IJG is 8 months old!

3.6.10

IJG is still getting around by army crawling everywhere. He can lift himself up onto his hands and knees but always falls flat before moving forward. You can always tell when he sees something interesting to crawl towards because he starts making lots of excited noises as he goes. His favorite things to crawl towards are the dogs, the vacuum, or the broom. He can’t take his eyes off of the vacuum or broom when they are in the same room as him. He also likes to investigate anything not in its place, like a bag or object he knows normally isn’t in the room. He can stand if holding something for support, and can get up to standing on his own if something is in just the right place to grab onto. We probably don't need to worry about him falling backwards while sitting anymore, but I still avoid letting him sit alone on hard floors. We've discontinued use of the bouncy chair. He started leaning to one side to investigate the floor while in the chair and ended up falling over (with chair attached). He is talking a lot and still prefers “dada” but throws in some “baba” and started doing a little “mama”. He also likes to say “ewww” and he loves to squawk in a high pitch voice. He seems to respond to his name and the word "no". Whenever he tries to put something in his mouth that he shouldn't, and I say "no", he stops and smiles at me. He may keep trying, but every time I say no, he stops.

This month IJG went from two teeth (bottom center) to seven teeth! We knew something was happening and started watching his gums waiting to see the top center teeth break through (these are supposed to come in next). But, we noticed a third tooth on the bottom broke through, then the top center two, followed by the top two on either side of the center ones.

IJG has been eating great this month. He breastfeeds five times a day and eats solids three times a day (last month he only had lunch and dinner solids). He eats everything but his appetite is a little inconsistent. I typically prepare two ounces of fruit or vegetable and two tablespoons cereal mixed and thinned (for breakfast and dinner) or 2 ounces vegetables with 1 oz of lentils for lunch. Along with the foods introduced last month, we have added a few vegetables (spinach, corn, zucchini, yellow squash), some out of season fruit which I bought frozen (mango, peaches, raspberries, blueberries), a mixed grain cereal, and protein sources (lentils, egg yolk) to his diet. He had egg yolk for the first time today for lunch and seemed to enjoy it. This was the first food he had that was not pureed smooth and he did fine. I also started using prune juice this month to thin his food due to a bout of constipation he had. We've also been working on using a sippy cup by offering water during meals. So far he doesn't have much interest in using it.

I changed his entire eating and sleeping schedule this month to match the schedule at his school. He now naps ~8:45-9:45 am and ~12:30-2:00 pm. He eats at approximately 6:30 am, 10:00 am, 2:00 pm, 4:30 pm, and 7:30 pm. He eats his solids after his milk at the 6:30 am, 10:00 am, and 4:30 pm meals. He still won’t sleep at night as much as we would like. He goes to sleep ~8:00/8:30 pm and often is awake by 5:30 am. He still sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and we go pat him back to sleep, but he usually makes it to at least 5:00 am without waking. We have stopped going into his room as much when he does wake early and he falls back asleep sometimes, but not usually for very long.

He is still attending school 4 days a week from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm. He seems to like it and smiles when he sees his teachers. He also gets excited to see me return to pick him up. Even if he is looking away when I arrive, he responds when I call his name.

He is very happy most of the time, but gets quite cranky in the evenings (but we can’t put him to sleep earlier or he’ll wake up too early) . He has become quite fond of slamming toys on the floor, hiting toys against each other with one in each hand, slapping the table while in his high chair, and dropping toys from his highchair onto the ground (repeatedly). He flails his arms around while sitting if he gets excited, especially in front of the mirror which is absurdly cute. He loves being tipped backwards and will flip his head back and smile when he wants to be tipped while we are holding him. He also likes to be tickled on his tummy, chest, back, and neck. He still loves his baths and recently started splashing like crazy. He also still loves his left thumb and sucks it when he's hungry, tired, upset, in need of comfort, or falling asleep.

IJG was sick once earlier in the month with a cold that turned into an ear infection again. We could tell because he was fine while up but refused to lay his head down to sleep flat. This bothered him for about 36 hours. He is currently snotty with a cold but it appears to be mild and not progressing into anything else...we'll see.


2.26.10


3.3.10