...I forgot a tooth update in the last posting. Liam now has 4 teeth on top, and 2 on the bottom.
08.23.09 ~ Babbling and Crawling (or not)
I’m not sure at what point we’re allowed to claim that Liam has said his first word. He can definitely say both Mama and Dada, but it’s questionable just how meaningful those sounds are to him. He seems to say Mama (it actually sounds like “Mum Mum Mum”) when he sees me, when he doesn’t see me, when he wants something he can’t reach, when he’s hungry, or when something tastes good. He says it a lot. He says Dada a lot too. And he definitely says it more when Jason is around, but also plenty when he’s not. Liam is also getting really good at repeating both sounds and intonations. If I say “Dada” he says “Da!”. If I say “ball” he (sometimes) says “Buh”. If I say “duck”, he says “Da!” (You can see why I’m suspicious about meaning, right?) But Liam definitely has a mind of his own. Don’t expect him to demonstrate any of these talents when asked to. He has made it very clear that he is not my show monkey. As soon as I try to get him to do something in front of an audience, he stares at me blankly or ignores me altogether. But I did catch a bit of it on video this morning:
On the crawling front, there is still very little progress. As soon as I put him onto his front he usually rolls right to his back. He resists picking his belly up off of the ground by supporting his weight on straight arms. If he does stay on his belly, he lays his head down every few seconds and rests comfortably. If I prop him up on his hands and knees, he stays there bewildered by his own posture for a few seconds before he flops back to the floor in a flat position. He has gotten more confident in the sitting position though. He now can scoot on his butt to get around (well, only backwards). He will also lean, while sitting, so far that he almost tips over in order to reach for a toy. He’s almost in the crawling position when he does that so very sneakily I place his toys almost out of reach so that he has to lean to get them.
To balance out his sad large motor abilities, Liam has totally conquered fine motor skills. And after discussing all of this with the pediatrician at the last visit, I feel totally fine with that. He has long mastered the “pincer” grasp with his thumb and forefinger. Dr. Zbar told us that a neurologist friend of hers believes that is the single best predictor of future intelligence. And, crawling isn’t even a developmental milestone since there is so much variation in how and whether babies do it. So, I’ll take the pincer grasp over crawling any day!
Last weekend Jill and Josh were here. It was Josh’s first time meeting Liam. I think they loved each other very much. And Liam also rekindled his love with Jill. Anytime she laughed he would squeal and laugh back. He was very flirty with her which means Liam is developing a very good taste in girls!
On the crawling front, there is still very little progress. As soon as I put him onto his front he usually rolls right to his back. He resists picking his belly up off of the ground by supporting his weight on straight arms. If he does stay on his belly, he lays his head down every few seconds and rests comfortably. If I prop him up on his hands and knees, he stays there bewildered by his own posture for a few seconds before he flops back to the floor in a flat position. He has gotten more confident in the sitting position though. He now can scoot on his butt to get around (well, only backwards). He will also lean, while sitting, so far that he almost tips over in order to reach for a toy. He’s almost in the crawling position when he does that so very sneakily I place his toys almost out of reach so that he has to lean to get them.
To balance out his sad large motor abilities, Liam has totally conquered fine motor skills. And after discussing all of this with the pediatrician at the last visit, I feel totally fine with that. He has long mastered the “pincer” grasp with his thumb and forefinger. Dr. Zbar told us that a neurologist friend of hers believes that is the single best predictor of future intelligence. And, crawling isn’t even a developmental milestone since there is so much variation in how and whether babies do it. So, I’ll take the pincer grasp over crawling any day!
Last weekend Jill and Josh were here. It was Josh’s first time meeting Liam. I think they loved each other very much. And Liam also rekindled his love with Jill. Anytime she laughed he would squeal and laugh back. He was very flirty with her which means Liam is developing a very good taste in girls!
08.07.09 ~ Skinny Turkey
We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday for a well-baby check-up and got new stats on Liam. He’s now 17 lbs. and 8 oz. (13th percentile) and 28 inches long (56th percentile). Dr. ZBar said that she isn’t worried about his weight, but, at the same time, we don’t need to hold back at all in terms of feeding him. She said to give him lots of avocado and egg yolks (it’s the egg whites that you have to hold off until a year). She also said we could start feeding him whole milk yogurt in the next few weeks (yogurt and cheese are ok around 8 or 9 months, but you have to wait for a year to introduce cow’s milk). And now we can also start giving him protein, like beans and meat. So far we haven’t tried any of the new stuff, but I’ve been trying to stuff our skinny turkey with avocado and fresh summer fruit.
We had a little set-back a couple of weeks ago when he caught a stomach bug with fever and diarrhea and didn’t want to eat anything (and only nurse) for almost a week. Aside from that, Liam has been getting a bit more enthusiastic about the solid foods lately. So far we’ve given him mostly homemade fruit (apples, pears, banana, peach, kiwi, plum, blueberry, cherry) and veggie (winter and summer squash, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, green beans, peas, cauliflower, avocado) purées. Sometime I mix the purée with either baby cereal or with breast milk or both. Or sometimes I mix two fruits together, like plums (which are pretty bitter) and banana. This past week I’ve also started giving him those little baby cereal puffs. It is so funny to watch him chew them up with his gums. And he’ll eat them only if I put it directly in his mouth. If I put one on the table or in his hand, he just plays with it. I don’t think he’s made the connection that he can feed himself yet.
Liam is also currently battling an eye infection in both eyes. Dr. Zbar gave us a prescription for antibiotic eye drops (they don’t absorb systemically, she assured us). However, she did say that most eye infections are viral and that the drops may not be helpful at all. We’ve been pinning Liam down and forcing his eyes open to put drops in them three times per day since Tuesday. I can’t tell yet whether his eyes actually look any better – if anything, they just haven’t gotten worse.
This week Liam’s August babysitter, Sarah, started coming for 12 hours per week. The childcare center is closed for the summer in August, and I didn’t want to give up a whole month of dissertating, so we hired one of the master’s students from the National Center for Children and Families. She was here for two six-hour days this past week. I was at school with my boobs filling up with milk when I realized that six hours is the longest I have ever been away from Liam in one stretch. Luckily, Sarah seems to be very attentive and loving with him, so I don’t think I need to worry. And I know I can consider myself very lucky since many moms must be away from their (often much younger) children for much longer.
Last weekend we rented a car and took a day trip to Mantoloking to visit Dirk, Wesley, Nik, and Sven at Wesley’s family beach house. It was so great to see them and to introduce them to Liam. Here are a few pictures:
We had a little set-back a couple of weeks ago when he caught a stomach bug with fever and diarrhea and didn’t want to eat anything (and only nurse) for almost a week. Aside from that, Liam has been getting a bit more enthusiastic about the solid foods lately. So far we’ve given him mostly homemade fruit (apples, pears, banana, peach, kiwi, plum, blueberry, cherry) and veggie (winter and summer squash, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, green beans, peas, cauliflower, avocado) purées. Sometime I mix the purée with either baby cereal or with breast milk or both. Or sometimes I mix two fruits together, like plums (which are pretty bitter) and banana. This past week I’ve also started giving him those little baby cereal puffs. It is so funny to watch him chew them up with his gums. And he’ll eat them only if I put it directly in his mouth. If I put one on the table or in his hand, he just plays with it. I don’t think he’s made the connection that he can feed himself yet.
Liam is also currently battling an eye infection in both eyes. Dr. Zbar gave us a prescription for antibiotic eye drops (they don’t absorb systemically, she assured us). However, she did say that most eye infections are viral and that the drops may not be helpful at all. We’ve been pinning Liam down and forcing his eyes open to put drops in them three times per day since Tuesday. I can’t tell yet whether his eyes actually look any better – if anything, they just haven’t gotten worse.
This week Liam’s August babysitter, Sarah, started coming for 12 hours per week. The childcare center is closed for the summer in August, and I didn’t want to give up a whole month of dissertating, so we hired one of the master’s students from the National Center for Children and Families. She was here for two six-hour days this past week. I was at school with my boobs filling up with milk when I realized that six hours is the longest I have ever been away from Liam in one stretch. Luckily, Sarah seems to be very attentive and loving with him, so I don’t think I need to worry. And I know I can consider myself very lucky since many moms must be away from their (often much younger) children for much longer.
Last weekend we rented a car and took a day trip to Mantoloking to visit Dirk, Wesley, Nik, and Sven at Wesley’s family beach house. It was so great to see them and to introduce them to Liam. Here are a few pictures:
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