Nine Month Update

I realize that this post is long overdue, since AJ turned 9 months old back on March 10th, but we just had his nine month checkup yesterday. It takes more advance planning for me to get an appointment at the pediatrician now that I am working again. Here are the stats: 31 inches in length and 25 lbs, 3oz, which puts him in the 98th and 95th percentiles for height and weight. This means that he is maintaining his same growth curve on the growth chart, which is what the pediatrician likes to see to make sure that he is still thriving.

I always intend to go into these appointments with an organized and efficient list of questions, but I inevitably leave the list at home or forget to write one in advance and end up asking our pediatrician crazy one-off questions like "So I noticed that his head sweats a lot when he sleeps. Is this normal?" (For the record, she said that some kids' heads do sweat, and it is nothing to worry about, although she didn't have an explanation as to why it happens.) I fear there is some sort of note in AJ's chart that says something like "slightly neurotic mom w/weird questions".

The pictures are of AJ at 9, 6, 3, and 1 month. It is getting harder and harder to get him to sit still to take the pictures. For the next one, I may have to sew some velcro to his onesie to get him to stick to the rocking chair for a few seconds.

March Madness

Since I found out I was pregnant, I have been waiting to see what the first thing would be that Joe bought for the kid. As previously mentioned, Joe is not a shopper. At his request, I even purchase Joe's clothes and bring them home for his review and approval. I thought he might show up at the hospital with a little t-shirt or hat, but the occasion came and went unmarked by a gift for the baby. Then Christmas rolled around, and I thought there might be something under the tree for AJ that was not purchased, lugged home and wrapped by me. No dice. Don't get me wrong--I realize that AJ has no comprehension of gifts at this age and don't measure Joe's love for his son by what he gives him. But I was just super-curious about what thing would eventually catch Joe's eye and motivate him enough to actually shop by himself.

It took 18 months (counting pregnancy + AJ's age), but Joe finally purchased his first gift for the little guy--a 2 1/2 foot basketball hoop. He casually mentioned the other day that he thought AJ should have a basketball hoop to experience his first March Madness. I gave an mmmm-hmmm but didn't offer to make the trip to Toys-R-Us to get it. This afternoon Joe took AJ for a car ride while I did some work, and I was surprised when they showed up with the hoop and ball in tow. Yessss---more plastic kid paraphernalia in our already overflowing living room/dining room/office! But I gotta admit that I think it is cute to see them playing together.

My favorite "toys"

I have wasted a lot of money on toys, because like all babies, all AJ really wants to play with are things around the house. If the only items he had in his toy box were a tv remote control, a cell phone, a blackberry, pots and pans, a wooden spoon, door stops, clothespins, highlighters, junk mail and a bathroom garbage can full of trash, the guy would be in heaven. The other day I bought him some toy boats for the bathtub thinking that he would be bored in there without some new toys. Silly me. Instead of playing with the boats, he thinks it is fascinating to scoot around the edge of the tub and knock the bottles of shampoo, conditioner and soap into the water and then bob them up and down.

Here are a couple of pictures of him playing with the box of electrical outlet covers that I was using to babyproof his room.

The Easter Bunny Rides Again

We celebrated Easter this weekend, AJ's first. At church, the priest noted that the sweater vest seemed to be the must-have essential this spring for little boys. Thanks to Joe's Uncle Dennis and Cousin Marcus, AJ was sporting a very fashionable sweater vest/shirt combo that is featured in the picture above. I love seeing all of the little kids all dressed up at church on Easter Sunday. I grew up getting dressed up for church as a kid, so I am of the old school mentality that people should still wear something other than jeans to church.

The Easter Bunny made an appearance at the home of AJ's Chicago grandma this morning and left a little basket. Seeing an Easter Basket reminded me of the Easter Sundays at my grandparents' house as a kid with the baskets of candy and the elaborate Easter egg hunt set up in the backyard. I distinctly remember one egg being hidden inside the grill and another that was in the drain spout. I know that some people don't like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus because they distract from the religious significance of the holiday, but I love the idea of carrying on a tradition from my own childhood and the childhood of my parents.

This Guy Has Some [Insert My Maiden Name Here] in Him (Part II)

So back in the summer, I reported that AJ had some [Insert My Maiden Name Here] in him because he likes to stay up late. He also is displaying another key defining [Insert My Maiden Name Here] trait, which is a huge love of cheese. Not the weird, fancy cheeses that restaurants serve for dessert, but the basics like colby, cheddar, jack, swiss, and his favorite, mozzarella. He vacuums up shredded organic mozzarella cheese and would eat it five times a day if you let him. Despite our efforts to clean it up, there are almost always a couple of pieces of rubbery shredded cheese found in random places around our house, like stuck to the bathroom floor or the back of my t-shirt. When I was about 8, I distinctly remember being at a friend's house when her older sister said "If I had to choose one food and one drink and that was all I could have for the rest of my life, it totally would be Doritos and Dr. Pepper." (It was definitely the 80s.) If AJ could choose his own foods, I think he would live off of nothing but shredded mozzarella cheese and graham crackers.

Meat Head

So our little guy is a bit of a meat head. He is constantly testing his strength in relation to things around him. For example, he loves to pick up the tray off his little feeding chair and toss it over his shoulder, and then he will pick up the feeding chair itself and dump it upside down. When he sees something he wants in the toy box, he will grab onto it and pull with all of his strength until the item either comes flying out or he looses his grip and topples over. He thankfully never attempts to use his tiny little might against people, just things. I like to think of him as my gentle giant.

He also has the same tendency as all babies to enjoy knocking things down, from towers of blocks that we stack up for him to piles of clothes neatly stacked and ready to be put away. I recently read that researchers have looked for but not yet located a gene that causes human babies to want to knock things down. Apparently all babies instinctively do this without being taught, and so researchers have hypothesized that it must be something inherent in our genes that was important to survival in our past. All I can report is that it causes one little guy great pleasure based on the huge grin on his face when the blocks go flying.

So This Baby Walks Into a Bar...

There is a scene in the movie Sweet Home Alabama starring Reese Witherspoon where the Reese character runs into a friend of hers from high school in a local bar while home visiting her family at the holidays. The Reese character says something to the effect of "Wow! Look at you! You have a baby!...In a bar!" She's clearly passing judgment on a mother who would bring a baby to a bar.

This weekend, I inadvertently ended up being that mom with the baby in a bar. In my defense, we tried to take our friend, Conrad, who was in town for the weekend, out to Stanley's in Lincoln Park for brunch. In addition to the usual Lincoln Park madness of impossible parking and long lines for brunch everywhere, this weekend it was compounded by the annual St. Patty's Day celebration in Chicago. For those who are not familiar with the celebratin'-o'-the-green Chicago-style, it is probably the second biggest night to go out in the city after the night before Thanksgiving. People have friends who come in from all over the country to celebrate, and the local plumber's union even dies the Chicago River green every year. It's craziness.

So right when we were heading for a 12:30 brunch, so were all of the very hungover people who had celebrated St. Patty's Day and wanted some steak and eggs to make themselves feel better. And the wait at Stanley's and everywhere else was not something that a 9 month old could do. So we ended up eating at the only place where we could get right in--Sedgwick's Bar, which is a dive of a sports bar. Our waitress, who was very nice to AJ, looked like she had been out partying all night and not slept at all (or combed her hair) before coming to work. The bar was only an option because the citywide smoking ban finally went into effect a couple of months ago in the city.

For his part, AJ played it very cool in his first bar. Although I was worried about the loud music, he just chilled out and swayed back and forth. He didn't even seem nervous about getting ID'ed.

I Want It All, And I Want It Now

AJ seems to be in a phase where he wants to play with all of his toys, books, etc. at once. He will constantly empty out the entire toy bin or pull all of the books off the bookshelf. It makes me picture frantic brides going through the racks at one of those sample sales looking for the perfect wedding dress before a competing bride snatches it. The books fly the shelf and pile up around him as he quickly inspects them and rejects them in favor of the next big thing. If he were the bride, he would be saying too lacy, too many sequins, sleeves are too poufy as he tossed the dresses over his shoulder. He does the same thing when food is put on his tray. If there is a pile of Cheerios, for example, his eyes will get huge with excitement, and then he will dive into the pile and the Cheerios will start to fly everywhere as he rejects each one in favor of the next. I have thought about trying to teach him the phrase "one Cheerio in the mouth is worth two on the tray."

A Good Day

The Nanny Notes indicate that today was a good day. Here is part of today's entry:

We had a great day today! He was very playful and happy today! He took almost every toy out of the [toy]boxes and would have me play with him and whatever he took out! Barely any crying! I had him laughing hysterically when I splashed him with water from his sippy cup. He was playing with it and splashed himself with water and started laughing, so I put some on my fingers and splashed him and he thought it was the funniest thing!! Lunch--half jar of carrots, 3/4 cup of yogurt, jar of sweet potato and chicken dinner, and cheerios--big eater!!

Get to the Point

AJ has developed a new method for communicating, which we hope will replace screaming at the top of his lungs. He now points at things. It is pretty amazing to see the beginnings of communication forming for him. It seems like he currently points when he notices things (oh look--there's a dog), when he is identifying things to himself (hey--there's dad), and occasionally when he wants something (I want that jar of carrots. Now.)

I get so excited by this that I initially insisted that Joe acknowledges every point to validate it for AJ. Experienced parents can see where this is going. AJ is pointing so frequently that I am driving Joe nuts. Joe will be on the computer working and I will say to him every 30 seconds--he's pointing at you--look at him! He's pointing at you again--give him a smile! Joe obliges the first 5 times but then gets me to realize that AJ would be happy to play this game all night if we let him.

My Friend, H.

Here are a couple of pictures of AJ playing with his good friend, H., who is six weeks younger than him and the only baby we personally know who was bigger than AJ at birth. H. weighed in at a whopping 11+ lbs when she was born, and she is off the growth charts now for height. Like AJ, H. also has a hard time finding pants that fit her around the waist, so they both often end up in loose fitting sweatpants, overalls and jumpsuits. You can also see that H's long legs are sticking out of her size 2T outfit here, and she is only 7.5 months old.

We hadn't seen H. in several weeks because her mom and I have both gone back to work recently and can no longer make our Thursday play group. We have made plans for some Saturday play groups so that these little buddies can hang out (and so that the moms can catch up!)

Getting a Baby Who Can Go Vertical to Stay Horizontal

Our latest problem with nap time is how to get a little guy who can stand up to lay down and fall asleep. When we put him in his crib now for a nap, there is inevitably a lot of angry crying at the injustice of it all, and then we will look on the video monitor and notice that we can't see him because he is standing up in the corner of his crib, demanding to be released from jail. As you can see from the photo, getting the artsy crib that dips lower in the front than in the back was not a good idea--it looks to me like he should be able to escape from jail here pretty soon, since his head and shoulders are already above the rails.

Pullups

AJ has started the process of learning how to pull up. He usually gets just to his knees before sitting back down, but he has started to pull up to standing in his crib and in the bath. I have a feeling that if we had a coffee table, he would be pulling up on that as well.

Babyproofing

Looks like it is time to do some serious babyproofing at our house.

Toothy Grin

AJ finally shared his teeth in a photo, so I had to post it despite the food mess in the picture. Garrison Keillor is always writing about his sandy haired, gap-toothed daughter in his columns, and that description now fits AJ as well (minus the daughter part, of course).

Like his mama, AJ has a big gap between his front teeth. David Letterman has nothin' on us! My gap closed up quite a bit as I got my molars and wisdom teeth, so I will be curious to see if AJ's changes as he gets older. I inherited this gap from my dad, although he no longer has his because back in the 1950's when they practiced barbaric dentistry, my dad's dentist took a pair of scissors and cut out the "gristle" between his teeth that caused the gap. My dad still vividly recalls this sensation as the worst pain he has ever experienced in his life.

When I studied abroad in France one summer, none of the French guys my friends and I met believed that I was an American like my friends, because I lacked the trademark American pearly white, straightened-by-braces teeth that Europeans associate with Americans. Back then I would have changed my gap if I could have, and to be honest, I was considering taking care of it as recently as a year ago by having my teeth bonded. The minute that I saw AJ's gap, though, it made me want to keep mine forever so that he could see where it came from. I have come to like the gap, because it has "character", that word that you never want to be used to describe your looks when you are a teenager but that you come to appreciate as an adult.

1/8 Italian

AJ is into all kinds of Italian food lately, namely tortellini, ravioli and the extremely Italian mac-n-cheese. If it is a pasta and it is not nailed down, he will eat it. This pleases his dad and uncles, who are part Italian and very proud of it. AJ's paternal grandfather was born in Italy, and AJ himself is 1/8 Italian. AJ even has a bib that was a gift from his Uncle Will that says something like "Not only am I this cute, but I am also Italian." I will have to get a picture of AJ in the bib and share it with you. In the meantime, here is a picture of AJ eating a spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli that is as big as his head.

Nanny Notes

So I have been trying various little systems with our nanny to get a report on AJ's day now that I am back to work. One sample form that I found online had a chart for the nanny to fill in with the number of wet and dirty diapers, the amount of food eaten, the length of naps, etc. That information was good, but it seemed a little clinical, and I also wanted some stories about how his day went. What seems to work the best so far is a notebook that she can keep a journal in. Here is part of today's entry:

We went to Target. Very good!! He likes to dance in the cart and was screaming (good scream) in the store!! (Smiley face) Lunch-jar of carrots & 3/4 jar of squash. Cheese and sweet potato puffs. We had a screaming match at lunch again. AJ won!

Crawla

As previously mentioned, we have a little crawla in our house. I will hear the pat-pat-pat of AJ's hands slapping against the hardwood floors and his excited fast breathing and then see him peak his head around the door of whatever room he has discovered me in. I have to admit that it makes me feel like a million bucks when he squeals with delight on "finding" me, like he just won the lotto or something.

If you double click on this picture to make it bigger, you can see a little bit of the rug burn on AJ's nose from Sunday when he did the face plant off the edge of our bed. Poor guy.

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work and the longest period of time that I have ever spent away from AJ to date--9.75 hours (that's the lawyer in me coming out again--I have to bill my time in 15 minute increments at work, so I am falling back into the trap of thinking about daily life the same way). Joe took AJ to the pediatrician this morning to have his respiratory infection checked out, and I was secretly glad that AJ was not in our apartment when I left for work so that I didn't have to say goodbye. I think it is harder as the mom to be the one saying the goodbye, rather than the one doing the leaving.

Overall the day went very well. My favorite part was seeing AJ's face light up when I walked in the door tonight. My plan so far is to have an hour in the morning with AJ to give him his breakfast and play a little bit before I have to catch the train, and then I will have two hours with him in the evening before putting him to bed. I have heard from colleagues with little kids that things seem to work best when you have substantial chunks of time with your kids each day so that you feel you are still involved in their lives. I also asked the nanny to write down mundane details like what AJ ate for lunch and how long he napped so that I feel like I am still in the know on his daily routine. The only other comment I have is that I am exhausted already--I don't know how I will be able to do this three more days in a row.

Faceplant

Yesterday I experienced one of the worst moments of my life to date, which was watching AJ plunge head-first off the end of our bed and crash onto the floor face first. It was like something out of a movie to feel time slow down around me as I watched his little arms and knees propel himself over the edge of the bed while I yelled "noooooo!" in slow motion and moved like I was stuck in molasses. By the time I got to him, he had flipped over on his back and was screaming his head off, which I took as a good sign that he hadn't seriously injured himself.

I felt like the worst mom in the world, because every time we go to the pediatrician's office (which is often), they give us a care sheet that clearly states not to leave the baby on the bed once they can roll over. After being super-cautious about this back when he was just starting to roll over and couldn't even crawl yet, I started to become lazy in recent weeks because he had never made so much as a move toward the edge of the bed. I don't think I had fully realized how fast he had gotten at crawling, though, until this happened. I turned my back for literally one to two seconds to hang a jacket up in my closet, and by the time I turned around, he had zipped off toward some object that caught his eye on the floor. He is obviously banned from the bed now until he turns 18. Luckily the only injury that he sustained was a little rug burn on his face, poor guy.