Krew crawls properly now, and it isn't just his weird Army crawl. When he first started, he would crawl with one straight arm and lean on his right forearm, but that only lasted a few days before he realized that it was faster to crawl with 2 straight arms. He can get into the sitting position from both the crawling and standing position, and he has no problem getting down from standing. He can stand up when there is nothing to grab onto - such as the fridge and (closed) doors - and is now tall enough to reach the door knob. Lucky me. Krew falls less often now, which is a bonus, and just the other day he stood independently for a couple seconds before he sat down. I almost think that he sat down on purpose, so maybe he'll start standing on his own more often.
Krew has started chattering now and making word sounds, not just grunts. Although they sound identical, he repeats "kitty" and "get down." He will also try to repeat "cookie" and "good boy." He isn't too keen on trying to repeat anything else yet, but I guess we'll just work on improving the words that he will repeat.
He is utterly fascinated with the cats. Krew and Link have a game where Krew will chase Link down the hall, but Link will stop so Krew can catch up again. Isis likes being around Krew more, but hates being cornered by him, whereas Link will always stay out of reach.
I was super excited a couple weeks ago when Krew slept through the night until 7 a.m., but that only lasted 3 days before he went back to waking up a few times a night. He is definitely a once-per-day napper, but if he has a particularly rough night he'll go for 2 naps.
Krew has started playing shy, but I think it is worse when he is tired. It is also hit-or-miss when it comes to the person talking to him. Some people will make him cry and others won't. It doesn't take long for him to warm up to the person either.
Krew turns 1 in a month, and I'm uncertain about what to do. On one hand, I do want to throw him a party, but on the other hand I don't want to make a big thing out of it since 1st birthday parties seem to be more for the parents than for the actual kid. It isn't like he will actually understand the significance of the day. Maybe just have a late lunch at a restaurant? Looks like I have some thinking/planning to do.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
10 months
This past month has been fun as I've watched Krew gain more confidence in his abilities and learn new skills. Krew has mastered his army crawl and he moves super fast. He has been spending more time playing on his knees, so now he has started to crawl. I think he does it without thinking and then drops to his belly when he realizes what he's doing. He goes onto his knees so he can pull himself up to stand, which means that it takes him no time to stand. He is pretty stable now and he has balance even when holding on with just one hand. We've been teaching him to get down from standing (rather than just by falling), so now he does that. Sometimes. When he remembers. One of the side effects of learning to teach him to get down is that he is able to bend at the waist to pick things up while he is still standing. Krew still hasn't mastered how to get into the sitting position from his army crawl, but he'll figure it out. He's so close already, so I'm thinking it won't take long.
Another thing that Krew has learned? How to not nap. I don't understand this part, since most babies still have 2 naps a day for a few more months. However, Krew has decided that maybe 1 nap a day is fine. There are definitely perks to having Krew only nap once per day, the obvious being that he sleeps longer at night. He will still wake up once between midnight and 2 a.m., but will stay sleeping until 7 or 8. I've also noticed that if he has 2 naps that he will only sleep until 8, whereas if he has 1 nap that he will sleep in until around 9. I think the little stinker actually forces himself to stay awake and sometimes if you don't get him at the right time, he'll get his 2nd wind and keep on going!
Krew has definitely shown himself to be a determined (read: stubborn) little boy. He is also incredibly impatient. When he wants something, he wants it now. Even if it's something that he didn't even know he wanted yet. I usually put him in his high chair before I feed him and once he realizes that I'm getting his food ready, he demands it put in his mouth ASAP. Never mind the fact that he probably didn't even notice he was hungry yet. Also, if you take something away from him, he howls because he wants it. And if you remove him from something he shouldn't play with, he will go immediately back to it unless the door is shut on him. Even bath time has become more challenging since he insists on trying to climb out of the tub.
Oh, Kevin and I have also figured out that the mark that he sometimes has on his left cheek is actually the side effect of Krew scratching there. I've even witnessed it first hand. He doesn't scratch himself deep enough to draw blood or break the skin, but just enough to roughen it up and irritate the skin. The mark would usually clear up for a few days and then come back, so I think that we must have cut his nails short enough for his skin to heal before his nails were long enough to scratch again.
Overall, I'm really proud of Krew's progress and I can't wait to see what he learns this month!
Another thing that Krew has learned? How to not nap. I don't understand this part, since most babies still have 2 naps a day for a few more months. However, Krew has decided that maybe 1 nap a day is fine. There are definitely perks to having Krew only nap once per day, the obvious being that he sleeps longer at night. He will still wake up once between midnight and 2 a.m., but will stay sleeping until 7 or 8. I've also noticed that if he has 2 naps that he will only sleep until 8, whereas if he has 1 nap that he will sleep in until around 9. I think the little stinker actually forces himself to stay awake and sometimes if you don't get him at the right time, he'll get his 2nd wind and keep on going!
Krew has definitely shown himself to be a determined (read: stubborn) little boy. He is also incredibly impatient. When he wants something, he wants it now. Even if it's something that he didn't even know he wanted yet. I usually put him in his high chair before I feed him and once he realizes that I'm getting his food ready, he demands it put in his mouth ASAP. Never mind the fact that he probably didn't even notice he was hungry yet. Also, if you take something away from him, he howls because he wants it. And if you remove him from something he shouldn't play with, he will go immediately back to it unless the door is shut on him. Even bath time has become more challenging since he insists on trying to climb out of the tub.
Oh, Kevin and I have also figured out that the mark that he sometimes has on his left cheek is actually the side effect of Krew scratching there. I've even witnessed it first hand. He doesn't scratch himself deep enough to draw blood or break the skin, but just enough to roughen it up and irritate the skin. The mark would usually clear up for a few days and then come back, so I think that we must have cut his nails short enough for his skin to heal before his nails were long enough to scratch again.
Overall, I'm really proud of Krew's progress and I can't wait to see what he learns this month!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
9 months
I stopped keeping track of how old Krew was in weeks, so now I have no idea and we'll just go with 9 months.
This past month has been a real explosion of activity for Krew. I was worried that he was going to be 1 before he started sitting since he refused to sit independently or even roll on a regular basis. And then one day it all clicked into place for him.
It started with his babbling: he was starting to make sounds that could be mistaken for real words! And then he finally said mama. The next week he was choosing to stay upright. Later that week he started doing the Army crawl. He went from nothing to mobile in less than 2 weeks. It was insane! Now he says dad (although it sounds more like "mub") and he chases the cats. Literally. Link needs to stop being such a wimp.
He also went from possibly 4 teeth for Christmas to having 8. I took a few pictures the other day and I couldn't help but notice how much his face has changed.
We were originally going to headband him, since his head shape was twisted and we wanted to correct it. Ideally, you would have the consultation around 5-6 months and so then the headbanding is started when the kid is younger. And if we had done that, we would have gone on with the headbanding. However, when we had our consultation, the doctors noticed that the difference was only 8 mm. This size difference, had it only affected the back, would have been negligible. However, since it altered his ear position (really only visible from the top) and seemed to have affected his cheek, we wanted it fixed. We leared in that visit that there was no guarantee to having those areas fixed. The cheek was a direct result of the torticollis. So once his torticollis was under control and he aged a little more the cheek would normalize. Oh. And his ears? Well, they might go back into their normal position once his head filled out properly. Might. On top of that, Kevin's ears don't line up either.
Once I realized that his fixable areas really weren't that fixable with the helmet, I decided that we would just let nature take its course. His head has changed shape drastically in the past few months, to the point where you might notice that it's different, but not really know why. The doctors also said that kids that show rapid improvement will continue to improve rapidly. Headbanding would just speed up and go beyond what nature would do on its own.
If you check out the pictures below (finally!), you'll see that in a matter of 3 months that he's really grown up!
This past month has been a real explosion of activity for Krew. I was worried that he was going to be 1 before he started sitting since he refused to sit independently or even roll on a regular basis. And then one day it all clicked into place for him.
It started with his babbling: he was starting to make sounds that could be mistaken for real words! And then he finally said mama. The next week he was choosing to stay upright. Later that week he started doing the Army crawl. He went from nothing to mobile in less than 2 weeks. It was insane! Now he says dad (although it sounds more like "mub") and he chases the cats. Literally. Link needs to stop being such a wimp.
He also went from possibly 4 teeth for Christmas to having 8. I took a few pictures the other day and I couldn't help but notice how much his face has changed.
We were originally going to headband him, since his head shape was twisted and we wanted to correct it. Ideally, you would have the consultation around 5-6 months and so then the headbanding is started when the kid is younger. And if we had done that, we would have gone on with the headbanding. However, when we had our consultation, the doctors noticed that the difference was only 8 mm. This size difference, had it only affected the back, would have been negligible. However, since it altered his ear position (really only visible from the top) and seemed to have affected his cheek, we wanted it fixed. We leared in that visit that there was no guarantee to having those areas fixed. The cheek was a direct result of the torticollis. So once his torticollis was under control and he aged a little more the cheek would normalize. Oh. And his ears? Well, they might go back into their normal position once his head filled out properly. Might. On top of that, Kevin's ears don't line up either.
Once I realized that his fixable areas really weren't that fixable with the helmet, I decided that we would just let nature take its course. His head has changed shape drastically in the past few months, to the point where you might notice that it's different, but not really know why. The doctors also said that kids that show rapid improvement will continue to improve rapidly. Headbanding would just speed up and go beyond what nature would do on its own.
If you check out the pictures below (finally!), you'll see that in a matter of 3 months that he's really grown up!
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| 6 months |
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| First Halloween! 7 months |
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| 7 months |
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| First Christmas - 8 months (just before he started sitting independently) |
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| 9 months |
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| 9 months |
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| 9 months |
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