Pulling up

Today Spencer crawled (I use that word loosely) to his activity table and then pulled up to his knees and the to a full stand. All completely unassisted. 

He also is getting a lot closer to an official crawl. But he still loves to walk around. 

On this rd can he can also self propel a little bit. It is fun to watch. 

Teeth update & such

Yesterday his top front left came through and today we can see his top right as well. Now they have popped hopefully his appetite will come back. 

Also yesterday Spencer was able to pull himself on the coffee table repeatedly. He needed help to get to the right start position after sitting again, otherwise it looked like he was doing chin ups. 

On the pregnancy front. Debs latest cravings have been Mexican food. Tacos and taco salads and wraps. 

Play Dates

Well I have been trying to get out of my bubble and take Spencer to play groups or play dates or something like that. But I seem to be having issues finding such groups for babies his age. 

First group I went to was at a church. There was about 7-8 kids there but more was closer to 1 year old. One baby was 9 months old which was nice to see and Spencer to watch him crawl and Spencer played and jumped in a jolly jumper. All of which he has at home. The moms there were nice however I didn't really "click" with any of them to just chat with. I tried to join in conversations but I am horrible at that. It felt like I was the third wheel mostly as their kids were 3-4 yo. 

Deb and I went to the zoo with Calgary Pride parents. It is a small group and there were only two other moms that made it, their kids were 7-8 yo.  They are trying  to schedule something once a month. I think I will try and go for items that work for Spencer. Their next one is bowling, so I don't think that will work. 

Today Spencer went to a trial class Gymboree. That was fun but it is $75/month. For his age range that is two classes per week but only if you go to both. Once he is in the next age group in a month or two it is only once a week. The rate does include general play times as well. I am not sure if it is worth that much money though. He did enjoy it though. 

Beyond that I am having issues finding something for us to go to that is for Spencer's age. What am I Missing?  

Baby #2 Update (09/17/14)

I am so late in posting this.  But here is the news on Deb and her pregnancy.  So far things have been uneventful, thankfully.  Since we all got sick, Deb hasn’t had much of an appetite, she has been craving anything in liquid form, mostly milk, juice, and water.  Once she did start eating she was fine, but nothing really sounded good to eat, until she was eating it.  Recently, she is getting her appetite back however.  Yay. 

For our birthdays, we went to Stage West for dinner and a show.  The dress code doesn’t allow yoga pants, and that is what Deb has been wearing so far to accommodate the slightly bigger belly.  So Deb had to wear her first pair of maternity pants, reluctantly.  For now, she is back to yoga pants for work and what not. 

This is Deb’s first ultrasound at 8 weeks, just a peanut so far, but measuring right on cue.

And here is Deb’s first belly shot.  We are just going to take some random ones, not weekly like I did. 

Nine Months Part 3 (09/17/14)

Other notables about Spencer:

Favorite cuddle object: He is still just a lover of soft and cuddly things.  We are trying not to give him an object that he becomes dependant on, so we switch out his blankets and stuffies and what not.  So far so good.

Favorite food: Right now, blueberries are a hit, or Greek stirred yogurt.  He loves most things that come out of a Squeezms container.

Favorite activity: Still loves to bounce, whether in the jolly jumper or in his bouncing exersaucer, he loves it.  He still loves to go for walks in his stroller, and now he stays awake, most of the time.  I think one of his own things to do though is, take apart the alpha mat we have on the floor as partial cushion.  It used to be somewhat orderly in numeric and alphabetical, but now, I just want to make sure no two same color blocks are beside each other.  The picture below shows his path of destruction. 

Reflections from the heart: Being your momma is the greatest I could have asked for.  You have been a great baby still.  You are starting to develop taste for what you don’t and do want to do, and vocalize both ways.  Your napping routine was disrupted by our vacation to Sechelt in August, but slowly, you’re getting back into the habit of wanting to put yourself to sleep in your crib watching your fish mobile.  There are still occasions that you want to be held to go to sleep, and others we fight to get you there.  You’re latest food habit of closing your eyes if you don’t like something and wrinkling your nose, then peeking to see if the spoon is still there, is cute, annoying, but cute.  Hopefully you come around on proteins and non applesauce laden food soon.  You love to hold our fingers to walk around.  Sometimes you think you’re better than you are and let go, we then have to catch you.  For our photos at Walmart you light up for HH, our photographer, and she lights up to see you too.  Once she didn’t say hello to you first and you gave her attitude for a little while thereafter.  You have two teeth, and something on top is trying to pop through.  Hopefully it comes soon, as it shows that you are in discomfort because of it.  Tuffy is getting better around you.  He sometimes wants you to play and drops a toy near you in hopes you will throw it.  We sometimes help you pick it up and toss it, you think this game is hilarious.

We love you so much, and can’t wait to see you as crawling, walking, climbing, and as a big brother.  

Nine Months Part 2

To keep with the form of 6 months, I'm breaking this post up a little, and to give you time to read part one, while I'm pecking away at part two. A Note about food lately, if he doesn’t like what you are feeding him, he closes his eyes, wrinkles his nose and looks down.  After a moment or two he peeks up to see if the spoon is still there.  He is such a turkey.

Milestones checklist From CDC website –

Social and Emotional

May be afraid of Strangers – we have been working on this not happening for a long time.  If anyone (within reason) wants to hold him they can.  He gets to visit with a lot of people when at church, provided he is awake.  He still has a bit of a hard time with men however, especially if they don’t have facial hair, as most of the men he has been exposed to have beards.

May be clingy with familiar adults -  Spencer has his moments, when he wants to be with someone, or he gets upset if you leave the room.  We are trying to not encourage this too much. 

Has favorite toys – He definitely has a couple favorites.  Still he loves this soft red ball/rattle, we have this toy we call “Spin a Letter” shown below, and now he is liking ride on toys that make noise, he doesn’t quite know how to push them along yet, but likes to be pushed around or just sit on them and play with the levers and steering wheel etc.

Language/Communication

Understands “no” – The biggest time we use that word is when he sticks something in his mouth to the point he chokes on it.  He does this repeatedly, and it is showing a hard habit to break.  Lately I’ve just been taking whatever it was away.  This also gets used when he is reaching for the quilt we have hung above his change table, or when he is reaching for the outlet (which does have safety covers) in the bathroom after his shower.   When he hears “no” he stops what he is doing and then decides if he wants to continue to do it anyway, which involves further action from us.

Makes a lot of different sounds like “mamamam” and “bababa”- The Maaamaaa happened a long time ago, Spencer kind of took a break from babbling in general for a little while around 7-8 months, but he is starting up again with a vengeance.  He now does mamama, yayaya, sometimes da, and ba.  Ah and Eh are common sounds as well.   

Copies sounds and gestures of others – He has been working on sounds copied.  It usually starts with him making a sound and I’ll copy and then he copies back, and we do this repeatedly.  He doesn’t seem to copy gestures yet though.  Hopefully that is going to start soon enough. 

Cognitive (Learning, thinking, problem-solving)

Watches the path of something as it falls – Yes, he has been following objects for a while now.  The got it, drop it game with actual purpose has started recently.  We try not to perpetuate that too much, usually if he drops it, we put it away, and then he doesn’t have the toy, thus this hasn’t been too much of a game so far.

Looks for things he see you hide – He is starting to understand the inside things concept.  About a week ago he noticed where I put the toys, in bins on the shelves.  He has started to try and pull the bins out and pull out toys, as well as toys that fit things inside them he now knows to look inside for the letters or blocks etc.

Plays Peek a Boo - He loves this game.  He will sometimes put things over his face and pull it off for you to say peek a boo.  He also knows to lean over to peek around a corner or over a chair to see your face to play peek a boo.

Puts things into his mouth – This has been happening from the day he grabbed things.  They went directly into his mouth. 

Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other – This has also been happening for a long time.  He is probably going to have better coordination than I do. 

Picks up things like cereal o’s between thumb and index finger – He can pick up cheerios/puffed wheat and reasonably get it into his mouth to eat.  The pincer grasp still needs some work, but is coming along. 

Movement/Phisical Development

Stands, holding on – He has been one to stand for a long time.  He pulled himself up to standing with our fingers at 13 weeks.  His stance is definitely getting better though. 

Can get into sitting position – This is still a work in progress.  I’m not sure what I can do to help along though.  He can sit very well, but can’t go from laying down to sitting without assistance. 

Sits without support – Spencer is a good sitter.  He started sitting unassisted around 6 months and has been improving since.

Pulls to stand – This happened today (09/15/14).  He was sitting in his “zoo” enclosure and he used the door portion to pull himself up.  (The door is thinner for his hands to grasp).

Crawls – So far he has been a roll and pivot little boy.  He can now get onto all fours pretty well and wants to crawl so bad, but isn’t quite there.  He can also get into the teepee position, but usually falls over pretty quickly.     

Nine Months (Starting Early) Part 1

Well, today is actually September 8, 2014, that I am starting this post.  I figured if I start now, I might actually be posting by the time his is actually 9 months.  Which means I have 11 days to update the past three months on his development.  Here is goes.

Sleep Patterns: Since our vacation in Sechelt, Spencer's sleep habits have been off.  I haven't been putting him in the crib to fall asleep, if he doesn't fall asleep while having his snack of a bottle or yaybie.  For the few weeks after getting back he was a handful to settle down for a nap.  In hind sight it might have been a little to do with he was no longer on the awake for 2 hours nap for 1 rotation.  He had moved on to awake for 3 hours or so and then sleep for 40-120 minutes.  Which is why he was fighting going down for a nap after 2 hours.  He was starting to wind down but wasn't quite ready to sleep.  For a long while he nitht time habits were, go down to sleep around 8 (give or take depending on the day), and then when Deb and I would go to bed around 11 he would get sleep fed either a bottle or yaybie.  (If I haven't covered the slang yaybie, look up a you tube video of it.  It is a comic that thinks BOOb is a negative word with boo in it, the term stuck from early on.)  After Spencer's sleep feed he would sleep until about 7, sometimes a little earlier but it was an excellent routine.  This was also disrupted by vacation, and him being sick with the stomach bug we were all afflicted with a couple weeks ago.  The past couple nights he seems to be getting back to the old, better routine.  It is nice to get more than 2 hours or sleep in a row lately. 

Doctor's Visits: He hasn't had any doctor's measurements done recently.  Home done measurements are he is now 8.6 kg which is 19 pounds.  His head still looks a little big, but as Deb says, that is to house all those brains he is developing, lol.  He measures about 30" tall.  A lot of people mistake him for a year old for how tall he is. 

Spencer's neck seems to be doing very well.  It is nice when he is sat on our lap and we see how straight he holds his head now.  It makes the screaming stretches worth it now.  We are glad we caught it early and dealt with.  Thank you to Calgary Physio. 

His testicles from Hydroseal seem to be doing better as well.  We have a follow up appointment with the urologist at the end of September, with an ultrasound the week before.  I don't see there being any issues with that. 

Spencer's cheeks still suffer from breakouts that fluctuate from day to day.  When they get bad we have started using Aveno cream for Baby Eczema.  Poor little guy.  He also seems to break out in diaper rash worse around when he is about to pop teeth through.  Poor little guy.  Neither seem to really bother him though which is good. 

Food: Spencer almost eats everything now.  We have changed brands of cereal though as when he is on Gerber or knock offs his cheeks seem to get worse, especially oats.  He seems to do better on Heinz cereals, so we have been sticking to that, but this might just be a coincidence.  His favourite foods right now are yogurt, and most things that come out of a squeezm.  When on vacation, we had purchased some store bought ones that seem to be main ingredient of apple sauce.  He is now hard put to eat straight veggies, so we have been making a mix to put in some refillable squeezms that we got off Amazon and lowering the quantity of apple sauce.  One of he current mixes are: Blueberries, couscous, carrots, apples sauce and chickpeas.  We try and feed him a little of what ever we are eating.  His full meals usually consist of a savory like, chicken mixed with carrots, peas and edamame or a lentil chili, then he will have some infant cereal, then some of the blueberry mix or something similar, and to top it off, some yogurt, all accompanied by a side of formula.  As we are getting this ready he usually has some puffed wheat and or cheerios.  When he wants to, this boy can eat a LOT.

While on the trip to Sechelt, Spencer learned to drink from a straw.  This is great for on the go, and when he wants some water.  We are still using sippie cups and that is going well.  He sometimes lifts it himself, but that is still a work in progress. 

He still isn't a fan of bottles during the day, unless he is going down for a nap.  On the upside though, he is more prone to taking the yaybie to go down for a nap now which is good.  Before he was fighting taking the yaybie because he would then fall asleep most of the time, but now as he is going down and/or waking up he will have some breast milk.  I am still taking Domperidone to help with my milk supply and that is helping keep things going.  I can feed through the night and most naps, provided I drink enough water through the day. 

Somewhere in this three months, Spencer outgrew his Lamb swing.  He still has a different swing that he still fits.  Occasionally he sits in it and watches the fish in our tank as some quite time.  But he usually doesn't fall asleep in there.