- he is now using front facing car seat
- he has consistently been drinking water from a sippy cup since about 7 months old. over the last month or so, I've been working with him on drinking his milk from a cup rather than using a bottle. until New Year's Day, he wanted nothing to do with milk in a cup. However, starting on NY Day, he has only used the cup for his milk feedings! It is like someone turned on a switch and he said, "bottle, what bottle?" So, we have not used a bottle since NY Eve and I guess we are all done with the bottles - I guess there is no real use for them anymore. He nurses in the morning and uses a cup his other three milk feedings.
- he has "tasted" whole milk mixed with breast milk and whole milk on its own and seems to like it just fine. so, his lunch time feeding is now solely cow's milk. starting next week after his birthday we will be increasing the cow's milk and decreasing the breast milk. I have mixed emotions about this - bittersweet is the best way to describe it. Someone once told me, "you aren't really done being pregnant until you stop nursing" and I think there is truth to that statement. In some ways I am excited about packing up all the accoutrements that come with breastfeeding and ready to be done with constantly planning around a nursing or pumping schedule. There are a few other things that come along with nursing that aren't really "blog material" that I will be glad to leave behind. Yet in other ways, I think back about how fortunate I am that nursing went so well and that Henry and I were able to share many special moments together. My original nursing goal was six months and I'm proud that I made it to one year. And, I love the idea that he received the absolute best nutrition from day one through his first year of life. I hope to do my best to continue with quality nutrition from now throughout the rest of his life. I will always look back on this past year with amazement and respect for human life and for the bond shared between parent and child. I can not put into words how much this last year has changed our lives, and certainly for the better.
- solid food eating wise he is still doing great! he even will eat green peas now which was the only food he met he didn't like. I'm not sure he has a "favorite," but if you had to pick a few things, he really enjoys: yogurt; he likes all green veggies (asparagus, broccoli, sugar snap peas, edamame, green beans, zucchini) but spinach is his favorite; he loves any kind of bean (black, pinto, northern, chick peas); cheese (he has tried provolone, muenster, havarti); butternut squash; sweet potatoes; avocados, mangoes, peaches, apples and pears. the fruits he can be picky about are bananas, papayas and strawberries. we are trying to move on to things with more texture and less mashed/pureed.
- Henry started crawling, army crawling that is, at 9 months. In the last few days he has started crawling up on all fours, normal crawling that is.
- he can take steps if holding onto something, but doesn't seem real interested in trying to take any steps on his own.
- Henry doesn't watch TV (we turned our cable off last April-we never watched much besides sports and movies and Food TV), but we do allow him to watch a Signing Times video and a Praise Baby video. My friend Crystal introduced us to the Signing Times video series - teaching your child sign language. The benefits of sign language include communicating with your child before he/she can talk, increased reading and language abilities, and that by learning to communicate earlier, children can use a sign instead of throwing a tantrum to communicate their needs. Scientific studies suggest that "typical" children who learn to sign: have higher IQ scores, are better adjusted, read at an earlier age. Obviously a child will be fine without learning sign language (neither Gary nor I learned ASL as children and I guess we turned out okay, ha!) and it will not delay actual speech as commonly suggested, but there are so many developmental and social benefits that he/she will have access by learning ASL. It goes along with the belief that "most parents want to give their child every advantage in life possible, and signing is one way to do that." So we started the Signing Time video at about 7-8 months and we try to work on it with him throughout the day and when he is in his highchair. In the last day or two, we have started to see that Henry can now actually do a few signs! I can't tell you how exciting it was to see him to it on his own! He can sign eat (put your fingers together and bring them to your mouth in a repeated motion), milk (your hand squeezes like you are milking a cow), and dog (you pat your leg with your hand like you are calling a dog). I was able to get "eat" and "milk" on video. Hopefully, there will be more to come soon! Enjoy!
EAT
MILK
- as for New Year's resolutions . . . last year my resolution was to be more punctual or avoid that ever present "five minute late" standard seemed to set. I would say that I improved slightly, Defintitely room for more improvement. For 2009, Gary and I have both resolved to focus on healthy eating for our family as a whole. We are pretty healthy eaters overall, but there are things we eat that do not contribute to good nutrition that we can work to improve. Some ares of focus are: cutting out certain types of meats (pork mainly); eating less foods with preservatives and additives; and not drinking soft drinks. While we haven't been over the top "soft drinkers" we do enjoy them here and there. However, there is just really nothing good or nutritional in any soft drink. So we will see how it goes!
- I am changing my work schedule by working and being in the office more starting this week. While I am extremely thankful to be employed in our current economic state, this continues to be a struggle for me. If finances were no consideration, I would choose to stay home full time. But, that is not reality and it is not drudgery either, don't get me wrong. You working moms out there know how hard it is to leave your little ones; it never really does "get easier" in my opinion. I am focusing on the positives: I have a job that helps pay the bills and provides great benefits, I enjoy my job, I work with absolutely wonderful people, my job is local and does not require extensive travel, I have the ability to work less than full time, and Henry is in excellent hands while I am away. I will be just fine and so will Henry, right?!? :)
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