Sensory Play: Rainbow Spaghetti

I decided that when I went back to work I wanted to make up for the time I lost out on with Willow. Obviously now I have to cram a lot more in the days I am at home, be it washing, hoovering or just general cleaning, but the last thing I want to do is take away from time with my little tree. I thought that once a week I would try to set up some sort of activity, something a bit different to just playing toys that we could enjoy together, or in this case with Auntie Abbie and Auntie Em.

The best thing about this is that it cost me less than £3. The spaghetti was 29p a packet and the food colouring was around 70p each, all from Aldi. It probably kept her entertained and in one room for longer than any of her toys. Normally after about 10 minutes she remembers that there's cupboards in the kitchen full of things for her to empty and off she goes. I'm pretty sure the Boo's packets of cat food spend more time spread around the floor than in the cupboard these days. I thought I'd talk you through how I made it.

• Start by cooking your spaghetti as you normally would. Drain and rinse under cold water.
• Divide the spaghetti into bags depending on what colours you want. I considered adding in purple and orange but thought given it was my first attempt I wouldn't overcomplicate. I would also recommend zip lock bags over ones that you can just tie up.
• Add the food colouring to each bag and a drop of vegetable oil. This helps to coat the spaghetti better. I think my blues and greens looked a bit paler than I'd hoped but don't be afraid to start small and add more colouring in.
• Seal your bags and shake and squelch your spaghetti to spread the colour around.

• Once the spaghetti is coated, open the bags and just let them sit for as long as possible to let the colour fully soak in. I left mine for about 15 minutes and I think it could have done with being left for longer.
• Rinse each colour just to remove any excess colouring off, then I tipped it straight into the plastic tub to dry off a little bit.

And then the fun can begin...

I don't think Willow was even sure what to do to start with, but that only lasted about 10 seconds, then her hands were straight in there and a handful of yellow spaghetti went straight in her mouth. She played for probably about an hour, kept quiet with Auntie Abbie and Auntie Em. Needless to say it was a hit - thank god!

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10 month Willow update

Last month's update was a complete right off. My Macbook charger stopped working so I ordered a new one online, then spent about two weeks thinking I'd been conned by a fake website. Just as I was about to report it to the bank it arrived. Then within days my phone and Macbook both ended up being locked by a hacker that managed to get into my Apple account. A week spent on the phone to Bryan from Apple and a trip to Birmingham to the Apple store and everything is back to working again thank god!

Weight When I had her weighed the end of June she was 17lb 3oz, by the end of July she was only 17lb 6oz. On the chart she had started leveling out but the health visitor didn't seem worried. She said with her being so active now she will start to slow down with her weight gain.  
Routine Our evening routine is still more relaxed, but still pretty much the same. It goes dinner, bath every other night, then she plays upstairs between her bedroom/the landing and the spare room whilst I follow her trying to get a nappy on, cream and pyjamas. I feed her in mine and Kyle's room just because it's darker and she knows when I sit on the bed and get my boob out that it's time. 
Sleeping She still doesn't fully sleep through which really I'm not too fussed about. Of course a full nights sleep would be wonderful but it's not very often I wake up feeling like I've been hit by a bus. The last few weekends at the caravan she was waking at about 6am for a feed but then would not go back to sleep. We'd get up until about 8am then go back to bed for a couple of hours. At home her first night feed is anywhere between 1-3am then 4-6am, but then some nights she would only wake once. More often than not these days I put her in the cot awake, then she'll roll around for 10 minutes before falling asleep. Her daytime naps can vary from an hour and a half to three hours! Who knew what you could get done in three hours!
Feeding I can't think of anything sitting here now that she doesn't like. She loves cheese, there's no doubt about that. I tend to do her cheese on toast for breakfast or wheatabix and a handful of fruit. I've given her strawberries and grapes for the first time this month and she loves them both, definitely a little sweet tooth. As much as I can I give her what we're having for dinner so she's had spaghetti bolagnase, chicken stir fry, lasagne, toad in the hole. It's only occasionally when we have something spicy like fajitas or curry that I make her something different.  She's still breastfeeding and she's at an age now where she pulls my top down and reaches for it. She's very possessive over my boobies, if Kyle pretends to drink the milk she'll come over and take over. Now I'm back at work I've been expressing but I don't tend to get much off, only a couple of ounces.  Sizes I've decided that I'm not buying anymore rompers from H&M. I bought her a lovely summer one in February in 6-9 months along with a load of other summer bits. She's wore everything else, but the romper was just sat on her rail so when I went back to work I found it in 4-6 months so thought I'd just exchange it, but even the 4-6 months is too long. I've been told since going back to work though that H&M are quite generous on the kids sizes. The little spotty outfit in the pictures is 4-6 months and that fits her better now than when she was actually 4-6 months.  I'm just starting to pick up some 9-12 bits now but only because she needs some long trousers for chillier days, and some new sleepsuits, but I've decided I prefer sleepsuits without the feet in them, so much easier for her whilst she's constantly climbing up and down things.
Milestones I feel like developmentally this month she learns something new every other day. Obviously it's been quite a gap with missing her nine month update but she pulls herself up and down on the sofa like nobodies business and she cruises along it too. If she's feeling brave she'll sort of turn herself round from the sofa and move to the coffee table, but only if there's not much of a gap between them. She's also mastered the stairs, and when she knows she's snuck away from you she gets half way up in record time! I've been teaching her to come back down too, which she's mastered. There's a little step by the bath and her only way to get down before was to fall, but she knows now she has to put her foot behind her and drop down that way. All she wants to do now is go up and down now, which means I don't always have to be on edge whilst I'm having a wee that she's going to launch herself backwards. She'll give a high five if you put your hand out, although it's more of just a touch at the moment. If you clap her hands together for her she'll carry on clapping - she's not quite there clapping herself but I think it's coming soon. She's given me and Kyle one kiss each when we asked but she doesn't do it anymore. She kisses other babies though which is cute, but it tends to end up just being a big open mouth slobbered all over their poor bewildered face. The cutest thing has to be her dancing. Anytime her picnic basket or any of her toys play music she looks at you and starts wiggling. She does it stood up too, which looks more like a bum wiggle. The  She will also walk along with aid. She's got an old wooden walker with the bricks in the bottom that we keep in Kyle's Mum's club (she can do big laps in there because it's so big) but the first day we gave it her she wouldn't play with the bricks she just wanted to walk constantly, after about 20 minutes her little legs were tired and she was getting clumsy so Nia had to hide it away for a bit. 
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