Sofia, Ten Months

Photo courtesy of Lucas.

Sofia is 31 inches long (99 percentile) and 21lb 11oz(65 percentile) with a head circumference in the 70 percentile. Lucas's corresponding stats at this age were 99/99/75ish. She had a bad cold during her ten month appointment but Dr. Abrams said there is nothing in the ears or lungs. He is not too excited about the Nose Frida which I use a lot when she is congested. "She must really love that" was his reaction. But he isn't adamantly opposed to it either. He recommends a cold mist humidifier, vick's on the feet (and/or just gently massaging the feet to stimulate healing) and a bit of ALJ (which we have really come to rely on for everyone in the house during cold season.) We used Thieves Oil as an alternative to Vick's and she seemed to really enjoy the footsie massage. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I am in love with our pediatrician. He is the best!

PLAYTIME
Gigi gave Sofia her first official doll. But so far, she is crawling straight past it with a courtesy smile (because she knows that we want her to like it) toward dirt and tools, or heavy objects she can lift. Don't worry Gigi...Chris and Lucas are getting plenty of use out of the doll. The raspberry sound she makes always makes us giggle.

One of her favorite activities is unloading the dishwasher with me. I quickly rearrange it to put some plastic dishes near her side and she plays with those while I unload. She loves it for a long time and when she starts crawling into the dishwasher we move on to something else.

She is courageous yet cautious and deliberate. Except for the time she managed to do a front flip off of the bed and (thankfully) onto a thick lambskin rug. It fazed her for about 3 seconds and then she was off to new adventures.

She can stand solidly and play with things without holding on to anything. She can even squat all the way down to get something and pop right back up. She still has no interest in walking.

TEETHING
Nothing new...two on the bottom, four on top.

EATING
She has modified the signs for "more" and "all done." "More" is now repeated hard slaps on the tray and "all done" is a sudden whack at the spoon that sends food flying in random directions. She is losing her patience for pureed food (except when she's in the bathtub) and is currently enjoying peas, crackers, bits of banana, tiny bites of pizza, Katletke (Russian-style ground beef patties,) eggs and a new favorite: Baby Mum Mums (a easily dissolved and quite tasty rice cracker.)

SLEEPING
She is still quite an erratic sleeper, mainly because she is picking up so many viruses. Thankfully she's still pretty cheerful, despite it all.

Healthy Spontenaeity

This has been my recent prayer, for Lucas to develop a healthy spontaneity in a world of routines. I have been realizing that this can only happen if I break through the boundaries of my own comfort zones and I hope to do so often. Yesterday, I was getting the Ergo out of the car when inspiration struck - Lucas could ride around under the cover of the carport while watching the gentle rain outside. I kept the door open and nursed Sofia inside the house with a view of Lucas scooting around in glee. Of course things couldn't stay this easy. Soon he was running around with his wheelbarrow in the now pouring down rain (in his NB...we lost his rain boots) and jumping into puddles. I decided that if he put on his waterproof ear-flap hat he could do it. We've got too many bugs flying around this house for cold ears.

But then it started really pouring which made my intentions of being a free-spirited mom go south fast. We have watched way too many documentaries on lightning lately (his passion.) So it was "no, stay in the carport"..."ok, but do it quickly"..."one more time"..."I mean it!"..."Don't run in the carport, it's slippery"..."You're lucky you fell on your popka. Now you'll remember to walk"..."Stop running!"..."Walk!"

Of course this symphony of escalating commands and almost-5-year-old jubilation culminated in mild disaster - falling and banging his knee pretty badly. But I think he'd say it was worth it.

Questionable Purchase

This down bunting got rave reviews on Amazon. So what if the reviewers were only from states with blistery cold winters? I like my babies warm.

Deer in the Backyard

Yesterday, we had three deer in the backyard - two of them made it inside the fence! Lucas loved it! And so did I although this makes me realize we need to secure the fence (where last year a small tree fell) before we attempt a garden.

Someone told us that White Oak acorns are a deer's favorite and this year they are plentiful. In fact they are attacking our house all day long (the acorns, not the deer.) There is another tree where the back line of our fence is and they have probably eaten all of the acorns on their side and have decided to graze on the humans' side. For now, while we are not growing food, they are welcome!

Vitamin C Breakfast

Lucas has been holding strong this Fall, his little body fighting off anything that comes its way. He hasn't even missed a day of school (although that may be coming.) He does, however, have the same raspy cough each night that at least 50% of his class shares with him. He's been tired in the mornings and for the first time we are hearing, "I'm too tired to go to school." I sympathize, but his energy perks up within a few minutes of getting out of bed and then he's smiling, running and not coughing. So he's going to school.

When it was just me, Chris and Lucas, I was able to be his personal doctor. Sneaking large amounts of chicken soup into him, spiking the eggs with garlic, and administering small amounts of Echinacea, ALJ and vitamin C. Now that his immune system is stronger, and I am busier, the helicopter doctoring has ended, but I still do what I can.

This morning I was looking around for something fast and healthy - why is this always such a challenge? I saw a light red heirloom tomato (they are divine right now!) and decided to make my childhood favorite - butter and tomato toast. Since I didn't know how this would be received, I made a couple of fruit kebobs to go with it, and a small cup of warm black tea with sugar (a Russian cure-all.) It sure brought a smile to Lucas's face.

My Little Sponge

I wanted to capture Lucas this past Monday. He was refreshed after an exciting weekend at Mia's (my mom's) and looking absolutely edible in my brothers 25 year old soccer jersey. We are constantly inheriting things from Mia as she is (in her words) preparing for a nomadic lifestyle and Sasha's old jersey collection is the most recent pass-me-down.

They started off the weekend at an Italian car show Saturday morning. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis galore. Lucas even got to sit in a cafe-au-lait colored ("coffee with milk") Ferrari! The show was in downtown Norcross so afterward they stopped by the train park to play. Lucas loved all the excitement, but he is happy just doing things around Mia's house ... this weekend included art projects, roasting marshmallows and a trip to the store for an "expensive car."

On Monday morning, my mom drove him to her work where I met them with Sofia and breakfast from Chic-fil-A. After breakfast at her office, I brought him home and, still inspired by all the drawing he'd done that weekend, he got to work right away on a new project: lining up many of his cars and then documenting the line-up by drawing a matching-colored rough rectangle to represent each car...

If you look closely, you can see a little babiness in there. Yay!

And while I'm on the topic of Lucas's projects, Thursday he brought home his school work. It's always fun to see what he's doing and how he's progressed.

At the age of 4 and 3/4 Lucas can sew as well as I can.

First he learned how to weave a shoelace through holes in poster board. He loved doing this last year and came home with dozens in all different shapes.

The next step is tracing a shape drawn on a swag of burlap with thread and a needle. He did this last year, but this year it looks much neater.

And now, apparently he can sew on buttons.

He also likes working with numbers. The other day he told me he could could to nine thousand. So I told him I'd like to hear, knowing he'd probably get to ten and skip tens to one-hundred and so on. But he counted up to one hundred with no shortcuts and when he started in on "101, 102, 103..." I felt I was in trouble. Thankfully he continued "108, 109, 9000!"

Here is the "Hundred Board." They write the numbers 1-100 in this grid and (I'm assuming) understanding and remembering the layout helps them in subsequent work.

Montessori students learn to write before they learn to read because it is less abstract. And they learn to write in cursive before print because (the story goes) the flowing movement is more natural than the choppiness of print for their young minds and hands. This is one of Lucas's first written "stories."

"I have a green car in Mommy's car. It's fast."

I'm amazed! But I also know the many baby steps it took leading up to this.

-Without even knowing it, he was practicing his pencil grip by doing practical chores that require the same grip, such as folding cloths.

-He worked with the sandpaper letters - wooden tiles (I'd guess 5 square inches in size) each inscribed with a lowercase sandpaper letter for three-year-old hands to trace.

-They put the two above steps together and start writing cursive letters, first (I believe) on the chalkboard and next on paper. Success at every step!

-There is also a cool material called the "movable alphabet" where they take letters about the size of fridge magnets, but thin, and form them together to make words and stories.

-They use the phonics method of sounding things out so initially they are not corrected for misspelling words, which encourages further practice. In the beginning, I was not sure about this for the "that's not how I learned" reason, but now I'm warming up to it since it seems to be a natural way to learn.

It's truly amazing watching a child's mind unfold!

Sofia, Nine Months

PLAYTIME

When Lucas is away, Sofia will play ... with all the big boy toys - saws, cars and remotes. She will play with baby toys for a while, especially if she is putting them into a box or her mouth but her eyes really light up when she gets hold of these ultimate treasures.

I have met few babies who rival her in energy and determination. Today we saw an adorable ten month old boy at the park and it dawned on me that he had been sitting next to his mother for about five minutes. As much as I would love to snuggle up next to her, this would NEVER happen with Sofia. If she is tolerating being held for a few moments her little dimpled hands are frantically reaching around to grab something interesting at this new height. But most of the time she doesn't accept being held for long and she has now mastered "the noodle" - collapsing herself into the shape of a spaghetti strand, arms up in the air, the moment I try to lift her. She is crawling through open shelves, under chairs, over boxes. Carpe Diem is truly her motto.

This being said, she is slowing down in some regards. She enjoys playing in the Pack-and-Play for longer spells (especially if it's outside) and goes for the Exersaucer more often. She still likes the Ergo and Cheerios after a meal are a lifesaver. Her attention span for books is lengthening but still leaves much to be desired. If the book doesn't have fluffy tails and wrinkled noses to touch, forget about it.

She giggles with delight in the baby swing and loves crawling around toddler play sets. In some ways I'm looking forward to having her walk. She will be farther away from all the choking hazards she is still so fond of.

She is pretty rough and tumble, rarely letting a bump or a dive faze her, which will help her survive Lucas's exuberance (never malicious, but often overly playful.) Overall he is pretty good with her. He truly seems to care for her well being and his heart fills with joy whenever they laugh together. Already they can giggle insanely with one another!

TEETHING
Nothing new in the teething department (still two on the bottom and 4 on the top) although she is packing more fingers into her mouth these days and I had to sleep next to her last night (which is a rare to never event) so something's happening!

EATING
She has slowed down in the eating department and is becoming more particular. Her current favorites are cheesy eggs as finger foods and yogurt (I mix half flavored and half plain and add rice cereal to make it stay down better.) She has had ground up pasta with red sauce several times and it's a hit. Today I pureed a fresh batch of chicken soup, this time flavored with star anise, and it looked as if someone had slammed on the brakes the way she lunged into the spoon for another bite. She has finally almost stopped spitting up. I nurse her about 4-5 times a day and do not have to time it before sleeping - she digests it well even when she plays. Adding rice cereal to her foods is helpful. Yogurt followed by nursing for instance will result in a bit of spit up. But nothing compared to the days of old (a hamper load of spit-up blankets EVERY DAY.)

SLEEPING
She seems to be more consistently sleeping about 8-5 and then til 7:30 after a quick nursing at five. But she still often wakes up around eleven or twelve. She goes to bed pretty easily most of the time. I nurse her, burp her and hum "Amazing Grace" as I am lying her down. She immediately turns to one side and inserts the best thumb. If she is really tired and the house is relatively quiet, I don't play any sounds from the stuffed lamb that hangs from her crib. But if she needs a bit of help I play the whale sounds which gives us a laugh - we call it the whale lamb. Then I hum "Jesus Loves Me" as I leave the room. Most of the time that's it. Occasionally she screams and I let her for a few minutes so she can get it out (I don't want her to be perfect after all) then I go in and hold her for a moment. It's such a pleasure because she lets me hold her closely and stays still while I hold her and walk her around in her dark room (by still I mean "Sofia still" which means she is fully upright and looking longingly at the door taking into account all she could be missing.)