Eleven Months Old

These months have just been getting more and more fun!  I can't believe I'll have a one year old in less than a month!

 

Stats: At 10.5 months old, Matilda weighed 17 pounds (19th percentile).  She's filling out her 12 month clothes nicely.  It's about time to start stocking her closet with 18 and 24 month clothes.

Matilda also got her first tooth (bottom right) on Valentine's Day.  I think her second one will show up here shortly.

Sleep: This past week Matilda finally learned to roll from back to belly, and now she prefers to sleep on her belly (usually with her head on the opposite side of the bed than we lay her down on).  After seeing her laying on her back, pretty much in the same position for months now, its so funny to see her on her belly and in other positions. 

The floor bed is still working out.  She now knows how to crawl out of it, and usually when she wakes up she'll either just sit beside her bed waiting for us to come get her, or if she's feeling adventurous, she'll start playing with her toys.  She's even managed to learn to crawl out of bed wearing both her brace and sleep sack which is pretty impressive.  I keep waiting for the day she fights sleep and crawls/ walks around her room instead, but luckily we haven't dealt with that yet.

She still takes three naps the majority of the time and wakes up twice at night to eat.

 

Eat: Matilda eats solids at least three times a day.  Her favorites are still fruits and veggies, but she also likes eggs, rice, beans, and Cheerios.  Still not a huge fan of meat.  We also tried to introduce iron supplements this month, but have had absolutely no success in actually getting her to take them.  In the meantime, we've just tried to up iron rich foods like Cheerios (which are iron fortified) and spinach. 

She nurses 5 times a day (morning, noon, evening, and twice at night).  We've officially cut out the mid-afternoon feed since she was hit or miss about it.  Instead she just gets a pretty good solid food snack at that time.

Play/ Milestones: Oh my baby girl is so silly.  This month has been filled with funny faces, silly games, and neat "tricks".  She loves to make funny faces and sounds.  Her favorite face is a mean little scrunched up face that she has perfected.  She even taught one of the other little girls at her music class how to do it.  She will also stick out her tongue back and forth at you and imitate sounds you make like raspberries, squeals, and even some words.  She loves to wave hi and bye at everyone, including animals, voices on speaker phone, and inanimate objects.  She gives high fives, claps, and shakes her head no.  She plays a silly game where if you say "bonk," she'll pat her head (or your head if you let her). 

Matilda loves her books this month.  She'll crawl over to her book shelves and take them down to look at.  She loves to be read to and has really started to study the pictures in them this month.  I think she's even starting to recognize some of the pictures and understand the words associated with them (cow, horse, etc.)  Matilda points at everything (usually accompanied by her saying "dat?"), so some days we feel like dictionaries constantly putting names to objects.  Walks around the neighborhood have turned into a conversation full of:
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree"
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree"
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree, maybe house.  I can't tell what you're pointing at."
over and over again.

Matilda can crawl, pull up, and climb over things.  She treats anyone sitting on the floor like a jungle gym. Some days all she wants to do is to be physical and has no interest in her toys unless she can use them to try to stand up on.  The bumps and bruises have continued into this month since she just won't sit still. 

 

Despite the yo-yoing weather this month, Matilda still got out and about plenty.  We've been going to church fairly regularly, she's been to the zoo and arboretum, and we attempted a camping trip but then decided it was too cold.  We still got a few fairly decent hikes in though.

 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: We got great news at her hip checkup two weeks ago.  She had ex-rays, and the orthopedic surgeon said everything is progressing nicely and her angles are in what's considered a "normal range" for her age.  He's said for her to wear her brace just three nights a week for two more months, and come back in four months for another checkup. 

When we asked him about her potential hypermobility, he said it's really hard to diagnose at this age, but based on her mobility progress, he thinks she'll be ok without physical therapy. 

So good news on both accounts.  We aren't completely in the clear though.  Her femoral heads aren't ossified yet, which is ok for her age.  However, lack of ossification in one or both of her hips at her next few checkups could be a sign of avascular necrosis (AVN), which is basically where the blood flow to the femoral head has been compromised.  Depending on the severity of the AVN, it could result in the need for future surgeries.  Hopefully we'll never have to deal with AVN, but it is a very scary complication that can arise from hip dysplasia and the treatments for hip dysplasia. 

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.