Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Linnaeus 10.2
Sprout is growing in leaps & bounds, weighing in at exactly 20 pounds on Monday. He's gone from hovering around the 15th percentile to just under the 50th. He never actually lost any weight, but I still freaked out at his two short weight-gain plateaus when they happened. I knew he was fine because he was following that line on the growth chart, but I still wished he'd chub up a bit. So I've gotten my wish. This also means that he looks even more like me--I had the same chipmunk cheeks at his age. Funny how he's gone from looking like Oli to looking more like me in the span of a few months.
He's still a little tall for his age, at two foot five & a half. That puts him at the 76th percentile. Seems like a good number to stay at--he could be taller than the average person without necessarily having to shop in special stores or stoop through doorways when he's full-grown. I still can't really imagine having a teenager or *gasp* an adult son. I still occasionally find myself looking at him from across the room & being shocked that this little person is in my life now. He's starting to look much less like a baby & more like a little boy now, with all the hair & particularly when he's wearing a t-shirt & pants.
His head continues to approach melon size: at 18.5 inches, he's at the 87th percentile for his age. It doesn't seem too big to me, but when I see him with other babies his age, his head does look pretty big, especially with his mop of blond hair. When I think about how much he's grown, I'm astonished that it could all happen in so few months. I'm also a bit shocked to realize that his head circumference is only four inches smaller than mine. I am so grateful he has grown a large noggin since birth & it was just average sized when I squeezed him out. Whew!
On the food front, Sprout is still eating like a champ. He prefers mushy food that he can just suck back with minimal effort, like yams, bananas, melon, pear, potatoes, but he enjoys picking up tiny things. His latest new food: raisins. He seems to be gumming them at the sides of his mouth where he'll eventually have molars. Without giving you an image that will put you off eating, I'll just say that I can tell he's breaking his food down better.
He seems to be shifting from two naps a day to one. Lately he's refused to go to sleep around 11, as he used to, instead staying awake until 1 or 2pm. He often only sleeps one cycle, which is 40 minutes, so he's a pretty tired boy once evening rolls around. I think it'll work great if he could just stay asleep for at least an hour & a half like he did yesterday.
His crawling is slowly evolving. He's moved from 'spidermanning' to commando crawling now, using his elbows & forearms to pull himself along. He also gets up on his hands & knees fairly often, rocking & trying to will himself forward. Yesterday he pulled himself up on the couch. He was on one foot & one knee, unbalanced, so he fell over, clocking his head on the floor. Poor kid is going to be full of bruises by the time he actually gets good at walking.
We've finally dropped the nighttime bottle top-up. I was whittling it down by 10mL every night or so, but decided once we got down to 50mL just to quit at that point. So last night, I nursed Sprout down & put him to bed. He woke up, fussed & seemed to want more when I popped him off, so we had to do it twice, but he did get to sleep after a few minutes. He did wake up around 2:30am for a half hour or so, but that happens every week or so, it seems, so I don't think it was related to the bottle. We have one unopened canister of formula left over, as we bought a bunch on sale. I guess we'll have to donate it to the food bank. I'm pretty happy to be finally done with formula!
He's still a little tall for his age, at two foot five & a half. That puts him at the 76th percentile. Seems like a good number to stay at--he could be taller than the average person without necessarily having to shop in special stores or stoop through doorways when he's full-grown. I still can't really imagine having a teenager or *gasp* an adult son. I still occasionally find myself looking at him from across the room & being shocked that this little person is in my life now. He's starting to look much less like a baby & more like a little boy now, with all the hair & particularly when he's wearing a t-shirt & pants.
His head continues to approach melon size: at 18.5 inches, he's at the 87th percentile for his age. It doesn't seem too big to me, but when I see him with other babies his age, his head does look pretty big, especially with his mop of blond hair. When I think about how much he's grown, I'm astonished that it could all happen in so few months. I'm also a bit shocked to realize that his head circumference is only four inches smaller than mine. I am so grateful he has grown a large noggin since birth & it was just average sized when I squeezed him out. Whew!
On the food front, Sprout is still eating like a champ. He prefers mushy food that he can just suck back with minimal effort, like yams, bananas, melon, pear, potatoes, but he enjoys picking up tiny things. His latest new food: raisins. He seems to be gumming them at the sides of his mouth where he'll eventually have molars. Without giving you an image that will put you off eating, I'll just say that I can tell he's breaking his food down better.
He seems to be shifting from two naps a day to one. Lately he's refused to go to sleep around 11, as he used to, instead staying awake until 1 or 2pm. He often only sleeps one cycle, which is 40 minutes, so he's a pretty tired boy once evening rolls around. I think it'll work great if he could just stay asleep for at least an hour & a half like he did yesterday.
His crawling is slowly evolving. He's moved from 'spidermanning' to commando crawling now, using his elbows & forearms to pull himself along. He also gets up on his hands & knees fairly often, rocking & trying to will himself forward. Yesterday he pulled himself up on the couch. He was on one foot & one knee, unbalanced, so he fell over, clocking his head on the floor. Poor kid is going to be full of bruises by the time he actually gets good at walking.
We've finally dropped the nighttime bottle top-up. I was whittling it down by 10mL every night or so, but decided once we got down to 50mL just to quit at that point. So last night, I nursed Sprout down & put him to bed. He woke up, fussed & seemed to want more when I popped him off, so we had to do it twice, but he did get to sleep after a few minutes. He did wake up around 2:30am for a half hour or so, but that happens every week or so, it seems, so I don't think it was related to the bottle. We have one unopened canister of formula left over, as we bought a bunch on sale. I guess we'll have to donate it to the food bank. I'm pretty happy to be finally done with formula!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Linnaeus 10.1
It's official: Sprout is crawling. Or rather, Spidermanning, as I call it. He sticks his little palms flat on the floor & pulls himself along on his belly, with some assistance from his toes. I think he's got a shoe fetish: his main motivation for crawling appears to be to get at footwear. The ones by the door, the slippers I kick off when on the couch, my cycling shoes, the ones stored in a clear box under the couch, his own little shoes whether he's wearing them or not. No matter where in the room a pair of shoes might be, he tries to get over to them so he can taste them. Ew.
We've stepped up the baby-proofing efforts a little. By no means finished, we've at least moved the choking hazards up out of his reach & rearranged the furniture to give him space to roam & better keep an eye on him. I haven't really figured out a solution for the laptop cables yet. Both of our laptops, which we use on & off all day, are in the living room. They're both a bit old & the batteries don't really hold a significant enough charge to take them anywhere, so they stay plugged in all the time. Next thing we need are some baby gates, I think.
My optometrist told me that children don't have clear, adult-like close-up vision until they're five or six. But they must still be able to see fine detail before then... I noticed Sprout watching a fly that was circling in the kitchen yesterday. He spends a lot of his time just observing the world. He's gotten a little quieter as of late, I think because he's spending more time watching what's going on around him. I notice it most when we're out, on the bus in particular. He still makes friends everywhere we go, catching people's eye & flashing his huge smile in response to theirs.
This week's favourite toy is a set of stacking cups. If I nest them all together, he'll take them apart & wave them around, or chew on the rims. They're another incentive to crawl--he'll see one on the floor a short distance away & go for it, poking it with his finger (this is always how he tries to pick things up: with one finger to pull it towards him). Usually, the cup is on its side & rolls somewhere else when he pokes it, requiring him to chase it down.
Sprout has tried a number of new foods lately: peaches, nectarines, white grapes, raspberries, chickpeas. He's eaten them all, though made faces at the tartness of the grapes & raspberries. I love the fact that he'll taste something & make a face, but then try it a few more times & usually eat at least some of it. He still doesn't really eat cucumber--I think he's probably consumed less than a teaspoon worth in all the times I've offered it. This morning at breakfast, he perfected his peeling technique with nectarines. He puts a wedge it in his mouth, bites on it, pulling it out through his teeth, removing the skin & chucking that on the floor beside the high chair.
One thing we've avoided for the last couple of weeks is spelt bread. I thought it might be causing the vicious diaper rash he was getting. The rash seems to have cleared up, which is awesome. Not just for his comfort but for my conscience: I always feel horrible when he has something like that. Because he's still so utterly dependent on me, whatever happens is my responsibility. If he has to have a food sensitivity of some sort, spelt is a great choice: it isn't exactly a common grain, so it's not going to be hard to avoid it.
We've stepped up the baby-proofing efforts a little. By no means finished, we've at least moved the choking hazards up out of his reach & rearranged the furniture to give him space to roam & better keep an eye on him. I haven't really figured out a solution for the laptop cables yet. Both of our laptops, which we use on & off all day, are in the living room. They're both a bit old & the batteries don't really hold a significant enough charge to take them anywhere, so they stay plugged in all the time. Next thing we need are some baby gates, I think.
My optometrist told me that children don't have clear, adult-like close-up vision until they're five or six. But they must still be able to see fine detail before then... I noticed Sprout watching a fly that was circling in the kitchen yesterday. He spends a lot of his time just observing the world. He's gotten a little quieter as of late, I think because he's spending more time watching what's going on around him. I notice it most when we're out, on the bus in particular. He still makes friends everywhere we go, catching people's eye & flashing his huge smile in response to theirs.
This week's favourite toy is a set of stacking cups. If I nest them all together, he'll take them apart & wave them around, or chew on the rims. They're another incentive to crawl--he'll see one on the floor a short distance away & go for it, poking it with his finger (this is always how he tries to pick things up: with one finger to pull it towards him). Usually, the cup is on its side & rolls somewhere else when he pokes it, requiring him to chase it down.
Sprout has tried a number of new foods lately: peaches, nectarines, white grapes, raspberries, chickpeas. He's eaten them all, though made faces at the tartness of the grapes & raspberries. I love the fact that he'll taste something & make a face, but then try it a few more times & usually eat at least some of it. He still doesn't really eat cucumber--I think he's probably consumed less than a teaspoon worth in all the times I've offered it. This morning at breakfast, he perfected his peeling technique with nectarines. He puts a wedge it in his mouth, bites on it, pulling it out through his teeth, removing the skin & chucking that on the floor beside the high chair.
One thing we've avoided for the last couple of weeks is spelt bread. I thought it might be causing the vicious diaper rash he was getting. The rash seems to have cleared up, which is awesome. Not just for his comfort but for my conscience: I always feel horrible when he has something like that. Because he's still so utterly dependent on me, whatever happens is my responsibility. If he has to have a food sensitivity of some sort, spelt is a great choice: it isn't exactly a common grain, so it's not going to be hard to avoid it.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wheat-free baking
When I started feeding Sprout solid food, I decided to wait until he was about a year to feed him wheat. Along with all the other things you're advised to wait on, like nuts, strawberries, shellfish, citrus, etc, this makes for a rather limited diet. Kind of annoying when doing baby-led weaning, as the whole point of that is not to have a totally separate set of food for the baby, but to feed the kid more or less what you're eating. These limitations have led me to discover the wonders of quinoa, millet, spelt & kamut. I'll definitely be eating more of those in the future, even when we don't 'have' to.
Today we went to Sprouty's friend Jack's first birthday party & the star of the show (other than little J) was the cake: gluten-free, made with beets & yams, among other ingredients. That may sound a bit odd, but it was a moist, sweet, yummy cake. Better than most birthday cakes I've eaten. Sprout loved it too. This cake inspired me to bake something for Sprout from the millet flour I bought a couple of days ago. So I made us some really simple baking powder biscuits. I added a touch more baking powder, but just substituted millet flour for wheat flour & added a bit of grated cheddar. I didn't add any xanthan gum (apparently that helps with binding, as millet lacks the gluten which helps wheat dough have that elastic quality & makes baked goods fluffier) or anything else to adapt the recipe.
Just a few minutes later, the biscuits were out of oven. They didn't rise at all, but they didn't flatten either. Very crumbly but really light & fluffy texture. Probably wouldn't travel well & they fall apart if you try to slice them in half to butter them. They taste a lot like goldfish crackers & Sprout gobbled them up. Looks like millet biscuits are a win!
Today we went to Sprouty's friend Jack's first birthday party & the star of the show (other than little J) was the cake: gluten-free, made with beets & yams, among other ingredients. That may sound a bit odd, but it was a moist, sweet, yummy cake. Better than most birthday cakes I've eaten. Sprout loved it too. This cake inspired me to bake something for Sprout from the millet flour I bought a couple of days ago. So I made us some really simple baking powder biscuits. I added a touch more baking powder, but just substituted millet flour for wheat flour & added a bit of grated cheddar. I didn't add any xanthan gum (apparently that helps with binding, as millet lacks the gluten which helps wheat dough have that elastic quality & makes baked goods fluffier) or anything else to adapt the recipe.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Linnaeus 10.0
It's hard to believe Sprout is already ten months old now. It's really starting to feel close to a year when we're at the two-digit mark. Well, that & the constant stream of his little friends' first birthday parties on our calendar this summer.
This week we finally lowered the base of Sprout's crib. I noticed him pulling on the bars when I'd sat him up in there as I was putting away some clean diapers. He still can't get up into a seated position alone & isn't pulling up to cruise yet, so I'm sure we had some time. Better safe than sorry. It's a bit sad to see him so far away when I stand over the crib, though. Another downside (at least until he starts sitting or standing on his own) picking him up out of there is a bit of a chore, as I have to bend in half to reach him.
Still no crawling yet, though Sprout seems to be scooting on his bum somehow. I say somehow, because I haven't actually seen him do it. He'll just have moved a few feet when I look, still sitting up. At the moment he's scooted himself up to the sofa. He's sitting there, with his legs underneath, face against the cushion, alternately squealing & shouting into it. Whatever amuses him, I guess.
His favourite toy of the week is some building blocks in a little wagon, from Ikea. He loves to pull them out of the wagon, one by one & chew them or tap them on things. Building with them is a few months off, I think.
Sprout continues to eat ridiculous quantities of food, particularly at dinner. Last night he put away nearly a whole container of leftover roasted yams & potatoes along with several meatballs. About 450mL worth. He seems to be trying to put on some weight before he starts crawling & walking...
The last milestone I'll mention is Sprout's first split lip. He & his best buddy Aiden were sort of roughhousing & Sprout bashed his face on the floor. I assumed he'd bumped his forehead again, where he has a perennial bruise, but then I realized his mouth was bleeding. Only a few drops, but the alarm bells rang in my head, let me tell you. I guess his sharp little teeth just went through the inside of his lip somewhere--I never could see where--but it stopped bleeding right away. Hardly any swelling either. I only noticed later while out for tea that he'd smeared blood on the shoulder of my shirt. Sigh. I've had every other of his bodily fluids smeared on my clothes now. The badge of a mama, I guess.
 |
| Playing with his gum massager thingie in his 'renovated' digs |
Still no crawling yet, though Sprout seems to be scooting on his bum somehow. I say somehow, because I haven't actually seen him do it. He'll just have moved a few feet when I look, still sitting up. At the moment he's scooted himself up to the sofa. He's sitting there, with his legs underneath, face against the cushion, alternately squealing & shouting into it. Whatever amuses him, I guess.
His favourite toy of the week is some building blocks in a little wagon, from Ikea. He loves to pull them out of the wagon, one by one & chew them or tap them on things. Building with them is a few months off, I think.
Sprout continues to eat ridiculous quantities of food, particularly at dinner. Last night he put away nearly a whole container of leftover roasted yams & potatoes along with several meatballs. About 450mL worth. He seems to be trying to put on some weight before he starts crawling & walking...
The last milestone I'll mention is Sprout's first split lip. He & his best buddy Aiden were sort of roughhousing & Sprout bashed his face on the floor. I assumed he'd bumped his forehead again, where he has a perennial bruise, but then I realized his mouth was bleeding. Only a few drops, but the alarm bells rang in my head, let me tell you. I guess his sharp little teeth just went through the inside of his lip somewhere--I never could see where--but it stopped bleeding right away. Hardly any swelling either. I only noticed later while out for tea that he'd smeared blood on the shoulder of my shirt. Sigh. I've had every other of his bodily fluids smeared on my clothes now. The badge of a mama, I guess.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Baby-led weaning at its worst?
 |
| Add caption |
Moments after this photo was taken, Sprout pulled off his too-long baby leggings & covered them with more prune goop too.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
No Poo, The Reveal
 |
| Look ma, no poo! |
Over the years I tried a lot of different anti-dandruff shampoos that had selenium or coal tar or other weird things in them & claimed to solve the flaky problem. Knowing a little more about what those unpronounceable ingredients are & what impact they have on human heath & the environment, I'm a bit worried about my exposure in the past. Not to say that only anti-dandruff shampoos have icky ingredients: 'normal' shampoos have tons too. The David Suzuki Foundation has published a list of chemicals (commonly found in things like shampoo) to avoid here. If you're interested in more details, they also provide a background document with more detail on these nasties than I feel like getting into here.
I encourage you to read the ingredients list on your shampoo & compare it to the 'Dirty Dozen' on Suzuki's website. If that scares you, or the amount of money you're spending on haircare products makes you wince, then think about going no poo!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Linnaeus 9.3
I realized the other day that Sprout clearly understands the word 'kitty' now. He was on the change table yesterday, looking up at his mobile, when the cat walked in. Surprisingly, the cat didn't yowl so Sprout didn't notice. I said, 'Kitty!', he got excited, making a 'kkkkk' noise & craned his neck to see Stimpy.
Something Sprout's been doing a lot lately, though not just this week, is yelling. I've so far been unsuccessful at filming it--he gets distracted by the camera. He says something like, 'Aaaaaaaayaaaaaaayaaaaaal,' or 'Aaaaawuaaaaya' at the top of his lungs. I'm still surprised that such a loud noise can come out of someone who weighs less than 20 pounds.
Speaking of weight, at Monday's baby group, I discovered Sprout is about 19 pounds 6 ounces, which puts him at the 45th percentile for weight now. Until recently, he was hovering just around the 15th-20th percentile. I think I need to stop calling him my skinny baby! I still find it hilarious how babies & kids grow up then out, then up, then out... Between four & five months, he grew nearly two inches in length, but barely followed the line on the growth chart for weight. Now his length has plateaued, he's growing that belly & I suddenly need to adjust all the diapers to a different snap setting around his thighs.
Sprout's first jewellery arrived in the mail Tuesday: an amber teething necklace. Theoretically, when worn next to the skin, the amber slowly releases oils containing succinic acid, which helps with the pain of teething. If nothing else, it looks cute--kind of a mini surfer chic. Once it's on him, he doesn't seem to notice it's there.
Sprout's latest eating skill is picking up handfuls of small things & stuffing them in his mouth. Tonight he ate his blueberries two or three at a time & this morning his Nutrios went in the same way. Also related to eating, I think, is his latest round of diaper rash. I'm not positive, but he got a bad rash after eating spelt bread the last few times. I'm going to hold off on feeding him any more of that & see if the rash stays away. Poor little nipper has had a raw bum so many times in his short life already. I'm fairly sure that kiwi gave him a raw bum another time--it's just too acidic for him to digest yet.
He continues to sleep 10-11 hours at night without waking most nights, but napping is still hard at home. On the weekend we tried going out with Sprout in the Beco carrier, but he resisted napping until he fell asleep from exhaustion, so I think it's going to be back to the stroller if we're going out over nap time. When we're at home for nap time, the only way he'll sleep is on my lap while nursing or in the stroller. It seems ridiculous to put him in the stroller to nap, while it sits there in the living room. But it works--once he gets over the annoyance of being strapped in, he calms down & plays a bit, then goes to sleep, often with a minimum of grumbling. I'm hoping we can try to somehow transition him from stroller naps to crib naps. Maybe the next step is putting the stroller in his bedroom? Then eventually trying the crib again?
EC is going well still. Sprout actually thinks it's fun when I bring him into the bathroom & sit him on the loo. This morning he's pooped on the toilet twice already, with none at all in his diaper. I've been using timing as well as watching for grunting to get him on there & it seems to work. Right after his morning feed, then right after breakfast. Plus after lunch & dinner--this kid poops three or four times a day! Never managed to get him to pee in the toilet though. Maybe the timing will help with that one, or maybe I'll just have to wait until he's older. I'm not concerned. The goal here isn't to toilet train him by his first birthday or anything. I envision this as very gradual process, starting now & maybe finishing when he's two or three.
Something Sprout's been doing a lot lately, though not just this week, is yelling. I've so far been unsuccessful at filming it--he gets distracted by the camera. He says something like, 'Aaaaaaaayaaaaaaayaaaaaal,' or 'Aaaaawuaaaaya' at the top of his lungs. I'm still surprised that such a loud noise can come out of someone who weighs less than 20 pounds.
Speaking of weight, at Monday's baby group, I discovered Sprout is about 19 pounds 6 ounces, which puts him at the 45th percentile for weight now. Until recently, he was hovering just around the 15th-20th percentile. I think I need to stop calling him my skinny baby! I still find it hilarious how babies & kids grow up then out, then up, then out... Between four & five months, he grew nearly two inches in length, but barely followed the line on the growth chart for weight. Now his length has plateaued, he's growing that belly & I suddenly need to adjust all the diapers to a different snap setting around his thighs.
Sprout's first jewellery arrived in the mail Tuesday: an amber teething necklace. Theoretically, when worn next to the skin, the amber slowly releases oils containing succinic acid, which helps with the pain of teething. If nothing else, it looks cute--kind of a mini surfer chic. Once it's on him, he doesn't seem to notice it's there.
Sprout's latest eating skill is picking up handfuls of small things & stuffing them in his mouth. Tonight he ate his blueberries two or three at a time & this morning his Nutrios went in the same way. Also related to eating, I think, is his latest round of diaper rash. I'm not positive, but he got a bad rash after eating spelt bread the last few times. I'm going to hold off on feeding him any more of that & see if the rash stays away. Poor little nipper has had a raw bum so many times in his short life already. I'm fairly sure that kiwi gave him a raw bum another time--it's just too acidic for him to digest yet.
He continues to sleep 10-11 hours at night without waking most nights, but napping is still hard at home. On the weekend we tried going out with Sprout in the Beco carrier, but he resisted napping until he fell asleep from exhaustion, so I think it's going to be back to the stroller if we're going out over nap time. When we're at home for nap time, the only way he'll sleep is on my lap while nursing or in the stroller. It seems ridiculous to put him in the stroller to nap, while it sits there in the living room. But it works--once he gets over the annoyance of being strapped in, he calms down & plays a bit, then goes to sleep, often with a minimum of grumbling. I'm hoping we can try to somehow transition him from stroller naps to crib naps. Maybe the next step is putting the stroller in his bedroom? Then eventually trying the crib again?
EC is going well still. Sprout actually thinks it's fun when I bring him into the bathroom & sit him on the loo. This morning he's pooped on the toilet twice already, with none at all in his diaper. I've been using timing as well as watching for grunting to get him on there & it seems to work. Right after his morning feed, then right after breakfast. Plus after lunch & dinner--this kid poops three or four times a day! Never managed to get him to pee in the toilet though. Maybe the timing will help with that one, or maybe I'll just have to wait until he's older. I'm not concerned. The goal here isn't to toilet train him by his first birthday or anything. I envision this as very gradual process, starting now & maybe finishing when he's two or three.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
