Together
Sleeping in the same room is actually motivating Louisette to go to bed more easily at night. TJ doesn’t always sleep through, but having Louisette there or not doesn’t seem to be a factor.
I’m sure that at some point they’ll be joining forces to stay awake, and that Louisette will soon realise how potent her power to wake TJ is. We do have a spare bed in the girls’ room for use when we need it.
So, hopefully all will stay in pretty much this arrangement until Louisette is old enough to need her own room (possibly 10 or so; we’ll see).
The Kids’ Room
As of tonight (7 December) Louisette will be sleeping in TJ’s room. She’s already had a successful nap – actually going to sleep (then staying asleep as TJ had a smaller nap in the same room). She’s delighted by the change, and TJ is young enough to be oblivious – so I think it’ll go well. Her old room is now the “girls’ room” – my desk is already back in there, as well as any Louisette toys that she/we don’t want TJ playing with.
Six Months Old!
We had a pancake party to celebrate (none for TJ, of course 😛 ). It devolved into a ball pit party. This was not a bad thing.
Painting
4 Dec
TJ’s first artwork (to send to the godparents in Hong Kong), his somewhat Scrooge-ish reaction to his first carol night (he was probably disappointed there were no active fires in the vicinity), and his continuing progress towards crawling. TECHNICALLY he does move forward sightly (hence my placing the ball in front of him) – with adorable rests as he flails – so technically he can commando crawl. Just. Sometimes. Yay? 
Almost Christmas!
Yep, it’s December – so I brought out the tree and nativity and Christmas outfits with much glee. The bad shots are at least as good as the good ones, as TJ did his level best to devour his sister.
I asked Louisette to explain Christmas to TJ (curious how much she’d absorbed of our early religious education!)
“It’s a tree! The star is ’cause it’s Jesus’ birthday today. Yes. ‘Cause he made us. God is a kind of friend today. We have to wait until our Christmas is at our house. And I just need. . . [she goes and fetches a toy for TJ].
At Christmas, he was a tiny baby. He slept in a cot with some hay.”
Poppy’s horse
This really was Poppy’s horse when he was a child. It’s metal, and loud, and actually quite terrifying (with practise, you can make it move forward jerkily by pushing on the stirrups). It was Daddy’s horse too, so naturally he has no idea why I view the antique contraption with a jaundiced eye (even as I admire it and them).
Still Good
He still LOVES standing – all the more since the idea of walking has occurred to him. It’s a great way to give him exercise (and therefore better sleep) without making him throw up (ah, tummy time).
29 Nov
You’ll notice he appears to be advertising Rhodes and/or piracy. We inherited a LOT of clothes from a family that evidently liked to buy tiny outfits as they travelled.
Felicity Banks 