Baby beans.

Little m went to her first baby music session today. It's called baby beans, for those who don't know. My Mum came today as well which was really nice. I was so proud of little m - she did so well for such a young girl but again, I was struck by the differences between her and her sister.

I first went to baby beans when little i was 5 weeks old. We were meant to go the week before but the car had broken another battery (see 'my car' blog on more about my battery killing car). It was really nice, loads of ladies with babies around the same age. Little i used to listen and take part and then go to sleep under the listening cloth towards the end, which I always felt was a great shame coz all the other mums got cuddles with their babies during the last song and I used to just sit there staring at a sleeping girl.

Little m, while 2 weeks younger (which is important when you're only a handful of weeks old), was wide awake and attentive today. She was really interested in the bubbles and she even started communicating in her own little way. There was a rain maker see-through tube thing - I don't know what it's actually called - but when you turn it onto it's end, you can see coloured beads falling. We put this next to her and when all the beans had fallen through the tube she waved her hand until we turned it over again! She also had a unique reaction to the listening cloth, she got hungry. She wasn't due for a feed but all that hard musicianship must have affected her appetite!

Eventually, when little i was old enough, she graduated to jelly beans - which is also great. Its a lot more active for the toddlers (she'd stopped falling asleep at this point) and she'd come home singing all the songs that we'd been doing in the session. To see a child get so much from a group like that is amazing and every time I've had to leave (I've had to leave a few times now coz of changes in sessions or having to go back to work) it's upset me to think that she was missing out. Little i is an exceptional child and I do partly blame baby and jelly beans for that!

Little m will only get 7/8 months of baby beans because I go back to work in September, she won't even be old enough to go to jelly beans but I know she'll get just as much out of it as her sister did. If nothing else we'll keep stroking the bunny at home......I feel that I should explain that you stroke the baby from head to foot while saying 'stroke the bunny' 3 times  and then say 'and........tickle its tummy, tickle it's tummy, tickle it's tummy' while tickling the babies tummy. Babies love it, toddlers love it too. Trust me, try it!