Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
9 Months
There's so much to report this month, I admit I feel a bit overwhelmed by the task. Let me just begin with a list of new developments and happenings:
- First tooth--bottom front right--on 9 months birthday! Its partner tooth 4 days later! The teeth came as a bit of a surprise in the end. He's been sort of teething for so long, I guess I thought the teeth would never arrive. He was picky about his food and very, very clingy for about a week before the tooth appeared. There was more waking up in the night. But he didn't have a fever and didn't even seem particularly miserable, except in the night immediately before the tooth broke the surface.
- Camping! He got his first tooth after his first night of camping, at Wheeler's Gorge near Ojai. He loved camping. The tent, the trees, the picnic table, the birds, the wasps, the ants, the river... all of it was wonderful. I can't wait to camp with him next summer, it's going to be so fun.
- Picky eating! Finger foods! Favorite foods: blueberries! So many blueberries! Presented with a mixed plate of fruit, cheese, crackers, etc, Owen will pick out the blueberries one by one and reject the remainder. Other favorites now are applesauce, yogurt, rice, cheese sauce (used judiciously to make beans, broccoli, spinach, etc. acceptable), and the latest: puree of mixed vegetable soup with tiny pasta stars.
- diaper rash! This month was the first time Owen had any diaper rash. I think it was from eating SO many blueberries. We are being more moderate now.
- Pushups and rolling! Owen is pushing up to all 4's and is inspiring me to take up yoga again. He does an amazing pigeon and double-pigeon, and can even do plank for a few seconds. From all 4's, he can scoot backwards, and just a couple of days ago he learned to scoot backwards into a sitting position. He can also roll, over and over and over, to get from one side of the room to another. We have the living room and his room fairly well babyproofed since he is on the move. This new mobility plus sleep training (see below) has meant we have to use the Pack n' Play for him to sleep in, otherwise he rolls out of bed and bonks his head on the floor in his anger about being left alone to sleep.
- Weaning! Owen is just done with nursing. When he can satisfy that big appetite of his in a few minutes on a bottle, why bother with the boob?? He just wouldn't do it anymore. I am also pretty done with nursing, so this is a happy coincidence and I did not push the issue too hard. I have many reasons, but primary among them is that pumping is incredibly time-consuming and with my short work days, it was pretty unmanageable. It's also just not that fun for anyone when it's a battle.
Owen is getting mostly formula now. He seems to like it just fine, in fact maybe better. I think we all feel good that we made it to 9 months on exclusively breast milk. The pediatrician said we can start to introduce some whole milk around 11 mos and by 12 mos he can switch entirely to whole milk, so formula will be a short period.
- Sleep training! We were having such nap problems, oh my lord. Naps were the bane of my existence. There was literally nothing, nothing I could do to help Owen get down for a nap. After 30 minutes of crying, screaming, squealing, etc he would finally crash for precisely 25 minutes. And, our new pediatrician told us that Owen can and should be sleeping through the night. And, after 8+ months of being up at 3 am night after night, Noah and I had reached the point where our desire (need?) to sleep outweighed any concerns we had about going ahead. Our friends Olivia and Brian hired a sleep trainer to help with their daughter's sleep problems, so I was able to pick Olivia's well-informed brain about how best to proceed. We initially decided to use a "graduated extinction" method, which means after putting him down, you go in to reassure him that everything is OK after 5 minutes of crying; then again after 10 mins; then again after 15 mins. This did not work at all. Owen would be crying at, say, a level 4. Then we'd go in after 5 minutes to "reassure" him. Crying would instantaneously escalate to level 8 and remain there, until we came back to "reassure" him again, then it would go to a 10 and remain there. Instead we found there was much, much less crying and less intense crying if we just left him be. So, in the end, we turned out to be hard-core Ferberizers.
Amazingly, this worked almost right away for nighttime sleep. Owen started to sleep through the night consistently after about a week. Naps have taken much longer. Most naps still involve substantial crying and then last precisely 25 minutes. Sometimes--one nap in 4 at home--he sleeps 50 minutes. He's better with Noah than with me, and Ozie reports that he sleeps 90+ minutes at her place, so I think this has something to do with Owen's awareness that I am here. At the end of that sleep cycle he wakes up partially, remembers that I'm here, and wants me to come in and see him. So, we're working on that. Its better than it was but still a major source of frustration for me.
- Games! Owen has several new games that are fun for us and for him: for some time he's been enjoying taking his toys out of boxes, but now he's putting them in boxes. Another fun game is put-it-in-mommy's-mouth. He will take his pacifier (sophie/piece of bread/whatever) out of his mouth and reach it out to me. If I grasp it in my teeth he just dissolves into giggles. Hilarious!
He now plays peek-a-boo pretty independently. If you put a blanket over his head he becomes perfectly still and waits about 2 seconds. Then with a great big squeal of delight he pulls the blanket off his head! Boo!
- Babbling! Owen's babbles sound much more like words now. There have even been a few occasions when he said Ma-ma-ma and looked right at me like he was saying it for real.
-Separation anxiety! When I drop Owen off at Ozie's he shows distinct separation anxiety. It's pretty cute because he's obviously happy to see Ozie, yet as soon as she reaches out for him he realizes that I'm going to leave and starts to throw a fit. Ozie is quite adept at making my departure brief and then distracting him with Cookie, her little yappy dog whom Owen ADORES. I can hear them from outside the gate as I go back to my car.
Ozie: Owen! Look it's Cookie! Cookie Cookie!
Cookie: YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP!
Owen: Waaah waaaaaa waaaaa... waaa hee hee waaaah... HA HA HA! SQUEEE!
- Waving, signing, etc... we aren't quite there yet with waving consistently or any other signs. Sometimes he'll wave, usually not. We are working on using baby signs for eating and milk more consistently.
There is probably much more to say, but I'll stop here and try for a mid-month update. I'm sure crawling will be here before 10 months!
- First tooth--bottom front right--on 9 months birthday! Its partner tooth 4 days later! The teeth came as a bit of a surprise in the end. He's been sort of teething for so long, I guess I thought the teeth would never arrive. He was picky about his food and very, very clingy for about a week before the tooth appeared. There was more waking up in the night. But he didn't have a fever and didn't even seem particularly miserable, except in the night immediately before the tooth broke the surface.
- Camping! He got his first tooth after his first night of camping, at Wheeler's Gorge near Ojai. He loved camping. The tent, the trees, the picnic table, the birds, the wasps, the ants, the river... all of it was wonderful. I can't wait to camp with him next summer, it's going to be so fun.
- Picky eating! Finger foods! Favorite foods: blueberries! So many blueberries! Presented with a mixed plate of fruit, cheese, crackers, etc, Owen will pick out the blueberries one by one and reject the remainder. Other favorites now are applesauce, yogurt, rice, cheese sauce (used judiciously to make beans, broccoli, spinach, etc. acceptable), and the latest: puree of mixed vegetable soup with tiny pasta stars.
- diaper rash! This month was the first time Owen had any diaper rash. I think it was from eating SO many blueberries. We are being more moderate now.
- Weaning! Owen is just done with nursing. When he can satisfy that big appetite of his in a few minutes on a bottle, why bother with the boob?? He just wouldn't do it anymore. I am also pretty done with nursing, so this is a happy coincidence and I did not push the issue too hard. I have many reasons, but primary among them is that pumping is incredibly time-consuming and with my short work days, it was pretty unmanageable. It's also just not that fun for anyone when it's a battle.
Owen is getting mostly formula now. He seems to like it just fine, in fact maybe better. I think we all feel good that we made it to 9 months on exclusively breast milk. The pediatrician said we can start to introduce some whole milk around 11 mos and by 12 mos he can switch entirely to whole milk, so formula will be a short period.
- Sleep training! We were having such nap problems, oh my lord. Naps were the bane of my existence. There was literally nothing, nothing I could do to help Owen get down for a nap. After 30 minutes of crying, screaming, squealing, etc he would finally crash for precisely 25 minutes. And, our new pediatrician told us that Owen can and should be sleeping through the night. And, after 8+ months of being up at 3 am night after night, Noah and I had reached the point where our desire (need?) to sleep outweighed any concerns we had about going ahead. Our friends Olivia and Brian hired a sleep trainer to help with their daughter's sleep problems, so I was able to pick Olivia's well-informed brain about how best to proceed. We initially decided to use a "graduated extinction" method, which means after putting him down, you go in to reassure him that everything is OK after 5 minutes of crying; then again after 10 mins; then again after 15 mins. This did not work at all. Owen would be crying at, say, a level 4. Then we'd go in after 5 minutes to "reassure" him. Crying would instantaneously escalate to level 8 and remain there, until we came back to "reassure" him again, then it would go to a 10 and remain there. Instead we found there was much, much less crying and less intense crying if we just left him be. So, in the end, we turned out to be hard-core Ferberizers.
Amazingly, this worked almost right away for nighttime sleep. Owen started to sleep through the night consistently after about a week. Naps have taken much longer. Most naps still involve substantial crying and then last precisely 25 minutes. Sometimes--one nap in 4 at home--he sleeps 50 minutes. He's better with Noah than with me, and Ozie reports that he sleeps 90+ minutes at her place, so I think this has something to do with Owen's awareness that I am here. At the end of that sleep cycle he wakes up partially, remembers that I'm here, and wants me to come in and see him. So, we're working on that. Its better than it was but still a major source of frustration for me.
- Games! Owen has several new games that are fun for us and for him: for some time he's been enjoying taking his toys out of boxes, but now he's putting them in boxes. Another fun game is put-it-in-mommy's-mouth. He will take his pacifier (sophie/piece of bread/whatever) out of his mouth and reach it out to me. If I grasp it in my teeth he just dissolves into giggles. Hilarious!
He now plays peek-a-boo pretty independently. If you put a blanket over his head he becomes perfectly still and waits about 2 seconds. Then with a great big squeal of delight he pulls the blanket off his head! Boo!
- Babbling! Owen's babbles sound much more like words now. There have even been a few occasions when he said Ma-ma-ma and looked right at me like he was saying it for real.
-Separation anxiety! When I drop Owen off at Ozie's he shows distinct separation anxiety. It's pretty cute because he's obviously happy to see Ozie, yet as soon as she reaches out for him he realizes that I'm going to leave and starts to throw a fit. Ozie is quite adept at making my departure brief and then distracting him with Cookie, her little yappy dog whom Owen ADORES. I can hear them from outside the gate as I go back to my car.
Ozie: Owen! Look it's Cookie! Cookie Cookie!
Cookie: YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP!
Owen: Waaah waaaaaa waaaaa... waaa hee hee waaaah... HA HA HA! SQUEEE!
- Waving, signing, etc... we aren't quite there yet with waving consistently or any other signs. Sometimes he'll wave, usually not. We are working on using baby signs for eating and milk more consistently.
There is probably much more to say, but I'll stop here and try for a mid-month update. I'm sure crawling will be here before 10 months!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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