October & November 2007 Babies - Rolling and Teething and Solids, Oh My!

[Ericka_Jarett]

FSU - when I started Easton on yogurt I got a big container of the vanilla LaYogurt I think it was, it's a pink container. Now he just gets the store version of blended yogurt, he loves it. I don't buy the yobaby as it's quite pricey and also has a lot of sugar in it, so I might as well spend less for a yogurt and it actually has less sugar in it. Having to buy yogurt for 3 kids now, it would be really expensive buying the yobaby for us.

[gardenmommy]

QOTD~Oh I'm so on the fence with whether or not to have a third baby. Dh really wants to stop at 2, but I always wanted 3. I just worry if I'll have enough time to devote to each kid individually especially as they get older and have individual activities. So I don't know!

Thatcher is doing great though...he has abondoned the army crawl and is full on crawling and he is so fast! He loves to stand but hasn't yet pulled himself up by himself.

He loves any kid of food, but I tried puffs the other day and he just gags so I'm hesitant to try anything else. Maybe I should try really soft fruit like spps. Other than that he loves to eat handfuls of his sisters lunch, cat food, the yucky non-skid pad under the kitchen rug and plants:D Basically if it isn't nailed down it goes in how mouth for the taste test.:rolleyes:

I'm so curious to take him t his next WBV...the crawling has really slimmed him down. He's still big but the thunder in this thighs is really getting to be much more of a dull roar.

[Megande]

Food- Reed eats pretty much only finger food (little pieces of what we are eating) and refuses to eat anything from a spoon except for Yobaby yogurt, which he will let me feed him. I basically do what Dr. Jack Newman (he wrote The Breastfeeding Answer book) says:
There is no good reason why a baby needs to eat or be introduced to only one food per week, or why vegetables should be started before fruits. Anyone worried about the sweetness of fruit has not tasted breastmilk. The six-month-old can be given almost anything off his parents' plate that can be mashed with a fork.
link to Kellymom (http://www.kellymom.com/newman/10bf_and_other_foods.html).

A lazy reason for letting him eat only finger foods is that it is MUCH easier on me to let him feed himself while also supervising DS1 eating!

[wendalah]

Foods: My baby wants to eat everything! She has tried every kind of puree on the market--likes them all--and has a bowl of fresh mashed avocado for dinner every afternoon. She likes the Gerber puffs...still is perfecting the "get the puff into mouth" technique, but chews them up once she hits the mark.

We have started giving her little bits of our dinner when we are out to eat, which she thinks is great fun. So far she's tried a mashed-up french fry, a dinner roll (tasted it, then threw it on the floor), a bit of veggie burger patty, a bite of salad (spat it out), refried beans, and sour cream. She loves to gnaw on fruit and will eat slices of mango, watermelon, and apple, but we don't let her hold it independently because she gagged herself on a mango chunk a couple weeks ago.

As far as crawling--she's trying, but is mostly just doing the "swim" on her tummy. She can sit up independently, but refuses to do it unless she is on a chair or a couch with a back for emergency support. If I try to seat her on the floor, she extends her legs and forces herself into a standing position. It's driving me a little nuts...I don't know when she will actually get the hang of sitting!

Her bottom two teeth are through and they are sharp as razors! I think I can actually feel a top tooth coming in...is it possible to cut the top ones so soon after the bottoms?

And...um...what else? She is a babbling fool. She "talks" all day long. Ba ba ba, da da da, ya ya ya, and a few "words" that I have no idea how to spell. :)

[SQ2]

DD does tummy "swimming" too. I'm just waiting for her to be able to get up on her hands AND her knees. She flips from front to back when we put her on the floor but has forgotten how to flip the other way. Makes for some fun nights! ;)

Food - She's had lots of purees. Trying yogurt and chicken and bean purees this week. Still trying to get the hang of eating puffs. Can't quite get it in her mouth. She tries but then when it doesn't go in, it's like she's forgotten about it. Then it's all sticky and just sticks to her hand until it falls on the floor or in her lap. I'd love to be able to start feeding her bits of what we eat bu I get so worried about choking. Is it ok to feed them table food, even if they can't feed themselves? :confused:

[honeygirl]

wendalah - Yes, I think you can have many teeth come in at once! Is she doing okay pain wise? I know my DD enjoys chewing on ice (I put it in a mesh feeder) when she's teething.

Food: DD has one baby food meal a day and has BM the rest of the time. She eats a size 2 jar and sometimes cereal. If she still seems hungry I let her chew on a teething biscuit or honey stick (graham cracker). I've tried to give her cheerios and chunks of food but she just spits them out, gags or chokes. For some reason she doesn't want to chew? I'm a little concerned that she will develop texture issues so I keep trying. I've been sticking with only organic foods so we haven't tried the dissolving puffs.

Baby Dolls: Thanks for the advice on baby dolls, if I see a cute one I think I'll pick it up.

[Ericka_Jarett]

honeygirl - just an FYI in case you didn't know - babies are not suppose to have foods with honey until at least 1 yr old.

[honeygirl]

honeygirl - just an FYI in case you didn't know - babies are not suppose to have foods with honey until at least 1 yr old.

Thanks Ericka, they are just graham crackers and for some reason they (Earth's Best Organics) call them honey sticks.

http://www.earthsbest.com/images/products/w130/02392320301.jpg

[Ericka_Jarett]

I know you can buy honey graham crackers, so you may just want to check it in case.

[honeygirl]

I did some google searches on honey and found interesting results! Some recommend No honey, even as a baked in ingredient, such as in honey nut cheerios or the crackers I bought. However, my favorite source, Dr Sears says it's okay (safety wise) in baked things so I'm not sure! Interesting though!

Dr Sears (http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fit22.asp)

Other views:
ivillage (http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bnutrition/0,,3w37,00.html)

wholesomebabyfood (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/infantbotulismhoney.htm)

[FSUSammy]

Anyone else have this problem....the last time Mikey got 2 teeth at once he gave me a hard time drinking his bottles. Completely pushing it away and fighting me. Well now that we just got 2 more teeth he's doing it again. Anyone else deal with this and if so any magical solution to get them to drink their milk?

Last time I called the pedi and they told me to stop all solids to get him interested in milk again but that just didn't seem right. But now that this is happening again its clearly because his new teeth and gums are bothering him.

[julietchicago]

Hi Ladies!

It's been awhile since i've posted...busy w/ work & baby! I have been following along and have been *meaning* to post of course. I'm sure you understand.

A few of you have posted what your babies are eating. I need some help in this area!! DS is going to be 8 months old on July 12th. He eats aprx. 30 oz. of formula a day and then gets two meals of solid food. He gets a stage 2 - 4oz Earths Best puree breakfast w/ some Oatmeal and then for dinner he gets the same except for it's a dinner puree and rice cereal.

I have tried a few new things like small pieces of bread and bananas, but am nervous about when to start giving him actual table foods.

Is he old enough for the Puffs? He has 6 teeth already...

When I go into the What is your DC eating today 6-12mo old thread it seems like the babies are eating so much more than my DS. Is it time to start adding new foods?

Help! I am a confused mama.

[wendalah]

Honeygirl: DD seems to be doing fine with teething pain--she had a few random episodes where she would burst into tears, and I kept expecting to see teeth...and nothing. Then, after days and days of acting completely normal...bam, teeth popped through. I guess it doesn't hurt her too badly. She just wants to gnaw on everything and she has more drool than a river right now.

But, that said:

Anyone else have this problem....the last time Mikey got 2 teeth at once he gave me a hard time drinking his bottles. Completely pushing it away and fighting me.

Yes--we did have this issue! She didn't act like she was in pain, just disinterested in the bottle. I panicked and called the dr., and he told me to just keep offering it. I mixed formula into her food in the meantime. Two days later, her bottom teeth broke through and she accepted the bottle again. She's not taking it today very well, which is another reason I'm suspecting the top teeth are coming.

[Megande]

Hi Ladies!
Is he old enough for the Puffs? He has 6 teeth already...

I started giving Reed puffs at 7 months. FWIW, he didn't have teeth until after 9 months, and he has been eating "real food" for at least a month with no teeth. Readiness for the puffs/finger foods in general is more about interest and hand-eye coordination than teeth. Some kids are really into feeding themselves and trying new foods, and others just aren't. I don't think it is something to stress about either way. Your kid won't be 2 and still eating only rice cereal ;).

You can definitely try the puffs and see what your DS thinks about them. They were the first finger food we tried with both kids because they dissolve so easily, there is no choking hazard.

[spps]

Juliet - DD is 9 months and we have been giving her both puffs and cheerios for a while along with chunks of soft fruit and veggies. She only has 2 teeth but does fine without choking etc.

[FSUSammy]

Crap Mikey is running a fever again and I'm suspecting its RSV. I learned at daycare today that there is a kid in his class that has RSV and is obviously not there. Mikey started sounding congested yesterday but didn't think anything of it. But it has been getting worse today. I thought he was in the clear because usually RSV is accompanied by a fever and he was fine all day today but he started feeling hot tonight so I took his temp and BAMM fever again! It's only 100.9 and his doc wanted it to be 101 to medicate so I'll have to watch him like a hawk tonight. I really don't want to have to take him to the pedi AGAIN!

Update.....ended up going to the doc this morning. He woke up at 2:30 crying with a fever still. Was able to change his diaper, take his temp, and put him back down easily, quickly hopped online to make the appointment for first thing this morning. The doc looked at his ears, he was fine, looked at his throat, it was still red (it was red when we last went on Monday). Then listened to his chest and heard him wheezing. She had to do a strep test and he did not like that one bit. But thankfully that came back negative. It looks like Mikey has bronchiolitis. He needs an antibiotic and to do a nebulizer treatment twice a day for 2 weeks. Hopefully he'll finally start feeling better once the meds start doing their thing.

[cat_loverpq]

Juliet ~ My ped said to wait until 9 months for finger foods so the choking hazard is lower. To each his own! :)

Sammy ~ Oh no, poor Mikey! Breathing treatments suck. :( How is he handling them so far? DS hated them at first, then got used to them, but now he dislikes them again. *sigh* It's hard trying to keep that little mask on them and keep them entertained!

I forgot to mention that last weekend DS started waving! It's so cute now, when I go to pick him up from daycare he gives me a huge grin from across the room and starts waving. Melts my heart every time. Then when I take him from the teacher he waves to her too, like he knows he's leaving. Smart boy!

He also started clapping last night too. It's been a busy week for us, LOL! There's no rhyme or reason to when he claps (he doesn't do it in response to anything yet), but it's still cute. :)

And for fun, a picture of DS from yesterday (please don't post this on the front page):

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b64/cat_loverpq/Gavin%20Carter/Gavin%20Pics%20to%20Share/IMG_1943.jpg

[Thea]

Thanks for everyones replies a few pages back on diarrhea and teething! I didn't get a chance to respond because we are on vacation. It turns out after everything, I finally figured out that Cheerios were causing the diarrhea. So no more cheerios for Maxwell....when we get back from vacation I plan on buying the puffs and giving them a try.

So, have to report, still no teeth and no crawling. But my little guy can get from laying down, to sitting up and then can pull himself all the way up to standing if there is anything to hold on to. He seems interested only in standing for the most part. His new trick is when I am breast-feeding him in bed to pull off, push himself up on his hands, scootch back into a sitting position, then grab ahold of my legs and pull up to a standing position, then look at me and giggle like crazy. It is too cute (unless it happens to be 2 in the morning!)

Well, we are having a great trip, back on Sunday and back to work on Monday......will try to post more next week.....

[honeygirl]

My sweet baby girl is becoming a biter. :eek: In the last couple days she has bitten me about 6x on my shoulder, chin, breast and ankle! Now I know why they call little ones "ankle biters". She seems to do it when hungry or when my flesh is exposed (did my shoulder at the pool today). She only has 2 teeth so it's only a little painful. Oh, and she's always happy/sweet at the time so I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what she's doing.

Here's hoping this is a short, teething related phase!!!

It's not all bad though, silly girl is also going around the house (crawling like crazy) while blowing raspberries, shrieking, talking (mama is a favorite), sticking her tongue way out or laughing. She is so fun to watch and surprisingly mobile. I pull her away from the stereo nobs many many many times a day. Ditto for the doggie food/water if we're in that room.

Shoot she just chomped on my knee, must be time to eat. ;)

[FSUSammy]

cat - We do our first treatment tonight. I didn't get the nebulizer until around 5 so we'll only be able to fit in one treatment today. I'm hoping he'll be ok with it. How cute your son is waving. Mikey is trying to do it now

[October2007Mommies]

Updated to here.

[FSUSammy]

We've got an army crawler! I totally didn't expect Mikey to do it but I was able to get him across the rug in our living room holding a toy he really wanted. As pissed off as he was he still crawled instead of rolling over like he usually would. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke.

It seems like he is starting to feel better too. No fever thankfully but he's still wheezing and coughing a lot. As for the nebulizer treatment.....Well he tolerates it for about 5 minutes and then he starts pulling off the mask. I let him fight me and cry because that makes him breathe in harder which is actually what I'd prefer...get that medicine deep into those lungs.

[merjmo]

Thanks for everyones replies a few pages back on diarrhea and teething! I didn't get a chance to respond because we are on vacation. It turns out after everything, I finally figured out that Cheerios were causing the diarrhea. So no more cheerios for Maxwell....when we get back from vacation I plan on buying the puffs and giving them a try.

Thea, did you know that diarrhea like that can be a sign of food allergy? Do you know what in the Cheerios he hadn't been exposed to at the time he ate them? It could have been the wheat (also in Puffs) if he hadn't had any before eating them. I read somewhere that it's good to try wheat after knowing they have no reaction to rice and barley (or was it oats and barley?). Anyway, just a thought.

honeygirl: sorry about the biting, OUCH! Do you let her suck on an ice cube through a mesh feeder? Or you can make popsicles with breastmilk that she could munch on.

[honeygirl]

Poor little DD had a rough day teething wise. Lots of tears, gnawing, drooling and BFing. Poor momma too I guess. ;) Less biting of me though, just once today on my shoulder. I sure hope the new tooth/teeth come through soon!

merjmo - Great idea for breast milk popsicles. I did give her ice cubes in a feeder, she sucked through 3 separate rounds of ice.

[daisysue62]

Sorry I've been MIA for so long...seems like summer is always busier then the rest of the year!

Ethan has been busy learning all kinds of new things. It seems like he's developing new skills one right after another! He turned 9 months old a week ago and here's where he's at:

He can clap
He just got his first tooth yesterday after a month of heavy duty teething!
He can crawl really fast now
He pulls up on everything and cruises the furniture
He can push his walker toy across the room all by himself!
He loves to eat and thinks Puffs are like candy
He wakes up once a night around 4am but goes down pretty easily around 8pm and wakes at 7-8am with my DD.

We're flying to Idaho on Wednesday which will be his first airplane trip. Dh just got his vasectomy on Friday (no more kiddos for us!) and can't lift over 15lbs so I'll get to figure out how to manage a 3 year old, 9 month old, luggage, and two car seats. Oh boy! It will be better then a 9 hour car ride though, especially since we just drove to Idaho a few weeks ago which is kind of why we bought plane tickets this go around...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/daisysue62/bigeyes.jpg

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Cute new pics! Cat lover, where did you get that chair? I've been looking for something like it but cheap and I haven't had any luck!

Sammy, sorry Mikey is sick. Natalie's going through something similar. Coughing, congestion and a little wheez. The doctor on call this weekend thought it was croup so we've been doing the steam shower thing, once a day. Now I'm thinking maybe we should go to the doctor to be sure?

Had to go out of town this weekend and leave my baby again for 48 hours. It's so hard! Came back exhausted and a little congested myself so I'm not able to spend every minute with her that I'd like. She turned nine months last Thursday (where does the time go) and her height and weight check on Friday went great. She gained almost a full pound in four weeks so clearly we had a spurt!

[Lila55]

Does anyone have a baby who does not like to eat solids? Nicholas was eating 2xs a day about a Tablespoon of food at each feeding. For the last three weeks, the majority of his meals have been a battle! He purses his lips and turns his head when I try to feed him. Any advice?

[FSUSammy]

Jenn - If Natalie is wheezing and coughing a lot definitely take her to the doctor. They need to listen to her, which they can't do over the phone.

Lila - Is he teething? When DS was getting his last 2 teeth there were times when he didn't want any solids at all so I just didn't give them to him. He's back to eating like he used to though.

[merjmo]

Does anyone have a baby who does not like to eat solids? Nicholas was eating 2xs a day about a Tablespoon of food at each feeding. For the last three weeks, the majority of his meals have been a battle! He purses his lips and turns his head when I try to feed him. Any advice?

That's considered normal, and nothing to worry about. They'll pick it up when they're ready, and in the meantime you can offer every couple of days. Perhaps also try something with more texture, some babies hate purees. What about some avocado (very ripe) cut into small chunks, or some egg yolk either scrambled or hard boiled? Let's see, I also gave DD some grilled zucchini and eggplant pieces (VERY soft, only made with oil, no salt, and no skin) that she liked. Also very soft fruits right now are great - peaches, nectarines, banana. Just make sure it's small pieces and not too stringy (you know how peaches/mangoes can get like that) and no skin.

[Lila55]

merjmo and fsusammy Thanks for the advice!

[FSUSammy]

Lila - The only reason why I posted what I did was because it sounded like he was eating just fine and all of a sudden he doesn't care for his solids anymore. Is that the case or are you still trying to get him started on solids?

QOTD - Are you waiting to start whole milk when your baby(ies) turn 1? I know every pedi recommends something different so I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone's doc said.

[cat_loverpq]

QOTD ~ I'll be asking our ped about this at our 9 month checkup next month. In the meantime, I'm interested to hear what others have been told. :)

[Ericka_Jarett]

QOTD - The girls haven't had their 9 month WBV yet, so no clue what they will say. With Easton I was told to wait until he was 1 year old before giving him any. Will stick with that unless the ped tells me otherwise. My Julianna is still at least 3 lbs heavier than Katelyn, but they both love cereal, fruits, veggies and yogurt.

[Lila55]

fsusammy Actually when he first started rejecting the solids, the first thing I though of was teething because of your experience with your son. He was eating o.k. and about three weeks ago solids became a battle with an occasional meal where he would eat. I continued to offer him solids and added yogurt and chicken. Today he ate his pears, yogurt and oatmeal. So far no teeth. I guess this is just a phase.

QOTD My pediatrician has not said anything yet about whole milk. I will likely wait until 1 year.

yogurt I am using Trader Joes Organic Plain Yogurt. I mix in a teaspoon of yogurt with a tablespoon of fruit puree.

[spps]

Lila - When DD started rejecting purees we just started giving her small soft chunks of finger food and she was much happier

QOTD - We will not be starting whole milk before a year. DD has a dairy intolrance and I am just starting to re-introduce dairy into my diet to see if she can tolerate it. And in any case my ped doesn't reccomend starting early.

[merjmo]

milk: I don't think we'll start before a year (regardless of what the ped says) but that's b/c I'd rather she have BM than milk as long as possible. She may not have it regularly, ever, particularly if she likes yogurt and cheese. It's kind of something I struggle with because while it's recommended so much in the pediatric nutrition community, there's really no reason kids have to have milk. And in fact most people in the world can't digest milk very well, so it's really not a necessary component in our diets.

us: we went to the ped yesterday because DD has been making this wheezing sound occasionally. Apparently it's just stridor, associated with the structures at the back of the throat being cartilage and not hardening into bone yet and how they can temporarily partially block the airway. I wasn't that worried, but the doctor made a joke to her about not worrying me because she'll have her teenage years to do that. :rolleyes:

And can I say I just love dressing babies in summer clothes? They're so darned cute and I love baby feet without socks. If I wasn't sweating so much I might even enjoy the summer temperatures myself. :D

[FSUSammy]

Lila - Sometimes they get bored of what they are eating. For example, Mikey liked applesauce but I recently started adding a touch of cinnamon and now he gobbles it up, instead of it being a challenge for him to eat it. Same goes for his other veggies. It seems like he's at the point where he wants more flavors so instead of giving him a puree of just sweet potatoes I'm making meals where its chicken, lentils, and sweet potatoes or some other combo. It's a game with these little ones though. Eventually you'll win but its only short term! LOL

[emmjay]

milk - we waited until a year with DS and will do the same with DD. However, DS completely stopped drinking it when we took away the bottle (18 m). He eats a lot of cheese and yogurt so I don't worry about it at all. All he drinks is water.

[cat_loverpq]

Jenn ~ I just realized I never answered your question. :) That chair is from the Dutailer Storybook collection. It wasn't cheap by any means, but it is soooooo comfy and I absolutely LOVE it. Definitely worth the money for as much time as I've spent in it nursing DS! Since I'm still getting up once or twice a night to feed him, it's still getting a lot of use!

ETA ~ Mine's a glider/rocker/recliner so probably more expensive than just your standard glider. ;)

[Aunt Liv]

We've been MIA for quite a while, but just came back from our 6 weeks in Europe last week. Things are going well. Amelia isn't crawling yet, but she's sitting, and starting to scoot. She caught a nasty cold on the plane, I think, and we've been dealing with that the past couple of days.

We had our 9 month WBV on Monday:

Weight: 14lbs15oz (3rd %ile)
Length: 26.5" (10-25th %ile)
HC: 16.75" (5th %ile)
Teeth: 2 bottoms are in, 2 tops are almost there

So, the bad news is that she dropped percentiles in weight again and she's anemic, so I have to add cereal to each bottle and try to give her more whole-fat foods (yogurts, etc.) to try to get her weight up, plus give her an iron supplement each day. The ped said to come in periodically for weight checks until her 1 year appointment. The frustrating thing, though, is that because she has this cold, she's not hungry, and she's coughing so much that she gags and throws up. I'm hoping that as soon as she starts to feel better, we'll be able to follow the new directions that the pediatrician gave us.

Here are a few recent photos...we were in Europe, so Amelia went topless the whole time ;o)
The girls seeing their Daddy for the first time in 4 weeks
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h58/ogeraci/IMG_0974.jpg

Amelia hangin' by the pool
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h58/ogeraci/IMG_0984.jpg

Amelia and Mommy
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h58/ogeraci/IMG_0986.jpg

OK, crabby baby ready for her "Mama" (she says that :o)). Will BBL!

[wendalah]

We are battling our first virus over here...went almost 8 months without a trace of illness, but our luck ran out! Anyway...not too bad. Audrey just has a bit of the runs and doesn't want to eat much. Doctor told us we basically just have to ride it out.

She is in pretty good spirits despite all this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2665640950_3fbab80592.jpg?v=0

[honeygirl]

Welcome back Aunt Liv, I hope you are all healthy soon! She is such a cute baby, doesn't look underweight at all! Love the "topless in Europe". :)

Wendalah - Hope your little DD recovers soon, she doesn't look at all sick. I love the tongue photo!

My DD has been pulling herself up to standing more now. I've found her twice in her crib standing and the other day she did it next to me while I was filling the bathtub. She's still low in her crib (just the top of her head clears the crib) so I'm thinking we don't need to lower it just yet. Ours just has two positions and the top one is still not high if you KWIM.

[wendalah]

Real quick--here is something I am concerned about.
Audrey will be 8 months pretty soon (7/25) and she is STILL not voluntarily sitting up for very long periods of time. I can seat her on the floor and she will sit for a minute, then topple. If I put her on a chair or couch she will sit nicely and even pull herself forward to sit independently for a while. It's almost like she NEEDS the the couch/chair back to guide her to sit. I am a little worried.

Her large motor skills have never been all that advanced. She is a big vocalizer and she ROCKS OUT with her hands--holds her own bottle, turns the pages of a book, picks things up with pincer grasp. But she rolled over late and she's giving me this serious sitting grief now. I am despairing she will ever walk. I'm beginning to think she'll be asking for the keys to the car before she'll pull up on furniture.

[gardenmommy]

Wendalah~
What does Audrey do most of the time, lay down, on her tummy, crawl? When she does sit does she spread her legs enough to do the tripod thing?

I'm not sure I have any advice really, other than my DD (who is now almost 3) was very similar...talking up a storm really really early, obsessed with turning book pages, very detail oriented with her hands but she learned to site late, she crawled very late, and walked very late. She didn't really get the hang of physical things "on time" but my ped never seemed worried about it so I tried not too.

I would certainly ask your ped about it at your 9 mo WBV

[wendalah]

Right now, she lays down, and uses rolling to get around. She is attempting to crawl but is sort of more "swimming" if that makes sense (and not getting anywhere). When she sits, she seems to do it fine and balances OK.

[Megande]

Wendy- I think my only concern would be to rule out low muscle tone or something causing her physical pain when put in a particular position. Other than that, it is amazing how much pure will makes a difference when it comes to kids mastering a particular milestone.

[wendalah]

Well, the REALLY weird thing is, she likes to stand. If you try to seat her, she'll automatically try to stand. I've tested out how much weight she can bear on her legs and it's a fair amount. It is just so weird.

[FSUSammy]

wendalah - What a great photo. Mikey didn't start sitting without toppling over really fast until he was about 8 months old. He was a late sitter. What you described was exactly how Mikey was at her age. He rather stand and would roll all over the place to get where he wanted but try to get him to sit and he wouldn't even last a minute. I know its frustrating but she'll get there when she's ready.

Took Mikey to his 9 month WBV this morning. His chest is sounding much clearer but the doc wants me to continue with the nebulizer once a day for 3 more days. He's getting a good hang of this crawling thing. It looks more like the worm now. He sticks his butt in the air and pushes himself forward. He's not pulling himself up yet with objects but will use my hands to help pull himself up.

His 9 month Stats:
Weight: 21.13lbs
Height: 29"

[Aunt Liv]

wendalah - Amelia is a fantastic sitter and stands if I assist her (won't stand/pull up on her own), but she won't roll or crawl. They all do things at their own pace, but I know how hard it is not to worry when you have a "late" sitter/crawler/walker, etc.

So, I took Amelia back to the pediatrician this morning, just because this low weight thing is really bothering me. I've noticed, too, that when I give her oatmeal, she throws it back up, and I'm not talking, spit-up, but rather full body throwing up (sorry TMI!). Anyway, I told the doc that A throws up every time she has oatmeal, so the she ordered a full battery of allergy tests, just to be on the safe side. If she does have food allergies, it could explain her low weight. Will find out the results next week.

Other than that, we're doing well here. DH's b-day is tomorrow, but I haven't had a chance to plan anything yet :eek:!

[CarrieCP]

Jonah had his nine-month WBV on Wednesday. It was pretty much impossible to get him to hold still on the scale, so I don't know how accurate his weight is:

weight: 23 lbs, 14 oz (90%)
height: 29 in (75%)

Foods: The doctor said it was OK to start offering him yogurt, cheese, egg yolk, tofu, berries, and low-mercury fish (excluding shellfish). He said to wait until 1 year or later before offering cow's milk, egg whites, honey, chocolate, and citrus, and to wait until > 2 years for nuts and shellfish.

Teeth: He has 8 teeth already, and based on his behavior the last couple of nights, it seems like he's gearing up for some more. I guess it's good to get it over with, but jeez, it would be nice to have a break!

[emmjay]

Just wanted to drop off a picture of N's new favorite Bitter Beer Face expression - she started doing this on a plane trip a few weeks ago and now she does it all the time. Sorry about the lighting and the food on her face!

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m261/mollyj6/nora.jpg

[wendalah]

For the love. The child decided to sit TODAY. She did it for me personally a couple times (at the park and on our living room floor), as well as demonstrated for her paternal grandparents and a visiting friend.

By "sit," I mean she sits unassisted for at least a minute.

I should know by now that this sort of thing is de rigeur (sp?) babyhood. They don't do something for forever and ever, you freak out that there's something wrong--and then one day they just do it like they've done it their whole life. La di da.

[CarrieCP]

Jonah cut his first molar this weekend! :eek:

[VMB]

Hi everyone! I've been trying to read along, but never had enough time to post. DH has been travelling like crazy and in the middle of that we had to find a new nanny. It was really hard and emotional, since she's been with us since DS was 3months old! She is going back to school though and I know it's the best thing for her. We just miss her like crazy. We hired a new nanny in between DH's trips and she's really nice and the kids seem to really like her. I just have to get used to her style and her. I'm really bad with change sometimes!

Other than that, Nissa is full on crawling for a month now, pulling up on everything and even cut her 1st tooth almost 2 weeks ago! That thing is sharp! She leaves marks on my shoulders and arms. I can't imagine what "artwork" she'll create when she gots more teeth :eek:


Wendy congrats on a sitting baby! I hope she stays put for you for a while! Try not to worry - every baby hits their milestones in a totally different timeline. DS did not crawl until 9-10months, whereas DD started at 7 months!

emmjay oh my - now that's a statement! A great pic!

Aunt Liv welcome back! I hope you had a great stay back home. The pictures of the girls are adorable. I love being "topless" in Europe :)

merjmo I hope your DD is feeling better! I LOVE baby toes in the summer. Both kids were winter babies, so by them time summer came, I was so excited to see their little bodies. With DS i was more paranoid about the sun, so I kept him in long lightweight pants and socks more often. With DD she's barefoot all the time! (with tons of sunblock....what can I say, some things just don't change)

milk not starting before a year. I don't see why we should. Unless DD weans right before a year and I don't want to deal with transitioning to formula and then milk....but I'm really hopinmg to nurse until a year, mabye part-time nurse a little beyond that. With DS we took away his bottle and breastmilk at the same time at around 13months. He went on a total milk strike for 3-4months. But he was eating yogurt and cheese every day. After that, he fell in love with milk and still demands it at least 2x a day. I just kept offering it to him every day or so to see if he would take it in a sippy.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Wow, we had a lull for a couple of days so I thought I'd come check in. Natalie is sitting in her chair (the newborn to toddler rocker) and drinking her bottle so I have a minute. She's doing great except when we have floor time. She seems to alternate between crawling to the modem and cable area, crawling to daddy's table where he has way too much paperwork at a low level, or crawling to the area where he's got some old LPs stacked that's right next to the shredder. And she's started to pull herself up on the entertainment center and I can totally visualize the flat screen falling over on her. So needless to say, we don't leave her unattended when she's on the floor! We were actually trying to find something for the new house like she has at the daycare, they have padded things that they made a little play area out of. We didn't find anything that wasn't thousands of dollars though so I guess we're the first people that wanted a play area with padded walls for their home?

Other than that, things are good. I think we're going to the zoo today to celebrate my birthday, which was last week but DH kinda messed up and didn't plan anything, so I gave him a do over for today! So while I'm on the subject, TM, you can change my age to 36 if you want!

Oh, bottle's done. Must go change diaper!

[Aunt Liv]

Just wanted to come by and say hey! It's been kinda quiet around these parts, huh?

Jenn - Good luck with finding something for Natalie. Would you consider a type of play-yard? It may frustrate her because she won't have all the freedom she has right now, but it will give you some peace of mind, at least while you're trying to get things done.

milk - Not starting before a year either. I have her on full-fat yogurts and stuff, but no need to take away the formula yet.

Us - We have to go back to the lab next week to get another blood test. Turns out that they didn't take enough blood from her last week to run the allergy tests, so we have to do it again. We did get partial results, however, and so far, she's not allergic to dogs & cats (thank goodness since we have 2 dogs), milk, or fish. They still have to test her for nuts, wheat, oat, shellfish and something else. The ones that I'm worried about are wheat, oats, and nuts. Other than that, still no crawling over here, although she's finally acting like she really wants to move.:rolleyes:

TM - can you change my age to 31 and DH's to 34?

Have a great night!

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Forgot to mention that Natalie is really starting to cruise. She's pulling herself up nicely and standing or leaning well. And she's getting much better on the cheerios and puffs. She's now getting most of them in her mouth, eventually. We're doing the yogurt and the occasional cheese. Need to start meat and I told DH to buy some but he bought ground beef and boiled some meatballs for her and they didn't do so well and she never tried them. So my QOTD:

For anyone that's done meat, what did you start with and how did you prepare it? Bill keeps worrying that things are tasting bad but I keep telling him that she doesn't know what salt tastes like, so she doesn't miss it!

we're also contemplating switching daycares. The current one is not going to be convenient once we move but the new town only seems to have one daycare center but they are in a latter day saints church so they close on fridays at 4 in the winter. So I guess I have to start searching neighboring towns. For now, the plan is to just keep her where she is and add a half hour to our commute! Fun!

[spps]

Aunt Liv - That totally stinks that they didn't get enough blood the first time for all the testing :( , but at least they got some of the results back to you already

Jenn- I can't believe there is only one daycare in your new town.... In fact I know of at least one if you are going to be in the same town as the hospital. My SIL used it for her son ~ 8 years ago so I have no idea if it is still good though. Let me know if you want me to ask around for recs for you. I also know of one in my town that is pretty well liked.

[Jenn (and Bill)]

spps, definitely! The only one I found was the one at the church. There seem to be a couple women who watch children out of their home. one is extremely convenient (between our house and the bus) but we would prefer her in a center. There's a Montessori school but it doesn't have any openings and it's lots more money, i think. So if you know of anything, let me know. I'm curious about Englewood mostly but I'd take Teaneck or Tenafly?

[spps]

I p'm you the info.

[wendalah]

Quick question--is it OK to start your baby on yogurt and cheese at 8 months?

Audrey is chowing EVERYTHING I give her and I'm looking to start something new and interesting. Her current favorite is little pieces of fresh fruit--nectarine, grapes, blueberries, watermelon--and zwieback toast or teething cookies.

No crawling yet, but she covers a load of ground squirming around on her stomach and rolling.

QOTD for anyone who wants to answer. What's your basic schedule? I am home four days a week and I have someone in to watch Audrey the other three, so we are able to stick to a pretty regular pattern:
6 a.m.--wake up, take Audrey in bed to cuddle with Daddy for a few minutes, Audrey plays while I check email.
6:30--Bottle and zwieback/cookie while I prepare coffee for me and DH, and Audrey's breakfast
6:45/7--Breakfast (3T oatmeal mixed with 1/2 container stage 2 fruit, 6 oz bottle)
7:30-8:30--Play on the floor, listen to music, watch Playhouse Disney on TV
8:30/9 a.m.--Naptime
10/10:30--We either play for a while, or run errands (grocery store, Target, pet supply store, etc.)
11--I prepare lunch (usually 1 and a half stage 2 vegetable purees and a little bowl of fresh chopped fruit, 6 oz bottle) while she nibbles a zwieback or eats some Puffs cereal bites
Noon--play on the floor
12:30--Bathtime and music time (we listen to a CD and sing after her bath)
1/1:30--Naptime
2:30/3--Run errands if we didn't do them in the morning, or I put her on the kitchen floor with some pots and pans while I whip up preparations for DH's & my dinner (this is on an ambitious day--half the time we eat sandwiches for dinner!).
4/4:30--Dinner (for baby--same as lunch except I usually add a bowl of fresh mashed avocado)
5:30--Go to the park (a couple blocks away from our house). Swing on the swings, play in the sandbox, socialize.
6:30--Watch the Sprout channel's "Good Night Show"
7ish--Bedtime (6 oz bottle)

I really enjoy this schedule, much to my surprise. I don't mean to sound ridiculous but I really appreciate how zen and calm taking care of my daughter is. I used to thrive off the energy and unpredictability of my job (and I still do enjoy that to some degree), but I am very much appreciating my time at home right now.

[Lila55]

There have been a couple of food questions so I thought I should update on DS eating situation. Some meals he eats, most meals he stops after two bites. Oh well, he is only going to eat when he is hungry! I have offered him pieces of peach, watermelon, kiwi and banana. He picks up the fruit, examines it and then proceeds to throw it on the floor! :) I will keep on trying until he is ready.

I have offered yogurt and chicken. I have baked chicken legs and pureed them with water. I have not offered the chicken puree plain. I always mix the chicken with a vegetable puree and rice.

wendalah I am impressed with your schedule! We are not on a strict schedule. Most days go like this:

7:00 am wake up
8:00 nurse
9:30-11 or 12 morning nap
11-12 attempt at lunch of solids ;)
12 nurse or bottle dependent on if I am working or not
2:00 nurse or bottle
around 2 or 3 afternoon nap usually last about 1 hour
5:00 pm attempt at dinner of solids
5:30 nurse
7:00 bath
7:15 nurse
8:00 bedtime
around midnight to 1:00 am wake up to nurse
around 5-6 am wake up to nurse
We play, go for walks and run errands all other times.

[wendalah]

Lila: DD is huge on routine, so she makes it easy to stick to a schedule :)

[VMB]

wendalah I think yogurt should be OK between 8-9months. I started giving Nissa yogurt when she was about 8.5months. She's slowly getting used to the taste (I buy plain and mix in fruit) - she gets the whole milk with creamy top (yum!). For cheese, I'll probably start this month (she was 9months yesterday!!:eek:) or next. If you guys don't have any history of allergy and Audrey is interested, I say go ahead and try it. Both cheese and yogurt don't have whatever that thing is that is in milk that little kids can't digest (sorry to get so technical:D)

schedule we keep a pretty regular schedule, mostly because my Asher can be a Nazi about his. He's like an alarm! So Nissa sort of has to go with the flow. I'm pretty strict about naps being the same time every day and at home (most of the time).
6-6:15am wake up and nurse (she wakes on her own usually)
7-7:30 eat oatmeal with BM and fruit (now adding more and more yogurt)
7:45ish-9:30ish nap
nurse
11:30ish-12 eat lunch - a jar of stage 2 foods
12:40ish-2 or 2:30 nurse and nap
4ish nurse
4:30-5 - dinner - stage 2 jar of food
6-6:15 bath 2x a week, get ready for bed
6:20-6:40 down for the night
she's up to nurse anywhere from 3-4:30, although occasionally she will STTN

[cat_loverpq]

DS has started spitting his food when he eats. :rolleyes: Not every bite, but when he's feeling playful he will take a bite of his solids and then proceed to blow raspberries, resulting in me getting covered in baby food! Any idea how to stop this behavior? Yeah, I know, not likely, is it? ;)

He's been army crawling for a couple weeks now, and just last night stood by himself while holding onto the laundry basket. He even let go once or twice and balanced all on his own! :eek:

Schedule - DS is in daycare 5 days a week, but this is his typical routine:

3-4am wakes to nurse, then back asleep
5:30-6am wakes to nurse, then back asleep
7:00-7:30 wake up for the day
8:00 cereal with fruit
8:30 breathing treatment
9:30 6 oz bottle
10-11 nap
11:45 veggie/dinner and fruit
12:30 6 oz bottle
1-3(ish) nap
3:15 veggie/fruit
4:15 6 oz bottle
6:15 veggie/dinner and fruit
6:30 breathing treatment
7:00 bath (Tues/Thurs/Sat or as needed)
7:15 nurse
7:30 bed

He plays all day at daycare, goes for walks, "chases" the pet bunny, etc. I pick him up around 5:30pm and we may run errands, depending on how soon he'll be hungry and how long the errands will take. :)

We will start some finger foods in the next couple weeks, as our dr told us to wait until 9 months for that. He's really good with the pincer grasp, so I think he's going to like feeding himself!

[honeygirl]

We had DD's 9mo well baby today. Sadly she's dropped from the curve again and is now in the 3rd Percentile. :( She's 15lbs 4oz and 27.75 inches (58th %). We have to go back next month to see if she's gained weight.

I'm trying not to worry too much b/c I was a tiny baby/child and was only in the 5th percentile till I was a teen. But...I'm feeling a bit unsettled about the whole situation. The doctor recommended offering solids many times throughout the day (she's mostly uninterested except for one meal). She also recommended that I take omega 3 fatty-acids and try to up my fat intake (we're BF'ing).

I'm a little bummed.

[Peever]

DD is 10 months old today. Crazy. I just started planning her birthday party. She's waving, saying mama and dada, has 6 teeth now and we're slowly working on solids. She's into everything and is starting to climb. Yikes.

Working backward...

honey- There's been weight concerns with both my kids so I know how that goes. Let me know if I can help. How's your supply? What's your diet like - protein/calorie/fat intake? How many times a day does she nurse for? For how long?

It's exhausting and takes a lot of effort on my part to get DD to gain the minimum 2 ozs per week that they want her to gain. We've had to do weight checks every 2 weeks for the last 4 months. She's super distractable and I have a really hard time getting her to nurse well during the day. I think the only reason why she's at a decent weight is because I do a lot of dream feeds. If I don't think she's eaten enough before I nap/bedtime, I wait 15 minutes until she's good and sleeping and scoop her up and feed her again. She's still waking up 2-3 times a night because I can't get her to eat enough during the day. Sucks!

Some kids are just meant to be small though. Do what you can and try not to worry about it. It sounds like she's doing great developmentally.

cat- Gotta love the raspberries. Try not to let him get a rise out of you and hopefully he'll get over it soon. DD likes to make farting noises on my arm now. ;)

Wendy- If you don't have any history of allergies, yogurt/cheese should be okay between 8-9 months.

Schedule- I wish we had one. DD is in between 1-2 naps right now so everything's up in the air and it's driving me a little crazy. I liked when she napped predictably at 9 & 1. I can't plan anything these days.

Oops....gotta go...

[wendalah]

Oh, crap. My nanny reported for the past two days that Audrey is taking her second nap at THREE P.M. rather than her usual 1 or 1:30. She's doing 1-1.5 hours at 3 p.m. which is a pretty normal duration for her, but is this a sign she wants to drop her second nap...at eight months? I'm scared!

She is STTN frequently lately so maybe that has something to do with the nap jiggering?

Last week she napped predictably at 1:30 for me every day I was home (Th, F, Sat, Su).

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Wendalah, we started yogurt at 8 months, per the doctors orders. Yogurt, cottage cheese and pastina. At nine, we started puffs and cheerios and cheese. Supposed to start meat but it hasn't gone as planned. Not her fault but ours. Can't even remember the last time DH made chicken or something for us.

Not much of a schedule here. Except for food but even that's slightly different during the week when she's at daycare, cause they feed her earlier and add a bottle.

[merjmo]

Wendalah, we started yogurt at 8 months, per the doctors orders. Yogurt, cottage cheese and pastina. At nine, we started puffs and cheerios and cheese. Supposed to start meat but it hasn't gone as planned. Not her fault but ours. Can't even remember the last time DH made chicken or something for us.

Jenn, it's perfectly fine to not give a baby meat. We don't eat meat (well, DH does at restaurants) so DD won't get it in our home!

honey: did length and HC stay on their curves? If they dropped more than one percentile from the last visit it's something to think seriously about. If not then she's probably just small. It's unlikely that you don't eat enough fat to contribute to your milk - IIRC it's the composition of fat, not the amount of fat in the BM that changes with changes in dietary fat intake. One "meal" of solids is not a lot for a 9mo baby...not that you should push it, of course. Have you tried letting her "experiment" or play with things like puffs or cheerios or crackers? Things she can pick up herself?

[Peever]

wendy- DD has been doing that since about 8 months. She takes 2 naps about half the time now. If she does take a 2nd nap, I can't get her to sleep until around 4 so I usually wake her up by 5, otherwise I can't get her to sleep until 9. She's been going to bed around 8 if she has a late nap and then sleeps in later, takes her first nap later...

honey- Yes, I forgot to mention the height/HC thing. DD's HC has always been on the same curve, or more, but her height has been dropping off as well. I'm not too concerned because most everyone in our family is pretty short, especially the females, but that's another reason why they're more concerned about her growth.

[VMB]

honey you've definately gotten some good advice here re. your DD's weight. I just wanted to offer some support. Appts like that can be disheartening.


cat yes, I have a raspberry blower too. In fact, I have 2 of them. Asher loves to participate when Nissa spittles all her food on me and laughs really hard. So now of course Nissa does it just to get him to laugh. It can be hard to keep my cool sometimes, especially at the end of a looong day.

2 naps Part of me sort of wishes DD would drop her 2nd nap. We could do a lot more during the day! Right now we have about 2.5hours in the late morning and 2hours in the afternoon. It can be pretty hectic. DS took 2 naps until he was 19month(!!), so we'll see what Nissa does.

Well, I've had 2 sick kiddos at home since Monday. They just have runny noses, but the green/yellow stuff that is coming out is pretty nasty. Both of their sleep has gone to cr*p. Between being sick and DH being out of town, Asher was up about 8 times Monday night! I think I slept about 1.5hrs continously at most. Luckily we had DD's 9month WBV tomorrow, so the dr. can check both of them out. Poor kiddos, I can hear both of them snorting in the little sleep they are doing all night long.

[honeygirl]

Thanks for the support and advice ladies. Appts like that can be disheartening. VMB, this is exactly how I felt! I am feeling better about DD today. Her head and length are fine and aren't dropping off. So I guess she's just small. Hopefully the doctor won't make a bigger deal of it. I am going to try to push more meals though. She ate a big breakfast this morning, so that's a start. I also felt a new tooth come in last nigh, which would explain her food avoidance the last week or so. This is tooth #3! :)

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Anyone else buying fall clothes yet? I'm hoping the warm weather will last long enough to get us to early October so that I only have to buy Fall stuff in 18 months. I have a couple 12 month jeans and we can layer so I think we'll be fine. But I've started buying the 18 months stuff and it's just CRAZY big. I feel like she's never going to get that big!! But she's been pretty much on target with transitioning to the next size. Cause at 9.5 months, most of he 9 months stuff fits but the 12 month fits too! Anyway, I just feel like she's going to have to grow a foot before those 18 month clothes fit.

Also, I noticed that some of you have switched to the Stage 2 foods and I'm embarrassed to ask this question but if I can't do it here, I can't do it anywhere. Are they the same foods, just in bigger quantities? I know there are more flavors available in stage two but are the pears the same in each stage? Thanks for humoring me!

[spps]

Jenn - Me! I saw some cute fall pants marked down last week and couldn't resist. Stage two food is a little chunkier than stage 1, and there are more flavors.

VMB - Hope the kiddos are feeling better.. it stinks to have sick kids espacailly when you are on your own.

[cat_loverpq]

Jenn ~ The stage 2 fruits and (plain) veggies are the exact same as stage 1. Some of the mixtures (chicken and noodles comes to mind) are a little thicker, but not much.

DS already has almost a full wardrobe of 12-18 month clothes. :D I've been buying them at garage sales and second hand when I come across them.

[loving624]

DS had his 9 month WBV today

Weight: 17lbs, 11oz (10%)
height: 28 1/2 inches (75%)

He jumped up from 50 to 75% in height but dropped in weight from 25% to 10%. She said that it is nothing to be concered about those, since he is crawling around it makes sense.

He can have yogurt, cheese, and meats now. In the past week he has given up army crawling and uses only the traditional hands and knees, and he has cut his 2 bottom teeth (at once), plus he is either sitting on his bottom or pulled up standing in bed when I go get him. He also is starting to really cruise around the room and his favorite thing to do these days is to go from his tummy or bottom to sitting up. I find myself having to just chase him around the house these days!

Amazingly, even though he cut the 2 teeth at once, there were only 2 cranky days, and they were a week before the teeth actually came through. Never a fever or earache or anything like that. I was so glad for that, those 2 cranky days were enough!

Jenn - pears are even the same in the stage 3's! I have found the fruit to be the same in all 3 stages of food, the only thing I have found to be any different is the stage 3 veges are a bit thicker, and the meals are thicker, like the green beans with rice (stage 3) or the spaghetti (stage 3) is thicker. But the fruits are the same for each stage.

VMB - oh man, I hope the kiddoes are feeling better soon!!

Fall clothes - on our vacation this year we bought his adjusted size. He is really just now in 6-9 month clothes, so at 12 months we think he will be just getting into the 9-12 or still comfortably in the 6-12 month stuff. However, yes, we have bought fall stuff.

2 naps - DS still very much needs his 2 naps. He has STTN for 12+ hours since he was 6 months old, and he naps now around 10 and 2 most days for 1.5-2 hours. I dont see him giving up that first nap until much closer to 12 months, if not past that.

[mlfallis]

Wow I have been MIA from here for a long time, sorry ladies.

teeth: we are at 8 and have been for over 2 months

fall clothes: I already have some 18-24 mth stuff that I bought last year and it will work perfectly for fall. He is already in mostly 18 mth stuff right now. I have a tall one on my hands

food: 90% finger food and is very happy about this. He loves feeding himself. Only thing we are having problems with are meat. His favorite thing is eating off DH plate.

sleep: mainly we are down to 1 wake up a night with some rare STTN and a couple nights he will wake up twice. He also has two naps a day but for some reason the second one is getting shorter and shorter and is now down to 1.25 hours.

Ok better get the kitchen cleaned up. I will try to get better at posting again.

[Megande]

I've been MIA lately, too. We just moved 500 miles to a new state. My husband had to stay behind to finish up with work, so that has been interesting. Thank goodness we have family relatively nearby who has been able to help. And after 3 years of not having grandparent help, it is wonderful!! I am also getting ready to start work soon, so things are pretty crazy around here. Now that I have internet, though, I should be a little more regular!

[wendalah]

Naps seem to have gone back to normal, thank heavens. Overall she naps about 3-3.5 hours total and sleeps for 10-11 at night.

I think I'm going to try stage 3 foods this weekend. We went out for Mexican food last night and my little eating machine devoured refried beans and rice (and probably got a little bit of enchilada in there, too). I was worried she was going to have a bellyache but seemed fine!

[honeygirl]

I love reading about all the things your babies are doing. It's amazing how different our little ones can be. :)

Loving - Sounds like your DS is doing well! I hear you on needing to chase them around the house more.

Megande - Glad to hear that your move went well and that you have internet again. Best wishes on settling in to your new town.

wendalah - Your daughter sounds like a great eater! Let us know how the Stage 3 goes, I've been thinking about moving to those too.

mlfallis - Wow on 8 teeth and size 18mo clothes! Also he sounds like a great eater. Since he's eating table food does that mean you don't have to give him baby foods anymore?

VMB - How are the kids doing? I hope you're all feeling better.


Fall Clothes: I've bought a few things for fall even though it won't be cool here for a few months yet. Since DD is small I'm still buying 6-12 mo. Here's what I posted in the gymbo thread last night:

My DD is such a shrimp that she's still wearing 3-6mo clothes (at 9mo). I can put her in some of the 6-12mo clothes like gymmies and stretch pants. But the shorts, t-shirts and dresses mostly look too big. Sadly I bought quite a bit of clothes in the spring thinking she'd be able to wear them by now. At least she's getting lots of wear out of her 3-6mo old clothes, she's been wearing most of them since March!

Teeth: Looks like she's getting 3 upper teeth at once. Two are through and 1 more is close.

I was just up after feeding DD, back to bed. ;)

[mlfallis]

honey: he has tall genes and is almost 31.5" tall ( higher than the charts go) so that explains the 18 mths clothes. For foor he only gets "baby food" if I buy something and he doesn't like the texture of picking it up and mash/crop it up and feed him with a spoon. It is kinda nice not having to make baby food anymore.

[Megande]

Reed doesn't get baby food anymore, either. The only things we feed him with a spoon are applesauce and yogurt. For everything else, he pretty much feeds himself and mostly just whatever we are eating. It is nice both not to have to make the food and not to have to take the time and effort to feed him!

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Well, I guess I can start switching to Stage Two foods then. I think she's ready for a little more at her meals. We still haven't done meat. DH boiled some chicken on Wednesday night for her but it was after her dinner time. And then last night we were out and about so I guess we'll give it a go tonight. I was really hoping to do fresh meats instead of the stuff from the jar but honestly, we'd have a better track record if we went to the jar!

Last night, she woke up coughing a couple times and DH took the sippy cup with water in and she actually drank some. And then later he went back in and she drank a lot. So that is good. But then she still woke up at 5:30 and he transferred her back to her chair for the last hour and a half. He couldn't sleep anyway himself so it wasn't terrible. But I just feel like we're bad parents by having her start her night in the chair and sometimes end it in the chair. But on the other hand, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? I don't know. I also don't know what's breaking her from her normal 7am wake up unless she's working on some upper teeth. Guess I'll have to try and feel around tonight.

Last night, she came in to the city and had dinner with me and a friend while DH went to a work event. Fell asleep on the way home and I managed to carry her inside, change her diaper and put her in to her crib without waking her up!!! Woo Hoo for me!

I also need to cut her hair this weekend. The ladies at daycare mentioned the lock that's so long she can eat it. But it's all that's left of her original birth hair and I'll be sad to see it go, even if I do save it!

Megan, that's great that you're done with baby food! What area of the world do you live in these days?

Melissa, that is really tall.

Honey, I was worried about that size thing too. I bought spring stuff in 6-9 but most of the summer stuff is 9-12. But her 6-9 still fits her and it's August 1st. So I just started incorporating them both because the 9-12 stuff doesn't look too big on her. So I guess I'm lucky in that respect. Still, I fear she'll be wearing some of it into the fall. My goal is to not go crazy on fall clothes, but the fact that they cover a six month spread almost gives me license too, right?

I still feel like my kid doesn't sleep as much as any of yours. Maybe I'll clock it this weekend and see how it goes. We have GOT to start packing and preparing for this move. Ugh!

[Ericka_Jarett]

Jenn - we have been on stage 2 since the girls started baby food at 4.5 months. Same exact texture in most things and more flavors is the only real difference.

loving - about the clothes, don't buy too many in a certain size, my guy was a munchkin and pretty much staying true to size and then all of a sudden jumped in shirts but not pants. He is 22 months and wears 24month or 2T shirts and 12 month shorts. His 18 month suit I had to put elastic in the pants to keep them up.

----------------------
I have been MIA because we just got back from our trip to Seattle for my SIL's wedding. The IL's loved getting to see the kids. The day we left the girls turned 9 months old. My Easton turned 23 months on the 5th. The kids adjusted their schedule pretty well and now at home have been pretty much back on their schedule from before we left. Julianna tried to take a step today, but didn't have too much success because she did get 1 step in as she let go of the table and then went plop. Katelyn can sit up pretty well by herself now, she tries to get up on her feet from laying down, but hasn't been too successful yet. My son is now going to a big boy bed since he climbed out of his crib this afternoon. Julianna will have his crib now.

[Aunt Liv]

honeygirl - {{HUGS}} I know exactly how you feel. Amelia was 14lbs 15oz at 9 months and also dropped from 5th to below 3rd percentile (off the charts the wrong way). My pediatrician has us increasing her formula intake (we're not BFing) and adding rice cereal to her bottles to get her weight up. I've been giving her more finger foods (sweet potato, avocado, ripe banana, cheese, etc.), but we're still staying away from cheerios and puffs until we get her allergy test results back. Keep us posted on your DD's weight gain!

fall clothes - Not yet. I'm hoping for a growth spurt so I don't have to buy 6-9 month clothes.

sleep - Amelia has decided that it's really fun to wake up at 4 in the morning and play/sing/chat in her bed. I don't go in to get her, but I hear her having a grand ol' time in there. She usually falls back asleep after about a half hour of playing, but by then, I'm wide awake. I think that if she does it again tonight, I'm turning off the monitor :rolleyes:.

naps - She seems to want to drop her morning nap, which seems different than everyone else. She's still taking a nice long one from about 1-4 every day, which works out better since that's when I try to get my older DD to nap as well.

OK...things are too quiet in my house! Must run!

[Ericka_Jarett]

fall clothes - I bought a bunch of things on clearance last year, but in 12 months and 18 months. Katelyn is still a peanut girl and can get away with some 3-6 and 6-9 things still. Julianna is 6-9 and 12 month stuff. But at only $.84 a piece couldn't pass it up.

[wendalah]

Update: Tried the Stage 3 stuff yesterday--she was iffy on it. However, she had already eaten 3/4 of a banana and some YoBaby (liked that), so probably was full!

We'll give the Stage 3 foods another try at lunch today. I'm noticing she's preferring fresh foods (the chunked-up banana, other cut-up fruits, mashed avocado) to cereal or anything in a jar. So discerning, already ;)

[wendalah]

Okay, so I officially have a baby that likes chunky food! The more piece-y, the better. Today she devoured a Stage 3 entree, an entire banana, chopped avocado, and a little bowl of chopped nectarines and red grapes.

I have a can of black beans in the cupboard and am going to try those out on her. She is handling fairly large chunks of soft fruit, so the beans probably are a fine size for her to experiment with.

I have noticed some increased gas issues. She's not in any discomfort, but she's given me a few toots that would make a frat house proud today. Probably a result of digesting the more textured food.

I am home on a Saturday night with only DH, the dogs, the DVR, and a glass of wine for company--but I have to say--I just love being a mom and am having so much fun :D

[jenji]

wow, I feel like I haven't been here in months.
Evan still isn't crawling, but he moves around the house (Fast!) on his tummy. we've got wood floors and vinyl in the kitchen and he just scoots all over.
He's been a total monkey lately, grabbing everything with both feed and holding it. he'll sit in his high chair and hold a ball in his feet, rolling it back and forth on each leg.
as far as food, I'm not sure exactly what constitutes each "Stage" of food since we've been making his, but I've been making it a little chunkier. today at lunch I had forgotten to pack some food for him and he ate apples, dried cranberries and chicken off my salad and some bread. he is liking eating pieces of food, but doesn't like to touch them unless they are dry (bread, puffs, dried fruit etc) so I still feed him most of the time.
He can drink from a sippy cup, but doesn't do it much. he was sick a couple weeks ago and I gave him water from a cup in between nursings (he completely refused solids for about a week).
I need to start coming up with a larger menu for the kiddo. we've been sticking with fairly safe foods, but I think it's about time to start experimenting more now that his tummy has recovered from the bug.

DS will be 10 months this week. I measured today and he is exactly 30". I haven't weighed him yet. he is solidly in 18month clothes, though some of his 12m still fit. He's got a long torso (short legs) and we use cloth dipes. he's fine in 12m if he's in a 'sposie. I have 3 long sleeved shirts for fall. was going to shop this weekend with our sales tax holiday, but didn't get around to it with MIL in town. we've still got 2 full months before it cools off here

[FSUSammy]

Sorry I've been MIA. I attempted to catch up but it was hard. LOL We just got back from our first family vacation to Disneyworld. We stayed on property and got 4 day hopper passes and did Disney a way that I've never done it before. It was the most relaxed Disney vacation ever! And oh so much fun at the same time. Going to Disney and seeing it through your child's eyes is just the most amazing experience ever. I posted details on our trip on Mikey's blog for anyone that wants to see how we did it.

[SQ2]

Sorry I haven't been around much. We just moved into our new house so things have been pretty crazy. It's weird to have so much space after apartment living for so long. Had DD's 9m appt last week:

Height 28.5 in
Weight 19lbs 150z
Head 44.5cm

She's not crawling yet but scoots around on her butt in a fairly large radius. We're trying to feed her more food off our plates and chunkier baby food too. I'm so paranoid about choking but I try to cut things really small. Still not STTN but her average is getting up only once to nurse. I think with the moving it will take her a bit to settle in but I'm hoping she'll STTN soon. She's really understanding more words which is so so cool. For example yesterday I was talking about the trees outside and I said "look at the pretty trees out there" and she looked at them without me even pointing! :)

Getting ready to take a long plane trip to visit family in a couple weeks. A little nervous about that. Hopefully she'll do ok.

[VMB]

We had DD's 9month WBV on Thursday and found out she has an ear infection!! I feel like such a bad mom - I had no idea. She had no fever, wasn't tugging on her ear, just a runny nose. Both DS and DD had a bad night last Monday, but most of it I also attributed to DH being gone, because by Wednesday night they were OK. So she's on antibiotics and being a champ about taking them. I was slightly freaked since with DS we never even experienced a cold until he was about 19-20months old! (I know, we've been super lucky!). She seems to be doing better now. Her stats from the visit are:
18lbs 8oz (about 50%)
27.25: length (just below 50%)
So she's doing pretty good. She's crawling like a speed machine and pulling up with ever more confidence. On Thursday night she even stood on her for about 4seconds after I let go of her hands :eek: She'll also take a few funny-looking steps if I hild her hands. I am just totally shocked at how fast she's moving!

megan I hope you guys get settled in quick - and good luck with your job! How long before your DH joins you?

honey keeping my fingers crossed that your DD is gaining weight as I type this! :)

SQ2 congrats on your new house! I also noticed that DD is understanding more words. Especially when I say "where's Daddy?" (or Asher or our dog), she will crane her neck to find them. It's so cute. She also understands when I don't want her to do something, because she will "saunter" over to our plant, make sure I'm looking, stick her hand into the dirt and when I say her name a little sternly, she looks all shocked at me and then giggles....just a little preview of what the future holds for me :rolleyes:

chunky foods you guys reminded me I have to introduce some finger foods. I am so paranoid about choking (DS still inhales his food and we've had some close calls with him even this past year), but I really have to get on it. She still loves to be fed purees. The chunkiest I've done is corn and butternut squash from Eart's Best and once in a while she'll sort of gag on it. But she loves the taste, because she stares me down until i finish the jar.

fall clothes Nissa has been pretty true to size, so what were late spring clothes, are going to be Fall clothes for her. Plus, I have some jackets left over from Asher and I figure that as long I put something pink on her somewhere, she'll still look like a girl.

Aunt Liv we've gone through that same "play early in the AM and go back to sleep" phase. Like you, I can't sleep after that, and I get up at 5:15 for work anyway. It seems to be slowly going away (fingers crossed!) Hang in there! How can you tell if she's wanting to drop the AM nap? Is she taking a shorter one or just refusing to take one? Asher starts a toddler school in September, and the drop off is at 9, which is in the middles of Nissa's nap, so I'm trying to figure out to handle it....it's within walking distance, but Nissa really does not nap well in the stroller...

[Peever]

I need to get caught up, but I have a quick question for you all. DD's birthday is next month (!) and I'm starting to get asked for birthday gift ideas.

This is sad, but I really don't know what to tell everyone. I bought a bunch of clothes for her during the spring clearances and on the LJ trading post and we have some hand-me-downs from my niece so she really doesn't need anything for clothes. We have more toys than I know what to do with and xmas is only a few months after her birthday anyway. The only thing I can think of is gift certificates to Stride Rite so I can buy her some shoes and maybe gift certificates to the local portrait studio to help pay for pictures. Maybe some straw cups and solids-worthy bibs.

I'd be okay with no gifts at all, but I know no one in our family will go for that. I'm just afraid people will want to see her open something and I'll end up with a bunch of stuff she really doesn't need if I don't think of something to suggest. Our house is tiny and I'll have a panic attack if I have to find a spot for one more toy or article of clothing!

[mlfallis]

jenji: It took Kyle a long time to crawl up on all fours on the hardwood floor. I think it hurts alot more than carpet, even now he doesn't go as far on the hardwood before stopping compared to the carpet.

fall clothes: I know I already answered this but I just went through them all to wash them and besides maybe some socks if his feet grown and a couple onsies Kyle is done. It feels nice to have that out of the way.

[Aunt Liv]

VMB - Amelia is starting to take shorter and shorter naps in the morning, or just hanging out in her bed for a looooong time before finally falling asleep. Sometimes, her nap is as short as 30 minutes in the morning. In the afternoon, though, she's taking a good 2-3 hour nap. Don't feel bad about Nissa's ear infection. A lot of times, infections are minor, don't hurt, and go away by themselves. If she had had a fever and was crying, you would have known right away. I hope she keeps taking her antibiotics like a champ! That's awesome that she stood for that long! Wow! You've got quite the little mover on your hands. ;)

SQ2 - Good luck with the trip. How long of a flight will it be? Just remember that your child sounds a LOT louder to you than to everyone else, and that once those motors on the plane start going, no one can hear anything anyway. Or, the flight attendants will just hand out free wine to everyone around you if your baby is crying for an extended amount of time (like they did for our flight to Europe :D)

FSUSammy - How awesome that you had a fun time at Disney! We're thinking of bringing our older DD in the spring, but are still debating if we'll bring Amelia. From everything I've heard, though, it seems like the little ones love it just as much as the big kids.

peever - I would suggest age-appropriate toys. That's what I told people with DD1. This time around, I don't know what we'll suggest since we already have so many age-appropriate toys.

Hope you're all having a great week! I can't believe we're starting to plan/think about 1st birthdays already!

[Ericka_Jarett]

Aunt Liv - we took Easton at 7 months to Disney World and he loved it.

1st b-day's - DH and I talked about it a little last night actually. We are getting a platter of soft pretzels and most likely a tray of sandwiches and having the party at the local park (we did this for DS's b-day last year, but it was a bigger park and we grilled and well just had way too much food) We had about 12 people last year at the party) DH thinks fewer will come this year, but I am thinking about 15-20 or so this year. We are probably going to do a princess sort of theme. DS had a blue crown that said Little Prince. The girls will have pink crown/tiaras, and I hope to make them shirts to wear. We will have pink lemonade and then the sandwiches and pretzels. We will have cake, not sure of the design yet. Easton's party was a bathtime ducky theme (he had a duck with a blue crown) We can get the same for the girls as they have pink crowns on.

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Peever, how about books? They take up less space than toys. I think the gift certificates for shoes and photos are good too!

Haven't started thinking about first birthday yet.

For those who have just moved, are your DC's adjusting OK? It didn't occur to me that we'd have to deal with that as well as everything else but we're a couple weeks away from ours. Any suggestions? I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to live with three floors when we're used to being cramped on top of one another now! She won't know what to do with herself with all that room to crawl!

Ooh...back to work!

[mommycal]

Peever, I was just going to say books as well. or how about a GC to either a gymbo class or a swim class? zoo membership? i love the gifts that keep on giving and don't clutter up the house :D

[SQ2]

Aunt Liv - The long leg of our journey will be 5 hours I believe, maybe less. It will be after her bedtime so I'm hoping she'll sleep for most of it. Of course then she'll want to be awake when we get there I'm sure.

Jenn - We've been in so many different places (staying with family/friends, a rental, and then our house) over the last two months I almost think DD is used to it. Every time we move, though, she takes a couple nights to adjust. First night in this house she was up 3x to nurse but then the next night only her usual 1x. What has helped is always staying consistent with her routine. Having the same blanket, white noise, bedtime book, etc. helps her realize that she's still safe and things are still the same even though she's in a different place. It definitely hasn't been easy though. And I know what you mean about having so much space. Our house isn't that big, but compared to what we're used to, it seems enormous.

[Ericka_Jarett]

SQ - we just returned from a trip cross country with all the kids. The girls did pretty well, my son on the other hand had a few meltdowns. We had a layover as well, so the trip took about 7-8 hours total. I let the girls stand between my feet for a while, they get tired of sitting as well. They seemed to love that. I also let them bang on the tray (seat in front was occupied 1 time but they didn't seem to notice the banging, it didn't shake the seat or anything) got some happy squeals from them when they did that. The kept grabbing at our cups so we had the flight attendant just pour us a glass and then keep the can, too hard to try and have the tray down with a cup since they would just flip the tray up. We didn't really take many toys for them on the plane, they liked the empty plastic cup we had, they slept or drank their bottles. You will do fine.

[VMB]

Peever I always think museum/zoo memberships are great, maybe a subscription to Animal Baby magazine (an issue usually lasts about 3months in our house before it's destroyed beyond repair), gift cards....and if people really want to see her open something, they can get a cheap stuffed toy. If I remember correctly though, DS wasn't really into opening presents until he was closer to 18-20months. At hise 1st b-day party we didn't do any present opening. We all just hung out and then everyone was ready to leave.....

food I'm determined to make DD more homemade baby food. I used to make DS really yummy purees from Annabel Karmel - like sweet potato/chicken/leek...it's made with butter, so it's even more yummy. Must move beyond jarred food and do something more special for her....

Well, we had some crazy storms come through Chicago on Monday night. The lightning was insane and really cool at the same time...right up until we lost power. Luckily the kids were already asleep. But it was so hot that day and the next and our power did not come back until the next afternoon. We just kept the fridge closed and my frozen BM came to work with me;) How does DH know when to be out of town? He seems to miss all these "fun" times. It was pretty hot and muggy yesterday, but everyone survived just fine and now we're up an running. Monday night was one of the 1st time they sounded tornado warnings within the city of Chicago limits(!) and they evacuated Wrigley Field (night game, we live really close by). It was pretty crazy...

[wendalah]

RE: Food...DD is really getting into eating regular foods. This week I plan to try a couple new things. She rejected jarred "baby" spaghetti, so I'm going to try giving her regular pasta with a bit of marinara and parmesan. I'm also wondering if she might like lentil soup. She can handle whole black beans so lentils should be no problem.

[VMB]

wendy I think my DD would prefer "real" food more too. I think the ones I used to make for DS were more like that since they were made with onion and butter etc. Since neither DD or DS had teeth early or were good about chewing, I am just going to puree them a little chunkier. But I do think she'd like the taste for real food better. I am going to try and stay away from salt or too much seasoning until 1 year or so though. That jarred pasta stuff can be pretty yucky!

[emmjay]

wendalah - I just gave DD lentils this week and she loved them. It was sort of stew - lentils that had been cooked with onion and carrots for hours and hours. I also gave her some homemade "fried rice", which was brown rice and peas cooked with some soy sauce. That was another hit. Oh, and refried beans.

[wendalah]

I'm kind of gross, I guess, but I thought the jarred spaghetti stuff smelled kind of good...LOL...like SpaghettiOs :D. Can you tell I like junk food?

ETA: I'm a little lazy about cooking the lentils so I was thinking about giving her a bit of Trader Joe's lentil soup. Might be a bit high in sodium, though--I need to check the label. Refried beans are a huge hit over here, too. She eats them when we go out for Mexican food.

OH--Almost forgot. I was planning on trying out a crumbled-up veggie patty on her too. She ate a piece of veggie burger at a restaurant, and I can make them even softer and mushier at home by microwaving instead of baking or frying.

Another easy experiment I tried was butternut squash. I bought a bag of frozen pre-cut chunks, and they were the perfect size for her to pick up and eat. She wasn't entirely thrilled with the taste but she did enjoy squishing them in her hands!

[Aunt Liv]

I love all these great suggestions for food! I really need to start coming up with new ideas for Amelia - she's totally over the jarred baby food. I'm keeping her off wheat and oats (we STILL don't have the test results!!), so we can't try pasta yet, and breads are out. But I think that brown rice would be a hit for her. How do you cook lentils? I have a bag of them, but don't know what to do with them at this point.

Keep the food suggestions coming! This is great!

Gotta get the girls down for naps. BBL!

[daisysue62]

Haven't been by here to update in awhile! Ethan is really moving now and is a fast crawler/cruiser and we're guessing he'll be walking by the end of the month. We've caught him standing by himself when he forgets to hold on to the couch occasionally.

We've also started feeding him finger foods and chunkier purees. He loves cut up bananas, avocados, and cheese. I also just started giving him the jarred meat sticks this week which he likes ok but gross Dh out like nothing else. He's also figured out how to hold his sippy cup and loves to drink water. I'm sooooo glad he figured it out because my DD didn't figure out regular sippy cups so we used straw cups for about a year before switching.

He owns tons of clothes for the fall, mostly 12-18 and some 6-12 (especially bottoms!). He wears 6-12 month stuff pretty solidly right now.

Haven't thought a lot about his birthday, just finished up our DD's 3rd birthday (and first "real" party!) last week so I'm still wiped from that. I'm hoping my inlaws will be able to come out here so we can have one party and not do two like we've done for our DD in the past.

[Jenn (and Bill)]

Did I tell you guys my chicken story? So we finally offered some boiled chicken to Natalie, all cut up real small. She took a couple of them but it didn't go over too well. Just didn't seem all that interested so I thought I'd wait a while before trying again. So the next afternoon, we're headed out to look for furniture for something and I notice something white or light in her mouth. I assume she's gotten a hold of a kleenex or something while we weren't looking so I reach in and grab it out. It's two little pieces of chicken from the night before. Isn't that AWFUL???? All I can imagine is that instead of swallowing them, she stuck them in some cheek pocket or something. And DH had made a joke earlier in the day about how it looked like she was chewing gum. So now I don't know what to do. I'm thinking we should do the jarred puree for a while until she's got a handle on that swallowing thing??? Or just hold off on meat altogether?

[emmjay]

For lentils, I sautee some onion and carrot in olive oil (you can also add 1lb ground beef or turkey per bag of lentils if you want). Then put the lentils in a big pot with a lot of water, whatever it says on the package, add the sauteed stuff, and cook it down until you can't see the water and the lentils are mushy. It takes a few hours. You can add salt and pepper if you want but it's not really necessary for babies. Or you can cook it in vegetable/chicken stock to add more nutrients.

Jenn - when DS was around 9 months I took him to Houston to visit the ILs. I took him out to lunch to meet up with a friend, and we went to a barbecue place. DS kept wanting to try the food so I gave him a bunch of brisket. He kept wanting more and more. At the end of the meal he laughed and I saw a gigantic wad of gray meat in his mouth! He had been storing it in his cheeks after he sucked all of the flavor out. I don't think we did any more meat until after he was one because he just couldn't chew it. For protein, we did a lot of lentils, beans, and dairy. Some ground meat occasionally, but he was basically a vegetarian until around 13-14 months because he had a hard time with meat.

[merjmo]

How do you cook lentils? I have a bag of them, but don't know what to do with them at this point.

Lentils only take 30 min to cook - so you can saute veggies if you want (onion, celery, carrot, and garlic are nice), stir them in, and immediately add water (there might be proportions on the bag) and simmer until they're soft. I make soup so I rarely measure the water; sometimes it's watery and sometimes it's thick depending on my mood!

VMB: lucky you. NOT!

food: DD likes her banana coated in wheat germ so she can pick it up. We were considering black beans, but because she doesn't have teeth, is that an issue? A friend suggested slightly smushing each bean first. Thoughts?

[Lila55]

Great lentil recipes!

Peever I give my younger cousins saving bonds. I never know what to give them. I figure this way, they have the money in the future to spend as they please.

Clothes I do not have any fall clothes. Summer is so short in New England that I like enjoy every minute without thinking about the cooler weather!

[wendalah]

We were considering black beans, but because she doesn't have teeth, is that an issue?

Audrey only has the bottom two teeth, which aren't really much use, and she manages fine. You could smash the bean a bit at first to see how she takes to it. That's actually how I started A. off.

[FSUSammy]

I love all of the food suggestions. I've been so afraid to try new foods that I've been sticking strictly to what wholesomebabyfood.com tells me I can give him.

A friend of mine told me she gave her 10 month old grilled cheese sandwiches as well as turkey and cheese sandwiches so for the heck of it I tried to give Mikey a grilled cheese sandwich that I cut into very small cubes and he LOVED it. I only gave him half because I figured an entire sandwich would be a bit much for him. Tonight I'm going to try the turkey and cheese and see how he likes it. I'd love nothing more to stop giving him purees and move completely onto real table food!

[cat_loverpq]

I guess I'm just the opposite of most mamas...I actually prefer to give DS the jar food and not have to worry about cooking for him. :) B/c of our busy work schedules, DH and I rarely have a well-balanced, home-cooked meal in the evenings. For me it's going to be a lot more work when DS moves on to table food! :p

And I have a new milestone to report! Last night DS went from crawling on his belly to sitting up! I'm so glad I won't have to "rescue" him when he gets tired of being on his belly now! :D

[wendalah]

Hey! We tried an "all-grownup food" meal at lunch today...a little bowl of lentil soup (I just used the Trader Joe's kind) and cottage cheese. Both were successful. I hope they don't upset her stomach--I let her eat as much as she wanted, but she stopped at a reasonable amount (IMO).

Cat: I am the world's worst cook...so choosing the easiest table foods possible...even I can't screw up cottage cheese and fresh fruit.:o

[wendalah]

Oh, another idea I'm considering--DD likes Earth's Best meals, so I might just mix some pasta into one of them and see if she takes to it.

[FSUSammy]

QOTD: Does anyone have tips on getting their little one to drink from a sippy cup while holding it themselves and tipping it up?

DS can drink from a sippy just fine he just doesn't care to tip it or hold it himself while he's drinking out of it. I'm now in a rush to get him to learn because I found out that they will be transitioning him to the big kid side of the infant room soon to make room for more little babies so he'll need to quickly master the sippy cup.

[merjmo]

Audrey only has the bottom two teeth, which aren't really much use, and she manages fine. You could smash the bean a bit at first to see how she takes to it. That's actually how I started A. off.

Hey, thanks Wendy. Good idea. I gave her a (HUGE) blueberry this morning as a whole and I think she ate it, so I guess she'd be ok with peas or beans.

A friend of mine told me she gave her 10 month old grilled cheese sandwiches as well as turkey and cheese sandwiches so for the heck of it I tried to give Mikey a grilled cheese sandwich that I cut into very small cubes and he LOVED it. I only gave him half because I figured an entire sandwich would be a bit much for him. Tonight I'm going to try the turkey and cheese and see how he likes it. I'd love nothing more to stop giving him purees and move completely onto real table food!

Great idea! I'll have to make grilled cheese for myself this weekend and share it with her. Is Mikey picking up the food on his tray? I did an all-feed-yourself meal the other night - boiled cut up potatoes, cubes of cheese, puffs, crackers, and banana coated in wheat germ. She LOVED it.

I guess I'm just the opposite of most mamas...I actually prefer to give DS the jar food and not have to worry about cooking for him. :) B/c of our busy work schedules, DH and I rarely have a well-balanced, home-cooked meal in the evenings. For me it's going to be a lot more work when DS moves on to table food! :p

You know, you can rely on frozen veggies to feed him, and if you did a veggie and some of whatever you're eating (or ate the night before saved in a bowl for G) that's a meal. :) Cut-up banana (tossed in wheat germ to be less slimy) is wicked easy, and even if you had to steam frozen veggies right before he ate isn't *too* hard. I did "baby" carrots last night and they took a while, but it wasn't too bad. I boiled potatoes the other night and it made a huge batch which will last a while. Also, cut up meat or cheese is really easy and available. I know people are avoiding canned foods b/c of BPA, but V really liked pumpkin from a can, and although canned beans are high in salt they're REALLY easy. :)

[FSUSammy]

Great idea! I'll have to make grilled cheese for myself this weekend and share it with her. Is Mikey picking up the food on his tray? I did an all-feed-yourself meal the other night - boiled cut up potatoes, cubes of cheese, puffs, crackers, and banana coated in wheat germ. She LOVED it.

We tried a turkey and cheese sandwich last night and he loved that too, so another idea for ya! He does pick up food from his tray but he takes forever sometimes so I'll usually help him out and give him some small pieces, otherwise I'd wait forever for him to finish it all. I'm gonna have to try boiled cut up potatoes, he's had potatoes but it was always mashed in with something else. And banana coated with wheat germ, I would never have thought of that!

[wendalah]

Holy cow, the baby just ate an entire plum at breakfast.

I know strawberries are supposed to be avoided, but for how long? And what about oranges? Oh...and are green onions bad? A. loves this "eggless egg salad" stuff I get at Trader Joe's; it's made with tofu and green onions and, I think, some tahini.

[SQ2]

FSUSammy I wish DD would drink from a sippy cup. She just chews on it. I tried a straw cup but she doesn't get that either. The only way we can really get her to drink water is from a shot glass! It's rather messy but she loves it and now is starting to want to hold it herself. So cute.

[CarrieCP]

I know strawberries are supposed to be avoided, but for how long? And what about oranges?

My pediatrician said strawberries were OK at 9 months. (I was surprised - I thought they were too acidic, but he said they're fine.) But he said to wait until 1 year for oranges and other citrus.

[Lila55]

fsusammy Offer him the sippy a lot. Every time he picks it up and puts it in his mouth, tip it back for him. He'll get the hang of it. I offered the sippy with water right at 5 1/2 months. DS has been drinking from it by himself for over a month. He loves water!

merjmo This may sound like a stupid question but what is wheat germ?

[merjmo]

We tried a turkey and cheese sandwich last night and he loved that too, so another idea for ya! ...And banana coated with wheat germ, I would never have thought of that!

Well, we don't eat meat, so that's out! :D Yeah, I had heard of Cheerio dust for the slimy foods, but a friend said wheat germ and it's way healthier than even Cheerios. It took kind of a lot to get them to not stick together but it made it much easier for her to grab - I halved the banana lengthwise and then cut thick slices. She LOVED it. We just let her eat with us so she has time to work on it while we eat our own food.

I know strawberries are supposed to be avoided, but for how long? And what about oranges? Oh...and are green onions bad? A. loves this "eggless egg salad" stuff I get at Trader Joe's; it's made with tofu and green onions and, I think, some tahini.

Strawberries are b/c they're a high-allergy food. Wholesomebabyfood.com (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/allergy.htm) says current recommendation is wait to 12 months but some peds give the go-ahead for high-allergy foods earlier if the baby has shown no signs of allergy.

Citrus/tomatoes is a year, because the acid can be hard for their tummies to deal with. Green onions should be fine if she likes them.

FSUSammy I wish DD would drink from a sippy cup. She just chews on it. I tried a straw cup but she doesn't get that either. The only way we can really get her to drink water is from a shot glass! It's rather messy but she loves it and now is starting to want to hold it herself. So cute.

Did you take out the valve? If the liquid flows out a bit faster she may get the point better.

[merjmo]

merjmo This may sound like a stupid question but what is wheat germ?

Wheat germ (http://www.kretschmer.com/) is a portion of a wheat kernel. When flour is refined (wheat flour) the germ and bran are removed, and then you have plain white flour. The germ is the part that nourishes the plant, and is a rich source of folate, vitamin E, magnesium, and potassium. Once the pkg has been opened it should be stored in the refrigerator so the oils in it don't turn rancid, but you can make baked goods with it as well as sprinkling it on to foods (like yogurt) raw.

[cat_loverpq]

Allergy foods - We've been giving DS the stage 2 mixtures that contain strawberries for at least a month now. He's also had some veggie mixture that I'm pretty sure had tomatoes in it. I have a tutti-frutti fruit medley which I believe has oranges in it that he hasn't had yet...guess I'll ask the ped on Monday when we go for our 9m wbv. So far DS hasn't had any reactions, so I think we're doing ok!

sippy ~ Just this past Wed. DS finally got the hang of actually sucking on the sippy. Before he would just chew on it. We have the Nuby cup and the piece they suck on is pretty wide (more like a nipple) and I think that helps.

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-83333507685311_2013_4533208

[cat_loverpq]

I think DS is getting bored with his toys. We haven't really bought anything new and don't have much that's age appropriate over 6 months.

QOTD ~ Does anyone have any really awesome toys/play centers/tables that their DC loves?

I was thinking DS might enjoy something like these, now that he's starting to pull up...any other suggestions?

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2895805reg.jpg

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2864326reg.jpg

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2789362reg.jpg

[emmjay]

wendalah - you might want to be careful with the tahini. Sesame is a highly allergenic food and some people with sesame allergies have reactions similar to nut allergies. My old ped was OK with sesame and nuts after 12 months (I haven't asked our new one yet).

sippy cups - DD just drinks out of DS's, so it hasn't been too much of an issue. I remember with DS I went through every freaking sippy cup on the market, trying to find one he would actually drink out of. He liked the Take-N-Toss ones with the removeable straws the best. Also Born Free are good (and no bpa), although they have a tendency to leak a bit. Definitely take out the valve so they don't have to suck as hard.

I think we just dealt with roseola this week. On Monday, N had a slight fever and one of her eyes was kind of puffy. We're out of town, so I took her into a local family practice place. Her eye was fine by the time we got there and they said it was probably teething and she might have scratched/banged her eye. She had a fever Mon - Wed, then starting yesterday the fever was gone but she had a rash that is worse today. But I still think she's teething on top of the roseola. She's batting at her ears like crazy, doing a lot of humming/crying ("ummm ummm ummm"), chewing on everything, shoving her hands into her mouth, etc. She's totally miserable.

I was thinking it could be an ear infection, but she hasn't had a cold since before we went to the doctor and they checked her ears then, so I doubt it. She's fine lying down flat too, and I know that tends to bother them if they have an ear infection. I hope she has a better night tonight - she was up 5x last night, poor baby.

[Jenn (and Bill)]

So after much anguish, we decided to keep natalie at her current daycare. Didn't love any of the others enough to risk it. They just love her too much. Though I do give a big thanks to spps for finding some solid contenders for me!

We bought some stage two foods tonight so we'll start her on that. Gonna try some of the pureed meats too, I think. Just because of that chicken incident! We haven't really done any real people food, other than yogurt, cheerios and bananas. But even the bananas we mashed up. We really need to broaden our horizons and your suggestions are all great. But I'm terrified and a little lazy. Maybe things will get better once we move!

[wendalah]

Hm. Never brag about your child's sleeping habits OR eating habits. My formerly enthusiastic eater is now suddenly refusing food in favor of bouncing around in her high chair, squealing, and tossing it on the floor. GREAT!

[loving624]

This is a late response but cat - ITA with you. I have always thought that baby food is just plain easier. And I cook dinner most every night here, it's just so much easier for me to open a pack of baby food for him.

However, that being said, he has had table food and is now practically to the point where he won't eat baby food anymore. He won't touch the stage 3 dinners, and I don't really blame him after taking a small bite of the stuff. He'd much rather have our food.

I really need to get online and get some ideas for more things for him. I try hard to make sure he has plenty of fruit and veges a day, but I am having trouble finding fruit for him it seems.

We had a big milestone last night - DS has been pulling up to stand for a while and this week has been experimenting with letting go...he pulled up last night on the couch, let go, and took one step towards DH before he plopped down again! He did it again a few minutes later for us too. It was so cool to watch. He's cruising all over the furniture too. I guess in my eyes I still see him as this little tiny baby, and when they walk they don't seem like babies anymore, so it is making me proud and sad at the same time!

I am so glad I read the suggestions of taking the valve out of the sippies! DS has not been doing well with them, he will hold it just fine but he doesn't know how to tip it back to get the liquid from it. I think I am going to take the valve out and see if that helps and hopefully that will get the point across. I just give in easily, if DS doesn't get the liquid and he knows it is in there he gets frustrated and so I just give in, I need to just offer it more and more so he gets used to it.

[VMB]

loving Wow! oh my gosh - congrats, I guess, right? That's pretty impressive.

cat like you and loving I am not much of a cook and always thought jarred baby food was a little easier. I can feed DD in the stroller at the park while DS terrorizes the playground. Luckily DS was always a good eater, so I can steam frozen veggies in a bag with any leftovers we have, or grilled cheese or something and he'll eat it all up. DD I have a feeling won't be as easy going about it.

allergy foods We've decided to stay away from strawberries, citrus and raw tomatoes and wheat until 1 year. We don't have any family history of allergies, but DS still gets diaper rash/red rash around his mouth if he has too much citrus/strawberries/raw tomatoes. There is so much other food to feed them and I really do feel that up until a year it's more about the experience of eating/tasting foods, that I don't really worry about a "balanced diet" per say, or too much variety.

sippy both DD and DS learned to drink from a combination of the Nuby that Cat posted and the cheapo Take n' toss ones. The TNT taught