Guess who is so over having his picture taken with the month stickers? This guy!!!
Height: 30.25 inches
Weight: 20 pounds, 0 ounces
Head: 18.5 inches
We had a heck of a time getting these pictures taken! Why? Because Aaron has a hard time sitting still these days! He is an expert crawler, and he stands and walks along pieces of furniture holding on with one hand with ease. It feels so good to go where you want to go, so no Mom. I will not sit still while you take my picture! And furthermore, I want to explore this sticker you just put on my shirt!
Aaron’s rampant mobility is also the reason why this post is so late. I am either off chasing after him or am completely pooped! Frequently both at the same time! I have loved every stage that he had gone through (Admittedly, the older baby stuff is more fun given how hard it is to be around brand new babies after what we went through with Noah) but this one is a tough one. Seeing more of his personality come out, and his joy over what he can do now does make it more endearing though!
Last time I posted, we had just started at the feeding clinic to begin working with him on solid foods. We have kept that up, and have learned a lot. Where we left off was trying to get him to try “hard munchables” or food that is in hard stick form like carrot sticks, celery sticks, baby biscuits, and yes, slim jims. Now we have moved on to different textures. He has pudding (he really likes vanilla), pretzel sticks, dum dum suckers (seriously. He is just gross with these things, and gets so mad when it’s time to take it away!!!), townhouse crackers, cheese puffs (like cheetos), baby puffs, mandarin oranges and chopped pears. He is doing a great job of tasting everything, and the whole point of our feeding practice sessions with him is just play. Our therapist calls them “painting parties” since we try different textures and just see how it feels and maybe tastes. He doesn’t really swallow very much if anything. Our therapist promises us that that is not the concern at this point. I must say that he didn’t want to put anything in his mouth before, and now he will at least try things, so it is progress. We go once a week to meet with an occupational therapist, and will keep it up as long as we need to!
Painting Party!!!
Dum Dum Sucker...Yum!
Aaron has started at his new daycare at this point. Last month, much to our shock and horror, his wonderful, perfect babysitter quit so she could go back to school. A massive search ensued to find a replacement, and now Aaron is happily enrolled at the local Montessori school. It took about two weeks for him to get used to it and decide that he likes it. Good lord, that was so hard. We felt guilty, guilty, guilty leaving him there, and second guessed our decision multiple times. It was awful. Honestly, we were at our wits end trying to find somewhere that we felt good about. This was pretty much the only option. Hindsight? We are so glad he is there! He is learning so much, and is really enjoying his teachers and getting to be social with the other kids. It is really bizarre. I grew up in a house where my mother stayed home with my brother and me, and I always thought that would be what I would do. I never really saw the benefits of doing it the other way. Now that I am watching my kiddo go to a great daycare, I see how much he is learning, and how much fun he has with the other kids in his class. He is getting so much out of it!
For example, I spent his first day there hanging out in the class with him for a few hours. When it got to be snack time for the older babies, they got them all set up at the little table with bananas and goldfish crackers. You know how much trouble Aaron has had having any interest in solid foods so as you can imagine, I didn’t think he’d care much about it. But, lo and behold, he went crawling up to the table and looked interested in what everyone else was doing. The teacher asked if he’d like some. I thought sure, what the heck? Give it a try. They sat him at the table with the other kids and gave him some. You would not believe the look on his face. He was so proud and excited to be there with everyone else, and even took a taste of the goldfish crackers! I think a little peer pressure will definitely help our food issue!!!
The hardest part for him about getting used to it is that all the babies are in the same room whether they are napping or not. The cribs are on one side of the room, and the play area is on the other, separated by a half wall. They learn to sleep with lights on and noise all around them. Aaron was a mess for the first several days because he was used to sleeping in a dark, quiet environment. He got no naps in for several days. After about two weeks, he got the hang of it, and then everything started to settle into a new normal, and it has been great ever since. We are glad he is there and that he likes it. It really is a great daycare.
With the new daycare and all the crazy food (uh…pudding and dum dum suckers? Guess where that ALWAYS ends up?! His hair!!!) Aaron is getting baths a LOT more often than before. I did a big cleanup job on our bathtub, putting some of our things up, as well as getting the toys installed in a toy caddy in the shower wall. He has really gotten to the place where he thinks it’s fun to take a bath. He loves to splash and play, and he sings and talks to me while we do this pretty much on a nightly basis. I can get him cleaned up and out pretty quickly now. His hair looks so funny when I am done! It is really getting long. (I am not ready for his first haircut yet though!) It wipes him out pretty well at the end of the day, and helps to get him down for the night. Our evenings are a bit of a marathon with getting him home from daycare, doing our “painting party” with solid foods, bath time, books, and bed. Once he’s down, I madly clean and prep all the bottles for the next day, and then I crash as well. It is exhausting, but fun!
Life just continues at the Wilkerson household! We are getting ready for his big first birthday! It is amazing to look back at the blog posts just after we had him and see how far we have come in a year. I look forward to posting on all of that soon!
