Air and Space Museum

Recently we have been trying to expose Dominic to new things.  A few weeks ago and friend and I took Dominic and her daughter to the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C..  I think he really enjoyed the animals and was running around like a maniac.  

This past weekend we took him to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  We knew this would be a big hit because he LOVES airplanes.  He watches them fly over our house every day and gets excited each time.  Here are a few pictures of him at the museum.

15 Months....where has the time gone?

We took Dominic to his 15 month appointment yesterday.  Afterward, it dawned on me that I haven't been recording his milestones.  So here I am.....for you and for myself.....getting it all down.

He is healthy and growing beautifully.  He is 23.8 lbs and 32 inches long.  This puts him in about the 50th percentile in weight and the 90th for height.....I think we are going to have a tall one on our hands. 

His motor skills are on track, but the doctor was a little concerned that he hadn't started talking.  Let me back up....she actually asked me a series of questions that made me feel like an awful mom. 

1. Is he talking?   ummmmm not yet

2. Is he pointing things out to you?  no

3. Can he scribble with a crayon?  Don't know...no one mentioned that I should let him try that.  (Although, we tried when we got home and he scribbled beautifully)

4. Can he point out his body parts?  uuuhhhh no

 



As you can see, I felt like Dominic and I failed a pop quiz!!

Let me say that I am not a big fan of this particular doctor because she can be rather harsh.  She had her first child a few months after Dominic was born, so she also isn't talking from experience, only from what she read in a textbook.  Other doctors I have seen are much more "every child is different"....."no need to panic, he will get there". 

I also think it would be nice if doctors warned mothers about what they will be looking for at the next appointment.  If I knew in advance that I would need to know if he was coloring with a crayon and pointing out body parts at 15 months I would have worked with him more in these areas. 

Anyway.....back to the appointment.  The doctor's suggestion was that we take him to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist to have his hearing tested.  It could be possible that he isn't hearing at 100%, causing him to struggle with forming words.  She also gave me the number to an early intervention program for my county.  I assume that it is some sort of speech therapy that will help him if there is in fact a medical issue. 

Needless to say, I was a little freaked out after she threw all of this at me.  I was expecting Dominic to glide through this appointment with flying colors and here I am contemplating speech therapy for my 1 year old.

Long story short, she isn't overly concerned that he isn't talking yet......lots of children aren't talking at 15 months.  But she wants to be conservative about the situation because our next appointment won't be until 18 months.  If he still isn't talking at 18 months it will be more concerning and we may have missed the opportunity to get him the early intervention that could have helped him progress quicker.

I will wrap this little tirade up with this.....

I realize that all children develop at their own pace and shouldn't be compared to other children.  I am also thankful that this whole "not talking" thing is our biggest problem.  There are parents out there that are dealing with far worse and I have to keep things in perspective.  However, like any parent, I want my child to be perfect :)  and I will do what I have to do to help him thrive.  We will be seeing the ENT doctor on the 24th and I will have an update by then.....unless he starts spitting words out this week ;)

OK....Lets Try This Again

OK OK, I have done a terrible job with the blog lately.  Dominic is getting so big and he demands much more undivided attention theses days.  But no more excuses....school is out and it is time to jump back on the horse.  I will start with a recap of the past several months.


The last time I posted the little man was 10 months old and struggling with eating.  He is now almost 13 months and we have moved passed the eating struggles and even started walking!  


The proof is in the pudding though....so here he is FEEDING HIMSELF!

The walking is a little harder to prove, but we are up to 7 or 8 steps in a row now.  I will try to get it on video and post it for all to enjoy :)  He has been teething a lot lately, with 8 teeth total.  They all seemed to come in at once and have caused a few cranky days.  Overall it hasn't been too bad though.  On most days a dose of baby Tylenol does the trick and he is back to normal.  


He babbles non-stop.  I think he is going to start talking soon.  On occasion he will wave either to say hello or bye-bye.  It makes it a little easier to leave him in the morning when he gives me a smile and a wave on my way out the door.


His birthday was a big hit!  The Dr. Seuss party really came together!!  Here are a few pictures of the party set up.

He was a pretty good sport and didn't melt down at all!  Here are some pictures of Dominic....and his buddies :)

We go to the doctor tomorrow for his one year check up....so more updates to follow!

A funny thing I had to share...

I'm sorry I have been the worlds worst blogger....but I vow to get better once summer hits and this crazy school year is over.  In the meantime enjoy this HILARIOUS video!

He is genius!  ...and sadly its ALL true!  Am I sure I want to go through all of this again someday?!  Not sure :)

10 Months

I can't believe it, but my little monkey is 10 months old.  He is growing so fast!  They warn you this will happen, but I never thought it would go this fast.


We are still struggling a bit with the solids, but had a pretty amazing breakthrough today....thanks to a good friend ;)


I realized today that our struggles with solids are more likely caused by my inability to let go of complete control and less likely due to Dominic's lack of interest in food.  After learning of my frustration, my friend told me about her experience with "baby led weaning" and suggested that I give it a try.  (Thanks girlfriend!)


I haven't read the book, but from what I could find online (in the 5 minutes I had to poke around), the idea is to let go of the fear if choking and gagging (and a huge mess) and just give the baby the food.  Cut everything up into small piece and let them go to town.  Because Dominic is already 10 months, he can likely handle anything I throw at him.  


I have been so stressed out about making sure he eats enough and gets a balanced diet that I have made things so much more difficult for myself.  


Long story short, I bit the bullet.  I made a delicious ziti dish (complete with broccoli and cauliflower puree) I found in Parents magazine.  Once I let it cool, I dumped it on his tray and strapped him in.  I expected it to lead to a huge mess and a crying baby.  I could not have been more wrong!  He sat quietly and ate almost all of the ziti I gave him.  Here is a video of the splendid event :)

So it looks like a took a step in the right direction today.  At the very least, I feel better :)  

Our Struggle With Solids (wrote this a month ago and forgot to post)

It has been awhile since I have made a post.....life gets away from me every now and then.  Dominic is growing like a weed....a whopping 20 pounds at his last appointment.


Speaking of appointments, we were just at the doctor last week.  Not for a well check though.  It was to check out a mysterious rash and a decrease in appetite.  Why don't I start at the beginning.....


About a month ago, around the middle of January (7 1/2 months), Dominic got a cold.  I think that I talked about this in an earlier post.  It was tough, but we got through it.  Before his cold set in he was eating one entire jar of oatmeal and fruit with his "breakfast" bottle and two jars (a fruit jar and a protein and vegetable jar) at his dinner feeding.  This was very consistent.....day in and day out he eat three whole jars.  Once the cold really set in he refused to eat solid foods all together.  The control freak in me really had to take a chill pill!  


Once the cold passed he slowly started to eat the solids, but was not eating anywhere near the same amount.  I assumed he would pick up speed as the days passed, but he really never did.  As a matter of fact, he started getting worse.  It got so bad that he refused to even sit in his highchair.


We thought the problem might be his highchair.
::she runs to Babies R Us::


After test driving every model in the store and even considering the ridiculously overpriced models, we picked a mid-priced one that had a little more padding than the one we had at home.....$150 later he was only a little happier.  


My next thought was that maybe, at almost 9 months, he is over the baby food and ready to move on to table food.  I purchased a "Baby Bullet" and starting making my own baby food, in an effort to make the food chunkier and of course, more nutritious.  

I have been persistent and have tried feeding him before his bottle, after is bottle, an hour later.....the strategies are endless.  He will now eat a little bit if I feed him before his bottle.  He really enjoys pancakes, blueberries and bananas.  I can usually get him to eat a small amount of oatmeal too, but the vegetables are just out of the question right now.  I wonder if all the chatter about introducing babies to veggies first really holds true.  Right now I don't really care, as long as he is eating SOMETHING.


We go to the doctor this Wednesday for his 9 month check up and plan to discuss this with him at length, so.....more to come.


So that describes the loss of appetite....now on to the rash. I started to notice  a few weeks ago that Dominic had dry raised spots on his back.  They became very red and noticeable in the bathtub.  I thought at first that he might be allergic to the baby soap, so I switched to a very gentle brand.  There was no change.  While my mom was visiting she mentioned that it could be a food allergy, so I checked out the baby food I had in my cabinet.  It turns out I was feeding him strawberries in his oatmeal every morning.  Strawberries are a very common food allergy for babies, so I decided to remove them from his diet.  A few days later....no more rash.  So, without testing him for anything, I can confidently say that I think he is allergic to strawberries.  Which is a real shame because they are delish!


Anyway, this was my long drawn out complaint about my struggles with baby food.  I am sorry for the rambling, but hopefully it will help someone sleep better when this happens to them.

Cold and Flu.....and warm weather Oh My

So it is cold and flu season and the little guy finally came down with his first full blown cold.  It started with a little coughing in the middle of the night.  He didn't seem to be bothered by it much, but it woke me up every time.  Then, last Friday the s*%t hit the fan.  We went to dinner to celebrate my mother-in-laws birthday and he was cranky the whole time.  For the next four days he wouldn't eat and was sleeping terribly.  I also think he is working on two....yes, I said two...teeth, so that didn't make things any better.  Long story short, he finally started eating solids again this Thursday....almost a week later!  I was panicked about the lack of eating, but I read that a loss in appetite is normal with a cold.  I am just glad he is somewhat back to normal.  The weather has been all over the place with warm days scattered throughout the last month.  This flip flop in temperature could be playing a role in the cold business.


In other news, he is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING.  He has become a real pro at it!  I think he is going to stand up and run off one day and I will SOOO not be ready!  Here he is standing up against his favorite post...the back door.

It is amazing to see him growing up so quickly.  His next obstacle is the stairs.  He can get over the one step between our family room and dining room, but he hasn't quite gotten the actually staircase yet.  We aren't sure if we should be encouraging him to climb up, but I can't help but be excited about his curiosity and strength.  Good thing I have already gotten the baby gate hardware in place ;)  Now we just have to lock the gate in and we are good to go.

It is hard to believe the Dominic is already pushing 8 months.  It seems like yesterday that he was a tiny newborn that could hardly keep his eyes open.  Oh how things change.....quickly!  Here are some recent pictures of him.

Busy Busy Busy

Life is going at full speed for us lately.  I have had a very full plate at work and my little man makes getting any work done at home IMPOSSIBLE.  He is on the move now....crawling like a maniac.  He has even mastered the one step between my living room and dining room.  He gets this adorable look of accomplishment when he gets over the step and it melts my heart every time.  Here he is trying to climb over daddy.

I wish the weather was warmer, although it is the end of January and in the high 40s to low 50s.   I guess I shouldn't complain.  But I wish I could take Dominic outside for walks.  Even when it is a little warmer than normal I am nervous to take him out because he has been trying to kick a cold for a week or longer.  His coughing wakes him up several times at night....well I should rephrase that.  His coughing wakes ME up several times a night.  He seems to sleep right through it.  


Speaking of sleeping, he is still doing great.  He has pushed his wake time back to 7:00 am and I am really happy about it.  I would like to drop a nap during the day, but he needs to be getting more sleep at night I think.


No other exciting news in our world.  Just a growing little weed.  

Could it be....

Dominic is growing like a weed and getting more and more mobile every day.  Last night were sat him in the living room in front of his favorite toy and when we can back in this is what we found....

Are you kidding me!  I think he might be WAY ahead of schedule on this one.  He can also get over a step and go from laying down to sitting.....all in less than a week.  I always knew he would be a big boy before I knew it, but you can never be prepared for how fast they grow.  Here are some more shots of this sweetness.

New Blog

I mentioned in the last post that my New Years Resolution is to improve my photography skills.  I have thought long and hard and think that I am going to include starting my own photography business in my 5 year plan.  This would of course be a side business, as I can not imagine myself not teaching.....for the insurance and pension if for no other reason.  :)


I talked with an old friend from high school who has a similar plan, only she is far more talented than I am at this point.  She gave me some great advice.....and I took it.  I have started a 365 project....or a photo a day project.  I have created another blog to post these pictures on.  I hope you will follow that blog as well and leave your feedback as I progress through this year...in pictures.

www.readbetweenthelenses.blogspot.com

In little man news...he is officially a crawler.  He has been trying for awhile now, but just yesterday he crawled all the way across his room.  It was amazing!  Now he is unstoppable.

7 Months....and Happy New Year

So the little man is 7 months and growing like a weed.  He is babbling more now, and it almost sounds like talking.  He has gotten really good and "dadadadada" which my husband LOVES of course.  I keep telling him that it doesn't count as a word until he MEANS it.  Anyhow, it is evidence that that mouth is going to start running nonstop very soon.  


He is starting to pick up speed with crawling.  He has figured out how to go from a seated position to laying on his belly, but he hasn't mastered the sitting back up yet.  I am sure that is in the days to come.  He can go about 4 solid knees before he topples, but I think he is just giving up.


He is 18 pounds now - which seems huge to me!  But I guess it is time to accept that he won't be a tiny little man forever.  Here is a current picture of my little angel.

In other news, it is 2012!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  We survived.....but I'm not really sure if the world is supposed to end at the beginning or the end of 2012, so maybe we have 12 more months.  I bought myself a new camera after Christmas and my New Year's resolution is to use it more than my first one.  I am pretty good about using it to document life, but my goal is to get better technically and learn to take more professional looking pictures.  I bought a Canon EOS 60D.  Here is a picture of it.

My goal is to teach myself rather than take any classes.  I will be sure to share the trials and tribulations of learning my new camera with you all.