16 Months

At almost 16 months, K has hit a window of rapid development in her expressiveness and engagement with the world. She loves books, animals (especially birds, monkeys, cats and dogs), quilts, and going outside. She recognizes a lot of animals and objects and can point them out in books when I ask her to find them (dog, cat, bird, zebra, tiger, cheetah, bear, fox, bunny, mouse, raccoon, ladybug, bumblebee, car, boat, plane, train, house, tree, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, banana, etc).

She is crazy about birds, especially the ones in the back yard, and is learning to tell some types of birds apart in books and pictures – mostly owls, puffins, parrots and chickadees (if there are multiple kinds of birds on one book page, she can pick these ones out when asked). She also knows some colors and can find red, blue, yellow and orange when asked (sometimes also green and purple).

She isn’t talking much, but when she does her main words are “mom” (which she says with varied inflections to communicate most things “mum / mom / mama / mam / MAM / MAM!!!), nana, dada, and bap. I’m not entirely sure what bap means but it seems to mean “up” “book” and “I really want something and you aren’t listening” depending on the situation. She says what’s that fairly often “wha da?” while pointing. I’ve heard her say dog, bird - “baod,” and bye-bye but not many times. I have heard her also say I did it – “I di ih” a few times and wasn’t sure of my hearing until others reported hearing that too.

Mostly, she points and makes complex little noises with inflection and diphthongs to communicate. They don’t translate well to writing, but are similar to “uunng-uhh” and “ung-uh-uh?” and sound a little like a penguin.

She just learned how to nod her head “yes” on Monday (11/21) and does so with such conviction, she shakes her whole body with an expression of intense focus as if she is trying to communicate by will power alone (which I expect she has been for a while and is now happy to find it is working).

She understands language well and follows directions (not to be confused with orders, or requests against her preference – these are most definitely not followed), like “where’s the red ball? Is it by the window next to the tiger?” and she will look to the window, then the tiger, then run for the ball.

For the last month or so, one of her favorite things has been pointing out eyes, nose and ears on herself, me, anyone around, and all toys. She’s starting to point out mouth too. I try to encourage pointing out nose and ears over eyes as I have been poked in the eye more than once with this game. She is very careful to not poke herself in the eye and points out her own eyes a good inch off to the side.

This level of detail is likely interesting only to me, but it’s nice to have a place to note things and moments. I expect to remember everything as it happens, but she changes so rapidly each new phase runs together and it’s like she’s always been the way she is now.

11 Months

I really cannot believe we are at 11 months already. I feel this sense of surrealism at each major milestone, but 11 months feels somehow more poignant. Almost one year old.

Almost. One. Whole. Year.

K is blossoming with so much personality and expression, I can feel the pace picking up for her too as she is on the cusp of walking and talking, and is so very aware of the things we do and say.

I am currently home, from June 27^th through August 8^th I am taking the remainder of my maternity leave. I didn’t plan it this way, but it is absolutely wonderful to have the time now to be present for these leaps in development, and to be able to do so much with her – go to the zoo, baby gym, playdates, the park.

She has been standing for long stretches since her 11m birthday – up to a minute or so if she is distracted – and has taken single steps before sitting back down a few dozen times now. No more than one at a time still, but I think she will be fully walking by her first birthday.

July so far

Our days have been long and lovely. It seems like so much time every morning, but we fill them quickly with walks, hikes, baby gym class, visits, the zoo, the grocery store, hunting for thrifted treasure.

Since I never got around to posting the 11 month update, here’s one in retrospect to where she was at around her 11m birthday. At 11 months K weighs 19 lbs and has two teeth (center bottom, first was the one on her left, the next one came in just about a week later and then nothing since). She has been standing up on her own without pulling up, just in the middle of the floor, for more than a month now – mostly when holding and distracted by a toy. She can stand for a long time now, record is about a minute, but will look up, lose her balance and sit back down. She has taken a few steps independently but doesn’t like to walk holding hands. She is very attentive to the things we say and waves anytime someone says “hi” or “bye” and waves also at sirens and trucks we hear go by occasionally. My favorite is when she catches context without the usual key words, like when my dad was over and said “well, it was nice to see you – I should get the car back” and she started enthusiastically waving goodbye.

Up to present now: The week of 7/11-7/15 she got two new teeth and on the morning of 7/15 she suddenly went from taking 2/3 steps at a time to 6/8 steps at a time. Now on 7/21 she’s at around 12 steps at a time and can sometimes step on or over things and keep going, and often bends down to pick something up and then keep going. She still only says mama reliably and uses tone and inflection to convey the rest, but she has also said dada a few times, ball twice, and seemed to try to say dog once while pointed at a dog, but it was fairly unclear so I’m not sure if that counts yet.

I’m looking forward to her walking well so I can put her in dresses and long tops without tucking them in, but it’s surreal to see how soon this stage will be done. I gave in and gave her Juniper Kitty early and she adores her – especially the paws and whiskers. I may add a tail too.

9 Months

We went to the zoo for the first time on Monday with my mom and K really enjoyed it. The stroller only lasted about 15 minutes before we switched to wearing, but we covered three of the four loops in the zoo (skipped the African loop because we got to it late in the day and she was ready to get down), the bird area and the rainforest building. She especially loved the Asian otters as they were running and playing in their stream when we were there. She also enjoyed all the birds, the crows as much as the toucan and other wild birds. I think her favorite part was getting down on the grass and eating raspberries though!

At 9 months she is very speedy with her crawling and cruising more. She's more interested in foods - her favorites are blueberries and raspberries, but she likes fruit, fish and meat in general. Vegetables, grains and cheeses are hit and miss, but she often likes carrots, sweet potato, string cheese and brie. Pouches work sometimes, but she grabs them and if I'm not fast we both end up wearing the whole thing, so they don't work well as on the go foods for us.

She isn't very vocal yet, but watches everyone and everything very intently.

Working full time and commuting an average total of 3 hours a day leaves very little time for family down time (let alone down time for me). I plan to change my schedule to get into the office early and leave early to reduce traffic, but with limited sleep (a good night is still about 5-6 hours of sleep, with interruptions) I also find it hard to leave the house before 7am. There are huge benefits to working too though - I have great coworkers and enjoy the time spent working through challenges on a professional level.

8 Month Update

At 8 months, K is impressively mobile and engaged. She crawls very fast now, pulls up on furniture, walks along things she can hold (couch, small tables, etc), and can reach from one thing to another to keep going (move from one couch t another at a 90 degree angle at her grandparent's). She impresses me also with the precision of her movements – she cautiously transitioning from standing holding furniture to sitting: turn and look, one hand reaches, slowly bend knees, reach for ground, let go, land on hand and bottom, turn, crawl. In her first encounter with ungated indoor stairs, she exuberantly climbed all the way to the top (with me crawling over her of course). She loves the stairs in the house and will be sad to see the baby gate go up.

I think she may be a young walker too – a few days ago she stood up on her own, unassisted, in the middle of the floor: first with her hands on the ground, but then all the way standing with her hands out. It was only for a moment before she dropped down again, but at 8m old I was surprised!

She is just starting to enjoy food and do more than taste, smear and throw. It’s fun seeing her try new things. There are no set dislikes (but I’ve read that babies don’t form a set opinion until many tries regardless) but her current favorites are raspberries, baby oatmeal with butter, rice cereal with raspberries and blueberries mashed into it (we call it baby cobbler – it’s delicious), tuna, turkey, sausage (little pieces), peas, carrots and puffs. She still isn’t crazy about sweet potato or bananas, and if she’d prefer milk she isn’t having anything else.

We still co-sleep – she is very snuggly at night. We are also still up every 2-3 hours on a good night, and countless times on a bad one. The lack of sleep is starting to get to me, and is especially difficult with working full time and a long commute added into the picture, but somewhere between coffee and coping we get through it. Friends have told me their littles started sleeping better around the 8-9m window and we’re hoping we may have that too. I try to remind myself of the upside to waking all night, which is knowing that K’s light sleep schedule reduces the risk of SIDs.

She still loves reading and books – has been turning the pages herself for months now but does it with such enthusiasm now.

Four & Five Month Favorites

Raspberry Teether  -  Munchkin Feeders  -  Lamb  -  Baby Bjorn Bouncer  -  Bibs  -  Music Toy

Most of our four and five month favorites are teething related (no surprise here), but we also picked up this bouncy seat which she really enjoys. We got the red one, but I love the black and grey too.

At five months, K has learned how to move herself around by rolling over repeatedly in the same direction and is now a semi-mobile baby, which I am not entirely prepared for.  We discovered this about a week before Christmas when I set her down on her play mat with some soft toys, made sure she had room on all sides just in case, and tuned my back to do the dishes (our apartment is tiny, so this involved moving about 6 feet away to the kitchen). I listened to her happily playing for about 15 minutes of washing up, then came back and she was cooing happily, three feet away from her mat. I don’t leave her alone anymore but have tested her rolling abilities by putting a toy out of her reach on either side, and given a few minutes she will roll over several times until she can reach it.

She is just starting to experiment with cause and effect too – yesterday was the first time I felt like she was throwing a toy on purpose to watch it fall. She had her rattle, the dropped it and watched it hit the ground. I picked it up and handed it back to her, and she did it again – about 20 times.

I got her this baby radio toy, which she loves. I usually don't go for musical toys, but this one is not obnoxious like many and seemed like the right level of stimulation without overdoing it. Sometimes she even pushes the button herself. On Wednesday night we were playing in the living room and Geoff put some music on his phone.  K looked up and whipped her head around, seeming like she was looking for something, then spotted her music toy and stared at it intently, then pushed at it until she hit the button. It has been awhile since we played music and I think she heard it and made the connection that music comes from her toy – it was so cute.

And because we have fussy times too - a few more favorite things: 10 hours of Waterfall, 10 hours of Rain, Washing Machine.  Mamas with fussy, teething babies - I know you get me.

Four Month Update

Clothes: BabyGap 3-6m, Bowden 3-6m, H&M 4-6m, Carters 3m (short sleeve only) and 6m

Diapers: Target Up&Up size 2 (as of this week, in part because we just ran out of size 1s..)

Likes: All the same from before, also chewing on hands and toys

Dislikes: Being set down, being held in a sitting or lying position unless she is falling asleep or has something very interesting to watch, being worn facing me in stretchy wraps (Solly is no longer a favorite).

What’s new: Busy, busy schedules since starting back to work at 12 weeks. We are still learning to balance our time to fit everything in. The long commute is especially hard.  

Three Month (and a week) Update

 

Clothes: BabyGap 3-6m, Bowden 3-6m, H&M 4-6m, Carters 3m (a little short in the arms though)

Diapers: Target Up&Up size 1

 

 

Likes: Standing, talking to us, being read to, her stuffed animals (especially her foxes, schnauzer and otter), sucking on her hand, going out to loud crowded places (restaurants, people’s houses with a large group, stores – but not grocery stores).

Dislikes: Being set down, being held in a sitting or lying position unless she is falling asleep or has something very interesting to watch, teething.

On the fence: Hiccups, tummy time and the car are all getting better, but still are not her favorite things.  Tummy time has gotten much easier now that she can prop herself up on her elbows and look around.  I think her tolerance of the car and hiccups has improved as her reflux has gotten better. There is still crying involved, but not as much.

 

 

What’s new: I’ve read that the normal range for starting teething is between 3-7 months, with most babies starting around 6 months. This little over-achiever started at three months and one day and she is not happy about it. It seems to vary moment to moment – she will go from happy to suddenly crying and needing to chew at the same time. She has a new cry that goes along with the teething too. I call it the “why is this happening to me” cry; a mix of sad, angry, pain and frustration, but not to the meltdown level. She doesn’t care for most of her tethers right now and prefers my finger  - she can bite hard!

Two Month Update

Growth: 50^th percentile for height, weight and head

Weight: 11 lbs, 5 oz

Height: 22.75”

Clothes: BabyGap 0-3m, Boden 0-3m, H&M 2-4m (getting tight), Carters 3m

Diapers: Target Up&Up size 1

Books: My Big Animal Book, Chica Chica Boom Boom, Good Morning World (her favorite, and mine)

Noises: Eh, Ah, Neh, Ma, Ga, Awoo

Likes: Being held, being walked, standing, being read to, adult faces, her soothie, listening to other babies (she doesn’t pay much attention to looking at them yet, but cries and coos from other babies hold her full attention), TV (consequentially, we mostly leave it off)

Dislikes: Being set down, hiccoughs, baths, tummy time, the car if she isn’t sleeping

What’s new: So much. She has so many new expressions, vocalizations and cries. It is now easier to tell what she needs just by the tone of her cry. She has one for hungry, one for a dirty diaper, one for a really dirty diaper, one for tired, for cranky, for bored, and then many combinations of the aforementioned ailments. And, of course, there is the complete meltdown cry – a new development from the last two weeks or so – we all hate that one.

She is getting so strong and holds her head well now, although we are still careful to support her head anytime she is picked up, put down, shifted or sleepy. She loves standing up on us while held and looking around.

She will often look at her books while being read to (as of last week), and her eyes track pretty smoothly if a favorite toy is moved back and forth in front of her (toys that didn’t make the short list do not get this level of attention however – currently this means the Sassy Rattle and Jacques the Peacock).

She still does her newborn sneezes every day (in twos, almost always), and gets hiccoughs a few times a day but they are fading in frequency. She still has rock hard abs (has since the day she was born) and her grip has gotten even tighter – this baby is seriously strong.

We have had our fair share of crying this month, sometimes all day except for eating and naps. I started out on the elimination diet and then started slowing adding things back in. Nothing seemed to trip her individually, but she has gotten fussier and fussier in the last month so I am back on an elimination diet to see if that might help. This means no: diary, coffee, chocolate, caffeine, peanuts, garlic, onions, cruciferous vegetables or soy. If that doesn’t cut it, I’ll drop tomatoes and citrus too. I was doing this already but had added decaf coffee, cream for the coffee and chocolate back in. Then I had some peanuts and we had the worst three days ever. Possible coincidence, but for now it’s back to square one. We are also both doing probiotics and I am taking licorice (DGL - like giving gripe water, but through milk).

But the very best part of being two months old...

                                                                 …we officially have SMILES!

 

They haven’t been every day since she hasn’t been very happy the last week (food suspected), and most are too fleeting to photograph, but when she does it is the sweetest thing and melts my heart. The first one in blue is her smiling at her new friend, my friend’s three year old daughter, who was jumping up and down on the couch next to me and being highly entertaining. The second was later that night.

One Month Update

Growth: 75^th percentile

Weight: Just under 10 lbs

Height: 21.75”

Clothes: BabyGap newborn, Boden newborn, H&M 2-4m, Carters 3m (we just retired the last of her Carters newborn clothes – sad to see the tiniest outfits go, but thrilled to see her growing so well).

Diapers: Target Up&Up size 1 (just transitioned from newborn at 3 weeks old)

Likes: Being held, being worn, bouncing, being walked, her swing

Dislikes: Being set down, being swaddled, lying flat, hiccoughs

What’s new: Sleeping! Baby girl slept 8 whole hours between 10pm and 7am on her one month birthday with only an hour up for a nurse and change. The next night she had a solid 7 hour stretch – such a treat! Since then she has slept through most nights and woken up only once most others. I’m not counting on this lasting, but it sure is nice!

She is so much more awake now at one moth old and is starting to focus more on faces and toys. She is also starting to smile sweet little half smiles in her sleep – I cannot wait until she smiles at us for real when awake.

When she came home

Our baby is a girl! We waited until the end to find out, and what a lovely surprise it was. I bought mostly boyish and neutral things, but allowed a few girly purchases like this blanket.

The day before she was born I went to Trader Joe's after my midwife appointment and bought these Gladiolus in a soft petal pink. They began to bloom as soon as I cut them and put them in water. The second is from our first morning home, with her less than 24 hours old and our home lit up and in bloom.

She was born weighing 8 lbs, 8 oz with dark eyes and a soft dusting of light brown hair. We are enamored and spend our days holding, rocking, bouncing, nursing, changing and sleeping in 2-4 hour cycles. 

She is a happy baby most of the time, cries when she needs something and stops when the need is met. So smart already, she will cry if she has a dirty diaper, and stop as soon as I set her down on the changing table since she knows she is about to be changed. She will also cry the first time anything new happens but is generally fine the second. She screamed for her first PKU heel prick, but not the second - likewise for baths, diaper changes, spitup and new clothes.