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!!
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!!!
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!!!!
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!!!!
Hey Hey Hey its coby on the page and i have to say, liam is awesome with a capital AWESOME!!! Liam may be loud but he is cute. He can laugh like no man's beezwaks. He smiles almost anytime i talk to him and i held him twice on the spinny chair and he loves it. All i have to say is liam rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Liam had his first real playdate yesterday, and it was a whole family event. Our friends Carly and Paul, and their two daughters "I" and "A" came over for pizza and fun. "A" is only 9 days younger than Liam so it was great! Coby was an unbelievable big brother and host. "I," who is not yet 3, followed him around and he played with her and found some toys to keep her entertained. I never thought he would play so well with a little girl who is so much younger than he is. She was so cute and just wanted to do what he did.
After dinner, during which Liam shared his high chair and Mum Mum bars very graciously with "A," it was playtime! Let me just add that even though "A" has only been eating solids for a few weeks and Liam has been on them for a few months, "A" ate like she's been doing it for ever!!! She took big girl bites and Liam just stared in awe. He didn't want to pick anything up with his hands last night either-just opened his mouth so we'd feed him. But I digress. Liam and "A" Played so nicely together! They sat on the beautiful quilt that Grandma Kathie made and played with all the toys. Coby was our camera man. He ran around taking pictures and even played some with the babies! My oldest is growing up so fast!!!
All in all it was a great night, and I think for a first real playdate Liam did amazing! Can't wait to do it again.
There it is, folks! A half a year. Just. Like. That. Time to start planning his first birthday, huh? In the 6 months since he was born, Liam has grown a ton! For a baby who started life at 5lbs 11oz and 18.5 inches, Liam's huge--16.6 lbs, and nearly 26 inches long. That's 40th percentile for height and weight. His head is in a different zip code altogether! 92nd percentile for head circumference.
At 6 months Liam can now roll over from front to back and back to front, though he rarely does and hates to do it. He still hates tummy time, though less than before. He does sit up for up to about 15 minutes unassisted, though he's still learning how to support himself when he falls. We're not quite ready to let him fall without catching him. That big head of his is heavy!!!
Liam still loves his Jumperoo and Exersaucer. But at this point he loves them for shorter periods of time, since there is so much more to explore!
As far as eating goes, he's a champ. He still drinks about 20 or so ounces of formula a day. But he also gets fruit in the morning (loves Safta Tova's fresh apples and bananas), Safta's veggies or chicken soup for lunch, and then oatmeal with banana for dinner. Safta Tova (mommy's mom) is an amazing cook, and makes up for mommy's lack of culinary knowledge. Liam also likes biter biscuits, little fruit puffs (though we break them up into microscopic pieces for him), and crackers. We tried Mumm-Mumm bars but all he does with them is scratch them with his nails to make a funny sound. Also, pretty new-the other day we tried drinking from a regular cup-not a sippy (which he had a hard time with and got frustrated). He did GREAT with the regular cup and learned to keep his tongue in his mouth slowly but surely. He can't hold it himself yet, but that'll come eventually.
Naps are pretty much a thing of the past. He'll "power nap" for 10 minutes here and there, and if we're lucky we'll get 30 minutes out of him, but that's about it. He's still a pretty good sleeper at night, though sometimes he'll still wake up to eat (about once a week or so) and lately his gums have been bothering him.
But he's a super happy baby...such a joy! And he recognizes family now and laughs and smiles when he sees people he knows. He even recognizes voices on the phone. It's quite a hoot-if he cries or is fussy we'll call Safta Tova and put her on speaker. Liam immediately quiets down! Go figure!
We can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring!
