Logan's 9 Month Update
Thursday, May 13, 2004
In just a couple of days, Logan
will be 9 months old. This has been another month of changes and adventure for
Logan.
We wrote about the cold/virus
that Logan and the rest of us came down with a few weeks ago. Logan
was up frequently throughout the night fussing and feeding. Just a few days ago
Logan was finally over his cold so we decided to try to start changing his night-time
waking habits. We wanted him to learn to settle himself so we decided that Liesl
would wait a full ten minutes before picking him up and nursing him. The first
night he cried off and on, but always went back to sleep. Now just a few days
later, Logan is sleeping better and we are happy to report that Logan
slept for 7 hours and 8 hours the past two nights without needing Liesl to nurse him and/or settle him! We are hopeful we've turned a new corner!! (Until the next
set of teeth come in, right?!)
Because Logan
was sick for a couple of weeks, he picked up no weight. In his physical today he weighed in at 19lbs 14 oz and was 73 cm.
He is on the fiftieth percentile for both height and weight (now being slightly longer than wide!). He is wearing 12 month and 18 month clothing now. While he
needs the larger pant sizes to fit around his middle, we have to roll his pants up considerably because they are too long
for him!
Another new development for
Logan is that he started Day Care on May 5th. Liesl has a heavy load as the semester comes to an end (with twenty 10-15 page research papers coming in
and final exams to grade). We joined "Family Day Care" which is an organization
that places children with carers (usually mothers who want to stay home with their own children). Logan's carer, Rosalie, has two girls of her own (ages 2 and
3) and has either one or two other day care children that she watches (ages 2-4) along with Logan. We like Rosalie because she seems quite active -- taking the kids to a playgroup twice
a week and to the children's playhouse. Day care is very inexpensive here --
we're paying about $5 Australian an hour ($3.70 U.S./hr).
Logan
is an expert crawler -- cruising all around the house. He'll come when we call
him, but enjoys exploring on his own. It's amazing how fast he can make his way
down the hallway! Logan is pulling
up on everything now -- standing to play with toys or watch his Baby Einstein (puppets, animals, etc.) video. He seems to
gain strength and balance almost daily! He'll even pull himself up using Liesl's
pant legs (this is usually a good sign that he has a poopy diaper and/or needs a feed).
Logan
continues to babble away -- Dadada and Aya seem to be fairly consistent words now. He definitely understands more and more. We're hoping to hear his first real word or two soon!!
J
One last thing--Logan
seems to really enjoy feeding himself now. Cheerios are a big hit (we import them from the States!). He also feeds himself
cooked veggies and various cooked (chopped up pieces of) meat. He is an adventurous eater -- always wanting to try what Mom
and Dad have on their plates!
Well, as always it's late and
we should get to bed and sign off for now!
Logan's 10 Month Update
Friday, June 10, 2004
Almost an entire month has
gone by and Logan is coming up on ten months.
Logan has worked hard this month on his crawling, scaling and cruising
skills. Last month he had just learned these skills, but now he does so at double-speed. He races across the room on all fours carrying toys in his hand (or mouth!) and is
able to get himself to a standing position using most anything available--cupboards, Mom's pant leg, and the TV cabinet (his
favorite spot!), among other things. Logan stood briefly on his own without holding
on to anything for the first time on June 2nd. He can stand and play with toys passing them from hand to hand if
he is leaning slightly against something.
Logan's
communication skills have also taken a step forward. He will repeat short phrases
(Dada in particular) and will imitate the sign for all done (waving both hands horizontally. Of
course, Logan still waves hello and goodbye. (He waved goodbye to Mom for the
first time on May 17th.) Another cute communication skill -- is that
he initiates kisses now (we mostly kiss him repeatedly on the cheek). The other
day he came Mom a very wet kiss on the cheek--complete with the kissing sound! Logan LOVES peekaboo. And he gets HUGE smiles when DAaady arrives home!
Last month we reported that
Logan slept for 7-9 hours (without waking!).
For the most part, he sleeps fairly well. Most of the time he goes to
bed at 7 or 8pm and gets up 12 hours later. He generally gets up twice -- once
around 3am and then again at 5 or 6am (at which point Liesl usually brings him to
bed so she can get some more shuteye!)
For just over month now, Logan
has been in Family Day Care for about ten hours a week. He goes to Rosalie's
home--a mother of two girls ages 2 ½ and 3 ½. He has settled in there well,
though he still cries when Mom leaves. The only bad incident was on May 21st
when Logan was bitten on the cheek by one of the little girls. The decision to put Logan into part-time day care was hard,
but Liesl really needed the time to get her work done for the University of Maryland
(especially with twenty 10-15 page papers to grade and the same number of final exams).
Staying up until 1 or 2am most nights was becoming quite difficult (with a
baby that gets up at 3am and 5am!).
Logan
loves being outside -- he enjoys swinging and sliding down the slide. For a while
he wasn't happy going for walks with Mom, so stayed home with Dad. For the past
couple of weeks, he is happy in the jogger stroller again. He seems especially
intrigued by birds.
Logan
has started to have better hand-eye coordination. Today, for example Logan
began clapping. Also for the past week or so, Logan
has been able to put small golf ball sized balls into a plastic jug.
Logan
is now in 18 month tops and 12 month shorts/pants. We haven't had him weighed/measured
recently, though probably will next week before we go. He hasn't gained any new teeth recently either (he still just has 8
teeth).
We are now all getting ready
to go on a long two month trip back to the States. We'll be stopping to see family
and friends in eight states from the west to east coast and back to the mid-section!
Logan will get to see all his relatives again--and will even get to spend
2 ½ weeks doing a road trip with his cousins, Amelia and Nathaniel.
Well, better go. Logan just woke up from his (2 hour) nap.
