My Baby is Waving!

For the last couple of weeks, Ian has randomly opened and closed his right hand as if he was waving, but there didn't seem to be any intent behind it. He does it a lot when eating his finger food, especially as the lead-up to dropping the food over his tray and onto the floor. :-) But this morning and tonight, when I waved to Ian and said, "HI!" in that annoyingly sweet, motherly, singsong voice, he waved back and smiled at me! I don't know why I'm so excited by this, but I think it's SO cool. It's the first communication I have received from Ian that doesn't involve whining, crying, sobbing, smacking, biting or pinching and I LOVE it.

Here are my two sweet boys from this morning. We've gotten in the habit of letting Ian sleep in our bed after his early morning feed since we can get him to sleep a little longer. He makes an awesome snuggle buddy.

Avatar

My husband and I just got back from seeing the 3D movie Avatar. Wowzers. That was AMAZING! I would put that at the same level as the Wizard of Oz in technology break-through. The Wizard of Oz was the first movie in color and this movie was just...wow. Thanks so much to Baba for entertaining and babysitting Ian while mommy and daddy had a date!

In other news, Ian basically doesn't eat anymore. He refuses any spoon coming at his face unless we can get a little bit of yogurt on his lips and he'll eat that. He will eat some bread...maybe...if the mood strikes him. He only nurses when it's absolutely essential and if I try to feed him when he doesn't want to be fed, WATCH OUT. This is one seriously strong-willed boy. He does not hesitate to make his wishes known with both his muscles and his lungs. I hope he finishes this feeding/nursing strike soon because it's getting old. In addition, because he's not nursing before bed, he woke up at 3:30 am last night needing to feed. Sigh.

First Ear Infection

Ian is suffering from his first ear infection. We took him to the doctor the other morning because he had a low-grade fever for 2 days in a row and was just not acting like himself. I don't remember the last time he was screaming inconsolably WHILE I held him. It was probably back when he was 6 weeks old and suffering from horrible gas pain. So now we get to squirt amoxicillin in his face three times a day for 10 days. Oh what fun. It is NOT easy medicating this baby. Hell, he won't even let me wipe his nose, let alone squirt pink liquid down his gullet. But this too shall pass.

He hasn't been eating too well lately and getting him to nurse has been a bit of a fight too. I'm not sure if he's just feeling off because of this never-ending cold or whether his teeth are bothering him. All I know is that it is tough to be a baby! Let's hope that he feels better for our long holiday weekend together.

Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon

Ian loved his first Hanukkah gift - a Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon. This was recommended by other mothers and I see why now. It offers some resistance to the wheels so that your child, who is mostly unbalanced and unable to walk alone, doesn't go flying when he pushes the toy forward. It's really really fun to watch him play with it. Enjoy!

9 months old!

Ian is 9 months old today!



He is such a great little guy. He's generally happy and smiley and he crawls so fast around the house. He doesn't babble all that much, but when he does, he likes saying "dada," "baba", and "blah-blah." He also likes to blow air out of his mouth so that he is making an "eff" sound and he likes making raspberries. I have yet to hear him make the "emm" sound.

Daycare calls him "independent" and "strong-willed." Apparently, he really likes to eat because he will go after other kid's finger foods. He hasn't yet figured out how to drink from the sippy cup but he likes playing with the cup and chewing on the spout. He has 2 more teeth peeking through his bottom gums. This means he will soon have 4 bottom teeth and no top teeth. He hates to be restrained in any way and will loudly protest the following: diaper changes, getting dressed, getting undressed, getting into the car seat (until he has his paci), and getting into his booster seat to eat (until he has food).

I went to pick him up at daycare the other day and didn't immediately spot him. So I just stood by the door and scanned the room. He apparently spotted me because very shortly I heard him growling "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and he was crawling like a madman over to me. After a short distraction by a toy, he came over to me, pulled up to a standing position using my legs for balance, hugged me and wanted to be picked up. That was awesome. He totally recognized me as a familiar and loved person.

Ian has consistently woken up between 4:30 am and 5:00 am for the last 5-6 weeks. I'm not sure why he is waking up so early, but I'm guessing it's hunger. We bring him into our bed with us and I nurse him and he will fall back asleep again. I've been successful in putting him back into his crib and he will continue to sleep until 7 or even later. I'm going to try and feed him more during the day so that he will stop waking up so early. But who knows if that will work. I'm not even sure it's hunger that's waking him up.

I'm amazed every day by how much I love him. I rush home from the train station each night looking forward to spending time with him.

9 Month Pediatrician Visit

Ian went to the pediatrician today for his 9 month visit. Stats as follows:

Height: 28.75 inches, 75th percentile
Weight: 20 pounds, 1.6 ounces, 50th percentile

It was actually very hard to get his height measurement because Ian is such a squirmy little guy and he does NOT like to be restrained. The doctor actually measured him after the nurse did because Ian was apparently 28.5 inches at his 6 month appointment (meaning he only grew .25 inches in 3 months). But the 6 month height was clearly a mis-measurement because it put his height completely off the chart. This latest measurement fits on his curve a lot better. So I think his 6 month height was just incorrect.

Ian also took his Hepatitis B vaccine and second H1N1 shot like a champ with very minimal crying. We also got his blood drawn so that he could be tested for anemia and lead levels. I was SO impressed with him when he got his blood drawn. He sat on my lap sucking away contentedly at his paci. I held his left arm down and open while the nurse drew the blood. He didn't even flinch or cry when the needle went in. Amazing.

The doctor said that with certain exceptions, Ian could pretty much eat anything now. We need to stay away from honey, cow milk and nuts until later and limit quantities of tomatoes and citrus because of the high acid content, which could upset his tummy. I took this to heart and have been giving Ian lots of different things to try. He's now eaten kidney beans (although he had trouble with the skin), black beans, blueberries, cheese, turkey, banana, whole wheat bread and, last night, I gave him yogurt for the first time. He loves it all. I'll have to try and give him avocado again, which is the only food that he has rejected to date. I'm so lucky that he is such a good eater!

Ian hearts the cat, but the cat does not heart Ian.

Happy Baby!

Ian is SUCH a happy baby.

High Ceilings! Woot!

I've been so unbelievably busy lately that I've found it difficult to blog. But now that things have calmed down (my deal signed last Monday and I have recovered from the most recent pestilence), I have lots to update.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we visited my brother in Baltimore for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time (despite the fact that I had to bring work with me) and I'm really glad we went. One of the benefits to this visit is that my brother's house has very high ceilings (unlike our house, which has 8 foot ceilings throughout). We took full advantage of these high ceilings to throw the baby around. As you can see for yourself, he loved it.



Baby Ian got thrown around a lot before we were finally able to capture the above, in-focus, photo. (I have lots of pictures of my brother's ceiling too...)

Ian is eating real food like a champ. This is a big step for him (and me). As a first-time mother, I never know when it is appropriate to introduce a food. So I sort of just bit the bullet and started giving him new foods to try. We started with avocado a couple of months ago. He didn't like it and to let me know this, he decided to puke it up. But I didn't let that stop me and I'm glad it didn't because he eats everything else I've given to him. At 8.5 months of age, he now eats cheerios, Gerber puffs, organic puffs, turkey and various cheeses (mozzarella, Gouda, muenster, Cheddar jack and American). It is so cute to watch him "chew."

Ian likes to feed himself these days. It's pretty funny to watch. He will grab a fistful of whatever food is in front of him and try to shove it all in his mouth. Roughly 50% ends up back on his tray, 30% ends up on the floor, 10% gets stuck on his grubby hands, 5% gets stuck to his face and 5% makes it into his mouth. And he is SO very proud of himself for doing this that he smiles and laughs and the 5% that made it into his mouth promptly falls out. Luckily, mommy is there to help. :-)

I've learned that there is a trick to giving him food. The pieces have to be small enough that he won't choke on them, yet still big enough for him to pick up himself. I'm glad I went to law school to train my brain so that it has the capability to figure this out. Last night, I fed him pieces of banana and he loved that too. Except he couldn't pick up the slimy pieces of banana. So I smartly mashed the banana onto cheerios and whammo, we had the incredible self-feeding baby again. And he didn't want me to feed him last night. He wanted to take the food item out of my hand so that he could feed himself. He is one determined little boy.

What else. Oh right. While in Baltimore for Thanksgiving, Ian decided to walk behind a kichen chair while pushing it in front of him. So while not walking on his own, he is taking steps other than just furniture cruising. And he can stand on his own without holding onto anything for 3-5 seconds at a time. I'm very pleased that he is growing and learning so well.

He is also ALL boy. I call him Dr. Destructo. He crawls around the floor like a madman, pulls himself up on everything and promptly knocks whatever he can to the floor. And once said item is on the floor, he uses it as a hammer. Perhaps a girl would be no different, but Ian just seems so much like a boy. When he doesn't want to breastfeed anymore, he smacks me. He SMACKS me! I get mad at him and yell a little. He looks at me with a bewildered face and then grins. I'm in trouble with this one.