11 months ago, noah marched into our lives, after only 7 short hours of labor and a relatively short gestation. he arrived "early" by the calendar's standards but right on time for him and has continued to march to the beat of his own drum, deciding to start solids early, crawl in his very own fashion and now, he has even decided he is done with nursing (*sniff*). while i was starting to grow weary of pumping and continuing to be a constant food source, i don't think i was quite ready for the abruptness of this transition. the pediatrician had recommended we begin supplementing with formula, since our guy is always on the move and didn't seem to be gaining as much weight as desired. he wasn't a fan at first, but slowly transitioned to more bottle feeds and less breastmilk. shortly after christmas he was down to nursing only once a day, and then he had pretty much given it up all together. my supply had been decreasing with his waning demand, so once he stopped that was pretty much it :( of course, this also brought the advent of his first runny nose (thanks to some playtime with the extended family at christmas...oops! guess we didn't wash his hands enough) which meant *lots* of nasal suctioning between feedings and before sleeping. since i already have to do this at work and don't really enjoy it when i get paid to do it, i really wasn't to terribly happy to have to do it at home to my own child. fortunately, noah forgave me quickly and it did seem to make a huge difference in his ability to tolerate eating and sleeping.
in happier news, our big boy has made big strides in the weight gain and in terms of physical development. in the last 2 months since his check-up at the pediatrician's office he has gained about 6 lbs! these are "rough" numbers of course, since i am comparing his more accurate weight at the appointment to our own scale numbers at home, but he is obviously gaining weight so we are happy about that! he doesn't go back to the pediatrician until just after his first birthday, so we will have more accurate stats then.
as far as motor skills and development, noah has acquired a lot of new skills this month. he learned to clap anytime we say "yay!" or when he feels it's necessary (read: playing with blocks or other toys he really enjoys) or when we sing pat-a-cake. he also figured out (after months of daily practice) how to wave "bye-bye" and readily does this anytime someone opens the back door. other cues to wave: if he doesn't like what's going on (i.e. i'm ready to leave!), or if he is being held by either parent in the kitchen and the other is standing near the back door (this usually means one of us is leaving for work). it is incredibly adorable to see him be able to communicate in this fashion, and he seems to enjoy it as well. he's also slowly begun to incorporate other signs into his day, including the sign for "more" which, like everything else, he has modified into his own version, and "please" -- although this one is harder to elicit and is still a work-in-progress. it's obvious he's understanding more and more now, too, even though he can't say what he wants to say. if we ask him where something is he is happy to look for it, and he has even begun pointing at things. he also knows what to do if we tell him we need to "put your pants on, noah" which is his cue to stop moving his legs (finally! he's such a wiggle-worm!). and, perhaps, my favorite of all is that noah loves to read and turn pages in books. this is especially fun at night just before bedtime, when he sits on your lap, holds his bottle in his left hand and turns the pages to his bedtime stories with his right. so. stinkin'. sweet. :)
also, while our almost-one-year-old isn't quite walking just yet, he is closer every day. shortly after christmas he figured out how to stand on his own and will gladly stand for several seconds before choosing to squat down or sit on the floor (usually to play with whatever toy is nearby). we have yet to see any shaky first steps, but i can see his confidence growing and you can tell he is contemplating it. i think it will be very soon that we have another biped among us. poor lexi!
speaking of lexi, while she doesn't seem too thrilled about all the attention our littlest drooling quadriped gets, it has become obvious lately that noah is *absolutely* in love with our dog. his very favorite game continues to be the "is lexi gonna get you?" game or the "get lexi!" game, both of which consist of lexi walking around the living room and noah shrieking his head off, clearly having all the fun for both of them. i finally caught this on video and it makes me giggle every time to see how happy such a lazy, drooling, shedding fur-ball makes him. it practically makes vacuuming up dog hair every other day worth it.
the video:
all the pics are here -- there aren't very many, we got more video than still pics this month:
