Wordsmith

For the past three months, my husband has continued to say that our son knows "about 10-15 words," which was the count at 15 months.  I realized that I needed to provide an update; otherwise, my son will be stuck at "about 10-15 words" for years.

Here is what I wrote at 15 months.  Top words : Mama, Uh-oh, Dada, hot-hot-hot, banana-na, off, up, clock (for clock and watches), woof (for not just dog, but any animal), bubble, ball, box and possibly the words "I don't know."  He understands a lot more, such as "No!," which he hears a lot and simple directions such as "pick up that toy" or "turn on the tv." 

Update (at 18 months)

In addition to  1. Mama, 2. Dada, 3. hot, 4. Uh-oh, 5. banana, 6. off, 7. up, 8. clock, 9. woof, 10. bubble, 11. ball, 12. box

13.  clap (claps hands while saying)
14.  ice

15.  baba (for baby and in reference to his younger cousin)

16.  vroom vroom (for car)

17.  beep-beep

18.  night night

19.  No

20.  hat

21.  apple

22.  diaper

23.  wallet

24.  heavy

25.  whoops

26.  Ba (for his maternal grandmother)

27.  his playmate Alex's name

28.  his cousin B's name

29.  his nanny Monica's name

30.  the sentence "I love you"
31.  car
32.  door
33.  brella (for umbrella)
34.  Papa (for his father)
35.  eyes
36.  one-two-three
37.  A-E-I-O-U
38.  book
39.  wawa (for water)
40.  wow
41.  cloud
42.  "lights on"
43.  tree
44.  dance
45.  ear
46.  yes

Milestone: 15 months

We're just a week away from 16 months so I wanted to jot down notes from now.

Now, that N has become a proficient walker, he's moved on to babbling non stop.  Top words : Mama, Uh-oh, Dada, hot-hot-hot, banana-na, off, up, clock (for clock and watches), woof (for not just dog, but any animal), bubble, ball, box and possibly the words "I don't know."  He understands a lot more, such as "No!," which he hears a lot and simple directions such as "pick up that toy" or "turn on the tv."

He's learning to get us to do what he wants by grabbing our finger and dragging us over to the kitchen windows or counter (for example) and saying "up" to get up and explore.   He'll run to me crying, grab my hand, and make me go where he wants.  It's a great life when everyone does what you want!

He loves to laugh and make us laugh.  He walks and jumps around on the bed.  Then, he likes to throw his head back and fall backwards so that one of us catches him.  This is a fun "game" to him.

His favorite TV shows:  Yo Gabba Gabba and Blue's Clues.  That's all we allow although we'll throw in Sesame Street or Thomas the Train to mix it up once in a while.  He shouldn't watch any TV at all; however, you do whatever it takes to get him to eat.

He's following a mostly vegetarian diet.  He hasn't taken to the texture of meat, which is fine with me because he is eating incredibly healthy by avoiding meat.  He eats tofu, quinoa, barley, wild rice, brown rice, couscous and adds in mung beans, all green vegetables and assorted other vegetables, fruits (bananas, mangos, watermelon, oranges, apples) to complete a healthy meal.  We were at a birthday party last week and one mother came up to me amazed that I was feeding him quinoa and avocado while the older kids ate their pizza.   She was further incredulous that I don't season it with artificial flavors or spices to make it more enticing.

Milestone: 13 Months

N turned one last month and we welcomed the milestone with no less than three birthday parties (and yes, he wore the same "birthday boy" onesie each time).  Here is the announcement I sent to our relatives who did not make it to the celebrations.  All of these photos were taken in February.

Now 13 months, N has really hit is stride.

• He took his first step at 10 months and the week after his first birthday, he began walking proficiently, which means he walks room to room now as opposed to 7-8 steps from object to object. 

• At the moment, his favorite constantly repeated word is "uh-oh."  He throws a toy on the floor and "uh-oh."  This has pointed out to me how much I say that expression.  He has cut back on saying "mama," which was the word of the moment at 10 months.

• He was eating everything we gave him and now he's become a picky eater.  His favorites - peas, green beans, broccoli, avocado, zucchini pancakes, and spinach pancakes.  The kid loves quinoa! If we distract him, we can force down some chicken or turkey, bologna, lentils.  He's rebelling against yogurt, carrots, fruits.  His once favorite bananas are now disgusting to him.  He will not take juice (good) and we're slowly getting him on board with whole milk.  I should be happy he likes vegetables.  

• He's a very happy kid.  The people in our apt building love him.  When one of our neighbors saw him walking down the hallway, she said, "I heard he was walking.  Everyone's talking about it."  Living in a co-op gives you a small town feel.  Of course, it means we can't just come into our building and go to our apt without stopping to chat with the doorman or whoever is sitting in the lobby lounge.

• The naps are much better these days.  He tends to get an hour for both naps -- a vast improvement.  He's still sleeping through the night, about 11 hours.

• He is non-stop active.  He opens and closes drawers.  He rifles through kitchen cabinets.  He turns the light switch on and off.  He puts objects into bowls.  He stacks objects.  He sits in his toddler chair.  He can open the trash can lid.  He climbs stairs.  He climbs onto the couch and knows to get off  "feet first."  He puts toys and objects back on the shelves after he takes them down.  He's learning!

Intro to Sleep

When interviewing for jobs in my senior year of college, I had carefully rehearsed my answers.  If asked about my favorite class at Brown, I'd respond with one of my senior level Economics courses in which I'd earned an "A."  When I was interviewing with Andersen Consulting, I slipped.  I got into a casual conversation and answered "my Sleep seminar."  The interviewer, a Brown alum, looked at me puzzled and asked, "Sleep Psychology?"  Realizing my faux-pas, I swallowed and said, "Right, it's a Psych course."  Thus, ended that interview.

That's how I realized what my real favorite class was.  Psych 55: Introduction to Sleep taught by Professor Carskadon rocked!  It was a three hour seminar on Mondays from 3-6PM.  The time slot was brutal.  If anyone was caught dozing off, the professor would call on them...by name...in a 200+ person class.  Aside from our naps, her pet peeve was when we pronounced REM sleep as R.E.M. sleep.  We were an alt-rock school and it was difficult to break us of this habit.  But, the class was fascinating.  It gave an overview of sleep from regulation to physiology to disorders. 

Little did I realize that Intro to Sleep was only the start of my sleep education.

Getting Little N on a sleep schedule was the bane of my existence for the first 9 months of his life.  I read no less than five books on baby sleep, including Ferber's book and the popular with parents "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."  It has been a torturous process and nothing worries me more than making sure he has good sleep habits from early on.

To that end, I just read "Nurtureshock: New Thinking About Children."  Chapter 2 "The Lost Hour" details the importance of sleep in children.  The science in it is solid.  Quoting the research of several Brown staff members, including Dr. Mary Carskadon, it concluded, what I've preached for some time, that sleep is crucial to a child's maturation and can even alter brain development.  [FYI...I had no idea that Brown is a leader in sleep research.  So glad I took that Sleep class!]

The authors cite the main issue: children are averaging an hour less sleep at night than children 30 years ago.  This loss reduces academic performance, affects emotional stability, and increases the risk of conditions such as obesity and ADHD.  Unlike adults, children cannot "catch-up" on sleep.

Key Points:

• A sleep deprivation study on a group of  sixth graders showed that missing one hour of sleep a night caused them to perform in class at the level of a fourth grader.  
• The more a child learns during the day, the more sleep is required to consolidate the memories associated with the information learned.
• Children who are sleep deprived are less able to recall pleasant memories 
• Lack of sleep increases the hormone that signals hunger and reduce the hormone that suppresses appetite.
• Teenagers undergo “phase shift” in their circadian rhythms which keeps them up 90 minutes later.  Teenagers are still producing melatonin when they wake up for school and are prone to falling back to sleep, usually in school.  This early schedule affects their grades and SAT scores. In fact, it is believed that the lack of sleep is also related to  “moodiness."
• Only 5% of high school seniors get 8 hours of sleep at night.
• The typical "A" student averaged 15 more minutes of sleep than a "B" student and so forth.  
• Teens in Minnesota showed dramatic increases in SAT scores (+56 points in Math, +156 points in Verbal) when their high school changed the school start time  from 7:25AM to 8:30AM.

Milestone: 8 Months

Lots of excitement to report from the past month...

In addition to looking more like me and less like the exact replica of my husband, the little one experienced some firsts in the last month.  On September 28th, he had his 3rd round of vaccinations and a general flu shot.  He dropped in all of the comparable metrics - 31st percentile in length, 4th percentile in head size, and 4th percentile in weight.

First Step - Just past the 7 month mark, he learned to take a few steps after standing up.  His motivation involves moving around so he can grab something on the sofa.  Now that it has become automatic that he will stand up, he is tentatively moving around objects by coordinating his feet.  I hesitate to call it cruising because its only been a few steps here and there.  Also, my dad did see him briefly stand without holding onto anything.  He fell within seconds but that was a first, also.

First Fever - Over Labor Day Weekend, he had his first fever - almost 103 degrees.  On that Sunday, he was crying almost all day long, which made the whole experience heartbreaking.  We kept him on a steady diet of Tylenol and Motrin, which helped the fever break and bring on sleep.  A few days after the high temps went away, he developed an awful cough followed by a stuffy nose and then runny nose.  It took a week and a half for him to recover.  He lost much of his appetite during that time and barely ate.  We had his pediatrician checkup a couple of weeks later and he was down to the 4th percentile of weight (down from 9th). 

First Haircut - On October 3rd, we held a ceremony for his first haircut.  This was a tradition from my husband's side of the family and about 30 people came to the party.  The little one was quite disturbed by the crowd in such a small space and was crying upon entering the house.  He didn't settle down much as anything would set him off into a fit, especially a relative approaching him.  It was too bad because he is normally a very happy, smiley baby and most of the people there did not get to see that.  It has been in the last few weeks that the little one has developed  separation anxiety and awareness of the people around him.  He is fine in a small setting, but larger groups are scary to him. 

First, there was a ceremony in which they set out books, pens/pencils, cash/gold, and fruit.  The little one had to crawl to and pick one of those choices to determine his fate.  Books meant he would be scholarly, pens/pencils meant he would be a writer, cash/gold meant he would be well off, and fruits signified a fruitful life. He started crawling to the stack of books when he saw the folded money in front of him.  He crawled straight to the cash and was about to reach out when the crowd roared and applauded in unison.  He stopped to look at the wall of people and then looked back to my husband and me and started bawling.  I don't blame him.  I said he got close enough to the cash and we could move on to the other ceremony after I calmed him down.

Next, we had the ceremonial first cut.  My brother took a few snips of his hair so that my husband's family could take the strands to the temple later to be blessed.  The little one cried throughout this part of the day.  I was happy when everything was over and the crowd dispersed to the different rooms and outside.The little one was much happier outside playing on the trampoline with his cousin and crawling in the grass.

First Tooth - His first tooth is emerging from the bottom front of his gums.  I felt it with my finger and saw it yesterday.  I think it's developed in the last week, though, as I felt something when he was breastfeeding.  There is no mistakening the sharpness.  He has been drooling and putting everything into his mouth for a while so I am relieved to finally see a tooth popping out.  The bottom front gums are swelling as are the top front now. 

Upcoming First Flight -On Saturday,we leave for Ireland, which will be his first flight and first international vacation.  We're excited and nervous and fearful.  Hopefully, it will go well and his teething won't be too unbearable during the time.  I have lists detailing everything I need to pack, including baby food, Orajel, feeding utensils, diapers, wipes, clothes, bibs, toys, etc.  For someone who packs light, this will be a new adventure for me, too. Photos to come...

Milestone: 7 Months

Another month has passed and a lot has happened both physically and psychologically.  Psychologically for me, too!

Eating like a champ: I already mentioned that the little one started solid foods. After apples, we returned to the squash family with yellow squash.  He likes this one better than butternut and acorn or maybe it's that he's a lot more hungry and I'm not feeding him enough!  I am stepping it up to 3 meals a day (oatmeal with fruit for breakfast, vegetable followed by gripe water for lunch, and oatmeal for dinner).

Formula dilemma: He drinks from a bottle, but is refusing formula.  We gave him formula at the 3 month mark because I was returning to work and I didn't think I could keep up with the pumping.  However, I was able to keep up by keeping a very lax schedule at work and he has been spoiled with only breastmilk.  My mom forced him to have an ounce here and there in the last two weeks, but he would stop drinking and she had to switch to the milk after that. I've been mixing a little formula into his oatmeal, so that he will accept the taste again.

Crawling:  He is an adept crawler at this point, much more so than at 6 months.  You put him onto the ground and he quickly rolls over and takes off.  You have to watch him every second because he zooms over to the TV stand that has glass doors or to the coffee table that has glass panels.  Tonight, we're getting rid of the "coffee table of death" as I call it.

Love of water:  The little one loves water.  I think what he loves most is drinking out of a glass.  He likes a sippy cup and has started holding it to control when he wants to drink, but he enjoys drinking out of a glass more than a sippy cup.  When I give him gripe water in a shot glass or water in a Moroccan tea glass, he lunges for it and grabs the glass in both hands.  I even was able to give him a liquidy rice cereal, which he hates, in a glass.  He wants to grow up too quickly.

Sitting up and Standing:  He is sitting up with ease now.  He crawls, then sits, then crawls some more, takes a sitting break, etc.  This past week, he started standing up unsupported.  He falls down within 3 seconds, but he is able to grab hold of something (such as the "coffee table of death") and pull himself up.  He is not always successful at it, yet he is persistent and I have seen him do it a handful of times now.  Two days ago, my husband went into the little one's bedroom to check on him and he was standing up in the crib.  It's time to drop the level a notch.

Personality: He likes to get his way.  He is very clever and manipulative about it.  I guess all babies are that way.  He is extremely active.  He will not sit still or take long naps.  He adores nature and being outside.  He could stare at trees for hours.  He likes boy things - banging toys, diving head first into tables, playing with cars, tackling you.