can you baby a baby?

At Elijah's 9 months check-up, the doctor asked if his pincer grasp was developing. Well, it wasn't. Why? It's simple, he never gets a chance to practice! All food is delivered straight into his mouth in order to minimize the mess we'll have to clean up. Having come home we made a new resolution: cheerios for breakfast from this point on. Three days later the pincer grasp was in place, and two more days later he was able to put them in his mouth.

A few days ago, I gave Elijah a bunch of cheerios for lunch, about ten. The first one went straight into his mouth. While he was chewing it, he placed another one into the cup holder. A few minutes later, about a third of the cheerios were eaten, and the rest securely stored in the cup holder. I pulled them all out, and he proceeded to do the same. Again, when they were all either eaten or put in the cup holder, I pulled them out. The picture below is the third round of this process. (BTW, don't be fooled by the cute innocent look here. The child is as willful as... well, his parents...)


Having been satisfied with the pincer grasp progress, we once again relaxed and continued to work hard on keeping our lives as sterile as we possibly can. But exactly a week ago, we once again became concerned with his development. The new resolution was: finger foods at every meal. Elijah loved it! All that independence! He quickly got the idea that anything placed on the tray is meant to be put in the mouth (unlike things found on the floor, which we are still working on). The first day he happily played with the food he wasn't chewing at the moment, but the next day he immediately stuffed his mouth so full that food was falling out and he couldn't even chew it. That pattern continued for a few days, but he eventually figured it out. Now he seems to prefer finger foods to being spoon-fed.

Seeing how quickly he is catching on, we are wondering if we baby him too much. Perhaps he'd be ready for college by now if we weren't taking away all his opportunities for growth? :) So, we braced ourselves and accepted the fact that life is going to get really messy, and bought a spill mat. As soon as we get a few baby plates, Elijah will be allowed to wield a... SPOON!

crawling and standing

Shortly after the belly crawl video was taken, the hands and knees crawling started to pick up in earnest. He still doesn't venture very far, but he is definitely aware that crawling this way is easier when you have to get over a bunch of scattered toys on the way for more in the toy basket. His belly crawl still comes in when he makes a mad dash for the shoes (everything is relative, of course; the mad dash doesn't get him very far - Ryan and I are still faster :))

He's also pulled himself up to standing a couple of times. Both times it was an "accident." But, just like it happened with sitting up, he will soon be standing up all over the place. He's been working hard on it a half an hour ago in his crib, although he was supposed to be working on falling asleep.

P.S. Check out the awesome stackable train he has! It is marked "2+", but since he pretty much mastered the rings (marked 18 months and older), we thought it was time for a new challenge.

primary colors

Apparently, Elijah shares his mother's love for primary colors: blue pants, red sweatshirt and a yellow vest. This is as primary as it gets!

WANTED: a brain

Some time during my pregnancy I misplaced my brain somewhere at our old apartment. I am not sure if we took it with us when we moved, or if it stayed hidden somewhere there.

A couple of days ago Ryan went to spend a day and a night at a monastery. As is our custom, Elijah and I went for a walk after lunch. Whenever we leave the house, I always check to make sure I have my keys, even if it's just to check the mail and the door is not locked. Sometime in the morning of that day I checked my pockets, and the keys weren't there. They must be in the key box by the door, I thought. However, when I checked the key box later, they weren't there either. Oh, they must be in my pockets, I decided. With that, we left the house. Needless to say, when we came home close to Elijah's nap time, the keys were not in my pockets. Fortunately, we have several neighbors who go to our church and are retired, so they are always home. One of them let us in while we waited for the apartment building manager to come and unlock the door. The time was about 2:30 pm. We left four messages on his cell phone, but as of 5:00 pm he still hasn't called back. I finally contacted the monastery, they found Ryan and we decided he is going to have to come home. Sure enough, shortly after we hung up, the building manager called. As it turned out, he had an emergency of his own (a friend had to be taken to the hospital), and was just then on his way home. He made it here before Ryan did about 6:30 pm. That wasn't how I planned to spend my day, but our 81 year old neighbor, who never gets out, thoroughly enjoyed having a little baby crawl around her house and take a nap on her bed while she and I swapped stories and watched game shows on TV. One of these days we might have to grab some cookies and head over for another visit.

baby shoes

I don't know what's wrong, but for the life of me, I cannot seem to be able to put shoes on Elijah. I could probably create virtual shoes for someone to wear in Second Life without much problem, but when it comes to a real baby, I must be out of my league. No matter what I do, the shoes never get on quite right. And Elijah seems to hate the process. To avoid lacing, (and since he doesn't walk yet,) we bought him a pair of booties on eBay, thinking it will make it easier to put on. Not so! The heals never make it all the way to the bottom of the shoe. The other day we came home from a walk only to discover that one of the boots fell off. We had to retrace our steps all the way to where we came from before we found the missing shoe. So, if anyone out there knows a trick of how to put shoes on a baby, I could sure use some help!

belly crawl

We've been trying to encourage Elijah to crawl for months now. Daddy has been known to construct eleborate structures from Elijah's toys in hopes that Elijah would want to crawl towards them, but to know avail. Even live demos by Daddy didn't inspire Elijah a bit. Every time it looked like he was making a little progress, we made unrealistic predictions like, "I bet he'll crawl in a week", or "I am telling you, he'll crawl by the end of the month". But weeks went by, and so did the months, and Elijah was still happily sitting wherever we'd put him. He did eventually discover that rolling was more fun than sitting as it got him places, but he was still not in a hurry to crawl. Is he lazy, we wondered? We finally concluded that he was just content. Content to be where he was, not "coveting" the toy that was out of reach. That's not a bad quality, is it? And I truly enjoyed being able to just sat him down and read a book for a few minutes.

But as time went on, Elijah (at about 23 lbs now), finally had enough strength to pull himself up on his hands and knees. He now stands up and tries to figure out how exactly one can get around in that position. However, if he needs something fast, he drops the whole "hands and knees" things, plops on his stomach, and...



Yet the quality of contentment can be seen even now. That blue lid from a jar of blocks is pretty much the only thing that he wants bad enough that he would belly crawl towards over a larger distance. (Let me correct myself: it's the only thing of the ones he is allowed to play with; he will crawl large distances towards things he can't have, like our shoes, and we strongly discourage sucking on those.) Everything else is old news, and he'll go to get other things only if they are within a couple crawling movements. Otherwise he'll just play with whatever is near him.

practice makes perfect

We've recently discovered that Elijah figured out how to put his large plastic rings onto a large plastic post where they belong. To make things a little more challenging, we pulled out a set of wooden rings, thinking that he will work on them for a while before he figures it out. Not so! It only took a few days, and now it's more of a thing to do rather than a challenge. Here's a video from a couple of days ago when the wooden post just wasn't cooperating.



This one was taken a couple minutes later. Note how he looks up in expectation of praise :) The audio delay is a little annoying, but bear with it.

of car rides and front seats

Elijah likes car rides. Unless he is too tired. Or unless he dropped his toy and can't reach it. But even then, he is usually quite content to just sit there and think his deep thoughts. Especially now that his car seat has been turned around and he is facing forward. There was some confusion about the specifications of our car seat, so we waited way longer than we needed to to turn him around.

Another change came along with the new car seat orientation. After visiting our friends Peter and Tina the other day (who are also Elijah's God parents and our former neighbors), we were getting in the car and I decided that now that Elijah is facing forward, there's no need for me to sit next to him in the back seat. So I got in the front passenger seat, and realized that the last time I sat in that seat was over ten months ago, on a cold December night (a Saturday night), when we pulled out from this very location on our way to Swedish Covenant Hospital because I was in labor.

10 months old

Here's Elijah's 10 months old picture. He was too wiggly when we were trying to take the picture, so most of them turned out very blurry. This is the best we've got.

baby toothbrush

Ever since Elijah was a tiny baby of just a few weeks old, one of his favorite things has been to watch us brush our teeth. It fascinated him and made him smile. Now he has a toothbrush of his own and, as you can see, he is all over it. That's how good habits of dental hygiene start! At my last dentist appointment I was told that as a baby chews on a toothbrush, his teeth get cleaned, and that will do the trick until he is old enough to use toothpaste. Thus, a baby toothbrush has replaced the rubber ducky as a bath time toy. (We need a toy for pretty much every activity these days, from meal time, so he is occupied and doesn't scream because he is too bored, to diaper changing, so he keeps his hands out of his poop.)

Last night the toothbrush was too new, so he mostly kept it in his mouth (see picture). Tonight, however, he attempted to clean a wall and a window sill with it. Is he trying to make a statement about the condition of our apartment? :)

Did I mention he has five teeth? He's had them for a couple months now. We are waiting for the next batch, but his other teeth don't seem to be in any hurry to come out.

he sat up!

While talking to my mother on the phone today, I was kind of staring at Elijah. Not really watching what he was doing, but just looking at him, while my mind was on my conversation. All of a sudden, I realized what was happening. Elijah rolled over on his tummy (he's been rolling around all over the living room in the last couple of weeks), pulled up his knees under his belly, lowered his butt on the one side, and then pushed himself up to sitting with his arms. I couldn't believe it! He then did it again when Ryan came home for lunch.

amen

Meal time prayer:

Mommy: "Give us grateful hearts, our Father, for all your mercies, and make us mindful of the needs of others. Amen."
Daddy: "Amen."
Baby: "Uhm-nya."

The first time it happened, we thought, "What a cute coincidence, the timing, and the sound." The second time it happened, we just looked at each other. But the third time it was pretty clear that Elijah was trying to repeat the word after us. Each time we pray before a meal, he stops doing whatever he is doing, and watches us rather intently. He is obviously recognizing that there's a pattern, and that it always ends with the same word. Should we, perhaps, consider "amen" to be his first word?

legacy

A couple weekends ago we traveled to WA for a family wedding, and Elijah had a chance to meet his great-grandparents on Ryan's side (all the great-grandparents on my side are no longer living).

Great-grandparents Ferguson

Great-grandparents Lindley

Four generations

Just a dressed up baby

say cheese

After feeding Elijah Gerber foods, I decided it was time to make my own. Four dollars bought a TON of veggies at the local Farmer's Market. Armed with some boiling water and a newly purchased 14-cup Cuisinart food processor I set to work. First I made carrots, then butternut squash, then broccoli. But my enthusiasm was short lived. Elijah ate my carrots mixed with applesauce once, but that was it. He emphatically closes his mouth and will not open it (even in the face of suffocating - he has a stuffed nose) neither for carrots, nor squash, nor broccoli. I can understand broccoli - it's kind of bland and Gerber doesn't make it. But carrots and squash are familiar tastes, and I take it personally that he will eat Gerber's but will not eat mine! I may not be an accomplished chef, but I can mash carrots and mix them with water just fine! I am hoping that his lack of interest is at least partially explained by the fact that he is sick and hasn't been feeling particularly hungry lately. However, not all is lost! Elijah did eat my mashed potatoes and pears!

When he is not sick, meal times start with meat or veggies, since these are things he will eat when hungry, but may refuse once a little full. Then comes a little fruit. He only accepts pears. Applesauce, bananas and prunes are out of the question. Finally, when he can't eat any more pears, we bring out yogurt. He loves yogurt! One container of yogurt later, he is pretty much done. Unless... we bring out cheese. There's always space for cheese. And when he refuses cheese, we know he is really really really done. Medium cheddar is his favorite for now, but this is probably because it's also Daddy's favorite, and thus the one that is offered to Elijah most often.

nine months + 48 hours old

The recent posts are a little out of order, but I guess that's how it goes. Here's Elijah's official nine months old picture. We were traveling on the day he turned 9 months, and then we forgot to take a picture the next day, so this one is dated Sep. 13th, but it's close enough.

nine months checkup

Weight: 22 lb 10 oz
Length: 29 inches

No wonder my back and arms hurt from carrying this kid around!

good bye, bumper

Sad day. Elijah is getting bigger, and his crib mattress had to be lowered today. We don't want him to fall out of his crib, so we are taking measures before he figures out how to pull himself up to standing. But that means that his crib bumper had to come off. There's no good way to attach it any more. Such a bummer. Elijah loved his bumper. He would lay there and talk to it and play with the ties. He was always happy to be put in his crib, because the bumper was always there. It was his best night/nap time friend. Sometimes after a nap we'd find him peeking out from under it taking in the world (well, his bedroom). Yet tonight he had to go to bed with the bumper gone. I was concerned he would realize something was different and cry, but he was too tired after a day at a zoo and went right to sleep.

My little baby is growing up! Oh, no! ;o)

cookie monster

When Ryan was little, he had a Cookie Monster. Now Elijah (like father, like son) has one too! Once in a while the cookie monster comes alive in Daddy's hands.

touch and feel

Last time we tried to read a book, Elijah was mostly interested in sucking on it. But times have changed! He is now able to somewhat concentrate on what's on the actual pages, although he still makes attempts to explore the book with his mouth. Yet he has discovered a new tool for exploration as well - his index finger! And it works perfectly for Touch and Feel books. His favorite page is in the Pets book - a cat. He loves to pull on the cat's whiskers (pieces of fishing line).

It's fun to see him recognize distinct shapes on a page. In another book we have (Who Lives In The Pond) he likes to point at small pink things (a snail and a salamander). They are marginal unimportant characters in the book, but each time we turn a page that has one of them on it, his tries to scrape it off with his index finger.

eight months old

We celebrated Elijah's eighth month birthday by heading to our favorite park (it also happens to be the one within walking distance, which makes it our park of choice in the absence of a car). Once again, the day was beautiful, the park mostly quiet (at least when we arrived), the swing empty. We had a picnic lunch right there, although Elijah was more interested in watching other kids (who filled the play ground by lunch time) swing, than eat. So most of the food ended up on his face.

In the evening, when Daddy came home, we took our official picture. Here it is.