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!!!!