Milestones: Words!

Today at breakfast Daniel told me he wanted a banana.  He pointed and said "Ban-nana".  I fed it to him bite by bite on a spoon that he used to serve himself.  When he needed more, he said, "nana' and pointed to the banana.  He also had some graham crackers and milk, but he ate the WHOLE banana.  When I started to feed him some more food, he said, "All done".  Really... those words!  They were a little garbled, but I understood them because of the baby sign motion he did, too.

How neat!

First Steps of Own Free Will

We've managed to coax Daniel into walking by cheering for him, prompting him with toys or hugs, or sneaking a support he'd stopped using away from him.

This morning he took steps that were totally voluntary.  He walked away from me to a baby in a stroller today while we were out doing errands.  He started to sing and clap for the baby and tried to tough the other baby.  The baby started crying and pleading to get out of his stroller, too.  Daniel looked really smug, as if he were teasing the other child with his independence and confident steps.

We think he has been able to walk and is keeping it a secret from us. I swear I saw him walking across the length of his crib this week.  He sat down quickly and crawled to me when I entered his room.

I bet this week is a week of walking for him at 12 weeks, 8 days.

New Skill: Light Switch!

Daniel loves to turn on light switches.  He has been doing this for about three weeks now.

He's a fortunate boy... we have several of these amazing "toys" at our house that he can explore!

41 Week Letter

Dear Daniel.

Here are some notes about your forty first week in our home, which happened during the month of May.

During this week, you began to point consistently. You point at your parents, the fan, lights, windows and outside, and a few other familiar things.  Sometimes you point with your index finger, but more than not, you point with your entire fist.  It looks really cute. I find it interesting that you are pointing at objects and people that you know very well instead of pointing at unfamiliar objects.  I think you are saying "I see this here!" or "That's my Dad!" instead of "What's that over there?".

You giggled a lot this week.  You laughed hysterically at nothing I could notice as being funny.  You must be thinking of funny jokes. 

Our friend Ann Hoemann visited us this week.  She played with you a lot and marveled at your growth in just one month! You have really taken great strides in your personality, crawling speed, and capacity to express your emotions!

I had your car seat properly installed this week at the fire department.  It was not installed correctly, so you've been riding in less safety than I'd have liked.  All is better now, and you are on the passenger side next to the window, which you seem to really enjoy.  The view is much better!  During the installation process, I let you play in the front seat. You love to play in the car almost as much as you love to play with the dishwasher.  I could tell that your silly giggles and shrieks made the car seat installer lady really happy.  You were just in such a good mood!

You gave me a good scare this week  Its been awhile since we've had a medical scare, so I guess its okay.  But this one... bloody stools... shudder.  Gross.  And unpleasant to consider the bacterial causes that could be behind such an unfortunate behind issue.  Dr. Wheeler took good care of us and made sure to get your poop cultured.  With any luck, it will have been some minor thing that your immune system made quick work of.

You follow me around the house each day while I am doing chores or just going into another room.  You get really excited when you "find" me, as if I've been playing a game of Peek A Boo with you.  I scoop you up and give you a hug and show you what I've been doing in that room. Sometimes I put you back down and go back about my business and you track me into another room and the game is repeated!  You really have mastered the floor plan of this small house.  Good for you!  I hope you will be very spatially oriented.

It was a very rainy week, so there was minimal outdoor play time.  Sorry, bud.  Instead, you did play one day in the rec center day care.  I think you had a good time and the nanny there told us you loved to stand up at the snack table and smile at the little girls.  She said, "He is such a happy baby!" several times!  You can add another member to your fan club, I suppose.

This week your smile changed again as your top teeth came in even further.  It looks sweet, though crooked.  I wonder why you don't want to chomp with those things... you still prefer baby food purees!  Textures and crunch are not fun for you for some reason.  And so you eat a lot of mush - bananas and oatmeal, mango smoothies, steak shakes  - really soft and mushy things!

As you can see from these photos, you are very cute.  We love you so much! 

Milestone: Watermelon Time!

Let the record state that Daniel was very unsure about this new food.

It took some coaxing for him to even touch the melon.

It was just so slippery.

More got on his shirt than into his hands.

I kept cheering for him to try some more.

And he kept considering it.

He sucked on it a little and then giggled.

It was messy and sticky, and I forgot to get him bibbed up.

It make him happy to have a messy snack.

Watermelon is a summer time staple in our house.

And a real treat.

Notice that there is only a little melon left on the tray - the rest is in his belly!

 "I like this stuff!"

Singing about the watermelon.

Squishing it between his lips.

Enjoying picking it up and dropping it.

And now he is a professional watermelon eater!

The time has come at 8 months formy son to sample all things that look somewhat edible. This week he has really started to pinch small objects and put them in his mouth... and chew.


So far he has tried:


1) Grass
2) Mulch

3) Medium sized stones from a planter
4) Potting soil


All of these things are gross to adults, but quite inticing for children, I suppose.

And here are photo of him of finding small bits of nature to try to eat. He looks pretty fascinated by his newfound ability to pick up miniscule inedible objects, doesn't he?

Milestone: Finger Foods!

DHH started to work on his pincher grasp this week.  He had been pinching pieces of fabrics and trying to grab buttons on his dad's shirt, so I thought maybe he could handle some self-feeding.

And he can.

 

On Saturday, the day these photos were taken, Daniel started to learn how to eat puffs, which are small, soft baby cereal morsels.

On Monday, he tried yogurt puffs.  They are easy to hold, but he didn't seem to have a strong affection for them.

Last night while he was sitting on my lap, he put some Spanish rice, guacamole, and refried beans in his fist and some made it into his mouth. He went back for three or four more fistfills.

This morning, he tried small banana bits.  Most of them were squished on the high chair tray, but a few did go into his mouth! He had about 1/4 of a banana! 

This is more fun than I thought it would be. I am more patient and less nutso about messes than I anticipated.  He still prefers really wet and mushy foods, such as rice cereal mixed with applesauce or pureed green beans, but its nice to see him try some food that looks a bit more like adult food!

Milestone: Sleeping Through the Night!

Daniel slept from 6:45 PM to a 9:30 PM short feed until I woke him at 8 AM. This is fantastic!

Its time for him to drop the dream feed, which is why I have been moving back his 10:30 PM gradually. Its working!

Also, he normally wakes around 7 AM, so I wonder if this time change has bought him another hour of morning sleep!

Daniel started to move around army crawling style in mid February, but he took his first official crawling on Wednesday, March 3rd. Within a few days, he got more coordinated and was able to get where he wanted to go with ease.

Sometimes he forgets to move opposite arm-legs at a time, so he moves both limbs on the left side then both limbs on the right side. When he does this, he looks like a baby sea turtle! Its pretty cute.