Milestones part II

Dear Luthien,

It has again been much too long since I have written you, however, I need to make this quick if at all possible.  This past month has been huge in terms of your development so I need to update you.  

I'll start with your eating.  When you were 7 months I brought you to the pediatrician since you were sick.  They were a bit concerned that you hadn't gained any weight since your 6 month appointment- still 14 lbs 10 oz.  So they told me to bring you back in 2 weeks.  As you know, I'm not totally excited about mainstream medicine so I waited a month and tried my best to get lots of food in you (in other words, my milk, because you weren't really into solids/baby food at this point).  So at the 8 month appointment you were a whopping 14 lbs 15 oz.  You had only gained 5 oz in 2 months and had dropped to just below the 5th percentile!  This was very stressful for me, as I did not want to give you formula (personal choice); yet I knew my body was having a hard time keeping up with your needs since I am away from you 40 hours of the week.  The doctors were also concerned as to why you were not really eating real foods yet.  I explained you just seemed bored by the whole process.  I obviously knew there was no eating or swallowing disorder, you were/are just picky and seem to have a high metabolism (big surprise- who does that sound like?).  I have to also mention that this entire time I had been making most of your foods using fresh ingredients, so it was extra frustrating when you would take one bite and then be done.  Now to the good news...about a week ago I started writing down every little thing you ate.  And it seems that since that time your appetite for real food has grown a lot!  I am happy to say that you are eating much better, feeling heavier (we'll see at the next check-up), and pooping much more (not so fun since you are digesting real food now).

On a different note, your slither/scoot maneuver has finally progressed to a crawl!  I would say you officially started crawling at 8 1/2 months.  You still tend to get lazy with this and will often revert back to using the slither.  You don't go very fast when you crawl, which also is reminiscent of me- we like to take our time- but this is perfectly fine with dad and I.  You also try to pull yourself up on things a lot but usually only make it to a kneeling position.  Most pieces of furniture are not quite the right height to do this.  Much to my dismay, however, you have discovered that the toilet is the perfect height for pulling yourself up.  Needless to say we are doing a lot of cleaning these days, and keeping you out of the bathroom as much as possible.

I want to update you on your language skills and then I will have to write another time.  You can say CV words with initial consonants /d/, /f/, /m/, /n/, /b/ and /p/.  Sorry for the speechie lingo, just ask me what this means and I'll explain.  I am almost positive you are saying "dog"- you say "dat" whenever you see Roofus or other live dogs, or even when you hear them barking. This is a pretty consistent pattern but I don't want to say for sure just yet!  (By the way this is the only CVC word you are using).  Also, although you can use these other consonants, you prefer to stick with /d/ (very typical).  Your comprehension is, as expected, much further along.  I am pretty sure you understand mommy, daddy, light, up, kitty, more, no, music, water, all done, eat, drink, and milk, and probably a few more that I am missing.  We are working on waving, pointing, and developing a few signs.  You used to always respond to your name but lately you haven't been- must be more of a choice than anything!

I knew this would be a longer one- sorry no pictures this time.  To be continued....

Love,

Mom