This cow nods his head to the beat and sings a Shania Twain Love song, while playing the guitar.

For some reason Alex absolutely loves anything musical.

He will turn instruments on and start grooveing to the sound which is oh so cute.

The really funny thing though is that he will use it like a radio as back ground noise.

He will be playing with other toys with his little musical toy playing the song and when you turn it off he will walk over turn it back on and go back to where he was playing…. Very cute and very funny indeed.

You can get this and other toys from the Baby Store

By Rebecca Leys

He sleeps

Arms and legs outflung, milky white

Soft and naked in the summer heat

A pallid starfish

His eyelids are smooth

Delicately curved lavender.

I have seen shells

Just like them

Discarded on the beach

Half-filled with sand

His fingers are curled

Inwards around his palms

Like a secret

Tousled baby-fine hair

Sticks damply to his temples

Scrambles over his head

In loops and whorls

Gently his breath slips in

And out of him, laden with

Cinnamon scone and breastmilk

And peace

by Rebecca Leys

My hands are stilled

By the love in my heart

For everything I might write

Has been written before

Oh, a thousand, thousand times

My pride in him, millions have known

As they watched the lengthening limbs

Of a son growing strong

Purposefully turned to each new project

Investigation or mischief

Multitudes have felt their own

Smile stretch weightlessly wide

As their baby laughed

All abandoned to delight

In the jester who parents

Or the fullness in the throat

That soft fist of heat

When guileless arms first

Reach back in longing

To be held

And I stand in kinship

With all those before me

Who learnt the meaning of so

Much they had heard

Once their child was the teacher

Rebecca has just experienced a whole new level of gross.

The toddler escaping from the shower, shedding massive turds in his progression at high speed across the bathroom, exiting the bathroom still pooing, mummy chasing, losing him (ohmigod which room is he pooing in now?!!) toddler doubling back, reentering the shower leaving a skid mark right across the bathroom mat, mummy discovering him in the shower, leaving him there while she scoops up the turds with great wads of toilet paper and tosses them in the toilet, then takes the bathmat to rinse in the laundry tub. (phew take a breath)

Mummy hearing a Significant Noise and dashing back to the toilet to discover toddler has scooped pooey toilet paper back out of the toilet (why didn’t I flush when I had the chance?!!) and has dropped daddy’s reading book (Cracking the Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen) into the toilet with the rest of the poo.

May 27
It’s so cool! If I bounce up and down vigourously several times, and then lie down on my back, I can usually get several kicks/punches.
I’m thinking of the baby as a him because mum did the wedding ring trick on me, she’s done it on about 20 women and never been wrong yet. One of nature’s diviners, apparently. It definitely said boy. And the funny thing is then she did it on my sister-and-law, who is a month behind me in pregnancy, and it definitely said girl! Mum was going from me (swinging back and forth) to Sheree (swinging round and round) and it was quite extraordinary to watch!
I don’t find out the gender the official, scientific way until the 16th of June, when I have the anatomy scan. But I’m talking myself into the idea of a boy, since of the two genders, I really wanted a girl! If it turns out to be a girl, it will be a wonderful surprise. If it’s a boy, I’ll be just what I’m expecting. So by the time he arrives I’ll be properly attached to my little boy, and not wishing he was anything but himself!
I’m currently 16 weeks, in my 17th week now. So the baby is somewhere between 10 and 12cms long, head to bottom. Plus some extra for legs and feet. Plenty of size for kicking and being felt, I can tell you…

May 26
I’m feeling the baby kick. Since the 20th of May. It is a wee bit early to be able to feel the baby, but I read something that said new mums often dismiss the first kicks and so on as gas. Experienced mums recognise the feelings. So I’ve been paying careful attention to my abdomen, and I can definitely pick the sensation. It’s SUCH a lovely feeling. He squirms around too, which feels remarkable like my guts moving sideways. I roll over in bed, and then he rolls over a moment or two later. But the little kicks (or possible punches) are my favourite. It makes me grin all over my face every time I feel one. And if I’m alone my hands go straight under my waistband (like Al Bundy on the couch) to see if I can feel any more.

I have the anatomy scan on Monday 16th June. So I’ll know the gender that day. And if the baby is being all coy and lying in a position that makes it impossible to see, I’m going to massage my tummy until it moves! There is no way I can wait a whole 9 months to find out! Four months is hard enough!
I have got pink clothes, blue clothes, yellow and purple and green and white clothes. Whatever gender I get, I’ll have plenty! Though mum did the wedding ring test on me, and that says pretty firmly that it’s a boy. I was hoping for a girl, but plans are to have several more, so I’ll get around to a girl eventually, if this one IS a boy.
We live in an apartment in the centre of Auckland. The size of the place is good, but once the first child becomes highly mobile and wants to run around outside there’s no garden. Let alone the hazard of all the things being thrown off the balcony. Hopefully not any children going over the balcony, but without considering the damage to the gadget, a remote control thrown from 14 stories becomes pretty lethal by the time it reaches ground level!

The bump is very well too. Juuust starting to ease out beyond the pubic bone.

Meanwhile I’ve now got 3kg of extra ‘fluid’ I’m carrying round (above my pre-pregnancy weight), and I’m wondering if lots of long walks might keep that all in check. Not that I’m worried about the bit of it that’s centered in the bosom area of course. The more the merrier!

Terry and I saw the baby on ultrasound a week ago. So exciting! And so much more real when you can see it in there moving around. All wrapped up, cosy and snug in its specially-designed little bed. Awwww. They gave me a dvd copy of the ultrasound, and I’ve watched it a couple of times since then. I don’t get to find out the gender till 20 weeks. I’m so impatient to know!!

Mum did the wedding-ring-on-a-hair trick, and that says very clearly mine’s a boy. What’s quite funny is that Sheree, my sister in law, is also pregnant. Due in December. So she was there when we were doing the ring thing. And for her it went round in circles. A girl! (She was 100% right)

Mum says she’s done that trick for about 20 women, and never had it be wrong. But I still can’t wait for the next ultrasound. Science before divination!

I’m drinking heaps of water and milk (I get sooo thirsty) and needing to go to the toilet much more often (woke up three times last night, needing to pee). I’m craving fish, and tomato-paste-flavoured stuff, and lemons, and egg sandwiches. The nausea’s completely gone now. Except for the occasional dry retch over the toothbrush.

So I’m very happy, generally. Feeling peaceful and purposeful and glad.

The nausea is virtually gone now. I have a little pot belly. Not baby. Just baby-fluid. Apparently I now have 10% more blood than usual.

Thinking of those pickled onions yesterday – just sitting at the computer and thinking of pickled onions – made me throw up my nice berry-and-banana-and-protein-powder shake. And all my vitamins.