him. (And he barely fit inside, because of his cloth nappy.)

As of this morning, his measurements were 9.4 kg and 69.7 cm.

PS: I just realized when preparing this post that I have no photos of him smiling during this month. Intense focused stares: yes, yes, yes. Crying: yes. Smiling: no. It’s not that he never smiles but it is definitely not his default expression.