Hi all here's an update on how Zachary's doing now 13 months (gest) 16 months actual.
He's finally cut a molar (it's just peaking through) but the sleepless nights from it are over for the moment. Only a bunch to go o.O.
We're working with the OT, PT, Developmental Specialist and bringing in a Speech therapist. His OT needs are lessening as his fine motor hand skills come along. He's still not walking so the PT gave hims some inserts and shoes to wear an hour a day to get him used to standing properly without being on his tippy toes. Just in two days of wearing them he looks much better when he's standing. He's been standing really well up to 30+ seconds w/out holding onto anything he just can't seem to get the steps down. His left leg he'll try but his right leg he's not shifting his weight off of it to actually move.
He's been more verbal lately but we've no idea what he's saying :P He'll often say Mom, Momma when he wants something but that's about the only thing he regularly says. That and "no" shaking of the head lol he loves to do that. Zach is exerting his will more and getting some "terrible twos" behavior. No full-blown tantrums yet but definitely some fits of anger, screams, crys, scratching, biting you name it :P
He's still sticking everything in his mouth to our dismay. He's chewed the furniture, books, pens and everything else he can possibly get his hands on. Sometimes I wonder if a puppy would be not as bad o.O.
He's still a great eater and starting to learn how to feed himself with a spoon. He's not doing too badly with the spoon other than the occasional miss and getting food all over his forehead.
It's been a month now since I've been going back into the office 1-2 days a week. So far he's enjoying the time with Amanda and Cohen so that's a great relief while I'm at the office for long hours. I miss him but he's having a great time and she does a great job with him. Zach definitely is interested in other babies he is constantly trying to have contact with them in restaurants etc. The only thing keeping him out of daycare is the walking issue. Sadly the day cares will put him with the infants instead of toddlers if he's not walking yet it's just one of their policies. He meets every other requirement except the walking. The PT thinks probably in about 2 months he'll be walking which that's not too bad :) As long as he's walking by the time Amanda has to go back to work we're good which should be August.
If you haven't checked out the flickr photos in a while check them out. We got photos taken early February and they turned out really cute. Family is good we're just really busy! Until next time,
Sarah
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
1-30-2010 Zachary Update
Well Zachary is fast approaching his "gestational" 1 year. I'm calling it his re-birthday lol. He was originally due the week of my birthday :P So for my birthday we'll prob have a small re-celebration for him. We still need to adjust probably only for another year or two then he'll be caught up more or less.
He's currently cruising around furniture with really good command. His specialists and myself really believe he could walk on his own (without hanging onto things) but it seems to be a confidence issue atm. It's funny you hand him something that takes his mind off of holding onto furniture (like handing him a cup) and he'll stand there without leaning/holding onto anything for support. When he realizes he's standing by himself he immediately sits. It's kinda funny.
He also loves to climb. Anything and everything is a climbing opportunity. He'll climb up on chairs, on boxes, the stairs and even to the point where he'll reach up, grab on things.. be hanging off (feet not touching the floor) LOL. He's so capable of walking he's just got some fear of it.
He's got several words he can say in addition to vehemently shaking his head "no" when he doesn't like something. So far I've heard him say "Mom, Momma, Dad, dada, my and i want (only said it once). He's said a few other things not sure if it's random but not consistent or clear enough for me to tell what it is.
He's definitely sleeping better through the night now. Goes to be anywhere from 9pm -10:30 and wakes up 8-9amish. If he's going to Amanda's he will generally get up at 6:30am without much trouble.
He's also pretty much done breastfeeding. He had started to only do it early in the morning or late at night when he wanted to go to sleep. He's no longer wanting that anymore either. He used to cry and be upset if he wasn't able to nurse before sleep but he's stopped that all together now. When he hits his soft blanket in his crib he closes his eyes and looks for his stuffed bear and that's all he wants. He also likes to cocoon himself in his blanket (just like his dad I might add). Freaks me out he likes to roll up in it like a taco LOL. His dad has ALWAYS been that way.. so weird.. well the weird part is they like the blanket OVER their head. That's what really scares me. I always pull it off/down but seriously I swear they are clones sometimes :P.
Zachary is definitely into just about anything he can reach or climb to. Thankfully, the house is pretty safe from little guys. He loves opening the cabinets and playing with the pots, pans, bowls and then drumming on them. He loves playing on the full sized keyboard we have. I put it on Andy's desk, put him in his boppy and he just has a blast. Pretty much anything that's musical he loves. Ohh and he's started dancing it's really cute. He has this stand up activity table that plays music etc with all the things you can press. Depending on the song its playing he'll stand there and dance to it, it's super cute to watch.
Electronics ohh my! This boy loves anything with buttons, lcd screens etc. He's going to want a laptop of his own at age 2 LOL. We got him the spongebob laptop and he likes that well enough. The funny thing is that's for a 7 yr old LOL. He's constantly taking our phones, mice, well anything that can make something happen on the computer. He loves keyboards still. He's smart and knows what buttons will give some kind of window/etc on the screen. He's also adept at taking Alexis's keyboard keys off lol!
So needless to say he's a handful atm. He's been going to Amanda's for a few weeks now and seems to be doing well. So I'm not so "sad" or worried about him going to a sitter for the day while I'm at work. He needs the emotional connections with other people too and it's good for him to be able to see another baby "Cohen" I'm sure they'll have many good years of playing together :).
Well back to painting the older kid's room etc :)
Sarah
He's currently cruising around furniture with really good command. His specialists and myself really believe he could walk on his own (without hanging onto things) but it seems to be a confidence issue atm. It's funny you hand him something that takes his mind off of holding onto furniture (like handing him a cup) and he'll stand there without leaning/holding onto anything for support. When he realizes he's standing by himself he immediately sits. It's kinda funny.
He also loves to climb. Anything and everything is a climbing opportunity. He'll climb up on chairs, on boxes, the stairs and even to the point where he'll reach up, grab on things.. be hanging off (feet not touching the floor) LOL. He's so capable of walking he's just got some fear of it.
He's got several words he can say in addition to vehemently shaking his head "no" when he doesn't like something. So far I've heard him say "Mom, Momma, Dad, dada, my and i want (only said it once). He's said a few other things not sure if it's random but not consistent or clear enough for me to tell what it is.
He's definitely sleeping better through the night now. Goes to be anywhere from 9pm -10:30 and wakes up 8-9amish. If he's going to Amanda's he will generally get up at 6:30am without much trouble.
He's also pretty much done breastfeeding. He had started to only do it early in the morning or late at night when he wanted to go to sleep. He's no longer wanting that anymore either. He used to cry and be upset if he wasn't able to nurse before sleep but he's stopped that all together now. When he hits his soft blanket in his crib he closes his eyes and looks for his stuffed bear and that's all he wants. He also likes to cocoon himself in his blanket (just like his dad I might add). Freaks me out he likes to roll up in it like a taco LOL. His dad has ALWAYS been that way.. so weird.. well the weird part is they like the blanket OVER their head. That's what really scares me. I always pull it off/down but seriously I swear they are clones sometimes :P.
Zachary is definitely into just about anything he can reach or climb to. Thankfully, the house is pretty safe from little guys. He loves opening the cabinets and playing with the pots, pans, bowls and then drumming on them. He loves playing on the full sized keyboard we have. I put it on Andy's desk, put him in his boppy and he just has a blast. Pretty much anything that's musical he loves. Ohh and he's started dancing it's really cute. He has this stand up activity table that plays music etc with all the things you can press. Depending on the song its playing he'll stand there and dance to it, it's super cute to watch.
Electronics ohh my! This boy loves anything with buttons, lcd screens etc. He's going to want a laptop of his own at age 2 LOL. We got him the spongebob laptop and he likes that well enough. The funny thing is that's for a 7 yr old LOL. He's constantly taking our phones, mice, well anything that can make something happen on the computer. He loves keyboards still. He's smart and knows what buttons will give some kind of window/etc on the screen. He's also adept at taking Alexis's keyboard keys off lol!
So needless to say he's a handful atm. He's been going to Amanda's for a few weeks now and seems to be doing well. So I'm not so "sad" or worried about him going to a sitter for the day while I'm at work. He needs the emotional connections with other people too and it's good for him to be able to see another baby "Cohen" I'm sure they'll have many good years of playing together :).
Well back to painting the older kid's room etc :)
Sarah
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
12-2-2009 Zachary Update
Hi all,
I figure it's time for another woot woot update on Zach's progress. Well lessee he's up to 7 teeth atm. 4 on the bottom 3 on the top. He's able to crawl all the way up the stairs (of course someone behind him to make sure he's ok) the OT has us doing that to work on his core strength. He's pulling up to a stand better and keeping his balance better while standing. We go thim working on drinking through kid cups with straws it's the take and toss brand, they work pretty well for teaching them. He likes them better than the sippy cups.
We had his 1 year eye checkup (well more like 13 months) but who's counting. Anyhew Dr. Hittner said he has no reoccurence of ROP, no scar tissue, nothing his eyes are as good as they can be. No glasses needed, no more special eye exams just regular exams for the rest of his life. So that was wonderful news as there is always a concern that ROP can come back with preemies especially ones born as early as Zach was.
He's saying mommy and possibly I want.. so his speaking abilities are becomming a bit more refined even if it is only 1-3 words. I'll take any word combinations we can get. He does seem to be able to pattern/color match. He has a book with animils in it that sings to him nursery rhymes. The Dev Specialist and I were singing it to him and he started pointing at the yellow lions on each of the pages. We didn't ask him to do it but he kept repeating it. On any other pages there were similar objects (color etc) he'd point at them with his fingers. Mind you the lions were 2 different sizes one was large and one was small. I found that pretty amazing that at (that time 9 months adjusted 1 yr not) he was able to pattern match. So his cognitive is still pretty far ahead of his motor skills by far.
His motor skills although still lag behind a bit. He did seem to jump ahead 2 months worth of skills in about 2 weeks time according to his specialists he sees weekly. That was a nice change for sure. So he's now in this state where he pretty much feels comfortable with what he's doing motor wise and is back to working on speaking and cognition as he is talking a lot more than he was.
We're also gearing up and getting ready for him to start being watched by our dear friend Amanda for some of the week so I can go back into the office. Not sure how long this transition is going to take but I asked for 2 more months. I'd already been working on this but it's getting to the point of necessity.
So we hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday season and check out his new photos I just uploaded a bunch today!
Sarah
I figure it's time for another woot woot update on Zach's progress. Well lessee he's up to 7 teeth atm. 4 on the bottom 3 on the top. He's able to crawl all the way up the stairs (of course someone behind him to make sure he's ok) the OT has us doing that to work on his core strength. He's pulling up to a stand better and keeping his balance better while standing. We go thim working on drinking through kid cups with straws it's the take and toss brand, they work pretty well for teaching them. He likes them better than the sippy cups.
We had his 1 year eye checkup (well more like 13 months) but who's counting. Anyhew Dr. Hittner said he has no reoccurence of ROP, no scar tissue, nothing his eyes are as good as they can be. No glasses needed, no more special eye exams just regular exams for the rest of his life. So that was wonderful news as there is always a concern that ROP can come back with preemies especially ones born as early as Zach was.
He's saying mommy and possibly I want.. so his speaking abilities are becomming a bit more refined even if it is only 1-3 words. I'll take any word combinations we can get. He does seem to be able to pattern/color match. He has a book with animils in it that sings to him nursery rhymes. The Dev Specialist and I were singing it to him and he started pointing at the yellow lions on each of the pages. We didn't ask him to do it but he kept repeating it. On any other pages there were similar objects (color etc) he'd point at them with his fingers. Mind you the lions were 2 different sizes one was large and one was small. I found that pretty amazing that at (that time 9 months adjusted 1 yr not) he was able to pattern match. So his cognitive is still pretty far ahead of his motor skills by far.
His motor skills although still lag behind a bit. He did seem to jump ahead 2 months worth of skills in about 2 weeks time according to his specialists he sees weekly. That was a nice change for sure. So he's now in this state where he pretty much feels comfortable with what he's doing motor wise and is back to working on speaking and cognition as he is talking a lot more than he was.
We're also gearing up and getting ready for him to start being watched by our dear friend Amanda for some of the week so I can go back into the office. Not sure how long this transition is going to take but I asked for 2 more months. I'd already been working on this but it's getting to the point of necessity.
So we hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday season and check out his new photos I just uploaded a bunch today!
Sarah
Monday, November 9, 2009
Zachary Turns 1
Hi all thought I'd send an update now that Zachary is 1 yr old.
We had his birthday on November 1st at 12pm. Grandma Nancy and Cheryl were there, Amanda, Chris and Cohen and Jaime, Melanie with their son Oliver were also there. We decided to go with pizza for ease of food etc. We made some sherbert punch and had an HEB chocolate cake yuuuum. Zach didn't really seem to know why everyone was fussing over him but he seemed to enjoy the gifts and cake. Did I say cake.. yes he ate an entire piece of cake and enjoyed slamming his hand into it and shoving the food in his mouth lol. I have some photos to upload but need to install the updated versions of photoshop etc since I have Windows 7 now have to reinstall everything.
Zach really loves all his new toys and I've taken to rotating them out since there's so many now this will keep him from getting too bored. We had our 1 yr checkup with the doctor and the doctor was clearly impressed with Zach. So much so we don't need to go back for another checkup until February woot! He did get labs taken and 4 shots when he was at the doctors Friday. Thankfully, he really didn't seem to have any issues with the MMR I was really worried as I remember Alexis having problems with it. They did confirm for me that the MMR (from their office at least) does not contain Thermerisol woot. I tell you that stuff is bad any shot anyone in my family has gotten with Thermerisol in it has made them violently ill. Zach did fine on Friday after the 4 shots + lab blood taken. Usually, he'd be pretty ill like after his first flu shot last month. Thankfully, he was fine I was surprised. I declined to get the chicken pox vaccine and the 2nd round of flu shot. The flu shot was because 1 he was so sick from the first dose and 2 they didn't have any of the thermerisol free version left. The chicken pox vaccine I staunchly don't believe in. I believe in kids getting the disease and getting the anti-viral to clear it up fast. At least you know the immunity lasts longer when they have the disease and don't have to get the backup vaccine several times throughout their life with a possiblity of contracting chicken pox as an adult which is deadly. ... Forget that imo.
We got to go to Zach's friend's birthday party today and he really enjoyed all the food and attention :). There was no lack of either at Oliver's party. He passed out near the end and we had to go since he wasn't waking back up lol.
As of this week he started getting up into a sitting position from crawling, started to climb up on things to try to maybe stand (looks that way), he finally takes steps when you hold his hands and tried to walk across the room and clearly trying to use his hands more to communicate. We've been working with him on baby sign language and I think he's finally starting to get the idea of it. He's also starting to do hi/bye with his hands although crude atm I'll take it. So in the span of a week he's really started to do a lot of amazing things that just 1-2 weeks ago we never saw him even try or attempt to do.
This week he'll start work with the developmental specialist and PT. We've been working with an OT for about 7 months so the other 2 specialist should help him even more. We may not need PT forever but I figure due to some of his stiffness we should have the PT look at him just in case. It's included in the Early Childhood Intervention costs (most of which insurance pays) so I figure why not.. get my money's worth :). If anything the PT may have more ideas besides just massage etc to help loosen him up on especially his right side.
Anyhew we're really happy with Zach's progress the doctor said he's up to 17 lbs 3 ounces. He's been eating up a storm sometimes devouring more food than his 12 almost 13 yr old sister. Hard to believe but he out eats her no joke. He's thinned up a lot so he must have one hell of a metabolism and be growing like mad. I'd kill for that kind of metabolism :P His height is finally well into the full-term growth chart, his head and weight are touching but still right at 1% ish or so. I'm just glad he's on the chart many preemies especially those at his early birth don't even start touching the full-term chart till they're 2+ yrs. I thought for sure his head would be farther up there becuase his head is getting huge hehe. Nice thing is though you look at his growth curve and he's got a perfectly stable curve no spikes/dips etc it's a perfect curve. So even if he stays down at the bottom they say it's not really good to have large spikes off his growth curve as that can be a sign of issues. So I'll take slow and steady :).
Hope you all have a great November and I'll try to get some more updates as the month goes on or any interesting developments come about.
Sarah
We had his birthday on November 1st at 12pm. Grandma Nancy and Cheryl were there, Amanda, Chris and Cohen and Jaime, Melanie with their son Oliver were also there. We decided to go with pizza for ease of food etc. We made some sherbert punch and had an HEB chocolate cake yuuuum. Zach didn't really seem to know why everyone was fussing over him but he seemed to enjoy the gifts and cake. Did I say cake.. yes he ate an entire piece of cake and enjoyed slamming his hand into it and shoving the food in his mouth lol. I have some photos to upload but need to install the updated versions of photoshop etc since I have Windows 7 now have to reinstall everything.
Zach really loves all his new toys and I've taken to rotating them out since there's so many now this will keep him from getting too bored. We had our 1 yr checkup with the doctor and the doctor was clearly impressed with Zach. So much so we don't need to go back for another checkup until February woot! He did get labs taken and 4 shots when he was at the doctors Friday. Thankfully, he really didn't seem to have any issues with the MMR I was really worried as I remember Alexis having problems with it. They did confirm for me that the MMR (from their office at least) does not contain Thermerisol woot. I tell you that stuff is bad any shot anyone in my family has gotten with Thermerisol in it has made them violently ill. Zach did fine on Friday after the 4 shots + lab blood taken. Usually, he'd be pretty ill like after his first flu shot last month. Thankfully, he was fine I was surprised. I declined to get the chicken pox vaccine and the 2nd round of flu shot. The flu shot was because 1 he was so sick from the first dose and 2 they didn't have any of the thermerisol free version left. The chicken pox vaccine I staunchly don't believe in. I believe in kids getting the disease and getting the anti-viral to clear it up fast. At least you know the immunity lasts longer when they have the disease and don't have to get the backup vaccine several times throughout their life with a possiblity of contracting chicken pox as an adult which is deadly. ... Forget that imo.
We got to go to Zach's friend's birthday party today and he really enjoyed all the food and attention :). There was no lack of either at Oliver's party. He passed out near the end and we had to go since he wasn't waking back up lol.
As of this week he started getting up into a sitting position from crawling, started to climb up on things to try to maybe stand (looks that way), he finally takes steps when you hold his hands and tried to walk across the room and clearly trying to use his hands more to communicate. We've been working with him on baby sign language and I think he's finally starting to get the idea of it. He's also starting to do hi/bye with his hands although crude atm I'll take it. So in the span of a week he's really started to do a lot of amazing things that just 1-2 weeks ago we never saw him even try or attempt to do.
This week he'll start work with the developmental specialist and PT. We've been working with an OT for about 7 months so the other 2 specialist should help him even more. We may not need PT forever but I figure due to some of his stiffness we should have the PT look at him just in case. It's included in the Early Childhood Intervention costs (most of which insurance pays) so I figure why not.. get my money's worth :). If anything the PT may have more ideas besides just massage etc to help loosen him up on especially his right side.
Anyhew we're really happy with Zach's progress the doctor said he's up to 17 lbs 3 ounces. He's been eating up a storm sometimes devouring more food than his 12 almost 13 yr old sister. Hard to believe but he out eats her no joke. He's thinned up a lot so he must have one hell of a metabolism and be growing like mad. I'd kill for that kind of metabolism :P His height is finally well into the full-term growth chart, his head and weight are touching but still right at 1% ish or so. I'm just glad he's on the chart many preemies especially those at his early birth don't even start touching the full-term chart till they're 2+ yrs. I thought for sure his head would be farther up there becuase his head is getting huge hehe. Nice thing is though you look at his growth curve and he's got a perfectly stable curve no spikes/dips etc it's a perfect curve. So even if he stays down at the bottom they say it's not really good to have large spikes off his growth curve as that can be a sign of issues. So I'll take slow and steady :).
Hope you all have a great November and I'll try to get some more updates as the month goes on or any interesting developments come about.
Sarah
Thursday, October 15, 2009
October 15, 2009 Zachary Update
Hi all it's been a while since an update mostly due to the fact we haven't had any doctor visits but we'll have one coming up next month.
Last week he got his regular flu shot (don't worry not touching that H1N1 flu vaccine with a 10 foot pole). The flu shot I got him was the themerisol free one (preservative free) that's also the same one we get for everyone in the family. He did spike a low grade fever and slept most the next day but after that he was fine. We're supposed to get a second dose but I don't think I will. Everyone in the house will be regular flu vaccinated and he doesn't go out in public all that much enough to warrant it imo. We get enough toxins every day w/out adding more to our kids through questionable vaccines that can't be proven to be effective or not.
So.... He's up to 4 teeth now he just cut another one on the top. This one is one of his main front teeth it's huge lol. That explains his recent fussiness and chewing everything in sight.
No idea what he weighs but I'm guessing 18-19 lbs easy or more. He's currently wearing size 12 months clothes and up to size 18 mo pants. He wears size 3 baby shoes.
We still work with an OT weekly and will have a consult with a developmental specialist and a PT just to see if we're on track since he'll be 1 on 11/04. He's finally getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth like he wants to crawl but just can't quite get it down yet. Alexis did that for months and never did crawl. I imagine he will since he's a very feisty, mobile baby. Zachary is into everything at all times you have to watch him like a hawk. He's very curious and wants to put everything in his mouth or stick his fingers in it .. like light sockets. I have covers on them all but you take one on off to plug something in and he goes for it like bees to honey lol.
He's definitely more needy these days and constantly cries. "Mama ma ma ma Mama" until I come back into view no matter how close I may be lol. He gets frustrated a lot when he can't do something. His brain is far ahead of his motor skills and you can tell that really frustrates him. I imagine he's got the problem like people who've had some kind of accident and the brain is willing but the body is not. He knows what he wants to do but just can't quite get his body to do it.
He still tries to play on a computer no matter where you are or what you're doing and he'll fight you for it so he can whack on the keys lol. I did fine a few nice infant games on the pc but he still hits the windows key a lot and it does all kinds of crazy things. He's really a lot of fun even if a bit wild hehe. Kinda like my personality but looks like Andy. However, there are times he has patience like Andy so .. there's aspects of both personalities in there.
He loves to walk around in his walker.. and I don't mean sit he actually stands up and walks with it. You'd think he could do that w/out the walker but he can hold onto furniture but not go anywhere. Put him in the walker and he's all over the place. Technically, he's a bit too big for the walker now but he loves it so I keep it for him.
So overall, he's been doing really well and other than that one low grade fever he had after the flu shot he's not been sick. He definitely has dust mite allergies and we found that he's allergic to peas (but only skin topically) so it's not even that bad. He can eat them we just need to try to not get them on his skin (easier said than done). I'll be uploading more photos on flickr shortly. I'll make sure to take some photos of him in his monkey costume for Halloween (same one I made for Alexis all those years ago).
Sarah
Last week he got his regular flu shot (don't worry not touching that H1N1 flu vaccine with a 10 foot pole). The flu shot I got him was the themerisol free one (preservative free) that's also the same one we get for everyone in the family. He did spike a low grade fever and slept most the next day but after that he was fine. We're supposed to get a second dose but I don't think I will. Everyone in the house will be regular flu vaccinated and he doesn't go out in public all that much enough to warrant it imo. We get enough toxins every day w/out adding more to our kids through questionable vaccines that can't be proven to be effective or not.
So.... He's up to 4 teeth now he just cut another one on the top. This one is one of his main front teeth it's huge lol. That explains his recent fussiness and chewing everything in sight.
No idea what he weighs but I'm guessing 18-19 lbs easy or more. He's currently wearing size 12 months clothes and up to size 18 mo pants. He wears size 3 baby shoes.
We still work with an OT weekly and will have a consult with a developmental specialist and a PT just to see if we're on track since he'll be 1 on 11/04. He's finally getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth like he wants to crawl but just can't quite get it down yet. Alexis did that for months and never did crawl. I imagine he will since he's a very feisty, mobile baby. Zachary is into everything at all times you have to watch him like a hawk. He's very curious and wants to put everything in his mouth or stick his fingers in it .. like light sockets. I have covers on them all but you take one on off to plug something in and he goes for it like bees to honey lol.
He's definitely more needy these days and constantly cries. "Mama ma ma ma Mama" until I come back into view no matter how close I may be lol. He gets frustrated a lot when he can't do something. His brain is far ahead of his motor skills and you can tell that really frustrates him. I imagine he's got the problem like people who've had some kind of accident and the brain is willing but the body is not. He knows what he wants to do but just can't quite get his body to do it.
He still tries to play on a computer no matter where you are or what you're doing and he'll fight you for it so he can whack on the keys lol. I did fine a few nice infant games on the pc but he still hits the windows key a lot and it does all kinds of crazy things. He's really a lot of fun even if a bit wild hehe. Kinda like my personality but looks like Andy. However, there are times he has patience like Andy so .. there's aspects of both personalities in there.
He loves to walk around in his walker.. and I don't mean sit he actually stands up and walks with it. You'd think he could do that w/out the walker but he can hold onto furniture but not go anywhere. Put him in the walker and he's all over the place. Technically, he's a bit too big for the walker now but he loves it so I keep it for him.
So overall, he's been doing really well and other than that one low grade fever he had after the flu shot he's not been sick. He definitely has dust mite allergies and we found that he's allergic to peas (but only skin topically) so it's not even that bad. He can eat them we just need to try to not get them on his skin (easier said than done). I'll be uploading more photos on flickr shortly. I'll make sure to take some photos of him in his monkey costume for Halloween (same one I made for Alexis all those years ago).
Sarah
Sunday, September 6, 2009
9-06-2009 Zachary Update
Zach is doing very well and although he's still not crawling he's finding creative ways to deal with it. He will often roll many feet to get to something he wants to "stick in his mouth" or otherwise explore. He's finally started going forward in his walker so he's zooming all over the place these days. He's able to sit up with some help he's just now starting to be able to correct more to sit w/out as much support. He still loves to whack on the keyboard and play WoW and gets very upset if you don't let him hit the keys when you're on hehe. He's still enjoying his jumper and jumping very high in it and gets really excited when you bounce with him hehe.
On Aug 31st, 2009 he said Mama several times. Now I don't quite think he has the understanding that Mama is me yet but at least he's saying it. He's started doing da da di daaa a lot to but not quite dada yet. He's laughing a lot more for random funny things people do not just when tickled etc. For the most part he's a pretty happy, fun loving kid. He's been cutting another tooth next to his bottom two and that's been causing some late night crying, wake ups and down right miserable evenings. It's to be expected I just wish he would like cold stuff in his mouth to help. I guess the Orajel and Tylenol will have to do for now.
Zach can eat all sorts of things now and he usually eats Stage 2-3 baby food plus anything we're eating we can squish up well for him. He loves to chew on things with the 2 teeth he has but we still have to be careful. Zach's getting very efficient at feeding himself cookies, cheese doodles etc. He loves his Dad's brisket purred with sweet potatoes and gets upset when it's all gone. He's definitely a good eater! He's getting to be a big boy and really filling out his size 9 mo clothing.
Actual age right now is 10 months adjusted is 7 months. His cognitive is closer to his actual age and motor skills around 6-7 months. I'm not too concerned with him not crawling 1. because preemies love extension and not flexing and you see that in everything he does which makes crawling difficult. 2. Alexis never crawled not a day in her life.. she would get up on her knees and rock back and forth and just stay in one spot. One day she just picked herself up and started walking. Alexis is perfectly fine and I didn't notice anything odd with that, one nice thing was she wasn't too hard to watch because she was fairly stationary. Zach though he finds ways to move around the whole room.
Another thing he's been doing lately is "escape aristing". Meaning ... he has this rocker/chair fairly large and it will accommodate up to a toddler, it has straps to keep them in etc. So one day he was being pretty quiet and mind you he sits not 1 foot from me so I didn't think much of it.. just thought he was playing with the hanging down toys and maybe falling asleep. Well 2 mins later I hear him playing on the floor with his other toys and I had to take a double take. How he got down from the chair which is 8 or so inches off the floor down to about 4 feet away to where his toys were. He was just staring up at me smiling and having a great time.
So. next time I made sure to strap him in better and he just screamed and carried on. He eventually quieted down then I watched him this time when he wasn't looking. He would turn his entire body sideways. Hold onto the bar that goes over top that has the toys dangling down.. Shimmy down a bit slowly, turn more, shimmy down.. readjust hands .. keep doing this for 1-2 mins till he gently sets himself down usually facing the chair (he learned how to not hit his head)... then he'd gently set himself down and then roll to his toys. I was pretty amazed when I saw him do that because that's a pretty complex action that he had to come up with on his own. So we call him an escape artist now because that was pretty impressive. He does it nearly every time he's in the chair now.
It's funny if you put him on the floor he doesn't want to be there on his mat with his toys.. So you put him in the chair.. after 3 mins he gets bored and shimmies down to play on the floor then he's happy. :P I guess he's just going to be one of those kids.. if he didn't come up with it forget it :)
On Aug 31st, 2009 he said Mama several times. Now I don't quite think he has the understanding that Mama is me yet but at least he's saying it. He's started doing da da di daaa a lot to but not quite dada yet. He's laughing a lot more for random funny things people do not just when tickled etc. For the most part he's a pretty happy, fun loving kid. He's been cutting another tooth next to his bottom two and that's been causing some late night crying, wake ups and down right miserable evenings. It's to be expected I just wish he would like cold stuff in his mouth to help. I guess the Orajel and Tylenol will have to do for now.
Zach can eat all sorts of things now and he usually eats Stage 2-3 baby food plus anything we're eating we can squish up well for him. He loves to chew on things with the 2 teeth he has but we still have to be careful. Zach's getting very efficient at feeding himself cookies, cheese doodles etc. He loves his Dad's brisket purred with sweet potatoes and gets upset when it's all gone. He's definitely a good eater! He's getting to be a big boy and really filling out his size 9 mo clothing.
Actual age right now is 10 months adjusted is 7 months. His cognitive is closer to his actual age and motor skills around 6-7 months. I'm not too concerned with him not crawling 1. because preemies love extension and not flexing and you see that in everything he does which makes crawling difficult. 2. Alexis never crawled not a day in her life.. she would get up on her knees and rock back and forth and just stay in one spot. One day she just picked herself up and started walking. Alexis is perfectly fine and I didn't notice anything odd with that, one nice thing was she wasn't too hard to watch because she was fairly stationary. Zach though he finds ways to move around the whole room.
Another thing he's been doing lately is "escape aristing". Meaning ... he has this rocker/chair fairly large and it will accommodate up to a toddler, it has straps to keep them in etc. So one day he was being pretty quiet and mind you he sits not 1 foot from me so I didn't think much of it.. just thought he was playing with the hanging down toys and maybe falling asleep. Well 2 mins later I hear him playing on the floor with his other toys and I had to take a double take. How he got down from the chair which is 8 or so inches off the floor down to about 4 feet away to where his toys were. He was just staring up at me smiling and having a great time.
So. next time I made sure to strap him in better and he just screamed and carried on. He eventually quieted down then I watched him this time when he wasn't looking. He would turn his entire body sideways. Hold onto the bar that goes over top that has the toys dangling down.. Shimmy down a bit slowly, turn more, shimmy down.. readjust hands .. keep doing this for 1-2 mins till he gently sets himself down usually facing the chair (he learned how to not hit his head)... then he'd gently set himself down and then roll to his toys. I was pretty amazed when I saw him do that because that's a pretty complex action that he had to come up with on his own. So we call him an escape artist now because that was pretty impressive. He does it nearly every time he's in the chair now.
It's funny if you put him on the floor he doesn't want to be there on his mat with his toys.. So you put him in the chair.. after 3 mins he gets bored and shimmies down to play on the floor then he's happy. :P I guess he's just going to be one of those kids.. if he didn't come up with it forget it :)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Zachary Update 8-19-2009
Zach had another appointment with the Pedi on Friday. He's up to 15.8 lbs almost 16 lbs !! That boy is a good eater. He's barely touching the full-term growth chart and about 6-7 months adjusted in age. His Pedi is so happy with his progress we don't have to go back and see him until Zach is 1 yr old. We haven't gotten labs back but it should no longer show some slight anemia we've been giving him high iron foods and putting vitamin in with iron for a while now.
He's playing with his toes/feet a lot more and loves to feed himself finger foods. He's now grabbing at the spoon a lot trying to feed himself (I guess we go too slow).
I'm still breastfeeding him and I'll continue it at least until he's gestationally 1 yr old or as long as I can. He's got a 2 toothy grin now it's really cute when he laughs. I've been trying to get a photo of it but every time I get the camera ready for a shot he makes a weird face at the camera lol.
He's spent a pretty good summer with Alexis and I and it's going to be hard when she goes back to school. She's been a real help with him while I work during the day!
He's also 26 inches now and wearing 9mo - 12mo clothing so he's getting big fast!
He's not yet crawling but he's getting close. The OT got him to sit tripod today on his own so that was a great achievement. Hopefully, he'll be able to do more than just prop up on his arms soon but that's better than he's been. He's a little behind motor skill wise but cognitive he's advanced even for actual age. The OT believes his love of eating is helping that along.
So all in all he's doing quite well and he's starting to get bored with a lot of his toys etc we're going to have to get some upgrades soon to keep him occupied :).
Z
He's playing with his toes/feet a lot more and loves to feed himself finger foods. He's now grabbing at the spoon a lot trying to feed himself (I guess we go too slow).
I'm still breastfeeding him and I'll continue it at least until he's gestationally 1 yr old or as long as I can. He's got a 2 toothy grin now it's really cute when he laughs. I've been trying to get a photo of it but every time I get the camera ready for a shot he makes a weird face at the camera lol.
He's spent a pretty good summer with Alexis and I and it's going to be hard when she goes back to school. She's been a real help with him while I work during the day!
He's also 26 inches now and wearing 9mo - 12mo clothing so he's getting big fast!
He's not yet crawling but he's getting close. The OT got him to sit tripod today on his own so that was a great achievement. Hopefully, he'll be able to do more than just prop up on his arms soon but that's better than he's been. He's a little behind motor skill wise but cognitive he's advanced even for actual age. The OT believes his love of eating is helping that along.
So all in all he's doing quite well and he's starting to get bored with a lot of his toys etc we're going to have to get some upgrades soon to keep him occupied :).
Z
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