June 24, 2006

Updates have been scarce but Brennan is growing by leaps and bounds.  He had his 12 month check-up and all is well.  He weighs 25.9 pounds (75% ) and is 32 inches (90%).  He is just about running now and is so sneaky at escaping from us.  He says dada, mama, ta (cat), and di (dog), although everyday we hear new sounds from him.  He has also become a total social butterfly waving and smiling at everyone he sees, although is also so nosy and will stare at everyone and everything going on around him. 

March 31, 2006

Swimming lessons have started and he is now officially an Aqua Babe.  They are learning pre swimming skills but mainly just playing in the water.  It is hard to believe that he will be 10 months old next week.  We had to go out and buy 18 month summer clothes, his 12 month clothes are starting to get tight.  Brennan is continuing to go everywhere, his wagon is getting a lot of miles around the house.  He is pushing it everywhere, unfortunately with no steering he goes until he runs into the wall and waits until I turn it around.

March 18, 2006

Update from 9 month check-up:  weight 22 pounds 13 ounces (80%), height 30.2" (90%), and head circumference 47.75" (97%).  He got a great bill of health from Dr. Miles.  She said he was "acting like a 12 month old" and is perfect in every way.  He is on the move so much these days it is hard for us to catch our breath.  He is starting to let go to move from one piece of furniture to the next so walking is definitely in the somewhat near future.  He will put his hands up when he hears "so big", he claps, and now wants to feed himself with the spoon.  Top two teeth broke through his week after some fun nights of waking up EVERY hour.  He loves to "act" shy when strangers come up to us and will bury his head in my shoulder and keep looking back to see if they are looking at him.  Then he will grant them a smile and start talking. 

March 3, 2006

The hand waving came and went.  He now looks at you like you are crazy and will only do it if he feels like it.  He is definitely one strong willed child.  If ANYONE redirects him from what he wants he has a complete melt down until he gets his way (I say he is just stubborn like his dad).  He crawls everywhere and I only thought he was fast last month.  Now he is really fast and if you turn your back for a second he is halfway down the hall way.  One thing we found is he loves bubbles.  So we now have bubble bath nights where he smacks the water to bust the bubbles. 

New developmental milestones.  His pincher grasp is forming.  He went from picking up cheerios with his palm to now pinching them so he can put them in his mouth.  Speaking of his mouth he will still eat just anything we offer.  He pretty much eats some variation of what we have for dinner.  He is starting to do a lot of imitating.  He will play peek a boo and hold up the blanket and he will pat his thigh to the music while watching us do it.  He is definitely interacting with us more and more.  Babbling continues he still says dada, wawa, baba, but no mama- hopefully it will come sometime.

The teething seems to go in waves, he had a fever one night and during that week the drooling was very excessive and he was biting on everything.  He loved to chew on spoons that were in ice water, switching them out when they were not as cold anymore. 

Nine month check up next week will update weight/height.

February 12, 2006

He is growing up so fast.  Since the last update he is crawling VERY fast and will pull up on everything.  He will pull up on the wall, kitchen cabinets, stove, etc.  Once he is up he will cruise around to get what he wants or will simply just let go.  We are waiting for the day he lets go and still stands, because now he shows no fear of falling.  He is playing with all his toys but will get bored quickly and moves on to something new.  He will always stop for a book and still likes us to read to him.  He still loves his food and now prefers food with texture versus the "runny" consistency of baby food.  He has been eating small noodles on his tray.  His pincer grasp is almost perfected and he is learning to get them to his mouth.  Usually we help him out so he does not get frustrated.  Brennan is definitely a strong willed child.  He gets upset if he cannot do something he wants to do or if we take something from him and wants to do things himself.  This has prompted me to get him his on set of baby keys and a baby cell phone because my phone and keys are his favorite things and he get upset if I try to take them from him. 

We have almost perfected the wave.  We have been working on waving goodbye to daddy every morning when he goes to work.  It is a sight to see because he waves his entire arm up and down.  Finally he is still saying dada all the time, every once in awhile a mama slips in (although neither mama or dada to us just in general).  He is making new blend sounds such as ba, ga, di, etc.  Lastly we now have 2 bottom teeth and white areas on the top where the teeth will be coming in.

January 20, 2006

Teething crabbiness only lasted a couple of days,  The 2nd tooth has not officially popped through but it is getting ready.  Brennan is crawling EVERYWHERE!  Ally's tail is not longer safe, she cannot get away from him.  Our big milestone yesterday was he pulled up on the couch.  He crawled over puts his hands on the cushion and pulled up, and later that evening he did it again to try to get Michael's drink that he was holding on the couch.  Dr. Miles said he would be doing this rather quickly and she was not kidding. We have a mountain of toys he can pick from and all he wants is the remote, phone, or any drinking glass except his.  He is also staring to put blocks in the bucket.  He will dump them out and then grab them and put them in one at a time.  He has gotten used to me clapping and cheering when he does it so he looks at me and waits before he puts another one in.  Eating is still going well and we have gone through just about every type of baby food that is made and honestly he has loved it all. 

January 15, 2006

Brennan is a mover and a shaker.  He is crawling non-stop, this week he learned to move his hands in a crawling motion and hardly falls down on his stomach as he moves.  He his also learning to pull up.  He can completely pull up to standing on something that is low, and gets frustrated in front of the couch because he can not get his hands up to pull himself up.  He is starting to cruise once he is in the standing position, he will be walking before we know it.  Tooth #2 is still trying to make its way up, he has a white bubble on his gum and you can feel the tip of it.  It is causing pain at different times.  He will be very cranky and once we let him chew on our finger or better yet something cold he settles down (somewhat).  Teething tablets and Tylenol have become our best friends. 

January 9, 2006

We have completely mastered crawling in the past couple of days.  He is a fast little guy and we have decided we are going to have our hands full when he is walking (scary thought that is only a couple of months away).  He is playing more and more with all of his new toys.  It is amazing to watch him figure out the toys by himself.  He is loving being on the ground and having some independence, but will get upset if we are not playing on the floor with him.  Brennan is still eating everything, we have not found anything he does not like.  He had vegetable pasta medley yesterday and he ate it up.  He liked the texture and "chewed" every bite.  Added new pictures last evening, took them while playing yesterday afternoon.  Shows his favorite toy for the moment which is the gum ball machine.  He will pull that lever all day long and watch the balls come out.  We joke he is going to become a career slot machine player.