Sorry to all of you who have been checking back looking for stories these past few weeks. I got off to a great start with all the typing, then things got busy (I am sure you understand). Now that Liam is almost reliably in bed by 8pm I find myself at a loss for what to do with myself for the evening. Tonight - I remembered I could blog!
I just came to chronicle all the progress Liam has been making up to this point - mostly for my own curiosity, to be able to read back in a few months and remember all the ity bity things he's accomplishing every day and smile.
So, where to start....
Lets start at feeding since that was our biggest hurdle initially. After those first few weeks of absolute heartbreaking efforts to nurse Liam back to his birth weight and beyond, we are very proud to report that he is in the 50th percentile for his weight and height. That means - he is average. Not too small, and not to big! At last Doctors visit, he weighed 12 lbs 9 oz. While he used to be putting on an ounce every day, his weight has seemed to level off a bit and he has been in the 12s for a few weeks at least. Nursing is a breeze now as Liam is able to move his body enough to not need so much assistance latching and he is able to moderate the flow to his liking without letting go completely. We have nursed all over the city it seems now but, both our preference remains in the big chair in his nursery where it is quiet and comfy. It is so sweet to watch him eat now and not have to stress about how much he is getting, and how often he is fed. I can just look into his eyes and adore him. Some of my favourite moments are when he catches me staring and he smiles while still sucking. He's a multi-tasker, just like Mom. :)
Our new challenge is getting Liam to take a bottle from Daddy. We have been at it for a few weeks now and haven't been entirely successful. He will take some milk eventually - but that is only after 20 minutes of fighting and screaming and generally putting up a stink. It's weird because he took a bottle when he was learning to feed, but for some reason he hates it now. He will take some milk and fall asleep and then, just when we think we had success, he will wake up 30 minutes later (after the bottle and milk and put away) and cry until he is fed from the breast. Smart cookie that little guy!
As for solid food, we are still at least 3 months away from that. I do make sure I show him how I eat and let him smell some of the most scented fruits and veggies I partake in, just to get him interested. I notice that when I chew, he mimics my jaw movement sometimes. Kind of neat. I hope I can find the time before he is ready to eat to do some research on how to start that process. I have heard you can completely skip the mush stage of eating and go to tiny pieces they can feed themselves. I find that intriguing and welcome any advice from the mom's who read this about how to pull that off.
Ok, next topic...
Sleeping. We have been very blessed. While initially, when the feeding process was all messed up, so was the sleeping it seemed after we co-slept he managed to learn a fairly reasonable sleep pattern. We went from bedtime at 10pm and feeds every 2 hours in the family bed, to 10pm family bed, 1am feed, and 4am feed and move to the crib, to full night crib sleeping starting at 8pm with feeds at midnight and 4am. Currently that is how things work most days. Because the bottle feeds are at 4am - if they don't go well, there is usually another feed before 8am but we are confident that once we get that sorted out, he will sleep straight through without a problem. Now all that said - Liam certainly has had his fair share is terrible nights. We have come to learn that the answer to most of his problems in both nights and days, is another good long helping of breastfeeding. A good percentage of the time he will drink himself asleep and will have forgotten about whatever caused him stress in the first place. My absolute favourite time of day is in the morning when I go into the nursery, open the curtains and welcome Liam to a new day (yes some times I actually wake him up in the morning before he wakes me). He is the absolute happiest person I have ever met at that time of day. All smiles and giggles and sweet coos and snuggles. He loves to practice standing and taking airplane rides in the morning. He also laughs all the way through our daily reading of "I Love You Stinky Face". Some days we spend a good hour just hanging out in the nursery like this before he even wants to eat. It is nothing but awesome.
Speaking of standing - he totally does! It wont be long now until he will be able to hold himself up at the coffee table and such. He has super strong legs and pushes himself up to standing. We have to be careful because he can pop up on his feet at any time and, although his legs are strong, his balance is not quite there. When he is standing often Kev or I will say "show me your muscles" and he seems to do a little bicep flex for us with a grunty looking face. It is hilarious. He practices this after bath time in the mirror too and makes himself laugh.
Liam is also working on the sitting on his own thing. We have tried the Bumbo chair daily for the past 2 weeks but, he isn't crazy about it. He ends up slumped within minutes and gets pretty upset. He can sit in your lap assisted though, and it seems to be his preferred position right now. Laying on his back for any extended amount of time is not his preference at all. He still enjoys and good 'naked time' on his back, but other than that he wants to be upright, or on his belly.
Speaking of naked time... Liam is about 75% able to roll over now. When he is without diaper he has some pretty impressive leg movements and momentum. Today I was watching him as he lifted his legs up to 90 degrees and then tipped them from side to side until his toes touched the mat. You try that at home now! It take a massive amount of abdominal strength to pull that off! What's left in the rolling process is him moving his arms and shoulders in unison and getting past that one pesky arm that acts as a speed bump. He'll get there soon though, I can see the determination in his eyes.
We wrote before about his ability to hold and play with a rattle. He has pretty much mastered that now. Now we are working on the pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger). He loves to grab at clothing and hangs on for deal life while he is feeding for some reason. He tugs at his own clothes and pulls on his favourite monkey's ears pretty successfully. It wont be long now until he can pick up his own toys!
Speaking of the monkey... he has a new best friend. He fell in love with this toy the second it was put in his hands. It's a little stuffed monkey with super soft fur that I found in the laundry room. I have no idea where it came from to be honest. It is part of my collection though, just no idea when/who it came from. Anyways - he LOVES this thing. He has it near him all day and smiles at it and when he is in a snugly mood he pets it and tugs on its ears, or sucks on the ears and hugs and squeezes it adoringly. It is so nice to see him
caring for it. It's also good to see him progressing through the attachment process. Note to self, find at least one other exact same monkey in case this one ever meets it's demise! (made by Ty, label says "Swinger"... let me know if you ever see one!)
Onto language development. Not sure where he should be at this point in life - but I can say for sure that he is making a lot of noise! Today I noticed he is making a rolling "R" noise (like Rrrrrroll up the rim to win) which always ends in a smile. I suppose that is the Scottish blood in him that get that language technique started. He starts his day cooing in the crib with lots of 'oooo' and 'eye' sounds that carry on throughout the day. He also is working in the sound of an "H" like in "Hi". We are pretty sure that will be his first word. Also, I am certain that I head him say 'mum' through the monitor a few times when he was very upset about bottle feeding. He only says it when he is super mad though. It's hard for me to get excited, but I sure do come running when I hear it! Kev and I sing the ABCs to Liam a lot, which we think he has come to partially memorize as he seems to mouth the words sometimes with us. It's wicked cool. Liam will also mimic sticking out his tongue, making the 'ooo' lips, and will sometimes wave 'Hi' if he is in the right mood. It is so incredible to watch him process all this information and turn it into new behaviours. Fascinating to me really.
Hummm, what else....
Oh, we think Liam may have an over active Moro Reflex. That is the body's reflex to the thought that you are falling where they shoot their arms straight out and looked totally shocked. Liam still had this reflex at times he probably shouldn't now. Like, when we place him on the change table. Same process every time, but some times he has this reflex and starts to cry. He also randomly gets this in the middle of playing on his back without having been lifted at all. It's a little strange but, something he will outgrow we are sure. Our Doctor is aware and has no concerns. Babies are supposed to grow out of it by 6 months. We can worry about it then if it is still around, until then we just have to be very gentle and kinda slow when laying him on his back so he doesn't get scared. They say the Moro Reflex is the only unlearned fear in humans. Interesting.
Hand use. Liam is a card carrying thumb sucker for sure now. He even challenges himself to suck his thumb AND hold toys. He even tries to do it through blankets. He is obsessed. I have even witnessed him double thumb sucking. If there was a thumb sucking competition, he'd be a strong contender. It has been an interesting skill to watch develop. A few weeks ago his agility was less, and he needed to use one hand to hold his hand in place while he sucked his thumb, and now he can suck with one hand and play with a rattle or snuggle monkey with the other. They work independent of each other now. It's pretty neat. He does a lot of hand play too. He grasps his hands together in all kinds of different ways. Not sure sure he has mastered the opposable thumb thing yet (aside from sucking) as he needs assistance sometimes to grasp things properly but, he is almost there. As mentioned above, he grabs clothing a lot, which is totally cute. Not really looking forward to the hair pulling though. I have already started pulling my hair back while he is awake. He seems to want to take a mouth full of it every time I hold him so by the time he is pulling, it will be out of reach as a routine hopefully.
Okay - that is all I can think of for today. I hope you all feel more caught up with Liam's Life now. I will try to write more often this month. TRY. I promise.
Also - here is Liam's 3 month picture with the big giant Bear.
