A little bit higher...

...and we even got some smiles with tummy time today! He was also pushing off with one leg which looks like it is the start of being able to roll over at some point, it will probably be a while yet though.

These days he is very interested in his hands and will spend quite a long time looking at them, bringing them together and then trying to cram them into his mouth- sometimes both at the same time! He has also started to reach out and pull things towards himself, although he hooks them with his hands rather than actually grabbing them. Hand-eye coordination definitely improving!

Little milestones

Almost 11 weeks old now and definitely not a newborn any more! Just this week I've been seeing quite a few little signs of progress- until yesterday Riku hadn't really liked tummy time, and usually only lifted his head for a second or so 3 or 4 times if I put him on his tummy for 5 minutes or so. Yesterday morning he lifted his head straight away, just a little bit, and looked forward, and held it for at least a minute. I think we can now say that "kubi ga suwatteiru"- literally "his neck is sitting", which is how you say that he can hold his head up by himself in Japanese. People here quite often ask me about this for some reason, even the man who came to inspect our old apartment before we moved- obviously it's considered a very important milestone here! Today I got him a new toy so he has something to look at while he's lifting his head- very cute and reminds me of things called Weebles which were around when I was little- wonder if you can still get them?

We have a frame with toys hanging off it (called a play gym) which have bells, rattles etc inside them, and up until now Riku had only really been waving his arms at it and randomly connecting with the toys sometimes. Last night several times he managed to grab and pull the handle on one of the toys and pull, which makes it play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I don't think he does it on purpose, but he has definitely started grabbing at things- this morning he was lying on a mat next to me while I did my yoga practice and about three times he grabbed at one of the toys I had next to him and pulled it towards him, so this is definitely a new skill of his- shouldn't be long before he's wanting more toys, so we'd better start stocking up on them!

Riku and friend

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for the 3 year old daughter of a friend- her little brother Simon was born just 3 days after Riku. They met once already at a wedding last month, but at the party they really got a chance to hang out and get to know each other!

Would have been nice to get a picture of them both smiling, but that would be pretty tricky with 2 month olds! Simon's dad is Canadian and his mum is Japanese- they live about 20 minutes' walk from where we live now, so the boys should be able to spend lots of time together.

Looks like Riku has just punched Simon in the ribs, but really he was just waving his arms around- they get on quite well actually ;)

Growing boy

It's amazing how fast babies grow- Riku is almost twice the weight now (about 6kg) that he was when he was born (3.5kg).

Here are photos of him in the same cloth nappy (diaper for North Americans :-) ) at 4 weeks and then 8 weeks- he's definitely got bigger- look at those thighs!

He's almost 10 weeks now so I'll take a photo in the same nappy at 12 and then 16 weeks- if he still fits it!

Too big for his bed

Here is a picture of Riku from yesterday morning:

Looks like it's time for him to have a bigger bed! Now that we've moved I'll start looking out for a new bed for him- not sure yet if it will be a futon or a cot. He actually has his own room now- or he will once we've got all of the boxes out of it, which will probably take a while!

The first week

Some photos of Riku in hospital and when we first got home, when he was 5 days old. He has changed so much since then he almost looks like a different baby!

Only a few hours old, in his fishbowl ;-)

Opening his eyes

Interesting expression

His "big" little feet

So tiny

Home from the hospital!

A big smile!

Last night Riku was waiting to get into the bath with his dad and he was talking and smiling away and I managed to catch a really big smile- the photo is a bit blurred since his smiles only usually last half a second and the light wasn't very good, but I'm sure we'll see more of them!

Thinking about it...

Here it comes...

Cheese!! (^-^)

Fixed the sideways photo issue ;-)