Monday, January 26, 2009

January Milestones

This was the weekend for milestones. Tommy had his 9 month appointment at the pediatrician’s office on Friday. Apparently he is slightly underweight and shorter than most 9 month olds. The short part didn’t surprise me…after all he does come from a short family, and I’m sure he’ll have growth spurts. BUT – the weight thing??? REALLY??? I mean…have you seen the pictures of our little meatball? This child can eat! I was angry about it at first (protective instinct kicking in)…but then tossed it up to doctors not knowing everything. I know Tommy eats (A LOT) so I’m not worried.
Here is a picture of him trying Spaghetti for the first time. I let him play with it a little bit…mostly just to see what he would do.
Here are some other pictures from last week and this past weekend. He loved hanging out and having fun with his Daddy on Saturday. He wore Daddy's hat, and played hide and seek with him.Tommy’s crawling skills have greatly improved, and he’s becoming more and more brave, and you wouldn’t believe how fast he can get from one end of the room to another. We think he could start to take his first walking steps within the next month. Which is completely blowing my mind. He’s really starting to lose his baby-ness.
Tommy did two things on Sunday. 1st – he fed himself for the first time. He was sitting in his highchair munching on the little star shaped peach puffs and making a wonderful mess. This is more funny than anything else, and Mav appreciates the ones that are thrown to the floor. Tommy gets so excited about food! He’s been able to pick them up for a while, but usually they end up getting stuck (and mushy – Gag) in the middle of his little fist. Yesterday however, as I watched he began “pinching” the stars between his thumb and first two fingers, and shoving them in his mouth. Believe it or not, this is a HUGE milestone in a baby’s development, and it was thrilling to watch. Of course I cheered for him…and encouraged him to keep trying…next we’ll see if he can pick up his cheerios. So exciting!
The second milestone Tommy hit was that he stood on his own. It was only for about 5 to 10 seconds at the most, but he did it. I couldn’t believe it…and to be honest…it was hilarious. He pushes himself up from the sitting position on something (couch, large toy, or one of us) and leans up on his tippy toes (he looks like a triangle). Next he plants his feet flat and extends his arms. Lastly, he slowly stands up until he is balancing, and holding on with just one hand. Within moments he lets go, and balances standing all on his own for a few seconds before falling onto his bum or grabbing back ahold of whatever object he was using for balance. It’s amazing to watch, and I find myself holding my breath with silent excitement as he does this ritual over and over again, teaching himself how to stand. Here he is standing up…about to let go. I didn’t snap the picture after this one fast enough to actually catch him in the act. We think he may finally be teething. Tommy was a little out of sorts yesterday, and today he’s been completely miserable. Unfortunately as a parent all you can really do is comfort them and wait, which is extremely hard to do when you can see pain and confusion in their eyes. I have heard of the whiskey thing, and orajel…the first is out of the question. The second we may try, but only as a last resort. I just keep handing over his teething toys, and giving him lots of hugs. I guess we’ll see what happens within the next few days.
Tommy and Mav are getting along great. Here are a couple pictures of them playing tug-of-war with an old sock. Whenever Tommy would let go of the sock, Mav would give it to him, he also drops his ball in Tommy’s lap whenever Mav wants to play catch. It’s so cute.

1 comment:

Julie Hart said...

Tommy's so grown up! I can't beleive he's 9 months already. I totally agree with the Dr. being wrong. :-) Tommy looks perfect to me.