Portraits - as you can see, he is as cute as ever.
Talking - this child is incredibly verbal. (I reiterate: I have no idea where he gets it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Whatever he is lacking in size and gross motor development, his brain has more than made up for in social skills. Everywhere we go, Nathan is the loudest child there. I am starting to get an idea of what my parents must have felt when they took my sister Ashley in public. That girl has some lungs, and I think Nathan's might start to rival hers. He loves anything that makes noise, and his own voice is right at the top of that list. Besides the constant squealing and shrieking, he can say Mama, Daddy, hey, go, puppy, baby (his favorite word this week, actually), bite, hi and maybe bubble (not sure if he knows what he's saying there). He also says lalalala, which we're pretty sure doesn't mean anything, but it's really cute when he imitates us doing it, so I pretend that it means I love you, too Mama.
Size - after his rapid weight loss (and subsequent hospitalization) in February and March, and many months of counting calories after that, Nathan has finally established a growth curve for himself. And he's even (sort of) staying on it. He now weighs 19 pounds, which is about the 5th percentile, but we'll take it. And at 31 inches tall, he's in the 85th percentile for height! His long arms and legs on his skinny body (not to mention the dexterity of his feet!) have pretty much solidified the nickname "Monkey" around here.
Biting - thanks for all the suggestions you emailed and commented with when Nathan decided that my body made a good chew toy. Things are substantially better on the biting front. He still gets a little chompy now and then, but I've learned to predict it and intervene before I am actually injured. He's not happy with my intervention (which usually involves sitting him on the floor to scream for a couple of minutes) but it works. And for what it's worth, I think we're both glad he didn't have to wean before he was really ready. That would have been painful for both of us.Mobility - no, he still isn't crawling, but he is oh-so-close. He is also walking holding onto our fingers, but not really balanced enough to cruise on the furniture by himself yet. I have decided to make peace with a physical therapy routine, which for now just involves special practice exercises at home and a follow-up once a month. I will not pressure him to move before he is ready, but if the doctors (and my mom) think this is important for his brain to develop motor skills, then I respect them and I'm on board.
The trademark open-mouth grin - he's still got it. So here's one more picture, just to show it off. I hope he doesn't grow out of that smile anytime soon. For a really cute earlier manifestation of said grin, click here.
Has it really been almost a year?
5 comments:
happy one year Nathan!!!!
Nathan looks so much like Mark in that first picture!
yes he's turned into a daddy's boy for sure!
maybe you should try to give nathan some formula instead of yur breastmilk. maybe you don't have enough nutrients in your milk for him?
hi anonymous - thanks for stopping by... who are you?
they checked out my milk when he was in the hospital in march, and it was fine. we decided against introducing formula at that point, since I had a freezer full of breastmilk and he was battling some constipation at that point too (no need to add another variable into that chaos)... and he's 1 now, so he can just have cow's milk, which is fine for his tummy (and better for our budget than formula)!
apparently breastmilk being low in nutrients is really really rare, although some moms do have trouble making enough (I had the opposite problem). but thanks for the suggestion! :)
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