Solid. And solids.

Here is John with one of his very first tastes of "solids." Of course, it was very runny, not very solid, rice cereal with breastmilk.

I think he likes rice cereal okay, but not much else. Sometimes sweet potato makes the grade but oat cereal and just about everything else I've tried has been poorly received, except as finger-paint. I'm most disappointed that he's not going for avocado. So mashable, nutritious, and calorie-dense. He is, furthermore, showing a bit of a stubborn streak about wanting to feed himself, TYVM. Though usually he can be fooled. If he has stuffed his own spoon into his mouth, I can usually get one in, too.

It was another clean bill of health and development for John at his 6 month well-baby visit. I was pleased to report that he was crawling and even pulling up to his knees. I usually try to think ahead of some questions to ask the paed. One, it helps keep him on/ahead of schedule (the man is proficient!) And Two, I feel like it makes me look like a diligent parent. *scoff*. But I was kinda at a loss this time. All I could come up with was a comment about how his last two DPT injections have left him with long-lasting bumps under the skin. (very normal when they're shooting blind into a muscle.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0*	7,13	60**
2 d	7,10			20.25	80
8 d	8,6	75
1	11,4	80		22.75	94
2	13,10	80		23.7	80
4	16,12	75		25.5	65
6	18,4	60		27.25	75

check-up

clean bill of health and development for John

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0*	7,13	60**
2 d	7,10			20.25	80
8 d	8,6	75
1	11,4	80		22.75	94
2	13,10	80		23.7	80

Adam's in Junior Kindergarten!

No kidding! Junior Kindergarten. And by all reports, it's going well. It just so happens that his outfit seems so carefully planned, what with the navy and grey checked shoes tying together the sweater and cords. In fact, he chose it the way he almost always does - by grabbing the item at the top of the pile in the dresser. And that sweater, with the too-short sleeves, needed rolling of the sleeves when I bought it for his birthday. We measured him this week and he's grown two inches since MAY.

Adam and change ... not so much, doesn't usually go over so well. He's been nervous about school for months, much more concerned about school than John's arrival, so we've been trying not to make too big a deal of it. But luckily, this has been a rather small adjustment and he's managed just fine. And, as always, the anticipation was the worst part. Reports coming back from Adam and the teacher (via the daycare staff) have all been positive. Mind you, Adam's reports are brief, which isn't surprising; routinely, I can barely pull out of him what they ate for lunch at daycare. One day he reported that he played in the bin centre and in the dramatic play centre. I also got the names of a few students. C'est tout. I suppose he won't even tell me the names of his teachers once he's in high school.

It's not a big adjustment because our school has only half-day kindergarten and because, before and after school, he's still at the same daycare he's been since he started last year. Moreover, there are several (5?) children from his daycare in his kindergarten class. The daycare staff walk all the kids from the daycare to the school after lunch and walk them back to the daycare after school.

His first day was Wednesday but, since they stagger the start dates, he got to join those whose first day was Tuesday on the to-and-from-school walk, which is a nice transition exercise. Becky was kind enough to come by on Wednesday to watch Naomi and John so that I could join Adam on his first tour of his classroom. I joined the class on the walk over and Adam was so reluctant to go that I was half-dragging him for about the first 5 minutes of the walk. He eventually resigned himself to the inevitable and played along. I had a fleeting moment of butterflies in my stomach; so, I can only imagine how nervous he was. And yet, Adam didn't even seem very tense when we, Elias, and Elias's mom got our tour, while the others played outside. He did ask me to take him home when I was leaving but he quickly accepted that I was not going to. So, he asked that I be waiting at daycare for him when they got back, to which I did agree. Everybody, including Adam, was very no-nonsense about everything, which was perfect. All-in-all a good start to the year! Plus, when Dion got home from work, he had a present for Adam, which was well-received.

technical details: Adam is in a mixed JK/SK afternoon class of 17ish students at our TDSB home school. We're keeping an open mind about French Immersion, which doesn't start until SK and applications aren't until January, because FI is at a different and farther school, I only ever hear good things about our school, and, y'know, Adam and change ... not so much.

Weigh Ins

John is growing like a weed! a weed, I tell you. And that's making me really hungry. all the time. all the time, I tell you.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0*	7,13	60**
2 d	7,10			20.25	80
8 d	8,6	75
1	11,4	80		22.75	94

* If you notice discrepancies from earlier posts, you might just have too much time on your hands. I recalculated his birth weight, which was measured in grams but incorrectly converted to pounds. And the student who measured his length at the hospital was all thumbs. I'm going with our paed's measurement from 2 days.
** very approx. I'm nixing the CDC tables and using the WHO tables, like our paed, but I haven't found one with much granularity. 7,13 is between the 50th to 75th percentile and I'm eye-balling it to 60th.

New in Naomi

Naomi is growing up soooo fast!

• About a month ago, at Kern's wedding, she'd just gotten her first two teeth through and she started trying to wave.
  
• A couple of weeks ago, she started to finally show some interest in solids. Until then, pretty much all she'd want is Cheerios, which feature prominently in two photos here. She enjoys a lot more things now but only when self-fed. No mush for Naomi, TYVM. The only spoon-feeding she'll accept is yoghurt.
• Over Easter, her vocabulary expanded vastly. Y'know, maybe doubled it by adding Ba, Da, and Ga to Mmmm/Mum, Wa, and La. I think she says Na and Ra, too.
  
• She's been standing independently, cruising, and walking with a parental finger for balance for months but yesterday she started to do the independent walking she's been considering for a while now. She will shuffle her feet under her to move forward. Just in time for playground season. Anything Adam is doing, she wants in. This one just can't be held still. I say only half-jokingly that she is the squirmiest baby in the world.

I also half-jokingly say that I'd give up any of these milestones for sleeping through the night. Good grief, three hours is still a good stretch for her. I haven't slept for 4 or 5 straight hours since around my 2nd trimester, uhm a year ago. It does not help that she does not want the bottle, except to chew. I will also say half-jokingly: Pray for me!

Anyway, she's a happy, healthy baby who measured in at 17lb 8oz and 28.5" at her 9-month check-up a couple of weeks ago.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile*
0	7,1	34		20.0	72
1	9,12	47
2	12,10	77		22.5	34
4**	15,0	68		24.5	45
6	16,8	52		27	82
9	17,14	27		28.5	74

* Using CDC data. I don't get it, though because my paed keeps telling me that she's over 90th for length. Whatever.

Some random pics (as always there are too many to choose from):

above all at 8 months and below at 9 months

6 months old!

Naomi is six months old now and, wow, have there been some changes.

Naomi got to try some cereal in mid-December. We had explained to Adam that Naomi would start to eat cereal, "in December, when it's cold outside and snow is on the ground." So the day of the first real snow, she got her first solids. She hasn't exactly taken a liking to them. She tolerates rice cereal the most and abides a few tastes of barley or oatmeal cereal. We just tried apple sauce yesterday and today. not a big hit. However, she did kind of enjoy sipping milk from a cup and from a bottle tonight. That was encouraging for me. To date, she has wanted nothing to do with a bottle, no matter its shape or size. She took a bottle ONCE, from my Aunt Joan, way back in August.

The day Naomi turned six months old, December 19th, is also the day that we arrived in Ottawa for the holidays (more on that in a separate post) and the day that she learned to sit up - free sitting, that is. Before then, she could get mostly upright but she kept bearing some weight on one hand on the ground and she tipped to one side.

By the 27th (27 weeks old), she was fully crawling. Until then, she was certainly getting around with a mix of creeping and crawling. It had seemed for a couple of months that she'd crawl any day but then she had some setbacks when she experimented with her technique. She started getting up on her hands and toes, with her butt pretty high in the air. So she'd tip over. A lot. Cute, but pretty frustrating for her. Adam is not a fan of her crawling. She's much to good at getting into his stuff now. In fact, for a month or so, Adam has regularly been requesting I'm A Big Brother (Thanks, Tsangs!) for his bedtime story. However, we have been forbidden from reading (or looking at) the page where the baby touches the little boy's trains.

[editting to add: Some time between the 27th and the 30th, she was pulling up to standing in her crib.]

On December 30th, Naomi had her check up. All good. Happy, healthy baby.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile*
0	7,1	34		20.0	72
1	9,12	47
2	12,10	77		22.5	34
4**	15,0	68		24.5	45
6	16,8	52		27	82

* Using CDC data.
** I don't remember the 4-month measurements well. I'm pretty confident about the weight but the length - not so much. Does anyone remember hearing it?

A week or two ago, all on one day, peek-a-boo became Naomi's favourite thing in the world, she started looking for dropped objects, and she was no longer happy to go into her crib alone to put herself to sleep. Sigh. It was good while it lasted. Also, we had prepared Adam that come January, he and Naomi would both be sleeping in the kids' room. We'd always made a point of calling it the kids' room, rather than his room. And now they are in the same room but the transition has not been seamless. Naomi's crib may be in that room, but we've put the playpen in ours as a backup for when either is keeping the other up. Naomi often spends the last stretch of the night in our bed if Dion brings her to me, since I fall asleep while feeding her.

Photos will have to wait. G'night!

Check Ups

At 4 weeks of age, Naomi is 9 lb 12 oz. I know that there are babies born bigger than that but I'm delighted that mine have started on the small side and ramped up quickly. Naomi has gained 2.2 ounces per day over 17 days - ridiculous. No wonder we're both eating constantly. She's "allowed" to go as long as she wants between feedings but I don't know if I've ever gotten 4 hours out of her.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0	7,1	34		20.0	72
1	9,12	47

At Adam's last check up in April, he was 30 lb 4 oz (75th percentile) and 38 in (> 97th percentile.)

percentiles from: http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_percentiles.htm?rd=1 Naomi's percentiles don't correspond exactly to the ones I had found (at a different site) for Adam up to 12 months. E.g., her 1-month weight is an ounce more than Adam's but the percentile is 3 lower. These are probably CDC data, i.e., from mostly formula-fed children. It makes a big difference from the new WHO-recommended charts for breast-fed children.

Good Growing!

At Naomi's weigh-in on Tuesday (age 11 days), she got the green light to sleep as long as she wants. Woo-hoo. No more waking her up to eat every three hours. She'd gone up to 7 lb 7 oz from 6 lb 9 oz eight days earlier. That's pretty close to two ounces per day, when we're aiming for one ounce per day.

It's amazing how wonderfully chubby she looks already. Check out the cheeks and double chin.