The Verran Family Blog

We’re back!  And with more photos.  Josh is 9 months now and he has grown such a lot.  He is able to pull himself up against furniture, tables, etc and stands so nicely. Now of course the first thing he does is bang, bang, bang on the table. He crawls all around the house now and the dogs still have no rest, but we are very glad that the relationship between him and the dogs has improved a lot. Champers is starting to not mind being banged on, but please don’t pull her ear or touch her mouth – those are no-go areas.

He is an outgoing and lively little boy and enjoys life a lot.  He has his first 2 bottom teeth and it looks like the top 2 should be out very soon.

Josh loves his food and gets so excited when breakfast, lunch or supper is upon him. Not to mention the snack as well. Finger biscuits, dried mango, toast and Flings are his favourite. At daycare, he is also eating all sorts of food like chicken nuggets, fish fingers and other yummy foods too. Josh is a bit of a piggy at times. Our daycare can tell you many stories.

Although he is still eating soft foods, I somehow don’t think a big piece of steak is not too far away from now. I cannot wait to teach him how to braai. Oh wait, that is still many years away.

I’ve also included a video of the fun with his grandparents, my folks for that matter. Yep, fun with Oumie and Oupie.

And here are the pics.

Yesterday, Saturday the 21st of March, myself, and many others awaited with baited breath the announcement of the 2009 SA Blog Awards finalises!  And finally, after we got back from

Mass last night, I hit the SA Blog Awards site to see that they were announced and by surprise, The Verran Family Blog was short listed as a finalist under the SA Parenting Blog as well.  We are super stoked, Josh has been gleaming with excitement – well, we like to think so.Not only did the Verran Blog make it, but our podcast The ZA Show made it too.

So this is how you can make a difference in the life of a cute little boy named Josh.  He’ll be super happy if you can please take some time of your day and vote!   Click on the dog tag on the right which will take you straight to the website as well as check verran.za.net under Parenting blog as well.

So, we ask you, beg you, to please vote for our little blog on the net.   We’ll be so ever greatful and Champers will give you a huge lick for your troubles.

So, back to the family.  Josh’s crawling escapades are surely keeping us on our toes.  A short vid that proves that big things amuse small minds.

Need I say more. With Josh starting to crawl about a week or two ago, he has managed to crawl much better now and still learning the tricks of the trade.

Here is a vid.

Josh was 7 months old on Friday and boy, has he managed to do quite a few more things since being 6 or even 5 months old.  He has been sitting up nicely since before 6 months old and has been able to go from sitting to the crawl position and rock back and forth on his hands and knees.

He has even sat at the restaurant table in his little chair for the first time on Valentines Day while we were having a meal at the Tavern in Gordon’s Bay.

2 weeks ago he went from the crawling to the sitting position for the first time at my parents house.  It was awesome that he did this as they witnessed their little grandson do something for the first time in front of their eyes.  They loved that a lot !!   He have a “doughnut” at home, which is a round cushion, padded around the outer edge.  We put him on that with some of his toys to entertain himself.  We felt safe thinking that he can remain there while we watch TV, make supper or whatever.  It worked wonderfully – until now!

On Friday, he started to crawl.  Yep, the dude is crawling now and it is time for us to have our hands full from now on. We place him on the doughnut and within a few seconds, he is on his tummy and making plans to get off the doughnut and make his way to the closest dog and if he has his way, a tail or fur will be pulled.  But his mission is to get to the dogs!  Needless to say, they are not particularly amused at this new development.  But little do they know, that Joshua is going to chase them around the garden right into their dying days.

But he had another trick up his sleeve!  He managed to pull himself up onto his legs against Bridgitte who was lying down on her side.  The dude surprises us every day.

But he has remained a very happy boy and happy with life as we know it.  He has been at day care during the latter half of each day during the week and enjoys it very much.  He loves being around people.  While in church and face him to the back, he totally jumps with joy as he attempts interaction with the children and people behind us.

We are seeing our baby grow – not only physically, but mentally too and it is awesome – such a proud moment and it is these things, that make parenting a real reward.

Below are a couple of pictures and a video for you to see.  Wait until the slide show has loaded below.  The video is also included within the slide show.

Josh is on solids and we embarked on the task of making his veggies.

Josh surprises us everyday!  On a Saturday and Sunday at 3pm, the dogs start demanding their walk.  We were having a snooze last Saturday when the dogs came in and demanded that we take them for a walk.  The demand is pretty much a mix of jumping, barking and running.  Josh found this rather amuzing and just burst out laughing.   See the video below.

Josh is at that age where the smallest little face pulling, noise, sound, etc coming from us entertains him 100%.  It is by this video below, that you can get a real feel for his character.