Chugging Along

There are so many things to share, I don't quite know where to begin. That's what I get for neglecting to blog for several months. Liam is making a lot of progress in many areas. He's eating much better! While non of the real solid foods that he eats are enough to constitute a meal, he's eating more of them to complement the purees, formula, yogurt, and soup that are his staples.  He'll now eat pizza, chicken nuggets, fries,  hot dogs, pretzels, crackers, pita chips, goldfish, cheerios, and anything else that is hard and crunchy and has flavor.  He'll sometimes eat a fruit bar or a piece of toast. No "real" fruit or veggies to speak of, but he gets those through purees, Gerbers, etc. He doesn't like sweets at all, which I suppose it's a good thing, but will make it harder to bribe him later! :)

Physically, he's right on par with little nuggets his age. He's running and climbing and going up and down stairs.  We recently got out a little slide that Coby had as a toddler, and then got a matching one for Safta's house because Liam wants to slide all day long!  We went to Chuck-E-Cheese a couple of times and he did a lot of sliding there too...as in, 50 or more times.  He loves to go to the park, but when we do, it's nothing buy swings for him.  He'll slide a couple of times and then take my hand and take me directly to the swings. And when it's time to go....It's the terrible 17 months that come out LOL.  Screaming and crying and just being...well...a toddler!

Liam's language has definitely seen a lot of improvements as well.  His receptive language is great! He understands commands and follows them most of the time, helps clean up, and knows his colors (as shown in the video below):



As far as speaking, we're not quite there yet, but boy, is he trying! A huge accomplishment for Liam is that he now imitates several sounds when we tell him to, which he wasn't doing before. He'll combine some sounds too, which is great.  He'll say "ah," "Esh," Grrrrrnnnnn," and "hahaha" when we tell him to.  He also likes to scream and yell a lot (in delight, not in anger).


He's become quite a little rebel, which I complain about, but actually really enjoy because it's just typical behavior! A few weeks ago Daddy taught Liam that it's lots of fun to stand outside, throw cheerios on the ground, and stomp on them.  Liam took that idea a step further, and is now doing that inside, and with goldfish too.  He also loves to crush crackers in his highchair. Lovely!  Today when we weren't watching he "took a bath" in the cat's water bowl.  Thought it was so funny!


Sleeping is getting better too! Our 2 mattresses on the floor plan works really well, and out of the last week or so he slept through the night for about 5-6 nights , and only woke up once.  I'm worried that he's getting night terrors because a couple of weeks ago he woke up one night screaming and inconsolable. But he was fine after about 20 minutes.  He had his eyes wide open but wasn't really seeing or hearing anything. It was pretty freaky!

We really have to work on stranger anxiety with Liam, though. That's an area which needs a lot of improvement. I'm so fortunate to have my mom here to watch Liam if we want to go out, but what about when the whole family wants to go out together? Babysittes have been out of the question for a while now. This is also why we had to stop all the therapy with Liam because he refused to cooperate and would just cry and cling on to me for the length of the session. And with me out of the room? Fuggetaboutit!  Well, Coby had a Christmas concert coming up.  A huge one, where he has a solo!  WTG COBY! But the whole family wanted to go and Liam is not exactly up to sitting quietly for 2 hours (two minutes???).  So we got a sitter and she was training for a while to get to know Liam. She came to the house or to Safta's house about once or twice a week and hung out with Liam to get him used to her. It didn't really work!!! He didn't want anything to do with her. So at the end, safta decided to stay home with Liam.  Coby did a fantastic job with his solo...the video is from far away (on my IPhone) but you can hear him really well!



Speaking of Coby, he's just an amazing 11 year old! He's turning into a young man, and I'm so proud of him! He's doing well in school, sings in the choir, and will start soccer in February.  He's come so far from being jealous when Liam was born!  Now Liam squeals with delight when he sees Coby, and they play together, and love one another so much.  Coby really wants Liam to talk and I'm pretty sure one of the first words Liam will say will be "Coby."

Progress

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!  After months of struggling with Liam and food, he's now starting to eat solid (non pureed) foods. I'm the only mom in the world who got giddy when her little boy ate a whole chicken nugget at McDonald's along with a couple of fries and a few spoonfulls of hot fudge sundae.  He also ate a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday, and some pizza today. The strange thing is that the only way he'll eat those things is if he's not in his high chair. This makes for some messy areas, but it's worth it. Though today he ate a few bites of pizza in the high chair at the restaurant. YAY! His main source of nutrition is still pureed foods, but hey-progress is progress.

Another area Liam is progressing in is his fine motor and play skills. He puts rings on a stacker, shapes in a sorter, and plays appropriately with toys. He even started building with blocks. While he doesn't like crowded places that are very loud, he enjoys new places. We went to Marbles Children's Museum yesterday and Liam had a blast! He ran around, played with the blocks and the trains, and loved the slide. When we go on playdates Liam does great parallel play, and even goes and grabs toys from his little friends (something which for now I see as a positive social interaction, as opposed to no interaction at all.)

We came to a standstill, though, with progress on sleeping through the night. This has been an ongoing struggle. A few weeks ago Liam got sick with a sinus infection, and because he was miserable and congested, we brought him to our bed for a few nights. What a mistake that was! Once he was better, Liam REFUSED to sleep in his crib. We'd rock him to sleep, and as soon as we put him in his crib he'd cry. This went on all night long. We were at a loss. So we finally decided to change things up....and got rid of the crib. We put the crib mattress on the floor in Liam's room, with a twin mattress right next to it. No more rocking to sleep. One of us lay lays down next to Liam until he falls asleep, and for now, if he wakes up (which he does still, 2-3 times a night), one of us sleeps next to him.  This is progress because it's at least in his room! In a week or so we'll start stage 2-which is going to sooth him if he cries but not staying in there with him.  Last night, by the time I got to his room when he cried he was already at his door (closed, but still!). Nevertheless, all of us getting a full night's sleep is SO much better than the alternative!!!

Yay for progress!!!

13 (and a half!) Months old

I love my "Mitzi Meow!"

I've taken my sweet time writing this month's post. There is so much to talk about, it's hard to know where to begin.



We went to the lake to feed the ducks!



Coby liked feeding the ducks too!



Liam is just so sweet! He loves to run around the house carrying toys around...mainly balls or blue toys.  Yes! He runs now. One day he was cruising, the next day he was taking off. He has a favorite stuffed cat (his favorite animals are cats) that he hugs and gives little kisses to.  He now puts shapes in the correct holes of a shape sorter (most of the time) and has started putting the rings on the ring "thing." Before he just took them all off! 



He's getting occupational therapy for his feeding issues-though he's made a lot of progress. Last week he ate about a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in therapy-all while watching his favorite You Tube videos, of course. He had a speech/language evaluation as well, and was found to be moderately behind. We'll start speech therapy soon.  But he understands so much! He follows some one step directions, and will make his needs and wants known very clearly!  We're going to start using picture cues soon so he will be able to choose things without getting frustrated.

Coby loves taking baths with Liam...Usually Liam likes it too!

Sleep has become an issue lately-we hope it's just a phase. Most nights Liam will wake up 3-5 times for no real reason. We're tired! But now that summer is over and he's back at Safta and Saba's house during the day, we're hopeful that he'll get back on a real routine and sleep better.

This is such a fun age, and it only gets better from here!

What fun I'm ONE!!!!

It's here it's here it's here! My baby boy is ONE YEAR OLD! I can't believe it's been a year since he was born. Remember this?



So here is what being one year old is like for Liam:
At a year old, he weighs 22 lbs (49th percentile), is 29 inches long (25th percentile), and has a head circumference of 48 cm (98th percentile.)

He's starting to walk, and will walk up to about 7 steps independently.  He crawls and cruises everywhere, and gets into everything! New favorite toys are plastic bowls, lids, baby bottle caps, and hard plastic balls played on the kitchen floor where they make lots of noise when dropped. He loves any kind of ball though; big, small, hard, soft.  If it's round and it rolls, he wants it. He's learning to put shapes into a shape sorter, and can pick out the blue circle, red triangle, and green square when asked. At this point, I hold the shape over the correct spot and he helps me push it in.  He also loves any toy that makes music, still adores books, and has a new teddy bear that he picked out at Build A Bear.  His favorite color, by far, is the color blue.  Why blue? We have no idea. But blue is the best color EVER! If Liam has a choice between toys, it's gotta be the blue one!

Speech wise, Liam still only has a few words.  But he definitely understands a lot.  If you ask him if he wants to go on a walk he'll go straight to his stroller. Ask if he wants to watch a video and he'll pull you to the television.  He'll roll you a ball when you ask him to, and even give you a high five.  If you ask "where is Liam?"  He'll put his head down on the ground like he's hiding, and then come up for a peekaboo.  In fact, I once made the mistake of asking "where is Liam" when he was in the tub....had to prevent a drowning then.

Food is still a huge issue. He'll only eat pureed foods and puffs and cheerios.  We were finally referred to a speech therapist who will do feeding therapy.  We go in for an evaluation next week.

On Liam's birthday we had a huge party!  Elmo was our theme and Liam loved the attention and the balloons. He was overwhelmed by all the people though, and the smash cake needed help getting smashed because Liam wanted to pet Elmo and was very sad when he got smashed! Since we took so many pictures, I'm sharing the link, so that I don't have to post each photo here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150231383192034.315942.737762033&l=c7e928fac1

Here's to year number 2!!!!

Liam is 11 Months Old!

It's almost July. Well, really, it's the beginning of June, but in the grand scheme of things it's almost July. I was just looking back at the pictures of Liam when he was born, and it boggles the mind to think that it was almost a year ago. I'll write the weepy post next month though!

Just in the past two weeks, Liam has made amazing progress in his gross motor skills! He now crawls forward (though he has a special way of doing it that involves scooting forward, rolling to his side, sitting up, and starting all over again.).  So he gets everywhere he wants to go.  He also pulls himself up now.  Since he's been cruising for a couple of months already, pulling himself up helps him be even more independent, and he loves it.  He stands on his own (no hands!) for longer periods of time, and has even taken a few steps on his own (though he tends to lunge forward, which doesn't help.)  We have started going to Gymboree classes once a week, and I'm sure with time those will help his motor skills as well.




In speech/language development, he now knows what a horse says (neeeeeay) and sometimes knows what a duck says (in Hebrew it's ga ga ga). He'll give a hug on demand, and asks for light to be turned on when it's dark (he uses the Hebrew word for light.).  We know his language development is going to be slightly behind due to the fact that I speak only Hebrew to him and Brian speaks only English.

Even though his language skills are slightly behind, he sure does know what he wants, (and doesn't want) and makes sure everyone around knows too!  At Safta and Saba's house, his new favorite thing is to go for walks in the stroller with Saba.  They have a routine. They go to Kroger, walk around, then stop at the bagel shop and Liam eats his puffs and drinks his water.

The food issue is a bit worrisome, and I'll make sure to ask about it when we have our 12 month check up.  Liam eats almost anything that is pureed, but will only eat cheerios, cookies, puffs, and crackers as real "solids."  Anything else he'll toss on the floor and shut his mouth so tight nothing gets through. We're working on trying new things.

My first taste of ice cream!

As far as playing goes, Liam loves balls.  Safta taught him how to roll a bouncy ball back and forth, and his aim is getting better and better!

He still loves his toy farm with all the animals, and his play table with all the activities.  Peekaboo is also a favorite!  And of course, he still loves books. Books make everything better! 

Reading to Liam is something that Coby is awesome and amazing at.  Liam loves it when Coby reads to him, or plays with him.  And Coby is getting better and better at being gentle with Liam and reading his cues to know what he wants and doesn't want!  He's a super big brother!!!

So the  birthday is coming up in less than a month, and we have the party all planned out.  Elmo is the official theme. Elmo cake, Elmo decorations, and even a personalized Elmo outfit! We can't wait!!!

Liam is 10 Months Old!

My Handsome Boy

For some reason it feels like this month went by faster than most of the others. Liam's getting bigger by the day!  At 10 months he weighs 21 lbs, and we're not sure how long he is....but he's long enough to reach the floor in his walker and run around like crazy!

In the crawling department, there is still not much progress.  He'll mostly go backwards, though sometimes he'll go forward for a tiny distance.  He doesn't like crawling though.  He's a pro at cruising!  He's getting better at pulling himself up too-though most of the time he needs help.  A couple of days ago he also started getting into a sitting position by himself-finally! :)

At this point his feedings are divided pretty equally between bottles and solids. He gets 3 bottles a day, and has 3 solid meals a day plus snacks.  His favorite foods seem to be the salty/savory foods. Safta Tova's chicken soup with veggies is still a favorite, as is a goulash of chicken with potatos.  His favorite snack, by far is the little puffs.  He can eat those non-stop, which is, I guess a good things since to get 25 calories out of them you have to eat a crazy number like 75.  Another milestone-he's finally learned to hold a sippy and drink from it, though he's still learning to tip it up all the way when it's getting empty.  Water is his beverage of choice.  He doesn't care for juice!  We're still working on eating real solid foods-as in pieces. The puffs work well, bites of fruit bar, mac and cheese, etc.  But he still gags on most real pieces of food.

Playtime is tons of fun these days.  He loves playing with his toy farm which makes animal sounds.  He's learned to open and close gates and doors to make the sounds go.  He also has nesting cups which are a current favorite, as well as a Mickey airplane that has a spinning fan/propeller.  But by far, his favorite thing to do is read books and be read to.  Reading time has to be planned in advance at our house, because we can't stop after one book.  It has to be all his books, and it has to be again and again.  I've never seen a 10 month old with such an attention span for books!  And when it's time to stop, he'll throw a fit like no other-so we always have to have a quick and favorite distraction. 

    

Only 2 months left until his first birthday!  We think we've changed themes from Barney to Elmo, but we're not sure yet. Both are his favorite. Any opinions are welcome!!!

Liam is 9 Months Old!

Only 3 more months and he'll be a year old!  WHAT?  Where did the time go? My little Liam is not so little anymore.  At 9 months he weighed in at 19 lbs 14 oz. (30th percentile), and measured at 28.25 inches (50th percentile).  Remember...he was born weighing 5 lbs 11 oz, and measuring 18.75 inches. 


At 9 months Liam has 6 teeth (2 lower 4 upper) with 2 more coming in on the bottom any day now (we hope.) He sleeps between 9 and 11 hours a night, mostly without waking up at all.  His main source of nutrition is now split between formula (4 bottles of about 7 oz. a day) and solid foods.  He eats a variety of foods and loves things that have some flavor to them-as opposed to just bland stuff.  Thank goodness my mom is such a good cook-she cooks him fresh soups and other savory dishes all the time!  He eats fruit (banana still a favorite), veggies (sweet potato is the leader here), soup, chicken, potato, has tried eggs, peanut butter (loves it!), and recently discovered bagels.  He also likes puffs and biter biscuits.  Up until very recently he had an issue with gagging.  We even had to cut the puffs in half to avoid him losing his lunch.  But now he's doing much better!!!

     

At this point, Liam still can't crawl forward.  He's a champ at going backwards though!  His very favorite thing to do is stand in his pack and play and cruise all around it.  He also loves to use it as a trampoline.  I'm amazed at how he holds on to the sides and just JUMPS, with both feet leaving the ground.  He's working on falling without bonking his head every time.  Favorite toys include nesting cups, balls, Elmo, and a farm with animals that make noise.  He still loves his exersaucer and jumperoo!




An older picture but still too cute!

Socially, we've hit the point of separation anxiety.  It's very frustrating.  He has no problem being with me and with his Safta Tova and Saba Danny (my mom and step dad), but doesn't like being alone with anyone else, including, sadly, his daddy.  Especially in the evenings. During the day it's fine, but the closer it gets to bedtime the worse it gets.  Liam will cry and call out for me (YES, FIRST WORD IS "EEMA"-mommy in Hebrew!!!).  I hope this phase passes soon...It's a good thing daddy doesn't take this personally.  On a good note, he does great on playdates!

We had our very first overnight trip with the whole family, and it went GREAT!  We all went to see big brother Coby compete in a TaeKwonDo tournament in Charlotte.  Everyone had fun, and Coby got a Spirit Medal!  Yay, Coby!!! As an aside, let me add what an AMAZING big brother Coby is.  Last week there was a storm here that shut down roads the next morning and made traffic a nightmare.  It took Brian nearly an hour to take Liam to Safta in the morning, with Coby in the car with him as well.  Liam was hungry and cranky, and Coby saved the day by showing Liam You Tube videos on his cell phone the whole way there and Liam stopped crying!  Way To Go big brother!!!  I'm adding a video of Coby singing one of Liam's favorite Hebrew songs and pushing him around in his walker. Liam loves his big brother!

I wonder if Liam will be walking by this time next month???

Updates

So we finally got the stats on Liam.  At 8 months he weighed in at 19.5 lbs, and measured 27.5 inches.  He now has 4 teeth-2 bottom and 2 tops (the top two came in within 2 days of each other).  He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth-every once in a while he makes it a few moves forward.  Baby proofing, here we come!!!

Liam is 8 Months Old!



I'm 8 months old!



For a change I'm almost on time! It's only March 2nd. Hooray!  Liam is 8  months old, and I don't have his stats this time.  We're due to go to the doctor next week for his vaccines, so I'll get his weight and length then.  In the meanwhile, there is SO much to share!

To start with, Liam has 2 teeth!  Two very sharp teeth, actually.  He bites like nobody's business, and it becomes a problem when we give him finger foods.  Before teeth, he would gum on stuff, sort of dissolve it, and it would go down easy.  Now, he takes bites-big bites out of food and gags.  So we have to watch him like a hawk and hope that whatever he eats stays down and won't choke him.  We think the top two teeth are coming in, and once they do it'll be a lot easier for him to chew (I hope.)



I have two teeth!

Another new thing is that Liam now loves to turn over on his belly-especially when he sleeps.  It was scary at first, and thank goodness for video monitors, but I'm pretty comfortable with it now.  There are two problems with this belly sleeping though.  One-if he wakes up in the middle of the night he can't figure out how to turn back onto his back so he gets frustrated and cries.  The other problem is that somehow the belly sleeping makes his diaper leak.  We can't figure out why, but he now wakes up soaked almost every morning.

Finally-we're MOBILE!!!  Liam is pseudo-crawling.  He gets onto his hands and knees with no problem.  But then he uses his hands and arms to push himself BACKWARDS.  Poor little guy-can't figure out how to move forward for the life of him.  And if I put a toy in front of him to try to get him to move forward he gets so frustrated!  He wants the toy but keeps moving farther and farther away.  I'm sure he'll learn to move forward eventually though, and then it'll be time to baby proof the house. 

Let's see...what else?  Ah yes....the playground.  Since we've had such fabulous weather here lately, Coby, Liam and I have been frequenting the different parks around here.  Liam discovered the swings and boy is he in love!  We tried the slides, with Coby holding him and coming down with him.  Not so much! We'll keep trying though!



Love that hat...and the boy wearing it!

I love the swing!



 

I'm curious to see how long it will take Liam to crawl forward and eventually to walk.  Coby never really crawled, and walked right at a year.  I have a feeling Liam will walk sooner....Oy!!!  Coby is such a fabulous big brother!  He always makes Liam laugh.  And lately, even when he has friends over he sits down to play with Liam!  Check out the pictures!!

My 2 favorite boys in the whole wide world!

Coby Is Incredible!!!

As I mentioned a few days ago, Coby is now a member of the Raleigh Boy's Choir.  What we didn't know was the extent of his musical talent.  Today on the way home from school, I started singing a song that Coby learned in music class and that his class had performed a few weeks ago.  I was singing just for fun, no biggie.  Two notes into the song, Coby interjects:  "Mom!  You started the song on the wrong note.  The song starts on a 'G' and you started on a 'B'."  WH....WH....WHAT????!!!!!!  I thought he was joking, but no.  This kid of mine was serious!  We were on our way to my mom's house, where there is a piano.  I decided to do a little experiment.  When we got to my mom's, all of us went straight to the piano (so I'd have witnesses!). I told Coby to sing a 'G.'  He did.  I then played a 'G' on the piano.  Perfect.  Still not convinced, I told him to sing a 'C.'  Coby asked-"High or low??"  He sang a 'C,' then I played it.  Perfect again.  I challenged him next with an 'F.'  By then, the whole family is gathered around the piano, jaws touching the floor.  Sure enough, when I played it, we realized that again, he had gotten it spot on.  I'm stunned.  My child has perfect pitch.  What an amazing talent to have!  Now to find ways to take advantage of his talent!!! 

A Few (Important) Odds and Ends

We got the call today from the dermatologist that the pathology report came back, and everything is just fine.  That spot on Liam's head was a "benign lesion."  Nothing more!  Yay! I think I took my first real breath since Friday.  Liam still has a "hole" on his scalp, but I'm sure it'll heal pretty fast.


On a totally different note (no pun intended here...), I'm proud to announce that Coby auditioned for, and got accepted into the Raleigh Boys' Choir.  It's quite a prestigious group, who travel all around the world to perform.  Coby will have to work his way up, and now he's in the training choir.  It's very exciting, especially for me, since I've been in choirs all my life.  I sat in on one of their rehearsals, and was so impressed!  Coby is having a blast and has already made friends.  Love you, Coby!!!!

7 Months Old

I love pizza!



I love my feet!

Once again, like a broken record, I'm a week late. This past month has been crazy. About 3 weeks ago Liam got yet another ear infection. Ten days on antibiotics did the trick. It's a good thing he really liked it! His Reflux is finally under control, thanks to Prevacid. He's a changed kid! He sleeps well at night, his breath doesn't smell, and no more spitting up (not that he spat up much before.) The only bad thing is having to time the medicine with his food. The meds have to be given at least 90 minutes after a meal and at least 30 minutes before the next meal. In the morning it's not a big deal. As soon as he wakes up he gets the medicine, then we keep him entertained for 30 minutes and give him breakfast. In the afternoon it gets tricky. The medicine works best if given before 5:30 pm (because of how the acid pumps in the body work). So he has to be done eating no later than 4:00pm. And we have to make sure he eats well so that he's not starving later. I know...for a 7 month old going for 2 hours without food shouldn't be a big deal. But he likes to snack and try foods that we're eating. We've got it under control now. Yay!

While I'm on a medical "run," let me describe our latest adventure. About a week ago we noticed a small black spot on Liam's head, in the back. It was not there before, and I wanted his doctor to have a look. Sure enough, the doctor immediately sent us to a dermatologist, who "shaved" it off (not a fun experience for Liam or mommy) and sent it to pathology. We should be getting the results back by the end of this week. She said that there is a 90% chance it's nothing-just a regular mole. I'd rather not discuss the other 10%.


Other than that, let's talk about some good Liam things. At 7 months he weighs about 18 lbs (he hasn't gotten weighed since 6 months) and is about 26 inches long. He's now in 9-12 month clothes. I feel like we're always clothes shopping (not that I'm complaining!). He sits up all by himself with no problem, and reaches out to toys that are far away. We recently got him a shape-sorter, and he loves to take the shapes out one by one. It's great for his fine motor development. When we put him on his belly he still "swims" most of the time. But he does push up and try to move around. We're pretty sure he'll be walking before he crawls. Of course, every toy goes right in the mouth. This makes life interesting when toys (or a hand) gets shoved in a little too deep at very inopportune times.


Feedings are always fun around here. The majority of his food is still formula from a bottle. But we let him try a lot of things we eat. His latest favorite was pizza. We gave him the crust and he wouldn't let go for anything! He just chewed and chewed. He also likes fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, and Safta Tova's chicken soup. Yesterday we tried Gerber Freeze Dried Yogurt bites and he loved them.


Language wise, we hear a lot more sounds from him. Babababa is still a big one, but we hear the occasional mama, yaya, and uh-oh. He also understands more now. We'll say "where is daddy?" and he'll look at daddy. He also knows light, mommy, Coby, Safta, and teddy bear (all in Hebrew, of course.)


He loves playtime. He's definitely a techno kid. He loves toys that have lights and sounds. He can push buttons and make things spin-so definitely learning cause and effect. Peek-a-boo is a favorite as well.


it's amazing that 7 months have already passed. It's almost time to plan for his birthday (well...I said ALMOST!) See you in month 8!!!!