Ten Months Old

Matilda turns 10 months old tomorrow.  I can't believe she's almost a year old!  As I looked through this past month's pictures, I noticed a few trends: Matilda in weird places and positions, Matilda eating new things, and Matilda playing outside.

 

 

Stats: At 9.5 months old, Matilda weighed 16 pounds 6 ounces (18th percentile), was 26 inches long (3rd percentile), and had a 17 inch head circumference (27th percentile).  She's a shorty, but she's gaining weight nicely.

 

Sleep: Sleep is back to normal this month.  Waking twice a night to eat and taking 2-3 naps during the day. We finally managed to get her out of the swaddle and now use a Zipadee-Zip sleep sack.

Eat: She's still nursing the same and eats solids at least twice a day.  She has gotten really proficient at eating finger foods and has really started to enjoy eating solids.  We actually got the okay from her pediatrician to start introducing dairy and eggs, so she's had yogurt, cheese, and boiled egg yolk this month. 

 

She also discovered she likes pickles, peas, corn, and green beans.  Her favorites are still blueberries and strawberries though.  She's not huge on meat or breads this month.  We found out that she's not getting enough iron and is mildly anemic, so she'll need to start taking iron supplements for awhile. 

 

 

Play/ Milestones: Matilda is getting more and more mobile.  She's not exactly crawling, per se, but she kind of just migrates places.  She can army crawl when she's really motivated, but a lot of times she just continuously goes back and forth between crawling and sitting positions.  You might have noticed the bruise on her forehead in some of the pictures.  She got that trying to climb her shelves to get toys.  I'm sure it will be the first of many bruises as she improves her skills.  Here's a few pictures of odd places and positions she's ended up this month...

This month we've played outside a lot.  She's been to the new Centennial Garden at Hermann Park several times.  We also went to the Houston Arboretum for Arbor Day.  We've also just played in the neighborhood park. 

 

This month she's learned to put things IN things, as opposed to always taking them out.  She's also learned to point at things and hand objects back and forth with you. Her favorite thing this month has probably been the music class she started taking through the church we've been going to.  She goes once a week, and Jason says from the moment they step into the class until the time she leaves, she is loving it.  In addition to the music class, she has also had play groups with other babies on average once a week.

 

Another big event this month was watching Jason race at the marathon.  It was another beautiful day, and she really enjoyed it.

 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: At our last checkup with the pediatrician, he noticed that Matilda likely has hypermobility, meaning that her joints are extra bendy.  He was surprised she was standing already, since her extra bendy joints make it extra hard for her to crawl/ walk/ and stand.  She stands kind of wonky with her legs bowed and her feet facing out.  Some of that could be because of her cast and braces, but a lot of it is probably due to her hypermobility.  We have a checkup with her orthopedic surgeon in a couple of weeks, so we'll ask him what he thinks about it.  Our pediatrician said she might need physical therapy to strengthen her muscles to help provide support for her joints.  He said doctors used to recommend braces and special shoes for hypermobility, but nowadays they usually recommend for babies to be shoe-less, so we'll see.

I'm getting nervous about her next hip check-up.  We are just praying and hoping her hips are still in place and the socket is forming nicely. 

Matilda's Montessori Nursery

As I previously mentioned, we have changed up Matilda's nursery a bit.  Following Montessori principles, we made her room much more child focused.

 

 

We've removed her crib, and she now sleeps on a mattress on the floor.  The logic behind floor beds is that she can wake up and independently start her day without having to cry for us to come get her. In actuality, since she's still not very mobile, we still have to come get her when she wakes up, but one day she'll be able to just crawl off her bed and start playing. 

 

Because I was a bit weary of her falling off her bed onto the wood floor, we added a pool noodle under her sheet so she won't roll off and a nice soft landing area incase she somehow makes it over the noodle.



She also now has a big open play mat with a low hung mirror and art down at her level.  During the day, this is where she spends most of her time playing.  It's great at fostering mobility since 1) she not likely to get hurt (there's a foam mat under the quilt) and 2) she can see how her body moves in the mirror.  I've also kept her bean bag chair out which she uses to try to pull up on.

 

On the other side of the room is her open shelving which holds her activities.  We rotate out toys every few weeks.  We also use the shelving as our changing station, although we now mostly just change her on the floor.  The baskets have her cloth diapers in them as well as hold her sleep sack and hip dysplasia brace when she's not wearing them.



The other side of the room still looks pretty similar.  We've removed the desk and moved the glider into the corner.  Usually, when she's playing independently, we sit in the glider and watch her. 

 

One important aspect of Montessori nurseries is that the entire room needs to be childproof.  Electrical outlets need to be covered, furniture needs to be anchored to the wall, and toys can't contain any choking hazards.  The glider and ottoman in the room both having locking features, although we might need to remove them from the room once she gets more mobile.  The art at her level doesn't have glass fronts and was hung using Command strips. 

 

It's been about 6 weeks since we redesigned her nursery, and so far, we all really like it!  We spend much more time in there and I think she really enjoys having her play mat and an open area to explore.  As she grows, we'll be excited to add other Montessori concepts in there like a changing station where she can pick out her own clothes and get ready.

Nine Months Old

It's been a busy and fun month around here!

 

Stats: No update here.  She has her 9-month checkup in a couple of weeks so we'll get measurements then.  She seems to have more meat to her bones these days.  She's wearing both 9-month and 12-month clothes.

Sleep: Not a great month for sleep.  I think she hit the 8-month sleep regression the week before Christmas, and we're finally starting to see some improvement.  She went from consistently waking twice a night to 3-5 times.  Her naps have regressed, and we're lucky to get longer than an hour at a time out of her.  She's still napping 3 times a day, although it'd be nice to consolidate them into 2 substantial naps.

Eat: No change in nursing.  She's eating solid foods twice a day, usually when we sit down for breakfast and lunch.  She eats at both her weaning table (when we're not eating with her) or in her highchair (if we're having a family meal).  Her favorite foods at this point are strawberries, blueberries, and little sausages.  The most adventurous thing she has tried so far has probably been quinoa.  If given the option, she'll usually pass on bread and chicken and go for the fruits.  We are still waiting on introducing eggs and dairy until she hits the year mark.

Play/ Milestones: So many updates.  As spoiled in my last post, she started sitting within days of getting her cast off.  She can maneuver from sitting to her belly, and Jason has said she's managed to go from belly to sitting a couple of times (but I haven't seen it).  She can roll belly to back, but not back to belly yet.  She's trying sooo hard to crawl.  She started with just pushing backwards, but she's made progress in the past few days to leverage her knees and toes more to get her forward/ sideways.  It really wears her out though!  She can also put weight on her legs and stand if you set her against something.  She waves hello and goodbye, and she gets really excited and waves her hands in the air when she tries to join in clapping.

I don't think I've talked too much about it yet on here, but we've started implementing a lot of Montessori concepts in our house this past month.  We made her a movement mat with a low hung mirror in her bedroom for her to safely play and move on.  We have open shelving in both her bedroom and living room to store her toys/ activities.  This month she has really been drawn to discovery baskets with a bunch of random items in them.  She likes to pick through and study each item.  She also likes these sensory balls we borrowed from my mom, along with stacking cups from Ikea (although no actual stacking is taking place yet).  I really want to make her a sensory book since she's been all about exploring different textures.  She also been interested in exploring her rattles more in depth and shaking random items up near her ears to see what type of noise they make. 

As far as trips this month, we went to Dallas for Jason to run the half marathon.  Matilda loved seeing her cousins! 

 

We also went down South for Christmas.  Matilda had a wonderful time!  She really enjoyed opening presents and spending time with family!

Jason's parents came through town on New Years day, so we got to eat lunch with them.  It was a good day as well.

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: No update here.  Her next appointment with the orthopedic surgeon isn't until February.  She's wearing her brace at night, but it hasn't been an issue at all.  We've definitely been taking advantage of having a cast free baby.  She can swing in baby swings and sit in restaurant highchairs now.  It's stuff like that people that haven't had a hip baby wouldn't understand how much of a privilege it is!