All About LB - 12 months

I realize that the title of this post is a little silly because this blog has basically turned into all about LB all the time. Oh well. Hopefully in the future I will occasionally come up with some intelligent things to say and you don't have to read about me rambling on about LB all the time. LB did have his 12 month check-up on Friday and I think that is a pretty big deal.

The Stats:

He weighs 19lbs 8oz and is 28 inches long. I thought for sure he would be at least 20lbs and would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I am not sure why I was disappointed but I think I had the expectation that he would be 20lbs so it felt like a let down. Weird, I know. BUT the big news is that he is finally on the charts! When we got his referral we were told he was just shy of 4 months and weighed 9.7lbs. At the time I went to check and see what percentile that was. All of my mom friends were always talking about what percentile their kid was. I thought this was a stat I needed to know so I could talk about my kid in mom-speak. If you are an experienced mom then you are probably laughing at me because he wasn't even close to being on the percentile chart. He was so far off the charts that I am embarrassed that I even thought to look. Even at his 9 month check-up he was still considered to be below the 3rd percentile, which means not on the charts. So when they told me he was 7th percentile for weight and 5th percentile for height I was ecstatic. Of course, he is still small by American standards and probably always will be. I don't think we are raising a future Sumo wrestler. It is worth mentioning that even though he isn't 20lbs he has come so far and we have so much to celebrate. When we were at the doctors there was a med student that was shadowing her for the day. We were reviewing his height and weight and the doctor was showing us his growth curve. She was also excited with how far he has come and was sharing in my joy that he was officially on the charts. Since it seemed a little strange our doctor turned the chart towards the med student to show her why we were giddy over the 5th percentile. All of his measurements from 4 weeks old are on there and I noticed a dramatic change in her facial expression when she scanned the chart and saw where he started. She let out an "Oh" and got a sad look on her face. He has come a long way and is such a little miracle. Our doctor said that most kids really start to level off a bit at this age in terms of growth but that she suspects LB's curve will continue to increase. He is happy and healthy and that is what matters!

our happy boy

Communication & Personality:

LB continues to be quite the communicator and has learned some new signs. There are days when I think we are actually "talking" to each other quite well and then other days we get our wires crossed. For example, last night we were giving him a smoothie. He had eaten quite a bit so I asked him using the signs if he was all done or if he wanted to more. His response was to point to his nose. Hmmmmm. Not quite sure what went wrong there. He is very good at pointing to various body parts if you ask him and sometimes he will point to my mouth and then point to his and do it over and over again. It's pretty darn cute.

LB continues to make friend wherever we go and forces me to more chatty than usual. We stopped by one of our local libraries last week and three different librarians approached us. One of them handed me the flyer with their story time hours and personally asked LB if he would come. HA! I usually don't go to that branch but I think I will have to take LB back to see those nice librarians. Have I mentioned that the Columbus Metro Library System was awarded the 2010 Library of the Year? Pretty cool.

It is possible that LB might have a little OCD. The other day we were playing in his room and he saw a piece of lint and kept pointing to it. He eventually picked it up and handed it to me and it was like he was saying, "please remove this dirt from my room." On the same day there also happened to be a little piece of string. He pointed that out to me as well. I promise the room was recently swept but I guess not to his standards.

The tiny piece of lint next to the red ring. This was right before he picked it up.

See the hand attempting to reach the string? I do love that chubby hand.

Food:

The jury is still out on whether or not he will be a picky eater. D and I have had the hardest time getting him to eat stage 3 baby food. He gags like crazy every time we try. His gag reflex is pretty intense. There has to be something about the chunkiness that he doesn't like. We mentioned this to the doctor and she said some kids don't like the stage 3 but are fine with mashed up regular food even if it has some chunks. She suggested we try some smoothies. Success! He gobbled it up and didn't seem too upset about some random chunks of banana. Hopefully we can introduce more and more and the gagging will decrease. He still has NO teeth. The doctor did say that it looks like his bottom teeth are very close and that it shouldn't be long. Both D and I have noticed that his bottom gums have gotten very swollen so we are crossing our fingers it will be any day now.

playing with prunes

Obsessions:

LB's love for stuffed animals/friends continues to grow. If there is a stuffed animal in his vision he wants it and makes his opinion known pretty forcefully that he must have it immediately. Once the animal is in his arms he will always kiss and hug it. I have to say his kisses and hugs are pretty awesome. When he is a little tired he will snuggle his head into my chest and then lean in for a kiss and hug. He also loves to kiss characters in his books. Often I can't open the next page because it is stuck together with slobber. LB loves all toys with wheels and toys that make music. If the toy has a wheel AND makes music then he is in heaven. He has recently developed a new habit of requesting to go from room to room to touch light switches. I am not a fan of this game. But he likes it when I turn the switch on and show him the light and then turn it off. He could do this for longer than I care to try. Even though he has some weird obsessions I am so grateful I get spend the day playing with him.

Here are a few more photos of our 12 month old little boy. He is pure sweetness.